When Nishi was at the peak of her annoyance, an ice pop was handed to her face.
She looked up and saw Lin Nianhe’s face beaming with a mischievous smile: "Want an ice pop?"
Suddenly, Nishi felt that Lin Nianhe’s smile was incredibly punchable.
Seeing her not responding, Lin Nianhe went on blabbering: "Nishi, you don’t look so good, are you not feeling well? Ah, I’m not trying to lecture you, but you’re always so tense, even your smile is strained—were you born liking to smile like that?"
To avoid any communication barriers, Lin Nianhe deliberately spoke these words in French.
Nishi’s face was fuming!
How could this person change faces so quickly? Just the other day he wasn’t speaking to her !
Lin Nianhe: "Seeing your pale face, was the negotiation this morning unsuccessful? Don’t worry, dear, there’s an old Huaxia saying—’A crisis is where opportunity depends, and opportunity is where danger lies.’ Look, although you’ve lost a contract, you’ve gained an ice pop. Isn’t it surprising? Isn’t it unexpected?"
In the deafening silence of Nishi, Lin Nianhe seemed to hear her inner voice.
Extremely filthy cursing.
Lin Nianhe figured that he was a kind person and shouldn’t smack someone for feeling like they were being cursed in their heart.
After all, under this vast sky, he was still holding a bag of ice pops, which would not be good if they melted.
Hence, Lin Nianhe graciously gave Nishi an ice pop and turned to leave.
Nishi suddenly called out to Lin Nianhe.
"Ah, if there’s anything, just let me know," Lin Nianhe turned around with a beaming smile.
Nishi’s lips curled into a smile slowly as she said to Lin Nianhe: "I remember that you are from the Foreign Trade Department, right?"
At the mention of the Foreign Trade Department, Lin Nianhe’s demeanor changed. She dropped the playfulness from her eyes and nodded seriously: "Yes, what’s the matter?"
Nishi didn’t care about Lin Nianhe’s expression and said with a light laugh: "Since you’re from the Foreign Trade Department, naturally, if I run into a problem, I have to seek your help—there were many issues in our negotiation this morning, including with manufacturers who have closely cooperated with us in the past. So, I hope in the upcoming negotiations, you can assist me as a special consultant."
In Nishi’s view, it was entirely Lin Nianhe’s doing that the negotiations went poorly that morning.
Rather than letting Lin Nianhe pull strings behind the scenes, Nishi would rather push her into the spotlight; Nishi didn’t believe Lin Nianhe would dare to play tricks in person.
As expected, Lin Nianhe listened carefully to her words with the air of someone ready to go through fire and water for her cause.
"Nishi," Lin Nianhe suddenly stepped forward and whispered in Nishi’s ear, "Do you suspect that these manufacturers are deliberately making things difficult for you?"
Nishi stepped back uncomfortably, her look seemingly saying: Don’t you know?
Clearing her throat, Nishi said: "Not at all, it might be my fault, so I thought to ask for your help."
"No, no, no, don’t cover up for them," Lin Nianhe frowned, her voice still low, audible only to them, "I didn’t come this morning because I went to investigate this matter. Rest assured, I’ll definitely give you a satisfying answer on this issue."
Nishi didn’t buy Lin Nianhe’s evasive words, only asking, "So you’ll accompany me to the negotiations?"
"Of course, it’s our duty in the Foreign Trade Department to facilitate foreign trade transactions. If you need help, I’ll certainly do my best," Lin Nianhe’s voice was louder as she said this, enough that the nearby guard heard it. However, right after finishing that sentence, she quickly lowered her voice again, "Don’t worry, I’ll not only accompany you to the negotiations but will also thoroughly investigate the issues you reported."
Nishi didn’t care about that so-called "thorough investigation," in her view, Lin Nianhe was just the pot calling the kettle black.
But that wasn’t her objective. She simply extended her hand towards Lin Nianhe: "Then let’s go."
"Yeah, of course, right now."
Lin Nianhe looked troubled as she glanced at her watch: "But it’s my lunch break right now. According to the rules and regulations, I can’t do anything work-related at the moment. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, it will be tricky to determine responsibility."
She pointed to the Foreign Trade Department staff bustling not far away: "Aren’t they taking their lunch break?"
Lin Nianhe smiled brightly: "Oh, they are on duty. We do this to ensure that there are people available in case work needs to be done during lunch time." She covered her chest and sighed again, "Truly devoted to the people."
Nishi looked at her with an amused smirk: "How long is your lunch break? Surely not a month, right?"
"How could that be?" Lin Nianhe replied earnestly, "I’ll be on duty promptly at 2 PM."
Nishi nodded briskly: "Okay, I’ll find you at 2 PM."
"Sure, no problem," Lin Nianhe pointed at the textile exhibition area, "I’ll be right there at the booth. You can just come over then."
When Lin Nianhe returned to the booth with her ice lolly, it was already crying.
"Hezi, what else did you do after buying the ice lolly? It’s half melted already." Wen Lan used her hand to catch the dripping syrup.
Lin Nianhe: "I had a heart-to-heart with Nishi and told her some hard truths."
Wang Shumei glanced at her and kept silent.
Wen Lan was bewildered: "You guys made up? Weren’t you nearly slapping each other yesterday?"
Lin Nianhe just smiled without saying a word.
Wang Shumei quietly added, "Apart from cursing herself, when does Lin Nianhe ever tell the truth?"
"Jeez, Sister Shumei, that kind of talk really hurts my feelings. When did I stop telling the truth?"
"Oh, why don’t you give me one truth then?"
Lin Nianhe was agreeable: "Actually, every word I say is a lie."
Lin Nianhe: "Now, tell me if that statement is true."
"You see? I just said that every word I say is a lie. Obviously, this statement should also be a lie."
"If that statement is a lie, then the truth should be ’I never tell lies,’ which contradicts what I just said, thus proving my statement is a lie."
"So, Sister Shumei, tell me, do I lie or not?"
A little paradox had Sister Shumei’s head buzzing with confusion.
Unable to solve the paradox, she decided to deal with the person who posed the paradox—
Wang Shumei threw down the stick of the ice lolly and rolled up her sleeves heading towards Lin Nianhe.
Lin Nianhe, being very sensitive to danger, immediately took to her heels: "Hey, hey, hey! So if you can’t win the argument, you resort to hitting? At least consider Uncle Wong’s feelings!"
Wang Shumei didn’t want to listen to her babble, nor did she care whether Uncle Wong had face or not, and chased after her with clenched fists, howling.
Lin Nianhe let Wang Shumei chase her around, pounding away for twenty minutes, until she bolted into the Beijing Machinery Factory’s booth and hid behind Rong Zhiguo. Only then did Wang Shumei reluctantly grind her teeth and lower her fists.
Rong Zhiguo, holding his lunchbox, was perplexed: "What’s the matter? Is she your creditor or something?"