"Great!" A flash of delight crossed Jiang Lingling's face. She immediately pushed a stack of documents in front of Shen Nian, blinking her starry eyes pitifully at Shen Nian.
"Sister Nian, please help send the documents in, please, please..."
She put her hands together pleadingly, her face sincere.
This little girl was truly irresistible when acting coquettishly.
She was exactly like Lu Lingrui in the past.
So Shen Nian simply couldn't bear to refuse. She sat down at her seat, then flipped open the documents, glancing through them while saying to Jiang Lingling: "You didn't check them?"
"I checked them! I checked them three times!" Jiang Lingling fawned over her obsequiously, picking up the thermos by Shen Nian's side and pouring water into her cup. "But you know what President Lu's temper is like, Sister Nian. I was afraid I might have carelessly missed something during my checks and President Lu would discover it and scold me..."
Shen Nian's lips quirked into a smile, her face full of indulgence for Jiang Lingling.
After carefully going through the documents again and making some slight revisions to ensure there were no issues, she closed them and handed them to Jiang Lingling: "It should be fine now. Go deliver them."
However, Jiang Lingling just stood there staring fixedly at her with a kittenish gaze instead of taking the documents.
"What's wrong?" Shen Nian asked.
"Sister Nian, you should deliver them directly."
Jiang Lingling pointed in the direction of Lu Lingchuan's office and said gingerly, "President Lu is entertaining an important guest right now. It would be too intrusive for me to suddenly barge in. And this document is quite important. Sister Nian, you're President Lu's personal assistant who has followed him since the beginning when he started from nothing. President Lu trusts you the most. So...it's most fitting for you to go."
Following the direction of her hand, Shen Nian glanced towards the door of Lu Lingchuan's office.
Having been dragged by Jiang Lingling to check documents since arriving at the company earlier, Shen Nian hadn't paid attention to the office area until now.
Lu Lingchuan was receiving a guest...
For Lu Lingchuan to receive them personally, that guest must be the CEO of a company that had collaborated with the Lingrui Group for many years. Jiang Lingling's reason for fearing an intrusion that would offend the guest was plausible.
So Shen Nian nodded: "Alright, I'll go deliver it."
"Really? Thank you, Sister Nian!" It was as if Jiang Lingling had obtained an enormous advantage. Her entire being radiated delight to the point where if employees weren't prohibited by Lu Lingchuan from chatting idly and acting rashly during work hours, she would have flipped joyously on the spot several times.
"Sister Nian, I love you! I'll treat you to a meal when I'm free!"
Seeing her thus, Shen Nian couldn't help but feel amused. After giving the documents a final check to ensure there really were no issues, she got up to deliver them.
Standing outside the door of Lu Lingchuan's office, Shen Nian lightly knocked three times.
"Come in," came Lu Lingchuan's cold voice from within.
Shen Nian pushed the door open and entered. Having heard from Jiang Lingling that he had a guest, her gaze first fell upon the reception area.
There was a small reception area in Lu Lingchuan's office with a three-seater sofa in the middle and single-seater sofas on either side, carpeted flooring, as well as a rectangular coffee table.
Lu Lingchuan sat on one of the single sofas with a cup of coffee before him. Seated on the three-seater sofa beside him was...Liang Jinghe.
If Liang Jinghe weren't right in front of her at this moment, Shen Nian might have nearly forgotten this person existed altogether.
No wonder Jiang Lingling had said Lu Lingchuan was hosting an important guest.
Liang Jinghe. A woman acknowledged by all the company's employees to be the "future madam boss". Naturally, she counted as an important guest.
Lu Lingchuan raised his head and his eyes met Shen Nian's. Seeing her unexpected appearance at the company, his brows furrowed.
Why did she come to the company?
Her complexion had looked quite awful this morning.
Oblivious to Lu Lingchuan's thoughts, Shen Nian automatically interpreted his frown to mean she had intruded presumptuously. Clutching the documents, she immediately bowed and apologized.
"My apologies, President Lu. I wasn't aware Miss Liang was here."
Although Shen Nian was dressed in simple and nondescript black secretary attire, there was an allure to the way she wore it. Her slim, long legs below her A-line skirt and her pretty bare face devoid of any cosmetics gave her a gentle beauty. Her expression was calm and serious.
The manner in which she slightly bent her body to apologize was appropriate and proper, not a strand out of place. Her disciplined attitude truly left no openings for criticism.
There wasn't the slightest hint of dejection, distress or even jealousy on her face. Composed and tranquil—not servile yet not arrogant either.
She really was a capable, beautiful secretary who understood boundaries.
Very good. Extremely satisfactory.
Lu Lingchuan's gaze towards her took on a flash of iciness. He spoke coldly, "What is it?"
"Sir, this contains the materials needed for the four o'clock meeting this afternoon. Jiang Lingling has prepared them and I've looked them over too—there should be no issues. Please review them, President Lu," Shen Nian replied lightly with a slight dip of her head as she handed over the documents.
Her businesslike manner made Lu Lingchuan's tone turn two degrees cooler. "Put them on my desk."
"Yes, sir."
Without objection, Shen Nian brought the documents over to Lu Lingchuan's desk.
As she retracted her gaze, she inadvertently glanced at Liang Jinghe.
She and Liang Jinghe had only met a few times in passing but she had to admit the latter possessed an air of elegance. Dressed in a purple dress today with matching hair accessories, Liang Jinghe exuded gentleness.
Noticing Shen Nian's gaze land on her, Liang Jinghe revealed a friendly smile to her.
Catching it, Shen Nian's eyes paused though she said nothing. She merely gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, maintaining a secretary's rigor.
Seated at his desk with the documents Shen Nian had delivered before him, Lu Lingchuan was staring fixedly at Shen Nian instead of opening them. His sharp, frosty gaze seemed to want to peer into her inner thoughts through her eyes.
Standing opposite Lu Lingchuan in eight centimeter heels, Shen Nian kept her back straight, neither servile nor overbearing as she fearlessly returned his stare.
At this moment, she was merely a secretary. Just a secretary and nothing more.
Seeing her thus, the mass of fiery anger that had been pent up in Lu Lingchuan's chest condensed and swelled.
Very good. Extremely good.
So this was her keeping a distance from him?
As expected of the woman who could effortlessly incite his fury!
When speaking with Lu Lingchuan earlier, Liang Jinghe had sensed his aloofness, seeming somewhat preoccupied. Hence his tone had remained light throughout their conversation.
The moment Shen Nian entered, she directly triggered the eruption of his suppressed anger for no reason at all. Anyone with a shred of perceptiveness could see Lu Lingchuan was extremely displeased right now and in an awful mood.
Given that his state hadn't been ideal even before Shen Nian came in, Liang Jinghe didn't think too deeply into it. She simply assumed Shen Nian to be the hapless scapegoat receiving the brunt of his pent-up frustrations.
She gave a light cough. "Lingchuan."
Lu Lingchuan looked at her.
Liang Jinghe pointed at the documents on his desk. "Didn't you say there's a meeting at four o'clock this afternoon? Let's wrap this up quickly so we can continue our discussion. It's already after three."
Without directly indicating it, she had stepped up in a way that gave off the impression of kindly helping Shen Nian out whilst maintaining a natural air without affectation.
At her words, Lu Lingchuan finally retracted his gaze from Shen Nian and lowered his head to flip through the documents.
As attentive as Shen Nian was, there were hardly ever any problems with documents she prepared. After Lu Lingchuan finished his review and confirmed there were no issues, he closed the file and tossed it onto his desk.
