They had unconsciously stopped walking, but Lin Chu"s mind was still wandering.
"Aren"t you going to open the door?" Yan Beicheng"s husky and melodious voice echoed above her head.
Lin Chu blinked and raised her head quickly. Coincidentally, her gaze met Yan Beicheng"s dark eyes that were lowered. She looked on as his face seemingly stretched into a smile. "Don"t you want to open the door and go inside?"
"Huh? Oh!" Lin Chu reacted and hurriedly rummaged for the key in her coat pocket.
As Yan Beicheng was holding her right hand, Lin Chu could not open the door because she was not used to using her left hand. She was also nervous.
"You should let go first. It"s difficult to unlock the door with my left hand," said Lin Chu as she pulled her hand away.
Yan Beicheng obediently released her. However, he went around her and moved toward her left side at the same time, and held her left hand.
Lin Chu, "..."
Fortunately, it was slightly easier for her once she could use her right hand. Although the door was unlocked, Yan Beicheng still refused to loosen his grip around her. It looked like he wanted to follow her into her home.
Lin Chu dropped the subject. Frankly, there was no need to hide Yan Beicheng"s existence from everyone else if she had decided to be with him. She also had an excellent relations.h.i.+p with Xu Moyan and she trusted her very much. Even if she chose to hide this from other people, she would never hide it from Xu Moyan.
Once both of them were in the elevator, Yan Beicheng lowered his head and looked at Lin Chu without blinking at all. Lin Chu"s felt uncomfortable under his gaze. She desperately wanted to look for a crevice and bury herself inside it. Yan Beicheng"s gentle gaze felt as though it was drilling flaming holes into her face.
Lin Chu"s face was burning painfully. She was too afraid to lift her head and look at him. He was still holding her hand. Lin Chu summoned up her courage and briefly pinched his finger. "Please stop looking at me!"
Yan Beicheng refused to withdraw his gaze. Worse still, he took a step forward. The toe caps of their shoes were almost touching now. His long arm instantly pulled her into an embrace before he lowered his head and aimed his lips directly against hers.
Lin Chu felt dazed after he kissed her. What would happen if someone entered the elevator suddenly?
He held her tightly. Before she knew it, he had pushed her against the elevator wall. She could not think of anything else because she felt as though she was on fire when he kissed her.
Yan Beicheng released her slowly. His scorching breath scattered across her face when he lowered his head. When he saw the dumbfounded look on her face, he felt particularly attracted to her because of her meek demeanor. He could not stop himself from lowering his head and pecking her lips, the corners of her mouth, and the tip of her nose.
Lin Chu was so anxious that she froze on the spot. She felt as though his breath had seeped into all of her cells in every part of her body.
In the end, she could not even figure out how the man pulled her out of the elevator. Once she realized this, both of them were already standing at the entrance to her home.
Lin Chu"s face was burning intensely. Her cheeks were flushed and her lips were swollen, but she was completely unaware of that. She planned to wait outside and calm down before she went inside. However, she watched as Yan Beicheng lifted his hand and pressed the doorbell.
Lin Chu, "..."
Lin Chu remembered that Xu Moyan"s room door was closed because she was watching videos on YY. She wondered if the other woman had heard the doorbell. She was just about to take out her key and open the door before she heard several thumping noises inside the house as someone ran over.
The door opened immediately.
She merely heard Xu Moyan say, "Didn"t you bring your key…"
Her words trailed off suddenly.
There was a stunned look on Xu Moyan"s face when she saw Yan Beicheng standing at the entrance before her gaze slid toward his hand that was holding Lin Chu"s.
Several moments later, Xu Moyan blankly said, "Lin Chu, have you found a new lover?"
Lin Chu, "..."
"..." Yan Beicheng felt upset because he wanted to be Lin Chu"s first love. "h.e.l.lo, I"m Lin Chu"s boyfriend, Yan Beicheng."
"Yan Beicheng? As in Master Yan, that Yan Beicheng?" asked Xu Moyan in a surprised manner. Everything suddenly dawned on Xu Moyan when she recalled the things that Lin Chu mentioned previously. She wondered why she had never thought of this. She never imagined that Lin Chu would come around to this so quickly.
Xu Moyan grabbed Yan Beicheng"s hands abruptly. "Master Yan, I didn"t mean to intentionally refer to you by your full name earlier. I wasn"t trying to disrespect you!"
Yan Beicheng, "..."
Lin Chu, "..."
Xu Moyan was an intelligent person when it came to work matters, but she was so different when she was outside the office.
Xu Moyan let go of Yan Beicheng"s hand and gave him some s.p.a.ce. "Master Yan, please come in and have a seat!"
Yan Beicheng noticed that Lin Chu was embarra.s.sed. He said, "It"s late. I"ll come back another day."
Lin Chu turned to Xu Moyan and said, "He had a few drinks tonight so we should let him go home earlier."
Xu Moyan had always been an extremely courteous person. She felt stressed when she encountered an esteemed person like Yan Beicheng who resembled a G.o.d among men.
Yan Beicheng faintly smiled and glanced at Lin Chu. He only left after he said goodbye to her.
Xu Moyan did not anxiously rush back to log on to YY after she closed the door. She pulled Lin Chu over and winked, saying, "You"ve certainly made a lot of progress in a short while. When I heard you talking to him just now, you seemed like his wife. You were so concerned about him too."
"Don"t you need to return to YY?" asked Lin Chu.
Xu Moyan waved her hand. "My idol merely appeared and said a few words before he left. It doesn"t matter whether I listen to the things after that or not. Hurry up and tell me the truth. Don"t even think about sleeping tonight if you leave any details out."
The conversation went on for a long time as she started explaining everything.
Since it was time for her to say these things, Lin Chu thought that she should tell Xu Moyan the whole story without sparing any details. This would prevent Xu Moyan from asking again later.
Yan Beicheng returned to his car. Shao Huai came back and waited for him a little while after he left with Lin Chu. They were currently on the way back to Ding City.
Yan Beicheng unconsciously stroked his lips with his hand. He could not help but smiled.
He took his cell phone out after a short while. He unlocked his phone and tapped on the WeChat app on the screen. Initially, he wanted to send a message to Lin Chu, but he ended up noticing that the "8x8 is 64" group chat was unusually lively.
When he opened the group chat to take a look, he discovered that Wei Zilin had sent an image. The picture was taken when he kissed Lin Chu earlier in the afternoon at the entrance of Sheng Yue. The photo was not taken at a good angle. Lin Chu"s facial features could not be seen as her back was facing the lens. It only showed that he was holding her. Her long hair and long white coat made her look exceptionally graceful and refined.
On the contrary, his face could be seen clearly. He was directly facing the lens when he lowered his head and kissed Lin Chu.
Below the image, he saw that Wei Ziqi texted, "Oh, apparently he"s fallen in love."
Han Zhuoli texted, "I can"t believe that Yan Beicheng found himself a wife!"
Chu Zhaoyang secretly observed a moment of silence for Han Zhuoli.
Wei Ziqian texted, "I"m going to spam this on my Moments 1 !"
Yan Beicheng stopped reading after he saw this message. He went to the Moments page immediately. He saw that there were other people besides Wei Ziqian who had shared that photo. They even wrote the same caption that commented, "Yan Beicheng, is she your wife?"
Yan Beicheng firmly replied to everyone"s message, saying, "It"s none of your business if she"s my wife!"
After that, he added a cool emoji of a smiley face wearing sungla.s.ses. He had never felt so proud of himself.
He finally realized how Qi Chengzhi and Qi Chenglin felt when they made public displays of affection in the past. It was certainly an addictive feeling.
In the Yan Family Mansion, Old Lady Yan had just got off the phone with Old Lady Han now. She opened WeChat immediately and saw the photo that Old Lady Han sent to her. It was the picture that showed Yan Beicheng kissing Lin Chu.
Yan Beicheng and his crafty friends would never add the old ladies as their friends on WeChat. Han Zhuoli was the only careless one who was caught because he added Old Lady Han as his friend. However, it made no difference that he was friends with Old Lady Han because Han Zhuoli would simply block her from seeing some of the things that he normally posted. There was a period when she a.s.sumed that her grandson did not use WeChat. Later, she only realized that her grandson was very cunning after Old Lady Yan explained everything to her.
Unfortunately, Han Zhuoli forgot about it this time. Once Old Lady Han saw everything, she made a phone call and contacted Old Lady Yan at once.
Old Lady Yan put on her reading gla.s.ses and called Old Master Yan over. "Hurry up and look at this. Our grandson has a girlfriend already."
Old Master Yan was taking care of the plants in front of the French windows in the hall earlier. He hurriedly ran over when he heard this. "Let me see."
Old Lady Yan pa.s.sed her cell phone to Old Master Yan. His face looked disappointed for some time. "I don"t know what she looks like because I can"t see her face."
A thought crossed Old Lady Yan"s mind. A troubled look appeared on her face as she looked at the photo on her phone. "Do you think that our grandson is attracted to young models and minor celebrities like the other wealthy youths now? Is this girl from a decent family?"
"You sound like an old woman who spouts nonsense all the time!" Old Master Yan pouted his lips and sneered. "Is our grandson such an unreasonable person? You"ve watched him grow up ever since he was a little boy. Shouldn"t you be well aware of his character and morals?"
"You"re right." Old Lady Yan nodded. However, she was still worried. "Can"t I worry about him? Our grandson has led a pitiful life since his childhood. His father pa.s.sed away while he was young while his mother…"
"Don"t bring that woman up, it"s annoying." Old Master Yan was in a rather good mood earlier, but it deteriorated instantly. "Who are you calling his mother? She"s not fit to be a mother! She has no right to be Beicheng"s mother so you shouldn"t refer to her as that next time. Aren"t you insulting Beicheng by doing that?"
"I know, I know. It was just a slip of the tongue." Old Lady Yan intentionally patted her mouth. "I"m still worried about our grandson. Should I call him and ask him about it?"
Old Master Yan waved his hand. "It"s fine, we shouldn"t burden our grandson. Since they never planned to share this news with the old people like us, we should just pretend that we"re unaware. Our grandson had always known how to do the right thing. He"ll bring her to visit us in our home when he wants us to know about her."
"Is it wrong for me to be troubled by this? I"ll lie awake thinking about it if I don"t ask him about this clearly," said Old Lady Yan. However, she was not planning to call Yan Beicheng anymore.
Old Master Yan took the watering can and returned to the French window to continue watering the plants there. He added, "What"s the matter with you? You were worried when he was single, but you"re still worried even though he"s already found himself a girlfriend. Can"t you just be happy for him?"
Old Lady Yan angrily removed her reading gla.s.ses and threw them aside. "I"m done talking to you. I"m going to bed!"
Old Master Yan looked at Old Lady Yan"s figure from the back as she left furiously. He muttered, "Didn"t you say that you couldn"t sleep earlier?"
Old Lady Yan turned around when she heard this. She huffed, "You"re so irritating!"
The next day, Lin Chu simply slept in because she spent the entire night chatting with Xu Moyan. She was woken up by a phone call.
The phone number that was displayed on the screen of her cell phone indicated that it came from a landline, but she did not recognize it.
Lin Chu picked up. She sounded slightly confused when she answered, "h.e.l.lo?" However, her entire body was filled with energy and she sat up suddenly when the person on the other line spoke.
"Are you serious? Have I really been hired by Lin Yi?" asked Lin Chu in a shocked voice while she pinched her cheek.
"Yes, is it convenient for you to start work at the office tomorrow? We"re very short-handed now," said the other party.
"Yes, it"s convenient for me!" Lin Chu hurriedly said. She finalized everything with the person on the other line who was from the human resources department. She listened as the other woman concisely explained the issues regarding wages. Their conversation ended after that.
Lin Chu happily rolled around on her bed. Her first reaction after that was to inform Yan Beicheng about this matter.
She found Yan Beicheng"s phone number in her contacts, but she was too embarra.s.sed to call him. She recalled that she had never taken the initiative to call Yan Beicheng before.
Although they did not say it openly, she knew that both of them were definitely in a relations.h.i.+p with each other now. She felt very anxious because this was her first time calling him spontaneously.
She took several deep breaths. At the end of the day, she felt that she had to naturally make progress with Yan Beicheng. She could not panic just because she had to make a phone call. She shut her eyes and forced herself to press the call b.u.t.ton. However, she never expected that the voice recording which indicated that the other party had switched off his phone would echo from her phone instead.
Lin Chu was immediately dumbfounded. She felt as though she had painstakingly pumped air into a balloon and nearly filled it up, only to have the air leak from it suddenly. She was slightly disappointed.
She opened WeChat again. She wondered whether she should send a message to Yan Beicheng or not. However, she ended up seeing that Yan Beicheng had changed his WeChat profile picture. He was actually using the two inch-sized photo on her identification papers instead!
Lin Chu, "..."
She silently closed the WeChat application. She decided that she would not send him a message anymore. She did not ask Zuo Qiu why she could not contact Yan Beicheng either. Instead, she told Xu Moyan the good news about being hired by Lin Yi. After that, she went out and visited the supermarket. She planned to make a feast for dinner tonight to celebrate her successful employment at Lin Yi with Xu Moyan.
Her cell phone rang just as she entered the entrance to her home after returning from the supermarket.
Lin Chu placed the bags of groceries on the floor. She took her cell phone out from her pocket and looked at it. Yan Beicheng was calling her.
She looked at the time on her phone. It was 11:25 a.m. now. She remembered that she left her house at 9:50 a.m. earlier.
Lin Chu only answered the phone once her breathing had calmed down. Yan Beicheng"s magnetic and elegant voice drifted into her ears right after she picked up. "I was on the airplane when you called me earlier. I couldn"t answer because my phone was turned off."
The disappointment that Lin Chu felt just now completely disappeared in an instant when she heard this. Yan Beicheng explained, "I went to the office this morning and hastily decided to make a last-minute trip to Ning City. I"ll be back in a few days."
Yan Beicheng paused. His clear and melodious voice was tinged with delight. "Did you miss me?"
"..." Although it was not her original intention, Lin Chu did not deny it. When she discovered that she had been hired, the first person that she wanted to share this news with was Yan Beicheng. Perhaps she did miss him.
"Someone from Lin Yi informed me this morning that I can start work there tomorrow. I just wanted to tell you that." Lin Chu carried her groceries into the kitchen.
"I"ll return as soon as possible," said Yan Beicheng immediately.
"You should focus on your work. I just wanted to let you know. It"s not a big deal," said Lin Chu. She returned to her room once she had finished keeping the groceries.
"It"s a big deal because I can"t celebrate this with you at the first instance," said Yan Beicheng. His gentle voice sounded very sincere.
Those words instantly penetrated Lin Chu"s heart. She never knew that Yan Beicheng could say romantic things like this.
Later, once Xu Moyan had spent more time with Yan Beicheng, she said something to Lin Chu that perfectly summed this up. "Your Yan Beicheng is certainly a skillful boy who has earned a perfect score in saying sweet things!"
Lin Chu chatted with Yan Beicheng for some time before she ended the call as she was worried about disturbing his work.
In the end, Yan Beicheng still insisted that he would return as soon as possible.
The next day, Lin Chu reached Lin Yi bright and early. She reported for duty at the human resource department and started the procedures to be introduced to her new job. The staff from the human resource department who called her yesterday was a young woman named Zhou Xinman. She brought Lin Chu to the office of the public relations department.
Only then did Lin Chu realize that Lin Yi"s public relations department was divided into several smaller sections. Each section leader would guide several apprentices who were responsible for different cases.
"This is Section Leader Lu, Lu Lixin. We call him Brother Lu. He"ll be your mentor from now on," explained Zhou Xinman.
A forty-something, nearly fifty-year-old middle-aged man stood before Lin Chu. He wore gla.s.ses and carried himself with a refined air. He smiled at Lin Chu kindly. There was a woman next to him who appeared to be almost the same age as Lin Chu.
The young woman greeted her in a friendly manner. "h.e.l.lo, I"m Zheng Yuntong. I"m also an apprentice under the same mentor like you."
"Yuntong, please tell Lin Chu about the particular matters concerning your work. I"ll be taking my leave now," said Zhou Xinman, smiling.
"Alright, you should go and attend to your work," said Zheng Yuntong. She turned to Lin Chu and said, "Initially, our mentor had two apprentices under him, including me. However, the other resigned recently. The various section leaders are the ones who usually take charge of public relations matters. President Wei doesn"t normally attend to these matters personally. President Wei will only personally handle certain matters that are more important. However, President Wei will also occasionally accept cases when the section leaders are swamped with work. President Wei"s a.s.sistant Shen Zongyi is the only one who is directly under him. He doesn"t have any apprentices. Sometimes, he"ll choose a few of us from the sections to go over and a.s.sist him when he requires helpers. These are good opportunities for us. You"ll gain a lot of experience and learn many things if you a.s.sist President Wei on a case directly." Social networking function in WeChat. Like a timeline