Shen Yan looked at the messages in the group chat and imagined the scenario.
It would feel satisfying.
But she decided against it.
Shen Yan replied in the chat: “No, no, no, what if it provokes him and he comes to kill me?”
Feng Shanshan agreed: “True.
If this ends up on the news, it’ll probably be labeled as a ‘relationship dispute’ how unlucky.”
Sun Qiongsi: “Even if it’s not to provoke Zhong Cheng, I still want to come.
I’m packing my things right now.
I’m buying a ticket!”
Shen Yan couldn’t help but smile at her desk.
“Come, come.
I’ll send the address in a bit.
But don’t come too early, I get off work at five.”
Feng Shanshan noticed something.
“‘Normal’?
Shen Yan: “Yeah… Yesterday was my first day at work, and I ended up working overtime until 8 PM.”
Shen Yan: “And then I even had a late-night snack at the cafeteria.
I’m doomed.
I’m definitely going to gain weight from overwork.”
Sun Qiongsi: “Yan Yan, I kind of understand you, but if you’re working until 8 PM anyway, not eating the free meal seems like a waste.”
Sun Qiongsi: “Wait a second… The Lu Corporation cafeteria… it’s free, right?”
Shen Yan: “Yeah, late-night snacks are free.”
Feng Shanshan: “The cunning face of capitalism.
They make the donkey grind the mill but still throw it some grass to eat.”
Sun Qiongsi: “Better than making the donkey grind without giving it anything.”
Feng Shanshan: “Fair point.”
Just as Shen Yan was enjoying the conversation, her office phone suddenly rang, startling her.
Yesterday, she had hurriedly set up her computer without even noticing that her desk had a telephone.
She glanced at the display “8899.”
She stood up and observed the surrounding phones.
The only other ringing phone belonged to Zhou Xing.
But Zhou Xing wasn’t in the office.
She had no choice but to answer.
“Bring me last month’s report and this month’s plan for tomorrow’s meeting.”
The voice on the other end was calm and clear.
Shen Yan barely had time to say, “Huh?” before the call was cut off.
All that remained was the “beep beep” of a disconnected line.
Shen Yan could already guess who it was.
She worked in the President’s Office.
She shared a phone line with Zhou Xing.
And in this context, the only person who could say “bring it in” was the CEO, Lu Yu.
Still, as a cautious second-day-on-the-job employee, she double-checked the company directory that Zhou Xing had sent her.
She searched for “8899” sure enough, it was Lu Yu’s extension.
What surprised her, though, was that Lu Yu wasn’t the first name on the list above him were board members.
This gave her a sudden insight into corporate hierarchy.
Continuing down the list, she quickly found Zhou Xing’s number.
She hesitated.
She should call Zhou Xing immediately.
But as a socially anxious person, she hated making phone calls.
After some internal struggle, she decided to send a WeChat message first.
If he replied within five minutes, she wouldn’t disturb him with a call.
She carefully composed her message, pressed send, and then started a countdown timer.
For those five minutes, she prayed every second that Zhou Xing would respond.
But time sped by unnaturally fast, and before she knew it the countdown was up.
No miracle.
No reply.
With no choice left, she dialed Zhou Xing’s phone number.
“Assistant Zhou, if I woke you up, don’t blame me blame CEO Lu.”
She grumbled as she dialed.
Despite not replying to her WeChat, he picked up the call incredibly fast.
“Hello?”
Zhou Xing’s voice was sleepy and groggy.
“Why is my office phone calling me by itself…?”
On Shen Yan’s end: He doesn’t sound very awake.
She cleared her throat.
“Assistant Zhou, it’s me, Shen Yan.”
“Oh, right.
Your extension is the same as mine.”
It seemed his brain had finally started working.
His voice returned to normal.
“Something wrong, Xiao Shen?”
Shen Yan repeated Lu Yu’s message:
“CEO Lu wants you to bring him last month’s summary and this month’s plan for tomorrow’s meeting.”
Out of professional courtesy, she even added a proper subject to the request after all, she was a Chinese major.
Zhou Xing sighed.
“I spent all yesterday afternoon and evening working on the city government reports where would I have had time to make those?”
Shen Yan had no idea how to respond to that.
Fortunately, Zhou Xing didn’t seem to expect an answer.
He simply continued:
“I haven’t finished it yet.
Tell him I’ll bring it later.”
With her instructions received, Shen Yan hung up.
Now she had another problem.
To complete Zhou Xing’s task…
Did that mean she had to call Lu Yu back?
Or should she go directly to his office?
That thought alone sent a chill down her spine.
Nope.
Phone call it is.
She took two deep breaths to gather her courage and dialed “8899.”
“Beep beep”
The ringing echoed in sync with her racing heartbeat.
She silently prayed, “Please don’t pick up, please don’t pick up…”
Before she even finished her prayer he picked up.
“Hello?”
“CEO Lu, Assistant Zhou said he’ll bring it later.”
Shen Yan swallowed nervously, relaying the message as quickly as possible.
She really wanted to hang up immediately, like Lu Yu had done earlier.
But she was just an employee she didn’t have the guts to hang up on the boss.
On the other end, Lu Yu simply replied, “Oh.”
Then he hung up.
Only then did Shen Yan finally exhale, placing the receiver back down.
Two simple relayed messages, and yet her heart was pounding uncontrollably.
She knew it.
She was not suited for office work.
She got nervous just talking to strangers.
What could she even do with this mindset?
Before she could recover, her desk phone rang again.
Shen Yan:
She hesitated for three seconds.
Zhou Xing still hadn’t hung up.
So she had no choice but to answer.
“Xiao Shen, are you already at the office?”
Shen Yan suddenly remembered Zhou Xing had hinted that she could come in at 11 AM.
By arriving early, would he mistakenly think she was a workaholic?
But since she had already called him from the office phone, there was no point in lying.
“Yeah I didn’t notice your message last night.”
She hoped that would clear up any misunderstanding.
But Zhou Xing completely ignored her explanation.
Instead, he silently gave her another bonus point.
This new hire was too diligent.
She had worked overtime on her first day, yet still arrived on time the next morning.
Plus, her report from last night was concise, logical, and well-written she was clearly a writing genius.
Since she was so capable…
Might as well give her more work.
“Xiao Shen, I’ll send you last month’s summaries and this month’s plans for each department.
I’ll also send past meeting materials.
Before you leave today, put together a full company report for me.”
Shen Yan finally had a reason to say:
“…Excuse me?”
Did he just ask her to summarize the entire company’s reports… before she left today?
Zhou Xing reassured her.
“Don’t worry.
I’ve already set up the framework.
Just integrate the content like you did yesterday.”
Shen Yan: “…I guess I’ll try?”
Why does she feel like she just got scammed?