”Mum, I hope you get discharged soon,” Xiulan said before leaving the room in exhaustion.
”Don’t forget to marinate the poultry overnight.” Her mother reminded as her back disappeared from her view.
Per her mother’s instructions, Xiulan went to the supermarket in the evening to shop for the ingredients she would use to prepare lunch for Fu Ling the next day.
Knowing the kind of wealthy family he came from, Xiulan fixed the fact at the back of her mind while shopping. She must please his palate.
Very early in the morning of the next day, a 5 AM alarm woke Xiulan up from sleep. She quickly ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face before rushing to the kitchen to prepare the food.
Two hours later the food was ready. Xiulan secured all of them in lunch boxes and used three different paper bags to house them before running to the room to have her bath and dress up.
Taking the three paper bags with her, She left for the hospital first, to drop one off for her mother, and the paper bag belonging to her seemed to be the lightest of them all.
”Mum, I brought your breakfast,” Xiulan whispered to her sleeping mother before leaving in a hurry. Her mother was still sleeping by the time she partied at the hospital, and she was working on meeting Fu Ling before 8:10 AM.
By that time, he was usually starting to settle deep into work. And being his former assistant, she knew better than to not interrupt him by that time.
Taking the subway, Xiulan arrived at Fu Ling’s office by 8:00 AM.
It was nice to see her familiar face at the company again, but all due procedures must be observed if she wanted to meet with the Boss, and so, a call was made from the front desk to the office of Fu Ling’s assistant.
”I don’t have any formal appointment with him, so calling his assistant to confirm it, would be wrong. You can directly tell the boss that I am here to see him, and that my mother sent me.” Xiulan said with a confident smile.
Being in this place after a long time, returned all her confidence and work ethic back to her. She acted professionally as if she was still an office worker.
Heeding her advice, the from desk made a call directly to Fu Ling’s office. The secretary repeated Xiulan’s words to him over the phone.
”Let her in.” Fu Ling said and dropped the call.
The secretary put down the telephone and faced Xiulan with a smile. “You can go in,” She said to her.
”Thank you,” Xiulan replied with a graceful smile and took the two paper bags with her, and sales straight to the elevator. It was only when she got into it that she released a deep breath.
It was now, that she was starting to be nervous. She was going to meet Fu Ling in the office, and that meant, seeing another side of him. She just hoped that this would end quickly.
After dropping the call with the front desk, Fu Ling found his assistant to notify him of Xiulan.
”My former assistant, Xiulan will be here soon. Send her to my office as soon as possible.”
Fu Ling’s order was short, simple, and precise.
Immediately Xiulan went to what used to be her office to introduce herself to the assistant formerly, even though she knew him, and had trained him personally for that position, she was given a warm welcome.
”Boss asked me to send you in as soon as I see you.” The assistant said as he got to his feet and showed her the way.
”Thank you,” Xiulan said with a smile and followed after him.
In the office, She greeted Fu Ling and took a seat as per his gesture, as his assistant walked away.
Fu Ling took a good look at Xiulan, and seeing the paper bags in her hands, he looked away and asked, “You said your mother sent you?”
”Yes,” Xiulan replied as she came back to her senses. She has been glancing around the office and reminiscing about the time she worked for him.
Xiulan got to her feet and walked towards his table with the heavier paper bag. “This is a thank you gift from my mother.”
Fu Ling followed her hands as she quietly put down the bag on his table before raising his gaze to ask, “What is in there? Has your mother been discharged, why didn’t you tell me about it?”
Xiulan saw that he got the wrong impression and hurried to correct him. “Sir, you are wrong, my mum is still in the hospital. She asked me to make this lunch for you on her behalf.”
Fu Ling seemed to guess the gist and said with a slight frown as he glanced at the paper bag and back at her. “So, you made this food, is it edible?”
If not, for one thing, Xiulan would have thought that he was insulting her. Well, what if that was his intention, she wouldn’t have done anything about it. After all, she owed him a lot.
”My mother runs a restaurant, and she has been doing so since I was young. Before coming to the city, I used to help her out in the kitchen, so I can make several edible dishes.” Xiulan replied with a neutral gaze.
There was a one-minute silence before Fu Ling decided to speak, “Alright, thank your mother on my behalf since she ordered this. I’m sure you have work to do this morning, so you can leave.”
Fu Ling was aware that she had to go to the restaurant where she worked, so he was asking her to leave so she wouldn’t be late.
Those who don’t know better would think that he was chasing her out of his office because he was tired of seeing her face.
Xiulan thanked him before going back to the couch to pick up the other paper bag, before leaving his office, and his company with a deep sigh of relief.
