Chapter 65

The starters in the event, including Tang Yi-Bai, returned to City-B that night. Tang Yi-Bai then went with Coach Wu to have a meal with a senior executive from the China division of the Swiss-brand watch. The endorsement contract had already been signed — there might be some promotional activities in the near future, and he would have to go for some photo shoots for advertisements. The other party had been very interested in Tang Yi-Bai even before meeting him, and they were extremely satisfied after meeting him, so the discussion on the terms of the contract went very smoothly.

The executive had brought Tang Yi-Bai a pair of couple watches. That was a new product they were just about to release onto the market. They had initially intended for Tang Yi-Bai to wear it when he appeared in the Winter Championships, but due to some delays on the European side, the watches had not arrived in time. By the time the executive received them, the Winter Championships had already begun, so that plan could only be laid to rest.

Still, they had no regrets. Tang Yi-Bai was a hot commodity — there would be plenty of opportunities for public appearances in future. Furthermore, they had put a lot of careful planning into their advertising strategy this time. Though the primary product they were launching this time was a couple's watch set, they had only signed on Tang Yi-Bai. This leaves the audience wondering: Tang Yi-Bai is wearing the male piece, then who would wear the female piece?

All the ladies with fantasies of Tang Yi-Bai — while they may not be able to actually catch Tang Yi-Bai, they could at least wear the match to his couple watch...

Tang Yi-Bai himself was unaware of all these subtleties. He saw a couple's watch and naturally thought of a loving couple. As for who should receive the female piece to his set, he had a very clear goal.

The next day, Tang Yi-Bai took the two watches to go see Yun Duo.

Yun Duo had already notified the team leaders about Tang Yi-Bai's visit, so her colleagues were not at all surprised by his arrival. However, they were still excited, especially the female staff. They surrounded him asking for photos together; Yun Duo could only watch from the periphery. In the end, Tang Yi-Bai had to say, "Excuse me, ladies, I need to go for an interview now, and I have some other things to do as well later."

"Ah, you're so busy. Sorry for taking so much of your time."

"What a polite child!"

Child... Tang Yi-Bai sweatdropped. He glimpsed Yun Duo secretly laughing at him and his eyes narrowed.

"If there's a chance, let this big sister introduce a girlfriend to you!"

Tang Yi-Bai refused flatly. "Thank you, but there's no need."

Yun Duo walked over and led Tang Yi-Bai away under the jealous eyes of the crowd. Yun Duo thought, they were already so jealous knowing that she was the reporter interviewing Tang Yi-Bai, what if they found out she was Tang Yi-Bai's girlfriend? Would they do away with her? qaq

The two of them walked into a meeting room, and just as Yun Duo finished closing the door, Tang Yi-Bai suddenly pushed her up against it. An unexpected kiss pressed down on her just like that, locking her lips.

What a rogue move...

Yun Duo's brain was turned into mush instantly, and she struggled hard.

Tang Yi-Bai nibbled on her lip for a bit before backing off. He licked his lips and chuckled in a low voice, "This is punishment."

Yun Duo pushed him away further with a red face. She mumbled, "Be professional!"

The meeting room had already been prepped — documents, a voice recorder, even including the coffee she had half-drunk.

Yun Duo helped open a bottle of mineral water for Tang Yi-Bai, but he pointed at her coffee. "I want to drink that."

"No, you're an athlete. You can't drink coffee."

"It's fine every once in a while."

"No means no."

Tang Yi-Bai reached out to grab the mug with the coffee. "Since you won't give me any, I'll drink yours."

"You...!" This fellow — how could he be such rogue!

Yun Duo could only go out and get him some coffee in a disposable paper cup. She had just stepped out when she saw Lin Zi passing by with a cup in his hands. He asked Yun Duo, "What are you doing?"

"Getting some coffee."

"I'm going as well. Let me help you."

"Oh, okay, thank you!"

"No need to be so polite with me."

Lin Zi took the paper cup and walked to a corner with nobody else around, avoiding the camera. He then squatted down and pretended to wipe off some dirt from his shoes. As he did so, he took out a paper bag from his pocket, opened it, and scattered a fine powder into the cup. He then stood up, and grabbing the cup from the top with his palm concealing the contents, he walked sedately towards the rest area.

In the meeting room, Yun Duo turned on the voice recorder and forbade Tang Yi-Bai from spouting anymore nonsense. Tang Yi-Bai sat primly and answered her questions seriously, making her want to laugh.

At this moment, Lin Zi knocked on the door and entered, placing the paper cup of filled with coffee on the table. "Yun Duo, your coffee."

"Oh, okay, thank you!"

Tang Yi-Bai shifted the coffee until it was in front of him. He quirked a brow and said with a smile, "I should be the one saying thanks. Thank you." His smile was smug.

Lin Zi's eyes were downcast and he did not respond, turning to leave.

Tang Yi-Bai raised the cup of coffee and sniffed it. "So aromatic."

Yun Duo looked at his handsome brow and that inexplicable smile on his lips, and she suddenly said, "Maybe you shouldn't drink that?"

Tang Yi-Bai levelled a look at her. "Why? Isn't your lackey my lackey as well? Is it a problem for him to get me a cup of coffee?"

"What nonsense," Yun Duo shook her head. She leaned over and plucked the cup of coffee from his hands. "You see, there's been cases everywhere right now exposing food safety issues. Many of the things we eat and drink are only considered alright just because the issues with them have not yet been exposed. It's not that there are no problems at all with them. What if there's something wrong with this coffee? What if it contains Clenbuterol or other similar hormones?"

"You have an overactive imagination. It's fine," he said, reaching out again for his coffee.

Yun Duo blocked him with a hand. "No, better safe than sorry. You're an athlete. You can't risk any pollution to your body."

Tang Yi-Bai laughed. "Even though your words are very meaningful, I still want to drink it."

"No." Yun Duo poured the coffee in the paper cup straight into her own mug. She even shook the paper cup after she was done pouring out the coffee, ensuring that not even a single drop remained.

"Yun Duo, you —"

Yun Duo swiftly ducked in to kiss him and then turned her head away. "Can you shut up now?"

Tang Yi-Bai touched his lips, his expression filled with dreamy bliss. "This is the first time you've actively kissed me."

"Don't say it!" Yun Duo's face was bright red. She tapped on the table. "The voice recorder is still on!"

Alright, he would admit that he had forgotten in his excitement...

In the end, they could only delete all the contents of the voice recorder and start again.

With Tang Yi-Bai's cooperation, the interview went very smoothly this time, wrapping up in only around 40 minutes. When they were done, Tang Yi-Bai took out a large box from his bag and placed it on the table.

"What's this?" asked Yun Duo.

Tang Yi-Bai had learned from his past mistake, so he first said, "You can turn off the voice recorder now."

"Oh."

After Yun Duo turned off the voice recorder, Tang Yi-Bai opened the box and Yun Duo saw that there were two watches inside it. It was obvious they were a pair just from appearance alone. One large and one small, a couple's watch set.

She looked at the pair of watches and said, "Very pretty. You bought them? They must be very expensive..."

"No, they were a gift."

"Who's that generous?" wondered Yun Duo out loud, and then she looked at him suspiciously. "Was it a female fan?"

Tang Yi-Bai did not know whether to laugh or cry. "What? I'm going to be the China representative to endorse this product. This is a gift from the company."

"Ah, ah, ah, Tang Yi-Bai, you actually managed to score an endorsement like this? Do you know how picky the endorsement selections are for these kinds of luxury products? With this, you are proving to be even more high status than the popular new stars of the entertainment industry!" Yun Duo was extremely excited, stars in her eyes as she looked at him.

Tang Yi-Bai stroked her hair and said something super cliché: "As long as you like it."

He helped her put on the smaller watch of the pair. Her wrist was very slender, like it would break with just a little more force. Tang Yi-Bai found himself being very gentle. Once her watch was in place, he stretched out his own hand. "Your turn."

Yun Duo held the watch, feeling emotional. Why did this feel like they were exchanging rings...? I must be overthinking this...

After properly putting on both watches, Tang Yi-Bai watched as Yun Duo cleaned up the room. He said, "Yun Duo, don't work anymore today. Let's go out?"

Yun Duo was a little amused. "How can I?"

Tang Yi-Bai was a little disappointed. "It's so rare for me to have a day off."

Yun Duo's heart softened, but she felt conflicted. "How should I ask my team lead? It's a normal work day, and I suddenly ask for leave?"

"Why don't I ask your team lead?"

"What are you going to say?"

"Don't you worry about that. Tell me where your team lead is."

Yun Duo led Tang Yi-Bai to Director Liu's office, and then she waited for him outside the door. It didn't take long before he was out again. He put a hand lightly on her shoulder. "Done. Let's go."

Yun Duo asked him curiously, "How did you convince Director Liu?"

Tang Yi-Bai smiled and said nothing.

No matter what, Yun Duo was very happy to be able to skip work and go out and play. However, as soon as they stepped out of the doors of her news agency, Tang Yi-Bai told her some tragic news: The 4-menace team of Qi Rui-Feng, Xiang Yang-Yang, Ming Tian, and Zheng Ling-Ye were currently waiting for them at Tang Yi-Bai's house. Tang Yi-Bai dubbed the four of them as the "deng-pao boys"{“灯泡男孩”: lightbulb boys. I kept the pinyin so the next part immediately after this would make sense.} team — in short, the "dp-boys".

Yun Duo was very surprised. "Why are they here as well? Aren't you here to have a date with me?"

"I did come for a date. Even though they know I want to go on a date with you, they still shamelessly tagged along. They said they had no where else to go, so they want to hang out with us. They actually wanted to come along to the news agency as well, but I managed to stop them."

Yun Duo rubbed her jaw, thoughtful. "Tang Yi-Bai, I feel like you're the true leader of this batch. When you don't want to play with them, see how lonely they become. Qi Rui-Feng and Sis Yang-Yang are even Olympic champions."

Tang Yi-Bai facepalmed. "Don't say any more. I didn't ask for this."

Yun Duo quickly let it go — she wasn't someone cruel and inhumane, and besides, she did miss Sis Yang-Yang.

When the two of them got back, the 4-man team were huddled around the TV playing video games. Zheng Ling-Ye may not be very talkative, but he was fierce when it came to video games.Right then, he was going 1 vs 3, in the midst of a heroic battle.

When they saw Tang Yi-Bai and Yun Duo return, Qi Rui-Feng greeted, "Tang Yi-Bai, come and crush him."

Tang Yi-Bai said, "Feng, we can go out now. Where are the car keys? Give them to Yun Duo."

But Qi Rui-Feng was very stubborn and insisted that Tang Yi-Bai helped to avenge him. "Crush him first."

Tang Yi-Bai could only say helplessly, "I can't crush him."

"Let me." Yun Duo picked up the controller.

30 seconds later, Yun Duo let go of the controller. "Ok, let's go."

The others were all looking at Yun Duo in awe.

Tang Yi-Bai found the car keys and handed them to Yun Duo. "You drive. Is that alright?"

"Should be fine. Does the car have GPS?"

"Yes."

Yun Duo glanced at the keys. "Wow, a Benz!"

Qi Rui-Feng huffed. "Making such a fuss."

Yun Duo was a little surprised. "Whose car is it?"

Tang Yi-Bai replied, "We borrowed it from Matron Yuan."

She found that even more strange. "Then who drove it here? None of you have a driving license."

Xiang Yang-Yang replied, "A young cook at the cafeteria helped drive it over."

The car was a full-length SUV, very large and domineering, completely able to accommodate all 6 of them. Yun Duo started the car and Tang Yi-Bai strapped himself into the passenger seat. The other 4 split themselves up into the second and third row seats. Their destination was a resort in the suburbs. They wanted to have a barbecue by the lake so there was food in the car.

Yun Duo was not a very experienced driver. She was still alright in the city, but when she got onto the highway, thinking about the people she had in the car right now, she suddenly felt rather nervous.

Two Olympic champions, a national idol, and even though the other two were comparatively lower in status, they were still national-level athletes... they were all very valuable people! If the total value of this group of people was converted into bank notes, could this car even fit all of it?

This was a rather deep question.

Tang Yi-Bai said to Yun Duo, "It feels like we're parents taking the kids out on a trip. What do you think?" He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to acknowledge this suggestive situation.

Yun Duo: "I feel like I'm driving a cash transport car..."

---

Previous: Chapter 64
Next: Chapter 66

Back to Index