Chapter 24 Monday
Monday at work.
Qiao Yi sensed something off about the company atmosphere.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she had a vague feeling that Song Xu seemed more… intense than usual?
She quietly asked Wen Bairan, “Don’t you think Master Song’s aura is stronger? Doesn’t it feel freezing in this conference room even without the AC on?”
Hearing this, Wen Bairan glanced at the silent man at the head of the table.
Lost in thought, Song Xu’s cold eyes were gloomy, radiating coldness. A sapphire pen rested between his thumb and index finger, tapping absently.
Xiao Chen, who was reporting the team’s progress, thought he must have said something wrong—his voice gradually faded to match the rhythm of the pen. When Song Xu set the pen down on the table, Xiao Chen fell completely silent.
“Finished?”
Xiao Chen stammered nervously, “N-not yet.”
Song Xu’s sharp gaze swept over, making the room feel even more tense.
“Continue,” he said coldly.
“Y-yes.” Xiao Chen was almost sweating.
Yeah, his mood was clearly terrible.
Qiao Yi couldn’t help but raise a folder to hide her face, shooting Wen Bairan a nervous glance. “Look, he’s about to scare Xiao Chen to death. What on earth happened during my absence?”
Wen Bairan copied her, raising her notebook, whispering, “Dayun signed a contract with Xinyi.”
Qiao Yi was shocked. “Xinyi?”
Xinyi was a local medical supplies company with its own factory, engaged in both production and sales year-round, and its financial records had strong cash flow. With the growing demand for home medical equipment in recent years, they wanted to venture into both devices and supplies, though most small equipment manufacturers weren’t much use to them.
Last month, Xinyi’s CEO visited the company with a proposal to place a large order for home hydrogen-oxygen machines from the headquarters. They had their own sales channels, which basically guaranteed no trouble selling them. However, they had one condition—they only wanted the main units of the hydrogen-oxygen machines. Accessories like oxygen tubes, atomization chambers, and internal water tanks had to be sourced from their own production.
In other words, the main units would be imported, and they would take care of the final accessory production and assembly in their domestic factory.
The headquarters had an established process for producing these devices, with almost every component sourced from dedicated supplier partners. There were specific standards for materials and dimensions, and these manufacturers, mostly long-term partners, offered very consistent product quality.
On the surface, Xinyi seemed to only want involvement in the accessory production and assembly for this batch of hydrogen-oxygen machines, but in reality, they were aiming for specialized cooperation in this area. However, their qualifications clearly didn’t meet the headquarters’ standards, and there was no good opening for them.
Song Xu’s refusal was entirely justified.
The Xinyi CEO didn’t say much at the time, all smiles and friendly as if the matter was settled. But this morning, while on his way, Song Xu received a call from Zhong Yu, informing him that Dayun had signed a procurement contract with Xinyi for lab equipment and supplies, which was already under review by the legal department.
Zhong Yu made it clear that their team had been in talks with Xinyi for a while. Xinyi had initially held firm on pricing but later dropped their offer by two percentage points. Dayun, despite its size, saw no reason to pass up such an advantage. Still, she assured Song Xu it was just a batch of lab equipment—nothing compared to the bigger equipment contracts later.
After hearing this, Qiao Yi found it hard to believe. “But Zhong Yu has a thing for Master Song, doesn’t she? Why the sudden betrayal? And besides, Master Song is usually so composed. How could a mere batch of lab equipment piss him off this much?”
Wen Bairan pursed her lips and glanced over the top of her notebook. Song Xu’s expressionless face seemed no different from usual, but beneath his slightly lowered eyelids was a deep, icy resentment.
She withdrew her gaze and sighed quietly. “It’s because he’s too proud.”
Whether it was Xinyi or Zhong Yu, both had been rejected by Song Xu.
Now they had joined forces to pull one over on him—something anyone would struggle to accept.
He had never lost before.
Qiao Yi thought it made sense. “Wait, how do you know all this? Didn’t he take the call on his way? Were you two together?”
Wen Bairan: “......”
Song Xu had left her place that morning, and Zhong Yu called not long after they got in the car.
She hadn’t heard what was said, but from the way he yanked his seatbelt, it was clear he was furious.
Wen Bairan had never seen him show so much emotion before and couldn’t help feeling surprised.
Song Xu didn’t say much to Zhong Yu during the call, but the cold laugh he let out at the end sent chills down her spine.
“Well, I should thank you then, President Zhong.”
His tone didn’t sound grateful—it sounded murderous.
After hanging up, Wen Bairan asked him the same question Qiao Yi had: How had he offended Zhong Yu?
If Xinyi was making concessions, it could be seen as holding a grudge after failed negotiations. But if Zhong Yu truly had his best interests at heart, she could have easily shut this down. Yet she didn’t. Why?
During the call, Zhong Yu mentioned that lab equipment was the smallest part of the project and that Dayun still trusted bigger brands more for larger machinery.
Well, she said “trust brands,” not “trust Song Xu.”
There was a big difference between the two, and it was a total change from her attitude during last week’s research.
Simply put, she just wanted the machines. Who cared who signed the contract? If she found a downstream distributor for such a large order, they’d be falling over themselves to please her—unlike Song Xu, who seemed determined to make things difficult for her.
Suddenly, a crazy idea crossed Wen Bairan’s mind: Had he really left Zhong Yu alone at the restaurant that Saturday night?
Though she found it hard to believe, she couldn’t think of any other reason why Zhong Yu would turn on him so abruptly in a single day.
She immediately asked, “Weren’t you having dinner with Zhong Yu the night before last? You came to find me—so what happened to her?”
That had definitely been a black Saturday.
Zhong Yu had spent the day shopping and was in high spirits, especially after witnessing the drama between Wen Bairan and her ex-boyfriend that afternoon. That guy clearly was trouble. Regardless of whether Song Xu had any real interest in Wen Bairan, having an ex like that around meant things were not going to work out. After all, nobody wanted unnecessary trouble.
Wen Bairan had been tactful enough to bow out gracefully, sensing Zhong Yu wanted alone time with Song Xu, which almost made Zhong Yu feel sorry for her. But just as she and Song Xu arrived at the restaurant and finished ordering, he suddenly said something came up, paid the bill, and left.
When the waiter came to serve the wine and saw the empty seat across from her, he politely asked if he should remove the extra set of utensils.
Zhong Yu had been livid.
Naturally, Song Xu was unaware of this—or perhaps he knew but didn’t care.
He was stingy with his time, unwilling to waste even a second on people who weren’t important to him.
While Zhong Yu was the head of Dayun’s research team, he had to accompany her. But once the research concluded and the project was handed over to higher-ups, post-work President Zhong was just another alum to him. Why should he care about her feelings?
Keeping his eyes on the road, Song Xu was a little curious about Wen Bairan’s shock.
“I paid the bill,” he said innocently.
“......”
Wen Bairan finally understood: The Xinyi situation was just a warning, a minor reprimand.
Zhong Yu wanted him to know that she stood on the client's side, and that he would pay a price for taking liberties with her.
She truly hadn’t expected Song Xu to go this far.
He seemed... no, he was originally a person who was both book-smart and street-smart. His cold indifference was simply because he had the capital to be that way. Time was precious.
But the thought that he had left Zhong Yu to come find her rendered Wen Bairan speechless.
She was so flattered it made her uneasy.
After a long silence, she quietly asked if there was anything she could do to help.
Song Xu’s expression was still icy, but his tone when speaking to her wasn’t freezing. He wanted Wen Bairan to continue following up on the proton therapy center project—she was the only one in the company who knew about it.
Dayun’s plan to establish a proton therapy center wasn’t set in stone yet. Even if their inference was 99% credible, they couldn’t risk that 1%.
Wen Bairan understood his caution and promised she would keep it confidential.
……
After the meeting, Qiao Yi was still chattering away with gossip.
Wen Bairan could only make up an excuse about overhearing him on the phone in the elevator to shrug it off.
When they returned to their workstations, Qiao Yi had just turned on her computer when the HR manager came to ask her to interview new candidates—yet another secretary for Song Xu.
Qiao Yi said bluntly, "Jennifer, don’t take this the wrong way, but these newcomers you’re bringing in are clearly just sacrificial lambs. Master Song’s mood this week is even worse than last week. Have you forgotten how the last girl cried when she left? I’m afraid if you bring in a few more like this, they’ll all end up leaving in tears. What if they form some kind of revenge squad and sue us for labor disputes?"
Jennifer was also at a loss. "What else can I do? His standards are too high. Only newcomers who don’t know any better are willing to take the job. Everyone else leaves as soon as they hear about the late-night meetings. I’ve really tried my best! If it really doesn’t work out... maybe you could take on the role again? It won’t be for long! He said before he came that he’d bring someone from headquarters, but their visa hasn’t been processed yet. It’ll take another two months."
Qiao Yi was even less willing to suffer through it again. During those three months with Song Xu, she hadn’t had a single full night’s sleep. It had taken her two weeks just to readjust her sleep schedule from the underworld back to the living world, and she refused to go back.
"No way! Find someone else. Our team has been really busy lately!" She pretended to bury herself in her documents.
Jennifer pulled at her arm with a pleading look. "Then what am I supposed to do? I’ve been looking for a secretary since last week. If I can’t find one soon, I’ll probably be sacrificed too. Joy, you’re the best. Please help me out, I’m begging you!"
The two of them bickered for over five minutes without any resolution. Wen Bairan, embodying a team-player attitude, bravely raised her hand.
"How about I do it? I have a lot of project materials to go over with him anyway, so I might as well kill two birds with one stone." She blinked sincerely at them. "Besides... I’ve been relatively free lately. I can handle working overnight."
Jennifer: "......"
Qiao Yi said the project team was busy, but Wen Bairan said she was free—whose word should she take?
"How are you free?" Qiao Yi also asked.
Wen Bairan hemmed and hawed. "Well, I just am."
"Wait, something’s off with you!"
Qiao Yi had sensed it ever since that business trip with Song Xu. If she remembered correctly, Wen Bairan had specifically requested no business trips when she joined the company.
Apparently, her boyfriend didn’t trust her to stay overnight.
It sounded a bit exaggerated at first, but there was that one time she had to go to a neighboring county for work, and Wen Bairan made sure to return the same day. Plus, Qiao Yi later found out that her boyfriend’s family was famously wealthy in Shenjiang’s retail industry. Dating a man from that kind of background, it was completely understandable that there would be strict rules.
First, there was the weekend trip to Xixiang, and now she was volunteering to work overnight shifts.
Overnight! And alone with Song Xu! Given how closely her boyfriend kept tabs on her, if he found out, he’d probably show up at the office furious.
With a keen eye, Qiao Yi noticed the evasive look on Wen Bairan’s face and instantly reached a conclusion: "Vivi, did you break up with your boyfriend?!"