10
“Alright.” Jiang Siyu kept her smile. “If I win, Vice President Lin will resign on your own accord; if I lose, I’ll apply to the board of directors to have you take this seat.”
There was no denying that the bait Jiang Siyu had cast was far too tempting.
Lin Sui had been a vice president at the company for years, but with no one above him, the company was practically his one-man show.
While he thrived in the company, he was also well aware that only by removing the word “Vice” from his title would there be no one above him.
Now… Jiang Siyu’s offer gave him a reason he simply couldn’t refuse.
After a moment’s thought, Lin Sui nodded. “It’s a deal.”
As for the bet, Jiang Siyu wanting to make the company’s ROE surpass his in a saturated market was nothing short of a pipe dream.
Hook, line, and sinker~ The smile at the corners of Jiang Siyu’s lips deepened. “It’s a deal.”
To avoid delaying the company’s progress, Jiang Siyu ended the meeting after gaining a preliminary understanding of Mirror View’s situation, asking each project lead to report to her office in turn.
After several consecutive busy days, Jiang Siyu finally had a complete grasp of Mirror View’s situation.
Just as Lin Sui had thought, improving the company’s ROE on the current foundation was indeed an extremely difficult task.
However, Jiang Siyu had never intended to come up with anything new on Mirror View’s existing projects from the very beginning—opening up new projects and markets was her real goal.
Having determined the path forward, Jiang Siyu rolled her slightly stiff neck, packed up her things, and got ready to leave work.
Tomorrow was the weekend—she could rest and recharge.
Since returning to the country, Jiang Siyu hadn’t had the chance to look around, and there were still some things at home she hadn’t purchased yet. Tomorrow would be a good time to hit the mall.
The next day, Jiang Siyu had just finished getting ready when she received a call from Fu Lin.
“Sorry, babe, I can’t get out of today’s schedule. I won’t be able to go shopping with you.”
Jiang Siyu put on her Bluetooth earbuds and headed out the door as she replied, “No worries. With you not there, I’ll have less pressure.”
“Not at all…” Fu Lin knew exactly what Jiang Siyu meant by that. In this circle, having every aspect of your private life watched by prying eyes was the norm.
Sometimes Fu Lin regretted stepping into this circle, but she had no other choice either.
She laughed. “I’ll make it up to you next time, okay?”
“Sure.” Jiang Siyu stood by the roadside and only then realized she hadn’t bought herself a means of transportation since returning to the country.
Fortunately, it was easy to hail a cab around here.
“But the two of us shopping together will probably require wearing masks.” Fu Lin said somewhat gloomily.
“Why would I need to wear one?” Jiang Siyu asked. She wasn’t a public figure.
“Come on, missy, shouldn’t that face of yours be covered? If people turn around to look at you, wouldn’t it be easy for them to spot me?”
Fu Lin had only truly become famous in the past few years. Before that, Jiang Siyu hadn’t been in the country, and she didn’t need to go shopping with anyone.
So that kind of worry was negligible for her.
Now… Fu Lin let out a long sigh. “Ayu, is it too late for me to quit the entertainment industry?”
“Quit if you want to.” Jiang Siyu got into the car, gave the driver the location, and then said to Fu Lin:
“I’ll support you.”
“…”
“Whimper.” After a long silence on the other end of the line, a muffled sob suddenly came through. Fu Lin looked at her reddened eyes in the mirror.
“Ayu, I’m so glad you’re back.”
In this vast Haicheng, Fu Lin felt like she finally had someone to lean on again.
“Mm.” Jiang Siyu replied, just a single short word, yet it warmed Fu Lin’s heart.
After a few more casual exchanges, Fu Lin had to get busy, and the two ended the call.
Watching the familiar buildings pass by outside the window from time to time, Jiang Siyu finally felt the reality that she had indeed been away for several years.
She let out a soft breath, suppressing the inexplicable gloom in her heart before she could relax.
At the mall, Jiang Siyu ordered all the appliances and tools she needed to buy, scheduled the delivery times, and then found a restaurant nearby to eat.
After all those years abroad, Jiang Siyu had grown tired of Western food. When she was busy, a cup of coffee could sustain her for an entire day.
So she deliberately chose a Chinese restaurant to eat at.
But Jiang Siyu hadn’t expected such a coincidence.
She stared blankly at the man sitting at the table next to hers.
Mu Qingye… no, it was that man from yesterday—the one with the same face as Mu Qingye.
In the few seconds Jiang Siyu was lost in thought, Song Qi, sitting beside Bo Siye, also noticed the woman at the next table.
Actually, it wasn’t that he had just noticed her. Jiang Siyu’s looks, figure, and aura were all so outstanding that they were impossible to ignore—let alone the fact that all of these qualities were concentrated in one person.
So he had noticed Jiang Siyu the moment she walked into the restaurant.
Seeing that she was also looking at them, Song Qi took the initiative to wave at Jiang Siyu:
“What a coincidence. We met yesterday.”
Since the other party had already greeted her, it was too late for Jiang Siyu to pretend she hadn’t noticed anything and look away.
She smiled and nodded. “What a coincidence.”
Two words that were polite but distant. Song Qi immediately realized that the beautiful woman didn’t seem particularly interested in engaging with them, so he nodded and fell silent.
However, the moment Song Qi withdrew his gaze, he met a pair of cold eyes staring down at him from above.
After a moment of silence, something suddenly flashed through Song Qi’s mind.
He quickly took out his phone, opened the file he had sent to Bo Siye yesterday, and rapidly scrolled down until he reached the photo in the document.
“Hiss—” Song Qi drew in a sharp breath. Unwilling to accept it, he glanced again at the woman sitting not far away, then drew in another sharp breath.
The sky was falling. He had actually just taken the initiative to strike up a conversation with the boss’s long-sought first love!
At that second, Song Qi wished he could dig a hole right then and there and bury himself on the spot.
But there was still one thing Song Qi couldn’t understand.
Since this lady before him was indeed his boss’s first love, why had the boss looked at her with such cold indifference both times he’d seen her?
He pondered this in his mind, then cautiously stole a glance at Bo Siye.
And then he noticed that his boss, who was usually languid in posture and would casually sit with one leg crossed over the other, was now sitting perfectly upright.
Hiss… Song Qi’s mental gears were turning rapidly. The one who tied the knot must be the one to untie it—if he wanted to make up for his mistake, he could only work through the first love sitting right in front of him.
After thinking for a moment, Song Qi took the initiative to address Jiang Siyu again: “Miss Jiang…”
The moment those three words left his mouth, Song Qi knew he was done for.
Yesterday, the boss had clearly pretended not to know his first love—wasn’t he directly exposing the boss like this?
Sure enough, the next moment, Jiang Siyu furrowed her brows and looked over at him: “You know me?”
As she said this, Jiang Siyu quickly ran through in her mind all of her conversations with Fu Lin from when they had encountered them yesterday.
She was certain that Fu Lin had never called her by her full name from start to finish.
So how did the person across from her know her surname was Jiang?
After asking this question, Jiang Siyu’s gaze fell on the man beside him who had remained cold and silent throughout.
That sharp look seemed to pierce through his calm exterior, as if trying to see into the very essence of his soul.