Ten years flew by in what felt like a single wave of a hand.
In the blink of an eye, Shen Aiyan's childhood friend from ten years ago was now a fully grown adult.
During a business trip to another city, Shen Aiyan happened to run into her close friend.
Speaking of her life over the past few years, Liu Yue couldn't help but feel a wave of nostalgia. She truly wished she could return to those childhood days, back when they sat in the classroom studying together, and spent their afternoons inviting each other out for wontons...
"They were so delicious!"
"You can go back home anytime," Shen Aiyan said.
Liu Yue replied wistfully, "I probably won't go back. My home is gone. Even if I return, I'd just be a drifter, a stranger in my own land."
"Your home might be gone, but the people are still here."
Suddenly remembering something, Liu Yue asked, "Oh right, where is Bai Yanhao now?"
Shen Aiyan shook her head. She had always kept her feelings deeply hidden. "I don't know. He's probably in some city or another."
"Probably?" Liu Yue was slightly surprised.
"Yeah," Shen Aiyan nodded.
Involuntarily, her thoughts drifted back to him.
It had been ten years. Why did he leave her? Why hadn't he given her a single reason...?
The man Shen Aiyan was thinking of was Bai Yanhao—the one she still couldn't forget, even after ten long years...
Qingteng Enterprise.
This was a high-tech company located in the heart of the Yunyan District, a newly developed technology hub in S Province.
Its primary business was supplying consumer electronic equipment for military projects.
While there were many companies like Qingteng in this district, this particular company had a highly unusual management style, and its recruitment process was incredibly peculiar.
The company hired both men and women, but any male applicant had to meet a strict standard: they all had to be exceptionally handsome, top-tier eye candy.
As a result, from top to bottom, the male employees outnumbered the female employees several times over.
What's more, they were all incredibly good-looking.
Even so, the company's hiring standards were exceptionally high and rigorous.
Aside from their outstanding looks, applicants of both genders had to possess stellar academic credentials.
They had to be genuinely competent.
Furthermore, the most unusual rule of all was that every single hired employee had to be single, and their future spouses had to be connected to the company's business operations in some way.
This was the eccentric whim of the company's CEO. Because of this, at every annual meeting, the CEO would be faced with over a hundred handsome men. The scene was practically indistinguishable from an ancient noble family's daughter throwing a silk ball to choose a husband.
Naturally, this was prime gossip material for the veteran female employees. With the company announcing a new round of recruitment over the past few days, the resident office gossips had plenty of fresh rumors to trade...
"Hey, have you guys heard? This year's recruitment quota has doubled! The interview process is as professional as the Film Academy, and both the guys and girls are as gorgeous as A-list celebrities."
"Sigh, being good-looking is useless if you don't have the skills to back it up.
Just last month, some guy was recommended by the disciplinary committee to work as a secretary for our President Shen. He didn't even last a few days before resigning."
"Sigh..."
"It's also that guy's own fault for being so foolish, trying to reach far above his station. He wanted to target our CEO, hoping to use the opportunity to marry into a wealthy family, but in the end, our CEO didn't pay him any mind at all!"
"By the way, does our CEO have a sweetheart yet? Do you think she has her eye on any of the guys in our company?"
"No way, no way. I've been working here for over a year now, and I've never seen CEO Shen with anyone or going on a date. She's rarely even in the news."
"CEO Shen has a very cold personality and rarely speaks. I've been working here for several years, and I haven't even spoken ten sentences to her."
"What's up with that? Our CEO is truly strange. She recruited so many handsome men, yet she doesn't spare a single one of them a glance. Do handsome guys only come here to do hard labor in the end?"
"Sigh, then we can only wait and see. Who knows, maybe one day our CEO's heart will be moved, and she'll take a liking to one of them."
"Oh, come on, what do you know? Even if you were that lucky guy who got chosen, having to face hundreds of staring eyes every single day—how could anyone bear that kind of mental pressure?"
"That's true. And what's more, I know our CEO Shen lives all by herself in a private villa. Plus, she's an amazing cook and doesn't even hire a housekeeper."
Just then, Shen Aiyan stepped out of the elevator, causing the group of women to instantly fall silent.
With an expressionless face, Shen Aiyan walked through the main office lobby and entered her private office.
Following behind her was Vice President Yuan Jingzhi, who was also a handsome young man.
Not long after Shen Aiyan entered her office, the quiet outside immediately erupted into a buzz again.
"Hey, did you guys see that? Our Vice President Yuan is with CEO Shen again. I'm so jealous of him—he can enter and leave the CEO's office whenever he wants."
"Haha, of course! How can any of those other guys compare to him? CEO Shen hired him personally with a high salary. Who knows, maybe she has her eyes on him and it's just not convenient to announce it to everyone yet..."
While the gossip raged outside, the office inside was quiet. Yuan Jingzhi handed a stack of documents to Shen Aiyan. "Sign these."
Shen Aiyan casually flipped through them, then signed her name on the pile of contracts.
Every time Yuan Jingzhi saw Shen Aiyan sign her name, he couldn't help but feel a wave of admiration. "Aiyan, how did you practice your signature to make it look so elegant, like flying dragons and dancing phoenixes?"
However, his question was met only with silence.
Holding a cup of water, Yuan Jingzhi sat across from Shen Aiyan. Looking at her cold, unreadable expression, he said, "My dear CEO Shen, why did you recruit a whole troupe of handsome men into the company all at once? Do you really not know what's going on? The office gossips are buzzing, saying you're like Empress Wu Zetian surrounded by a harem of male concubines..."
Shen Aiyan raised her eyes to look at Yuan Jingzhi and calmly replied, "Let them talk. I'm a woman and I don't care, so why do you?"
"You..." Left speechless, Yuan Jingzhi resorted to weak logic. "You just like the feeling of being surrounded by people, don't you?"
Shen Aiyan gave a half-smile and said, "How could you say that? This is simply a tactic to build prestige."
Yuan Jingzhi poured another glass of water for Shen Aiyan and continued chatting, "Oh right, Aiyan, a gay guy came to apply for a job today."
Hearing this, Shen Aiyan almost spat out her water. Yuan Jingzhi chimed in again, "But his qualifications are actually not bad."
"Then hire him, as long as he's capable," Shen Aiyan said nonchalantly. "Who knows, maybe the clients will like that type."
"Hey, you've started hiring men, and now you're even taking in gay guys. Are you really that indiscriminate? I'm telling you, President Shen, isn't your personality a bit too eccentric?"
Shen Aiyan slightly raised her eyelids to look at Yuan Jingzhi, seeing him rubbing the goosebumps off his arms. She didn't react harshly, only saying flatly, "In a moment, retrieve the document from my computer and pass it down to the subordinates."
Yuan Jingzhi set down his water glass. "The document on your personal computer? Am I allowed to open it?"
Shen Aiyan replied casually, "Up to you, go ahead."
Yuan Jingzhi nodded, then quickly turned on Shen Aiyan's computer. As soon as the screen lit up, he saw a face as beautiful as an angel's, flawless from every angle, with every feature handsomely defined...
Unable to help himself, he asked, "Aiyan, who is this? Some movie star?"
Shen Aiyan turned to look at the computer screen. Instantly, memories came rushing back, and the face buried deepest in her mind resurfaced...
She spoke softly, a flicker of melancholy rising in her eyes. "That is someone important to me."
Yuan Jingzhi asked with a sly, cheerful grin, "President Shen, can I ask you a question?"
Shen Aiyan didn't answer, only giving a cold nod of assent.
"Is the reason you haven't married for ten years because of this guy?"
As soon as Yuan Jingzhi finished asking, before he could say anything more, he heard Shen Aiyan's voice ring out, "Tomorrow, write a resignation letter and submit it to me. I feel the need to hire another vice president who is both mute and deaf."
Yuan Jingzhi shut his mouth instantly. He obediently printed out the document, then walked out of Shen Aiyan's office...