"Have you heard? Our company hired a new executive and apparently… the person is a man"
"It can't be? Didn’t our Gu Zong adamantly prohibited hiring men into the company from the start?"
"Perhaps, the person is extremely talented and cured our Gu Zong from being sexist."
"I see. No matter what, I'm looking forward to it."
At that moment, Yan Ya Jing happened to walk past those people and overheard the topic of their discussion. She stopped, softly coughed and sternly said, "That's impossible. Gu Zong has always been scrupulous in upholding his own principles. If he specifically regulated that the company will not hire men, he would absolutely not break it. Even if he actually alters his decisions, I would be the first one to be notified."
Upon those words, several of the beautiful women lowered their heads and rolled their eyes at the documents in their hands.
Having said that, Yan Ya Jing made her way to Gu Hai's office with a wooden expression. Just as she was about to knock on the door, Gu Hai suddenly pushed it open and walked out—causing them to nearly bump into each other. Yan Ya Jing was less than two centimeters away from Gu Hai's face. The gleaming reflection of sunlight in her big beautiful eyes gradually vanished as it met with Gu Hai's dark gelid pupils.
"That’s right, notify each departments' manager that there will be a meeting at two o’clock in the afternoon. I have a very important announcement to make," Gu Hai urged with a serious expression.
Yan Ya Jing nodded, "Okay."
Gu Hai turned to walk away, but Yan Ya Jing suddenly stopped him.
"Gu Hai."
Turning back to give her a glance, Gu Hai faintly asked, "What’s wrong?"
"The chairman of Bo Ke Corporation has called me several times for the past few days, saying that he's highly interested in collaborating with our company. But each time I asked him exactly what area he intended to collaborate in, he never clearly told me anything. He always used that reason to ask me out for meetings, and if I didn’t reply to his request, he would wait for me at the entrance of our building…"
"That's…" Gu Hai pondered for a short while, "Explain the situation in detail to me again when I get back."
Yan Ya Jing pouted slightly as a dejected expression played out on her face.
At 1:45pm in the afternoon, Gu Hai parked his car in front of the company. Coincidentally, Yan Ya Jing was taking a stroll in the lobby—when she saw Gu Hai walking in, she promptly walked over to him.
"Earlier at noon, he…"
"Have all the departments been notified of the meeting?" Gu Hai asked, interrupting her words.
Yan Ya Jing took a deep breath, "I notified everyone long ago."
"That’s good then." Gu Hai continued to speak quickly, "I’m going back to the office first. You can immediately go and prepare the conference room. I’ll need you to speak later on.
With that, he walked toward the elevator.
Yan Ya Jing briskly chased after him from behind. "But you haven't told me the contents of the meeting yet. What am I supposed to talk about then?"
"Improvise on the spot!"
After those four words, Gu Hai's silhouette disappeared into the elevator.
Letting out a resentful sigh, Yan Ya Jing commented to herself: This is just like a death warrant! What kind of meeting is worth being that urgent?
"I’ll give everyone a simple introduction…" Gu Hai's deep and astute voice sounded in the conference room, "This is our company's newly appointed Vice President, Tong Zhe. From today on, this person will be a member of our company, let’s welcome him."
At those words, there was an uproar.
Naturally, the most intense reaction came from none other than Yan Ya Jing since she had earlier declared that it was impossible for the company to hire a man. However, Gu Hai completely shattered that grandiloquent speech in less than half a day. Didn't that tantamount to giving her a big slap in the face right in front of everyone?!
"Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?" Yan Ya Jing suddenly questioned Gu Hai in the meeting.
Gu Hai's expression changed—obviously unimpressed with Yan Ya Jing for undermining him in front of everyone. Nevertheless, he controlled his temper and patiently replied, "I wanted to give you a surprise."
Yan Ya Jing did not buy into that reason at all. "Didn’t you say back then that the company will never hire men? How come you are violating your own principle now?"
With that, Gu Hai threw his cold and sharp eyes at Yan Ya Jing before his tone grew harsh.
"I did say that the company will not hire men, but I never said that the rules cannot be changed. I've adamantly followed that principle before because not a single man could make me break that rule. Now that this man has appeared, don’t tell me you still want me to strictly adhere to that rule?"
Although Gu Hai had always been cold and detached toward the employees in the company, he was always amicable and cordial with Yan Ya Jing. Thus, being embarrassed in front of everyone like today was a first—not only that, it was all because of a new male employee. One can only imagine Yan Ya Jing's emotions at that moment.
"Vice President Yan…"
When Tong Zhe suddenly spoke, all the gazes in the entire conference room immediately shifted to focus on him—the aura he exuded was certainly that of a man.
"May I have ten seconds to briefly introduce myself?"
Before Yan Ya Jing had a chance to say anything, a few beautiful women beside her began to chirp like a flock of little birds.[1] Some were complaining about Yan Ya Jing's bad attitude, some were urging Tong Zhe to quickly introduce himself and some were expressing their inner excitement… since they have not been that lively in such a long time, it honestly goes to show how much they welcomed the new Vice President.
In order to uphold her own image and to also let the meeting continue smoothly, Yan Ya Jing had no other choice but to silently swallow the anger and humiliation.
Once the meeting came to an end, Yan Ya Jing immediately followed Gu Hai to his office—by chance, Tong Zhe was also walking beside her.
Initially, Yan Ya Jing didn't feel any hostility toward Tong Zhe. But because he appeared in such an inappropriate way, and his appearance brought her all kinds of unhappiness, it led her to have an exceptionally bad first impression of him.
When they arrived at Gu Hai's office, Yan Ya Jing spoke first.
"Gu Hai, about the chairman of Bo Ke that I told you this morning…"
"I have some things to discuss with Vice President Tong…" Gu Hai interrupted her again, "Wait outside for the time being."
The words that almost burst out of Yan Ya Jing's mouth were blocked yet again.
"Also…no matter who comes, have them wait outside. Do not let anyone come in to disturb us." Gu Hai told the female employee at the doorway while simultaneously telling Yan Ya Jing.
Hearing that, Yan Ya Jing froze up and remained silent until the door was shut in front of her face.
That afternoon, Bai Luo Yin walked out of the research laboratory by using a project collaboration meeting as an excuse to leave the military base and stealthily creep over to Gu Hai's company yet again.
When he entered the lobby, he greeted the receptionist at the front desk as usual. But when the receptionist made a call to Gu Hai, it was diverted to Yan Ya Jing's office.
"Vice President Yan, Major Bai is here. May I ask if Gu Zong has time to see him right now?"
Since Yan Ya Jing was still in a fit of anger, her tone was not loud but certainly vitriolic and cutting.
"He is busy right now and doesn't want to see anyone."
The receptionist appeared rather apologetic as she looked up at Bai Luo Yin, "Gu Zong is busy at the moment."
Although Bai Luo Yin's expression changed, he still spoke politely. "That's fine, I'll wait outside for a while."
The wait lasted for two hours—by the timeGu Hai and Tong Zhe came out of the office, Yan Ya Jing had already packed up her things and was ready to go home.
"That's right, you said you had something to discuss with me. What was it about exactly?" Gu Hai finally asked.
With a displeased expression, Yan Ya Jing bitterly answered with one word. "Nothing."
Gu Hai nodded, "Then you can go home. Be careful on the road."
Yan Ya Jing stared at Gu Hai for a while. But seeing that he had no intention in asking any further, her heart became dead cold before she turned around and walked away.
"Yan Ya Jing!" Gu Hai suddenly called out.
That alone provoked Yan Ya Jing's heart to race with anxiety, however she intentionally kept a calm demeanor as she turned back around.
"What?"
Gu Hai coldly asked, "Did anyone looked for me today?"
In that instant, Yan Ya Jing's heart was pierced until it was drenched with blood.
"There was… your brother."
Hearing that last word, Gu Hai's brows pulled tightly together before he quickly asked, "Which brother?"
"How many brothers do you have? It was that Bai Luo Yin!" At that moment, Yan Ya Jing did not even feel like answering him.
All of a sudden, Gu Hai's face turned white with anger—without any warning, he roared.
"Why didn't you tell me?!!"
That loud and overbearing roar stole all the color off of Yan Ya Jing's face, causing it to ashen from shock. Feeling wronged and glutted with rage, she explained, "Didn't you say that nobody was allowed to disturb you?"
Gu Hai's face had completely blackened. The few remaining employees that were in the company could clearly hear it as Gu Hai started to pelt Yan Ya Jing with criticisms. That was the first time anyone had ever seen Gu Hai so infuriated—even worse, that anger was aimed at Yan Ya Jing.
"Is he a nobody? Is he someone that you could just casually drive away? Do you know how hard it is for him to drop by here? You better remember this: from now on, as long as he comes, no matter where I am or what I am doing, notify me immediately! That goes for everybody. Seeing him is the same as seeing me. Nobody is allowed to order him around!!"
After declaring that, Gu Hai walked away.
Yan Ya Jing remained motionless by herself at the elevators without wearing any expression.
When Gu Hai got into the elevator, he immediately gave Bai Luo Yin a call only to not get through—feeling extremely anxious, he fastened his pace and hastily walked out of the building.
Once outside, he saw Bai Luo Yin's car parked across the road, in front of the Tea House[2] that they had previously gone to. Gu Hai calmed down and walked over to find that Bai Luo Yin had already fallen asleep, with his upper body resting on the steering wheel.
Since the music in the car was still playing, Bai Luo Yin did not hear the phone ringing a moment ago.
Trying to open the car door, Gu Hai found that it was locked. Thus, with no better option, he hesitantly knocked on the window.
Bai Luo Yin finally woke up. He blinked a few times and drowsily gaze at Gu Hai.
"Are you done with work?"
The moment Gu Hai saw two deep red marks imprinted on Bai Luo Yin’s face,[3] he couldn't help but to feel especially upset—out of concern and feeling sorry, hegrumbled, "How come you didn’t give me a call?"
"I was afraid you might be doing something important, so I didn’t dare to call you."
"Then, did you wait here the entire time?"
Bai Luo Yin lazily stretched out his body and casually said, "I didn’t wait that long. Get in the car, let’s to go my dorm today…"
Translator's Note:
[1] 小鸟xiǎoniǎo – little birds; but it also means penis in kiddie term
[2] Tea House – previously mentioned as Can Chating
[3] red marks – I think it's just the marks from when he rested his face on his arms that was on the steering wheel; you know just red imprints when you sleep on something, this happens to me all the time =.=;;