Chapter 37.2 “Oh, our child is stable now?”

After delivering the plush bear and the cake, Ji Lin, who usually believes that time was money and even seconds should be charged, did not leave. He stood quietly beside the child and listened to him ramble on about the many little things that happened at school. The girl at the child’s desk fell in love with a boy and was rejected after confessing; the physics teacher got a new and particularly ugly haircut; the language teacher and the gym teacher fell in love; the two rabbits kept in the school botanical garden had a litter of bunnies; the hyacinths he planted bloomed …..

It was all trivial, and most parents don’t even have the patience to listen to their children through it all. Yet Ji Lin listened quietly, even though his face did not show any particular expression, no smile or hint of encouragement to continue. Although the emotion was muted and looked a little cold to the onlookers, for no reason at all, Bai Duanduan, who was hiding behind the bushes, felt that he was really listening seriously and not perfunctorily.

Ji Lin has a very contradictory aura about him. Sometimes cold and sometimes he gives the feeling of some subtle gentleness. Therefore even though he was full of a distant vibe he still can’t help but make people want to get closer, to see what kind of heart this man has under his cold exterior.

Although it was hot and stifling to hide in the bushes, Bai Duanduan felt happy inside as she listened to the chattering of the child outside the bushes and the occasional low answering voice of Ji Lin.

From the gap in the leaves, at this angle, she could clearly see Ji Lin’s handsome side face. Although she had always been aware of the impact of this man’s looks which was better than illusion, at that moment, she felt that Ji Lin seemed to have become a bit better looking again.

He was standing in the sunlight, his fair and healthy skin was coated with a layer of warm light. He was tall and straight, his eyebrows were almost in the golden ratio according to Bai Duanduan’s aesthetics, and for a moment, he made people feel a bit “god-like”  trance.

Bai Duanduan endured this inexplicable feeling of subtle inner excitement while enduring the attack of mosquitoes on her legs and finally, the conversation between Ji Lin and the child seemed to have come to an end.

The child waved a sweet farewell to Ji Lin, “Bye, Brother Ji Lin!”

Now Ji Lin has finally left. Just when Bai Duanduan was relieved and ready to come out of the bushes after the child had also left, the child turned back towards her and then she hears him put away the sweet accent he had just used before Ji Lin, and talk to her with an expressionless face —

“Sister, isn’t it hot for you to hide there?”

“….”

Bai Duanduan stepped out of the bushes with an embarrassed look on her face. She removed the leaves from her head and laughed dryly, “It’s okay, it’s okay, the air feels fresher here as the greenery is dense.”

The child gave Bai Duanduan a sly look, “Sister, is the air really fresh? But the men who play mahjong around here often secretly hide in these woods to pee.”

“….”

She couldn’t help but call this child cheeky in her heart….. In an instant Bai Duanduan felt that her whole body was not feeling good so she sniffed left and right and finally did not smell anything suspicious on herself, then she looked at the child again and said frankly, “I am just hiding here to eavesdrop on you guys.”

The child was taken aback, “Why are you eavesdropping on us?” He blinked, “Do you have a grudge against Brother Ji Lin?” ;

Bai Duanduan shook her head, “No.”

“Then are you a suitor of Brother Ji Lin and want to follow him to get close to him?”

“Neither.”

At that moment, Bai Duanduan finally finished patting the leaves on her body. She looked up and gave the child a toothy smile, “Because I have no inner quality.”

“……”

Bai Duanduan’s words were so deafening and justifiable that the child in front of her was stunned.

Bai Duanduan was about to fool the child and then slip away when she heard a low, familiar male voice from behind her —

“Bai Duanduan.”

Bai Duanduan turned around, only to find that Ji Lin had returned at some point. He looked like he had gone shopping again, carrying two large bags of things in his hands. Now the handsome man was frowning, saying word for word, “You’re teaching bad things to the child. I will deduct 500 from your salary.”

? ? ?

“No, Ji Lin, you can’t ……”

“I can.” Unfortunately, it seemed that Ji Lin already knew what Bai Duanduan wanted to argue for. He looked at Bai Duanduan and said without expression, “You want to say that your private life cannot be used as a criterion for deducting wages, and you want to accuse me for violating the labor law and deducting wages indiscriminately?”

He smiled with an expression of ‘let you die a clear death’, “You signed Sheng Lin’s employment contract when you joined the company, and article 145 of the contract states that any act that tarnishes Sheng Lin’s reputation is considered a disciplinary offense, and 500-1000 of your salary can be deducted at my discretion.”

“……”

Speaking of the employment contract, Bai Duanduan exploded, “You have 400 articles written in the employment contract! It’s thicker than the civil law textbook I had when I was in school, who would read it carefully? And Ji Lin, you’re toxic, aren’t you? Who would make such detailed rules? You just want to deduct money for this and that!”

She was less skilled than the others and didn’t pay much attention when signing the contract. Bai Duanduan could only give up her struggle and glance at the child, “Did you see that, little one? Your brother Ji Lin is right, you don’t have to feel sorry for him next time, his money earned is deducted from poor, miserable employees like me.”

“……”

“Besides, my child, it’s not right to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. Today I’m using practical action to tell you that if you eavesdrop, not only will you be embarrassed when you’re caught, you’ll also have your wages docked. Do you feel like you’ve learned the most important lesson of your life today?”

Ji Lin choked. He glanced at Bai Duanduan and pursed his lips. His tone of voice was so helpless that even he didn’t realize, “Forget it, money won’t be deducted, next time don’t eavesdrop.” He looked to the child at the side, “Li Meng, you go and get busy, your father should be looking for you later.”

The child nodded with bright eyes, “En! Bye then Brother Ji Lin! Thank you for the gift!” After he finished, he glanced at Bai Duanduan again, “See you too, sister with no qualities! Don’t eavesdrop next time!”

“……”

Bai Duanduan sadly watched the child leave before turning her eyes back to Ji Lin. She blinked, “Is it true that my salary won’t be deducted?”

“En.”

“Really?”

Ji Lin glanced at Bai Duanduan impatiently, “From the tone of yours it seems that you’re keen to be docked?”

“If you deduct my money to help the child, then I am willing to be deducted.”

Ji Lin snorted coldly, “Do you really think the little money I would gouge out of you will do much? It’s not like I’m short of that five hundred yuan.” He gave Bai Duanduan a look, “What’s more, if I take five hundred yuan out of you, according to your character, you’ll borrow a thousand back from me later.”

“….”

Bai Duanduan originally wanted to praise Ji Lin for his good nature and kindness towards others but now she couldn’t even talk about the weather anymore, not to mention complimenting him. Ji Lin also didn’t care about her existence so they walked in silence all the way to the home.

It was not until Bai Duanduan reached for the door of her house and was about to open it that Ji Lin finally called out to her.

Bai Duanduan was a bit confused, “Hmm?”

“This, for you.” Ji Lin pursed his lips, then handed her two bags, which were the very same two shopping bags that he had been carrying all the way.

But wasn’t this something that Ji Lin had deliberately gone back to the supermarket to buy on purpose? What was the meaning of giving them to herself?

Bai Duanduan hesitantly took it and opened it, only to find that the shopping bag was full of large packets of snacks, and with a quick scan of the brands of these snacks, Bai Duanduan was able to determine that they were all very expensive ……

“Didn’t you pick out a cart full of snacks that you didn’t end up buying?” Ji Lin frowned and turned his head sideways, “I don’t know what snacks you picked, but I bought all the high-priced snacks according to the price tag anyway.”

Ji Lin’s tone sounded a bit harsh, yet upon further discernment, that harshness seemed a bit of a bluff, and the unnaturalness within was the real deal.

Bai Duanduan looked at the two large bags of imported snacks and a sense of complete unreality surged through her heart, “So you went back specifically to pick out two bags of snacks for me?”

This time Ji Lin’s tone became even worse, and the unnaturalness between his eyebrows also intensified. He completely avoided Bai Duanduan’s gaze and said dryly, “I don’t like to owe favors to others.”

Ji Lin almost finished his sentence, and no longer looked at Bai Duanduan. He opened the door and went into his house. The whole action flowed smoothly, leaving Bai Duanduan with a cold back.

He looked completely indifferent, yet Bai Duanduan couldn’t help but smile when she looked at the two large bags of imported snacks in her hands. At that moment, she actually felt that Ji Lin was a little bit cute.

Suddenly, Bai Duanduan thought of mangosteens. This man, Ji Lin, was sometimes like a mangosteen, looking cold and hard on the outside, not at all like a delicious fruit, yet when the shell was peeled off, the inside was pure white, soft, juicy and sweet.

In fact she didn’t really care that she wasn’t able to buy the cart of snacks, but Ji Lin went back to buy them for her. He didn’t know anything about snacks, so he had to simply buy them at the marked price. Bai Duanduan roughly estimated that the man had spent two or three times the price of her original cart of snacks to buy two big bags. Not only had he clearly gone to buy these two big bags of snacks for herself, but he had carried them all the way without a word, and only tossed them to her when he reached the door.

That was a very small detail yet Bai Duanduan keenly captured it. Ji Lin, this man, sometimes really… makes Bai Duanduan….. don’t know how to describe it.

He was very stingy, he was not very stingy; he was very cold, he was not very cold… this contradictory man, in addition to his bad character, actually has a very gentle and considerate side in his heart.

Bai Duanduan sat on her sofa and unpacked the snacks that Ji Lin had bought for her. They were indeed all famous and expensive brands, but she didn’t want to eat them at all.

For some reason, at that moment, she suddenly wanted to eat mangosteen only.

The author has something to say:

Recently, I started coughing frantically, wondering if I was infected with Mycoplasma pneumoniae. As a result, I coughed until my lungs came out, and I had to endure the boss’s second-hand smoking at the office.

[Small Theater]

Reader @ Mikaan’s

Old auntie: she’s bleeding, it must be dead ……

Partner Ji: I had a baby without doing anything, and I lost it.……

Reader @ Eleven’s

Baby: I haven’t even been reincarnated yet and I’ve already been given a pre-emptive miscarriage by my mum. It’s so hard for me!

[Cut back to the workplace thread in the next chapter]