On their third date, Lu Ze asked Yao Jingjing a very serious question—he inquired about her actual profession.
Yao Jingjing told him, “I originally studied finance, but after our leader discovered my special abilities and talents, he had me take on two additional roles, making the most of my capabilities.”
Lu Ze asked, “What roles?”
Yao Jingjing replied, “Sales and human resources.”
Lu Ze raised an eyebrow, “I wouldn’t have guessed you were so versatile.”
Yao Jingjing mimicked his eyebrow raise, “Don’t be too quick to trust what your eyes see. They can deceive you, making you mistake a great person for someone insignificant.”
Lu Ze narrowed his eyes, watching her raised eyebrow, “You mentioned your leader discovered your special abilities and talents. What exactly did you mean?”
Yao Jingjing narrowed her eyes in return, saying, “In my leader’s words, I have a good temperament and strong endurance. I’m like a tough piece of meat that can handle both good and bad situations.”
Lu Ze coughed into his fist, covering his mouth.
Yao Jingjing asked from the side, “Are you trying not to laugh? You must be! I’ve noticed that when you want to laugh but are desperately trying to maintain your cool, expressionless face, you cough! But big brother, if you find something funny, can you tell me so I can share in the joy?”
Lu Ze lowered his hand, his face expressionless, “It’s nothing. I just think your leader understands you well.”
After a moment, he spoke again, “Let me ask you a question. How would you handle this situation?”
Yao Jingjing blinked her eyes and asked, “Is there a reward if I answer correctly?”
Lu Ze raised an eyebrow, “What kind of reward do you want?”
Yao Jingjing thought for a moment and said, “My best friend was cheated on by her ex-boyfriend. I need to go teach that guy a lesson!”
Lu Ze frowned, “You want me to help you deal with him?”
Yao Jingjing waved her finger, “No, no, no! I need to do it myself to truly feel satisfied! I plan to scold him, but I don’t know what words would be most effective. Since you’re a man, I thought you could help me think of some strong words from a male perspective!”
Lu Ze’s gaze unfocused for a moment, then he raised an eyebrow and asked, “You want me to help you come up with insults for him?”
Yao Jingjing nodded and snapped her fingers, “Exactly!”
Lu Ze looked at her for a while, then smirked and said, “Your leader was right. You do have the special ability and talent of being thick-skinned.”
Yao Jingjing smiled sweetly, “So that means you agree, right? Okay, now ask me your question quickly!”
Lu Ze looked at her and asked, “Suppose you’ve just started at a new company and you’re not familiar with everything yet. Your colleague, who is higher-ranked than you, frequently assigns their work to you. You’re exhausted, but you can’t refuse because of their higher position. If this situation continues for a long time, what would you do?”
He had asked this question to many interviewees before, and while the answers varied, none had particularly satisfied him.
Some said they would report the situation to their superiors and let them handle it fairly. Others said they would endure it until they reached a higher position than their colleagues. Some even suggested delegating work to lower-ranked employees or interns, arguing that in the workplace, one must follow the rules where the weak obey the strong.
Lu Ze was curious to hear what kind of answer Yao Jingjing, with her unique way of thinking, would give.
“Hey!” Yao Jingjing slapped the table, “Is that even a problem? If it were me, I’d simply befriend their boss. I’d stick close to their boss every day, chatting and getting along well. Let’s see if they’d dare to push work onto me then!”
Lu Ze looked at her, momentarily stunned.
Her answer was indeed unconventional, simple, and direct, but he had to admit it was an effective solution.
He thought for a moment and asked, “But can you be sure you’ll become friends with their boss?”
Yao Jingjing said, “Whether I can or not isn’t important. I’d find a way to make him think I’ve already befriended his boss. If I can’t make it a reality, I can create an illusion. As long as it intimidates him, I’ve achieved my goal!”
Lu Ze looked at her, beginning to think her leader indeed had some insight.
Yao Jingjing asked him, “Does my answer pass?”
Lu Ze replied indirectly, “In a while, I’ll be going to Dalian to set up a branch office.”
Yao Jingjing said, “Oh, and then? Are you considering leaving the Beijing business for me to manage?”
Lu Ze coughed and said, “I’m more inclined to use a versatile talent like you, who understands finance, sales, and human resources, for expanding into new territories.”
Yao Jingjing paused, “You mean you want to take me with you?”
Lu Ze nodded, “I’ll be staying in Dalian for a long time. Are you interested in coming to help me?”
Yao Jingjing smiled, “Were you just interviewing me?”
Lu Ze raised an eyebrow, “You could see it that way.”
Yao Jingjing smiled even more brightly, “So you’re saying I did well in the interview?”
Lu Ze raised his eyebrow again, “Mm, not bad.”
Yao Jingjing beamed like a flower, “Then how much are you planning to pay me?”
Lu Ze said, “Name your price.”
Yao Jingjing thought for a moment, “Don’t give me the chance to be greedy! I might not be able to control myself and ask for an astronomical price!”
Lu Ze coughed lightly, “You don’t need to hold back.”
Yao Jingjing slapped the table, “Then if I say an annual salary of 500,000 yuan, would you agree?”
Lu Ze looked at her and said calmly, “I’ll give you double that.”
Yao Jingjing paused, her mouth forming an oval shape like a tea egg, “Oh? Double?” Then she slapped the table again, her face showing a grand expression of serving the people, “Boss Lu, I’ll go check the weather forecast for Dalian right away. Just tell me when we’re leaving, and I’ll be ready with my suitcase in no time!”
Before going to Dalian with Lu Ze, Yao Jingjing did go to the Qiansheng Group headquarters to confront Wang Ruhai and give him a good scolding.
Lu Ze didn’t help her come up with insults, but he did act as her driver, taking her to Wang Ruhai in his flashy Ferrari, allowing her to make a grand entrance.
During the confrontation, Wang Ruhai got agitated and, pointing at the Ferrari, said to Yao Jingjing, “Look at you! Aren’t you also relying on a rich man? Aren’t you also pursuing a better life? Don’t you also want to treat yourself well? What right do you have to criticize me?”
At that moment, Yao Jingjing was furious. She hadn’t expected Wang Ruhai to turn the tables on her like this.
As she trembled with anger, Lu Ze got out of the car.
He walked straight up to Wang Ruhai, stood in front of him, and said coolly, “Let me correct your statement. She’s not relying on me; I’m headhunting her with a high salary. And if you’re a real man, don’t compare yourself to a woman. It’s beneath you.”
After saying this, he took her back to the car.
As Yao Jingjing looked back, she saw Wang Ruhai standing there, pale-faced, inhaling their car’s exhaust. She suddenly felt a rush of satisfaction from head to toe.
Two weeks later, Yao Jingjing packed her bags and hurriedly headed north with the wealthy Lu Ze to a city she had never been to before, ready to pioneer and blaze new trails.
Working for Lu Ze, Yao Jingjing was dedicated and hardworking. Sometimes, when things got busy and she was working herself to the bone, she completely forgot why she had come here in the first place.
She wasn’t here to be a workplace hero; she was here to conquer the rich man…
In her career, she seemed to have found new life. Lu Ze gave her enough space and freedom at work to fully express and utilize her imaginative ideas and talents.
Lu Ze greatly affirmed her work abilities and entrusted her with increasingly important tasks.
Yao Jingjing’s days were more powerful and influential than ever before, but for some reason, she still felt that something was not quite right.
She felt that there was something about Lu Ze that was particularly annoying. He never clarified whether their relationship was anything more than work partners, his attitude was ambiguous and vague, as if he was toying with her.
His irritating demeanor sparked her endless fighting spirit. During a break, she went to the corridor to call Qian Fei.
Yao Jingjing gritted her teeth as she spoke to Qian Fei on the phone, “Damn it, isn’t he just playing with me? Fine, I’ll play along! Watch me make him submit!”
Qian Fei paused on the other end of the line before asking, “You’re fired up about this?”
Yao Jingjing said, “Yes, I’m fired up! I can’t believe that with my rich experience in the field of romance since kindergarten, I can’t even handle one expressionless big guy!”
Qian Fei, with a black face, asked her, “You’re so competitive with him, but do you like him or not?”
Yao Jingjing thought for a moment and said, “I think whether I like him or not isn’t important right now. What’s important is that I need to recover from my disadvantageous position!”
Qian Fei asked, “So how do you plan to recover?”
Yao Jingjing answered without hesitation, “I’ve decided to toy with him too!”
Qian Fei silently wiped away some sweat and said, “Good luck,” and “Goodbye.”
As Yao Jingjing hung up the phone and turned to go back to the office, she got a shock.
Lu Ze was standing expressionlessly two steps away from her.
She flinched. How much of her phone conversation had he heard?
She tentatively asked, “Handsome, how long have you been standing here waiting to scare people?”
Lu Ze looked at her, his face as hard as if he had received an overdose of botulinum toxin, devoid of any human warmth, “Just arrived.”
Yao Jingjing felt relieved.
This man was cool, arrogant, and cold, never stooping to say anything but the truth. If he said he just arrived, then he hadn’t had time to hear the content of her phone call.
She walked back to the office with a relieved step, determined to stick to her original plan of “toying with him” without wavering.
Lu Ze sat at his desk, fiddling with a small box. Inside was a necklace he had originally planned to give to that woman who could eat so much.
He had never been good at expressing his feelings verbally, but he felt that the woman who could eat so much should be able to sense that she was special to him.
He had planned to give her this gift tonight, as a clear indication of his feelings towards her.
However, in the afternoon, he overheard her conversation with her best friend on the phone, saying that liking or not liking wasn’t important, what mattered was regaining the upper hand, and that she was going to toy with him too.
As he listened to her saying these unreliable things, he wanted to go over and knock on her head to see if he could knock some sense into her.
When she asked him when he had appeared behind her, he wanted to say he had been there for a long time, long enough to hear the entire conversation.
But on second thought, he felt that doing so might take away a lot of fun.
He was quite curious to see what kind of tricks she would come up with to “play” with him.
So he said, “Just now.”
After playing with the necklace box for a while longer, he put it away in a drawer.
He decided not to give it to her just yet. He wanted to see how she would deal with this expressionless big guy.
Yao Jingjing used all her tricks, dolling herself up every day and flaunting herself in front of Lu Ze.
She felt that Lu Ze must have been an extremely indulgent person in his past life, which was why in this life he could maintain such a calm, cool, and unexcited state of abstinence in the face of her sometimes seductive, sometimes pure, sometimes as still as a virgin, and sometimes as active as a rabbit demeanor.
Faced with his monk-like reactions, she sometimes felt a bit defeated. However, she wasn’t completely without gains. Although Lu Ze showed no excitement towards her, she started receiving flowers from other men. Some were clients, some were bosses of partner companies, and some were even newly recruited elites in their own companies.
As she held bouquet after bouquet, her inner feelings were very complex. She looked up to the sky and sighed, wondering if she had misdirected her efforts. The person who should have reacted didn’t, while those who shouldn’t be reacting were overflowing with hormones.
However, starting from some indeterminate day, strangely enough, she stopped receiving flowers from those men.
During that period, she scrutinized herself in the mirror, wondering if she had suddenly become unattractive.
But no matter how she looked at herself, she was still as glamorous as ever. So why had she lost her ability to attract bees and butterflies?
She was truly puzzled, depressed, and frustrated.
Lu Ze watched as Yao Jingjing flaunted herself in front of him every day, finding it particularly pleasing to the eye.
He coldly appreciated her daily efforts to show off in various ways in front of him. Although his face remained expressionless, he was secretly delighted.
He found this woman who could eat so much increasingly interesting, and he became less and less inclined to quickly pierce through the thin paper window between them. Watching her change styles daily, trying her best to attract his attention, he found it particularly comfortable and interesting.
However, his comfort and interest were soon replaced by annoyance and displeasure.
She started receiving flowers from other men, and not just one bouquet.
Looking at those flowers, he felt a surge of anger, as if something that belonged to him was being coveted.
He told the front desk that if anyone sent flowers for her again, they should be sent directly to him.
Then, when no one was looking, he threw away all those flowers.
After that, he resumed his comfortable and secretly delighted life.
However, the annoying thing was that before he could enjoy it for a few days, his troublesome ex-girlfriend came to find him.