Different Kind of Anxiety
Chapter 7/14
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Boss Lin’s sudden ‘kindness’ had frightened Yang Chen. After Lin Ruoxi said, “I’ll go as well,” he was completely dumbstruck.
Liu Mingyu was shocked to see Yang Chen’s phone fall from his hand together with a shocked expression form on his face. She couldn’t help but suspect Yang Chen had been bewitched.
“Are you okay?” Liu Mingyu asked out of concern.
Yang Chen picked the phone up from the ground and raised his hand to signal he was fine. He continued speaking to Lin Ruoxi, “Erm… Wife, is it possible that you are not feeling well today? This doesn’t sound like you. You never do stuff like this!”
Coldly, Lin Ruoxi answered, “Is there a problem that I’m taking an interest in the personal lives of my employees? Can’t I participate in activities with them? Or is there something you want to hide from me?”
Yang Chen hurriedly replied with a bitter smile, “There’s nothing to hide. I’m glad you are coming.”
“It’s settled then. Come to pick me up after work. I’ll give you a call to signal i’m ready,” Lin Ruoxi said before ending the call directly.
Pick her up after work? Won’t others find out we’re together this way? Is this her twisted way of announcing our relationship?! Yang Chen thought.
He was deeply confused as he was unaware of Lin Ruoxi’s intentions. But to him, all of these didn’t matter. As long as Lin Ruoxi wasn’t afraid of being troubled, there was nothing he needed to hide.
“Is your wife pregnant?” Liu Mingyu asked out of curiosity.
Yang Chen smiled stiffly and said, “What are you talking about? Who told you she was pregnant?”
“Then why did you ask if she was feeling fine?” Liu Mingyu let out a cunning smile.
Yang Chen didn’t feel the need to hide it from his woman. She’d find out sooner or later anyway. Thus, he said, “My wife said she wanted to attend the gathering as well. You’ll finally be able to see the face behind the title of my wife.”
The smile on Liu Mingyu’s face instantly vanished. Worried, she asked, “Then… do I have to prepare anything?”
“What do you want to prepare?”
“A gift or something of course. What do you think your wife would like?” Liu Mingyu asked softly.
Yang Chen smiled strangely. “We are not living in the past. There are no first or second wives here. Why do you look so afraid?”
“How can you expect me to stay calm in this situation? Based on your indifferent personality, of course you’d be fine. I’ve actually been rather worried about it for quite a while. If we turn out unhappy, both you and I would suffer together. Also, it isn’t my intention to be a mistress at the start, so it’s me being unreasonable.”
“You don’t need to prepare anything. You’ll find out when you see her later. Gifts have no value to her,” Yang Chen said.
Yang Chen was actually right. Her job and wage were both given by Lin Ruoxi. Preparing any gifts would be the same as returning the stuff she had been given.
Liu Mingyu was up in her own world filled with thoughts. She started pondering about the problem as she ignored him.
Yang Chen saw that Liu Mingyu wasn’t in the mood to perform that sort of activities, so he left her office as he didn’t want to force her.
The afternoon had passed in the blink of an eye. It was time for people to get off work. Yang Chen punctually arrived at the parking area at the headquarters as promised to Lin Ruoxi.
Upon stopping his car, Lin Ruoxi who was dressed in a simple, light brown, furry, collared, sleeveless top with a pair of laced stockings slowly walked toward his direction while holding a small, coffee-colored handbag.
Lin Ruoxi who had usually appeared to be cold and strict currently looked younger and sexier.
Of course, only a man like Yang Chen who had gotten used to seeing his wife would give such an understatement. Should other men have witnessed this scene, There would be no doubt that their eyes would’ve been glued to her persons for an uncomfortable amount of time.
“Not bad at all. You didn’t forget to dress appropriately for the evening party. My Babe Ruoxi isn’t ignorant at everything in the world, is she?” Yang Chen said, elated.
Lin Ruoxi seemed displeased by his words. Biting her lower lip, she sat into the car before saying softly, “I asked Qianni what I should wear. This is what she came up with.”
Yang Chen’s facial expression instantly stiffened. No wonder she suddenly changed into something I had never seen before. So it’s because she had asked Qianni for her opinion! Yang Chen thought.
So that means Qianni is aware that I’ll be bringing Ruoxi over tonight. Will she already have told Mingyu about my relationship with Ruoxi?
When he thought about his two lovers and wife would interact tonight, Yang Chen couldn’t help but feel worried and unconfident.
The meet-up location was a rather well-known, high-class nightclub in Zhonghai named Zi Yue Xuan. There were different kinds of entertainment facilities there, so it could also be considered a karaoke bar.
After handing over the car to the parking valet, Yang Chen walked into the dimly lit hall of the nightclub together with Lin Ruoxi.
Since it was still early, there weren’t many customers there. The servers were dressed smartly, completed with neckties. Yang Chen and Lin Ruoxi followed them to a pre-booked, huge, private room.
Before their arrival, various discussions had been carried out in the private room. They were mainly talking about the shocking news brought by Mo Qianni and Liu Mingyu—Boss Lin is coming to tonight’s party as well?!
These young employees from the finance and public relations departments hadn’t dared to meet Lin Ruoxi for several reasons. She was just like the goddess from above—she could only be gazed upon from afar, while one would suffer when standing nearby.
Today, their goddess would finally descend to party with them together. Why wouldn’t they burst in elation and get astonished?
“What should I do? Tell me! I wanted to sing tonight, but I’ll be so shy that I won’t even be able to open my mouth when Boss Lin is here later,” a female employee from the public relations department said.
A guy from the finance department laughed and said, “We’ll ask Boss Lin to sing for us later. I’m really curious to find out how good her singing is.”
“Boss Lin might get angry and reduce your salary!” a lady said.
“It’ll be worthy to listen to Boss Lin’s singing even if I have to surrender my one-month salary…” At this moment, the door got pushed open from outside. Yang Chen was the first one to enter the room smilingly. Soon, Lin Ruoxi’s elegant figured walked inside as well.
In the huge private room containing tens of people, the atmosphere was pin drop silent. Everyone had their gaze fixed on Lin Ruoxi who was dressed in a slightly seductive manner. The former blurry look of their goddess had shocked them when looked at such a close distance at such clarity.
“Bo—Boss Lin!” a male employee greeted nervously and bowed down ninety degrees.
The other employees refrained from laughing, but still greeted Lin Ruoxi.
Mo Qianni and Liu Mingyu were chatting away happily at one corner of the room. When they noticed Lin Ruoxi’s arrival, Mo Qianni winked at her in a natural manner, while Liu Mingyu didn’t dare to look into her eyes, as if she was guilty about something.
Having witnessed this scene, Yang Chen instantly confirmed his guess that Liu Mingyu had found out his relationship with Lin Ruoxi. She must’ve been terrified by the news.
Lin Ruoxi was initially rather nervous. But she soon felt relieved when she saw how much more nervous the people around were. Smiling faintly, she said, “Let’s sit down. I only came to mingle today, not to inspect anything.”
“Haven’t you all heard what she said? Why are you still standing like wood piles?” Yang Chen couldn’t help but laugh.
At this moment, the people finally noticed Yang Chen’s presence. Most of them held the same thought. Why did Director Yang came with Boss Lin?
However, no one would be willing to investigate into this matter. No one would believe Yang Chen to be Lin Ruoxi’s husband. They would at most be busybodies for a short while, to gossip about the personal relationship between the two.
A few of the employees emptied out a space to allow Lin Ruoxi sit at the center, right beside Mo Qianni. Yang Chen, however, didn’t have such a privilege. He only managed to find a little stool at a corner. Taking a handful of sunflower seeds, he sat down and observed just much respect the employees had for Lin Ruoxi.
Liu Mingyu currently stared at Yang Chen angrily, but later revealed a wronged look.
Women’s gazes do speak a lot of words, Yang Chen thought. It only took Liu Mingyu a look to make him feel embarrassed. The identity of Yang Chen’s wife had been kept a secret for so long, and she turned out to be Liu Mingyu’s employer at last.
“Let’s not surround Boss Lin anymore. We all came to celebrate and party instead of getting on the boss’s good side. Quickly pick some songs and dance,” Mo Qianni ordered.
The few young people surrounding Lin Ruoxi smiled awkwardly before leaving to the song-picking device. Some of the ladies from the public relations department cheerfully went to dance along the song’s rhythm.
While no one was paying attention, Liu Mingyu reached her slender arm out to violently pinch Yang Chen’s thigh. “Stupid! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?! You’ve kept it a secret from me for so long, I feel so ashamed!” Liu Mingyu said using a loudness that only Yang Chen could hear.
“What’s there to be ashamed about? You’ve never asked me who my wife is before,” Yang Chen said helplessly.
Bitterness filled Liu Mingyu’s face. “But Boss Lin must be aware that we’re together… and I still walked around under her sight every day. I feel so embarrassed now when I think about it.”
Yang Chen held Liu Mingyu’s palm which was rather cold. She shivered a little as she nervously glanced at Lin Ruoxi. At last, she didn’t withdraw her hand as Lin Ruoxi wasn’t looking at her direction.
“Don’t look so terrified. Since I dare to bring Ruoxi over, it means I’m not afraid that she’d confront you. It’s an undeniable fact that you’re my woman,” Yang Chen said to console her.
Although I feel sorry to Ruoxi by saying this, I have to regulate my relationship with my women. So I’ll have to sacrifice her position a little. In the worst case, I’ll find a way to tease her and make her slightly happier, Yang Chen thought as he felt guilty.
“Sigh… To be honest, I used to think if I had the chance to outperform your wife, i’d do so to the point where you would choose to marry me instead… Although I knew I was daydreaming, I could at least think about it occasionally. However, right now, I completely lost hope in changing your mind, and I bet Qianni feels the same too.”
Yang Chen smiled in acknowledgement. He was aware that Liu Mingyu saw Lin Ruoxi like her idol, just like many other employees from Yu Lei International. So he wasn’t surprised by what she said.
The young people started from the song ‘Strip’ and ended up singing an old, emotional, English song ‘Home’. A few of the male employees could sing really well. They took turns to sing line by line, and seemed like professional singers.
When the mic was passed to Yang Chen, the employees looked at Yang Chen with high expectations. Yang Chen didn’t reject them by not choosing to sing. Although he didn’t usually listen to trendy Chinese songs, he was an expert in overseas ones.
“Another summer day has come and gone away in Paris and Rome, but I wanna go home…”
After he sang a few lines, Yang Chen was prepared to pass the mic to someone else. However, the employees all insisted that Yang Chen continue singing after listening to his slightly hoarse voice together with his fluent British accent.
Mo Qianni and Liu Mingyu both clapped for Yang Chen in encouragement.
However, Lin Ruoxi silently sat on the sofa and looked pale.
Other than interacting with her employees, she initially only decided to come because she wanted to prevent Yang Chen’s lovers from forming an alliance. While Mo Qianni was her close friend, it would do more harm than good to Lin Ruoxi if she became too close with Liu Mingyu. Thus, she decided that showing herself would be the way, and at the same time pressure Yang Chen so that he could behave himself.
However, Lin Ruoxi finally noticed she had overlooked a factor—she wasn’t good at singing. Moreover, her voice when she sang would challenge the absolute limits a person could take! Although she had learned a little from Yang Chen, she quickly gave up because the panda-like actions were overly stupid.
Seeing how Yang Chen’s voice won over such a loud cheer, and the fact that everyone there could sing was quite evident, Lin Ruoxi knew that she could very well be next… Although Lin Ruoxi hated to admit, she still had to agree that if she sang a song today, she would wipe out everyone’s impression of her. How was she supposed to raise her head in front of these employees in the future?
Although Lin Ruoxi had always looked indifferent, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t get shy or embarrassed.
As Lin Ruoxi felt agitated, Liu Mingyu left her seat as she planned to go to the washroom. However, since she didn’t dare to face Lin Ruoxi, she had her face lowered when she walked out.
Lin Ruoxi on the other hand got an idea. Hurriedly, she said, “Eh, Mingyu, are you going to the washroom? I’ll come with you.”
Before Liu Mingyu could react, Lin Ruoxi walked out of the room before her.
Liu Mingyu thought Lin Ruoxi had been waiting for this opportunity to talk to her personally. She got so nervous that her palms had started sweating. She turned her head around to give Yang Chen a furious stare before walking out.