Why did you drink so much?
She hesitated for a few seconds before laboriously moving to the door and peering through the peephole.
It turned out to be Chen Shanshan. She breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door.
"Luo Luo, you're here." The door opened, and Chen Shanshan was a little surprised. "I knocked for so long and no one answered. I thought you had gone out. I was just about to call you."
"Sorry, I was engrossed in watching a drama." Xu Luoluo smiled apologetically. "Why are you looking for me now? Is there something you need?"
"Oh, Mr. Tang saw that we were all here, so he asked everyone to go over for a meeting to prepare for tomorrow. Xiao Liu should have sent you a message too. Shall we go together?"
Xu Luoluo hadn't turned on her phone since she got back, let alone seen any messages. Upon hearing this, she said gratefully to Chen Shanshan, "If you hadn't come to wake me up, I probably would have made a big mistake."
Chen Shanshan smiled and said, "You're my right-hand woman. I could never forget you, no matter who else I forget."
Haha. Xu Luolu chuckled dryly. Chen Shanshan seemed to have started to think highly of her lately, though she didn't know why. She wasn't so narcissistic as to think she was irresistibly charming to both men and women, so even though she knew it was just polite talk, she still felt particularly guilty when Chen Shanshan praised her.
"During this meeting with G Company's investment department, the several dungeons you designed are highlights of the mobile game." On the way to the meeting room, Chen Shanshan reminded her, "The demo development department has already completed it, so you can also explain your design ideas at the meeting."
"Mobile game?" Xu Luoluo was surprised.
"Yes, didn't President Tang tell you?"
"Ah, I already said so." Xu Luoluo suppressed her shock, but still couldn't hide her surprise. "But you just said that the demo is based on the instance I made? This is my first time doing design work. Isn't it a bit risky to discuss this?"
"You don't need to worry about that," Chen Shanshan said with a smile, patting her shoulder. "Since we can offer it, we must have already done market research and feasibility analysis."
Xu Luoluo nodded.
"By the way, Su Ze has read your proposal, and he also thinks it's quite outstanding," Chen Shanshan added as if remembering something.
“He,” Xu Luoluo paused, “wasn’t Su Ze in charge of other projects? What?” She didn’t expect to hear Su Ze’s name here, let alone that he had praised her project proposal.
"Oh, you might not know, but before he jumped ship, he was a senior planner at G Company. He definitely knows their tastes better than we do, so you can rest assured since he's already said so."
"Yes, yes, in that case, I'll definitely do my best." Xu Luoluo nodded with a smile, but didn't want to talk about this topic any further, so she changed the subject, "No wonder it felt like I was in meetings and debugging with the development department all the time recently, so that's when we were making a demo..."
The meeting room was on the eighth floor of the hotel. When they arrived, several people were already seated, seemingly colleagues from the marketing department. Xu Luoluo wasn't very familiar with them, so she just smiled and nodded to each other in greeting. Chen Shanshan, however, seemed quite familiar with them and was pulled aside by one of them to discuss work.
Xu Luoluo didn't mind. She found a seat, sat down, and turned on her computer to look at the proposal. While quickly browsing through it, she cursed Tang Yizhuo a thousand times in her mind. He hadn't explained such an important matter to her, making her think that this was a meeting for the new game. He had long since put aside the mobile game's design proposal after finishing it.
And then there's Liu Jia, I wonder if she's in cahoots with Tang Yizhuo, spreading false information all the time. Now that I think about it, Su Ze definitely made a mistake in becoming the acting lead planner. Half the mobile game team was in a meeting, what were they even doing?
As I was venting, my phone suddenly vibrated; it was a message from Liu Jia.
Lolo, I'm so sorry, I made a mistake, sob sob! It turns out Su Ze started a new project, and his team hired a beautiful female planner. You'd better come back quickly or your man will be snatched away by someone else.
As if on cue, Xu Luoluo's heart skipped a beat. She didn't have time to argue with her about the mistaken message and replied to a few messages.
What do you mean, "my man"? Don't talk nonsense!
What's the name of the new hire? Do you have a photo? Gossip with your girlfriends!
Liu Jia replied instantly: Could you be any more hypocritical? The newcomer's name is Deng Lingling, photos are coming soon!
A while later, a photo that was clearly taken on the spot was sent over. In the picture, a slender woman was turning sideways and doing something with Su Ze. The person who took the photo seemed to be afraid of being discovered, as the angle was a bit crooked.
How about that? Pretty good, sis!
After taking the photos, Liu Jia proudly boasted about it.
Xu Luoluo stared at that familiar figure, gripping her phone tightly until her fingertips went slightly numb before she snapped out of it and replied: That's enough! I have to go to a meeting soon, talk to you later.
She slowly put down her phone and continued looking at the computer, but nothing could get into her mind.
"Luo Luo, is this seat empty?" A voice interrupted her reverie. Xu Luo Luo turned her head and saw Liu Ping sitting in the seat next to her. She felt a little impatient. Was he asking her a question? If she said someone was sitting there, could she ask him to move away?
"Oh, no one's here. Please have a seat." Since they were going to work on a project together, she couldn't really show her displeasure; she just smiled politely.
As if encouraged, Liu Ping leaned closer and said, "I misunderstood you last time, don't take it to heart."
Xu Luoluo glanced at him, puzzled, but didn't say anything.
“I mean,” he lowered his voice, “don’t worry about Su Ze. I won’t look down on you because of that.”
So he believed it too. Xu Luoluo secretly admired her own creativity and Xiao Wu's ability to spread the word. Maybe one day when they lose their jobs, they can start a public relations company or something.
As they spoke, Tang Yizhuo walked into the conference room, and the room fell silent. Liu Ping was still talking, so Xu Luoluo could only awkwardly whisper to him, "Thank you. Mr. Tang has arrived, let's start the meeting."
Tang Yizhuo's gaze swept over the two people whispering closely together, then turned away without pausing.
As expected, this meeting allowed the marketing, planning, and development departments to showcase the market potential, design highlights, and new dungeon demos of the mobile game "Mist Spirit."
Although she hadn't prepared in advance, Xu Luoluo had attended numerous related meetings with various departments over the past month, so she could recite the content of her proposal with ease. While she was a little nervous giving a presentation to so many people for the first time, once she got to the point, she became increasingly fluent and confident.
Everything went smoothly, except when her gaze swept across the audience and she made eye contact with Tang Yizhuo. He inexplicably turned his gaze away and looked at his computer screen, unlike the others who nodded and listened attentively.
After the meeting, she wanted to ask Tang Yizhuo what she thought was wrong so she could think about it later that night, but she watched helplessly as Tang Yizhuo was surrounded by a group of people and left. She stood up to follow, but Liu Ping pulled her back.
With that, they were pulled away and entered the elevator. Xu Luoluo turned around, forcefully pulled her hand away, and was about to get angry.
"Lolo, I think you don't have any experience in negotiating projects before." Liu Ping's words choked her anger.
"What do you mean?" She hesitated, realizing that she hadn't explained it well.
"I don't mean to say you spoke badly, but having some experience discussing projects, I feel your presentation style could be improved," Liu Ping said sincerely. "How about we go out for dinner and talk over there?"
She doubted she could find Tang Yizhuo today. Although she didn't like Liu Ping, his story sounded very convincing, and she was genuinely intimidated by Tang Yizhuo's gaze today. She didn't want to become a weakness in her project on their very first meeting. After thinking for a moment, she nodded: "Okay."
Liu Ping was delighted: "How about going to Zhiweiguan? Their Longjing shrimp and Dongpo pork are both excellent, and I heard that their braised bamboo shoots are also quite good."
“Sure, you can book it.” Xu Luoluo thought for a moment and agreed. She had passed by Zhiweiguan on her way back at noon, and it did smell delicious for miles around. It was also quite close to the hotel.
I don't know if other parts of Z City are as good as S City, but just the fact that there are no queues at restaurants makes it much better. They even got a booth by the window.
Liu Ping quickly ordered the food and then bombarded me with questions like a machine gun: "What do you usually like to do? I think you're quite a homebody. We can go to the movies together next time. What kind of movies do you like?"
"Um, I don't usually watch movies." Xu Luoluo struggled to find the right words. "I'm usually too busy, so I'd rather stay home and rest."
“That won’t do.” Liu Ping looked at her disapprovingly. “Look how thin you are, it’s because you don’t exercise enough. You need to go out more, otherwise it will be difficult for you to get married and have children in the future.”
Exercise? Xu Luoluo glanced at his beer belly, took a deep breath, and managed to maintain her smile: "Let's talk about that later. By the way, how do you suggest I improve my presentation style?"
"I didn't expect a girl like you to be such a workaholic," Liu Ping laughed. "Why talk about work over dinner? It's such a downer. Let's finish eating first."
Upon hearing this, Xu Luoluo took a few deep breaths and smiled, saying, "Okay, I'll go to the restroom first."
For the sake of the bigger picture, she had to endure it! If she didn't take a break soon, she'd definitely turn into a ninja turtle by the end of the meal.
On her way back, she saw the waiter already serving their food, while Liu Ping, with his back to her, took out his phone and asked the waiter, "Can I use this 200 minus 20 coupon today? What, it can only be used for lunch and not dinner? Dinner is so much more expensive than lunch, isn't this consumer fraud?"
She stopped and listened to their conversation, her eyes casually glancing around, when she inadvertently spotted Tang Yizhuo sitting on the other side of the restaurant. He wasn't with the group from before, but with a woman. She squinted and looked closely, but couldn't make out who it was from the elegantly dressed figure.
It looked like a date, so she decided not to bother them. She reluctantly abandoned her plan to ask Tang Yizhuo and returned to her seat.
Liu Ping had already put away his phone. Seeing her return, he picked up the glass of red wine beside him and said, "I remember at the last company dinner, you could really drink."
He actually ordered alcohol. Upon hearing this, she couldn't even say that she was allergic to alcohol, so she awkwardly withdrew her hand and said, "No, just one glass. I have a meeting tomorrow and can't drink too much."
"It's alright, this liquor isn't very strong." Liu Ping poured her a glass, then poured one for himself, raised his glass, and said, "Then I wish you all the best for tomorrow."
"Thank you, you too." Xu Luoluo picked up her cup and took a sip.
Seeing that she had put down her cup, Liu Ping said with displeasure, "You're really not giving me any face."
She increasingly felt that she must have been out of her mind to believe that Liu Ping could give her any advice. It was all Tang Yizhuo's fault for not offering any suggestions, which made her anxious and desperate, while he was leisurely enjoying himself with beautiful women.
In a fit of anger, she picked up the glass and gulped it down in one go, then showed Liu Ping the bottom of the glass: "So, is that enough of a favor?"
"Impressive." Liu Ping gave her a thumbs up and poured her another glass.
After having one drink, she felt fearless and thought that drinking was better than talking to him. Before she knew it, she had drunk three drinks.
The dizziness suddenly came over her, as if her body was on fire, burning all the way to her face. She reached out and cupped her burning face, her head feeling a little fuzzy.
Seeing that Liu Ping was about to pour her more wine, she quickly covered the glass, saying, "I can't take it anymore, I've really had too much to drink."
"I see you can hold your liquor pretty well." In the struggle, Liu Ping actually grabbed her finger. She quickly withdrew her hand in disgust. Liu Ping took the glass, smiled, poured another glass of wine, and handed it to her.
She'd been drinking and her mind wasn't working properly. She completely forgot about saving face for her colleagues, frowned, grabbed her bag, and was about to leave when she said, "I told you I'm not drinking anymore."
She hadn't expected the red wine to have such a strong aftereffect. After taking a couple of steps, she lost her balance and, fearing Liu Ping would catch up, tried her best to remain calm and walk. But she wasn't walking in a straight line at all, and after a few steps, she stumbled and bumped into a wall.
"Why did you drink so much?" Tang Yizhuo's disdainful voice came from above her head, startling her, but her heart, which had just tightened, immediately relaxed.
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