Wen Rui: Thanks
Zhou Ye felt the back of his neck burn and was glad that he was in a full suit, with his tie done up properly, so no one else on the corridor could see the evidence of his embarrassment.
He'd been distracted the entire morning, trying to formulate a strategy about texting Wen Rui without offending him. After interrogating Yao Xun for half an hour about how he started conversations with his significant others after a fight, Yao Xun had sent him an exasperated: FFS JUST TEXT R U A 15 YR OLD BOY
No, Zhou Ye wasn't a 15-year-old boy. But this was his first love and he didn't want to mess up more than he already had.
He'd started by sending Wen Rui that message about the CT scans because that looked like safe ground. But then he'd felt like it sounded too clinical like he was just passing on a message for Dr Li. That was true but he'd wanted to show some concern.
And then he'd shown too much. Wincing at how much of a nag he was being, he'd deleted those messages.
But Wen Rui had thanked him. He'd seen them, must have been waiting for Zhou Ye to finish typing like the awkward idiot he was. Because Zhou Ye could be smooth in front of an audience of a thousand. He could give invitation-only speeches or deliver presentations at board meetings in his grandfather's company, knowing fully well that all the old codgers in that room were waiting for him to make a mistake, like sharks sniffing for his blood in the ocean.
However, when it came to Wen Rui, all that self-composure evaporated and he suddenly lost his ability to communicate sensibly. This was probably half the reason why Wen Rui hated him so much but he couldn't fix it.
Wen Rui had been and still was his first love. And like all teenage boys in front of their crush, Zhou Ye had panicked and ruined things for himself before they'd even begun.
But at least, Wen Rui had replied. He hadn't ghosted Zhou Ye like Zhou Ye had been expecting. He was going to count this as progress and evaluate how to continue having WeChat conversations with Wen Rui in the future.
Yao Xun was right. Romance really was foreign territory to Zhou Ye. He felt like he was going into this blind and the feeling unnerved him. He wanted to just go in for the kill as he would in any other situation, but for the first time in his life, he was a massive coward. He couldn't afford to mess up because he couldn't accept the consequences.
He was so distracted from his thoughts that he didn't notice the two figures standing in the lift lobby. It was Wang Lingyi who warned him with a quiet, "CEO Zhou." She'd noticed that the button wasn't pressed, and so these two had to be lying in wait for her boss. She made a mental note to remind the admin assistants stationed just outside the CEO's office not to allow anyone to loiter on this floor.
As a secretary, whom Zhou Ye had hired after rigorous rounds of interviews, Wang Lingyi was fully loyal to Zhou Ye. She only ever called him 'CEO' in his grandfather's office because she was aware of the importance of hiding Zhou Ye's other entrepreneurial endeavours from the rest of the Zhou Family. At all other times, though, he was the chairman of NJ to her.
The title CEO reminded Zhou Ye that he wasn't in a place where he could afford to be distracted. He schooled his expression into impassivity and nodded at the middle-aged man who walked up to greet him.
"Little CEO Zhou," the man greeted with a smarmy smile. Zhou Ye recognised him to be Tan Cheng, one of the board of directors of Zhou Group, who had close personal relations with Zhou Ye's grandfather. Tan Cheng quickly beckoned for the young lady next to him to step forward. "About to start your lunch break? I was about to bring my daughter here to that new French Michelin restaurant downtown. Shiqi, introduce yourself."
Tan Shiqi stepped forward with a pleasant smile. She was a beautiful woman, with artfully arranged bombshell curls and she knew how to dress and carry herself.
"CEO Zhou," she greeted, reaching out to shake Zhou Ye's hand. "I'm Tan Shiqi, pleased to meet you."
He returned the gesture out of courtesy.
Perhaps this gave her encouragement because Tan Shiqi brightened up.
"Does Little CEO Zhou have plans at the moment? Otherwise, would you like to consider joining my father and me for lunch?" she asked boldly, with the confidence of someone who was rarely rejected. "I have heard so much about your achievements within the company and would love the opportunity to talk to you—"
"Apologies," Zhou Ye interrupted. "I have already made arrangements with my wife." He ignored Tan Shiqi's stunned expression and stepped into the lift that just arrived. "Also, the next time you'd like a meeting, Uncle Tan, please make an appointment with my secretary."
Wang Lingyi inclined her head politely in their direction and pretended she didn't notice Ms Tan sizing her up.
Once inside the lift, Zhou Ye dropped the facade. His gaze turned flinty as he considered Tan Cheng's behaviour.
Not many people in the company knew that the little CEO was married but he was certain that Tan Cheng was aware of this. Tan Cheng had Zhou Ye's grandfather's trust and often used this to his advantage, talking down to Zhou Ye during board meetings like a patronising elder. Normally, Zhou Ye didn't care. He did what he wanted anyway, not always following the direction of the board if it didn't suit his purposes. In a way, he was almost eager to be voted out of the CEO position by them.
It was only supposed to be an interim post until the old man's health became better. But Zhou Ye's grandfather had refused to come back to work after handing over the position, almost like he was trying to shackle Zhou Ye to Zhou Group and force him to submit to the family's demands.
Demands like marrying a proper socialite from a respectable family and producing a new heir that everyone could be proud of. Zhou Ye didn't understand the obsession with such tradition. It wasn't like their family had an imperial throne to inherit.
Tan Cheng knew about his marriage but still introduced his daughter. Was this at the old man's bidding? Tan Cheng was his grandfather's protege and would listen to his grandfather's suggestions without question.
If it was, then this stubborn old chairman had forgotten his agreement with Zhou Ye. In that case, Zhou Ye was more than happy to remind him.
Once in the car, Zhou Ye directed the driver to head towards a nearby restaurant. Wang Lingyi looked up in surprise.
"We're due to inspect the premises in half an hour," she reminded, referring to their newest resort line, 'Xanadu'. This was going to be the site of their IPO launch, where interviews with the press and the after-celebrations were going to occur. Her boss had previously insisted on supervising the preparations at least once, just to ensure that everything was going according to plan. No matter how he felt about working for his grandfather, he'd always taken the job seriously.
Zhou Ye just changed his mind though.
"Hand the entire project over to my cousin," he said, shocking Wang Lingyi for the second time in just one minute. "We're washing our hands off this mess." He'd stepped in and taken over upon his grandfather's request but the caveat was that they'd both respected their mutual agreement.
"W-which cousin?"
"It doesn't matter." They were all useless anyway. And yet, also so ambitious. They would kill to steal this project from under Zhou Ye's nose, much less have it handed to them on a silver platter.
"…" Wang Lingyi still had reservations but Zhou Ye was her boss and it wasn't her place to question his decisions. Numbly, she tried to consider which of the Zhou Family's cousins was stupid enough that she could foist the IPO off on them without them turning around to sabotage her boss somehow...
"And update me on the status of the latest Priest skill updates."
Zhou Ye was referring to Elysium, the game that was at the foundation of NJ Corporation. He'd never had the chance to tell Wen Rui, but the game that Wen Rui was so addicted to had been created by his first company, Greenstone Games. More specifically, it had been created by Zhou Ye.
Wang Lingyi fumbled with her glasses as she rushed to pull out the right set of notes on her tablet. She was just familiar enough with the gaming lingo to provide a report but didn't play Elysium herself. She had no idea whether what she was saying was correct but since Zhou Ye didn't reprimand her, she supposed it was fine.
"Um, the Priest's AOE heal has been nerfed with an extension to the cool-down by 2 seconds but their damage has been amped with—"
Her phone rang, interrupting her summary. The caller was Xiao Yu, one of Zhou Ye's personal assistants, whose specific role was to monitor Furen's career. Xiao Yu only called whenever their boss' spouse was in trouble and Wang Lingyi could already feel her heart sinking even as she put Xiao Yu on speaker.
"Secretary Wang!" Xiao Yu cried out in agitation. "Furen's role in that drama just got stolen!!!"