3 Newcomer

After clearing a level, Zhou Zhuofei glanced at the time, stretched her stiff neck, and got up to turn off the game console and the TV. Tomorrow was a workday, so it was time to get ready for a shower and bed.

She had just finished showering and sat on the bed when Director suddenly jumped up from somewhere, skillfully climbed onto her, and began kneading her chest through the quilt with his front paws, purring like a motorcycle engine.

Zhou Zhuofei petted him a couple of times, propped herself against the wall with a pillow behind her, and started watching her favorite drama on her laptop. After finishing one episode, she felt sleepy, closed the laptop, and prepared to sleep. Director jumped off the bed and trotted off to the living room to entertain himself.

She slept soundly.

The next morning, right after the morning meeting, Zhuo Kexin from Human Resources called Zhou Zhuofei, asking her to come over and pick up the intern.

Zhou Zhuofei put down the phone, instinctively took a deep breath to calm herself. Luo Jing, a colleague at the adjacent desk, overheard the conversation and smiled, asking, "What's wrong, Xiao Zhou? Is it that stressful to take on a newbie?"

At the morning meeting, the director had mentioned that a new intern would be joining their department, so everyone knew the intern would be working under Zhou Zhuofei.

"A little bit, since it's my first time and I don't have much experience."

"No worries, just be confident. Is there anything nowadays you can't handle?"

"Help! Stop flattering me!" Zhou Zhuofei joked with Luo Jing as she got up to pick up the intern.

Upon entering the Human Resources department, she immediately recognized Zhan Zilang. He looked almost identical to his photo, even more refined in person. He was wearing a well-tailored suit and sat in the waiting area, looking bored and glancing around.

Zhou Zhuofei glanced over, then found Zhuo Kexin, who led her to Zhan Zilang and introduced them.

"Hello, my name is Zhou Zhuofei."

"Hello, how should I address you?" Zhan Zilang's tone was polite and eager, leaving a good first impression.

"I'm a bit older; you can just call me Sister Zhou. Let's go; I'll take you back to the department."

On the way back to the administrative department, Zhou Zhuofei chatted with Zhan Zilang a little. He was quite talkative, so she learned quite a bit about him without much effort.

She found out this was Zhan Zilang's first internship. After graduation, he had traveled for half a year with friends, then rested for another six months before deciding to enter the workforce. She didn't ask why he chose the administrative department or their company; they had just met, and such personal questions were inappropriate.

Back at the office, Zhou Zhuofei introduced Zhan Zilang to her colleagues one by one, then handled the usual procedures like activating permissions and issuing employee IDs. Although not complicated, these tasks were tedious and took quite a while.

Zhan Zilang obediently followed her, doing whatever was needed and speaking up when introductions were required. His cooperative attitude lifted Zhou Zhuofei's spirits.

On the way back to the administrative department, Zhan Zilang said admiringly, "Sister Zhou, you’re amazing. You remembered everyone’s names just now. I definitely wouldn’t be able to."

"At first, it’s hard to remember, but after a while, it’s always the same people coming and going; it’s hard not to remember."

"That’s not always true. I still don’t know how many classmates I had in university."

"Work is different from school."

Once back, Zhou Zhuofei handed Zhan Zilang the employee handbook for him to familiarize himself with the rules, considering that as his orientation.

"Read through the handbook and get familiar with the policies. I'll take you to the cafeteria for lunch."

Zhan Zilang agreed eagerly. As Zhou Zhuofei was about to leave, he said, "By the way, Sister Zhou, I have a small question..."

She stopped and asked, "What is it?"

He tapped the keyboard he’d just received somewhat critically and asked, "Can I bring my own keyboard to use?"

"Of course. If you find the desktop inconvenient, you can bring your own laptop, but the company’s system can’t be installed on personal computers."

"Okay, got it. Thanks."

"No problem. If you have any questions, just ask me. I’m over there," she said, pointing to her workspace about half an office away.

"Okay, you go ahead."

Back at her desk, Zhou Zhuofei immediately drank half a glass of water—talking so much on the way had left her quite thirsty.

Overall, things were progressing smoothly. Zhan Zilang’s personality was pleasant. For a so-called ‘privileged’ intern who was just playing around, the ability to get things done was secondary; the key was whether he was easy to get along with.

Work tasks could be avoided, but no one wanted extra trouble.

He seemed easygoing; although he hadn’t worked before and still carried some youthful innocence, he wasn’t clueless about social graces. The fact that he could afford to travel for half a year after graduation already spoke volumes about his wealthy background—not to mention his designer suit and the stylish, evidently expensive watch on his wrist.

Zhou Zhuofei, who had little interest in fashion, initially only recognized luxury brands by their logos. But after spending time in the workplace, she gradually learned to distinguish between affordable and expensive suits. No need to study hard—money couldn’t lie, and the texture of clothes showed the difference clearly.

For example, Luo Jing’s suit was worlds apart from Ling Yu’s. Of course, it wasn’t fair to compare a regular employee to the CEO; even compared to Xiao Wang’s suit, it was a clear win over Luo Jing’s.

At first glance, Zhou Zhuofei judged that Zhan Zilang’s suit was very expensive. So her impression of him now was that, besides being a well-connected insider, he was also a wealthy young master.

Zhou Zhuofei used her remaining time to catch up on work, then at lunch called Zhan Zilang and Ye Ru to eat together in the cafeteria.

The company cafeteria was one of the perks the company was proud of. It was free for employees and served quality food.

After getting their food and sitting together, Zhan Zilang curiously asked, "Do the senior executives eat here too?"

"Yes, our company has only this one cafeteria. In theory, everyone eats here, but you can also bring your own food or eat out—the lunch break is long enough."

He responded with an "Oh," then asked again, curious, "Does President Ling eat here?"

This kid sure asked a lot of questions, Zhou Zhuofei thought.

But it wasn’t a secret, so she answered, "President Ling is quite busy and rarely comes. Even if he does, he usually takes his food back to the office."

Most of the time, he probably didn’t eat at the company at all. This was her personal guess since she often went to the top floor to deliver documents and noticed Ling Yu was frequently absent.

"I see."

Ye Ru teased, "If you want to see President Ling, come with Sister Zhou this afternoon when she delivers documents. You’ll probably get to see him."

Zhan Zilang chuckled nervously and quickly explained, "No, no, I’m just curious."

He had chosen the administrative department precisely to avoid Ling Yu’s scrutiny; no way would he walk into a trap.

After lunch, Zhou Zhuofei took a short nap and resumed work in the afternoon. Once the urgent tasks were done, she went to run some documents for signatures and planned to retrieve her reimbursement form from the top floor.

The top floor was almost exclusively Ling Yu’s domain. Besides the CEO’s office, there were only a few meeting rooms and the secretaries’ office.

This setting fit perfectly with the novel’s description.

Zhou Zhuofei remembered feeling nervous the first time she went up there to deliver documents.

After exiting the elevator, there was a seemingly endless corridor, ending in a heavy, ornate wooden door. The décor and atmosphere were completely different from the lower office floors.

Now, walking this path, Zhou Zhuofei was much calmer—even accustomed to it.

She pushed open the wooden door and saw a spacious layout: an open central area surrounded by several rooms, with the CEO’s office right in the middle.

Outside the CEO’s office was a desk with two document racks—one for papers needing signatures, the other for signed ones.

Zhou Zhuofei searched through the piles and finally found her reimbursement form. Just as she was about to leave, her gaze fell on the secretary’s office nearby.

Through the glass partition, she glanced inside and noticed Xiao Wang was not there.

If he had been, she wanted to chat with him briefly. Ye Ru had specially greeted her yesterday and advised her to keep Xiao Wang informed.

Just as Zhou Zhuofei took a couple of steps away, she suddenly heard a "click"—the sound of a door unlocking.

Her eyes instinctively tracked the sound, soon noticing a meeting room door not far away slowly opening, revealing a narrow gap.

Zhou Zhuofei glanced casually but instantly froze.

Inside, a man was changing clothes. On the conference table lay a suit jacket; he had just taken off his shirt and was standing half-naked, apparently not expecting the door to open.

He stood with his back to the door, so Zhou Zhuofei saw him clearly.

Broad shoulders, smooth muscle lines—clearly someone who worked out regularly. His solid physique was not exaggerated but perfectly balanced, conveying a powerful, healthy aura.

Wait—who was this again?

The thought flashed briefly but was quickly dismissed by another: the priority now was to leave and pretend she hadn’t seen anything, or it would be unbearably awkward.

But the man inside moved quickly; hearing the noise, he turned around and hastily used the shirt in his hand to cover himself.

To Zhou Zhuofei’s surprise, it was Xiao Wang.

Why was she so surprised? Ling Yu and Xiao Wang were the most likely people to be here, yet she had subconsciously ruled out Xiao Wang.

Probably because Xiao Wang always gave off a refined, slender impression, Zhou Zhuofei never expected him to have a habit of working out.

Xiao Wang was just as surprised to see Zhou Zhuofei, then his gaze landed on the door that had mysteriously opened.

Zhou Zhuofei instinctively raised her hands to prove innocence. "It wasn’t me; I didn’t even touch the door."

Originally a bit embarrassed, Xiao Wang couldn’t help but chuckle at that, easing the tension.

He smiled faintly and calmly reassured her, "Maybe I didn’t lock the door properly when I closed it just now. It was my own oversight, nothing to do with you."

Since Xiao Wang wasn’t upset, Zhou Zhuofei relaxed.

Still, the situation was awkward, especially since she had accidentally seen his exposed shoulder again. She dared not look anymore.

Hastily, she averted her eyes, deliberately looking elsewhere while walking toward the door.

"I’ll help you close it."

After closing the door, she checked it carefully, making a deliberate noise so Xiao Wang could hear.

Only after confirming the door was securely shut did she feel at ease and left.

She also relaxed her expression, making an exaggerated face, amazed that Secretary Xiao looked so fragile but actually had a nice figure.

Indeed, while suits could shape one’s figure, they also concealed a good physique.

Zhou Zhuofei thought this as she walked away but hadn’t yet reached the exit when she heard the door open again behind her.

"Xiao Zhou, wait up."