Chapter 12 Politely Refuses to "Get on the Bus"
When Tang Yi got home, her foot was still a little sore, so she hopped on her other foot and struggled to finish washing up.
The next morning, she took a closer look at her ankle. A bluish-purple ring stood out starkly against her porcelain-white skin, but thankfully, it didn't hurt anymore.
She sighed helplessly.
Why am I so unlucky lately? My wrist isn't even healed yet, and now I've injured my foot.
She finished washing up as usual, and while changing her shoes in the entryway, she precisely pulled open a drawer at the bottom and found a pair of flat shoes that she didn't know when she had bought them and that were almost covered in dust.
My phone vibrated once in my bag.
Tang Yi took it out and glanced at it; it was Zhang Minglang's WeChat message.
[Chapter: What time do you usually leave for work?]
Tang Yi didn't immediately realize the purpose of his words.
She rested one hand on the cold doorknob and typed rapidly on her phone screen with the other.
[Tang: I'm coming downstairs. Don't worry, I won't be late because of small problems.]
As soon as the green light came on, Zhang Minglang locked his phone, stepped on the gas, and sped off.
Tang Yi walked out of the elevator at a leisurely pace, silently weighing whether her foot condition was suitable for driving.
Forget it, just to be safe, I'll take a taxi.
She stood at the entrance of the building, opened a ride-hailing app, and entered her destination.
Suddenly a car drove in through the gate and honked at her.
At first, she didn't pay attention, assuming it was someone else's taxi and didn't look up. However, the other party honked the horn a few more times.
She looked up against the light and saw a familiar face appear in the driver's car window.
"Get in the car."
Zhang Minglang tilted his head slightly toward the passenger seat, gesturing for her to get in.
Tang Yi narrowed her eyes, remaining motionless.
"Hurry up, don't make me late too."
He turned his head, seemingly urging him impatiently. However, from an angle Tang Yi couldn't see, his eyes gleamed with anticipation and nervousness.
Tang Yi hesitated for a few seconds, but finally went around to the passenger side, opened the door, and got into the car.
In the driver's seat, Zhang Minglang had styled his hair for the first time ever, his face completely clean-shaven. He bobbed his Adam's apple, pretending to look in the rearview mirror, while glancing at Tang Yi in the passenger seat out of the corner of his eye.
Tang Yi had no expression. She stared straight ahead, deep in thought.
She wasn't stupid; she could sense that Zhang Minglang's sudden attentiveness couldn't be based on a simple reason like "causing her to sprain her ankle."
She remembered Chairman Zhang's repeated instructions to focus on her work and not to have any personal entanglements with him.
She readily agreed. After all, keeping public and private matters separate and maintaining clear boundaries has been a goal she has consistently upheld throughout her many years of work.
Seeing that she remained silent, Zhang Minglang racked his brains to find a topic: "Would you like to hear any songs?"
"Hmm?" Tang Yi snapped out of her daze and blurted out, "《May Each Be Well》".
Zhang Minglang turned his head as if in slow motion, calmly judging whether she was being sincere or deliberate.
Tang Yi met his probing gaze without any hesitation: "The Liu Ruoying version is fine, thank you."
The music started, and the two remained silent the whole way.
It wasn't until the car entered the vicinity of the parking lot that Tang Yi spoke up again: "President Zhang, please drop me off here."
Zhang Minglang knew, of course, that she was avoiding suspicion. However, he had no reason to refute her, so he could only pull over to the side of the road without saying a word.
"Thank you very much for your kindness, Mr. Zhang." The car was parked on the side of the road, but Tang Yi didn't rush to get out.
After much deliberation, she finally decided to speak up: "Outside of work, if we get too close, it might cause some unnecessary misunderstandings, so it's better if I take a taxi by myself in the future."
Zhang Minglang was not surprised that she could say that.
Although he was mentally prepared, when he actually heard it, his wonderful mood that morning was still completely ruined by her.
He thought for a few seconds, then gave a dry laugh, feigning indifference: "You're overthinking it. I was just going that way, and besides, you got hurt because of me yesterday."
Tang Yi nodded, her tone calm: "I understand, but I fell because I wasn't steady enough, and it has nothing to do with you. You don't need to feel sorry or want to make it up to me."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Minglang's eyes dimmed, but he still stubbornly insisted, "I just have too much of a conscience."
“Yes,” Tang Yi said sincerely, “I know you are a kind person.”
Zhang Minglang felt that she was being sarcastic, but he couldn't really hear anything wrong from her tone.
Thank you again, and please be careful.
Before getting out of the car, Tang Yi left only this sentence, then opened the door and left without looking back.
Zhang Minglang didn't start the car immediately. He gripped the steering wheel tightly with one hand until he watched her slender figure disappear from sight, only then realizing what a foolish thing he had done.
Why would you want to embarrass yourself?
He lowered his head, self-deprecatingly commenting on the series of strange things he had done over the past two days.
After that morning's incident, Zhang Minglang was much more attentive to his work than usual.
Secretary Tang was very satisfied with this.
Zhang Minglang had been with the company for almost half a month, and the company's operations seemed to be no different from before, except for the secretariat.
After what happened with Liu Zhang, everyone wisely curbed some of their playful tendencies and focused on their work.
The new General Manager Zhang's personality is completely different from General Manager Lin's. He clearly prefers a fast-paced work environment, while General Manager Lin is older and more composed, usually turning a blind eye to his colleagues in the secretariat slacking off.
Based on the information provided by Tang Yi, Zhang Minglang reviewed the company's financial reports and project data in recent years, which were only average and did not resemble those of a listed company at all.
He did all of this work in private, so the other executives who were observing the situation hardly felt his presence.
"When Old Master Zhang transferred General Manager Lin to make way for this precious grandson, I thought he was some kind of business genius!"
"Hmph, just a greenhorn."
In the vice president's office, several senior executives chatted amongst themselves, and finally burst into contemptuous laughter.
Zhao Linrui walked into the office at that moment.
He naturally overheard their conversation, but he neither responded nor stopped them. He simply sat back in his office chair, picked up a stack of documents without a word, and piled them up on the table.
"If you ask me, this young Mr. Zhang won't last long!" An executive leaned forward, speaking softly, his eyes and eyebrows furrowed.
Upon hearing this, the group exchanged glances and then burst into laughter.
"After transferring Lao Lin, I thought a tough guy was coming. Hmph, I think he's not even as good as his secretary."
"Hey! That Secretary Tang? That woman..."
"Bang!"
The executives were getting more and more off-topic when they were suddenly startled by a noise coming from their desks. They quickly stopped talking and looked toward the source of the noise.
Zhao Linrui, however, seemed oblivious to the reactions of the others, continuing to stack the already neatly arranged documents in his hands, which thudded against the solid wood desk.
The office immediately fell silent, with only the soft ripples from the goldfish swimming in the aquarium.
The executives didn't dare to breathe loudly, glancing meekly at Zhao Linrui.
He had his head half-lowered, seemingly organizing documents intently, with half of his face obscured in the shadows.
"You may continue."
Zhao Linrui slowly lifted his eyelids and smiled as he spoke. However, his smile seemed to conceal a hint of warning, causing the executives to remain silent.
"Finished talking?" He finally put down the crumpled document in his hand, leaned back in his chair, and spread his hands in front of him. "How about we talk about 'midnight'?"
The group quickly nodded and bowed in agreement.
A year ago, General Manager Lin launched an emergency patent research and development project called "Zero Point". However, before the project was ready to be completed, he was transferred to a branch office.
Therefore, this task naturally fell to Zhang Minglang.
Tang Yi followed the project closely, so she only spent a few hours explaining the ins and outs and progress of the patent project to Zhang Minglang.
Zhang Minglang was like a lion that had finally woken up, and his eyes finally showed some fighting spirit.
The opportunity to show off one's skills has arrived.
He abandoned his previous low-profile approach and quickly organized a company meeting, demanding that all departments cooperate fully to complete all work from R&D finalization to patent submission within a month and a half.
Everyone present, except Zhao Linrui, was in an uproar.
Although the preliminary work has been mostly done, a month and a half is far too short.
Zhang Minglang ignored his subordinates' whispers, simply saying "Meeting adjourned" before getting up and leaving.
Zhao Linrui watched him and Tang Yi walk away one after the other, and smiled almost imperceptibly.
Who were the previous members of the Zero Point team?
As Zhang Minglang walked forward, he turned his head to ask Tang Yi.
Tang Yi accurately named several executives, and when she mentioned that Zhao Linrui was in charge of one of the lines, she sensed that Zhang Minglang's pace slowed down.
What do you think the chances are of successfully removing him from the project team?
The elevator doors slowly closed, revealing Zhang Minglang's tall, slender figure leaning against the elevator wall.
Tang Yi was startled.
She turned to meet his gaze and realized that he didn't seem to be joking.
After a few seconds of consideration, she replied, "It depends on you."
Zhang Minglang chuckled, naturally understanding her unspoken meaning.
It was simply a reminder that as president he wielded considerable power, but he shouldn't make decisions based on personal grudges.
Zhang Minglang's words were half a joke and half a truth. After all, at the banquet, the young Vice President Zhao's behavior had aroused suspicion, making him feel somewhat wary and uneasy.
But he didn't dwell on those complicated details anymore.
For the next month or so, everyone in the company was immersed in the intense work on the project.
Under the excellent leadership of Zhang Minglang and Tang Yi, the secretariat finally had a tense atmosphere. Even Tang Jiaxin and Li Da, who loved to slack off, stopped bickering with each other.
Zhang Minglang ordered the establishment of a special working group, which was then distributed down the chain of command, resulting in constant meetings of all sizes every day.
Tang Yi could only estimate the urgency of each meeting and arrange the order accordingly.
At noon, she gently placed the pre-ordered boxed lunch on the coffee table in front of the sofa, and also took away the nearly empty coffee cup from the desk.
"Mr. Zhang, lunch is here. Please eat it while it's hot."
Seeing that he seemed not to have heard her, she prepared to leave first and come back to remind him again later.
However, as she turned to leave, a hoarse voice came from behind her.
"return."
She sensed something was off about his voice, but she didn't say anything for the time being and went to his desk to wait for his instructions.
"Let's organize a meeting this afternoon and invite the heads of each department."
Zhang Minglang's voice was still hoarse. He supported his forehead with one hand and covered his stomach with the other, his brows furrowing slightly in discomfort.
Tang Yi was silent for a moment, then spoke firmly about something else: "President Zhang, I'll contact Assistant Zhou and take you to the hospital for a check-up this afternoon."
Zhang Minglang, surprised, glanced at her with interest.
"What's going on, Secretary Tang? Are you starting to care about your boss?"
Tang Yi: "......"
She knew, of course, that he was using the same words she had used before to retort, but she didn't have the time to argue right now.
Are you feeling nauseous or dizzy?
"A little bit of both."
"It's probably acute gastroenteritis." She took out her phone to find Assistant Zhou's contact information while asking, "Has this happened before?"
“You don’t need to contact him,” Zhang Minglang said, forcing himself to stand up. “I’ve already contacted him.”
As they were talking, Assistant Zhou knocked on the door and came in.
"Mr. Zhang, the car is ready."
Tang Yi turned around and nodded to Assistant Zhou, who was standing outside the door looking confused. Then she turned to help Zhang Minglang, and Assistant Zhou quickly stepped forward as well.
A note from the author:
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
