Chapter 50: Get Ready, You Need to Win Beautifully...

“Mr. Jiang, hello, my name is Shang Zhitao.” Shang Zhitao didn’t expect Jiang Lan to suddenly ask her name, but fortunately, he only asked for her name.

“You handled it well,” Jiang Lan praised her and then said, “I live next door. When Luke wakes up, you can tell him we still have unfinished matters regarding the industry association.”

“Okay. I’ll leave a message for Luke to contact you when he wakes up.” Shang Zhitao was gradually learning to read people’s expressions and understand nuances. Jiang Lan’s “tell her” actually meant “let Luke find me.”

After seeing Jiang Lan off, she returned to Luan Nian’s bedside and saw him still pretending, even though everyone had left, he kept his eyes tightly shut. Shang Zhitao called him softly twice, but he refused to open his eyes, only murmuring the word “hot.”

Shang Zhitao acknowledged with an “oh,” picked up a towel, and carefully wiped his face. This time, she really helped him; even if he was pretending to be drunk, he had definitely drunk a lot and must be feeling unwell now.

Luan Nian held onto Shang Zhitao’s hand. They never touched each other outside of making love, but today he did it twice—first by hooking her finger and now holding her hand. His palms were hot from the alcohol, pressing against her cool hand, his thumb gently caressing hers. He spoke in a rare gentle tone: “Will you come directly to my place after getting off the plane on Friday?”

Shang Zhitao placed the towel aside, brought her lips close to his, lightly touched them, and quickly withdrew: “Okay.”

“Shang Zhitao.”

“Hmm?”

“My head hurts.”

Luan Nian had never mentioned any discomfort before, so Shang Zhitao always thought he was invincible, with endless energy, constantly thinking, and full of vitality.

“Should I get some painkillers?”

“They’re in my laptop bag.”

Shang Zhitao found painkillers in Luan Nian’s laptop bag; several tablets had already been taken, indicating this wasn’t the first time he’d had a headache. She poured a glass of water and handed it to him, unable to resist asking, “Do you often get headaches?”

“Occasionally. It’s neuralgia; my mother gets it too.”

“Oh.” Shang Zhitao squatted by the bed and placed her fingers on his temples: “Does it hurt here?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. You took care of me when I had pneumonia.”

“Are you repaying the favor?”

...

The security guard who knew Shang Zhitao at Luan Nian’s residential complex had been promoted to deputy captain of the security team. He changed out of his old uniform into something more spirited, looking more tidy at the entrance. Seeing Shang Zhitao dragging her suitcase, he proactively offered to drive her: “Let me give you a ride.”

“Thank you.”

The security captain placed the suitcase in the car: “Let’s go, Miss Shang.” He finally stopped thinking that Shang Zhitao was involved in shady professions.

Luan Nian had returned early from a flight and was conducting a teleconference at home. Hearing the door open, he glanced toward the entrance and saw Shang Zhitao looking travel-weary. She must have been exhausted. The event had ended, and she needed to settle accounts with the conference company that morning, along with following up on various closing tasks. She likely woke up at six o’clock.

Shang Zhitao placed the key to Luan Nian’s house in her bag, took out her designated slippers from the shoe rack, and put them on. She walked over to Luan Nian and drank the cold soda beside him. Pointing upstairs, she told him casually, “I’ll go take a shower.”

Luan Nian muted his phone call and grabbed her wrist: “Take a shower first, then rest a bit.”

“Okay.”

Shang Zhitao went to the guest room, quickly took a shower, and changed into pajamas, but she wasn’t sleepy. So she took out her computer to write a job report. She had never written one before and didn’t know how to start. She looked at reports from other colleagues, but their work content differed, so she could only copy vague ideas. The PowerPoint presentation remained open as she didn’t understand why job reports had to use PowerPoint.

She wrote, deleted, deleted, and rewrote, struggling for a long time, managing to write fewer than fifty words. Luan Nian finished his meeting and came upstairs, seeing the guest room door open, and stood at the doorway watching her: “Not sleepy?”

Shang Zhitao shook her head: “I haven’t finished writing the job report yet.”

Luan Nian sat on the edge of the bed and took her computer, seeing fewer than fifty words on the PowerPoint: “So in the past hour, you averaged less than one word per minute?”

“I don’t know what to write...” Shang Zhitao felt somewhat ashamed.

Luan Nian glanced at her. She was truly accepting of her clumsy self.

“What have you done in the past?”

“I...”

“If you say you’ve been doing miscellaneous tasks, then give up this promotion.” Luan Nian interrupted her. That’s just how he was—always strict.

“I might need to organize.” Shang Zhitao felt a bit guilty. Whenever she talked about work in front of Luan Nian, she always felt utterly confident.

“Then organize properly.” Luan Nian handed the computer back to her and said, “Writing a job report isn’t about detailing every single task you’ve done. Instead, sort through the complex work, classify it, and present how you accomplished these tasks, even forming experiences others can learn from. Do I make myself clear?”

“Clear.”

“Then write now. Start with the first part of your work, budget management.”

Luan Nian knew exactly what Shang Zhitao had done, but he wouldn’t help her write it. She had to learn to think independently.

“Okay. Thanks, Luke.” For official matters, she called him Luke, seamlessly switching roles.

Luan Nian went back to his room but soon returned with his computer. He was attending a review meeting where the company annually selected an industry expert to award a million shares and adjust their annual salary package. He gestured with his chin, asking Shang Zhitao to make space on the bed for him. Shang Zhitao moved to one side, and Luan Nian leaned against the outer headboard, stretching his legs flat on the bed.

He muted the call and said to Shang Zhitao, “You don’t know how to write a job report, right? Listen to this.”

“Can I listen?”

Luan Nian glanced at her: “Too talkative.” Luan Nian didn’t see anything wrong with listening. In fact, he thought there were issues with this promotion system and had discussed it with Tracy. He hoped that high-level expert appointments would be more transparent, allowing observers and even becoming public presentations. But Tracy disagreed, arguing that such presentations varied too much and often weren’t just about performance but also background, resources, and connections. Absolute fairness couldn’t be achieved.

The person presenting was Grace. Grace was a core employee in the creative center, functioning across the planning department. Shang Zhitao had worked with Grace on projects and knew how capable she was.

This was the first time Shang Zhitao witnessed such a presentation.

This wasn’t a presentation; it was a battle!

Grace would be interrupted by the bosses at any moment, who would throw sharp questions at her. Luan Nian asked a question that made Shang Zhitao feel that if she were Grace, she would curse him inwardly.

Luan Nian asked, “What does the success of this project have to do with you? The client was negotiated by sales.”

Good heavens.

Luan Nian was really something, challenging even his own people in such settings. Shang Zhitao suddenly felt being Luan Nian’s subordinate wasn’t that great after all.

Grace paused for a few seconds and replied, “I rationally believe that I was the icing on the cake for this project. Without me, the project would still be delivered, but not as outstandingly.”

Eh? Shang Zhitao thought: Is this the workplace confidence Lumi talks about?

Shang Zhitao secretly listened in on this promotion competition thanks to Luan Nian. All participants were top employees of the company. It was 2011, and a million shares plus a significant salary increase were equivalent to obtaining a ticket to enter this city, at least allowing one to own a house.

Their work was truly excellent—managing S-level projects, connecting internal and external company resources, setting industry standards, winning international awards. Each person was an expert in their respective fields.

That day, the impact on Shang Zhitao’s mind was enormous. The rewards of work vary from person to person. The tremendous returns for truly outstanding individuals were unimaginable.

“So, will my presentation be like this?” she asked Luan Nian afterward.

“No. Yours is an internal department presentation. The situation depends on your department’s style.”

Shang Zhitao stared at the page of her presentation report, feeling it was terrible. Luan Nian took the computer and left, leaving Shang Zhitao to think independently. Sometimes sex wasn’t that important. Right now, compared to sex, Luan Nian preferred Shang Zhitao to finish her troublesome presentation report.

Shang Zhitao stayed up all night, sleeping until noon on Saturday. Luan Nian was working out. Usually, she would leave on Saturday mornings, initially within the first two months when she left, Luan Nian was often still asleep, only staying in bed on weekends. From some point onward, Luan Nian started waking up earlier on weekends.

He occasionally asked Shang Zhitao, “In a hurry?”

Shang Zhitao was embarrassed to say she was studying and didn’t want to reveal her private life to Luan Nian, so she said, “I’m having dinner with my roommate.”

“Every week?”

“Yeah. Don’t you too?”

But today, she hesitated a little. They hadn’t done anything the previous night, nothing at all, and her purpose for coming here didn’t exist anymore. Luan Nian put down his equipment to wipe sweat and saw Shang Zhitao standing at the door. He said indifferently, “If you’re not in a rush to leave, wait a moment. I’ll help you practice your presentation.”

“Really?”

“Mm.”

Shang Zhitao was surprised that Luan Nian actively offered to help her practice. Between them, it was usually her asking and him answering; he rarely took the initiative.

“Can you first check my content?” Shang Zhitao felt a bit guilty. After listening to yesterday’s presentation meeting, she thought what she had written was garbage. She could imagine Luan Nian’s expression when he saw her content.

“Send it to me.” Luan Nian picked up a towel and headed to the elevator: “But you’ll have to wait while I take a shower and make some food.”

“I can cook!” Shang Zhitao raised her hand eagerly. Feeling ashamed of always eating Luan Nian’s cooking, she intentionally learned a few dishes from Sun Yu.

“Then go ahead.”

“This time I won’t burn your kitchen.” Shang Zhitao vowed confidently.

While Luan Nian took a shower, she went to the kitchen on the lower floor, seeing the abundance of supplies in his fridge but only dared to boil noodles. However, she was serious and determined to make a bowl of tomato and egg noodle soup to redeem herself.

When Luan Nian came downstairs after his shower, he saw Shang Zhitao carefully arranging the dish with her little finger extended. He approached and noticed she had even considered color coordination, improving the presentation—it was much better than last time.

However, appearances can be deceiving. With one bite, his brows furrowed. Seeing Shang Zhitao looking at him expectantly, he said, “Don’t ever cook again.”

Shang Zhitao tried a mouthful, tasting what seemed like a spoonful of salt, but she couldn’t spit it out and swallowed hard. Luan Nian sighed, got up, rinsed the noodles with water, and added two scoops of sauce from a jar, making do with the meal.

Shang Zhitao felt a bit embarrassed and told Luan Nian, “I’m just not proficient enough. If I practice diligently in the future, I should be able to cook pretty well.”

“Did you eat such noodles during your studies? Did you eat them for four years?”

“Maybe the cooking tools have changed...”

“Is it that hard to admit you lack culinary talent?”

“Oh.”

The two finished their meal bickering. Luan Nian helped Shang Zhitao practice.

Shang Zhitao was moving from level two to level three, an internal department presentation, which was merely formalities. Whether she passed depended on Alex. But Alex gave Shang Zhitao the Suzhou project, clearly showing his stance; Shang Zhitao passed this time.

Luan Nian knew this but didn’t speak much. Shang Zhitao would eventually face fiercer competition, and starting practice from this day might not be a bad thing.

He asked Shang Zhitao, “Why did you choose this supplier for the Suzhou project?”

And, “What do you think is your biggest progress and gain since coming to Lumi this year?”

“What confusion or dissatisfaction do you have with your current job?”

“Do you think the current market strategy is correct? Does it need adjustment?”

None of these questions were things a level-two employee needed to consider, but Luan Nian asked her seriously. Shang Zhitao lacked experience in such presentations and was repeatedly startled by his questions, her mind unable to keep up with Luan Nian’s inquiries, eventually feeling somewhat disheartened.

“Scared?”

Shang Zhitao nodded: “I’m nervous.” She expected Luan Nian to say, “If you’re nervous, just give up,” as he usually would. Unexpectedly, he showed rare tolerance: “If you’re nervous, practice more.”

Practice more if you’re nervous. Did this sound like something Luan Nian would say? He even added, “Get ready, and win beautifully.”

Shang Zhitao shifted her gaze. Luan Nian stood up and asked her, “Want to eat fish? Shall we go?”

“Didn’t we eat at noon?”

“That was just filling our stomachs.” Luan Nian picked up the car keys: “We can also check on how the bar construction is progressing.”

“Then I’ll go too.”

They rarely spent weekends together. Shang Zhitao wanted to ask Luan Nian many promotion-related questions, so she used the excuse of eating fish to get in the car. Luan Nian mentioned demolishing that area to rebuild, and indeed, they were tearing it down and rebuilding.

They drove up the mountain, and Shang Zhitao rolled down the car window to enjoy the mountain breeze. Luan Nian’s phone rang, and he casually hung up. The caller redialed, and Shang Zhitao slightly lowered her eyes to see the name “Zang Yao.”

It felt like seeing something she shouldn’t, and she hurriedly averted her gaze.