MMCD - 20

After work the next day, Sheng Wenyan met up with Lou Ning, and the two of them went to a shop to make a photo frame.

This shop specialized in handmade wooden items and private customization, and the prices were expensive. When Sheng Wenyan said she wanted to create a handmade photo frame, the employee quoted a price that Lou Ning found absurd.

But Sheng Wenyan agreed without batting an eye.

Lou Ning pulled her aside. “That thing is enough to buy you a bag. What, is the photo frame inlaid with diamonds?”

“Hey, how did you know? I had a handcrafted item made here before to give to someone, and it was inlaid with a lot of diamonds.”

Lou Ning was nowhere near as extravagant as Sheng Wenyan. She could never accept Sheng Wenyan buying these weird things.

“No, if it’s a gift, fine, but why are you being so over the top with a photo frame? What kind of perfect picture are you going to put in it?”

Sheng Wenyan smiled and took out a photo from her bag. “It is a perfect picture, but it’s not of me. Yesterday, I broke the one Shen Zai had, so I’m making him a new one.”

Lou Ning pulled the photo from her hand with a look of surprise. “Oh my god... this is Shen Zai? He looks so young.”

“Be careful. It’s from many years ago. Don’t break it.”

Lou Ning saw that she was treating the photo as if it were a piece of gold leaf and looked at her suspiciously. “Did you come here just because you’re putting a picture of Shen Zai in it?”

“Yeah. Buying a random one wouldn’t show my apology, would it?”

Lou Ning: “But don’t you have no money?”

“That’s why I brought you here.”

“...”

“I’ll pay you back when I get paid.”

Lou Ning: “?”

Damn it! How many months of your salary would it take to pay me back?!

Customization took time. After leaving the shop, the two of them went to a cafe to sit for a while.

“...Are you saying that Zheng Qi deliberately challenged you in front of so many people yesterday, and in the end, you went home in Shen Shuyi’s car?”

Sheng Wenyan gave her a look of disdain. “Did you get the main point? I said that Shen Zai stood up for me, and then after I went back to his room, I accidentally broke his stuff, and then...”

“My main point is that Shen Shuyi drove you home! You didn’t even tell me about such a big deal at first!”

Sheng Wenyan said nonchalantly, “It was a coincidence yesterday. I didn’t have a car at the time, and he happened to be dropping off guests.”

“But that’s so strange. Shen Shuyi is usually the one who is most afraid of having any contact with you. Why did he suddenly take the initiative?”

“How should I know?” Sheng Wenyan said. “Oh, and I also have to tell you, Shen Zai shielded me yesterday, and his hand got bruised. It looked so painful—”

“Stop, stop, stop. Although I think not liking Shen Shuyi anymore is the right choice, you can’t be like this! Your change in focus is catching me off guard! You, you actually...”

“Actually what?”

“Actually have a crush on Shen Zai?!”

Sheng Wenyan choked, and a sip of coffee almost got stuck in her throat. She coughed a few times, her face turning red. After a long time, she said, “...What are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about? You talk about Shen Zai every three sentences, you know? You get all starry-eyed whenever you talk about him, you know?” Lou Ning said in horror. “Damn it, Sheng Wenyan, from what I know about you, your state right now definitely means you have a crush on Shen Zai!”

Sheng Wenyan’s brows twitched slightly. She should have refuted her, but she suddenly fell silent.

She propped her head up with her hand and thought about it. Did she really talk about Shen Zai every three sentences? Okay, while she couldn’t deny that her mind had been filled with Shen Zai lately, did she really get starry-eyed when she talked about him?

“Wenyan? Sheng Wenyan? Is this for real?”

Lou Ning’s expression was too exaggerated, which made Sheng Wenyan feel a little scared. But even if it was true, was it that terrifying?

“What’s wrong? Is it not allowed?” Sheng Wenyan calmed down and looked at her.

Lou Ning pursed her lips. “Are you crazy?”

“...I’m perfectly fine.”

“No, I admit Shen Zai is very handsome, but he’s not one of those clueless young guys who are only good-looking.”

Sheng Wenyan: “I never said he was clueless.”

Lou Ning: “No, no, no, this won’t work. Shen Zai isn’t Shen Shuyi... By the way, does he know?”

She didn’t even know it herself, so how would Shen Zai know?

What a strange question!

Seeing her speechless expression, Lou Ning let out a sigh of relief. “It’s good that he doesn’t know. It’s good that he doesn’t know. If he finds out, you’ll definitely be fired.”

Sheng Wenyan’s face really darkened this time. “...Why?”

“Why? First of all, the whole world knows you pursued his nephew. And you’re his subordinate and his friend’s daughter, so how could he have those kinds of feelings for you?” Lou Ning analyzed. “And you know how Shen Zai is with work. If he finds out his assistant has improper intentions towards him, wouldn’t he fire her?”

Sheng Wenyan hadn’t thought about this before, but what Lou Ning said actually made a lot of sense. It made so much sense that it made her feel... very! Un! Happy!

Seeing her suddenly looking like she wanted to kill someone, Lou Ning whispered, “Um, I’m just reminding you. You can’t use those flashy techniques you use on younger men on a mature man like Shen Zai, who has already achieved so much and seen so much of the world...”

________________________________________

It was Shen Zai’s rule that romantic relationships were not allowed between colleagues in the same department at IZ, because he especially disliked private matters affecting the company’s business.

The reason Sheng Wenyan had forgotten about this was that she was the only girl in the President’s Office, and no one had the potential to develop a relationship with her, so no one had specifically warned her about it.

Now that Lou Ning had stirred things up, she remembered that this had been mentioned in the employee training she took after joining the company.

So... she couldn’t like Shen Zai?

If he found out she liked him, would she definitely be fired?

She didn’t want to be fired...

Wait, she should probably be thinking about whether she really had a crush on Shen Zai right now.

“Mr. Shen.” Chen Chao’s voice came. Sheng Wenyan immediately looked up.

Shen Zai had returned from outside. He was dressed the same as usual today, in a suit and tie, looking neat and distinguished. His expression was also the same as usual, a little distant and serious.

But Sheng Wenyan felt that maybe because Lou Ning had just pointed it out, her whole body was a little out of sorts. He was the same as he always was, but now that she saw him, her calm heart from just a moment ago suddenly started to beat with an eager fervor.

Thump, thump, powerful and fierce.

“...”

In fact, she was no stranger to liking someone.

She liked good-looking people, so it was normal for her hormones to surge when she saw a handsome guy.

But looking at Shen Zai right now, she felt that this time was a little different. She couldn’t say exactly why, but she just felt that for the first time, her hormones surged, but she also felt a little flustered... Yes, flustered.

She had never been flustered in front of any other man.

“What’s the schedule for the afternoon?” Shen Zai asked as he passed her desk, but he didn’t stop and continued to his office.

Sheng Wenyan’s heart tightened. She quickly stood up and followed him in.

After secretly adjusting her breathing, she stood next to him and briefly listed the schedule. “At 2 o’clock, there will be a meeting with Film and Television Group 3 to start a new project. At 4 o’clock, the people from Caishang will be here. This time, they will still be led by Zhu Lingyun... At 4:10, there will be a meeting about the hot spring resort project in the main conference room. And then, we’ll have dinner with the people from Caishang. The location has been chosen, at the Nanjue Hotel...”

Shen Zai took off his suit jacket. He was wearing a dark-colored shirt underneath today, which had a more reserved and deep vibe than a white one. After taking it off, he casually put the jacket on the sofa and loosened his tie slightly. “I understand. You can go out now.”

Sheng Wenyan uncontrollably glanced at his figure, which was covered by his shirt and trousers. He just looks so good... It wouldn’t be strange if she really did fall for him.

“Is there anything else?” Shen Zai saw that she hadn’t moved and asked, looking at her from the side.

Sheng Wenyan quickly looked away. “Oh... I just remembered that you haven’t had lunch yet. I’ll go get you some lunch.”

“No need. You can all eat yourselves,” he said before walking into the lounge.

He’s not eating lunch again... He didn’t eat yesterday either.

Is he on a diet or something? He doesn’t look fat.

Sheng Wenyan walked out of the office.

Chen Chao asked, “What are you having for lunch? Get me some too.”

“Mr. Shen went to sleep and said he’s not eating...” Sheng Wenyan was a little distracted. She mumbled to herself, “But why isn’t he eating again? If he doesn’t eat now and has back-to-back meetings this afternoon, he’ll starve to death. I’ll just go buy him a light meal and bring it in.”

Chen Chao stopped her. “Since he’s resting, don’t disturb him. Mr. Shen doesn’t like being woken up.”

“But he hasn’t eaten.”

“The workload has been heavy lately, and we’ve run into some project issues. Mr. Shen is probably a little annoyed, which is why he’s like this.”

Sheng Wenyan frowned. “So we’re just going to ignore it? What did Assistant Lin do before?”

Chen Chao said, “Assistant Lin tried to handle it, but Mr. Shen would get angry, so she couldn’t really do anything about it. Don’t go trying to get yourself yelled at.”

Sheng Wenyan muttered, “So is it just that older people are stubborn...”

“What did you say?”

“Huh? Nothing, nothing.” Sheng Wenyan said, “Well, I’ll go buy some. Is a chicken breast salad okay for you too?”

“Yes, thanks.”

After the lunch break, the internal company meeting began.

The meeting took much longer than expected. After it was over, the people from Caishang arrived, almost seamlessly.

The two groups sat down in the main conference room. Zhu Lingyun on the other side was very enthusiastic and happily talked to Shen Zai about the recent progress of the resort project. But when she saw Sheng Wenyan bringing in coffee, her expression froze slightly.

Sheng Wenyan smiled at her and placed a cup of coffee in front of her. “Enjoy, Miss Zhu.”

The corner of Zhu Lingyun’s mouth twitched slightly, but she didn’t reply.

Sheng Wenyan didn’t mind. After she had placed everyone’s coffee, she put the last cup next to Shen Zai and sat down beside him.

The meeting hadn’t started yet. Shen Zai took a sip of his coffee and his movements paused, because the taste in his mouth was milk, not coffee.

He looked at Sheng Wenyan from the side. The latter slightly raised an eyebrow, clearly aware of what she had done.

Shen Zai rarely drank milk. He was about to tell her to go and get a new one when he saw Sheng Wenyan’s hand suddenly reach under the table and discreetly open in front of his thigh.

Shen Zai was stunned for a moment. “What is it?”

“Dark chocolate,” Sheng Wenyan said, covering her mouth with one hand. “I originally thought you would have time to eat after the meeting with the film and television group, but it seems like you don’t. So this is to tide you over.”

She spoke very quietly, and the act of passing candy under the table made Shen Zai find it a little baffling, yet also a little funny.

It was like two kids secretly eating candy under a desk in a classroom.

Seeing that he hadn’t taken it for a while, Sheng Wenyan gently tugged on his clothes. “Eat it quickly. What if your blood sugar drops during the meeting?”

Sheng Wenyan didn’t care if the previous assistant’s method was correct or not. She had her own ideas. She thought that Shen Zai couldn’t “willfully” keep skipping meals, so she had prepared something earlier, but the previous meeting had simply taken too long.

Now, she could only settle for the next best thing. The chocolate she usually ate for her diet could also fill him up.

“Hurry up. The meeting hasn’t started yet.”

At this moment, Sheng Wenyan didn’t pay attention to her tone. The respectful and obedient facade she usually wore was gone. Instead, her voice was commanding and forceful.

Shen Zai paused. He should have refused, but he didn’t know if he was intimidated by the serious expression on the person in front of him. He actually reached out and took the piece of chocolate from her palm.

The crinkling of the wrapper against his fingertips made him snap back to his senses. He really had indulged her.

He loosened his fingers slightly, ready to put the chocolate back. However, the person next to him turned her head and smiled brightly. “That’s a good boy. You have to eat something no matter how busy you are.”