Paper Lover At Old Town Bookstore Chapter 20
byIf you like it, chase it
As soon as I walked out of the tea room after receiving the water, I saw Lin Zhiqing leaning against the glass window in the corridor, with his arms folded and a bright look of amusement on his face.When I approached, he immediately came up to me, lowered his voice and smiled: “Mr. Song, that’s okay. I just heard Intern Xu calling you ‘Qiu Sheng’ so smoothly inside, and he even put in a good word for you. This relationship is not ordinary.”
I glared at him and pretended to be displeased: “What does it look like to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations when you’re not working during office hours?”
“I didn’t eavesdrop,” Lin Zhiqing waved his hand and smiled even more. “You were so engrossed in chatting that your voice spread to the corridor. Besides, if you were really careless, why did you go to the tea room in the name of getting water? Why do you need to go to the tea room by yourself to drink water? ”
As he spoke, he pursed his lips in the direction of the tea room: “Look, Intern Xu has come out now, and his eyes are still glancing at you. Mr. Song, why don’t you just take advantage of the situation and confess your love? I think Intern Xu also has a good impression of you, otherwise how could he dare to call you by your name?”
I followed his gaze and happened to bump into Xu Xingruo coming out of the tea room. The moment her eyes met mine, she quickly moved away like a frightened deer and hurriedly walked towards the workstation, her ears still glowing with a faint red.
I looked away, feeling as if I had been lightly tickled by a feather, but I still scolded hard: “Stop talking nonsense, and hurry up and take care of the coffee machine filter.” But when I turned back to my work station, I couldn’t help but raise the corners of my mouth slightly, and I didn’t even notice the uncontrollable pleasure.
The moment my office door closed, the noise in the corridor faded away by half.My fingertips ran across the smooth desk, but my mind drifted back to the ordinary workstation area uncontrollably – the empty space next to Xu Xingruo was once the reason for me to deliberately get there, but now only the mottled traces of sunlight falling on the table are left.
Lin Zhiqing’s teasing was like an invisible thread, getting tighter and tighter, making me afraid to return to the place where I could see her up close.But the more she deliberately avoids it, the clearer the fragmented images become: the light in her eyes when chatting about gossip, the excited words “Qiu Sheng”, and the reddened ears when they were bruised.
In the tea room, she defended me with the words “she’s very caring”, which echoed in my ears repeatedly, making the emotions in her chest feel soft and chaotic.
I opened the work document on my computer, but I didn’t type a word for a long time.I was used to seeing her busy figure with her head down, used to looking up occasionally to catch a glimpse of her serious profile, used to hearing her respectful “Mr. Song” when working and her affectionate name when gossiping, but now that a door suddenly opened, I felt that the office was dazzlingly empty.
The phone on the corner of the table vibrated. It was a message from Lin Zhiqing: “Mr. Song, intern Xu just looked at your office several times. He is probably wondering why you don’t go out.”
I stared at the screen, my fingertips hovering above the input box, and finally turned off the screen – I was afraid of being teased by him again, but also afraid that I couldn’t help but rush out and expose the care that I didn’t even understand.
After sitting for less than half an hour, the report numbers on the computer screen began to become blurry.
The news about Lin Zhiqing was like a thorn, pricking my tense nerves repeatedly – Xu Xingruo looked at the office several times.I clutched the mouse, but after all, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I stood up and grabbed the project folder on the table, and found the most legitimate reason for myself: “Go down and check the post to see the progress at the grassroots level.”
Pushing open the office door, the steps on the wooden stairs made a slight sound.As soon as I reached the corner of the second floor, the unobstructed scene of the workstation area on the first floor came into view. My eyes immediately locked on Xu Xingruo – she was typing on the computer with her head down, her brows slightly furrowed, as if she was stuck on a certain data node. The empty space next to her was particularly eye-catching among the busy figures, making her look lonely.
I slowed down and walked down. The sound of leather heels tapping on the steps was particularly clear in the quiet corridor.
Xu Xingruo seemed to hear the movement, and subconsciously raised his head and glanced at the stairs. When he saw clearly that it was me, a trace of imperceptible surprise flashed in his eyes, and then he immediately lowered his head, but his fingers subconsciously clenched the mouse.
Walking to the door of the work area, I cleared my throat and put the folder on the empty table opposite her: “How is the project data organized? I’ll come over to check on the progress.”
She stood up quickly and said with just the right amount of respect in her tone: “Mr. Song, we have almost sorted it out. We just need to check the last set of data.” As she spoke, her cheeks turned a little red, and her eyes unconsciously glanced at the stairs behind me, as if to confirm if anyone else was following.
I leaned over to look at the forms on her computer screen. I could smell the faint scent of shampoo in her hair, and felt inexplicably nervous.”Check the logical relationship here again to avoid mistakes.” I pointed to one of the rows of data and tried to keep my tone as calm as possible, but my peripheral vision couldn’t help but fall on her slender fingers – she was typing on the keyboard quickly, her fingertips curled up slightly because of nervousness.
Lin Zhiqing’s deliberately suppressed cough came from behind me. I turned around and saw that he was leaning against the handrail of the stairs, winking at me, with a hint of teasing on his lips.
My Adam’s apple twitched, but after all I didn’t dare to stay any longer. I closed the folder and said, “Send it directly to my email when it’s ready.” When she turned around and walked toward the stairs, she deliberately slowed down her steps. From the corner of her eye, I caught a glimpse of her looking up at me secretly, like a cautious little animal. My determination to harden was instantly softened.