Love O2O- Beyond a Beautiful Smile

Chapter 23- The little intern, continued

Relating to Episode 18 of Love O2O

Hao Mei was ropeable. The task that A Shuang had set Bei Wei Wei was calculated to make her fail. It wasn't even an important job, but A Shuang was going to become even more intractable about women if saosan didn't succeed. The numbers on his screen blurred as he scowled at them; it was impossible to get any work done in this mood.

He swung his chair out from the desk, gliding over to bump against KO.

"Don't you think A Shuang is unreasonable? If he needed that report so urgently then he'd have done it himself by now. He doesn't need it but will make saosan slave over the impossible. Unfair."

"Is she stupid?"

"What? Saosan? Of course not. Her beauty is only surpassed by her brains. Laosan wouldn't give his heart to anyone who was just beautiful. Why, even the school beauty was after him, but all he could see was our department beauty. Out of first best and second best, why choose second best? Unless there is a hidden diamond."

KO's eyes widened, making Hao Mei shift self-consciously.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You are a romantic."

"What? I am not. Sheesh. I was talking about laosan and saosan. Don't think too much. Just code." Frustrated at KO's lack of empathy with his anger, Mei determined to take his rant to Xiao Nai. Surely he would care about the abuse piled on to his wife!

"Laosan, you've finished the phone conference?" It was too bad if he hadn't- Hao Mei was already in the office with the door closed behind him before getting a response.

"First things first, I'm not here to tell on anyone." What was he saying? Of course he was! "Ban Shan is either brain-dead, or he got up in the wrong side of the bed. He actually assigned our saosan to A Shuang! Who doesn't know what A Shuang is like? Now that she's in his hands...."

"Did you finish the optimisation task that I assigned you?"

"Can we not discuss work right now?" How could Xiao Nai stay so calm? "I'm all fired up right now, reporting to you of fear of your wife's safety! Look at you!" Caught up in his rant, Hao Mei banged a hand on the desk. Maybe that was a bit much... He swallowed as Xiao Nai levelled a stare at him. Time to change tack. "By the way, did you hear the latest news about our mobile app?"

Leaning forward, Mei tried to convey how serious the situation was. "Aren't there a few cell phones that aren't compatible with our game? A Shuang actually assigned your wife to single out all of those incompatible ones so that we can test further. Is that even necessary? In my opinion, it's a waste of manpower and resources! I would say that A Shuang is picking on saosan on purpose." That was it. He'd played his trump.

"Oh."

Mei blinked. "That's it?"

Xiao Nai sorted files on the desk. "If there are no other issues, get back to work."

Stunned at his abject failure to move Xiao Nai into protecting Bei Wei Wei from A Shuang's misogynistic clutches, Mei made one last attempt. Maybe guilt would move Xiao Nai?

"Even a vicious tiger wouldn't eat its cubs. Are you really okay with your wife being bullied?"

"Just see it as a Newbie Village task. If I guide her myself it will be more difficult."

Hao Mei threw his hands in the air in defeat. "Hat's off. Hat's off. Ruthlessness is the mask of a true husband indeed." Disheartened, he left Xiao Nai enthroned behind the desk. Leaving laosan's office didn't calm him down, and he didn't think he could sit near A Shuang without deliberately picking a fight, and then Xiao Nai would be disappointed in him. Rather than inflict his mood on the entire office- which is what would happen if he picked a fight- Mei took himself off into the bridge between buildings. Maybe watching the grey clouds, pregnant with rain, rolling across the sky, would cool his temper.

Text to: KO

Ruthlessness is the mark of a true husband?

Text from: KO

Sounds like I need to up my game.

Text to: KO

Ruthlessness?

Text from: KO

Should I be insulted? Or is he just that naïve?

Text to: KO

The monastery was a more appropriate picture

than you could have guessed.

Text from: KO

...

Text to: KO

He looked flushed, over heated, when he was in

my office. Must be unwell. Take him home after lunch.

Look after your furen.

A/N: Next few chapters will start to include references to the side stories so if people are interested in reading them, I will provide a link (either as an A/N or I'll update the description for the story and put it in there). The next few chapters are being typed on my phone when I have small periods of free time- so formatting won't be as clear as when I type on the laptop.

And this is kinda short because if I combined the chapters to finish the episode it would be waaaaay too long. Which leads me to my next dilemma; The next chapter is a private chapter- so you need to follow me to be able to read it (feel free to unfollow once you've read if that is what you want to do).

I don't think there'll be too much missed out on in the way of plot development if you don't read the private chapter. There will start to be a change in attitude towards them both in the office and between each other as a result of the private chapter BUT you've read this far... so you can probably make a safe assumption as to what has happened.

So... let me know... 1) or 2)