It was too unexpected. He Xiaoyuan had never imagined that in order to bring someone in, Lu Chen would use a move like this.
While calmly pulling out tissues to wipe his chin and the table, He Xiaoyuan thought to himself: Can you even do that?
This doesn’t seem very appropriate.
Tricking someone like this would get exposed sooner or later.
He Xiaoyuan quietly lifted his eyes to look at Lu Chen.
He didn’t believe a word of what Lu Chen had said.
Fang Dinghao was also startled.
The boss? The boss of Spirys?
This technical powerhouse really did have an unusual train of thought. His first reaction wasn’t disbelief—he turned his head to look at He Xiaoyuan and blurted out, “You’re dating your company’s big boss?”
He Xiaoyuan: “……”
Fang Dinghao’s mind was racing. Thinking about how He Xiaoyuan had just sprayed tea, he followed up immediately, “Don’t tell me you didn’t even know he was the big boss?”
He Xiaoyuan pretended to stay calm. He blinked, feeling secretly awkward, and shifted his gaze toward Lu Chen.
Seeing He Xiaoyuan spray tea earlier and now wear that expression, Lu Chen clearly sensed something was off. He raised an eyebrow slightly.
Fang Dinghao followed his gaze to Lu Chen. “You didn’t hide it from him and then date him anyway, did you?”
Lu Chen: “……”
Lu Chen looked at He Xiaoyuan: hid it?
When had he ever hidden anything?
From the first day Xiaoyuan joined the project team, Chang Bei and the others had been calling him “big boss” nonstop.
Besides, his name wasn’t fake either. Xiaoyuan had known it all along.
He Xiaoyuan, meanwhile, was just as confused, a question mark practically floating over his head: You’re the one bragging and tricking people—why are you looking at me?
Fang Dinghao: ?
What was going on here?
The scene instantly descended into chaos.
But Fang Dinghao didn’t have the mental space to keep eating gossip at this point. His mind was still completely filled with Zhongshi. He’d spent all that time interacting with Zhongshi, barely eaten anything, and drunk quite a bit of water. He really had to pee—his stomach was practically bulging.
Fang Dinghao stood up. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
And went out.
As soon as only the two of them were left in the private room, He Xiaoyuan immediately looked at Lu Chen, eyes wide, and asked in a low, astonished voice, “Why did you tell him you’re the company’s boss?”
Can you even brag like that?
Lu Chen: ?
He asked in return, “Aren’t I?”
He Xiaoyuan stared at him. “You definitely aren’t.”
Lu Chen asked again, “You think I’m not?”
He Xiaoyuan shot back, “Since when were you?”
Lu Chen: ???
He Xiaoyuan: ???
Lu Chen: “……”
In a moment of sudden realization, Lu Chen finally grasped an extremely absurd truth: Xiaoyuan had been with him all this time and yet had never known that he was the owner of Spirys.
Never known.
Lu Chen remained calm. While holding his gaze, he thought for a moment, then asked, “So who do you think I am?”
He Xiaoyuan found the question strange, and even more so their current bizarre exchange.
He answered, “You’re obviously Lu Chen.”
Lu Chen said, “My position in the company.”
He Xiaoyuan blinked. “The boss of the project team.”
Lu Chen asked again, “Any other positions?”
He Xiaoyuan: “Other positions?”
Lu Chen: “None?”
He Xiaoyuan thought about it. “‘Zhongshi’ project lead.”
Lu Chen confirmed it—Xiaoyuan really didn’t know. Not even a little.
It was completely unexpected.
Lu Chen said nothing more. He lifted his hand from beneath the table, reached over, and held He Xiaoyuan’s hand briefly in reassurance. “It’s okay. We’ll talk about it when we get back.”
He Xiaoyuan blinked: Talk about what? Talk about why you had to lie to Fang Dinghao and say you’re the company’s boss?
Before long, Fang Dinghao came back, wiping his hands with a tissue. He took off his shoes, stepped onto the tatami, closed the door behind him, and looked at Lu Chen as he did so. “So who exactly are you?”
The boss?
He was starting not to believe it.
Mainly because he’d been eating gossip earlier and just couldn’t imagine that the dignified boss of Spirys would be openly flirting and tugging at a young subordinate by the river in broad daylight.
The more Fang Dinghao thought about it, the more impossible it seemed.
Too bad he’d left his phone in the private room when he went to the bathroom. Otherwise, he would have already searched “Spirys boss Lu Chen” online.
Sitting down, Fang Dinghao picked up his phone in earnest.
Both He Xiaoyuan and Lu Chen saw it. He Xiaoyuan thought, oh no—whatever comes up definitely won’t say that Lu Chen is the boss; it’ll be Tang Xingzhou, President Tang. How was Lu Chen going to smooth this over now?
Lu Chen calmly took another bite of food, letting Fang Dinghao search as he pleased. He even returned to their earlier topic, saying, “You don’t need to give me an answer today. You can go back and think about it for a few days.”
“Since I’ve said it, I can do it.”
“When the time comes, whether you want a private office in the lab without much interaction with others, or choose to work remotely while fishing, both are fine.”
Fang Dinghao suddenly looked up, stared at Lu Chen, then at his phone, then back at Lu Chen again, eyes wide with shock. “You really are!”
Good thing he hadn’t been drinking tea, or He Xiaoyuan would have sprayed it out again.
He Xiaoyuan: ⊙v⊙
Really are? Really are what!?
Fang Dinghao raised his phone, flipped the screen outward, gestured toward Lu Chen, then deliberately turned it toward He Xiaoyuan as well, marveling, “He really is.”
Then he teased, “You’re impressive, He Xiaoyuan. You actually managed to date the big boss of Spirys!”
The phone was shaking too much for He Xiaoyuan to see clearly. All he knew was that if Fang Dinghao could say this, then the search result must have shown that Lu Chen really was the owner of Spirys.
A question mark popped up in He Xiaoyuan’s mind, but he kept his expression steady. He didn’t react much to Fang Dinghao’s teasing, only followed up on what Lu Chen had just said. “Brother Hao, think it over.”
Fang Dinghao put his phone down, acting as if he hadn’t heard, and went right back to eating gossip. The look he shot at He Xiaoyuan clearly said: not bad—you’re pretty amazing, landing the big boss of Spirys at such a young age.
Then he glanced at Lu Chen: damn impressive. Judging from the birth year online, this big shot had to be at least ten years older than He Xiaoyuan.
A textbook case of an older man going after someone younger.
Fang Dinghao was delighted inside. This gossip was top-tier—not just a superior–subordinate relationship, but the big boss and a junior employee.
He picked up his chopsticks and hadn’t even eaten two bites before the crisp, juicy taste of gossip was already dancing on his tongue.
All at once, he found it very interesting, and then found Spirys—and everyone in this circle—different from the rest, and very interesting as well.
Only an interesting company could produce interesting people, right?
Off to the side, He Xiaoyuan had already quietly fished his phone out of his coat pocket and lowered his head.
How did Fang Dinghao check?
Could it really be true?
Had Lu Chen been promoted recently?
Promoted all the way to CEO, on equal footing with President Tang?
He Xiaoyuan searched first: Spirys, Tang Xingzhou.
That was right—the search results showed that Tang Xingzhou was indeed the CEO of Spirys.
Then he searched again, typing in “Spirys Lu Chen.” The mobile network lagged for a moment; two seconds later, the results popped up.
The first entry he opened read: Lu Chen, age, male, date of birth, graduated from such-and-such university, founder of Keluo, owner and actual controlling shareholder of Spirys, chairman of the board.
Next to the brief, not very detailed biography was a photo of a man in a suit with slightly low resolution. If that wasn’t Lu Chen himself, who else could it be?
He Xiaoyuan stared at the word “owner” on his phone screen, his head buzzing loudly.
Because it was so completely unexpected, he snapped his head up and looked at Lu Chen, his expression a mix of shock and disbelief.
The moment Fang Dinghao saw this, he got excited. “What is it? What is it?”
“Don’t tell me you really didn’t know he’s the big boss?”
“Can this gossip really be this explosive?!”
Faced with Lu Chen’s calm gaze as he sipped his tea, He Xiaoyuan quickly realized this was the wrong setting. He hurriedly reined in his expression.
Unfortunately, it was already too late. Fang Dinghao had seen everything. He scooted his butt over and said to He Xiaoyuan with great interest, “You seriously didn’t know?”
Then he looked at Lu Chen. “You didn’t tell him?”
With the attitude of someone who loved drama and feared nothing: “That’s not great, Big Boss.”
Lu Chen set his teacup down, stood up steadily, first motioning for Fang Dinghao to keep eating, then lifting a hand to press lightly on He Xiaoyuan’s shoulder, signaling him to come out together.
He Xiaoyuan followed him as he stood up, only halfway upright before Fang Dinghao grabbed his arm and whispered excitedly, “Make up, hurry and make up. If you make up, you don’t lose—you win big!”
He Xiaoyuan couldn’t help it and whispered back, offering some advice of his own: “Just eat your sashimi.”
Fang Dinghao twisted his neck to watch the two of them leave.
Outside, Lu Chen led the way, with He Xiaoyuan hurrying along behind him. They walked out of the restaurant and stopped by the roadside. Under the dim outdoor lighting, facing each other, Lu Chen lifted one hand and rested it on He Xiaoyuan’s shoulder. Lowering his eyes, he asked gently, “You really didn’t know all this time?”
Didn’t know who he actually was?
When He Xiaoyuan met his gaze, his expression was nothing but question marks and utter astonishment. The light in his eyes flickered under the streetlamp. After a moment of silence, he said, “You never told me.”
Lu Chen replied calmly, “Didn’t you ever hear Chang Bei and the others mention it at the company?”
He Xiaoyuan opened his mouth, then closed it. Of course they had mentioned it—not only mentioned it, but mentioned it often, especially in the group chat.
But everyone…
Light flickered in He Xiaoyuan’s eyes. “They all call you Big Boss. I thought they called you that because you’re the head of the project team.”
Lu Chen asked patiently, “Did they never specifically talk about me?”
He Xiaoyuan shook his head, then nodded.
Everyone was busy. At most, they’d gossip a bit in the office or in the group chat. Sometimes he listened or read, sometimes he didn’t. He’d never really thought much about it.
Lu Chen understood. For him to have gone this long without knowing, it was probably because of a series of coincidences—missing the chance to find out—or because Xiaoyuan had always assumed from the start that he was just the project leader. So even when others mentioned him or talked about him, Xiaoyuan only took it to mean he was the project’s big boss.
No wonder he’d sprayed his tea.
No wonder he’d reacted that way in the private room earlier.
Lu Chen stepped forward, wrapped an arm around He Xiaoyuan briefly, and patted his back in comfort. “It’s okay. It’s not too late to know now.” It wasn’t a bad thing, after all.
“Let’s go back in and eat. We’ll talk more after we get back.”
He Xiaoyuan might have heard it, or he might not have. He stood there blankly, his mind echoing with: big boss? Big boss? Boss? Huh???!!!
Lu Chen soothed him again. “Let’s go back to the private room first and finish what we came here to do.”
Only then did He Xiaoyuan snap back to himself and rein in his thoughts. Right—there was still business to take care of, and Fang Dinghao was still inside. Business first.
Back in the private room, Fang Dinghao glanced sideways at the two of them, his eyes darting back and forth between them.
Lu Chen gave nothing away, and He Xiaoyuan’s expression was also perfectly composed.
Fang Dinghao snorted inwardly. Playing it cool. Both of you.