Behind them stood a man with striking features, dressed in a suit, at least half a head taller than He Xiaoyuan.
He Xiaoyuan looked at him, and the man looked back. His eyes were pitch-black, his gaze calm, his expression unreadable. His presence carried its own authority.
Since they were already making eye contact, and as a newcomer to the workplace it wouldn’t do to stay silent, He Xiaoyuan took the initiative to greet him. “Sir.”
Lu Chen had already, moments earlier while He Xiaoyuan was chatting with Qiao Sixing, quietly and at close range scanned the young man’s back from head to toe—
Not short at all. The 183 centimeters listed in his interview materials wasn’t exaggerated. He looked a bit on the slender side, with long legs. A narrow, taut waist cinched by the hem of his shirt and the waistband of his slacks.
Hard to say what his build was really like.
The thought was both practical—and dangerous.
Now their eyes met, and the young man had greeted him first. Lu Chen spoke, his voice low. “My last name is Lu. Lu Chen.”
He Xiaoyuan had no idea that the big boss of Supres was also named Lu Chen. He simply assumed Lu Chen was a senior executive on par with Qiao Sixing and corrected himself. “Director Lu.”
Lu Chen gave a brief “Mm,” then, in the same even tone, added a line of concern. “Settling in okay?”
He Xiaoyuan nodded, feeling that the leadership all seemed kind and approachable. They didn’t know him at all, yet they were still willing to check in on him.
Looking at the man in front of him, Lu Chen continued, “Work isn’t like school. You’ll need to adjust quickly.”
He Xiaoyuan understood well that once you entered society, having someone offer guidance—even casually—was far better than being ignored. Even if they’d just met for the first time, since Director Lu had said this, He Xiaoyuan was more than willing to listen with an open mind.
He met the man’s gaze and nodded again.
At this point, Qiao Sixing fell completely silent, as if it were Lu Chen—not him—who actually knew He Xiaoyuan.
Lu Chen stood with one hand in his pocket and asked casually, “Heading back to the dorm?”
He Xiaoyuan said, “I’ve made plans to have dinner with a friend tonight.”
Lu Chen replied, “Mm. There are plenty of restaurants nearby.”
If it were someone more socially agile, they would’ve taken the cue, asked President Lu for a recommendation, and used that to keep the conversation going.
But He Xiaoyuan wasn’t that kind of person. On top of that, he was facing an unfamiliar senior executive. With the executive saying so, He Xiaoyuan simply nodded.
Lu Chen looked at the pretty young man in front of him and thought to himself: So well-behaved.
Fortunately, the elevator soon reached the first floor, sparing them an awkward lull.
When the doors opened, He Xiaoyuan exchanged brief goodbyes with Lu Chen and Qiao Sixing, then stepped out of the elevator carrying his box.
Lu Chen’s gaze followed him again, discreetly, until the elevator doors slid shut and cut off his view.
The elevator fell quiet. Qiao Sixing silently admired himself for accidentally pressing the HR floor button earlier when getting in—an error that had led to this encounter.
If every mistake could have results like this, Manager Qiao felt certain he’d be promoted, get a raise, and reach the peak of his career in no time.
Now that the chance meeting was over, Qiao Sixing couldn’t help but start speculating about what the boss was thinking.
He really did think He Xiaoyuan was special. Over all these years, under what kind of formal, high-profile circumstances would Lu Chen ever introduce himself so properly, stating his surname and full name—Lu Chen?
Qiao Sixing mentally marked He Xiaoyuan with a bold highlight, resolving to pay extra attention to him in the future.
After exiting the elevator, Qiao Sixing cautiously probed Lu Chen’s attitude.
He asked, “Once the rotation ends, should we transfer him to the President’s Office?”
Having been by Lu Chen’s side for years, Qiao Sixing knew very well what could be said and what shouldn’t be asked.
He knew this question crossed a line—but he also knew that if he asked it and the boss didn’t say anything in response…
Sure enough, Lu Chen said nothing and got into the car.
Qiao Sixing understood immediately: He Xiaoyuan was the priority among priorities.
—
He Xiaoyuan met up with Xu Ruomeng in the lobby on the first floor of the company, and together they went to a Thai restaurant nearby that had a good reputation.
It was peak dinner time, and the place was crowded. They had to take a number and wait.
They sat on the chairs outside the restaurant, browsing the menu to pre-order while chatting.
As they talked, He Xiaoyuan thought about running into Qiao Sixing and President Lu in the executive elevator earlier.
He wasn’t sure which department President Lu belonged to, so he didn’t mention him. He only told Xu Ruomeng that his fourth-round interviewer had been Qiao Sixing from the President’s Office, and that they’d happened to meet again in the elevator downstairs.
Xu Ruomeng looked up from the menu, surprised. “Qiao gave you your fourth interview?”
She couldn’t quite figure out why the President’s Office had started handling fresh graduate interviews too.
But she did know a bit about Qiao Sixing—
“He’s insanely impressive.”
“He graduated from an independent college for undergrad—the kind that wouldn’t even pass the initial screening in campus recruitment. He got into the mobile games division through experienced hire recruitment, and in just a few years climbed all the way up to become the special assistant in the President’s Office.”
Thinking back, He Xiaoyuan agreed that Qiao Sixing did look young, and his manner of dealing with people was flawless. You really couldn’t judge by appearances.
He chatted casually, “What did he do when he first joined the mobile games department?”
Xu Ruomeng said, “I heard he wrote code.”
A technical-background executive.
Impressive, He Xiaoyuan thought.
Xu Ruomeng added, “Let’s get mango sticky rice?”
He Xiaoyuan said, “Sure.”
After dinner, Xu Ruomeng drove He Xiaoyuan back to the employee dorms.
“Wow, this whole area belongs to the company?” she exclaimed when they reached the dormitory buildings, impressed by the rows of high-rises.
She had come specifically to see the dorms. After parking, she went upstairs with He Xiaoyuan.
In the elevator, seeing him holding a lidded box with both hands, Xu Ruomeng asked curiously, “Is that this year’s welcome gift package? What’s inside?”
“Don’t know yet,” He Xiaoyuan said.
They exited the elevator, arrived at unit 1701, and He Xiaoyuan unlocked the door. Xu Ruomeng followed him inside.
She looked around with interest, eyes full of admiration. “Wow, this is pretty nice.”
Kitchen, countertop, bathroom, balcony—everything was there.
It was definitely much better than renting a tiny room outside.
He Xiaoyuan set the gift box on the desk, took a clean unused cup from the table, and poured Xu Ruomeng some water.
She accepted it, noticed the water dispenser on the desk, and then saw that the room was already stocked with various daily necessities. She asked, “Did you move everything over from your school dorm?”
“I’ve already checked out of the school dorm,” He Xiaoyuan said, pouring himself a cup of water and standing by the desk.
Xu Ruomeng nodded. It had to be done sooner or later anyway. Since he had a place now, moving earlier or later made no real difference.
“Let’s see what’s in the box.”
After touring the room, her curiosity about the welcome gift resurfaced.
The two leaned over the box together. He Xiaoyuan opened the lid.
On top was a sheet of paper listing the contents of the gift package.
After removing it, they saw the box neatly arranged with an ID badge holder, a water bottle, a soft pillow, headphones, a pen, a notepad, two white T-shirts with the Siprisi logo printed on the chest, and a bunch of other miscellaneous daily items.
He Xiaoyuan took each item out one by one, lining them up neatly on the desk beside him.
Though none of it was expensive, everything was useful for daily life. He Xiaoyuan felt the onboarding gift was pretty thoughtful.
As he continued unpacking, Xu Ruomeng let out a small “Huh?”
From beneath a coaster in the middle layer of the box, He Xiaoyuan pulled out a palm-sized, stiff card.
One side had a QR code. Turning it over, the other side read:
New employees entering the workplace are at a stage where they need to fully adapt to a new environment, and it’s natural to have many things they don’t fully understand. Simply scan the QR code on the back to add a colleague as a friend. If you have any questions in the future, feel free to ask senior employees from the company.
Xu Ruomeng read the line word by word, both surprised and puzzled. You could do it like this? There was actually something like this in the welcome gift package?
They’d never had anything like it before.
He Xiaoyuan flipped the card back over to the QR code side.
Xu Ruomeng sighed. “So it’s like a buddy system.”
He Xiaoyuan also thought the company was being pretty humane and considerate.
Xu Ruomeng looked at him. “No idea who it is. Are you going to add them?”
“Yeah,” He Xiaoyuan said.
Maybe it was someone from an earlier batch of management trainees—he might even be able to ask about how things worked.
And even if it wasn’t that useful, adding a contact wouldn’t hurt.
He Xiaoyuan picked up his phone, opened WeChat, and scanned the QR code.
Xu Ruomeng leaned over curiously to take a look. The code really did bring up a profile card. The avatar was a deep-sea image, the ID was a simple “lu,” the display name was also “Lu,” male, and adding him required verification.
In the verification message, He Xiaoyuan typed:
【Siprisi graduate management trainee He Xiaoyuan. Sorry to bother you.】
—
The car glided smoothly along. Lu Chen was idly gazing out the window.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and unlocked the screen.
A verification request popped up:
【Siprisi graduate management trainee He Xiaoyuan. Sorry to bother you.】
Lu Chen smiled.
—
After Xu Ruomeng left, He Xiaoyuan went to the bathroom to wash his hands.
When he came out, he picked up his phone and saw that the friend request had already been approved. The chat interface now showed them as contacts.
He Xiaoyuan sat down at the corner of the bed, phone in hand.
【Hello, I’m He Xiaoyuan from this year’s management trainee program. I added you by scanning the card in the welcome gift.】
Very quickly, a reply came.
Lu: 【Hello. I know.】
【May I ask your name? So I can make a note.】
Lu: 【My surname is Lu.】
He Xiaoyuan immediately thought of the executive he’d run into in the elevator earlier, who also had the surname Lu.
But Lu was a very common last name, and besides, He Xiaoyuan didn’t think this kind of workplace “buddy system” would ever have a new hire add a senior executive. It never occurred to him that the two Lus were actually the same person.
He simply assumed “Lu” was an ordinary colleague.
Lu: 【If there’s anything you don’t understand later on, feel free to ask me. No need to be polite.】
He Xiaoyuan typed: Okay, thank you for the trouble…
He paused, deleted it, and changed it to a polite but friendlier address:
【Okay, thanks a lot, Brother Lu.】
—
At the top-floor residence in Yanlan Bay.
Lu Chen stood by the window holding his phone. When he saw the words “Brother Lu” in the white chat bubble, the corners of his lips curved slightly.
When he’d added He Xiaoyuan on WeChat, he’d also taken a look at the young man’s Moments.
They were only visible for three days. The most recent post had been from today—no caption, just a photo of coffee and cake placed side by side.
Without a second thought, Lu Chen—someone who never checked Moments—lifted his finger and gave it a like.