New Client in the President’s Office - Chapter 45

After Shen Yan saw the beautiful woman walk into President Lu’s office, she quickly shared the news in the group chat.

Shen Yan: Report! A beautiful woman I’ve never seen before just went into President Lu’s office!

Xing Ning was probably busy and didn’t reply until a while later:

Xing Ning: Did you check her age? I heard the chairman’s wife looks really young.

Shen Yan: I don’t think it’s the chairman’s wife, right? If it is, then she’s way too young.

Shen Yan hadn’t even finished typing yet, she was about to say that the beauty looked only around her twenties or thirties, when she suddenly heard arguing from President Lu’s office.

Usually, not many people went into President Lu’s office.

Even though there was a layer of frosted glass separating it from their area, no sound had ever leaked out before.

Shen Yan had always thought it was some kind of high-tech soundproofing, because it worked that well.

But now it seemed… it was just that the people who normally went in talked quietly.

Shen Yan grabbed her cup, pretending to go to the break room for water, but really, she was going to eavesdrop.

“Why on earth are you doing this?”

“What do you even get out of this?”

The beautiful woman’s tone had completely lost the gentleness she’d had earlier.

This was getting way too intense.

She had never seen President Lu argue with anyone before.

As she listened, Shen Yan felt like she was getting some hot gossip, but also started to feel nervous.

She was the one who had shown that lady the way to President Lu’s office.

Had she done something wrong?

What if, instead of de-escalating the situation, she’d actually made things worse for President Lu?

Shen Yan told herself not to overthink it.

All she did was point out the way.

It wasn’t like the office was hard to find anyway; if she hadn’t said anything, the woman would’ve found it soon enough.

Still, she couldn’t believe her luck.

The one time no one else was in the office, she just had to walk right into a minefield.

She looked around, then peeked toward their office area, and just happened to see Zhou Xing entering.

She quickly waved to him and signaled for him to come over.

Zhou Xing didn’t know what was going on, but he walked over anyway.

“What is it?” Zhou Xing asked.

Shen Yan made a shushing gesture and pointed at President Lu’s office.

Inside, they heard

“Seriously, what’s so hard about this?”

“Even if you don’t care that we grew up together, can’t you do this for my dad at least?”

Zhou Xing widened his eyes.

He lowered his voice and asked, “Who is that?”

Shen Yan shook her head.

He asked again, “How did she even get in?”

Shen Yan shook her head again.

Zhou Xing pulled out his phone and quietly called the front desk.

“Hey, Xiao Liu, did someone check in just now to see President Lu?”

Shen Yan was stunned.

You could do that?

She just learned a new move.

The person on the other end seemed to be searching through records, and only replied after a while.

Zhou Xing’s expression changed the moment he heard the answer.

“I see,” Zhou Xing said, then hung up the phone.

Shen Yan really wanted to ask, “See what?”

But didn’t quite dare to say it out loud.

Noticing her curious expression, Zhou Xing relaxed a little and asked, “Wanna go save President Lu?”

Save?

Shen Yan said, “Me?”

Zhou Xing: “Together.”

Shen Yan still hadn’t figured out who the woman was, why President Lu needed saving, or how they were supposed to do it.

But Zhou Xing had already started walking toward President Lu’s office.

As they got closer, Shen Yan realized another reason they could hear the argument so clearly from the break room:

President Lu’s office door hadn’t been fully closed.

Zhou Xing walked up, knocked a few times, and without waiting for a response, pushed the door open.

Shen Yan followed him in and clearly saw that the beautiful woman looked furious.

No one knew what had made her so angry.

“President Lu, there’s a meeting in Room 1605 starting soon,” Zhou Xing said seriously.

Lu Yu immediately dropped the hand that had been rubbing his temples, stood up, and said to the woman,

“Auntie, I’ll think about it more carefully.

Also, I’ve got a meeting.

Gotta go.”

Auntie?!

Shen Yan, following behind, looked at the woman, then at President Lu, then finally turned her gaze to Zhou Xing.

Zhou Xing had said he “knew,” and he really did know.

Without waiting for his aunt to reply, Lu Yu quickly walked out of the office.

“Hey, Lu Yu…”

She called after him, but he didn’t look back.

“Miss Fan, would you like to wait in President Fan’s office or come sit with us for a bit?”

Zhou Xing politely offered.

President Lu’s aunt gave him a look and snapped, “I’m going to find my dad.”

With that, she stormed off in her heels.

Once it was just the two of them left in the office, Shen Yan whispered,

“Miss Fan? She’s President Fan’s daughter?”

Zhou Xing nodded.

“Yep, good guess.”

Shen Yan muttered under her breath.

She had just seen Miss Fan so furious in the office, even yelling at President Lu,

and thought she was witnessing some juicy drama.

Suddenly, it clicked for Shen Yan.

Wait, was this about the rejected uniform project?

Miss Fan was President Fan’s daughter, and President Fan’s in-law runs a clothing factory.

This morning’s meeting was about that proposal, and by the afternoon, Miss Fan had already come to confront Lu Yu.

It all lined up.

Zhou Xing smacked his forehead.

“I was so busy this morning, I forgot to tell you.

It wasn’t exactly rejected, but the budget was seriously cut down.”

Shen Yan frowned.

“Didn’t they say President Fan was mentally prepared for the budget getting cut?

Why would Miss Fan still come after Lu Yu?”

Zhou Xing: “Probably got cut below the number he was okay with.”

Shen Yan was shocked.

“That low?!”

Zhou Xing leaned in and whispered,

“Rumor is, it went from 4500 per person to 3000.”

Shen Yan: “How did it get cut that much?

Is the company… having financial problems?”

Zhou Xing explained,

“The main reason is that several department heads openly refused to wear uniforms to work.

And we didn’t even budget for it at the beginning of the year.”

Shen Yan didn’t understand why people were against it.

“Designing uniforms and wearing them to work are two different things, right?”

Zhou Xing replied,

“If you make a set of uniforms and only wear them occasionally for formal events,
Then it means that the set will last for years.

Even if the deal goes through, it’s a one-time transaction.”

Shen Yan: “So the Fan family wants long-term, ongoing orders?”

Zhou Xing nodded.

No wonder they were upset.

What a pity.

She thought she was about to witness some juicy drama… but in the end, it wasn’t that exciting.

The only thing that gave her peace of mind was the fact that the budget got slashed so hard.

Which meant she was off the hook.

But she was still really curious.

“Assistant Zhou, last time you said you knew who President Lu likes…?”

Zhou Xing also remembered that moment.

He asked,

“You want to know?”

Shen Yan nodded enthusiastically.

Zhou Xing pulled a meeting notice out of his pocket.

“Perfect. Then attend this meeting.”

Shen Yan: Huh?

She took the meeting notice from Zhou Xing,

And for a second, didn’t know whether to complain about why he had stuffed a meeting notice in his pocket, or to complain about why she had gone and poked around, bringing extra work upon herself?!

Shen Yan read the notice carefully:

Please prepare a company statement for the discussion.

That sentence popped right out at her.

She looked up again.

The meeting topic wasn’t too bad.

Lu Corporation was just going to introduce the Link Project.

She glanced at Zhou Xing.

“Can I…”

But Zhou Xing cut in,

“I could just tell you the name, but you wouldn’t recognize it, right?

So why not go meet the person yourself?”

Shen Yan: “I mean… is that necessary?”

Zhou Xing denied it immediately.

“It is. You go to the meeting, and I’ll tell you who it is.”

Shen Yan: …

She struggled internally.

Zhou Xing continued, “I’ve already prepared the speaking notes.

You just have to read from the script.”

Shen Yan“But I…”

Zhou Xing: “You just need to show up, open the script, and read it out loud.

It’s no big deal.”

Shen Yan: “But still…”

Zhou Xing: “It’s mostly strangers at this one.

After today, you’ll probably never see most of them again.

Unfamiliar faces.”

Shen Yan: “But…”

Zhou Xing delivered his final blow:

“Don’t you want to know who President Lu likes?”

Shen Yan did.

“Fine,” Shen Yan gave herself an excuse,

“If I embarrass myself at the Financial Office meeting,

I’ll be disgracing Lu Corporation.”

Zhou Xing waved his hand: “No worries.”

Shen Yan looked more closely at the meeting notice.

The meeting was at 3 p.m.

She took out her phone and saw that it was already 2:15.

Zhou Xing said, “Go now.

You’ll get there quickly on your electric scooter.”

Shen Yan stretched out her hand: “Speech materials.”

Zhou Xing almost forgot: “Right, they’re on my desk.

I’ll get them for you.”

As Shen Yan followed him back to his desk, she asked: “I just need to read it as-is, right?”

Zhou Xing: “Exactly.

It’s short, just one page, about 500 words.

It should take two or three minutes.”

Shen Yan: “I’ll give it a try.

But if I mess up and Lu’s love interest is in the audience,won’t that embarrass him?”

Zhou Xing paused and thought for a moment: “You’re right.

So for the sake of President Lu’s happiness, please make sure to read it all the way through.”

Suddenly, Shen Yan felt a wave of pressure hit her.

Zhou Xin g: “Just try it. It’s fine.

If you manage to speak successfully today, we’ll never have another weekly meeting again.”

Shen Yan: “Huh?”

She did think this meeting was targeted at her,

But Zhou Xing saying it so openly felt a little…

Zhou Xing handed her the freshly printed speech:

“If you read this report at the Financial Office meeting today,

We’ll cancel all future weekly meetings.”

Shen Yan asked cautiously: “Are you sure it’s not just this week’s meeting being canceled?”

Zhou Xing: “Director Fan said just last week that we should promote these company-wide.

Who dares cancel our weekly meetings?”

Shen Yan fired back:

“Director Fan also said you’re overburdening the employees.”

Zhou Xing:

“…Then should we continue them next week?”

“No, no, no

I’ll deliver the speech successfully!”

Shen Yan quickly shut that down.

“But wait

How will you even know if I succeed or not?”

Zhou Xing said matter-of-factly:

“Isn’t President Lu’s crush going to be there?”

Shen Yan, full of gossip now:

“You know who it is, too?”

As soon as she asked, Shen Yan realized she’d asked something obvious.

Zhou Xing and Lu Yu were classmates.

Of course, he’d know.

Zhou Xing responded confidently:

“I asked President Lu himself.”

Shen Yan felt a bit ashamed of her narrow-minded thinking.

There wasn’t much time left.

She quickly grabbed her electric scooter keys and the speech Zhou Xing gave her.

And headed out of the office.

Just before she left, Zhou Xing called out to her again.

Shen Yan turned her head: “?”

Zhou Xing handed her the meeting notice:

“Bring the notice.

Otherwise, you won’t be allowed into the district government building.”

No wonder that meeting notice was in Zhou Xing’s pocket earlier.

She hurried back to Zhou Xing’s desk and grabbed the notice she had placed there.

When Shen Yan arrived at the gate of the district government on her scooter,

Just as expected, she was stopped by the gatekeeper.

The guard told her to park her scooter at the nearby parking area.

And only let her in after she showed the meeting notice.

The last time she came here, she followed Fan Mingxu,

who knew his way around the government building.

But she didn’t

She had to rely on the room number written on the notice and even asked a security guard for directions.

Following the guard’s instructions,

She successfully found the district government office building and managed to locate the elevator to go up.

Just as she was entering the elevator, someone else came in too.

Shen Yan instinctively moved into the corner,

But once she got there, she realized

She didn’t know anyone here,

So there was no need to hide in the corner.

When she got off the meeting room floor,

because she’d shrunk into the corner,

She had to squeeze her way out,

thinking she should’ve just stood by the door from the beginning.

Finally stepping out and standing at the door of the meeting room,

Shen Yan gave herself a little pep talk.

Even if she messed this up, it was just like one of those weekly meetings.

Luckily, she had left early and still had time to mentally prepare.

She gathered her courage and stepped into the meeting room,

where she saw a girl in a polo shirt with a high ponytail already inside.

The girl stood up as soon as she saw Shen Yan enter,

and guided her to sign in on the sheet on the table.

“You’re from Lu Corporation, huh?

You’re the first one here.”

The girl said as she noticed Shen Yan signing next to the Lu Corporation line.

Shen Yan nodded:

“Yeah, I’m here on behalf of our boss.”

The girl asked:

“On behalf of Lu Yu?

What’s he busy with? He couldn’t come.”

Shen Yan opened her mouth.

She might just have figured out who Lu Yu’s rumored crush is.