In the end, though, Gu Tingshen did not kiss Gu Xirou’s lips, he only lowered his head and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
Shen Suiwan understood that although Gu Tingshen had drunk a bit too much, he still remembered his position and would not kiss Gu Xirou in front of so many people.
But that kiss he pressed to Gu Xirou’s forehead was already enough to announce his relationship with Gu Xirou to everyone.
Heh… that line of Gu Tingshen’s back then, “Don’t drag our private affairs into the company,” was simply the biggest joke of all.
The young assistant sent another message. “It looks like Miss Gu really is President Gu’s girlfriend. No wonder President Gu wanted to hand her the project we worked on for so long without a second word. I never expected President Gu to be the sort of person who mixes public and private matters like this. It’s really too much.”
“Don’t say things like that from now on, and especially don’t say them to anyone else at the company,” Shen Suiwan cautioned her.
Neither Gu Tingshen nor Gu Xirou was a good person.
If she offended them, the young assistant would probably be in for serious trouble.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. But Secretary Shen… everyone can see how much you put into that project. Are you really going to just hand it over like this?”
Shen Suiwan replied calmly, “It doesn’t matter.”
She wanted her project?
In the end she would only be lifting a stone to drop on her own foot [1]lifting a stone to drop on her own foot (ban qi shi tou za zi ji de jiao, 搬起石頭砸自己的腳) Idiom, scheming against someone ends up backfiring on the schemer jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3299080_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3299080_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
…
In the morning, Gu Xirou set out from the company to discuss the project with the partner firm.
Before leaving the company, she glanced at Shen Suiwan, her bright red lips curving up, full of provocation.
The team members who had worked on this project with Shen Suiwan all glanced at her secretly, but did not dare say anything.
Gu Xirou was someone whose relationship with President Gu was anything but shallow, and it was President Gu himself who had said the project would be handed over to Gu Xirou.
Although they all felt in their hearts that this was truly improper, how would they dare say anything?
Aware of the varied looks from everyone, Shen Suiwan was perfectly composed and went on with the work in front of her.
Everyone thought she was only pretending to be calm, and their sympathy for her deepened.
But what no one expected was that a few hours later, Gu Xirou came back with her face full of anger.
The moment she returned she headed straight for Gu Tingshen’s office, and as she passed Shen Suiwan’s desk she even glared at her fiercely.
No one understood what was going on, and once Gu Xirou had gone into the president’s office, they hurried to ask the two people who had gone with her to discuss the project.
But the two of them wore complicated expressions and kept their mouths shut.
Inside the office, Gu Xirou was sitting on Gu Tingshen’s lap, pouring out her grievances to him.
“Brother Tingshen, the client was definitely making things difficult for me on purpose!” Gu Xirou’s eyes were red. “They were bullying me just because I’m new…”
Gu Tingshen frowned deeply. “That shouldn’t be. Could there be some misunderstanding?”
“What misunderstanding could there be?”
No matter what she said, they said it wouldn’t do, it wasn’t good enough, and they asked her where that Secretary Shen from before had gone, and even said, “If Secretary Shen were here…”
Wasn’t that plainly saying she was not as good as Shen Suiwan!
The project had clearly already reached its final stage. Wasn’t getting it more or less done enough? Was there any need to pick over the mistakes so carefully?
“Brother Tingshen, this is the first project I’ve taken over since I came to the company. If anyone finds out I botched it, they’ll definitely laugh at me!” Gu Xirou held Gu Tingshen around the neck, her tears falling drop by drop.
“All right, all right, don’t cry.” Gu Tingshen flustered about wiping her tears away.
After hesitating a moment, he said, “Next time, let Wanwan go with you. She’s been in charge of this project for so long, and she’s the one who understands all the details best.”
He had thought that since it was already at the final stage, Gu Xirou should be able to handle it, but unexpectedly…
In the end, Shen Suiwan still had to step in.
Earlier, when he had told Shen Suiwan to help Gu Xirou more, she had not seemed very willing.
But it did not matter, if he coaxed her properly, she would not refuse.
“You go out first and have Wanwan… have Secretary Shen come in.”
Gu Tingshen wiped her tears dry, coaxed her a few more times, and promised to buy her the newest designer bag, and Gu Xirou finally dawdled her way out of the office.
She did not see Shen Suiwan, and after asking around she learned that she was in the break room.
She went into the break room, and sure enough she saw Shen Suiwan making coffee.
The aroma of the coffee spread everywhere, but it could not smooth over the anger and jealousy in Gu Xirou’s heart. She stared coldly at Shen Suiwan’s back, as though she wanted to tear her apart.
Shen Suiwan clearly had not turned around, yet she seemed to know who had come, and said flatly, “Do you need something?”
“Brother Tingshen wants you in his office,” Gu Xirou said coldly.
Having heard her words, Shen Suiwan was in no hurry. She unhurriedly finished making the coffee, poured it into a cup, added a cube of sugar, and slowly stirred it.
This attitude of hers made Gu Xirou angrier still. “Didn’t you hear what I said?”
“Gu Xirou.” Shen Suiwan raised her eyes, her gaze carrying a certain sharpness. “If you’re asking a favor, you should act like it.”
“You…”
Gu Xirou’s eyes flew wide open, and she suddenly said furiously, “It was you, wasn’t it? You were the one scheming behind the scenes? You were the one who told the client to make things difficult for me on purpose?”
“You’re overthinking it.” Shen Suiwan’s lips curved contemptuously.
She had not done anything.
But she had long since anticipated this outcome.
For one thing, although the project had reached its final stage and did not require so much hard work, it still could not be handled just any old way.
For another, she knew Gu Xirou had no real ability.
They had had some contact back in university, and she had also heard Gu Tingshen mention a few things about Gu Xirou in passing before, so she could infer it.
The most important point was that if Gu Xirou really had the ability, why would Gu Tingshen need to hand her a ready-made project? For a project this important, suddenly changing the person in charge was entirely unsuitable, and there was no way Gu Tingshen did not understand that.
But this only showed all the more how much Gu Tingshen cared about Gu Xirou.
“It must have been you!” Gu Xirou refused to admit that her own ability was lacking and was firmly convinced that Shen Suiwan had done her harm behind the scenes. “You bit…”
Why hadn’t that car accident back then killed her!
Shen Suiwan did not deign to argue with her at all, nor was she in any hurry to go to Gu Tingshen’s office, and she went on standing where she was, perfectly composed.
Gu Xirou glared at her for a while, then suddenly smiled.
“Shen Suiwan, what are you putting on an act for? It’s only one project. You don’t think you’ve won, do you? Stop dreaming. I’m the one who wins in the end.” She raised a hand to tuck a fallen strand of hair behind her ear, her face full of smugness. “How much Brother Tingshen cares about me, I don’t believe you can’t feel it.”
Shen Suiwan’s eyes abruptly darkened.
Indeed, he cared so much that he would even help her cover up something like deliberately causing a car accident.
She did not want Gu Tingshen’s cheap affection, but that car accident and the leg that could no longer dance, those she could not let go of.
Gu Xirou did not know what Shen Suiwan was thinking inside, she still assumed Shen Suiwan cared about Gu Tingshen, and so she grew even more smug.
Shen Suiwan was carrying the coffee, and just as she was about to pass by her, Gu Xirou suddenly said something quickly.
“Shen Suiwan, I’m going to show you just how much Brother Tingshen cares about me!”
Having said that, she grabbed Shen Suiwan’s wrist and forcefully splashed that cup of coffee over her own face, then let out a scream and ran out of the break room.
References[+]