Chapter 8

There were more than a dozen people ahead of Ji Mingfei. She only started walking upstairs when she figured it was about time.

A long queue formed outside the general manager's office. Everyone had their heads down, cramming for the exam at the last minute. Some had their phones, and some had their laptops.

Ji Mingfei recalled that when he was in school, he would go to the teacher's office to recite texts, and it was the same scene.

She walked to the front and asked her female colleague standing at the door, "Hello, what number is it now?"

The other person looked up and said, "I am 14."

For the first time, Ji Mingfei wasn't happy about the "perfect timing." She nodded and said, "I'm 13."

The female colleague visibly breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, and moved back a little to make room for her.

Ji Mingfei leaned half his body against the wall, straining his ears to listen for any sounds behind the door. The door was very soundproof; he couldn't hear anything.

About two minutes later, the doorknob finally moved, and Number 12 walked out with a joyful expression, waving goodbye to the victims by the wall one by one, almost as if he was about to break into an impromptu dance.

It seems his report was quite successful.

Ignoring the clowns at the gate, Ji Mingfei took a deep breath to compose herself, calmly walked in, and closed the door behind her.

She turned around, looked up, and saw that the office chair was empty. Only her assistant stood properly behind the desk, constantly giving her meaningful glances.

After realizing what was happening, Ji Mingfei quickly followed the assistant's gaze and saw that the general manager had gone to make tea.

Chu Yue walked over with a cup in her hand, showing no unusual behavior, and said, "Let's begin."

Ji Mingfei's gaze followed Chu Yue as she sat back in her office chair before he began to report to her on the work he had been responsible for recently and its progress.

Chu Yue, holding a teacup in one hand, leaned back in her chair, listening absentmindedly to her words. Regarding Ji Mingfei's work abilities, her assistant, during the investigation of her background, had explained it more clearly than she had.

"When did you get married?" Chu Yue asked abruptly.

"..."

Ji Mingfei was just about to ramble on about continuing to work hard when Chu Yue ruthlessly interrupted her. She slowly put her hands behind her back, nervously clutching her sleeves, her brain immediately going into high-speed processing mode.

Ever since Sun Xiaomei asked her if she had a boyfriend, this matter was no secret in the company. If Chu Yue had done some investigation beforehand, it shouldn't have been difficult for her to find out.

But how did the marriage rumors start? Never mind that for now! Since that's what she thinks, I'll take this opportunity to completely cut off her thoughts of harassing me.

To avoid arousing Chu Yue's suspicion, Ji Mingfei said firmly, "It must have been after leaving headquarters!"

lie.

Chu Yue pointed to her slightly protruding belly, looked up, and asked, "You're almost four months pregnant, right?"

"..."

Ji Mingfei's rapidly processing brain suddenly crashed with a blue screen, completely freezing up.

How did she know I was pregnant?!

Ji Mingfei didn't tell any of her colleagues about her pregnancy; she even kept her folic acid locked in a box while living in the dormitory. If she admitted that the baby's gestational age was the same as the time they had been separated, wouldn't that be tantamount to admitting it herself?

The various melodramatic and extravagant TV dramas she had watched over the past twenty-odd years flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern.

In just a few seconds, Ji Mingfei was forced to have an abortion by Chu Yue, shoved in the face with breakup money, kidnapped and involved in a car accident, and lost the custody battle for the child...!

Ji Mingfei shook her head, regaining her composure, and began to organize her thoughts again. At that moment, a perfect excuse flew into her mind. Without even bothering to refine it, she told Chu Yue directly, "The doctor said I'm carrying twins, which is why my belly is so big. Absolutely! Not four months!"

"..."

Do you think I haven't watched "Empresses in the Palace"?

Chu Yue lowered her eyes and smiled faintly, knowing full well what was going on but still saying it outright: "Was that night your bachelor party before your wedding?"

A bachelorette party? This touched on another area where Ji Mingfei was unfamiliar with the topic. Although she didn't quite understand what Chu Yue meant, her speech was already prepared and ready to begin.

“After that incident, my family arranged a blind date for me. I felt that the other person was a responsible alpha, so we got together very quickly. I hope you won’t bring up that day again, otherwise my boyfriend… husband will be unhappy if he finds out.” Ji Mingfei said sincerely, and bowed ninety degrees to Chu Yue.

This was a blatant rejection! It didn't give Chu Yue a single chance! Even the assistant next to her couldn't help but glance at her boss a couple more times.

The office was deathly silent.

"Work hard and take a break. Call the next person in!"

Chu Yue picked up her teacup and took a sip of tea to cover up her actions, then looked at Ji Mingfei, who seemed to want to run away as he left.

Am I that scary? You weren't like this in bed that day.

The assistant bent down and asked in a low voice, "Mr. Chu, would you like to rest for a while? I'll go outside and buy you a cup of coffee."

Chu Yue turned her chair towards him, raised her poker face (the kind she only wore when she was working), and asked, "Do I look like someone who needs to take a coffee break after working for two hours?"

"No! No! You're in excellent condition!" the assistant said quickly and firmly.

Then he gestured to the next employee who was standing at the door, unsure whether to come forward, and said, "Please come in, our CEO Chu doesn't eat people."

"..."

The employees affected by Ji Mingfei's reporting time suddenly became even more afraid.

…

After listening to everyone's work reports, Chu Yue gained a preliminary understanding of the employees of Shanhe.

At least half of the company's employees are idle every day, new graduates have no mentors, and some haven't even gotten started with their jobs.

Zhou Yaomin left her with a mess!

"Boss, what are we having for lunch? Are you going back to the hotel first, or are you going to eat first?"

Speaking of hotels, Chu Yue suddenly remembered that she hadn't settled on renting a place yet, and asked, "How's it going with the place you asked me to find for me?"

"I'm furnishing the place now. I'll hire a cleaning service tomorrow, and then I can move in."

"Are there no furniture provided for the rental here?"

"President Shen said he hopes you can live more comfortably, so he asked me to buy you a new house near the company, and the cost will be directly recorded as a fixed asset of the company."

Chu Yue was surprised that Shen Qing'an acted so recklessly, and that her assistant hadn't told her beforehand. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"I've inquired about the housing prices here, and they're very cheap. Besides, President Shen has already approved it! You're just enjoying the company's benefits; it's not like you're buying it in your name. You can even make money for the company when you sell it in the future!"

Chu Yue didn't want to make an exception at this time. Besides, even if she was renting a place, someone of her level wouldn't have much to lose, so there was no need to leave herself with such a weakness.

How much did you spend on the house?

Before the assistant could even tally it up, she pulled out her phone and quickly calculated a rough figure, saying, "Including the furniture, it'll be a little over 400,000."

"Swipe my card, no need to go to the finance department to do the accounting."

The assistant nodded, rubbing his phone screen. "Rich people are just so extravagant."

…

Two days later, Chu Yue moved into her new home.

The apartment, over 100 square meters, was a bit too big for her to live in alone. But her assistant said that this was the only remaining unit with good feng shui; the smaller unit next door had already been sold.

Soon, Chu Yue understood why Deng Jie had said the apartment had good feng shui. The morning after moving in, Chu Yue bumped into Ji Mingfei, who was also on her way to work, at the elevator entrance.

"President Chu? What are you doing here?" Ji Mingfei was startled. The most tragic thing in the world is probably running into the company leader as soon as you step out the door.

"I... live here."

Chu Yue had never been so humiliated. She now looked as if she were stalking an omega and deliberately living next door to him in order to pursue him.

"You bought a house here too?"

"..."

This sentence suddenly reminded Chu Yue. The last time she took Ji Mingfei home, she didn't live in this neighborhood. When did she move out?

"Don't you live in the company dormitory?"

Ji Mingfei switched roles almost seamlessly, getting into character in a second. Touching her belly, she said happily, "Now that I have a child, my husband says it's more convenient to live separately."

Chu Yue watched her performance quietly, then casually inquired about her employee's personal life, asking, "Does your husband live here too? Where does he work? I haven't seen him."

“He… is in his hometown. We met through a blind date, so we have to live separately for now! He said he would try to transfer his job here, or I could go back to his hometown in the future.”

"Oh...that's really blissful," Chu Yue said coldly.

The elevator doors opened, and Chu Yue stepped inside first, pressing the open button to wait for her. "Perfect timing, you can ride in my car."

"Thank you, Mr. Chu." Ji Mingfei did not refuse her boss's kindness, because it was very common to hitch a ride at headquarters, and it would have been strange if she hadn't.

The elevator goes directly to the underground parking garage.

Ji Mingfei, who was still thinking about how to naturally sit in the back seat, came to her senses when Chu Yue had already opened the passenger door and was waiting for her.

"..."

So what if it's the co-pilot's seat? What kind of improper behavior could a general manager possibly do to an alpha-or omega?

Ji Mingfei got into the car with an open and honest expression. He watched Chu Yue walk from the front of the car to the driver's seat. Her calm and composed figure showed no sign of taking advantage of him.

Am I thinking too badly of her...? After all, I was the one who approached her first. I put in the effort and resources, and she just blocked me and ran away without a word.

Intermittent pangs of conscience plagued Ji Mingfei, who silently prayed: "I'm so sorry, Goddess of Fertility. You donated such high-quality chromosomes to me; I will remember you for the rest of my life!"

Chu Yue got into the car and reminded him, "Wear your seatbelt."

"…oh."

Ji Mingfei snapped out of his daze and went to find the seatbelt buckle. With a "click," he was secured to the cold chair by the seatbelt.

They didn't exchange any words the entire way.

Chu Yue drove with her eyes fixed straight ahead, while Ji Mingfei stared at the road ahead, gripping the seatbelt tightly with both hands, as if she might be strangled by it at any moment.

The car drove into the company compound. Because we arrived more than ten minutes early, there weren't many colleagues at work yet.

Just as Ji Mingfei was about to open the door and get out of the car, she suddenly heard Chu Yue say to her from behind, "I'll send you the company's new articles of association in a bit. Check them and if there are no problems, print them out and have all departments study them as soon as possible."

Ji Mingfei, holding onto the car door, turned around and was about to say yes when he saw Chu Yue dialing a number on her phone while asking, "Is this still your previous phone number? I'll send it to you via text message."

Then, Ji Mingfei clearly heard the message from the car stereo: "Sorry, the number you dialed is not in service..."

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Author's Note:

Ji Mingfei: Who would send company bylaws via text message?!