Chapter 66, Lin Group, are you sure they're not lying...?

For the anniversary celebration project, Zou Song made a special trip back to Beicheng. In accordance with the previous agreement with Fu Qingli and Lin Xi, he instructed Kong Weijun to take full responsibility for the project, while the remaining groups in the planning department would oversee the on-site construction. Lin Xi and Group Two would continue to stay in Haicheng to complete their current projects.

Before dinner that evening, Zhou Qi shared some gossip she had heard with Lin Xi: "I heard that after Zou Song left, a lot of people jumped out to accuse the company of being biased, saying that you occupied the position of chief planner, received the highest bonus, but did not do any work, and made them share the work that you should have done."

Seeing Zhou Qi speaking with great enthusiasm, Lin Xi felt a little apologetic: "We didn't think things through at the time, and I caused trouble for Director Kong. Was this matter resolved later?"

She had only considered the project design and had not thought deeply about the subsequent issues of authorship and prize money sharing.

The company is full of experienced designers who rarely take on assistant work, let alone assist someone as unknown as myself.

No one dared to say anything to Zou Song, but they certainly said some harsh things to Kong Weijun.

"If it's really difficult, I can just sign my name and not take the prize money."

“What are you thinking! The bonus is what you deserve.” Zhou Qi didn’t have as many concerns as her and continued to share the follow-up, “Director Kong didn’t say anything. He just showed them your proposal, and then they didn’t dare to utter a word. They obediently accepted their assigned tasks and went back to work.”

"Don't overthink it. That's a bonus you can only get if you're capable. Why should you just give it away?"

"But I really didn't do any work."

After all, supervising the site is the most tiring job, and the construction period for this project is expected to be one month.

Zhou Qi reached out and gently hugged her shoulder: "Baby, you have no idea how capable you are! With your abilities, it's only right that they assist you. Look at all the proposals they submitted, all of which were ultimately rejected. But yours was approved on the first draft. That's real skill."

Lin Xi was embarrassed by her praise: "I was just lucky."

"What luck?!" Zhou Qi strongly disagreed with her lack of confidence. "You don't really think Yaoshi only asked Songjia Design for the initial selection, do you? Don't be so naive. They approached almost every top-tier planning company in Beicheng to design proposals, and they rejected dozens of companies and hundreds of proposals. They only chose yours at first glance. How could this be just luck?!"

It's always a happy thing to have your work recognized.

Hearing her say that, Lin Xi couldn't contain her joy, and her face beamed with a smile: "Speaking of which, Qiqi, I haven't thanked you yet?"

Zhou Qi was a little confused: "Thank me for what?"

"Thank you for telling me about Fang Wenqian's experience as a designer. Without this story, I wouldn't have been able to come up with this design."

Zhou Qi was quite surprised: "You used all that knowledge for design?"

After all, when she shared them, she could only treat them as gossip, but she didn't expect them to actually inspire Lin Xi. "But how did you design them? How did you even need those elements?"

“Isn’t this Yaoshi’s 60th anniversary celebration? Sixty years is a cycle in the Chinese sexagenary cycle. I’ll use five years as a dividing line, and each five years will be used to create a separate exhibition area for the main products promoted within that period. Sixty years will be twelve exhibition areas. Twelve is a cycle, which also represents a sense of completion.” When talking about her design, Lin Xi was much more relaxed than usual. “The venue of the Beicheng International Exhibition Center is designed to resemble a circle. The twelve exhibition areas will form a circle, with a space in the middle to create an exhibition area number 0, which will showcase the works of the female lead, Fang Wenqian. The exhibits can be physical objects or design drafts. 0 represents the original intention of Yaoshi’s founding and also the beginning of a new era.”

It's only a few short sentences, but it's full of ingenuity.

The ingenuity of the design prompted Zhou Qi to applaud and exclaim, "Xiao Xi, you're amazing! How could you come up with such a wonderful design?"

"Do you know how many designers across the country are waiting for this anniversary celebration, all eager to see what kind of design will be chosen by Yaoshi at first glance? I dare say, when they see your design, they will all be amazed by it!"

"You're exaggerating!" Lin Xi didn't have such a confident idea. "My design isn't actually as outstanding as you think. It's just that I had an advantage because I used Ms. Fang Wenqian's work, which is why they chose it."

“Xiaoxi, you’re too modest! Although Ms. Fang Wenqian’s story isn’t in the records, everyone in the old Beicheng knows about it. And Yaoshi never intended to deliberately hide her identity as a designer. Anyone with a real interest can find out.” This is the truth, it’s just that few people mention it, but it’s not a secret. “You’ve only heard the story, but you can incorporate it into your design. That’s already better than them.”

Speaking of this, Zhou Qi remembered something else, "By the way, now that you've proven your abilities, are you going to go public with your relationship with Brother Fu?"

Because they weren't staying at the same hotel as their colleagues, Lin Xi and her group used Zhou Qi as a shield.

It's an open secret that Zhou Qi got into the company through Ji Jiali's connections; everyone knows his status, so it's not surprising that he stays in luxury hotels.

Lin Xi and she had always had a good relationship, and the two were always together, which did not attract much attention from others.

However, this couldn't go on forever. Zhou Qi inquired whether they were planning to secretly get married. Lin Xi didn't hide anything and said that she was afraid that making their relationship public would have a negative impact.

However, this design has proven itself, and even if there are claims of "nepotism" later, those claims will not hold water.

It's definitely something worth considering making public.

However, Lin Xi hesitated and said, "Fu Qingli has been very busy lately, and we haven't talked about this. Let's wait until he's done with his work before discussing it."

This is not an excuse, it's true.

Recently, even though Fu Qingli has been working overtime to free up time, he has to be fully focused and go all out for the tender document.

As a result, the two only saw each other before going to bed each night for the rest of the week.

On one occasion, when Fu Qingli returned, Lin Xi was already asleep.

As Fu Qingli was talking, the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Fu Qingli walked in dressed in white shirt and black pants, her suit jacket off and hanging on her arm, looking relaxed.

Aunt Tao hurriedly went to greet him, took the clothes from his hands and hung them up, then turned around and teased, "Qingli, you finally made it back today. Xiaoxi and the others are talking about you."

Fu Qingli changed into slippers, looked at Lin Xi and the others, and asked with interest, "What are you talking about me about?"

Lin Xi didn't answer, but instead asked in surprise, "Why are you back so early today?"

"The work is finished, and I can leave on time."

As Fu Qingli spoke, he walked to Lin Xi's side, bent down and kissed her forehead, saying apologetically, "I haven't been able to take care of you these past few days, but I won't be so busy anymore. I'll come back to be with you after get off work."

He also knew that he had been so busy lately that he had neglected Lin Xi.

Before Lin Xi could react, Zhou Qi's mind raced, and she subtly prompted, "So, Brother Fu, starting tomorrow, will you be free to pick up and drop off Xiao Xi at get off work?"

Pick-up and drop-off service for commuters?

Fu Qingli's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at Lin Xi in disbelief.

Lin Xi knew exactly what those words meant.

Neither she nor Fu Qingli were the type to be high-profile about their relationship, so this formal inquiry made her a little embarrassed.

His eyes darted away, but he didn't deny it.

Fu Qingli immediately understood what she meant, and a pleasant smile appeared on her lips as she replied, "Yes, I'll be picking up and dropping off Xiaoxi from get off work starting tomorrow. Do you want to come along?"

“No, no,” Zhou Qi waved her hands repeatedly, “I don’t want to be a third wheel.”

-

They said they wanted to go public with their relationship, but due to their personalities, Lin Xi and Fu Qingli couldn't emulate others' high-profile displays of affection in public.

It's advertised as a pick-up and drop-off service, but it really just involves dropping people off at work.

Fortunately, the team members had sharp eyes and noticed something amiss on the first day.

During a break at work, Li Ru, the most active member of the team, sidled up to Lin Xi with a suggestive look in her eyes: "Team Leader Lin, who was that guy who drove you to work in an Aston Martin this morning? Was he your boyfriend?"

Before Lin Xi could answer, the topic immediately attracted the attention of the group members around her, and even the boys gathered around: "What Aston Martin? Did you take any pictures?"

Some people focused on the question itself: "Didn't Team Leader Lin always come to work with Qiqi? Li Ru, are you sure you're not mistaken? The person sitting inside is Zhou Qi, isn't she?"

"Of course I didn't see wrong!" Li Rusheng argued. "I can tell whether the person in the car is male or female. And although I didn't see the man's face clearly, I could tell from his profile that he was extremely handsome, definitely a very good-looking guy!"

Just then, Zhou Qi returned from outside, and Li Ru hurriedly called out to her, "Qiqi, did Team Leader Lin not come to work in your car today?"

Zhou Qi nodded.

Seeing that someone could vouch for her, Li Ru became even more enthusiastic: "I saw a handsome guy driving an Aston Martin to drop Lin off at work today. You must know, isn't that Lin's boyfriend?"

Zhou Qi clicked her tongue lightly, and looked at Lin Xi, whose face was turning slightly red from the frustration of not being able to get a word in edgewise, and laughed: "You should ask Team Leader Lin about this important matter yourself."

That's right!

Li Ru then realized that the person involved hadn't said a word yet, so she quickly turned back to Lin Xi and asked, "Is it true or not, Team Leader Lin?"

"No, it's my husband."

Before speaking, Lin Xi felt embarrassed because she had never called Fu Qingli "husband" before, nor had she introduced him to anyone else in that way.

But when I actually said it, I found that calling him "husband" came out so naturally and smoothly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Unbeknownst to her, she had developed such a real and concrete understanding of their relationship, no longer experiencing the vague and uncertain feeling she had at the beginning, where she had to confirm whether it was real or not.

"Husband?!" Li Ru exclaimed in surprise, her voice cracking. "When did you get married?"

"More than a month ago."

Colleagues did the math and asked incredulously, "Team Leader Lin, didn't you say you were single when you joined the company? How come you got married in less than two months? Was it a blind date and a whirlwind marriage?"

"It wasn't a blind date." Lin Xi smiled awkwardly. "He and I were each other's first love. We broke up because of some misunderstandings, but we got back together recently."

Thinking of some things, a colleague couldn't help but remind him: "Team Leader Lin, are you sure she's not trying to scam you into marriage? There are a lot of scammers these days. Many people rent luxury cars to pretend to be rich and swindle young girls out of their money. You have to be careful in everything you do."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xi waved her hands repeatedly: "No, no, he's a very nice person, and he's very good to me too."

"You've been married for so long, why hasn't he even bought you a wedding ring?"