Chapter 22: The Beginning of a Heartbeat

The beginning of love may be a single glance exchanged in a vast sea of people;

Or perhaps it is because of a certain sentence, on a certain year, month, and day;

Or perhaps it is some event that occurred in daily life...

Causing two parallel people to gradually intersect, striking sparks, creating friction, and giving rise to a sentiment.

That is love...

Although Zhou Xiaoru kept saying she would forget the past, let go of the past...

Yet human memory is just so strange; the more you want to forget something, the more you will never forget it.

For example, that kiss in the underground parking garage that day...

Deep in her heart, a tiny voice would pop up every now and then to ask a question.

"What did that kiss represent! Was it proof that he isn't gay, or was it a prank..."

All of this was impossible to know; Miss Zhou preferred to shrink into her own turtle shell, drifting through life, rather than think about confronting that scum!

She comforted herself in her heart, pretending that day was just being gnawed on by a dog!

If one really had to treat Gu Liyan as a dog, his breed would definitely be a Tibetan Mastiff!

Sturdy and majestic, peerless and dashing!

Tibetan Mastiff...

A dog breed with a large build and a fierce temperament!

Strong in character, noble and arrogant, with great power!

Agile and vigorous in movement, with poor endurance; puppies have poor memory before reaching adulthood!

The typical characteristic of this breed is high alertness! Extremely strong territorial awareness! Extremely loyal to its owner; it has strong hostility toward strangers within its territory and is good at protecting its owner and their property!

Isn't this exactly describing Gu Liyan!

Zhou Xiaoru felt that from now on, she would no longer call him Gu the Scum, but change it to Gu the Tibetan Mastiff!

When Zhou Xiaoru was sitting in her office, daydreaming about Gu the Mastiff, a series of sneezes echoed in the President's Office.

Gu Liyan rubbed his constantly aching nose, wondering if he had caught a cold.

If he knew that Zhou Xiaoru was regarding him as a Tibetan Mastiff, who knows if he would be so angry he'd breathe fire...

Living in trepidation and maintaining a state of alert every day, Zhou Xiaoru did not run into Gu Liyan for two or three days in a row, and she even rarely saw Su Poyang.

Occasionally, when she bumped into Su Poyang downstairs, they would just nod to greet each other, and that was it; the thing she had been worried about did not happen again.

It seemed she had overthought it before; perhaps those two had already made up, so they didn't need her as cannon fodder anymore.

Thinking this, Zhou Xiaoru couldn't help but feel that her heart and high blood pressure had returned to normal, and even her duodenal ulcer had healed!

Now her internship was secured; she didn't need to rack her brains thinking about finding a new job!

Truly, the Bodhisattva is protecting me, and the Heavens are watching!

Seeing that it was lunch time, Zhou Xiaoru decided to go to the Employee Restaurant to forage for food today.

For the past two days, she had been worried about running into those two plagues again, so she would hide in the pantry whenever it was time to eat.

But relying solely on drinking water, other than increasing the frequency of excretion, didn't keep one full.

She didn't want to endure the day with a rumbling stomach anymore; she thought that since two days had passed, it should be safe now, and she just wanted to dive into the restaurant's food basins and have a full meal!

Following her colleagues from the Personnel Department, she went to the Employee Restaurant; many people were sitting in the restaurant one after another, and the entire floor of the hall looked like a food court, with everything to eat.

The air was filled with the charming aroma of food that made Zhou Xiaoru excited.

Several colleagues on the side were discussing what to eat...

At this time, her colleague Zhang Yao asked the person who was looking around, "Xiaoru, what are you planning to eat?"

Zhang Yao was one year older than Zhou Xiaoru and hadn't been at the company long; she had a good relationship with Zhou Xiaoru.

Zhou Xiaoru couldn't suppress her foodie nature, swallowing the saliva that kept surging up again and again.

Her eyes were overwhelmed as she watched the delicacies drifting past her one by one.

If she had known there was so much good food here, she wouldn't have suffered through that hunger.

She hesitated and said, "I don't know either, everything looks like it tastes really good."

Zhang Yao kindly introduced again, "I'm going to have a clay pot; why don't you try it too? Clay pot with rice, add a little chili, it's especially delicious."

Hearing this vivid description, Zhou Xiaoru's drool was about to fall, and she immediately decided.

"Okay! Let's have clay pot."

Hitting it off with Zhang Yao, the two went to the window to order the clay pot...

After paying and getting their meals, the two looked for empty seats.

This was the peak dining time, and there were more and more people; just then, someone in the crowd seemed to be calling Zhou Xiaoru's name...

It was Zhang Yao who heard someone calling Zhou Xiaoru's name first, "Xiaoru, is someone calling you?"

Zhou Xiaoru looked all around the restaurant upon hearing this, and at a seat in the middle of the hall, she saw someone waving at her.

After seeing that person from afar, Zhou Xiaoru carried her tray with Zhang Yao and walked over...

Du Feng and the two other colleagues he was eating with quickly moved over to clear two spots.

As Zhou Xiaoru put down her tray, she said, "It's not easy to just eat a meal; I couldn't find any empty seats."

"I sent you a WeChat message earlier to ask you to eat lunch together, but seeing you never replied, I thought you weren't coming to eat here."

Du Feng said; he had been wanting to ask Zhou Xiaoru out but couldn't find an excuse. Today, he finally sent her a WeChat message, and seeing she hadn't replied, he had felt quite disappointed just a moment ago.

"Ah? Did you send me a WeChat? I didn't notice; I left my phone in the office and didn't bring it." The slow-witted person didn't think too much of it.

Zhang Yao took over the conversation with some gossip, "Oh my, how did you two hook up? Better confess!"

"What nonsense are you talking about? We only just met not long ago, right Du Feng?"

"Hehe..." Du Feng smiled very gently.

A pleasant dining atmosphere was spreading...

Zhou Xiaoru thought that this workplace life at Tengyuan was far better than she had imagined.

The bomb crisis was resolved, and it seemed she would be safe from now on; a small sense of secret joy stirred in her heart.

Just as she was thinking this, following the two people who entered through the restaurant door, the atmosphere in the lobby instantly boiled over and became restless.

The female compatriots filling the lobby, whether married or unmarried, each had eyes flashing with a thousand watts of power!

Except for Zhou Xiaoru...

She was currently busy using her spoon, eating one mouthful of soup, then one mouthful of rice.

The chili added to this broth-based casserole really made the rice go down well; she planned to go buy another bowl of rice later, as this rice bowl was just too small!

She felt that her own gaping maw could swallow the bowl whole!

Du Feng would lift his head from time to time to glance at the person buried in their meal...

It is said that in interpersonal relationships, first impressions are very important.

Whether one is pleasing to the eye or not determines not only whether two people can become good friends, but it is the same among the opposite sex as well...

Du Feng just felt that Zhou Xiaoru was a girl who was quite pleasing to his eyes...

On the other side, Su Poyang and Gu Liyan arrived one after the other at a window to order food; they seemed to have already grown accustomed to such various chasing gazes.

After the brief commotion, everyone went back to eating their own meals, with the female comrades occasionally casting a few infatuated, lovesick glances...

And the male comrades...

Aside from envy, jealousy, and hatred, they all wished they were the male lead being followed by such various gazes.

Gu Liyan, as usual, first took a rough look around the lobby.

After picking up his food, he scanned the lobby in a large circle again, looking as if he were searching for a seat to eat,

Or perhaps...

Searching for someone...

Su Poyang, who was at his side and also carrying his picked-up meal, cleared his throat and said deliberately, "Who are you looking for this time?"

When coming to the restaurant to eat yesterday and the day before, he had also been in this state.

Su Poyang couldn't help but secretly rejoice in his heart; he still claimed not to be interested in Zhou Xiaoru, yet these past few days he felt his cold cousin was just one step away from charging straight into the Personnel Department...

Let's see how long he can hold it in...

Over here, Zhou Xiaoru threw the last mouthful of rice into her mouth and was just preparing to go buy a second serving when Du Feng's hand already reached over.

"I'll go help you buy it; I'm familiar with the auntie serving rice at the fast-food window, so we don't have to wait in line."

Zhou Xiaoru saw that the tray in front of him was already mostly finished, and she waved her hands repeatedly to decline.

"No need, you can leave once you're done; you don't have to wait for us." The other two male colleagues who had been eating with him earlier had already left.

Du Feng still insisted, "It's fine, look at how many people are in line; by the time you buy your food, this soup will have gone cold."

Zhang Yao, who was at the side, also chimed in after watching the two for a while.

"That's right, just let Du Feng go buy it; colleagues should help each other."

For some reason, Zhang Yao's last sentence sounded inexplicably suggestive to Zhou Xiaoru's ears.

Too embarrassed to refuse again, she had no choice but to hand her clean rice bowl to the kind Brother Du.

As soon as Du Feng left, Zhang Yao immediately went into gossip-reporter mode, "Hey, you and Du Feng..."

Zhou Xiaoru turned her head and saw that familiar expression on Zhang Yao's face...

It was exactly the same as the few idiots in her dormitory!

"Don't blindly YY; it's not what you think." She hadn't been at Tengyuan for long, and her office chair hadn't even warmed up yet; how could she possibly have anything going on with Du Feng?

"I've been at Tengyuan for over a year, and I've never seen Du Feng ask anyone from the Personnel Department to eat with him."

"Are you very close with him?"

"It's alright; he used to be in the Technology Department and often had contact with the Personnel Department. By the way, this new President Gu is really not just ordinarily handsome!"

As she spoke, she craned her neck, looking toward Gu Liyan, who seemed to be sitting on the other side of the world, separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, while eating.

Zhou Xiaoru couldn't help but curl her lips and mutter, "Handsome can't be eaten as a meal."

Zhang Yao continued to look into the distance, infatuated, "Don't you think President Gu is exceptionally handsome? If I could face such a handsome face every day, I wouldn't even need to eat."

Zhou Xiaoru, "...................." This lovesickness disease was not just ordinarily severe; it needed to be cured!

On the other side, at a table with only two people, Su Poyang was eating while chatting from time to time.

"I say, Little Yanyan, we're about to enter the 5G era; if you're interested in someone, be more proactive." Seeing him hold it in and bottle it up like this, he found it uncomfortable just to watch.

Gu Liyan's eating motion paused, and he lifted his eyes to glare at the person opposite him, "What nonsense are you spouting!"

Su Poyang tactfully shut his mouth and continued eating...

At this moment, Du Feng, who had already gotten his food, happened to pass by the table where they were eating...

Whether it was intentional or unintentional, Su Poyang casually said, "Isn't this your assistant? Seems his name is Du Feng, right? How come he doesn't even say hello when he sees you, his superior?"

Upon hearing this name, Gu Liyan's handsome eyes sank, and subconsciously, he turned his head to look in the direction Du Feng had left...

With this look, he instantly captivated a vast ocean of infatuated girls behind him...

One could see the handsome President Gu's face and eyes growing darker and darker as they followed the position where Du Feng sat down.

Su Poyang also curiously followed his gaze and looked over...

When he saw the person sitting and eating with Du Feng, he couldn't help but feel another burst of joy in his heart...