Chapter 28: Two Conditions
Xia Ning clenches her fists and tries to control herself. It is no use to argue with Xiao Tingting at the moment. Xiao Tingting is her boss. She will lose any arguments.
“OK. I will give you the report for the exclusive interview. I get to go to work.” Xia Ning says and prepares for her work.
“One minute.” Xiao Tingting looks at her long fingers, “I don’t have any snacks here. Go to buy some. Here is the list; get all of them.”
Dropping a piece of paper on Xia Ning’s desk, Xiao Tingting turns back and walks away.
Dozens of snacks are listed on the paper. Xia Ning reads and takes several deep breaths to keep her emotion stable. It seems that in the following five days, except for the exclusive interview with President Li, she still needs to take all the tortures from Xiao Tingting.
Taking the paper, Xia Ning estimates the time it will take to buy the snacks and has a quick look at Li Dezheng’s information. She plans to make the appointment for the interview with Li Dezheng while buying snacks.
She walks in the supermarket for about an hour and buys all the snacks. She calls a taxi and goes back to the office, when Xiao Tingting has left for somewhere. She gets relaxed. In half an hour, Xia Ning puts the snacks in place one by one.
She glances at the clock. It is half past three in the afternoon. Xia Ning sets off for the Li’s Group.
The headquarters of Li’s Multinational Group Co., Ltd. is located in the busiest commercial street in the downtown. The office building of more than 50 floors looks magnificent and glorious.
Xia Ning reports her identity and is led to the gate of the General Manager office. She tells her visiting purpose again when meeting President Li’s secretary, whose face freezes once hearing that she is a reporter. She says, “I will go to check with President Li. Please wait for a moment.”
The secretary leaves and Xia Ning waits. She waits for more than one hour.
The secretary does not show up until it is almost time getting off work and asks her to go into the office.
Xia Ning is surprised. She was thinking she might be waiting till tomorrow.
The office is really large, with a glass wall at the back. A man in a dark grey suit stands in front of the glass. He is slightly fat, of middle height, with a big cigar in his mouth. He stands straight. It looks that he is contented with the sense of success, standing by the glass wall and looking at the busy people below.
“Hi, President Li, I am Xia Ning, a reporter from TIME ERA TV station.” Xia Ning smiles and introduces herself.
Li Dezheng opens his mouth and blows out a big cloud of smoke, but he does not respond.
The atmosphere is somewhat awkward. But Xia Ning is calm, “President Li is the leader of the economy in B city, a model of success and guidance of the upper-class society. Our TIME ERA TV station would like to have an exclusive interview with you. I don’t know if it is convenient for you. If not, we can arrange another time…”
“Is your Chief Editor Xiao Tingting?”
Without waiting for Xia Ning to finish, Li Dezheng interrupts. He raises his voice a bit at the end of his speech, arrogant and snooty.
“Yes, President Li. Is she an acquaintance of you?”
Li Dezheng turns back. When he sees Xia Ning, his triangle eyes flashes slightly and his dark red lips make a gloomy smile, “No, but I want to make friends with her.”
Hearing this, Xia Ning feels her heart tightened.
What Li Dezheng said is with bad intentions.
“I will tell Chief Editor Xiao what you said. If it is possible, maybe we can arrange a meeting. However, Chief Editor Xiao is quite busy these days. Maybe…”
“Little girl, don’t play with me like that.” Li Dezheng squints at her, “Let me make it clear. It is OK to have an exclusive interview with me, under two conditions. I am generous. Accepting either of them is OK. Or, no way.”
“Please advise, President Li.”
“One, tell Xiao Tingting to have dinner with me. I will choose the place. Two”, Li Dezheng pauses and walks to Xia Ning. He looks over her with his triangle eyes with a creepy smile, “Two is that you spend a night with me.”
Unexpecting Li Dezheng would say out directly, Xia Ning feels disgusted and steps back, “President Li, please show some respect!”
It seems that the rumors outside are true. Li Dezheng is a complete hooligan, a ruffian.
Li Dezheng raises his eyebrows, also his voice, “How can you say I don’t respect you! Let me tell you. Lots of women want to climb up to my bed. I am flattering you. I give you the chance. Don’t you appreciate it?”
Xia Ning bites her teeth to control herself from giving him a punch on the face. She keeps her patience, “President Li. The interview with you is only a work arrangement and the relation between you and me is just about work. About the two conditions you mentioned, I reject the second one, and I will check with Chief Editor Xiao about the first one. We will reply to you.”
“Hum!” Li Dezheng sneers, “Woman, you want to play the trick on me for a better price? Xiao Tingting might have the chance. But you, I might be interested in when in the bed. I give you two hours to let me know Xiao Tingting’s decision. Get out!”
Xia Ning feels her heart stuck and her eyes are blurred by tears. She perversely turns back and leaves the office in a hurry.
She holds the tears and walks out of the building with her head down. She hails a taxi. Tears at last pour out of her eyes when she gets on the taxi.
The driver sees her crying so bitterly and waits for quite a while before asking, “Miss, where are you going?”
Xia Ning takes a deep breath and bites her lips, “Wherever, please drive around for now.”
“OK.”
She cannot go back to the office now. If people in the company see how she looks, they will be contented because of her misfortune. And the Xiao Tingting people will definitely make it worse.
“I am looking up, on the moon…”
Her phone rings. It is Yi Yunrui.
Xia Ning feels kind of calm in the heart with a strange feeling inside. At this moment, she really hopes that Yi Yunrui is by her side.
She wipes her tears and takes a breath before getting the phone through, “Aren’t you busy? Why call me at this time?”
No response from the other side, but several minutes of silence.
“Rui.” Xia Ning frowns. Is it just a wrong dialing?
“You are crying?”
The deep and thick voice lights up Xia Ning, “No. I am not crying. I just drank some water and got choked. I am not at home, but in a taxi outside.”
“Why still outside?”
“I have an exclusive interview. That is why…”
“An exclusive interview with whom?”
Yi Yunrui’s voice gets even deeper, as if he is keeping control of something. Not knowing why, Xia Ning signs, “An exclusive interview with Li Dezheng.”
“The president of Li’s Multinational Group?”
“Yes.” Xia Ning nods, “I have to finish the report these days. May we hang up for now?”
“Are you busy all the time? The phone in the villa never gets through.”
“Huh…yes, quite busy.” When she gets back to the villa, it is often past 11:00 p.m., and she cannot go to bed until almost 1:00 a.m. after washing.
“Ning, if you feel wronged, just tell me at once. OK?”