Chapter 30

Wei Xiaolu wanted to win a little more support for the Stardun system, but ever since Chen Yuran proposed using an external support system, the focus of the working group had clearly shifted.

Still, the suggestion wasn’t unreasonable.

After all, while adopting an external system would come with procurement costs, the hidden costs of maintaining an outdated system were also high. And if they used a ready-made underlying framework already on the market, they could save a great deal of learning time; in the end, the final integrated version could be completed much faster.

Why not?

Those were all secondary, anyway. Everyone had their own opinions; as long as they could speak freely, that was fine.

What upset Wei Xiaolu the most was that every time Chen Yuran stated her preferred choice, she would first affirm Wei Xiaolu’s view, then inevitably follow with a “but,” stress the importance of the bigger picture and risk-sharing, and finally wrap it all up perfectly with, “It’s normal for someone who just joined not to understand how frightening sole responsibility is, but the rest of us should all understand the benefits of having one more supplier share the risk.”

Clearly, many members of the working group at the meeting supported developing based on the company’s three core products. Yet with Chen Yuran’s handling of it, it made it look as though Wei Xiaolu was the one striking out on her own.

Hearing Chen Yuran say that again, Wei Xiaolu was so angry her chest felt ready to burst. If it hadn’t been for the excellent upbringing her parents had given her, she would have slammed the table, jumped up, and given that old Chen comrade a scolding he’d never forget.

Clutching her laptop, she stormed out of the discussion room and headed straight for the break room.

First, she needed a few bags of chips to calm down.

The crispy, fragrant chips instantly lifted her mood quite a bit.

But then the person who appeared in front of her sent that mood crashing right back down.

Wang Chen took a bottle of soda from the snack cabinet and sat down in front of her, brazenly helping himself to Wei Xiaolu’s chips.

“...” Right now, Wei Xiaolu really understood what it felt like to want to stab someone at work.

“Engineer Wang,” Wei Xiaolu pointed at the chips, speechless. “Those are mine.”

“Yours?” Wang Chen ate two more. “These aren’t as good as the local specialties you brought last time.”

Was there something wrong with this guy? What was he thinking about all day? Wei Xiaolu really didn’t get it.

“When did I bring local specialties?” She grabbed the remaining chips and turned away from him, putting some distance between herself and the idiot.

“That assorted-flavor thin pastry from last time,” Wang Chen said. “Weren’t you the one who brought it? CEO Shen said it was a specialty from your hometown that you’d brought for everyone.”

Wei Xiaolu had just bitten into a chip when it snapped in half with a crisp crack and fell from her lips.

“...Oh,” she said slowly, turning back around. “I’d forgotten... Was that during the two days I took leave?”

“Yeah,” Wang Chen said without a trace of politeness. “Bring some more next time. I like it.”

Her gloomy mood seemed to clear all at once, and after that she barely listened to whatever Wang Chen was yelling about behind her.

After finishing the chips, she clapped her hands and carried her laptop back to the office to find Shen Siyan.

Unfortunately, CEO Shen was busy.

It seemed Qiding Technology was pressing for a partnership and piling on the pressure, saying that stringing them along was a very insincere attitude; if they couldn’t sign a contract with them soon, they would sever all future contact.

Wei Xiaolu felt that the decision was difficult from start to finish, let alone for Shen Siyan, who was at the center of it and shoulder­ing far more responsibility and risk.

It seemed that work was difficult in a universal way; everyone had their own problem to face.

But what Shen faced was obviously far more complicated and troublesome than what she was dealing with now.

Wei Xiaolu had already been furious just because her suggestion had been rejected. Yet what Shen Siyan faced every day was commercial opponents wrapped in sugar-coated bullets but pressing in step by step, internal company schemers fighting one another, the countless hidden dangers left behind when the former department head had just packed up and left, the performance pressure of the entire department, and the career futures of more than a hundred people...

Ugh.

Just imagining it made Wei Xiaolu shiver all over.

But soon, she thought of another question.

With a family as well-off as Shen Siyan’s, why didn’t she just enjoy herself in her father’s construction group instead of coming out here to suffer this hardship?

Probably to meet me.

Wei Xiaolu indulged in the fantasy for two seconds, swaying faintly with delight. She turned her gaze toward Shen Siyan, only to find that her superior was watching her, so she quickly cut off that dangerous train of thought.

“CEO Shen,” Wei Xiaolu said, waving her hands around as she hurriedly explained her own daydreaming. “Um... I heard you shared the local specialties I brought from home with everyone. Hearing that they liked them made me really happy.”

“Mm,” Shen Siyan said with a smile. “I liked them too.”

“I’ll bring you more next time I go home!” Wei Xiaolu said, instantly energized.

Shen Siyan looked like a supervisor who had just finished an inspection and was thoroughly pleased. She let out a soft laugh and said, “All right,” then began tapping the desk rhythmically with the fingers of her right hand.

The leader was about to start a brainstorm. Wei Xiaolu quietly shrank back and returned to her daily work.

Ten minutes later, Shen Siyan picked up her phone and made a call.

“Qi Lang, help me look into a company.”

The moment Wei Xiaolu heard that name, her fingers froze above the keyboard.

“Just tell me if you’ll help or not.”

Shen Siyan’s tapping on the desk sped up noticeably. She didn’t seem to be thinking; if anything, she looked slightly irritated.

“I don’t have time,” Shen Siyan said as she stood up, one hand in her trouser pocket, walking to the window while still on the call. “Find someone else. I’m not helping you with this.”

Wei Xiaolu guessed that maybe Qi Lang had also called in with some favor he wanted Shen Siyan to do, and they were using each other.

But clearly the conversation was going nowhere. Shen Siyan rarely showed such a low-pressure aura.

“If it’s a forced marriage setup, then it’s a forced marriage setup,” Shen Siyan said sharply. “I’m not going to keep pretending to go on blind dates for you.”

Wei Xiaolu, wonderfully nosy, focused all her attention on her ears.

After another couple of tense exchanges, Shen Siyan took the initiative to end the call. “Fine. If you won’t help, forget it. Pretend I never made this call today.”

After hanging up, Shen Siyan stood by the window in silence for half a minute before returning to her desk and continuing to work.

Wei Xiaolu didn’t even need to read her expression; just by the air around her, she could tell Shen Siyan was in a very bad mood. Whatever she said now would be like running straight into the gun barrel.

But Wei Xiaolu still went ahead and did it.

She went out to get a cup of coffee for Shen Siyan and brought it back, placing it beside CEO Shen’s hand. She didn’t leave right away. Instead, she tilted her head and said in a slightly playful tone, “I don’t know exactly what happened, but I don’t want to see a beautiful lady frowning.”

Shen Siyan’s brow was probably unconsciously knitted together; she even lifted a hand to rub between her brows. Then, half genuine and half teasing, she curved the corner of her eyes. “It’s nothing major.”

“CEO Shen, have some coffee.” Wei Xiaolu nudged the cup forward. “I added extra sugar and milk to this one, so the sweetness can chase all your worries away.”

“Thank you, Xiaolu.” Shen Siyan looked at her.

“Hehe,” Wei Xiaolu said softly with a grin, “you’re the stabilizing force of our department. It’d be such a waste if you had to waste energy on trouble.”

At last, a little smile eased onto Shen Siyan’s lips.

Maybe because Wei Xiaolu was bent over and almost leaning on the desk, Shen Siyan actually reached out and rubbed her head twice. “All right; I’m not wasting energy anymore.”

Wei Xiaolu’s chest tightened. Before her heartbeat could speed up, her first thought was whether her hair might be oily after not washing it for two days.

“Okay,” Wei Xiaolu’s brain buzzed. “CEO Shen, if you need anything, just call me anytime.”

“Mm.” Shen Siyan tipped her chin toward Wei Xiaolu’s workstation. “Get back to work.”

Wei Xiaolu stiffly returned to her own desk and sat down.

Then, when Shen Siyan wasn’t looking, she quickly raked both hands through her hair and sniffed. Fortunately, it smelled like shampoo; nice and fresh. But... but what was she supposed to do about this heart rate? It was so fast it was almost absurd.

How could she prove this wasn’t a crush?

There was a way.

Shen Siyan had assigned her new work.

It wasn’t mandatory either; it still depended on whether Wei Xiaolu was willing. More specifically, Shen Siyan wanted her to go to Qiding Technology’s headquarters over the weekend to take a look. The branch they were currently coordinating with gave off a very eager, KPI-chasing vibe, and in a situation like that, there was far too much fluff. Shen Siyan didn’t dare buy anything blindly.

But the headquarters was far away, requiring a round-trip flight, so Shen Siyan asked Wei Xiaolu to help book the tickets for her, and casually asked, “Do you want to go? We can buy yours too if you do.”

A business trip?

Didn’t want to go.

A business trip with Shen Siyan?

Worth considering.

Then she remembered that last time, after finishing the work on a business trip, they’d gone out and played for two days.

So business trip meant going out to have fun with Shen Siyan?

Fine. Go.

Wei Xiaolu quickly chose the flight, but when it came time to enter the passenger information, she ran into trouble.

“CEO Shen,” she said, circling around to Shen Siyan’s side, “I need your ID number.”

Shen Siyan took her phone and typed it in. When she handed it back, Wei Xiaolu looked carefully and said, “Huh?! CEO Shen, your birthday is coming up soon?”

“It’s already passed. I celebrate it according to the lunar calendar,” Shen Siyan mentioned lightly. “It was ten days ago.”

Wei Xiaolu stared, stunned, her mouth falling open.

Ten days ago—if she calculated it, that day had still been a workday. Shen Siyan had finished work and gone home... and then kept working. Nothing special had happened; the birthday had just slipped by like a gear turning.

Very quickly, Wei Xiaolu realized there was a flaw in her own train of thought.

She was pitying Shen Siyan for not having had a birthday, but Shen Siyan might not even like celebrating birthdays. At Shen Siyan’s level, she probably had long since become numb to that kind of romantic sense of ceremony.

What was there to feel sorry for on her leader’s behalf?

Wei Xiaolu started warning herself not to fall into this kind of mismatched sympathy, just like a commoner trying to understand the hardships of the imperial court. What comparison could there be between an intern making three thousand a month and a minister making thirty or fifty thousand? Their troubles weren’t even on the same level.

That was a good reason; it could also effectively reduce the feeling of being in love. It could be seen from this that work was the natural enemy of romance.

Wei Xiaolu took Shen Siyan’s ID, booked the tickets, and then turned back to her work.

That day, Shen Siyan was tied up by work and stayed at the company for an extra hour. When the two of them were heading out, more than half the department was still there. The recent handover after the department merger still hadn’t been completed, so everyone’s workload was generally very heavy.

Before leaving, Shen Siyan told everyone that they would set aside time next week for some integration activities to promote communication between the two departments. Everyone cheered in agreement, and Wei Xiaolu thought it sounded great too. “Activities” sounded like fun.

She guessed it might be something like a year-end party performance, or maybe a team-building game, and before she knew it, they had reached the company entrance.

Wei Xiaolu followed Shen Siyan toward the parking lot.

Neither of them noticed the silver Ferrari parked beside them. The car’s owner, clearly displeased at failing to attract attention, rolled down the window and gave a sharp whistle. “I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

Wei Xiaolu turned around and saw Qi Lang’s carefree, unrestrained posture, paired with a face full of extreme impatience.

“Hey, pretty girl, we meet again.” Qi Lang greeted her.

Wei Xiaolu politely nodded.

“What are you doing here? Didn’t I say to just pretend I never asked you for help?” Shen Siyan folded her arms, her tone openly rejecting. “I’m handling the investigation myself. I already arranged to go to Qiding headquarters this weekend.”

“Hey, have a little conscience, will you? Are you really going to separate things that cleanly?” Qi Lang said. “Fine, if you don’t need my help, then now it’s just me who needs your help one-sidedly.”

“Not helping.” Shen Siyan’s refusal was final.

“Hey!” Qi Lang turned to Wei Xiaolu. “Shen Siyan is way too heartless. I’ve helped her so many times before, and asking her to help me just once—”

“Qi Lang, if you have nothing else to do, you can go now.” Shen Siyan tossed out the line and turned to leave.

“Don’t!” Qi Lang rushed out of the car and caught up with her. “Please, please, please; if my dad finds out we’re faking this, I’m done for. He won’t give me a single company. At least wait until he lets me take charge of the business before we break it off. It’ll be soon, really soon. I’m only asking you to help me this one more time...”

Shen Siyan took two steps, then stopped.

Qi Lang’s pleading still poured out nonstop, and anyone listening would feel as if this favor simply had to be granted.

Shen Siyan seemed to have softened somewhat as well. After a moment, she turned back.

But she didn’t look at Qi Lang.

She looked at Wei Xiaolu instead.

Then she asked, “What do you think? Should I go?”