"Great! Now that's a good colleague! A true member of the family!"
Having finally dumped this mess on someone else, Liao Yang excitedly led the applause for Pei Yang. Thunderous clapping erupted. Of the hundred-odd people in the Exhibition Planning Department, everyone except Pei Yang had survived the ordeal.
After the meeting, Gu Xin wanted to slap himself twice. "I must've been out of my mind to tell you all that. You knew it was a fire pit, and you jumped right in anyway."
Pei Yang knew Feng Wanting wasn't the way Gu Xin described him. He said softly, "He's not some other member of the board. He's Director Feng."
"So what if he's Director Feng? Aside from being a little better-looking, how's he different from any other director?"
Pei Yang muttered, "At the very least, he's not moody, bad-tempered, and stuck-up like you said."
Gu Xin was stunned. "Pei Yang, how could you possibly know more than I do? The fact that it's Director Feng is all the more reason to stay away!"
"Why?"
"The FK Group has thirteen directors. Twelve of them are stuffy old men. President Feng is the only one who's young-the very, very youngest."
Pei Yang said, "So?"
"Exhibition planning is an emerging industry to begin with. If one of those twelve old men took over, they wouldn't know anything, and you might be able to bluff your way through. But Director Feng! Do you know what they call him in the industry? The Hexagonal Warrior! He has no weaknesses. In plain English, there's nothing he isn't good at!"
Gu Xin sighed. "Forget it. There's no point telling you all this now. Once you've dealt with Director Feng, you'll understand. You'll regret it soon enough. And don't think knowing Wu Rui means you're all set. However high-ranking or impressive he is, he's still just a secretary. At most, he can keep you from getting bullied at work."
"How do you know I know Secretary Wu?" Pei Yang asked warily.
"Ah... well..." Gu Xin guiltily scratched the tip of his nose, then left with a swish of his ponytail. "I didn't say anything, and you didn't hear anything!"
After all that talking, Gu Xin had only one point: the people on the board were terrifying, and Pei Yang would get yelled at. Pei Yang didn't care about any of that. Feng Wanting wouldn't be harsh with him anyway.
Finally having a legitimate reason to contact Feng Wanting, Pei Yang quickly sent him a message: [I might be the one coordinating with you on next month's work.]
Everything around him was utterly quiet. On his phone screen, a red exclamation mark appeared before Pei Yang's eyes.
"W has enabled friend verification. You are not yet friends with him. Please send a friend request first. You can only chat once he accepts your request."
"..."
Pei Yang stood frozen for a long while before it sank in. Feng Wanting had deleted him.
Feng Wanting had deleted him!?
Fuck.
In all his life, more people had asked for Pei Yang's WeChat than he could count on both hands, but this was his first taste of being deleted.
His anger shot up so fast that even the jar of Repair Ointment on his desk couldn't save him from wanting to kill someone. He turned and headed for the elevators. There were hardly any people using them at this hour. Pei Yang stepped inside and took his anger out on the button for the 46th Floor, jabbing it hard several times.
For every jab, the cold elevator gave him the same response: "Access denied, access denied, access denied, access denied."
Pei Yang stomped back across the office area in a few strides and barged into Liao Yang's office.
Liao Yang, who had been secretly reading a novel behind his desk, was so startled that he dropped the book. Once he saw who it was, he sighed in relief. "Oh, it's you, young man. Why didn't you knock?"
"Lend me your Employee ID Badge!" Pei Yang demanded without preamble.
"What do you need my Employee ID Badge for?" Pei Yang's imperious attitude nearly left Liao Yang confused about which of them was the other's boss.
"I need to see Director Feng."
"Now? The department hasn't even drafted a proposal yet. What are you going to see him for?"
Pei Yang had never had much patience, and what little he possessed had vanished completely at the sight of that scarlet exclamation mark. With Liao Yang dragging his feet over handing him an Employee ID Badge, Pei Yang grew so impatient that he simply reached out and unclipped it himself. Once he had it, he turned and left.
"Hey!" Liao Yang was in his forties. How could he possibly catch a young man? He could only watch helplessly, left with nothing but a lanyard around his neck.
Pei Yang swiped Liao Yang's Employee ID Badge and made it to the 46th Floor without a hitch. The instant the elevator doors opened, he heard a furious, full-throated shout. "Feng Wanting! Are you fucking insane, or has your brain rusted over? How dare you stoop so low as to have someone follow me!"
Pei Yang's brows knitted. It was a woman's voice. Could this be one of Feng Wanting's romantic entanglements...?
Remembering the woman in the red dress from last time, Pei Yang felt the anger building in his chest ready to explode.
Just how many romantic entanglements did Feng Wanting have?
Pei Yang had already gotten fairly familiar with the layout of the 46th Floor. Restraining the urge to charge straight up and ask Feng Wanting why he'd deleted him, he calmly took a detour and poked his head around a corner. From this angle, he could see the two people arguing in the hallway without being spotted.
The difference in their builds was so obvious that Feng Wanting completely blocked the shouting woman from view. Pei Yang couldn't see what she looked like. He only saw Feng Wanting take her wrist. "Don't make a scene here. Come to my office."
"Are you embarrassed by me?" The woman shook Feng Wanting off. He clearly hadn't been holding her very tightly, because she broke free at once. "If I'm not embarrassed, what are you embarrassed about? What, are you afraid I'll run my mouth and let your employees hear your secrets?"
Pei Yang was speechless. It was like watching a TV drama-a terrible one that rolled melodrama, wealthy families, and tired clichés into one.
"I'll say it again. I took those photos myself."
"Just because you took them yourself, you think you can send them to my father?! You're trying to ruin me!"
"If you dared to do it, why don't you dare admit it?" Feng Wanting said unhurriedly. "I merely let Uncle Lin see what his daughter has been doing during her engagement. I didn't fabricate anything, nor did I slander you. What exactly was inappropriate about that?"
After listening for a while, Pei Yang more or less understood. That woman was Feng Wanting's "fiancée," Song Yixiao's benefactor, and the heiress to the Lin Group.
"Feng Wanting! Stop fucking pretending! We both know perfectly well that we have no feelings for each other. The engagement was arranged without either of us knowing, and you're impotent to boot! You want me to marry you and live like a widow? Dream on!"
"..."
Impotent?
The corner of Pei Yang's mouth twitched involuntarily. To avoid getting married, Feng Wanting had actually told a lie like that.
They were in a hallway, where someone could pass by at any moment. Lin You was being so loud that if another employee heard her, wouldn't Feng Wanting lose all dignity? Yet Pei Yang saw that Feng Wanting wasn't flustered in the slightest. He didn't even make a move to cover her mouth.
"Isn't this a good thing?" Feng Wanting said mildly. "You don't want to marry me, and I don't want to marry you. This way, we both get what we want."
"You mean you get what you want!" Lin You roared. "Because of this bullshit, all my bank cards have been frozen! Meanwhile, you get to play the victim. Feng Wanting, you're disgusting. If you didn't have that condition, you'd probably be even wilder than I am! How do you have the nerve to go tattling to my father?!"
Before you continue