Chapter 95: Changing Strategy

After slapping her own head for the Nth time, Zhou Xiaoru had no choice but to climb back up to the sixth floor to retrieve her phone.

It was only when she returned to the dormitory and got her phone that she saw the message on it.

Gu Liyan had sent her a message early in the morning, saying he had approved an extra day of leave for her this week, telling her to rest well and prepare for next week's thesis defense.

Seeing this, the person who had been nervous and worried about being late for work because she had overslept instantly relaxed.

Today was already Friday, the last workday of the week.

With the two days of the weekend added on, Zhou Xiaoru now had three days off.

Just thinking about it felt so great!

It was just that Zhou Xiaoru suddenly felt she had forgotten something very important, but she couldn't remember exactly what it was.

After thinking for a long time, she finally gave up; forget it, the most important thing for her now was to prepare for next week's graduation defense.

(Author's note: You forgot that you need to get your wages back.)

A pleasant holiday always passes very quickly.

Zhou Xiaoru used this holiday to keep preparing for her thesis defense, and during this period, Du Feng asked her out several times, wanting to treat her to a meal.

She rejected them all...

But Du Feng was like a dog-skin plaster that couldn't be shaken off, sticking to her constantly.

On the morning of the first workday of the new week, Zhou Xiaoru saw that unshakable dog-skin plaster downstairs at her dormitory building.

Du Feng had been waiting downstairs at her dormitory early, holding a hot breakfast in his hands.

As soon as Zhou Xiaoru saw him, she thought this guy must have slept downstairs at their women's dormitory building last night.

It was only a little past seven in the morning, and he appeared so early; what was he trying to do!

As soon as Du Feng saw her come out, he immediately revealed a face full of spring-breeze-like smiles.

"Morning, Xiaoru."

"Morning, you... when did you arrive?"

"Just arrived a while ago, look, the breakfast is still hot."

As he spoke, he raised the things in his hands.

Looking at those two portions of soy milk, Zhou Xiaoru blurted out a sentence.

"I'm not hungry..."

After saying it, she wanted to slap herself twice immediately!

He hadn't even said the breakfast was for her, and even if it was for her, she shouldn't have said something so mood-killing.

She really was someone who refused a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!

Du Feng's expression also appeared somewhat awkward because of these words.

Zhou Xiaoru hurriedly continued, "We should get going, there are a lot of people on the bus here in the morning; if we miss this one, we'll have to wait twenty minutes for the next one."

The topic surrounding the breakfast was finally over.

Before getting on the bus, Du Feng still successfully managed to get a portion of breakfast into Zhou Xiaoru's hands.

Facing such great kindness from Brother Du, Zhou Xiaoru always had an indescribable sense of aversion.

Just like before, when Du Feng was in her office at the Personnel Department, implying that he was her boyfriend.

She didn't like some of Du Feng's ways of doing things, and as they continued to interact and spend time together, she felt more and more that she couldn't understand Du Feng.

Because he acted too enthusiastically, yet beneath that enthusiasm, she felt his pursuit didn't seem to carry much genuine emotion.

Zhou Xiaoru had always been unwilling to think of people in a bad light, and besides, Du Feng had always made her feel like a very good friend.

But this feeling changed flavor after he confessed his feelings to her.

Even until she entered the company, Zhou Xiaoru was still thinking about the subtle changes that had occurred in Du Feng.

After getting off the bus, Du Feng initiated an invitation again.

"Let's eat together at noon. I've been asking you out these past few days, but I couldn't get you, so I had no choice but to come to your dormitory building early to wait for you."

"......" Facing this renewed invitation, Zhou Xiaoru couldn't think of any reason to refuse.

She had no choice but to nod, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

After receiving the response, Du Feng entered the company very happily.

And Zhou Xiaoru just looked at the person who, although wearing a smile on the surface, had no hint of a smile in his eyes, and fell into deep thought once again.

Was she overthinking it? Why did she keep feeling that Du Feng had ulterior motives!

On Zhou Xiaoru's side, after she and Du Feng entered the company one after the other, in a coffee shop across from the company.

The same location, the same seats, sat the same two people.

Su Poyang was drinking coffee while shaking his head, looking at his own older cousin who was sitting across from him, staring outside with a gloomy face.

He put down his coffee cup and said.

"I say Yanyan, why do you insist on torturing yourself like this? What era is it now, and you're still here 'sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall.' If you like Zhou Xiaoru so much, just go after her."

That would be better than always peeking here at that girl and another man, chatting and laughing, acting like a couple.

The expression of a certain gentleman was just like the coffee in the cup at this moment, black and bitter.

Having not seen Zhou Xiaoru for three days, he was already going crazy with longing in his heart; he had finally made it to Monday morning.

In order to see her in the morning, he had dragged Su Poyang to sit in this coffee shop early in the morning.

But what he saw was this scene...

This new week, first thing in the morning, Gu Liyan's mood could simply be described as terrible to the extreme.

The woman he liked had, once again, passed by before his eyes, chatting and laughing with another man.

That kind of mood was simply unpleasant to the extreme!

Du Feng was Zhou Xiaoru's new boyfriend? He would absolutely never believe it!

They had been on the business trip for three or four days, and they had slept in the same room alone for two nights.

Zhou Xiaoru was not a casual person; if Du Feng were truly her boyfriend, she would absolutely not stay in the same room as him.

But as things stood, this Du Feng was persistently chasing after Zhou Xiaoru; they say a wicked woman fears a pestering man, and if this continued for long, it was inevitable that Zhou Xiaoru's heart would be breached.

Thinking of this, the handsome Gu decided to change his strategy once again.

It seemed that winning over Zhou Xiaoru would be a protracted war.

After returning to the Personnel Department, Zhou Xiaoru spent the entire morning being questioned by a crowd of gossiping colleagues.

That morning, she didn't get much real work done, as she was constantly being asked this and that by her colleagues.

When it was almost time for lunch, Gu Liyan sent her a message.

This was the second time Gu Liyan had sent her a message since the business trip ended.

The first time was Friday morning, when he sent a message letting her take an extra day off; this was the second.

Gu Liyan told her to come to the President's Office during lunch, saying he wanted her to pick up her pay stub.

Salary!!

Upon seeing this word, a lightbulb went off in Zhou Xiaoru's head!

No wonder she had felt like she was forgetting something important these past few days; it was the salary that still hadn't been settled!

It was already June this week, and the promised salary still hadn't shown any signs of appearing.

This time, no matter what, she had to get it!

If she couldn't get the money on the spot, she would just loiter in the President's Office and refuse to leave today.

(Author's note: The young Master Gu is dying for you to do just that; it would play right into his hands.)

When lunchtime arrived, Zhou Xiaoru deliberately avoided the peak lunch hour before going to find Gu Liyan.

However, the moment the matter of her salary was mentioned, she completely forgot about her lunch date with Du Feng.

It wasn't until she arrived outside Gu Liyan's office and didn't see Du Feng in the outer office that she remembered the meal.

She felt her pocket and cursed under her breath!

Damn it! She had forgotten her phone again!

Was her memory failing her lately? She was always being so scatterbrained.

Forget it, she would just go back and call him after she got her salary.

She had originally wanted to borrow the Executive Secretary's phone to send him a message.

But she had a premonition that if she used the Executive Secretary's phone to message Du Feng,

that guy might jump to conclusions, discover she was in the President's Office, and then who knew what kind of melodramatic soap opera would unfold next.

Just thinking about that scene made her unable to bear the sight of it.

Now, she came to the President's Office as familiarly as if she were going to her own home.

When she pushed open the door to the top of the Pyramid, she saw a tall, handsome figure standing with his back to her in front of the massive glass window, smoking a cigarette.

Zhou Xiaoru first secretly drooled over that perfect physique.

Then she took the initiative to break the silence, saying, "Boss, you promised to pay my salary, why haven't I received it yet?"

As the big boss of a company, was he really not ashamed to withhold the hard-earned money of an Intern!

Truly shameless and lacking integrity!

Upon hearing her voice, Gu Liyan slowly turned around, his deep eyes shooting straight toward her.

This one look made Miss Zhou's little heart skip a beat.

Was he trying to charm her?!

Before it was seduction, now he was changing his strategy?!

Did he think only he could charm others? She could too.

Receiving that high-voltage radiation of electricity, Zhou Xiaoru fired back her own high-voltage waves!

Gu Liyan looked with some amusement at the girl who kept blinking at him; the unhappiness in his heart from the morning had already vanished.

It seemed that as long as he saw her, the gloom in his heart would dissipate like smoke.

He walked over slowly and said with a light laugh.

"Are you trying to charm me!"

"Didn't you start it? I was just afraid you were running low on power."

"Heh, what on earth are you thinking about all day long?"

Zhou Xiaoru tried her best to ignore this man's powerful, gentle offensive.

She quickly pulled the topic back, saying, "Don't just talk to me about useless things. Where is my salary! You promised to pay me last month; how can you go back on your word!"

At this moment, the gentleman, after looking at her gently for a while, walked toward his desk and then walked back over.

He handed over a slip of paper.

"Take a look at your pay stub first and see if there are any errors."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiaoru was suddenly a bit displeased.

Why did she feel like this guy was insulting her intelligence with this move!

Displeased as she was, her hand reached out very honestly.

However, just as her hand touched the pay stub, the man opposite her suddenly grabbed her hand with a backhand motion.

Then, with a forceful pull, she lunged forward and was caught in a full embrace by the gentleman!

The moment he held Zhou Xiaoru, the handsome Gu felt instantly satisfied.

Sure enough, it was truly too difficult to manage not touching her, not paying attention to her, and not caring about her.

With the person within reach right before his eyes, if he could really remain indifferent, he would be worse than a beast.

And the person who had crashed into the arms of a certain gentleman was, at this moment, already stunned by the collision!

What kind of move is this? What does it mean!..