Chapter 17: Comforting Her

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◎ A Raise for You ◎

The man beside her chuckled softly, his mood seeming quite pleasant.

Under normal circumstances, Cen Mo would have been very surprised, because most of the time this man wore a cold expression; seeing a ‘smile’ on his face was rather unusual and out of character.

However, given her own recent embarrassment, she had no energy to think about anything else.

Cen Mo was generally not a shy person.

She wasn’t a young girl in love, nor did she have many reasons to feel bashful. Even when she made mistakes at work, she always believed that promptly correcting them was what mattered—feeling ashamed was just a waste of time and served no purpose.

Yet today, for some unknown reason, she felt off, unsure whether it was because the man had seen through her thoughts earlier or because of her foolish slip in forgetting to close her mouth.

Or perhaps both? Sitting up straighter and straighter, she felt her ears burning hot but forced herself to remain calm, restraining from touching them.

The feeling was unbearably uncomfortable, but fortunately, she did not blush easily and still looked fairly composed.

The car was moving smoothly. Up front, the driver maintained a calm expression, eyes fixed ahead, without so much as a glance in the rearview mirror—a truly dedicated professional.

Cen Mo exhaled softly, suddenly feeling a bit annoyed.

She was someone who usually slept well, yet last night she hardly got any rest and was even woken by a chaotic dream—someone had barged into her dream and pulled at her collar! Pulling in real life was bad enough, but even in her dreams? It seemed there was no place she could escape.

Thinking again about how Su Xingzhi had been able to read her mind, surely from noticing her expression earlier, she felt a twinge of frustration and, for the first time in her life, thought she might have been a bit foolish.

The more she thought about it, the more she refused to look at the man beside her. Sitting upright with a rich internal dialogue, her face remained utterly expressionless.

Only when the car stopped was she reminded: “Secretary Cen, we’ve arrived at the company.”

It was the driver speaking.

“Oh, okay.” Cen Mo glanced outside and immediately recognized the familiar Yachuang Building.

The seat beside her was already empty; Su Xingzhi had gotten out at some unknown moment.

Only then did she breathe a long sigh of relief, reaching up to touch her earlobe, which was still warm and likely still flushed.

Hopefully no one would notice, she thought.

Straightening her clothes, she lowered her head and climbed out of the car. It was already past noon, the perfect time for a lunch break.

Having slept poorly last night, she had woken up listless and hadn’t had time to prepare a lunch box. She was planning to eat at the company cafeteria but figured she might have missed the meal rush.

Instead, she crossed the street to a relatively clean noodle shop, ordered a bowl of dry noodles, found it quite tasty, and finished it all.

Still carrying the bag with the suit Su Xingzhi had soiled earlier, she stopped by a nearby dry cleaner to drop it off.

This shop operated on a membership basis; upon seeing her, the clerk immediately approached. “Is this Mr. Su’s suit? Oh, you don’t even need to bring it here personally—we can pick it up ourselves.”

They promised to clean it as quickly as possible and deliver it to the company.

After handling these errands, it was nearly time to resume work, so Cen Mo returned to the company building.

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As Cen Mo was heading upstairs, she was approached by someone—none other than Chen Yangqing, who had been her mentor.

Cen Mo smiled politely. “Mentor, do you need something?”

“No need to call me that, Secretary Cen. I didn’t really teach you much; it feels a bit awkward,” Chen Yangqing said, scratching his head with some embarrassment. “Besides, I have a favor to ask of you.”

Although Cen Mo was still a complete newcomer to the company, a newcomer through and through, her abilities spoke for themselves. After these days of working together, any discerning person could see she was no ordinary employee.

Not only was she adept at smoothly managing various relationships and handling tasks flawlessly, but more importantly, she had earned the president’s trust, shadowing him almost everywhere, even traveling in the same car.

Such treatment was rare among the company’s top brass.

On the other hand, some people scoffed, thinking she had merely used tricks to climb the ladder and wasn’t impressive at all.

Chen Yangqing, however, sided with the first view because he had genuinely interacted with Cen Mo and knew she was a smart, ambitious person—someone who would shine wherever she went.

As for the rumors, he was half-believing and half-doubting, but whether true or false, it didn’t concern him. Maintaining a good relationship with Secretary Cen couldn’t hurt.

Seeing his attitude, Cen Mo knew he was a sensible person and, having received help from him before, naturally wanted to return the favor.

She nodded at once. “Sure, what is it? How can I help?”

“Follow me,” Chen Yangqing said, leading the way.

He was quite capable, having joined the company only a few years ago and already a supervisor, clearly ambitious.

Taking a folder from his desk, Chen Yangqing opened it and showed her. “Secretary Cen, the director assigned me a project to complete independently. It will probably go directly to the president for review, but I’m not confident about it. Could you take a look?”

Cen Mo flipped through the pages.

Though not her field of expertise, she understood the general content and structure, so didn’t examine it too closely.

After a quick scan, she pointed out a mistake: “You seem to have omitted a significant period in the company’s development history here. You should check the archives for that.”

“Okay, okay.” Chen Yangqing nodded, increasingly impressed. The fact she remembered such subtle details was really exceptional.

Cen Mo excelled at written content but couldn’t help much beyond that. After flipping a few more pages, she returned the folder and added, “From what I know of President Su, he probably prefers a simple and clear style.”

“Simple and clear?” Chen Yangqing repeated.

“Yes,” Cen Mo nodded, advising, “So you might want to abandon fancy layouts and expressions, reduce the length, and present the content concisely in clear, easy-to-understand bullet points. That would be better.”

Chen Yangqing pondered this for a long while.

Most bosses expected employees to put in more effort; if a layout wasn’t complicated enough, they’d suspect laziness and reject it outright.

It seemed this new president favored simplicity.

“Thank you, Secretary Cen. I’ll revise it right away.” Having realized this, Chen Yangqing was even more grateful.

Just as she was about to leave, she unexpectedly overheard footsteps from across and several female colleagues huddled at a desk, whispering about her.

To protect privacy, Yachuang’s workstations had high partitions that almost enclosed each person, making it impossible to see each other.

They probably didn’t realize she was nearby.

Cen Mo showed no immediate reaction, but Chen Yangqing looked awkward and moved to stop them from talking.

She gestured for him to hold on and listen to what they were saying, but soon felt disappointed—same old remarks, no new insights.

“I’m heading off, Supervisor Chen,” she said, greeting him briefly, then walked away without caring if they heard her.

...

This caused her to arrive slightly late. As she sat down at the secretary desk, the internal line phone rang.

“Come in,” the man said directly.

Cen Mo adjusted her expression to appear calm, knocked lightly on the door, and when no one answered, entered.

Behind the large desk was no one, so she glanced around and saw Su Xingzhi emerging from the adjacent lounge.

Probably because he had just changed clothes, he wore no suit jacket; his sleeves were casually rolled up, revealing a slender forearm as he fastened his watch.

His crisp white shirt was neatly tucked into his trousers, with not a wrinkle in sight. His long legs stood straight, and even standing casually, he looked like a model posing for a photo shoot.

“What kept you?” His expression unchanged, he asked lightly.

“I was delayed downstairs; apologies, President Su.” Cen Mo stood straight and replied immediately.

Her answer was quick, but her lips moved without any expression, as if reading from a script with utmost seriousness.

Su Xingzhi furrowed his brows slightly. Since his question in the car, Secretary Cen had remained like this.

Previously, she was relaxed around him, but now she straightened her back, spoke only when addressed, and her face was expressionless—it all seemed very off.

Was she angry?

He thought for a few seconds and concluded that she probably was.

Cen Mo was completely unaware of his thoughts. Her behavior was instinctive—the more embarrassed she felt, the more composed she tried to be. She continued in a serious tone: “Is there anything else you need me for, President Su?”

Note the respectful formality in her words.

Su Xingzhi frowned again. After fastening his watch, he rolled down his sleeves and buttoned them neatly, then adjusted his collar and nodded toward the lounge.

“Help me organize my wardrobe. Cut off all the tags inside the clothes.”

“The tags at the collar, right? Got it.” Cen Mo nodded promptly and quickly stepped into the lounge.

She had been here multiple times. It was essentially a small bedroom, fully equipped with the man’s clothing and daily necessities, arranged cleanly and spotless.

Against the wall stood a modest wardrobe divided into upper and lower sections, hanging some spare suits and shirts, all in pristine condition.

Cen Mo took down each garment, laid them on the sofa, and then retrieved a small pair of scissors. She carefully turned the collar inside out and used the blade edge to gently wear down the black stitching holding the tags.

Removing these was actually quite tricky, as they were sewn tightly to the fabric. Cutting directly could easily damage the material, so she proceeded cautiously until the threads snapped, then pulled off the tags and cleaned up the leftover threads on the clothes.