With weak physical strength and battle-scarred skin, Sheng Mumu was unable to go to the company today, and could only handle work remotely on her phone.
Propping up her heavy eyelids, she assigned tasks to do in the big employee group chat.
After eating the breakfast Qi Mo had packed and brought back, she sprawled out on the bed in the shape of a "big" character and went back to sleep.
She slept very soundly without dreams, until the afternoon around 4 PM when she finally lazily woke up.
Upon opening her eyes she discovered she was the only person left in the room.
It was a leisurely winter afternoon.
The air conditioner blew out warm air with a whooshing sound.
The feeling of being in another world after an afternoon nap had not yet dissipated.
She got out of bed and walked to the window, drawing back the curtains.
Her eyes suddenly lit up.
The earth, washed clean by the rainwater, was reborn, bathed in sunlight.
Looking further out, you could see the snow-capped mountain peaks.
The accumulated snow, together with the clouds, was illuminated golden yellow by the sun.
As far as the eye could see, the world was gentle and warm.
Sheng Mumu lazily stretched.
Grumble--
Her stomach suddenly made a sound.
Losing too much physical strength, she unpromisingly felt hungry again.
Just then, the door to the room was pushed open from outside.
Qi Mo appeared at the doorway wearing sports attire, his forehead beaded with fine sweat, the charcoal gray t-shirt soaked with uneven patches of sweat.
Sheng Mumu blinked in surprise, unable to believe it. "You were just...working out?"
Qi Mo nodded. "Mm-hmm."
He was worried that if he stayed in the room, he wouldn't be able to resist disturbing her sleep.
So he simply went to exercise and pass the time.
"......" Sheng Mumu let out a light sigh, keeping the speechlessness to herself.
It was just... unbelievable.
Clearly they both had arms, legs, and torsos.
But in his dictionary, it was as if the word "tired" simply didn't exist altogether.
Qi Mo didn't understand the meaning behind her expression and looked at her questioningly. "?"
"Nothing," Sheng Mumu didn't want to think any further about it and changed the subject. "What's for dinner tonight? I'm hungry again."
After sleeping all day, most of her strength had recovered.
Since she didn't need to go to work today and the weather outside had cleared up, she didn't want to stay in the room eating and sleeping the whole time, and wanted to go out for a walk.
Grumble--
As soon as she finished speaking, another muffled roar came from her stomach.
Qi Mo's gaze lowered, stopping at her slender waist and belly, and slowly opened his mouth:
"A few of Shen City’s business partners organized a dinner party tonight with a chef flown in from Taiwan to make Minnan cuisine. Would you be interested in trying it out?"
Qi Mo knew she wouldn’t care who exactly was going to the dinner party, so he focused on emphasizing the chef and cuisine.
"Sounds good! Let me go change clothes."
As expected, as soon as Sheng Mumu heard this, her eyes lit up brightly, readily agreeing in a second.
As she spoke, she briskly strode towards the walk-in closet.
When she walked past Qi Mo, she tilted her body slightly to the side.
She was walking too quickly, and the tilting motion aggravated the lingering soreness in her thighs.
Her entire body suddenly convulsed and she slowed her footsteps.
The man smoothly put his arm around her waist to steadily support her.
His voice was low and magnetic.
"Slow down."
Sheng Mumu looked up, eyes sharply narrowing.
She thought inwardly: What's with this old fox pretending to be nice, as if he doesn't know that the reason I have to walk slowly is because of him!
Complaining bitterly in her heart, her expression naturally revealed disgust.
She tilted her head back and pushed him.
"You're drenched in sweat, go away."
"......" Qi Mo's hand froze as he revealed cluelessness.
He was rejected.
Was he really that smelly?
Sheng Mumu strode away without paying attention to the bewildered man behind her pulling at his collar and sniffing himself.
She chose a turtleneck sweater that could cover her neckline.
She even wrapped a scarf around herself in a vain attempt to conceal things.
She put on light makeup that gave her a rosy complexion.
She coated her lips with a matte bright red color.
Her skin was originally fair and delicate, so as soon as her lips brightened up, her entire being glowed radiantly.
The tiredness had been concealed very well.
Sheng Mumu’s recovery progress (Pretty Version): 70%
By the time they arrived at the dinner party, it was nearly dusk.
The waiter respectfully held the door of the private room open for them.
The several men at the table were around forty years old. Seeing Qi Mo lead in a woman, all their eyes lit up.
"President Qi has finally been persuaded to come after so many invitations. You’re finally giving us face today, huh.”
“This lady must be... Madam Qi, right? Pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you.”
“Madam Qi looks even better than she does in the financial magazine pictures. I almost didn’t recognize you, hahaha.”
The satisfaction concealed in Qi Mo's expression was undeniable as he slightly bowed his head in response, leading Sheng Mumu to their seats.
Having gone through several similar dinners and cocktail parties before, Sheng Mumu’s social skills had gone up another level.
Before long, she was chatting merrily with the wives of several of the executives present.
The conversation topics flowed freely, starting from Minnan cuisine, then on to Chinese cuisine styles, then the weather differences between Shen City and Jing City.
Wherever they thought of, that’s where they talked about.
She had an innate magic that made people like her and naturally let their guard down.
Mrs. Tang, who was quite a bit older than Sheng Mumu, had chatted with her for a long time and exclaimed how nice it was to meet her, saying that their interests really matched well and it was like they were unrelated sisters.
Although these were merely polite dinner party words, they did contain some sincerity.
Sheng Mumu smiled brightly.
Mrs. Tang quietly whispered into her ear, joking:
“Madam Qi, I have to tell you, I always used to think no matter who a successful man like President Qi married, it would definitely be the other party trying to get in by his status and wealth.”
Mrs. Tang gave her a meaningful look.
“But now I don’t think so anymore. On the contrary, I feel bad for you being so young yet finding a husband a whole decade older than you.”
Sheng Mumu was slightly stunned. "......"
She had almost forgotten that in other people's eyes, Qi Mo was a 38-year-old man.
She burst out laughing and responded softly, going along with Mrs. Tang’s words:
“Mrs. Tang, you don’t know about this, but there’s an online joke that says an old man is good because an old man causes less trouble, has retirement benefits, and is responsible for coaxing me until old age while I get to drive sports cars.”
Mrs. Tang paused for a few seconds before laughing loudly and repeatedly saying:
“Madam Qi you really are so funny.”
After a while, when the people at the table were enthusiastically chatting about something, Sheng Mumu nudged Qi Mo’s elbow.
She called him, “Qi Mo.”
The man looked over with gentle eyes. “Hmm?”
Sheng Mumu didn’t speak yet but was grinning from ear to ear, unable to hold in her laughter.
Using a volume that only the two of them could hear, she asked:
“Out of all the people at this table, I’m the only one who knows you’re very young, yet everyone else feels bad for me, hmm?”
The man's expression suddenly darkened as his gaze tightened.
"Young?"
Sheng Mumu was still smiling, taking a good few seconds to react.
Sheng Mumu: "..............."
It seemed he had misunderstood her words.
Sheng Mumu stared blankly, explaining:
"No... not the one you're thinking of......"
"Not small."
"No... young, young..."
"Young in age, young in age......"
At this moment, her tongue and brain were like two separate entities.
Her mouth always blurted things out faster than her thoughts could keep up.
The more she tried her best to organize her words carefully, the more awkward the atmosphere became.
In the man's dark, rich eyes was a trace of sly laughter, seen yet unseen.
He already understood her meaning, yet still put on a confused expression.
He leaned back in his chair, casually crossing his legs in a lazy posture.
Watching her intently, interested to see how she would make up for her words.
