Chapter 25

After the car stopped, Lian Yijian said, "I'll go out and smoke a cigarette first," then opened the car door and got out.

With the sound of the car door opening lightly, Xia Zhongqin was the only one left in the car. She opened WeChat on her mobile phone, found Xia Kaiqun's WeChat, and sent a message to him.

Xia Zhongqin: Teacher Xia, I just told Mr. Lian that he seemed frightened and is now smoking outside the car.

In less than a minute, Xia Kaiqun sent back a voice message.

Xia Zhongqin first converted Xia Kaiqun's voice into text: Haha, girl, this is really too unexpected for him. Originally, this should have happened to a grown man like him. Don't worry, let him smoke a cigarette and relax. He was secretly happy in his heart.

After reading the text converted into voice, Xia Zhongqin turned down the volume of his phone and listened to the voice again. The hearty laughter in the voice could not be concealed at all.

After getting out of the car, Lian Yijian did not walk far. He walked directly to the rear of the car and leaned against the trunk.

When the cigarette in his hand was almost finished, a call came in on his cell phone. It was Xia Kaiqun calling.

Ten minutes later, Lian Yijian hung up the phone and crushed the half-smoked cigarette in his hand. He threw the remaining half into the trash can on the side of the road, then turned and walked towards the front of the car.

After getting in the car and closing the door, Lian Yijian didn't wear a seatbelt. He adjusted his emotions, which had been turbulent because of Xia Kaiqun's call, and said, "Zhong Qin, I've never been in a relationship, but I trust my feelings. You just told me everything in the group chat. Thank you for your honesty. If I do something wrong in the future that makes you feel unhappy or uncomfortable, don't take it to heart. Tell me in time and I'll correct it."

Lian Yijian's words were very straightforward but sincere. Xia Zhongqin didn't know how to respond. After a few minutes of silence, she heard Lian Yijian ask, "Zhongqin, did what I just said upset you?"

"No." Xia Zhongqin immediately denied, "I didn't expect it to develop so quickly. It takes time to change my identity."

Lian Yijian stretched out his left hand and couldn't help but flicked it against her smooth forehead. He said with a smile, "Soon? It had to be made clear sooner or later. Now that it's made clear, we don't have to be so shy when getting along with each other, and our work cooperation will go much more smoothly."

Regarding Lian Yijian's kiss on her forehead just now, Xia Zhongqin actually cooperated and didn't dodge. "Boss Lian, I will do my best to cooperate with you and be your assistant."

"Do you still want to call me Mr. Lian?" Lian Yijian said with a smile. When he saw the person's blushing face, his left hand couldn't help but grab the person's trembling right hand again.

The moment Lian Yijian's left hand held someone's right hand, an electric current spread from the top of someone's head to the surroundings. The feeling was very wonderful and beautiful. She just let Lian Yijian's left hand gently hold her right hand, without resistance or shaking off. The air in the car seemed to solidify at this moment.

Lian Yijian held her hand like this for a long time. Then Xia Zhongqin asked, "Then how do you want me to address you in public and in private?"

The smile in Lian Yijian's eyes deepened, and the strength of his grip on Xia Zhongqin's hand could not help but increase. "Our Zhongqin can do whatever is convenient for you, and your Mr. Lian will accept it."

What to call each other is a trivial matter. Xia Zhongqin suddenly remembered that on the first day of work, when Liu Qingqing was training them on corporate culture, Beijing Smart Internet Company did not allow office romances. If an office romance occurred, only one of the two could stay. So Xia Zhongqin told them a little bit of what she knew.

After hearing this, Lian Yijian immediately replied, "Zhong Qin, I know all this and I'm fully aware of the situation. I'll bear the consequences, so don't feel any pressure. Fate is a wonderful thing. As the Buddhists say, it takes five hundred glances in previous lives to even pass by each other in this life. Now that we've met, I don't want to miss you, and I don't want to regret it. I don't care what others think of you, but in my eyes, Xia Zhongqin, you're the best."

Xia Zhongqin was deeply shocked by Lian Yijian's words that touched the depths of her heart. It turned out that the so-called coldness shown by the man in front of others was just an illusion given to outsiders. After getting in touch with him, she found that his words and his personality were quite warm.

"Thank you, Lian...Brother Yi Jian, you don't need to give me special treatment at work in the future. Otherwise, the other brothers and sisters in the department will be disheartened. In the long run, it will be detrimental to unity. I want to get what I want through my own efforts."

Xia Zhongqin spoke very slowly, and her voice was soft and sticky. The three words "Brother Yi Jian" coming out of her mouth sounded particularly pleasing to Yi Jian's ears. He couldn't help but gently tapped Xia Zhongqin's smooth forehead with his right hand.

"Silly boy, did I treat you specially? I only went on a symbolic visit to the Centennial OA project. The reason it was successfully accepted later was because of my Zhong Qin's thorough preliminary needs research. You've worked so hard on the Centennial project, and your year-end bonus should have been given to you. I did have some selfish thoughts about the amount, but I asked Lao Wang to approve the full amount for you." Lian Yijian paused and continued, "Zhong Qin, I'll try my best to control myself and not treat you specially."

While the two were talking, Lian Yijian received a video call on WeChat. It was Xia Kaiqun calling. Lian Yijian then gently let go of the hand he was holding, picked up the phone from the center console and answered it.

"Yi Jian, are you still with Zhong Qin? I asked the waiter to pack up the remaining crayfish and barbecue. You don't have to come pick me up again. I'll take a taxi back later. You stay with her. The bill tonight is 500 yuan, so you don't have to transfer it to me again."

After Xia Kaiqun said this, he hung up the video without waiting for Lian Yijian to respond.

Lian Yijian put his phone back on the center console, glanced at Zhong Qin, whose face was still blushing, and asked softly, "Zhong Qin, is there anything else you want to tell me?"

Xia Zhongqin shook her head and said only, "I'm grateful for meeting you."

Lian Yijian smiled and replied, "Thank you for meeting me," then started the car.

The moment the car started, Xia Zhongqin said, "Work hard to grow into someone who can stand on his own like Brother Yi Jian. See you at the top."

Xia Zhongqin's voice was firm, and Lian Yijian could naturally hear the unquestionable tone in her voice. Although he had only known Xia Zhongqin for more than a year, Lian Yijian was still very clear about Xia Zhongqin's personality and character. It was only because he paid more attention to her among so many PMs in Southern Jiangsu. Xia Zhongqin had strong learning ability and logical thinking ability, and had a harmonious relationship with colleagues in the department and the company. The only shortcoming was that she cared too much about details and was too picky about details, which was not a good thing for a PM.

Lian Yijian hadn't had the chance to speak before, but now, after hearing Xia Zhongqin's heartfelt words, he said softly as the car drove onto the road, "Zhongqin, I believe that with time and experience, you will become a good PM. However, there is one thing we should do: we don't have to be so picky about details in certain situations. After all, the success of a project is determined by the golden triangle (time, cost, and quality)."

"For example, take your Centennial project. They placed the customer-provided logo in the upper left corner of the login homepage and various functional modules in the system. This requirement was not originally within the scope of the contract, and the customer did not mention it. In order to make the system more unique to the customer's company and pursue perfection in details, we spent a lot of time helping them implement it in the Centennial OA system. This is a manifestation of skimping on details in the project. We did it for them, which not only took up a lot of time and affected the overall progress of the project, but the customer also took this part of our work for granted. We did not exchange it for conditions that would be beneficial to our project, such as acceptance."

Lian Yijian's words were all objective facts, and Xia Zhongqin listened carefully. As a PM, she did have these problems. "Lian... Brother Yijian, thank you for pointing this out. I'll pay attention to this in future projects. Last year, I took the PMP exam and got 3A in all six process groups (project initiation, project planning, project execution, project monitoring, project closure, and project risk management). Only project planning got below 3A. Luckily, I successfully obtained my PMP certificate last July."

"You work so hard and are so dedicated, but if you don't even get the PMP certificate, that's simply unjust." Lian Yijian paused, then suddenly remembered a company benefit policy. He hurriedly asked, "Zhong Qin, the company offers a 1,500 yuan subsidy to regular employees who pass the PMP certificate within two years. Have you applied for it?"

The company provides subsidies for dozens of IT industry-related certificates such as PMP certificate, system architect, software evaluator, computer technology and software professional technical qualification (level) examination certificate, Huawei certified expert, and information innovation. The subsidy amount varies depending on the value of the certificate. She saw this welfare policy of the company in the company announcement under the cultural construction function module of the company's OA system, and one month after passing the exam, that is, in August last year, she sent the internal coordination to the human resources Liu Qingqing as required by the document, but Liu Qingqing directly interrupted the process. She went to find Liu Qingqing, and Liu Qingqing replied to her that this benefit was no longer available.

Xia Zhongqin had just finished explaining the ins and outs of applying for the PMP subsidy when Lian Yijian said, "Zhongqin, please find some time to send a coordination document to me, Liu Qingqing, and Lü Yiran, who's in charge of corporate culture planning at headquarters. I'll handle it first. Liu Wenjie and Ding Jintao both took the exam this year and both passed. The subsidy coordination document was sent last week, and the approval nodes were given to me, Liu Qingqing, and Lü Yiran, and Lü Yiran has already approved it."

Xia Zhongqin knew what Lian Yijian had said. She was being targeted by Liu Qingqing again. "Brother Yijian, let's keep a distance and keep a low profile in the workplace. If some people knew about our current relationship, they would be jealous and crazy. Who knows what they would do."