The CEO Falls for the Slacker

Chapter 16

Feng Shanshan was so angry that her nose seemed to be crooked. Not only did the person not answer her question, but she was also asking Shen Yan such questions.

On the other side, Shen Yan was stunned by the question, forgetting to argue back for a moment.

It was still Feng Shanshan who helped her answer, “Ex-girlfriend, thank you.”

Thus, the conversation became quite bizarre. Feng Shanshan asked Yang Ming, Yang Ming didn’t respond to her, then asked Shen Yan, Shen Yan didn’t answer, and Feng Shanshan answered for her.

Only then did Yang Ming glance at Feng Shanshan, and with that, Feng Shanshan was on the verge of exploding again.

Yang Ming seemed to realize this and said to Feng Shanshan, “Sorry, I’ve never seen you before, but I have seen your friend accompanying Zhong Cheng to class. I thought they were still together.”

Feng Shanshan spoke in a tone that was less than polite, “They’ve broken up, long ago. Stop spreading rumors.”

Yang Ming apologized sincerely, “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

But Feng Shanshan wasn’t planning to let the topic slide, “Doesn’t the campus belle know the reason for their breakup?”

For a brief moment, Yang Ming’s expression turned awkward, but she quickly regained her smile and shook her head, “I didn’t even know they broke up. How could I know the reason?”

Feng Shanshan: ...

She was really about to be driven mad. She was caught in a flaw in her own words by Yang Ming, and her face was still red with anger.

Shen Yan, who had come to her senses, was now convinced by Yang Ming’s words. She had always thought that Zhong Cheng’s feelings for Yang Ming were probably one-sided. Although Zhong Cheng had mentioned that Yang Ming had agreed to help him get a connection to enter Huaxin, what did Yang Ming want from it?

Did she want him because he had a girlfriend? Or because he couldn’t afford a house in S City?

Even after their breakup, the only thing Shen Yan could think of as Zhong Cheng’s advantage was that he could help her reserve a seat at the library. Clearly, Yang Ming wouldn’t lack someone to help her with that.

Yang Ming helping Zhong Cheng enter Huaxin probably just stemmed from a classmate bond, and Zhong Cheng might have misunderstood.

She pulled on Feng Shanshan, signaling her to let it go.

Feng Shanshan was still struggling to calm down, but today was their alumni gathering, so in the end, she suppressed her anger and asked, “So, did he get into Huaxin?”

Yang Ming: “Yes.”

The tension in the room eased a lot, and just as everyone thought the smoke was clearing, a voice interrupted.

“So, what was the reason for the breakup?”

A gossiping voice asked.

Yu Xinnian and Yang Ming were from the same department, but not the same class. He had been thinking for a while, but still couldn’t remember who Zhong Cheng was or what he looked like.

Feng Shanshan: !!!

Shen Yan: ...

This person was a bit annoying, wasn’t he?

Feng Shanshan felt that this meal had completely shattered her image of Yu Xinnian. She had thought he was a good person, but it was all just the “****” (the bridge effect) during the tense interview, when there was only one familiar face and that person chatted with her to relieve the tension. The key point was that this person was her competitor, so it was normal for her to feel moved by his kindness.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and she snapped, “Shut up!”

Yu Xinnian seemed to realize his mistake and obediently stopped talking.

At this moment, a few other male students arrived. They were from the computer science department, all programmers, working on various projects in the Lu Group. Shen Yan didn’t know them at all.

Once everyone had arrived, the atmosphere gradually became lively. The private room had both hotpot and a grill, and they could sing karaoke as well. Everyone was eating to their heart’s content.

Shen Yan originally didn’t want to drink, but when she overheard the finance department’s Xing Ning and Qian Xiafeng gossiping excitedly, she joined in.

Xing Ning had only drunk one bottle of beer but was already feeling quite tipsy. She mysteriously beckoned the others to come closer and gossip, “Have you guys heard the gossip about Assistant Zhou?”

Shen Yan became curious, “No.”

“When you mentioned Assistant Zhou, I’ve been wanting to ask, but didn’t have a chance,” Xing Ning said excitedly. “Do you guys know why he’s still single?”

Shen Yan: “I didn’t even know he was single, let alone that he’s been single for a while.”

Qian Xiafeng speculated, “Could it be that everyone around him is too impressive?”

Shen Yan asked, “What do you mean?”

Qian Xiafeng explained, “You guys know that Assistant Zhou and President Lu were classmates, right?”

“I know, they also went to A University, from the business school,” Shen Yan said, ticking off the details on her fingers. “They’re four years ahead of us. They should’ve graduated the year we entered.”

Qian Xiafeng nodded, “Yes, yes. When you guys entered, didn’t you hear about their glorious achievements?”

Shen Yan and Feng Shanshan shook their heads together.

Shen Yan felt a little embarrassed, admitting that she knew of Lu Group because of Chai Ya, who was a business school genius.

Qian Xiafeng continued, “It’s said that the four of them, during their undergraduate years, started a company called Shenyu Technology. Didn’t you guys know? The founders of Shenyu Technology were four A University students. I remember it was quite well-known.”

Shen Yan and Feng Shanshan hadn’t known about it before, probably because their majors were different and they hadn’t paid attention.

Qian Xiafeng continued, “When they graduated, two of the roommates besides Assistant Zhou and President Lu, one was going home to inherit a hospital, and the other planned to rely on his family. President Lu’s family asked him to take over the Lu Group, so they discussed having the Lu Group acquire Shenyu Technology. That’s how Lu Group also rode the wave of the internet tech boom.”

Shen Yan, with her basic knowledge of corporate law, asked, “So, didn’t Assistant Zhou go from being a shareholder to just an employee?”

Qian Xiafeng: “We haven’t found out the exact details of the acquisition plan, but since he agreed to be President Lu’s assistant, he must not be treated badly.”

Shen Yan felt that Qian Xiafeng’s explanation made sense. She turned to Xing Ning and asked, “So why is he still single?”

Xing Ning winked at her, “I don’t know, you tell me.”

Shen Yan: ?

Xing Ning: “You’ve been in the CEO’s office for a week! You’re with Assistant Zhou every day! Haven’t you noticed anything?”

Shen Yan thought for a moment. Apart from the slightly strange way he had approached her on the first morning, everything else seemed normal.

Shen Yan speculated, “Could it be that he works so hard with a 996 schedule that he has no time for a relationship?”

She realized that, as a newbie in her first week, even she could tell that Assistant Vice President Fan didn’t have much respect for President Lu and his faction. Their conflicts must have been severe, and since Zhou Xing was President Lu’s trusted assistant, his situation in the Lu Group was probably not very good.

Xing Ning: “That could be true, but I heard he didn’t date anyone in college either.”

Feng Shanshan translated: “So, you mean, he’s still a ‘born single’?”

Xing Ning nodded.

Shen Yan was stunned and had a new appreciation for the gossip skills of her colleagues, “How do you guys know all this?!”

Xing Ning gave a mysterious smile, “There are no secrets in our company.”

Qian Xiafeng, seeing Shen Yan’s surprised face, explained, “Our manager seems to be quite familiar with Assistant Zhou. He joked with him, and we overheard it.”

Feng Shanshan organized the information she had gathered, “...But according to what you said, when Shenyu Technology was acquired, he should have made a lot of money. His current job might be tough, but the salary must be decent. He’s also good-looking, tall, and still single?”

Feng Shanshan’s question made everyone go silent.

“Could it be that... he and... President Lu?”

Sherlock Holmes once said that once all the possibilities are eliminated, the one remaining possibility, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

When Shen Yan said this, she immediately regretted it. Was she spreading rumors? Especially since Zhou Xing had been quite considerate toward her at work. “No, no, I’m just making things up.”

Qian Xiafeng slapped her thigh: “That’s more like it!”

Shen Yan was startled awake from the alcohol: “What’s more like it?”

Qian Xiafeng said, “Weren’t you just asking me why Assistant Zhou went from being a shareholder to an employee? What does he want?”

Shen Yan followed Qian Xiafeng’s reasoning: “...Love?”

Qian Xiafeng immediately high-fived her.

Shen Yan immediately regretted saying it, wishing she could cover her mouth. Why couldn't she control it?

Feng Shanshan rolled her eyes at them. Ever since she had heard from Yu Xinnian that Shen Yan always ate with Zhou Xing, she had been silently assessing the compatibility between them.

But instead of coming to a sensible conclusion, she jumped straight to thinking he might be gay.

Xing Ning: “By the way, I heard somewhere that when President Lu last rejected the little princess from Huaxin, he said he had a girlfriend.”

Shen Yan turned to look at Yang Ming, who was singing with Li Hefeng, and quietly asked, “The little princess from Huaxin? Is it Yang Ming?”

Xing Ning waved her hand, “You weren’t here at the time, you don’t know, she’s a real princess.”

Shen Yan was confused, but Feng Shanshan caught on first, “Yang Ming is a distant relative of Huaxin.”

Xing Ning: “Yes, at that time, the second daughter of Huaxin’s chairman was interning in the CEO’s office, specifically to get close to President Lu. She worked there for about two months before being rejected by him. She was said to have cried while leaving his office, and when colleagues asked, she was very angry and said no one told her that President Lu had a girlfriend.”

After hearing this from Xing Ning, Qian Xiafeng also remembered, “Old Shen, didn’t anyone tell you? Before you came, the CEO’s office had been filled with a lot of ‘connection interns’.”

Shen Yan felt a pang of guilt. She too was a connection intern, and she felt bad for Qian Xiafeng calling her “Old Shen.”

Qian Xiafeng continued, “Apparently, when those interns came to work, they were all eyeing President Lu.”

Xing Ning: “Yes, it seems the HR department couldn’t take it anymore and finally hired a proper intern this year.”

Shen Yan recalled her first day on the job, when Zhou Xing had specifically taken her to President Lu’s office. Could he have been trying to see if she had any interest in President Lu?

Couldn’t be, right?

She shifted the topic back again, “So, if President Lu isn’t single, why is Assistant Zhou still single?”

Qian Xiafeng could only continue the gossip: “Let’s just say, Assistant Zhou actually isn’t single.”

Xing Ning was also successfully convinced, “Old Shen, you see President Lu every day. Do you think he has a girlfriend?”

Shen Yan didn’t dare to spread any more rumors. She quickly steered the conversation back: “I’ll observe carefully from now on, and try to find out who President Lu’s girlfriend is.”

Shen Yan thought to herself that she was working hard to debunk rumors about Assistant Zhou.

Xing Ning: “That’s a good idea. It’s nice to have someone in the CEO’s office.”

Qian Xiafeng wholeheartedly agreed.

The four of them were chatting excitedly about company gossip, while others around them were enjoying singing, and they had even asked the waiter for dice to play a game.

“Old Shen, Old Xing, come drink with us!” Yu Xinnian shouted from the stage with a microphone.

Yang Ming noticed their group occupying a corner of the private room, quite a distance from them, and suggested, “Or should we all play Truth or Dare together?”

This was exactly why Shen Yan hadn’t wanted to attend the gathering in the first place—she was really scared of playing these games with people she didn’t know well.

Feng Shanshan naturally understood Shen Yan’s reluctance and spoke up, “We can’t play, we’ve had too much to drink.”

A guy shouted, “The more you drink, the more fun it is!”

Yang Ming didn’t believe Feng Shanshan at first, but when she walked in and saw that the four of them had a box of empty beer bottles beside their seats, she was surprised: “You four drank 18 bottles of beer?!”

As soon as she said this, Yu Xinnian rushed over with a microphone, counting the empty bottles around them: “...17, 18, and there are two more bottles on the table! People can’t be judged by their appearance?!”