There’s a saying in the advertising and PR industry that every company that’s ever participated in a pitch competition holds as gospel truth, wishing they could hang it as a banner at their office entrance as a warning: “I’d rather eat dirt than do another pitch.”
Working overtime for free, losing handfuls of hair from stress, only to be told in the end “this isn’t quite what we’re looking for, goodbye.” And cases of other advertising agencies directly stealing and copying their work were countless.
When Lu Hongsheng learned about this, he personally came to the marketing department to express his dissatisfaction.
In his view, since he had recommended Zhuo Si, there was no need for a pitch competition or hesitation – this was clearly disrespecting him.
The Vice President Lu felt insulted and belittled, ranting red-faced in Ye Kanning’s office. Ye Kanning watched him calmly, only saying one thing throughout: “Zhuo Si has already agreed.”
Lu Hongsheng had no choice but to leave in anger.
Zhuo Si seemed completely prepared, while Yue Ma, perhaps due to being young and fearless, was very energetic and agreed to compete against Zhuo Si.
Zhuo Si seemed completely prepared, while Yue Ma, perhaps due to being young and fearless, was very energetic and agreed to compete against Zhuo Si.
The first three-way communication was scheduled for 10 AM Monday. Yue Ma’s people arrived much earlier than the appointed time. Ye Kanning led them into the conference room, pausing at the doorway to call over the Cambridge graduate and Chu Zhi.
With just a wave of his hand, Chu Zhi scampered over, tilting her head up waiting for instructions.
Ye Kanning smiled: “Go get pen and paper, come in to listen later.”
Chu Zhi obediently went back, grabbed a notebook, and carefully entered the conference room, quietly sitting down next to the Cambridge graduate.
The Cambridge graduate looked at her tourist-like behavior with disdain, rolling their eyes and subtly moving their chair away.
Two people came from Yue Ma, led by a man who was currently looking down, talking to his colleague beside him.
He spoke slowly, his voice low, barely audible.
Chu Zhi didn’t know how to describe that voice.
It was like an ice shard sliding along your eardrum, calm and plain, carrying a sharp coldness.
Seemingly noticing Chu Zhi’s gaze, he suddenly stopped speaking and looked up, his long eyes meeting hers.
Chu Zhi was startled.
Lu Jiaheng’s eyes were also narrow and long, slightly upturned, with black pupils that seemed to whisper sweet nothings when he gazed at you, full of tender feelings.
This man’s eyes were somewhat similar in shape, concave and convex, but his gaze was cold and distant, his pupils very light.
After just one glance, he lowered his eyes again, listening to Ye Kanning speak.
Chu Zhi thought that in this world, handsome men’s temperament really caught the eye more than their looks. Lu Jiaheng’s father was also handsome, but gave off a sleazy feeling.
After quite a wait, Xiao Yi and Zhao Mei finally arrived fashionably late.
Zhao Mei smiled as she entered: “Sorry, we’re not late, are we? Traffic was a bit heavy.”
Chu Zhi looked up at the clock.
They weren’t actually late – it was 9:58, right on time, even two minutes early.
Chu Zhi was silently criticizing when the next second, Lu Jiaheng also walked in.
She opened her mouth, caught Xiao Yi’s glance from the corner of her eye, and closed it again.
Jing Heng Group mainly focused on commercial operations, BD construction, and real estate development. In recent years, they had begun expanding into internet and entertainment sectors. This project was also in real estate.
Chu Zhi had never seen Lu Jiaheng in a meeting before, and when she had told him about this matter, he hadn’t seemed very enthusiastic.
Now he casually pulled out a chair and sat at the table, leaning back lazily, body tilted, appearing unconcerned.
Lu Jiaheng studied finance, and Chu Zhi hadn’t expected him to understand anything about front-end development. She looked at him doubtfully, waiting to see what nonsense he would spout.
But her jaw dropped in surprise.
Throughout the meeting, the man maintained an unhurried pace, speaking little but with clear and rigorous logic. He picked apart details point by point, raising issues that often hit right at the core. His soft, lazy voice was slow and comfortable, but every point he made was sharp, easily leading people to follow his rhythm.
On Zhuo Si’s side, apart from Xiao Yi occasionally getting in a few words, it was basically silent. Only Yue Ma’s cold gentleman kept up the back-and-forth with him, matching him evenly.
By the end of the meeting, when the two men’s eyes met, Chu Zhi even felt sparks flying between them.
For some reason, Chu Zhi suddenly remembered her long-absent little chrysanthemum, who had the same spark-flying gaze when talking about his love interest.
Chu Zhi shuddered, gathered her things and stood up, being the last to leave the conference room.
She had just put her things on her desk when she heard the office girls beginning to bubble with excitement again, their wolf-like gazes fixed on their new target – Yue Ma’s leader.
At that moment, the cold gentleman was talking to Lu Jiaheng. Lu Jiaheng was very tall, about 187-188cm, and that man was of similar height. The two completely different types of handsome men standing together looked like a movie scene.
Xu the planner was excited again, pulling aside a newly arrived design girl: “Sorry, I don’t love Director Lu anymore. Compared to his obviously flirtatious type, I prefer this cold, abstinent style.”
“Is he the boss from Yue Ma?”
“Probably not the boss, seems like he’s a friend of their leader, temporarily helping out.”
“I heard him talking to young Director Lu at the door, his surname is Gu.”
“Great, a standard male lead surname. Everyone please come to my wedding with Mr. Gu next month.”
The girls were giggling behind their cubicles when suddenly a fluffy head popped up over the partition, big eyes blinking at them as she asked softly: “Can I come to your wedding with Mr. Gu too? I also like the cold type, I’ll just come join the fun.”
Xu the planner: “…”
Xu shuddered, suddenly feeling the air around them getting cold.
Looking back, she saw that her next month’s supposed groom was gone, while the “obviously flirtatious one” was standing nearby, eyebrow raised lazily: “Chattering during work hours.”
Three seconds later, everyone had quickly returned to their seats, silent.
Chu Zhi also obediently shrank back.
For several days after that, Lu Jiaheng wasn’t very enthusiastic when talking to Chu Zhi. Whether she messaged him or when they met in the evening for video calls, he was terse and economical with words, using one word where he could avoid using two.
At first, Chu Zhi thought he was just tired from being busy, but eventually realized something was wrong.
One evening after work, Lu Jiaheng was driving her home. In the car, Chu Zhi finally couldn’t help asking: “Lu Jiaheng.”
“Mm.”
“The night view is quite nice today.”
“…”
Chu Zhi cleared her throat and continued: “Look at these street lights, how passionate they are.”
“…”
“Just like a boyfriend to his girlfriend.”
“…”
After about ten seconds, Chu Zhi couldn’t hold back anymore and turned her head with a pitiful expression, looking both angry and dejected.
Lu Jiaheng finally turned his head and glanced at her.
Chu Zhi didn’t speak, just puffed up her cheeks and glared at him angrily.
Lu Jiaheng raised an eyebrow: “What?”
“I’m going to have an affair.”
“?”
“My relationship has entered a boring phase, I’m going to find a boyfriend who’s passionate about me.”
Lu Jiaheng still looked quite calm, unmoved, making an “oh” sound before saying lightly: “I can’t help it, my wife said earlier she likes the cold type, I have to try my best to please her. What if she dumps me otherwise?”
“…”
Do you really have to be so petty?
Thanks to that cold gentleman from last time, Chu Zhi had grown closer with the office girls. Before, because she often kept to herself and her desk was far away, plus they had their established circles, her relationship with them had been lukewarm.
Since that time, they went from occasionally having lunch together to now basically urging Chu Zhi to join them every day at noon, all within just a few days.
This situation maintained for about three days before things changed again.
Chu Zhi’s father had been on a business trip and had relaxed his vigilance considerably. Plus work seemed busy, so recently Chu Zhi had been commuting with Lu Jiaheng. One morning when she entered the office, she kept receiving glances.
Those gazes were completely different from before, carrying contempt, curiosity, jealousy, and various complex emotions.
Chu Zhi returned to her seat confused, putting her bag aside. Looking up, she met the Cambridge graduate’s gaze.
The Cambridge graduate gave their usual cold laugh, looking at her with contempt and letting out a loud snort that half the office could hear.
Chu Zhi was startled.
While the Cambridge graduate was generally cynical and always looked down on her, they hadn’t been this malicious before.
Now, their gaze could be described as disgust.
Chu Zhi turned her head and met Pink Shirt’s furtive gaze.
She turned so quickly that Pink Shirt hadn’t had time to look away. Their eyes met, and it would have been awkward to look away now.
Pink Shirt sighed, looking at her somewhat helplessly, glanced around, then leaned forward and beckoned her over.
Chu Zhi sneaked over.
Pink Shirt didn’t speak, just opened a minimized corporate email at the bottom of the computer screen.
Chu Zhi took the mouse, leaning in to look. There was text above and photos below.
As she scrolled down, Chu Zhi’s mind went blank, her fingertips turning cold, her blood freezing as her thoughts stalled for several seconds.
There were many photos in the email: hidden corners of restaurants near the company during lunch breaks, the underground parking garage, in front of his car door where Chu Zhi leaned back against the car while Lu Jiaheng leaned forward with one hand on the door frame, head lowered as he talked to her.
The distance and posture between them looked intimate and ambiguous – anyone could tell what was going on.
There was more below. Chu Zhi’s fingers stiffly scrolled down, seeing dense text, but before she could make it out, Pink Shirt grabbed the mouse and minimized the window: “Don’t look anymore.”
Chu Zhi still stared at the screen, her lips pale.
Pink Shirt spoke very quietly, close to her ear: “When I opened my email this morning, I received this. It seems to be a mass email, don’t know who sent it, don’t recognize the sender.”
Chu Zhi had no reaction.
Pink Shirt thought she was too shocked and softened their tone: “Little sister, did you offend someone? This corporate email mass distribution, everyone in the company can receive it.”
Chu Zhi slowly raised her head to look at them: “What did it say below?”
Pink Shirt didn’t speak, rubbing their nose and lowering their head deep into the partition, as if trying to drill under the desk, their double chin looking fuller: “Nothing good, don’t look. Basically it’s just—”
Halfway through speaking, they suddenly realized something was wrong.
It was too quiet.
Pink Shirt looked up.
Chu Zhi also looked up.
Lu Jiaheng stood beside them, looking down at Pink Shirt with a calm expression. His black eyes were like dead water, without ripples, yet somehow emanating a strange violent pressure that was almost tangible.
Pink Shirt’s face also went white, stuttering out “Director Lu.”
Chu Zhi tilted her head up, feeling awkward and unsure how to address him.
She didn’t look around, but she didn’t need to – she knew everyone must be watching them now.
More than that, Chu Zhi was actually more curious about what came after Pink Shirt’s “basically just—”
The office was silent, even breathing seemed to have stopped. In the complete quiet, Chu Zhi turned to Pink Shirt, blinked, and continued asking: “Basically what? Finish what you were saying?”
Chu Zhi thought she was quite clever, this way she didn’t have to figure out how to address him.
Pink Shirt was scared witless, thinking this young girl was too bold.
Then they thought – with her backing right here, what was there to be afraid of?
But they were afraid!!!
Pink Shirt trembled while trying to flatter: “Anyway, I’ve known you for a few months now, you’re definitely not that kind of person! How could you seduce someone? Impossible, I don’t believe it.”
“…”
Chu Zhi fell silent.
The office returned to dead silence. Nearby, Xu the planner gave Pink Shirt a complex but admiring look, full of emotion as if saying “Brother, that’s some expert flattery.”
After a while, Lu Jiaheng curved his lips.
His whole demeanor relaxed again, as if he hadn’t been the one emanating black energy minutes ago. He folded his arms and raised an eyebrow, smiling meaningfully: “Why impossible? That’s exactly what she’s like.”
Chu Zhi looked up at him again in confusion.
Lu Jiaheng tilted his chin slightly, then lowered his eyelashes to look at her. His voice sounded lazy and casual as he said lightly: “She seduced me, got me completely infatuated, made me want to give her my heart. What could I do?”
“…”
Chu Zhi shuddered in disgust.
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