"But the deal is clearly yours—how can they not call you?" Gao Zhoulei said urgently.
"They’re obviously trying to take advantage of the situation and steal your deal. President Gu doesn’t know the full story and probably thinks you’re willingly handing it over. If you don’t show up now, it’ll look like you’re just giving them the business."
"Director Shen, you need to get over there quickly," Gao Zhoulei urged anxiously.
"Don’t let General Manager Zhou snatch away the deal you worked so hard to secure."
At this point, the entire company knew Zhou Jicai had his eyes on the business in Shen Mianyin’s hands.
Shen Mianyin thought to herself: Could this be the solution Gu Huaizhi was talking about?
Using the excuse of discussing business to come and pick her up directly?
If that was the case, Shen Mianyin had even less reason to rush—after all, Gu Huaizhi was here specifically for her.
But seeing how anxious Gao Zhoulei was, Shen Mianyin said, “Alright, I’ll go take a look.”
Gao Zhoulei finally let out a sigh of relief, glad that General Manager Zhou wouldn’t get the chance to pull any tricks.
He was still counting on Shen Mianyin to take him along on her way up the ladder to success.
As long as she successfully secured this collaboration with Gu Huaizhi, Shen Mianyin’s position in the company would undoubtedly rise, allowing her to compete with Zhou Jicai on equal footing.
However, just as Shen Mianyin opened her office door, she nearly bumped into Xu Huaixiang, Lin Jinshen’s assistant, who was standing outside, hand raised, about to knock.
“Assistant Xu,” Shen Mianyin greeted, “is there something you need?”
“General Manager Zhou wants to hand over the collaboration with Zhilán Company to you, Director Shen,” Xu Huaixiang said, passing a thick stack of documents in her arms to Shen Mianyin.
Shen Mianyin had no choice but to take the documents as Xu Huaixiang continued,
“General Manager Zhou wants you to head over to Zhilán Company right now and coordinate with their team. Here’s the contact information for their representative.”
Xu Huaixiang held a small sticky note and attached it to the stack of documents in Shen Mianyin’s arms.
Gao Zhoulei quickly stepped in, taking the documents from Shen Mianyin and placing them on her desk.
“Right now? That’s a bit sudden,” Shen Mianyin said with a smile. “General Manager Zhou didn’t mention this in advance. I’m afraid I won’t make it in time—I already have other arrangements.”
"There's no use in Director Shen telling me all this. I'm just an assistant, here to relay messages for General Manager Zhou," Xu Huaixiang said lightly.
Shen Mianyin found it hard to ignore the hostility Xu Huaixiang directed at her. Perplexed, she asked, "If I remember correctly, Assistant Xu, you work for the President. Why are you now handling tasks for General Manager Zhou?"
"The President is away, and General Manager Zhou's assistant is busy. Lending a hand is no trouble at all,"
Xu Huaixiang replied, the corner of her mouth curling with a hint of amusement.
"General Manager Zhou is tied up at the moment, so he's asked Director Shen to go to Zhilian in his place."
Xu Huaixiang glanced at her newly purchased designer watch and said, "Director Shen, you'd better go now; otherwise, you'll miss the scheduled time with Zhilian. If anything goes wrong with the collaboration, I’m afraid you won’t be able to take responsibility for it."
With that, Xu Huaixiang strutted off in her high heels, full of arrogance.
"This is too much!" Gao Zhoulei fumed.
"Busy, huh? Isn't he just busy entertaining President Gu? But President Gu is your client! Instead of going to Zhilian to connect with his own clients, General Manager Zhou is here snatching yours and deliberately trying to send you away!"
Shen Mianyin smiled and said, “A client belongs to whoever secures them. Let’s go.”
“Director Shen, are you really going to Zhilian?” Gao Zhoulei followed her anxiously and asked.
“Go where? It’s not my responsibility. If the collaboration falls through, let Zhou Ji explain it to the President. What does it have to do with me?”
Shen Mianyin replied. “Of course, I’m going to take care of *my* client and meet with President Gu.”
Her ankle had recovered well. Although it still hurt a little, as long as she walked slowly, it wasn’t a big issue anymore, and she no longer needed to rely on crutches like she had in the past few days.
“Where is President Gu now?” Shen Mianyin asked Gao Zhoulei.
“When I last heard, President Gu had just arrived at the company. He was blocked by Vice President Zhang and General Manager Zhou in the lobby on the first floor. He’s probably been invited to Vice President Zhang’s office by now,” Gao Zhoulei said, taking out his phone. “Let me check.”
At this moment, Gu Huaizhi was walking with Zhang Qiyuan and Zhou Jicai toward the floor where Vice President Zhang’s office was located.
As they exited the elevator, Vice President Zhang enthusiastically introduced the surroundings to Gu Huaizhi.
Gu Huaizhi remained silent, pretending to be oblivious to their intentions. Along the way, they passed by many departmental offices—some employees were preparing to leave for the day, while others were staying behind to work overtime.
"It’s truly an honor for us to work with President Gu,”
Zhang Qiyuan said, following closely behind, his ingratiating smile nearly squeezing his facial features together.
“President Gu, you must be here for our collaboration with Kewei, right?”
“Mm,” Gu Huaizhi responded with a simple acknowledgment.
“We attach great importance to this collaboration. Tonight, I’ll host a dinner, and during the meal, General Manager Zhou will have a good talk with you. He’s been busy with this matter these past few days and has come up with some new ideas that I think are great. He’d like to discuss them with you, President Gu.”
“There’s no need for dinner,” Gu Huaizhi stopped and glanced around. “By the way, where is Director Shen?”
“Director Shen is engaged in other collaborations and should be on her way to Zhilian at this moment,” Zhou Jicai said, feigning a glance at his watch.
“But even though Director Shen isn’t here, I’m fully aware of all the project details for our company’s collaboration with Kewei. It’s no problem for me to discuss things with you, President Gu.”
"Director Shen isn’t here?" Gu Huaizhi frowned. "Then where are we going now?"
"You didn’t mention Director Shen wasn’t here? You’ve made me walk all this way. Isn’t this just wasting my time?" Gu Huaizhi said coldly, turning around.
It seemed that Shen Mianyin’s situation at the company wasn’t very good. Zhang Qiyuan and Zhou Jicai’s little schemes didn’t escape his notice; he could tell immediately what was going on.
"President Gu! President Gu!" Zhang Qiyuan hurriedly caught up and blocked Gu Huaizhi's path.
"You can go to my office, it’s the same. Although Director Shen is in charge of this collaboration, our entire company attaches great importance to it, so everyone is very familiar with the details of this project. Whether you talk to General Manager Zhou or Director Shen, it’s the same."
"Furthermore, General Manager Zhou has more experience in this area. He’s actually more suited for this than Shen Mianyin," Zhang Qiyuan added.
"Vice President Zhang, General Manager Zhou, are you trying to blatantly steal my business?" Shen Mianyin's voice suddenly rang out, high and clear.
Zhang Qiyuan and Zhou Jicai quickly turned to look, only to see Shen Mianyin turning the corner at the end of the hallway, walking toward them step by step.
"Shen Mianyin, what are you doing here?" Zhang Qiyuan asked coldly.
Hearing the commotion, Xu Huaixiang also hurriedly rushed out, her high heels clicking as she ran.
Zhou Jicai glared at Xu Huaixiang, his face darkened, and whispered, "How are you handling things?"
Xu Huaixiang hurriedly explained in a low voice, "I spoke to her and even warned her. If something goes wrong with Zhilian's business, she wouldn't be able to take responsibility. Who knew she would just ignore it?"
"Why didn’t you watch her leave yourself?" Zhou Jicai said angrily.
Shen Mianyin walked step by step until she stood right in front of Gu Huaizhi.
As Gu Huaizhi's gaze landed on her, Shen Mianyin suddenly felt an unexpected sense of calm. It was as though... her pillar of support had arrived. She wasn’t sure why she had such a thought.
"President Gu, I’m sorry. I’ve made you a spectator to this," Shen Mianyin said.
"Shen Mianyin, what do you mean by that?" Zhou Jicai gritted his teeth and demanded. Were they causing a joke?
"I heard Director Shen went to Zhilian," Gu Huaizhi said, a slight smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
"President Gu is my most important client. As long as you’re here, I’m not going anywhere," Shen Mianyin said, looking up at Gu Huaizhi, her eyes curved in a warm smile.
Comments Box