Chapter 5: The First Day on the Job

Lu Sheng's expression didn't look much better.

As she rushed back to her room, the scenes from last night played over and over in her mind like a movie.

She simply couldn't control it.

Social death, total social death! "Heavens, how could I have said such humble words?!"

Lu Sheng grabbed her hair in a breakdown.

She had always prided herself on being a strong woman, with a "keep strangers at a distance" attitude in her speech and actions; people in the company wouldn't even dare to breathe loudly when they saw her.

If it were a normal social engagement, she wouldn't have gotten this drunk even mixing white spirits and red wine.

How did she get knocked out by a mere few bottles of green plum wine last night?

And... she forcibly kissed Shen Huai.

Lu Sheng was practically questioning her life.

The following day.

Shen Huai went in and out, and indeed did not run into Lu Sheng again.

Because of the huge blunder last night, based on Shen Huai's understanding of Lu Sheng.

She probably wouldn't have the face to step out of that door for a while.

It was better not to see her; it saved the awkwardness.

As a veteran of the dating scene, Shen Huai adjusted his mindset quite quickly.

After all, he was a man, even if he was the passive party.

When it came down to it, he didn't lose out.

Rather than getting tangled up with an ex-girlfriend, it was better to quickly get his mindset in order and welcome the important day ahead.

Monday.

Early in the morning, before the alarm he set had even rung.

Shen Huai was woken up by the earth-shattering sound of a door closing next door.

It wasn't that the soundproofing was bad.

It was just that Lu Sheng's door-closing was far too heavy and loud; Shen Huai seriously suspected she was taking her anger out on the door.

Ex-girlfriend, tigress.

Especially an ex-girlfriend in a fit of rage; one must definitely not touch that bad luck.

Shen Huai pretended not to hear it, turned over, and looked at the bedside.

A quarter past seven.

Only fifteen minutes away from the 7:30 alarm he had set.

"Fine, no need to sleep now."

Shen Huai sighed.

The sleepiness interrupted by Lu Sheng wouldn't return, so he simply started exercising in the living room.

Persisting with fitness every day was a habit he never broke.

After half an hour of cardio, Shen Huai felt refreshed, and the fatigue from just waking up had dissipated completely.

He went into the bathroom and took off his top.

Looking at his tight-lined, sturdy physique in the mirror.

Shen Huai couldn't help but marvel.

With just this physique, even without relying on his face, he could still capture the hearts of countless girls.

Shen Huai smiled at the mirror, then immediately began simulating the scene of starting his new job.

"Hello, I am Shen Huai..."

"No, that smile is a bit sleazy, let's do it again..."

"Hello everyone, I am a new hire starting today, my name is Shen Huai, please look after me."

"Why does that smile feel a bit fake..."

Shen Huai practiced repeatedly in front of the mirror.

He smiled until his face went stiff.

"Forget it, I'll just play it by ear when the time comes."

Shen Huai rubbed his stiff face, walked out of the bedroom, and took the professional outfit Lu Sheng had picked out for him last night from the closet.

Setting aside the business between him and Lu Sheng.

This outfit was indeed very appropriate.

It not only perfectly accentuated his lean physique, but even his "dog waist" was faintly visible.

Indeed, very pleasing to the eye.

Shen Huai removed the tags and put the clothes on one by one from the inside out.

Finally.

Shen Huai put his computer into his briefcase and spun around several times in front of the full-length mirror.

"Shen Huai, this is your first job, you must do your best!"

Shen Huai cheered himself on, then left satisfied.

Xingyao Media.

China's largest and most prestigious talent agency.

It held an unshakable position throughout China.

Nowadays, nearly half of the popular young starlets in the entertainment industry came from Xingyao.

Star Shine not only has a sharp eye for selecting people, but its eye for picking scripts is also extremely precise.

Every film and television project they participate in producing becomes a massive hit; they are simply a walking traffic harvester.

As a well-deserved industry leader, the treatment Star Shine provides its employees is also far higher than the market standard.

The place where Shen Huai lives is only a 5-minute walk from the Star Shine headquarters.

Shen Huai checked the time.

There were still 45 minutes until work started at nine o'clock.

That was more than enough time to slurp a bowl of rice noodles. Thus, Shen Huai walked comfortably into the rice noodle shop nearby, pointed at the deluxe set meal on the menu, and said, "Boss, one of these, please."

Hearing this, the boss looked him up and down, "Boss, you look like a new face?"

Shen Huai was stunned for a moment, then chuckled: "Just graduated, today is my first day of work."

"So you just graduated from university?"

The boss looked at Shen Huai again in shock, "Looking at what you're wearing, I thought you were the boss of some company around here..."

Shen Huai looked down at himself and also smiled a bit awkwardly.

"... Shen Huai?"

Suddenly.

Behind Shen Huai, a young woman spoke up hesitantly.

Shen Huai knitted his brows and turned around.

A face that could not be more familiar appeared right before his eyes.

"... Su Meng?"

Shen Huai almost doubted if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Su Meng, the class beauty Shen Huai had a crush on for three years in high school.

She was also his first love.

The ambiguity was shattered in the year they graduated from high school.

Eighteen-year-old Shen Huai had his head turned by love.

He could have originally gotten into a first-tier university, but in order to attend the same university as Su Meng, he didn't hesitate to secretly change his preferences.

As it turned out, he hadn't expected it.

Su Meng's family was determined to send her abroad to study.

Furthermore, they used Shen Huai's poor family background as a reason to forbid them from seeing each other.

Shen Huai's three-year crush ended in such an absurd way.

Now, four years have passed.

Meeting again, Shen Huai didn't know how to start the conversation for a moment.

The Su Meng of today was already long different from the innocent and naive girl in his memories.

Her plain white dress had changed into an office lady style.

A black hip-hugging skirt perfectly accentuated her curves.

Even her temperament had become much colder.

Su Meng's gaze kept wandering over Shen Huai's outfit, and after a long silence, she finally spoke.

"Long time no see."

Shen Huai met Su Meng's gaze, his eyes somewhat playful: "It has indeed been a long time."

"Are you wearing this to work?"

"Is there something wrong with that?" Shen Huai asked back.

"Nothing, just feel... it's a bit too flashy."

"If you dress better than your boss, it's easy to offend people, you know."

"Thank you for the reminder," Shen Huai said indifferently.

Hearing this, Su Meng's gaze fell into Shen Huai's eyes without a trace, "I didn't expect we would have a day where we met again."

"I didn't expect it either."

From Lu Sheng to Su Meng, in two days, he had met two ex-girlfriends in a row.

This luck was truly something else.

"Your noodles are ready."

The noodle shop owner walked over with a steaming bowl of noodles, easing the awkward atmosphere between the two.

"Many thanks." Shen Huai pulled out a pair of chopsticks and buried his head in eating.

When encountering awkward situations, the busier one's hands are, the more natural one appears.

However.

Su Meng seemed to see through Shen Huai's little thoughts at a glance.

Not only did she not walk away, but she walked over and sat down opposite him in a grand manner.

"How have you been all these years?"

Su Meng rested her head on her hands, looking like she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Why, are you curious?"

Shen Huai feigned calmness, but in reality, he felt incredibly bitter inside.

His hand holding the chopsticks was even trembling slightly.

Who understands the lethality of a first love suddenly appearing? Every veteran in the field of love has a "white moonlight" in their heart that they loved but could not have.

And that white moonlight in Shen Huai's heart was precisely Su Meng.

Su Meng's sudden departure was undoubtedly a huge blow to the love-struck Shen Huai at the time.

Suffering from severe heartbreak, he spent a whole year living a life of physical indulgence without emotional attachment.

It could be said that a large part of the reason for Shen Huai's later attitude toward relationships, where he changed women like clothes, was because of her.

"Just asking, I won't force you if you don't want to say."

Su Meng looked at her watch and stood up lightly, "I'm going to be late, I have to go."

After speaking, she reached out her right hand toward Shen Huai: "See you if fate allows."

Shen Huai looked at the hand Su Meng extended, and that phrase "see you if fate allows."

In an instant, he felt the rice noodles in his hand were dull and tasteless.

"I should go too."

Facing the hand Su Meng extended, Shen Huai did not choose to shake it back, but instead stood up on his own and walked toward the outside.

A flash of deep meaning flickered in Su Meng's eyes, and she hurriedly chased after him.

(End of this chapter)