The originally serious face that had been known to everyone was now lit up with a bright and radiant smile. It made him look younger; a 33-year-old man seemed to look like a 26-year-old youngster.
Behind him, the managers of the various departments filed out of the room one after another. Once they saw Yan Beicheng"s bright smile, they all looked like they had just seen a ghost.
However, they did not dare delay him for fear of Yan Beicheng suddenly turning hostile, so they quickly left, though they also could not hide their curiosity as they kept turning back to sneak glances while they left. How could they expect Yan Beicheng to not see their curious glances?
Yan Beicheng"s smile immediately fell before he turned to stare at them coldly. All the managers immediately quivered and acted as if they were discussing official matters as they dispersed one by one.
Zuo Qiu had already left discreetly.
As if he were part of the Sichuan opera 1 , a smile lit up Yan Beicheng"s face once more.
Lin Chu could not help letting out a laugh at this. Once he grabbed a hold of her hand, her smile was wide and full of fondness. "You fool!"
Yan Beicheng was more than happy to be called one and his smile only grew brighter.
Thus, the rumor that the President had smiled like a flower in bloom once he saw his girlfriend spread like wildfire throughout Yan Hui during that afternoon break.
Once they were done with dinner, Yan Beicheng wanted Lin Chu to rest in his office, maybe even take a nap.
At Lin Yi, she worked in a large open office which meant she did not have a proper place to take breaks. However, Lin Chu rejected his offer, and though she did not say it, she did not want to be there and be a bother to him while he worked.
She knew he was busy and she was only here to make sure he would eat on time, how he does his work the rest of the day was not something she wanted to control.
Although she did not say it, it seemed like he knew what she was thinking as he casted a self-fulfilled smile at her.
Afterward, Yan Beicheng personally escorted her to the entrance of Yan Hui, gripping tightly her hand for all the office workers who were coming and going because they were on their lunch breaks to see.
"Having you over for lunch is nice, let"s do this every day from now on." Yan Beicheng lowered his head to tell her, their foreheads so close they were almost touching.
Lin Chu had noticed the gazes that were directed towards them; a lot of the office workers who were coming and going had purposely slowed down in their strides once they saw them, almost as if they were taking one step forward and three steps back. Maybe they were all afraid of Yan Beicheng, but none of them dared to stare at Yan Beicheng and her too directly, all merely sneaking glances out of the corner of their eyes as if doing so would not get them noticed.
Once Lin Chu noticed that people were glancing at them, she was completely speechless. She privately worried for their eyesight and hoped that they would not become cross-eyed.
"I"ll be going now." Lin Chu was blus.h.i.+ng all the way to her ears and though her head hung low, she was not avoiding him and was merely embarra.s.sed.
Yan Beicheng knew very well that they were at the entrance to the company and although he did not care about the gazes that were directed at them both, he liked showing public displays of affection. However, he did not want to be the center of attention and have people look at them like they were putting on a show.
Nevertheless, he was reluctant to let her go. With his hand tightly intertwined with hers, he called for Shao Huai to send Lin Chu back to her workplace.
Lin Chu did not reject it since it was but a short distance. Besides, Yan Beicheng had already decided so she wanted him to set his mind at ease; there was no need for them to disagree about a trivial matter like this.
Shao Huai dropped Lin Chu off at the entrance to Lin Yi in the company"s Mercedes.
Lin Chu thanked Shao Huai and entered the building immediately upon getting off the car. She made a beeline for the elevators upon pa.s.sing through the automatic gates, but a female voice called out behind her. "Lin Chu."
"…" Lin Chu had her back facing the voice, and her face showed impatience and dissatisfaction.
Her good mood had all but disappeared and she turned around unhappily, to see Lu Weining arise from a sofa to walk towards her.
Lin Chu remained where she stood, waiting for Lu Weining to reach her, not at all bothering to be nice to her. As she waited, her expression was cold. Once Lu Weining came close, she made no moves to hide her dissatisfaction.
She did not know what Lu Weining was feeling right now, but all she could see was Lu Weining"s arrogant smile, which made it seem like she was smiling at her because she was superior to Lin Chu.
Lin Chu did not like wearing especially high heels. As it was required of her to look professional at work, she usually wore heels that were not ridiculously high, unlike the heels Lu Weining was in now. It was as if she was itching to be a ballerina because her heels were so high it was terrifying. However, despite being terribly uncomfortable, they did make her look elegant and powerful.
"Miss Lu," said Lin Chu coldly, her mouth pulled up into a smirk. "I wonder what advice are you here to give this time?"
As if not hearing the jibe Lin Chu had just tossed at her, Lu Weining no longer put on an act like before and was now smiling arrogantly at her. "Miss Lin, I do indeed have things to discuss with you."
"Not me," spat Lin Chu irritably before retrieving her phone to check the time. "I"m sorry, I still have work."
With that said, Lin Chu turned around and walked away.
Almost immediately, the sound of heels clicking loudly against marble tiles could be heard behind her. The sound was clear as Lu Weining jogged quickly to the front of Lin Chu to stop her once more.
Lin Chu"s expression darkened further yet Lu Weining refused to relent and said, "Lin Chu, we need to talk."
"I have nothing to say to you," spat Lin Chu irritably. She did not care that she was being loud since she only cared about embarra.s.sing Lu Weining. "Miss Lu, you"re a well-educated woman in any case, not to mention the General Manager of Xing Chuang. You"re already a public figure, so please conduct yourself with some dignity.
"My boyfriend doesn"t like you, maybe he even hates you, yet you"re always so eager to look for him. When that doesn"t go your way, you come to bother me instead. Don"t you find doing this embarra.s.sing? Is the Lu family"s education only of such a standard? Have you been brought up thinking that you should bravely become a mistress? Even if the man doesn"t like you at all, do you think you can just continue pestering the man?"
Lu Weining had also realized that there were quite a lot of people out and about in the lobby, not to mention the cafes and bakeries on the same floor. Not only were there people that worked here, there were also people that had come in to buy things.
"What are you being so loud for?" Lu Weining"s expression s.h.i.+fted and her eyes flashed, her voice low as she questioned Lin Chu.
Lin Chu was not yelling like some shrew; she was merely speaking clearly and audibly, her voice further amplified by the wide and open lobby. Even if she did not yell, her current volume was more than enough for the people around them to hear her.
The people sitting near the entrance of the café were already looking towards their direction, and the ones that were about to enter the shops had also halted in their tracks. Instead of entering the shops, some seemed to be walking closer towards them too.
They did not know who Lu Weining and Lin Chu were, nor did they care about Lu Weining"s status, so they did not hide their desire to witness some drama unfolding.
"If you"re able to do such shameful things, why are you so scared about people talking about you? You"re shameless, yet you want to hide your shamefulness." Lin Chu stepped forward slightly and leaned close against Lu Weining"s ear to whisper, "Basically, you want to act like a sl*t, yet you want to build a chast.i.ty memorial arch for yourself too."
Lin Chu"s lips pulled up into a belittling sneer as she took a step back to see rage creep itself over Lu Weining"s features. Lu Weining seethed, "Lin Chu, watch your words!"
"You"re not even watching your actions, so why should I watch my words? You"re a dirty person anyway, so how do you expect me to watch the way I speak to you?" spat Lin Chu, her gaze running across the people that had surrounded them to watch what was going on before once again settling upon Lu Weining"s face.
"Miss Lu, as the invaluable daughter of the Lu family of Ning City and the General Manager of Xing Chuang, I advise you to act with more dignity and to stop doing all these lowly things. There are so many men under the sky, stop eyeing mine. I know that my man is amazing, but he"s mine, and acting like a sl*t to s.n.a.t.c.h him away is just immoral so reason isn"t standing on your side today. Not only do you keep coming by here to hara.s.s me, you say that I don"t deserve my boyfriend, are you making a joke? If I don"t deserve him, do you? You think you"re such a match for him, yet my boyfriend doesn"t like you at all and doesn"t think of you at all. Whether or not you deserve him isn"t decided by you. Not only do you not have the right to make decisions for him, you also have no right to go around dictating who he dates or not.
"The elders in your family haven"t said anything, so how is it your turn to come here and criticize me? Miss Lu, someone isn"t required to like you back just because you like that person, you"re not loved, you"re not even liked. If you think he"ll listen to whatever you have to say, then go and tell him directly that I don"t deserve him and he should dump me, why do you have to come and bother me about it?"
"Lin Chu, you"re being too much!" Lu Weining was also shocked at Lin Chu"s words.
Who knew Lin Chu would deliberately expose her ident.i.ty like so, mentioning things like the Lu family of Ning City and the General Manager of Xing Chuang, all such specific t.i.tles had been thrown out. Just a simple search online would immediately reveal her ident.i.ty to anyone.
If that were to happen, she would not only be embarra.s.sing herself but also the entire Lu family as well.
"How am I being too much? You come looking me and insist on forcing me to break up with my boyfriend yet you"re neither an elder of his or anyone he"s particularly close to. You come here and start telling me to do this and do that, you"re in over your head!" spat Lin Chu.
Lu Weining was slightly taller than her, not to mention she was wearing high heels which were much higher than Lin Chu"s own pair, so Lin Chu naturally had to lift her head when she was talking to her. However, this did not weaken Lin Chu"s imposing manner at all. Although she had to lift her head, it was as if she was not looking up at the person, rather it made Lu Weining feel like she was too stout and st.u.r.dy. For the first time in her life, she wished she was a little shorter.
"Am I wrong? Do I still need to be polite to a shameless homewrecker that uses every trick up her sleeve to seduce my boyfriend? That sounds so illogical. Lu Weining, I suggest you ask the people here whether is it you that is being shameless or am I truly being too much."
The crowd that had gathered to watch had not spoken at all so far, merely watching the drama unfold quietly. However, once Lin Chu"s statement fell, a young lady that was eating a bag of pepper and sea salt-flavored potato ch.i.p.s loudly immediately shook a finger at Lu Weining, a few potato ch.i.p.s still in her grasp, before loudly shouting, "The homewrecker"s the one that"s wrong, of course. How shameless!"
"I know, shameless!" There"s no need to be polite to someone like that. You"re being too nice, young lady. You should be hitting and scolding her, spitting on her, or cursing her entire family and her ancestors!"
"This person is so shameless. Who did you say she was again, young lady? She seems to be quite famous, right?"
"I"ve heard of Xing Chuang Entertainment, it"s quite a famous agency, made a few youth fantasy films and made a few handsome teen idols famous too. I didn"t expect the General Manager of the company, or maybe the entertainment industry, to be so shameless."
Noticing that her name was being spread around now, Lu Weining glared resentfully at Lin Chu. "You"re despicable!"
Lin Chu was unwilling to talk with her privately and had to speak so loudly here so that she could draw everyone"s attention to them before exposing her ident.i.ty meant that Lin Chu was clearly out to tarnish her reputation and defame her!
Lin Chu clicked her tongue once before saying, "So you"re allowed to be shameless by coming here to bother me, but I can"t further embarra.s.s you? Since you"re already so shameless then you shouldn"t be afraid of me calling you out!"
She really felt that this was quite ridiculous; Lu Weining was doing such shameful things while berating her at the same time. From Lu Weining"s reaction, it was obvious she knew what she was doing was bad and would be embarra.s.sing if exposed. However, since she knew, she still insisted on bothering Lin Chu here and still wanted to fly into a rage because she was humiliated.
Lin Chu really wanted to see just what kind of brain Lu Weining had if she could think that everyone revolved around her and the world would bend backward for her.
She impatiently glanced at her phone. "I"m sorry, I have to get back to work now."
Once her words fell, Lin Chu brushed past Lu Weining without so much as a glance at her.
With so many people watching them, Lu Weining did not dare stop Lin Chu either. Seeing that Lin Chu had left, she also hurriedly left the place with her head ducked, her heart br.i.m.m.i.n.g with hatred.
Lin Chu had just arrived at her office when her phone buzzed with the arrival of a message.
At work, it would be annoying to hear her phone go off with the message ringtone from time to time, especially if the office was very quiet since a sudden ring of the phone would be very awkward, so Lin Chu usually had her phone set to vibrate.
As she settled down into her seat, she took out her phone to see the notification of a message from an unknown number on her lock screen.
She unlocked her phone to check it only to see that it was quite a long message. "Lin Chu, h.e.l.lo, this is Lu Weining. Since you"re so unwilling to properly talk to me, then I can only talk to you like this. You came to pick up Beicheng yesterday so you probably already know this, but Beicheng has been worried about his business for a while now. Yesterday night, he was meeting President Quan Zhiwu of D.N.Y Asia and they were discussing about a theme park."
Maybe because she was no longer directly in front of her which meant she did not have to worry about Lin Chu acting out, Lu Weining"s bad habit of intimately addressing Yan Beicheng acted up again.
Lin Chu felt her anger rise again and it truly was fortunate that Lu Weining was not with her now, otherwise, she definitely would have taught her a lesson so that Lu Weining would no longer dare to address Yan Beicheng so intimately.
Unfortunately, there was no way for her to express her anger since she was only reading a paragraph of text. She stared long at the "Beicheng" that Lu Weining had typed and wondered if she felt happy as she wrote that part of the message. It was truly an eyesore because Lin Chu felt that she could see through Lu Weining"s feelings through this text alone.
"Yan Hui has quite a few compet.i.tors this time, so Quan Zhiwu didn"t explicitly say whether or not he"ll be pa.s.sing this to Yan Hui. On the surface, it seemed like he didn"t have much interest in collaborating with Yan Hui and the choice is his to make as well. Coincidentally, I"m on familiar terms with Quan Zhiwu, so I can endorse Yan Hui.
"Lin Chu, it"s true that when there isn"t much going on, you can be as sweet as honey with Yan Beicheng because you don"t have anything to worry about. However, when Beicheng has issues at work, you can do nothing except watch and worry. You can only watch as Beicheng worries constantly and racks his brain about work all by himself since he doesn"t even have a single person that he can talk to or discuss his work problems about.
"You"re his girlfriend, probably even the person that is the closest to him, yet he has things that he cannot tell you, maybe because he"s afraid that you"ll worry. Even if he does tell you, you can"t do anything to help so you can only hover around beside him in worry, which will only make him even more anxious. You can"t offer any help, yet you"re constantly showing him that you"re worried, sooner or later he"ll only find you troubling and he won"t even want to look at you anymore.
"Besides, you don"t understand his work, so there"s no use in him telling you about it. Other than the trivial matters that happen in the life you both share, what else do you both have in common? He"s a man, a man that works outside diligently, a man that is doing great things in life, so he can"t be bothered about life"s trivial matters. You keep bothering him with the trivial matters and the little things, which he"ll be fed up with as time goes by. Slowly but surely, you both will even lose this common topic.
"He might not think much of it when you can"t help him with work once or twice, but as that goes on, he"ll definitely feel defeated and he"ll only regret the decision he"s made now. When that happens, he"ll want to look for a wife who can help him out, a wife who he can bring with him out to network with other people.
"You"ve never experienced things like that so you wouldn"t know how to interact with the wives of rich households. You don"t know how to deal with them nor do you know what to talk to them about. You"ll only be scrambling about in situations like those, which won"t be much help to him. He hasn"t brought you to any banquet dinners or business meetings, right? He tells you that he"s scared you can"t handle it or that you"ll get nervous, but deep down, how do you know he doesn"t think you"ll embarra.s.s him?"
As Lin Chu read the message, she realized that Lu Weining had thoughtfully written it in paragraphs so that Lin Chu"s would not be confused.
If she had not spoken to Yan Beicheng before, then she might have been affected by Lu Weining"s words now and would start overthinking things, maybe even feeling a lack of confidence and cowardice in her heart. There was no avoiding thinking that way, and if she had been affected by Lu Weining"s words, her negative thoughts might get the better of her and she might even jump to terrible conclusions.
However, she had talked about this topic with Yan Beicheng before in the past, so she was not affected in the slightest.
Lu Weining said that Yan Beicheng did not bring her to any banquet dinners nor did he introduce her to the wives of rich households.
However, Yan Beicheng himself did not attend these banquet dinners as well. Other than necessary business dinners, which gave her no reason for partic.i.p.ation, he would usually get off work early most of the time so that he could pick her up and they would go home together. He has never abandoned her to attend some banquet dinner by himself.
Besides, he had introduced her to Qi Chengzhi and Han Zhuoli, a few of his closest friends, and their wives as well.
These people were of much higher status than those that would attend banquet dinners, and not only had he introduced her to them, both of them had received their approvals and blessings as well. Some of them even shown her a different side of themselves than the ones that they have shown the public.
All of his friends were quite crafty people, yet they did not avoid her and instead accepted her wholeheartedly and treated her as a friend, all because of Yan Beicheng.
If it were someone else instead of her, they would definitely not be so relaxed and trustful.
Since both of them had already received the approvals and blessings of Qi Chengzhi and the rest, why did she have to care about those that were irrelevant to Yan Beicheng?
Yan Beicheng had even brought her back to the family mansion, where the pair of family elders had treated her kindly and had spoken genuinely from the bottom of their hearts to her. They even told her about the things that they usually kept to themselves without sparing a single detail. If this was not accepting her, then what was?
However, Lin Chu could not be bothered to explain to Lu Weining since not only would Lu Weining ignore her, she probably would not believe her at all.
Lin Chu did not reply to her and closed the message only for Lu Weining to send a new one.
"However, I"m different, I can help him. I can help him with his business deals and I have a network of my own. I know how to interact with presidents and their wives, I know what kind of att.i.tude I need to use when I"m mixing in with them. Besides, if I meet someone I"m close to that can also help with Beicheng"s business, I can even act as their go-between. Take Quan Zhiwu for example, I can help Beicheng out but you can"t."
Lu Weining seemed to be quite agitated because as not long after sending this message, another one followed.
"I say you don"t deserve him not because you"re not a good person. If we put our ident.i.ties aside, everyone is equal, so there isn"t the problem of who is undeserving of who. However, the difference in status has always existed since the old days and it cannot be cast aside no matter what, which means there"ll never be true equality between people. You don"t deserve him because your status doesn"t match his, but mine does." This refers to Bian Lian, which literally means face-changing, that is an ancient Chinese dramatic art part of the more general Sichuan opera. Read more on it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bian_lian