2.8

Feng Mian watched the wall clock in her office tick by slowly. She had been nailed to her office chair for three hours; reading and signing until the pile of papers finally started to dwindle a third of their height. Her hours had been mostly spent thinking of ways to establish her 'billionaire' status within eight months. If she could make it happen, then she and Hao Junlin could go home without Hao Junlin having to experience childbirth.

Secretary Hong saw the CEO settling work efficiently like a well-oiled machine and admired his high spirit. Feng Mian put her pen down and stretched her limbs.

"Secretary Hong, do you know how to make money quickly?"

Secretary Hong was startled by the question. 'Is the money-making god having financial problems?'

He phrased his answer carefully.

"The company is doing well right now and we're earning more by the year. LXT is one of the top 10 growing companies in the world so our progress could be considered already fast. Could CEO Li have plans to invest in other things?"

'Investment huh?' Feng Mian thought of all the current trends and projects that would hit big in the future.

She did have the same train of thought as Secretary Hong, but a new investment is risky and would require her to fork out money first, not to mention how long it would take to reap the profits. Investment wasn't going to cut it. She needed something bigger and something express that would bring in profit like a rocket launcher.

Feng Mian's fountain pen tapped rhythmically against her glass table. Besides her, who else in the story has a golden finger?

It can only be Li Xiaocheng's rival, the second male lead.

The pen stopped moving at the fifteenth tap and Feng Mian let out a sly grin. "Secretary Hong, I have something for you to do."

Secretary Hong looked at his boss that had a face of a cat wanting to steal a fish.

"Get me a meeting with Director Zhang Wei. Pronto," the big boss instructed.

No longer having the mood to continue working after solving a life crisis, Feng Mian dropped the leftover work for Secretary Hong to deal with.

System 555: "Letting your subordinate deal with your workload? That's not very nice."

Feng Mian retorted back, "I pay him for the extra hours, you don't pay me enough to skip out on lunch."

Secretary Hong saw that Feng Mian was leaving and caught up to her on the way out. "Where do you plan to go out President Li? I'll have the reservations made."

She didn't have enough time to consider before someone came knocking. There was a sound of jostling and heels tapping on tiles as a woman fumbled through her door before nervously coming in.

Feng Mian stood dumbfounded when she saw Yu Yan.

If this was the real world, she would definitely suspect the female lead of being a stalker. There was no way this many coincidences could happen regularly.

Feng Mian: "Baobei, isn't it a bit too early in the timeline for the female lead's entrance?"

System 555: "It seems that your arrival here has made the plot progress a lot faster. This is why I told you not to go OOC."

Feng Mian's eyebrows scrunched as she stared at the female lead who was clad in formal attire. A tag hanging around her neck made Feng Mian aware that the female lead was part of the company's staff.

"This is Ms Yu Yan, our new intern boss," Secretary Hong introduced her.

Yu Yan flustered at seeing the handsome man she admired at the banquet appearing before her eyes and her face reddened in shyness. But there was also an indescribable feeling of excitement. She bent slightly in greeting. "Y-yes, I'm Yu Yan, pleased to meet you Mr Li."

Feng Mian brows furrowed and she hummed noncommittally. "En."

For some reason, the female lead gave her an unsettling feeling, like a blinking neon sign that spells trouble.

This female lead was also the bold type. "Are you going out for lunch President Li? The staff are going out for lunch together and if it's alright with you, would you like to join us?"

Secretary Hong nearly recoiled. Which CEO would eat with their staff? Wouldn't that be asking the staff not to eat? This Ms Yu Yan clearly doesn't know that disaster comes from careless talk.

Feng Mian didn't have the time to waste with an ignorant Mary Sue. "No," she said directly.

Secretary Hong could tell that his boss wasn't very keen on this new intern, even seeming a bit taciturn. As a first-class reliable secretary, Secretary Hong stepped up as the middle person.

"Ms Yu, do you need something?" he asked.

"Ah no. Mr Huang told me to hand over these proposals to Secretary Hong." She showed them a file of proposals she had been carrying.

Feng Mian frowned. This wasn't Secretary Hong's office, it was hers. The proposals weren't urgent, why would she need to come inside the CEO's office?

Secretary Hong also had the same line of thought. There were many ladies in the office who admired their unattainable CEO but none of them dared to ignore the company's rules and directly come looking in the CEO's office.

His tone became grave. "You can leave the proposals on my desk. Next time, don't come here unless you have an appointment."

The reprimand was too direct that Yu Yan was left stunned in place, her face becoming ashen and the sides of her eyes reddened. She involuntarily looked to the president, hoping that he would intercede on her behalf. But she was bound to be disappointed. Feng Mian did not spare her a glance as she picked up her coat and walked out with Secretary Hong.

As they passed by, Yu Yan could hear the CEO address Secretary Hong, "Mr Huang didn't do a good job training the new interns. No bonus for him this month." Secretary Hong noted it down.

Yu Yan stood alone in the office not moving before another secretary came to get her. "Hey new intern, are you waiting to be escorted out?"

She immediately dashed out the door in embarrassment.

***

They were driven to a fine dining Chinese restaurant. Secretary Hong had booked them a private room on the second floor where the interior designs were vibrant in colours and full of zen energy. Feng Mian considered taking Hao Junli to meditate here.

Her eyes scanned the menu greedily. In the last world, she only ate the dishes that were allocated for the servants and the food had been bland and unappetizing. Just enough to pad her stomach to get through the day's work. In this world she wants to eat herself to death.

It took her a long time to select five dishes she liked the best from the menu before listing them off to the waitress. The menu was then passed over to Secretary Hong.

"Pick whatever you want Secretary Hong," Feng Mian said generously.

Secretary Hong: 'You meant all that food just now was solely for you?'

While waiting, Feng Mian began discussing her plans with Secretary Hong.

"Secretary Hong, I have a lot of time to think about my life recently and I feel that great wealth is a gift from heaven and should be shared. Charity is after all a virtue."

Secretary Hong: 'Since when did you care about virtue?'

"So… I need you to look into some charity projects or orphanages that require money. The funds, of course, will come from my own pockets so don't worry about putting it into the accounts. You can hand the information over once you've collected it."

Feng Mian remembered one of the future obstacles that the original host was faced with was blackened materials from the internet showing up suddenly. With all the new plot progress, she was wary and wanted to be prepared for any unforeseeable future events.

An investment for the sake of reputation was something she must do.

"Another thing, the company's accounts will need to be cleaned up as well. If someone wants to throw dirt on us, we have to be prepared with solid proof to combat any claims."

Secretary Hong felt his head spinning and his appetite dying down from all these talks about work.

"Mr Li, sir, I'm not very adept at handling accounts. Do you think it--"

"Ten times annual bonus."

"I'll have the report on your desk by Monday."

Feng Mian smiled victoriously. It was sure good to have money to throw away. Her phone rang as the food was served.

It was Hao Junlin.

"Hey, what's up Hao Junlin?"

"Hawthorn candies." Hao Junlin's voice was frail.

"What?" What was Hao Junlin on about?

"Hawthorn candies. I'm craving them. Buy them."

"..."

"I'll get them after work," Feng Mian said resignedly.

The line was curtly cut off.

Secretary Hong heard the womanly voice from the other side. There was a rumour among the high executives that Mr Li Xiaocheng was an uxorious husband who can't bear to leave his wife alone but he was highly sceptical about that particular hearsay. Mainly because of the fishy relationship between Mr Li and Ms Chun.

He was tentative but decided to ask anyway. "Is that your wife Mr Li."

"En. He's craving hawthorn candies. Do you know where I could buy them?"

Secretary Hong startled. Hawthorn candies? When his own wife was pregnant, she had also craved a lot of sour things. Could it be… CEO Li's wife is….

"Your wife, Mr Li, is- is she pregnant?"

"No, my husband is pregnant."

"...." 'Why didn't he know that Mr Li was such a joker?'

But that was Mr Li admitting that his wife was pregnant right? So the rumours are true? Then what about Ms Chun Hua?

Feng Mian didn't feel like there was anything to hide. With that old man Li's mouth, he'd probably be babbling about his future great-grandchild anyway. It's better to let the cat out of the bag sooner than later.

"Then what about Ms Chun Hua?" Secretary Hong decided to bite the bullet and ask anyway, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"Chun Hua? Who's that? Oh, you mean Huang Chu. About that one, the next time you see her don't let her in the building. So annoying."

Secretary Hong felt that he couldn't keep track of the CEO's life events that moves at the speed of 300 km/h.