Wen Yu looked at him, her eyes calm and unreadable.
Gu Huaizhi reached out and took the document envelope from her, placing it on the desk. His fingers tapped lightly against its edge a few times.
He looked straight at Wen Yu. “I remember there’s still half a month left. Secretary Wen, are you really that eager to leave?”
“President Gu, according to the terms of our agreement, I should notify you in advance so that you and the company can arrange the handover. I’m not eager to leave. I’m simply fulfilling the agreement we made from the beginning. When the time is up, I should leave. I’m just following the rules.”
Gu Huaizhi’s eyes darkened slightly.
He stared at her for several seconds before the corners of his lips curved into an emotionless smile.
He leaned back against the leather chair and spoke indifferently. “I’ve received your resignation. But for the next half month, you’re still my chief secretary. None of your duties will be reduced.”
His gaze fell on the document envelope again.
“Also, until I find a suitable replacement, you’ll be responsible for training the new secretary. Make sure the transition is seamless. I don’t want your departure to cause any unnecessary losses to the company.”
Wen Yu nodded. “Understood. I’ll make sure the handover is done properly. Please rest assured, President Gu.”
“Good. You can leave.”
Gu Huaizhi picked up his tablet again and waved her away.
Wen Yu gave a slight nod, turned around, and walked out of the office in her high heels.
The door gently closed behind her.
Gu Huaizhi looked toward the door, his expression dark and unreadable.
The irritation in his heart only grew stronger.
He stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring at the towering skyscrapers in the distance.
After leaving the office, Wen Yu took a deep breath, composed herself, and returned to her desk, throwing herself back into work.
That afternoon, Gu Huaizhi summoned her to his office.
A young woman was standing inside.
She looked as though she had only recently graduated from university, with a hint of youthful innocence about her.
She was dressed in a professional suit, her face showing both nervousness and excitement.
“This is Su Qing. Human Resources just hired her as a secretary. Starting today, you’ll train her. Get her familiar with the workflow as quickly as possible and have her take over your responsibilities.”
Gu Huaizhi’s voice was devoid of emotion. His tone was strictly businesslike.
Wen Yu looked at the young woman named Su Qing.
Su Qing immediately gave her a somewhat restrained smile.
“Hello, Secretary Wen. My name is Su Qing. I’ll be counting on your guidance from now on.”
Wen Yu nodded. “Mm. Hello.”
She hadn’t expected the HR department to find a new secretary so quickly.
But this was good too.
With someone ready to take over, she could leave even sooner.
Su Qing secretly glanced at Gu Huaizhi, her heart pounding.
She couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have landed a position as Gu Huaizhi’s secretary.
This was the job so many women dreamed of, and somehow, she had managed to get it.
Before this, the man she had only ever seen in financial news was someone she could now see up close.
He was several times more handsome in person than he was in videos.
She had heard that he never got involved with women.
She wondered if, after spending enough time by his side, she might eventually have a chance…
Wen Yu had no idea what was going through Su Qing’s mind.
She brought her to the secretary’s office outside.
After assigning her a desk, Wen Yu began explaining every aspect of the job in detail.
Gu Huaizhi’s work habits, his preferred coffee, things to pay attention to when arranging his schedule, coordinating relationships between departments, and the key points for communicating with important clients.
She had organized everything clearly and compiled it into a thick handbook.
Su Qing was quite attentive. She held her notebook and carefully wrote everything down.
The admiration in her eyes grew stronger as she looked at Wen Yu.
“Secretary Wen, you know so much. You’re amazing!”
She hadn’t expected Secretary Wen to be so beautiful and so capable at work.
She just couldn’t understand why she was resigning.
But she certainly wasn’t going to ask.
After all, Wen Yu’s resignation was the reason she had this opportunity.
If Wen Yu stayed, she wouldn’t have a chance at all.
Wen Yu merely smiled faintly.
“You’ll get used to it once you become familiar with everything.”
She hadn’t known any of this when she first started either.
She had learned it all through years of trial and error, day after day, gradually accumulating experience.
At one point, Gu Huaizhi came out of his office with his special assistant to attend a meeting.
As he passed by, he saw Wen Yu seriously teaching the new secretary.
For some inexplicable reason, his heart felt heavy.
His already cold expression became even colder.
Li, his special assistant, trembled inwardly.
He didn’t dare say anything and only glanced toward Wen Yu.
Over the next few days, Gu Huaizhi went to the apartment to see her every evening after work.
After their usual intimate encounters, he would invariably put on his trousers and leave.
Wen Yu did her best to cooperate with him.
Time passed slowly but steadily.
Wen Yu looked at the calendar, where more and more dates had been crossed out, and lost herself in thought for a moment.
It took her a while to come back to herself.
She drew an X over the final date, then placed the calendar back inside the drawer.
Wen Yu sat on the VIP sofa in a bank’s private lounge, watching the manager behind the counter in a neatly pressed uniform as he carefully checked the documents she had submitted.
“Miss Wen, all the linked relationships between the accounts under your name have been completely terminated. We’ve also opened a new independent account for you. Please sign here to confirm.”
Wen Yu picked up the pen and signed her name neatly and decisively.
As the final stroke fell onto the paper, she felt as though she had finally severed her ties with the past.
Wen Yu accepted the bank card from the manager, stood up, and thanked him before leaving the bank.
The sunlight outside was warm and bright, bathing her in a pleasant glow.
She took a deep breath, breathing in the air of freedom.
Her entire body felt filled with strength.
She walked to the service center across the street.
There weren’t many people waiting.
After taking a number, she sat quietly to the side.
It wasn’t long before her number was called.
“Hello. I’d like to cancel this number.”
She handed a SIM card to the employee.
The employee worked on the computer and asked routinely,
“Are you sure you want to cancel it? Once it’s canceled, it cannot be restored.”
“Yes.”
There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in Wen Yu’s voice.
She watched as the employee picked up the tiny card and inserted it into a machine.
Click.
The card was destroyed.
This phone number contained Gu Huaizhi’s contact information, the numbers of all her colleagues at the company, and all the social connections she had accumulated over the past five years.
Now, with the destruction of this SIM card, everything had become part of the past.
She felt no reluctance whatsoever.
Those five years had been, to her, more like a long and suffocating dream.
Now that she had awakened from it, she wanted to live a life that truly belonged to her.
After completing the cancellation, she walked out of the service center and stood at the bustling intersection, holding a newly purchased phone and a new SIM card.
She inserted the card and turned on the phone.
Then she dialed a number that had remained in her mind all this time.
“Dr. Li, hello. This is Wen Yu. I wanted to ask you again about transferring my mother to a hospital in the south. I’d like to know more about the details…”
On the other end, her mother’s attending physician patiently answered her questions and even gave her the contact information of a leading specialist at a hospital there.
After hanging up, Wen Yu finally felt more at ease.
Her mother was the only person she still had to worry about.
Only after arranging everything for her mother could Wen Yu truly leave without any worries.