In the living room of that luxurious villa, Tang Qi sat on the sofa, watching the sunset slowly descend outside, feeling a little melancholy.
The spacious living room, spanning over 80 square meters, features two floor-to-ceiling windows that offer a panoramic view of Chengdu. Yet, in this setting, she's prepared instant noodles for dinner tonight.
Tang Qi opened the expense log on her phone and checked today's expenses, as well as her Alipay balance.
"There's still over 20,000 left... Wait, that's not right. School starts in a little over a month. Do I need to pay for the tuition and living expenses?"
Realizing the problem, Tang Qi immediately opened her contacts, intending to call her father. But then she hesitated. After all, competing with her father for a man felt somewhat unfilial.
After hesitating for a long time, she finally dialed the number.
After the call connected, Tang Qi asked in a serious tone, "Dear Father, may I ask about my expenses at school..."
Before she could finish speaking, Mr. Tang interrupted her, saying, "I've paid your tuition for four years, and the 50,000 yuan for living expenses is deposited into your bank card. It should be enough for your daily life and studies."
Tang Qi breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."
But Tang Zehua on the other end of the phone jokingly said, "You're definitely fine supporting yourself, but how are you going to hire Lu? If you can't afford it, will he still stay with you?"
Tang Qi said firmly, "This is none of your business! Besides, Lu Zhe isn't the kind of person who's greedy for money!"
Tang Zehua smiled and said, "Oh, really? Then we'll see in the future..."
Before her father could finish speaking, Tang Qi gritted her teeth and hung up the phone.
She considered herself a fairly well-behaved girl, never doing anything outrageous or causing trouble for her father. However, there were certain things she could not back down from, no matter what. Besides, she knew very well that Lu Zhe was the only choice for her, but for her father, he was just one of several targets he coveted.
Therefore, the bottom lines are completely different.
Tang Qi put down her phone, only to suddenly remember something. On the coffee table in front of her was a paper bowl of instant noodles, which had been soaking for about ten minutes.
The young lady quickly peeled off the lid of the instant noodle bowl, picked up a noodle with a fork, and took a bite.
Sure enough, it had already softened from soaking.
"The texture is awful..." Tang Qi muttered softly as she ate.
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While Tang Qi was eating instant noodles with a feeling of grievance, Lu Zhe was eating takeout in an office building in the software park less than a kilometer away.
He ordered beef noodles with iced cola, which tasted alright and was quite filling.
While slurping his noodles, Lu Zhe also opened a video on Bilibili, staring at a video of a Russian cyber farm, watching it with great interest as he ate—he didn't know when it started, but he had developed the habit of watching videos or reading articles whenever he ate alone.
He hadn't even finished watching the video, which only lasted a few minutes, when he heard CEO Xia's voice, seemingly coming from not far away:
"Have you finished eating? Come to my office later."
Lu Zhe bit off the few strands of noodles, chewed them quickly, and swallowed them. At the same time, he turned his head and saw Xia Xiaobing standing in the aisle.
Today, Ms. Xia wore a sleeveless black dress, revealing her smooth and shapely shoulders. Her arms were crossed over her chest, subtly revealing the outline of her collarbones beneath the dress. Of course, the lines below her collarbones were more pronounced and eye-catching, but Lu Zhe dared not look too closely.
He simply nodded obediently, swallowed what was in his mouth, and quickly said, "Okay, I'll be right there."
Xia Xiaobing nodded slightly, turned around and walked back to her own private office. Her high heels clicked on the floor, making a 'clack-clack' sound, as if she were walking to a tango rhythm.
Lu Zhe subconsciously looked at President Xia's back and suddenly noticed that under the fitted skirt that was less than knee-length, there seemed to be black stockings.
Short skirt, black stockings, high heels?
Xia Xiaobing quickly returned to the CEO's office. The sound of her high heels stopped, and the large office was now completely silent. Lu Zhe looked around, but there wasn't a soul in sight.
All the guys in the algorithm department have left. Other departments are probably affected as well, with no one working overtime either.
It was quiet, really quiet, but Lu Zhe could still hear the sound of high heels echoing in his ears.
He sat down again and decided to make one more short video before continuing to slurp his noodles.
Open the Bilibili search bar and enter 【Heart Sutra】.
"When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound Prajnaparamita, he perceived that the five aggregates are all empty, and thus transcended all suffering and distress. Shariputra, form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form; form is emptiness, emptiness is form..."
He listened to the monk in the video chanting calmly and steadily as he finished the bowl of noodles.
Then, after taking out the trash and washing his hands, he felt a sense of peace and tranquility as he pushed open the door to the CEO's office.
Rationally speaking, he knew very well that the person in front of him was his boss, someone who could decide whether he kept his job. But in the presence of a man and a woman alone, especially considering those long, beautiful legs encased in black stockings, he felt that he might be having inappropriate thoughts.
Since that's the case, let's give them a heads-up beforehand.
When Lu Zhe pushed open the door, Xia Xiaobing was sitting at the back of the office, staring at the computer screen, just like always.
"Please sit on the sofa and wait for me. I've prepared a few questions for you. If you pass, I can give you an even more interesting project. Of course, the questions aren't difficult; they're just beginner level."
As Xia Xiaobing said this, she clicked the mouse. The next second, the mini printer on the desk started working with a sound.
The printer ejected a sheet of paper.
Lu Zhe stood up: "Is that the test question?"
Xia Xiaobing nodded, took out a pen, and gestured with her chin for him to come and take it.
So Lu Zhe walked to the table, picked up the paper with the exam questions printed on it, and then reached for a pen. However, as his hand touched the pen, it inevitably touched President Xia's fingers as well.
It feels nice to the touch, but it's a bit cold to the touch.
Lu Zhe calmly withdrew his hand, sat back down on the sofa, and looked down at the newly released exam questions. After scanning them, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario of seeing only incomprehensible gibberish didn't occur. After these days of study, he could understand these problems, and with a little more thought, he could basically come up with some solutions.
What's even better is that all the questions were multiple choice; there were no essay or fill-in-the-blank questions. Compared to questions that required writing out the answers himself, Lu Zhe preferred to choose from three or four options, as this gave him the best chance of success.
However, Lu Zhe, who was busy looking at the questions, did not notice that a few meters away, behind the desk, the beautiful mature woman was staring straight at him.
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