Yan Beicheng was mulling something over in his mind. If he was unable to get her to live together in Ding City within these few days, should he find an opportunity to stay here for two days when Xu Moyan went outstation for work?
Of course, he could not talk about this right now. Lin Chu would not agree to it. He had to wait until Xu Moyan went away.
Yan Beicheng decided to leave after arriving at the thought. He gave Lin Chu a longing kiss and pressed his long fingers on her waist. "I"ll be going now. I"m really leaving."
Lin Chu did not manage to contain her laughter. "Hurry up and head home."
Lin Chu turned lazily on her bed and watched Yan Beicheng leave with narrowed eyes. Not long after, she heard the main door close.
After that Xu Moyan"s head popped out from behind the bedroom door. She was squeezing in through the door crack.
Lin Chu went red in the face. "You… You"re at home!"
Xu Moyan rolled her eyes. "Of course I am! I heard you two messing around when I went to the bathroom. It startled me so much that I wiped my a.s.s in the speed of light and hid in my bedroom."
Lin Chu quickly covered her head with the blanket and wrapped herself up like a coc.o.o.n.
Yan Beicheng was walking out of the elevator when he received a text from Zuo Qiu. "Master Yan, the mission is complete. I have sent you the recorded video via WeChat."
Yan Beicheng clicked into WeChat and watched the whole incident of Zuo Qiu cras.h.i.+ng into Cheng Ziming"s car. He was about to reply with a job well done when he opted to call him directly instead.
"Master Yan?" Zuo Qiu picked up the phone immediately. He was afraid that Yan Beicheng was not satisfied with his work.
"Well done. Can you contact Xu Moyan"s supervisor to arrange for her to go outstation…" Yan Beicheng instructed.
Lin Chu and Xu Moyan were unaware that Yan Beicheng was plotting for Xu Moyan to go outstation.
The next day was Monday. Lin Chu left for work and followed Zheng Yuntong and her mentor, Lu Lixin, to a meeting.
Wei Zilin sat at the front of the table and listened to the Public Relations department as they report the latest progress in their projects.
At the end of the meeting, he said casually, "I have a project on my hand that needs one of you apprentices to help me with."
Then, he pretended to take a good look at all the apprentices in the Public Relations department. Everyone was calm as they were aware of Wei Zilin"s habit of picking someone. There was no need to fight for a chance. If you fought for it this time, there would not be a chance for you the next time. There was no need to waste their time since everyone would have their opportunity sooner or later.
Shen Zongyi had already prepared a name list that they have discussed beforehand. Wei Zilin took a causal look at it and said, "Lin Chu is new with us, let"s get her to help this time."
Zheng Yuntong gave Lin Chu a secret congratulatory thumbs up from the side.
"Get yourself ready. You"re making a trip out with me this afternoon," said Wei Zilin.
Lin Chu agreed. After lunchtime was over, Lin Chu received a call from Shen Zongyi requesting for her to wait at the company"s lobby. Wei Zilin would be leaving in 5 minutes" time.
Lin Chu did not dare to delay him and quickly gathered her things before heading downstairs.
Not long after, she spotted Wei Zilin and Shen Zongyi coming towards her.
Wei Zilin gave her a slight nod. Lin Chu was not sure if Wei Zilin knew about her relations.h.i.+p with Yan Beicheng. She hoped he did not know anything about it. Otherwise, it would be very awkward if they saw him at work.
These sort of people always hung out in the same circles. Their habits seemed to be similar. They were cold towards those they did not know well and usually had intimidating personalities.
It was lucky that she was used to Yan Beicheng. Even if she did not now Wei Zilin well, she could still act normally in front of him.
Shen Zongyi sat at the pa.s.senger"s seat, so Lin Chu was forced to sit with Wei Zilin in the backseat.
Shen Zongyi pa.s.sed a doc.u.ment over to Lin Chu. "This is the project taken up by President Wei. Get to know it first."
Lin Chu took the doc.u.ment and opened it. The first words she saw was "Yan Hui.""We"re working with Yan Hui this time?"
"The matters involving the companies of the Eight Dominant Families, no matter big or small, are always handled by President Wei personally," Shen Zongyi explained.
Lin Chu was wondering if they were about to meet Yan Beicheng.
She consoled herself that it would not happen. This should be handled by a specific department in Yan Hui. However, Wei Zilin himself would be there. How could Yan Beicheng not welcome him if the man had went to the company in person?
She ended up worrying all the way there and did not manage to read much of the doc.u.ments upon arriving at Yan Hui. It was also because Lin Yi was really near to Yan Hui. Even with B City"s infuriating jam, it would take only 20 minutes to get there. Without a traffic jam, they could be there in less than 10 minutes.
She followed Wei Zilin into Yan Hui and the elevator. Her eyelids twitched when she saw Shen Zongyi pressed the b.u.t.ton for the 26th floor.
"President Wei, are we meeting the CEO of Yan Hui right away?" Lin Chu forced the question out of her mouth. She was not pretending to be stupid. They were definitely going to the 26th floor. if it was not to meet Yan Beicheng, what could it be? It would be too pretentious to fake not knowing what was going on.
Wei Zilin raised his eyebrow and looked at her with a faint smile on his lips. Lin Chu grew fl.u.s.tered under his gaze. Her intuition told her that Wei Zilin must have known something about her, but she did not know what kind of secret that was.
"Sister-in-law, there are no outsiders here, you can be direct with me," Wei Zilin said slowly.
Lin Chu did not know what to say.
Could these people give her some time to prepare for situations like this?!
"You… You know everything?" Lin Chu laughed drily.
"Beicheng is going to be jealous if you keep working here with me." Wei Zilin betrayed Yan Beicheng without hesitation.
"Even the 2-inch pictures you used on your resume when you came for the interview were all taken away by him."
Lin Chu was speechless
She finally knew how Yan Beicheng got the picture for his WeChat profile.
"That was why he gave me this project to work together. He didn"t say why, but I"m not stupid, am I? I"m bringing you here to meet him and then you"ll be in charge of this project. I won"t be following up on this. You can contact him directly for anything. Our companies are really near each other. It"s just a matter of a few steps to get here. You can bring the doc.u.ments over to visit whenever you"re free. That"d be nice." Wei Zilin said.
Lin Chu still did not know what to say.
"President Wei, you"re talking about this as if it"s a game of playing house."
"This is not a major project, so you don"t need to be nervous about it. Besides, if anything went wrong, Yan Beicheng would always be here. You can discuss anything between the two of you. He won"t let anything go wrong for you." Lin Chu read between the lines of Wei Zilin"s words. This job had really nothing much to offer her. She had got it so easily because Yan Beicheng wanted to use the excuse of work to see her. There was something about this that she could not pinpoint.
Wei Zilin watched the number on the elevator screen. They were now on the 23rd floor. He covered his mouth with his hands and coughed a few times.
She had a feeling that she had been tricked by him and Yan Beicheng. Lin Chu wanted to ignore him. He and Yan Beicheng were close, and he had referred to her as "sister-in-law". In that case, Lin Chu did not bother to stand on ceremony, it would be much too pretentious to continue being polite.
She had Yan Beicheng to back her up, so there was no need to be afraid if Wei Zilin got angry.
Wei Zilin kept pretending to cough when Lin Chu did not give him any reaction though. Lin Chu got worried about his voice and finally looked over at him.
Wei Zilin relaxed and said, "Sister-in-law, when you get out there, don"t let Yan Beicheng know that I called you my sister-in-law."
Lin Chu lifted an eyebrow. "Why?"
Wei Zilin did not know how to explain this. It was because when Qi Chengzhi and Qi Chenglin met their wives, they made everyone call them sister-in-law regardless of how old they were. After a while, an unwritten rule somehow etched itself in the circle of friends: whoever had found a wife, she would be known as their sister-in-law!
Yan Beicheng found his in a matter of seconds which caused anxiety in Han Zhuoli. Yan Beicheng has been showing off in their group chat for the past few days. Among all text was this: "Your sister-in-law made a great meal for me yesterday!"
And this: "I"ve just sent you sister-in-law off to work. Zilin, take good care of her!"
A few of them had wanted very much to throw up and if possible, throw him out of the group as well. Unfortunately, Qi Chenglin was the group admin. He had a wife and a son and was completely not jealous of Yan Beicheng"s antics. There was no way of kicking him out.
On the 26th floor, Wei Zilin brought Lin Chu and Shen Zongyi to the front of Yan Beicheng"s office. Zuo Qiu immediately stood up and called out respectfully, "Miss Lin, good afternoon!"
Wei Zilin was silent.
Did he not see him here as well?
"President Wei, Master Yan is waiting inside," Zuo Qiu finally called out to him.
Zuo Qiu was not bothered by Wei Zilin"s unhappiness. His boss was Yan Beicheng and getting on the good side of Mrs. CEO was the important thing.
He knocked twice and heard Yan Beicheng said, "Come in."
Zuo Qiu opened the door for Wei Zilin and the rest to go in.
Wei Zilin did not bother to cover up the reason he was here and said at once, "I"ve brought you who you wanted to see. I"ll be in charge of this project and Lin Chu will be a runner for this. She can come over anytime, and the two of you can discuss the rest."
"Sure," Yan Beicheng winked at Lin Chu as if Wei Zilin did not exist.
Wei Zilin and Shen Zongyi remained silent.
Lin Chu could not find any words in her.
She felt too embarra.s.sed to be standing here!
"Now that we"ve finished talking about work. Let"s talk about something personal." Yan Beicheng got up and pulled Lin Chu over to sit on the sofa together. He did not even bother to acknowledge the presence of Wei Zilin and Shen Zongyi.
Wei Zilin did not stand on ceremony with him either and sat himself down, getting Shen Zongyi to sit as well.
Lin Chu looked at him with an upset expression. Was this the end of their business meeting? She still did not know anything about the project.
Yan Beicheng then looked at Wei Zilin with a big smile and gave him the evil eye. "Have you called her "sister-in-law" yet?"
Wei Zilin pointed angrily at Yan Beicheng. "How could you burn bridges like this?!"
"I"m older than you are, so there"s nothing wrong for you to call Lin Chu your sister-in-law. You were so happy calling Song Yu your sister-in-law." Yan Beicheng gave him a look.
"How could I be wrong when you"re the one being so flamboyant here?" Wai Zilin replied without holding back.
Idiot, what nonsense was he talking about in front of his future wife?!
Yan Beicheng still had work to do. He had planned to cozy up to Lin Chu while she was here but Wei Zilin seemed to be ignoring his hints and refused to leave.
Wei Zilin took Lin Chu with him when Zuo Qiu came in to announce that the next person to meet him had arrived.
When it was time to go home, Lin Chu walked towards the train stations as usual when she left the building. Her phone rang right then.
The call was from Yan Beicheng.
Lin Chu picked up the call curiously and heard Yan Beicheng go "tsk""Where are you walking to? Can"t you look to the side of the road?"
Lin Chu stopped in her tracks and looked around. There as no one at the roadside. She thought about the route from Yan Hui to here. There was nowhere for her to pay much attention to, so she turned her attention towards the opposite side of the road. There was a Grand Cherokee parked there.
When she came to Lin Yi for work last week, Yan Beicheng was outstation. When he returned, it was already Sat.u.r.day, so she did not expect Yan Beicheng to pick her up.
However, she made no attempt to hide her relations.h.i.+p with Yan Beicheng. They were officially boyfriend and girlfriend, and there was no reason to feel guilty about it.
Which was why although there were many people at her company"s door, she still crossed the road to him with her head held high. She turned back into a coward when she got into a car though and gave a breath of relief.
Yan Beicheng laughed as he looked at her. "I"m just here to pick you up. You don"t need to look so scared."
Lin Chu looked at his handsome face. A small smile hung from his lips, and he looked as charismatic as ever. To be loved by a man that excelled in life such as him made Lin Chu blush, she felt a sense of content and was even a little proud.
"Well, I am. It"s the first time someone is picking me up from work," Lin Chu said as she felt her ears burn.
Yan Beicheng reached over with his long, good-looking hands and held on to the hand she had placed casually on her leg. His slightly rough thumb was rubbing the white, soft skin on the back of her hand. Stars seemed to be sparkling in his laughing eyes. They looked so gentle. "From now on, I"ll be picking you up from work every day. If I need to entertain any clients after work or am outstation, I"ll get Shao Huai to come. Same goes to every morning."
"You don"t need to pick me up in the morning. It"s too early. You"d need to wake up really early to travel from your place to mine and then to the company. You should sleep longer." Lin Chu was not one who needed to be pampered so much. She was not the kind of person to trouble her boyfriend just to make herself feel loved and to make him prove that he had her in his heart.
Yan Beicheng laughed for no reason, and he felt really good about it.
Lin Chu did not hold back and poked him gently on the ribs with her index finger. "I"m worried about you. What are you laughing about?"
Yan Beicheng"s gaze turned even gentler. He was not in a hurry to drive his car off, so he gave her hand a tight squeeze. "I felt that the way you are talking to me is like a wife being worried about her husband. It sounded like a little thing that happens in our boring daily life. It"s nothing major but it really warms his heart."
"You"re overthinking this!" Lin Chu blushed and exclaimed.
He did not notice it but after she said it, he suddenly realized that he really did love and worry about her a lot. It had happened so naturally that he did not even think twice about saying what he did. He did not even feel embarra.s.sed about his words.
Yan Beicheng smiled and did not say anything, but the expression on his face told her that she was easily embarra.s.sed, so he let her have her way. But even this had made Lin Chu feel awkward.
"Why don"t you move to my house then? That way I won"t need to make a trip to your place every day. Lin Yi is very close to Yan Hui, so it won"t be too much trouble at all." Yan Beicheng took the opportunity to persuade her.
Lin Chu pinched him on the hand. "Stop joking around. It"s too soon for that."
Yan Beicheng did not expect to her agree immediately. "Anyway, I"ll still be picking you up in the morning."
He was banking on Lin Chu being so worried about him that she would follow him back to Ding City.
Lin Chu noticed that he was not taking the road back to her home. She thought that since both of them were dating, they would not be heading home immediately. It could be that Yan Beicheng was taking her to dinner, so she did not ask much.
The car was finally parked at Sheng Yue"s parking lot.
Sheng Yue was under the umbrella of Yan Hui. Coming here was like coming home for Yan Beicheng.
At the entrance, Sheng Yue"s manager seemed to have already known they were arriving. He quickly went ahead to welcome them respectfully. "Master Yan, Miss Lin."
Lin Chu smiled at the manager and gave him a nod. The manager continued, "Master Yan, Master Cheng and the rest are already here."
Yan Beicheng nodded and waved the waiter who was prepared to direct them away. "We"ll head over by ourselves."
The waiter then went away to help with the other customers. Yan Beicheng held on to Lin Chu"s hand as they headed in.
"There are others?" Lin Chu asked.
"You"ve met Wei Zilin. You should meet my other friends. You"ll b.u.mp into them while working in Lin Yi, so it"s better that you get to know them. Besides… This is our unwritten tradition. We need to show each other our future wives." Yan Beicheng smiled and held on tighter to her hand.
Lin Chu could not help but feel nervous about it. She did not know how they would think about her. Would they be satisfied with her? Would they feel that she could not match up to Yan Beicheng?