The next day, I got up early and hurriedly had breakfast. Then, I took the completed renovation plan and ran between various decoration companies, comparing and screening them.

By the afternoon, I had visited eight of the larger decoration companies in the city. After I explained the urgency of the project, they all promised to provide me with a renovation budget within two days. After the budget was out, I would need to do further screening. However, the actual start of the renovation might be five days later, which was obviously more optimistic than my previous estimate of starting within three days. This also showed my lack of relevant experience. Whether it’s starting a business or running one, one should not be overly optimistic, as there are too many unpredictable and uncontrollable emergencies.

After finishing the negotiations with the decoration companies, it was just past 5 p.m. I remembered that Mi Cai had asked me to cook lunch for her last night, but I had refused. Now that I had time, I decided to make dinner for her as compensation.

I immediately called Mi Cai. It took her a while to answer, and her tone was still very rushed: “Hello, what’s up?”

Usually, when Mi Cai spoke to me in this tone, it meant she was busy at work. But wasn’t it the weekend? I immediately asked with confusion: “Are you at the office?”

“Yes, do you need something?” Mi Cai responded without explaining why she was at the office on the weekend.

I guessed that Mi Cai probably wouldn’t have time to come for dinner, so I said: “No, I just called to tease you!”

“Boring!”

“I didn’t know you had to work on weekends…”

Before I could finish my sentence, Mi Cai had already hung up the phone. As always, she was disgusted with my boring behavior.

Putting the phone back in my pocket, a thought suddenly flashed in my mind. Although Mi Cai didn’t have time to come home for dinner, I could cook and deliver it to her office. Although I had repeatedly rejected her in business, I was willing to take the best care of her in life. I believed that the dinner I made with care would definitely taste better than a working meal.

After making the decision, I immediately went to the supermarket to buy some vegetables and fruits. When I got home, I started to get busy. It took me more than an hour to finish cooking. By the time I finished, it was already dark. I was afraid that Mi Cai might have already eaten if I went too late, so I quickly packed the food into a thermal box and rushed to Zhuomei as fast as I could.

When I arrived, I chose a restaurant downstairs of Zhuomei and called Mi Cai again. This time, she answered the phone quickly, but her tone was even more impatient: “Zhao Yang, I’m working and don’t have time to fool around with you.”

I didn’t care about Mi Cai’s impatience and asked with a smile: “Have you eaten yet?”

“No.”

“I knew you hadn’t eaten. I made food for you.”

“Ah!… But I don’t have time to go home now.”

“That’s okay, I’ve brought it to you. I’m at a restaurant downstairs of Zhuomei. You have time to come down for dinner, right?”

Mi Cai thought for a moment and said: “It’s not good to occupy a seat in someone else’s restaurant without ordering anything. You can bring it to my office.”

“Is that convenient?” I asked in surprise, but I was hoping that Mi Cai would say it was convenient because I really wanted to see her workplace.

“It’s okay. It’s the weekend, not normal working hours. I’ll have my assistant come to meet you in the office area.”

I said “okay” and hung up the phone, then left the restaurant with the thermal box and ran into Zhuomei Shopping Center and took the elevator with the crowd.

When I arrived at Zhuomei’s office area, sure enough, a woman was waiting for me at the visitor registration desk. Before I could confirm whether she was Mi Cai’s assistant, she said to me: “You must be Mr. Zhao Yang, Mi’s friend, right?”

“Correct, you have good eyesight. You recognized me at a glance. Is it because I’m too distinctive, like being suave and charming?” I joked with Mi Cai’s female assistant.

The female assistant smiled and said: “I recognized you at a glance because I’ve seen you before. That time when I was on a field trip with Mi, I saw you enter a women’s lingerie store, so I have a deep impression!”

“Can you not emphasize that it’s women’s? It makes me sound like I have a special fetish… I was desperate that day and entered there because I had no other choice!”

The female assistant laughed again and said to me: “You’re quite humorous. No wonder our Mi is willing to be friends with you.”

“Do you mean if I’m not humorous, she won’t be friends with me? You should dig deeper into my inner qualities, not just stay on this superficial level.”

The female assistant nodded repeatedly, then led me to Mi Cai’s office. Along the way, she used the work card that only the general manager had the authority to use to open several doors before we finally arrived at the general manager’s office. This made me marvel at Zhuomei’s strict management. Even for people inside Zhuomei, it would be difficult to see Mi Cai if they were not really high-level.

The female assistant knocked on the door and said: “Mi, Mr. Zhao Yang is here.”

Mi Cai’s voice came from inside: “Come in.”

The female assistant opened the door for me and made a gesture for me to go in. Her work ethic was impeccable. I wanted to chat with her a bit more, like asking if she had a boyfriend or how much her monthly salary was, but she left first.

I walked into Mi Cai’s office with the thermal box and was immediately dazzled by its size. The office was over a hundred square meters. I had never seen such a grand and spacious office before, which made me appreciate Zhuomei’s strength even more. It was indeed the number one department store in Suzhou, truly impressive!

At this time, Mi Cai was working on her computer. I put the thermal box on the coffee table and asked her: “Do you have time to eat now?”

“Yes, I’ll be done soon.” Mi Cai responded.

I took this opportunity to open the thermal box and set up the bowl and chopsticks for her. Mi Cai finally came over to me, looked at the food on the table, and said: “It looks very sumptuous!”

“Of course it is. It took me more than an hour. You should start eating.”

Mi Cai sat down next to me. I handed her the chopsticks, and she asked with confusion: “Aren’t you eating?”

“I only brought one set of bowl and chopsticks. You eat first, I’ll eat when I get back.” After saying this, I got up and walked towards Mi Cai’s desk, wanting to experience what it felt like to be a CEO.

Sitting in the spacious and comfortable office chair, looking around with a serious gaze, I really felt like a person in power, and couldn’t help but exclaim, “It must be nice to be in upper management!”

“Is it?” Mi Cai asked indifferently.

“Of course it is. You know, the office chair I used to sit in at work was so small that it felt cramped if someone with a slightly larger bottom sat in it. It’s nothing compared to the hardware in your general manager’s office!”

Mi Cai was in a good mood and laughed, “Is the office environment at Bao Li as bad as you say?”

“It definitely can’t compare to your Zhuo Mei.”

Mi Cai didn’t respond to my comment, she lowered her head and continued eating. Out of boredom, I opened her desk drawer and couldn’t help but laugh. It turned out that the seemingly indifferent her had such a side.