Chapter 6

Chi Xiting never expected to suddenly run into the male lead like this. For a moment, he forgot to look away, staring at Huo Youshen for quite a while.

He had quite an impression of Huo Youshen, after all, he was the male lead.

However, it wouldn’t be accurate to say he felt any affection.

As the male lead, Huo Youshen’s qualities were at their peak—handsome, capable, and as a favored child of destiny, nearly all luck seemed to accumulate around him. Projects that others overlooked turned into treasures in his hands, while collaborations others fought tooth and nail for landed effortlessly in his lap.

—-

In theory, such workplace rising stories are quite appealing to the average worker, as no employee would fail to daydream about their own rise to success, being promoted by influential figures, and having a smooth career path. But for Chi Xiting, Huo Youshen’s path felt too fantastical, too out of reach, to connect with.

Perhaps Chi Xiting’s gaze was too direct. Standing by the door, Huo Youshen looked over, and their eyes met.

Huo Youshen’s bangs were slightly long, partially covering his eyebrows. His pitch-black eyes held a cold glint, and when he looked up, his gaze was light, only raising and lowering his lashes slightly, as if he didn’t really care to look at anyone.

Huo Youshen indeed had the arrogance to back it up.

Chi Xiting also shifted his gaze, not giving much thought to encountering Huo Youshen. He casually headed towards the break room for a drink.

“Which meeting room are you going to?” Li Yang asked, not lifting his head as he organized some documents.

Huo Youshen lowered his eyes briefly, then, unable to resist, glanced at Chi Xiting. After following his gaze for a moment, he turned away and answered, “Not many people.”

Li Yang turned back, confused. “Huh?”

Huo Youshen raised his eyes, his expression calm, showing no embarrassment for not having listened. “What did you just ask me?”

“I asked which meeting room you’re going to?” Li Yang repeated, puzzled. “What’s wrong with you? Never seen you spaced out before.”

“2703.” Huo Youshen replied, raising an eyebrow. He didn’t answer the second question, lazily raised a hand, and said, “Let’s go, we’re late.”

Seeing Huo Youshen’s reluctance to respond, Li Yang shrugged and wisely didn’t press further, following him to the meeting room.

“Wasn’t Manager Shen coming back tomorrow?” Li Yang asked. “Then who’s organizing this meeting?”

Huo Youshen spoke slowly, his voice low, as if not wanting to exert too much effort in talking. “Not sure. They said President Chu would come, but now it’s uncertain.”

“President Chu?” Li Yang’s eyes widened, and his voice rose. “Is this meeting that important? Can’t be, right?”

Huo Youshen chuckled. “Even if it’s not important, it’s still a Chu Corporation project.”

“Wow.” Li Yang’s tone was filled with excitement. “If he really comes, it’ll be incredible. You don’t know how many teachers used him as a case study back when I was in school.”

Huo Youshen didn’t respond, clearly having heard President Chu’s name many times back when he was in school too.

Li Yang subconsciously lowered his head to focus on the documents again, no longer interested in talking to Huo Youshen. He just wanted to review his plans and PPTs during this time, hoping to avoid making a fool of himself in front of President Chu, even if he didn’t expect to grab his attention.

Huo Youshen, on the other hand, seemed completely indifferent.

He had said it was uncertain.

Whether or not President Chu would come was still up in the air, so there was no use preparing at the last minute.

Meanwhile, Zhou Shan knocked on the door, waited for a response, then pushed it open and walked toward President Chu’s desk. She noticed the coffee on the desk and paused for a moment, then glanced at the break room next door, quickly guessing the reason.

Knowing President Chu’s temperament, Zhou Shan didn’t bring up the issue directly but quietly added the task of replacing the coffee machine to the schedule.

“President Chu,” Zhou Shan said, looking down at the schedule on her tablet. “This afternoon at three, there’s a meeting with the senior management of Runfeng, but it conflicts with the internal project discussion meeting…”

“Which department?” Chu Yu asked, flipping through the neatly arranged papers on his desk. After scanning them, he signed and asked.

“Marketing,” Zhou Shan replied.

“When is Shen Zhiwen coming back?”

“Tomorrow, back to B City.”

“Then meet with the senior management of Runfeng.”

Zhou Shan nodded as expected and continued scrolling on the tablet. “Also, at five, you need to go to Yun’an Overseas Chinese City. For dinner, Mr. Luo from the Luo family made a reservation two days ago…”

“Okay.” Chu Yu was already used to his packed schedule and, after hearing a brief summary, instructed Zhou Shan to prepare.

As Zhou Shan was about to leave, Chu Yu’s voice came again.

“By the way, have the interns been arranged?”

Zhou Shan’s heart skipped a beat, as if something crossed her mind. She instinctively pressed her lips together and hesitated. “They’ve all been arranged.”

“Bring me their resumes.”

Zhou Shan blinked, her tone even more hesitant. “Uh, do you need the resumes of all the interns, or just a specific one or department?”

The air was still for a moment.

Chu Yu picked up a pen, his gaze still on the papers in front of him. As the pen touched the lower corner of the document with sharp strokes, his deep, magnetic voice finally spoke.

“Marketing department.”

Zhou Shan’s heart fluttered as her gaze locked on Chu Yu.

Chu Yu didn’t raise his head. His expression was unchanged, his hair neatly groomed, his bangs held back with hair gel, revealing his prominent brow bones. He wore half-frame glasses on his nose, his eyes narrow with long, thick lashes that didn’t curl but pointed straight down, slightly obscuring his pupils, making it hard to read his emotions.

Seeing Zhou Shan’s lack of response, Chu Yu glanced up lightly.

Zhou Shan quickly nodded in acknowledgment, “Understood, President Chu.”

After leaving Chu Yu’s office, Zhou Shan headed straight to the president’s office and took out the stack of resumes from the marketing department’s interns.

Zhou Shan had managed to rise from a small assistant to the head of the president’s office in just a few years, not just because she was meticulous and capable, but also due to her sharp observation skills and boldness.

She would observe and dare to guess Chu Yu’s thoughts.

But did Chu Yu choose the resume of the marketing department intern by coincidence, or was he specifically looking at someone’s resume?

Zhou Shan had doubts and flipped through another resume. After staring at it for a while, she still couldn’t make a judgment.

—-

The marketing department interns in this batch were the highest quality of all the interns, almost all from top-tier 985 universities. Their resumes were impressive, with scholarships every year or gold medals from various competitions.

But there was one exception.

This person came from a regular university, with an average academic record and no outstanding achievements or bright points on their resume.

Except for their outstanding appearance.

Logically, such a resume wouldn’t be in Chu Yu’s talent pool.

It was most likely through some other channel.

Zhou Shan didn’t look down on this approach—she believed in striving for her future. Moreover, this was only an internship. To become a permanent employee, one could not rely on anything but personal abilities.

After pondering for a while without reaching a conclusion, Zhou Shan gave up on guessing the reason and organized the resumes before sending them to Chu Yu’s office.

—-

The break room in the marketing department was large, with a variety of drinks in the fridge—everything from soda to coffee, tea to coconut water, and an array of fruits for the season, all washed and cut neatly.

The shelves next to the fridge were also neatly stocked with various snacks.

Chu’s benefits were again made tangible at this moment.

The three weekly afternoon teas had, to some extent, become just a formality.

With the scale today, it felt like an afternoon tea every day.

Chi Xiting glanced at the snacks but skipped them since she hadn’t completely digested her lunch and headed straight to the fridge to grab a bottle of coconut water.

Xing Panpan hadn’t assigned any other tasks to Chi Xiting, perhaps thinking that the activity draft was enough for her to process for a while.

Chi Xiting was past the age of actively seeking tasks, so after finishing her work, she started browsing Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu).

This was the unparalleled relaxation brought by a perfect workstation.

It was perfectly fine to browse the internet during work hours without being noticed, and she could even create an immersive work atmosphere.

After browsing a few store exploration posts, Chi Xiting suddenly came across a daily life post.

The post’s title was “What should I do if I find myself falling in love with my boss?”

Chi Xiting furrowed her brows, her dark eyes revealing some disbelief. After a moment of hesitation, she couldn’t hold back her curiosity and clicked on the post.

[Lemon Not Sour]: “It’s like this. I just joined the company this year. Due to restructuring, a lot of staff were reduced. So after I joined, my boss personally mentored me. Naturally, we had a lot of communication at work.”

[Lemon Not Sour]: “He is a very capable person, rational and intelligent, and emotionally very stable. This is my first time in this industry, so there are many things I don’t understand and often make mistakes. But he has never scolded me. Instead, he calmly helps me analyze and solve problems. Well… since I’m from out of town and don’t have any other friends in City A, after he found out, he helped me a lot privately. After spending time together day and night, I suddenly realized I might have fallen for him…”

[Lemon Not Sour]: “I used to really hate going to work. If I hadn’t quit my last job, I wouldn’t have taken a gap year before finding the courage to find a new one. But after I realized I like him, I feel extremely motivated every day at work. The thought of seeing him in the office excites me. Ah, what should I do in this situation?”

[Little Lamb]: “Haha, sure enough, this world is a huge place for romantic fates: falling for the teacher in school, falling for the instructor in military training, falling for the barber while getting a haircut, falling for the boss at work…”

[Purebred Cow Horse]: “Let him assign you more tasks to make him behave properly.”

[One Punch to Destroy the World]: “Why, why? Am I the only one who just wants to punch my colleagues and boss when I’m at work?”

[Lulu]: “Actually, I can understand the original poster. From what she describes, her boss is indeed very charismatic. If they’re both single, maybe she can try.”

[Yu Li]: “Yeah, it’s rare to have a boss who’s patient and responsible in mentoring new people. If I were the original poster, in that kind of environment, I might fall for him too.”

[Ice Lemon]: “If he’s also handsome, it’s a paradise for admiration of strength.”

[All Hyeon I Mouth]: “After reading the comments, I don’t understand why people would have feelings for their boss. Is work not hard enough?”

Indeed.

Is work not hard enough?

Chi Xiting paused for two seconds on the last comment, silently liked it, and then closed the post. She sighed softly, feeling like this was the consequence of browsing Little Red Book during work.

Respecting and blessing but not understanding.

Falling for a boss?

What a niche topic…