Chapter 48. Secretary Shen, please.

Back in her office, Shen Mengqing still felt a little regretful. In the quiet and deserted boardroom, she couldn't hear the lively discussions of others.

To be honest, Yu Xin gave her a thoroughly satisfying sense of revenge this time. Even now, she still feels waves of exhilaration surging in her chest, a feeling that is exhilarating and hard to calm down.

What she didn't expect was that Liang Jun was also fired along with Zhang Tu.

Liang Jun stealing Zhang Tu's proposal was just a small trigger. The real reason he was fired was that he had made a private agreement with some clients that he would receive a few percent kickback after facilitating cooperation between Yu Sheng and the other party. Over the years, he had profited tens of millions from this.

When Jiang Yu saw the announcement, he immediately sent a message to Shen Mengqing, saying that it was truly a blessing from heaven that this bad guy had finally been punished.

Yu Xin and Chen Mo gathered evidence very quickly; no wonder they've been so busy these past few days.

When it was time to leave work in the morning, Shen Mengqing scrolled through his chat list, planning to invite Jiang Yu to lunch at the cafeteria.

Suddenly, a new message popped up at the top of the list; it was from Zhu Shaoming.

After having dinner together last time, Shen Mengqing added Zhu Shaoming as a friend. She paused, wondering what he might want to talk to her about.

Zhu Shaoming:

"Young Master Yu, what kind of birthday present do you want tomorrow? Tell me, and maybe I'll grant your wish."

It turns out it was sent to the wrong person.

Shen Mengqing reminded him, "I am not that young master Yu."

Zhu Shaoming immediately retracted the message and sent an apologetic emoji.

After agreeing to meet Jiang Yu at the cafeteria, Shen Mengqing stood up from his workstation and left the office.

She inexplicably thought of Zhu Shaoming's message several times along the way. Yu Xin's birthday on his ID card does seem to be tomorrow. If that's the case, he's only twenty-six years old.

As a secretary, shouldn't she prepare a gift for her boss?

Shen Mengqing didn't have much experience giving gifts to men, so she brought up the question to Jiang Yu during dinner. Jiang Yu, however, gave an irrelevant answer: "It depends on who you want to give it to, a regular male friend or someone you're having a flirtation with?"

She spoke the last four words in a drawn-out tone, looking at Shen Mengqing with a mischievous smile.

“An ordinary male…boss,” Shen Mengqing said.

Jiang Yu: "Yu Xin?"

Shen Mengqing choked; she should have vaguely said it was a colleague.

Jiang Yu lowered his head and thought for a while, then said, "That depends on whether you're acting in a public or private capacity."

Shen Mengqing said seriously, "There is only business between him and me."

"Yes, yes, it's just business." Jiang Yu looked unconvinced.

She initially thought Yu Xin's aloof personality wasn't suitable for a boyfriend, but after he took office at Yusheng, Jiang Yu discovered he was actually quite reliable. More importantly, she could see that Yu Xin treated Shen Mengqing very differently.

However, she always felt that after Shen Mengqing was emotionally abused and dumped by Lin Xiangyang, she was somewhat disillusioned with love and didn't know if her old classmate could win over her.

"Ah Qing, you and Lin Xiangyang broke up so long ago, and he's already living with Wan Zhen. Don't you want to date someone else?" Jiang Yu asked Shen Mengqing.

Shen Mengqing smiled faintly: "It all depends on fate."

Jiang Yu swallowed the food in her mouth: "You weren't hurt by Lin Xiangyang, were you? I've seen some girls online who are like that too. After being broken up with by their boyfriends through emotional abuse, they don't dare to establish intimate relationships for a long time."

Shen Mengqing honestly replied, "A little bit."

Just like how she could only have a casual, superficial relationship with Yu Xin before, it was difficult for her to develop it into a romantic one.

No matter how deeply she loved Lin Xiangyang, six years was enough time to build a thick, long blood vessel between them. Once severed, it takes time to repair.

Fortunately, she saw through Lin Xiangyang's truly wicked nature, and she has now fully recovered.

Of course, Yu Xin deserves some credit as well.

Unable to get any useful advice from Jiang Yu, Shen Mengqing thought about it all night and finally decided to order a flower basket for Yu Xin the next day.

She made a special note on the takeout order: "This is for my boss. Please make sure the bouquet is in a calm and dignified color."

Shen Mengqing thought that this would ensure everything was foolproof, but to her surprise, the flower basket delivered by the merchant in the afternoon was filled with carnations and lilies, which were very elegant and beautiful, but it was clear that the merchant had tacitly agreed that she was sending them to a female leader.

After mentally preparing herself, she picked up a flower basket and knocked on the door of the chairman's office.

Fang Li came in just then. She saw Shen Mengqing and said loudly to her, "Secretary Shen, President Yu and Assistant Chen went out this morning and said they won't be back today. They won't be seeing any guests."

"Oh, I see."

Shen Mengqing breathed a sigh of relief.

I'll take these flowers home and put them there.

Since no one was in the office right now, she thought she might as well sneak another gift into Yu Xin's office.

Fang Li hadn't left yet. She was drinking a glass of warm water when she walked over, slipping on her fluffy slippers that she kept in the office.

Upon seeing the flowers in Shen Mengqing's hand, she exclaimed in surprise, "Secretary Shen, these flowers are so beautiful! Are you giving them to someone?"

Shen Mengqing smiled guiltily: "No, I just thought the chairman's office was too plain, so I thought I'd put some flowers in there."

"It is a bit monotonous." Fang Li remembered something, her eyes lighting up. "I happen to have a useless vase. Come with me, let's put the flowers in it together!"

Fang Li reached out and took Shen Mengqing's arm, leading her to the front desk.

There was a hidden door near the front desk, behind which was a storage room. Fang Li pushed open the door, and there was a vase on the cabinet by the door. She had originally put a few plum blossoms in it, but they had gone bad because she hadn't changed the water a couple of days ago, so she had to throw them all away.

“I just washed this vase before I left work yesterday, so you can put the flowers in it directly,” she said.

The vase has beautiful patterns on its body, is crystal clear, and is the perfect height.

The essence of flower arrangement lies in its sparse and elegant simplicity; too much will detract from its beauty.

Shen Mengqing picked out a few light-colored carnations and lilies and put them in. She and Fang Li divided the rest and placed them at their respective workstations.

She had the spare key to the chairman's office. Shen Mengqing opened the office door. She wasn't sure if Yu Xin would like having flowers on her desk, so she placed the vase on the coffee table in front of the sofa.

After she left the office, locked the door again, and returned to her workstation, Shen Mengqing noticed a bag in front of the cabinet and realized that she had forgotten to put the proper gift in Yu Xin's office.

Coincidentally, she received a call from Yu Xin the next second.

"Hello?"

While answering the phone, she glanced at the time on her computer screen; it was time to leave work.

There was silence on Yu Xin's end. His deep voice came through the receiver: "Hello, are you still in the office?"

Shen Mengqing packed her things and replied, "Yes, what's up?"

“I urgently need a document. Could you please deliver it to me? I’ll cover the round-trip transportation costs,” Yu Xin said.

Shen Mengqing thought for a moment. Since his neighborhood was quite close to hers, she could conveniently deliver the gift to him. She agreed, saying, "Okay."

Yu Xin told her where the documents were and then arranged a car for her.

Shen Mengqing got into the car, and the driver greeted her warmly. Soon, after turning the first bend, she realized that the route was not quite right.

"Master, this isn't the route to Fujiang Road, is it?" she asked curiously.

The driver glanced at his phone, then looked at her in surprise through the rearview mirror: "Miss, weren't you going to Tanxiang Road? You didn't get on the wrong bus, did you?"

Shen Mengqing was taken aback and quickly picked up her phone to confirm with Yu Xin. She clearly checked the license plate number before getting into the car.

There really were unread messages from him.

Dog-headed Boss:

"I forgot to mention on the phone that the address for delivering the documents isn't the apartment complex across from yours, it's my other home."

"..."

Why didn't you say so sooner!

Shen Mengqing angrily threw down her phone and the gift bag in her hand, and said, "Master, that's right, please continue driving."

"Alright, there's still half an hour left, young lady, you can rest for a bit," the driver replied.

Shen Mengqing turned on the water bottle beside her, tilted her head back and took a few gulps. The cool water rushed into her body, and she stared absently at the endless stream of cars outside the window.

She wasn't stupid. Yu Xin was usually meticulous in his work, so it was hard not to suspect that he had done it on purpose by forgetting to mention the address.

For the sake of his birthday, she reluctantly let it go.

Several tens of minutes later, as the car slowly drove into the villa complex, Shen Mengqing's eyes gradually widened.

She felt as if she had stumbled into the territory of a wealthy and powerful family, surrounded by villas and estates.

The driver stopped at the address Yu Xin had set. Shen Mengqing got out of the car with her things and stood in front of an iron gate.

She pressed the doorbell, and after a short while, the door slowly opened.

A kind-looking auntie stood in front of the door. She smiled warmly at Shen Mengqing and said, "You must be Miss Shen?"

Shen Mengqing nodded and said politely, "Hello, Auntie, I'm here to see General Manager Yu."

"Just call me Aunt Chen. He was on the phone with a client and asked me to come to the door to meet you."

Aunt Chen tried to take the things from Shen Mengqing's hands, but Shen Mengqing waved her hand and politely declined.

Aunt Chen smiled and continued, "I know you. You're Mr. Yu's secretary. My son is Chen Mo, so you two are colleagues."

Shen Mengqing opened her mouth in surprise. She had just been wondering if Aunt Chen was Yu Xin's mother, but then she felt that her appearance and behavior were not quite right. It turned out that she was Assistant Chen's mother.

Upon closer inspection, it's true that Assistant Chen does bear a resemblance to her.

“I started working for the Yu family when Mr. Yu was just a child, so I practically watched him grow up. He always argued with his father, so when he was a teenager, he moved out on his own. His father had an accident recently, as you probably know, and he only came back to stay a few times after that.”

“Today is his birthday. I called him a couple of days ago to ask him to come back and stay. He can’t spend this kind of day alone.”

Aunt Chen chattered on and on as she and Shen Mengqing walked across the soft lawn. Shen Mengqing didn't find it tedious and listened quietly.

"Although his actions sound rebellious, he actually suffered a lot from a young age. His mother... well, I won't go into details about his family situation, but he really had no one to love or care for him. He's a very grateful person. I've taken care of him many times, and he remembers it all. He paid for all of Chen Mo's expenses from university to graduate school."

Yu Xin hung up the phone and stood in front of the house. When Aunt Chen saw him, she stopped talking about the past and brought up ordinary small talk.

Shen Mengqing walked up to Yu Xin and handed him the folder. Aunt Chen pinched Yu Xin and said, "You invited him to sit in the living room. What's the point of standing?"

Yu Xin gave Shen Mengqing a look: "Secretary Shen, please."

Shen Mengqing originally intended to leave after handing over the documents and gifts, but Aunt Chen's eyes were full of expectation as she looked at her. She hesitated for a moment, but still stepped inside.

She had thought the spacious lawn and fountain outside the villa were impressive enough, but she was surprised to find that the interior was even more magnificent. Suddenly, she had a real sense of Yu Xin's rich background.

She had just sat down in the living room when Aunt Chen brought her hot water and said, "You two chat, I'll go cook dinner, you can eat here tonight."

Shen Mengqing suddenly stood up: "How about I help you?"

Aunt Chen: "No need."

Yu Xin: "Her wontons are delicious."

Aunt Chen glared at Yu Xin, feeling that this kid's mind was like a rabbit that couldn't be caged, about to jump out.

So it turns out that Secretary Shen is the wonton girl. Yu Xin made her make wontons every day for a while, and every time she finished eating them, she said the taste was wrong, which made her very angry.

Aunt Chen smiled and said, "Miss Chen, why don't you teach me how to make wontons? I can prepare the other dishes."

"That's okay too."

Shen Mengqing followed Aunt Chen to the kitchen.

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Author's note: Another wingman has arrived, hehe, Aunt Chen is the most reliable!

Xinzi: Do my family members watching on screen think I deliberately invited Aqing to my house? [shy]