Explaining this matter was somewhat difficult for Ning Wanji. Her mind went blank, thinking of Ji Shijing, and it was only after a good while that she snapped back to reality.
Her mood was mysteriously somewhat heavy, and her eyelids drooped lightly. The air in the elevator was murky, making her head exceptionally unclear at this very moment.
The spring air was slightly cold. Wearing her uniform skirt, she leaned against the inner wall of the elevator with a touch of exhaustion.
Ever since she graduated and started working, she felt tired every single day. Back in her student days, she wasn’t someone who was excessively tactful, able to satisfy everyone, or possessed a hyper-meticulous personality. But after entering the workforce, she had to gradually transform into a version that everyone was satisfied with, leaving Ning Wanji somewhat unable to tell which one was her true self.
Xia Nianxi looked at Ning Wanji, who remained silent. After pondering for a moment, she then opened her mouth to say: “Ahem, Wanwan, I know you’re embarrassed, but hey, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about! Everyone has a heart that appreciates beauty—I super like President Ji too!! Oh right, Wanwan, I heard President Ji graduated from Beicheng Middle School, and you seem to have graduated from Beicheng Middle School as well!”
Suddenly bringing up this topic caused Ning Wanji to freeze for a moment. She recalled that she had written down her middle school on her onboarding resume, but middle school days were too far in the past. If it hadn’t been for today’s unexpected reunion with Ji Shijing at such an awkward moment, she would have almost forgotten her middle school days completely.
The elevator ascended slowly. Before she had time to reply, she heard Xia Nianxi chatter away on her own: “Calculating by your enrollment year, when President Ji was a high school senior, you were a high school freshman. Then did you see him at school? Quick, tell me, what was he actually like during his middle school days?”
Ning Wanji pondered for a moment, then opened her mouth to say: “During middle school, Senior Ji and a senior from our second year of high school, Jiang Zhizhi, were both the objects of girls’ secret crushes. Both were quite popular, except that Jiang Zhizhi was easier to approach, whereas Senior Ji was more like a high-altitude flower.”
In her description of this matter regarding Ji Shijing, Ning Wanji didn’t alter the truth in the slightest.
Ning Wanji knew clear in her heart that Xia Nianxi probably couldn’t imagine that the two of them ever had any intersection during middle school.
Which was no wonder. After all, the two of them currently seemed as different as cloud and mud.
Back when studying, Ji Shijing was cool, reserved, composed, and did things with propriety and boundary, making it very easy for people to develop favorable feelings toward him. However, most of the girls had almost no contact with him—except Ning Wanji.
Thinking back now, her middle-school self was far braver than her college-era self.
Back then, she still dared to take the initiative to tug at Ji Shijing’s sleeve and ask him if he could take her home. Now, she had probably lost a touch of that courage.
Hearing Ning Wanji mention these things piqued Xia Nianxi’s interest. Just as she wanted to continue probing further, the elevator chimed, and the doors opened in response to the sound.
Having reached the office floor, she couldn’t keep clinging to Ning Wanji to share gossip with her. Xia Nianxi tugged at her fingers and continued in a low voice: “Wanwan, when you have time, tell me more about President Ji! I really super want to hear it.”
“Okay.”
Ning Wanji smiled and nodded, swiped her employee badge to unlock the electronic door, and then turned back around to say to Xia Nianxi: “Xixi, I’m going to the changing room to swap into casual clothes before coming out, so I won’t head into the office together with you first.”
This outfit was quite expensive. Ning Wanji was still reluctant to wear such expensive clothes as everyday casual wear. Wearing it when attending important occasions was one thing; if she wore it casually for ordinary work regardless of the venue, she truly wouldn’t appreciate how precious money-making was.
At the end of the day, she was still an ordinary worker from a humble family background who wanted to save up enough money early so that she could afford her own small apartment in Beicheng one day.
Xia Nianxi knew Ning Wanji was going to change clothes for work. She nodded and continued: “Wanwan, then I’ll head back to my station and wait for you. I just finished writing the draft; I’ll send it to you when I get back, and you can help me review it again.”
Ning Wanji nodded. After parting ways, she walked into the fitting room.
Financial Storm was a famous magazine社 in the industry, and its office building was also very grand. Within the office building, all necessary facilities were fully equipped.
Standing inside the changing room, taking off the haute couture outfit from her body, then removing the earrings and the pearl necklace worn around her neck, and washing her face, only then did Ning Wanji feel an illusion of returning back to reality.
Sure enough, Cinderella was just Cinderella. Once the time for the pumpkin carriage and glass slippers passed, she returned to a state of having nothing all over again.
Ning Wanji felt slightly bewildered in her heart. The dim yellow light inside the changing room fell upon her face. She took a deep breath, still feeling somewhat hungry in her stomach. Fortunately, the company provided afternoon tea, which could barely fill her stomach a little.
＊
After tidying up, Ning Wanji came out of the fitting room and returned to her workstation. There was still half an hour before official work started in the afternoon, but people had already arrived one after another.
She pushed open the office door and walked to her workstation. Before she even had time to take a seat, she heard someone nearby say in a high-and-mighty tone: “Hey, what’s this? Specially changed back out of the haute couture? Was the noon blind date not smooth, failing to ascend and turn into a phoenix? I say, how does a high achiever from our P University also need to go on blind dates to be picked apart by others?”
The person who said this was Dai Wei, a colleague who entered Financial Storm together with her. She had always gotten along poorly with her; the tasks the two were responsible for in the group often overlapped, yet the heavyweight news assigned to Ning Wanji was noticeably more than what she received.
No matter how lacking in IQ she might be, Ning Wanji could tell that Dai Wei was blatantly targeting her.
Going out on a blind date was her personal private affair. Ning Wanji hadn’t told anyone. Dai Wei grandly placed this matter on the table to talk about in the office, which was actually to make her lose face.
Ning Wanji turned around and calmly looked at Dai Wei, who was talking nearby. The surrounding colleagues said nothing, but all cast bewildered and uncomprehending glances at Ning Wanji.
They probably hadn’t expected either that Ning Wanji specially changing into haute couture to go out at noon was for a blind date.
Originally, this matter was quite simple and sounded harmless. But with Dai Wei stirring the pot like this, it sounded as if Ning Wanji was a snob who dressed up so grandly just to hook a man.
Everyone in the office was basically just ordinary colleagues who wouldn’t rashly stand up for anyone. Only Xia Nianxi felt a bit angry. She stood up and said: “What does it have to do with you? Even if Wanwan went out on a blind date, it’s her own private matter. What does it have to do with you? Is it your turn to stick your nose in?”
Ning Wanji lowered her eyes slightly. She stood up from her seat, held down Xia Nianxi’s hand, and her voice became very soft: “I bought those clothes not for a blind date, but only to attend occasions required by the company. I won’t be wearing that outfit just this once. What’s more, what problem is there with blind dates themselves? Is talking about marriage when you reach a certain age something that makes you feel ashamed?”
Dai Wei couldn’t refute Ning Wanji’s words. There were quite a few people going on blind dates in the company as well. If she used Ning Wanji’s blind date to mock and ridicule her again, it would make her look somewhat unappreciative and unreasonable instead, but she clearly didn’t want to let it go just like that.
Dai Wei also straightened her body, stepping in her high heels while looking at Ning Wanji and opening her mouth to say: “It’s not embarrassing, but harboring the intention of hooking a rich guy to find a wealthy man and failing—that’s embarrassing. If you ask me, you just don’t have that destiny. I saw you even managed to strike up a conversation with Ji Shijing at noon, didn’t he also fail to send you back to the company?”
Perhaps because the related topic involved Ji Shijing, the colleagues who were originally drowsy and almost slumping over their workstations immediately perked up their ears. After all, to them, Ji Shijing was a figure normally out of reach; even getting an interview with him was harder than scaling the heavens, let alone talking with him.
Within Beicheng’s high-society circles, Ji Shijing enjoyed immense fame, known by almost everyone. His genius mind in the financial industry and extraordinary talent in company management made Wangjing Group one of the top companies in the country.
Perhaps humans always shared a common love for gossip, so the colleagues’ gazes toward Ning Wanji became even more intense than before. Colleagues from other departments passing by outside paused in their steps upon hearing Ji Shijing’s name, overcrowding the office doorway in an instant.
Ning Wanji had a bit of a headache. This matter had nothing to do with Ji Shijing, and she originally didn’t want to drag him into these petty workplace conflicts. However, Dai Wei was relentless and refused to let go, leaving her with no other choice now that it had been brought up to this point. Moreover, everyone knew Ji Shijing always handled people trying to hit on him with flawless composure, reaching a level of being completely impervious to flattery or charm.
Although very polite, almost no woman could get close to him. Hearing Dai Wei talk up to this point, everyone had basically begun to imagine a grand drama in their heads.
Even with her eyes closed, Ning Wanji could imagine how badly everyone would think of her.
However, Xia Nianxi became very excited upon hearing this. She said: “Wanwan! Woah! You actually talked to President Ji at noon! You unexpectedly didn’t tell me!”
Ning Wanji lightly blinked her eyes at Xia Nianxi. Xia Nianxi understood her meaning—now was not a good time to talk about these things.
She hadn’t wanted to involve Ji Shijing in the first place, but now she had to whether she wanted to or not. After thinking for a moment, Ning Wanji chose a middle-ground compromise to express: “The blind date at noon didn’t go smoothly. I happened to run into Senior, so we exchanged a couple of words. We’re just alumni, so we coincidentally chatted a bit—it’s not the kind of melodramatic prime-time soap opera plot you’re imagining.”
She was truly not very good at the art of hooking men; this thing was outside her scope of expertise. What’s more, she didn’t think Ji Shijing would be hooked by her either.
“Heh.” Dai Wei continued again: “Who’d believe that? Just being from the same school and he’d strike up a conversation with you? Would Ji Shijing condescend to talk to you? Do you think I’m stupid?”
Although these words were spoken a bit bluntly, the onlooker colleagues eating pop-corn felt that what Dai Wei said ultimately made sense.
Ji Shijing and Ning Wanji were completely unrelated figures who couldn’t possibly be tied together.
Just as everyone was about to agree with Dai Wei’s statement, a voice was heard coming from the doorway.
“Hello, excuse me, is Miss Ning here?”
“These are the packaged meals President Ji instructed our restaurant to prepare for her. They were just freshly made and delivered over.”