Yun Jie had not expected Xu Yu to abruptly close the door. She almost bumped her head due to inertia.
Supporting herself on the door, Yun Jie stepped back and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Yun Jie,” Xu Yu said, still holding the doorknob, “do you remember someone hitting on me when I left the party a few nights ago?”
Yun Jie responded, “The awkward one?”
Xu Yu nodded and pointed towards the meeting room. “He’s in there.”
Yun Jie remained stunned for a while. “Huh?”
They stared at each other in silence, blinking together.
“How many people are inside?” Yun Jie inquired first.
Xu Yu shook his head. “A few. I did not look closely.”
Yun Jie raised her eyebrows slightly. “You immediately spotted the awkward one?”
Xu Yu nodded.
He didn’t know why he saw Mr. Awkward first, even though Mr. Awkward was sitting quite off to the side.
Yun Jie waved her hand and pointed to Xu Yu’s hand. “Go inside first, don’t just stand here.”
Xu Yu nodded and pushed the door open again.
Just like before, Xu Yu saw Mr. Awkward the moment he walked in. Startled, their eyes met again.
“Good afternoon,” Xu Yu said quickly, turning away to greet everyone politely.
There were five interviewers. After Xu Yu greeted them, Mr. Awkward only glanced at him without speaking.
The man in the middle responded to Xu Yu. “Good afternoon, Mr. Xu. Please have a seat.”
Xu Yu had experienced numerous similar meetings and handled them with ease. The other side asked a few questions, which Xu Yu answered, and Yun Jie added a few details. The interview wrapped up smoothly.
Mr. Awkward remained silent throughout the entire process. He adjusted his suit once, picked up a pen twice, wrote once, and looked at his phone three times. The rest of the time, he was staring at Xu Yu.
Of course, his gaze was polite and not abrupt, mostly because Xu Yu was speaking.
Xu Yu was not sure why he noticed Mr. Awkward’s actions so clearly, even though he was only in his peripheral vision.
“Alright, I have no more questions; do you have any?” Manager Chen, who sat opposite Xu Yu, inquired.
Xu Yu looked at Yun Jie, who shook her head. “No questions.”
Manager Chen said, “Okay, then we’ll leave it here for today. We’ll be in touch.”
As they left the meeting room, Yun Jie snapped her fingers at Xu Yu. “It looks promising.”
Xu Yu nodded.
Although it wasn’t certain that Xu Yu would get the job, and judging by the setup inside, he probably wasn’t the only candidate they saw today, he had a good feeling based on his experience in the industry.
Yun Jie placed her pen and notebook in her bag and remembered something. “Oh right, who was your Mr. Awkward?”
Before Xu Yu could respond, Yun Jie became excited and drew him further away from the meeting room. “Oh yeah, did you notice the man on the left?”
Xu Yu paused. “What about him?”
“I knew you wouldn’t notice him,” Yun Jie glanced at the meeting room door and whispered. “If I am not mistaken, that was Su Yuanjiu. Wow, I was surprised to see him in there. What is he doing here?”
Xu Yu thought Yun Jie was going to compliment the man, but she said this instead.
“Who is Su Yuanjiu?” Xu Yu asked.
Yun Jie made a hush gesture and whispered, “He is the big boss of JSS. He founded it, and he owns the entire company.”
Xu Yu was completely stunned, unsure how to respond. He blinked a couple of times.
“Yun Jie,” said Xu Yu, his voice dry. “This might not be as promising as we expected.”
Yun Jie asked, “Why? What’s wrong?”
Xu Yu swallowed instinctively.
Before he could say anything, there was a movement at the meeting room door, which caught their attention.
The door opened, and the man Yun Jie called Su Yuanjiu walked out. At the same time, a woman in a suit walked down the corridor, greeted Su Yuanjiu politely, handed him some documents, and informed him that the meeting downstairs was about to begin.
Su Yuanjiu took the documents and then looked up.
Xu Yu and Su Yuanjiu’s eyes met again.
Unlike the previous two times, Xu Yu politely smiled at Su Yuanjiu.
But Su Yuanjiu did more than just smile back; he approached Xu Yu.
Out of sight, Yun Jie tugged Xu Yu’s sleeve twice.
Before Su Yuanjiu reached them, Manager Chen, who had been chatting with Xu Yu, also walked out of the meeting room and headed towards them.
When Su Yuanjiu reached them, he said to Xu Yu, “Hello.”
Xu Yu replied, “Hello.”
Manager Chen smiled and said, “I forgot to introduce you earlier; this is Mr. Su.”
Xu Yu nodded and smiled. “Hello, Mr. Su.”
Mr. Su suddenly smiled and looked into Xu Yu’s eyes. “May I know your name now?”
Xu Yu answered honestly and politely, “My name is Xu Yu.”
Yun Jie tugged on Xu Yu’s sleeve harder.
“Are you heading back?” Su Yuanjiu asked Xu Yu.
Xu Yu nodded. “Yes.”
Su Yuanjiu said, “Let’s go together. I need to go downstairs as well.”
The woman in the suit and Manager Chen both seemed surprised but kept their reactions subdued, pretending not to notice.
Xu Yu and Yun Jie wisely pretended they had not noticed and walked together to the elevator.
The atmosphere was quiet and awkward as if everyone was thinking their own thoughts but remaining calm on the surface.
The elevator descended quickly, and they arrived on the fifth floor, where Su Yuanjiu needed to get off.
“I’m here,” Su Yuanjiu said.
In the elevator with Su Yuanjiu were four other people. When Su Yuanjiu spoke, no one dared to respond.
No one dared to assume Su Yuanjiu was speaking to them.
Even though Xu Yu felt it was probably meant for him, he didn’t dare to overthink it.
Su Yuanjiu, however, confirmed it.
As the elevator doors slowly opened, Su Yuanjiu turned to Xu Yu and said, “Goodbye, Mr. Xu.”
“Goodbye, Mr. Su,” Xu Yu replied.
When the doors fully opened, Manager Chen held the elevator door for Su Yuanjiu before releasing it and following him out.
As the elevator doors closed, Manager Chen turned to face Xu Yu. Almost as if it were coordinated, the woman in the suit on Su Yuanjiu’s right also turned to look at Xu Yu.
Xu Yu gave a polite smile as the elevator doors shut.
The sudden sense of weightlessness appeared to stem not only from the elevator, but also from everything that had just happened.
“Was he… Mr. Awkward?” Yun Jie asked, pointing vaguely to the elevator doors with her bent finger.
Xu Yu nodded, half-smiling, and asked Yun Jie, “Is this promising or not?”
Yun Jie, holding back her excitement and smile, exclaimed, “Very promising!”
The building had cameras everywhere, so Yun Jie kept her composure inside. When they got out of the building and into the car, she let out a loud scream.
The driver was taken aback, but Xu Yu assured him with a smile. “It’s fine, sir. To Yunhe Lake, please.”
Once the car was on the road, Yun Jie calmed down a bit.
She tugged at Xu Yu’s sleeve. “I was thinking about going back to check if the person in the meeting room was really Su Yuanjiu, but there’s no need now. It was definitely him. Tell me exactly what happened when you met that night.”
Xu Yu shook his head. “Nothing much. He found something, a cufflink, I think, and asked if it was mine. I said no, and then he asked if he could politely inquire about my last name.”
Yun Jie let out a long “Oh,” and said, “Then you said, ‘I can’t tell you.'”
Xu Yu nodded. “Yes.”
Yun Jie gave Xu Yu a sidelong glance. “You’re something else.”
Xu Yu’s voice softened, almost with a hint of grievance. “How was I supposed to know?”
Thinking back to their conversation that night, Yun Jie understood why Xu Yu might not have felt like talking to anyone.
Yun Jie didn’t press the matter further, knowing Xu Yu wasn’t at fault.
“With a striking kid like you, it’s normal for people to take an interest,” Yun Jie smiled. “Do you think Mr. Su might be interested in you?”
Xu Yu shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think he might have just wanted to ask me to do an ad.”
Yun Jie chuckled, suspecting there was more to it based on Su Yuanjiu’s behavior.
“Maybe,” Yun Jie said, nodding. But it appeared that she was thinking about something else and began laughing to herself.
The car had been driving for over ten minutes, and Yun Jie’s excitement was still palpable. She began talking nonsense, saying how attending the banquet was the right decision and how wonderful it was.
“I didn’t expect to meet such a handsome guy,” Yun Jie shook her head in admiration. “Su Yuanjiu is way too handsome. His aura alone… I’m lucky I can hold my breath, or I might have suffocated in that elevator.”
Xu Yu said, “You’re exaggerating.”
Yun Jie mimicked, “May I know your name now?”
Then she added, “Goodbye, Mr. Xu.”
She laughed, “Haha, oh my gosh.”
Yun Jie was going crazy with excitement.
While she was entertaining herself, her phone suddenly lit up with a WeChat friend request.
“Huh,” Yun Jie clicked it. “Someone from JSS added me.”
Xu Yu turned to look.
Half a minute later.
Yun Jie said, “It’s Manager Chen. I gave him your private number.”
Xu Yu said, “Alright.”
Another half minute passed, and Xu Yu’s phone rang.
Xu Yu took it out and saw an unknown number ending in 6888.
He swiped to answer.
“Hello,” Xu Yu said.
The other party said, “Hello, I’m Su Yuanjiu.”
Xu Yu paused before politely saying, “Hello, Mr. Su.”
At this, Yun Jie visibly straightened up in her seat.
Su Yuanjiu, on the other end, responded, “This is my phone number.”
Xu Yu nodded. “Okay, I’ll save it.”
Su Yuanjiu continued, “Manager Chen will contact you about the ad. You won’t have to wait long.”
Xu Yu replied, “Okay, thank you, Mr. Su.”
Su Yuanjiu added, “I have a meeting to attend. We’ll talk next time.”
Xu Yu replied, “Okay, goodbye.”
After hanging up, Yun Jie seemed to be holding her breath. Xu Yu could tell.
“Ah!!!!” Yun Jie screamed, breaking the silence.
