B City, Entrepreneur Park. Yiju Science and Technology Building.
It was already after office hours, but Xiangpeng was still seated at his desk with no intention of leaving anytime soon. A web page with an eye-catching picture in the centre was loaded on his computer screen.
Heâd sent Shen Jingbinâs information to the higher-ups. Once they were done discussing, they would decide on whether she should be invited to be the gameâs ambassador.
Some of the higher-ups believed that Shen Jingbinâs background was way too powerful and werenât willing to proceed so hastily. The rest of them, on the other hand, believed her beauty and background would give them the best marketing edge and were adamant in inviting her.
Xiangpengâs direct superior supported the latter group. Even though the company had yet to come to an agreement, his superior personally felt that itâd be far too much of a waste if they allowed this chance to invite Shen Jingbin slip by just like that. Hence, he contacted Xiangpeng on the sly and had him get in touch with her. And, if possible, for him to dig out more about her in the process.
Xiangpeng sprang into action the very night he received his orders and began by scouring the internet for information related to Shen Jingbin.
Donât ask him why he didnât just call Shen Jinbin1. Know yourself, know your enemy, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. He had no intention of taking any action before he had sufficient information on her.
Shen Jingbin maintained a low profile. The people from the Management Department knew her personality well, so they rarely talked about her in public, opting instead to discuss her amongst themselves in private. After all, there were all sorts of flamers online nowadays that were looking for something to rant about even if there wasnât any gossip. Once there was though, theyâd go all out to flame whatever it is theyâd set their sights on; their Goddess being slandered was not something her fans wanted to see. Students from other departments, on the other hand, didnât even get the chance to see her.
Hence, the only information about her online were the ones that had been carefully filtered and released by her juniors that were also her fans.
This was also why others had been unable to dig up any information on Shen Jingbin when she was trending on Weibo last time.
However, this time around, when Shen Jingbin and Zhao Chengning appeared in the restaurant without notice, many other people that werenât from the Management Department caught sight of her, allowing Xiangpeng to find quite a few posts about her on the forum after just entering a few keywords.
Overcome with joy, he immediately clicked on the post with the highest amount of views.
After the OP had finished excitedly describing what took place at the restaurant in their post, two photos followed it which were clearly taken in secret.
Even though the picture was taken in secret, it wasnât able to cover up their good looks and disposition. Xiangpeng had been constantly looking at Shen Jingbinâs face for the past few days, so he recognised her the instant he saw her in the picture. The guy beside her, however, was the one that truly shocked him.
He was quite familiar with Zhao Chengning after being classmates with him for three years. Even though Zhao Chengning seemed to be courteous towards everyone, in truth he was actually very cold. Whether it was done intentionally or otherwise, it always felt like he was distancing himself from others.
But in the picture, a handsome man was sitting beside a woman with a slightly bowed head, which made it look as if he was talking to her. His eyes were also continuously trained on the woman by his side. Despite being a step apart from one another, the two of them seemed to exude a sense of harmony that transcended the bounds of his computer screen and seemed to come right at him.
Scrolling his mouse, the screen shifted to the next picture.
It was another picture that was taken in secret. Apart from Shen Jingbin and Zhao Chengning, a customer that was eating and a graceful looking waiter were captured in the frame. However, the graceful looking waiter was relegated to being a background ornament when compared to Shen Jingbin and Zhao Chengning.
As they were about to head towards the private dining rooms a customer had hurriedly passed by them, so Zhao Chengning, whoâd been following behind Shen Jingbin, stretched out his hand to shield her. This one casual motion of his had separated her from the customer that was hurrying along, while also oozing protectiveness.
Heâd never seen Zhao Chengning being so mindful of someone else before.
Scrolling further yielded nothing other than a few pictures of their backs, so he exited the thread and entered another one. The pictures that were taken in secret were pretty much all the same, just with differing angles.
However, these pictures were enough to give him a rough idea.
Fishing out his phone from the bunch of graph papers on his table, Xiangpengâs fingers swiped across the screen and found Zhao Chengningâs number.
Heâd gotten Zhao Chengningâs number previously at Li Nanjingâs party.
The phone rang for a while before the call went through.
"Hello?"
Zhao Chengningâs voice didnât sound very happy and Xiangpeng could also hear the faint sounds of a woman sobbing in the background. He looked at the time suspiciously. Making sure he wasnât mistaken, Xiangpeng asked carefully, "Great God Zhao, itâs me, Xiangpeng. Are you free to talk now?"
Holding his phone, Zhao Chengningâs temples throbbed. He looked at Jian Cishu sobbing on his bed and stood up, making his way towards to the balcony. "What is it, speak."
"Itâs like this, remember the girl I was asking you about the other time? I found her online..."
Upon hearing that, Zhao Chengningâs brows knitted together. "Howâd you find her?"
Xiangpeng could tell he wasnât happy about it. "Thatâs not important. Mm, the reason Iâm calling you today is that our company would genuinely like to work with her. I saw a picture of the two of you together and you guys looked pretty close. On account of us being classmates, help me put in a good word with her," Xiangpeng tried to say things in a roundabout manner, but Zhao Chengning clearly wasnât on the same wavelength as him.
"What pictures?"
Bro! Isnât your focus a little off!? Black lines appeared on Xiangpengâs head.
"I saw it on A Universityâs forums. Donât you know about it?"
Zhao Chengning made a mental note and thought for a bit. "Since youâre able to find out information about her, then you should be able to get her contact details on your own... Call her yourself, I canât help you with this."
"Itâs not like Iâm in a relationship with her anyway," He thought to himself.
"Then... you donât mind me asking?" Xiangpeng cautiously asked.
"Why would I mind?" At present, he wasnât in a position to mind it!
Zhao Chengning didnât know whether to laugh or cry when he heard Xiangpeng repeat what Xuya told him last time. So that was how Xuya resolved it.
Itâs a deliberate typo. The author probably did this to show how little Xiangpeng really knew about her â©