Chapter 2 (Revised) Male Bar Model
The weekend sun was shining brightly, warming her skin. Shen Mengqing had drawn the curtains in her room beforehand, intending to sleep in until she naturally woke up. However, a phone call from Jiang Yu abruptly interrupted her sweet dream.
"Ah Qing, the list of winners for the planning competition has been released. Did you see the winning proposal? Isn't it exactly the same as yours?!"
"Hey? Are you even listening to me?"
Jiang Yu's voice was urgent, and Shen Mengqing's head was buzzing. She had just woken up and her eyes were a little unfocused.
She put down her phone blankly, took out her computer to check the messages, and saw Zhang Tu's name prominently displayed after "Best Planning Award" on the list.
In April, Yusheng, the pharmaceutical company where Shen Mengqing worked, held a planning competition that was open to all departments.
This opportunity was very important to Shen Mengqing. She had always wanted to transfer to the media department. If she could win the award, she could at least make a name for herself in the new department, which would be a great stepping stone.
The proposal had undergone numerous name changes before the final version was practically ingrained in her mind. She was very confident and had shown it to many classmates at large companies, who all said it was a sure thing. So, she immediately recognized her submission as the winning proposal for a new health product promotion.
Shen Mengqing picked up her phone. The department's work group was buzzing with activity, with everyone congratulating Zhang Tu.
After all, his biological father is a shareholder of the company, and who wouldn't want to take the opportunity to make a good impression?
Shen Mengqing tightened her grip on her phone. She switched back to the chat list and noticed a black profile picture lying quietly at the top.
Then, she was instantly overwhelmed by another emotion.
Why is she sending messages to someone she barely knows?!
After seeing the last message he sent to Yu Xin last night, Shen Mengqing wished he could vow to quit drinking from that moment on.
In order to salvage the situation, she decided to first observe Yu Xin's social media posts to see what kind of person he was, and then carefully consider the wording of her apology.
It's definitely not because she's curious about his social media posts.
Unfortunately, Yu Xin's WeChat Moments are only visible for three days, and apart from one pinned post, they are completely empty.
Shen Mengqing clicked on the pinned post on her WeChat Moments with some disappointment. The caption read: "In my next life, I want to find a good family and be a long-lived little dog."
The accompanying picture is of an adorable golden retriever grinning at the camera.
Yu Xin actually owned a Golden Retriever?
This gentle and affectionate dog is completely unlike the kind of dog that a cold-looking person like him would keep; it doesn't seem like a good match at all.
Moreover, something about this copywriting seems off; it's rather melancholic.
She recalled Yu Xin's appearance and suddenly felt that this sadness, when applied to him, seemed to make his temperament even more special, giving him a mysterious and ascetic feel.
Shen Mengqing rolled over in bed and left Yu Xin's WeChat Moments.
She bit her lip, thought for a moment, and cautiously typed:
"Sorry, I drank too much last night. This message was just praising your name, it didn't mean anything else, please don't take it to heart."
Shen Mengqing checked the sentence repeatedly, and finding no problems, clicked send.
The moment she sent the message, she saw a huge red exclamation mark in front of her message bar.
"YX has enabled friend verification. You are not yet his/her friend. Please send a friend request first..."
Shen Mengqing sprang up from the bed in an instant, laughing in exasperation: "Did I get deleted by the bedside?"
Unfortunately, the person opposite her was a handsome guy, so she couldn't bring herself to curse him.
Speechless and frustrated, she took a screenshot and posted it on her WeChat Moments, saying, "Commemorating the first time someone deleted me from their contacts / Hehe."
Jiang Yu quickly commented: "Speechless. I hope this kind of person has no friends. / Disgusting."
...
Monday arrived quickly. As soon as Shen Mengqing entered the office, Zhang Tu handed her a cup of coffee, his expression full of undisguised smugness.
Several colleagues nearby noticed the slightly tense atmosphere between the two and secretly gossiped under the table, their voices quite loud:
"Among our group members, is Shen Mengqing the only one who didn't send a congratulatory picture? I don't think they usually have any conflicts."
"Tch, what else could it be but jealousy?"
"No, that's not how people are."
Shen Mengqing stood up from her workstation with a smile and said generously, "Congratulations, Zhang Tu. I won't have the coffee; I don't like Americano."
"That's a pity. I'll treat you to drinks next time. Thank you for your congratulations, Ms. Shen. I heard you also participated in this competition, but unfortunately you didn't win any awards, so we won't be able to see your excellent work."
Although Zhang Tu was smiling, his tone betrayed an undisguised arrogance and sarcasm.
Shen Mengqing wouldn't dare to clash with him in public. After all, he has a powerful family background, while she is a brick without any support. If she goes head-to-head with someone with connections, she will definitely suffer the loss, and might even end up shattered into nothingness.
But she didn't want to see his hypocritical face anymore, so she went downstairs to buy coffee.
A few months ago, a chain coffee shop opened on the first floor of their office building. Her colleagues joked with her that the monthly rent for this small shop was probably only a few thousand yuan, and the investment could be recouped in just a few months. They wondered which leader's relative had discovered a way to make money.
After ordering an iced latte, she found an empty leather sofa next to her, sat down, and opened her work app to browse the company's weekly newsletter.
The first floor has floor-to-ceiling windows on all four sides, making the entire lobby bright and airy. Therefore, when Shen Mengqing caught a glimpse of someone dressed in all black passing by out of the corner of her eye, she immediately noticed them.
Curious, she looked up and saw a person wearing a black hoodie and black jeans walk to the cashier, a file folder tucked under their elbow. Shen Mengqing observed the person from behind, feeling that both their fleeting profile and the way they took orders sounded somewhat familiar.
She stood up, went to the food area to get her coffee, and then walked over to the person.
"It really is you, Yu Xin." Shen Mengqing smiled at Yu Xin. "What a coincidence."
She caught a glimpse of the waiter raising the barcode scanner and quickly held her own phone up to Yu Xin's phone.
With a beep, the waiter scanned her payment QR code.
"..."
Yu Xin gave him a cold look, practically writing on his face that "we're really close."
Shen Mengqing looked up and saw Yu Xin's discomfitured expression, which pleased her greatly. She had been harboring a mischievous intention all along, and if she had turned around and met the person she had deleted from her contacts, she would have been so embarrassed that she would have wanted to crawl into a hole.
Her expression remained unchanged as she put away her phone and asked, "You work here too?"
Yu Xin didn't really want to talk to her, but since he had been "invited" to have coffee, he had no choice but to answer her, "No."
Shen Mengqing: "Oh, you're here on business?"
She pointed to the file folder.
Yu Xin: "Mm."
Shen Mengqing nodded, finding Yu Xin increasingly strange. He dressed smartly late Friday night, but then dressed so casually on Monday morning, his workday. She wondered what he did for a living.
It can't be...
Shen Mengqing suddenly thought of the male bar models she occasionally saw on short video platforms, who were always wearing suits to work late at night.
She looked Yu Xin up and down again, becoming more and more certain of her guess.
With that face and figure, she's got the looks of a top star; no wonder she can afford such an expensive neighborhood.
Yu Xin naturally had no idea what she was thinking. Seeing that she was dressed in business attire, he guessed that she must be an employee of some company in this building.
“I work here, Yusheng Pharmacy, ninth floor,” Shen Mengqing said.
Yu Xingang had just picked up his iced Americano and taken a sip when he heard this, and almost choked, coughing incessantly.
Shen Mengqing quickly grabbed a few pieces of paper from the table and stuffed them into his hand: "Drink slowly."
Yu Xin's gaze darkened slightly as he looked at her, and his fingers tightened almost imperceptibly around the tissue. He said, "I'm leaving now."
Shen Mengqing raised a slender eyebrow, waved her hand, and watched Yu Xin leave.
She worriedly thought:
If he maintains this service attitude while working, how could he possibly become the top performer?
...
Jiang Yu invited her to lunch at the cafeteria. Shen Mengqing came downstairs on time. Before she left, several colleagues were teasing Zhang Tu, asking him to treat them. In the past, she would have occasionally chimed in, but now she felt nauseous if she stayed even a second longer.
Jiang Yu arrived at the cafeteria early and sat in a corner, looking around anxiously for Shen Mengqing to appear.
"Here, here!" She raised her hand and called out to Shen Mengqing. After the other person sat down opposite her, she pushed the bubble tea she had bought in front of Shen Mengqing, saying, "Drink something sweet when you're in a bad mood."
Shen Mengqing, as if venting his anger, forcefully shoved the straw into the milk tea and took a deep sip.
While she was drinking her milk tea, Jiang Yu kept nagging, "You didn't find a picture to tear things apart, did you? You're applying for a department transfer, so you shouldn't offend him. Let's talk about everything after the transfer is resolved. But have you reviewed how he got your proposal?"
Shen Mengqing snorted coldly: "How else could I have gotten it? I sent Liang Jun several versions of the PPT, hoping to get his advice. I didn't expect him to betray me."
Liang Jun is the department manager of her sales department and her direct supervisor. He is a middle-aged man with elderly parents and young children, going through menopause, and a seasoned veteran of the workplace who has been with the company for ten years.
"It must be him. I told you long ago, he looks shifty and doesn't look like a good person at all." Jiang Yu suddenly lowered her voice as if she remembered something, "Let me tell you a secret. My dad knows some of the higher-ups in our company, right? He said that our chairman seems to be in poor health and will be stepping down in a few years. I'm afraid Liang Jun is trying to take this opportunity to curry favor with a shareholder in order to prevent the new board from taking him down later, right?"
Shen Mengqing nodded: "It's probably true."
"So what are you planning to do about this?" Jiang Yu asked.
"There's nothing I can do but swallow this loss. My transfer to your department still depends on Liang Jun's approval and signature. He's been holding up my process, so how can I dare to ask him for an explanation?"
Jiang Yu thought for a while for Shen Mengqing, and it seemed that there was really no better way. She sighed and said, "Alas, these days you still have to rely on your background, otherwise you really can't beat these people with connections."
Hearing her sigh, Shen Mengqing couldn't help but chuckle and said, "It's one thing for me to say this, but for you, Miss Jiang, to say it like this, isn't it rather inappropriate?"
"Tsk!" Jiang Yu scoffed. "Although my family helped me get into the company, I've been working my way up on my own ever since. But as the saying goes, you have to fight fire with fire. Why don't you find an even more powerful background and slap them in the face?"
Her eyes darted around, and she said with a mischievous smile, "I know our chairman's son. He just graduated from studying abroad and came back to China. Although I haven't seen him for several years, I've always thought he was quite handsome and single. Would you like me to introduce you? Maybe you'll be the chairman's wife someday, Ms. Shen."
Jiang Yu playfully lifted Shen Mengqing's chin, looked him up and down in a joking manner, and then nodded in satisfaction.
Shen Mengqing laughed and slapped Jiang Yu's hand away, changing the subject, but for no reason, she thought of Yu Xin's face.
A note from the author:
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