Chapter 7: Transmigrated as a Cheapskate Phoenix Man (7)
Talk about what?
Talk about my wife?
For some reason, that sentence suddenly popped into Cen Yu’s mind.
He chuckled internally before looking at Lou Baichuan. “Right now?”
Lou Baichuan glanced out at the main office. Likely because there was still half an hour left before the official work hours began, the lights in the office weren’t turned on yet—nobody in their company was ever willing to be a corporate scab.
People would only start trickling in about five minutes before work, successfully clocking in at the very last second.
“Yeah, right now.” Lou Baichuan glanced around his office.
He felt that right now, with no one around, was the best time to talk about this.
Although he didn’t quite understand what Cen Yu’s subtle hint meant, he knew the rules of the workplace. He knew that this topic—especially one related to sexual orientation—wasn’t suitable to be discussed when the place was packed.
Cen Yu had a look of complete bewilderment.
He had no idea why on earth Lou Baichuan wanted to talk to him, but he still obediently stepped inside Lou Baichuan’s office.
“Sit.”
Lou Baichuan pointed to the seat across from his desk.
Cen Yu sat down.
Since there were no meetings scheduled for today, he was dressed fairly casually. Everyone in the company dressed this way; only Lou Baichuan wore a three-piece suit five days a week.
Lou Baichuan turned and walked behind his desk. “Bought it for you.” He gestured for Cen Yu to look at the coffee placed on the desk.
Cen Yu glanced at it, thoroughly confused about what Lou Baichuan was driving at!
“…Thanks?”
“Here’s the thing.” Lou Baichuan thought up an opening line. “What are your thoughts on this job?” He continued, “Or if you have any feedback or opinions about me as your boss, feel free to speak up.”
He hinted gently.
“…?” Cen Yu was truly baffled.
What was this? Was he getting ready to fire him, or was he planning to give him a raise?
Can I say that forcing everyone to grind overtime every day is total corporate scab behavior?
Rolling his eyes internally, Cen Yu remembered how Lou Baichuan had sent him a message at one in the morning—
“Ahem.” He cleared his throat.
“I think we should both have our own private time.”
Stop sending me revision notes in the middle of the night!
Lou Baichuan’s hand holding his fountain pen paused for a moment. He looked at Cen Yu sitting across from him—in truth, he quite liked Cen Yu as a subordinate. The guy was smart, sharp, and fairly diligent.
However…
Lou Baichuan frowned subtly. He had no desire to start an office romance with his employee.
His gaze lingered briefly on Cen Yu’s cool, pale skin and the beauty marks under his eye. Pursing his lips, he asked, “Private time?”
“Yeah.”
“Leave some private time for each other.”
Cen Yu didn’t understand why Lou Baichuan looked like he was facing a formidable enemy upon hearing his words.
Come on, bro! You didn’t see a problem with messaging your employee in the middle of the night to revise proposals?
Why do you look like the sky is falling just because I told you not to bother your employees off the clock…??
“Alright.” Lou Baichuan finally let out a breath. “I’ll consider it.”
Since Cen Yu had already brought it up, suggesting they discuss this matter during private time… as long as it didn’t affect work, he could simply refrain from responding to the topic.
He really didn’t want to fall out with a subordinate over this, as it would make their working relationship in the office extremely awkward.
Glancing at Cen Yu’s eyes, which had noticeably brightened upon hearing his response, Lou Baichuan shifted his gaze away toward the frosted glass wall at the back of the office. “But let’s make one thing clear first.”
“You still need to focus on your work during office hours.”
“Of course.” Like hell!
Cen Yu thought to himself: The time I spend slacking off is the only time I actually earn for myself.
Still, seeing that Lou Baichuan had apparently reflected on disturbing his employee’s rest, ruining his mood, and forcing him to work overtime in the middle of the night, Cen Yu didn’t plan to push him too hard. He knew when to quit while he was ahead.
He looked at Lou Baichuan, who sat there lost in thought… and didn’t forget a crucial upcoming matter.
“By the way, Boss Lou.” He addressed Lou Baichuan directly; the company practiced flat management, so no one used official titles. “Is there a team dinner planned for tonight?”
Lou Baichuan noticed someone entering the area outside the office and turning on the lights for this floor. Although lights were only on in certain areas, it signaled that employees were starting to arrive for work—
He didn’t want anyone seeing him talking alone with Cen Yu inside the office.
It wasn’t out of romantic coyness, but rather because employees would inevitably overthink things—wondering about promotions, raises, or structural changes—and start digging around for gossip.
If they ended up prying into Cen Yu himself…
And given that Cen Yu wasn’t exactly tight-lipped, Lou Baichuan didn’t want to be outed directly at the company, especially under the label of an office romance.
“Yes,” Lou Baichuan said, looking toward his computer screen. “You can head out now.”
Cen Yu breathed a sigh of relief in his heart… Grabbing the coffee Lou Baichuan had given him, he walked out of the office.
Just as he returned to his desk, a red-haired girl sneaked up behind him and tapped his shoulder.
Cen Yu turned around and found that it was a colleague from the design team.
“Something up?”
“What did the crown prince want with you?” Sang Luo glanced toward the office.
“Talked about the team dinner tonight,” Cen Yu told Sang Luo. She was a colleague he got along quite well with; the two of them occasionally went downstairs to the smoking area together—Cen Yu didn’t smoke often, mostly indulging in a cigarette recently only when Lou Baichuan’s proposals gave him a massive headache.
Thinking back, Cen Yu still felt something was off.
Why was Lou Baichuan acting so weird today?
He couldn’t help glancing at Sang Luo and crooking his finger. “Break this down for me.”
“Lay it on me.” Sang Luo gestured a smoking motion with her fingers.
“Sure.”
The two walked down to the smoking area below the building. Likely because it was still early, there was no one else around. After lighting a cigarette, Cen Yu watched Sang Luo wink at him. “Alright, spill. What happened?”
Cen Yu laid out all of Lou Baichuan’s strange behaviors from yesterday to today.
Sang Luo pondered for a moment.
Then she looked back at Cen Yu—
“Is there a possibility…”
“Hmm?”
“…that the crown prince doesn’t know what ‘1’ means?”
“…” Cen Yu froze with the cigarette hanging from his mouth. “…No way??”
Yet as he thought about it carefully, he realized that whenever he used to reply to messages, he would send a “Got it,” an “OK,” or an emoji—this time, he was simply too annoyed, so he had typed a single “1.”
“If he didn’t know what it meant, why would he say all those weird things back?”
“He probably thought you were coming out to him.” Sang Luo calmly took her final drag, dropped a bombshell, and patted his shoulder—
“Congratulations. You successfully came out in front of the crown prince.”
“…” Cen Yu was completely speechless.
He stubbed out his cigarette in the nearby ashtray and said to Sang Luo, “So that’s why he asked me what I thought about the company and stuff.”
Then what kind of bullshit answer did I give him?!
Private time for each other?!
What on earth did Lou Baichuan interpret that as?!!
“Whatever.” Cen Yu let out a breath, looking at Sang Luo, who had also put out her cigarette. “I actually am a top, anyway.”
