When An Ruo woke up again, it was already seven in the morning. She scrambled out of bed and rushed to the bathroom to wash up, racing against the clock.
Butler Xu helped the man get dressed. Seeing An Ruo frantically tidying herself up, a faint smile curled on his thin lips, which happened to be caught by the girl who was already fuming.
She pouted in dissatisfaction. "What are you laughing at? Isn't this all your fault?"
How dare he smile—was this man deliberately messing with her?
The man raised an eyebrow lightly. "I'm in a good mood today. Can't I smile?"
An Ruo was stumped, left speechless by his retort.
It seemed his喜怒哀乐 (moods) had nothing to do with her, and she had no right to speak to him like that.
He really must be in a good mood today; otherwise, with that angry tone she'd just used, he would have blown up on any other day.
An Ruo didn't want breakfast. Seeing that she was about to be late, she was on the verge of tears. The man calmly fumbled for the fried egg on the plate and placed it in front of her.
"Eat in peace. I'll have Han Chong drive you."
An Ruo frowned miserably. "Do you know how far the company is from here? There's no way I'll make it in time!"
"Don't worry. No matter how far it is, you'll get to the company on time. Right, Han Chong?"
Han Chong, standing nearby, was startled by the question, then nodded. "Yes."
An Ruo wanted to say something, but the words died in her throat. She decided not to argue with him, wolfed down a few bites of breakfast, and got up to leave with Han Chong.
Before getting into the car, An Ruo mistakenly thought she'd definitely be late for the company and get chewed out by her supervisor. But she underestimated the speed of the sports car—it took only twenty minutes to reach the company.
The man sat upright in his wheelchair, gazing at the vast, boundless sea outside the window. He poured himself a cup of tea and had just taken a sip when someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Han Chong entered to report. "Young master, the young mistress has arrived safely at the company."
The man responded with a faint "mm," continuing to stare into the distance in contemplation.
"Young master, can you guess what company the young mistress works at?"
Shen Xiaoxing picked up a file from the desk, leaned lazily against the chair back, and flipped a page absentmindedly. "What company?"
"Lanzhen."
His hand, flipping through the file, paused slightly.
The man raised his calm, unruffled dark eyes, turned his wheelchair to face him, and asked, "Did you go in with her?"
"No. The young mistress had me stop at a traffic light. She was probably afraid of being seen by colleagues at the company."
Shen Xiaoxing's thin lips twitched slightly, and his handsome eyebrows lifted. "She sure knows how to pick a place—going to work at her own family's company."
"Then... should I inform Mr. Gu?"
Shen Xiaoxing's gaze fell back on the file in his hand as he continued reading. "No need. Let her be."
---
An Ruo was so busy at work every day that she didn't even have time to drink water, but she loved this kind of life—it made her feel incredibly fulfilled.
Aside from tackling work challenges, her biggest headache was Zhou Mingyue.
During the three-month internship, she had to work hard to prove herself to stay at Lanzhen. Amid all the things she needed to learn, she had to both give her all to her tasks and deal with Zhou Mingyue's various tricky demands.
For example, during a meeting when the supervisor was covering key points, Zhou Mingyue would suddenly call and demand she go buy coffee immediately.
And with her spoiled princess attitude, she wouldn't settle for any nearby coffee shop—she insisted on going several blocks away to get a latte just to take a photo.
After posting it to her social feed with satisfaction, she pushed the coffee in front of An Ruo.
"It's yours."
An Ruo frowned slightly. "You're not drinking it?"
Zhou Mingyue scrolled through her feed. "I'm on a diet lately. No way am I running on a treadmill for two hours just for a sip of coffee."
An Ruo: "..."
She went all that way to buy a coffee just to post a status?
Compared to An Qing's spoiled, entitled princess attitude, Zhou Mingyue was just overly dramatic. Aside from her sharp tongue that could rub people the wrong way, she was otherwise decent and not a bad person. At least when others badmouthed An Ruo, she'd jump in to defend her.
An Ruo walked into the break room and overheard a few colleagues talking.
"Did you see that? That new girl An Ruo is such a bootlicker. She does whatever Zhou Mingyue says, like a dog she's trained."
"Exactly. She's not here to work; she's here to be Zhou Mingyue's maid."
"Getting bossed around for that little bit of money—she has no standards. Is she that desperate for cash?"
"Wasting such a pretty face. Turns out she's just a pushover with no backbone."
An Ruo took a deep breath. She didn't want to bother with these comments and was about to leave when Zhou Mingyue's untimely voice rang out.
"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and finish what you're doing. You're coming out with me."
The people in the break room, hearing her loud voice, awkwardly filed out.
Zhou Mingyue saw their guilty looks and saw right through them. "What, all huddled in here gossiping about someone?"
No one in the planning department dared to mess with Zhou Mingyue. With her status as the Zhou family's daughter, no one could afford to offend her.
Zhou Mingyue was used to these petty tricks. She snorted coldly. "Let me tell you, An Ruo is under my protection. If you want to kick a dog, you have to look at its owner. Keep your mouths clean from now on. If I hear anything I shouldn't again, you won't last in the planning department."