Hard work after winning the lottery

The turning point came in the second week of my job.

That afternoon, Li Wei was unexpectedly called to a meeting by Ying Zhiyao.

Hua Yun was engrossed in a pile of data reports when the internal phone on her desk suddenly rang urgently.

She glanced at the caller ID—[President's Office].

It's the extension phone inside that mahogany door!

Her heart jumped into her throat.

She took a deep breath and answered in her calmest voice, "Hello, this is the Secretariat."

On the other end of the phone was a deep, magnetic male voice, as cold and clear as thin ice on a winter morning.

Where is Li Wei?

It's Zhou Yanjin!

Hua Yun's palms instantly became sweaty: "Reporting to President Zhou, Sister Li Wei went to Secretary Ying's meeting."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

Hua Yun was so nervous that she forgot to breathe.

Just when she thought the other person would hang up, the voice rang out again, giving an order without any emotion:

"Assistant Hua."

Three words.

It came through the receiver clearly and accurately.

A burst of brilliant fireworks exploded in Hua Yun's mind.

He...he knows her name?

He called her Assistant Hua.

"Get the final version of the risk assessment report for the Global Project to my office within five minutes."

"Yes...yes! Mr. Zhou!"

She almost jumped up, her voice trembling slightly with excitement.

After hanging up the phone, she quickly found the red folder marked "S" in the filing cabinet. After checking that everything was correct, she hugged it as if it were a bomb about to explode.

She stood before that heavy mahogany door, her heart pounding in her throat.

She composed herself with slightly disordered breathing, raised her hand, and gently tapped three times.

"Enter."

From inside the door came his concise response.

Hua Yun pushed open the door and stepped into the core of power of the Zhou Group for the first time.

The office is huge, with a minimalist design in cool tones, and a floor-to-ceiling window that offers a panoramic view of the city's prosperity.

Zhou Yanjin sat behind the large ebony desk, looking down at a document with a focused expression.

He didn't even look up.

Hua Yun walked to the desk, gently placed the document down, clasped her hands in front of her, and respectfully whispered, "President Zhou, here is the report you requested."

"Um."

He let out a faint response from his throat, reached out and took the folder, his gaze never leaving the documents in his hands for a moment.

From the moment she entered the room until he received the documents, he didn't look at her even once.

Hua Yun felt as if an invisible hand had squeezed her heart, leaving her with a sense of loss, but more than that, a feeling of almost humble satisfaction.

She slipped out silently and gently closed the door behind her.

Back at her workstation, she realized that her back was soaked with cold sweat.

But her heart felt as if it were filled with honey, so sweet it was almost cloying.

That phrase, "Assistant Hua," played on repeat in her mind for the entire afternoon.

His voice is so nice.

It sounded even better than she had imagined.

From that day on, Hua Yun's job duties included an additional task.

I brewed coffee for Zhou Yanjin.

When Li Wei assigned this task to her, she specifically instructed: "President Zhou only drinks hand-drip Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee, without sugar or milk. The coffee beans must be freshly ground, the water temperature must be controlled at 85 degrees Celsius, and the brewing time must be 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Not a second more or less is acceptable."

"Remember, this is an order, not a reference."

Hua Yun nodded solemnly.

She meticulously wrote down every detail in her notebook.

From then on, the small tea room in the president's office became her most sacred "ritual" place every day.

She bought a professional electronic thermometer and timer online, and each brewing process felt like a delicate surgical procedure.

She felt a secret joy when she placed that cup of black coffee, with its perfect temperature and strength, on the shelf outside his office.

It was as if this cup of coffee, carrying her warmth and affection, could be transmitted to his body through his taste buds.

This is a connection between him and her that belongs only to her.

A week later, Hua Yun was walking past a newsstand after get off work when she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

The latest issue of Global Finance features Zhou Yanjin on its cover.

In the photo, he is wearing a well-tailored dark gray suit, sitting on a sofa with his legs crossed, gazing intently at the camera, with the familiar floor-to-ceiling window on the 66th floor in the background.

The title, written in bold black font, reads: "[Zhou Yanjin: The Cold-Faced Monarch of a Business Empire]".

Hua Yun's cheeks flushed slightly, and she walked over as if possessed.

"Boss, give me... give me one of these." She pointed to the magazine, her voice barely audible.

Back in that small rented room, she handled it as if it were a priceless treasure, opening it with utmost care.

The interview was quite long, covering Zhou's future strategic plans and his views on the artificial intelligence industry.

Every word is precious, displaying remarkable brilliance.

Hua Yun read each word carefully, as if he could touch his burning soul through these cold, printed characters.

After reading it, she carefully laid the magazine flat and tucked it into her diary, which she had kept for 395 days.

This was the first thing she owned that was truly about him.

The days slipped by quietly amidst busyness and secret moments of joy.

Rumors began to circulate within the company.

When Hua Yun went to the tea room, she would occasionally hear secretaries from other departments whispering among themselves.

"Have you heard? It seems our company is planning something big with the Su Group."

"The Su family? You mean the Su family that started in new energy? Haven't they always been our competitors?"

"You don't know this, do you? In business, there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. I heard that this cooperation project was personally negotiated by President Zhou, so it's a very high-level deal."

Hua Yun heard it, but didn't take it too seriously.

In her view, this level of business competition was too far removed from her experience.

Until that day, she was organizing Zhou Yanjin's schedule for the following week, just like any other day.

As she typed in a new meeting on her electronic calendar, her fingertip paused involuntarily.

[Next Wednesday, 3 PM, in Group Conference Room 1.]

[Meeting participant: Su Mingcheng, Chairman of the Su Group.]

Su Mingcheng.

She felt like she'd heard that name somewhere before.

But for a moment, I couldn't remember.

Hua Yun shook her head, banishing the doubt from her mind.

For her, this was just one of countless important meetings held by President Zhou.

She was just a junior assistant responsible for taking notes and making reminders.

She meticulously marked this schedule with the highest priority in red, completely unaware of the upheaval that the appearance of this name would soon unleash in the world she was just entering.