Surprise Resignation of Female Substitute Secretary
Chapter 21

"Don't be depressed by yourself," although she was very anxious in her heart, Su Tao didn't show any eagerness.

"Sis, I really don't want to record it, don't persuade me anymore," Xiao Shan's muffled voice came out from under the pillow.

Su Tao glanced at him, fiddling with her phone without answering.

Xiao Shan: "I'll have to see that old man again later, I can't continue recording the show with him."

Su Tao: "Okay, fine."

Xiao Shan hesitated for two seconds, finally poked his head out from under the pillow, thinking he had misheard. He stared blankly at Su Tao.

Su Tao: "The plane ticket has been booked, 9:20, if you want to leave you have to pack your bags now. I'll call a car for you." Su Tao calmly showed him the ticket booking page, and sent it to the group chat, then opened the app to call a car.

Xiao Shan was confused, blinking his eyes, swallowing his saliva in disbelief and asked: "Really, really?"

"Really." Su Tao nodded her head, urging him, "Hurry up and pack, the car will be here soon."

"Thank you, sis..." Xiao Shan still felt it was unreal, and asked again, "Then, then will it cause any loss to the company if I really don't record?"

"Of course, you and Tong Mingxuan have already signed the contract, backing out now means breach of contract. You'll have to bear the penalty yourself. And," raising her eyes to look at Xiao Shan, no extra emotions in them, "The company may freeze you out, no longer giving you any resources."

"Why?" Xiao Shan stood up, frowning at Su Tao who was a whole head shorter than him.

"Because you don't know how to cherish." Su Tao looked straight into his eyes, calmly saying, "Do you know how much effort Liang Ke and I spent to get you these upcoming opportunities? And you're giving up so easily, would we dare give you any more resources in the future? Xiao Shan, I'm telling you, suffering humiliation is inevitable before making it big. If you don't want people yelling at you anymore, make yourself stronger!" Everyone gets emotional, but not many can bear the consequences of being emotional."

Su Tao's phone dinged, the car had arrived, "There are 5 minutes left before the car gets here, hurry up and pack to leave."

After saying this, Su Tao walked to the door. As soon as she opened it, Xie Jin stood up straight and looked at her, but was preempted by Sheng Ou standing in front of Su Tao.

She asked with great concern on her face: "Taotao, did you really book the plane ticket? You're not letting him record anymore?"

Sheng Ou looked at the ticket information in the group chat.

"Yes." Su Tao stood ramrod straight, intelligent and confident.

"Taotao, should I call Supervisor Liang?" Sheng Ou asked hesitantly.

Although Su Tao had come to lead the team herself, seeing that Xiao Shan was going to back out, the company placed such importance on this show, the consequences were too serious for her to bear alone.

"Go ahead." Su Tao nodded indifferently.

Sheng Ou was scared into a cold sweat. She hurriedly dialed Liang Ke's number and went to one side to report.

"Sis~" Xiao Shan pouted behind Su Tao, like a child who hadn't grown up. His eyes were red as he aggrievedly said, "I'll record, I won't make trouble again."

He slowly closed his eyes behind Su Tao, silently breathed a sigh of relief, then resumed his composure. He turned around, facing Xiao Shan, gently opened his mouth: "Xiao Shan, remember what you want, don't let your emotions lead you astray, this is the last time, okay?"

Her gentle voice immediately brought tears to Xiao Shan's eyes. He nodded with tears streaming down his face.

While everyone was praising Su Tao, Xie Jin's face was getting darker and darker.

He had been waiting outside, and was very obedient, yet she didn't even have a gentle word for him?

-

The filming that afternoon went on normally, and everyone didn't surround her like they did that morning, keeping a safe distance from her.

Su Tao glanced helplessly at Xie Jin who kept standing by her side. With this annoying wet blanket around, it was indeed peaceful.

"Xiao Jie, Ou Jie, keep an eye out, call me if anything comes up." Su Tao said before leaving the set.

She really didn't want to accept everyone's admiring glances from afar.

Su Tao walked along the wooden pier by the beach, a sea breeze blew by and flipped her straw hat off. She turned around, and the hat was caught in Xie Jin's hand.

Xie Jin looked innocent, and quickly raised both hands: "It was the wind, not me."

Seeing his flustered denial, as if afraid she would misunderstand that he had flipped her hat off, Su Tao couldn't help but laugh out loud, "I didn't blame you, but why are you following me?"

Xie Jin was dazzled by her smile, stunned for a few seconds. Seeing Su Tao had already walked ahead a few steps, he quickly caught up, "Director Su, how about you come to Ruiqi as a talent agent trainer?"

Su Tao glanced at him, calmly saying, "I wouldn't dare, how could I train for Ruiqi."

"You are very capable, outstanding." Xie Jin suddenly looked at her sincerely, seriously saying.

It was the first time Su Tao had heard him affirm her.

She saw her poised appearance reflected in his pupils. She was suddenly reminded of her past self denied by him.

She withdrew her gaze, not answering, and continued walking forward.

"Don't follow me anymore, do you know where I'm going?" After walking out a few steps, Su Tao stopped and looked at Xie Jin who was following closely behind her, speaking a little impatiently.

Xie Jin hesitated for a moment. He was about to say he would go wherever she went, but the words that came out of his mouth were, "You said you would treat me to a meal."

Su Tao's expression froze. She nodded in acquiescence, a flicker of slyness in her eyes.

She took out her phone to search for maps and guides. Soon after, she raised her eyes meaningfully and said, "I'll treat you to anything you want to eat?"

Xie Jin: "..."

He felt she was up to no good.

Walking forward for about 10 minutes, until they saw a small food street, Su Tao finally stopped.

"I can only treat you to these, if you don't like it you can leave now." S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Nʘvᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Su Tao knew he not only disliked street food, but also disliked the noisy environment.

Xie Jin's brows quirked slightly, looking nonchalant, "I'll eat."

The food street was very lively, a famous scenic spot in that area of Nancheng. People were squeezed together on the already narrow road, having to squeeze through to buy food.

To get a snack, Su Tao squeezed through the crowd. Xie Jin narrowed his eyes, dissatisfaction and anger about to erupt. He was suddenly pushed over to Su Tao by new people squeezing in.

His hands held her shoulders, his chest pressed against her soft back. His mind rippled, suddenly thinking this food street wasn't so bad to come to often.

Su Tao turned back after getting the snacks, smelling a hint of sandalwood, looking up it was indeed Xie Jin.

"I was squeezed over." Xie Jin raised both hands, looking innocent.

Su Tao didn't care about this. She handed over the snacks in her hands, saying "Hold these, I'm going to buy something else."

Xie Jin took the snacks. A suffocating smell came over, as if something had gone bad.

He looked at the snack box in his hand, a few black blobs, sprinkled with stinky tofu sauce. He immediately turned his head away, deeply breathing in fresh air a few times.

Before he could get used to the smell, Su Tao had already bought two more snack boxes back at lightning speed.

One was stewed food, the other rice noodles.

Xie Jin closed his eyes, feeling he couldn't breathe anymore.

He stretched out both arms, held his breath, and carried the three snack boxes to a square with tables and chairs behind the food street.

When Su Tao went to find Xie Jin, she saw the snacks placed on the table, while he stood far away.

She put down the snacks in her hands, waved at him to come over. Xie Jin hesitated for a few seconds, reluctantly walking over.

Su Tao opened the lids of the snack boxes one by one, the smells rushing into Xie Jin's nose altogether, making him unable to help but sneeze.

"Eat, didn't you say you would eat?" Su Tao mischievously deliberately clipped a piece of stinky tofu and brought it to his mouth.

Xie Jin seemed to have steeled great resolve. He opened his mouth and swallowed the stinky tofu in one go. He turned his head away, eyes closed, with a pained expression as he swallowed it down.

"Is it delicious?" Su Tao smiled brilliantly, enjoying his pained expression.

After gulping down several mouthfuls of water, the recovered Xie Jin blurted out, "Little Taotao, does it make you happy seeing me eat so painfully?"

Su Tao's smile gradually disappeared, her expression calm, unable to see joy or anger. "Happy, but I think these taste better than seafood."

Xie Jin's expression froze, watching Su Tao who buried herself in the snacks. His brows slowly knitted together.

He finally understood, she was getting back at him.

She didn't like eating seafood, but he had always forced her to eat it.

She must have been just as pained back then?

And she ate like that for four whole years.

"I'm sorry."

Su Tao who was happily eating paused, her lowered lashes fluttered. She slowly chewed and swallowed the food. After swallowing, she opened her mouth, her tone cold, "No need to apologize, it takes two hands to clap. Who told me to be so obedient back then."

Her words made Xie Jin's heart tightened. He stared at her for a long time, his eyes gradually darkening.

She was once willing to compromise for him, obedient, eating food she didn't like, she must have loved him a lot to do that.

What did he do? Why did he make her change from love to not loving, even leaving for a year, not letting him find her.

What he had recklessly squandered back then was now out of reach.

Xie Jin picked up another piece of stinky tofu and stuffed it in his mouth. The salty and pungent taste made his eyes red. It reminded him of Su Tao's pained expression every time she ate seafood.

Su Tao looked at the empty stinky tofu box, falling silent.

Didn't he dislike eating it?

If she had known, she would have bought two boxes. She didn't get to eat any, too slow.

-

The next day during filming, everyone discovered Jiang Qi was missing.

The production team's explanation was that Teacher Jiang Qi had other schedules and could not participate in the subsequent filming.

But there were no secrets in the entertainment industry. After inquiring, it was known that Jiang Qi was suddenly terminated from his contract. The production team even paid a penalty fee.

"Do you think this matter was done by President Xie?" Sheng Ou gossiped in a low voice with Sun Xiao Jie.

Sun Xiao Jie's eyes flashed a hint of contempt, but her tone sounded normal: "Who knows."

"It must be him. Yesterday Xiao Shan had an argument with Jiang Qi, and he took it out on Taotao. He didn't even mind paying the penalty fee, how romantic."

Sheng Ou stood on the beach with Tong Mingxuan and other artists. Su Tao, with her looks and temperament, was not at all inferior to them. Her eyes were full of envy: "Our Director Su, beautiful, good personality, capable, President Xie liking her is only natural."

Sun Xiao Jie almost rolled her eyes out. Unable to endure it anymore, she got up and left this "Su Tao cheerleader".

Filming had ended. Because they were changing filming locations tomorrow, they had to leave here overnight today. So everyone was busy packing equipment.

After calculating, time was a bit tight.

But Tong Mingxuan and Xiao Shan still had to make up filming a commercial segment, so Su Tao told Sun Xiao Jie and Sheng Ou to go pack things up with the assistants first. She stayed behind to watch the two artists.

While filming single person shots, Su Tao held an umbrella beside Tong Mingxuan.

After Xiao Shan finished all his shots, Su Tao let him go pack first while she stayed to wait for Tong Mingxuan.

The sunset descended, crimson rays falling on the seaside. The light divided the waves, stirring up layers of ripples.

Su Tao, with nothing to do, helped the staff tidy up the set, picking up trash, bottles and such, throwing them in the garbage can.

She bent down, about to pick up an empty bottle by her feet. But the other end of the bottle was held between slender, long fingers.

Su Tao looked up. A bright, handsome face shone brilliantly under the red sunset.

The tall, straight figure paired with the handsome, exquisite features made one's eyes unable to forget at first glance. Especially those clear, smiling eyes, as if inherently deeply affectionate, accidentally bringing you into his gentle trap.

"Are you, staff?" The handsome youth was the first to speak, his searing gaze reflecting Su Tao's tranquil face.

"No, may I ask who you are..."

Su Tao, who suffered from occupational disease, had a sparkle in her doe eyes as she took an interest in the man, no, the grown boy before her.

With features and temperament like these, it would be a waste if he didn't become a celebrity. In a flash, Su Tao had already envisioned a development path and future plans for him.

"My name is Jiang Qi, the future top movie star," the grown boy flashed a mouthful of pearly whites, brimming with confidence as he looked at Su Tao. "Want to be my assistant?"

Jin Chuiwen held on tightly to a certain someone hiding in the shade of a tree, secretly grinding his teeth. He was afraid that person would rush out and bite someone.

"Boss, keep observing, don't be impulsive."

"Observe what?" Xie Jin was as irritable as a lion whose territory had been invaded. "She's already smiling at him."

Jin Chuiwen was truly afraid that the boss in his rage would rush over and tear the other person apart. It would be safer to call Su Tao over.

When Su Tao heard someone calling her name, she looked around and saw Jin Chuiwen waving at her, along with Xie Jin whose expression was so gloomy he didn't seem like he could exist in this world.

She told Jiang Qi to wait a moment, then jogged over to Xie Jin and asked Jin Chuiwen, "What's wrong with him?"

Jin Chuiwen, who was about to disappear on the spot, didn't know how to respond. Xie Jin's dark eyes were shrouded in a layer of icy fog. "Who is he?"

Su Tao's expression also darkened. She warned in a dangerous tone, "What does it have to do with you? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Jin Chuiwen took a step back, then another. Su Tao was too bold with her words now, even daring to get fierce with the boss. He was afraid the boss would devour her in the next second.

But what he feared didn't happen.

Xie Jin actually lowered his eyes, his long lashes covering the icy fog in his eyes. It seemed he couldn't restrain his rage for the moment, yet didn't want her to see it, so he slightly turned his face away.

Jin Chuiwen: "..."

This was an eye-opening experience.

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