He Only Shows His True Colors in Front of Me : Chapter 24

Shi Lechi hadn’t stayed long at Sheng Yannian’s home before being captured by his own father. Before leaving, he even put on a dramatic farewell scene with Sheng Yannian, which left Gu Yuanqiao in awe and gave him a new understanding of this newly made young friend. However, he couldn’t quite figure out why Shi Lechi kept vigorously pursing his lips in his direction at the end.

Perhaps because he had been too comfortable for too long, and the heavens feared he might get bored from idleness. So just as Gu Yuanqiao planned to return to work, an out-of-town assignment came up.

Before leaving, he looked at Sheng Yannian, who had glanced over at him for who knows how many times, and finally took the initiative to say he would probably be back in about a month.

And in response to Sheng Yannian’s “Who asked you,” he merely smiled without saying anything.

Sheng Yannian left home a bit later than usual today. When he arrived at the company, he saw two people standing outside his office door. One was his secretary, Qi Tao, and the other was a young girl. He remembered that not long ago, Qi Tao had mentioned there would be an intern secretary coming in.

Sheng Yannian had two secretaries, but with the development of Jiwei, it was clearly not enough. Moreover, Sheng An’s work already kept Qi Tao and Shi Xiayao busy enough, and he really couldn’t bear to dump Jiwei on them as well.

“Good morning, President Sheng.” Qi Tao noticed him first, then stepped aside to introduce the girl beside him. “This is Du Chunan, a junior this year, a newly recruited intern. Chunan, this is President Sheng. If you pass the internship, he will be your direct superior.”

“Good morning, President Sheng!” The girl was perhaps nervous about meeting the future successor of a large enterprise for the first time. But her spirit was good, and she was full of energy.

“Hello.” Sheng Yannian nodded and said flatly, “You’ll be working with Qi Tao from now on. He’ll take you to meet my assistant later. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask the two of them, or anyone else.”

“Yes!”

“Go to work.” Sheng Yannian glanced at Qi Tao and entered his office.

Du Chunan, 21 years old, a local, majoring in management. As graduation approached, her employment anxiety grew increasingly severe. With an attitude of trying everything, she submitted her resume to Sheng An. Unexpectedly, heaven favored her, and she got selected.

For this, she swore she would work hard and live up to everyone’s expectations!

Although she usually liked staying at home, her social skills were surprisingly good. In just one afternoon, Du Chunan successfully integrated into the 30th floor, got many people’s contact information, and learned a lot of gossip.

Her seat was not far from Sheng Yannian’s office, just a turn and a few steps away. The girl at the adjacent desk was also incredibly nice, and after just a few words, they confirmed they shared the same hobby. How was this any different from meeting an old friend in a foreign land?!

Thus, she became even more determined to stay.

However, it would be better if her future superior didn’t stare at her so often…

This wasn’t her imagination. Starting from the second day of work, she could always feel a gaze in the break room. It wasn’t offensive, but it was still uncomfortable. Once she couldn’t resist looking, she found President Sheng staring at her. Their eyes met, and he merely nodded at her before looking away.

Perhaps because being discovered made it pointless to hide, when Du Chunan met Sheng Yannian’s eyes again, he didn’t even move his head, and even showed a troubled expression.

She was already breaking out in a cold sweat.

Among the gossip she heard, there was of course talk about Sheng Yannian, saying he was indifferent to women and not interested in men either, and the only person he cared about was his brother. But anyone being stared at like this would easily overthink! Although she wasn’t a breathtaking beauty, she could be considered a delicate pretty girl. What if, what if the president just happened to like this type?!

For a moment, many old-fashioned romance novels she read as a child flashed through Du Chunan’s mind, like “The President’s Runaway Sweetheart,” “One Night of Passion: Cold Young Master’s Unrestrained Love,” and so on.

It scared her so much that she rarely went to the break room anymore.

Another evening, when Du Chunan came back to her senses after completing today’s tasks, she realized that the 30th floor only had her and Sheng Yannian, who was still working overtime in his office.

Suddenly, her heart pounded like a drum. This… this kind of scene seemed somewhat familiar.

Seeing her thoughts going further and further off track, Du Chunan decided to leave work before Sheng Yannian noticed. But just as she moved, the office door behind her opened.

“…” So awkward, completely didn’t know what to do.

“Hmm? You haven’t left yet?” Sheng Yannian pushed open the door and found the new intern assistant standing with her back to him, as if frozen.

“…” Damn, that voice, so nice. But soon, Du Chunan harshly condemned herself in her heart, stiffly turning around, “About to leave, President Sheng, haha.”

“You…” Sheng Yannian stared at Du Chunan’s awkward smile and walked toward her.

“…” Oh no, oh no, what is he going to do? What should I do? Should I run? God, someone please tell me what to do, ahhhh!

Du Chunan watched Sheng Yannian getting closer and closer, roaring frantically in her heart. The ancient romance novel scenes she had dispelled with work now all resurfaced, making her even more confused. So the moment Sheng Yannian stopped in front of her, she thrust both hands forward to block his path and shouted that classic line:

“President Sheng, please respect yourself!”

“…”

“…”

One sentence exploded in the empty 30th floor, successfully silencing both of them. Sheng Yannian was also fried crispy on the outside by this sentence, for the first time not knowing how to speak to a subordinate.

“What are you thinking?” After a while, he finally broke the silence.

“Huh?” Du Chunan’s hands were still outstretched, looking up at Sheng Yannian, and finding him frowning with a somewhat speechless look in his eyes, she felt like things might not be what she thought?

“Huh what huh? I’m asking what you’re thinking.” Sheng Yannian saw the girl’s body language was still resistant, so he took a few steps back, increasing the distance between them.

“I just… I thought you…” Du Chunan put her hands down, realizing he really didn’t seem to have that intention, and her face instantly flushed red, stammering, unable to say the word “unspoken rules.”

“Want to impose unspoken rules on you?” Sheng Yannian said expressionlessly, somewhat speechlessly completing Du Chunan’s thought.

Having her inner thoughts pointed out so bluntly, Du Chunan’s face turned even redder.

“S, sorry, it seems I misunderstood you.” Du Chunan apologized, feeling ashamed of her own wild imagination. Setting aside Sheng Yannian’s strange gaze these past few days, he was actually a very good superior. He wouldn’t blame subordinates without reason, his work assignments were clear, and he wouldn’t make empty promises.

“No need. I think the main reason you misunderstood is probably me.” Sheng Yannian thought back to his state these past few days and immediately found the cause of Du Chunan’s behavior. “Besides, it’s a good thing for girls to be wary of the opposite sex in the workplace. You don’t need to apologize to me for this.”

“Huh?” Du Chunan was stunned, not expecting Sheng Yannian to respond this way. She thought someone like Sheng Yannian, a young and accomplished wealthy heir, would have his own pride, and at the very least, his dignity would be beyond question.

“Then, may I ask why you’ve been looking at me these past few days? Is there something I’m not doing well enough?” Du Chunan still couldn’t resist asking the doubt in her heart. Since it wasn’t because he was interested in her, could it be that he simply didn’t like the look of her?!

“No, I was just wondering if you’re suitable to attend some galas with me in the future. Most of those events require bringing a female companion.” Previously, this task was done by Shi Xiayao, but recently her mother had fallen ill, and he didn’t want to add to her burden. As Du Chunan, who might become his new secretary, there would definitely be times in the future when she would need to attend with him. Based on his observations these past few days, her abilities were good, she was eager to learn, and although she sometimes looked a bit silly and not quick-witted enough, those could be cultivated later. Her appearance was also presentable, and after the recent misunderstanding, he confirmed she currently had no intention of taking shortcuts. Overall, not bad.

“M, me?” Du Chunan was somewhat stunned by these words. Didn’t this mean the boss thought highly of her?!

“Who else?”

“R, really?” Du Chunan asked cautiously, her tone mixed with excitement, “B, but I don’t even have a proper evening gown, and I don’t know any of the social etiquette for those occasions. I’m afraid I’ll embarrass you.”

“…” Sheng Yannian rubbed his forehead. She was really something, thinking so much in just a few seconds. “You don’t need to worry about those. The company will arrange all that. And you don’t need to think about these things now. The premise for all of the above is that you pass the internship and become my formal secretary.”

“I will, President Sheng! I won’t let you down!” Du Chunan stood perfectly straight, with a determined flame burning in her eyes.

“…” Sheng Yannian felt that Shi Lechi and Du Chunan would definitely have a lot to talk about.

“It’s getting late. If you have nothing else, hurry home.” Sheng Yannian had nothing else to say, so he turned to leave. “You don’t need to stay so late in the future. There’s no overtime pay for voluntary overtime during the internship.”

“Got it! Happy after-work, President Sheng! Haha.” Although many people said Sheng Yannian had a bad temper, always had a stinky face, and one look could scare someone to death. But right now, Du Chunan felt Sheng Yannian was quite easy to get along with, at least not as scary as she imagined. And he was only two years older than her, so they were basically peers. So she didn’t have an accurate concept of this superior who was about the same age as her.

Having such an emotionally stable and young, handsome superior was simply striking gold.

Hearing the girl’s cheerful voice, Sheng Yannian’s figure paused. He really didn’t understand what was so happy about learning there’s no overtime pay for overtime, and for him, leaving work was no different from just changing locations to continue working. Because with one less person at home, he didn’t have to calculate the time to go back and cook every day, and his own dinner had become much more casual.

Thinking of someone, Sheng Yannian took out his phone and opened their chat interface. It was completely empty, not a single message.

Counting from when Gu Yuanqiao went on his business trip, nearly two weeks had passed, and both sides were like they had lost contact. You don’t contact me, and I won’t take the initiative to contact you.

Looking at this cold chat page, a nameless anger flashed through Sheng Yannian’s heart, and he turned off the phone screen. Out of sight, out of mind.

…

That night’s episode didn’t have much impact on either of them, but the next day, according to Lu Xinyu, who sat next to Du Chunan and was also a fellow fan she had just met, Du Chunan seemed to have more drive, and there was admiration in her gaze toward Young President Sheng that wasn’t there before.

After lunch, returning to her workstation, Du Chunan noticed that everyone on the 30th floor seemed much more relaxed than usual, specifically manifested in more talking.

“Xinyu, what happened? Why does the atmosphere feel like we’re about to get a long holiday?”

“Ah, you don’t know yet? Young President Sheng’s brother is coming.” Lu Xinyu’s excitement was much more exaggerated than others, but Du Chunan was quite familiar with this kind of bizarre excitement. She used to be like this when shipping couples.

Yes, she actually had a very niche hobby—BL!

Originally, she hadn’t planned to show her hobby in the workplace, but she never expected to meet a fellow fan. And according to Lu Xinyu, there were quite a few fellow fans in the company, and there was even a dedicated small group chat. But Du Chunan hadn’t joined because she didn’t really ship real-life couples. But she had heard that the pairing of Young President Sheng and his brother was quite popular in that group.

Du Chunan had briefly searched for Sheng Yanqing out of momentary interest and found that he was just a minor celebrity in the entertainment industry and already married. So whatever little interest she had was completely gone.

“How so?” But seeing Lu Xinyu’s extremely excited expression, her curiosity started acting up again.

“Ahhhhh” Lu Xinyu let out a small scream, hesitating to speak, at a loss for words, “Ahhh it’s hard to say, really hard to say! You’ll see for yourself in a bit, ahhhh!”

“Is it that exaggerated…?” Du Chunan hadn’t finished speaking when the office door behind her opened, and she saw President Sheng walking toward the elevator with a smile and quickened steps. Looking at his back, she finally spat out the last word.

“It’s probably President Sheng’s brother arriving. President Sheng goes to the elevator to pick up his brother every time.” Lu Xinyu timely supplemented the “sweet moment.”

Not long after, Sheng Yannian returned, accompanied by a man. Based on the photos she had seen, Du Chunan confirmed that person was Sheng Yanqing.

Sheng Yanqing was a few centimeters shorter than Sheng Yannian, wearing cotton clothes, with a small bun tied at the back of his head. He looked about 50% similar to Sheng Yannian, but perhaps because of his eyebrows and eyes, or perhaps because of his aura, in the end there were only 2 or 3 points of resemblance. In short, from a distance you could tell they were brothers, but you would absolutely never confuse them.

Sheng Yanqing looked much better in person than in photos, but calling him “beautiful” would feel vulgar. “Elegant” suited him better. This made Du Chunan think of spring rain, silently nourishing all things. Just looking at him could calm one’s heart.

As Sheng Yanqing walked along, he would greet different people, and when faced with some people’s teasing, he would laugh along. Meanwhile, Sheng Yannian stood beside Sheng Yanqing like a bodyguard, stopping when he stopped, walking when he walked. Most of the time he smiled while looking at his brother, occasionally diverting a glance to glare at his subordinates who were running their mouths, but anyone could see he wasn’t actually angry.

For the first time, she had an accurate understanding of the rumor that Sheng Yannian was a brother complex.

“…” Du Chunan looked at the Sheng brothers and pressed her lips together. It seemed, it seemed like there really was something there?!

“How is it?” Lu Xinyu couldn’t help but tease when she saw her friend’s eyes were glued to them.

“N, not bad?” Despite trying hard to suppress her emotions, the upturned corners of her mouth betrayed her.

“Hahaha.” Lu Xinyu laughed mercilessly.

In the blink of an eye, the two walked over to Du Chunan’s area. Sheng Yanqing obviously stopped when he saw her; he seemed to have never seen this young girl before.

“This is the intern secretary I just recruited.” Sheng Yannian mentioned proactively.

“Hello.” Sheng Yanqing smiled and greeted her. “I’m your President Sheng’s brother, my name is Sheng Yanqing.”

“Y, yes! Hello!” Du Chunan jumped up directly from her seat in excitement.

“Haha, no need to be so nervous, I don’t work here.”

“O, okay, Mr. Sheng.”

“You look about the same age as Yannian, did you just graduate?”

“N, no, I…”

…

Sheng Yannian looked at the office just a few steps away, then looked at his brother who was chatting happily with his subordinate, and was suddenly at a loss for words. His brother was good in every way, except that once he started chatting with strangers, he would go on endlessly, especially when that person was someone close to him.

“Alright, brother.” Sheng Yannian tugged at Sheng Yanqing’s sleeve. Despite his dissatisfaction, he softened his tone, “The prepared food is going to get cold.”

Du Chunan’s perceptiveness finally returned. Hearing Sheng Yannian’s words, she quickly asked Sheng Yanqing to go eat first, and finally watched the backs of the Sheng brothers with great interest. That was possessiveness just now, right? Right?! Right!!

“Quick, quick, quick, tell me everything!” The moment the office door closed, Du Chunan plopped down into her chair and nudged vigorously toward Lu Xinyu. She admitted that her former self who looked down on such things was simply too ignorant.

Then Lu Xinyu, with an “I knew it” expression, told Du Chunan about many of the Sheng brothers’ “secret love histories.” There were exaggerated and embellished elements, but shipping couples largely relied on imagination, and as long as you were happy.

And so, in just one afternoon, Du Chunan resolutely joined the “army” of Sheng family incest shippers.

And her radar activated quickly. The moment the Sheng brothers came out, she locked onto them. Though she smiled harmlessly on the surface, it still gave Sheng Yannian goosebumps all over.

He seemed to have received this kind of gaze from Shi Lechi not long ago. But he really couldn’t understand why Du Chunan was staring at him like this, since Gu Yuanqiao wasn’t even here.

Another week passed, and with the new week came new energy. Du Chunan brought the “short essay” she had written over the weekend to her workstation, and with a proud expression, handed it to Lu Xinyu.

“What is it?” Lu Xinyu took the other person’s phone and opened the document. Before she could look carefully, her eyes keenly scanned the names “Sheng Yanqing,” “Sheng Yannian,” and “brother,” and her tone carried some disbelief, “You, you wrote fanfiction about President Sheng and his brother?”

“Hehe, how is it? I’m quick to act, right~”

“Y, you really got into it?” Lu Xinyu swiped her finger quickly a few times. Du Chunan had written a lot, and it was the tragic entanglement type. Setting aside the protagonists, it was written quite well.

“What do you mean?” Du Chunan detected a subtle tone in Lu Xinyu’s words and feigned an interrogating tone, “Weren’t you shipping them with genuine feelings?”

“Uh…” Lu Xinyu returned the phone to Du Chunan, somewhat awkward, “Actually, I’m more of an omnivore? I kind of ship whatever pair I come across.”

“Well I’m not. I usually only focus on one pair. But besides his brother, who else is President Sheng paired with?”

At the mention of this, Lu Xinyu became excited again like before, “It’s the President Gu you often heard about when you first arrived!”

“But, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him.” The title was indeed familiar, but she had never seen that mysterious “President Gu,” and as time passed plus people didn’t discuss it as frequently, she had stopped paying attention.

“Oh, you came at the wrong time, just when President Gu went on a business trip. Before, he would come to our floor every few days, and even brought afternoon tea, haha.”

“Wow, so you were bribed by afternoon tea.”

“That’s not it!” Lu Xinyu retorted, “I just feel like this time it’s really different. When the two of them stand together, they have that kind of… vibe.”

During that pause in the middle, Lu Xinyu put on a lewd “you know what I mean” expression.

“Huh?” This time Du Chunan didn’t quite get what she meant.

“Oh, it’s just that kind of feeling like they would fight on the bed and break it!” Lu Xinyu said with a blushing face, which showed she had done plenty of imagining in private, “And their appearances and builds match so well, it’s like double A! A strong x strong pairing lover’s dream.”

“Is it that exaggerated?” Du Chunan was somewhat doubtful. She remembered someone saying that Sheng Yannian and Gu Yuanqiao didn’t have a good relationship, somewhat like two kings avoiding each other.

“Not necessarily, different strokes for different folks, I just prefer that kind of feeling” Lu Xinyu comforted her, “And Mr. Sheng is already married, so no matter what, he and Young President Sheng are impossible.”

“So what? Shipping incest is all about that taboo feeling in the first place. The brother is married, so that taboo feeling is basically MAX, okay?!”

“Hahahaha, you’re really something.”

Seeing that it was about time, Du Chunan also put away her playful thoughts and prepared to work. But in her heart, she still harbored a trace of hostility toward the unseen Gu Yuanqiao. She would see for herself just how much chemistry this person had with her superior!

 

Next chapter, President Gu will make his entrance with everyone’s favorite afternoon tea~

PS: This chapter does not intend to promote Sheng family incest