Ding!
Secretary Chen had long been waiting at the elevator entrance. The moment Du Youling stepped out, he immediately bowed and led the way: “Miss Du, please follow me.”
“Thank you, Secretary Chen.”
Du Youling curved her eyes and casually clipped her sunglasses onto the collar of her blouse.
Passing through the office area, Secretary Chen stopped before a large door and lightly knocked three times.
“Enter.”
A deep, magnetic male voice came from within—so penetrating that even through the door panel, it carried an unyielding authority that brooked no dissent.
Secretary Chen pushed open the door, slightly stepping aside to gesture Du Youling inside, then, with great tact, pulled the door shut behind them.
The office was spacious, with floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides offering a panoramic view of the bustling financial district of Haicheng.
At that moment, Mu Linjiang sat behind his desk, a Reading Lens perched on the bridge of his nose, swiftly signing his name on an all-English document.
Du Youling unceremoniously pulled out the visitor’s chair across from his desk, sat down with casual ease, then propped her cheeks on both hands, staring unblinkingly at him as he worked.
As Mu Linjiang signed with his head lowered, his slightly hooded lashes and cold, sharp jawline were devastatingly attractive.
Only after finishing the last document did Mu Linjiang look up at her.
“Seen enough?”
Du Youling snapped back to reality and waved her hand: “Pfft, how could I ever see enough!”
Then she continued: “Mu Linjiang, what do you think about me interning at your company?”
Mu Linjiang removed the Reading Lens from his nose, set it on the desk, and said coolly: “You’ve already graduated.”
“So what if I’ve graduated? Can’t a graduate still have the ambition to fill gaps and learn anew? This is what I call social re-education.”
Seeing the man unmoved, Du Youling pressed on: “If interning won’t work, then how about me being your personal assistant?”
“Think about it—you have so much work pressure on a daily basis. If I stayed on as your personal assistant, bringing you tea and water every day, checking in on you with care and concern, and using my expertise to help solve your problems on the side, wouldn’t that be the perfect package of emotional value and functional value combined?”
With that, she suddenly stood up, walked around the desk, and came to his back.
“And I also have a hidden trump card skill—”
Du Youling placed both hands on the man’s broad, upright shoulders.
A faint, uniquely Du Youling fragrance instantly invaded Mu Linjiang’s personal space.
“That is the exclusive Du-style massage technique!”
As she spoke, she began kneading the man’s neck and shoulders with a convincing air, bragging: “President Mu, you sit in your office all day reviewing documents and approving financial reports—your cervical spine and shoulders must be as stiff as stone, right?”
“Let me tell you, back home, whenever my parents were tired, they’d line up begging me to massage them. My pressure, my acupoint precision—it’s absolutely professional. I guarantee you’ll feel refreshed and completely fatigue-free after this!”
The moment her hands touched him, Mu Linjiang’s body stiffened almost imperceptibly for half a second.
Then he felt the soft, gentle pressure working on his neck and shoulders.
“How is it, President Mu? Don’t you feel a warm current rushing straight to the crown of your head, your mind clearing up considerably?”
“No.”
Du Youling: …
So blunt, so cold, so utterly without tact!
Even if she went to a blind fortune-teller under the bridge, at least they’d have the decency to throw out a perfunctory “young lady, you’ve got good hands” for the sake of the money.
Du Youling withdrew her hands and pouted: “Mu Linjiang, you really have zero sense of humor. Capitalists really are all cold-blooded animals without pain receptors.”
Mu Linjiang glanced down at his wristwatch: “You should be heading back now.”
“Hey! I haven’t even been here ten minutes!”
Mu Linjiang ignored her protest and was about to speak when the office door was knocked on.
Secretary Chen pushed the door open, clutching an urgent red-header document. He glanced at Du Youling sitting to the side, his expression hesitant.
Mu Linjiang: “Speak.”
Secretary Chen presented the document with both hands: “President Mu, something’s happened with the North City Port land. Two hours ago, Customs and the Planning Bureau jointly issued a red-header investigation notice, claiming that the Phase III terminal land we acquired last month encroaches on municipal red lines and exceeds heavy metal contamination residue limits. The joint investigation team from the municipal bureau has already entered the site and ordered all construction halted.”
North City Port was the biggest prize in Haicheng this year, with every major family fighting tooth and nail over it.
Mu Linjiang took the document: “The preliminary due diligence was done by Jiangcheng Firm, and both assessment reports were filed with the municipal bureau. Now they’re telling us it exceeds standards?”
“Yes. They came prepared—the joint investigation team is operating on a special approval directly signed by the provincial department, never even passing through the Haicheng municipal bureau. Moreover, the whistleblower letter includes a private testing report on groundwater heavy metals from ten years ago for that land, signed by a current senior executive of our Mu Group.”
Du Youling sat across from him, watching Mu Linjiang in silence.
The man remained as unruffled as ever, his tone calm: “Have the PR department suppress the news. Not a single word can leak to the media before market close. Also, notify Legal to pull up the due diligence files from Jiangcheng from back then.”
“Yes, sir.”
Then, Mu Linjiang turned his gaze to Secretary Chen.
Secretary Chen immediately picked up on his boss’s signal, gave a slight bow to Du Youling, and gestured toward the door with his right hand.
“Miss Du, this way, please.”
Du Youling, who hadn’t yet processed what was happening: “?”
“Secretary Chen, you’re way too practiced at showing people out, aren’t you?”
Secretary Chen gave a deadpan smile: “Miss Du is joking. It’s my job.”
“Well, your job description is pretty one-note, then.”
Du Youling glanced at Mu Linjiang, who remained unmoved, then back at Secretary Chen, and let out a cold snort: “Fine, I’ll go. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
Secretary Chen held the door open for her. “Miss Du, President Mu won’t have time anytime soon.”
Du Youling shot him a sidelong glance. “I’m not here to see him. I’m here to see you, Secretary Chen. I think you’re pretty interesting. How about I buy you coffee sometime and pick your brain on how you’ve managed to work under President Mu for eight years without quitting?”
“Miss Du is joking.” Secretary Chen made the gesture of “please” once more.
This time, Du Youling left without hesitation. Just before the door closed, she deliberately turned back and shouted at Mu Linjiang.
“Mu Linjiang, don’t get worked up about that piece of land. If there’s a problem with the due diligence report for the North City Port, it definitely has something to do with the appraisal firm from ten years ago. The joint investigation team used a special approval from the provincial department to bypass the municipal bureau—they’re clearly going after procedural flaws. If worse comes to worst, have Legal fight it on jurisdiction grounds.”
“Forget it, you’ve probably already thought of that. Just remember to reply to my WeChat! You still haven’t responded to my good-morning greeting!”
As Du Youling walked out of the Mu Group building, the sunlight in Haicheng happened to hit the glass, making her squint.
She pulled her sunglasses from her collar and put them on, then took out her phone and called Song Shan.
Song Shan’s teasing voice came through the line: “Done so soon today? It’s still early.”
“Quick! Urgent secret meetup!”
“Kicked out again?”
“Song Xiao Shan!”
“Alright, alright. Twenty minutes.”