Why Not (Lily ABO) - Chapter 14

At 6 PM, a group of people walked into a private room at Dongli Restaurant. The host, Fu Shuyun, arrived fashionably late. That morning, a bet had been made in their group chat about which hot pot restaurant Fu Shuyun would choose, the stakes being a free hot pot meal. Only Yun Yan guessed correctly: for this kind of occasion, Fu Shuyun would definitely choose a private room at a major restaurant.

Actually, Fu Shuyun asked her mother to reserve this restaurant. It was the largest one in A City, and the Fu family held shares in it. Normally, private rooms needed to be booked a week in advance, but the room permanently reserved for shareholders was made available for her today. Introducing her girlfriend to her good friends needed to be somewhat formal, after all.

“Good evening! We’re here!”

Fu Shuyun walked into the room holding Shi Jing’s hand, looking absolutely radiant—clearly refreshed from her recent activities. After greeting everyone, she started introducing Shi Jing.

“This is my girlfriend, Shi Jing.”

“Ahem, she’s also Shi Xu’s older sister. We’re family now, so hurry and call her Sister-in-Law!”

After introducing Shi Jing, she didn’t forget to take a jab at Shi Xu. It wasn’t meant to intentionally anger him; she already knew Shi Xu didn’t mind. Otherwise, why would he arrange for his friends to confess to her, a meaningless confession that he knew would be rejected?

That afternoon, while the two were cuddling on the sofa and petting the cat, Shi Jing had told her everything Shi Xu had done. It turned out that both confessions and Shi Jing’s sudden appearance at school were all orchestrated by him. Forget reimbursing him for the drinks he bought his friends; she would happily pay to rent an entire bar for them to drink themselves silly.

Shi Xu genuinely didn’t mind. He was even a little happy to see the two walking in holding hands, and he had even prepared a gift.

“Hello, Sister Shi!”

“Little brother prepared a gift for you.”

Her friends wore expressions of people watching a show, enjoying the sudden, grand “family recognition” event. Wait a minute, wasn’t Shi Xu supposed to like Fu Shuyun? Had he already accepted the fact that his own sister and Fu Shuyun were together?

The small paper bag contained the keys to Shi Jing’s house, the community gate card, and the key to Shi Xu’s room.

“I’ve already packed up my belongings and taken them away. You just need to clean it up.”

“I’m entrusting my sister to you.”

So that suitcase he was pulling that day contained his things? Shi Jing was touched, feeling her little brother had grown up. Meanwhile, Fu Shuyun’s eyes welled up looking at the key to Shi Jing’s house. Although she only had Shi Xu’s recognition, she was as happy as if she had received the blessing of her elders.

Dinner passed quickly, with everyone having a great time. Fu Shuyun announced that she would be staying at her sister’s house again tonight, and the others dispersed. The two walked hand-in-hand down the pedestrian street. Shi Jing was thinking about when to arrange a dinner with her own friends so they could meet Fu Shuyun.

She truly didn’t have many close friends. After adopting Wan Yuan, what is socializing? Not going home after work to cuddle your cat is a sign of a troubled mind. She had even fewer close friends in A City: Che Xiyao, Zhang Huming, and her assistant of three years, Xiao Su. This would require three separate dinners, as they weren’t all acquainted, and only Xiao Su and Brother Ming had interacted before. As she wondered when to arrange this, she heard Xiao Su’s voice.

“Manager Shi?”

It was her familiar assistant, walking towards her with another colleague from the team. Shi Jing knew Xiao Su thought highly of this colleague, but she didn’t expect their relationship had progressed to spending weekends together. General Manager Fu strictly forbids office romance!

Future General Manager Fu: Permission granted.

But that was a matter for when Fu Shuyun became the GM.

“Xiao Su, Xiao He.”

“Good evening, Manager Shi. Is this young lady your girlfriend?”

Shi Jing wasn’t bothered and introduced her generously. When she heard Fu Shuyun’s name, Xiao Su noticeably frowned. That name is so familiar, and she’s surnamed Fu. Not dwelling on it—after all, there were many people surnamed Fu—Xiao Su told Shi Jing what happened on Friday afternoon.

On Friday afternoon, Shi Jing left work early, telling Xiao Su she had an urgent matter. Unfortunately, General Manager Fu saw she wasn’t in the office. This was unusual, so he sought out Xiao Su to ask where Manager Shi was. Xiao Su had no idea Shi Jing had gone to chase after her girlfriend, so she quickly improvised, explaining that Manager Shi was out conducting project research in A City. In reality, Shi Jing had finished all that work in advance just so she could leave early.

Shi Jing was very surprised. General Manager Fu was usually nowhere to be found on Friday afternoons, which led them to finish any documents needing his signature before Friday, just to avoid another week-long delay.

“General Manager Fu didn’t leave early on Friday?”

“No. The one time you left early, General Manager Fu was on time for once. What a coincidence.”

“But the project progress is fine so far. I’ve organized all the research reports and will email them to you tomorrow. You’ll present well at Monday’s meeting; General Manager Fu thinks highly of you.”

Fu Shuyun listened quietly on the side. She still didn’t even know what her sister’s job was or where she worked. Based on their interactions, she could tell Shi Jing had a good upbringing, meaning her family background was certainly not poor. So, colleagues call her Manager Shi. She silently took note of the title; perhaps she could use it during sex sometime.

Having a wealthy family was one thing; earning her own money was another. If her mother agreed, she didn’t want to join the Fu Corporation later. Once everyone knew she was General Manager Fu’s daughter, her efforts and professional abilities would be overshadowed by that identity.

After briefly explaining what happened on Friday, Xiao Su was about to say goodbye, but Shi Jing, who would have received the full story from Xiao Su via WeChat tomorrow, suddenly remembered something and called the two back.

“You two know the company doesn’t allow office romance, right?”

“We’re not dating!”

They spoke in unison. Well, well, they’re not dating yet. Single AO colleagues hanging out on the weekend—Shi Jing would have believed them if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.

“It’s fine even if you are, but: one, there can be no non-work interaction in the company, and two, it must not affect your work. Everyone knows I value professional ability most. If General Manager Fu finds out, I will explain, but the premise is still doing your work well.”

“This project has a long cycle. We probably won’t take on another project before the end of the year, so focus on this one. It affects our year-end bonus.”

Fu Shuyun, who heard the entire conversation, couldn’t help but sigh at how wonderful her sister was. Her subordinates must be fond of her if they were willing to cover for her. As for office romance, it was indeed to prevent work disruption. If work wasn’t affected and the employees were competent and brought profit to the company, then the general manager would simply turn a blind eye as long as they didn’t go overboard.

If only I could have a boss as good as Sister later, work would be so enjoyable! Later, her mother did assign her to Shi Jing, ostensibly to temper Fu Shuyun, but in reality, it was a test for Shi Jing.

Driving back home, Fu Shuyun used the key Shi Xu gave her to open the door. She turned and pulled Shi Jing into the house, mentally tallying up the benefits: she now lived in Sister’s house, and Sister had a car.

She hadn’t done anything, yet by dating her sister, she was essentially freeloading off her house and car. This felt inappropriate. I should do some housework, but staying in the dorm from Monday to Thursday was more convenient. For a moment, she couldn’t think of anything she could contribute. She decided to confess everything to her mother later and ask for advice.

After they showered, Shi Jing peeled a plate of fruit for her and kissed her cheek before getting up to clean Shi Xu’s room. Although he rarely stayed there, it was actually quite clean. Shi Xu had taken everything he needed and left behind a box of sorted trash. Since Fu Shuyun would undoubtedly be sleeping with her, there were no current plans for the room, so it would remain as is for now.

Shi Jing returned to the living room after cleaning. Fu Shuyun was chatting with someone. Shi Jing walked over, shooed Wan Yuan aside, sat down, and immediately hugged Fu Shuyun, resting her chin on her shoulder and nuzzling her neck.

The short hairs tickled Fu Shuyun, who turned her head to kiss her.

“Who are you chatting with, Darling?”

She didn’t look at Fu Shuyun’s phone, lost in the skin of Fu Shuyun’s neck, unwilling to look up. She was currently obsessed with the scent of tulip. What do I do when my girlfriend’s neck smells so good I can’t stop kissing it?

Fu Shuyun had texted her mother right after sitting down, admitting she had a girlfriend. Her mother was usually more doting, while her other mother (Ma-mi) was stricter. Naturally, a mother was happy when her daughter started dating, and she asked Fu Shuyun to bring Shi Jing home for dinner soon. Fu Shuyun immediately refused. They just started dating. What if she scared Sister away? She succinctly stated her dilemma, waiting for her mother’s reply, just as Shi Jing came over.

Is Sister jealous? She put down her phone and focused on kissing Shi Jing. Being hugged from behind made her feel very secure.