The employees downstairs had never seen the chairman in person, so they didn't react. Chen Yuan's mind went blank for only half a second before he snapped out of it, pulled Wei Zhen aside, and said,

"You guys have cosplayers here too? Ones who interact with customers?"

"Huh? No, we don't. The manager didn't hire them, did she?" Wei Zhen scratched his head.

"Then who are you people? You must have the wrong person."

Chen Yuan said, looking at the woman.

"Then we might have... made a mistake."

The woman looked startled, a hint of embarrassment crossing her face. She then proactively stepped aside to let them pass.

Her eyes followed Chen Yuan and his friend as they walked down, their shoes making a TAP TAP sound on the escalator. Her gaze never wavered. Even though Chen Yuan had changed out of the formal suit he'd worn at the company and was now just in a fleece jacket and a long-sleeved shirt, how could she possibly forget someone she had just seen that very morning?

Besides, Chen Yuan's features were quite distinctive, thanks to his youthful, almost boyish, looks.

During the meeting that morning, the woman had secretly whispered with her colleagues about the young chairman's good looks, already swooning a little.

'He's pretending not to know me now. There must be a special reason for it.'

The previously quiet shop grew noisy again. The onlookers had seen this group of sharply dressed people and thought some drama was about to unfold. When nothing happened, they disappointedly looked away and went back to their own business.

As the two figures receded into the distance,

a woman in a white blouse stepped forward and asked, "Director, who was that?"

"Didn't you hear what I called him?" The woman in the hip-hugging skirt and earrings gestured with her chin toward Chen Yuan's retreating back. "That young man is our chairman."

"For real!?" The group's jaws nearly hit the floor.

"He's so young, how is that possible!?"

"You didn't get the wrong person, did you?"

"I saw him during the meeting. How could I be mistaken?" She tore her gaze away, and the group continued up the stairs.

The big bald guy who had come to snatch the shop was still glaring, completely clueless.

He couldn't understand what they were talking about.

"He looks like a college student. How can someone that age be our chairman..."

The woman in the blouse was clearly still skeptical, finding the whole thing hard to believe.

"Couldn't he have been parachuted in from the parent company? Use your head."

"Then how high up would his status be? Don't tell me he's the son of some major director from the head office?"

"That I don't know... But I have heard some vague rumors."

"Tell us, Director!"

"Tell you what? The truth would scare you to death! Now get back to work!"

...

Wei Zhen didn't know what was up with the manager today. He was about to leave and went to the front counter to let her know, only to find her sitting there, completely crestfallen, her eyes vacant.

He called out to her several times but got no response.

Wei Zhen had no idea what a heavy blow the manager was suffering at that moment.

Years of hard work had become a joke because the property owner had broken their word. If she had to start all over, she no longer had the money to invest. Even if she could scrape together enough by borrowing, she had lost the drive in her heart.

Most importantly, her ex-boyfriend had passed away in an unavoidable disaster.

She had only just managed to pull herself out of her grief, determined to make their shared dream a success.

But now, this shop, which held countless memories of her and her boyfriend, was about to vanish like an ephemeral bubble. All because she didn't have the money to pay the soaring rent and had wanted to stall for time to negotiate a lower price.

It was all fated; not a single thing was in her control.

The other busy employees in the shop were completely unaware of her situation.

No one even noticed what the manager was doing.

"You leaving?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Wei Zhen glanced over a few more times, but when Chen Yuan, who was waiting by the door, called out to him, he stopped worrying about the manager's strange behavior and followed him out of the shop.

"So, how about you wait here for a bit? I'll go to the parking lot and get the car," Chen Yuan asked.

"Sounds good."

「After Chen Yuan left.」

Wei Zhen waited alone, glancing back into the shop from time to time.

With his sharp perception, he could actually sense that there was something unusual about Chen Yuan's identity, and that it was connected to the group of strangers who had suddenly barged into the shop. But he also sensed that Chen Yuan didn't want to talk about it.

So, he didn't press for details.

'But what's wrong with the manager? Does it have something to do with those strangers, too?'

Just as he was pondering this, Li Bing pushed the door open and came out. She was carrying a gray canvas bag, had changed into a somewhat frumpy pink down jacket, and had put on her black-framed glasses.

"Didn't I convince you to get contacts last time? They look so much better. Why aren't you wearing them?"

He said, seeing that she had her glasses on again.

Wei Zhen was a bit speechless.

'She's such a pretty girl, but she insists on dressing down.'

"I'm used to wearing glasses. Contacts are a little uncomfortable..."

"Alright."

Li Bing took a few steps forward and looked around. She seemed to be searching for something on the street but couldn't find it. Her gaze then returned to Wei Zhen.

"Has Chen left?"

"No, he went to get the car. He told me to wait here."

"Oh, I see..."

Normally when Wei Zhen talked to Li Bing, she would fall silent after a couple of sentences. Li Bing wasn't very talkative by nature, so for her to ask a couple of questions proactively today was a rare event in Wei Zhen's eyes.

'But thinking about it,' he mused, 'both of her questions were about Chen Yuan.'

'Good looks really do give you an advantage... Even a girl as hard as a rock like Li Bing pays extra attention to him.'

Wei Zhen found it amusing.

Just then, a car with a prominent hood ornament pulled up.