A smile spread across Xue Jiao’s lips as she touched the thermal container in her hand.

She hadn’t had time to go on dates with him, and although that guy felt disappointed inside, he still smiled and pretended everything was fine.

But she could feel it—he was very unhappy.

So, Xue Jiao decided to be a “good” girlfriend and visit her computer boyfriend to give him a “surprise.”

She had even taken the rare step of changing her clothes, putting on a long dress that made her look less childish.

Xue Jiao looked up and caught sight of her face in the rearview mirror.

After thinking for a moment, she let her hair down, tucking the right side behind her ear while letting the left side fall naturally over her chest.

Xue Jiao pressed her lips together in a smile. Good, now she looked more “mature.”

“Little sister, are you going on a date?” the middle-aged female driver asked with a kind smile.

Xue Jiao felt a bit embarrassed but still replied with a smile, “Mmm, yes.”

The driver sighed, “Your boyfriend is so lucky to have such a beautiful girlfriend like you.”

“I’m lucky too,” Xue Jiao smiled brightly.

Ever since she got together with Lin Zhihua, he had never made her sad or put her in a difficult position.

He loved and cared for her like a boyfriend, but also like an elder, accommodating her in every way.

Thinking of this, Xue Jiao smiled again, her eyes narrowing into slits.

If Lin Zhihua knew she thought of him as an elder, he would probably get angry enough to “bite” her again.

The driver glanced up at her and couldn’t help saying again, “Young lady, you’re really beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Xue Jiao replied with a smile.

—

The car soon arrived at the entrance of Lin Corporation. After paying, Xue Jiao pushed the door open and got out.

Looking up, she saw large characters on the tall building in front of her—Lin Corporation.

She couldn’t see anything through the office building except for dark glass reflecting the yellowish light of the setting sun.

Xue Jiao slowly approached.

She knew Lin Zhihua was at the company. Last night she had told him she would be in meetings until evening, and Lin Zhihua had said he would pick her up on his way home from work.

And based on her understanding of Lin Zhihua, this man probably hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

Xue Jiao’s lips curled up as she quickened her pace, the hem of her dress swaying beside her feet like it was swaying on one’s heart.

The main entrance of Lin Corporation was wide open, and the atmosphere of the first-floor lobby was completely different from Cheng Suo’s company.

Since coming to Beijing, Cheng Suo’s company only occupied two floors in an office building, unlike Lin Corporation which, due to its wide range of businesses, had many departments and consequently many employees.

Xue Jiao stepped into the lobby, her gaze sweeping across the entire space. Directly across from her was an entrance with two passages. It was clear that an access card was needed to enter, and there was also an entrance on the side.

She approached, and at this time, people were probably getting off work, with people continuously exiting through the passage opposite her. Between the two entrances was a reception desk with two elegant young women standing there.

There were also two security guards on the other side, occasionally nodding to people as they left.

“Ma’am, may I help you?” the receptionist greeted with a smile.

Xue Jiao walked closer, also responding with a smile, “I’m looking for someone.”

“Xiao Yue, I’m here to pick up my package,” a middle-aged woman came out from the passage, turned around, and said to the other receptionist.

That person immediately bent down to take out a package and said with a smile, “Sister Wu, what did you buy this time? I’ve been hiding it for you, it hasn’t been discovered.”

“Thank you, Xiao Yue. I was busy this afternoon and couldn’t come out to get it. It’s just a soy milk maker; the one at home broke. Thank you, thank you. If you didn’t help me hide it, I would’ve been fined again!”

“No problem,” the receptionist smiled.

Sister Wu turned her head and happened to see Xue Jiao. She smiled, “Young lady, are you…?”

“I’m here to see someone,” Xue Jiao smiled and said again.

Sister Wu was an enthusiastic middle-aged woman. Seeing her holding a food container, she couldn’t help saying, “Are you bringing food to your dad or mom? The managers are all in meetings today. What a thoughtful daughter you are!”

Receptionist Xiao Yue joined in, “Sister Wu, aren’t you going to wait for Uncle Jiu? Look at you, not considerate at all.”

“Well, the boss wouldn’t let them starve, would he?” Sister Wu said dismissively.

The receptionist attending to Xue Jiao had a gentle attitude and asked with a smile, “Little sister, who are you looking for? I need to make a call first; otherwise, you can’t go in. It’s company policy.”

Her voice had a hint of apology, and her manner was gentle and polite. Xue Jiao couldn’t help but mentally approve of the attitude of Lin Zhihua’s company employees.

Just as Xue Jiao opened her mouth, Sister Wu beside her said, “Young lady, the executives are in a meeting today and can’t take calls! Did you tell your parents beforehand that you were coming? Who are your parents? Which family has such a beautiful young daughter!”

“I’m looking for Lin Zhihua,” Xue Jiao smiled, showing her teeth, and added, “He’s my boyfriend…”

There was a moment of silence as the three women almost simultaneously contracted their pupils as if they had heard something unbelievable.

The two receptionists seemed to freeze, not saying anything more. Xue Jiao then asked, “Are all the executives in a meeting? Can Lin Zhihua take a call? Or…”

She thought for a moment and realized that she only knew the secretary who followed Lin Zhihua.

“Or can Chen Yan take a call?”

The receptionist suddenly came back to her senses, and the one attending to Xue Jiao stammered, “Yes, yes, yes… I’ll call the secretary’s office…”

Her hand was a bit shaky, and she almost dropped the phone.

“Hello, this is the front desk. Could you help me contact Secretary Chen Yan…”

After a moment of silence, the receptionist continued, “Hello Secretary Chen, this is Su Qian from the front desk. There’s a lady here looking for Mr. Lin.”

The person on the other end said something, and Su Qian looked at Xue Jiao, “May I ask your name…?”

“Gu Xue Jiao.”

Su Qian quickly relayed, “She says her name is Gu Xue Jiao.”

After she finished, she heard something drop on the floor on the other end of the phone, followed by Chen Yan’s urgent voice in an altered tone—

“Take good care of her, I’ll be right down!”

It’s worth noting that Chen Yan, as the first secretary, was always the most like Lin Zhihua in his demeanor, with a flat, emotionless voice like a machine without feelings, so this kind of panic was unprecedented.

Su Qian hung up the phone and looked at Xue Jiao, stammering, “Ms. Gu, please take a seat and rest for a moment. I’ll pour you a glass of water. Secretary Chen will be down to meet you right away.”

Beside her, Xiao Yue displayed a standard “sweet” smile, standing straight with her hands in front of her.

“No need, no need. I’ll just stand for a while,” Xue Jiao replied with a smile.

People continued to exit through the passage nearby, and some greeted the receptionists, “Xiao Yue, Qian Qian, getting off work? Want to go for BBQ together?”

Xiao Yue seemed a bit stiff and replied with a smile, “Not now.”

Then she turned around and quickly poured a glass of water for Xue Jiao: “Please have some water…”

“Thank you, thank you!” Xue Jiao quickly accepted it, feeling a bit embarrassed by their enthusiasm.

“Sister Wu, why are you still here? Want to head back together?” A short-haired woman walked over and casually leaned against the reception desk.

Sister Wu tugged at her, glaring at her behind Xue Jiao’s back, then forced a stiff smile at Xue Jiao.

The short-haired woman clearly didn’t understand what she meant, looked at Xue Jiao, and casually asked, “And you are?”

Sister Wu reached out and pinched her hard.

At this moment, someone came out from the side passage, and that slightly familiar face appeared before everyone.

Whether it was the receptionists, Sister Wu, the short-haired woman, or the people coming out from the front passage, they all called out in succession, “Hello, Secretary Chen!”

Chen Yan nodded and hurried over, awkwardly pulling out a smile for Xue Jiao, “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“It’s fine, just trouble for Uncle Chen.”

Uncle Chen…

At this moment, Chen Yan was thinking, would the boss dock his pay if he heard this?

And actually… he wasn’t that old, just too anxious, and not as handsome as the boss. When he put on a serious face, he just looked like a barely handsome uncle.

He was only in his thirties…

And still unmarried!

“You’re too kind. Let’s go up this way…” Chen Yan respectfully extended his hand, making a gesture of invitation.

Xue Jiao picked up her food container but felt troubled by the glass in her hand, not knowing what to do.

Su Qian almost immediately leaned forward, reaching out to take the glass, “Let me take that.”

“Thank you,” Xue Jiao smiled gratefully.

Su Qian immediately replied, feeling honored, “You’re too kind…”

Xue Jiao carried the food container and followed Chen Yan’s gesture toward the side door.

Chen Yan followed her, efficiently opening the door for her, then taking the dedicated passage and private elevator upstairs.

After watching them enter the elevator, the reception area immediately erupted.

“Who was that? Who was that?! Using the boss’s private passage!!” The short-haired woman was wide-eyed.

Su Qian patted her chest and couldn’t help taking two sips of Xue Jiao’s untouched water to calm herself.

“The boss’s girlfriend…”

“What?!!”

Sister Wu hugged her package, looked at it, then at herself, “Did Secretary Chen see me with this? Am I going to be docked pay?”

“The boss’s girlfriend not only saw it but heard it too…” Xiao Yue was almost in tears.

The short-haired woman still looked disbelieving, “No way, that young lady looks too young, and isn’t our boss known for avoiding women?”

“I heard before that the boss seems to be dating someone… and she’s so beautiful, with such good temperament, maybe the boss is…”

Sister Wu also said, “Yes, yes, and there have been all kinds of women coming to find the boss before, but when has Secretary Chen ever come down to receive any of them?”

The short-haired woman quickly took out her phone and said in alarm, “I need to tell everyone right away!”

Subsequently, in all the Lin Corporation group chats without Lin Zhihua, messages started appearing—

The Lin boss’s girlfriend is here!!

This was immediately followed by various shocked reactions and exclamations of “holy crap,” with all group message notifications quickly becoming 99+.

—

Xue Jiao followed Chen Yan upstairs. The elevator didn’t stop midway, heading straight for the top floor.

“Let me carry that for you,” Chen Yan reached out.

Xue Jiao quickly shook her head, “No need, no need, I can hold it.”

Chen Yan didn’t dare say anything more. Fortunately, the elevator arrived quickly. Chen Yan held the button and made a gesture of invitation, “After you.”

Xue Jiao quickly stepped out and said with a smile, “Uncle Chen, you can just call me Xue Jiao.”

Chen Yan felt a wave of alarm inside and could only nod stiffly.

He led the way slightly ahead and to the side, passing a small office where people were working, a tea room, a reception room, and a large conference room with closed doors, walking to the innermost area which was Lin Zhihua’s office.

There was a desk outside the door with a man and a woman sitting there, working with their heads down.

“Secretary Chen—” They greeted Chen Yan as soon as they saw him, then nodded at Xue Jiao with a smile.

Chen Yan pushed open the door to Lin Zhihua’s office: “Please wait in the boss’s office first. I’ll go notify him.”

“No need, no need, let him continue his meeting. I’ll wait a while longer,” Xue Jiao said with a smile, curiously walking into Lin Zhihua’s office.

Someone stood up nearby and asked in an almost inaudible voice, “Who is this? Are we letting her go directly into the boss’s office? Shouldn’t she wait in the reception room?”

Chen Yan looked up and also said in a low voice, “Don’t worry about it.”

As he spoke, Chen Yan turned around and saw Tan Qi coming out of the small office.

“Tan Qi!”

Tan Qi turned his head, “What’s up? They said you brought someone up?”

“Give me the materials, I’ll go deliver them. Gu Xue Jiao is here; go take care of things in the boss’s office,” Chen Yan stepped forward and lowered his voice.

“What?!” Tan Qi exclaimed in surprise.

He was probably the only employee in the company besides Chen Yan who knew who Gu Xue Jiao was.

Chen Yan gave him a meaningful look, “This is an opportunity to please the boss. Go on.”

Tan Qi immediately handed the materials to Chen Yan and rubbed his hands, “I’ll perform well!”

Chen Yan gave him a sidelong glance and headed straight for the conference room.

As the boss’s secretary, he earned an inconceivable salary for normal people and had to be able to do things no one else could.

In the entire company, he was definitely the one who understood the boss best and knew how to act according to the boss’s wishes.

Put Gu Xue Jiao in the reception room.

Did he want to die?!

And he knew that what he should do now was to interrupt the meeting and tell the boss that Gu Xue Jiao had arrived.

When Chen Yan pushed open the door, the atmosphere inside was tense.

Recently, Lin Zhihua had not been in a good mood, and the executives were all on edge, keeping their tails between their legs for fear of being scolded.

At this moment, a manager was looking down, and despite the air conditioning being at a comfortable temperature, he was sweating profusely.

Lin Zhihua had a cold expression, “…if you submit this kind of thing again next time, I can only say, you’re just eating for free!”

“Bang—” Lin Zhihua forcefully threw the report in his hand onto the table, his sharp eyes staring at him, not saying anything more.

The man’s legs trembled slightly.

At this moment, Chen Yan pushed the door open, and a few people turned their heads slightly to look.

Chen Yan walked directly to the front and whispered something in Lin Zhihua’s ear.

Then they saw the boss, who had just been wearing a stern face, stand up with a look of delight.

“Redo this report and give it to me before the end of the workday tomorrow. Today’s meeting ends here; everyone takes a rest,” he said. Then, under the uniform gaze of the entire conference room, he strode out of the meeting room.

The person who had just been scolded collapsed, patting his chest with a face that had just escaped disaster.

“What happened? Who saved my life?”

Someone had already skillfully taken out their phone, started scrolling, and subsequently exchanged shocked whispers with others.

“I wonder what she looks like…”

“You dare to go look?”

“…No, I don’t.”

—

Lin Zhihua entered his office almost with a smile. Chen Yan did not follow him in.

“Jiaojiao…” These two syllables were uttered by Lin Zhihua with deep affection.

Xue Jiao smiled a bit shyly, “Why did you come out? Didn’t I say not to disturb you?”

“It’s fine, the meeting just happened to be over,” he walked to Xue Jiao’s side.

At this moment, Tan Qi entered with two cups.

One was a steaming hot cup of milk, and the other was room-temperature water.

He respectfully placed them in front of the two, and Lin Zhihua looked at him with approval and nodded.

Tan Qi was delighted, but calmly walked out and closed the door.

Lin Zhihua sat down on the sofa, reached out to pull Xue Jiao into his arms, and tried to control his happiness as he asked, “What brings you here?”

Xue Jiao smiled, showing her teeth, her eyes curving, then shook the food container in her hand, “Bringing you dinner.”

Lin Zhihua held her hand against his stomach, with a hungry expression, “I’m just getting hungry. How are you so thoughtful?”

Xue Jiao bumped her forehead against his and chuckled softly, “I can be even more thoughtful.”

“Oh?”

“When we get married.” After saying this, Xue Jiao turned and ran.

Lin Zhihua was stunned for a long time, then raised his hand to touch the spot where Xue Jiao had just kissed, the corners of his mouth rising high, his eyes full of joy.

How wonderful.

Heaven had been so good to him. The first twenty difficult years were all for waiting for this one person.

Having this one person gave his barren years a flowering, splendid prosperity.

—

The next day, it was time for another project meeting.

After breakfast, Xue Jiao arrived at the laboratory at the same time as yesterday. Today, she was the earliest person besides Chu Sheng.

Fortunately, the two didn’t have to wait long before the others arrived one after another.

After sitting at the table, Zhang Han got straight to the point, “Regarding the project, after thinking overnight, what are everyone’s thoughts?”

Yang Zhan shrugged and sighed, “I still say the same thing: we don’t need to waste more time. Many other projects need our attention. We can shift our focus to other areas; there’s no need to fixate on this elusive flying car.”

Chu Sheng took a deep breath, his gaze sweeping across everyone, and said softly, “I think we shouldn’t give up. This is indeed a new field with no previous experience, but regardless of the outcome, we are the pioneers. I remember Gu Xue Jiao saying, Senior Yang Zhan, we can stand on the shoulders of giants, but we can also be the giants. We can’t stop climbing just because there’s no direction; otherwise, human technology would hardly progress.”

Yang Zhan looked at him, his brow slightly furrowed. It was evident that he was also very conflicted, but ultimately, he wasn’t very willing to continue.

At this moment, Zhang Han suddenly said, “I want to continue. I think this project has value, and it’s too early to give up now.”

Yang Zhan looked at Zhang Han, who returned his gaze firmly.

“Alright, since Senior Sister is willing to persist, let’s continue. I always follow Senior Sister’s lead!” Yang Zhan raised an eyebrow.

At this moment, the other three people sensitively felt that Yang Zhan and Zhang Han… might have something going on.

Yang Zhan didn’t want to continue the project, but because of Zhang Han, he persisted again…

Zhang Han glared at him and said, “Then let’s discuss the direction.”

“Our current…”

The group began to discuss, but as always, they were at a loss.

How exactly could they overcome gravity for the flying car?

The current superimposed magnetic field could only levitate very light pieces of paper; anything slightly heavier wouldn’t work, let alone make a heavy flying car float.

As Xue Jiao listened, her gaze gradually drifted away.

Zhang Han noticed that Xue Jiao seemed to be thinking about something; she wasn’t taking notes anymore, and her eyes had stopped moving.

“What are you thinking about?”

As soon as she spoke, the original discussion immediately fell silent, and everyone looked at Xue Jiao.