New Client in the President’s Office - Chapter 20

Shen Yan had to admit that encountering Zhong Cheng did affect her mood.

She couldn’t help but wonder if something was wrong with her.

But after thinking about it for a while, she realized she was falling into a self-doubt trap.

It was Zhong Cheng who pursued her in the first place, and now it was also Zhong Cheng who initiated the breakup.

She had remained the same from beginning to end.

So what problem could she possibly have?

The real problem was Zhong Cheng.

He had a bad character.

He had unrealistic expectations.

He was arrogant and looked down on others.

He even despised people for riding shared bikes.

What was wrong with riding a shared bike?!

That was Zhou Xing!

That was the President’s special assistant!

Although Zhou Xing had nothing to do with her.

Besides, even if he wasn’t the President’s assistant, what was wrong with riding a shared bike?

Who didn’t ride shared bikes?

Unless there was a shared e-bike nearby.

She felt that her taste in men was truly terrible.

How did she ever date Zhong Cheng?

It was a stain on her life.

Ridiculous.

Her mood remained sour until she sat down at her workstation and realized she had no tasks to do.

She could slack off until the end of the workday.

Suddenly, she felt much better.

Men? Love?

Nothing could stop her from happily slacking off at work.

The Monday blues instantly vanished.

Work wasn’t so bad after all.

Shen Yan completely forgot how miserable she felt when she woke up that morning.

That afternoon, just as work started, Xing Ning, who had been busy all morning, finally had time to pull Shen Yan and Qian Xiafeng into a small internal chat group.

The group name was grandly titled “Business Communication Group 5.0.”

At first, Shen Yan was curious why it was called 5.0.

Xing Ning sent a “sly smile” emoji and replied:

“This is my fifth gossip group.”

Shen Yan: …

She had only stepped away for a moment to pick up her food delivery.

By the time she returned, the chat notifications had already surpassed 99+.

Shen Yan was almost scared to death when she saw it.

What could Xing Ning and Qian Xiafeng possibly be talking about to rack up so many messages?

She was just about to open the chat when someone called her name.

“Xiao Shen.”

Shen Yan: ?

She looked up and saw Fan Mingxu standing in her office.

She quickly put down her mouse and stood up.

“Hello, Director Fan.”

Fan Mingxu smiled at her.

“Xiao Shen, have you finished revising the interview manuscript from Friday?”

Shen Yan didn’t expect him to remember this.

She copied Zhou Xing’s way of deflecting questions and responded,

“Yes, Assistant Zhou and I revised it according to your requirements and sent it to the magazine.”

Fan Mingxu nodded.

“Good, as long as it’s done.

Lu and Assistant Zhou are on a business trip for the next two days.

On Wednesday, I need to attend a meeting at the Business Bureau on behalf of President Lu.

Send me the speech draft that was prepared for him.”

“Understood, Director Fan.”

Shen Yan didn’t expect her slacking time to end so quickly.

“Send it to me on WeChat before the end of the day.

No problem, right?”

Shen Yan: “No problem.”

There really wasn’t a problem.

She already knew about this speech.

Zhou Xing had asked her to write it last week.

She just needed to send it to Fan Mingxu before clocking out.

However, after listening to Fan Mingxu’s theories on “management art” last Friday and hearing about his bizarre workplace antics yesterday, Shen Yan was a little worried.

She hesitated.

Should she send the speech now so he could request any revisions?

That way, she could finish the changes before the workday ended.

Then, she suddenly remembered the advice Zhou Xing gave her last Friday.

She decided to give it a try.

So, as soon as Fan Mingxu left her office, Shen Yan immediately sent the pre-prepared speech draft to him.

Surprisingly, Fan Mingxu was quite responsive.

Ten minutes later, he sent her his feedback.

Shen Yan stared at her phone.

Three voice messages, each 59 seconds long.

Her head started to hurt.

She quickly converted them into text.

Fan Mingxu was a native of S City, and his speech carried a heavy local accent.

Shen Yan tried for several seconds.

But after converting the voice messages into text, she was horrified to find that she couldn’t understand a single word.

His unclear pronunciation made it impossible for the system to transcribe correctly.

Shen Yan: …

She stared at the three 59-second voice messages for a long time, unable to bring herself to press play.

Terrifying.

Why did people have to work?

Why couldn’t workplace communication be done entirely through text?

Who invented WeChat?

Why did they allow 59-second voice messages to exist in this world?!

And not just one, but three of them!

This was a massive challenge for her.

She hesitated.

Should she prioritize work and listen to the voice messages patiently, or follow her instincts and avoid this self-inflicted torture?

Then, Zhou Xing’s words echoed in her mind:

“If he remembers, I’ll just send the same draft again.

He won’t even notice.”

Shen Yan had a sudden realization.

She decided to take a gamble.

So, she completely ignored the three voice messages and opened her group chat to see what everyone had been gossiping about.

It was about business trips.

At first, she was confused about why her colleagues were discussing Lu Yu and Zhou Xing’s travel plans.

Xing Ning explained that the company’s internal attendance system displayed all employees’ work statuses.

Shen Yan then learned that the company required a full eight-hour workday check-in.

However, if someone was on a business trip or had taken leave, they could submit an application to be exempted from check-ins.

And these applications were visible to everyone in the company.

During their slacking time, Xing Ning and Qian Xiafeng would browse the attendance records and gossip about their colleagues’ whereabouts.

Shen Yan was utterly shocked.

On one hand, she was amazed by their dedication to gossip.

On the other hand, she felt that her colleagues had absolutely no sense of boundaries.

Hadn’t she always heard that, after entering the workforce, colleagues were different from classmates?

There was no real friendship among colleagues.

Everyone was just there to work.

Everyone was busy.

No one had time to care about others, right?

Shen Yan didn’t understand, but she was deeply impressed.

Shocked but intrigued, she followed Xing Ning’s instructions and found the module displaying company-wide attendance records.

She was completely hooked.

It was actually interesting.

Xing Ning even gossiped with her, saying that a previous office couple had been exposed because they frequently requested leave together.

Shen Yan: !!

Whoever discovered that must have missed their calling as a detective.

Instead of working in their company, they should have joined law enforcement.

Time flew by as they joked around in the chat.

Shen Yan barely looked through a few records before realizing it was already 4:45 PM—almost 5 PM.

She hurriedly re-sent the exact same speech draft to Fan Mingxu, asking him to review it again.

Since this was her first time trying something like this, she felt a bit guilty after sending it.

To ease her nerves, she locked her phone screen, got up, and went to wash her cup.

By the time she returned to her desk, it was nearly 4:58 PM—just minutes before the end of the workday.

Her heartbeat sped up.

She hesitated before unlocking her phone and opening WeChat.

Sure enough, Fan Mingxu had sent her two more voice messages.

Shen Yan: …

She swore that from now on, she would only send him internal emails—where text was the only form of communication.

This time, she had no choice.

She had to listen.

But she refused to put on headphones or hold the phone to her ear.

Instead, she shamelessly played the messages on speaker.

“Xiao Shen, I reviewed the speech draft.

It’s better than before, but the perspective still isn’t high enough.

It needs to be elevated further.

Revise it again tonight and send it back to me.”

Since it was on speaker, and the office was quiet as people were preparing to leave, everyone heard it.

Jian Hong, who sat nearby, turned around and whispered to Shen Yan,

“Xiao Shen, I’ll let you in on a secret.

You don’t actually have to revise anything.

Just send him the same draft again.”

Shen Yan: !!!