Two hours later, Leng Yanmi returned from her outing.
As soon as she stepped out of the elevator on the 66th floor, Wang Na approached her with a document. "President Leng, here are the client materials and follow up plans for the afternoon meeting. Please review them."
Leng Yanmi stopped and took the document, casually asking, "Wasn't I clear that you should be taking care of Shi Yue?"
Wang Na bowed slightly. "Miss Shi Yue is resting in the lounge and requested not to be disturbed. So, I returned to my desk to organize the documents for you."
The project had been ongoing for some time, so Leng Yanmi was well aware of the data and progress. As she skimmed through the file Wang Na submitted, her brow furrowed. After a moment, she handed the document back. "You're a secretary in the president's office, and this is what you managed to compile in two hours?
"Any intern in the project department could put together something like this."
Wang Na's face stiffened, her features twisting awkwardly. "P-President Leng…"
Leng Yanmi glanced at her watch and continued, "What I need is a clear statistics of the expected returns, along with vertical and horizontal comparisons of similar projects. Do you expect me to do your presentation for you with this basic data?"
Wang Na's face turned pale. "N-no, of course not. I apologize. I'll redo it immediately."
Leng Yanmi gave her a cold look. "The meeting starts in twenty minutes. Don't try to pass this off as acceptable again."
Wang Na bent lower. "Yes."
With that, Leng Yanmi moved forward, quickly signing two more project proposals handed to her by other secretaries before finally making her way back to her office.
As she approached the door, she noticed Shi Yue leaning against the doorframe, smiling at her. Leng Yanmi walked over, took her hand, and led her inside.
The two of them sat on a luxurious leather sofa in the office, and Shi Yue couldn't help but remark, "Auntie, you're way too busy. You hadn't even sat down yet, and you'd already handled three tasks.
"Can't they wait until you're back in your office?"
"I'm used to it." Leng Yanmi took a sip of water. "I don't like it when they pile up documents in the office. If it's something simple and urgent, I handle it outside."
Shi Yue moved behind her, placing her hands on her shoulders to give her a massage. "You work so hard. Let me help you relax."
Leng Yanmi smiled as she lay back on the sofa, enjoying Shi Yue's care.
After a moment, she opened her eyes and praised, "You're doing great."
Shi Yue beamed, her 'tail' practically wagging with pride. "Satisfied? Remember to give me a good review."
Laughing, Leng Yanmi grabbed her wrist.
She teased, "Why don't you just come work at Leng Group? I'll set up a special office space just for you."
Shi Yue hugged her from behind. "What about my salary?"
Leng Yanmi blinked. "You can have my salary card."
Shi Yue couldn't help but laugh out loud at that.
Dissatisfied with her reaction, Leng Yanmi tightened her grip on her wrist. "I'm serious. If you're not happy with the salary, I'll increase it."
Shi Yue looked at her with a sigh. "But what would my job be? I studied design—my skills would be useless here. Taking a high salary without doing anything wouldn't feel right."
Leng Yanmi brushed a strand of hair away from Shi Yue's face. "You wouldn't need to do anything."
She exhaled comfortably. "Just stay within my sight. As long as I can look up and see you during breaks, that's enough."
Shi Yue pouted, rubbing her cheek against Leng Yanmi's face. "You'd be happy, but I'd be bored out of my mind."
After thinking for a moment, Leng Yanmi offered, "Or, if you're interested in business, I could have someone train you. No, I'll teach you myself."
She gently caressed Shi Yue's face. "You have a lot of potential. It wouldn't be hard for you to pick things up."
Shi Yue's eyes sparkled mischievously. "How do you know I have potential?"
Leng Yanmi pinched her cheek softly.
It had become a habit for her to do this more frequently lately, but she was always careful, as if expressing her affection through a gentle touch, afraid to damage the precious gem she held in her hands.
"Remember when I helped you with the analysis report for Shi Nuo? You grasped the concepts immediately and even proposed innovative ideas. When I tried teaching Mingchuan about basic data, no matter how I explained it, he couldn't get it."
She sighed with frustration as she spoke.
Shi Yue couldn't help but laugh again.
Not wanting to let her dodge the subject, Leng Yanmi cupped Shi Yue's face, forcing her to meet her gaze. "So, what do you think? Hmm?"
Trapped, Shi Yue struggled to shake her head and slowly uttered, "No way."
Leng Yanmi pursed her lips, clearly irritated.
Taking advantage of the moment, Shi Yue slipped from her grasp, rubbing her face before explaining. "I chose to study design not just for Shi Nuo, but because I genuinely love fashion design. And judging by the results of this competition, I think I have some talent in the field.
"Auntie, would you really want to see my talent go to waste?"
Leng Yanmi remained silent, sulking.
Shi Yue walked back over to her. "I really can't handle secretarial work. The workload at Shi Nuo, a small company, already overwhelms me. If I worked here at such a large corporation, I'd be drained in no time."
Leng Yanmi retorted, "You wouldn't be overworked. You could do something easy."
"Like what?" Shi Yue thought of her encounter with Wang Na downstairs. "Maybe stand at the front desk and fend off unwanted admirers?"
Her playful comment immediately caught Leng Yanmi's attention. She sat up straight, her expression sharp. "What do you mean by that? Did someone give you trouble downstairs?"
Shi Yue averted her eyes. "…It's nothing important."
"It's my fault for not giving you clearance beforehand. It's understandable that the receptionist wouldn't let you through," Leng Yanmi mused aloud.
Shi Yue grinned. "I know, I wasn't upset by the small stuff."
Not wanting to linger on the topic, she waved it off. "Forget it, just consider my words a slip of the tongue. Anyway, you should give up on the idea of me becoming your secretary."
Leng Yanmi was about to ask more when a knock came at the office door.
She looked up and called out, "Come in."
Wang Na entered, her attitude humble. "President Leng, the meeting will start in five minutes. Please proceed to the conference room on the 41st floor."
"Understood," Leng Yanmi stood up.
She looked down at Shi Yue. "This is my last meeting today. Wait for me a bit longer, and after work, we'll go out for dinner."
Shi Yue smiled. "Alright."
She walked her to the door, waving. "Good luck at work."
Due to incomplete data preparation, the originally scheduled forty-minute meeting extended to over an hour. Once it finally ended, Wang Na followed Leng Yanmi back to her office via the elevator.
Knowing she hadn't performed well, Wang Na seized the chance to shift the blame. "President Leng, I apologize. The project team is full of arrogant people who refuse to listen to suggestions. Sometimes I really don't know how to communicate with them."
Without even looking up from the file she was reading, Leng Yanmi replied, "If you don't know how to communicate, maybe you should consider finding a different job."
Wang Na almost forgot to breathe. "P-President Leng…"
As the elevator doors opened, Leng Yanmi stepped out and glanced back at her. "The projects you've been handling recently aren't progressing well. Have you thought about why?"
Wang Na's face went ashen. "It's because of the people below me…"
"It's because of them?" Leng Yanmi sneered.
Wang Na quickly added, "I admit I haven't been as diligent in supervising and pushing them…"
"Then spend more time on that and less on snooping into my personal life."
Wang Na was stunned, her lips trembling as she asked, "Is it… because Miss Shi Yue said something bad about me? My intentions were only for your good, because…"
Leng Yanmi's expression darkened, cutting her off.
Initially, she hadn't thought much of it. Her remark was more of a probe. But seeing Wang Na's reaction, she realized the truth was likely worse than she had imagined.
Rubbing her temples, she said, "I'll inform HR to bring Zhang Zhuo back. You have until the end of the week to hand over your current projects to him."
Wang Na was now truly panicked. "President Leng, please, give me another chance!"
"You're no longer capable of staying here. I'll discuss your future placement with HR. If you can't accept a reasonable demotion and salary adjustment, you can submit your resignation."
With that, Leng Yanmi walked away, leaving Wang Na standing frozen.
Some staff members in the secretarial area glanced up, catching sight of Wang Na's miserable state, but they quickly returned to their work.
A few people heading to the break room whispered about the situation, relieved.
"Oh my god, does this mean I won't have to stay late helping Wang Na with her busywork anymore?!"
"You have no idea. Last week, she made me do extra reports, then nitpicked every single one."
"Yeah, while the rest of us were working hard, she was too busy sticking her nose into President Leng's private affairs. She always acted like she was so important."
…
…
Shi Yue had no clue about any of this. When she saw Leng Yanmi return, she put down her phone and linked arms with her. "Ready to eat?"
"Give me a moment," Leng Yanmi replied.
She returned to her desk to send a few notifications to the HR department.
Resting her chin in her hands, Shi Yue muttered, "What are you doing? You're so busy."
Leng Yanmi glanced at her. "Do you think my workload is too much?"
"Of course," Shi Yue puffed out her cheeks. "I heard about you long before I met you. Everyone knows Leng Yanmi, president of Leng Group, is a workaholic."
After a moment of contemplation, Leng Yanmi said, "You're right."
"Huh?" Shi Yue almost thought she misheard. "Auntie, did you really just say that?"
Still looking at the screen, Leng Yanmi casually replied, "The amount of work before and after marriage can't stay the same. I'm not oblivious to such a simple truth."
This time, it was Shi Yue's turn to be stunned.
When she finally understood, she tried to keep her excitement in check, grinning widely. "When did it become 'after marriage'? How come I didn't know?"
Leng Yanmi shot her a brief glance, then returned her focus to her work without saying another word.
That night, however, she physically made it clear to Shi Yue why she already considered herself in the 'post-marriage' phase.