Chapter 20: Being Beautiful Is Enough

At Lu Qiuyi’s workstation.

She stared at her computer screen. The document was titled "A Profound Self-Reflection on Assistant Professional Boundaries and Ethics," but the body text was still stuck at the words "I was wrong."

The cursor below blinked rhythmically, as if mocking her.

Lin Xiaoyu, still passionately analyzing the soap-opera-like dynamics between He Jingyue and Zhou Shiyan, noticed Lu Qiuyi sitting there, looking dejected. She immediately pivoted and asked, "Sister Qiuyi, did you just get summoned by the King of Hell? How was the battle?"

Lu Qiuyi gave her a listless glance and decided to offer a selective confession: "Don't even ask. I just asked him a question about the Zhou family gathering and took the opportunity to express my concern for the company's strategy."

"And then? And then?" Lin Xiaoyu pressed.

"And then," Lu Qiuyi said, looking utterly defeated, "he said I was interfering with his private life and acting unprofessionally. He punished me by making me write a 3,000-word reflection, due tomorrow morning. He also told me to work overtime tonight to finish the risk assessment report for next week."

Lin Xiaoyu gasped, patting Lu Qiuyi’s shoulder in sympathy. "Ouch, a 3,000-word reflection plus emergency overtime? President He really didn't hold back."

She changed her tone, rubbing her chin as she analyzed, "However, Sister Qiuyi, don't you think he's actually being lenient?"

"Lenient?!" Lu Qiuyi nearly jumped out of her seat.

"Of course," Lin Xiaoyu said, looking at her as if she were oblivious to her own good fortune. "Think about it, that’s President He! You went straight to him to ask about his private life, and gossip at that. If it were anyone else, I’d bet money that President He wouldn't even bother saying 'get out'; he’d just give a look, and Assistant Su would have processed their resignation immediately."

Lu Qiuyi: ...

That actually made some sense?

"So!" Lin Xiaoyu concluded with mysterious certainty, "President He is truly different toward you. Even though he punished you, the punishment wasn't too heavy or too light... What does that mean? It means you hold a special status in President He's heart."

Lu Qiuyi listened, stunned.

Lin Xiaoyu was called away by Shen Weiwei to fix some code, leaving Lu Qiuyi alone. She ruffled her hair in frustration.

A special status?

Suddenly, the computer screen lit up. A system notification popped up in the bottom right corner: [Your new permissions are now active: You may access the "SmartSpeech V1.0 Design Document Library."]

He Jingyue gave her access?!

Lu Qiuyi’s eyes lit up instantly. The progress that Lu Mingxuan wanted—it was right here. No need to steal or pilfer; she could view the documents fair and square.

She instantly threw the reflection paper to the back of her mind and excitedly clicked on the newly appeared document library link. A screen full of folders and document titles popped up:

[V1.0_Architecture Draft]
[First-Generation Loss Function Optimization]
[Data Preprocessing Scheme]

Lu Qiuyi took a deep breath and randomly clicked on a document titled [Multimodal Fusion]. It was filled with dense formulas and impenetrable technical jargon. After her CPU overloaded for three minutes staring at the gibberish, she decisively gave up on trying to understand it.

Her eyes darted around, and a plan formed.

It didn't matter if she couldn't understand it; she just needed to make it look sophisticated!

She quickly took screenshots of the pages that looked the most complex and formula-heavy, picked a few folders with intimidating names, and packaged them all together.

[Lu Qiuyi]: Father, I have obtained partial access to the "SmartSpeech" V1.0 design documents. Preliminary analysis suggests potential overfitting risks in the data preprocessing scheme. Attached are some screenshots and initial speculations. I will continue to dig deeper.

Click, send!

He Jingyue stood outside Lu Qiuyi’s office, watching her frown and scratch her head at her screen. He lifted his coffee and took a slow sip.

Hmm, today’s coffee tasted exceptionally good.

However, when He Jingyue read the full text of Lu Qiuyi’s reflection, he didn’t think so anymore.

The next morning, Lu Qiuyi entrusted the reflection to Su Nuo for delivery, and Su Nuo placed it on He Jingyue’s desk.

He Jingyue had just finished a multinational meeting. He picked up his coffee and then, quite nonchalantly, picked up the A4 paper. At first, he looked calm, even wearing an expression of expected understanding.

When he saw the phrase "my admiration is like the surging river water," his eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.

When he reached the end—"This lowly one dares to plead, a 3,000-word reflection is sufficient! My bonus is the lifeblood of a working person"—he couldn't help it.

"Pfft," He Jingyue almost spat out the coffee he had just taken a sip of.

His long fingers held the reflection as he scanned it again from beginning to end, his gaze finally settling on the hand-drawn, crying cat emoji at the bottom.

He Jingyue shook his head, tossed the reflection back onto the desk, tapped the cat's head with his fingertip, and murmured to himself, "Lu Qiuyi, you really are..."

Before he could finish, the internal phone rang. It was Fu Yao: "President He, you previously agreed to attend Chairman Zhao’s charity gala at Hongyuan Capital tomorrow night. Regarding a partner, do you need me to contact Ms. Zhou?"

He Jingyue’s gaze swept over the reflection on his desk again: "No need."

"Inform Assistant Lu to attend the gala as my partner at seven tomorrow evening. Tell her to prepare in advance."

Fu Yao on the other end clearly paused: "Assistant Lu? President He, are you sure?"

"Sure," He Jingyue said, his tone indifferent. "Tell her to pick out a decent gown; the company will reimburse her. Tell her to contact her own familiar team for hair and makeup; that will also be reimbursed."

"Yes, President He." Fu Yao hung up, filled with confusion.

A few minutes later, Lu Qiuyi’s office communicator exploded.

[Fu Yao]: Assistant Lu, per President He’s instructions: attend the Hongyuan Capital charity gala as his partner at 7:00 PM. Please prepare your gown, hair, and makeup in advance; expenses are company-reimbursable. Location to follow. Confirm receipt.

Lu Qiuyi stared at the screen, dumbfounded.

He Jingyue’s partner?!

Me?!

Lu Qiuyi scrambled to the door of the CEO’s office, pushing it open a crack without even knocking, and stammered, "President He, I... I can't do it."

He Jingyue looked up from his documents at the flustered, red-faced assistant at his door: "Assistant Lu, I need a partner to stand by my side. I don't need her to give speeches on cutting-edge technology, nor do I need her to negotiate on my behalf."

He paused, his gaze lingering for a moment on her face, which looked exceptionally vivid due to her panic, and clearly articulated:

"It is enough that you are beautiful."

All the words Lu Qiuyi had left were stuck in her throat.

Although... although I am indeed beautiful.

But, but I...

Oh my god, He Jingyue just called me beautiful!

And so, Lu Qiuyi dazedly agreed.

A flicker of a faint smile crossed He Jingyue’s eyes as he lowered his head back to his documents: "Handle the gown and styling yourself. Send the links to Su Nuo before you leave today to confirm reimbursement. You may go."

Lu Qiuyi floated out of the office, her feet feeling like they were stepping on cotton, the entire world spinning around her.