Chapter 11

A meal with Chen Dongqi had yielded quite a bit. Shen Siyan added contact information for four tech companies, then followed up with each of them the next day and ultimately chose the best one to move the project forward and start cooperation.

After that, she no longer took part in the contract-drafting process in detail and handed it over to Ai Jin.

But the all-purpose tool Wei Xiaolu still couldn’t escape this matter. Wherever a brick was needed, she filled the gap; whenever Ai Jin went to talk to the company about cooperation, she took Wei Xiaolu along. Pouring tea, handing over pens, carrying bags—those little errands were all hers.

So pitiful.

It was all that bad person Shen Siyan’s fault!

She kept insisting on training newcomers, saying they had to get real exposure to every part of the project process. But Wei Xiaolu felt that the department head was really just sending her out to act as a lookout. Every time they came back, she had to report in detail what they’d done, along with the full process and her personal take on it; even dinner had become a work report. It was boring as hell.

Still, Wei Xiaolu had to admit that, by following Ai Jin through the entire process of research, discussion, and contract drafting, she really did learn a lot.

This Friday they were officially signing the agreement. Once it was signed, she could go home and enjoy the weekend in style, so when she went with Ai Jin to pick up the contract, she was practically glowing with excitement and gave her current job a very high appraisal.

Satisfied, she accepted the tablet the tech company handed over and passed it to Ai Jin.

After reading the contract, Ai Jin set down the electronic pen.

"Manager Ai, is there a problem?" the person across from them asked.

"There’s nothing wrong on my end, but the final approval still has to come from our department head," Ai Jin said, pointing at the contract on the tablet. "How about this: send me the electronic version. I’ll take it back and have CEO Shen sign it, then I’ll send the signed contract back to you."

The other party hurriedly agreed and immediately sent the electronic contract to Ai Jin’s email.

"For the payment, we’ll also need an invoice," Ai Jin said.

"Understood, Manager Ai. I’ll issue it later and send it to your email," the tech company’s contact replied.

After they left the conference room and saw that no one was around, Wei Xiaolu finally dared to ask in a low voice, "Manager Ai, didn’t CEO Shen tell you this morning to sign on her behalf? Why did you say CEO Shen still needs to sign it?"

"My gut just..." Ai Jin slowly shook her head. "Something feels off."

"Manager Ai’s instincts definitely aren’t coming out of nowhere," Wei Xiaolu said seriously, seeing the grave expression on Ai Jin’s face. "Is there something wrong with the contract wording?"

"The contract says the project starts once the payment comes through," Ai Jin said. "I’m not very clear on this part. Outsourcing used to be handled by President Chen himself, but when we make products ourselves, payment is always transferred only after delivery. Why is outsourcing different from that?"

"You mean..." Wei Xiaolu also realized what was wrong. "Once this money is paid, the initiative for the project won’t be in our hands anymore?"

"Mm." Ai Jin nodded. "That’s not even the main issue. There are plenty of cases where people take the money first and then do the work, but the overall feeling I get from them is just—very unreliable."

Wei Xiaolu had followed the whole thing from start to finish, and it all seemed pretty reliable to her. The person in charge on the tech company’s side was very responsible; replies and answers to questions had all been timely.

But she was still a novice. Ai Jin was an old hand who’d been doing this for seven or eight years; her instincts were definitely more accurate than hers.

"Let’s observe a little longer," Ai Jin said.

So the signing was temporarily shelved. On the way back to the company, Wei Xiaolu was still worrying about how she’d report it to Shen Siyan. After all, on the surface, it looked like she’d been busy for days and ended up accomplishing exactly zero things.

Just as she was brooding over it, Tao Wei suddenly popped up in her WeChat list.

[Tao Wei: How’s it going? Have you found the outsourcing company yet?]

Wei Xiaolu sighed and replied: [Not yet. Manager Ai had a gut feeling that this outsourcing company wasn’t quite right, so we paused for now.]

[Tao Wei: How could the outsourcing company CEO Shen found be wrong? Is Manager Ai overthinking it?]

[Wei Xiaolu: Maybe there’s something a little strange about this company.]

[Tao Wei: The one CEO Shen found must be fine. Just sign it already; what is she doing, trying to go against CEO Shen on purpose?]

Manager Ai was sitting right next to her. After Wei Xiaolu read that message, goosebumps rose all over her body. She hurriedly covered her phone and told Tao Wei she was busy with something and would chat later.

The ride-hailing driver they’d hired was very boundary-conscious; after getting in, he didn’t make a sound, which only made the back seat feel awkward for Wei Xiaolu and Ai Jin.

Should she take the chance to talk to Ai Jin about the contract again?

Wei Xiaolu stole a glance at Manager Ai and saw her take out her phone and open some file. A moment later, her brows drew together slightly, as though she’d fallen into deep thought.

"Xiaolu," Ai Jin called. "Look."

Wei Xiaolu leaned over and saw a file titled Invoice List.

A transfer of 600,000; mm, no problem there.

Wei Xiaolu didn’t know where Ai Jin had spotted the anomaly, so she kept reading down. Then, at the stamp in the lower right corner, she suddenly understood what was wrong.

The company that had stamped it was not the tech company they’d been dealing with.

"What’s going on?" Wei Xiaolu asked in confusion.

"Check this company for me. I’ll ask them," Ai Jin said, calling the person who had just signed the contract.

During the phone conversation, the explanation the other side gave was that their account books had been sealed for now, so they were temporarily using a subsidiary’s account.

But Wei Xiaolu couldn’t find any parent-subsidiary relationship between the two companies online.

It was getting stranger and stranger.

"I need to bring this up with CEO Shen when we get back," Ai Jin said.

"Okay." Wei Xiaolu agreed as well. The situation really was suspicious.

By the time the two of them returned to the office, it was already past quitting time.

Shen Siyan hadn’t left yet; she was reviewing the weekly report submitted by the product optimization team.

Since the matter was rather fishy, Ai Jin went straight to the point and laid out the problem. By the time she finished, she was a little excited too. "CEO Shen, I really think we need to be cautious about this. We can’t rush the project and just sign something blindly."

"I understand the situation," Shen Siyan said, turning her chair halfway around and folding her arms across her chest, her fingers tapping unconsciously. "Just stall them for now. Say I’m busy and haven’t had time to look at it."

"All right, I’ll hedge with them for now and see what attitude they take," Ai Jin said.

"Yes." Shen Siyan thought for a moment, then lifted a hand in dismissal. "Okay, that’s enough for now. Pack up and head home; don’t let work keep you from getting off on time."

After Ai Jin left, the office returned to its quiet of just the two of them.

If she stayed any longer, it would be overtime. Wei Xiaolu went back to her desk, sat down, and prepared to roll up her mat and head out, racing home.

She’d be away for two days over the weekend; by the time she came back, wouldn’t the flowers on her desk have gone rotten?

After tidying up her desk, Wei Xiaolu’s hand paused on one orange-yellow rose.

With just the lightest touch, the flower collapsed, shedding a few dark-yellow, withered petals.

This bouquet had been sitting there since Tuesday, and she really had admired it for quite a while. If she left it another two days, it would start to stink. Maybe she should just throw it out after work today?

Thinking that, Wei Xiaolu spread her palm and looked at the petal that had fallen into it.

At that moment, Shen Siyan suddenly asked, "Xiaolu, you couldn’t find any relationship between those two companies online, right?"

"Ah," Wei Xiaolu clenched her fist suddenly and turned around. "Right, CEO Shen. I checked, and those two companies don’t seem to have any connection."

Shen Siyan picked up her phone. "I’ll have someone specifically help look into it again."

Then Shen Siyan made a call, and Wei Xiaolu found herself oddly wanting to laugh at the sight.

It was like those domineering CEOs in novels, casually telling an assistant, "I want to know everything about this person," and then receiving a file of personal information obtained through some mysterious information-theft crime.

But on Shen Siyan, that seemed reasonable enough. With her family background, she probably did have special channels to investigate a company thoroughly.

However, it wasn’t long before Wei Xiaolu realized that the so-called "CEO" in front of her wasn’t calling home.

"Qi Lang, do me a favor," Shen Siyan said. After the other end gave an unintelligible reply, she laughed brightly.

"What, besides being your blind date, I can’t have any other business dealings?"

Wei Xiaolu blinked. In the midst of Shen Siyan’s brilliant smile, she heard her own heart suddenly go quiet.

Why had she suddenly stopped finding it funny?

She was sitting barely two meters from Shen Siyan, clutching a handful of roses, yet somehow she didn’t know where she was, what she was doing, or why she had just spaced out so inexplicably.

"Check these two companies for me and do a full background investigation," Shen Siyan said rapidly. "Look at their equity structure, who has actual control, and whether there are any legal disputes."

Halfway through, Shen Siyan stopped.

She opened her computer and clicked the mouse twice. "Check three more companies as well. These were all outsourcing companies introduced to me by the same person."

The other side must have agreed very readily. After Shen Siyan ended the call, she turned to glance at Wei Xiaolu. Just as she was about to look away, she turned back again and met Wei Xiaolu’s eyes. "Still not leaving, little sister?"

Wei Xiaolu looked at her leader’s beautiful eyes, curved with a smile.

Her mind was blank. She didn’t know why, but she softly asked, "Aren’t you heading back with me?"

Shen Siyan tilted her head. "It’s Friday today. Aren’t you going home for two days?"

"Oh..." Wei Xiaolu touched her head. Something had gone wrong up there just now.

Just as she was coming back to herself, Shen Siyan lifted the back of her hand to cover her lips and chuckled twice without a sound.

"Too busy to remember?" Shen Siyan shut down her computer, stood up, and slung her bag over her shoulder as she walked out. "I’m leaving first. You’ve worked hard these past few days, so go back and rest well, okay?"

"Ah, wait, CEO Shen." In her haste, Wei Xiaolu chased after her.

"Mm?" Shen Siyan turned back.

"I’m not going home this week," Wei Xiaolu said with a somewhat ingratiating smile. "You’ve been pretty busy lately, and I feel like you need people around you more. I’ll stay. If you need anything, someone will be available anytime. Wouldn’t that be great?"

Shen Siyan narrowed her eyes slightly. "Should I give you some overtime pay then?"

"What’s overtime pay compared to being with a beautiful woman?" Wei Xiaolu said.

"Such a smart mouth." Shen Siyan waved a hand, amused by her twisted logic. "Come on, I’ll take you back."

After punching out, the two of them walked into the elevator one after the other.

It was already past the peak quitting time, and there was no one else in the elevator. Wei Xiaolu stood to Shen Siyan’s left, sneaking glances at the pineapple brooch pinned to CEO Shen’s chest.

But it seemed she wasn’t the only one watching Shen Siyan; Shen Siyan had noticed her too, and asked casually, "What are you clutching? Holding it that tightly."

Her fingertips twitched at the sound of it.

Her heartbeat suddenly disappeared from her awareness, and even her breathing seemed to go mute along with it.

Wei Xiaolu looked at Shen Siyan, then blankly opened her palm to reveal a clump of rose petals she’d crushed into wrinkles, their color dull and their shape ruined.

Shen Siyan frowned slightly, seeming not to understand at first. "What is this?"

"The rose you gave me," Wei Xiaolu answered.