Staying up until three in the morning, Wen Sheng still went off to work the next day, full of energy.
Zhu Qingjia often said she was a relentless work machine, no matter how late she stayed up, she was always energetic the next day.
The most infuriating part was, no matter how long she stayed up, Wen Sheng never had dark circles under her eyes and looked as fresh as ever. Just for this alone, she deserved to be the object of envy a thousand times over.
She arrived at the company exactly at nine, where the aroma of Arabica coffee beans harmoniously coexisted with the scent of cleaning disinfectant.
Changjing Capital, where Wen Sheng worked, was one of the top venture capital institutions in Jiangzhou. It was founded by her college senior Shen Guannan and another mysterious partner, and had the backing of a Hong Kong-based fund. Shen Guannan's investment vision was unique, and the projects he had managed in recent years have been extremely successful, with two companies already listed through IPOs. Changjing had thus rapidly gained popularity, becoming the desired "money-daddy" for many pre-series B companies.
Shen Guannan typically oversaw day-to-day operations, and apart from him, no one had ever seen the other mysterious partner. People often speculated, but no one really knew his true identity, which remained a mystery.
As soon as Wen Sheng arrived at the office, Shen Guannan called from Hong Kong about a video conference, instructing her and Alisa to meet with the founders and tech engineers from Linyun Technology.
Linyun Technology was a rapidly growing tech company based in Jiangzhou, specializing in artificial intelligence software. Despite being established only five years ago, it had expanded into the fields of smart business and smart cities. Earlier this year, Linyun Technology held a press conference announcing their new research towards smart cars and the initiation of their series B+ financing.
Such a unicorn tech company had caught the attention of many institutions, making the competition fierce.
After listening to Shen Guannan's instructions, Wen Sheng candidly said, "Jeff, you and Alisa have always been more involved in tech, whereas I usually deal with new consumer trends. I have limited knowledge and experience in the tech field."
Wen Sheng made a point not to take on tasks beyond her capabilities, especially knowing the significance of the talk with Linyun. There was no room for messing around.
Despite this, Shen Guannan encouraged her, "Although Alisa is responsible for the tech field, her expertise is insufficient and she is too much of a people pleaser, which could make the other party distrust her. While you're primarily focused on new consumption, I know you also pay attention to tech trends and I trust in your stability and reliability. This meeting is more of a preliminary interaction, so don't stress too much."
Wen Sheng was in a difficult spot. Participating in a project from another team was frowned upon.
Moreover, as she was Shen Guannan's junior from college, Alisa always interpreted any hint of favoritism from Shen Guannan as a personal slight. This time it is even about a project, who knows what strange comments she might throw her way.
Seeing Wen Sheng's hesitation, Shen Guannan continued, "They scheduled our meeting very suddenly, and I can't make it back in time. You're just going to have to step up and support Alisa, just focus on keeping the meeting stable. Yvonne, I think, you understand the importance of considering the big picture."
Given the boss' attitude, Wen Sheng had no choice but to step up to the challenge, "Jeff, I'll do what I can."
As soon as the call ended, Alisa walked in.
Despite being from Guizhou, Alisa spoke with an affected Taiwanese accent, "Jeff loves to stir things up, grabbing you from the New Consumer group to assist with Tech's projects rush, isn't that making things difficult for you? What if our lack of professionalism is exposed, would you take the blame for that?"
After multiple encounters, Wen Sheng was pretty clear about Alisa's unspoken implications.
Looking at Alisa's overly wide double eyelids, she calmly replied, "Jeff just instructed me on the phone to assist you."
Jeff is the English name of Shen Guannan, it was a trend in the investment banking circle to use English names.
Seizing the opportunity to pursue her line of thinking, Alisa said, "Qingzhou Restaurant's investment analysis meeting is next week, will you be too busy to attend? This afternoon I can deal with it myself."
Wen Sheng replied without changing her expression, "Why don't you discuss it with Jeff and then notify me? Indeed, I have quite a lot of work piled up."
The implication being, I'm not particularly inclined to participate in your technology group's meeting so don't vent your frustration on me.
Alisa was taken aback, then laughed lightly, "Yvonne, no wonder Jeff always praises you for being smart, even when you kick the ball you do it so skillfully. If I go to discuss it with him, won't that just show that I'm not following his arrangements?"
A tinge of irritation crossed Wen Sheng's face as she smiled, "Meng Wei, I focus on the task itself, not the person. Whatever the boss says, I'll do."
And a moment later, Alisa's face turned gloomy.
Alisa's real name was Meng Wei.
This was her biggest taboo, anyone who called her by that name was tantamount to implying she had a plastic face.
She was also the publicly announced girlfriend of the boss Shen Guannan, normally in the company, no one dared to call her Meng Wei.
Even before when Meng Wei had been running around her and causing trouble, Wen Sheng didn't care.
She did have a good temper, but she never said that she didn't have a temper at all. Even a rabbit would bite when it was cornered, did they think because she rarely got upset she was easy prey? She wouldn't let that happen.
"What do you think?" Said Wen Sheng, an innocent-looking smile concealing the cold intention to kill, staring intently at Meng Wei, waiting for her to respond.
"As long as Jeff trusts you, what can I say? If you want to join, then join." Meng Wei laughed to hide her anger. As she walked out of the room, her face immediately cooled down, her lips twitched with disdain.
Office doors were made of glass, her expression was captured through the reflection and clearly seen by Wen Sheng.
Wen Sheng felt speechless, Meng Wei not being a Sichuan opera face-changing performer was certainly a waste of her talent. That face, which she had spent hundreds of thousands to carve to perfection, apart from acting the part of a flower vase at Changjing, was utterly useless. Why go through all the trouble? It would be better to spend the money to improve her spiritual cultivation and overcome her lack of self-confidence and her delusions of gain and loss. Always keeping an eye on the company's female colleagues, subtly warning others not to lay eyes on Shen Guannan, whoever dared to compete with her for a man would have to pay.
Through the glass wall, Wen Sheng watched Meng Wei's smoky make-up eyes sparkle, clad in an audaciously tight suit, accentuating her curves, and her silicon-filled chest almost bursting out. The ridicuously trendy outfit, even with all her efforts, couldn't give off the high-end vibe of a luxury brand.
Wen Sheng couldn't help but think of Zhu Qingjia's words: perhaps Shen Guannan was really blinded by Meng Wei's 36D implants.
His taste in women was a bit shallow.
Wen Sheng took a deep breath and opened the email from Shen Guannan containing information about Linyun Technology.
As the PDF pages flicked past, Wen Sheng read with great interest.
But soon, she froze, her eyes widening as she stared at a photograph of a person on the creative team's profile page.
The man was sitting on a chair, his legs forming a ninety-degree angle, his arms resting on his thighs, with his chin resting on his interlaced fingers. Dressed in a pure black suit, white Windsor knotted shirt, and a black tie, he exuded an indescribable refined yet aloof elegance. Under his neat, sharp haircut, thick eyebrows like ink, a pair of peach blossom eyes, cold and deep, as if staring straight through Wen Sheng from the computer screen.
The cursor landed on the bold black letters, Wen Sheng lay back in her chair, speechless in shock.
"Co-founder of Linyun Technology - Leo Fu"
Until three o'clock in the afternoon, Wen Sheng had come up with countless possibilities to convince herself—perhaps two people in the world looked incredibly alike? Or perhaps the man had a twin brother by chance?
Or is it…
But the moment the man she had spent the night with walked into the conference room, Wen Sheng felt a chill in her heart.
Life is truly so melodramatically bizarre.