Chapter 146 – Having A Meal Together

Friday was Jiang Qi’s last day as an employee at the company. Starting next week, the bookstore will be open for business.

When he reached his office in the morning, the first person who came into the office wasn’t his secretary Li Jing, but Xiao An and Chang Qing.

“What’s the matter?”

“Manager. Today’s your last day, so all of our colleagues want to have a meal together.”

“Yeah, we want to have a farewell party.” Xiao An said.

“Farewell party? I’ll still be appearing in the company often though.”

“It wouldn’t be the same, and besides, we all want to eat together with you.”

“Okay then. Let’s settle for tonight, since it just so happens to be an off day tomorrow.”

“Great! I’ll go tell them now.” Xiao An rushed out of the office.

“What does Manager want to eat? Do you like barbeque?” Chang Qing inquired.

Barbeque? The subject of barbeque brought back memories of the time when Jiang Qi had barbeque and drank alcohol, which ended with Ke Yan smacking his butt. 

“It’s better to eat something else. How about a seafood buffet?”

“Okay, then I’ll let the others know and make a reservation too.”

Chang Qing left too. Jiang Qi thought, suddenly having to go through this makes me feel a little reluctant to leave.

Jiang Qi immediately dialed Ke Yan’s number. “Ke Yan, I’ll be eating out with my colleagues tonight. They said that they wanted to eat together, so I might be back a little late. You can go home first.”

“What are you all going to eat?”

“A seafood buffet.”

“Call me after you’re done. I’ll pick you up.”

“No need, I’ll take a taxi on my own.”

“I’ll pick you up. You can drink if you want. Today, I’ll let you drink once.” Ke Yan thought that since it was Jiang Qi’s final day and it was a meal with his colleagues, Jiang Qi should be able to have a good drink.

“For real? Awesome! Then I’ll hang up now. I’ll call you later after the meal.” Jiang Qi heaved a sigh of relief. With this, he need not worry if someone offered him a drink and he would be afraid that Ke Yan found out if he accepted the drink.

Waiting for Jiang Qi to end the call, Ke Yan then continued with his work.

In the evening, when it’s the end of work, Jiang Qi packed up some things in the office that he wanted to bring along. 

Xiao An rushed in after a moment, saying, “Let’s go, Jiang Qi.”

“Okay.” Jiang Qi held up the box with his packed things.

Walking out of the office, the crowd had already cleared their stuff and was waiting outside for Jiang Qi.

Everyone took separate elevators down.

Once downstairs, some went to call for taxis. Jiang Qi told the rest, “I’ll move some things into the bookstore first. Wait a little for me.”

“Okay, sure. Take your time, Manager.”

Xiao An also followed Jiang Qi to the bookstore.

Jiang Qi opened the door and Xiao An followed behind. She wanted to see the interior of Jiang Qi’s store. Even though she gave a suggestion, she hadn’t had a chance to visit the store before.

Xiao An was immediately attracted to the drawings on the wall and was prepared to start analyzing it, but Jiang Qi had already put down his things and was ready to leave.

“I haven’t seen enough,” Xiao An didn’t want to leave yet.

“Have a look again next week. Everyone’s still waiting for us.” Jiang Qi saw that Xiao An was looking at the chibi drawings on the wall.

“Alright then,” Xiao An replied, reluctantly taking a last look at it.

When the two met up with the rest, their rides were already there. One car sat 3 people and all of them were rushing straight to the seafood buffet.

Jiang Qi sat with Xiao An and Chang Qing.

Xiao An sat in front, while Jiang Qi and Chang Qing sat at the back.

Xiao An thought that Ke Yan might turn up too, but he didn’t. She couldn’t get to see the two’s affection and felt aggrieved. She could only ask Jiang Qi, “Jiang Qi, is the President at ease with having you go alone? Why didn’t he come with you?”

Jiang Qi heard and awkwardly eyed Chang Qing. Although everyone in the company may know of their relationship, saying it so directly like this was really something he couldn’t get used to. It might be due to him hiding it from others for too long.

But thinking about it again, it wasn’t something worth being awkward about, so he said, “What’s there to be worried about?”

“Really? Then President isn’t worried about you drinking?”

“He told me to drink less tonight.” Although Ke Yan didn’t state how much he could drink, Jiang Qi wouldn’t tell them that, just in case he would be forced to drink a lot.

“Okay then.” Xiao An heard and lost her will to persuade Jiang Qi to drink more.

Upon reaching their destination, everyone’s taxis stopped outside the restaurant’s entrance. There were many people outside the restaurant.

It was fortunate that they made reservations. If not, it was unsure of when they would be able to eat with so many people waiting too.

Since it was a buffet, they could start dining once they paid.

Because there were many of them, their tables were connected into one long table, looking a little spectacular.

Everyone started eating a lot. Once their tummies were full, Chang Qing suddenly held up a glass of wine, wanting to give a toast to Jiang Qi.

“Manager, thank you for thinking of me in high regards and transferring the position to me. I will be sure to work my hardest.”

Saying so, he downed the glass in one mouthful.

Jiang Qi also emptied his glass in a shot. “Good, make sure to be more outstanding than me.”

“Yes,” Chang Qing nodded.

Jiang Qi poured another glass to toast the others. “Thank you everyone. Being your manager has made me very happy. After today, I will be resigning and Chang Qing will be your new manager from now on. I wish everyone the best in your careers, to have everything run smoothly according to your wishes.” After that, he gulped down another glass of wine in a breath.

After he finished drinking, Jiang Qi had a piece of fruit. He was feeling a little dizzy as he hadn’t had alcohol in a long time.

“Manager, I wish you and President happiness.” Someone said. Jiang Qi didn’t say anything else, just smiled and thanked them.

Everyone saw that Jiang Qi was so approachable and easy going, so they went to chat with him, drink with him, and were very lively.

Slowly, as they drank and ate, it was already 10pm. Ke Yan was at home and he noticed that Jiang Qi still hadn’t called him, so he directly went to the address Jiang Qi gave him.

Through the glass window, he could very clearly see Jiang Qi just standing from the door. Ke Yan found that Jiang Qi seemed to be a little drunk, sitting a little dazed there.

Getting out of the car, he walked in and walked to the back of Jiang Qi. He placed both hands on Jiang Qi’s shoulders and called out, “Jiang Qi, Jiang Qi.”

The crowd saw that President was there to fetch Manager Jiang so the previous lively chatter all quietened down.

“Ke Yan?” Jiang Qi turned around and saw Ke Yan.

“It’s me. Shall we go home? You are a little drunk already.”

“Okay,” Jiang Qi nodded and stood up. He wobbled and fell into Ke Yan’s arms. Ke Yan quickly reached out to stabilize him.

The crowd looked at the scene playing out in front of them. They could finally see the scene that had made their hearts frequently filled with complaints at not being able to witness personally. How very enjoyable.

“We’ll make a move first.” Ke Yan bade farewell to them in Jiang Qi’s place.

“Bye.” Jiang Qi also waved his goodbyes.

“Goodbye Manager, Goodbye President.”

Watching as Manager Jiang was half carried by the President into the car, those who had no partners all sprawled onto the table, crying, “When will we be able to find such a gentle boyfriend like President……”

“All the good men in the world are snatched away by men.”

T/N: agreed…. humu’s been a single pringle since forever because Ke Yan.exe was not found offline online ( ; ω ; )

Editor: CarelessPurple 

Proofreader: Celare