Mai Suisui sat on her bed, staring fixedly at her phone.
Her eyes were wide and round, her face a picture of dazed innocence.
Heaven only knew how terrified she had been when she woke up early this morning and saw that extra text message on her screen.
She had actually sent a message to the wrong person while drunk last night, and she had said so many random, nonsensical things!
Mai Suisui tapped her forehead in frustration.
“So stupid!”
“That digit was clearly a 6, not a 9!”
“Ahhh, this is so embarrassing!”
So, after agonizing over it for a long time, she finally plucked up the courage to send an apology text.
After that, the person on the other side of the screen hadn’t made a sound all day.
This actually made Mai Suisui heave a sigh of relief.
This matter should be over now, right?
“Speaking of which… I probably won’t run into Yu Nian at the company tomorrow… She’s the CEO and I’m just a lowly employee, and we’re not even on the same floor…”
Muttering aimlessly to herself, Mai Suisui suddenly raised her hand and knocked on her own head. Through her messy bangs, one could see her biting her lower lip under the glow of the bedside lamp.
“Forget it, I don’t care about Yu Nian or CEO Yu anymore. I’m just going to get a good night’s sleep!”
Click.
With a soft sound, the entire room fell into complete darkness.
The clock on the wall ticked faintly; the second hand moved stroke by stroke as time slipped away bit by bit.
However, an unknown amount of time passed—
Click.
Another soft sound, and the bedside lamp lit up again.
The slender figure on the bed, who had seemingly been sleeping peacefully, inexplicably flipped over and sat up.
“Ah… I knew it! I can’t sleep, I can’t sleep…”
Her slender, fair hands clawed at her hair near her temples as she lowered her head in a state of frenzy. Her waterfall of glossy black hair spilled onto the quilt, hiding the aggrieved, teeth-gritting expression on her face.
“No… Mai Suisui, you can do this. It’s just insomnia, you can definitely overcome it! No… no, I really can’t sleep… Ugh… if this keeps up, I’m going to lose my hair, aren’t I?”
“Calm down, Mai Suisui, calm down!”
“This kind of little-girl behavior shouldn’t be seen on you!”
Radiating a surge of resentment, Mai Suisui had completely lost the calm and rational demeanor she displayed in front of others during the day. She muttered to herself neurotically while even hugging her pillow and rolling around on the bed… the contrast was staggering.
Just as she had been rolling back and forth on the bed for a few minutes, there was a “ding”—a new text message had arrived.
Mai Suisui snapped into a sitting position again, her hair disheveled, huffing and puffing.
She picked up her phone and saw the reply from the stranger.
She fell silent for a few seconds.
“Become more outstanding?”
After saying that, she suddenly flopped backward onto the bed, her long, slender legs kicking the quilt vigorously.
With her hair draped around her, Mai Suisui curled up under the covers. Her eyes unconsciously drifted toward the reply on her phone as she muttered dejectedly to herself:
“But… but I’ve already done the best I can. I… I don’t know how to become more outstanding… I want her to regret it too… regret giving up on me… but who can tell me what I should do…”
There was no response, only silence.
The light from the bedside lamp was dim and soft, spilling over the girl’s hair, her cheeks peeking through the strands, and even over her body wrapped in the quilt.
A trace of cold wind blew in from the window, gently stirring the hair near her cheek.
…
Waking up the next day.
Standing in that person’s office, Mai Suisui’s expression was somewhat dazed in a way she couldn’t describe.
She did want to become more outstanding.
She did want someone to help her…
But could someone tell her why she had become this person’s assistant?!
Although she didn’t want to admit it, her subconscious was instinctively trying to avoid the other woman.
But now, great…
Not only could she not hide, but according to this person’s words, she had to be by her side at all times.
“What, you’re unwilling?”
Yu Nian put down her fountain pen and looked at her meaningfully. “Your organizational and planning skills are lacking, so I am giving you this opportunity to train.”
“If you don’t want to grasp it, then forget it.”
Mai Suisui pursed her lips, suddenly thinking of the stranger’s text message from last night: Since you want to make yourself more outstanding, then prove it to yourself.
That’s right, she wanted to become more outstanding!
Now that a massive opportunity had been placed in her hands, she had no reason not to grip it tightly.
It was just “Cricket” Yu Nian; how could she be any different from a normal boss!
Nothing more than being a bit younger… a bit prettier… a bit more capable…
Emmm…
“CEO Yu! I can do it!”
Mai Suisui’s gaze was incredibly firm.
She didn’t notice that after Yu Nian heard her words, her gaze softened for a split second.
But it was only for a split second.
“Say no more. I have a meeting shortly; follow me and take the meeting minutes.”
“Yes!”
…
“Even though I have just arrived at our company, I know that it is because of everyone sitting here that the company was able to achieve such brilliant results this past year…”
In the huge conference room, only a young but sharp voice echoed.
Around the U-shaped layout of the long conference table sat men and women dressed in suits and leather shoes. Most sat upright, looking focused as they turned their heads to watch Yu Nian, who was currently speaking.
Mai Suisui sat in a corner position. In an occasion where the minimum level for participating in the meeting was a department head, she naturally didn’t rank high enough for a seat at the table.
As for An Yingchuan, he sat in a seat relatively close to the head of the table. Jin Enna, as a secretary, was also not qualified for a seat and sat in the corner with Mai Suisui to take minutes.
Listening to Yu Nian’s clear and articulate speech, Mai Suisui scanned the people present with her peripheral vision while keeping an expressionless face.
In truth, today’s meeting didn’t have any major issues to discuss; it was just various departments reporting their work. Those with good performance were praised, and those with poor performance were encouraged. Overall, the atmosphere was quite good, though it was a bit too formulaic.
Mai Suisui had always disliked pointlessly consuming time, and fortunately, Yu Nian felt the same way.
“Let’s not waste any more words. I noticed yesterday that the Operations Department has been working on a Middle Eastern oil import project recently, right?”
Unsure if it was a case of “speak of the devil,” just as An Yingchuan closed his speech folder and prepared to adjourn the meeting, he heard Yu Nian’s words. He turned his head to the side—to be precise, he looked at Xu Ya, who was seated among the group.
He was leaving after the Lunar New Year. Although Xu Ya hadn’t officially taken office yet, An Yingchuan had brought her to this kind of departmental meeting, and no one said anything against it.
“Yes, CEO Yu.”
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Xu Ya stood up and said respectfully to Yu Nian, “This was originally a project our Operations Department was planning. We started working on it a long time ago.”
Yu Nian nodded upon hearing this and then asked, “If I remember correctly, there should be a video conference today between the two parties regarding the contract issues, right?”
“Yes,” Xu Ya replied with her head bowed.
“Then start preparing for it now. I happen to be interested in sitting in and listening.”
Yu Nian uttered a sentence that left many people present stunned.
From a seemingly ordinary instruction, one could sense a flavor of vigorous and resolute action.
Unlike the fleeting surprise on other people’s faces, when An Yingchuan and Xu Ya heard this sentence, Mai Suisui could clearly see the grim expressions on both their faces.
Mai Suisui, being in the Operations Department, naturally knew about this oil import project. However, rather than calling it a project of the Operations Department, it was more like An Yingchuan’s personal project.
The interests involved were too large. His previous excuse was that he didn’t feel comfortable leaving it in the hands of the staff.
It wasn’t that he was uncomfortable; it was clearly that he was reluctant to let go.
Just as Mai Suisui thought, this project had already been carved up by many people, and they were just waiting for the results.
An Yingchuan was merely the one taking the smallest bite. The real “big players” sitting at the conference table—with the exception of the newcomer Yu Nian—everyone had a share.
Originally, this project was being closely watched by Old Li and An Yingchuan, but to everyone’s surprise, the cooperation plan with the Middle Eastern side had been dragging on without being finalized.
Now it seemed Yu Nian had her eyes on this project.
After the meeting ended, as a group of people headed toward another room specially prepared for video conferences, Mai Suisui was among them.
After a short wait, the doors to the other conference room swung open. A crowd of people filed in—not just from the Operations Department, but key personnel from the Finance Team and the Resources Department had all been called over by Yu Nian.
With every person who entered, An Yingchuan’s face darkened by another degree.
“CEO Yu, the communication setup is ready. The ST side will be ready in about ten minutes.”
After Jin Enna finished introducing the project to everyone, the staff member in charge of equipment communication made an “OK” gesture after tinkering with the computer for a while.
Hearing this, everyone present felt differently.
However, just as An Yingchuan and the others thought things would proceed as planned, Yu Nian suddenly spoke again: “I see that in your initial report, you also listed YL as a reference target. Why was it excluded in the end?”
“Ah, that… hasn’t YL been under sanctions all this time? After discussing it with the Risk Team, we felt the operational difficulty was too high, so we gave it up,” Xu Ya stepped forward to explain.
Yu Nian put down the folder in her hand and turned to look at An Yingchuan. “Don’t you know that the international agreement regarding YL is about to be finalized?”
An Yingchuan and the others were naturally aware of this kind of international news, but they considered the issue from a more “comprehensive” perspective.
After all, the agreement hadn’t been officially reached yet. Since ZS General Trade had other options, there was no need to take such a risk.
However, Yu Nian clearly didn’t have such concerns.
This woman had extraordinary boldness. Everyone knew that the lifting of sanctions on YL oil would impact the international crude oil supply, but at this moment, no other general trading company actually dared to plan such a project.
And Yu Nian’s meaning was clear: she wanted to try.
Since the top boss had spoken, An Yingchuan and the others weren’t the type to be lacking in situational awareness. After exchanging glances, Xu Ya, sitting next to An Yingchuan, gave him a subtle look.
An Yingchuan understood. Although they hadn’t prepared materials regarding Iran beforehand, his aged face remained as impassive as ever. He turned to Xu Ya and instructed, “Go contact the YL side. Also, print out the materials we used during our previous discussions.”
“Uh, Manager…” Xu Ya looked at An Yingchuan with hesitation, then glanced at Yu Nian, who was flipping through files in her seat.
Contacting YL on such short notice was one difficulty; on the other hand, there was another problem that needed solving right now.
“What is it?” An Yingchuan frowned. He very much disliked his subordinates showing such a bewildered look in front of him, especially in a situation like this.
Xu Ya leaned in and whispered into An Yingchuan’s ear, “That… because we had already excluded YL, we didn’t arrange for a translator. That language is a minority language even over there; I’m afraid it will be very difficult for us to find a translator on such short notice.”
As soon as this was said, An Yingchuan’s brow furrowed even tighter.
“Oh, by the way.”
Yu Nian’s hand stopped as she flipped through the data, as if she had just remembered something.
“You probably haven’t arranged for a translator yet. Is there anyone present who speaks the YL language?”
An Yingchuan thought it was just a casual question from Yu Nian and was about to speak up to say he would send someone to find one immediately, but then he saw a stir in the meeting.
“Um, CEO Yu… it seems Assistant Mai knows the YL language.”