"How could this be!" Miss Jiang couldn't control her emotions and blurted out.
This must be fake!
She quickly concluded in her mind and spoke bluntly, "If you want to reject me, just say so. There’s no need to make up such a clumsy excuse. If you really had a girlfriend, why wouldn’t anyone at the shop know about her?"
"It’s because she’s very busy with work and rarely has time to see me. I took this job to earn money so she wouldn’t have to work so hard, so I..."
As he spoke, he glanced over again.
That look made Zhou Zhuofei’s eyelids twitch uncontrollably. Why did she suddenly have a bad feeling about this?
Friend, I get that you’re dealing with a difficult customer at work, but you can’t drag an innocent bystander into this!
Almost instinctively, Zhou Zhuofei pulled out her phone and pretended to reply to a voice message, putting on a coy tone as she said, "Baby, don’t rush me, I’ll be back soon."
At the same time, she quickened her pace. If not for her inconvenient shoes, she might have broken into a run.
The entire sequence of actions was seamless. She didn’t even glance at the two of them, leaving them no time to react.
Even as she walked away, she could still hear Miss Jiang pressing the man about his supposed girlfriend.
"In that case, bring your girlfriend along next time. I’d love to meet her."
Only when she was far enough away that the conversation faded did Zhou Zhuofei finally stop at a crossroad, letting out a relieved sigh.
That was close—she almost ended up with a boyfriend.
If she wasn’t mistaken, that guy had probably wanted her to play the role of his fake girlfriend to make Miss Jiang back off.
This was the same tired plotline she’d seen in shoujo manga since elementary school. How was it still being used today?
But he should’ve thought it through—if Miss Jiang had any real sense of decency, she wouldn’t have outright told him to quit his job in the first place.
Though Zhou Zhuofei didn’t know Miss Jiang well, just from that remark alone, it was clear she had little respect for the man’s career choices. She sounded like the type of rich young miss who was used to throwing money at problems.
By comparison, Zhan Zilang’s appeal shot up even higher. He drove a luxury car worth millions but never acted high and mighty with colleagues—on the contrary, he was remarkably humble.
Lost in thought as she walked, Zhou Zhuofei was interrupted by a voice calling, "Xiao Zhou."
At first, she thought she’d run into a colleague who’d stepped out to use the restroom and was about to greet them happily—until she turned and saw Xiao Wang standing at the end of the hallway, waving at her.
"Secretary Xiao? What are you doing here?" Zhou Zhuofei was both surprised and delighted. Running into someone she knew was a relief, so she immediately changed direction and headed toward him.
But when she was just a few steps away, Xiao Wang raised a hand to stop her, signaling her not to come closer.
Confused but compliant, Zhou Zhuofei halted.
Xiao Wang explained gently, "Don’t get too close—you might choke on the smoke."
Only then did Zhou Zhuofei notice he was wearing just a dress shirt, his tie removed and the top two buttons undone, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The plain white shirt somehow looked effortlessly stylish on him.
She also spotted his other hand hidden behind his back. Though she couldn’t see clearly, the faint scent of tobacco in the air gave it away.
Especially since she now noticed the smoking area sign on the wall ahead.
But even more shocking than running into Xiao Wang here was the fact that he was smoking.
In the three years she’d known him, Zhou Zhuofei had never seen or heard of him touching a cigarette. Colleagues often mentioned he didn’t drink or smoke, with no bad habits to speak of.
Turns out, their understanding of him was still too shallow.
"I’m here with a friend, catching up over a chat," Xiao Wang said, stubbing out his cigarette and tossing it into the bin, though he didn’t step out of the smoking area immediately.
"Oh, I came with my department."
"I know—I saw you all when you arrived," Xiao Wang replied with a smile. "Your table was hard to miss."
"Zhan Zilang arranged it for us."
"I figured." Xiao Wang waited until the smell of smoke had faded a little before stepping out, though he still kept some distance. "What brings you over here? Did you take a wrong turn?"
"Yeah, the signs aren’t very clear. I followed the directions but got lost on the way back."
"This place is a bit confusing. Let me walk you out."
"Great!" Zhou Zhuofei fell into step behind Xiao Wang, deliberately avoiding any mention of his smoking and instead recounting her earlier encounter.
She felt her getting lost was partly due to that couple, and if she didn’t explain, she’d just look silly.
Besides, the whole incident was perfect gossip material—she’d definitely retell it to Du Yu later.
Halfway through her story, Xiao Wang suddenly asked, "You said the girl’s surname was Jiang?"
"Yeah, that’s what the guy called her, though I don’t know which ‘Jiang’ it was."
"Most likely Jiang Meiluo, the second daughter of Jianghai Real Estate," Xiao Wang said, describing her appearance—and Zhou Zhuofei realized every detail matched.
"Wow, that really does sound like her! Secretary Xiao, you know so much!"
At her praise, Xiao Wang gave a faint smile. Was this really worth complimenting?
"It’s nothing. I’ve met Miss Jiang a few times at events with General Manager Ling, so I know a little about her."
Zhou Zhuofei suddenly remembered. "Oh right, you’re always accompanying General Manager Ling to functions—you must know tons of people. What’s Miss Jiang like?"
"I don’t know much in detail," Xiao Wang answered vaguely, mainly because he couldn’t speak carelessly.
As Ling Yu’s secretary, he was effectively half a spokesperson for him. Even in casual conversation, he had to watch his words, especially when discussing others.
Of course, Xiao Wang knew Zhou Zhuofei was just making small talk. To ordinary people, the so-called upper-class circle was a mysterious, almost enviable world—curiosity was natural.
Even his own friends would jokingly ask if he had any juicy gossip whenever they met.
Situations like the one Zhou Zhuofei had stumbled into? He’d lost count of how many he’d witnessed.
At first, he’d reacted with the same shock and distaste as her, but after seeing it so often, he’d grown numb to it.
When power dynamics were uneven, it was common for the side with more resources to propose trading favors as a solution—because to them, it was the simplest, least troublesome approach.
Those in higher positions rarely considered the feelings of those beneath them. What they demanded was compliance.
Hearing Xiao Wang say this, Zhou Zhuofei didn’t press further and continued with her story.
Xiao Wang had initially thought he was just hearing another mundane tale, but the plot took an unexpected turn.
When Zhou Zhuofei described realizing something was wrong and running away in a hurry, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
The moment she heard his laughter, Zhou Zhuofei stopped mid-sentence and asked nervously, “What’s wrong, Xiao Wang? Did I say something odd?”
She had never experienced anything like this before and wasn’t sure if she’d handled it correctly, but since Xiao Wang was far more worldly, she was hyper-aware of his reaction.
“No, I think you did great,” Xiao Wang quickly reassured her, noticing how tense she looked, her face practically scrunched up. “You should never get involved in situations like that. Once you’re dragged in, you’ll definitely be the one who ends up losing out.”
“That’s exactly what I thought, so I ran—only to get lost,” Zhou Zhuofei sighed, throwing her hands up for emphasis.
Amused, Xiao Wang teased, “Next time, maybe plan your escape route beforehand.”
Zhou Zhuofei replied in an exaggerated tone, “Next time, I’m taking a detour for sure. Who’d have thought something so absurd could happen just walking down the street?”
Xiao Wang smiled without responding, but as he watched Zhou Zhuofei’s earnest, guileless expression, he felt a twinge of envy.
When he first entered the workforce, he’d been much like her. But at some point, he’d grown accustomed to silence, no longer reacting to such things.
Maybe in a few years, Zhou Zhuofei would become just like him—or perhaps she’d remain unchanged, and he’d be the only one molded by the corporate world.
Under Xiao Wang’s guidance, the two soon navigated their way out of the maze-like hallway.
Zhou Zhuofei asked, “Xiao Wang, are you going to stop by and say hello?”
