Chapter 59 Afraid you'll run away

As night deepened, the lively atmosphere of the banquet intensified. After exchanging pleasantries with most of the guests, Yu Xin went backstage to prepare his opening remarks, while Shen Mengqing took the opportunity to go to the restroom.

She checked her makeup and washed her hands again, just as Wan Zhen and Zhu Lili walked in.

The Zhu family is in the real estate business and has no business dealings with Yu Sheng, so Zhu Shaoming was not invited. Obviously, Zhu Lili came with Wan Zhen.

Wan Zhen's gaze met Shen Mengqing's in the mirror. For the first time, she didn't act arrogantly towards Shen Mengqing and, unusually, nodded at her as a greeting.

After becoming her secretary, many people changed their attitude towards Shen Mengqing, at least on the surface, and treated her with kindness and politeness. Perhaps this is the reality of social interactions.

Shen Mengqing returned the courtesy with a slight smile and said, "President Wan."

Wan Zhen was momentarily stunned by the sunflower necklace around Shen Mengqing's neck. She was quite knowledgeable about jewelry and could immediately tell that the main diamond on Shen Mengqing's necklace was of astonishing purity.

"Yu Xin gave it to you?" Wan Zhen asked bluntly.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Lili's expression changed.

After Yu Xin's father passed away, Zhu Lili had even fewer ways to get close to Yu Xin. Her brother, Zhu Shaoming, wouldn't help her either. She was at her wit's end and was almost ready to give up on pursuing Yu Xin. Today, she hitched a ride with Wan Zhen to Yu Sheng's annual meeting, which was practically her last attempt.

Before coming here, Wan Zhen had told her about Yu Xin and his secretary, but Zhu Lili didn't believe it and insisted on seeing it with her own eyes.

Her gaze towards Shen Mengqing became complex, containing both scrutiny and jealousy. To be honest, even after liking Yu Xin for so long, she found it hard to imagine what it would be like for someone with such a cold personality to like someone.

Shen Mengqing replied frankly, "It's not mine."

There was no need to chat any longer. She lifted her skirt, passed the two people standing there, opened the door, and then, as if remembering something, turned to Wanzhen and said:

"Sometimes, don't trust the people around you too much."

Wan Zhen looked at her, puzzled. Shen Mengqing didn't press the matter further. She had only overheard some things from clients or conversations between Yu Xin and Chen Mo, and wasn't sure if she was certain. However, Wan Zhen hadn't brought Lin Xiangyang tonight; hopefully, she had sensed something was amiss.

When they returned to the banquet hall, the party had already begun, and Yu Xin was speaking on the stage. In order not to disturb the people in front who were listening attentively, Shen Mengqing casually found an empty seat to sit down.

Yu Xin wasn't good at livening up the atmosphere with words, but his noble demeanor made him impossible to ignore, naturally drawing attention to him and making it hard to look away.

After he finished his opening remarks, thunderous applause erupted from below the stage. Taking advantage of this moment, Shen Mengqing slunk back to his seat.

Next came the performances prepared by each department, with the sales department leading the way. He Wang led his colleagues in a popular online group dance. Since he came to the sales department, he had tamed all the shrewd people there, and they had even developed a sense of unity, which was completely different from when Liang Jun was in charge.

Shen Mengqing watched with great interest and happily started eating sunflower seeds.

In the latter half of the dance, the people on stage suddenly rushed down and pulled those in the audience onto the stage to dance together. Shen Mengqing was also pulled onto the stage by her former colleagues. In the chaos, she almost bumped into Chen Mo, who had also been "kidnapped" onto the stage.

Chen Mo couldn't dance, and his limbs were extremely uncoordinated. When he saw Shen Mengqing, he stopped moving, looking more like a robot whose process was stuck.

He whispered to Shen Mengqing, "Didn't you go to meet with President Yu?"

Shen Mengqing was taken aback: "Me? No."

Chen Mo frowned and said seriously, "Someone just told me that you wanted to meet with President Yu upstairs. I told him as soon as President Yu came off the stage, and then he went to look for you, but he hasn't come back yet."

After hearing Chen Mo's words, Shen Mengqing took advantage of the chaos to pull him off the stage and walk him to the backstage waiting area.

"Who told you that?" she asked.

Chen Mo thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I don't know her, she's a woman."

It sounded like a prank, and Shen Mengqing had her suspicions. She asked for the exact location and left the banquet hall.

She took the elevator to the third floor. As she stepped outside, the wind from the terrace blew through the corridor, almost driving away the warmth from the heating. She had forgotten her coat and was only wearing a sundress, large expanses of her fair skin exposed to the air, making her teeth chatter from the cold.

She took a few steps closer to the terrace and, sure enough, heard a man and a woman talking. Shen Mengqing stopped at the corner and recognized Yu Xin and Zhu Lili by their voices. The current situation was somewhat similar to what had happened before.

Whether from crying or from being cold, Zhu Lili spoke with a heavy nasal tone: "You rejected me because of that Secretary Shen? She doesn't love you as much as I do."

Yu Xin said coldly, "I reject you because I don't like you, and it has nothing to do with anyone else."

"I don't care!" Zhu Lili was getting a little anxious. She looked around and said, "If you don't agree, I'll jump off this building."

Although she spoke harshly, she was several steps away from the fence. Such a delicate person must cherish her life very much.

Yu Xin said indifferently, "I've already called Zhu Shaoming. If you want to waste your time here, I'm happy to oblige. But you'd better not cause any murder and affect Yu Sheng."

His words sounded to Zhu Lili as if he were saying her life wasn't as important as Yu Sheng's. She felt even more aggrieved and turned her head to glare resentfully at the railing. She didn't dare to jump down, and because of her fear of heights, she didn't even dare to walk over. She could only pretend to jump, while Yu Xin stood by, watching the show and making sarcastic remarks.

As the two confronted each other, Shen Mengqing caught a chill from the gentle winter wind and sneezed involuntarily, startling Yu Xin and Zhu Lili on the other end.

Shen Mengqing knew something was wrong, so he quickly found a screen to block people out and hid behind it.

Zhu Lili also had her pride, and she didn't want others to see her in such an embarrassing state, but she couldn't think of an excuse to save face. Just then, Zhu Shaoming called.

As soon as Zhu Lili answered the call, Zhu Shaoming berated her. She glared at Yu Xin, gritted her teeth, and stormed off in a huff.

Seeing her leave, Shen Mengqing planned to sneak away later as well, but unexpectedly, Yu Xin appeared in front of her in the next second.

He crossed his arms, looked down at Shen Mengqing, and said, "Why do you still love eavesdropping so much?"

Shen Mengqing sniffed: "What do you mean? It was Assistant Chen who said you were tricked, so I rushed over to rescue you, okay? I have no interest in your romantic stories."

"Then I should thank you for saving the day?" Yu Xin chuckled.

Shen Mengqing waved his hand behind him: "No need to thank me."

She sneezed again, and Yu Xin paused, then decisively took off her suit jacket and loosely draped it over Shen Mengqing's body. The long hem of the suit jacket perfectly covered the curves of Shen Mengqing's full and undulating hips.

Without any hesitation, she pulled Yu Xin's coat tighter and asked him, "How did you know it was me?"

Yu Xin rolled up his shirt sleeves and said, "The sound of your sneeze just now was like a kitten meowing while secretly doing something naughty. I could tell it was you."

Shen Mengqing curled her lip in noncommittal: "Tch."

Seeing that she was really like a jumping kitten, Yu Xin couldn't help but reach out and stroke the fur on her head, then said, "It's too cold here, let's go back."

The two went downstairs back to the banquet hall. Only after entering did Shen Mengqing realize that Yu Xin's suit jacket was still on her. She quickly took it off and returned it to Yu Xin.

Her action lasted only a dozen seconds, but it was still spotted by several of her sharp-eyed colleagues.

Jiang Yu and Fang Li, in particular, although they were not at the same table and were not familiar with each other, they both picked up their phones in perfect unison and took several photos with lightning speed.

Li Fan was performing intently on stage when Shen Mengqing, who had just sat down, was stunned by a series of high notes. Li Fan's demeanor was so gentle and refined that it was impossible to tell she had studied bel canto. Shen Mengqing had assumed her hobbies were at most reading or tea ceremony.

After the song was finished, everyone applauded in amazement.

During the break between the host's announcements, Shen Mengqing glanced at her phone and saw messages from Jiang Yu and Fang Li, both of whom had sent photos she had secretly taken earlier.

Jiang Yu: "Have you been spending too much time with him and gotten a little too involved? You two seem more and more compatible."

Fang Li: "Secretary Shen, I'm so sorry, I'm totally smitten!!!"

Shen Mengqing replied to Fang Li:

"Looking forward to your performance later."

As for her best friend Jiang Yu, she said something quite sarcastic:

"If you keep talking nonsense, you might not win the prize tonight."

She practically emptied Yu Xin's wallet at this year's annual party, making him bleed a lot. The prize pool was huge and generous, and most people were able to win a prize.

Jiang Yu retorted angrily, "Hmph, you're not worried about not winning the lottery? Just have your boss, Mr. Yu, buy it for you! It's different for us working people; we only hope to improve our lives on this one day all year long /crying"

Shen Mengqing was speechless: "Speak properly!"

After all the performances were over, it was time for the exciting lucky draw. The small prizes in the first few rounds were quite generous, aiming to give everyone a reward and liven up the atmosphere with a large number of prizes.

The tension intensified as soon as the third-prize electronic devices were presented; everyone remained silent as the numbers scrolled on the screen. After checking their numbers, the winners danced with joy and excitedly rushed onto the stage to claim their prizes.

When the winning numbers for the first prize of 50,000 yuan were announced, almost everyone's eyes were fixed on the screen.

As luck would have it, when the numbers were drawn, I actually drew Yu Xin.

Yu Xin leaned back in his chair, waved his arm, and said, "Try again." The dissipated atmosphere was reignited, and the burning gazes were once again focused on the stage.

A few seconds later, the numbers paused, and people looked down to confirm.

How did she become the winner?!

The host continued to egg on the audience, saying, "Please come up on stage as soon as possible, Mr. Yu will transfer the money to you right here and now. Don't miss such a great opportunity!"

Amidst the commotion, even Yu Xin was pushed onto the stage. Shen Mengqing had no choice; dragging it out any longer would only make things stranger. She stood up, made an X with her arm, and signaled to draw a new number.

Some people have already started shouting for Shen Mengqing to come up on stage quickly, while others are jokingly asking if there's something fishy going on, since both of the selected candidates are from the board of directors' office.

Shen Mengqing licked her lips, looked past the crowd at Yu Xin, hoping he would understand her meaning.

Yu Xin received her gaze, took the microphone, and looked at Shen Mengqing, saying:

"Secretary Shen, please come up on stage to receive your award."

Another burst of cheers and shouts erupted from the crowd, interspersed with a few ambiguous whistles. The atmosphere was so intense that it put Shen Mengqing on her toes. Under the pressure of the gazes coming from all directions, she forced herself to walk onto the stage.

She stopped beside Yu Xin, moved slightly closer to him, and whispered without moving her lips or teeth, "Don't spin me."

"Why?"

Yu Xin smiled slightly and looked down at her.

Behind him were several large and bright spotlights, but from Shen Mengqing's low vantage point, he blocked several of them. The soft beams of light seemed to emanate from him and spread outwards. Upon closer inspection, one could see tiny specks of dust swirling in his hair.

"It's not appropriate," Shen Mengqing said hesitantly.

Yu Xin chuckled softly: "Shen Mengqing, what are you feeling guilty about?"

"If you accept the award openly and generously, it makes you seem like you have nothing to hide. But if you don't want to accept it, I don't believe you have nothing to hide."

As soon as Yu Xin finished speaking, the host opened the room, drawing the attention of the audience. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the moment when Yu Xin would transfer the money on the spot.

Yu Xin handed the phone to Shen Mengqing and let her enter the account information herself.

Shen Mengqing pursed her lips. After thinking it over, she realized that she didn't have a good excuse to avoid it right now, so she decided to accept it for now and return it to him later.

Yu Xin seemed to read her mind, understanding her thoughts perfectly. After she finished losing, he casually said in the interval between transferring the money, "Don't even think about paying me back. If you insist on paying me back, you'll have to treat me to dinner every day."

"..."

"You'll eat yourself to death!"

Shen Mengqing muttered a curse under his breath.

As the final grand prize was awarded and the annual meeting drew to a close, it was time to leave. However, someone suggested that a group of department heads and company executives be ushered onto the stage one by one and made to sing.

The people in the audience stood in front of their chairs, and even turned on their phone flashlights, waving them around and cheering loudly.

The task of selecting the song was handed over to professionals like Li Fan. Since there were quite a few people involved, she chose a love song that was long enough and that anyone could sing.

As the familiar melody began, cheers erupted from below, and microphones were passed around in the crowd, with audience members spontaneously humming along.

About ten minutes later, as the song was nearing its end, Shen Mengqing got tired of standing and sat down to rest, picking up her phone as she did so. Zhu Shaoming had sent her a message, asking if Zhu Lili had caused any trouble and apologizing to her.

Shen Mengqing replied that it was nothing, but he should be more concerned about his sister, Zhu Lili, who was probably still crying.

Zhu Shaoming sent a sighing emoji, and after a while, he sent another message:

Actually, Yu Xin has long been in love with you.

"It was several months ago. He had probably just met you, and I don't know if you rejected him or what, but he was in a really bad mood. I've never seen him so dejected. He told me a few words about his friend's love story. Basically, his friend had a very special woman in his life, and his friend liked her a little. But after they finally made progress, the woman said she didn't want to commit to a relationship with him and kept him at arm's length."

"He was particularly insecure during that period, and I could tell it was his own story at a glance. He's never liked a girl since he was a child, let alone a girl. Sometimes I feel like there aren't many people he likes in humankind. He's not very good at loving people, but I've noticed that he's really learning to love you. You two probably had a lot of disagreements, and his way of doing it was probably to subconsciously get closer to you and try to influence you. There are many things he doesn't know how to say because he's never liked talking since he was a child."

Finally, Zhu Shaoming typed and deleted:

"That's all I have to say. Ultimately, it's a matter between the two of you."

Shen Mengqing had just finished reading his message when suddenly everyone around her screamed. She looked up and saw a beam of light shining on Yu Xin's tall figure, with the microphone in his hand.

With only a few lines of lyrics left before the end, Li Fan's professional instincts kicked in. She counted everyone's names one by one, and only Yu Xin hadn't started singing yet. Without saying a word, she snatched the microphone and shoved it into Yu Xin's hand.

Yu Xin's Adam's apple bobbed, and he slightly opened his mouth, humming along to the melody:

I only want to love you with my whole life.

From now on

You will be the reason for all happiness.

Forever love

Forever love

Forever love [Note 1]

He probably doesn't sing much, as his posture holding the microphone was a bit awkward, but his voice was simply a gift from God—deep and soulful, blending perfectly with every note, completely different from his usual aloof and indifferent self, incredibly captivating.

Several young women around Shen Mengqing were so amazed by her beauty that they covered their mouths and whispered among themselves.

As the song ended, the atmosphere of the annual meeting reached its peak, and the microphone was passed back to Li Fan. It was the perfect time for her, the human resources manager, to express her thoughts.

After listening to her passionate speech and finishing her last sip of wine, the banquet gradually came to an end.

Shen Mengqing picked up her phone, tidied up her belongings, and after everyone left, she checked everything again before going back to rest. She would deal with the rest tomorrow.

Shen Mengqing's phone beeped with a new message notification. She picked it up and saw that it was from Yu Xin.

She glanced suspiciously at the person sitting at the table in front of her, head down, looking at their phone. Why not just say it to each other in person instead of sending a text message?

Dog-headed Boss:

I'm going on a business trip tomorrow afternoon.

Following this message, he forwarded an invitation to a pharmaceutical summit.

Shen Mengqing typed in the input box: "Why are you only saying this now?"

Dog-headed Boss:

"Because it's just the two of us going."

"I'm afraid you'll run away."

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Author's Note: Note 1: From the lyrics of "King of Love Songs"

Following Xinzi and Aqing's good luck, hahaha!

Xinzi: Yay! My wife and I are going on a business trip!! [Sunglasses]

Friendly reminder: The young couple is about to reconcile! [shy]