Chapter 42. Manager Xia on WeChat, she can still protect me now...

"Ahhh, you didn't see it! You didn't see it!"

"Then he said, 'Manager Xia, please give me your contact information! I'll have my assistant contact you to offer compensation. You absolutely must get compensation!'"

"His smile was so beautiful and gentle! He was so close to me, and he was just too handsome! And he's so kind! He even paid for my clothes when I damaged them. If it were anyone else, they would just damage them and no one would care! Now I finally understand why everyone likes domineering CEOs, and he's definitely a gentle domineering CEO! I can't take it anymore, I'm going to become a fan!!"

As soon as she returned to the staff room, Du Na told several girls from the front office what had just happened, her emotions running high.

Several girls were pleasantly surprised to hear this and gathered around to ask for details.

Yu Lianxin silently applied her makeup, glancing at Xia Chan's closet in the mirror and pursing her lips slightly.

As Xia Chan entered the staff room, before she could even place the milk tea she had bought for everyone on the table, she was immediately surrounded by a group of girls who bombarded her with questions.

"Manager Xia, I heard that Chen Zhoudu added you on WeChat?"

"Can I see his WeChat Moments? We promise we won't add him secretly, we're just a little curious!"

"Ahhh, manager, please, please let us see it! Ahhh!"

Xia Chan was stunned for a moment, but quickly understood what was going on. She looked at Du Na with a reproachful gaze.

Duna just smiled and stuck her tongue out at her before going to fold clothes.

She was helpless, but in the end she still took out her phone, unlocked it, and showed it to them, strictly instructing them, "You can look, but don't send random messages or secretly push contacts. You should know that adding customers privately is against the rules, and I will report this to the store manager after this is over."

The girls immediately nodded excitedly in agreement, holding their phones as if they had found a treasure, and went to examine them.

Shen Zhoudu's WeChat Moments are extremely simple, containing only a few promotional posts for his new songs and promotional posts for dramas he helped others share, and they are set to be visible for only one month.

The signature consists of only one sentence: "The light boat has already crossed ten thousand mountains."

What surprised everyone was that his WeChat location was a place no one knew: Tongcheng Qingshui.

"Where is Tongcheng? Isn't Chenzhoudu from Shencheng?"

"I don't know, there's also Qing Shui..."

A few rustling sounds came from the table. Xia Chan was handing out milk tea to everyone and pretended not to hear them. Then she heard a girl say, "Hey, zoom in on his profile picture... he's so handsome! It's a small boat too."

"Did he draw this himself? It's quite nice! But what is that... an insect?"

"I don't know, maybe I accidentally got something on my face while drawing it, it looks a bit off..."

Xia Chan paused slightly as she put down the milk tea cup, vaguely realizing something. After taking her phone back, she looked at it carefully and, sure enough, it was that painting.

She stared at a tiny dot on the painting and clenched her fingertips.

That evening, when they returned to Taoyuan Lane, Fatty Tiger, who had been working overtime until he was rarely seen, actually came back. Xia Chan joked, "We live under the same roof, but it feels like I haven't seen you for almost half a year."

Fat Tiger: "..."

Before she returned, she could clearly hear them talking animatedly outside the door, but they vanished the moment she opened the door and entered the room.

Xia Chan served herself a bowl of rice and sat down at the table to wait for them to continue their conversation.

To everyone's surprise, the dinner table fell silent, and the men kept glancing at her with wary expressions.

Xia Chan looked puzzled, then coughed awkwardly, "Sister Chan... are you really on a 2G network?"

?

She paused slightly, then immediately realized what was going on and took out her phone to check Weibo.

The news about today's press conference has been trending on Weibo all day.

#Sang Ning was tackled by fans at the press conference for the start of filming of "The Internationale".#

Clicking on the entry reveals a deluge of criticism and expressions of sympathy, along with a few scattered and incomplete videos.

After Sang Ning was tackled, the scene became chaotic, and then staff members came forward to maintain order.

Xia Chan even vaguely saw herself in the video, almost getting hit by the camera after going on stage, but was quickly pulled aside by Chen Zhoudu. Because the angle was too far, her overall face was not very clear, and only a vague outline could be seen.

She raised an eyebrow, locked the screen, and continued eating. The others cautiously observed her expression and tentatively asked, "Sis... is this true?"

"Yes." Xia Chan had no intention of hiding it in the first place.

Siyi's eyes brightened slightly. "Is that...is that Brother Zhoudu? You met him?"

"Um."

"How is he now?!" Her eyes lit up even more.

"It's alright, one nose and two mouths." Xia Chan finally raised her head and smiled at her, "And it has eight extra legs."

Siyi paused, then playfully pouted and slapped her. She hated how Siyi would become so serious whenever the topic of Chenzhoudu came up.

Xia Chan just smiled even more and continued eating.

After dinner, Huang Mao went back to delivering food, as it was peak delivery time.

Fat Tiger has been working as a programmer at a large company in Shanghai for years, working 007 and working day and night. He quickly took a shower and tidied up before going back to work overtime. It looks like it will be another all-nighter.

Lala also seized the evening traffic and started a live stream again.

Xia Chan finished washing the dishes, heated up some milk for Lala, and then took it to Siyi's room.

Siyi was lying on the bed writing copy on her computer when she saw Xia Chan come in and immediately turned her head away, ignoring her.

Xia Chan could only ruffle her hair haphazardly and chuckle, "Why are you still acting like a child? Throwing a tantrum."

"Sis... what are you thinking?!" Siyi retorted, jumping up from the bed to look at her.

"I don't want to," Xia Chan said.

"sister!"

She couldn't help but chuckle again, then fell silent for a moment before finally looking at Siyi with a more serious expression. "Siyi, do you know what Chen Zhoudu's current profession is?"

"A celebrity." Siyi's voice was muffled.

"Yes." Xia Chan nodded, gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Then do you know about his family?"

"The chairman's son from the Asia Ocean Group," Si Yi said weakly. "Could he also be considered your superior, sister?"

“Hmm.” Xia Chan smiled, “To be precise, it’s the boss’s boss’s boss’s boss’s boss…”

Si Yi's slightly pursed lips already hinted at what Xia Chan wanted to say, and she suddenly felt a little irritated and didn't want to listen anymore. Xia Chan slowly began to speak:

"Celebrities...as public figures, every word they say, every action they take must adhere to certain standards. Moreover, their lives are transparent; every move they make is magnified by the camera and scrutinized by the public. If you want to enter their social circle, you'll also be under scrutiny."

"As for superiors, they should be the people you keep the most distance from, with clear boundaries, so as not to give others cause for criticism."

“Siyi, no matter how you look at it, he and we are no longer from the same world, so I’m telling the truth. I really don’t want to, and I haven’t thought about anything. I hope you won’t think too much about it in the future either.”

"But...but he and we've known each other for a long time!" Siyi protested. "We knew each other before he was a star, before he was your boss! Even if we're just ordinary people now, even if you're his subordinate now, so what? Does that mean he can't be friends with his old friends?"

“But people won’t think that way.” Xia Chan just smiled. “The public… only cares about the results, they don’t care how long you’ve known each other or how you met. Siyi, I just want to live an ordinary life, go to get off work, come home, live my life… I don’t like being watched and talked about. Besides, as people grow up, friends come and go, isn’t that normal? Ask yourself honestly, do you really need Chen Zhoudu as a friend?”

Siyi pursed her lips tightly, almost crying, then asked, "Then, sister! What if it's Brother Zhoudu coming to find you?"

They've already met, and given Chen Zhoudu's personality, he'll definitely come looking for her. A glimmer of hope rose in Siyi's heart again.

Xia Chan remained silent for a moment, thinking of Shen Zhoudu, who was now in her contact list. After a long silence, she said, "I will make him understand."

The press conference trended on the hot search list for two days, and the hype gradually subsided, but Sang Ning's fans are still demanding that the "Dayline" production team and Asia Ocean official provide a corresponding explanation and response.

After the filming of the movie crew got back on track, the manager of Tianze Store finally had time to hold people accountable for the incident.

This event was jointly organized by the hotel's front office and the film crew. Security was shared by the hotel's security personnel and the celebrity's bodyguards, so the responsibility was split 50/50.

Because the front office manager was in charge of all security arrangements at the hotel, Xia Chan's name was mentioned in the announcement of the disciplinary action. The announcement originally stated that the responsible employee would be penalized with their year-end bonus, but fortunately, all the fines were actually borne by the hotel manager personally. In addition, Chen Zhoudu had expressed his gratitude to Xia Chan for helping to block the camera some time ago, so the good and bad deeds were considered to have offset each other, and the group's internal announcement was quickly withdrawn.

After everything was resolved, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and life returned to its previous busy and repetitive routine.

The film crew of "The Dayline" has entered the formal filming stage. Xia Chan occasionally sees Shen Zhoudu inside the hotel, but she always pretends not to see him and walks away in a hurry.

Since they added each other on WeChat that day, Chen Zhoudu has not sent any messages to Xia Chan.

To avoid running into Chen Zhoudu, Xia Chan has been rarely going to the suite these days.

Only when I have to go there for work, and I see him from afar and our eyes meet, do I quickly look away, pretending I don't know him.

Fortunately, Shen Zhoudu was a special guest star with relatively few scenes in the drama, so their encounters were few and far between. Xia Chan sometimes felt that if they could maintain this distance, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to just let him remain an acquaintance in her WeChat contacts.

That evening, after handing over her shift to her colleagues, Xia Chan took the subway to Taoyuan Lane subway station as usual.

The weather was nice in late spring, so Xia Chan didn't use a bicycle and chose to walk home.

The sunset at the end of spring was magnificent. She walked through a relatively empty old alley when her cell phone suddenly rang.

Upon seeing the call from Chen Zhoudu, Xia Chan paused for a moment, pursed her lips, and resolutely hung up.

But the phone rang again the next second.

Xia Chan took out her phone again, but hesitated for a long time. She stared at the profile picture for a long time before answering slowly, "Hello."

"Hello."

The sound from the other end of the microphone was deep, clear, and exceptionally distinct.

The voice didn't seem to come from just the speaker. Xia Chan paused for a moment and turned around—only to see a tall, slender figure slowly walking towards her.

He was wearing a black hoodie, gray sweatpants, a bucket hat, and a face mask.

Her entire face was covered, with only her eyes showing, which were slightly curved, revealing that she was smiling.

The warm glow of the setting sun cast his shadow, making his tall figure stretch out in a long line at her feet. Then, three steps away, he stopped, his clear brown eyes reflecting her image, and asked softly:

"Manager Xia, can you still protect me now?"

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Author's Note: Sorry I'm late today [pity]