Shen Yanqing · Chat

The venetian blinds sliced the 10:30 AM sunlight into narrow parallel bars, and the air conditioning rustled the thick stack of construction blueprints at the corner of the table. In the weekly meeting room of the Ordine Group's design department, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense. 　　At the far end of the long table, 你 kept their eyes downcast, twirling a black pen while calculating how to make their mark at this new company. You had been here for exactly one week, having navigated the entire hiring process on pure merit alone just to prove to your family that you didn't need to answer to a father who spent all his time busy with investments—much less deal with the woman he had brought home half a month ago. 　　Right at that moment, the heavy wooden door of the conference room was pushed open from outside. 　　Accompanied by the crisp clicking of high heels in the hallway, the scent of pristine fabric mingled with subtle wood notes drifted into the room. Project Manager Zhou Manning and colleague Chen Jiahe, who had been seated, stood up immediately and greeted respectfully, "Director Shen." 　　The pen between 你's fingers froze abruptly, and you looked up in shock. 　　A tailored black suit nipped at the waist, a wine-red shirt, side-parted long wavy hair, and that long silver dangling earring swaying gently with her stride. Half a month ago at your father's private dinner party, she had worn that exact same earring. Back then, your father had smiled and introduced her: "This is Shen Yanqing. From now on, she's family." 　　Out of all the places you could have chosen, your direct superior at Ordine was actually her?! 　　A wave of absurdity shot straight up 你's spine to the back of your head, and a thin film of cold sweat immediately broke out across your palms. How could it be such a coincidence? Given her meticulous, measured nature—the kind of person who weighed every sip of tea—there was no way she would have waited until today to show herself if she had known you were here. Which meant HR really had hired you entirely on your own merit... but that merit had just delivered you straight into the wolf's den. 　　Shen Yanqing set her black notebook flat down at the head of the table. Her greyish-brown eyes swept past the others and landed squarely at the end of the long table. Catching the guarded expression on your face—looking every bit like an animal whose tail had just been stepped on—a faint flicker of amusement crossed her eyes. 　　"Sit." Shen Yanqing pulled out the leather chair and muttered softly to you in Cantonese, "Sit down." She then switched back to businesslike Mandarin, her gaze sweeping toward the projector screen. "We are reviewing only two things today: the detail designs for the first batch of commercial mock-up zones, and the supplementary agreement from the General Executive Office." 　　She had no intention whatsoever of acknowledging your personal connection here. 　　Watching her upright back, 你's initial shock quickly receded, replaced by a surge of defiant obstinacy. Pretending not to know each other? Fine. At the office, you're the untouchable Director Shen and I'm just a newly hired assistant. If you want to play by corporate rules, let's see who breaks whom first. 　　"Who verified the material sample list for the common areas?" Shen Yanqing tapped her slender fingers against the spreadsheet on the table. 　　"I did." 你 leaned back into the chair, crossing your legs and deliberately omitting any honorific title, your tone carrying an edge of provocation. "I checked the color codes and specifications across all three vendor options. Every single one meets warehouse intake standards." 　　Shen Yanqing looked at you. No title, a slouching posture, and an answer brimming with boundary-testing insolence. 　　"The standards are met, but why wasn't the third vendor's delivery delay from last year noted in the remarks?" Shen Yanqing slid the A4 sheet out and shoved it across the table right in front of you, her voice freezing cold. "The supplementary agreement in the appendix is missing two reference numbers. Did the handover procedure Zhou Manning taught you allow you to submit documents with blank fields?" 　　Beside you, Chen Jiahe held his breath, and Zhou Manning frowned deeply. 　　Having your oversight called out publicly—and being scrutinized from above by the very woman you resented most—made the tips of 你's ears burn hot. Clearly, the commercial team hadn't finished filing their signatures yet; you could have easily taken the graceful exit and admitted the mistake. But looking into Shen Yanqing's unruffled eyes, the apology twisted on your tongue. 　　"Commercial only finished their sign-offs at the end of the day yesterday. Delaying the discussion of core terms over two reference numbers was obviously not worth the tradeoff," 你 retorted word by word, lifting your chin slightly. "As for the delayed delivery, the vendor provided a typhoon force majeure clause, which I personally verified. Does Director Shen only look at the surface of documents without considering real-world circumstances?" 　　Zhou Manning's pen stopped, and she frantically signaled you with her eyes. Everyone at Ordine knew Director Shen despised subordinates taking unauthorized liberties. 　　Shen Yanqing's fingers on the tabletop shifted slightly. Looking at your remarkably bright, defiant eyes, she felt no anger; instead, a deeply concealed interest stirred within her. Smart, quick on your feet, ostensibly arguing about work when in reality you were targeting her as an individual. Using defiance to probe her boundaries, testing whether she would dare use her authority to crush you in public. 　　"Meeting adjourned." Shen Yanqing closed her notebook, her voice unnervingly calm. "Manning and Jiahe, go oversee the prototyping. The new assistant stays behind to bring the raw samples over for cross-verification." 　　It was an effortless display of absolute suppression. She didn't lose her temper, nor did she give you room to argue further, pinning your dynamic strictly into place as superior and subordinate with the phrase "new assistant." Zhou Manning patted your shoulder as she passed: "Don't push your luck." 　　The frosted glass door clicked shut. Only the two of you remained in the conference room. 　　Shen Yanqing stood up holding her thermos, walking unhurriedly along the long table until she reached you. Her high-heeled leather shoes made no sound against the carpet, and that crisp woody scent enveloped you at once, the sheer pressure closing in right before your face. 　　"Enjoyed talking back during the meeting?" Shen Yanqing leaned down, resting one hand against the back of your chair. Her greyish-brown eyes locked onto your gaze at close range, her long silver earring brushing millimeters from your cheek. 　　"Dodging your father, refusing to go where he arranged, running off to Ordine to apply all on your own." She bent her knuckles and lightly rapped the desk, her voice slow, low, and dangerous. "When you recognized me just now, were you thinking... that I wouldn't dare do anything to you?" 　　She straightened up, looking down at you from her full height. 　　"No matter how much of a tantrum you throw at home, once you walk through Ordine's doors and sign your employment contract, you answer to me. That 'Director Shen' you swallowed during the meeting—say it again, right now." She dropped the A4 sheet onto the desk in front of you. "Once you've said it, stand up and read aloud every single mistake on these three pages, line by line."