Shine on Me

We landed back at Hongqiao Airport as usual. First, we visited Grandpa Sheng, who had already been discharged from the hospital, then rushed back to Suzhou overnight.

On the way, Lin Yusen mentioned Sheng Xingjie to me, saying he had been transferred to a branch office outside the city and wouldn’t be returning to the core of Shengyuan for at least a year or two.

"That’s a pretty light punishment, isn’t it?" I commented, then asked him, "Did you tell Grandpa Sheng about your plans to return to medicine?"

"I gave him a brief overview. He was quite surprised. I also mentioned Xingshu to him."

"Xingshu?" In my memory, Sheng Xingshu was just a lively, fun-loving girl like me who loved bubble tea.

But Lin Yusen said, "Actually, Xingshu’s potential surpasses both Xingjie and Xingle. It’s just that after witnessing my mother’s struggles growing up, she never thought effort would lead anywhere, so she never considered that path. But times have changed, and attitudes have shifted. Perhaps Grandpa has been moved to reconsider."

"Where there’s a will, there’s a way," he added.

I nodded repeatedly. "Then hurry up and serve her the same motivational soup you gave me."

Lin Yusen chuckled. "No need to get involved in that. Making soup isn’t easy—better to save it for my girlfriend."

Lin Yusen dropped me off at my dorm and left. After a few days away, he had a mountain of work waiting for him. As a lowly employee, I had it much easier. After tidying up a bit, I gathered a pile of snacks and souvenirs and went to find Yin Jie and Yuhua.

From my trip to Chengdu, I’d brought small gifts for colleagues I was close to at work, with the most for Yin Jie and Yuhua—panda plushies, various spicy snacks, and the five-spice rabbit Yuhua had specifically requested...

When I arrived at their dorm, Yin Jie couldn’t wait. She grabbed a bag of spicy rabbit cubes and started eating. "So good! Yuhua, are you sure you don’t want to try?"

Yuhua deftly dodged the spicy rabbit meat being shoved toward her mouth. "I really can’t. I moved to Jiangsu to escape people trying to make me eat spicy food."

Yin Jie withdrew her hand, disappointed. "How did you even survive in Chengdu all this time?"

I guessed, "Maybe that’s why she came to work in Jiangsu—to expand her culinary options?"

Yin Jie nodded in agreement. "Makes sense."

Yuhua ignored us as she unwrapped her five-spice rabbit.

Yin Jie glanced at the pile of things I’d brought. "Xiguang, did you buy all this, or did Boss Lin pay for it?"

I thought carefully. "I think he paid for everything except the panda plushies."

"Good, then I don’t feel guilty. If it came out of my bestie’s salary, I’d feel bad. But the boss? No problem."

Yin Jie seemed to enjoy her food even more. "You know, one of my dreams has come true—my bestie marrying a tall, rich, handsome CEO, so now I can shamelessly freeload at the company."

"All you’ve gotten so far is some rabbit..." I said dryly. "And if it’s a dream, why not dream of marrying the tall, rich, handsome CEO yourself?"

Yin Jie answered with scientific precision, "Because there’s only one of me, but I can have multiple besties. Which do you think has higher odds of happening?"

Lesson learned—even dreams require probability calculations.

I paused. We’d been friends for so long; I didn’t want to hide anything anymore. "Actually, you don’t need Lin Yusen to freeload—at least when it comes to food and fun."

Yin Jie blinked. "How?"

Even Yuhua looked at me.

"I’m kind of a rich girl too," I said, then added uncertainly, "And pretty, right?""Of course it's beautiful!" Yin Jie affirmed instantly before suddenly realizing, "I always thought you spent money recklessly, turns out your family is really wealthy!"

"Yeah, you know our company has another shareholder, a company from Wuxi, right?"

"We know."

"Well... that's my family's company."

Yin Jie froze, and Yu Hua stopped what she was doing. Both stared at me wide-eyed.

I sat up straight and said seriously, "So, forget relying on some boyfriend of a friend—just rely on your friend directly!"

After a long pause, Yin Jie let out an "Awoo!" and said, "You're right. Why rely on men? Wuwuwu, my perspective has just expanded."

After finishing the rabbit, Yin Jie and Yu Hua swore they would keep my secret. Honestly, I didn’t really care—I even thought I should find a chance to announce it openly.

Because my mindset had completely changed.

Before, I just planned to coast along at the company, so there was no need to flaunt my background. But now that I was serious about working hard—often taking on tasks beyond my financial role—it didn’t make sense to keep hiding it.

In this case, being upfront would undoubtedly help with work and company morale. But finding the right opportunity wasn’t easy—who just randomly announces whose daughter they are?

After some thought and a brief discussion with Lin Yusen, I set the matter aside. Unexpectedly, the very next day at work, he created the perfect opportunity for me.

At the first high-level meeting of the month, which included young employees, he publicly praised me for resolving the auxiliary materials contract issue.

Caught off guard, I stiffly smiled through the entire meeting under the shocked and surprised gazes of my colleagues.

As soon as the meeting ended, ignoring everyone’s looks, I hurried after Lin Yusen and whispered, "Why the rush? The follow-up isn’t even finalized yet."

"There won’t be any changes. I just wanted to praise you early," President Lin said with a straight face. "Mostly because today’s meeting was too empty otherwise."

"?"

It was packed with content. And even if it weren’t, was sacrificing your girlfriend the solution?

Leaders really are ruthless!

President Lin strode off with Vice President Dai in tow.

I lagged behind, walking with the younger colleagues. Amid the chorus of praise, just before everyone dispersed to their departments, inspiration struck—wasn’t this the perfect opportunity?

I quickly called out to them, extending an invitation: "Hey, how about I treat everyone to dinner tonight?"

Of course, Yin Jie, Yu Hua, and Qiqi were also invited.

At dinner, amid the harmonious praise, I hurriedly clarified: "Actually, I used connections to get it done. I wasn’t the most crucial part."

The group exchanged knowing glances, expressions saying, "We knew it." I figured they assumed I’d relied on Lin Yusen’s influence.

"My family’s connections. Actually, my family holds shares in Guangyu—Wuxi Yuancheng. So this wasn’t a big deal. No need to praise me."

The moment I finished, the table fell silent—even the waiter who happened to walk in to serve dishes moved extra quietly.Yin Jie and Yu Hua were briefly taken aback, probably surprised that I'd blurted it out so abruptly. But since they already knew, they quickly regained their composure and happily raided the dining table while everyone else was too distracted to eat.

The silence stretched on a bit too long. After exchanging glances with them, I finally broke the stalemate and cautiously suggested, "Sorry for keeping it from you all this time... So, do you want to order more dishes? I think what you got earlier was a bit too little..."

On our way back to the company that evening, Yin Jie, Yu Hua, Qiqi, and I shared a taxi.

Yin Jie sighed dramatically, "Who would've thought? Our company's young miss is still living in a four-person dorm."

Her words made me cringe. "Please don't make up titles like that, thank you very much. Even joking is too much—if it spreads, I'll die of embarrassment. And it's a single dorm, by the way."

Though called a four-person dorm, no one had moved in after me. I wondered if Lin Yusen had put in a word with the logistics department.

Yu Hua said, "You should just move to our building already. The facilities are more convenient—we have washing machines."

"Yeah, I know," I replied absentmindedly. "I gave up the vacant room in Building A to Sister Chen earlier. Technical backbone staff take priority."

Qiqi gave a thumbs-up. "Back then, I wondered why you didn't take it. I thought it was for love, but turns out it was for the company."

"That's called having vision," I quickly boasted. "But next time, I won't give it up."

Yin Jie had been unusually quiet for a while, lost in thought, when she suddenly slapped her thigh, startling everyone. "I finally figured out what's been bothering me! Xiguang, how could you just casually reveal that you're the shareholder's daughter? Such a good plot point, and you made it utterly mundane."

The three of us didn't quite get it and stared at her blankly.

Yin Jie went on excitedly, "In TV dramas or novels, this kind of incognito storyline usually has a villain constantly bullying and framing you. Then, at the critical moment, your identity is suddenly exposed, leaving everyone shocked and the villain pale with fear—now that's satisfying! Who just casually reveals it themselves like you did?"

I was speechless.

I thought being straightforward—no, being open and honest—was perfectly fine. But after following Yin Jie's train of thought, I had to admit it did sound more thrilling. Regretfully, I said, "It does sound satisfying, but no one at the company bullies me. How long would I have to wait for that? And in modern society, what could you even do to the 'villain'? They'd just switch jobs and move on."

Qiqi agreed, "Exactly. If I'd bullied Xiguang, I'd start sending out resumes tonight."

Yin Jie scoffed, "Forget it. You guys just don't understand the art of drama. And Qiqi, stop trying to insert yourself into the plot."

Almost overnight, the news about me being the shareholder's daughter spread throughout the company. Over the next few days at work, I kept noticing sidelong glances directed my way. But everyone was restrained, and no one came to pry.

Only Section Chief Wu, when we ran into each other in the elevator one day, blurted out after a long pause, "So it's true."

I understood implicitly and simply nodded with a quiet "Mm."Stepping out of the elevator, Section Chief Wu had already regained his demeanor as a department leader. "Keep it up, Xiao Nie. It's good for a girl to have ambition. My daughter says she wants to be a leader someday too."

Caught off guard by the sudden encouragement, I stammered, "Ah... I'll do my best."

"I'll also make some arrangements to involve you more in important tasks—lots of overtime work." Section Chief Wu's expression brimmed with a sense of mission. ???

Me: "...Thank you, Section Chief?"

"No need, no need." Section Chief Wu waved modestly. "After all, the entire company belongs to your family. This isn't exactly special treatment."

Never in my life had I imagined that "special treatment" would equate to overtime...

I could only thank him sincerely.

With the title of the shareholder's daughter, my participation in certain tasks became completely justified. However, when it came to interpersonal relationships, things inevitably became less natural with some colleagues. Still, there were plenty who didn’t care at all—like Yin Jie, Qiqi, Yuhua, or Xiao Su from the factory management center.

That day, Qiqi and I went to the new factory area to register fixed assets. The production line shipped from Chengdu was already in place, and Sister Chen was leading the team in installation and debugging.

After making a round of inventory at the new factory, Qiqi and I returned to the factory management center with the account books to rest and grab some water.

Xiao Su excitedly waved us over the moment she saw us. "Hot news! Two more handsome guys from Bank A are at your finance department! They said they’re here for a post-loan inspection."

This scene felt familiar.

For a moment, I was dazed, but soon shook my head and laughed.

The person who came to the company back then might have been Zhuang Xu, or maybe not. It didn’t matter anymore. But this time, it definitely wasn’t him—after all, he had already moved to the investment banking division, and post-loan inspections were no longer part of his responsibilities.

By the time we returned to the office building, it was almost time to clock out. I had just settled into my seat when Section Chief Wu called me over.

"Xiao Nie, come here for a moment," he said, standing by the small meeting room door.

I hurried over.

"The bank people are here for the post-loan inspection today. Director Dai spoke with them first. They’ve been reviewing documents in the finance department until now and still need to visit the factory. You’ve been to the new factory often and know the production equipment well, so come with me to show them around."

I paused slightly, then nodded. Section Chief Wu lowered his voice. "They’re being unusually meticulous this time—they’ve been at it forever and still haven’t left. Luckily, our loan usage is solid with no falsifications. Just be careful with what you say later."

"Got it."

Section Chief Wu led me into the meeting room and announced to the people inside, "This is Xiao Nie from our finance department. She’s familiar with the new factory area and will accompany me to show you around for verification."

Two men in formal suits turned to look at me. One of them closed the documents in his hands, lifted his gaze, and said calmly, "Then we’ll trouble you."