Volume 1 Chapter 9: Secret Crush
Li Xuzhou arrived at the company just before noon.
Right up until he stepped out of the elevator, he had been arranging for someone to investigate Ruan Yu’s past. Since it involved the Ruan family, the price quoted was quite high, and Li Xuzhou directly transferred the payment from his own account.
“Okay~ Thank you, boss~ It’ll be sent to your email within 24 hours~ Hope you’ll be satisfied”
Li Xuzhou frowned slightly, feeling a bit uncomfortable, but didn’t dwell on it as he put away his phone.
When he reached the 46th floor, employees were just about to head to the cafeteria for lunch. Seeing the boss arrive at this time, they all paused.
“Good morning, President Li.”
“President Li.”
They were all accustomed to Li Xuzhou’s relentless and unyielding work style, thinking they’d simply have to postpone their lunch. The employee cafeteria was open 24 hours, so they could eat after finishing their work.
Unexpectedly, Li Xuzhou glanced at his watch and spoke coolly, “Go have your meal first. We’ll meet in the conference room in an hour.” He usually didn’t pay attention to such things, but after seeing Ruan Yu teary-eyed while eating this morning, he had softened a bit.
After speaking, he didn’t linger and went straight into his office.
The employees exchanged glances, whispering as they walked.
“The boss is acting so strange today…”
“Yeah, remember last year when we were rushing to meet project deadlines? We only drank protein shakes delivered from the cafeteria all day.”
“President Li didn’t eat anything either back then, so we felt too embarrassed to drink ours openly. We had to sneak sips under the table.”
“Just thinking about it gives me chills…”
As the conversation drifted further off-topic, Li Xuzhou’s long-time assistant couldn’t help but speak up, “Didn’t you notice that last year’s year-end bonus was double the usual? After that project was completed, everyone also received a 60,000-yuan shopping card.”
“Oh, right! I used my shopping card to buy underwear for my boyfriend!”
“Thank you, President Li. Working at Huayang is truly a blessing.”
The others nodded in agreement. The assistant breathed a sigh of relief. The boss was too aloof, so the task of winning people over still fell to him.
The employees on the 46th floor were all part of Huayang’s core team. They usually spoke without much restraint, and it wasn’t long before they brought up Li Xuzhou’s unusual behavior again.
“Could it be that the boss has a crush on someone among us, which is why he’s being so considerate!”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone immediately started refuting them.
“Lucy, have you been gaslit? Since when is letting you eat considered considerate? Hahaha!”
“I can’t even imagine the boss having a crush on someone. Would he confess with his usual meeting expression? Would he just say one line and then reject them: ‘You’re not qualified here and here. Go back to your mother’s womb and start over. Come back next week.’”
“Hahahahahaha!”
“The boss definitely has a crush on someone. I’ll take a wild guess—it’s probably me~” The speaker was a gay engineer at Huayang, already in his fifties.
“You’re so shameless!”
“It’s actually me. From now on, all your salaries will be issued through me.”
“It’s me, it’s me, hahaha!” This time, the speaker couldn’t hold back their laughter, and the others were soon infected too.
Everyone laughed joyfully, and the atmosphere became relaxed in a way it hadn’t been in a long time.
A few days later, Li Xixi and her father were both summoned by the police. Li Xixi’s father had not only privately sold Huayang stocks, disrupting the market, but had also leaked confidential data to foreign competitors. Due to the large amount of money involved, the court needed some time to gather evidence, so the trial was tentatively scheduled for two months later.
In the company, opinions varied, with everyone lamenting how greed could lead to one’s downfall.
Li Residence.
The Li father and daughter brought people to pack their belongings. Father Li and Mother Li deliberately stayed away, giving each other some dignity in the end.
Ruan Yu and the other girls were having a meal in the dining room. Over the past two days, she had met all the invited girls—three in total, excluding Li Xixi.
Chen Zi graduated from a prestigious university and had already taken over the family business, which dealt in steel and occupied 78% of the national market. Her personality was quite aloof, somewhat resembling a female version of Li Xuzhou.
Yuan Lele was of mixed Chinese and British descent, hailing from an old British aristocratic family. Her every gesture was exceptionally elegant, but as soon as she opened her mouth, a strong Northeastern accent came out. This was because she had lived in Northeast China with her parents in her early years and had never shaken off the linguistic habits.
The last one was Guan Man, the heiress of the Guan family. She was extremely gentle in her interactions with others, considerate to everyone, and capable of attending to all in any setting—a true socialite. The Guan family had also collaborated with Huayang for many years, and Father Li and Mother Li thought highly of her. When they were young, there had even been jokes about arranging a marriage between her and Li Xuzhou, though it was all taken as playful banter.
“Ruan Yu, this tastes better dipped in avocado sauce,” Guan Man said, pushing the small dish of avocado sauce toward her. Ruan Yu smiled and thanked her.
“Li Xixi just ain’t got no brains. Serves her right for stirring up trouble all day. Back in our Northeast, she’d have been beaten eight hundred times over,” Yuan Lele gloated, biting her straw. She still held a grudge against Li Xixi for throwing a tantrum at the nanny she had brought along.
Bossing around the nannies others had brought, acting as if she were already the lady of the house—seeing her get her comeuppance now was truly satisfying.
“Your nationality is British,” Chen Zi remarked flatly, turning a page of the newspaper.
“It’s too hard to change back through normal channels. Marrying Li Xuzhou is the easiest way,” Yuan Lele said with a suggestive wink, grinning. “What about you all? Why were you invited?”
“I want to collaborate with Huayang, but I could never get an appointment. The Xiangshan project has to be mine,” Chen Zi said, her expression turning serious as she spoke about her work. As soon as she finished, she remembered that the Ruan family was also one of the competitors and gave Ruan Yu an apologetic smile.
Ruan Yu noticed and gently shook her head to indicate it was fine. She would be more than happy for Lu Yuan to lose this project. Such an important project should be taken on by someone capable.
“Ruan Yu, what about you? Why did you accept the invitation?” Yuan Lele was very curious. After spending these past few days together, she found Ruan Yu’s appearance and personality to be strikingly contradictory.
Ruan Yu was stunningly beautiful, like a fox spirit from ancient tales that could enchant hearts, yet her personality was utterly transparent, more like an innocent rabbit spirit.
Especially when she ate—it felt as though she were the happiest person in the world, unbearably adorable.
“To have enough to eat,” Ruan Yu replied after a moment of contemplation, choosing an honest and also the safest answer.
Yuan Lele clutched her chest, pressed her fingers to her lips, and blew Ruan Yu a sweet kiss. “I adore you! You’re just too cute!”
Guan Man also laughed. The girls turned to look at her as she spoke gently, “I’ve liked him for a long time, so I wanted to seize this opportunity. Even if I don’t end up with him in the end, it would be good for him to see me.”
Ruan Yu was taken aback. She set down her spoon and unconsciously picked up a slice of smoked ham.
Yuan Lele and Chen Zi were also stunned, putting down what they were holding to reassure her, “Don’t worry, we’ll voluntarily withdraw later. We don’t like him anyway.”
Ruan Yu bit her lip, wanting to say something against her conscience, but after struggling for a long time, she couldn’t bring herself to speak.
However, everyone was so immersed in Guan Man’s unrequited love story that no one noticed.
At that moment, Li Xixi suddenly ran over, knelt beside Ruan Yu, and cried bitterly, “Miss Ruan, save me, please save me…”