Upon returning, we landed at Hongqiao Airport. We first visited Old Master Sheng, who had been discharged from the hospital, before heading back to Suzhou that night.

On the way, Lin Yusen mentioned Sheng Xingjie, saying he had been reassigned to a branch company outside the city and wouldn’t be able to return to Sheng Yuan’s core operations for at least a year or two.

“That’s quite a light punishment, isn’t it?” I commented, then asked him, “Did you tell Grandfather Sheng about your decision to return to medicine?”

“I mentioned it briefly. Grandfather was quite surprised, and I brought up Xingxiu to him.”

“Xingxiu?” In my memory, Sheng Xingxiu was just like me – a lively girl who loved bubble tea.

But Lin Yusen explained, “Actually, Xingxiu’s abilities surpass both Xingjie and Xingle. It’s just that she witnessed my mother’s experience growing up and knew that effort alone wouldn’t be enough, so she never considered that path. But times have changed now, and attitudes are different. Perhaps Grandfather has been moved to change his perspective as well.”

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” he added.

I nodded repeatedly: “Then hurry up and give Xingxiu the same pep talk you gave me.”

Lin Yusen laughed: “That won’t be necessary. Making chicken soup takes effort – I’d better save it for my girlfriend.”

Lin Yusen dropped me off at the dormitory and left, as he had a pile of work waiting for him after being away for several days. As a junior employee, I had it much easier. After tidying up a bit, I gathered all the snacks and gifts I’d bought and went to find Yin Jie and Yu Hua.

I had brought small gifts for all my familiar colleagues from this Chengdu trip, with the most items for Yin Jie and Yu Hua – panda plushies, various spicy snacks, and the five-spice rabbit that Yu Hua had specifically requested.

When I got to their dorm, Yin Jie couldn’t wait and immediately grabbed a bag of spicy rabbit meat to eat. “This is amazing! Yu Hua, you really should try some!”

Yu Hua nimbly dodged the spicy rabbit meat being pushed toward her mouth. “I really can’t handle it. I’ve come to Jiangsu, why are people still trying to make me eat spicy food?”

Yin Jie withdrew her hand grudgingly. “How did you even survive in Chengdu until now?”

I speculated, “Is that why you came to work in Jiangsu? To expand your survival diet?”

Yin Jie nodded in agreement: “Makes sense.”

Yu Hua was unwrapping her five-spice rabbit, ignoring us.

Yin Jie glanced at everything I’d brought and asked, “Xi Guang, you bought so much – did Lin CEO pay for it or did you?”

I thought carefully for a moment, “I think he paid for everything except the panda plushies.”

“That’s good then, now I don’t have to feel guilty. I’d feel bad if it came from my bestie’s salary, but the boss’s money? No problem.”

Yin Jie seemed to enjoy the food even more now. “Come to think of it, one of my dreams has come true! My best friend married a rich, handsome CEO, and now I get to mooch off the company like crazy.”

“You’ve only eaten some rabbit meat so far…” I said helplessly. “Besides, if it’s your dream, why not dream of marrying a rich, handsome CEO yourself?”

Yin Jie gave me a scientifically rigorous answer: “Because I only have one of me, but I can have many best friends. Which scenario has better probability?”

Lesson learned – even dreams need to factor in probability.

I paused for a moment. We’d all been friends for so long now, and I didn’t want to keep hiding anything. “You could mooch off me even without Lin Yusen. At least for food, drinks, and entertainment.”

Yin Jie froze: “How?”

Yu Hua also looked over at me.

“Well, I’m a rich beauty too.” After saying this, I asked uncertainly, “I am beautiful, right?”

“Of course you are!” Yin Jie confirmed instantly before having a sudden realization. “I always thought you spent money quite freely. So your family is wealthy!”

“Mm, you know how our company has another shareholder, that company from Wuxi?”

“Yeah?”

“Well… that’s my family’s company.”

Both Yin Jie and Yu Hua froze, staring at me intently.

I sat up straight and said seriously: “So why rely on a friend’s boyfriend when you can rely on the friend herself!”

After a long moment, Yin Jie let out a howl, “You’re right! Why should we rely on men? Waaah, my perspective has been broadened!”

After finishing their rabbit meat, Yin Jie and Yu Hua solemnly promised they would help keep my secret. I didn’t mind and even thought I should find an opportunity to announce it properly.

Because my mindset had completely changed.

Previously, I had only planned to coast along at the company, so there was no need to broadcast my background. But now that I planned to take work seriously, and was often doing things beyond the scope of finance, it wasn’t good to keep hiding.

In this situation, being upfront about it would undoubtedly be more beneficial for work development and the company atmosphere. However, finding the right opportunity wasn’t easy – who would just randomly go around announcing they’re someone’s daughter?

After thinking it over and briefly discussing it with Lin Yusen, I put the matter aside. Unexpectedly, the very next day, he created an opportunity for me.

At the monthly executive meeting with young employees, he publicly praised me for resolving the auxiliary materials contract issue.

I was completely unprepared, maintaining a stiff smile through the entire meeting under my colleagues’ shocked gazes.

As soon as the meeting ended, I hurriedly caught up with Lin Yusen, ignoring everyone’s stares, and quietly questioned him: “Why were you in such a rush? The follow-up hasn’t even been finalized yet.”

“There won’t be any variables. I just wanted to praise you in advance,” CEO Lin said righteously. “Besides, today’s meeting didn’t have much content, it would’ve been too empty otherwise.”

“?”

There was plenty of content. Besides, even if there wasn’t much content, does that mean you can sacrifice your girlfriend?

The hearts of leaders are truly dark!

CEO Lin strode away with Director Dai.

I lagged behind a few steps, walking with the younger colleagues. After walking a while amid a chorus of praise, just before everyone was about to disperse to their respective departments, I suddenly had an inspiration – wasn’t this the perfect opportunity?

I quickly called everyone back and extended an invitation: “Um, tonight, let me treat everyone to dinner?”

Of course, I also invited Yin Jie, Yu Hua, and Qi Qi for dinner.

At the dinner table, amidst a harmonious chorus of praise, I hastily explained the truth: “Actually, I resolved it by using connections, I wasn’t the key factor.”

Everyone exchanged knowing looks with an expression of “as expected.” I knew they probably thought I had used Lin Yusen’s connections.

“My family’s connections. My family has shares in Guangyu, that is, Wuxi Yuancheng, so this matter isn’t a big deal. You don’t need to praise me.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the dining table fell silent. Even the waiter who happened to walk in with dishes became cautious and moved carefully.

Yin Jie and Yu Hua were briefly surprised, probably wondering why I would announce it so abruptly. But since they knew beforehand, they quickly composed themselves and happily continued clearing the table while everyone else lost their appetite.

The silence lasted quite a while. We looked at each other for a moment, and finally, I broke the deadlock, carefully suggesting: “Sorry for keeping this from everyone for so long… So would you like to order more dishes? I think you ordered too little earlier…”

On the way back to the company that night, I shared a car with Yin Jie, Yu Hua, and Qi Qi.

Yin Jie sighed deeply: “Who would have thought that our company’s young lady is still living in a four-person dormitory?”

I was struck numb: “Please don’t make up such titles, thank you, thank you. Not even as a joke – what if it spreads? Besides, I have a single room.”

Though it was called a four-person dormitory, no one had moved in afterward. I wonder if Lin Yusen had talked to the logistics department.

Yu Hua said: “You should hurry up and move to our side, after all, the living facilities are more convenient, and there’s a washing machine.”

“Mm, I know.” I casually responded, “I let Chen Jie have the room that opened up in Building A earlier, technical talents are important.”

Qi Qi gave me a thumbs up: “Back then I was wondering why you didn’t move in there, thought it was for love, but it turns out it was for the company.”

“That’s called having perspective.” I quickly praised myself, “But next time I won’t give it up.”

Yin Jie had been quiet for a while, seemingly lost in thought, when she suddenly slapped her thigh, startling everyone. She exclaimed: “I finally figured out what feels wrong! Xi Guang, how could you reveal that you’re a shareholder’s daughter so casually? What a waste of a good plot!”

The three of us didn’t quite understand and looked at her strangely.

Yin Jie went on and on: “If this were a TV drama or novel, this kind of plot where someone hides their identity to work undercover usually has an antagonist who keeps bullying and framing you, then at a crucial moment, your identity is suddenly discovered, everyone is shocked, the antagonist turns pale… That would be satisfying! How could you just casually tell everyone yourself?”

I: “…”

I thought casually – no, straightforwardly telling everyone myself was quite good, but following Yin Jie’s train of thought, I seemed to feel the satisfaction too and said regretfully: “It would be satisfying, but no one at the company bullies me, how long would we have to wait? Besides, in modern society, what could we do to the ‘antagonist’? They could just find another job, right?”

Qi Qi agreed: “Yeah if I had bullied Xi Guang, I would start sending out resumes tonight.”

Yin Jie dismissed it with disdain: “Forget it, you just don’t understand the art of drama. And Qi Qi, stop trying to insert yourself into the story.”

Almost overnight, the news about me being a shareholder’s daughter spread throughout the company. Over the next few days at work, I often felt eyes secretly looking my way. However, everyone was very restrained, and no one came to probe for information.

Only Section Chief Wu, when we happened to meet in the elevator one day, held back for a while before blurting out, “So it was true.”

I understood what he meant and silently “mm-ed” in response.

As he stepped out of the elevator, Section Chief Wu had already resumed his department leader demeanor, “Keep up the good work, Little Nie. It’s good for girls to have ambition. My daughter also says she wants to be a leader in the future.”

Faced with this sudden encouragement, I was caught off guard: “Ah… I’ll try my best.”

“I’ll make some arrangements on my end too, let you participate more in important work, more overtime.” Section Chief Wu’s expression was full of mission.???

I: “…Thank you, Section Chief?”

“Don’t mention it.” Section Chief Wu said modestly, “After all, the whole company belongs to your family, this isn’t showing favoritism.”

I never imagined that one day, showing favoritism would be equivalent to working overtime…

I can only sincerely thank the Section Chief==

With the title of shareholder’s daughter, my participation in various work became completely legitimate, but in terms of interpersonal relationships, things inevitably became less natural with some colleagues. However, there were quite a few who didn’t care at all, like Yin Jie, Qi Qi, Yu Hua, and Little Su from the factory area management center.

That day, Qi Qi and I went to the new factory area to do fixed asset registration and inventory. The production line shipped from Chengdu was already in place, and Chen Jie was leading the installation and debugging.

After Qi Qi and I finished checking the inventory in the new factory area, we carried the account books back to the factory area management center for water and rest.

As soon as Little Su saw us, she waved excitedly, “Breaking news, your finance department has handsome guys from Bank A again, two of them! Dan Dan said they’re here for post-loan inspection.”

This scene felt familiar.

I was momentarily dazed, but quickly shook my head and smiled.

The person who came to the company at that time might have been Zhuang Xu, or might not have been, it didn’t matter anymore. But this time it definitely wasn’t him, after all, he had moved to the investment banking department, and post-loan inspection was no longer within his responsibilities.

It was almost time to get off work when we returned to the office building. I had barely sat down at my desk when Section Chief Wu called me over.

Section Chief Wu called from the door of the small conference room: “Little Nie, come here for a moment.”

I ran over.

“The bank people are here today for a post-loan inspection, Director Dai chatted with them first. Then they came to the finance department to review various materials until now, and they still need to check the factory. You’ve been to the new factory a lot and are familiar with the production equipment, come with me to show them around the factory.”

I was slightly startled but nodded. Section Chief Wu said quietly: “They’re being particularly thorough this time, they’ve been looking for so long and haven’t left yet. Fortunately, our loan usage is solid and genuine, be careful what you say later.”

“Okay.”

Section Chief Wu led me into the conference room and said to the people inside: “This is Little Nie from our finance department, she’s quite familiar with the new factory area and will accompany me to verify the loan usage with you at the factory area.”

The two men in suits in the conference room looked at me together, one of them closed the materials in his hand, looked up at me, and said calmly: “Then we’ll trouble you.”