“Have you all been really busy lately? I saw Director Xu Zhen these past two days, and she looked like she hadn’t been sleeping well.”
At lunch in the company cafeteria that day, Chen Yin brought it up casually.
Lu Wanning swallowed her mouthful of spicy hot pot and replied, “Yeah, she’s got several projects on her plate that all need her attention. Stress, probably.”
“What about you?” Chen Yin asked. “Things going smoothly?”
“Pretty busy, but I’ve learned a lot too. How about you, sis?”
“Oh, same old. Just your average working stiff’s daily grind.”
The two chatted for a while, and when the lunch break was nearly over, they gathered their trays and headed back upstairs for the afternoon shift.
There was a meeting that afternoon. Lu Wanning went ahead to photocopy the meeting materials and hand them out to everyone. Before long, Xu Zhen walked in. Since Chen Yin had just mentioned her, Lu Wanning couldn’t help studying her a bit more closely.
Yeah, her complexion really wasn’t great.
Heavy dark circles clearly the result of sacrificing sleep to put in overtime.
The several projects the department was pushing had all reached critical stages, and everyone’s workload was crushing. But if they pulled them off, the quarterly bonus would be substantial, so everyone was working at full throttle.
Lu Wanning was no exception especially as the newest arrival, she had to spend extra time learning. She turned her head to check her reflection in the glass door and felt her own state wasn’t much better than Xu Zhen’s.
Her hair had grown out, and she hadn’t found time for a haircut. The slightly curled ends hung softly on her shoulders.
Should she tie it up? Or find time for a trim?
At the far end of the table, the project manager had already begun his report, but less than a minute in, Xu Zhen cut him off with a frown: “Wasn’t the agreement finalized last month? Why is the progress delayed again? Where are the sticking points?”
“Fucheng’s legal team didn’t sign off.” The project manager looked aggrieved.
Xu Zhen was clearly dissatisfied with this explanation: “It’s been this long, why are you still going back and forth on the same issue?”
“They want to change some content, but we can never get a time scheduled to discuss it. Every time, they say they’re busy.” The project manager switched the projected slide, his face full of frustration. “Their legal team has a lot on their plate, and their response time is terribly slow. Whenever we ask, it’s ‘I need to confirm with my supervisor,’ ‘it has to go through the process’…”
Lu Wanning looked up at the screen, at the bright yellow highlights in the document, the parts the project manager said the other side wanted revised. Even she, the greenest of them all, could see that these were nowhere near the core terms of the agreement.
The project manager, unable to continue, could only laugh bitterly and try to smooth things over: “They are a big conglomerate after all. Bound to be tedious and strict.”
“We’ve worked with them before. Fucheng’s internal processes were never this complicated. And the project approval went through ages ago, why would they deliberately stall?”
Xu Zhen’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper. Irritated, she squeezed the pen in her hand tighter and tighter, then stood up. “Has something changed with this? Fine. We need to set up a dinner with people from Fucheng and find out what’s going on.”
She stepped out to make a quick phone call, then came back and rapidly started assigning tasks: “Xiao Wen, send Wanning the name of that restaurant next to the Fucheng Building. Wanning, book a private room for six o’clock tomorrow evening.”
Lu Wanning noted it down. “Got it.”
But Xu Zhen’s next words caught everyone off guard: “You’re going to the dinner too.”
“Me?” Lu Wanning thought she’d misheard.
Xu Zhen raised an eyebrow. “Inconvenient?”
“No.” Lu Wanning paused. “It’s fine.”
It wasn’t that she was unwilling to work overtime she just found it strange. For business discussions between companies, Xu Zhen going with the project manager was usually enough. She had the lowest rank; even if she went, she wouldn’t get a word in. At most, she’d be pouring drinks for people.
Whatever. What did she know? Just follow the boss’s arrangements.
But the word “Fucheng” pierced Lu Wanning’s ear like a thorn.
Fucheng Group’s headquarters was a skyscraper of dozens of stories, located on the capital’s financial street nothing short of a landmark. Many tourists made special trips to visit and take photos, though they could only snap pictures at the entrance; without an employee badge, no one got in.
Lu Wanning had never worked at Fucheng, nor did she share the tourists’ curiosity, yet she knew exactly what was inside that building.
Because Fucheng belonged to the Hans.
Han as in Han Yao.
Though they were the same age, their paths in life could not have been more different. Han Yao had started participating in Fucheng’s company affairs early on, and when things got busy, she shuttled between school and the Fucheng building, back and forth.
And Lu Wanning was like the eldest Miss Han’s personal accessory whatever Han Yao did, she had to be brought along.
But ever since Han Yao went abroad, Lu Wanning had never set foot there again. Even passing by that area, she deliberately took a detour.
What was over was over no need to stir up old feelings.
Still, Fucheng Group’s subsidiary was now a shareholder of her company, which was why the eldest Miss Han had come to visit that day. She’d been in the mood to look around at one of her investments.
Now the two sides had other project collaborations as well, and “Fucheng” was being mentioned more and more around the office.
And that familiar face kept flashing before Lu Wanning’s eyes.
Her tangled thoughts were cut off by Xu Zhen’s voice. “OK, then I’ll trouble you to put in some overtime tomorrow.”
“Sure.” Lu Wanning replied, quickly shaking off the distractions in her head and telling herself
Just focus on the work in front of you. Don’t overthink it.
After all, what good would thinking do?
For the dinner engagement the next evening, Lu Wanning specially asked her roommate for outfit advice she had absolutely no clue about that sort of thing.
“Don’t pick anything too brightly colored.” Her roommate circled her, thinking seriously. “It’d risk stealing the spotlight. You’re going there to discuss business, so a more subdued overall look is better.”
Then her roommate suddenly rose on tiptoe to look at the top of her head. “Oh, Wanning, your dark roots are showing. When are we going to dye our hair together?”
“Let me save up some money first.” Lu Wanning raised a hand and touched her head.
Honestly, seeing the dark roots bothered her too, and she wanted to get her ends trimmed while she was at it but money was better saved.
“You’ve got a stable job now; saving money shouldn’t be hard. Besides, now that you’re working, you should buy a few professional outfits. You’ll be attending more and more of these events, after all.”
“Later. My mom’s birthday is coming up, and I want to buy her a present.”
Last time, Lu Jiahui had glimpsed a coat in a shop window. She hadn’t said a word, but her eyes kept drifting back to it.
So after dinner, Lu Wanning had firmly dragged her in to try it on. Sure enough, it looked wonderful on her.
But the moment she saw the price tag, the smile vanished from Lu Jiahui’s face. She put it down and walked out without a word, muttering as they left, “Is a piece of clothing this expensive plated in gold or something?”
The number on that tag was just as out of reach for Lu Wanning. On her current salary, she would have to save up for a long time to afford it.
But more than that, she wanted to see Lu Jiahui preening in front of the mirror wearing that coat even if it meant scrimping for months.
The two of them were still chatting when the doorbell suddenly rang. Her roommate hurried over excitedly. “My order’s probably here.”
Only, she was soon staring dumbfounded at the ten packages at the door.
Lu Wanning helped her roommate open the deliveries. All sorts of new clothes spread across the sofa, as spectacular as if they’d just restocked from a shopping mall.
“I only bought two things,” the roommate said, staring at the orders on her phone, even more bewildered. “Did the seller ship the wrong stuff?”
The ever-available customer service of a certain shopping app replied quickly.
“Dear customer, our warehouse was indeed careless and shipped extra items by mistake. Could you please help us keep it a secret? We’d be fired if the boss found out. You can keep the extra clothes no need to send them back. If you’re satisfied, please leave us a good review ”
There was such a thing as good luck like this?
“Yes, yes, yes!” The roommate grinned from ear to ear. “Good review, definitely a good review. It’s never rained pies from the sky before this must be the reward for all my hard work.”
Even so, Lu Wanning felt something was off. They shipped the wrong goods and didn’t want them back? How did a store run like that? Wouldn’t they lose money hand over fist?
But before she could think it through, her roommate grabbed a beige blazer and held it up against her. “Want to try this one? You could wear it tomorrow.”
Without waiting for an answer, she draped the jacket over Lu Wanning’s shoulders.
The beige tone matched her chestnut-brown hair, instantly shedding a bit of girlishness and adding a touch of professional polish, without looking overly mature. Low-key enough, yet not invisible just right.
Her roommate’s eyes lit up. “Gorgeous!”
Lu Wanning pressed her lips together as she studied herself in the full-length mirror. She hadn’t put much thought into her appearance since starting work, but she had to admit the jacket suited her, bringing out the delicate elegance of her features.
And it really would come in handy for tomorrow.
She said softly, “I’ll borrow this one, then. Thanks.”
“Borrow, nothing. Gifts from heaven are for everyone who sees them just take it.” Her roommate waved a grand hand. “Let’s put together a few more outfits.”
The next day, the jacket drew unanimous praise from her colleagues even Xu Zhen gave it a second glance.
Considering Xu Zhen normally saw nothing but work, being stared at like that made Lu Wanning think something was wrong with her, and she instinctively looked down to check herself.
Then she heard Xu Zhen say, “Nice outfit.”
“Thank you.”
If even she said so, Lu Wanning figured today’s outfit must have been a success.
Unfortunately, something did go wrong in the end.
But it had nothing to do with Lu Wanning it was the evening itself.
In a private room at the restaurant next to Fucheng Tower, two hours had already passed since the appointed time, and the people they were waiting for had yet to show.
The waiter knocked and entered for the third time, politely asking, “Hello, are you ready to order?”
Lu Wanning glanced at Xu Zhen standing off to the side on the phone, and said softly, “Not yet.”
The waiter withdrew.
Over the past two hours, Xu Zhen and the project manager had each called the people in Fucheng three times, but the answers they got were all vague and evasive no confirmation of cancellation, no specific reason for the delay, only ambiguous instructions to keep waiting.
“They never used to act like this.” The project manager was so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead. “What’s happened over there?” The project they’d practically secured couldn’t fall through now!
Xu Zhen hurriedly made several more calls, her face growing darker and darker. Finally, after hanging up the last one, she said in a hoarse voice, “Xiao Li, you can go back first.”
The project manager was taken aback. “But…”
“Wanning stays.”
Xu Zhen raised her eyes, and there seemed to be some deeper meaning hidden in her weary gaze.
“I’d like a word with you in private.”