Chapter 5 - First Blood

Monday rolled around, which meant Liao Yucheng finally had to start at headquarters and He Bing had to start a new work week. The software He Bing's team was developing was going into testing next week, so everyone was pulling overtime to wrap up the final coding and debugging.

When He Bing got busy, everything else ceased to exist. It wasn't until Liao Yucheng called that he remembered someone was waiting for him at home.

"He Bing, you're not coming back for dinner?"

He Bing glanced at his watch—it was almost seven, his work wasn't finished, and there was no chance he'd make it back anytime soon. He felt bad about it. "I'm stuck at work and forgot to tell you. Sorry about that."

Liao Yucheng didn't sound annoyed, just concerned. "You've been working all day—did you have dinner yet?"

Of course he hadn't. The cafeteria would definitely be cleaned out by now. "Not yet. I'll grab takeout with everyone else in a bit. I'm probably be pretty late getting home tonight."

"I already made dinner and now you can't make it back. Hate to see all that food go to waste. How about this—don't bother with takeout. I'll bring dinner to you."

He Bing quickly tried to stop him. "No, no, don't go to all that trouble. I can just grab something."

Liao Yucheng wasn't having it. "I'm bringing you food, end of discussion. Heading over now— Golden Source Building, right? I'll call when I get there."

"Wait—" The line was already dead. "Is he seriously gonna bring me food..." He Bing muttered.

Liao Yucheng really did come. Thirty minutes later, He Bing's phone rang again—Liao Yucheng again. "I'm downstairs. What floor are you guys on?"

He Bing wasn't exactly surprised that he'd followed through, but he still felt guilty about it. He set his work aside. "We're on the sixteenth floor. I'll meet you at the elevators."

The elevator dinged almost as soon as he got there. Liao Yucheng's grinning face appeared as the doors slid open. "Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long. You must be starving."

Hearing those words and seeing everything he was carrying made He Bing's chest feel like someone had just filled it with warm honey. He quickly took the food containers. "I told you not to come! What a hassle, making this whole trip."

"No big deal. I didn't have anything else to do at home anyway."

He Bing noticed his hands were pretty full and asked curiously, "What else you got there?"

"Well, you said your coworkers hadn't eaten dinner yet and were going to order takeout. Can't have you eating while they just watch, so I brought some stuff for them too."

"Oh. Right." He Bing honestly hadn't thought that far ahead. Hearing this just made him appreciate how ridiculously thoughtful Liao Yucheng was.

The dinner came packed in a three-tier lunch box—white rice on one level, meat and vegetables on another, and steaming soup on the bottom. He Bing had no idea where this lunch box had come from, but it definitely wasn't from his apartment.

Liao Yucheng had also prepared cut-up fruit in a clear container with toothpicks, plus picked up some boxes of pastries on the way over. Every single coworker who'd missed dinner was covered.

His coworkers were practically singing Liao Yucheng's praises while digging in.

"Bro, you're He Bing's friend? You're way too generous."

"Save me some of those wife cakes! Dude, you already had two!"