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墨書 Inktalez
Zhou Xuanyu glared at Junxi as she pulled her suitcase into the house, closing the door behind her without a glance back. The corridor was enveloped in a suffocating silence and darkness.
He stood there for a moment longer before turning to leave.
"Mr. Zhou, where to next?" the driver asked once he got into the car.
"Back to the hospital," he replied.
"Understood."
As the car turned around and drove out of the alley, the light on the third floor flickered on, but Zhou Xuanyu did not see the woman standing behind the curtains, watching him intently.
The hospital was brightly lit. Upon entering, Zhou Xuanyu did not head towards Zhou Ziyan's ward. He understood that what Zhou Ziyan needed was time and space, not repeated words of comfort from everyone.
He walked directly towards the doctor's office.
Jason was about to finish his shift; he had just taken off his white coat when he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in," he said, and the door opened to reveal Zhou Xuanyu standing outside, bathed in a cool light.
"Are you about to leave?" Zhou Xuanyu asked.
"Yes. But since you're here, you might as well stay a little longer," Jason replied, hanging his lab coat on a rack before turning to pull out a chair for Zhou Xuanyu.
As Zhou Xuanyu sat down, he glanced around the office. It was a single-person office, relatively spacious and tidy.
"Are you getting used to it?" he asked.
"Pretty good, I'm quite used to it." Jason was someone who could easily adapt to any situation.
"I'm really sorry to have called you back specifically."
"Ken, given our relationship, you don't need to say such formalities." Jason patted Zhou Xuanyu's shoulder. "If we're talking about being sorry, I have my own reasons too. I rushed over here with such fanfare, yet I can't help at all. Zhou Ziyan's leg still needs to be dealt with as it should."
"You can't blame yourself for that. Just your presence is already a huge help."
"Has Zhou Ziyan's mood improved?"
"Yes. He has accepted the proposal for surgery next week."
Jason couldn't help but give a thumbs up. "It seems that the girl named Junxi has quite an influence on Zhou Ziyan!"
Zhou Xuanyu fell silent; even Jason could see how special Junxi was to Zhou Ziyan, and he couldn't pretend not to notice.
"Is it her?" Jason suddenly asked out of the blue.
"What?"
"The woman who is very special to you, it's her, right?" Jason's sapphire-like eyes sparkled under the light, captivating and leaving no room for escape.
Zhou Xuanyu came back to his senses and realized that Jason's two statements of "it's her" were both affirmations.
"Don't talk nonsense."
Jason shrugged, his mouth drooping slightly. "It's not me saying it. It's still Lin..."
"Jason, that's enough." Zhou Xuanyu interrupted him.
Although Jason was straightforward, he also knew when to read the room.
He knew that revealing someone's scars was unethical, and prying into gossip was unappealing. Yet he couldn't help but ask, "Ken, did a woman bite your lips?"
This time, it was phrased as a question.
Zhou Xuanyu paused for a moment, raising his hand to touch the scar on his lip. The bleeding had stopped, but the scar still hurt; every movement of his lips sent a jolt of pain through him.
How could that little woman be so heartless?
What did she mean by this? They had spent three harmonious days together, only for her to bite him at the last moment... Women's thoughts were truly hard to decipher.
"I accidentally bit myself," Zhou Xuanyu replied.
Jason chuckled, a knowing smile on his face as he said, "Ken, you really are getting more careless."
A wave of frustration washed over Zhou Xuanyu, prompting him to stand up.
"Let's go grab a drink."
Junxi, a junior translator, had been away from the office for a few days, and work had piled up like a mountain. Not to mention the busy schedule of their president, Zhou Xuanyu.
The next day, Zhou Xuanyu arrived early at the office to handle emails, with meetings packed tightly throughout the day.
Having been away for several days and wanting to avoid any disconnect with his subordinates, he personally chaired the morning meeting.
When Junxi and Xiaolin entered the conference room with their notebooks, there were still five minutes until the meeting officially began. Xiaolin mentioned that Mr. Zhou's style was to have everyone present five minutes early, during which they could discuss anything.
Junxi was still trying to grasp what exactly "discuss anything" meant when Zhou Xuanyu and Galen walked in.
"Hey, Mr. Zhou, what happened to your lips?" someone chimed in with curiosity.
Zhou Xuanyu's thumb brushed over the scar on his lip. He had noticed it had scabbed over when he washed his face that morning, but it still throbbed with pain when touched.
"What do you think?" Zhou Xuanyu joked lightly with the gossiping department manager.
"I think someone bit you."
The meeting room erupted with muffled laughter.
"Mr. Zhou must have had some romantic encounters last night."
Someone chimed in, completely igniting the atmosphere in the room.
Zhou Xuanyu smiled without responding, his gaze sweeping around the conference table. When it landed on Junxi, he didn’t linger for even a second.
"Alright, the meeting is starting."
Galen's timely voice cut through the restless energy, bringing silence to the room.
Everyone quieted down instantly.
For some reason, Junxi felt like laughing.
She lifted her gaze to Zhou Xuanyu. He was flipping through the meeting materials, methodically guiding the flow of the discussion. His demeanor suggested he was well-acquainted with everything, completely unlike someone who hadn’t been in the office for several days.
In contrast to his focus, she felt somewhat distracted.
Junxi stared at his lips; the scar made his thin lips appear fuller. She realized she might have been a bit too rough last night.
In that moment, she didn’t think about anything else; all she wanted was for him to feel a little pain. After all, pain is often more unforgettable than pleasure.
It was her oversight. How could someone like him, always under the spotlight, bear such an ambiguous scar? She could already guess what kind of rumors would be spun in the following days.
The meeting lasted nearly an hour, and as Zhou Xuanyu put down his pen to announce its conclusion, his gaze naturally fell on Junxi.
"Wen Junxi, stay for a moment," he said casually.
Junxi paused in the act of closing her notebook.
Xiaolin and the others exchanged knowing glances at Junxi. Just before the morning meeting, they had jokingly asked her if her trip to Italy had brought her closer to Mr. Zhou. She had firmly denied it. But now that Zhou Xuanyu suddenly wanted her to stay behind, it left room for misinterpretation.
"Please pull up the email with Gino's quotation," he added, seemingly aware of her discomfort, speaking in a tone everyone could hear.
"Yes," Junxi replied, relieved.
One by one, the people in the conference room filed out until only the two of them remained.
Though it was just a normal work exchange, Junxi felt a bit tense. Her mouse moved up and down in her hand as she struggled to find the email she had received that morning.
"Have you found it?" Zhou Xuanyu asked after a moment.
"I found it."
Junxi maximized the email window and turned the screen toward Zhou Xuanyu.
"Take a look and see if there are any issues with these two price terms," he pointed to the numbers one and five.
"There are no issues; I've reviewed the contract, and it's stated that way."
Through these past few days of translation work, Junxi had become well-acquainted with the terms in the contract and all relevant information regarding Gino. She was confident that no matter what question Zhou Xuanyu asked, she would be able to handle it effortlessly.
Zhou Xuanyu nodded, staring at his laptop screen, remaining silent for a while.
"Mr. Zhou, is there anything else?" Junxi looked at him.
"Come here." He patted the spot next to him, signaling Junxi to bring her computer over.
Junxi obediently complied.
"What does this email mean?" Zhou Xuanyu pointed to one of the emails in Italian and asked her.
Junxi glanced at the sender, then at the recipient and the CC list, confirming that she hadn't received this email in the morning.
Since she hadn't seen the email, she couldn't immediately translate its contents for Zhou Xuanyu.
"Just a moment."
Junxi said as she leaned closer to Zhou Xuanyu's screen. Her eyesight wasn't great, and her glasses were left on her desk outside.
Zhou Xuanyu felt a sweet fragrance wafting toward him. When he looked up, Junxi's face was already right in front of his.
She was intently studying the Italian text on the screen, her red lips moving as if she needed to softly read the words aloud to remember them.
Zhou Xuanyu unabashedly gazed at her.
Her face was lightly powdered, making her look even more radiant. From this angle, he could see her full earlobe and the tiny black dot on it.
That was her ear piercing.
Zhou Xuanyu remembered that when Junxi was very young, her mother took her to get her ears pierced. At that time, she had no idea what purpose the piercing would serve as she grew older. All she knew was that it hurt—she cried all the way home.
He happened to be there that day and saw her come back in tears. He picked her up and comforted her. Despite his efforts, she continued to cry for quite some time.
Zhou Ziyan laughed at her, calling her a "crybaby." She huffed and buried her face deeper into his neck, leaning against his shoulder as she retorted sulkily, "Zhou Ziyan, you haven't taken those two shots, so of course you don't know how it feels. But someone like you, a coward, wouldn't dare to take a hit."
"Who are you calling a coward? You're the one!"
Zhou Ziyan rushed over and grabbed Junxi's leg, trying to pull her down for a playful fight. Yet, these two people who were always at odds with each other, creating chaos whenever they met—when did they become so close?
Junxi had said yesterday that Zhou Ziyan was someone very important to her.
Very important—just how important?
Surely, more important than him.
"This is a thank-you letter from Gino addressed to you alone."
Junxi suddenly spoke up, pulling Zhou Xuanyu back to reality. He responded with a soft "mm," signaling her to continue.
"Gino thanked you for personally going to Italy to see him. He mentioned that Lanxin was still thinking about us yesterday and invited us to visit Italy again anytime; he promised to treat us warmly." After finishing, she added, "Lanxin is really kind."
"I really want to go to Italy again."
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