She had no doubt about Ye Nan's words; at this moment, her trust in Ye Nan was exceedingly high.
...
With the little tails behind him all dealt with, Ye Nan felt completely carefree as he returned to the employee dormitory where he used to live.
He had to pack his things and make a run for it.
With Lin Qingrou that furious, forget about being the president's secretary; his previous position as a security guard was probably gone for good!
Just as he was packing in his room, he suddenly heard a knock on the door.
Ye Nan looked back to see a lovely young woman standing prettily at the open doorway.
The girl wore a professional skirt suit and black silk stockings with high heels. Her figure was exceptionally fine, but her face carried the charm of a southern Jiangnan water town—pure, refined, and delicately exquisite.
Ye Nan recognized her: Xu Dongyue, a small team leader in the Haiqing logistics department, who also lived in the employee dormitory.
She was a kind-hearted beauty who had been on very good terms with Ye Nan before. In fact, Ye Nan narcissistically felt that she might have had a bit of a crush on him.
"Ye Nan, you're back!" Xu Dongyue walked in with a pleasant surprise, smiling brightly as she said, "Where have you been these past few days? You haven't even been coming to work!"
"Oh, just some personal matters." Ye Nan appreciated Xu Dongyue's soft, beautiful face for a moment, his mood greatly improving. "Why, looking for me?"
"Well..." Xu Dongyue's pretty face suddenly flushed, and she lowered her head a bit shyly, saying bashfully, "I want to ask you for a favor."
"Speak!" Ye Nan had a very good impression of Xu Dongyue and replied generously.
"My best friend just got a new boyfriend and invited me out for coffee, saying I should bring my boyfriend along too..." Xu Dongyue twisted the hem of her clothes with both hands, not daring to look at Ye Nan, her face as red as a ripe apple.
"Uh..."
Ye Nan gave a bitter smile.
"Don't get me wrong, I just want you to pretend to be my boyfriend for a little while..." Xu Dongyue quickly explained, though upon seeing Ye Nan's troubled expression, a trace of disappointment still flickered across her face.
Ye Nan couldn't bear to watch.
A girl like this was different from that arrogant old woman; she was gentle, frail, and thoroughly endearing.
"Alright then!" Ye Nan smiled. "I suppose I'll let you take advantage of me once!"
Seeing Ye Nan agree, Xu Dongyue's face lit up with joy. She bit her lip and said, "Then... see you at Xinyue Coffee House in a bit!"
With that, she turned around shyly and left.
Ye Nan let out a sigh.
Consider it doing a good deed to help a friend before leaving town!
...
Jiangling University.
Truly the premier institution of higher learning in all of Jiangling, with several professors on campus who were members of the Daxia National Scientific Research Center.
A Lamborghini drove through the school gates, headed straight for the research building, and parked in a space downstairs.
Lin Qingrou stepped out of the car wearing a long dress and high heels, instantly stunning her surroundings.
"Holy crap! This sister is gorgeous!"
"Yeah, she looks as old as Professor Shen!"
"Damn! Where the hell are you looking? A gentleman! Do you know what a gentleman is?!"
The male students were right at the age when hormones exploded and simply couldn't handle such "overwhelming" stimulation.
Lin Qingrou had long since grown used to the gasps and discussions around her. She calmly walked into the research building, took the elevator, and headed straight for the thirteenth floor.
Arriving at the office with "Shen Mengyan" on the plaque, Lin Qingrou knocked on the door and, upon receiving a response, pushed it open and entered.
Inside the office, Professor Shen Mengyan sat at her desk, reviewing research data.
If Ye Nan were here, he would surely exclaim, "Birds of a feather flock together."
Shen Mengyan's breathtaking beauty was by no means inferior to Lin Qingrou's!
She wore a white lab coat over a revealing slip dress, leaving a vast expanse of skin below her collarbone fully exposed!
Her lower half was clad in an ultra-short bodycon skirt, revealing rounded, slender, flawless legs, and her jade feet were encased in exquisite high heels, giving her an aura that was both bewitching and dignified.
Throughout the entire campus, only this youngest and most individualistic professor could pull off such a bold outfit.
"Little Qingqing is here! I've missed you to death, come here, give me a hug!"
Shen Mengyan stood up in surprise, enthusiastically opening her arms and pulling Lin Qingrou into an embrace against her magnificent chest.
What a spectacular "billiard match"!
Both sides possessed formidable assets, truly top-tier, and with such "substantial" barriers in between, after Shen Mengyan hugged Lin Qingrou, their hands could barely touch behind each other's backs!
"Little Qingqing, you've 'grown' again! So 'fierce'!"
Shen Mengyan looked playfully at Lin Qingrou's generous assets with a charming laugh.
"Professor Shen, you're a role model for others, watch your language!" Lin Qingrou rolled her eyes.
"I'm just excited to see you!" Shen Mengyan held Lin Qingrou, leaned straight toward her face, and planted a loud kiss on her cheek with a "pop." "Mmm... you smell amazing!"
Lin Qingrou felt helpless; this good friend of hers was never serious.
"Alright, stop messing around, I'm here for something important!"
As she spoke, Lin Qingrou pulled a transparent sealed bag from her handbag, containing the chicken nugget that Ye Nan had previously "snatched" from her mouth.
"Help me check if there are any hazardous substances on this chicken nugget."
Ten minutes later.
Shen Mengyan pulled her glasses away from the microscope with a look of shock, anxiously grabbing Lin Qingrou's hands. "Qingqing, did you eat this? Are you alright?!"
Lin Qingrou rolled her eyes. "If I wasn't alright, would I be sitting here chatting with you? Hurry up, what are the results!"
"It's poisonous!" Shen Mengyan wore a rare serious expression, her pair of phoenix eyes filled with solemnity. "The toxic components can't be analyzed just yet, but the potency is extremely high!"
"With ordinary contact, it's not a huge problem, at most causing some allergic symptoms."
"But if swallowed into the stomach and mixed with stomach acid, it will instantly trigger an even stronger toxicity, capable of causing death within a minute!"
Lin Qingrou froze on the spot, her expression grave.
It really was poisonous!
And a bizarre, deadly poison at that!
That meant she really had walked through the gates of hell!
If Ye Nan hadn't forcefully snatched the chicken nugget from her mouth, she would already be a corpse right now!
A wave of lingering fear washed over her, and boundless terror welled up in Lin Qingrou's heart, chilling her spine.
Who wanted to harm her? And using such a sinister method!
She thought of Ye Nan again, and a profound sense of regret and guilt instantly overwhelmed her.
He saved her life, yet she slapped him and told him to get lost.
Even so, he didn't get angry, and before leaving, he even pretended not to care and took away the remaining poisoned chicken nugget...
Thinking back on it now, Ye Nan's actions had been unusual, and she truly shouldn't have been so impulsive; she should have at least asked for an explanation.
Yet, her arrogant and dictatorial personality left her giving Ye Nan no chance to explain at all.
Thinking of this, Lin Qingrou's eyes grew slightly moist.
Touched?
Guilty?
Both!
"Qingqing, why are you crying!" Seeing Lin Qingrou's expression turn strange, Shen Mengyan pulled her into an aching embrace. "Don't be scared, don't be scared! Big sis is here!"
"Mengyan..." Lin Qingrou's voice choked slightly. "Am I... really that terrible a person? Am I... just too self-righteous..."
"Huh?" Shen Mengyan cupped Lin Qingrou's delicate face, asking in surprise, "How did Jiangling's 'Queen' start doubting herself?"
After a moment of astonishment, Shen Mengyan suddenly reacted, smiling knowingly. "Oh... our little Qingqing's heartstrings have been plucked; there's someone on her mind!"
"Nonsense!"
Lin Qingrou felt a sudden, inexplicable panic, her heartbeat quickening by two beats. She hurriedly stood up, grabbed her bag, and turned to leave. "Thanks a lot, I have things to do, I'll treat you to milk tea another day!"
She had to find Ye Nan!
Hoping that right now, he hadn't yet left Jiangling!
Chapter 19: Lacking Culture, Goddess on the Lips!
Ye Nan tidied up a bit in the dormitory and changed his clothes.
Afterward, he hailed a cab and headed straight for Xinyue Coffee House.
He had thought he arrived quite early, but upon getting out of the car, he saw at a glance that Xu Dongyue was standing right at the entrance of the coffee shop.
She had changed out of her work uniform and was wearing a floral long dress and white high-heeled sandals. Her height of one meter sixty-seven, combined with her outstanding appearance, would make her the focal point of attention on any bustling street.
Ye Nan walked up to her and said with a chuckle, "Beauty, all by yourself? Got a boyfriend?"
As soon as Xu Dongyue saw Ye Nan, her pretty eyes lit up, and she gave him a cute, coquettish roll of her eyes. "I do! Too bad he got lost, and I was just about to call the police!"
"Hahaha..." Ye Nan was thick-skinned and brushed it off with a laugh. "To keep a beauty waiting so long—a boyfriend like that isn't worth having! Time to swap him for a new one!"
"Swap for whom?" Xu Dongyue's cheeks turned slightly red, yet she stared boldly and directly at Ye Nan, the hint already impossible to be more obvious.
Ye Nan sighed inwardly; a man shouldn't be too handsome—it was quite a burden!
"Yueyue!"
Just at that moment, Xu Dongyue's best friend arrived, timely coming to Ye Nan's rescue.
Ye Nan and Xu Dongyue looked toward the sound.
A pretty woman in a light yellow dress, arm-in-arm with an exquisitely dressed man in a suit, had just stepped out of a Porsche.
The woman had an hourglass figure; while her looks didn't quite match Xu Dongyue's, they were still top-notch.
The man was also quite handsome, incredibly arrogant, with "I am a successful person" written all over his face.
"Qianqian!"
Seeing her good friend, Xu Dongyue was genuinely and wholeheartedly overjoyed, pulling Ye Nan as she hurried over.
"Qianqian, you look so pretty!" Xu Dongyue said with an affectionate smile. "Oh? That necklace is gorgeous!"
"Arui bought it for me!" Wang Qian said with a smug look, proudly reaching out to stroke the pendant on her chest, casting an affectionate glance at the boyfriend beside her.
"Let me introduce you, this is my boyfriend Yang Rui, a department manager at the Zhao Group!" Wang Qian raised her volume, terrified that someone might not hear.
Upon seeing Xu Dongyue's face and figure, Yang Rui's eyes lit up instantly, though he still put on a cold and aloof expression, merely giving a slight nod of greeting without speaking.
"Yueyue, is this your boyfriend?" Wang Qian glanced at Ye Nan and asked.
"Yeah, his name is Ye Nan." Xu Dongyue smiled bashfully.
"Not bad, pretty... down-to-earth!" Wang Qian smiled, her eyes carrying a hint of mockery.
Xu Dongyue had a simple mind and didn't think much of it, saying sincerely, "No way, your boyfriend is the truly young and promising one! The Zhao Group is a huge enterprise! Qianqian, congratulations!"
Hearing Xu Dongyue's praise, Wang Qian grew even more smug.
For the longest time, she had fallen short of Xu Dongyue in every aspect, which had always left a bitter taste in her mouth.
This time, in the boyfriend department, she had finally completely crushed her, putting her in a fantastic mood.
And seeing Xu Dongyue speak this way, Yang Rui looked at her with an even hotter gaze.
Ye Nan stood quietly to the side, completely speechless.
Why did it seem that ever since he came to Jiangling, the women he met were one more foolish than the last?
Could it be that his five senior sisters were too sharp, raising his standards way too high?
Xu Dongyue's best friend was obviously no good bird; this time, she was clearly here to flex her sense of superiority.
That Yang Rui was even more outrageous; completely disregarding the fact that his girlfriend was right beside him, he looked as if he wanted to pluck his eyeballs out and glue them onto Xu Dongyue!
"Let's go inside first."
The four of them entered the coffee shop and found a quiet spot by the window.
"Yueyue, where is your boyfriend working?" Wang Qian asked seemingly casually.
"Uh..." Xu Dongyue looked at Ye Nan with a bit of difficulty.
Ye Nan didn't mind at all and said generously, "Oh, I work as a security guard."
"A security guard? A door-keeper?"
Wang Qian and Yang Rui exchanged glances, the mockery and disdain in their eyes no longer masked at all.
"Yueyue, it's not that I want to criticize you!" Wang Qian put on the expression of a best friend feeling heartbroken, shaking her head and sighing, "You're great at everything, but your taste in men is just terrible!"
"Expecting you to find someone as outstanding as Arui isn't realistic, but you shouldn't just go find a security guard!"
"Even washing dishes at a restaurant would be better than being a security guard—at least you'd be indoors and get to enjoy the air conditioning!"
Once those words were said, simple-minded as Xu Dongyue was, she finally realized something was wrong.
Her face turned a bit ugly; she hadn't expected that her former best friend would turn out like this.
"Ye Nan is great." Xu Dongyue said earnestly, "What job he does doesn't matter; as long as he's a good person."
Ye Nan was instantly touched in his heart.
What a good woman!
Much better than a certain old woman who kept shouting "stinking security guard" at every turn!
"Sigh... you're just too innocent!" Wang Qian put on an act. "Whatever, who told me to have a soft heart? I can't bear to watch my good sister suffer!"
"Arui, why don't you see if there are any cleaning or logistics jobs left in your Zhao Group and arrange one for him? Anything is better than being a security guard!"
Yang Rui arrogantly glanced sideways at Ye Nan. "Well, that's a minor matter. Work hard, and in a couple of months, I'll promote you to a cleaning team leader and boost your salary by a thousand or two. That should be more than enough for someone of your social class to get by."
Xu Dongyue was already fuming with anger and felt deeply guilty at the same time.
It was because of her that Ye Nan was subjected to such humiliation.
"The Zhao Group? Cleaning?" Ye Nan, however, laughed happily, his gaze playful. "What, too many pests lately, and you're running short of cleaning staff?"
Yang Rui's expression changed instantly.
The news of the massive pest outbreak at the Zhao Group this morning was now known to everyone, and the Zhao Group was currently standing in the crosshairs of public opinion with a grim outlook; he just hadn't expected that the mastermind was sitting right across from him.
"Hmph!" Yang Rui let out a cold snort. "Qianqian, this Mr. Ye doesn't seem to appreciate a favor!"
Wang Qian's face chilled. "What is wrong with you! I'm only offering a helping hand out of regard for Yueyue, and you don't know what's good for you!"
"As expected, low-class people have low-class fates for a lifetime! Even when an opportunity is handed to them, they can't grasp it! You deserve to be poor and pathetic!"
"Qianqian!" Xu Dongyue couldn't hold back anymore, glaring angrily at Wang Qian. "How can you talk like that!"
"Am I wrong?" Wang Qian sneered. "I'm doing this for your own good! Hanging out with this stinking security guard—never mind this necklace I'm wearing, take my Salvatore Ferragamo high heels, could he ever afford to buy them for you? Freeloader!"
Xu Dongyue was shaking with anger, and since she wasn't good with words, she could only pull a cold face and grab Ye Nan's hand. "Let's go!"
Ye Nan didn't care.
He had seen plenty of such clowns; making a big deal out of it would only lower his own class.
Zhao Changping was barely worth his time for a beating; Yang Rui? Forget it, he didn't make the cut.
Just as Xu Dongyue pulled Ye Nan to his feet, a sudden commotion broke out on the street outside the window.
Amidst the gasps of the crowd, a luxurious Lamborghini pulled up right at the entrance of the coffee shop.
Although this area was considered bustling, it wasn't an affluent district of Jiangling, and luxury cars of this caliber were quite rare.
By comparison, Yang Rui's low-end Porsche instantly paled into insignificance.
"Holy crap!"
Yang Rui was clearly a car connoisseur, and after peering outside through the window, he was startled straight to his feet.
"A Lamborghini Reventón!"
Wang Qian didn't know much about cars, only feeling that the vehicle looked extremely luxurious and gorgeous. She asked blankly, "Arui, is that car any good?"
"Nonsense!" Yang Rui rolled his eyes. "This car is known as the 'Land Fighter,' and the entire body is made of carbon fiber—aerospace technology! A fully loaded one won't drop below 20 million!"
"Ah!" Wang Qian gasped, covering her mouth in shock.
"Which big shot in Jiangling is this..." Yang Rui stared longingly at the car door, eager to see who the owner was.
Xu Dongyue had zero interest in such things and had no desire to cozy up to the wealthy. She gently tugged at Ye Nan's hand, signaling that she wanted to leave quickly.
Yet Ye Nan showed no reaction at all.
He was also watching that Lamborghini.
Not because he thought the car was so great.
It was just that... no matter how he looked at it, this car looked damn familiar!
He rode in it every single day for the past couple of days!
A bad premonition quietly surfaced in Ye Nan's mind...
The next moment, amidst the expectant gazes of the crowd, the car owner finally stepped out.
The instant she got out of the car, everyone felt that even the dazzling Lamborghini lost its color!
This woman was too beautiful!
A aquamarine long dress, elegant and dignified, her hair styled in a bun that accentuated her regal and graceful aura, exquisite facial features, and a flawless figure...
Many people had only two words left in their minds: Goddess.
They truly didn't know how else to praise her.
Lacking culture, goddess on the lips!
Jiangling's number one, Lin Qingrou!
Chapter 20: Same Father, Different Mother!
"Lin... Lin... Lin..."
Upon seeing the person step out of the car, Yang Rui's eyes popped wide open in terror.
As a department manager of the Zhao Group, he knew that the Zhao Group and the Haiqing Group had maintained year-round partnerships.
He had caught a distant glimpse of Lin Qingrou once before.
He never imagined that Lin Qingrou would appear in a place like this!
"Darling, what's wrong with you?" Wang Qian looked at Yang Rui with a hint of puzzlement.
"It's Lin Qingrou!" Yang Rui stammered in excitement, his tongue tied. "It's Jiangling's number one goddess, Lin Qingrou!"
"Ah!" Wang Qian let out another gasp.
Lin Qingrou's legendary name was known to everyone in Jiangling.
"She really is so beautiful, so ethereal... so she's Lin Qingrou..."
Wang Qian stared at Lin Qingrou with a daze in her eyes, filled with envy.
In front of a beauty of Lin Qingrou's caliber, she didn't even have the courage to feel jealous.
Xu Dongyue's gaze was also captivated by Lin Qingrou's presence.
"So this is the big boss of our Haiqing..."
Having worked in the Haiqing logistics department for three years, this was the first time she had seen Lin Qingrou in the flesh.
"Ye Nan, why would President Lin come to a place like this?" Xu Dongyue asked subconsciously.
Of course, she didn't expect Ye Nan to provide an answer.
After all, Ye Nan was just a security guard at the Haiqing Group; how could he possibly know President Lin's itinerary or purpose?
Yet, to her surprise, Ye Nan gave a bitter smile and sighed, "She's probably... here to find me..."
"Huh?" Xu Dongyue thought she had misheard.
Over on the other side, Wang Qian and Yang Rui also snapped their heads around, staring at Ye Nan as if he were an idiot.
"Here to find you? Are you sleepwalking in your dreams?!" Wang Qian sneered mockingly. "Why don't you look in the mirror and check your own virtue!"
"You're just a stinking security guard, while she's a wildly famous female CEO in Jiangling. What makes you think you deserve it? Are you worthy?"
Yang Rui also shook his head with utter disdain. "My friend, if you want to show off in front of your girlfriend, you need to know your limits!"
"Someone on Lin Qingrou's level isn't a low-class dirtbag like you can ever dream of touching!"
Xu Dongyue was truly angry.