Chapter 11
1392 Words
Fan Mingxu looked Shen Yan up and down carefully for a while. Shen Yan felt uneasy, and just as she was on the verge of getting angry, Fan Mingxu withdrew his gaze and let out a light laugh:
"Looks like you’ve changed your approach. I wonder if Xiao Yu likes this type."
Shen Yan was confused: "Huh?"
She went from being angry to speechless. What was he talking about?
Zhou Xing, who was standing nearby, understood the underlying meaning in Fan Mingxu's words. He subtly moved in front of Shen Yan, blocking her behind him: "Mr. Fan, Xiao Shen is a new graduate who joined this spring, from A University. She’s a junior of me and Mr. Lu."
The implication was that Shen Yan was a legitimate fresh graduate here for work, unlike the connections who had come in with ulterior motives.
Standing behind Zhou Xing, Shen Yan looked at his back and, for the first time, realized that Zhou Xing was quite tall—definitely over 180 cm. She hadn’t expected him to stand up for her and to be so direct with their superior. It was surprising to see this reliable side of him.
Fan Mingxu glanced at Zhou Xing, seeing the seriousness and even a hint of anger in his eyes. He laughed: "I see, it’s a misunderstanding. Well, I’ll leave you to it then."
After he left, Shen Yan asked Zhou Xing in confusion: "Xiao Yu?"
Zhou Xing pointed toward the office inside: "Mr. Lu."
Shen Yan was puzzled: "Aren’t we supposed to use titles in the company?"
Zhou Xing, hearing this, couldn’t help but give Shen Yan a mental thumbs-up. He totally agreed with her statement! He had long been dissatisfied with the older generation in the company who acted all senior, disrespecting Mr. Lu!
However, he felt that now wasn’t the right time to tell Shen Yan about the internal struggles among the company’s high-ups, fearing it would scare her into quitting.
"He’s Mr. Lu’s uncle, but they don’t get along too well. You’ll figure it out as you stay here longer," Zhou Xing explained to Shen Yan.
Shen Yan thought to herself that she didn’t care for all these office politics. She didn’t want to know about the internal gossip; she'd rather just do her job, get through the day, and, hopefully, avoid overtime. If she had to work extra hours, she hoped it wouldn’t be too much.
But, of course, she couldn’t say that out loud. She could only reply: "Oh."
"Thanks for standing up for me earlier," she added.
Afterward, she turned and walked off. She hadn’t had breakfast yet.
Zhou Xing stood there for a moment, thinking about Shen Yan’s thanks. He hadn’t done anything remarkable, just a small gesture. What was there to thank him for?
But then he wondered if his reaction made it seem like he hadn’t respected her gratitude. He agonized over how to respond to her "thank you," only to turn around and realize she was already gone.
Zhou Xing: …Oh well.
Just like yesterday, Shen Yan first went to the break room to make herself a coffee. She took fresh milk from the fridge and added it to her cup, then grabbed some ice cubes from the freezer. She made herself an iced latte, her breakfast consisting of the homemade iced latte and a sandwich.
Strangely, she had found ice cubes in the freezer yesterday too, and even used a few. Today, the ice tray was full again. Did the cleaning lady come by every day to refill it?
While eating breakfast, she opened her computer. As soon as she launched the internal communication software of Lu’s Group, she saw Zhou Xing had sent her over a dozen files in quick succession.
Shen Yan: ?
She looked up and, sure enough, saw Zhou Xing walking toward her.
Here came the work.
"Mr. Lu will be interviewed by a finance magazine next week, focusing on Shenyu Technology. What I’m sending you are materials we’ve written about Shenyu Technology before. Please review them, then write an interview script for Mr. Lu," Zhou Xing said as he stood in front of her desk.
Shen Yan: …Why did I ever think he was tall and reliable?
She knew she should take on the task or at least ask when the deadline was, but she couldn’t resist asking: "Shouldn’t the magazine reporters be the ones to write the interview script?"
Zhou Xing smiled at her question: "Do you have a favorite celebrity?"
Shen Yan shook her head: "Not particularly."
Zhou Xing was surprised there was still a young woman who didn’t follow celebrities: "Alright, let me explain. We need to control the initiative in the interview. If we let the reporter go wild, what if they intentionally make things difficult?"
Once he explained it that way, Shen Yan understood: "So the interview script should be in a question-and-answer format?"
Zhou Xing: "Yes, there will be around 10 questions. Mr. Lu’s answers should not exceed 500 words per question."
Shen Yan: "Got it."
Zhou Xing: "The reporter will pick a few questions from those 10 to ask. We also need to give them some options so they have some room to maneuver."
Shen Yan: "…When should it be done?"
Zhou Xing: "The interview will probably take place in the second half of next week. You can get it to me by the end of this week, no rush."
It was Wednesday, and she had three days. This workload was within the range Shen Yan could handle.
However, Shen Yan’s tasks were far from what she expected. What she understood by "the president’s office"—was dealing with administrative tasks for the company and the president, like distributing materials to various departments, printing documents, and handling personal matters like checking schedules or dealing with the president's emotional disputes…
But her actual tasks revolved around one thing—writing materials.
She didn’t mind writing materials, though. In fact, writing was far easier for her than dealing with people. Plus, after observing Jian Hong and Meng Gulan, it seemed their main job was also writing materials.
Lu’s Group, as the leading listed company in S City, had so many materials to write.
At least no one was asking her to come up with industry jargon or "create words."
Shen Yan shook off the random thoughts in her head and opened the materials Zhou Xing sent her to start studying.
By the afternoon, Zhou Xing came to find her again.
Shen Yan: …She thought there wouldn’t be any new tasks for the next few days! She was so naive.
Zhou Xing leaned against the cubicle, one hand on the partition: "The company’s monthly meeting is coming up. Do you want to listen in?"
Shen Yan heard him asking for her opinion. Could she refuse?
Zhou Xing continued, "Meng Jie is about to retire. She’s taking meeting minutes now. You should follow her and learn. When she retires, you’ll take over."
Shen Yan thought to herself, so that’s why she wasn’t given the chance to refuse.
She obediently grabbed a notebook and pen, following them to the meeting.
This task, though, did resemble what she thought of as a "secretary" role, which was within her responsibilities.
Following Meng Jie, who brought a laptop, Shen Yan looked at the paper notebook she was holding. Hadn’t she learned shorthand in her second or third year? But all that last-minute cramming before finals left her with only a vague memory.
She asked, "Meng Jie, do I need to bring a laptop?"
Meng Gulan replied, "Not this time, but when you take minutes in the future, you’ll need to download a recording app. Ideally, one that converts speech to text directly. I’ll send you the one I use. I bought it for 298 when I got it. I’m not sure if the price has gone up."
Shen Yan nodded.
Zhou Xing, who had overheard their conversation, asked Meng Gulan, "Meng Jie, didn’t you get reimbursed for this?"
Meng Gulan: "There’s such a reimbursement for this?"
Zhou Xing thought for a moment: "The 298? Maybe you can claim it under the meal expenses."
Meng Gulan: "Forget it, I’m about to retire. I don’t want to complicate things."
Zhou Xing: "Yeah, with so many eyes on us, better not risk submitting fake invoices."
- Writer
