When the two returned from the restroom and just entered the meeting room, the contrast in everyone's perception was starkly evident.
Almost everyone's gaze was fixed on Xu Qingyan, some puzzled, some doubtful, some surprised. All those expressions came together into one attitude: they took him seriously.
After sitting down, the clash that Xu Qingyan had imagined did not occur.
Instead, the always-smiling Director Fang Chu stood up, looking at Xu Qingyan with gentle eyes. The smile on his face was no longer formulaic, and he half-jokingly said,
"Xu Qingyan, did you go out for a smoke?"
The leaders' facial expressions changed subtly, their thoughts fully reflected in their tones. The same sentence with a different tone carried different meanings, revealing their levels of familiarity or distance.
"Ah..." Xu Qingyan scratched his head somewhat awkwardly.
