Daddy! Come Home for Dinner!

Rui Changhuai thought that he now somewhat understood why Zhao Dingli treated Li Xiaoyun so differently.

Of course, this might just be one tiny trait among many that made Li Xiaoyun who she was.

There were probably plenty of other attractive qualities he didn’t know about.

Rui Changhuai noted this down as well, deciding he’d report it to Zhao Dingli later.

He nodded and said, "That was me being petty."

Li Xiaoyun misunderstood what Rui Changhuai meant, thinking he felt she was being too aloof and hard to approach.

And she really didn’t want him to think of her that way.

Li Xiaoyun waved her hands in a hurry. "No no no, Mr. Rui, please don’t say that."

"I know you mean well, and I know what you suggested actually makes perfect sense. It’s just that I’m the kind of person who... can be a bit stubborn about my principles sometimes. It’s not that I don’t understand your good intentions. I’m really grateful you’re willing to say all this to me," Li Xiaoyun said quickly.

In her mind, if she didn’t show up herself and just left it to Lin Lingli and Zhou Yunyun to handle,

it would be no different from using them.

These days everyone’s always talking about some girls being "green tea bitches" or whatever.

But in Li Xiaoyun’s view, doing that was also a kind of green-tea behavior.

Maybe she was just being stubborn again.

Anyway, that was how she felt.

Everyone makes different choices, and everyone draws that line in a different place.

You really couldn’t say Rui Changhuai was wrong.

Besides, Rui Changhuai had no obligation to explain so much to her.

His intention was to help.

She didn’t want Rui Changhuai to think she didn’t appreciate it.

After all, not even Manager Tang had told her what exactly Zheng Xuelin had done that made Zhao Dingli decide to directly change personnel—so much so that even Vice President Lu was getting replaced.

Yet it was Rui Changhuai, someone she wasn’t close to and was actually meeting for the first time today, who instead told her these things.

Seizing the chance to boost his own president’s favorability, Rui Changhuai said, "Miss Li, you really don’t need to be so polite with me. You’re a good friend of our president. Talking to you about this is something I ought to do."

"And even if I didn’t say anything, our president would definitely talk to you himself," Rui Changhuai added.

This time, Li Xiaoyun was truly stunned.

She... she was Zhao Dingli’s good friend?

Since when?

She didn’t even have any way to contact Zhao Dingli right now.

What kind of "good friends" don’t even have each other’s contact info!

Li Xiaoyun stared at Rui Changhuai in shock. "Mr... Mr. Rui, I... your president and I are good friends? Your president is Zhao... Zhao Dingli, Mr. Zhao, right?"

"Of course," Rui Changhuai nodded. But looking at Li Xiaoyun’s reaction, why did it feel like that wasn’t the case?

The blazing gossip fire inside Rui Changhuai started to surge again.

"Why... why would you think that?" Li Xiaoyun’s heart was trembling. "You must be mistaken. Who told you that your president and I are good friends?"

If this got back to Zhao Dingli and he thought she was shameless, what then?

How was she supposed to live that down?

"Why are you reacting like this, Miss Li? You being our president’s good friend is something he told me himself," Rui Changhuai said with a smile. "No one else said it."

Li Xiaoyun: "..."

Zhao Dingli said it himself?

What the hell!

Seeing the disbelief all over Li Xiaoyun’s face, Rui Changhuai said, "Miss Li, I wouldn’t dare make something like that up! If our president hadn’t told me personally, I wouldn’t dare say it casually."

But from Li Xiaoyun’s reaction, it really didn’t seem like that’s how things were.

Could it be that their president had misunderstood something?

Thinking of Zhao Dingli’s 37 years of being single and his lifelong solo track record, Rui Changhuai felt this wasn’t impossible at all.

It was very much in character for their president.

Li Xiaoyun: "..."

"Miss Li does know our president, right?" At this point Rui Changhuai even wanted to sit down with Li Xiaoyun and have a proper gossip session.

Gossiping at the company entrance wasn’t exactly comfy.

They were one cup of coffee short.

"Yes, I do know him," Li Xiaoyun answered, her brain feeling completely wooden, like it was rusted—turning with great difficulty.

"Then that’s fine," Rui Changhuai let out a breath of relief.

At least they really did know each other.

So it wasn’t just some fantasy in Zhao Dingli’s head.

Otherwise he’d have to suggest that Zhao Dingli see a doctor.

Rui Changhuai still wanted to sit down and gossip properly with Li Xiaoyun.

So he raised his wrist and made a show of checking the time.

"Oh wow, it’s already 11:30," Rui Changhuai said. "What time is your lunch break?"

"Twelve," Li Xiaoyun replied woodenly.

She was still stuck in the shock of hearing that it was from Zhao Dingli’s own mouth that she and he were "good friends," and hadn’t come back to earth yet.

Rui Changhuai said, "There’s only half an hour left anyway. Why don’t we go grab something to eat now?"

Li Xiaoyun: "..."

How was she supposed to turn that down?

Rui Changhuai was her client, after all.

But his attitude toward her really left Li Xiaoyun feeling uncertain.

Was it because Zhao Dingli said she was his good friend that Rui Changhuai was taking such care of her?

Or... did Rui Changhuai have some other... thoughts?

Li Xiaoyun didn’t see herself as someone who overthought things romantically.

But for someone she’d just met for the first time today, Rui Changhuai really was acting a bit out of the ordinary.

Still, regardless of the reason, with Rui Changhuai’s intentions unclear, Li Xiaoyun didn’t want to offend him.

She figured that having a meal and getting to know him a bit better wasn’t a big deal.

So she was about to agree.

Who knew that just then, Rui Changhuai’s phone rang.

He pulled it out and saw that the call was actually from Zhao Dingli.

Rui Changhuai instantly understood—clearly, Zhao Dingli wanted to know how things were going on Li Xiaoyun’s side.

But why didn’t Zhao Dingli just call Li Xiaoyun directly?

Rui Changhuai suddenly recalled the shocked expression on Li Xiaoyun’s face when she’d heard him say that Zhao Dingli had called her his good friend.

Was there really some misunderstanding here?

Was it all just their president being one-sidedly enthusiastic?

Of course, it would never occur to Rui Changhuai in his wildest dreams that Zhao Dingli didn’t even have Li Xiaoyun’s contact information yet.

Rui Changhuai gave Li Xiaoyun an apologetic smile and said, "Sorry, let me take this call first."

"Go ahead," Li Xiaoyun said with a smile, then took a couple of steps away to avoid any awkwardness.

Rui Changhuai picked up. "President."

"You haven’t finished talking yet?" came Zhao Dingli’s voice through the phone, sounding like someone owed him money.

"..." Rui Changhuai thought that that shared lunch with Li Xiaoyun was probably not happening anymore.

He didn’t dare tell Zhao Dingli that he wanted to have a meal with Li Xiaoyun.

He could only report honestly, "President, I just finished talking. We..."

As soon as he said "we," Rui Changhuai realized something was off and hastily corrected himself, "I’m standing at Ruishi’s company entrance right now."

"We?" Zhao Dingli narrowed his eyes, instantly latching onto the key word.