Chapter 41.1

When a newcomer reported for duty, as a manager who hadn’t officially taken up her position yet, Xu Yuan naturally had to go and take a look. She had heard from Manager Zhang that the new hire was her assistant.

Xu Yuan didn’t delay for long. After handing off her current work to someone else, she left the finance department and headed to the public welfare project department.

Before she reached the department, she overheard two colleagues in front of her discussing quietly as they walked. “The new assistant is really handsome. He looks like that guy. I wonder if he has a girlfriend.”

Xu Yuan couldn’t help but laugh softly. It seemed her new assistant was quite a handsome guy.

“I think he looks pretty average. I don’t really like this delicate type, he’s too young. I prefer mature men like President Meng.”

“President Meng? But he’s already married!”

“Even if Wu Yanzu is married, his fans haven’t decreased. My feelings for President Meng are just like yours for Wu Yanzu.”

In the past, Xu Yuan hadn’t paid much attention to Meng Zhengrong’s looks. After all, she had been afraid to look directly at his face. But now that she had moved past that mindset, she could see that Meng Zhengrong wasn’t bad looking at all.

But to say that Meng Zhengrong was mature? Was there really no mistake there? Or had she misheard?

Hearing her subordinates discuss her husband felt rather sour.

“Ahem.” Xu Yuan cleared her throat, hoping to attract the attention of the two fangirls in front of her.

She had a decent relationship with the people in her department, and the atmosphere was relaxed, so speaking up now wouldn’t be too awkward.

The two female colleagues turned around and, upon seeing Xu Yuan, were momentarily stunned before smiling and greeting, “Good morning, Manager!”

“Good morning! What are you two discussing?” Xu Yuan naturally walked over to them.

One of the female colleagues was quick to take the coffee cup from Xu Yuan’s hand.

“The new colleague is really handsome. We were just saying he could go into showbiz.”

“I think he looks pretty average. He seems too young.”

Xu Yuan smiled and asked, “Really that handsome? I guess even President Meng will want to come take a look.”

She didn’t usually like discussing Meng Zhengrong in front of her subordinates, but sometimes it was necessary to mention him to bridge the gap.

For example, discussing the looks of their husbands.

Half of the finance department was already married, and during lunchtime, they often complained or talked about their husbands, using it as a way to bond.

The two female colleagues laughed at Xu Yuan’s comment, realizing she must have overheard their previous conversation. Since she didn’t mind and was willing to discuss President Meng, they felt much more relaxed.

Meng Zhengrong and Xu Yuan were two extremes.

Everyone in the company knew that Meng Zhengrong was aloof and rarely smiled. Several high-ranking managers feared him, but his wife was said to be completely different, maintaining a close relationship with her department colleagues.

However, between the couple, whether at home or work, one played the bad cop while the other played the good cop, with clear divisions of labor that made things less tiring.

Now it seemed that Meng Zhengrong and Xu Yuan were leaning towards this dynamic.

“Not as handsome as President Meng! You can rest assured!”

The three chatted and laughed as they arrived at the department.

The project department was divided into four sections: the largest was a public workspace for employees, one office belonged to Xu Yuan, and there was a small meeting room along with a room for storing documents.

“Manager, the new colleague is in the meeting room reviewing materials.”

As soon as Xu Yuan entered, one male colleague pointed to the meeting room and told her.

“Okay, thanks.”

Xu Yuan didn’t go directly to the meeting room but headed to her office first, where she found the materials that Manager Zhang had given her. What could she talk about with someone she didn’t know at all, who would be her subordinate? This information would serve as the best topic for conversation.

Xu Yuan had previously managed many people, but it was her first time chatting with a new hire in her current role.

As she opened the manila envelope while walking to the meeting room, she reminded herself that while she was the superior here, she still needed to respect others. Before entering, she knocked on the door and then pushed it open.

The man sitting at the conference table was dressed in a white shirt, looking at the materials. Hearing the knock, he raised his head and glanced towards the door, their gazes meeting.

Unfortunately, real life wasn’t like a TV show where important moments happened in slow motion.

Xu Yuan’s pupils constricted. Just when she had given up searching for that person, he appeared right in front of her in this way.

Fang Mingyang felt uneasy inside. He had just graduated not long ago. After his previous company went bankrupt, he submitted his resume to Meng Corporation out of curiosity. To his surprise, he successfully passed all the interviews and was hired.

From receiving the phone call to this moment, he had been excited, although he appeared calm on the outside, not wanting to look like a naïve rookie.

When he heard the knock on the door, he felt anxious. Earlier that morning, when he registered at the HR department and signed his onboarding documents, the HR manager had reminded him that the manager of the public welfare project department was the boss’s wife.

When he heard someone calling for the manager, he knew it was the boss’s wife. He clumsily pondered for a long time whether to go out and greet her or to stay put and wait in the meeting room.

While Xu Yuan was in shock, Fang Mingyang was also stunned.

Before starting his job, some of his college classmates had helped him look up information about Meng Corporation, so he wouldn’t be clueless when he arrived.

He had heard that the Meng family had formed an alliance with the Xu family and that the current boss’s wife was the daughter of the Xu family…

He had never encountered anyone from a wealthy family before and didn’t expect to be so close to someone from high society one day. What surprised him even more was that Mrs. Meng was like this.

He could say that Mrs. Meng was the most beautiful person he had ever seen in real life. Even the campus beauty from university couldn’t compare to her.

She had a fresh look, dressed elegantly, and her whole demeanor made it clear that they were from completely different worlds.

Fang Mingyang instinctively stood up, even wanting to bow. However, just as he got up and hadn’t had the chance to greet her, Mrs. Meng turned around and left.

He stood there in shock, unsure of what had just happened.

Other colleagues in the public welfare project department saw Xu Yuan turn and leave, looking at each other in confusion. What was going on?

Could it be that the new guy offended Xu Yuan?

But that didn’t seem likely, since the project department wasn’t very large, and Xu Yuan was just standing at the door. They hadn’t interacted at all, so what was going on?

While everyone was bewildered, Xu Yuan quickly ran to the restroom. There was no one there at the moment, and she entered a stall, closing the door behind her. Leaning against the partition, her hands were trembling, and she could barely stand.

She bit her tongue to feel the pain, which helped her regain some composure. Her fingers trembled as she opened the crumpled paper bag she had been gripping tightly.

Fang Mingyang, male, twenty-four years old.

He wasn’t just someone with the same name or surname. He looked exactly like the person she had seen that day!

She had encountered someone who looked just like the Emperor, and now she had met someone who looked just like her cousin?

What was happening?

Even though she saw that Meng Zhengrong looked just like the Emperor, she had only felt fear for a short time. Now she had successfully separated the two in her mind because she didn’t owe the Emperor anything.

But her cousin was different. Her cousin was her obsession and her heart’s knot.

Xu Yuan felt that her past life had been quite dramatic and tumultuous. When she was three years old, her biological father had submitted a memorial accusing a certain official of corruption. As a result, the memorial was intercepted, and her family was set on fire. She only escaped because her aunt had taken her to her home for a couple of days.