Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next day was the mid- and senior-level management meeting.

When Xie Lian walked into the conference room, everyone unconsciously straightened in their seats.

I watched him from behind my thick lenses.

He stood tall and straight, his brows and eyes sharp and striking. As he sat down with crisp efficiency, the open hem of his suit jacket brushed across the tabletop, revealing a few fine creases in the white shirt at his waist.

The big boy from back then had grown into a man who gave nothing away.

He listened as Zhou Xun gave the Marketing Department’s report.

One hand rested idly on the table. Now and then he nodded, his expression faint.

Then, without warning,

he suddenly turned his head and glanced in my direction.

I didn’t have time to look away. My heart skipped a beat.

But he seemed to have only looked over casually, and soon turned his gaze elsewhere.

“This reimbursement from the Marketing Department,” he said. His voice wasn’t loud, but the conference room immediately fell silent.

“We’ll make an exception. I approve it.”

Wu Siyin immediately shot me a smug, mocking look.

After the meeting, Zhou Xun stopped me, a bland smile hanging on his face.

“Procedures are dead, but people are alive. You’re this old and you still handle things so rigidly and stubbornly? Haven’t you suffered enough for it yet?”

Holding my documents, I looked at him.

“Director Zhou, my rejection was according to procedure. Now that the Chairman has given special approval, my passing it is also according to procedure. As the Marketing Director, is that concept really so hard for you to understand?”

He gave a scoffing laugh. “Cheng Ling, between us…”

“Department Head Cheng.”

A voice came from behind me.

Xie Lian stood in the middle of the corridor with both hands in his pockets, his face devoid of any unnecessary expression.

“Come to my office.”

My heart tightened slightly.

The Chairman’s office.

Xie Lian and I were separated by an enormous desk.

“With the new system being implemented, the Finance Department is under the greatest pressure. Friction is inevitable during the transition period, but you need to keep a proper sense of proportion.”

His tone was flat and matter-of-fact, purely that of a superior speaking to a subordinate.

He went on to explain several work-related matters. His pace was steady, his points clear, giving off an impression of calm distance. He was completely different from the young man in my memories, the one who always had a bit of shameless teasing in his voice when he spoke to me.

I relaxed a little.

“Understood, Chairman.”

The secretary came in with tea. He lowered his head, opened a drawer, took out a blue velvet box, and placed it on the desk, pushing it toward me.

I didn’t move.

The secretary smiled and said, “Department Head Cheng, this is the Chairman’s welcome gift for every department head. It’s a fountain pen. The other department heads have all received theirs; you’re the last one.”

Xie Lian took a sip of tea, his long, fair knuckles tapping lightly on the box.

“Want it?”

He uttered the two words in a low voice.

Perhaps because he had just taken a sip of tea, the words came out somewhat hazy, as if they had spilled from between his lips and teeth wrapped in warmth.

Damp.

A familiar shiver swept down my spine.

Suddenly, my mouth felt a little dry.