The familiar, faint scent of cedarwood from Lu Jingming reached her nose.
Xu Yanxia paused for a moment, then reached out to wrap her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest.
She asked him, "Have you been waiting long?"
"It's alright,"
he said gently from above her head. "I finished my meeting at eleven, got on the plane at twelve-thirty, left the airport before three, and arrived here a little past four."
"I've only been waiting for you for about two hours."
Only two hours or so?
Xu Yanxia felt a pang of sympathy. "That's half the day gone. If I had known, it would have been better for you to go home and rest first, then come over after I finished recording."
Little did she expect him to say, "If I were any later, wouldn't my girlfriend be drinking milk tea given by someone else?"
What in the world.
Xu Yanxia replied, "I would never."
"I know,"
he smiled and said, "I'm just teasing you."
Saying that, he lowered his head and kissed the top of her hair.
Then he heard Xu Yanxia ask, "Have you not eaten yet? You must be hungry, right?"
"I'm fine,"
Lu Jingming wanted to say that whatever fatigue or hunger he felt had long since vanished the moment he held her.
However, before he could open his mouth, a sudden commotion erupted outside the door—
First came the sound of things being smashed, making the floor thump loudly.
Then a woman roared furiously, "I work hard every day to make money! And you have the nerve to mess around outside!!!"
"I'll beat you to death, you heartless bastard!"
"I'm going to divorce you!!!"
...
"???"
Xu Yanxia froze, her eyes widening as she said, "Why does that sound like Mrs. Zhuang talking? What's going on? Are the couple fighting???"
As she spoke, she immediately slipped out of his embrace and pressed her ear against the crack of the door to eavesdrop.
Lu Jingming, "..."
Then the faint sound of a man's voice came from outside, "Someone is obviously setting us up, be reasonable, you crazy woman!!!"
The woman continued to yell angrily, "Is that photo fake??? Did someone force you to get a hotel room with that woman?!!"
"I'll kill you, you filthy man!!!"
This was immediately followed by another series of thumps, accompanied by the man's cries, "Help!!!"
"You crazy bitch..."
...
Crouching by the door, Xu Yanxia eavesdropped while sharing updates with him, "It seems the guy cheated? And someone took pictures?"
"Oh, I get it! I saw Mrs. Zhuang storming out of the studio earlier, she must have just received the photos of her husband! But who sent them to her?"
"..."
Seeing her so engrossed in the gossip, Lu Jingming simply pulled her over to sit on the sofa, took out his phone, unlocked the screen, and handed it to her, saying, "Take a look at this."
Xu Yanxia glanced at it, then immediately frowned and said, "Isn't this from last night when Brother Song came to find me?"
"Did someone secretly take a picture and send it to you?"
She paused, then came to a sudden realization, "It was that man surnamed Zhuang?"
"Exactly."
Lu Jingming nodded. "After we talked yesterday, I received this photo shortly after. I had someone look into it, and we tracked it down to him."
"This guy made a little money flipping electronic components in his early years, then used marketing to package himself as a wealthy man and started selling goods online to make money."
"Just as you said, they sell inferior, uncertified products from their own factories. It's not like there haven't been consumer complaints over the years, but they've mostly suppressed them with their marketing."
Hearing this, everything clicked for Xu Yanxia. "So, what Ye Shu mentioned earlier about them trending for being complained about... you did that?"
Lu Jingming didn't deny it. "If they can use underhanded tactics to get you trending, we can certainly do the same to them."
"Besides, we are doing a good deed."
"It is indeed a good deed,"
Xu Yanxia nodded immediately. "I actually reported them last night after discovering their shady dealings, but the effect definitely wouldn't have been as good as this. You have to know, their main consumer base is mothers. To make money, they use inferior products that harm young children's bodies. It's simply too wicked!"
"I have to thank you on behalf of all the mothers!"
Saying this, she leaned sideways, tilted her face up, and kissed him on the cheek.
Who knew that in the next second, Lu Jingming would pull her in by the waist.
He looked at her with deep, dark eyes and murmured, "Don't you know I've been holding back?"
Immediately after, he lowered his head and captured her lips.
Lingering, urgent, and gentle.
The kiss grew fiercer and deeper.
An unknown amount of time passed until, at a certain moment, nearing a certain edge, he struggled to release her as she tried to push him away.
"Baby,"
he rested his forehead against hers, struggling to calm down, and said in a low voice, "Waiting has been so hard on me."
Xu Yanxia's face was as red as blood, and she could only whisper back, "It'll be soon."
Saying this, she gently removed his hands and tried to sit to the side to put some distance between them.
Although she had not yet experienced intimacy between a man and a woman, just now... she seemed to have felt his physical reaction.
But then she heard him ask, "How much longer do you have to record?"
Xu Yanxia replied, "After finishing the last session in Rong City tomorrow, we'll rest for a day and then head straight to Yangzhou."
"Yangzhou?"
He was somewhat surprised.
She smiled and said, "Our Jiangnan competition is set in Yangzhou. What a coincidence, right?"
"It really is,"
he also smiled and asked, "Will the recording in Yangzhou take three days too?"
"Yeah,"
Xu Yanxia nodded. "The schedule is the same as this time."
"Then I'll try to take some time off to go accompany you,"
Lu Jingming said. "And I can show you around my grandfather's hometown while we're at it."
"Sounds great."
Xu Yanxia was about to nod when she saw him lean closer again, whispering in her ear, "Did you feel my muscles just now?"
What?
Xu Yanxia froze for a moment.
She saw him cough lightly and say, "I have abs too, do you want to feel them?"
With that, he took her hand and tried to place it on his stomach.
"..."
Xu Yanxia had finally processed what was happening. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry as she said, "You dummy, you don't actually think I like those muscle men, do you?"
"Of course not."
He said, "I just wanted to let you know that your boyfriend's physique is no worse than anyone else's."
And he's more handsome than others too.
"I know."
Xu Yanxia pulled her hand back, then tugged him up from the sofa. "Let's go, it's time to eat. They have a barbecue buffet here, let's go try it."
"Alright."
Lu Jingming sighed silently, stood up from the sofa, and followed her to the hotel's restaurant.
...
By the time they finished enjoying the barbecue buffet, the sky had grown dark.
Lu Jingming stayed with Xu Yanxia for a while longer. Seeing it was getting late, he bid her farewell and went home.
After resting for the night, he arrived at the company on time for work early the next morning as usual.
Wen Jiajun, who had returned from the business trip with him yesterday, looked a bit surprised to see him and said, "You were in such a rush to see your girlfriend yesterday, I thought you would be taking the day off today."
"Why would I?"
Lu Jingming said, "Taking a day off today is too early. I need to catch up on my work, and I'll take my leave in a few days."
Fair enough.
Wen Jiajun added, "I just happened to have something to tell you. There might be a problem with the German project. I received news last night that a local environmental organization is protesting, claiming our project site involves heavy metal pollution from World War II. The progress might have to be put on hold."
"Heavy metal pollution?"
Lu Jingming couldn't help but frown. "How is that possible? Didn't the initial research say the nearby area is an agricultural production zone? Their local regulations are so strict. If there really was heavy metal pollution, how could they grow crops nearby?"
"Exactly,"
Wen Jiajun nodded and said, "So there must be an underlying reason. I looked into it myself last night, and it seems we've stepped on someone's toes. That agricultural zone we just mentioned belongs to a local consortium called Meyer Holdings, and they also have a related semiconductor industry under their umbrella."
"Meyer?"
Lu Jingming thought for a moment and said, "Are they also in the high-end food ingredient supply chain?"
"That's right. They started out with high-end ingredients. Most Michelin-starred restaurants abroad currently use their ingredients."
Wen Jiajun was a little surprised. "How did you know? Have you been keeping an eye on them too?"
"Not really,"
Lu Jingming said. "I saw it in Xiaoxia's thesis before. She used some of this company's products as a case study."
"???"
Wen Jiajun expressed his bewilderment. "Do you people in relationships have nothing better to do? Are you so bored that you read each other's academic papers?"
"What do you mean, bored?"
Lu Jingming raised an eyebrow and said, "It's highly interesting, okay! You can learn a lot from a talented girlfriend."
He then added, "Forget it, a single guy like you wouldn't understand."
"???"
"Fine, fine, fine. You're amazing. You're not single. You only just got into a relationship a few days ago!!!"
Wen Jiajun gritted his teeth, suppressing the urge to strangle him, and then threw a document at him.
"This contains some information on the Meyer Group and the local area. Could you, Mr. CEO, please put away your lovesick brain for a moment and properly study a way to move forward? This silicon carbide project is jointly spearheaded by three national departments. It's extremely important."
"Of course."
Lu Jingming picked up the documents and began to read.
This European project was one of their most important avenues for integrating into the global supply chain. How could it be easily shelved?
