Chapter 61: On the Eve of the Storm, Jiang Zongye Was Jealous to Death
"Let's make our relationship public... at work, okay?"
This idea has been buried in Jiang Zongye's heart since New Year's Day.
At the beginning of the new year, he was no longer willing to be just her underground lover.
I was unwilling to see her in the company, but I could only pass by her like a stranger;
Unwilling to let the two of them go out together, she always wears a mask to cover up her beautiful face...
Jiang Zongye's words almost woke up Qiao Ruoying from her sleepiness.
To be honest, she didn't want to make her relationship with him public in the company.
Originally, she felt that the bond between them was deep enough, and she couldn't imagine how terrible the rumors would be after it was made public.
"No, you forgot, the company doesn't allow office romances."
She used the excuse that "the company doesn't allow it".
But the company's articles of association are not static. As the president of the group, Jiang Zongye can certainly amend the company's articles of association.
Jiang Zong helplessly twitched the corner of his lip, his sharp jaw tightly clenched. He knew the girl would use "the company doesn't allow it" as an excuse, and he was prepared:
"Yingying, the company regulations changed a while ago. Now, dating is free within the group. After reporting to HR, as long as there's no overlap in business, you're not directly reporting to someone, and it doesn't involve sensitive positions, you can date freely and openly."
In other words, even if everyone in the group knew about their relationship, no one could find the loophole and report it to the human resources department, thereby firing her.
He had filled every loophole that could cause her to lose her job, carefully and without omission.
“…”
Now, Qiao Ruoying was completely speechless.
What shocked her even more was that he had been so busy recently that he actually initiated a board proposal and a shareholders' meeting resolution just to make their relationship known to the world?
But she was still embarrassed and said softly:
"I don't want to make it public right now. Let's discuss this later, okay?"
Without waiting for Jiang Zong to respond, she pulled up the quilt, pulled it tightly to her chin, and used her "trump card":
"I'm sleepy and don't want to talk about this anymore."
Seeing this, Jiang Zong had no choice but to stroke her head and whispered:
"Let's talk about it next time. Let's go to bed."
Soon, in the darkness, the girl's long and even breathing could be heard, and a hint of the girl's fragrance lingered vaguely at the tip of Jiang Zongye's nose.
The gap in the curtains had not yet been drawn tight, letting in a ray of moonlight as thin as water and gauze, reflecting her outline as she turned her back to him. The curves from her shoulders to her waist and hips undulated gracefully like sand dunes, with alluring curves.
Jiang Zong also looked at her back for a while, and unconsciously, he sighed softly.
He forced himself to sleep.
Jiang Zongye rarely dreams.
But that night, he dreamed of the words Qiao Ruoying had left on the computer in his study: "It's okay, I just treated him as my boss."
In the dream, my heart felt like it was being pricked by a needle, and there was a sharp pain.
-
The next day, Qiao Ruoying officially returned to work.
Early in the morning, she went to HR to cancel her leave and then returned to her workstation.
As soon as I arrived at the administration office, I sensed something was wrong: Why was the office so stuffy? New and veteran employees alike were all hunched over their screens, their heads bowed.
Even the usually active Du Xinrong was wearing a big hat and eating a bag of potato chips.
Rongrong didn't even make a sound while eating the potato chips. He put the chips on his tongue, waited for the saliva to slowly soften the chips, and then chewed and swallowed them.
All the colleagues suddenly became as quiet as chickens. Qiao Ruoying felt that something was wrong and quickly sent a message to Du Xinrong:
"What's going on? Is a leader coming to inspect?"
Du Xianyu Xinrong replied immediately, "No. You'll know if you go to Lisa's office. Lily was dumped by her boyfriend. She's been so stern these past few days, like she's going through premature menopause. Who dares to mess with her?"
Speak of Cao Cao and he will appear.
Suddenly, the sound of Valentino high heels tapping against the floor could be heard from the office door. Then, Lily's slightly shrill voice rang out, "Quennie, come to my office."
Qiao Ruoying was so scared that she closed the chat window immediately and followed Lily obediently.
Lily asked her to organize the meeting materials.
When Qiao Ruoying received the order and came out, she glanced at her boss's face out of the corner of her eye. Sure enough, Lily's face was covered with a thick layer of foundation, and she looked very pale.
Even the foundation couldn't hide the tiredness on Lily's face, as if she had cried bitterly in the middle of the night.
How heartbreaking a breakup could make Sister Lily, the usually strong and powerful woman, become so depressed?
Finally, they got off work at noon. Qiao Ruoying and Du Xinrong went to the cafeteria to get their food and prepared to eat on the terrace. Zeng Fan also followed them.
Zeng Fan usually disdains to associate with the two of them, but when there is gossip, she likes to drag them into the discussion.
Zeng Fan found a sheltered spot on the terrace. As soon as his butt touched the seat, he lowered his voice and spoke impatiently:
"I found out who Lily's boyfriend is. My schoolmate said he's a law partner at the Tiancheng Law Firm next door, and his annual salary is several million."
"Really?" Du Xinrong replied excitedly.
During their conversation, Qiao Ruoying understood the whole story: Lily is 32 years old this year, and her boyfriend David is six years older than her. Not only is he successful in his career, but his family assets are also considerable, definitely enough to be in the A9 class.
David is very fickle and often has affairs with other women. Lily tolerates it all because her ultimate goal is to marry David and achieve class advancement.
The two had been in love for eight years. Lily urged David to get married countless times, thinking that she had finally persuaded him to get married. However, David broke up with her quietly on New Year's Day.
"I feel a little sorry for Lily after hearing this." Du Xinrong sighed exaggeratedly.
"What's there to pity? She deserves it." Zeng Fan rolled his eyes and said smugly.
"Classes aren't so easy to cross these days. Men are very clever and willing to date women and take advantage of their young bodies. But when they finally get married, they still look for someone of equal status."
Zeng Fan glanced at Qiao Ruoying as she spoke. She remembered that before New Year's Day, she had seen Qiao Ruoying and an old, fat, ugly man standing under a tree in the city center, looking at the same phone.
She thought happily that Lily's failed attempt to marry into a wealthy family had just made Qiao Ruoying wake up and not think that class differences were so easy to cross.
"But Lily isn't at a loss, at least the man she's dating, David, is decent looking if he tidies up. Unlike some women who date overweight men who could be their fathers, and whose looks even money can't save."
Of course, Qiao Ruoying didn't know that Zeng Fan was "implying" her.
She thought about it and realized that she had slept with Jiang Zongye. He had such good skills and his service was first-class, so she made a profit.
Therefore, Qiao Ruoying agreed: "Indeed, when it comes to love, you still have to find a handsome guy, otherwise you won't be able to bring yourself to do it."
Zeng Fan rolled his eyes at her, wishing he could roll his eyes to the sky.
She thought to herself, how dare you say you want a handsome boyfriend?
How did you bring yourself to say that?
He is really not honest at all!
After lunch, Zeng Fan said she had an appointment at the Starbucks in the complex next door, so she left first. Du Xinrong and Qiao Ruoying walked arm in arm to the fountain square downstairs to help digest their food.
On a winter afternoon, the sun was warm, casting a dark shimmering light on the asphalt road in the distance.
A Ferrari supercar was rolling on the road, and against the backdrop of the cold facade of the building, it looked as bright as a red beetle.
The car door opened, and a woman in an A-line skirt and a light brown windbreaker got out. Her small face, the size of a palm, was covered with a pair of huge sunglasses that almost took up half of her face.
She raised her chin slightly, looking both cool and noble, as proud as a swan.
Her gait, the way she raised her chin, inexplicably made Qiao Ruoying feel familiar. The melodious and smooth melody of "Für Alice" at the banquet hall seemed to echo in her mind again.
Chen Luyao.
At the same time, Du Xinrong tugged at Qiao Ruoying's sleeve and whispered, "She is Chen Luyao, Alice, an independent director from North City, who is checking the group's financial situation."
"Do you still remember the bite marks on Big Boss's neck a few months ago?" Rongrong's voice became excited again when Boss Jiang was mentioned.
"Remember."
"Everyone in the secretariat is saying that the teeth marks were made by Chen Luyao biting Jiang Zongye's neck. They are a couple."
Now it was Qiao Ruoying's turn to be confused.
If she hadn't been the one who left the teeth marks on Jiang Zongye, she would have believed it just based on Rongrong's unusually affirmative voice.
"Why is it spread like this? Is there any basis for it?"
Qiao Ruoying asked.
Du Xinrong waved her hand. "The people in the secretarial office said that Director Chen has been in and out of President Jiang's office every few days. And look at Director Chen's demeanor. It's obvious that he is from the same class as President Jiang."
Qiao Ruoying bit her lip and stopped talking.
The originally clear and cloudless winter afternoon was suddenly covered with a layer of dark clouds.
The break was almost over, and Qiao Ruoying and Du Xinrong walked towards the first floor lobby.
While waiting for the elevator, Qiao Ruoying secretly glanced at the exclusive elevator to the top floor. Chen Luyao was standing there with her arms folded, her posture like a compass with its legs stretched out at an angle, drawing a circle.
“…”
Suddenly, an indescribable feeling surged in her heart.
A minute later, YSL's pointed leather high heels tapped against the tiled floor as Chen Luyao pushed open the door to the president's office.
Jiang Zong was also sitting behind a large desk. He raised his eyelids and looked at her. A hint of impatience welled up in his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.
Since the shareholders' board of supervisors approved Chen Luyao's application for an audit, an accounting firm has moved directly into Taiheng's finance department. The group's accounts are kept clear, and Jiang Zong is not afraid of her audit;
But Chen Luyao insisted on taking the accounts and questioned him one by one.
It would have been fine if she could raise some questions that would help improve the company's management level and work efficiency, but the questions raised by Chen Luyao were all from a layman's perspective and level, which made Jiang Zong very unhappy.
He was not a patient person. He did have a slight aversion to stupidity, but in his opinion, the stupid ones were the smart alecks like Chen Luyao.
He gave all his remaining patience to Qiao Ruoying.
"Last year's logistics costs were a full two percentage points higher than the year before. After I had someone check, I discovered that the logistics department provided Herman Miller ergonomic chairs to every employee in the group, in addition to upgrading the main equipment."
Chen Luyao closed the bill and threw it on Jiang Zongye's desk.
"The group doesn't need to provide employees with such fancy ergonomic chairs; ordinary ones will do."
Chen Luyao adheres to the concept of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and this is how the "cost" was reduced.
She believes that, ultimately, it is because the benefits that Taehyung Group provides to its employees are too good, and good benefits reduce the group's profits.
She tried to do some economic calculations for Jiang Zongye: "Even if we collectively purchase Herman Miller ergonomic chairs, each one will cost around 4,000 yuan. But ordinary ergonomic chairs can be bought for 400 yuan each. The group has more than 10,000 employees..."
Jiang Zong also put down his pen and stood up from his ergonomic chair. He placed both palms on the rosewood desk, his long, distinct knuckles fully stretched out, and veins bulged out on the back of his hands, like fan bones made of green jade.
The man was too tall, with bulging shoulders and strong muscles hidden under his suit and shirt.
Chen Luyao glanced at his hands pressed on the table, smelled the scent of fir wood on him, and her face turned red.
Jiang Zong also stared at her expressionlessly, his tone leaving no room for questioning.
"How can a $400 ergonomic chair compare to a Herman Miller chair? My employees sit in chairs for eight hours a day, so they definitely need the best. Even if it costs more, it's worth it."
He pointed back and said, "Whatever chair I use, my employees should use the same chair."
"Ms. Chen, would you use a 400-yuan chair for yourself? If this is your mindset, I will apply to the board of directors to redeem the shares controlled by Chen."
His words were merciless, causing Chen Luyao's face to turn red and white, and she gritted her teeth.
Jiang Zongye was also very disdainful in his heart. He felt that Chen Luyao's vision was too small. It was just a chair, and this chair was a durable product rather than a consumable one.
Suddenly, he thought of Qiao Ruoying.
It’s not like Yingying hasn’t done anything to reduce costs and increase efficiency before.
Every time she was in charge of the meal standards, a lot of purchasing costs could be saved.
Because she will compare products from different stores and choose the ones with the best value for money, the best taste, and the most hygienic and safe products from a huge selection; her "cost reduction and efficiency improvement" will never harm the interests of employees, but will achieve a "win-win" situation for the group as a whole and its employees.
Thinking of Qiao Ruoying, a smile appeared on the corner of his lips, and the cold lines on his face became softer. Like a towering iceberg on the sea, it becomes soft and moving under the warm sunshine.
He wondered what his Yingying was doing at the moment. Was she sitting at her workstation, changing the water for her plants from time to time?
Will she feel uncomfortable adapting to the new job she just returned to?
-
downstairs.
After Qiao Ruoying returned to her workstation, she thought for a while, holding her chin, and sent a message to Mina: "The Chen family in North City that we mentioned last time at the banquet hall, is it a big deal?"
Five minutes later, Mina replied, "Big. Not just any big. They're the white gloves for integrating resources in the political and business circles. In the 1990s, the Chen family developed 100,000 square meters of prime land near the Beijing Trade subway station in North City."
In addition, Mina sent two more messages: "Baby, I'll tell you a little more about the situation. Don't be offended. We knew each other then."
"The Jiang family owns the Taiheng Group, which is at its peak. In terms of strength, no one can match them. The Chen family enjoyed rapid development in the last century, but the recent decline in the real estate market has impacted the Chen family. According to the Chen family's wishes, they would definitely like to marry into the Jiang family."
"From what I've learned, Chen Luyao is very picky. In their circle, she only has eyes for Jiang Zongye."
Qiao Ruoying looked at the message from Mina. She thought she would be very angry, but she wasn't. She was much calmer than she thought.
Maybe, after Mina's "warning" some time ago and her own experience of her sister's breakup with Link, she thought she had let it go.
"Yingying, stop daydreaming. Work will be suspended after five o'clock. We have to rehearse the dance for the annual party."
Sitting opposite her, Du Xinrong sent her a message.
After New Year’s Day every year, the group’s labor union organizes employees from all departments to rehearse dances and perform them at the annual meeting. It also offers very generous bonuses and prizes to enrich employees’ spare time and enhance departmental cohesion.
This time, the Administration Department was paired with the Design Department.
Qiao Ruoying took some time off, and now she is the only one who has not found a good dance partner.
After five o'clock, employees from the two departments gathered in the rehearsal hall. The dance chosen by the person in charge was street dance, and they danced in pairs, either boys with boys or girls with girls.
Qiao Ruoying hadn't chosen a dance partner yet because she had taken a leave of absence a while ago. The person in charge, Mary, said there was another boy who hadn't chosen a dance partner either because he had taken leave frequently.
As she said that, Mary brought the boy over.
When Qiao Ruoying took a look, she saw that the boy had fair skin, was very tall, had a slightly hunched back, droopy eyebrows, and looked a little listless. Wasn't he Wang Zhi, who had been pursuing her through WeChat transfers?
She wants to pair up with Wang Zhi and dance street dance together?
The first thing that came to her mind was Jiang Zongye’s outrageous possessiveness.
He doesn't care whether she has an ambiguous relationship with other men or not. He gets jealous without any reason.
snort.
Mary noticed her hesitation and tried to persuade her. "Queenie, please don't reject Xiao Wang, okay? The employees are already paired up, and moving them around would be a hassle."
Qiao Ruoying recalled what she saw at the elevator entrance, Chen Luyao got on the elevator to the president's office.
Jiang Zong also forbade her to have contact with or talk to men, so how could he himself have contact with and talk to girls?
I might as well make him jealous to death.
Just for this little bit of anger, Qiao Ruoying agreed to let Wang Zhi be her dance partner.
Some time ago, every time Wang Zhi transferred money to Qiao Ruoying, she would return it on the spot. Over time, Wang Zhi stopped transferring money to her.
But Wang Zhi still likes Qiao Ruoying quite a lot.
He really valued this opportunity to rehearse hip-hop dance with her. He used to be absent from work every other day, but now he comes to the company every day.
Before dancing with Xiao Qiao, he would wash his hands carefully. His hands sweat easily, so he would wipe them with wet wipes in the middle of the dance to prevent her from feeling uncomfortable holding his hand.
After dancing once or twice, Qiao Ruoying felt that choosing Wang Zhi as her dance partner was a good decision.
Because he is a gentleman enough and would never put his hands where they shouldn't be.
In fact, she should have told Jiang Zongye about finding Wang Zhi as her dance partner as soon as possible.
But for some reason, she kept resisting and didn't want to tell him. After all, he hadn't told her that Chen Luyao often went to his office, leaving her to guess.
She comforted herself, thinking that if she told Jiang Zongye, he would insist that she change her dance partner, disrupting the team of dance partners that had been finally balanced and complete, wouldn't that just cause more trouble for the group?
She won't do anything that will cause trouble to others.
-
Soon, it was their three-month anniversary.
Jiang Zong also remembered that it was on this day three months ago that he and she went to visit her university campus together. Under a towering rockery, he kissed her and she became his girlfriend.
This is a day worth remembering.
His busy schedule continued, but he specifically cleared the date for the anniversary night, asked Ada not to make any plans, and asked Li Zheng to book the revolving restaurant on the 88th floor of the Diwang Building.
Jiang Zong had also thought of everything: the floor-to-ceiling windows of the revolving restaurant had a great view, and at twelve o'clock in the morning, a grand rain of fireworks would bloom in the sky, and he wanted to take her to watch the fireworks in the sky.
Watch a rain of fireworks prepared just for her.
It is said that if you make a wish under a shooting star, any wish will come true.
So if we make a wish under the fireworks, can all our wishes come true?
When he got off work, thinking about taking her to experience new things tonight that she had never experienced before, Jiang Zongye raised a handsome arc at the corner of his lips and was sincerely happy.
He sent a message to Qiao Ruoying.
"Yingying, get off work early."
Five minutes later, she still hadn't replied to him.
Jiang Zongye then remembered that Ada had mentioned to him that all departments of the company were preparing for the annual meeting, and the administrative department and the design department were going to rehearse a dance together.
In that case, he might as well go to the rehearsal room to find her.
The rehearsal room is bright and clean, and the floor-to-ceiling windows are spotlessly clean.
In the evening, when the sun was about to set, a little residual blood color shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows, making the rehearsal room look like a bright golden box. The men and women dancing in the box looked like beautiful little figures on a music box.
And Qiao Ruoying is the most beautiful one in this music box.
Perhaps because she had been dancing for a long time, her physical strength was exhausted, and her face was covered with a layer of sweat. On her smooth, porcelain-white forehead, the fluffy hair was wet and stuck to her hairline, making her look so youthful and beautiful.
Her eyes were surprisingly bright, and her skin had a pink hue that came from exhaustion.
There was a boy next to her who handed her a bottle of mineral water.
She took it, smiled at the boy, unscrewed the mineral water bottle, and tilted her head back to drink.
As her arms were raised, the girl's lines from shoulders to chest were all pulled up and wrapped in a tight pure white base layer, making her lines proud, round and plump.
The boy who handed her the water obviously noticed it. His face suddenly turned red, like a crab boiled in hot water. He quickly turned his eyes away and didn't dare to look at her any longer.
Jiang Zongye took another closer look and realized that this was the rich second-generation boy from the design department who had been chasing after her before, Wang Zhi?
She knew that Wang Zhi had feelings for her in that way, yet she still chose him as her dance partner?
Jiang Zongye's eyes suddenly became dark, like the night when all the stars and the moon had hidden in the clouds, leaving not a single star or bright sky.
-----------------------
Author's words: Yingying and Jiang Ge both want to piss each other off, so they'll have a fight in the next chapter. They ended up kissing each other [Lop-eared bunny head] (Jiang Ge forced them to do so) [Lop-eared bunny head]
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