“Hello, Chairwoman Jiang, my name is Shang Zhitao.” Shang Zhitao hadn’t expected Jiang Lan to suddenly ask for her name, but fortunately, she was only asking for her name.

“The event was well-organized,” Jiang Lan complimented her, then said, “I’m staying next door. When Luke wakes up, you can tell me. We haven’t finished discussing association matters.”

“Alright. I’ll leave a message for Luke to find you when he wakes up.” Shang Zhitao had gradually learned to read people’s intentions and mastered proper discretion. Jiang Lan’s “have you tell me” actually meant “have Luke find me himself.”

After seeing Jiang Lan off, she returned to Luan Nian’s bedside and saw that he was still pretending. Even though the visitor had left, he kept his eyes tightly shut. Shang Zhitao called to him softly twice, but he wouldn’t open his eyes, only muttering the word “hot” in a low voice.

Shang Zhitao responded with an “Oh” and took up the towel to wipe his face. This time she was genuinely helping him. Even though he was only pretending to be drunk, he had still consumed quite a bit, and he was probably feeling uncomfortable now.

Luan Nian held Shang Zhitao’s hand. They never touched each other’s hands outside of making love, but today he had done it twice—first hooking her finger, and now holding her hand. The palm of someone who had been drinking was very hot against Shang Zhitao’s cool hand, his thumb gently caressing it as he spoke with rare gentleness: “Will you come directly to my place after your flight on Friday?”

Shang Zhitao put the towel aside, brought her lips close to his, lightly pressed against them, and quickly withdrew: “Yes.”

“Shang Zhitao.”

“Hmm?”

“My head hurts.”

Luan Nian had never mentioned any discomfort before. Shang Zhitao had always thought he had an indestructible body, with endless energy, constantly thinking, full of vitality.

“Should I get some pain reliever?”

“It’s in my laptop bag.”

Shang Zhitao found the pain reliever in Luan Nian’s laptop bag. Several pills had already been taken, clearly not his first headache. She poured a glass of water and handed it to him, unable to resist asking: “Do you get headaches often?”

“Occasionally. Nerve pain, my mother has it too.”

“Oh.” Shang Zhitao crouched by the bed, placing her fingers on his temple: “Does it hurt here?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. You took care of me when I had pneumonia.”

“Returning the favor?”

…

===

The security guard at Luan Nian’s compound who recognized Shang Zhitao had been promoted to deputy security chief. He had exchanged his old uniform for a more professional one, looking sharper standing at the entrance. Seeing Shang Zhitao pulling her suitcase, he voluntarily drove up in a small cart: “Let me take you.”

“Thank you.”

The security chief put the suitcase on the cart: “Let’s go, Miss Shang.” He finally no longer thought of Shang Zhitao as someone engaged in an unseemly profession.

Luan Nian had returned on an early flight and was on a conference call at home. Hearing the door open, he looked up at the entrance. Shang Zhitao appeared travel-worn. She must have been tired—after the event ended, she had to settle accounts with the event company this morning and follow up on various wrap-up tasks. She had probably gotten up at six.

Shang Zhitao put the keys to Luan Nian’s home into her bag, took out her dedicated slippers from the shoe rack and put them on, walked over to Luan Nian, and drank the glass of soda water beside him. She pointed upstairs and mouthed: “I’m going to shower.”

Luan Nian muted the call and grabbed her wrist: “Take a nap after your shower.”

“Alright.”

Shang Zhitao went to the guest room, quickly showered, changed into pajamas, but she wasn’t sleepy. So she took out her computer to write her promotion report. She had never written one before and didn’t know how, so she looked at other colleagues’ reports, but the work content was different, and she could only copy the general format. The PowerPoint was open, but she didn’t understand why promotion reports had to use PowerPoint.

She wrote, deleted, wrote again, struggled for a long time, and wrote less than fifty words. Luan Nian finished his meeting, came upstairs, saw the guest room door open, and stood at the doorway looking at her: “Not tired?”

Shang Zhitao shook her head: “I haven’t finished my promotion report.”

Luan Nian sat on the edge of the bed and took her computer, seeing less than fifty words on the PowerPoint: “So in over an hour, you averaged less than one word per minute?”

“I don’t know what to write…” Shang Zhitao felt a bit ashamed.

Luan Nian glanced at her—she truly could accept her foolish self.

“What have you been doing all this time?”

“I…”

“If you say you’ve been doing menial tasks, then give up on this promotion.” Luan Nian interrupted her. That was Luan Nian—always strict.

“I probably need to organize my thoughts.” Shang Zhitao felt a bit uneasy. Whenever she discussed work with Luan Nian, she always felt less confident.

“Then organize them properly.” Luan Nian returned the computer to her and said: “A promotion report isn’t about detailing every task you’ve done, big or small. It’s about categorizing and organizing the complex work you’ve done, then presenting how you’ve accomplished these tasks well, even forming experiences that others can learn from. Am I expressing myself clearly?”

“Yes.”

“Then write now. Start with the first part of your work, budget management.”

Luan Nian was well aware of the work Shang Zhitao had done, but he wouldn’t write it for her. She had to learn to think independently.

“Alright. Thank you, Luke.” For official matters, she called him Luke—Shang Zhitao could switch seamlessly.

Luan Nian went back to his room, and after a while, he came back with his computer. He was in a review meeting. Every year, the company would select an industry expert and reward them with million-yuan stock incentives and annual salary adjustments. He nodded to one side, gesturing for Shang Zhitao to make room for him on the bed. Shang Zhitao moved to one side, and Luan Nian sat at the outer edge of the headboard, stretching his legs on the bed.

He muted his microphone and said to Shang Zhitao: “Don’t know how to write a promotion report, right? Listen to this.”

“Can I listen?”

Luan Nian glanced at her: “Too many questions.” He didn’t think there was anything she couldn’t listen to. He thought there was a problem with the promotion system and had discussed it with Tracy. He hoped the hiring of high-level experts would be more transparent, allowing auditing or even becoming public presentations. But Tracy disagreed, reasoning that such presentations had too many variables and often weren’t about the presentation itself but about background, resources, and connections. It was impossible to seek absolute fairness.

The person presenting was Grace. Grace was a core employee of the creative center, with a dual function in the planning department. Shang Zhitao had worked with Grace on projects and knew how capable she was.

This was also the first time Shang Zhitao had seen such a presentation.

Was this even a presentation? It was more like a battle!

As Grace presented her content, she was constantly interrupted by the bosses, who would throw sharp questions at her. Luan Nian asked a question that made Shang Zhitao think that if she were Grace, she would curse him in her heart.

Luan Nian asked: “What does the success of this project have to do with you? The client was secured by sales.”

My goodness.

Luan Nian was something else, challenging even his people in such a setting. Shang Zhitao suddenly felt that being Luan Nian’s subordinate wasn’t so great after all.

Grace was silent for a few seconds, then answered: “I very rationally believe that, for this project, I was the icing on the cake. Without me, the project would still have been delivered, but not so excellently.”

Hmm? Shang Zhitao thought: Is this the workplace confidence Lu Mi talked about?

Shang Zhitao had benefited from Luan Nian, secretly auditing such a promotion competition. Those participating in this competition were all top employees of the company. This was in 2011, with million-yuan stock incentives and significant salary increases, equivalent to getting a ticket to enter this city—at least enough to own a house.

Their work was truly outstanding—managing S-level projects, opening up internal and external company resources, setting industry standards, and winning international awards. Each person was an expert in their respective field.

That day had a profound impact on Shang Zhitao’s inner thoughts. The rewards for work varied for different people. The enormous rewards that truly outstanding people received were beyond imagination.

“So my presentation will be like this too?” she asked Luan Nian afterward.

“No. Yours is an internal department presentation; it depends on your department’s style.”

Shang Zhitao stared at the page of her promotion report she had written, feeling it was terrible. Luan Nian took his computer and walked out, leaving Shang Zhitao to think independently. Sometimes making love wasn’t that important. For instance, now, compared to making love, Luan Nian would rather have Shang Zhitao finish her troublesome promotion report.

Shang Zhitao stayed up all night and slept until noon on Saturday. Luan Nian was working out. She usually left on Saturdays. In the first two months, when she left, Luan Nian was often still in bed; he only slept in on weekends. But at some point, Luan Nian started getting up earlier on weekends.

He would occasionally ask Shang Zhitao: “Urgent business?”

Shang Zhitao was embarrassed to say she was studying and also unwilling to expose her private life to Luan Nian, so she would say: “I made plans to eat with my roommates.”

“Every week?”

“Yes. Don’t you do the same?”

But today she hesitated a bit. They hadn’t done anything the night before. Nothing at all. The purpose of her being here didn’t exist anymore. Luan Nian put down his equipment to wipe his sweat, saw Shang Zhitao standing at the door, and said calmly: “If you’re not in a hurry to leave, wait a bit. I’ll help you practice your presentation.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Shang Zhitao was a bit surprised that Luan Nian had volunteered to help her practice. Their relationship had always been her asking and his answering; he rarely took the initiative.

“Can you look at my content first?” Shang Zhitao was a bit nervous. After auditing yesterday’s presentation meeting, she felt that what she had written was like a pile of garbage. She could imagine Luan Nian’s expression when he saw her content.

“Send it to me.” Luan Nian picked up a towel and went to the elevator: “But you’ll have to wait for me to shower and make some food.”

“I can cook!” Shang Zhitao raised her hand, volunteering. She felt she couldn’t hold her head up, always eating food made by Luan Nian, since she didn’t know how to cook. So she had deliberately learned a few dishes from Sun Yu.

“Then go ahead.”

“I won’t burn your kitchen this time.” Shang Zhitao promised solemnly.

While Luan Nian showered, she went to the kitchen on the first floor. Seeing so many supplies in Luan Nian’s refrigerator, she dared only to make noodles. But she was serious about it, determined to make a bowl of tomato and egg soup noodles properly to redeem herself.

Luan Nian came down after his shower and saw Shang Zhitao arranging the dish with her pinky finger raised. He walked over to take a look and saw that she had even coordinated the colors to improve the presentation—much better than last time.

But it looked better than it tasted. After taking a bite, his brows furrowed. Seeing Shang Zhitao looking at him full of expectation, he said: “Don’t cook next time.”

Shang Zhitao took a bite and felt like she had eaten a spoonful of salt, but was too embarrassed to spit it out, so she swallowed it. Luan Nian sighed, got up, rinsed the noodles with clean water, then took out a jar of sauce and added a couple of spoonfuls, making do with the meal.

Shang Zhitao felt a bit embarrassed and said to Luan Nian, “I’m just not skilled enough. With more practice, I should be able to make it taste good.”

“Did you cook noodles like this for yourself during your school years? For four years?”

“Maybe the cooking tools have changed…”

“Is it so hard to admit you have no talent for cooking?”

“Oh.”

The two ate while bantering, and after the meal, Luan Nian helped Shang Zhitao practice.

Shang Zhitao was just presenting for a promotion from level two to level three, an internal department presentation that was merely a formality. Whether she passed or not depended on Alex. But Alex had given Shang Zhitao the Suzhou project, so his attitude was clear—Shang Zhitao would pass this time.

Luan Nian knew this well but didn’t say much. Sooner or later, Shang Zhitao would face more brutal competition. Starting to practice from this day wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

He asked Shang Zhitao: “Why did you choose this supplier for Suzhou?”

And: “What do you think has been your biggest improvement and gain in your year at Ling Mei?”

“Do you have any confusion or dissatisfaction with your current work?”

“Do you think the current market strategy is correct? Does it need adjustment?”

None of these questions needed to be considered by a level-two employee, but Luan Nian asked her seriously. Shang Zhitao had no experience with such presentations and was repeatedly stunned by his questions. Her mind couldn’t keep up with Luan Nian’s questions, and by the end, she even felt a bit despondent.

“Scared?”

Shang Zhitao nodded: “I’m nervous.” She thought Luan Nian would say if she was nervous, she might as well give up—he always talked like that. Unexpectedly, he behaved differently, showing rare tolerance: “If you’re nervous, practice more.”

If you’re nervous, practice more. Did that sound like something Luan Nian would say? He even added: “Get ready to win, and win beautifully.”

Shang Zhitao looked over at him, and Luan Nian stood up and asked her: “Going to eat fish?”

“Didn’t we just eat?”

“That can only be called sustenance.” Luan Nian picked up his car keys: “We can also check on how the bar construction is going.”

“Then I’ll go too.”

They rarely spent weekends together. Shang Zhitao still wanted to ask Luan Nian many questions about the promotion, so under the pretext of eating fish, she got into the car. Luan Nian had said he wanted to tear down that place and rebuild it, and indeed, it had been torn down and was being rebuilt.

They drove up the mountain, and Shang Zhitao rolled down the window to feel the mountain breeze. Luan Nian’s phone rang, and he hung up without answering. The caller called again, and Shang Zhitao lowered her eyes slightly, seeing the name “Zang Yao.”

As if she had seen something she shouldn’t have, she hurriedly looked away.