Upon entering the company, Leng Yanmi appeared entirely at ease, as if she were strolling through her own company. Shi Yue found it amusing but suddenly recalled what Leng Yanmi had said earlier in the parking lot about a 'date'. It might not have been a joke after all.
Where else could the mighty CEO feel more in her element?
The two stepped out of the elevator and into the office Wu Quan had specially prepared for Shi Yue. As soon as they entered, Leng Yanmi plopped down into the chair behind the desk.
She adjusted her posture slightly and frowned, complaining, "This chair is too small."
Suppressing her laughter, Shi Yue tapped the desk and said, "President Leng, I don't think this was meant for you."
Leng Yanmi glanced at her sideways, with no intention of moving from the chair.
Shi Yue, helpless, asked with a smile, "Are you going to sit there? Where should I sit then?"
In response, Leng Yanmi opened her arms and, in a soft, coaxing voice, said, "Come here."
"Tsk." Shi Yue hadn't expected her to be bolder than herself. Her cheeks flushed instantly. She coughed twice, "I'm not a ball. What does sitting on your lap even mean?"
Trying to distract herself, Shi Yue picked up a document from the desk and moved over to the couch to start reading.
The theme of today's meeting was about promoting Shin Nuo's new fashion line online.
As an established clothing brand, Shin Nou had a complete set of offline promotional processes. However, in recent years, under the leadership of Shi Wen, the company had severely lacked in online marketing.
Despite a large budget being allocated, the results were far from satisfactory.
After Shi Yue discussed the issue with Wu Quan, they both agreed that a new online promotion plan had to be launched.
But Shin Nou had just gone through the upheaval of a CEO replacement, and with the financial mess left by Shi Wen's leadership, there simply wasn't enough funding to support a robust online campaign. To achieve good results with a limited budget, Shin Nou needed a creative solution.
The stack of documents in front of Shi Yue consisted of feasible proposals submitted by the employees after thorough research. Over the next few days, the meeting would aim to select the best proposal to fund and execute.
As Shi Yue quietly reviewed the documents, Leng Yanmi, after sitting at the office computer for a while, came over to sit beside her.
Hearing the movement, Shi Yue glanced at her.
Leng Yanmi picked up a file and asked, "Can I look at this?"
Shi Yue smiled, "What do you think?"
Leng Yanmi paused for two seconds, then leaned back comfortably against the sofa and began flipping through the document.
Both women were action-oriented. Once they got into work mode, they rarely got distracted. Even sitting close together, they diligently focused on their respective documents, occasionally exchanging opinions.
More than an hour passed before Shi Yue had a general grasp of the proposals. She stretched and noticed that Leng Yanmi, who had started later, was still on the last file. In her work mode, Leng Yanmi looked more serious than Shi Yue had ever seen her up close before. Her focused expression, with slightly narrowed eyes, made her even more captivating than usual.
Shi Yue leaned over and rested her head on Leng Yanmi's shoulder, "Are you done yet?"
Leng Yanmi was on the last few pages and responded with a perfunctory "Mm."
Love really messes with your head, Shi Yue thought, as she found herself feeling jealous of the documents.
She purposely moved closer to Leng Yanmi and teased, "President Leng really thinks she's my assistant, huh?"
Without lifting her eyes from the file, Leng Yanmi reached out to ruffle her hair and said, "Just an assistant?"
"Hahaha," Shi Yue bent over with laughter.
She deliberately snatched the file from Leng Yanmi's hands, "An assistant can't see this, but the future Mrs. Chairwoman of Shin Nou can."
Leng Yanmi stared at her.
Shi Yue raised her head, "Hm?"
Leng Yanmi reached out, pulled Shi Yue onto her lap, and though she was leaning lower, she grasped Shi Yue's chin, forcing her to look down at her, "Who's the wife?"
Shi Yue blinked and, cradling Leng Yanmi's face, teased, "What do you think, 'Mrs. Shi?'"
Leng Yanmi froze for a moment, then broke into a smile.
That smile was too enticing. Shi Yue couldn't resist and leaned in to kiss her, tasting the sweetness in Leng Yanmi's mouth like honey, intoxicating her.
After a moment of playful affection in the office, they calmed down and realized it was already close to 12:30 PM.
"We missed lunch," Shi Yue said, tidying her hair, "Let's go out and grab a bite."
"Mm," Leng Yanmi picked up her suit jacket.
It was the weekend, so only a few departments were working overtime. Given the time, most employees were out for lunch, and the two didn't run into anyone on their way out. They thought they'd have a smooth elevator ride down to the basement, but unexpectedly, the elevator stopped on the fifth floor.
The doors slid open to reveal a familiar face.
Shi Yue paused for a moment before recognizing the person as Yu Zhen, Shin Nou's design director.
At the last shareholders' meeting, Yu Zhen had pressured Shi Yue by threatening to resign in support of Shi Wen. Luckily, Wu Quan had managed to retain this key talent.
Just as Shi Yue was about to greet her, Yu Zhen's face turned pale. She stepped back awkwardly, as if she was about to flee.
This reaction left Shi Yue bewildered. She called out, "Director Yu?"
But Yu Zhen acted like she didn't hear, hurriedly darting into a nearby office, vanishing from Shi Yue's sight.
Shi Yue had no intention of chasing after her. She exchanged a glance with Leng Yanmi, and the elevator doors slowly closed.
This time, they made it smoothly to the underground parking lot.
"Yu Zhen seemed a bit strange," Shi Yue muttered.
"Mm," Leng Yanmi replied directly, "She looked guilty."
Shi Yue frowned.
Leng Yanmi said nothing more, simply putting her arm around Shi Yue's shoulders, "Let's go eat first."
Shi Yue thought she was intentionally avoiding involvement in Shin Nou's internal issues. But after lunch, Leng Yanmi unexpectedly took her straight to Wu Quan and requested the surveillance footage from the fifth floor.
Since Shi Yue was Wu Quan's backer, he had no objections and immediately brought them to the security room to investigate.
The surveillance footage clearly showed Yu Zhen's movements on the fifth floor. Other than the brief encounter at the elevator, she acted completely normal, with no suspicious behavior.
Shi Yue pointed to the empty design department office, "The design department doesn't need to work overtime today, right?"
"Right," Wu Quan confirmed, "The design department isn't very busy at the moment."
Shi Yue grew even more puzzled, "Then why was Yu Zhen at the company?"
Wu Quan, just as confused, shook his head but added, "Director Yu has been with Shin Nou for many years and has a deep connection with the company. It's not unusual for her to come in and work on her own. There's no need to suspect her of anything."
Shi Yue nodded and asked, "Has her behavior been normal recently?"
"Perfectly normal," Wu Quan thought for a moment and spoke up in defense of Yu Zhen, "There's really no need to doubt her. Director Yu has been loyal to Shin Nou for years. If she had any ill intent, she could've left the company with her team. She chose to stay, so there's no reason to believe she'd do anything harmful to the company."
Shi Yue smiled at him, "I understand... I'm not questioning her loyalty."
The three of them left the security room, and Wu Quan reminded Shi Yue about the meeting in half an hour before leaving to attend to other matters.
Shi Yue, still harboring doubts, instinctively pressed the fifth-floor button on the elevator.
When the doors opened, she turned to Leng Yanmi apologetically, "I'm a bit distracted."
Leng Yanmi was more straightforward, "Since we're here, let's go have a look."
They followed the route Yu Zhen had taken and arrived at the design department on the fifth floor. The office was completely empty.
Shi Yue, of course, wouldn't randomly rummage through someone's workspace. However, she walked over to the corner where the paper shredder was and picked up a few shredded pieces of paper from the wastebasket.
It was a processed design draft, but from the fragmented lines, it was still possible to make out that it depicted a cheongsam dress with a distinct style—elegant yet dynamic.
Shi Yue immediately thought of one of the cheongsam dresses from yesterday's competition designed by Shi Fang. Aside from the missing parts, the resemblance between the two designs was as high as eighty percent.
Leng Yanmi, unfamiliar with design, noticed Shi Yue's serious expression and asked, "Did you find something?"
Shi Yue snapped back to reality, collected the design draft, and placed it in her purse.
She shook her head, "I'm not sure yet. I need to think about it."
Leng Yanmi, understanding, didn't press for more details. They left the design department and returned to Shi Yue's office.
Leng Yanmi didn't attend the afternoon meeting, choosing to avoid involvement. Shi Yue entered the conference room upstairs alone, armed with the final proposal they had selected. After two hours, she returned victorious.
Back in the office, she gulped down water to quench her thirst and excitedly recounted the meeting to Leng Yanmi, "You wouldn't believe how stubborn those two old shareholders are. It's like they don't understand plain language and kept dragging their feet. Wu Quan, who's usually so mild-mannered, almost lost his temper. Fortunately, I wasn't having any of it and argued them down in the end."
Leng Yanmi smiled at her, a hint of pride on her face.
Shi Yue moved closer, "Why are you proud of me for winning an argument?"
Leng Yanmi blinked, touched her face, and asked, "Do I look proud?"
"Yes!" Shi Yue grinned, taking out her phone and opening the camera, "Auntie, do you want to see your current expression?"
"You look like you're proud that your little girl has made a big achievement."
Surprisingly, Leng Yanmi's face flushed slightly.
At that moment, a knock sounded at the office door. Leng Yanmi, covering her flushed face, hid behind a potted plant, while Shi Yue straightened up, smoothing her hair behind her ears, and went to open the door.
"Chairman Shi, let me tell you again, your promotion plan is absolute rubbish!" A middle-aged man with a thick neck and round belly bellowed in a heavily accented voice, "Every step of promotion requires real money! You can't use the shareholders' money to get some small-time influencers to generate traffic. It's just money down the drain!"
Shi Yue frowned, "Didn't we already discuss this in the meeting?"
The man sneered, "It's because of you that Wu Quan's brain has turned to mush."
Shi Yue smirked coldly.
She had caught the man's meaning—it was clear that he couldn't persuade Wu Quan and had decided to try to intimidate her, assuming she was an easy target. But she wasn't about to let him have his way. "So, what do you think we should do?"
"This plan is perfect!" The man pulled out another proposal, "It's a new platform with great potential. If we invest in promoting it now, we'll get discounts!"
Shi Yue glanced at the proposal, noting an unfamiliar app on the front. She didn't hold back, "How can you tell this platform has great potential?" Without waiting for him to answer, she added, "Is it because the kickback they offer you is the highest?"
The man was stunned, his face turning green, "Wh-what are you talking about?"
Shi Yue sneered, "Isn't it true?"
His gaze faltered, but he continued to nitpick, "Do you think your chosen promotion plan is any better? You get what you pay for. This method is used by low-end companies, and there's no guarantee it will be effective."
"No success stories, no data to back it up. How can you risk the company's money on a gamble?"
His words struck at Shi Yue's weak spot.
Shin Nou hadn't paid much attention to online promotions before, and with the limited funds this year, the selected plan wasn't perfect. Still, it was the most reliable of all the options.
She sighed, "We explained all this during the meeting, didn't we?"
The man raised his voice, "I don't care! I don't approve of this plan unless you can show me hard data to support it. Otherwise, I and the others won't agree."
He spread his hands, making a show of defiance, "Anyway, Shin Nou hasn't done any of this online promotion stuff before. Why not just skip it this year and avoid causing more trouble!"
Shi Yue's stomach churned with disgust.
Suddenly, someone gently supported her waist and pulled her behind them as the door swung open.
"You want data?" Leng Yanmi said calmly, "feather design's online promotion plan last year followed a similar low-cost approach, and the return ratio was exceptionally high. You can check the official data for confirmation."
The man furrowed his brows, then opened his mouth wide, "Who are you? Do you have any business here? This is a conversation between me and Chairman Shi!"
Ignoring his rudeness, Leng Yanmi continued, "Wu Quan will submit the relevant data at tomorrow's meeting. You can review it then."
The man was now huffing and puffing, "I asked, who are you? This is none of your business!"
"Who I am isn't important," Leng Yanmi adjusted her cuffs casually and added, "But from now on, direct your complaints to the CEO. Your behavior today is overstepping your bounds. You'll receive a formal reprimand in your email shortly."
Her imposing presence had the man completely cowed. Despite several attempts to raise his voice, he found himself deflated under the weight of Leng Yanmi's words and actions.
In the end, he could only mutter something about "waiting to see tomorrow" before leaving in a huff.
Leng Yanmi closed the door behind him.
Inside the office, Shi Yue leaned against the desk.
She took a sip of water and sighed, "When will I be like Auntie, effortlessly handling people like that?"
Leng Yanmi walked over, leaned in, and trapped her between herself and the desk.
Then, she buried her head in the crook of Shi Yue's neck, inhaling the intimate warmth of her skin, "It takes tuition."
Shi Yue wrapped her arms around Leng Yanmi's shoulders, "Tuition?"
She leaned in close to her ear, her breath soft and fragrant, "If it's too expensive, I can't afford it."
Leng Yanmi held her waist tighter.
Kissing the base of Shi Yue's neck, she whispered, "It's not expensive." Then, with a smile, she added, "Only you can afford it."
Shi Yue tilted her head back, revealing the graceful curve of her neck and shoulders.