Chapter 61 A pair of "President Zhang and Secretary Tang? Absolutely no chance of them dating..."
With his sharp tongue, which hadn't seen the light of day in a long time, Zhang Minglang successfully angered Bai Zeyu, making him slink away in a huff.
The moment the elevator doors closed, Zhang Minglang immediately turned around, took Tang Yi's hand, and carefully examined the dimly lit motion-activated lights in the stairwell.
His icy expression melted, and his voice softened: "Does it hurt?"
Tang Yi shook her head. Seeing that he was rushing upstairs, she asked him what he was doing there.
Zhang Minglang shook the keychain hanging on his finger. Tang Yi's eyes lit up, and she reached out to take it: "No wonder I couldn't find it earlier, how come the key is with you?"
"I left it in my car, and I only realized it halfway there. I quickly stepped on the gas and turned back," he said, his voice trembling with worry as he thought of something. "Does he come here often?"
The topic changed so quickly that Tang Yi was taken aback at first, before she reacted. She said, "This is the first time. I don't know where he found me."
Zhang Minglang frowned even more deeply: "Your home isn't safe anymore, so don't stay here tonight."
Tang Yi lowered her head and thought for a moment before saying, "Then I'll go down to the hotel and get a room?"
Zhang Minglang looked away, touched the back of his neck, and lowered his voice: "...If you trust me, you can come to my house."
Tang Yi rejected the idea with a single word: "That won't do, I'd rather go down..."
Before she could finish speaking, Zhang Minglang suddenly stepped forward and hugged her. His muffled voice came from above Tang Yi's head: "Why not? It's not like you've never stayed at my house before."
Tang Yi shifted in his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. She patted his back, speaking earnestly as if to comfort and explain, "That's different. That day was your day off, but you have to go to work tomorrow. We need to keep some distance, right?"
"We don't start work until tomorrow, why do we have to keep our distance today?" Zhang Minglang was secretly resentful, but then he seemed to suddenly realize something, grabbed Tang Yi's shoulders, his eyes shining, "You mean we can live together when we're off work?"
Tang Yi clearly hadn't expected him to interpret it that way. She opened her mouth to explain, but Zhang Minglang, as if afraid she would change her mind, let go of her, stepped over, and pressed the elevator button.
The elevator doors slowly opened, and the shadows on the ground at the entrance were gradually swallowed up by the warm yellow light, revealing a long patch of light.
"Go inside now, goodnight."
Zhang Minglang backed away as he walked into the elevator. Tang Yi's shoulders suddenly lost the warmth of his hands. The warmth was barely perceptible, even though it had penetrated through two layers of clothing. Yet, her shoulders felt strangely cool, though she wasn't sure if it was just her imagination.
But she ignored the subtle emptiness in her heart and waved with a smile: "Good night."
Zhang Minglang's face disappeared into the elevator. The elevator doors continued to close slowly. The last bit of light disappeared, and the stairwell was plunged into darkness again. The words he had just heard and the warm embrace seemed to have become a distant past.
Tang Yi stood quietly in the darkness for a while before silently turning around and opening the door behind her.
I don't know what's wrong with me, maybe I'm just too tired.
Tang Yi ignored these inexplicable thoughts and feelings, tidied up, and fell asleep.
When I woke up again, sunlight was streaming through the gaps in the two thick curtains, and the alarm clock was no longer a problem.
Her stomach was empty, and so was her heart. She listlessly opened her phone; the screen showed a message from Zhang Minglang ten minutes earlier.
[Chapter: Good morning, girlfriend.]
She read those five words over and over again, her lips unconsciously curving into a wider smile. Realizing her inexplicable expression, she quickly suppressed her smile, put down her phone, and got out of bed.
Having just returned from vacation, Tang Yi was incredibly busy. Piles of documents awaited her processing, but thankfully Fang Zhen had already started working. Tang Yi patiently taught her how to proofread and categorize the documents, then had no more time to linger.
Tang Yi deftly tidied up the documents on the table, stacking them neatly and stapled them together. Just then, Zhang Minglang pushed open the door and came out. His hands were in his pockets, his face turned away from his colleagues, and he raised an eyebrow at her, a slight smile playing on his lips.
Tang Yi gave him a silent warning with a barely perceptible squinting gesture.
Zhang Minglang became much more obedient. He stepped forward, took the documents she handed him, flipped through a few pages casually, and said, "No problem, let's go."
Zhang Minglang left first. Tang Yi quickly gathered the documents on the table, grabbed her tablet, and was about to leave when she remembered something. She turned back and said to Fang Zhen, who was hiding to the side, "Fang, do what I just told you and sort and proofread these documents. If you don't understand anything, ask Tang Jiaxin. I'm going to a meeting."
She didn't have time to wait for her reaction after she finished speaking, and quickly walked out to catch up with Zhang Minglang.
Fang Zhen nodded behind her, staring straight at Tang Yi's tall figure as she walked away. Her long, black hair flowed smoothly down her back, and she wore thin high heels, yet her steps remained steady.
She silently admired Tang Yi's competence and mature feminine charm.
Fang Zhen worked for a while, but there was one part of the contract she wasn't sure about. Remembering Tang Yi's advice, she held the contract in her arms and moved it to Tang Jiaxin's workstation.
"Sister Jiaxin?" she called out cautiously, bowing forward.
Tang Jiaxin was startled when she suddenly heard her own name. She looked up and asked what was wrong.
Fang Zhen showed the parts she was unsure about to Tang Jiaxin. After the issues were resolved, Fang Zhen was about to leave when she suddenly remembered something. She glanced towards the door and lowered her voice, "Sister Jiaxin, what's Secretary Tang like...?"
"Why are you asking this?" Tang Jiaxin looked up at her. Fang Zhen also realized that she had done something wrong; how could she gossip about others in private? As she apologized and was about to leave, her arm was suddenly grabbed.
She turned her head in surprise and saw Tang Jiaxin with a knowing look on her face. She shook her head and said, "I didn't want to tell you, but when I first started working here, I was just as terrified. So I thought I'd tell you while she's not here."
Tang Jiaxin listed them off one by one on her fingers: "Secretary Tang is simply a star in the company. She's the pillar of our secretarial department; there's almost nothing that can stump her. She's incredibly calm, capable, and meticulous in her work! But! Although she doesn't talk much, she's extremely patient and friendly to her colleagues."
Fang Zhen nodded silently in her heart. Secretary Tang was so busy going to a meeting just now, but when she was explaining the basic work content to her, she couldn't hear a trace of urgency or impatience in her voice.
Seeing her deep in thought, Tang Jiaxin felt she had laid the groundwork enough and continued, "But she's not the kind of person who's always agreeable. She's very serious about her work, and if you don't do your job well, she'll still scold you if necessary..."
Li Da chimed in, "Stop spreading rumors. Secretary Tang never swears. At most, she'll give you a cold stare and say 'Redo it,' but she won't say another word to you!"
Tang Jiaxin, unusually, didn't refute him, but nodded in agreement.
Fang Zhen suddenly thought of Secretary Tang and President Zhang, whom she had seen at the elementary school in Ju County. After a few seconds of thought, she asked, "Then... are Secretary Tang and President Zhang a couple?"
Her voice wasn't quiet, so many colleagues heard it. In an instant, several heads popped up at the workstation.
Fang Zhen had never seen such a scene before. She looked up at those heads in a daze.
Tang Jiaxin reacted even more strongly, almost jumping out of her chair, and reached out to cover her mouth: "You're really fearless, little sister. President Zhang and Secretary Tang? It's a miracle they don't fight when they're together. They've never gotten along since they met, they're always at each other's throats, there's absolutely no way they could be dating! The last person who spread the rumor that they were together has already been fired. Take my advice, if you want to continue working here, stop saying things like that."
Fang Zhen felt something was wrong. She wanted to refute herself, but the two people she saw sitting together in Ju County that day seemed quite harmonious. She couldn't tell at all that they were the mortal enemies they were talking about.
After her initial excitement subsided, Tang Jiaxin leaned back in her chair, and as the rollers rubbed against the floor, she spun around halfway in the chair.
She touched her chin, hissed, and turned to Li Da, saying, "You know what, President Zhang and Secretary Tang are actually quite a good match."
Li Da stared wide-eyed as if he'd heard a ghost story: "Where is the match?"
Tang Jiaxin stammered, unable to explain clearly: "It's just that feeling. Don't you guys feel that the atmosphere between them has become more harmonious since they came back from the holiday?"
Several gossipy colleagues quickly recalled the events and nodded in agreement.
However, the next second, two voices came from outside the door. One was furious, and the other was calm and indifferent.
"I really don't understand, why are you stopping me from scolding him again? Isn't doing the accounting like this just asking for trouble?"
"Mr. Zhang, I've said it many times: if there's anything you're not satisfied with, we can discuss it privately. You could even call him to your office later."
"It would be a waste of my life to say even one more word to someone like that."
"And you just insulted him ten times in the meeting?"
"I......"
Frustrated, Zhang Minglang walked through the work area into the president's office, with Tang Yi slowly following behind. The few heads that had popped up to watch the drama quickly disappeared.
Tang Jiaxin was also among those who kept their heads down. She lowered her upper body, turned her head to look at Li Da, who was also keeping his head down, shook her head, and said in a low voice, "It was just my imagination after all. They're still arguing."
Fang Zhen nodded silently, and Tang Yi's voice came from behind: "Xiao Fang? Come here for a moment."
Fang Zhen turned around stiffly, and Tang Jiaxin shook her head sympathetically behind her.
"How's the file sorting going?"
Tang Yi smoothed her hair back, her calm expression revealing no trace of the argument she had just had.
Fang Zhen quickly pointed out the documents on the table to her.
Tang Yi casually flipped through a few documents, picked out a few and handed them to her, then took the documents from her hand.
Fang Zhen hurriedly said, "I haven't had time to change that yet. I was just asking Sister Jiaxin..."
Tang Yi nodded upon hearing this, placed the documents on the table, and said, "You can continue working on this one when you get back. Since there are problems, you need to spend more time figuring them out yourself; that's how you improve. Now, take the documents you have in your hand to General Manager Zhang for his signature."
Fang Zhen's eyes widened: "...Me?"
Tang Yi looked up: "Is there a problem?"
Fang Zhen opened her mouth, as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.
Tang Yi knew exactly what she was thinking. But she stared intently into her eyes, showing no sign of backing down: "Everything I'm asking you to do is something you'll be doing in the future. Don't think it's too fast or too early. Just do it diligently."
After saying that, she lowered her head to look at the computer, then waved her hand toward the closed door of the CEO's office: "Go ahead."
Fang Zhen couldn't refuse any longer, so she moved back to her workstation and grabbed a pen. Tang Yi stared at the computer, but it was as if she had eyes on Fang Zhen. Without looking up, she said, "Generally speaking, you don't need to bring a pen. President Zhang basically only uses his own fountain pen to sign. Take out his coffee cup when you come out."
Fang Zhen responded, picked up the pen, and then put it down again.
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