Oops, I’m the Scumbag Ex in Her Storyline - Chapter 11
Xin Yan’s little plan fell through.
She had assigned Lanlan’s onboarding to An Zhiyuan, only for An Zhiyuan to immediately pass it down to his subordinate. The subordinate then brought over a quiet, honest new hire to show Lanlan around the office.
Once Lanlan had left, and the people delivering the desk and chair were gone too, An Zhiyuan finally couldn’t hold it in any longer. He walked up to Xin Yan and cautiously asked,
“President Xin, about the work you mentioned for Miss Bei Lanlan—what exactly did you mean by that?”
Xin Yan was behind her desk reviewing spreadsheets. At the question, she looked up and added two lines:
“Nothing too important, nothing technical. Ideally, something she can finish in an hour or two.”
In short, nothing that would distract Lanlan from reviewing documents for her.
An Zhiyuan suddenly saw the light.
For a moment, he had truly thought President Xin had lost her mind and actually wanted to give Lanlan real work. I mean, if she could bring someone like Lanlan into the company today, who knew what she’d do tomorrow?
But now it all made sense: she was just humoring Lanlan. Probably some kind of… intimate game. Jing Chu was engaged now, and Xin Yan was seeking comfort from Lanlan. Lanlan likely took the opportunity to request a little “real world experience” in the office. That kind of storyline? He’d seen it a hundred times—every drama on TV had a similar plot.
As a competent assistant, An Zhiyuan vowed to remain on high alert and nip any and all threats in the bud. As long as he was here, no outsider would get close to the company’s secrets.
He marched out with righteous conviction.
Xin Yan, watching his retreating figure with an odd expression, simply shook her head and let him go.
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Not long after he left, Lanlan returned. She shut the office door behind her, walked up to Xin Yan, and asked,
“What do you need me to do?”
Xin Yan had been waiting for her.
She pointed at the documents she’d sorted earlier and said,
“Read through these and summarize the key points. Every department report is ridiculously long—I only have one pair of eyes; how could I possibly get through them all? Sometimes I wonder if An Zhiyuan dumps these files on me just to force me into working overtime.”
She grumbled with a touch of exasperation.
The “original Xin Yan” had been a notorious workaholic. Her time was spent either on Jing Chu or on work. And look how that turned out. So no, Xin Yan had sworn off overtime for good.
Lanlan quietly took the documents and flipped open the first one.
On the cover:
“Bid Proposal for Project XT-935 (Confidentiality Level: B)”
Lanlan: “…”
Even without corporate experience, she knew this kind of document wasn’t something just anyone should be looking at. She handed it back to Xin Yan.
“Is this really meant for me?” she asked.
Xin Yan glanced up.
“Of course. We’re discussing it in tomorrow’s meeting. It’s 28 pages—try to condense it to three. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask An Zhiyuan.”
Just don’t ask her. She didn’t understand half of the technical jargon in those documents either—that’s why she was outsourcing it to Lanlan.
Lanlan hesitated.
“But… this is a confidential document.”
Xin Yan nodded with utmost seriousness.
“Exactly. So be careful while reading. And don’t take it out of this office, no matter what.”
Lanlan: “…”
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An Zhiyuan had placed Lanlan’s desk to the right of Xin Yan’s, facing the wall. That way, Xin Yan could see her every move, while Lanlan couldn’t see her at all.
Xin Yan, buried in her paperwork, didn’t even notice.
By the time she had finished signing everything and reviewing what needed to be reviewed, it was already lunchtime.
An Zhiyuan brought in two lunch boxes. Lanlan, back to the door, was still focused on summarizing the report. Xin Yan sat quietly at her desk, lost in thought.
“President Xin?”
Xin Yan came to.
“Hmm? What is it?”
“It’s time for lunch.”
He had the food cart wheeled into the lounge. Watching her distracted demeanor, he asked,
“Is something bothering you?”
Xin Yan paused, then muttered,
“I don’t think so. But I keep feeling like… I forgot something important.”
She tried to recall it, but nothing came. Eventually, she gave up.
She stood, walked over to Lanlan’s desk, and said,
“Come on, time to eat.”
Lanlan was still deeply absorbed in the report and didn’t even realize who had spoken to her.
“Just a minute. I want to finish this page.”
A slender, fair hand suddenly reached out and plucked the document from her desk.
“You’ve got all afternoon for that. Is this what you do at home too—skip meals?”
Lanlan: “…”
She glanced anxiously at An Zhiyuan and murmured,
“No… I’ll go wash my hands.”
Then she practically bolted toward the restroom.
Xin Yan casually set the file down and turned—only to find An Zhiyuan staring at her like she was some prehistoric creature.
“What?” she snapped.
An Zhiyuan swallowed the comment he really wanted to make and smiled politely.
“You’re very kind to Miss Lanlan.”
Xin Yan rolled her eyes.
“Of course I’m nice to my wife. What, would you rather I be nice to you?”
An Zhiyuan: “…”
Nope. Definitely not his imagination—President Xin had it out for him lately.
Wounded, he withdrew.
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Xin Yan and Lanlan sat down to lunch together. It was the first time Xin Yan had a clear view of Lanlan’s face while they ate.
She noticed that Lanlan hadn’t touched the shrimp on her plate.
“Don’t like shrimp?” she asked.
Lanlan paused mid-bite, then nodded.
Xin Yan pushed her own plate over.
“I love shrimp—but I hate the little potatoes in this dish. You take the potatoes, I’ll take the shrimp.”
Lanlan’s plate was already missing all the potatoes—clearly she liked them. She stared at Xin Yan for a few seconds, then, under her expectant gaze, quietly used her chopsticks to transfer a few potatoes onto her plate.
As Lanlan moved, Xin Yan drifted back into her thoughts again.
By the time Lanlan had finished the food swap, Xin Yan was still spacing out. Lanlan gently pushed the tray back toward her and called her name:
“Xin Yan?”
Xin Yan snapped out of it.
Lanlan knew she probably shouldn’t care about Xin Yan’s problems—but sometimes, the body moved faster than the brain. While she was still debating whether to say anything, she heard her own voice fill the quiet office:
“What are you thinking about?”
Xin Yan idly picked at a shrimp.
“Still that same feeling… like I forgot something really important, but I can’t remember what it is. It’s annoying.”
She shook her head.
“Forget it. If it’s important, I’ll remember eventually. Here—let’s watch something to relax.”
She turned on the TV.
The smart TV embedded in the wall immediately came to life. It had memory and voice control, so it resumed the last thing that was playing…
…Jing Chu and Kong Zhiluo’s engagement announcement.
Last time the original Xin Yan saw this, she ran from the office and called Jing Chu in a frenzy. This time, the current Xin Yan’s reaction wasn’t much better.
Seeing the dazed expression on Xin Yan’s face, Lanlan lowered her head and quietly kept eating. But she didn’t touch another potato.
Her mind was sneering.
Meanwhile, Xin Yan’s was screaming:
Oh no! I forgot about Jing Chu—AGAIN!!!
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Author’s Note:
Xin Yan: (opens notebook) Call Jing Chu, call Jing Chu, call Jing Chu.
Xin Yan: (closes notebook) Call Jing Chu.
During a test—
Xin Yan: Lanlan doesn’t like going out, fix that.
Lanlan has nothing to do, give her something.
Lanlan wears the same clothes, buy her new ones.
An Zhiyuan is annoying, maybe ship him off to Mexico.
Final question: …Wait. Who is Jing Chu???