Fu Chengyan was dressed in a grey suit with a matching white shirt and had his collars exposed. He looked very dapper in it. He gave her a condescending look while his expression remained indifferent.
When she stood beside him in her all-white gown, they both looked like a good match.
Fu Chengyan himself had always been a natural attention magnet. Hence, when Shi Wei was beside him, they became the focal point of everyone’s attention. It wasn’t just the employees of Shengyuan themselves, but even the stars from Xinhuang and the members of the Fu clan were surprised when they saw Shi Wei walking towards Fu Chengyan.
Everyone was focused on Fu Chengyan’s reaction. However, he didn’t say a word. All he did was curl his lips and grin. His deep black eyes were calm and looked like stars shining in the dark sky.
Everyone held their breath as they wondered who the lady who approached Fu Chengyan was.
Yuan Jia was also shocked to see Shi Wei as she held onto Shi Nuan’s arms. She shook them and said, “Who…who is that girl? Why does she address Mr. Fu as ‘uncle’? I didn’t know he had any relatives.”
Shi Nuan raised her eyebrows as her eyes flashed. At the same moment, she saw Shi Wei looking in her direction. Her gaze seemed to have carried with it an inexplicable provocation.
Shi Nuan quickly understood what Shi Wei’s scheme was. There were a lot of people around, and most of them were Shengyuan employees and senior management. She tried to show everyone that she was somehow connected to Fu Chengyan as she felt that he wouldn’t refuse her in front of so many people. Hence, he would implicitly acknowledge their so-called ‘relationship’.
As long as he provided her with some affirmation, she would then be able to ride on his influence going forward. Shi Wei also knew that Shi Nuan worked at Shengyuan, hence, it was obviously both a provocation and a way of showing off to her.
“Damn it…”
“Didn’t you see her coming in together with Bai Qing just now? I suppose that she is one of Xinhuang’s stars. But she seems to be related to Mr. Fu somehow. Who do you think she is?”
“I heard about her before and seen her on the TV. I think she’s called Shi Wei and is a big star too.”
“Then both she and Mr. Fu are…”
Everyone chattered excitedly, and Shi Wei herself was relishing in the attention. Her eyes were fixated on Fu Chengyan. She said with a smile, “Uncle?”
If it wasn’t for the fact that she had met Fu Xicheng first and that she wanted to cause trouble for Shi Nuan, Shi Wei felt that Fu Chengyan was the only man that deserved her.
Fu Chengyan furrowed his brows as he sneered at her when he saw what she was doing. He put a hand in his pocket and squinted his eyes but didn’t give her any response.
At that same moment, another lady emerged from the crowd, “Who are you to claim you’re a relative of Yan?”
It was Song Jingyu, who had been observing them for a while. She couldn’t stand it when Shi Wei tried to get close to Fu Chengyan and called him ‘Uncle’.” She felt that Shi Wei was just trying to beguile him. Song Jingyu’s female intuition was so strong that she instantly knew that Shi Wei was up to no good.
“‘Uncle’? How dare you address Yan as ‘Uncle’? I never knew he had a niece!” Song Jingyu pushed her aside as she glared at her fiercely.
Shi Wei had not expected another woman to spoil her moment like that. She felt that this woman seemed to be of some importance, or else she wouldn’t have dared to make a fuss on such an occasion.
Shi Wei retreated a few steps after being pushed aside by Song Jingyu. Luckily, Su Su managed to catch her from behind. Su Su then whispered in her ear. “Are you alright?”
Shi Wei felt embarrassed but shook her head instead. “I’m fine.” She picked herself up and took a deep breath before looking at Song Jingyu. “May I know who you are, miss?”
“Don’t talk to me. I want nothing to do with you.” Song Jingyu couldn’t stand Shi Wei and shot back at her instantly. There was no room for any respect. She then turned to Fu Chengyan. “Yan, who is she? Why is she addressing you as ‘Uncle’? I grew up with you, but why haven’t I seen her before?”
Song Jingyu was adamant as her eyes were filled with rage. “Don’t think just because you’re all dressed up that you’re oh-so-important. How dare you try to claim some connection with Yan in front of all the members of the Fu clan and all of Shengyuan employees. This will only cause unfounded rumors to start spreading around. Luckily, my aunt and uncle are here. All I need to do is to check whether they know you.”
The matter escalated when Song Jingyu finished. It became a test of Shi Wei’s integrity. If Fu Sheng and Song Zhenyan didn’t know who Shi Wei was, she would be utterly humiliated.
Shi Nuan watched the drama unfold from a corner. She smiled to herself, but it wasn’t one of gloat or mockery. She just felt that Shi Wei was too naive to try and connect herself to Fu Chengyan on such an occasion. It was likely to backfire on her badly.
Yuan Jia’s eyes had widened in disbelief. “I’ll go. The show is just getting better!”
When Song Jingyu saw Shi Wei’s expression, she said in a haughty tone. “I grew up with Yan, so it would be impossible for me not to know any of his relatives. I see that you really are an impostor.”
“You…Mr. Fu, say something. I really don’t know…”
“Enough!” Fu Chengyan interrupted Song Jingyu and raised his gaze. “It doesn’t matter if Ms. Shi isn’t aware of that. We all have the same surname, so stop harassing her.” Fu Chengyan said as he tried to hold back his smile. “Ms. Shi is one of Xinhuang’s artiste. She still needs to work hard and contribute to the development of Xinhuang.”
Fu Chengyan’s words were ambiguous enough to not side with either Song Jingyu or Shi Wei.
He then lifted his hand and motioned for Zhou Zheng to come forward, and Zhou Zheng approached immediately. “Mr. Fu!”
“It’s time!”
“Yes, the annual meeting can begin now.” Zhou Zheng said as he looked around. Mai Qi came forward at once and said, “Mr. Fu, Mr. Zhou, everything is ready.”
“Good, let us begin then!” Fu Chengyan declared. “Everyone, please be seated.”
This year’s annual meeting was a grand event. The welcome speech would be given from the second floor. In the meantime, everyone had their seats allocated to them. The seats were representative of their rank and status in the company. Those who were seated at the front were big shots, who made all the important decisions within the organization.
Fu Chengyan and Fu Sheng sat in the front row with all the other members of the senior management. They were then followed by high-level managers and top performers from each department, so on and so forth.
Shi Nuan was seated in the third row, together with Lin Yu and Yuan Jia. They were seated next to their colleagues from the finance department. The project management department had completed many big projects this year, especially the one in West City. Although it had just started, it had already received a lot of praise from Fu Chengyan.
Shi Wei and Bai Qing were seated on a different side, which was specially allocated to them.
Shi Wei was still fuming from the episode just now. She was angry at Fu Chengyan for ignoring her. In fact, she felt so outraged that she almost wanted to leave. However, Su Su stopped her and managed to convince her to stay. “You were lucky that Fu Chengyan didn’t expose you despite your attempts at making use of him. Don’t forget that you’re still with Xinhuang.”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: I Want a Lifetime with You