Sir, I think you may have mistaken me for someone else.
Lancheng, China, Platinum Hotel.
Assistant Pan Zhe handed a black folder to Mu Chen: "Mr. Mu, this is the resume of the new representative of the Korean ST Group."
Mu Chen nodded slightly, gesturing for Pan Zhe to place the folder on his desktop. Then, while signing another unfinished document, he asked Pan Zhe, "Why was the representative changed?"
Recently, Platinum Hotels reached a cooperation agreement with ST Group, one of South Korea's most famous tourism and resort groups. ST Group will invest in Platinum Hotels and acquire a 2% stake in the company one year from now, upon fulfillment of agreed-upon conditions, through a pre-scheduled equity transfer.
During this period, ST Group will arrange for representatives to be stationed at Platinum Hotel, and both parties will jointly carry out a series of reforms and operations of the hotel, with the aim of achieving the agreed profit target within one year.
Originally, ST Group planned to send a male representative, whose resume had been submitted long ago. However, half a month ago, they suddenly notified them that they would be replacing him with a different representative, and on the very day Mu Chen went on his business trip, the new representative arrived at the Platinum Hotel.
ST Group's decision to appoint a new representative also seemed to have been made hastily, as the new representative's resume was only sent over three days after Mu Chen went on a business trip.
Pan Zhe replied, "It is said that the previous representative had a family emergency and could not come, so a replacement was sent at the last minute."
"Hmm." Mu Chen simply replied, not pressing the matter further. He handed the signed document to Pan Zhe, then stood up and straightened his sharp suit jacket. "Let's go."
"Mr. Mu, won't you take a rest a bit more?"
After all, Mu Chen had just returned from a flight that took more than ten hours, and he started working as soon as he arrived at the hotel without taking a break.
"No need." As Mu Chen said this, he strode towards the office door.
The Mu family has many businesses, but three years ago he only agreed to manage the Lan City Hotel, which had just been acquired by the Mu Group.
Although at that time, Platinum Hotels was facing various pressures and turmoil from both inside and outside.
Supervisors at all levels were already waiting outside the office. After nodding to everyone, Mu Chen, accompanied by them, inspected the hotel while listening to the supervisors' reports.
In the hotel lobby, two children, around four or five years old, were chasing and playing. Before their parents could stop them, one of the children bumped into a girl who was walking towards them and talking on the phone.
The girl was engrossed in her phone call and was caught off guard, stumbling as she was bumped. Her phone fell to the ground and slid two or three meters down the smooth marble floor.
Mu Chen bent down to pick up the phone that had fallen to his feet. Just as he was about to hand it to the girl opposite him, he suddenly saw a familiar face.
He exclaimed in surprise, "Rui Yan?"
It turns out he hadn't misread it at the airport that day.
Two weeks ago, on the day he went abroad on a business trip, his driver was taking him to the airport when he saw a girl sitting in the back seat of a taxi pulling out of the airport in the opposite lane. The girl was looking up at the sky through the car window at a 45-degree angle.
He recognized her at a glance; it was Rui Yan.
The girl standing opposite him paused for a moment when he called out his name, then smiled and said gently and slowly, "Sir, I think you may have mistaken me for someone else."
Mu Chen stared at her, stunned. It was definitely her. Although her long hair had been replaced with shoulder-length short hair, she looked more mature than before.
But he still recognized her; she was Rui Yan.
Neither of them spoke again, and they just stared at each other.
Pan Zhe promptly broke the slightly awkward atmosphere: "Oh, let me introduce you. This is Ms. Song Yunxi from the Korean ST Group. This is Mr. Mu, the General Manager of our Platinum Hotel."
While Mu Chen was on a business trip abroad, Pan Zhe had already informed him that the Korean representatives had arrived at the Platinum Hotel half a month in advance, and that he would meet with the Korean representatives with the hotel's senior management the next day.
Unexpectedly, the South Korean representative was the girl in front of me who looked exactly like Rui Yan.
Song Yunxi smiled and extended her hand to him: "Mr. Mu, hello! I am Song Yunxi."
Mu Chen reached out and shook her hand in return: "Miss Song, hello! I am Mu Chen."
Then he didn't say anything else.
Later, Song Yunxi was the first to react. She pointed to Mu Chen's other hand, indicating that he should return the phone he had picked up to her.
She took the phone, glanced at the still-connected call screen, and bowed to Mu Chen to express her gratitude. "Thank you, Mr. Mu, goodbye."
Afterwards, Song Yunxi held the phone to her ear, apologized to the person on the other end of the line, and walked out of the hotel.
As I walked through the revolving door, someone was coming in from the outside.
As they passed each other, Song Yunxi overheard Fu Meilin saying to someone on the phone, "Don't worry, those sluts won't get their hands on my Mu Chen brother."
She unconsciously frowned slightly and turned to look in the direction where Mu Chen was.
Mu Chen stood in the lobby listening to the reports from the managers, occasionally glancing at Song Yunxi who was walking out of the hotel.
When he turned to look at her for the third time, she also turned to look at him.
*
Back in his office, Mu Chen picked up the black folder that Pan Zhe had placed on his desk earlier. He opened it; inside was Song Yunxi's resume.
Song Yoon-hee: Born in Busan, South Korea, currently residing in Seoul, she graduated from Seoul M College with a degree in Chinese Language and Literature. During her university years, she was an intern at ST Group, and has been working there for over a year since graduation…
Her resume and interpersonal relationships are quite simple. Previously, she was just an ordinary employee at ST Group, but now she has been promoted to the position of Korean representative at the Platinum Hotel.
Mu Chen examined Song Yunxi's photo in her resume more closely. She really did look exactly like Rui Yan. The only difference was that Rui Yan had a small beauty mark under her left eye, while Song Yunxi did not.
Although he hadn't seen her in such detail when he first met her, he could see it clearly in the ID photo in front of him now.
Could there really be people in this world who look so alike? Or did he mistake her for someone else? Otherwise, how could she not recognize him when he and Ruiyan were such close friends?
Moreover, besides their different nationalities and names, they even have different birth dates. Rui Yan's birthday is in November, while Song Yunxi's birthday is in August of the following year.
Although Mu Chen and Rui Yan had only known each other for three or four months, he clearly remembered her birthday. That was because she had called him on her birthday to confess her feelings.
*
Mu Chen became the head of the Lan University Student Art Troupe during his sophomore year. That day, he had just finished the art troupe's rehearsal and was passing by the girls' dormitory building.
When his phone rang, he glanced at the caller ID, then looked up at the window he had just passed.
Although the window was lit, no one was standing there watching him as they had done before.
He stopped and answered the phone: "Hello?"
After a few seconds of silence on the phone, Rui Yan's small, slightly nervous voice came through. "Today is my birthday. Could you please give me two minutes? I want to say a few words to you."
He didn't know how long Rui Yan struggled with her thoughts before finally dialing the number that she had saved in her phone but had never dialed before.
"Okay, go ahead and say it, I'm listening." After saying that, Mu Chen sat down on the flower bed under the window.
After a two-second silence, Rui Yan spoke again: "You may not remember me, but I'm the girl who borrowed your umbrella."
"I remember you."
In fact, Mu Chen had always known Rui Yan. She was a freshman in a different department from him. He had borrowed an umbrella from her, knew her name, and had saved her phone number.
In a way, there was a slight connection between them. As the senior student in charge of a class, Mu Chen's freshman class was right next to Rui Yan's class.
Lan University has a tradition that during the first semester of freshman year, students attend evening self-study sessions together every night. Mu Chen would also visit the class he was in charge of every night to check on the students' self-study progress, and he would often stand at the door and chat with the class monitor, Gu Peng, about class affairs.
At this time, Rui Yan and her classmate and roommate Dai Shuo could always be seen walking hand in hand down the corridor. Their classroom was at the end of the corridor, so Gu Peng's class was the only way for them to get back to their classroom.
Every time Rui Yan saw Mu Chen and Gu Peng talking at the door, she would hide behind Dai Shuo, close to the wall, keeping a distance from them. She wouldn't even glance at Mu Chen, let alone greet him like an acquaintance. It was as if the umbrella-borrowing incident had never happened.
Mu Chen didn't quite understand Rui Yan's meaning, so he continued to play along with her act of being complete strangers.
But in fact, sometimes when he passed by the girls' dormitory, he could see her standing at the dormitory window looking at him.
Rui Yan's voice trembled slightly as she spoke again: "I used to really like you, so much so that even seeing you walk past my dorm would make me happy for a long time. I always loved listening to my classmates tell stories about you, but you were too outstanding, I didn't dare to confess to you..."
You could clearly hear her take a deep breath over the phone, and then, as if gathering her courage, continue, "Now I want to tell you that I used to like you, but from today onwards, I no longer like you."
Confess your feelings? And then reject him without waiting for his reply?
Mu Chen continued gazing at Rui Yan's dormitory window, letting out a barely audible sigh. "Okay. Thank you for your past affection. Happy birthday."
Rui Yan hung up the phone before her sobs became more pronounced, while Mu Chen stared out the window for a long time until he was sure no one would come to look at him before getting up and leaving.
From that day on, Ruiyan seemed to have let go of a lot. She no longer avoided him like before, and when she saw him on the street, she could smile at him and greet him.
Just like that day at the school gate, Mu Chen and Jiang Hailang walked in side by side and happened to run into Rui Yan, who was about to leave the school.
She smiled, waved to them, and said, "Hi!"
"Hi!" Mu Chen greeted her with a frank expression, while Jiang Hailang smiled ambiguously from the side.
After Rui Yan walked away, Jiang Hailang nudged Mu Chen's arm with his elbow, "You've been writing those little notes for so long, and this is all the progress?"
By the way, the little note that Mu Chen wrote to Rui Yan on the day she borrowed the umbrella was handed to him by Jiang Hailang.
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