Win My Husband Over to Find My Child
Chapter 45: Are You Cursing My Staff to Resign?

Chapter 45: Are You Cursing My Staff to Resign?

Calix spent the rest of his day working. He rearranged his schedule to let him have free time on Friday which fell tomorrow.

If possible, Calix didn’t want to think of work at all from that day until this coming Sunday. But, he had a hunch that Edward would ruin his dream of being lazy on the weekend.

Tsk, what a heartless assistant.

As for Leslie, she didn’t keep staying inside the lounge. After finishing the movie, she ventured outside. She returned after almost two hours later.

"The cafeteria looks so nice! I keep going there. How many vending machines are here? I saw the ones for snacks too!"

Leslie excitedly told Calix of the place that caught her interest so much; the company cafeteria. She sat on the couch which allowed her to see him busy working at his office desk.

CEO Xu looked up from the tablet he was holding. He was quite speechless to hear how enthusiastic Leslie was with the cafeteria. His mind couldn’t comprehend what tempted her so much about that place.

Was it the food? Did she love food that much?

Laying the tablet flat on the office desk, Calix stared at the smiling Leslie. A sneer curved on his thin lips as mirth danced in his eyes.

"Why? Wanna try eating there? The food is good, you know?"

"Can I?" Leslie’s countenance brightened before her expression sank within a second. She laughed awkwardly, "Haha... it’ll be weird. They’ll see floating chopsticks if I eat there."

The offer was so tempting but, Leslie didn’t want to bother Calix with it. He was kind enough to tolerate her ghostly existence right now, including feeding and sheltering her.

Her conscience was pricked at the thought of continued leeching off him.

Calix almost burst out laughing at the sight of how conflicted Leslie appeared. He could roughly guess what was going on in her mind.

Once again, the same question echoed in his mind.

Did she like food that much?

Leaning comfortably against the backrest, Calix supported the right side of his head with the back of his hand. His dress shirt tightened over his chest due to his posture, accentuating his good physique.

Leslie silently thought how easy for Calix to rise to the male lead’s status. Like her, there were still many readers who appreciated playful male leads in romance stories.

’No. Don’t think about that. Focus, Leslie.’

Leslie inwardly shook her head. She didn’t want to be led astray from her original purpose just because she was living with a CEO character inside a book now.

"It’s okay," Leslie firmly told Calix, "I’m just excited because I haven’t seen such a good company cafeteria before. This place seems to cherish every employee. You should keep it up, CEO Xu."

Calix’s lips melted into a smile. His peach blossom eyes glimmered with amusement. Nodding a few times, he accepted Leslie’s excuses.

"Every staff is a human like us. That’s what my father keeps telling me so, I just follow his teaching."

Leslie was amazed by Chairman Xu’s wisdom. He was such a great leader. Without a doubt, Calix inherited his father’s stellar leadership qualities and skills.

Surely, everything didn’t come easy despite him being the heir. Perhaps, he underwent rigorous training under his father.

"Calix, do you know? There’s a statistic about why people quit their workplaces. Have you heard of that?"

Calix narrowed his eyes, "Are you cursing my staff to resign?"

"I’m not ah," Leslie chuckled. She quickly resumed what she wanted to tell him, "Staff tends to quit due to toxic bosses and management. Some of them rather shift to low-paying jobs if that means having better mental peace."

Calix blinked, slowly registering Leslie’s words in his mind.

"Wow, you really sound like my father now," Calix pretended to shudder. He glared at Leslie, "Did my father tell you to keep watch on me? Have you met him before? Could he see you in this state?"

"Hahaha! No, what nonsense is that?" Leslie shook her head, giggles spilling out of her mouth, "Do you think I can travel abroad in this state?"

"Why, can’t you?" Calix raised his eyebrows. His interest was suddenly piqued by the possibility, "Have you tried it? You can travel worldwide without paying anything ah. You don’t even need a passport."

"No, never," Leslie laughed in helplessness, "CEO Xu, finish your work. Shouldn’t we go there soon?"

"Oh... yeah."

Calix forced himself to focus back on his work. He hadn’t forgotten his scheduled dinner at the Li family’s ancestral home.

But, before five minutes passed, once again Calix stared at Leslie.

"Oh, Leslie, one more question."

"...what? What else?"

Calix recalled what happened during lunch earlier. Without hesitating, he asked, "If one woman almost falls and she’s within my arm’s reach, should I help her or just let her plunge to the ground?"

Leslie was speechless. What kind of question was that?

"Are you allergic to touching the opposite gender?"

"No," Calix shook his head.

"Then, help her if you can. Falling can be painful ah. It’s embarrassing too."

Calix shrugged. He asked further, "What if the woman actually tries to seduce me? Deliberately trip to grab my attention. Well, you know how irresistible I am."

Leslie stared at Calix impassively.

Ah... did he suddenly think of the past events?

Calix’s questions reminded Leslie of the familiar scenes inside the romance novel. The ones that showed the cannon fodder[1] women trying to catch the handsome male lead’s attention.

Even though Calix was not the male lead of this world, many ladies still yearned for his love. Some of them might try the same methods to catch his eye.

"Hurm, if anyone sees the scene and makes baseless assumptions, gossip about you might spread," Leslie pondered the possibility, "But, shouldn’t a powerful CEO like you have the resources to deal with it?"

"It’s a bit of hassle but yeah, I can do it," Calix quickly changed his words, "I mean, Edward can handle it for me."

"What a capable assistant he is."

Calix grinned, "Once I saw Edward’s potential, I immediately recruited him. It’d be a waste if he went to work for someone else."

Leslie chuckled. She shifted the topic back to what Calix was talking about. This time, she passed a question to the young CEO.

"Did it happen to you before? I mean, you intended to help the woman but, people made gossip out of it?"

No matter what, such attempts could lead to sexual harassment. Especially if the woman tried to touch Calix or any other men inappropriately while performing that kind of stunt.

"A few times," Calix replied nonchalantly as if he wasn’t affected by the incidents, "If the news reached tabloid, they’d publish tons of articles on their websites. Well, Edward has always done a good job dealing with them."

Intrigued, Leslie asked, "How? Did you tell Edward to bankrupt them?"

Wasn’t that what the CEOs in romance stories always did?

Calix’s mischievous grin answered Leslie’s question.

This...

He was indeed a male lead material!

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Reference:

1 - Cannon fodder means a disposable side character in a story usually used to further the plot, Chinese NovelFire slang