On the evening of the last day of the May Day holiday, the city lights began to turn on.
Zhao Chen made an appointment with Shen Zhiyi to a French restaurant on the top floor of the financial center.
The view here is excellent, Floor-to-Ceiling Window is surrounded by bright river views and urban neon lights, and the environment is private and elegant.
Shen Zhiyi specially wore a decent little skirt, with a look of excitement on her face that could not be concealed.
The evening breeze blew in through the restaurant terrace, bringing just the right amount of coolness.
Shen Zhiyi stuttered at the signature Soufflé that Zhao Chen ordered for her, her eyes narrowed happily, and she began to share anecdotes about the holiday.
"I'm telling you, Zhou Xiaowen is serious this time."
She lowered her voice, with a bit of excitement like best friends sharing secrets,
"Her childhood sweetheart has been on and off countless times in the past. This time she blocked all his contact information for the first time. She even packaged up the things he had given him and sent them back, saying, 'If you break it off, you will have to break it off completely'!"
Zhao Chen smiled and cut the steak, and asked cooperatively, "Oh? So decisive? Then she is now..."
"She is now,"
Shen Zhiyi deliberately prolonged his tone and glanced at him with a playful light in his eyes.
"I kept yelling in the dormitory all day long, saying, 'If the old ones don't go away, the new ones won't come in.'"
Her goal in life in the future is to closely follow your footsteps as 'Your Majesty', work hard to obtain the establishment of 'side room', and help me, the 'main palace', take care of the backyard, and guard against other 'wild flowers'!"
After saying that, she couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Look at how charming you are, how charming you are. You have all the living treasures in our dormitory so fascinated."
Zhao Chen shook his head and laughed, jokingly:
"Then you, the 'main palace', must be carefully guarded. The harem is very tight and we must select the best."
"What a beautiful idea!" Shen Zhiyi glared at him with a sweet look on his face, his cheeks were slightly red, but his heart was sweet.
She likes him who is so relaxed and playful, as if he has peeled off the heavy shell that dominated Board of Directors and is just her excellent boyfriend with a little bad intentions.
She also mentioned that Li Jing went to Dali during the vacation, and Chen Shuhua plunged into a financial data modeling competition.
"I feel like everyone is so energetic and working hard on the things they like."
She held her chin and looked at Zhao Chen with bright eyes,
"What about you? During the holidays... didn't you get much rest?"
"I processed some documents and met with two people, so it's not too busy."
Zhao Chen walked over briefly and placed the cut steak in front of her.
"Try this, the heat is good."
The topics flowed in a relaxed atmosphere, ranging from interesting school stories to vacation experiences, from recently watched movies to evaluations of a dish.
Shen Zhiyi spoke with great joy. Zhao Chen listened quietly most of the time, occasionally responded with a few words, and his eyes fell gently on her face.
He enjoyed this rare leisure and unreserved sharing with the people in front of him, which allowed him to temporarily escape from the intense calculations for days.
However, gradually, Shen Zhiyi keenly noticed a difference.
When she told the embarrassing story about how she tried to bake cookies but ended up burning them, Zhao Chen smiled, but the smile didn't seem to sink deeply into her eyes like usual, instead it was like a layer of mist floating on the surface.
His responses also became shorter, and sometimes there would be a delay of a second or two after she finished speaking, as if her thoughts needed to be pulled back from some distant place.
When she was describing the interesting shape of the new buds of the old banyan tree on campus, she saw Zhao Chen's eyes falling on a more empty place.
His fingers unconsciously and very lightly touched the base of the Red Wine cup. It was a small unconscious movement when he was thinking about a difficult problem.
Shen Zhiyi's voice slowly dropped.
She looked at his chiseled profile. Under the light of the gorgeous chandelier, it seemed to be covered with a layer of faint, imperceptible fatigue, and a kind of solemnity that she couldn't fully understand.
The sweetness and excitement that had filled my heart before were quietly mixed with a slight hint of worry.
He was clearly listening to her, but it seemed as if a part of his soul had withdrawn and went to a world beyond her reach, full of decisions, pressures and unknown variables.
In that world, something important may be happening or about to happen, which affects his mind.
She stopped talking about the banyan tree, took a sip from the water glass, and then asked softly:
"Are you... have something on your mind?"
Her voice was not loud, but clear enough, with careful inquiry and unconcealed concern.
"Is it the company's problem? Or...Rights Issue's things are not going well?"
Cruise Ship outside the window sounded the whistle, and a long sound came faintly.
Zhao Chen As if being recalled by this voice, or rather by her words, he turned his head and met the unfaltering worry in her clear eyes.
The area in her heart occupied by all kinds of cold data and game strategies seemed to be smoothed by the warmth in her eyes.
He shook his head and his expression returned to his usual calmness, even with a hint of comfort:
"It's okay. I need to think about some trivial follow-up arrangements. Sorry, I was distracted just now."