The car whisked through the road, weaving through the traffic and speeding down the highway. Zhao Lifei individually clicked her fingers together, lost in thought. She glanced at the purse, the trash bag, and as the car was nearing the border of Shenbei. The car was slowly approaching the toll gates now.
She debated the options at hand.
In the last minute, she opened her mouth and asked, "Actually, can you drive me here?" She gave the driver a new GPS location. He patiently looked at it and nodded.
"Right away, ma"am." He turned the car around and entered a different lane.
Zhao Lifei glanced out the window, staring into s.p.a.ce for a while. Going to the battlefield unarmed and without much reasoning or logic would not be the smartest thing she could do in this situation. For a second there, her temper almost got the best of her.
After a while, she texted Yang Ruqin.
When the car pulled into the driveway of the enormous skysc.r.a.pers, a few employees paused to admire the car. Seeing as it was the latest edition Aston Martin, the people had a suspicion that a CEO was going to step out of the car.
The chauffeur opened the door and out stepped Zhao Lifei with a pair of sungla.s.ses on. They were surprised to see it was a woman. Most of the females walking in and out of the company were employees and rarely would a woman be seen. On top of it, she came in a luxury car which made many people wonder who she was. Only a small handful recognized her as Zhao Lifei, more specifically, their future lady boss.
She strutted into the building, her head held high, large purse in hand, and walked straight past the information desk. When she made her way to the private elevators, security came to stop her.
"We apologize, but this elevator is off-limits—"
"Let her through." The icy voice of Chen Gaonan was enough for the men to step aside, their heads lowered.
The edge of Zhao Lifei"s lips quirked into a slight smirk, the haughtiness of an heiress was easy to tell. "I can see why they call you an Ice King." She chuckled, strolling past him and towards the elevators.
Chen Gaonan did not respond. He pressed the elevator b.u.t.ton and quietly stood a few inches behind her.
"Does your boss know I"m here?" She asked, entering the elevator, watching as Chen Gaonan swiped a private key card and used his fingerprint as identification before the keypad changed and a new floor was revealed.
"No. As requested by Miss Ruqin, your presence is kept a secret for now." He politely replied in the same manner he treated well-respected CEOs.
"Good, keep it that way." It amused her that his behavior changed so quickly after he found out who she was and what she was capable of.
She peered at the gla.s.s walls of the elevator. As they traveled higher and higher, the entire city of Shenbei could be seen. She could see the downtown area from here as well as the endless rows of buildings, all of which were owned by Yang Enterprise in some shape or form, whether it was through major shares or stocks.
When the door dinged, the two stepped out. The air on the highest floor of the building felt different from all the floors below. The compet.i.tive and utmost professional atmosphere here reminded her of Zhao Corporation, a place she had not frequented for a while now.
For unknown reasons, her grandfather had not called her to be a consultant anymore. She figured it was because he knew she had plans of debuting as the CEO of Feili soon and it would not look good if she was seen advising another company.
The few staff working on the highest floor were surprised beyond words to see a woman accompanying Chen Gaonan. After taking a closer look, they realized it was the same woman from a while back! They were speechless to see the woman they criticized earlier was none other than their boss" girlfriend.
Zhao Lifei could feel the judging eyes on her, but as always, she ignored them. After all these years, she had become immune to stares.
"President Yang is currently in a meeting with a few senior directors of the board. He will be finished within the next ten minutes. In the meantime, you"re welcome to relax in the waiting area." Chen Gaonan said when they walked down a private hallway with gla.s.s panels to the left.
"Your boss sure loves windows." She muttered when she saw it was still a view of the city from a different angle and perspective.
Chen Gaonan stifled the laugh threatening his composure. He said the same thing when he entered this building for the very first time.
For the briefest second, he glanced at her. She looked different, but he couldn"t place a finger on what about her has changed. One thing was for sure that she was not weak. Even though her build was thin and fragile, her sharp tongue, piercing eyes, and presence were able to distort her appearance.
After realizing he had been looking at her for too long, he hurriedly turned his eyes forward. He did not want to be caught admiring her, especially when his boss could gouge out his eyes.
"I"ll wait for him in his office." She mused when he was going to direct her to a large room right beside the area where Yang Feng"s personal team sat.
Right as she said that, his personal team glanced at her, ready to judge and criticize whoever was dumb enough to say such things. However, when they saw who it was, all of them kept their mouths shut and did not even dare to think negative thoughts towards her. It was needless to say, they were easily subdued by her.
"That is not allowed." Chen Gaonan easily responded. There had been many people in the past, even insignificant flings of his boss, who thought they were special enough to enter his office without permission. Such people were met with horrible dooms.
"Don"t you know, Mr. Chen?" She gave his chest a firm pat. "the rules don"t apply to me." She chuckled, walking past him and straight towards the daunting black door.
Zhao Lifei"s eyes landed on Su Meixiu whose desk was the furthest away from the door. She was petty enough to be amused upon seeing her current position.
Su Meixiu glowered at Zhao Lifei, her eyes were filled with so much hatred, it was a miracle Zhao Lifei was not six feet under. What was this woman doing here? Why wasn"t she leaving President Yang after what had happened?
"I recommend you glare at someone else." Zhao Lifei rolled her eyes, her words cutting Su Meixiu who could feel the judgment land upon her.
Chen Gaonan hurriedly spoke up in fear that she got offended. "We apologize. Ms. Su here is still getting accustomed to her new position."
"Wow, I had no idea her previous position allowed her to glower at CEOs. How interesting!" She lightly laughed, her words cutting deep into Su Meixiu who was struggling to keep her calm.
Chen Gaonan sighed inside of his head. If news got out of Su Meixiu"s behavior, the boss would have her head. He did not realize all of her professionalism would crumble the second her position was changed.
Zhao Lifei walked to the black door and pulled the handles. It was locked.
Su Meixiu smiled to herself, even when Chen Gaonan was shooting her warning glances. The boss always keeps the door locked with his personal pa.s.scode. This woman is trying to make a fool out of herself.
Zhao Lifei was not fazed to see that the door did not budge. She had texted Yang Ruqin earlier to tell Chen Gaonan to come down and pick her up from the elevator, but had also asked her for the pa.s.scode to Yang Feng"s office. Not surprisingly, the doting brother had given it to her a while back... oddly, it was around the same time when Zhao Lifei and him first shared a room together at Sky Arc Complex.
Zhao Lifei could only hope the pa.s.scode did not change. She walked to the keypad, typed in the excruciatingly long pa.s.scode. The next step was fingerprinting. She bit her bottom lip and wondered if he was crazy enough to have her fingerprint stolen from somewhere and registered, and to her surprise, it worked.
Crazy... he really was crazy. When and how did he even get her fingerprint?!
Chen Gaonan was wondering the exact same thing. He could"ve sworn the last time she came to the office, his boss did not put her in the system, so how was it that she was able to gain access?! This boss of his...he was too trusting of her. The office contained important and confidential files that should never be accessed by unauthorized people, but here he was, giving away access like it was candy!