Chapter 52 She is just Yan Shuang
At seven o'clock in the morning, Shangqiu Zhu stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window to answer the phone.
His voice was low: "There's a problem with the data on page three of the audit report. Check it again."
The rustling sound of fabric rubbing against each other came from the dressing room.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Yan Shuang with her back to the door, her slender arms awkwardly twisted behind her back, her fingertips struggling to reach the zipper of her skirt.
She wore a pearl-white silk blouse, tucked into a black pencil skirt, revealing a small section of her fair skin at her lower back.
Her face was scrunched up in the mirror, her lips pressed into a thin line.
"Keep the error within 0.5%." He said to his phone, but his feet were already moving towards the dressing room.
Yan Shuang was struggling with the stubborn zipper when she suddenly smelled a familiar scent.
Shang Qiuzhu was standing behind her at some point, her phone on speakerphone on the dressing table, with the financial director's report coming from it.
Just as she was about to turn around, a warm hand gently pressed down on her shoulder.
Yan Shuang could feel his fingertips brushing against the skin on her back. As his wrist steadily lifted the zipper, the fabric that was stuck was gently released and smoothly rose to the top.
In the mirror, she saw that Shang Qiuzhu had picked up her phone again and continued the call as usual.
After hanging up the phone, Shangqiu Zhu turned and walked towards the restaurant, but then paused at the door: "It's getting colder today."
Without turning his head, he said, "Put on your coat."
With Shang Qiuzhu's tacit approval, Yan Shuang would first go to the US branch of the Shang Group every morning to handle daily secretarial affairs, and then go to the University of Southern California in the afternoon to participate in a financial modeling project.
"Good morning, Secretary Yan." Assistant Jessie handed her a document. "This is the quarterly financial report for North America that you requested."
"Thank you." Yan Shuang smiled and accepted the document, quickly browsing through its contents and entering the important data into the system.
She was extremely efficient and finished handling all the urgent matters before noon.
At exactly twelve o'clock, Yan Shuang tidied up her desk, picked up the tote bag she had prepared beforehand, which contained her laptop and materials for the financial modeling course.
A colleague greeted her: "Secretary Yan, are you going to the University of Southern California again?"
Yan Shuang smiled and nodded: "Yes, as usual, call me if there's anything urgent."
Stepping out of the Shang Group building, Yan Shuang's steps were noticeably lighter.
She went straight to the University of Southern California, quickly changed out of her business attire in the restroom, put on a comfortable T-shirt and jeans, and let her hair down over her shoulders.
The girl in the mirror had bright eyes and an undisguised smile on her lips.
“Yan! Over here!” Mark, her teammate from the project team, waved to her from the classroom doorway. “Today we’re starting the Monte Carlo simulation part, and the professor said you’ll be in charge of it.”
Yan Shuang jogged over, "I checked the relevant information last night and have a few ideas I'd like to discuss with everyone..."
The afternoon classes always flew by. Yan Shuang was completely absorbed in the world of financial modeling, sometimes frowning in thought, sometimes excitedly exchanging ideas with her teammates.
Here, no one knows she is the second young lady of the Yan family, and no one defines her as "the secretary of the CEO".
She is Yan Shuang.
At six o'clock in the evening, Yan Shuang returned to her apartment.
She quickly took a shower, changed into comfortable pajamas, moved her laptop to the coffee table in the living room, and sat cross-legged on the carpet to continue working on her afternoon project.
Financial data danced on the screen, and her fingertips tapped out a light rhythm on the keyboard, completely unaware of the sound of the door opening.
Shangqiu Zhu stood in the entryway, loosened his tie, and looked at the figure focused on working in the center of the living room.
Yan Shuang sat cross-legged on the carpet, with her back to him.
She wore a precarious bun, with a few wisps of hair playfully sticking out from behind her ears. The blue light from her laptop screen illuminated her face, revealing her vivid expressions as she sometimes frowned and sometimes pursed her lips.
He unconsciously slowed his pace.
"No...this is not right..." Yan Shuang muttered to herself, biting her lower lip.
She suddenly grabbed the notebook next to her and scribbled something down.
The wide neckline of her pajamas slid to one side with her movements, revealing a large expanse of her fair shoulder.
Shangqiu Zhu leaned against the door frame, watching her. She was proudly shaking her head because she had solved a difficult problem, and her bun swayed gently with her movements.
The code on the computer gave an error again. Yan Shuang scratched her hair in frustration and angrily tapped the keyboard.
Shangqiu Zhu coughed lightly.
Yan Shuang turned around abruptly, "Mr. Shang! When did you get back?"
She quickly stood up straight.
"Just arrived." Shangqiu Zhu walked over and sat down on the single sofa next to her.
He gestured for Yan Shuang to turn the computer around, "Let me take a look."
Yan Shuang quickly pushed the laptop toward him, but accidentally touched the touchpad. The charts on the screen suddenly zoomed in and out, and the data points became a jumbled mess.
"I'm sorry!" Her face flushed red, and her hand hung in mid-air, unsure of what to do.
Shangqiu Zhu directly grasped her wrist and straightened the computer.
“Here,” he pointed to a piece of code, “there’s a problem with your Poisson process parameter settings.”
His voice was deep and steady, carrying a patience that Yan Shuang had never heard before.
Yan Shuang leaned closer to the screen, her hair falling down, brushing lightly against the back of Shang Qiuzhu's hand.
She smelled faintly of jasmine, the scent of her shower gel.
"Oh, I see!" she finally realized, excitedly grabbing Shangqiu Zhu's arm. "You're amazing!"
Shangqiu Zhu looked down at Yan Shuang's hand gripping her sleeve.
Yan Shuang hurriedly let go of her hand.
"Go to sleep." Shangqiu Zhu closed her laptop. "We'll continue tomorrow."
"Ah! I made braised pork ribs!" Yan Shuang jumped up and ran to the kitchen. "Will you eat before you go to sleep? I'll heat it up!"
Shangqiu Zhu followed her into the restaurant and sat down, watching her busy figure in the kitchen, and watching the hem of her pajamas sway gently with her movements.
"Mr. Shang, would you like some chili?" Yan Shuang poked her head out from the kitchen, her bun now completely messed up, her cheeks flushed pink from the steam.
Shangqiu Zhu responded, "Yes, don't put too much in."
Yan Shuang blinked and a bright smile appeared on her lips: "I know, you have a sensitive stomach, so you can't eat too much spicy food."
At the dining table, Yan Shuang sipped her soup while secretly observing Shangqiu Zhu.
He maintained that almost demanding elegance while eating, even being meticulous about the angle at which he placed his chopsticks.
But perhaps because of the lighting, his hard features seemed to have softened a bit.
Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, Yan Shuang mustered her courage and asked him for advice on some of the difficulties she had encountered in the project over the past few days.
Surprisingly, Shangqiu Zhu patiently answered her questions, pointed out several key errors in Yan Shuang's model, and even offered suggestions for improvement.
"...So under this boundary condition, your numerical solution will be unstable." Shangqiu Zhu drew a simple coordinate graph on the tablecloth with the tip of a fork.
Yan Shuang rested her chin on her hand, listening intently, occasionally offering her own thoughts.
She completely forgot how intimidating the man in front of her usually was.
In the days that followed, their lifestyle remained the same, but something quietly changed.
One day, on his way to his study, Shangqiu Zhu noticed that the entire space was undergoing some kind of irreversible change: there were several more succulent plants on the coffee table, a new snack cart next to the remote control, and several cloud-shaped nightlights in the hallway.
The lampshade also has "If you're afraid of the dark, touch me~" written in fluorescent pen, followed by an arrow pointing to the switch.
He stared at the words for a full minute, but in the end he just dimmed the lights instead of throwing them in the trash.
He sat down at his desk and noticed a ceramic lucky cat with a bow tie next to his usual Montblanc fountain pen.
"Yan Shuang," he called out to the air, his voice devoid of emotion.
Light footsteps came from the kitchen, and Yan Shuang ran out with her hands covered in flour and a little cocoa powder on her nose.
"President Shang is back?" Her eyes curved into crescents. "I'm making macarons, they'll be ready soon!"
Shangqiu Zhu stared silently at her cat-like face, suddenly forgetting what he was going to say.
The sweet aroma of caramel wafted from the kitchen, mingling with Yan Shuang's off-key humming.
Two weeks ago, this place maintained a minimalist, cold order, but now it reveals the rough edges of life everywhere.
At dinner, Yan Shuang served a plate of irregularly shaped macarons.
"It may look ugly, but it tastes delicious!" She pushed it in front of him like a treasure.
Shangqiu Zhu picked up a pink one; it was too sweet, not sweet enough for his taste.
But he still finished the whole thing, and under Yan Shuang's expectant gaze, he gave it a "decent" rating.
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