The Executive Assistant’s Little Scheme
Even Su Ruixi, who on a normal day preferred to eat vegetables, was completely unable to resist the allure of Bridgehead Pork Ribs, let alone the group of employees in the assistant’s office.
When Su Ruixi’s executive assistant came over carrying the food, everyone surrounded her. The assistant, smiling, relayed Su Ruixi’s words: “There are only eight portions of Bridgehead Pork Ribs and Watermelon Bobo1 in here, sent over by President Su’s friend. President Su knew it definitely wouldn’t be enough for all of us to share, so she separately instructed me to order afternoon tea for everyone. You can also get a small cake with it.”
“If you want Bridgehead Pork Ribs, you can come get it directly from me. If you don’t, just tell me in a bit what kind of milk tea and small cake you’d like.”
When they first heard about the Bridgehead Pork Ribs, everyone was quite happy, especially a few of the young ladies. They immediately gathered around, with seven mouths and eight tongues2, ready to just grab some and eat. But when they then heard they could also choose their own milk tea and small cakes, everyone became somewhat unenthusiastic about the Bridgehead Pork Ribs.
Someone even said directly, “Then I’ll just have coffee, Chief. We can order coffee, right? I don’t want a small cake either, it’s so easy to get fat from them.”
Not wanting to eat such greasy food in the afternoon was perfectly normal. Su Ruixi’s executive assistant smiled and replied, “Of course you can, but let’s pick one shop to order from. It’s not ideal if we order from separate places.”
“I know, I know~”
Su Ruixi’s assistant department was mostly made up of youthful and beautiful young ladies, though there were also employees in their 30s. However, because women were the vast majority, not many people wanted to eat Bridgehead Pork Ribs in the afternoon. The executive assistant knew this in advance, which was why she had deliberately offered the favorable condition of “choosing your own milk tea”.
Just as she expected, not all the Bridgehead Pork Ribs were given out, and she directly kept a portion for herself. Someone even praised her, “Our Chief is so nice, even taking a portion herself. Don’t you usually just drink coffee?”
“After all, it was made by President Su’s friend, and it’s not bad to change things up once in a while.”
The executive assistant spoke in a very noble manner, even telling everyone not to eat yet. There was a milk tea shop just downstairs, so they could just send someone to go down and buy it. They would all eat together once everything arrived. Her colleagues all praised the executive assistant’s magnanimity, but only she herself knew what she was really thinking.
In just a short while, someone brought up the milk tea, coffee, and small cakes. Everyone distributed them according to their earlier requests, and Su Ruixi’s assistant also gave the Bridgehead Pork Ribs and Watermelon Bobo to the few who wanted them. At this point, she sat down at her own desk, contentedly opened the Bridgehead Pork Ribs, and prepared to gaze upon its beautiful face.
She definitely trusted Sun Miao. Previously, when Sun Miao had a stall downstairs selling beef patties, the assistant had even gone down to buy some. Although Su Ruixi had snatched one or two, she had gotten to eat some in the end. At that time, even she, who didn’t usually care much for the desires of the mouth and stomach, was astounded as if by a celestial being3.
Later, when Sun Miao and Su Ruixi got together, she realized even more: this Miss Sun must be an incredible cook.
This Bridgehead Pork Ribs had been sitting with her for so long, its aroma constantly wafting out of the bag. Even though it was in an insulated bag, the assistant felt like it was silently tempting her. Now that she could finally eat it, the assistant couldn’t help but swallow a mouthful of saliva before opening her portion.
One look, and whoa, Miss Sun was so generous; even the portion size was more ample than what you’d get at a shop outside.
Sun Miao was also a very thoughtful person. She had used a permanent marker to write the flavor on the outermost plastic bag. The portion the assistant had taken was “Fragrant and Spicy”. The moment she opened it, she smelled that stimulating scent of chili peppers. It was stimulating, yes, but it was more fragrant than anything. The sensation of fresh, fragrant, numbing, and spicy surged up in an instant.
The assistant picked up a small skewer, speared a piece, and put it in her mouth, chewing carefully. When she bit into the cartilage, she was truly and pleasantly surprised. Nowadays, with the deep-fried pork ribs from outside, they call them pork ribs, but they’re all bone. She always felt that in a 150g portion, 100 grams of it would be just bone. It was also because the quality of food sold outside was getting worse and worse that the assistant rarely bought food out, let alone this kind of deep-fried pork ribs.
Who the hell knew how many days old those ribs were; they might have even been zombie meat4 that had been sitting in a freezer for years.
But Sun Miao’s were different. Not only was every piece of rib plump and full, but you could also get a mouthful of meat with every bite and feel the juices filling the spaces between the meat fibers. That texture told the assistant that this had to be fresh. Moreover, after a few bites, she discovered that the majority of them had cartilage, while there were relatively few pieces of pure bone.
Not only was this a large portion, but the assistant also felt that even if you bought three or five portions from outside, it might not add up to as much as this one.
The more she ate, the more there seemed to be. These ribs were definitely the kind where the more you ate, the more you wanted to eat. Especially the fragrant and spicy powder coating the outside; it was most likely made by Miss Sun herself, as it tasted different from what you’d get elsewhere. Moreover, she had sprinkled it so evenly that every surface of the irregularly shaped ribs had that fragrant and spicy flavor.
It was just that as the assistant ate more and faster, the spiciness accumulated in her mouth, making her unable to stop herself from letting out a “si ha”5 sound. Fortunately, she was not the only one. Sun Miao had prepared five cumin portions and five fragrant and spicy portions. Su Ruixi had taken two of the cumin portions, so naturally, there were more fragrant and spicy ones left.
It was for this reason that the office was suddenly filled with the “sī hā”, “sī hā” sounds of everyone. This sound attracted the attention of those who weren’t eating the Bridgehead Pork Ribs. Someone asked the person eating next to them, “Is it that spicy? I remember you can’t handle spicy food very well. How about I trade with you? You can have my small cake.”
This colleague said this entirely out of concern for her coworker. But the person being shown concern suddenly widened her eyes upon hearing those words and shook her head forcefully. “No need, I still want to give it a try. It’s actually fine.” After saying this, she opened the Watermelon Bobo made by Sun Miao and directly chugged6 a large mouthful.
The Bridgehead Pork Ribs was delicious, but she hadn’t expected the Watermelon Bobo to be this delicious too. And as that mouthful went down, the spiciness that had been swirling in her mouth was instantly washed away. She discovered she could fight again!
When people eat something delicious, they really do show the kind of expression that can’t be described with words. In the office, the few people who were eating the Bridgehead Pork Ribs one piece after another, while occasionally chugging a mouthful of Watermelon Bobo, had somewhat lost control of their expressions. Those looks of satisfaction, contentment, and pleasure were on full display, making the people drinking milk tea and coffee and eating small cakes realize that something was off.
Wait a minute——why are they making faces like that? Is it really that good?
They genuinely found it strange and casually asked a colleague they were on good terms with, “Is it really that good? Let me have a taste.”
In truth, she was just purely curious, just like the employee who had offered to “trade” earlier. But the answer she received was: “No need, no need, it’s not that good. I’ll just eat it myself.” This kind of lie might fool someone once, but if said too many times, no one would fall for it.
But there was one who was more assertive and also on good terms with everyone, who just grabbed a skewer, speared a piece, and popped it into her own mouth. In that instant, it was as if the sky had fallen for the employee whose rib had been stolen: Crap! I can’t hide it anymore!
The person who had eaten the rib suddenly froze, then chewed for several more moments. When she spat out the bone, it was so clean it could have been collected as a model. She was stunned for a moment, then burst out with a sharp cry, “Aha! No wonder you guys were eating these ribs one after another without making a peep! So they’re this delicious!?”
“And you even tricked me into drinking coffee! Chief, you have no heart!”
After this was said, those who originally weren’t that interested in the Bridgehead Pork Ribs, or who didn’t want to eat fried food, all became interested one after another. “Is it really that good? Let me try a piece! Quick!”
The office quickly devolved into a Bridgehead Pork Ribs defense and offense battle. This kind of laughing and fooling around was only possible because the people in their assistant department were all around the same age, mostly young women, and had a good relationship with one another. But at this very moment, the employees whose ribs were being stolen were probably wishing: Actually, it would be fine if our relationship wasn’t this good!
More words were useless; in the end, everyone managed to get a piece or two of the ribs. After that, those who had ordered coffee or milk tea felt more and more like they had been tricked by the executive assistant.
“Chief, you should have told us earlier the ribs were this good! Wuwuwu, they’re so delicious, why would I have ordered coffee or eaten a small cake? Even if I die from getting fat here today, I have to have a bite.”
Some people were still complaining, but others had already rolled their eyeballs7, thinking that since the Bridgehead Pork Ribs was so delicious, the Watermelon Bobo probably wouldn’t be bad either. Thus, a new round of “let me have a sip” began. And sure enough, the Watermelon Bobo also far surpassed the milk tea in their hands. That flavor… was simply incredible!
Su Ruixi’s assistant, however, leisurely ate her Bridgehead Pork Ribs and drank her Watermelon Bobo. After all, a higher rank crushes a person to death8; the other assistants didn’t have the guts to snatch food from Su Ruixi’s executive assistant. She ate more than half the bag before pausing to say, “How can you blame me for this? You’re the ones who didn’t want any, and you were so happy to order your coffee, milk tea, and small cakes. You chose it yourselves~”
Even though they had been making such a ruckus, by the time Sun Miao finished visiting Su Ruixi and was walking out, everyone in the assistant’s office, not far from the door, was working very seriously. Seeing Sun Miao pass by, Su Ruixi’s executive assistant even stood up. “Miss Sun, are you leaving? I’ll see you out.”
When the executive assistant returned, she was immediately surrounded by the assistants in the office. They all asked at once, “Does President Su’s friend own a shop? Where does she sell her food? I want to go next time, it was seriously super delicious.”
“When is she coming next time? Will she bring food for President Su again? I’m not picky, any flavor is fine with me. It would be even better if it’s spicy!”
In truth, the assistant didn’t know much about Sun Miao, but she still answered most of their questions. After calming everyone in the office down, the assistant went to Su Ruixi’s office again, preparing to ask about work matters. But when she went in, she saw Su Ruixi sitting in her chair with a look of utter satiation, appearing extremely languid.
The assistant knew full well that the people in their office had shared eight portions, and it had devolved into a fight by the end, while Su Ruixi——had enjoyed two portions all to herself!
Damn it! Having a girlfriend who can cook so well, and who even brings you afternoon tea… it’s just too enviable!
The author has something to say:
Su Ruixi: It’s useless to be envious. She’s mine!
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