Chapter 39

The CEO's office on the 23rd floor. Gu Feng stared at Liang Shi for a long time before finally speaking: "Are you sure?"

Liang Shi laughed and said, "I know you have concerns, after all, I haven't been with Fanning for long, but don't forget, I went straight to L'Oréal's French headquarters after graduation, and I believe I can take on a leadership role."

"Your abilities are evident to everyone, but what you may not know is that there are far too many people vying for that deputy general manager position in the Hong Kong branch, and I can't guarantee anything from headquarters..."

“Frankl, I remember you said to Richard that I could have a privilege once? You know, I have no other requests.”

Gu Feng was taken aback, but he wasn't surprised that Liang Shi would use this tactic to persuade him. This woman was ruthless and capable; perhaps she could make a name for herself in the Hong Kong branch.

Two weeks later, Liang Shi landed in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, a week before she left Shanghai, Li Junqian flew to Singapore to help her in an emergency, and the two did not have a proper goodbye.

Before she boarded the plane, Li Junqian sent her a message wishing her a safe journey. Liang Shi didn't reply. Of course, she would most likely have no contact with him for some time to come; her focus from now on would be on working hard.

The person who picked her up at the airport was a very trendy girl. Liang Shi once thought that this was deliberately arranged by Chen Tianyun, the president of the Hong Kong branch, to find a delinquent girl to fob her off.

The girl chewed her gum: "You're Liang Shi from Shanghai?"

Liang Shi raised an eyebrow: "Who are you?"

Zhou Meng smiled and helped her with her luggage: "My name is Zhou Meng, you can call me Zoe. Chen Tianyun asked me to take you to your accommodation, come with me."

Anyone who can address President Chen by his full name is likely no ordinary person. The name Liang Shi heard her introduce was very familiar.

"Aren't you from our company?"

Zhou Meng nodded: "Didn't your company lose a vice president recently? Chen Tianyun is very busy, and his secretary and assistant are also extremely busy. I happened to have some free time, so I volunteered to take on this task."

Liang Shi wasn't interested in what she was saying, and only tentatively asked, "Do you know Li Junqian? Is she her cousin?"

Zhou Meng was startled when she heard her cousin's name: "What? How did you know? What's your relationship with him? My brother was actually talking about this kind of thing at the company?"

Liang Shi told a little white lie: "I just happened to overhear him mention it. By the way, you and President Chen..."

Before I could even ask, he blurted out, "Leo gave a speech at our school. I'm totally a sucker for good looks, and his face is totally my type, so I found a chance to get to know him. And he actually knows my cousin. When I injured my leg, my cousin actually asked him to take care of me."

As she spoke, Zhou Meng sighed, "Unfortunately, I've confessed my feelings several times but failed each time. He treats me like a little sister, saying I'm still young, only a cycle apart. I don't mind that he's old, but he thinks I'm too young! I'm afraid we won't even be able to be friends anymore, so my current strategy is to treat Leo as a good buddy. That's why I came to pick you up in his place since he's busy."

Liang Shi is the same age as Leo, so 31 is already considered old! And look at this energetic young lady who's still on her way to 20, she really is getting old.

Liang encouraged her: "Don't give up. Life is a series of challenges."

Zhou Meng scrutinized Liang Shi's delicate face and then looked her up and down at her outfit, suddenly feeling a bit threatened: "Leo's previous girlfriends were all like you, career women with great figures. Um, I'm giving you a little secret warning, don't you dare get any ideas about Leo! I personally dumped his last girlfriend!"

The girl's emotions were written all over her face, and even her way of threatening people was so innocent and cute. Liang Shi suddenly felt that she really wanted to be a matchmaker.

"Don't worry, I have someone I like."

Zhou Meng blinked: "That's good. By the way, your company rented an executive suite for you, I'll take you there. Oh, and Leo said he'd treat you to dinner tonight at the hotel restaurant. Um, could you bring me along tonight? He's worried I'll mess things up, so he explicitly refused to let me come..."

That pitiful look in her eyes—it would be unfair of her not to agree. Now it was Liang Shi's turn to sized up the stylishly dressed girl: "Is this your usual style of dressing?"

Zhou Meng nodded: "Yeah, isn't that how young people dress?"

Liang Shi shrugged: "No wonder your Leo treats you like a little sister. He's already thirty years old and the CEO of a company. His standards for female companions have long since automatically excluded college students like you."

Zhou Meng asked in confusion, "You mean I have to dress like you? Help! I'm only nineteen! This kind of business suit is totally out of the question for me!"

Liang Shi sighed softly, "What I mean is, besides this neutral style of dress, could you try wearing a skirt? Men all like women. Maybe you could give it a try? And then come to the banquet with me? To be honest, it's my first time having dinner alone with the boss, and I'm quite nervous."

From a young age, Zhou Meng liked to play with boys and preferred to wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes that allowed for easy movement; she rarely wore skirts.

Zhou Meng frowned slightly and thought for a moment: "We still have some time this afternoon, why don't you come with me to the mall to buy a dress?"

After putting his luggage at his place, Liang Shi took Zhou Meng to the mall. Accompanying her to buy a dress was secondary; the main reason was that she wanted to see the customer traffic and transaction volume at the Fanning counter in Hong Kong.

The Fanning Cosmetics counter was in the very center of the first floor, a prime location. Liang Shi led Zhou Meng over, but Zhou Meng was a little resistant: "Even though you're with Fanning, I don't want to buy anything from Fanning. Come on, let's go buy a dress!"

This caught Liang Shi's attention: "Why? As far as I know, Fanning's beauty products are very popular in the market now, especially among young girls in recent years."

Zhou Meng shook her head: "Although my family is rich, ever since I met Leo, he has criticized my bad habit of spending money extravagantly, and since then I have started to earn money on my own. You know Hong Kong, right? It's a shopping paradise, so I started doing personal shopping. Luckily, I have a wide network of contacts and have made a lot of money. Before, I also wanted to help my cousin's company achieve some sales targets, but those people rarely considered buying Fanning products."

Liang Shi then asked why.

"First, the positioning is unclear. As you said, it's only recently become popular with young girls, and the style has also recently become more youthful. The main users are still women over thirty. Second, there's the price! Although Fanning Beauty's prices are lower than domestic prices, the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate has increased, so the price difference isn't significant anymore. With such a small profit margin, if the reseller wants to make money and the buyer wants to spend less, I won't do this job. For about the same price, you can buy from a domestic department store and accumulate points to get some samples, and the key is that it's authentic. However, I usually do reselling for others at duty-free shops, and I make more money on bags and such. But maybe I'm still a beginner reseller; some department store VIP cards offer even bigger discounts. Also, I've noticed that here, unlike in China where there are frequent holiday promotions, here they're all about following foreign holidays, or it's just some beauty company organizing its own shopping promotion. The main problem is that Fanning has too few promotions! Sometimes I really wonder why Leo is so inflexible."

During the short time Liang Shi lingered there, he observed that most of the young girls avoided their store, while some older women simply approached to ask questions before moving on to their preferred brand stores.

Liang Shi thought Zhou Meng had excellent observation and summarization skills: "What university did you attend?"

Zhou Meng chuckled: "HKU, finance major."

Liang Shi was quite surprised that Zhou Meng, who looked like a delinquent, actually had such good grades.

"Very impressive."

Zhou Meng sighed, "It's not what you think. My grades are pretty good, but that's because my parents are very strict with me. You know, people our age often have a rebellious streak. They wanted me to stay in Shanghai, but I insisted on going abroad. They strongly disagreed, thinking that foreign countries were too far and too chaotic. Only after I went on a hunger strike and threatened them did they agree to let me come to Hong Kong, which is at least a university in mainland China. As for my major, my mom chose it, and I don't really care, as long as I'm free from their constraints and nagging. Let's not talk about this anymore, we're running out of time. Come with me to pick out a dress!"

The young girl took off her oversized t-shirt and jeans, her curvaceous body wrapped in one skirt after another. Liang Shi thought to himself, this girl is really naive, she doesn't even realize how good her own assets are.

Zhou Meng looked at herself in the mirror and shook her head frantically: "Suzie, what's the difference between dressing like this and being naked! You mean Leo likes this kind of thing? In my heart, he's a gentleman, he wouldn't fall in love with me just because I dress like this, would he?"

Liang Shi walked over and tied the waist tie into a bow for her: "You're just showing your collarbone, and the hem of the skirt is already past your knees. Is that what you call being naked? Little sister, it's perfectly normal. This little black dress really suits you, it's both playful and elegant."

Liang Shi glanced at his watch: "We still have some time, let's get you styled."

Zhou Meng thought she was going to a salon for a makeover, but it turned out she was at Fanning again. Liang Shi looked at her face for a few seconds, then casually pointed to the beauty products displayed on the counter, rattling off their names, shades, and so on, as if he knew them by heart. He then asked the sales assistant to wrap them up and pay for them, and also used the products he had just bought to do Zhou Meng's makeup.

"Hey, is it really that bad? You just bought me a dress, and now you're buying me a whole set of cosmetics? Suzie, I feel like I'm being kept."

Liang Shi laughed out loud at this: "I just feel a strong connection with you."

Whether it's for Chen Tianyun's sake or for Li Junqian's sake in the future, Zhou Meng is definitely a very important person. Of course, she wasn't lying; she genuinely liked this young girl.

Liang Shi watched the sales assistant apply makeup to Zhou Meng the whole time. The technique for applying foundation was fairly professional, but the technique for drawing eyebrows... well, it needs improvement.

"Perhaps she'd be better suited to more sophisticated European-style eyebrows? Her current arched eyebrows make her look a bit petty."

After she gave him a hint, the saleswoman tried drawing Zhou Meng's eyebrows: "Indeed, it seems this young lady is an expert?"

They were speaking in a very non-standard Cantonese-accented Mandarin, and it took Liang Shi a while to understand them. She looked at Zhou Meng, who seemed to have something to say, but her face was being manipulated, so she had to give up.

Zhou Meng's hair was quite long and had never been dyed or permed. Liang Shi asked the sales assistant to style it into a lazy low ponytail, which matched the little black dress perfectly. She was still wearing the same white sneakers she was wearing, which looked a bit out of place, but suited her youthful appearance.

Zhou Meng stared at herself in the mirror, feeling like a completely different person: "It's like magic! To be honest, Fanning's beauty products really do seem pretty good!"

"You can do more research on your own in the future. A woman dresses up for the man she loves. I hope Leo will like the surprise you gave him today! Let's go."

Zhou Meng skipped out of the mall, took a deep breath, and said, "Sister Suzie, let's add each other on WeChat. From now on, you'll be my only sister!"

Liang Shi handed over the WeChat QR code: "I can't afford to be the only sister here. By the way, what did you want to say when that saleswoman was doing your makeup?"

At this point, Zhou Meng's smile faded: "When the saleswoman spoke Cantonese-accented Mandarin, it reminded me of how these saleswomen look down on mainlanders. Once, my classmate and I were shopping in a mall, speaking fluent Mandarin, and they were very dismissive. If you hadn't been so generous and paid so much today, do you think the saleswoman would have given you a friendly look? I really don't know what's so great about Hong Kong people."

Even a young woman who doesn't wear makeup can spot so many flaws in Fanning's company. What exactly is the Hong Kong branch doing? Or is the removal of the vice president just a show of force from headquarters? Is the real intention to find someone to break the deadlock?

If that's the case, Liang Shi couldn't help but wonder how much influence she had to get headquarters to transfer her over. Or rather, what kind of grand promises did Frankl make to the two CEOs at headquarters?

These things are still unknown. All Liang Shi knows is that she has to work hard at the Hong Kong branch, because her goal is to get Li Junqian's position back in Shanghai.

Liang Shi left Zhou Meng's things at the hotel front desk and took her to the restaurant. The appointment was for six o'clock, and they arrived ten minutes early. However, a man in a suit was already sitting at the reserved table. Judging from his back, he was very handsome.

Zhou Meng pulled Liang Shi aside and whispered nervously, "Leo told me he's strictly forbidden me from coming, afraid I'll cause trouble. Maybe I shouldn't go?"

"You're already here, what are you afraid of? You're not a three-year-old, why would you cause trouble for no reason? I'll be talking to Leo about some work later, so just relax and eat your meal, and be a lady for once?"

Previously, Zhou Meng would ask Chen Tianyun's secretary for his private schedule, disrupting at least two of his dates. Although Chen Tianyun reprimanded her a few times, at least he doesn't have a girlfriend now! However, this man is too charming, and who knows, another woman might appear by his side! Especially after hearing that a beautiful vice president was coming to their company, Zhou Meng rushed to the airport to pick her up... Oh well, since she's already here, she'll just eat peacefully tonight and remain silent.

After all, she could tell that Suzie didn't seem like she was interested in sleeping with men.

Liang Shi walked ahead, and when she reached Chen Tianyun, the latter politely stood up, shook her hand, and introduced himself. But when he saw a familiar yet unfamiliar figure leap out from behind him, his confident expression immediately clouded over.

Zhou Meng clenched her fists tightly, very nervous. She would never be this nervous before, no matter what she did that made him angry. Why was she like this today after putting on makeup and changing her clothes? Actually, she was unsure of herself and was afraid that Chen Tianyun would laugh at her!

Hello, Leo!

Chen Tianyun narrowed his eyes at her, as if to say: Didn't I tell you not to come? Why did you still follow me?

Liang Shi smiled and smoothed things over: "Zoe picked me up and arranged everything perfectly. I wanted to go shopping, and she gladly accompanied me. She mentioned that you two have a good relationship, and I figured that Leo inviting me to dinner tonight wouldn't be a trap. I thought we could just chat about work and everyday things, and get to know each other. Zoe spent the whole afternoon with me today, and we clicked really well, so I brought her along. Leo, there shouldn't be any problem, right?"

"no problem."

After saying that, Chen Tianyun very gentlemanly moved the chair for Liang Shi. Of course, Zhou Meng also enjoyed this gentlemanly gesture. This was the first time, and although she benefited from it, she was still very excited and even more flattered.

During the two-hour meal, Liang Shi spent most of the time talking to Chen Tianyun about work. She briefly told Chen Tianyun about what she had seen at the Fanning counter that day.

"I think the product positioning, sales methods, and even sales personnel management of the Hong Kong branch can be improved. I will officially start work tomorrow, and within a week, I will personally draft a rectification and improvement plan. What do you think, Mr. Leo?"

Chen Tianyun had been in this position for two years and had many ambitions, but he was too young and too constrained by the local Hong Kong environment. Many of his proposals were rejected by the board, and he had adhered to outdated practices for too long. This industry needs to keep up with the times; if things continue this way, Fan Ning's resources in Hong Kong will be greatly diminished. He collected evidence of the vice president's embezzlement and anonymously sent it to headquarters, which made the headquarters pay increasing attention to the Hong Kong branch.

Although this is an era of gender equality, behind their capital still lie unwritten rules: women rarely achieve great things. But Chen Tianyun had done background checks on Liang Shi, and she knew this woman was extraordinary; strength was power.

For example, right now, her bold and ambitious words could be seen by him as a pledge of allegiance, provided that she trusted him completely. He desperately needed such a forthright and honest right-hand man.

He raised his glass: "We'll see."

Liang Shi also raised his glass and clinked it with his: "I will do my best."

Liang Shi and Chen Tianyun sat facing each other, while Zhou Meng sat next to them. Two wine glasses clinked together in front of her, making a crisp sound. She then picked up the decanter beside her, intending to pour herself a glass of red wine.

Her wrist was instantly grabbed, and the burning heat made Zhou Meng exclaim, "What are you doing?"

Chen Tianyun took the decanter from her hand: "You can't drink alcohol."

Zhou Meng sighed. It must have been Li Junqian who told her!

Liang Shi laughed and said, "Zoe's makeup today is all Fanning products, isn't it beautiful? She even changed into a little black dress that matches her makeup and the restaurant's atmosphere. She said she almost never does this before. The atmosphere is right, and Zoe is nineteen years old, so she can drink some red wine."

Zhou Meng was overjoyed that someone was speaking up for her, and instantly raised her chin: "Look how well Sister Suzie understands me. Let me tell you, today I've helped Fanning achieve some great results. As the CEO of Fanning, how can you be so stingy with this little bit of red wine?"

Immediately, Zhou Meng enjoyed the service of having her favorite person pour her red wine, and happily drank the wine in one gulp.

Zhou Meng, who had never drunk alcohol before, felt her vision blurring and lost consciousness, not knowing how much time had passed.

Liang Shi was somewhat embarrassed, not expecting that a small glass of red wine could make her drunk: "She must be intoxicated. I didn't expect her alcohol tolerance to be so low. She's eaten enough. If she really can't take it anymore, should we send her to my place?"

Chen Tianyun stared at Zhou Meng, who was lying on the table with her face flushed, and said without thinking, "It's okay, I'll take her back to school."

After talking with Chen Tianyun for so long, Liang Shi knew that Chen Tianyun was not the kind of hypocritical man. Considering the girl and his relationship, he decided to let them be.

"Okay, see you at the office tomorrow. I'm going upstairs now."

After Liang Shi left, Chen Tianyun looked at Zhou Meng, who was lying there quietly, and felt complicated. He loosened his tie and picked her up in one go.

The next day, when Zhou Meng woke up, she was extremely thirsty. She found a glass of water on the bedside table and drank it all in one gulp like a fish out of water. When she regained consciousness, she found herself in an unfamiliar room.

It wasn't her familiar dormitory, nor a hotel room. Zhou Meng was terrified. She glanced at her clothes—she was still wearing that little black dress. She quickly got out of bed, cautiously grasped the doorknob, and mustered her courage to open the door. It was a completely unfamiliar environment.

Where am I?! She tried asking, "Anyone here?" No one answered. When she stepped out of the room, she saw a large living room where someone was cleaning the house…

"that……"

"I am Chen Sheng's hourly worker. Before he left, he told me that once you wake up, Miss, you should go back to school as soon as possible."

Zhou Meng was stunned. So Chen Tianyun took her back to his house last night? Her head was throbbing! Memories flooded back; she only remembered asking him for some wine yesterday… and then she got drunk?!

Zhou Meng hurried back to her room to get her phone, intending to call Liang Shi to ask about what happened last night, but to her surprise, Liang Shi sent her a lot of messages!

Liang Shi: You're drunk. Leo said he'd take you away.

Liang Shi: Tonight, besides talking to him about work, I also observed him. When he was talking to me, his eyes unconsciously looked at you more than twenty times. For example, when you were pouring wine, he first shook your hand instead of the bottle. A man like him should know what that means.

Liang Shi: Also, when you went to the bathroom and didn't come back for a long time, he stared in the direction you left several times, and even his mind wandered when he was talking to me.

Liang Shi: I won't say much else, Zoe, I think you and Leo have a chance.

"Really?!" Zhou Meng excitedly rolled over in bed. "Those involved are often blinded, while bystanders see things more clearly." Maybe Liang Shi was telling the truth? Zhou Meng thought, she needed to try harder; perhaps she could win this man over!