Chapter 8

When Ruan Xinyi came out holding a large stack of documents, Zhou Xuan helped her take them. "What are these documents for?"

Ruan Xinyi shrugged and smiled lightly. "General Manager Wen asked me to make a copy of all these and organize them."

"This is too much," Zhou Xuan frowned and said. "I don’t know how long this will take. I'll help you."

"Thanks, Sister Zhou!" Two people working together would be much faster than one, and since this was Ruan Xinyi’s first time doing it, she naturally didn’t refuse Zhou Xuan’s kindness.

"By the way, Ruan Xinyi, let’s add each other as friends." Zhou Xuan picked up her phone from the desk. "It’ll be more convenient to contact you if anything comes up."

"Sure." Ruan Xinyi opened the scanning app, her eyes obedient and gentle. "Sister Zhou, I'll scan you."

After entering her name, Ruan Xinyi sent the friend request.

When she looked up, she saw Wen Xihan standing at the office door, looking as stunning as ever. Her lips were pursed, and she had a cold expression as her gaze fixed intently on Ruan Xinyi. It wasn’t clear what she was looking at.

Because Wen Xihan wore glasses, Ruan Xinyi couldn’t make out the expression in her eyes, but she could still sense that Wen Xihan wasn’t in a good mood, with an almost imperceptible low pressure surrounding her.

"All done," Zhou Xuan said after the friend request went through, inviting Ruan Xinyi to join a group. "Once you join the group, remember to change the nickname. Any updates will be shared in this group."

Ruan Xinyi smiled politely at Zhou Xuan, sincerely thanking her. "Alright, thank you, Sister Zhou."

"Assistant Zhou," Wen Xihan adjusted her glasses and suddenly spoke in a flat tone. "Please come in for a moment." With that, she turned and walked into the office.

Zhou Xuan’s expression was a bit unclear, but before entering Wen Xihan’s office, she quickly explained to Ruan Xinyi, "Ruan Xinyi, the photocopier is in the small storage room on the left. There’s an operation sheet on the side of the machine, and A4 paper is in the cabinet. You can start photocopying first, and I’ll help you sort them later."

Ruan Xinyi softly replied, "Okay," and after her request to join the group was approved, she changed her nickname accordingly.

She quickly scanned through the group members and saw the name ‘Wen Xihan’ next to her own avatar.

After a moment's hesitation, Ruan Xinyi decided to click on Wen Xihan’s avatar and sent a friend request.

She sat in her spot for about ten minutes, but there was no sign of a response on her phone.

After sorting through about half of the documents, Ruan Xinyi put them down and grabbed her phone. Seeing the unanswered friend request, she couldn’t help but smile knowingly.

She sent another friend request, but this time, she wrote a message: "General Manager Wen, you’ve dropped something here."

With a slight chuckle, Ruan Xinyi continued organizing the remaining documents.

Another ten minutes passed, and Ruan Xinyi finally finished sorting all the documents. Just as she was about to grab her phone, she heard the notification sound.

It was Wen Xihan, who had finally accepted the friend request and sent a question mark in response.

Ruan Xinyi touched her chin, and following suit, she sent back a question mark.

A few minutes later, Wen Xihan simply asked: "What is it?"

"Tsk." Ruan Xinyi quickly typed a reply: "Sister, do you have time for lunch? Let’s have a meal together."

"So I can give you your stuff."

Wen Xihan: "Are the documents sorted?"

Ruan Xinyi: "…"

She gritted her teeth and replied in a somewhat passive tone: "Not yet, General Manager Wen."

After that, Wen Xihan didn’t respond anymore.

Frustrated, Ruan Xinyi tossed her phone onto the desk and went to the small storage room next door with the sorted documents.

After looking through the instructions for the photocopier, Ruan Xinyi took a pack of A4 paper from the cabinet and started photocopying the documents systematically.

There were quite a few documents, and it took her nearly half an hour to finish.

She stapled the photocopied documents together and, glancing at the time, returned to her seat with two stacks of completed papers.

At this point, Zhou Xuan came out of Wen Xihan’s office. Ruan Xinyi couldn’t tell what had been discussed between them, but Zhou Xuan’s face looked worn out, and her expression was unusually serious.

"Sister Zhou, what’s wrong?" Ruan Xinyi poked her head out from behind her computer screen and asked with concern.

Zhou Xuan sighed deeply and said disheartened, "General Manager Wen asked me to sort out all the meeting minutes from the past six months and submit them before the end of the day."

"Uh..." Ruan Xinyi glanced at the closed office door and silently swallowed. "Well, Sister Zhou, good luck."

Noticing the freshly printed documents on Ruan Xinyi's desk, Zhou Xuan exclaimed, "Ruan Xinyi, you’ve already printed everything?"

Ruan Xinyi nodded. "Yeah, I’m just checking how to organize and verify everything on the computer."

Zhou Xuan leaned over and pointed at a folder on the desk. "There are templates inside. They were organized by a previous assistant. Just follow them, and ask me if you have any questions."

"Okay, thanks, Sister Zhou." Ruan Xinyi smiled, her eyes curving with a gentle expression.

Zhou Xuan awkwardly cleared her throat. "Ruan Xinyi, go ahead and get started. I’ll go take care of the meeting notes."

Ruan Xinyi’s gaze inadvertently lifted, and she saw Wen Xihan standing at the office door, holding a black mug.

Ruan Xinyi felt like Wen Xihan was looking at her, or perhaps at the floor-to-ceiling windows next to her.

"Ruan Xinyi? What are you looking at?" Zhou Xuan followed Ruan Xinyi’s gaze.

Zhou Xuan’s voice wasn’t exactly quiet, and when she saw Wen Xihan, she immediately fell silent and awkwardly returned to her seat.

At this point, Ruan Xinyi was sure that Wen Xihan was indeed looking in her direction.

The glasses reflected a cold, dim light, making it hard for Ruan Xinyi to read the expression in Wen Xihan's eyes, but she could still sense a subtle and unexplainable tension in the gaze directed at her.

Before Ruan Xinyi could think further, Wen Xihan turned and walked toward the tea room at the end of the hall with her mug.

"Ruan Xinyi." Zhou Xuan lowered her voice and said, "Hurry up and get to it. It seems like General Manager Wen is in a bad mood today."

Ruan Xinyi: "…"

She was well aware of the situation; if Wen Xihan were in a good mood today, it would be a miracle...

---

After rushing to finish, Ruan Xinyi finally managed to check and organize all the documents by 12:30 PM.

Stretching her sore neck, Ruan Xinyi realized most of her colleagues had already left.

"Sister Zhou?" she softly asked Zhou Xuan, "Shall we go for lunch?"

"Huh?" Zhou Xuan looked up from her screen. Seeing the nearly empty office, she frowned. "It’s already this late? Ruan Xinyi, wait for me. I’ll go ask General Manager Wen."

Ruan Xinyi nodded. "Okay."

Less than a minute later, Zhou Xuan returned from Wen Xihan’s office.

She shook her head at Ruan Xinyi. "Let’s go eat. General Manager Wen asked me to get her something packed."

The company’s cafeteria was on the fifth floor, and payment could be made directly via QR code.

Since Zhou Xuan wasn’t sure of Wen Xihan’s taste, she ended up packing a standard employee meal and also paid for Ruan Xinyi’s meal.

"Sister Zhou, I’ll pay for myself." Ruan Xinyi declined.

Zhou Xuan waved her hand, smiling. "It’s your first day at work. Let me treat you to this meal."

"Let’s go, find a spot to eat."

Taking the meal tray handed to her by the cafeteria worker, Ruan Xinyi hesitated before saying, "Then, thank you, Sister Zhou." At the same time, she quickly placed an order for three cups of coffee from a delivery app, choosing the fastest delivery option.

Worried that the packed employee meal might cool down, Zhou Xuan quickly finished her lunch and put down her chopsticks.

Seeing this, Ruan Xinyi involuntarily sped up her eating.

Zhou Xuan chuckled. "Ruan Xinyi, take your time. I’ll go deliver the food to General Manager Wen."

"I’ll come with you." Ruan Xinyi wiped her mouth with a napkin, glancing at the soon-to-arrive coffee. "The drinks I ordered are almost here."

"I also ordered one for General Manager Wen."

Zhou Xuan, sensing that Ruan Xinyi might be trying to repay her for the payment, gave her a resigned look. She didn’t know what to say in response. "You..."

After receiving the delivery, Ruan Xinyi handed the sweeter coffee to Zhou Xuan. "This one’s for General Manager Wen."

"Of the remaining two, Sister Zhou, which one do you prefer?"

Zhou Xuan picked the cheaper one. "I’ll have this one. Thanks, Ruan Xinyi."

"You’re too polite, Sister Zhou." Ruan Xinyi inserted a straw, took a sip, and mumbled, "I wonder if she’ll like it."

Back in the office, Zhou Xuan knocked gently on Wen Xihan’s office door with the employee meal and coffee in hand.

"Come in." Wen Xihan was busy typing away on the keyboard, her fingers flying across it. Without raising her head, she said, "Put it on the coffee table, thank you."

Zhou Xuan placed the food on the coffee table, and after a moment of thought, she set the coffee next to Wen Xihan’s black mug, within her easy reach.

"General Manager Wen, I’ve placed your coffee here."

"Hmm?" Wen Xihan saved her work, took a sip from her now cold mug of water, and said, "They have coffee in the cafeteria on the fifth floor?"

"No," Zhou Xuan replied honestly. "Ruan Xinyi had it delivered."

"…" Wen Xihan was silent for a moment. After a pause she casually said, "Oh."

"Ask her if the documents are done. They need to be on my desk before work starts this afternoon."

"Before the afternoon?" Zhou Xuan was about to ask for more time for Ruan Xinyi when Wen Xihan’s unemotional voice cut in. "And what about you? How’s the meeting record coming along?"

Zhou Xuan: "…"

"About a third of it is done."

Having stared at the computer screen for too long, Wen Xihan’s eyes felt a little dry. She squinted and subconsciously reached to take off her glasses, but realizing Zhou Xuan was still there, she changed her motion and merely adjusted the silver-framed glasses, giving a cool, distant "Hmm."

"Then, General Manager Wen, I’ll head out?"

"Wait." As Zhou Xuan reached the door, Wen Xihan called her back.

"Make sure to order afternoon tea for everyone in the office. Use the time wisely," she added, passing Zhou Xuan some money. "If it’s not enough, let me know."

Zhou Xuan, flattered, responded with a cheerful "Okay, thank you, General Manager Wen!"

In the quiet office, Wen Xihan hesitated before picking up the coffee in front of her. After a brief pause, she slowly inserted a straw and took a small sip.

It’s a cup of mocha.

The taste is slightly sweet, with a rich coffee aroma, though the distinct bitterness is quite mild. Instead, the intense chocolate flavor and fresh, creamy milk taste dominate, smooth and delicate, with a unique flavor profile.

It’s just like that late-true love—sweet yet endlessly lingering, with no trace of alcohol, but unexpectedly strong in its aftertaste.

Her throat felt slightly smooth, and Wen Xihan furrowed her brows as she set down the coffee. She picked up the mug and took several sips of cold water, but she couldn’t quite rid her tongue of the faint sweetness that lingered.

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