After graduating with a master's degree, Ren Qian rejected all the offers from investment banks and consulting firms.
She only submitted one resume.
Lu Corporation, President's Office, Administrative Specialist.
It was a position completely mismatched with her qualifications and abilities.
But, it was the position closest to Lu Chenyuan.
On the day of the interview, the final interviewer was Lu Chenyuan himself.
He sat at the head of the long table, with an unobstructed view of the Jingzhou CBD skyline behind him.
He wore an impeccably tailored suit, his expression detached.
Compared to his university days, the melancholy about him seemed to have deepened.
"Why did you choose Lu Corporation?"
He asked.
It was a formulaic question.
"Because it offers the best platform and the greatest challenges."
Ren Qian replied, giving a standard answer.
He looked at her for a long time, so long that Ren Qian thought she would be rejected.
"Your office will be in the outer area."
Lu Chenyuan finally said.
"Start the onboarding process tomorrow."
Ren Qian walked out of the Lu Corporation headquarters building.
The sunlight was glaring.
She tilted her head back, looking up at this financial empire skyscraper that pierced the clouds.
Ren Qian smiled.
She knew her pursuit had begun.
The work of an Administrative Specialist was tedious and monotonous.
Organizing documents, scheduling meetings, booking flights and hotels.
Any ordinary undergraduate could handle it.
Yet Ren Qian performed her duties as if executing a project worth billions.
For every document, she would re-file it according to the strictest archival management standards.
For every meeting, she would prepare in advance all the background materials any attendee might need.
For every business trip, she would plan at least three alternative itineraries to handle all contingencies.
Her excellence, like a diamond hidden in the sand, quickly began to shine.
What surprised Ren Qian was that her junior from university, Lin Yuan, had actually joined Lu Corporation a year earlier than her.
He was already Lu Chenyuan's special-grade assistant.
He still had that same quiet, reticent demeanor from university.
But his work was even more steady and seasoned.
"Senior."
Lin Yuan still preferred to address her that way.
"President Lu wants you to organize this merger proposal for the South American market."
He handed over a thick stack of disorganized materials.
Reports from different departments, each with a wildly different style.
Data, with inconsistent metrics.
Even some crucial pages were in the wrong order.
It was a hot potato.
Also, a deliberate test.
Ren Qian glanced at the blurred figure sitting behind the frosted glass door.
She said nothing, simply took the files.
She used only three hours.
A brand new proposal, with clear logic, unified formatting, and accompanied by a summary of cross-verified core data, was placed on Lin Yuan's desk.
Lin Yuan looked at the report.
Behind his glasses, a flicker of unsurprised admiration passed through his eyes.
He took the report and walked into the president's office.
A long time passed before he came out.
"President Lu wants you to go in."
Ren Qian walked into that office she had gazed at countless times.
Lu Chenyuan was standing before the huge floor-to-ceiling window.
In his hand was the report she had organized.
"Did you prepare this summary?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Why did you place the risk assessment in the first section?"
"Because, for a mature capital market, we are the latecomers."
Ren Qian said, neither subservient nor arrogant.
"Our greatest risk isn't the rate of return, but uncertainty. Prioritizing the clarification of risk boundaries is more important than calculating illusory profits."
Lu Chenyuan turned around.
He looked at her, his eyes holding a long-absent appreciation, like that of finding a worthy opponent.
"From today, you are a Level One Administrative Supervisor."
He said.
"You will be responsible for all my meetings and itinerary arrangements."
Ren Qian's face remained calm, though inwardly she seemed somewhat pleased.
She knew she had taken a step closer to that moonlight.
...
Becoming a Level One Administrative Supervisor meant Ren Qian caught glimpses of more of Lu Chenyuan's reality.
She saw the huge cracks beneath the glossy surface of the Lu Corporation ship.
Lu Chenyuan's three uncles, Lu Mingshi, Lu Mingde, and Lu Minggong, were all directors of the group.
They were mediocre in ability, yet insatiably greedy.
They would come to the president's office almost every week, staging a full-blown confrontation.
"Chenyuan! Why isn't the contract for that land in the west going to my company?"
Lu Mingshi slammed a document heavily onto the desk.
"My bid was two percentage points lower than anyone else's!"
"Second Uncle." Lu Chenyuan's voice was calm.
"Your construction company had serious quality issues on three projects last year. Lu Corporation's reputation cannot be used for your trial and error."
"What kind of talk is that!"
Lu Mingshi pounded the table, his face flushing red.
"You don't trust your own family! This month, I'll have the old master judge who's right!"
Ren Qian stood in the corner of the office, her heart in knots.
She looked at Lu Chenyuan.
He simply sat there quietly.
Letting his second uncle throw his tantrum.
There was no anger on his face, only a profound, bottomless weariness.
Like a king besieged in a lone city.
Once again, Ren Qian felt so clearly the "weight of his solitude."
She wished she could rush forward and shield him from all this.
But she couldn't.
She could only wait until those people finally left, cursing and grumbling.
Then quietly walk in.
To replace his coffee with a fresh cup at the perfect temperature.
"President Lu."
"Hmm."
He leaned back in his chair, eyes closed, massaging his temples.
That moment of vulnerability broke Ren Qian's heart.
She felt she had to become stronger.
Strong enough to build a firewall for him.
...
Apart from the family infighting, another name frequently appeared in Lu Chenyuan's life.
Lu Qianqian.
That sister, spoiled rotten by the entire Lu family.
Her calls always came at the most inopportune times.
"Big Brother! My black card is maxed out again!"
"Big Brother! I saw a bag I want, only three limited editions in the world, get it for me!"
"Big Brother! I don't care, I want to drive that new Aston Martin to the party tonight!"
Every time, Lu Chenyuan's tone was one of helplessness, tinged with a suppressed indulgence.
"Qianqian, stop making a fuss."
"I'm in a meeting."
"If you need more money, I'll have Lin Yuan transfer it to you."
At first, Ren Qian simply thought this Lu Qianqian was truly spoiled.
Until one incident occurred.
It was a very important cross-border video conference.
Lu Chenyuan was outlining the strategic plan for the next three years.
Lu Qianqian's call came again.
Lu Chenyuan frowned and hung up.
The phone rang again.
He hung up again.
When it rang for the third time, he muted it and paid no further attention.
The meeting was a success.
After it ended, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Lu Chenyuan picked up his phone.
There were over twenty missed calls from Lu Qianqian.
And one message from the butler.
"Young Master, the young miss has locked herself in her room and refuses to eat."
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
