half thorns, half joy

After Xiao Zihan arrived at the company, after finishing the work at hand, he couldn't help thinking about Tang Xuan's state in the morning.

He always felt that Tang Xuan was acting weird today. Although she was calm and gentle as usual, his instinct as a man felt a little strange.

Could it be that he felt strange because of his guilty conscience?
No, definitely not, he didn't do anything wrong, so why should he be guilty?
Xiao Zihan said this to himself, picked up the teacup and wanted to drink water, but accidentally drank it in a hurry, and the tea choked his throat: "Ahem..."

After wiping off the water stains on the table, Xiao Zihan was in a mess. He stood up and walked around the office a few times before finally grabbing his phone and calling Tang Xuan.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Facing Shang Tang Xuan's cold question, Xiao Zihan stopped talking for a while.

After a while, he recovered his voice and asked Tang Xuan slowly, "What's wrong with you? Why do you sound unhappy?"

"Ah...no...not unhappy, you called back, what's the matter?"

"It's okay, I just want to tell you that my company is busy at noon today, so I won't go back for dinner. I'll ask my assistant to buy something casually, and I'll go back to eat at night."

When Xiao Zihan made this call, he didn't think about what to say. He didn't know how to answer Tang Xuan's harsh question.

Simply put, Tang Xuan didn't continue to ask questions.

"Okay, I see, you are busy, I will not bother you."

Tang Xuan hung up the phone neatly, and Xiao Zihan's hand holding the phone slowly dropped when he heard the busy beeping sound coming from the receiver.

He knew that what he felt was right, there was indeed something wrong with Tang Xuan.

Did Tang Xuan know about his drinking with Ye Nan last night?
No, no, he didn't drink with Ye Nan alone, there were so many people together, and besides, it was a dinner with friends, and there was no overreach between him and Ye Nan, Tang Xuan had no reason to be jealous.

The more Xiao Zihan thought about it, the more upset he became.

He shook his head, and simply expelled all these messy thoughts. Forget it, let's talk with Tang Xuan when we get home at night.

On the other end, Tang Xuan's expression changed after answering the phone.

The tension and evasion in Xiao Zihan's tone were so obvious that she didn't even need to analyze it, she felt it all at once.

And it's only what time, Xiao Zihan just arrived at the company not long ago, and the nanny at home hasn't started preparing lunch yet, so Xiao Zihan called to say that he would not be back at noon.

What is this, trying to cover up?

Tang Xuan's eyes flicked to the computer screen, looking at the densely packed post about her husband's infidelity, her heart suddenly became cold.

Could it be that Xiao Zihan wants to have lunch with that woman at noon?
The phone in her hand vibrated and buzzed, startling Tang Xuan. When she came back to her senses, she realized that it wasn't a phone call, but a WeChat message from Zheng Yifan.

【Tang Xuan, are you free at noon? Let's have a meal together. 】

[Our former teaching assistant recently came here on a business trip. I just contacted her yesterday, and she will go back to Singapore tomorrow. 】

[Just have a meal, it won't waste a lot of time, okay? 】

[The hotel where she stayed on a business trip is near the Xiao Group building, Dingfeng Hotel, you should know. 】

Tang Xuan's thoughts were slightly taken away by Zheng Yifan's WeChat message.

The teaching assistant Zheng Yifan mentioned has a pretty good relationship with her. The teaching assistant is different from the head teacher. The head teacher in the university is very busy and sometimes doesn't show up once a month. Basically, the teaching assistant is in charge of them every day.

The teaching assistant had just graduated from graduate school at the time, she was young and diligent, and she was a teaching assistant in several classes, and everyone liked her very much.But after Tang Xuan graduated, she resigned and went to Singapore with her fiancé.

Unexpectedly, after such a long time, we could meet again.

Tang Xuan finally felt better, she replied to Zheng Yifan:
[I'm free at noon, let's eat together. 】

After clicking send, she saw the words Dingfeng Hotel, thought about it and sent another sentence:

[Since she lives there, let's eat there. 】

……

After a few instructions with the nanny, Tang Xuan went out with her bag.

It's not too far from home to where Xiao Zihan goes to work, but it's not too close either, about three to ten minutes' drive away.

Tang Xuan thought she was meeting someone she knew from the past, so she didn't ask the driver to escort her, but drove the car by herself.

The agreed upon restaurant was just across from Xiao's Group. When Tang Xuan arrived by car, it was just in time for her to get off work at noon. Groups of men and women came out from the gate of Xiao's Group, talking and laughing as they walked towards various places.

Tang Xuan parked the car, sat in the car and watched for a while, then got out of the car and walked into the restaurant.

Zheng Yifan had already booked the restaurant. After Tang Xuan reported Zheng Yifan's name, the waiter led Tang Xuan in.

"Hi, Tang Xuan." Zheng Yifan raised his hand and greeted Tang Xuan with a smile.

Surprised, Tang Xuan pulled out her chair and sat down.

Zheng Yifan poured red wine for Tang Xuan, and joked, "You're so early."

"I was afraid of being late due to traffic jams on the road, so I was already 10 minutes early. I didn't expect you to come earlier than me." Tang Xuan pushed away the red wine and called the waiter to order a glass of juice. "I came by car, I can't drink wine."

"It's okay, I'll ask someone to send you off later." Zheng Yifan said casually.

Tang Xuan smiled, but did not respond.

The seat was by the window, and when she turned her head, she saw the Xiao Group across the road.Tang Xuan raised her head and looked at the senior management of the Xiao Group.

Although she is the proprietress of the Xiao Group, she has not actually been to the Xiao Group a few times.

For one thing, she had no job, so she ran over specially and always felt that she didn't fit in with the people inside.

Secondly, people are very gossip nowadays, whenever she appears in the Xiao Group and walks side by side with Xiao Zihan, she will immediately attract countless eyeballs.

Even though she knew that the curious employees were not malicious, Tang Xuan felt very embarrassed because she had a thin skin.

Tang Xuan stared up at her neck for a long time, her neck was sore, she looked away and lowered her head.

Perhaps, it was precisely because she didn't often go to Xiao Zihan's place of work, and didn't often accompany Xiao Zihan, that gave some women with ulterior motives a chance to take advantage of it.

"Tang Xuan? Tang Xuan?"

Zheng Yifan's voice came from far away, Tang Xuan suddenly came back to her senses, and looked at Zheng Yifan.

"What are you thinking about, so preoccupied?" Zheng Yifan smiled helplessly, "Seeing that you are looking at the Xiao Group, you must be thinking about Xiao Zihan. Is he busy at noon today, do you want to invite him to have lunch together?"

Tang Xuan shook her head, "No need, he has something to do at noon, so he's eating at the company."

"Oh, that's good." Zheng Yifan licked his lips and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, the teaching assistant came in a hurry.

"I'm sorry, my training here has not ended, I just let us go." She was panting, her forehead was covered with sweat.

Tang Xuan stood up and reached out her hand to shake hands with the teaching assistant.

"Sister Chun, long time no see."

Sister Chun opened her mouth wide when she saw Tang Xuan. She took Tang Xuan's hand and said with disbelief after a while, "Tang Xuan, I don't even recognize you."

Tang Xuan blinked her eyes, wondering, "No way, Miss Chun, have I changed so much?"

"No, you look exactly the same as when you were in college. But your aura has changed, it's completely different from before. If I meet you on the street now, I wouldn't dare to recognize your aura."

"It's not that exaggerated." Tang Xuan lowered her head and looked at her white T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. It was similar to what she wore in college. In order not to be too obtrusive, she specially wore casual clothes. How could she be said that.

Is it...

"Hey, I've given birth to two children and I'm getting old." Tang Xuan rescued herself with some embarrassment.

When people are older, they will look mature and have aura.She only had this explanation for Sister Chun's exaggerated reaction.

Sister Chun quickly shook her head, "No, no, I didn't mean that, Tang Xuan, don't get me wrong."

Zheng Yifan took over the conversation, and said, "I guess what Miss Chun means is that Tang Xuan looks stylish now, like a female star, with her own halo and aura."

"That's right, that's what I mean!" Sister Chun clapped her hands, raising her voice a little.

This time, Tang Xuan felt embarrassed.

Sister Chun and Zheng Yifan boasted, but Tang Xuan still didn't quite believe it.

Although she is not yet 30 years old, after all, she has given birth to two children one after another. How is it possible to say that she has not aged at all.

Wait, could it be because she has become ugly that the women outside can take advantage of it?