Chapter 55

Su Tao patiently explained and apologized, "Zheng Bai of Kao Number has a very good project, and just happened to not find an investor. She was rejected by Wu Xie Yu. I was thinking this drama could make money, so I directly gave her your phone number. I didn't think about the issue of you not wanting your personal number leaked. It was inconsiderate of me. Let me call her and ask her not to do that. You can also directly discuss this project with her using my phone."

Xie Jin: "..."

He let out a deep breath, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and his pounding heart finally returned to normal.

"So it was you who gave my number. Since you gave it, it's fine for you to give my number to whoever you want."

"Next time I'll ask for your consent first." Su Tao still felt apologetic. She should have considered things more comprehensively.

Xie Jin spoke righteously, correcting her thinking, "Little Taozi, from now on you need to develop an awareness. All of my everything, you can dispose of however you want, give to whoever you want... except for me."

Su Tao looked at Xie Jin speaking these words with a straight face, and couldn't help laughing out loud. She reached out and pinched his cheeks, shaking them, "How can you be so cute?"

Xie Jin's fair cheeks were pinched slightly red, but he was unaware. He still had a straight face saying, "Be serious, I'm speaking sincerely."

Su Tao laughed even more merrily, joking, "Okay, I'll obey!"

Xie Jin hooked his lips into a smile, grabbed her fair little hands that were up to no good on his face, and held them in his hand, "Then call her. Since you recommended her, I'll discuss it properly with her."

Su Tao called Zheng Bai back. She picked up and even deliberately turned on speakerphone.

After simply explaining the situation, Zheng Bai said she would send Xie Jin an analysis of the project.

Su Tao immediately went to the living room to take out her laptop and logged into her email, asking Zheng Bai to send it to her email.

Sitting down with Xie Jin, who had followed her to the living room sofa, she glanced up slightly. Seeing how enthusiastic Little Taozi was, she carefully looked at the analysis of this project.

The analysis included online subscription data, sales data for published books, and various market research results.

With Xie Jin's perspective, purely standing from a businessman's position, this data analysis did meet the basic conditions for a hit project.

"We can discuss it. Contact my assistant Jin Chuiwen directly and arrange a time to discuss the details."

Zheng Bai's excited voice came through, "Great, thank you so much Boss Xie, thank you so much Su Tao."

After hanging up the phone, Xie Jin rubbed Su Tao's head and teased in a low chuckle, "Our little Taozi has grown up and knows how to earn money for her own company."

Su Tao's expression froze for a moment. Zheng Bai's "Boss Lady Tianjin" suddenly came to mind, and her face flushed red, as if it had touched a nerve. Words slipped out without thinking, "I've never thought about being Boss Lady Tianjin."

Xie Jin's smile froze, the corners of his mouth slowly drooping. His pitch black eyes took on a hint of gloom, his brow slightly furrowed, "You don't want to be Boss Lady Tianjin, meaning you don't want to marry me?"

What Su Tao blurted out wasn't exactly accurate.

She just meant that she had never thought of Tianjin as her asset, just as she had never coveted the family property.

Since she was little, she had only ever wanted to earn what she deserved, never being the least bit greedy.

This thinking had taken firm root five years ago. Her father didn't love her and her mother, so she had no right to the family property. She shouldn't have extravagant hopes.

This feeling had accompanied her growth, taking deep root.

So the two phrases "earning money for her own company" and "Boss Lady Tianjin" immediately set off alarm bells in her mind.

Reminding her, other people's things don't belong to you, you have no right to possess anything others struggled to attain.

Even the closest relatives and lovers shouldn't.

"I didn't say I don't want to marry you," Su Tao hurried to explain, seeing that Xie Jin misunderstood. "What I mean is that ever since I've been with you, I've never thought about your assets. In the future when we get married, we can do a prenuptial agreement first, which is fair for both sides."

Xie Jin's expression was growing darker and darker, with no sign of improvement despite her explanation. His voice was hoarse, and there were traces of mist in his dark bright eyes, "A prenup? You want to separate things so clearly with me? Isn't the essence of a prenup for divorce in the future, to avoid damaging the interests of the one with more assets? Little Taozi, you really think for me, even thinking through what to do after divorce."

He bit out the word "divorce" heavily, his low husky voice choking up.

"I'm not saying I want to divorce you," Su Tao said anxiously, not even married yet but already talking divorce, "look at the money issue rationally, without involving emotions."

"Little Taozi, all of mine, including myself, is yours. How can you ask me to not involve emotions and do a prenup with you? I can't accept it."

For the first time, Xie Jin didn't wait for Su Tao and directly went upstairs, leaving her with a proud yet sad back view.

Su Tao: "..."

She chased after him. Xie Jin was sitting in the single seat sofa in the master bedroom, facing the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the street lights outside, integrating his temperament into the night.

Su Tao gently hugged him from behind, pressing her face against his, persuading gently, "I didn't mean I want to separate things clearly or get divorced. I just don't want to get involved with you on money issues, I feel burdened."

"Then let's get married next month." Xie Jin turned his head sideways, his lips brushing her cheek as he looked at her.

Su Tao straightened up a little, still speaking gently, "Don't mess around, there's no time next month. Let's talk about it next year."

Xie Jin's gaze darkened again. Pushing her hand away, he stood up, his disappointed tone tinged with a hint of grievance, "Little Taozi, do you even want to marry me at all?"

"It's not that. Next month is too rushed. Besides, why the hurry to get married? It's just a certificate, will having it or not affect our feelings?"

"It will!" Xie Jin said decisively, his eyes rimmed red, "I'm afraid you'll disappear again, afraid I won't be able to find you again..."

Su Tao's words stuck in her throat as she looked at him heart-achingly.

She suddenly understood that she had been speaking rationally while he was speaking emotionally.

The year she left did hurt him greatly, leaving him with a shadow difficult to smooth over.

She should give him some sense of security.

He was Xie Jin, the man who loved her wholeheartedly, not those so-called relatives from her childhood family.

The shadows of her childhood shouldn't be used to hurt those who loved her.

"Alright, let's not do the prenup. Don't be angry." Su Tao walked up and hugged him from behind, leaning her head on his straight back, conceding gently.

Xie Jin: "Then let's get married next month."

Su Tao: "..."

Was he going to repeat this over and over?

Su Tao: "Next month really is too rushed. I'm not ready yet."

Xie Jin closed his eyes, pushed her hands away again. His expression was tragic, tears in his despairing eyes, "You just don't want to marry me, right?"

Having said that, he locked himself in the bathroom. The sound of water came on as he added to his own tragic drama.

Su Tao: "..."

Did he take up the script of a tragic female lead?

Waiting for her to chase after him to his cremation?

No sooner had one wave subsided than another rose. In the past few days, the solo song rehearsal video Jiang Qi took before the DG promotional event was leaked.

From the video you could see he was depressed the whole time. At the chorus, there were tears in his eyes as he sang the second half in a crying voice.

Because of his previous scandal with Su Tao, everyone matched up the timeline. His rehearsal time matched the time Su Tao posted on Weibo and the intimate photos with Xie Jin.

Fans defended, saying Jiang Qi had strong performing skills, and was moved to tears while performing the song itself, which was why he cried.

And the song was about unrequited love...

Even as they defended, fans couldn't defend it anymore.

The song content plus the timeline of the photos, it was too obvious!

The bathroom still had the sound of tragic water flowing. The video had the low murmurs of the sorrowful song.

Su Tao helplessly pinched her brow. What were these two trying to do? Making her seem like a scumbag.

Ever since the last DG promotional event, Jiang Qi had been depressed. Every night he got drunk with Le Xuan, and finally caught a cold.

Su Tao called Le Xuan with an interrogating phone call. She peeked at Jiang Qi who was standing on the balcony, throwing his head back to drink a can of beer. She turned her back, muttered under her nose while taking all the blame on herself in a low voice.

"Yes, boss. It's my fault. I was negligent. Alright, you can punish me however you want. Why don't you deduct my bonus?"

After hanging up Su Tao's phone, Le Xuan sucked her slightly blocked nose. Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, Jiang Qi's half-drunk voice sounded faintly behind her, "Did she call?"

Le Xuan was so frightened that she looked back sharply. She turned her head so quickly that her head, which was dizzy due to the cold, throbbed and gave her a feeling of vertigo.

Her shoulder was held to steady her until the vertigo dissipated. When her vision focused, she saw it was Jiang Qi, probably worried that she would faint, so he supported her.

Jiang Qi's clear eyes were slightly blurred with drunkenness. He looked at Le Xuan and asked, "It's clearly my fault for not listening to you and asking you to drink with me when you're sick. Why didn't you snitch on me but took all the blame yourself?"

Le Xuan grinned cheerfully and said seemingly carefreely, "We are good buddies. It's no big deal to take the rap for you. Besides, my boss wouldn't really punish me."

The door to the balcony was not closed. Le Xuan sneezed heavily twice in succession. Her eyes instantly misted over with tears, looking watery.

Jiang Qi chuckled lightly and rubbed her windswept short hair with a slightly disgusted ridicule, "You're sick, and somehow look a bit girly, but your hair is a mess like a chicken nest?"

Jiang Qi turned to pour her some hot water. When his back was to her, Le Xuan dropped her carefree smile and secretly tidied her hair.

The extreme cold air at the top floor of Tianjin headquarters invaded again.

The office, which was permeated with a festive atmosphere everywhere as if celebrating the upcoming new year, returned to the cold and solemn days of the last month of winter.

In the conference room, the source of the extreme cold glared at his phone every five minutes. Each time he looked, his face turned colder by a minute. Finally, he slammed the phone on the table with a "thud", scaring the person who was reporting work, thinking he had said something wrong to anger the boss.

Fortunately, it was already the last department's report. Jin Chuiwen looked at the boss who was on the verge of collapse and cautiously asked, "Boss, every department has reported. Shall we adjourn the meeting?"

Xie Jin stared at the phone he had slammed on the table with gloomy eyes and dark complexion. He lightly waved his slender fingers. Jin Chuiwen immediately adjourned the meeting.

When almost everyone had left, Xie Jin finally called Jin Chuiwen to stay and spoke as if to himself, "She hasn't called me all day."

Jin Chuiwen looked at his watch.

It was only ten o'clock now. He came to the company at nine, so it had only been an hour since she called!

"She must be angry. She must think I'm being unreasonable. I should have backed down when she gave me a way out yesterday."

Instead of waiting for her to coax him all the time.

Xie Jin buried his face in his hands in distress, feeling that he had made a terrible mistake.

Jin Chuiwen: "..."

He was used to seeing his boss act pricelessly like this and was momentarily at a loss for words to mock him.

Anyway, the boss who had made up with his wife was becoming more and more human. He was no longer afraid of him at all. Instead, he pitied him from time to time.

After all, as a scumbag himself, he felt that a man who was held tightly by his wife was quite pitiful.

On the contrary, he was now afraid of the boss's wife.

He could imagine that if the boss's wife abandoned the boss again, Tianjin would have to revert to hell mode.

As a result, he now prayed every morning after getting up.

He prayed for the boss and boss's wife to live happily ever after.

While Jin Chuiwen was praying and mocking, the phone screen that had been thrown on the table suddenly lit up with a beep, and a message came in.

[Su Tao: Are we still having fish for dinner tonight?]

The phone that had just been abandoned instantly became a treasure, cherished in hand.

The corners of Xie Jin's mouth rose slightly. He wanted to smile but held it in, redialed the call in his deep voice, and said uncharacteristically sappy words, "You finally coaxed me."

How did she coax you? She was clearly asking about dinner.

Jin Chuiwen couldn't even watch it anymore.