Yu Xuejiao might not admit it outright, but like everyone in the world, she liked gossip.
The files Lu Zhengxiang compiled had all sorts of fun facts to them—well, that's how she referred to the "Avoid saying:" part of each of the profiles.
'Lin Feiyuan… Avoid saying: how are your children or how's your family? His wife often kicked him out of the house, and all three of his children ran away from home.'
Yu Xuejiao tried to stop herself from laughing out loud. As an alternative, she was cackling without a sound.
If she had to make a similar file in the future, the format Lu Zhengxiang used would be her go to.
It was pretty effective. She hadn't gone to slack off with the desktop, which she opened when she had to drink water ten minutes into reading.
The only con was that… she was tempted to offend everyone listed, utilizing the trigger points she had just learned about.
Few hours had passed, with just her flipping through the files of other people. These people were high and mighty in the eyes of most people, yet some of them had… honestly, really petty triggers.
Their family's company didn't really have any intersection with Nexiv, since they were in the pharmaceutical field, but she wondered whether her brother was listed here.
But she could guess that his trigger point would be related to her. After all, he spoiled her the most~
The office was silent, and Lu Zhengxiang hadn't said a single word. He was right. It was kinda chill—well, at least for now.
Unfortunately, the peace didn't last long.
Lu Zhengxiang had a separate work phone, which he had placed on a phone stand on his desk. As the new personal assistant, Yu Xuejiao would also get one. But, she had to wait for a few days.
Anyway, the phone mentioned was ringing, breaking Yu Xuejiao's focus.
She glared at the phone, cursing profanities inside as she blamed whoever was calling.
"Lili, what time is it?" Yu Xuejiao asked with a whisper.
"11:30 AM," Lili whispered back. What a smart little AI.
'Not bad. I got to focus for two hours straight,' Yu Xuejiao thought.
She pretended to go back into reading the files, but her ears were secretly perked, listening to the call Lu Zhengxiang received.
"Miss Chen, unfortunately, I can't book you an appointment for now. Mr. Xiao's schedule is fully booked for the next three months."
Yu Xuejiao quickly checked Xiao Chunsheng's itinerary.
"May I know what you want to book an appointment for?" Lu Zhengxiang politely asked.
A smile appeared on Yu Xuejiao's lips.
What fully booked for the next three months? Although Xiao Chunsheng would be busy, he still had a couple of blank spaces in his schedule.
When she looked at Lu Zhengxiang, he blinked at her and did the hush sign, to which she happily nodded.
'I smell tea, ahehehe.' Out of giddiness, she started fidgeting her right leg.
She could guess that the 'Miss Chen' must be calling for a non-business reason.
When she was working as her brother's personal assistant—though in reality, she was just there to make Jiang Zichen's work lighter, she was the one dealing with this kind of phone calls.
Aiya! She couldn't wait to be back at it.
Though unlike before, she couldn't say something like, 'My brother slept with you? Girl, my brother is not just an eternal bachelor but also an eternal virgin. Slept with you? My foot.'
Jiang Zicheng even heard about it and gently lectured her.
"I'm really sorry, Miss Chen. I'm not doubting you, but if you tell me what you plan to talk about with Mr. Xiao, I could relay it to him. If he deems it important, he might ask me to reschedule his other meetings."
Lu Zhengxiang covered the mic side of the phone and called out to Yu Xuejiao, "Miss Yu, kindly order lunch for Mr. Xiao. Give it to him after his current meeting ends. He's not picky and has no allergies. Just make sure that it's healthy and balanced."
Yu Xuejiao winked and did an okay sign. As a reply, Lu Zhengxiang mouthed 'thank you' to her.
Turning her head to the monitor, where Xiao Chunsheng's schedule was still on display, she saw that his meeting would end at 12:30 PM.
"Lili, list restaurants fifteen minutes away max," Yu Xuejiao said as she picked up her phone to slightly lower Lili's volume.
"Here is the list of restaurants fifteen minutes away max according to current traffic conditions," Lili replied.
"Lili, which ones have a healthy menu? Wait, no. Give me a list of meal sets with balanced macronutrients or something."
Lili's mechanical voice sounded again, "Here is the list—"
Skimming through the list, she decided to order the dish she was suddenly craving.
"Stop. Order two sets of the second one. The one with shrimps."
"Order placed."
"Lili, which shops sell authentic iced tea? Like real black tea, lemon, and honey? Order nine of them." It was her first day, so maybe she could at least treat everyone to a drink.
She initially wanted to buy everyone a meal, but that restaurant was rather pricey. So a drink it is.
"I apologize, Miss Chen, but I have an incoming call from Mr. Xiao's mother. I'll have to end this call. After you sort out the details, feel free to call back again," Lu Zhengxiang said, hanging up.
Yu Xuejiao felt sorry for herself. She didn't get to process the middle of the drama.
Before she could ask Lu Zhengxiang for details, he beat her to it.
"Who's Lili?"
"This is Lili." Yu Xuejiao raised her hand holding the phone and wiggled it. "Her AI is customized by yours truly~"
Yu Xuejiao snapped her fingers. "Ah. Actually, I was going to apply as a Game Developer, but I misclicked. Lili would customize my resume according to the position I apply for, and I just have to click, which is why my CV was still perfect."
Lu Zhengxiang chuckled. "I'm sure you'll have a lot of free time even after I leave."
His reply made Yu Xuejiao recall a question she had been wanting to ask.
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you resigning?"
He only gave her a sad small smile before saying, "My child has leukemia, and I'm not sure if we'd be able to find him a bone marrow match. So, I want to be there as much as possible for him."
Yu Xuejiao's eyes dimmed, and her eyelids felt a little heavy after she heard that. "I hope he gets a match."
"I also hope so."
She fell silent for a while before hesitantly speaking up, "If… If you need anything, I can help you."
Lu Zhengxiang saw through Yu Xuejiao's thoughts and laughed. "Are you worried about my finances? I was the personal assistant of Mr. Xiao's father. I've been working for their family ever since I graduated from college. It's been exactly 35 years. When they found out my son was sick, they immediately helped me without asking."
That wasn't really the kind of help she planned to offer, but before she could talk about it, her focus latched onto something else.
Yu Xuejiao's eyes widened as she looked at Lu Zhengxiang. "T-thirty five years?"
Seeing how she intently scanned him from head to toe, Lu Zhengxiang revealed his age, "I'm turning 56 this year."
"But you're not…" Yu Xuejiao immediately paused. She thought that it might not be nice to say.
"Not what? Just say it."
"Not balding." He wanted the answer, so there it was. If that was thanks to hair transplant, and he got offended, it wasn't her fault.
Lu Zhengxiang heartily laughed out loud. "My family indeed has good hair genes."
What Yu Xuejiao didn't say was that she merely thought that his hair turned white from stress. His hair might be dyed black, but the roots were showing.
A few minutes after they stopped talking, Lili's voice sounded. "Food has arrived."
Yu Xuejiao stood up and turned to Lu Zhengxiang. "Mr. Lu, can you help me carry the food upstairs?"
Seeing him look at her with confusion, she clarified, "I ordered all of us a drink. Hopefully, you guys like honey lemon iced tea."
"They'll love it. I'll take Cheng Yuan to get the delivery with me. You stay here and read Mr. Xiao's schedule. When you come in, brief him about his itinerary after lunch."
Yu Xuejiao wanted to insist on claiming the delivery herself, but Lu Zhengxiang had already left their office.
"..."
She silently sat back down and checked Xiao Chunsheng's itinerary.
When she saw whom he was going to meet after lunch, her jaw dropped.
'Damn! YCFSoft? The company behind Realms Online?'
Will they collaborate with Nexiv to create a new game? But what will happen to Realms Online? What if it dies? All the money she spent, down the drain.
"Focus, b*tch." Yu Xuejiao scolded herself.
She memorized the rest of Xiao Chunsheng's itinerary and practiced saying it inside her mind. That way, once she went in, she would be able to speak clearly.
Lu Zhengxiang soon entered the office. "Here. This must be yours and Mr. Xiao's lunch and iced tea." He set down the tray down her table.
"I got you a tray while I'm at it."
"Thank you!"
She totally forgot that they had a pantry and that it had snacks. That was part of employee benefits, so she should check it out sometime.
Yu Xuejiao set aside her portion, leaving Xiao Chunsheng's meal on the tray.
She was about to meet the boss for the first time, so her heart couldn't help but beat fast out of anxiety.
A deep breath left her lips. 'I can do this.'
'And I totally should've searched what he looked like again.'
Too late for regrets now.
Holding the tray with her left hand, she opened the door with her right. After entering, she held the tray with both hands, closing the door behind her using her foot.
"Good noon, Sir. For lunch, I got you—" Yu Xuejiao was dumbstruck when she saw his face.
It wasn't because he was handsome—of course, he was handsome, but it wasn't the reason.
'Isn't this the guy in the elevator this morning who I saw when I was rushing to go down and lives on the same floor that I randomly talked to about things he probably don't care about and even listened to me mentioning about my work and how my brother is so scary—"
Needless to say, Yu Xuejiao was physically paralyzed. But her face wasn't.
Her eyes widened, squinted, and wandered around, while her mouth opened and closed as if unsure whether to continue talking or not. Of course, her eyebrows didn't lose out either, twitching and moving around.
Xiao Chunsheng was having fun watching her.
"How do I look? Are your eyes cleansed?" he joked.
"Absolutely, Sir. It feels like I used holy water for eye drops." Yu Xuejiao replied almost immediately, obviously without thinking.
Xiao Chunsheng immediately chuckled, making Yu Xuejiao want to die from shame.