Hearing Nian Suian's question, Gu Junxing frowned. He didn't have a good impression of Haitang City from his previous visits.
Although he didn't understand, he respected her wishes and said, "If you want to go, we can find a time."
"Hmm... we'll see about that later." She needed some mental preparation first.
On Monday, Nian Suian slept until noon as usual. By the time she sat down at the dining table to eat, she remembered that Gu Junxing had gone to the company today.
Her original plan for the afternoon was to binge-watch a drama series that was finally reaching its finale after a month. However, before she could even start watching, she was completely spoiled by online discussions and devastated by the ending. This killed her mood to watch it altogether.
Recalling Gu Junxing's previous suggestion for her to visit the company, she decided there was no time like the present.
However, she didn't opt for a surprise visit. Instead, she sent Gu Junxing a message first, informing him of her intention to come over.
Gu Junxing was probably busy, as it took him over ten minutes to reply.
[Gu Junxing: Have you left yet? Ask the driver to take you. Come directly to the 19th floor when you arrive.]
[Nian Suian: Not yet, I just finished washing my hair.]
[Gu Junxing: ?] Gu Junxing couldn't understand what washing hair had to do with coming to the company.
Nian Suian didn't bother to explain. She put down her phone and went to blow-dry her hair. Washing her hair before going out was her way of showing the utmost respect.
The driver was the same unfortunate fellow who, on his first day of work, had encountered the young master and his wife being taken to the police station together. After parking the car in the underground garage, he insisted on watching Nian Suian enter the elevator before daring to leave.
When the elevator reached the fifth floor, a girl carrying a large stack of documents entered. Seeing that she couldn't free her hands, Nian Suian asked which floor she needed.
The girl glanced and replied, "The same as you, thank you."
Nian Suian noticed that the top few folders the girl was carrying looked precarious, so she reached out to steady them. Since she was still a stranger to the company employees, she didn't want to just take the documents from her, in case they contained confidential information that might startle the girl.
"Why are you carrying all this by yourself? It's so much. Do you need help?" Nian Suian asked as the elevator doors opened on the 19th floor.
"Thank you, our department has been so busy lately, everyone's hands are full. I just started a week ago and haven't officially begun working on projects yet, so I'm running errands," the girl explained.
The layout of the 19th floor was simple, with two offices - one large for the CEO and one smaller for the executive assistant.
"Who are you here to see?" the girl asked curiously.
"I'm here to see your boss," Nian Suian pointed at the documents the girl was carrying. "Are these for him too? Let's go in together."
"No, no, no," the girl shook her head. "I need to give these to Assistant Li first. Some documents don't need to be seen by the CEO, Assistant Li's signature is enough."
Nian Suian nodded in understanding. Then she went over and knocked on Gu Junxing's office door.
"Come in," came the response.
Nian Suian heard the reply and pushed the door open. Only after Nian Suian had gone in and closed the door did the girl turn away to deliver the documents to Assistant Li.
She had run several errands this week, and Assistant Li was quite approachable, so after delivering the documents, the girl casually mentioned meeting a woman in the elevator who had come to see the CEO.
"A woman? What did she look like?" Assistant Li asked.
"Ah? Well... very beautiful, a real stunner."
Right, that description was as good as saying nothing. Assistant Li was momentarily puzzled before remembering that the CEO had mentioned earlier that his wife might be coming over, and if she wanted to look around the company, he should show her around.
So he told the girl, "The person you saw might have been our boss's wife."
"!" The girl left with a dazed expression.
"Tongtong, what are you thinking about?" a colleague asked.
"Miaomiao, guess who I saw when I went up to deliver documents?" Wen Tong lowered her voice as she spoke to her lunch buddy, Zhang Miaomiao, at the next desk.
"Who? The CEO?" After all, apart from the CEO and Assistant Li, there wasn't anyone else up there.
"No," Wen Tong shook her head. "I saw the boss's wife."
"The boss's wife?!"
"Shh! Keep it down." But Wen Tong was too late; nearby colleagues had already put down their phones and gathered around, curious. Although they were busy, slacking off was also part of the job, right?
"What what? What are you talking about?"
"I just heard something about the boss's wife."
Zhang Miaomiao looked around. All the managers on this floor were in a meeting and not present, so a bit of gossip wouldn't hurt. She said, "Tongtong just went to the 19th floor to deliver documents and saw our boss's wife."
"Really? How do you know it was the boss's wife?" An older employee was clearly skeptical. He had been with the company for several years and had never heard of the boss's wife coming to the office.
"Assistant Li said so."
Another colleague took out their phone. "Don't you remember? The boss's wife was on that variety show a while back, and she's been photographed with the boss before. The company group chat shared the photos. Wen Tong, take a look, is this her?" The colleague found the photo and showed it to Wen Tong.
"Yes, that's her! But she's even more beautiful in person than on camera." Wen Tong usually preferred watching anime and didn't pay much attention to variety shows or entertainment news. Plus, she had only been with the company for a short time, so she wasn't aware of these things.
"But why did the boss's wife suddenly come to the company? Could it be because..."
"Do you even need to ask? Of course it's because of that."
After a brief chat, everyone dispersed. They were still at work after all, and any further discussion could be continued in the group chat.
Only Wen Tong was left in the dark about what they had been referring to. "Miaomiao, what were they talking about just now? What does it have to do with the boss's wife coming to the company?"
Gossiping was far more interesting than work, so Zhang Miaomiao leaned in close to Wen Tong and whispered, "You've only been here a week, so you don't know. Earlier, there was a female employee on the 6th floor who deliberately dropped her documents in front of the CEO in the elevator and pretended not to recognize him. She even asked him to pick up the documents for her. Assistant Li picked them up first, but she still pointed at the CEO and said he was unhelpful."
Wen Tong was stunned. "That's outrageous!"
"That's nothing. There's more. She used to sit in the 19th floor stairwell early in the morning, crying, more than once. It's because everyone knows the CEO sometimes takes the stairs when he's not in a hurry. She ignored all the other stairwells and went all the way up there." Zhang Miaomiao couldn't help but roll her eyes as she spoke.
"You don't mean she...?" Wen Tong was shocked. Pretending not to recognize Gu Junxing was simply impossible, as the HR department introduced the company structure during new employee training, covering all the leaders with accompanying headshots.
"It's exactly what you're thinking," Zhang Miaomiao said with disdain.
"...But the CEO is in his thirties and married." Wen Tong couldn't understand. Besides, having a crush on your boss while working seemed ridiculous.
"Maybe she's watched too many TV dramas and fantasizes about the domineering CEO falling in love with her."
"Was she fired?"
"No, she passed her probation period, so it's not easy to fire her without cause. Besides, she didn't actually do anything concrete. After that, didn't the CEO end up in the hospital? He just came back to work today, and the boss's wife shows up. What else could it be about if not this?"
Gu Junxing and Nian Suian were completely unaware of the employees' speculations. Gu Junxing hadn't taken the incident to heart, and Nian Suian was simply there for a casual visit.
"If you want to look around, you can ask Assistant Li to accompany you downstairs. If I go with you, it might scare everyone."
Nian Suian shook her head. "I'll look at your office first, if you don't mind?" She wasn't particularly interested in watching other people work, but she was more curious about the "boss's" office. She wanted to see if there really were spare shirts and such kept in the office.