**Chapter 2: Are You a Plate? Your Face is So Big!**
The car quickly arrived at the hot pot restaurant. Since Song Yunxiao was late due to overtime, both of them were prepared to wait for a long time. Unexpectedly, a couple had just finished eating and vacated a spot. The restaurant’s staff professionally and orderly cleaned up the leftovers on the table and replaced them with new utensils.
Both of them were fans of spicy food, so they directly chose the extra spicy soup base and ordered a lot of meat, fish, shellfish, and vegetables. They also added two bottles of Wangzai milk. Drinking Wangzai milk with hot pot had been their habit since they met in high school, and it hadn’t changed over the years.
“Let me tell you, when I was waiting for the elevator earlier, I ran into the owner of 2502 across from me. I didn’t expect him to be so good-looking, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, kind of like that popular male celebrity in the entertainment industry recently. He seemed really tall. I’m 158 cm tall, and he looked like he was at least half a head taller than me.”
“Look at you, all fluttery. Is there a chance?”
“How could there be? It’s just pure admiration.”
Song Yunxiao said, “Enough about him. How’s your job search going? Are you still delivering food all over the city? You don’t seem to have gotten any darker.”
“The other day, a small brokerage firm called me for an interview, but after asking around, I found out they just wanted a general assistant. The platform is too small, with no room for growth. Even as a stepping stone, it’s not an ideal choice. I’ll keep looking. I still want a job with a future and good pay. Otherwise, all these years of studying until my hair falls out would be for nothing.”
“How could it be for nothing? Didn’t you buy a hair growth helmet from an agent before?” Song Yunxiao was already used to her best friend’s long-standing enthusiasm for all kinds of black technology.
“Haha… Haven’t you heard the saying? When you get stronger, you also go bald! If you’re not bald yet, it means you’re not strong enough.” Lin Siyi nodded to emphasize her point.
“Maybe the next time you see me, I’ll really be bald. I’ve been working overtime so much that my hormones are out of whack. I’ve already asked my mom to get me some Chinese medicine to adjust. My period has been irregular again. This isn’t just a state for me; it’s become the norm.”
Happy times always pass quickly. In the blink of an eye, more than an hour had passed. Song Yunxiao boldly called the waiter to settle the bill, then sent Lin Siyi home before driving her black Volkswagen back to her own place.
The next morning, as Lin Siyi was getting ready to leave and waiting for the elevator, she ran into Cheng Yixiu, who was also heading to work.
Lin Siyi, still half-asleep, casually greeted, “Morning.”
Cheng Yixiu hesitated to speak, but Lin Siyi didn’t notice anything unusual about him.
Finally, Cheng Yixiu couldn’t help but ask her, “Are you trying to scam me because you failed to do so last time, and now you’re directly following me home?”
Lin Siyi looked up at him, frowning slightly, with a hint of displeasure, “What scam?”
“It was that afternoon a few days ago when you almost hit my car,” Cheng Yixiu couldn’t help but remind her.
“Ah… oh… scam??? Are you kidding me? So, you were the one in the driver’s seat!”
Lin Siyi was now fully awake, “I was being nice and went to check on you, and you were sitting in the car suspecting me of scamming you?”
“And then you gave me a face full of car exhaust?”
“You think I can afford to live here and still need to scam you? Are you a plate? Your face is so big!”
Admittedly, he was indeed handsome, but his character was really terrible.
It seems the saying “beauty is justice” should be taken the other way around.
Lin Siyi was so amused by her own anger that she even skipped breakfast.
The two entered the elevator one after the other, silently maintaining a distance of about half a meter. When other residents entered from different floors, Lin Siyi took a small step back, her back directly against the elevator wall.
Upon reaching the underground parking lot, Cheng Yixiu quickly walked to his parking spot. He opened the door, stepped into the driver’s seat with his long legs, closed the door, turned the steering wheel, and slowly headed towards the exit.
Meanwhile, Lin Siyi put on her helmet, got on her electric scooter, and headed towards the exit as well.
The two seemed destined to cross paths, but when their eyes met, they both forced a smile. Once their vehicles were in motion and they could no longer see each other, their expressions instantly changed, parting on bad terms.
As the car exited the community gate and slowly merged into the main road, Cheng Yixiu gradually began to speed up.
Since it was still early, the road wasn’t crowded at this time. Cheng Yixiu was used to going to work early every day to avoid the rush hour traffic.
Passing by a familiar breakfast shop, he asked the staff for a bowl of savory tofu pudding with minced meat and pickled vegetables, a pan-fried meat bun, two pan-fried five-spice buns, and seeing that they had fried noodles today, he added a portion to take away.
Upon arriving at the office, while enjoying his breakfast, Cheng Yixiu remembered that his assistant Cindy was taking a six-month maternity leave for her second child. The HR department still hadn’t found a suitable person to take over, which was giving him a bit of a headache.
He left a message for Gu Zhaoyang on WeChat, asking if he knew anyone who could be urgently recruited to take over.
Cheng Yixiu and Gu Zhaoyang had left the public fund industry to start their own private equity firm, Yiyang Capital.
However, Cheng Yixiu came from a wealthy background, with a higher shareholding ratio. Both were partners in this private equity firm. Cheng Yixiu mainly managed the investment research, while Gu Zhaoyang, being good at socializing, was in charge of external fundraising and internal company operations. The company had several other partners who had followed Cheng Yixiu and Gu Zhaoyang from their previous employer.
In recent years, the company’s business had been thriving, and in just a few years, it had made it to the list of billion-dollar private equity firms, continuously breaking new revenue records. Today, Yiyang Capital had become a well-known name in the private equity industry.
When Gu Zhaoyang received Cheng Yixiu’s message, he was already at the company entrance, “I’m at the company now, I’ll come over to see you later.”
Knowing that Gu Zhaoyang would come over later, Cheng Yixiu specifically saved the untouched fried noodles for him, knowing full well that his friend probably hadn’t had breakfast at this time.
“Brother Xiu, it’s not a problem for me to find you an assistant, but your requirements are too strict. You don’t want a good-looking male assistant, nor a pretty female assistant. This is really difficult for me.”
“I refuse to hire a vase.” Feeling that wasn’t enough, Cheng Yixiu added, “Even if they’re not a vase, I don’t want anyone who covets my looks. It would seriously affect my work efficiency.”
Gu Zhaoyang was speechless, “I think you’re just too narcissistic. So, Cindy was only acceptable because she’s much older than you and has no inappropriate thoughts about you, which is why you’ve kept her for so many years.”
“If you want to think of it that way, you can.”
“By the way, your sister recently asked me to introduce you to a girlfriend again. I told her that because of your peculiar behavior, the female employee ratio in the company has dropped to a historic low. If this continues, Yiyang might become the only private equity firm in the industry with an all-male staff, with not a single woman in sight within a 500-meter radius.”
“Brother Xiu, your existence has seriously affected the lifelong happiness of most of the single men in the company.”
While eating the fried noodles left by Cheng Yixiu, Gu Zhaoyang suddenly remembered something he forgot to mention, “Oh, your sister also mentioned that your niece’s exchange program abroad has ended, and she might come to see you soon. Brother Xiu, you should at least think of a strategy. Although you and your niece aren’t related by blood, you can’t just keep dragging this out without resolving it.”
“She thinks I like her. I’ve explained it many times. It was a misunderstanding before; I mistook her for someone else. The young girl is unpredictable, and she might figure it out on her own someday. Besides, you know her situation is special, and my sister is afraid that if I speak too directly, it might upset her.”
“You can afford to wait, but the young girl can’t,” Gu Zhaoyang teased.
“You brat. Are you tired of living?”
“Then I hope you can sacrifice yourself a bit and fulfill the happiness of all the male colleagues in the company!”
“You can leave now.”
It was late again after work, as there was an impromptu meeting with several department directors.
Cheng Yixiu’s car arrived at the underground parking lot of the community around 9 PM. Just as he was about to open the car door and get out, he saw Lin Siyi holding a phone in one hand, talking on the phone, and carrying a takeout in the other, heading towards the elevator.
Remembering their unpleasant conversation in the morning, Cheng Yixiu decided not to go over and greet her.
The underground parking lot was empty, and the echo was quite loud. Even though Cheng Yixiu didn’t get close, he could clearly hear Lin Siyi’s unrestrained words.
“Song Song, seriously, even TV dramas wouldn’t dare to write this. The guy living across from me in 2502 is the one I almost hit the other day. I was really pissed off by Lao Liu that day and didn’t pay attention to the road, almost hitting him. Damn it, this guy today asked if I was trying to scam him, and now living across from him, am I trying to extort him? Who does he think he is? Just because he’s handsome?”
Lin Siyi continued, “I went for an interview at a public fund company today, but the interviewer told me to wait for a notification. I guess it’s not going to happen. Several people who interviewed with me already have experience in funds, stocks, bonds, futures, and other related work.”
Not far behind her, Cheng Yixiu had a complex expression, deep in thought, wondering, “Did I really misunderstand her?” He also remembered that she was looking for a job, and since he urgently needed an assistant, if her skills matched, it wouldn’t be impossible.
He quickly caught up with Lin Siyi, “Wait a minute.”
Lin Siyi heard someone calling from behind but wasn’t sure if it was directed at her. She turned around and realized it was her neighbor from across the hall.
Lin Siyi remained expressionless, “Sir, is there something you need?”
Cheng Yixiu looked apologetic, “I’m sorry about this morning. I think I might have misunderstood you. I sincerely apologize.”
“And, I heard you’re looking for a job?” As he spoke, Cheng Yixiu hurriedly pulled out a business card from his pocket.
Lin Siyi was quite surprised as she took it, “Yiyang Capital Partner, Cheng Yixiu?”
“Yes, if you need anything, you can contact me directly. By the way, I’m in the secondary private equity business.”