The CEO Falls for the Slacker

Chapter 6

Shen Yan walked quickly, almost running. She glanced at the time; it was even less than the time she spent running in the morning.

This was the first time Shen Yan understood the power of adrenaline.

However, when she got home, the nightmare wasn’t over.

She opened her phone, intending to relax for a while, but saw a message from Yu Xinnian, who had just been added to her contact list.

Shen Yan threw her phone onto the sofa, grabbed the blanket, and closed her eyes, pretending she had fallen asleep. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to reply, she hadn’t even opened the message yet.

Perhaps it was the exhaustion from the day’s work and forced socializing that drained her energy. Originally, she just pretended to close her eyes to avoid replying to the message, but soon enough, she fell asleep for real.

When she woke up again, it was already 5 AM the next day.

Dazed, Shen Yan glanced at her phone.

!!!

She hadn’t taken a shower or washed her face!!

How could she fall asleep like this! And on the sofa!! She was so tired.

She thought maybe she was still half-asleep, so she checked the phone again. This time, she not only saw the time, but also the message from Yu Xinnian glaring back at her.

Shen Yan shot up from the sofa.

She sat there for a moment, thinking it was too late to reply at 5 AM, so she casually placed the phone back on the sofa, planning to go to her room to freshen up.

After finishing her shower, washing her face, brushing her teeth, and moisturizing, she tossed her clothes into the washing machine. When she checked the time, it was still not even 6 AM.

She yawned, climbed back into bed, and went back to sleep.

The next time Shen Yan woke up, it was from the alarm clock.

She opened her eyes wide and saw it was already 8:30.

Shen Yan was extremely annoyed. It must have been the overtime the night before that messed with her head. How could she forget about commuting in the morning?!

There was no time to waste. She hurriedly got ready and prepared to go for a run, hungry as she was.

However, today, since she was familiar with the route, she had some time to observe her surroundings.

She noticed a few breakfast food trucks parked about 100 meters from the Lu Group building.

These trucks sold sandwiches, coffee, hot dogs, and crepes—typical Western-style breakfast items.

Shen Yan had studied in S city for four years, but A University was in the suburban area. Unlike other students who went for internships in their third year, she hadn’t had that experience. This was the first time she felt like a high-level professional in a big city.

As the trucks stood in the middle of the office buildings, Shen Yan suddenly felt like she was part of a drama playing the role of a high-level office worker. Even her white T-shirt and wide-leg pants seemed relaxed in this moment.

She glanced at the time. It was 8:50, still plenty of time. She walked up to the trucks, deciding to see what was available.

Before she could even read the menu, she saw the person whose messages she had been ignoring all night.

Shen Yan: … Was she destined to never have breakfast today?

Fine, she would skip breakfast. She would stay hungry.

She hesitated but decided to turn and leave. Before she could fully turn, Yu Xinnian looked back and spotted her.

"Shen Yan, what a coincidence! You’re here for breakfast too?" Yu Xinnian greeted her with a smile, holding a sandwich in his hand.

Shen Yan had no choice but to greet him back. "Oh, what a coincidence. Let me see what’s here."

Yu Xinnian recommended, "The Giraffe Sandwich is really good, the black pepper beef one with their special sauce. It’s super tasty. Highly recommend."

Shen Yan was actually a little wary of people like Yu Xinnian, but when she heard "super tasty," she couldn’t help but swallow. She was indeed hungry.

Following his recommendation, she ordered the sandwich from the vendor, scanned the payment code, and sure enough, Yu Xinnian asked, "Why didn’t you reply to my WeChat last night?"

Shen Yan’s heart raced, and her acting skills kicked in as she pretended to be surprised. "WeChat? What WeChat?"

She wasn’t sure if her acting was too exaggerated, but to make it more convincing, she opened WeChat. Fortunately, she had never opened it since the night before to avoid his messages.

"Sorry, I was too tired after work yesterday and fell asleep before checking the messages. I woke up late this morning, so…" Shen Yan, feeling guilty, explained a bit too much.

Yu Xinnian smiled kindly. "No worries. You can check it now, it’s not too late."

Reluctantly, Shen Yan opened their conversation. Sure enough, the message was about a gathering of A University alumni.

She was about to reply when the vendor called her number, so she quickly grabbed her sandwich.

When she returned to see Yu Xinnian waiting, she had no choice but to speak up:

"Thanks for the invitation, but I think I’ll pass. I’m not very familiar with everyone."

Yu Xinnian, sensing her reluctance, couldn’t resist teasing her: "But we’ll be colleagues now, and we’re all from the same batch. It’s not a bad idea to get to know more people."

Shen Yan expected him to add, "We invited you out of courtesy, don’t be ungrateful."

Just as she was trying to come up with an excuse, Yu Xinnian smiled and said, "Alright, if you don’t want to go, that’s fine."

Shen Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As they arrived at the elevator, there were only a few people since it was almost time for work.

"I’m going to the 9th floor, you’re on the 19th floor, right?" Yu Xinnian, with a gentlemanly gesture, pressed the elevator button for her.

Shen Yan nodded, "Thanks."

Once inside the elevator, Yu Xinnian stopped talking. When he got off on the 9th floor, Shen Yan felt a little more at ease.

The elevator soon reached the 19th floor. Shen Yan stepped into the office and checked her phone—it was exactly 9 AM.

She silently congratulated herself: well done, right on time, perfectly in line with her work attitude.

She then looked around the office and noticed that only she and Teacher Cheng had arrived.

She smiled at Teacher Cheng, giving a casual greeting before heading to her desk.

Finally, she had time to open WeChat and properly check the messages.

Then…

[Forgot to tell you, our company has flexible working hours. If you worked late last night, you can arrive later tomorrow. I usually get in around 11.]

The message was from Zhou Xing, sent at 10:30 PM the night before.

Shen Yan: …

Why was she in such a rush to get to work?

Was it really true that she didn’t have a single moment to check WeChat from last night until this morning?

Could she still go home and sleep now?

She was furious.

But she couldn’t blame Zhou Xing; he had told her last night.

She could only blame WeChat, right? Why didn’t it push her the message on time?!!

No, it should be WeChat’s fault for pushing useless messages and not sending her the one she actually needed!!

Thinking this way, she also wanted to blame Yu Xinnian.

But he had invited her to a gathering out of kindness, so he wasn’t wrong…

Shen Yan sighed, resigned to the fact that today, she would have to give the company an extra two hours of her time.

"Ugh—" Shen Yan sighed deeply at her desk.

At least she had gone to bed early last night and wasn’t too tired now.

The advantage of having so few people in the office was that she had space to enjoy her breakfast in peace.

She got up, washed her cup, made herself a coffee with the coffee machine in the tea room, poured fresh milk from the fridge, and finally pulled out the sandwich she bought downstairs.

It was indeed quite delicious.

Yu Xinnian hadn’t been lying.

She leisurely finished her sandwich, drank her coffee, and glanced at the time—it wasn’t even 9:30 yet.

But since she had no work to do, her leaders and colleagues hadn’t arrived yet, and she was bored. She opened her dormitory group chat to see what they had been talking about.

Her dormitory had four people. One was Feng Shanshan, who had been in the same class since high school. They had a close relationship back then. They both got into A University, even the same major, class, and dormitory. This made Shen Yan look forward to university life despite her social anxiety.

Feng Shanshan had already secured a position in a state-owned enterprise in S city last fall and signed a tripartite agreement early, but since the company didn’t require early internships, she was now enjoying her time at home.

The other two roommates were Chai Ya, who was from S city but had been sent to a university in the capital for her graduate studies, and Sun Qiongsi, who had passed the provincial civil service exam and was still in the political review stage.

In short, all four of them, except for Shen Yan, were still playing around.

Seeing how happily they were chatting made Shen Yan even angrier. Not even a delicious sandwich could soothe her wounded heart.

These past few days, Shen Yan had been busy with moving and settling in. She hadn’t told her roommates yet that she had joined Lu Group.

She was worried they would get upset if they heard about it from others, so while she had the time, she decided to inform them in the group chat.

[Shen Yan: Did I tell you that my mom helped me get an offer from Lu Group? I’m interning there now.]

Feng Shanshan was the first to reply.

[Feng Shanshan: !!!!]

[Feng Shanshan: You didn’t!!!]

[Feng Shanshan: @Chai Ya, Chai Ya!!! Look!!!]

Chai Ya didn’t respond, but Sun Qiongsi popped up.

She tagged Chai Ya.

[Sun Qiongsi: Yan Yan, do you have an ID badge or something to prove you’re at Lu Group? Hurry up and get Chai Ya to send it to Yu Zhen.]

Yu Zhen was the overachiever from the Business School, the guy who didn’t get into Lu Group despite applying and took his frustration out on Chai Ya.

Feng Shanshan, noticing Chai Ya hadn’t replied, added: [Feng Shanshan: She probably stayed up playing games last night. She’ll have to find out the good news when she wakes up.]

[Sun Qiongsi: Speaking of which, forget about Yu Zhen, Yan Yan, you should show off in front of Zhong Cheng too.]

[Feng Shanshan: Speaking of Zhong Cheng, did that i***t get the Huaxin offer? He’s been licking Yang Ming’s boots for so long.]

Shen Yan didn’t really know much about Zhong Cheng’s current situation. After their breakup, she had deleted his WeChat.

[Sun Qiongsi: I’ll check his Moments. He’s been so eager to join Huaxin, if he really got in, he’ll definitely post about it.]

Before Sun Qiongsi could click to check Zhong Cheng’s Moments, Shen Yan sent another bombshell message.

[Shen Yan: My parents also bought a house near Lu Group for me. You guys should come visit when you have time.]

[Sun Qiongsi: !!!]

[Feng Shanshan: !!!]

[Feng Shanshan: Near Lu Group!? Isn’t that a place with six-figure housing prices!!!]

[Shen Yan: Yep, it’s pretty expensive, but I’ve told my mom. Once you start working, Shanshan, you should come live with me too.]

[Feng Shanshan: No, no, no.]

[Shen Yan: ?]

That was strange; it didn’t sound like Feng Shanshan at all.

Soon, Feng Shanshan sent another message.

[Feng Shanshan: Forget waiting for me to start working. I’ll come right now. I’ll pack up and come!!! Living in a mansion!!!]

Sun Qiongsi replied:

[Sun Qiongsi: I’ll come too!! I still have Zhong Cheng’s i***t WeChat!! I’ll post a "tag him" Moments first!!!]