Whenever he had a spare moment during the socializing, Mai Ding went to comfort Zhou Ge. He spoke with the authority of someone who had been through it all before. “It’s just putting on an act for the occasion. Don’t take it too seriously. We’re adults now. We have to learn to control ourselves. Ellen will only ever be yours. Don’t you trust her? Acting this pathetic will only make Ellen look down on you. We’re men. Men are more attractive when they’re free and easy, calm and collected.” Mai Ding made perfect sense of everything, right up until he saw An Zi Yan surrounded by a group of wealthy wives, with one woman pretending to discuss business while deliberately pressing her chest against his arm.
At that moment, Mai Ding looked no different from Zhou Ge at all. There was nothing free and easy or calm about him, much less attractive.
The Hobbit had drunk quite a bit under Ellen’s sweet coaxing and was already slightly tipsy. Ellen offered to take him downstairs, and he happily agreed. Mai Ding followed behind them. Zhou Ge, meanwhile, was stopped by Cao Cheng Yi, who had suddenly appeared. Mai Ding had no time to worry about Zhou Ge. Ellen was the priority right now. He took another elevator down and reached the lobby too. The driver had already brought the Hobbit’s car around and was waiting by the entrance. When Mai Ding saw Ellen open the car door as though she were about to get into the Hobbit’s private car, he tried to call out to her. A hand suddenly covered his mouth and dragged him into the shadows by the doorway. Mai Ding turned around in alarm and discovered it was An Zi Yan.
“Shh. Wait a little longer.”
Mai Ding stared ahead without blinking and gradually began to understand why An Zi Yan had asked Ellen for help. Ellen was hardly the only foreign woman around, but probably because she and Zhou Ge had spent so much time playing roles and indulging in all kinds of dirty games, the art of seduction seemed to have seeped into her bones. No one could compete with her anymore.
The Hobbit was not some street thug. He was a man with status and standing. Even after drinking, he would not recklessly force himself on a woman and risk causing trouble. He had enough patience to wait until the moment was right before slowly savoring what he wanted. He might have been calculating, but unfortunately for him, he had run into Ellen. The fragrance from her hair kept drifting toward him. The way she opened the car door, then bent to climb inside with her backside raised, made the Hobbit swallow repeatedly.
The car door closed. Mai Ding could not hold back anymore. “If he drives away with Ellen, it’ll be too late!” An Zi Yan said nothing.
Suggestive music was playing inside the car. Ellen pretended her foot hurt, slipped off one high heel, arched her elegant foot, and bent slightly to rub it. With her chest resting against her knees, glimpses of skin showed at her neckline. No matter what else he was, the Hobbit was still a man, and at last he could not restrain himself and lunged toward her. Ellen screamed, shoved him away, flung open the door, and ran out wearing only one shoe. Her hair was disheveled and her clothes were in disorder as she cursed while coming out, “Fuck! Bastard! What do you think you’re doing?” Her loud swearing made passersby turn their heads one after another.
Then another scene unfolded that surprised Mai Ding. The Hobbit’s driver stuck one hand out of the window, raised it high, and made an OK sign before driving the Hobbit away.
What kind of performance was this? Mai Ding was completely lost and had no idea what was going on. Only after the Hobbit’s car had disappeared was Zhou Ge finally released, but Cao Cheng Yi had vanished. Come to think of it, Cao Cheng Yi’s attitude toward Mai Ding hardly needed mentioning. Mai Ding was almost used to the fact that nobody respected him. But aside from when Cao Cheng Yi was with Zhu Qiang or when work required contact between them, Cao Cheng Yi and An Zi Yan behaved almost like strangers at the company. They never spoke privately. There were too many mysteries. At that moment Mai Ding felt like Bystander A in a mystery novel.
The moment Zhou Ge and Ellen entered An Zi Yan’s office, they wrapped themselves around each other and kissed deeply, hands already wandering. Just as Zhou Ge’s hand was about to slip beneath Ellen’s clothes, Mai Ding snapped, “Enough already! Ellen, he didn’t do anything to you, did he?”
“Nothing.” Ellen had treated what happened in the car as nothing more than a fun little game. Mai Ding had been worrying for no reason. This was a woman who wandered around Mai Ding’s home in nothing but her underwear. Why would she care if another man caught a glimpse of her chest? To Ellen, what An Zi Yan had asked her to do was child’s play.
“But I saw you screaming and running out of the car.”
“That means I completed the mission.”
Mai Ding turned back to An Zi Yan. “What are you trying to do? You finally had a chance to get on his good side, so what are you thinking…” His voice trailed off. A few seconds later, his eyes widened in disbelief. “Y-you aren’t planning to threaten him, are you? That’s such a dirty and immature method! It’ll only make your relationship worse. What if he stops doing business with the company, or reports you to President Wang? What are you going to do?” Mai Ding could list endless drawbacks. He shut the door, pulled the blinds closed, then paced back and forth through the office while biting his nails. “You never think about the consequences before you do anything. You don’t even discuss it with me first. Is threatening people illegal? Seriously, I thought you had come up with some brilliant plan. This is way too reckless.” Mai Ding had fully assumed the manner of a senior executive. When An Zi Yan said nothing, he thought An Zi Yan had realized his mistake and was reflecting. Then Mai Ding softened. An Zi Yan had done it for the company, after all. His methods were simply wrong. Mai Ding comforted him. “It’s okay. Let me think of a solution. Everything will be fine. We’ll get through this together. As long as we work hard, there’s always a way out.”
Zhou Ge finally could not stand it anymore and said to An Zi Yan, “My god, Mai Ding is so annoying. He’s completely ruining the mood between me and my baby. Yan, lend us a pair of earplugs too.” Mai Ding spun around. An Zi Yan did not look remotely like someone reflecting on his mistakes. He had earplugs in and was playing on his phone. Everything Mai Ding had just said had probably gone to waste. Mai Ding marched over and pulled out the earplugs. An Zi Yan tilted his head. “Finished?”
“You’re beyond saving. I’ll have to clean up your mess myself.” Mai Ding looked away for only a minute. By the time he turned back, Zhou Ge and Ellen were kissing as though they had forgotten the rest of the world existed. Mai Ding went over, hauled them up, and shoved them toward the door. “This is a workplace. Go home if you want to fool around.”
“So heartless. We hardly ever get the chance to do it in an office. Don’t be so old-fashioned. Yan, lend me your office for a while.” An Zi Yan gave a cold laugh. “You think I’d let you use a place where I’ve done it?”
“An Zi Yan!”
“What?” Zhou Ge and Ellen looked at Mai Ding with open contempt. Zhou Ge even copied Mai Ding’s tone from earlier. “‘This is a workplace.’ Sounds nice enough. You just want to drive us out so the two of you can stay in the office and…”
“I don’t, and I won’t!” Mai Ding cut off whatever obscene thing Zhou Ge was about to say and shoved them out the door. Just as he was about to close it, he called Ellen back. He was worried she was only pretending to be fine. She was a woman, after all. “Ellen, weren’t you scared being alone with the Hobbit in the car just now?”
“No. Besides, I wasn’t alone. Uncle Fu was there too. He’s very capable. If anything happened, he would protect me.”
“Really? Then that’s good. So Uncle Fu was there too. Wait, Uncle Fu? You mean the driver? Damn it, I missed him again. That uncle really appears and disappears like a ghost.” Mai Ding had received too much information in one night and needed time to digest it. After watching Zhou Ge and Ellen walk away, he closed the office door. At this hour, his coworkers had probably already gone straight home. He folded his arms and planted himself directly in front of An Zi Yan. “We need to have a serious talk.”
“We’ll talk at home.” An Zi Yan stood and headed for the door. When he reached it, he noticed Mai Ding was still standing where he was, sulking because An Zi Yan never told him anything. Mai Ding deliberately turned his face away and refused to look at him. “We’re talking here.”
“Not coming?” An Zi Yan tilted his head.
“No.”
“I see.” An Zi Yan turned around, scooped Mai Ding up in his arms, and carried him toward the door. Mai Ding struggled. “What are you doing? Put me down! What if someone is still in the company?!” He argued and argued until he started laughing himself.