60 I March Forward when You Retrea (1/2)

Lin Qian had a dream.

In that dream, Li Zhicheng was working in his study. She made him a cup of hot tea and when she put it on his desk, he reached out his hands and dragged her into his arms. This was such a familiar scene, which had happened so many times in the past year that she smiled during her sleep.

Suddenly, they went to the bed, with Li Zhicheng's body pressing from above, and all she could see was the contour of his body. He murmured, ”Lin Qian, only death could do us apart.”

Lin Qian opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. They were in the resort in Taiwan, and the sun was blazing outside. It was still daytime, so she wondered why she would have such a strange dream. Li Zhicheng would never say anything so sensational as ”Only death could do us apart”. Even if he wanted to express that sentiment, he would say it in a mighty way, ”No chance I will let go a person that I trade with my heart.”

She put on a smile and rolled out of her bed. Li Zhicheng was sitting on the sling chair on the porch outside. Lin Qian sighed and thought to herself, ”We're doing exactly what Gu Yanzhi said, collecting money at home. I can still remember how busy we were, and now one of us is taking an afternoon nap and the other is enjoying the sunshine.”

She randomly picked a pair of flip-flops and put them on. She walked to him and gave him a kiss on his neck. ”Having a dream about me?” Li Zhicheng asked.

”How did you guess?” Lin Qian was dazed.

Li Zhicheng grinned, pulled her into his arms and they sat on the sling chair together, with the chair swaying. The chair was made a long time ago; it was smooth, bright, and comfortable to touch.

As a matter of fact, Li Zhicheng knew this because he had overheard Lin Qian talking in her dream, ”Zhicheng, Zhicheng…” And the corner of her lips was curved up.

”Instinct,” he, however, answered with a white lie.

Lin Qian opened her eyes wide, thought about it and nodded, ”synced minds.” Actually, she was thinking of the phrase, ”empathy between bodies and souls”, but saying such thing to Li Zhicheng equated to seduction, so she didn't let it slip.

All ladies would be moved by ”synced minds”. Lin Qian blinked, hooked his neck and asked, ”Why do we always see eye to eye with each other?”

Li Zhicheng stared at her face, ”Because we have empathy between our bodies and souls?” Li Zhicheng rendered her speechless and put her lips on his. After this silent but passionate kiss, Lin Qian sat on his thighs and looked out at the farms, roads and factories.

They were meant for each other now, unlike a year ago when lots of conflicts existed between them. Time flew, as did the conflicts.

Lin Qian recalled the most serious dispute between them, and it was not because of Aito. It was three months after that, when Aida was secretly designing a new brand of leisure bags to prepare for a launch and Lin Qian's team was responsible for marketing plans.

No matter how well their minds were aligned with each other, it was impossible for them to agree on everything. That time, the plan designed by Lin Qian's team was vetoed by Li Zhicheng, who said only three words, ”No. Redo it.”

In reality, she hadn't worked on the majority of the plan. Instead, it was one of her subordinates, with support from others on the team who pulled lot of all-nighters to finish it. The subordinate was a young girl; and being criticized like that by her boss in public made her want to shed tears. As for Gu Yanzhi and Liu Tong, they wouldn't give much thought to a staff member at her level. After reviewing the plan, they censored it too.

Lin Qian's heart was broken seeing her subordinate dejected in that manner. She thought it was a great plan. Obeying seniors' direction was key, but it was also important to voice her own opinions. She stood up and began to illustrate her thoughts. Lin Qian's personality, as Li Zhicheng had once said, was sometimes even bolder than a man, especially when she was trying to reason with people. She brought up eight points to show the plan was great.

After finishing, everyone was stupefied and silent, not because the nay-sayers were convinced, but her eloquence had made people unwilling to argue.

At that point, Li Zhicheng gave her a look from afar, with a vague trace of a smile, and said calmly, ”What you said makes sense. However, the market orientation of this product doesn't match our initial strategy and my expectations. Redo it.”

He went right to the heart of the matter, and people around him nodded their heads. Some people may have agreed with Lin Qian, but they chose to remain silent. Lin Qian couldn't squeeze out a smile. She sat down darkly and answered, ”OK.”

After arriving back at home, Lin Qian turned a cold shoulder to Li Zhicheng. She realized afterwards that she was being immature, but she was still furious at that time. Different opinions aside, she was his girlfriend after all, how could he just embarrass me like that in front of everyone else? She refused to make eye contact the entire evening. As for Li Zhicheng, initially, he didn't think of it as a big deal, but after arriving home and realizing how angry he had made her, he tried to flirt with her in an opaque way.

He noticed that she only ordered her portion when calling for take-out, so he picked up the menu, ordered the exact same thing and ate next to her. When she tried to dodge him silently, he dragged her into his arms and restrained her. She resorted to finishing the meal while sitting on his thighs.

She stormed into the shower, locked and put a chair in front to the door. He opened the door with his keys, removed all the obstacles and stepped inside the bathroom. He stood and did nothing except stare at her. When she tried to retrieve her towel, he brought it to her and when she was about to reach the face-cleanser, he mistakenly brought her the mask. Lin Qian wanted to laugh, but she managed to resist it.

After all that, they were finally on the bed. Lin Qian turned her back to him. He asked, ”Do I need to show you my loyalty again?”

Lin Qian blushed and said, ”No need!”

”Are you sure?”

”Absolutely!”

”Then turn your back,” he tried a strike a bargain.

Lin Qian then followed his instructions unwillingly and turned to face him, but she kept her eyes closed to avoid eye contact with him.

”Have you ever heard of the term 'no fight among couples should last overnight'?” he whispered. Lin Qian couldn't respond. After being kissed and caressed like this by him, she relaxed her body as well as her will.

After recovering from her exasperation, she came up with an incredible idea to deal with those types of situations. She said, ”I know we shouldn't confuse life and work, but ... But I'm a woman! I'm sensible and don't want to be embarrassed. I can't be rational like you are. My suggestion is, from now on, every time you want to veto my plan in a meeting, instead of being so forthright, touch you left eyebrow and say 'This is a good plan but I hope to see better' so that I know you mean 'This plan is awful and redo it'!” She blinked her eyes, ”Does it sound OK to you?”

Li Zhicheng held her in his arms with a bright look. ”Yes, ma'am.”

However, he never touched his eyebrow after that. Once he did say the same thing, which agitated her, so she asked him immediately after they arrived home, ”Did you forget to touch your eyebrow?”

”No,” he said mildly.

It was only then that Lin Qian realized he was just teasing her.

As for Lin Qian, she was changing too. She came to realize that sometimes it was her naivety that led to confrontations. They were in both a romantic and a work relationship. If they brought issues from the workplace back home, their romantic relationship might be jeopardized, like the Aito incident. After contemplation, she suggested that no discussion of work would be allowed at home, which Li Zhicheng agreed to with pleasure.

”What're you thinking about?” she heard that low but gentle male voice. Lin Qian was brought back to the ground, turned to him, ”Nothing. Just recalling how you've bullied me before.” Li Zhicheng was used to this woman's duplicity. Although she had a stern look on her face, there was a trail of cunning smile in her eyes.

He nodded his head. Since she was ”nostalgic” about being toyed with, he didn't mind seeing more eye to eye with her. ”I'm so going to 'bully' you on the chair tonight,” he said in a low voice.