On the other side, Li Xianyu sat in the reception room on the first floor of Sunlight Group, looking rather anxious. She kept straightening her clothes or smoothing her hair, and in less than half an hour, she had changed sitting positions seven or eight times.
"Are you thirsty? Would you like me to get you a glass of water?"
The formally dressed woman standing beside Li Xianyu seemed to notice her unease, so she spoke up to reassure her.
"N-no, thank you."
"You don't need to worry. Mr. Chen went to help the president with something. He should be back soon."
Li Xianyu nodded slightly and asked in a trembling voice, "May I ask if the president you mentioned is the president of Sunlight Group?"
The formally dressed woman replied, "She's Zhao Jinglan, the executive president of Sunlight Group."
"Zhao Jinglan?"
Li Xianyu's eyes shifted as she suddenly remembered. Wasn't that Zhao Jinglan, the 'Rising Star of the Business World, Pearl of the Eight Provinces,' who had appeared on her family's television a few days ago?
After about two or three hours, Li Xianyu had grown restless from waiting when a commotion came from the lobby outside.
The elevator doors chimed open, and an incomparably beautiful, icy-cold woman stepped out.
The people walking around the elevator stopped where they were and bowed slightly toward her.
"Miss!"
The cold beauty merely gave a slight nod, offering no other response.
Only when Chen Lie stepped out of the elevator did the frost on her face melt away.
"Chen Lie, you were a huge help to me today. It's almost lunchtime, so why don't you join your big sister for a simple meal in the cafeteria?"
Chen Lie gave a quiet "Mm" and said, "Then I'll leave it to the host."
Seeing Chen Lie appear, Li Xianyu immediately pushed open the reception room door and hurried over to him.
Up close, Li Xianyu realized that the stunning woman standing beside Chen Lie was none other than Zhao Jinglan herself, the "Rising Star of the Business World, Pearl of the Eight Provinces."
When Li Xianyu suddenly emerged from the reception room, the formally dressed woman behind her hurried after her as well.
She stopped abruptly in front of Zhao Jinglan, lowered her head slightly, and greeted her. "President!"
Zhao Jinglan gave a slight nod, but her gaze shifted to Li Xianyu. She narrowed her eyes slightly. "Chen Lie, is this your younger sister? She's a pretty girl, but she doesn't seem to look much like the photo."
Zhao Jinglan's glance put Li Xianyu under immense psychological pressure. It was like being glared at by an exam proctor during one of her humanities exams.
Li Xianyu knew that this was probably the authority that came with being in charge of hundreds of thousands of employees, cultivated over time.
"U-Upperclassman."
Unable to meet Zhao Jinglan's gaze, Li Xianyu stepped behind Chen Lie.
"She's a classmate of my younger sister."
Chen Lie stepped forward, shielding Li Xianyu behind him.
"Oh, so she's your sister's classmate. Come join us for a meal, then."
As she spoke, Zhao Jinglan gave an instruction to her assistant, then led the way toward the Sunlight Group cafeteria with Chen Lie.
"Come on. It's just a simple meal."
Chen Lie spoke to Li Xianyu, then followed after her.
Li Xianyu hurried along after them, her shock beyond words.
Chen Xingyao's family was about as well-off as hers, if not worse. So how had Chen Xingyao's older brother, Chen Lie, come to know someone as important as Zhao Jinglan?
Chen Lie and Zhao Jinglan arrived side by side at the Sunlight Group cafeteria.
The entire cafeteria was empty. Zhao Jinglan picked a seat at random and had Chen Lie and Li Xianyu sit down.
As they talked, employees began bringing dishes to the table. In just two or three minutes, it was piled high with exquisite food—at least thirty or forty dishes.
"Try some, Chen Lie. Since I didn't know what flavors you liked, I had the cafeteria make a bit of everything. It's all employee meals, so I hope you won't mind."
Zhao Jinglan raised a hand, inviting Chen Lie to start eating.
"Thank you for the meal."
Chen Lie didn't stand on ceremony. He glanced over the table and saw that all the dishes were Nutritional Meals, so he began helping himself.
Resting her chin in her palm, Zhao Jinglan watched Chen Lie pick up food and asked, "Chen Lie, I've read your school's evaluation of you. It says your Blood Qi Value isn't very high. Is that true?"
"It is." Chen Lie nodded.
Zhao Jinglan wasn't surprised by his honesty. For a Divine Sense Master, what did a high or low Blood Qi Value mean, anyway?
"Then are these Nutritional Meals enough to meet your nutritional needs?" Zhao Jinglan asked again.
"More or less," Chen Lie replied as he picked up another bite.
Zhao Jinglan turned her attention to Li Xianyu, who sat anxiously beside Chen Lie.
"What's your name, little miss?"
"Me? I'm Li Xianyu."
"Why are you so nervous, little Xianyu? Do I look scary?"
"N-no." Li Xianyu shook her head repeatedly.
"These are all mild Nutritional Meals. They'll do you some good, so don't be so reserved. Just make yourself at home."
"Mm, o-okay."
Li Xianyu picked up the bowl and chopsticks in front of her and carefully followed Chen Lie's lead.
Though young, she wasn't naive. Zhao Jinglan had told her to treat Sunlight Group like her home, but if she really did, she'd be a fool.
As president of Sunlight Group, Zhao Jinglan could be said to have at least sixty percent of Dongchuan Province's population operating within the plans she had laid out.
Sunlight Group was a massive corporation spanning the Chuanshan Eight Provinces. Add together all the upstream and downstream businesses that depended on it, the distributors and small retailers selling its products, and its nearly one million employees, and the number would be astronomical. If Sunlight Group ever ground to a halt, half of Dongchuan Province would probably be paralyzed.
Li Xianyu absolutely didn't believe that the president of Sunlight Group, who commanded hundreds of thousands of employees, was a benevolent person.
At the same time, she knew that though Zhao Jinglan seemed approachable, she was an insurmountable mountain to an ordinary resident of Dongchuan Province like herself.
Facing someone like her, Li Xianyu couldn't help feeling inferior. She grew uneasy and didn't dare look up.
By contrast, Chen Lie seemed completely at ease. Though he was dressed plainly, he was neither servile nor overbearing. Standing in the same frame as Zhao Jinglan, he showed no trace of timidity or inferiority, as if he really were at home, leisurely eating his meal.
Just then, Zhao Jinglan's female assistant came over to the table.
"President, there's an issue with Manager Zhang's matter. What do you think...?"
Zhao Jinglan raised a hand to her assistant. "Just say it. Chen Lie isn't an outsider."
"Yes." The assistant hurriedly explained, "Manager Zhang has approached several members of the Provincial Youth Genius Group about endorsing the group's new medicinal liquid. Today, he finally managed to invite Xu Yuanhao, one of the Genius Group members, to the company.
"They were about to sign the endorsement agreement for the new medicinal liquid, but before signing, Xu Yuanhao suddenly asked to meet you."
Zhao Jinglan frowned slightly. "Does Zhang Zhen mean he wants me to handle this personally, too?"
The assistant replied, "Yes. Manager Zhang's implication was that if you don't meet Xu Yuanhao, they may not be able to finalize the endorsement deal for the new medicinal liquid."
Zhao Jinglan snorted. "Then tell him to get lost. He's just made it into the Provincial Genius Group. Does he really think he's someone important?
"Tell Zhang Zhen that if he can't do his job, he should hand in his resignation early and pack up."
"Yes!" The assistant nodded repeatedly, then leaned in to speak quietly. "But, President, Xu Yuanhao is a Grandmaster Seed, after all, and a member of the Xu Family who's being groomed as a key talent. If you have the time, there'd be no harm in meeting him."
Zhao Jinglan waved a hand, signaling the assistant to say no more. "Being a Grandmaster Seed doesn't mean he'll definitely become a Grandmaster one day. Normally, I wouldn't mind meeting him.
"But right now, I'm entertaining an honored guest."
"I understand."
The assistant responded and stepped aside.
Li Xianyu stole a glance at Chen Lie. By rights, shouldn't Chen Lie have said something like, "Work comes first. Go ahead, don't worry about me"?
But Chen Lie acted as if nothing had happened. He didn't even look up, just kept eating without reacting at all.
This upperclassman didn't seem to have much social awareness.
The meal lasted about an hour. Li Xianyu only ate a few bites from the huge spread, while Zhao Jinglan didn't touch her chopsticks once. Chen Lie alone nearly cleared all thirty or forty dishes.
Setting down his bowl and chopsticks, Chen Lie wiped his mouth and stood up. He turned to Li Xianyu beside him. "I'm done. Let's go."
"Huh? O-okay."
Li Xianyu hurriedly stood up too.
"General Manager Zhao, thank you for your generous hospitality. I have something to take care of today, so I'll take my leave."
Zhao Jinglan stood as well. She beckoned over the female assistant who had been standing nearby and gave her a few instructions.
Then she took out a card and handed it to Chen Lie.
"Chen Lie, my personal contact information is on this card. If you run into any trouble, you can contact me. Your big sister would be more than happy to help you deal with it."
Chen Lie took the card from Zhao Jinglan and tucked it into his pocket, giving her a nod.
"I've arranged for my assistant to take you back. Come with me."
Zhao Jinglan escorted Chen Lie and Li Xianyu outside Sunlight Tower to the Sunlight Group Plaza, where a Sunlight hovercraft was waiting.
"Chen Lie, you can take this Sunlight hovercraft back. Remember to keep in touch!"
Chen Lie nodded, boarded the hovercraft, and said to Zhao Jinglan, "Thank you for your thoughtfulness, General Manager Zhao."
Zhao Jinglan smiled warmly. "If you really think I care about you, then call me Jinglan instead. Calling me 'General Manager Zhao' all the time makes us sound too distant."
After Zhao Jinglan insisted again and again, Chen Lie could only humor her. "Jinglan."
Chen Lie's change of address pleased Zhao Jinglan immensely. She personally saw Chen Lie and Li Xianyu aboard the hovercraft.
After it departed, the female assistant came over to Zhao Jinglan and couldn't help asking, "President, who is that young man? Why do you value him so much?"
"I don't know!"
Zhao Jinglan shook her head.
She had gone so far as to set aside her status and cultivate a relationship with him. By rights, even a martial arts prodigy like Xu Yuanhao, a member of the Provincial Youth Genius Group, should have felt honored. Yet Chen Lie was completely impervious to all persuasion; even getting him to change how he addressed her to bring them closer had been a struggle.
It was as if she weren't dealing with a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy, but with a sly old business fox with decades of experience. It was truly baffling.
Before you continue