Having obtained Song Hemian’s permission, Song Wan was full of confidence.
He was in his junior year now and didn’t have many classes to begin with, so he wasn’t worried about falling behind in his studies.
Even if he learned nothing, he could still score higher than the original owner; when finals came around, he would just need a week or two to crash-course everything.
He prepared for the meeting with the partner with great expectation, not only selecting his clothes early, but also getting up very early the next day to carefully groom his hair in front of the mirror.
“Wanwan seems to really be taking things seriously this time.”
Shen Shu exchanged a relieved look with Song Hemian, yet couldn’t help but feel puzzled, “I wonder what happened during those few days he went missing, how did he suddenly grow up?”
Song Hemian said with emotion, “His long rebellious phase must have finally passed.”
This was the first time Song Wan appeared at the company in such a formal image. As he walked into the company building, the surrounding staff couldn’t help but whisper among themselves.
“Am I seeing things? Is that President Song’s son?”
“Isn’t today meant for meeting an important partner? Why did President Song bring him along?”
“I remember he wasn’t like this before…”
Perhaps because the original owner’s image of idling about and looking down his nose at people was too deeply ingrained, everyone was temporarily unaccustomed to this sudden change in style.
A small assistant who had been working at the company for over two years snatched a moment of leisure, taking advantage of the gap while pouring water for the manager to quietly raise her eyes.
The moment she saw Song Wan, she thought she had mistaken him for someone else.
Song Wan’s body proportions were very good, standing around one hundred and eighty centimeters tall, which wasn’t short, though his silhouette from behind appeared slightly slender.
When listening to Song Hemian speak, he tilted his head slightly, revealing half of his refined and handsome face, his tea-colored eyes shimmering with bright light.
Song Wan was curious about the identity of the partner visiting the company today, as he wanted to be mentally prepared.
However, Song Hemian deliberately kept him in suspense, saying he would find out when the time came.
Yet when that moment actually arrived, the expectation in Song Wan’s heart shattered in half with a crisp crack.
Inside the bright and clean office.
The teacup in front of Gu Jingzhou was faintly emitting hot steam. As his calm gaze swept over from the corner of his eye, a certain line of sight nearby retracted with a swoosh.
Song Wan clenched both hands resting on his lap into fists, barely managing to pin himself to the chair.
If he had known it was the Gu family, he wouldn’t have come today.
“President Gu, regarding Wanwan’s matter, I still have to thank you again. He wanted to learn a few things from me recently, so I brought him along, without greeting you in advance, I hope you don’t mind?”
Song Wan’s childhood nickname in his original life was also Wanwan. Originally, when elders called him that casually, Song Wan had become immune to it, but now that the room was quiet, Song Hemian suddenly calling it out in front of Gu Jingzhou made it seem a bit strange.
Song Wan pursed his lips uncomfortably, pretending to be very interested in the potted plant on the table in front of him, plucking a leaf from it.
Gu Jingzhou said, “I don’t mind.”
The process of discussing collaboration details was very tedious. Song Wan listened with his ears, and before he knew it, that leaf in his hand had been shredded into eight pieces by him.
Word had it that Gu Jingzhou had started taking over the Gu family upon graduating from university, and when he was twenty-three, several relatives harboring improper intentions sought to divide his power, only to be alienated by Gu Jingzhou’s setup and crushed one by one.
Before this, Song Wan’s understanding of Gu Jingzhou had been limited to those few lines of text in the book.
Yet now listening to Gu Jingzhou speak with Song Hemian, he actually felt that Gu Jingzhou seemed even more at ease and capable than Song Hemian.
Furthermore, Gu Jingzhou’s voice was deep, and his manner of speech conveyed composure and unhurried ease, sounding quite pleasant.
Wait, why am I thinking about all this…
Song Wan shook his head in sudden realization.
It just so happened that everything that needed to be discussed had been covered, and Gu Jingzhou’s speaking voice paused.
“If he wants to learn management techniques, he can also follow me. After all, the age gap between us isn’t large, so the effect might be even better.”
“He” raised his head abruptly, not having had time to express an opinion yet.
Song Hemian said, “Is that really alright? Oh my, if he can learn following behind President Gu, it will definitely be better than following behind us older generation. We are getting old and outdated, and in many instances, our brains aren’t as flexible as you young people.”
Gu Jingzhou said, “Of course he can. Uncle was an old friend of my late father during his lifetime, and the relationship between the Song and Gu families has always been very good.”
Song Hemian said, “That’s wonderful! Wanwan”
Song Wan: “?”
Clearly they were chatting about collaboration just a second ago, how did he suddenly get dragged into it.
Song Hemian reached out to pull Song Wan over, saying earnest and well-meaning words, “Didn’t you want to learn how to manage the company? Come quickly, it just so happens that President Gu is willing to teach you, so follow behind President Gu in the future to watch more and learn more.”
“Uncle, just call me Jingzhou.”
Song Hemian let out a couple of surprised sounds, perhaps feeling that Gu Jingzhou was being too polite, so he patted his own son.
“Calculating the age, Jingzhou is six years older than you, hurry and call him brother.”
Song Hemian’s strength in this pat was somewhat large. Song Wan had originally only perched on the edge of the chair, and being patted like this, he almost slid down to the floor.
To cover up the embarrassment, Song Wan could only take the opportunity to stand up.
“I…”
Gu Jingzhou sat on the chair, aloof, noble, with a cold and faint expression.
Song Hemian couldn’t understand why his son was hesitating, “Call him.”
Gu Jingzhou noticed that the roots of Song Wan’s ears were turning red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Song Wan stammered, bearing Gu Jingzhou’s gaze, his voice muffled as it rolled in his throat, so fast it was almost imperceptible.
“Brother.”
Gu Jingzhou slowly rubbed his fingertip.
When Gu Jingzhou was leaving, Song Hemian insisted that Song Wan see the person downstairs.
Almost as soon as they walked out of the office door, Gu Jingzhou called Special Assistant Gao to confirm the remaining itinerary, finding that one item was unreasonable in terms of timing. The moment Gu Jingzhou’s tone paused, Special Assistant Gao on the other end of the phone immediately realized something was wrong.
“Apologies President Gu, I will modify it again.”
Song Wan stood on the other side of the private elevator, overhearing their entire conversation.
Gu Jingzhou isn’t suitable to be a CEO, he’s more suitable to be a grandfather, managing his subordinates like grandsons.
At the thought of having to see Gu Jingzhou frequently in the future, Song Wan was like a frost-bitten eggplant, whole person wilting.
The private elevator descended floor by floor, seeing that it was about to reach the lobby.
“When did you start liking my sister?”
Song Wan instantly became vigilant, his brain spinning rapidly, “Uh, just… a year ago.”
This wasn’t spoken blindly; a year ago happened to be the beginning of the original owner insanely targeting Jiang Shen.
Song Wan was deeply afraid that reporting too short a time would expose his flaw. After all, in front of Gu Jingzhou right now, he had established a persona of a deeply affectionate person who couldn’t obtain love.
“Mhm, what do you like about her?”
Song Wan swallowed his saliva awkwardly.
Gu Jingzhou really was endless, each question asked harder to answer than the last.
How could he know what he liked about Gu Xuan!
From transmigrating into the book until now, he hadn’t even met the female protagonist’s face!
“Can’t answer?” Gu Jingzhou tilted his head.
Song Wan’s palms were sweating.
Nonsense, he didn’t genuinely like Gu Xuan, so of course he couldn’t answer.
Besides, he hadn’t been in a relationship before either, and didn’t know how to describe girls.
Back then, his younger female cousin had even suspected at one point whether he was gay, otherwise why had he not had a single girlfriend in all those years before.
Gu Jingzhou lowered his eyes to glance at him with an ambiguous meaning.
“Did you really like her?”
Song Wan’s brain was completely filled with thoughts of straight and gay right now. Seeing Gu Jingzhou become suspicious, his mouth moved faster than his brain.
“Of course it’s real, I’m a straight guy”
Before the words were finished, the elevator suddenly stopped without any warning.
“Clang”
The lights above extinguished in response.
What’s the situation, an elevator malfunction?
Right at this moment, the floor beneath their feet shook violently. Song Wan’s heart thumped, and losing his balance instantly, he fell toward the other side of the elevator.
In the pitch-black darkness where he couldn’t see his own fingers, he felt himself bump into someone. Without time to think, he subconsciously braced against the wall of the elevator.