Half an hour passed, which was just about the time everyone arrived and started getting into work mode. Suddenly, the general assistant walked into their large office area and said something to the team leader.
The team leader thought for a moment, waved, and called Su Zhi over. A look of delight appeared on his slightly chubby face: “Come, come, Xiao Su, come quickly, there’s good news.”
Su Zhi: “……”
Su Zhi remembered the last time he was this happy; it was when he dragged him out to an exhibition for an entire afternoon. Instantly, he had no expectations.
The team leader excitedly said to him, “Xiao Su, the higher-ups are going to A University to discuss a collaboration, and they want to prioritize employees who graduated from A University to go with them. Ah, what a coincidence! This is truly your lucky break; otherwise, how could such a thing normally come to us?”
Su Zhi: “Ah.”
He seemed to realize something.
What luck? How come he didn’t have such luck in his previous life? This was clearly someone pulling strings.
But the way they pulled strings this time left no room for criticism. Su Zhi graduated from A University, which was one of the top 3 renowned institutions in the country, the kind that everyone knew by name.
Su Zhi’s alma mater was quite impressive, and his graduation grades were excellent as well.
The only point of criticism might be that he only had a bachelor’s degree and didn’t continue further, which some people might see as a pity.
In fact, when Su Zhi graduated, he could have easily pursued a master’s degree. His grades gave him a good chance of competing for a guaranteed spot.
However, Su Zhi didn’t think much of it. He felt that it wasn’t convenient for him to pursue further studies alone, and he didn’t have a strong obsession with obtaining higher degrees, so he directly entered the workforce.
Xie Corporation typically recruited mostly graduate students, but Su Zhi’s academic performance and resume were truly impressive. At the time, the company was also forming a new team and needed a group of younger employees to give it a try, so he was naturally hired.
Yes, when Su Zhi joined this company, he went through the public recruitment process; it wasn’t because Xie Yi opened a back door for him.
At that time, his relationship with Xie Yi hadn’t soured yet; they had just confirmed their relationship by holding hands.
Xie Yi still acted the part, quite the gentleman, not revealing his obsessive and perverse side.
Back then, Xie Yi did want to open a back door for him, promoting him directly to the chairman’s assistant to keep him close.
But Su Zhi sternly refused.
He was there to work seriously.
However, he ultimately didn’t think it through thoroughly enough.
Having just stepped out of the ivory tower, Su Zhi had no concept of how terrifying it was to be in a superior-subordinate relationship with a lover. There are reasons why some companies prohibit office romances.
Especially since his relationship with Xie Yi later became so twisted.
It became even more awkward.
Yet, despite the awkwardness for several years, he didn’t resign.
Xie Yi was still a boss who wouldn’t bring personal issues into work. Except for occasionally worrying about the marks visible on his body, they managed to coexist peacefully at the company.
Would these troubles disappear if he changed workplaces?
Of course not.
Su Zhi sometimes thought about problems quite practically.
It was quite strange.
In his previous life, despite the intense conflict with Xie Yi, Xie Yi didn’t dare to provoke him at the company. Su Zhi barely saw him a few times, and when they did meet, they tacitly pretended not to know each other.
In this life, he couldn’t be bothered to argue, yet Xie Yi started to become restless.
What was this?
Taking advantage of favor to become arrogant?
“……” Su Zhi was stunned by his own choice of words for a couple of seconds.
The team leader was still sighing, “Going to a good school has its benefits! It’s all because I didn’t study well back then and only went to an ordinary key university, so I don’t get these kinds of opportunities…”
Su Zhi couldn’t listen anymore, “Team leader…”
Team leader: “Haha, don’t be embarrassed. I’m just speaking the truth. Although our company’s threshold is high, outstanding graduates from A University are also very rare. From what the general assistant implied, the chairman might even go too. If that’s the case, you could get familiar with the chairman. Little Su, you have great ability, make sure to seize this opportunity. You are capable, but you are a bit lazy usually. At such a critical moment, don’t slack off, make an effort!”
Su Zhi: “……”
No need for “might,” Xie Yi would definitely go; otherwise, he would write his name backwards.
But since it had come to this, it would be too strange to refuse.
Moreover, to be fair, this was indeed a reasonable arrangement, and he wouldn’t defy normal work duties.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The team leader looked at him with eager anticipation, as if his own child had become successful.
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Leaving the large office area, taking the elevator down to the parking level, the general assistant called him, “Mr. Su.”
If anyone else in the company heard this address, they would probably be shocked.
The position of the chairman’s general assistant was nominally an assistant, but in terms of actual management authority, it held a very high status within the company.
Ordinary team leaders and managers had to politely call him “Brother.”
At this moment, he was respectfully and kindly addressing an ordinary employee as “Mr.”
Su Zhi felt a bit embarrassed. “…You don’t have to call me that.”
General Assistant: “Hey, it’s fine. There’s no one else here to hear it anyway. Calling you anything else wouldn’t be appropriate, right?”
Calling the boss’s partner “Little Su,” like a subordinate?
If it was in front of others who didn’t know, that would be one thing. But if he knew and still called him that when they were alone, it would really seem like he was earning his salary too easily.
“Uh…” Su Zhi didn’t know what to say.
Thinking from the general assistant’s standpoint, it did make sense.
Fortunately, the elevator soon reached the second basement level, and the two of them exited the elevator.
The general assistant led him straight to a car.
It was Xie Yi’s car, which Su Zhi realized only after he sat in the back seat.
He hesitated about whether he should get out and switch cars—wasn’t this too conspicuous?
The general assistant said calmly, “Mr. Su, there are a total of nine people going on this trip, three cars, so it’s three people per car. Even if you don’t sit here, someone else would. This is a normal arrangement.”
That seemed reasonable, right?
It didn’t seem to stand out too much.
So, Su Zhi didn’t move.
The general assistant had brought him down first, and the others arrived at the parking lot a few minutes later.
Su Zhi sat in the car without saying anything.
The door opened, and a cold-faced man stepped in.
The general assistant also got in this car, but he sat in the front seat.
This car had a partition design between the front and back. Once the partition was raised, the back seat was separated from the front.
Su Zhi watched the partition rise: “…”
How was this different from him and Xie Yi sitting alone together?
He was a bit dazed and realized he had been tricked by the general assistant.
Modern cars were spacious four-seaters; there was no rule that nine people had to be divided into three cars with exactly three people each.
Considering Xie Yi’s usual preference for not being too close to others, the most reasonable arrangement would have been for him to sit alone with the general assistant.
There wouldn’t have been a third person.
Wasn’t it natural for someone to hold such a high position?
This general assistant was indeed skilled at coaxing people. In a few words, he had managed to get Su Zhi into Xie Yi’s car.
How could he be so easy to fool?
Su Zhi depressedly pinched his own knee.
Before he could pinch a second time, a man’s hand covered his.
Dark eyes looked at him deeply, asking, “Does your leg hurt? Let me massage it for you.”
Su Zhi: “…”
Even knowing the partition had good soundproofing, he still almost jumped up and slammed Xie Yi’s shameless mouth against the window.
Who made his leg hurt in the first place?!
…
This time, the company executives going to A University for the cooperation talks were Chairman Xie Yi and an ordinary director, along with two assistants and two managers.
Among the employees, besides Su Zhi, there were three others, all A University graduates.
However, the other two were not from Su Zhi’s year; they were much older and worked in another department he didn’t interact with much, so he didn’t know them at all.
The two employees waited in the car for a long time, not seeing the third employee get in, and then the car started.
They discussed curiously, “That employee who supposedly graduated less than two years ago, did he go to sit with the managers in the front? Isn’t there still a seat here?”
“That young man is quite capable, huh. No wonder he’s from our school! Just the other day, I heard their team leader praising him to Manager Xu. Maybe he’s getting promoted. Isn’t Manager Xu here this time? Their technical department is short-handed, so maybe he was called over for a chat, an early evaluation.”
The two alumni-colleagues chatted intermittently.
Looking solely at their conversation, their logic was very sound and seemed plausible.
Except—
The young assistant sitting in the front seat—the one who had witnessed Su Zhi’s coffee incident with Xie Yi—quietly listened to their discussion, his expression very odd, as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t, looking quite stifled.
The driver of the car looked at him curiously and worriedly, asking, “Kid, are you car sick? Shall I open a window for you?”
He waved his hand, thanking the driver for his kindness, weakly thinking.
You guessed right, but please don’t guess again.
Because you were wrong from the start.
Su Zhi didn’t get in Manager Xu’s car; he got in the chairman’s car!
Don’t ask him how he could be so sure of this without seeing anything.
He wasn’t an idiot.
—
A University’s main campus was in the same city, located in the same district as the company’s office building, very close by.
This time, they avoided the rush hour perfectly. The road was clear, and after only half an hour of driving, they arrived at A University.
When Su Zhi saw the school gate, he felt a bit dazed.
To be honest, he wasn’t a particularly nostalgic person. Although his alma mater was in the same city, he rarely went back.
Even though this was the place where he first saw Xie Yi, he hadn’t returned even once in the ten-plus years of his previous life.
It was like that villa on the mountain, sealed away in dusty memories.
…
The car stopped in front of the administration building, and the group got out one after another.
They were welcomed by the school leaders who had been waiting for a long time.
Although Su Zhi and Xie Yi hadn’t done anything in the car, he still felt uncomfortable.
After getting out, he stepped back two paces, moving to where the other two employees were.
The two employees hadn’t seen which car he got out of, thinking he had been called over by Manager Xu to talk.
They didn’t think too much about it and chatted with him about their alma mater.
With the alumni connection, the situation wasn’t awkward.
This cooperation with A University wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment idea.
The collaboration between Xie Corporation and A University had been ongoing for several years, and it was a high-level partnership.
For Xie Corporation, maintaining a long-term cooperative relationship with a prestigious hundred-year-old university like A University was very beneficial for the company’s image.
For A University, having a big company willing to donate a sum of money every year was like a pie falling from the sky.
To put it bluntly, it was a mutually beneficial relationship where one sought prestige and the other sought profit.
The year Su Zhi graduated, Xie Yi personally came to negotiate that year’s cooperation.
Su Zhi was one of the outstanding graduates that year. He was supposed to come back to take graduation photos, but his teacher grabbed him to broaden his horizons, which was when he first met Xie Yi.
But later, Xie Yi got busier and didn’t come personally anymore.
Today, after a rare two-year absence, the chairman of Xie Corporation personally came to the university to follow up on the cooperation, which A University valued highly.
When Su Zhi looked ahead, he saw at least twenty or thirty people coming out to welcome them, a large crowd.
Actually, in such an occasion, there wasn’t much for ordinary employees to do. If anything, it was about showing sentiment, bringing employees who graduated from A University to emphasize the importance of this cooperation, a show of face.
They weren’t needed for the real business.
Su Zhi and the other two alumni-colleagues stayed at the back, quite at ease.
Xie Yi glanced several times in his direction, probably wanting him to come over.
Su Zhi pretended not to see, played dumb, and continued listening to his colleague comment on the growth of the gardenia trees at their alma mater.
Why should he squeeze over there!
Those people were practically clinging to Xie Yi; he’d only end up being a human shield.
Su Zhi looked at Human Shield No. 1, the general assistant, who was getting squeezed so much by the enthusiastic leaders that his suit was wrinkled, and lazily took two more steps back.
Forget it, forget it.
After at least half an hour of polite chit-chat, there was a segment for meeting outstanding students.
Su Zhi watched this part more intently, mainly because it reminded him of how he first met Xie Yi.
But at that time, there was nothing special; they just shook hands.
A few seconds and it was over.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, there wasn’t any overly familiar behavior.
Su Zhi’s only impression at the time was that the boss was quite handsome, tall, with hands a size bigger than his, and a slightly firm grip.
Nothing else.
But as he recalled this moment, he suddenly realized that it seemed Xie Yi only shook his hand and then stood still.
The rest of the graduates shook hands with another director.
Huh?
What did that mean?
What was with Xie Yi? Did he have improper thoughts the moment he saw him?
Huh? How could that be? Too lascivious!
Su Zhi: “…”
Somehow remembering these details, he rubbed his cheek with his knuckles, feeling a bit dazed.
The meeting with outstanding students had already started in front.
They were all good-looking students with excellent grades, full of youthful energy, and very pleasing to the eye.
Although universities selected students primarily based on academic performance, such PR activities inevitably considered looks as well. This way, photos taken could also look good for future publicity.
Back then, Su Zhi had been dragged into it because of his outstanding appearance when he passed by the office.
The crowd was too thick to see what was happening clearly.
From the back, Su Zhi could only see Xie Yi’s head. The man stood tall among the crowd, quite distinguished, with broad shoulders and a slim waist.
After a few minutes.
After the initial enthusiasm, the leaders realized this boss was rather cold and stopped crowding around Xie Yi.
The general assistant finally found a moment to move back.
He quickly walked to Su Zhi’s side, leaning in to whisper bitterly, “Mr. Su, why are you all the way back here? Go to the front.”
Damn, Su Zhi kept moving back, and he was about to be frozen to death by the boss’s cold aura at the front.
Seeing that the front wasn’t as crowded anymore, Su Zhi hesitated and prepared to nod.
His main concern had been the crowding at the front.
But then he glimpsed the crowd dispersing a bit, seeing between the gaps a clean-looking young man standing very close to Xie Yi, with their elbows moving as if about to shake hands.
From this angle, it indeed looked a bit strange. Knowing his boss, it shouldn’t be…but really? Boss?
He turned back to look at Su Zhi’s expression: “…”
Oh my god.
For some reason, he felt the boss was in trouble.
Thank you for the chapter 😍 ❤️ ❤️
Thank you for translating 😊
Su Zhi is showing jealousy? 🙀
thank you for the chapter!
Xie Yi 🕯 . He’s gonna have to kneel on a durian carpet.
DURIAN?!? 🫣
nauurr xie yi would never
ty for the chapter
Su zhi: shake that man’s hand and we will sleep separately tonight
😂😂 Someone is drinking vinegar already~
Poor Xie Yi, he is so done.
Xie yi is really in trouble
Thanks for the update 🥰