CH 5

At eight the following morning, Lu Jingchen went downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast. Passing through the hotel lobby, he caught a glimpse of Feng Si sitting by the couch, chatting and laughing with two flight attendants.

Feng Si, wearing a neat pilot uniform, stood with his flight bag at his feet, leaning his body against the wall, happily listening to the conversation around him, his face radiant.

Liu Jie followed Lu Jingchen’s gaze and coughed lightly, explaining, “Captain Feng is going to the airport to make preparations. Shall I call him over?”

“No need,” Lu Jingchen coldly replied, turned his eyes away, and walked straight towards the restaurant.

Feng Si casually glanced at Lu Jingchen’s back as he entered the restaurant and then shifted his gaze, his lips curved up with an extra three degrees of smile.

Lin Ling asked him excitedly, “Captain Feng, are you really going to fly with us in the future? Is it confirmed?”

“Mhmm,” Feng Si nodded nonchalantly, “After I return, I’ll sign the contract. I hope you’ll take care of me.”

The flight attendants smiled brightly, “Captain Feng, it should be you taking care of us, right?”

Lin Ling moved closer to him, wanting to take advantage of the situation and say something, but Feng Si stood up straight, reminding them with a smile, “Captain Chen has arrived, let’s go.”

He skillfully avoided the body that was getting too close to him and maintained his smiling face, making people feel warm.

Lin Ling was slightly taken aback, thinking that Feng Si’s deliberate evasion was just her imagination.

The plane landed in Beijing at noon. Before exiting, Liu Jie came to inform Feng Si that he could go home first and report to the company at 9am the next morning to sign the contract.

Feng Si’s gaze flickered and he called out to Lu Jingchen, who was about to exit the plane, “Where are you going now?”

Lu Jingchen ignored him and walked down the gangway directly. Liu Jie helplessly said, “It’s only noon. so, we’re going back to the company.”

Feng Si replied, “Secretary Liu, I’ll start working today. No need to wait until tomorrow.”

Lu Jingchen looked at Feng Si, who shamelessly squeezed onto the car with them, with cold eyes. Feng Si had a bright smile on his face as he explained to Lu Jingchen, “It’s not that I don’t want to go back, I just have nowhere to go.”

Liu Jie, sitting in the front seat, turned back in surprise and asked him, “Where were you staying before? And what about your luggage?”

Feng Si casually replied, “In a hotel. I don’t have any luggage, just a few clothes in my flight bag.”

Liu Jie: “…”

Did she hire someone with a questionable background?

Lu Jingchen frowned, but didn’t say anything.

An hour later, the car stopped in front of Shangxin’s headquarters building. Feng Si looked up at the towering structure in front of him and whistled.

Lu Jingchen strode inside.

For the rest of the afternoon, Lu Jingchen stayed in his office and didn’t come out. People kept going in and out, reporting their work to him.

Liu Jie arranged a position for Feng Si in the secretary’s office, providing him with a computer and office supplies, allowing him to settle in as he pleased.

Two hours later, Liu Jie’s assistant came over with the prepared contract for Feng Si to sign. Feng Si casually flipped through a couple of pages and, seeing Liu Jie coincidentally coming out of Lu Jingchen’s office, he called out to her, “Secretary Liu.”

Liu Jie walked over and asked, “Have you finished reviewing the contract? Any questions?”

Feng Si picked up the pen and directly signed his name on the last page without bothering to read it.

Liu Jie’s mouth twitched, “Don’t you want to take a closer look?”

“No need. There are too many words, it’s tiring to read,” Feng Si threw down the pen and gestured towards Lu Jingchen’s office, “Does your boss act like this every day?”

Liu Jie replied, “What did you expect?”

Feng Si turned his Ipad screen towards her. It displayed a news article about Shangxin Technology’s president, Lu Jingqing, delivering a speech at a digital summit the day before. The photo showed a young, capable, and confident female, attracting a lot of attention.

“Why didn’t your boss attend this kind of event?” Feng Si asked.

Liu Jie glanced at it and said, “The boss doesn’t like to participate in such events. Usually, it’s the president who goes.”

In fact, even without Liu Jie’s explanation, Feng Si had already guessed it. He searched through the online reports about Shangxin Technology and noticed that every time someone represented the company in public, it had always been the chairman, Lu Jingchen’s father, in the past. Over the past two years, it had mostly been the female president, Lu Jingqing, who was Lu Jingchen’s sister. As for Lu Jingchen, his name was rarely mentioned in the news reports, and there wasn’t a single frontal photo of him.

Because of this, people who didn’t know would assume that Lu Jingqing was the only successor in Shangxin Technology, unaware that there was also Lu Jingchen behind the scenes.

Feng Si didn’t know this before. Lu Jingchen had hidden himself so well that even after digging deep, he could hardly uncover the truth.

“So, why is your boss the CEO while his sister is the president?” Feng Si asked.

“That’s what the chairman decided,” Liu Jie shrugged.

There was nothing surprising about that. Everyone in the company knew that Lu Jingchen and Lu Jingqing were fraternal twins who had followed the chairman to learn from him since they were teenagers. After graduating from university, they officially entered the company and worked their way up from middle management. They gradually gained a foothold in the company and gained the recognition of the board of directors. Then, two years ago, when the chairman, who had been serving as both CEO and president, wanted to delegate power and retire to the background due to health reasons, he arranged a competition between Lu Jingchen and Lu Jingqing to determine who would become the CEO and who would become the president.

“The chairman gave each of them a starting capital of 50 million and asked them to earn ten times that amount within six months,” Liu Jie explained.

“And what were the results?” Feng Si asked.

“Well, the boss didn’t achieve it, but the president did,” Liu Jie replied.

Feng Si raised an eyebrow and said, “But the one who eventually became CEO is your boss.”

Liu Jie nodded, “Yes.”

Initially, Lu Jingqing registered a company with money and swiftly acquired a poorly performing fertilizer plant on the brink of bankruptsy. They used Shangxin’s name to make the outside world believe that Shangxin Technology was the one being acquired. They then released various favorable news about asset restructuring. The newly transformed company’s stock price skyrocketed in the secondary market, attracting a frenzy of investment. They completed the mission ahead of schedule in just three months.

As for Lu Jingshen, at that time, there was a hardware startup company urgently seeking investment. They had a chip that was on the verge of completion even before Shangxin. Lu Jingshen anticipated the market prospects of that chip and invested in them. After the chip was developed, they made a small profit from patent fees, far from tenfold, but the anticipated future earnings were much more than tenfold of his initial investment.

“Although the president completed the mission and the boss didn’t, the chairman said that his judgment criteria were not based on that. Shangxin is not in finance, and the president’s approach is not a long-term solution. In the end, the company has to rely on itself. Although the boss didn’t complete the goal within the set time frame, the future looks promising. The fact proves that the boss’s vision was accurate. The return on his initial investment has already exceeded tenfold,” Liu Jie said, showing admiration for Lu Jingshen.

Feng Si closed the webpage, leaned back in his chair, rested his hands behind his head, and smiled at her. “But if I were the president or someone close to her, I would definitely be envious. After all, she did complete the mission. Your boss was just lucky to come across such a profitable investment project. In the end, the chairman’s approach is not favorable to the harmonious development of the company. On the contrary, it’s sowing discord in the relationship between siblings.”

Liu Jie’s face stiffened. She shouldn’t have discussed those things with someone so outspoken. If it were an ordinary assistant, she wouldn’t have openly discussed those things. It’s just that she noticed that Feng Si had a different relationship with Lu Jingshen, so she mentioned a few things. She just didn’t expect Feng Si to come up with baseless remarks.

Feng Si smiled and asked, “Am I wrong? How is the relationship between your boss and her sister?”

Liu Jie frowned, “That’s their private matter. You shouldn’t be nosy about it.”

“Alright then,” Feng Si said indifferently, “Let’s talk about the divisions within the company. I don’t believe it doesn’t exist. It’s not good for the company’s harmonious development, to say the least, and it’s instigating a conflict between siblings, to put it lightly.”

Of course, there were divisions, as Feng Si said. Lu Jingqing herself didn’t react much when she heard her father’s decision, but some of her trusted subordinates were indeed dissatisfied. Although Lu Jingshen’s level was half a level higher than Lu Jingqing’s, he wasn’t the ultimate decision-maker. If they had differing opinions on matters, it would ultimately be up to the chairman to decide.

As for personal relationships, Liu Jie replied with annoyance, “You’re only responsible for the boss’s personal safety. Don’t meddle in his private matters.”

Feng Si disagreed, “It’s precisely because I’m responsible for his personal safety that I need to ask a few more questions. What if someone has ulterior motives or there are people like Zhao Yuanping who are even more malicious? If something happens, can you take responsibility?”

Liu Jie was instantly speechless.

At 6:30, another person walked into Lu Jingshen’s office. The office was still brightly lit, and everyone was still at their desks, with no intention of leaving work.

Feng Si glanced at his watch, got up, and walked towards the door of Lu Jingshen’s office. He knocked twice and then pushed the door open.

Apart from Lu Jingshen, there were three or four other people, standing or sitting, reporting their work to Lu Jingshen. When Feng Si entered, they all stopped and turned their attention to him.

Lu Jingshen’s face slightly darkened behind his desk, but Feng Si didn’t feel awkward at all. He opened his mouth and said, “Lu, you’re a workaholic, but there’s no need to drag the entire company along to work overtime with you, right?”

As soon as the words were spoken, those few people wore a shocked expression. After a moment, Lu Jingshen coldly signaled, “That’s enough for today. You can all go back.”

After everyone left, Feng Si approached as Lu Jingshen scolded him, “know your place.”

Feng Si directly went behind the desk and leaned against it, looking down at him from a higher position.

Seeing Lu Jingshen’s furrowed brow, Feng Si reached out and boldly touched his Adam’s apple, speaking in a soft voice, “What do you mean?”

Lu Jingshen leaned back as if he had been burned by that touch, staring at Feng Si with flickering eyes.

Feng Si’s fingertip touched his Adam’s apple, gently rubbing. It was a sensitive spot for Lu Jingshen, always has been.

“Let go,” Lu Jingshen squeezed out a voice through his teeth.

Feng Si didn’t listen, feeling the sensation of Lu Jingshen’s Adam’s apple rolling between his fingertips when he spoke. His gaze traveled inch by inch over his face.

There was a small black mole on the edge of Lu Jingshen’s left earlobe. It could only be seen up close. When he kissed that spot many times several years before, Lu Jingshen’s body would always involuntarily tremble, accompanied by more alluring sounds. Unconsciously, his eyes would look at him, mixed with desire and filled with a seductive allure, just like now.

Staring can be as teasing as flirting.

Having appreciated enough and as Lu Jingshen showed signs of panic, pretending to be calm. Feng Si withdrew his hand meaningfully.

Lu Jingshen clenched his fist tightly, suppressing the suppressed gasp.

Feng Si smiled playfully.

Stepping back, he casually took Lu Jingshen’s suit jacket from the nearby hanger and handed it over. “Let’s go, let’s have dinner together.”