I have a wildlife zoo

"Crap!"

The cafeteria suddenly quieted down.

Fang Ye hurriedly lowered his head and, with embroidery-like precision, picked up the last bit of green onion at the bottom of his bowl with his chopsticks and started to chew it vigorously while slightly nodding his head, as if completely immersed in eating.

Although he didn't have eyes on the back of his head, he felt like all the employees' gazes were probably looking in this direction.

He felt terribly awkward. If you're going, just go, why yell it out loud? What's the point?

You're going to give people the wrong idea!

Everyone probably thought that something had happened between him and Lan Li, but you have to believe that our relationship is purely that of a principal and assistant, truly, whiter than white paper!

But such things cannot be explained. The more you explain, the darker it gets. You just have to act as if nothing has happened.

After Lan Li had shouted out loud, she suddenly realized something—was her reaction just now a bit too intense?

She quickly switched on her smart mode, her eyes whirling around, and loudly added another line, "I'm going, 'Haruhi Suzumiya' is finally releasing a new book after nine years!"

Her reaction was as if she had just seen some incredibly shocking news!

This way, no one would get the wrong idea, right?

Although the choice of words wasn't quite in keeping with her image as a cute girl, when you're shocked, you can have any kind of reaction. It's not abnormal for a beautiful girl to exclaim "Crap!" when she's extremely shocked, right?

Lan Li felt her ears burning and stealthily glanced around. Meng Shi and He Yifei immediately turned their heads back, with Meng Shi taking a big bite and sporting an intoxicated expression, "Haha, the chicken leg today tastes really good!"

He Yifei also transformed into a gourmet, scrutinizing the grains of rice in his bowl and seriously commented, "Mmm, delicious! Really delicious!"

Phew!

Seeing that everyone went on eating as usual, it seemed that no one had noticed anything unusual, so Lan Li breathed a sigh of relief and mentally gave herself a thumbs up for her quick-witted response.

Fang Ye was both amused and helpless at her exaggerated reaction, casting a helpless look at Lan Li, thinking she really was a clever little devil!

Lan Li, feeling both shy and excited, stuck out her tongue in an embarrassed gesture.

Her cheeks were flushed red, and even her earlobes were a bit pink.

Fang Ye glanced at her, a ripple of emotion stirring in his heart. Why did she seem so cute?

No, no, he mustn't entertain any romantic notions towards girls. Otherwise, if he got rejected, he'd have to wallow in self-pity for a long time.

He repeated to himself several times, our relationship is pure!

Then he calmed down again.

He glanced sidelong with exasperation, Meng Shi, can you make your laugh any faker? And He Yifei, smirking even more cunningly, reminded him of a sneaky traitor leading the way for a feudal lord.

How come I never noticed how theatrical you guys can be? You're all missing out by not being in television dramas.

He stood up and gave Lan Li a signal with his eyes.

Let's go, are we going to wait here and let them laugh behind our backs?

Seeing Lan Li blink her eyes, looking like a clueless, silly goose, who had yet to realize what was happening, he grabbed her hand and led her out of the cafeteria.

"Principal, wait, we haven't cleared the plates yet!"

"Forget the plates..."

The employees watched as Fang Ye and Lan Li walked out hand in hand, and through their exchanged glances, they reached a consensus.

It's normal for a man and a woman who spend every day together to spark some romance; it would be strange if they didn't.

They had suspected that the principal was an otaku only interested in 2D characters, but it seems that he was just very good at hiding it! Today, he finally showed his true colors.

He Yifei raised his eyebrows at Meng Shi, chuckled with gossip, "Hehe," and asked, "What do you think is the progress between the director and Lan Li?"

"Isn't it a bit inappropriate to gossip about the director's private love life?" Meng Shi coughed twice, looked around sneakily, and whispered, "I think it's medium-rare."

He Yifei disagreed, "I think it's already half done. Wanna bet? The loser treats the winner to a big meal."

Meng Shi was quite interested, "Oh, bet on what?"

"Bet on when the director will go public with Lan Li! I think within a month."

"At least three months, you're on."

...

Lan Li was led by Fang Ye by the hand out of the cafeteria, and suddenly realized, is this him holding my hand?

It was such a warm feeling, a bit like touching Ice Cake, soft and warm, but also a bit different.

Her heart fluttered chaotically, and she didn't know what to say at that moment.

She lifted her head, sneaked a peek at Fang Ye's profile, then quickly bowed her head down again. The director is really handsome, and so gentle too…

Before she knew it, Fang Ye had let go of her hand.

He sincerely apologized, "Sorry about that, I was just a bit confused earlier. Just thought that going alone seems a bit boring, with no one to talk to. It might be more fun if more people went together. I didn't cause you any trouble, did I?"

Lan Li felt her warm hand being released and experienced a profound sense of loss, she hadn't even fully savored the feeling yet.

Hearing Fang Ye's apology, her heart felt inexplicably distressed, as if she had eaten an extremely sour plum.

So the director had no other intentions, and it was just a simple invitation to hang out?

She was only invited because she sat opposite him at the meal; if it had been the muscular freak Meng Shi sitting there, it probably wouldn't have made any difference to the director.

Biting her lip, she shook her head and said, "Hmm, it's okay."

"You didn't need to explain so loudly just now, just staying quiet was fine."

Lan Li felt downhearted and nodded honestly, "Hmm."

She was just too foolish, too presumptuous, getting so excited and shy for everyone to laugh at.

The more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt, the more aggrieved!

Sniffling, tears unwittingly began to well up in the corners of her eyes.

Are you really okay?

Fang Ye looked at Lan Li's expression, noticing her sullen little face, her small hands clutching at the corner of her shirt, like a child who hasn't done well in an exam and been scolded by parents, looking so pitiful that she was nearly about to cry.

He sighed inwardly, realizing that he was really not good at communicating with girls.

They were having a nice chat, and he managed to upset her to the point of tears without careful.

He comforted her, "It's okay, it was just a little misunderstanding. In a few days, everyone will forget about it. By the way, are you going or not? If you want to go, I would be very happy, but it's also okay if you don't want to."

If you want to go, I would be very happy?

Lan Li perked up her ears, lifted her head, and asked in disbelief, "Eh, really?"

Fang Ye laughed, "Yeah, how boring would it be to go out with a burly brute like Meng Shi? It's much more interesting to hang out with a cute girl."

The director called me a cute girl!

Lan Li felt like she was on a roller coaster of emotions, going from the bottom of the valley to the peak of the mountain in an instant. The gloom dispersed quietly, and the bright Sunshine spilled down, making her heart start thumping once again.

She agreed happily, "Yes, I'll go! Definitely going!"