The CEO Falls for the Slacker

Chapter 7

Shen Yan looked at the messages in the group chat and imagined the scenario—she had to admit, it did sound like it would be a thrill. But she decided against it.

In the chat, Shen Yan replied:

“No, no, no—what if it pisses him off and he comes to kill me?”

Seeing her message, Feng Shanshan responded in the group:

“True enough. If it ends up in the news, we’ll be tagged as an ‘emotional dispute’—such bad luck.”

Sun Jones then added:

“Even if it’s not just to provoke Zhong Cheng, I’m coming anyway. I’m packing right now and buying my ticket as we speak.”

Sitting at her desk, Shen Yan couldn’t help but smile as she typed:

“Alright, alright—I’ll send the address to the group a bit later, but don’t come too early. I normally clock out at 5.”

Feng Shanshan noticed the word “normally” and asked:

“Normally?”

Shen Yan explained:

“Yeah… Yesterday, on my first day at work, I ended up working overtime until 8.”

She continued:

“And then I even had a late-night snack in the cafeteria. I’m doomed—I’m definitely going to get overworked and fat before long.”

Sun Jones replied:

“Yan Yan, I get you, but since you worked past eight, skipping the free cafeteria snack would feel like a real loss.”

He then asked:

“Wait, the Lu Group cafeteria is free, right?”

Shen Yan confirmed:

“Yeah, the late-night snack is provided free of charge.”

Feng Shanshan quipped:

“That’s the sneaky side of capitalists—like making the donkey both pull the mill and eat the grass.”

Sun Jones shot back:

“Better than just making it pull the mill without any treat.”

Feng Shanshan agreed:

“True enough.”

While Shen Yan was happily chatting, the landline on her desk suddenly rang, startling her. In her rush yesterday to set up her computer, she hadn’t even noticed there was a phone at her workstation. Glancing at the display, she saw the incoming number was “8899.” Standing up, she scanned the nearby phones and realized that the one ringing along with hers belonged to Zhou Xing. But since Zhou Xing wasn’t around, she had no choice but to answer.

“Bring in last month’s summary and this month’s plan that we’ll need for tomorrow’s meeting,” said a cool, gentle voice on the line.

Before Shen Yan could even manage an “Huh?”, the caller hung up, leaving only the dial tone “beep-beep—” behind.

Deep down, Shen Yan already guessed who it was. After all, she worked in the president’s office, shared the same landline number as Zhou Xing, and in a situation like this, only Lu Yu—the president of Lu Group—would use the phrase “bring in.”

Still, as a newcomer on her second day, she decided to double-check the contact list that Zhou Xing had sent her yesterday. She searched for the extension “8899” and, sure enough, it belonged to Lu Yu’s desk phone. What surprised her was that Lu Yu wasn’t listed first; above him were the board members. This realization gave her a hint about the company’s hierarchy.

Following the contact list further, she quickly located Zhou Xing’s phone number. She hesitated for a moment—she felt she should call him right away, yet as someone with social anxiety, she dreaded making phone calls. After much inner struggle, she decided to try sending him a WeChat message first. If he replied within five minutes, she wouldn’t need to call.

After carefully editing her message and hitting “send,” she started a timer and began counting down. Every second of those five minutes, she silently prayed for a reply from Zhou Xing. But time seemed to speed by, and when the countdown ended, no miracle had occurred—Zhou Xing hadn’t responded.

With no other option, she resorted to using her landline to call his mobile.

“Assistant Zhou, if you’re asleep and get woken up, don’t blame me—blame President Lu,” Shen Yan muttered as she dialed.

Even though her WeChat message hadn’t been answered, his mobile picked up rather quickly.

“Hello?” came Zhou Xing’s voice—clearly sounding as if he’d just been roused from sleep and still a bit groggy. “Why is my landline calling me by itself…?”

On the line, Shen Yan thought, He doesn’t seem fully awake.

Clearing her throat, she said, “Assistant Zhou, it’s me, Shen Yan.”

“Ah, right—your landline number is the same as mine,” Zhou Xing finally seemed to get his bearings, his voice returning to normal. “What’s up, Xiao Shen?”

Shen Yan repeated Lu Yu’s instructions:

“President Lu said to have you bring in last month’s summary and this month’s plan for tomorrow’s meeting.”

Eager to be helpful (and perhaps showing off a bit of her Chinese studies), she even added the appropriate object to the sentence. Zhou Xing then complained, “I spent all yesterday afternoon and evening working on materials for the district government—there’s no time to prepare any summary or plan.”

At a loss for words, Shen Yan didn’t know how to respond. Fortunately, Zhou Xing didn’t expect an answer; he continued, “I haven’t finished writing it yet. Just tell him (President Lu) to expect it a bit later.”

Taking in his instructions, Shen Yan hung up.

A second problem immediately arose: to fulfill Zhou Xing’s directive, should she call President Lu again or just go directly to his office? The moment the thought occurred, she dismissed it. She decided she’d better make the call.

So, after taking a couple of deep breaths to muster her courage, she dialed “8899” once more.

“Beep—beep—” The sound of her pounding heart mixed with the ringtone as she silently prayed, “Please, don’t pick up… don’t pick up…”

Before she could finish her silent prayer, the line was answered: “Hello—?”

“President Lu, Assistant Zhou said he’ll be late,” Shen Yan swallowed hard and quickly relayed Zhou Xing’s words. She longed to just hang up like Lu Yu might have, but being just an employee, she didn’t have the nerve to abruptly end a call with her boss.

On the other end, President Lu replied with a flat “Oh” before hanging up. Only then did Shen Yan exhale in relief and place the handset back on the phone.

After just two quick relay calls, her heart was still pounding wildly. She realized then that she was simply not cut out for this job. With her nerves making even simple conversations with strangers a challenge, she doubted she could handle much at all.

Before her heart could settle, Zhou Xing’s call came in again. Shen Yan hesitated for a few seconds—waiting three, to be exact—and seeing that Zhou Xing hadn’t hung up, she had no choice but to answer.

“Xiao Shen, have you arrived at the office?” Zhou Xing asked.

Prompted by his question, Shen Yan suddenly remembered that yesterday Zhou Xing had hinted she could come in at 11. Yet here she was, arriving so early—would he think she was overly enthusiastic about work? But since she had called him from the landline and his callback was also from the landline, she couldn’t claim otherwise.

“Yeah, I didn’t notice your message last night,” she explained, hoping he wouldn’t misunderstand. But Zhou Xing didn’t seem to take in her explanation; in his mind, he was already awarding her extra points. He thought this newcomer was really something—diligent, hardworking, having worked overtime yesterday and still arriving on time today. Moreover, the materials Shen Yan had compiled the previous night were concise, logically clear, and used refined yet precise language—worthy of someone who could score 80 on an essay exam.

Deciding to test her a bit further, he said, “Xiao Shen, I’ll email you the last month’s summaries and this month’s plans from each department shortly, along with the materials from previous meetings. I need you to compile a summary and plan report by the time you leave today.”

At last, Shen Yan’s moment of “Ah?” found its purpose as she tried to paraphrase his words:

“You want me to put together the entire company’s April summary and May plan before I clock out today?”

Zhou Xing reassured her, “Don’t panic—I’ve already set up the framework and will send it over shortly. Just consolidate the content from the various departments and what I’ve written, just like you did yesterday.”

Once again, Shen Yan felt like a lowly soldier or even like Tang Seng—doubting if she could really pull this off.

“…I’ll try my best,” she murmured.

Zhou Xing acted quickly. Not long after hanging up, Shen Yan’s email inbox received the materials he’d sent. But when she looked through the content, she was struck by a rush of thoughts: “Am I even supposed to see this? Is this really meant for someone like me? If I read it and then try to quit, will they come after me?”

She suddenly thought that Zhou Xing wasn’t all that competent—he had casually forwarded Lu Group’s confidential materials to a newcomer who had only been on the job for two days, with not the slightest bit of caution. What if she ended up leaking them?

For example, in the Marketing Department’s April summary, there were details about expenses for hiring a celebrity spokesperson, along with the overall increase in market share resulting from the endorsement—even though it was just an aggregate figure without naming the celebrity. Aside from the obvious confidentiality issues, she could understand why Zhou Xing dared assign her this task: he had already prepared the entire report’s structure, complete with main and subheadings. All she needed to do was slot in each department’s summary under the appropriate subheading and, at most, polish up the language.

As Shen Yan read through the various departments’ plans and summaries, she also mentally mapped out where each piece should fit within Zhou Xing’s overall framework. By the time she finished, she had a rough outline in her head.

Just as she was about to start “integrating” the materials, Zhou Xing pushed open the office door.

“Good morning, Xiao Shen, Teacher Cheng,” he greeted as soon as he entered.

Shen Yan looked up and managed a small smile before returning to her work. Her smile was rather forced—after all, who could truly smile when someone is expected to write two reports in just two days? (Though, to be fair, those two reports were a joint effort.)

At lunch, Shen Yan asked Zhou Xing, “Assistant Zhou, if I hand in the summary and plan before I clock out today, you won’t have to work overtime tonight, right?”

He thought for a moment before replying, “Hmm, there’s not much going on today.”

Shen Yan exhaled in relief—at least she could relax. She’d been worried that if her roommates all showed up that evening and she ended up having to work overtime, she’d be in real trouble.

Noticing her relief, Zhou Xing curiously asked, “Do you have plans tonight?”

Shen Yan nodded, “Yeah, my roommate is coming over to hang out.”

Hearing that, Zhou Xing didn’t press further.

During the lunch break, when Shen Yan opened WeChat, Chai Ya finally woke up and shouted in the group chat that she was coming too. That reminded Shen Yan that earlier—when her “slacking off” time was interrupted by the call from “8899”—she still hadn’t sent her home address to the group.

After posting her location in the chat, she asked:

“I’m definitely not working overtime tonight—so what should we have for dinner?”

Chai Ya replied:

“Hot pot? Barbecue?”

Feng Shanshan asked:

“Which restaurant?”

Shen Yan suggested:

“How about coming over to my place? (Though we don’t have a hot pot pot.)”

Feng Shanshan got excited:

“Great! Then I should come by earlier this afternoon. Ah Ya, Si Si, let’s hit the supermarket for some groceries!”

Chai Ya added:

“All right—we have a brand new dual-compartment hot pot at home that hasn’t even been used yet; I’ll bring it over.”

Sun Jones chimed in:

“Alright!! I’m already at the high-speed rail station; I’ll be in S City in two hours. Ah Ya, can you pick me up?”

Shen Yan was stunned—Sun Jones was truly the type to set off on a whim with impressive execution.