Chapter 36: Two-timing? How did I not know about these rumors? (1/2)

“Before knowing that her father had cheated, Jiang Nanshu always thought that her father really loved her mother, and even Jiang Yu thought so.

After learning the truth, Jiang Nanshu once fell into confusion about love and marriage, feeling that it was hard to find pure love in the world.

Song Ye’s words helped her let go of a lot.

She leaned against the back of the sofa, watching the man in the video, suddenly unsure of what to say.

They quietly looked at each other, the atmosphere silent and serene.

She didn’t mention the video call again.

The man’s gaze shifted toward the computer screen, and Jiang Nanshu heard the sound of the mouse clicking.

She stared at his handsome, slender face and asked a question she had wanted to ask for a long time: “Song Ye, have you ever been in a relationship?”

Song Ye paused for a moment, his gaze flicking toward the camera.

“If what we had back then counts as a relationship, then yes, I’ve been in one.”

“Huh?” Jiang Nanshu stared at him in surprise.

Song Ye nonchalantly turned his gaze back to the screen, lowering his eyes to type code.

His tone was low: “If it doesn’t count, then I’ve never been in a relationship.”

Jiang Nanshu fell silent again, feeling uneasy inside.

She didn’t know what to say.

Could she really ask him why he didn’t stay with her back then?

Just then, her phone rang, and it had battery.

It was Cheng Jiajia.

“Jiajia called me, so I’ll hang up.”

She pressed her lips together and, without saying anything to him, ended the video call.

Once the call was connected, Cheng Jiajia said, “I was driving earlier and just got home.

You said Li Yi wants to treat me to dinner?”

Jiang Nanshu had mentioned the interview with Li Yi to her on WeChat during her drive home.

She walked toward the corner of the living room where the cat’s bed was.

“Yes, he wants to apologize to you.”

“Oh, really?” Cheng Jiajia hummed.

“I’ll do it for your sake.”

“Then, when do you have time? I’ll arrange it for you.”

Jiang Nanshu tilted her head, holding the phone between her cheek and shoulder, and reached to pick up the little Bei from the cat’s bed.

As soon as she stood up, little Bei struggled to get back into the bed, meowing loudly, as if she were torturing it.

“What’s wrong?”

Cheng Jiajia asked on the phone.

Jiang Nanshu helplessly squatted down.

Little Bei immediately jumped back into the cat bed, curling up with the other cat.

She held the phone to her ear and sighed helplessly.

“My cat betrayed me. It sleeps at Song Ye’s place.”

“Cats follow their owners, can’t blame it,” Cheng Jiajia clicked her tongue.

“…”

Cheng Jiajia suddenly sensed something was wrong and asked, “Wait a minute, you’re at Song Ye’s place now? Are you two turning into friends with benefits?”

“…No, he’s on a business trip. I’m just taking care of his cat.”

Jiang Nanshu stared at little Bei, unsure of what to do with it.

Should she forcefully take it home?

“Since the cat won’t leave, I bet you won’t last long either.

You’ve slept in his bed, kissed him, the next step should be to get into bed,”

Cheng Jiajia was lounging on the sofa, suddenly making a teasing noise.

“It’s fine if you’re not sure about the relationship.

Test it out first, see if he’s good enough.

Anyway, Song Ye looks good; he should be fine.”

Jiang Nanshu was speechless.

“Are you lonely or something?”

Cheng Jiajia sighed.

“Not really. I honestly don’t want to date right now.

It’s just that with the New Year approaching, my mom and all her aunts and uncles keep bothering me about my lifelong matters, and I’m so annoyed thinking about it.”

Jiang Nanshu thought for a moment and then gave advice.

“You could tell them you already have someone you like and you’re trying to develop things. Maybe that’ll help you escape? I told my mom that, and they haven’t mentioned matchmaking lately.”

“That doesn’t work with my mom. Do you think I haven’t tried? I just haven’t shown her the person, I’m just lying to her.”

“Alright then…”

Jiang Nanshu squatted in front of the cat bed, finishing her call with Cheng Jiajia.

The two cats snuggled closely together in the bed, and Rou Song had already narrowed his eyes, looking like he was asleep.

She had planned to leave Xiao Bei here, but remembering what Song Ye had said before, her heart felt a bit blocked. She wasn’t willing to keep coming here to look after the cat in the coming days.

Besides, Xiao Bei hadn’t been trained properly, and if he broke any vases or things in his house, that would be a problem.

After thinking it through, she reached out to lift the cat bed, realizing it was heavier than expected.

Rou Song truly lived up to his name…

She had no choice but to bend down and drag the cat bed toward the entrance.

As she passed the security camera, she stopped, thinking that Song Ye might still be watching the surveillance.

She turned to the camera and said, “I’m taking Rou Song home. You can pick him up when you come back.”

With that, she dragged the cat bed away.

In the hotel room, Song Ye saw on the surveillance that Jiang Nanshu was dragging both the cat and the bed away.

The scene looked a bit cute, but seeing the empty space on the monitor, he felt a bit helpless.

The program was still running on his computer.

He picked up his phone and sent her a message.

S: [The person you’re in love with, it’s me, right?]

Jiang Nanshu settled the two cats and saw the message on her phone.

As expected, he had been spying on her.

She looked down and replied.

shu: [Pervert.]

Song Ye smiled slightly, not arguing with her.

He accepted that he indeed had a habit of spying on her.

He replied: [Next Friday, Lin Yao and the others are coming to my place for a gathering, having hot pot. You can bring Li Yi and Cheng Jiajia too. The more people, the less awkward it will be.]

?]

S: [I’ll come back a day early.]

…

On the third day at the island, during lunch, the executives were having a meal and discussing the projects, reviewing each one.

Hu Shengkai mentioned Project A: “Since the project started, we’ve invested a lot of funds, manpower, and time.

But the prospects are unclear, and we’re not sure what will happen next.

Since we can’t reduce the R&D costs, let’s cut down on the promotional expenses.”

Song Ye leaned back in his chair, calmly compressing the situation.

No matter how much they compressed, they wouldn’t be able to cover a wider range of potential users, and they might end up missing out.

“This should be handled by the marketing team. They can come up with a new plan,” Hu Shengkai sighed.

“There’s nothing we can do. The company hasn’t been doing well this year.”

Song Ye felt a coldness inside.

The Extreme Fan financial report was only 10%.

In the end, Hu Shengkai still didn’t believe this project would make money and was afraid of the losses.

At this point, arguing with him seemed pointless.

Song Ye nodded without much emotion.

“I’ll have the marketing team come up with a new promotional plan.”

He remained calm on the surface, but inside, he wanted to curse.

The promotional plan Jiang Nanshu submitted yesterday had to be rewritten.

“Director Wang,” Song Ye looked across the table at the middle-aged man wearing glasses, “What’s wrong with our project’s operations team leader?

She’s taken eight days off this month, and the recent ones haven’t even been approved by me.”

Wang Sheng was the company’s HR director and was also the cousin-in-law of Lu Xiaowei.

While everyone in the project team was working overtime, Lu Xiaowei frequently took leave.

She was still the operations team leader, and that was indeed inappropriate.

Wang Sheng awkwardly scratched his head.

“She’s been feeling unwell, it’s some women’s issue, I can’t explain it.

The New Year is coming up soon.

If she asks for leave after the holiday, I’ll have her apply to you.”

Song Ye responded coldly with an “Mm,” and took the opportunity to leave for the balcony while others were toasting with the boss.

He sat on a beach chair, leaned back, and sent a message to the operations team in the group chat, asking them to revise the promotional plan, reducing the costs by half.

Back in the company, Jiang Nanshu saw Song Ye’s message and felt like cursing.

Zhou Jiale stared at the computer and weakly asked, “How are we supposed to cut costs like this?”

Lu Xiaowei had taken leave today.

The team leader hadn’t responded, and others didn’t know how to reply either because the request was just too harsh.

For similar big projects in other companies, they give a generous budget for promotional costs.

They spend billions on promotional campaigns, but here, they are being tight-fisted.

The initial budget is only in the tens of millions, and now they are even reducing it further.

Jiang Nanshu picked up her phone and sent Song Ye a WeChat message: [Still cutting? There’s barely enough for the promotion as it is, if you cut it further, and the promotion fails, who will take the blame?]

S: [I won’t let you take the blame.]

Jiang Nanshu sighed and replied: [Did the boss pressure you?]

S: [Yeah.]

Shu: [Then you should just run away.]

She honestly felt that he should have better options.

Song Ye silently smirked and asked her: [Are you coming with me?]

Jiang Nanshu replied without changing her expression: [Please offer me a high salary to poach me.]

Tang Xuan also came out to get some fresh air.

She looked down at Song Ye.

The man was wearing a white shirt and black trousers today, tall and handsome.

He was casually leaning back and replying to messages, with a faint smile on his face. His appearance and demeanor were really attractive.

It was truly a pity that this man hadn’t slept with her yet.

She sat down opposite him and said, “You’re still able to text your girlfriend?”

Song Ye didn’t respond directly but glanced at her.

Tang Xuan lit a cigarette and gestured to him, “Do you want one?”

“No need.” Song Ye replied faintly.

Tang Xuan exhaled a puff of smoke, looked around to ensure no one was nearby, leaned forward, and whispered to him,

“I think your project is in trouble. With the promotional costs being cut, after the end of March testing, if the data doesn’t look good, it’s going to get cut. You should be prepared.”

No matter the reason, the person kindly reminded him, and Song Ye politely responded, “Thanks, I know.”

In the group chat, Lu Xiaowei replied to Song Ye: [Okay.]

Then, she naturally passed down the task, and Jiang Nanshu, Zhou Jiale, and the others ended up working overtime for several days.

In the last few workdays before the New Year, Lu Xiaowei didn’t come to the office at all.

Zhou Jiale was very resentful and said to Jiang Nanshu, “Nanshu, you should try to get promoted.”

Jiang Nanshu felt it was difficult.

If Lu Xiaowei were pregnant and had to take leave due to her health, it would be hard for the company to do anything about it.

Unless she married Du Heng, one of them would have to resign.

Her resignation seemed more likely since the main programmer’s salary was higher.

The day Song Ye returned, Jiang Nanshu was riding back in Li Yi’s car.

Everyone was busy, and they left the company around 7 PM.

Li Yi was driving and asked Jiang Nanshu, “What time did my brother arrive?”

Jiang Nanshu looked down and replied to Cheng Jiajia’s message.

Cheng Jiajia had already arrived.

Cheng Jiajia: [I don’t want to face Lin Yao alone, it feels awkward.]