Princess Syndrome - Chapter 61
Chapter 61: List
Ji Zhiyi had rehearsed those words in her heart, in her dreams, countless times before she could say them smoothly, but Su Lingyue didn't know that. Her face flushed slightly. She had never considered developing a relationship beyond friendship with anyone, let alone with Ji Zhiyi.
In the eyes of others, Ji Zhiyi was the one she had the deepest grudge with.
The Ji Zhiyi who hated her to the core was now holding her hand and calling her girlfriend.
Girlfriend…
It felt like just before this holiday, they were still just a regular boss and assistant.
Although she had to admit that she, as the assistant, harbored some feelings for her boss, she hadn't expected their relationship to take such a big leap forward over a weekend. Actually, Su Lingyue was still a bit dazed and was still adjusting, but she was adjusting well, at least when it came to holding hands like this.
Besides a hint of shyness, she also had an urge to keep holding hands for a while longer.
Ji Zhiyi's palm was dry, her fingertips warm against her skin, sending waves of warmth through her. Su Lingyue didn't let go, even as her face turned red, and even squeezed tighter.
The sound of a phone ringing outside the car startled them. Su Lingyue looked up at Ji Zhiyi, noticing that her expression was still calm, her gaze deep. Su Lingyue asked, "Shall we get out?"
Ji Zhiyi checked the time on her watch. "Almost time."
They hadn't really done anything, just held hands.
But Su Lingyue felt like they had done everything, her mind and body feeling utterly content.
After getting out of the car, she went to her office. Colleagues who passed her desk looked at her curiously. Zhang Ting couldn't contain herself and leaned over. "Assistant Su, is something good happening?"
Su Lingyue looked up, her beautiful eyes sparkling with joy. Her tone was still her usual cool one, but it sounded a little sweet. "No, why?"
Zhang Ting said, "You just seem different today."
Other colleagues chimed in. "Yeah, I noticed it too. Assistant Su is especially—" The person paused, searching for the right word. "Stunning!"
Zhang Ting playfully hit her head. "Can you even speak properly?"
The secretary let out a soft "Ouch." "Don't you guys think so?"
Su Lingyue listened to their discussion and took out a mirror. She glanced at herself, not seeing anything different. Zhang Ting said, "But her words aren't entirely wrong. If I didn't know Assistant Su didn't have a boyfriend, I'd think she went on a date over the weekend."
Su Lingyue coughed.
She said, "I'm going to get some water."
She went to the pantry and looked around. She didn't have anything written on her face, so how could these people have such sharp eyes?
She needed to tone it down.
Su Lingyue was making faces in the mirror when she suddenly heard, "Assistant Su."
She turned around.
It was Zhang Xian.
Remembering how Zhang Xian had rushed over last night and left without even saying goodbye, she felt a little rude, so she proactively smiled. "Director Zhang."
"Hey—" Zhang Xian said, "I haven't even warmed my seat yet, and it's already time for a meeting."
She was talking about the publicity and design department meeting at ten o'clock. Zhang Xian had arrived early. She leaned against the counter. "So sleepy."
Su Lingyue asked, "Why didn't you rest for a bit before coming over?"
Zhang Xian said, "I need to talk to President Ji about the processing plant beforehand."
Su Lingyue nodded.
Zhang Xian said, "By the way, you had a headache yesterday. Are you feeling better?"
Su Lingyue hadn't actually had a headache, so she felt a little awkward meeting Zhang Xian's eyes. She took a sip of water. "Much better."
"Glad to hear it," Zhang Xian said, taking a bite of a pastry. "A headache isn't a disease, but when it hits, it's a killer!"
Su Lingyue said, "Sounds like you've experienced it before?"
Zhang Xian shook her head. "I don't get headaches, but President Ji does. She used to get them often. During one winter exhibition she was in charge of, her face was so pale, I was worried she'd faint any minute."
Su Lingyue thought about Ji Zhiyi's physical condition. "She seems pretty healthy to me."
"It's because she used to be under a lot of pressure and took sleeping pills. She's fine now that she's stopped." Zhang Xian looked at Su Lingyue. "You don't take any medicine, do you?"
Su Lingyue shook her head.
She had always been carefree.
Even after being kicked out of the Su family, she could still eat and sleep well. It was just that she had nightmares often when she first moved out of the apartment.
But she never thought about taking sleeping pills.
Perhaps no one would think she was so thick-skinned.
So it was normal for Zhang Xian to be worried. Su Lingyue shook her head. "No."
"That's good," Zhang Xian said. "All medicine has its side effects."
Su Lingyue nodded.
She didn't know Ji Zhiyi used to be so stressed that she took sleeping pills. She had always thought of her as someone who wouldn't be stressed. It seemed she had overestimated her, forgetting that she was just a regular person too.
Su Lingyue felt a sharp, subtle pain in her heart.
She started to think that Ji Zhiyi's life abroad hadn't been all glamorous either.
Zhang Xian finished the last pastry and clapped her hands, ready to leave. Su Lingyue called out, "Director Zhang."
She focused. "Hmm?"
Su Lingyue asked, "Do you know a Xiao Mao?"
"Xiao Mao?" Zhang Xian was a little tense. "What? Did she contact President Ji?"
So she did know her.
Su Lingyue said, "No."
"Then you need to be careful. If Xiao Mao calls, just say President Ji is busy." Zhang Xian didn't seem to like Xiao Mao. Su Lingyue was curious. "Why?"
"Well, it's just—" Zhang Xian started to say, but looked at Su Lingyue's face and stopped herself. She waved her hand. "Anyway, if she calls, just say President Ji is busy. Trust me on this."
She turned and walked away.
Su Lingyue took a sip of warm water after her.
It was rare for Zhang Xian to stop herself mid-sentence, which only made her more curious. Su Lingyue held her cup as more colleagues came into the pantry. She lowered her head and went to the meeting room.
People started arriving for the ten o'clock meeting around nine forty. The publicity department arrived early. Their director was on a business trip, so the deputy director sat on the right with a few colleagues. They nodded slightly to greet Su Lingyue, who returned a faint nod, her expression calm.
Her demeanor silenced the office for a few minutes until the design department began to arrive, bringing a buzz with them.
Xie Lan was ushered in by the group.
They were all talking about her design.
"Xie Lan, your design is amazing."
"Tell me about it, President Ji praised it too!"
"Not many people can catch President Ji's eye. I heard President Ji is even taking Designer Xie to Arno!"
Xie Lan sat down, smiling.
A few people nudged each other. "Is it true?"
Xie Lan said, "President Ji just told me to prepare."
That settled it.
It was definitely happening.
Yilin didn't have any precedent for designers to attend such events beforehand. It seemed Ji Zhiyi was truly impressed with Xie Lan. Only Su Lingyue glanced in Xie Lan's direction before lowering her head to take notes.
Ji Zhiyi arrived last, followed by Wu Meiyan, who placed the documents in front of her and smiled at Su Lingyue. "Thanks for your hard work."
Su Lingyue nodded, watching Wu Meiyan leave.
The people from the design department also looked at Su Lingyue.
They had heard rumors about Su Lingyue's time in the president's office, mostly negative ones. Rumors about Ji Zhiyi forcing Su Lingyue to kneel while organizing documents, or taking her out to get her drunk. In their minds, Su Lingyue was living a miserable life. But they hadn't expected the head secretary to be so nice to her.
The people from the publicity department were sharp and asked, "Assistant Su, I heard you guys had a team dinner yesterday?"
Su Lingyue said, "The day before yesterday."
The deputy director of publicity smiled.
Thoughtfully.
Zhang Xian was the last to arrive, just on time.
She rushed in, and the others whispered, "President Ji is already here, and she's just arriving."
"Someone President Ji is protecting."
"Such a big shot, you'd think she was the boss."
"I heard she's not even in the office three days a week."
Zhang Xian leaned casually against her chair, ignoring the whispers of her colleagues. She knew what they were talking about, but she had her reasons, so she simply played the part of the absentee manager.
However, the rumors that she was brought in to clean up the design department proved to be false, much to the surprise of everyone.
After bringing in Xie Lan, everyone thought the design department was going to be reshuffled, but nothing else happened.
Xie Lan, however, was calm.
Zhang Xian had reassured her, saying that as long as she shined at the autumn exhibition, she would be promoted smoothly, and then Zhang Xian would pull strings to make her the design director. Xie Lan was modest. "What about Sister Chen and the others?"
"They can't compare to you," Zhang Xian said. "What you design is art, what they design is product."
Her words made Xie Lan laugh.
Zhang Xian added, "You know, I originally wasn't planning to come back to China. It's just that President Ji was worried that directly making you the director at Yilin might cause some resentment, so she had me come back first to oversee things. Keep it up, I'm counting on you so I can go back after the autumn exhibition."
Xie Lan asked, "You're going abroad again?"
"I'm used to being there," Zhang Xian said. "I'm not used to being back in China. Put in the effort, I'm relying on you."
She only shared these private thoughts with Xie Lan.
It was then that Xie Lan realized how much Ji Zhiyi valued her.
She wasn't lying when she said she had always admired Ji Zhiyi's designs. She had watched the Haoyue collection online several times and knew Ji Zhiyi's interviews by heart.
Her friends joked that she was Ji Zhiyi's biggest fan.
Whether she was a fanatic or not, she didn't know.
She only knew that she really loved Ji Zhiyi's designs.
She had even tried to imitate them.
But the results were awkward and clumsy.
Before joining Yilin, she had never dared to hope that Ji Zhiyi would even know she existed, but not only did she know, she was planning to entrust her with important responsibilities.
Xie Lan had been feeling conflicted lately.
"Xie Lan," Zhang Xian said, "talk about your design concept."
Xie Lan snapped back to reality and saw everyone looking at her. She turned to Ji Zhiyi, who was also looking at her. Xie Lan's fingers tightened on the edge of the paper. She nodded. "Okay."
She stood up.
Su Lingyue watched her stare at Ji Zhiyi and also looked at Ji Zhiyi.
Ji Zhiyi noticed Su Lingyue's gaze and looked back at her, her expression calm. She picked up her cup, wanting a sip of coffee, and took a sip.
It was sweet.
She frowned and looked at the cup.
It was milk.
Ji Zhiyi put down the cup.
She texted Su Lingyue: [?]
Su Lingyue was busy and didn't have time to reply. Ji Zhiyi remained puzzled until the meeting was almost over.
The meeting's theme was decided to be simple and easy to remember, using Xie Lan's design as the main focus: the mother-and-child buckle. Ji Zhiyi also announced at the meeting that Lin Fei and Yang Zhizhi would be the spokespersons for the mother-and-child buckle collection.
Since the mother-and-child buckle was a pair of shoes, it was difficult to balance the promotion of both.
Which shoe should they promote first?
That was also a problem.
Ji Zhiyi solved the problem directly, offering a comprehensive solution by using both Lin Fei and Yang Zhizhi as spokespersons.
Lin Fei and Yang Zhizhi had been generating a lot of buzz online recently, especially Lin Fei, who had been showered with sympathy from fans after leaving Su Qi. This new product endorsement, aside from the buzz, would definitely lead to fans buying it like crazy.
And then there was Yang Zhizhi.
Yang Zhizhi's fans would never allow her to be overshadowed.
So, when it came to the sales of the two shoes, the two fanbases were likely to clash.
And Yilin would reap the benefits.
Both fame and fortune.
Without even having to spend money on promotion.
The deputy director of publicity subtly gave a thumbs up. Who would have thought that after all the twists and turns, Lin Fei would end up signing with Yilin? And Su Qi's efforts to appease Yang Zhizhi had been for naught.
It wasn't the first time a company had tried to use two spokespersons to create a rivalry.
But either the products weren't suitable, or the fans didn't buy into it.
An opportunity like this, where Lin Fei had the perfect timing, location, and support to rival Yang Zhizhi, was extremely rare.
Having just escaped the oppressive environment of Su Qi, this endorsement was like a fresh start, and her fans would definitely support it, both out of sympathy for her experiences at Su Qi and to show her strength to other investors.
Fans were also a form of power.
Especially since she was planning to return to the industry, she needed the support of her fans even more.
And Yang Zhizhi's fans had been getting a lot of flak recently because of Su Qi, with rumors circulating that Su Qi had kicked out Lin Fei for Yang Zhizhi. Although not many people believed such nonsense, Yang Zhizhi's fans had definitely been on the receiving end of criticism.
So her fans definitely didn't want Yang Zhizhi to be overshadowed.
Especially not by Lin Fei.
If that were to happen, the joke wouldn't just be on the bystanders watching the drama, but also on Yang Zhizhi's fans.
So this was a battle that had to be fought.
And it had to be fought well!
The deputy director of publicity, having understood the underlying implications, admired Ji Zhiyi, acknowledging that she was indeed extraordinary, her mind working so quickly. Perhaps she had acted as soon as she heard rumors of Lin Fei leaving.
Or even.
Perhaps she had played a role in Lin Fei's departure from Su Qi.
Her plans were simply too meticulous.
The meeting room was quiet as Su Lingyue packed up her laptop. She heard Ji Zhiyi say, "The publicity department can start the pre-promotion."
The deputy director said, "Yes, President Ji."
Ji Zhiyi then looked at Zhang Xian. "The design department should fully cooperate with Xie Lan."
Zhang Xian nodded with a smile.
Others wanted to discuss it but didn't dare to speak up until they were outside. Su Lingyue packed up her laptop and was about to follow her colleagues out when Ji Zhiyi said, "Assistant Su, wait a moment."
The few people who hadn't left glanced back.
Their eyes seemed to say.
Here it comes.
Here it comes again.
Ji Zhiyi was going to torture Su Lingyue again!
But they wouldn't dare stay to watch the show, even if they were given a hundred chances, so they quickened their pace. Su Lingyue put down her laptop and saw Ji Zhiyi point her chin towards the cup in front of her. "Milk?"
Su Lingyue walked over to her. "You finished it?"
Ji Zhiyi said, "Why did it change to milk?"
She had taken a sip, and the sweet taste had stimulated her taste buds. Coupled with the stuffy meeting, she had almost fallen asleep.
It was probably because she hadn't slept well last night.
Su Lingyue said, "Drinking coffee every day is bad for your health."
Ji Zhiyi found it amusing. "Who said that?"
Su Lingyue: "I did."
Ji Zhiyi nodded, seeing her serious expression. She couldn't directly refuse, so she tried a roundabout approach. "But milk won't work. How about we compromise and switch to tea?"
Su Lingyue considered it. Tea was refreshing and would help her stay awake. She nodded. "Okay."
As if she had made a major decision.
Ji Zhiyi found her like this incredibly cute and wanted to pinch her nose, but Su Lingyue looked up just as she reached out, their eyes meeting. Ji Zhiyi's hand froze in mid-air. Su Lingyue asked, "What are you doing?"
Ji Zhiyi withdrew her hand. "Nothing."
Su Lingyue said, "You wanted to touch me, didn't you?"
Ji Zhiyi put her hand to her lips and coughed, her ears turning red. Su Lingyue glanced around and proactively leaned in. "Where do you want to touch me?"
Her eyes were full of emotion, her bright eyes shining, her skin fair, and her lips slightly curved, a stark contrast to her usual serious and cool demeanor. Ji Zhiyi flicked her nose with her finger.
Su Lingyue's heart skipped a beat.
She was about to say something when her phone rang.
It was Wu Meiyan.
She glanced at Ji Zhiyi and answered the call. "Hello?"
"Assistant Su, where are you?" Wu Meiyan's voice was anxious. "Did you compile the list for the team building?"
Su Lingyue said, "I compiled the lists for a few departments, why?"
Wu Meiyan asked, "Did you compile the list for the design department?"
Su Lingyue said, "Yes."
Wu Meiyan asked, "How many people did you list as attending?"
Su Lingyue said, "No one."
Wu Meiyan confirmed, "The design department, no one is attending?"
Su Lingyue realized something was wrong. "What happened?"
Wu Meiyan said, "Today Zhang Ting was assigning the slots for the resort, and the design department asked why they weren't on the list. Zhang Ting said their names weren't on the team-building list, and now the people from the design department are here causing a commotion."
She could faintly hear the sound of arguing.
It was Chen Zhiyao's voice.
Su Lingyue frowned.
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