Zhu Jingyi was having a good nap when he suddenly jolted awake with a start.
Gripping the edge of his desk, he looked around in confusion.
It was still his private office—neither too big nor too small—but bright and clean.
Turning his head, he could see through the crystal-clear windows, where the bustling streets of Shanghai’s most prosperous district unfolded before him.
He then looked toward the tightly shut office door. Through the glass panel, rows of workstations came into view, occupied by his administrative department employees—some busy working, others napping at their desks. Everything seemed normal.
Swallowing hard, he remained dazed for a moment before finally shaking off the lingering dream.
He couldn’t even recall what he had dreamed about, yet an inexplicable sense of unease left his heart racing.
Pressing his lips together, he retraced everything that had happened since the morning, trying to pinpoint what had unsettled him so much.
After a long pause, something clicked in his mind. He immediately opened the employee files for the administrative department, searching for Ju Li’s profile.
In no time, he found her listed residence: Pudong New Area, Longyang Road…
A person living in Pudong would willingly spend over an hour commuting by subway just to exercise at a gym in Hong Kong Plaza?
And why would an intern at a Pudong-based company purchase a gym membership there in the first place?
That morning—why had she been at the same gym as him?
Once the seed of doubt was planted, it grew at an alarming rate.
Reviewing every interaction he’d had with Ju Li, Zhu Jingyi finally reached a conclusion—
Their so-called “coincidental” meeting was no coincidence at all.
“…” Zhu Jingyi stared at her profile picture in disbelief.
What kind of girl was she?!
Who would go to such lengths—meticulously approaching a department head just to enter a company?
And more importantly, how did she even know his schedule?
How… had she pulled this off?
!!!
The more he thought about it, the more unsettling it became.
Standing up, he paced his office in circles, sometimes gasping, sometimes clicking his tongue in amazement, sometimes shaking his head with a bitter laugh and other times simply zoning out…
It wasn’t until the Deputy HR Director, Liang Xiaotong, knocked on his door that Zhu Jingyi took a deep breath, forced himself to stay composed and put on a deliberately unreadable expression.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Liang Xiaotong got straight to the point:
“It’s going to be tough finding a suitable executive secretary for President Zhong in such a short time. How about temporarily assigning two people from your department to assist him?”
“There’s no one in admin who fits the role,” Zhu Jingyi frowned. The people he had hired weren’t selected with the president’s secretary standards in mind.
“Well, the president is coming in this afternoon. We can’t exactly expect him to run errands himself, can we?” Liang Xiaotong’s words were well-measured—if the president had no secretary, wouldn’t that mean he’d be ordering the head of administration around instead?
Zhu Jingyi pursed his lips, exchanging a wry look with her.
Turning his gaze outside his office, he scanned his department members one by one.
“Pick two employees whose departure or dismissal won’t affect your department’s work too much. You know how President Zhong is—if someone annoys him, they’ll be fired on the spot and there’ll be nothing we can do to stop it,” Liang Xiaotong reminded him with a knowing smirk.
“Won’t affect the department…” Zhu Jingyi murmured before his gaze landed on two new hires—Zhang Beibei and… Ju Li.
…
After finalising the decision, Liang Xiaotong checked her iWatch to confirm there were no urgent tasks before casually asking, “So, which one do you think will get fired first?”
In her opinion, the big boss, Zhong Liyan was notoriously demanding. These two temporary secretaries wouldn’t last long.
Whether they were dismissed directly or reassigned after being deemed unqualified, it was only a matter of time.
“You tell me,” Zhu Jingyi leaned back, looking out through his office’s transparent glass with a thoughtful expression.
“Ju Li, of course,” Liang Xiaotong said with certainty, laughing lightly. “Two fresh graduates, both lacking experience. Zhang Beibei is better-looking and dresses more fashionably. Even if President Zhong isn’t interested in them personally, he’d probably prefer to keep someone more presentable around.”
Zhu Jingyi pressed his lips together.
That’s because you don’t know Ju Li at all.
If she had spent even a little time interacting with Ju Li, she wouldn’t be making judgments based solely on appearance and fashion sense.
“Alright, let’s bet on five meals at ‘Xiawa Shitang’ then,” he said nonchalantly, lifting his cup for a slow sip. “I’m betting Zhang Beibei gets eliminated first.”
“Oh? So you’re just looking for an excuse to treat me to dinner?” Liang Xiaotong teased.
“With pleasure,” Zhu Jingyi responded smoothly—neither reacting too much nor being too distant, maintaining his usual composed and unreadable demeanour.
“Fine, just don’t back out later,” Liang Xiaotong said, brimming with confidence as she rose to leave. Pausing at the door, she added, “Tell them to move their desks to the president’s office entrance—one on the left, one on the right. Perfect as two door gods.”
Zhu Jingyi acknowledged with a nod, taking another leisurely sip from his glass.
He wasn’t so sure he would lose the bet. After all… only he knew the truth about Ju Li.
A girl.
For the sake of a job she wanted.
Not only did she put on an impeccable act—
She tracked him, analysed him, studied his habits, formulated a plan and executed it flawlessly.
In the end, even someone as experienced as him had fallen right into her trap.
Would someone like her really be just an ‘ordinary fresher’?
He thought not!
Zhu Jingyi leaned back in his chair, exuding an air of dominance.
Sitting sideways, he rested one arm leisurely on the chair’s armrest while his other hand tapped idly on the desk. He had already informed the two newcomers, along with their administrative supervisor, about the personnel transfer. The three of them still seemed dazed, struggling to process the news.
Allowing them a moment to absorb everything, he finally continued, “Being the secretary to the president isn’t something you can master overnight. Observe more, do more, ask more; speak less, complain less and avoid making decisions on your own.”
Neither Ju Li nor Zhang Beibei said much. They simply sat there humbly, listening to their ‘second senior brother’ Zhu Jingyi’s lecture, nodding from time to time to show they understood.
Zhu Jingyi glanced at Ju Li. The confident, eloquent girl he had previously seen was now sitting with her head down, looking obedient. He smirked slightly before continuing: “Memorise everything I’m about to say.”
The moment he finished speaking, Zhang Beibei was still processing his words, but Ju Li had already taken out her phone and opened the notes app, ready to jot things down.
Satisfied with her quick reaction, he nodded. Yep, still as sharp as ever.
“First, Boss Zhong has OCD. Remember this—don’t move his things, don’t rearrange his office, or touch anything he considers within his control. Also, never have anything asymmetrical in front of him—hairstyles, clothes, shoes—everything must be balanced.”
As a secretary, they would constantly be around the boss. If they made him uncomfortable with his obsessive tendencies, they would definitely be dismissed.
“…” Zhang Beibei glanced at her mismatched sneakers, the corners of her mouth twitching.
“…” Ju Li looked at her asymmetrical white blouse—one side was cotton with a round collar, the other was linen with a stand-up collar.
The two exchanged glances, both grimacing.
There was no time to go back and change now. The boss would just have to endure it for the afternoon.
“Second, Boss Zhong has a strong need for control. Never make decisions for him. Even if he looks like he’s dying of thirst, unless he asks you for water, don’t assume and act on your own. Follow orders, stay sharp and diligent and complete tasks with efficiency and quality.”
The two new secretaries nodded again.
“Third, the boss is extremely sensitive to smells. No perfume, no weird-smelling food.”
“…”
“…”
That basically meant saying goodbye to durian, garlic and hotpot.
Zhu Jingyi continued listing various rules—while most bosses would have just three key expectations, their boss had over a dozen ‘musts’ and ‘forbiddens’. The more Ju Li and Zhang Beibei listened, the more overwhelmed they felt.
By the time they stepped out of Zhu Jingyi’s office, their heads were spinning and their bodies felt overheated from stress.
Fang Fei, their direct supervisor in administration, had also sat through the “18 Essential Rules for Serving the Boss” lesson. Seeing the two rookies’ pale faces, she merely smirked in amusement, gave them a few half-hearted words of encouragement and left.
In her eyes, Ju Li and Zhang Beibei were already doomed—they were just temporary placeholders before getting fired. No need to waste any effort on them.
Ju Li had no idea how others viewed her and Zhang Beibei’s temporary reassignment. Her mind was too occupied.
Just that afternoon, she had asked the big boss to grab her coffee; now, she was assigned to work outside his office as his secretary. Talk about a disaster striking one after another.
Feeling anxious, she and Zhang Beibei moved their belongings to their new workstations outside the boss’s office, set up their computers, arranged their desks and continued feeling dazed.
Compared to Ju Li’s nervousness, Zhang Beibei’s emotions were far more complicated.
The president had a reputation for being ruthless—
She had heard that just the previous night, a project lead in the gaming division had cracked under the pressure of his impossible KPIs. During a late-night meeting, he lost control and punched a hole through the wooden wall in the conference room. The hole was still there.
But… working as the president’s secretary? If she could survive, it would be a game-changer.
Following the president meant learning the inner workings of the entire company.
She would gain insight into things no other employees had access to. She would pick up skills she couldn’t even imagine.
The promotion opportunities were massive.
In fact, many department heads and subsidiary executives had once been the president’s assistants before being handpicked by him for leadership roles.
Even aside from the career benefits, just having the chance to interact with Zhong Liyan was enough to make any newcomer envious.
For many, simply exchanging a few words with the big boss was a mark of prestige.
… The more Zhang Beibei thought about it, the more excited she became, already envisioning a bright future ahead.
Neither of the two girls realized they had been thrown into the role as mere placeholders—expendable.
Each carrying their own thoughts; and under the envious or contemptuous eyes of others, they soon finished settling into their new desks.
One on the left, one on the right. Like two gatekeepers standing watch outside the president’s office.
Now that everything was in place and there was nothing else to do, Ju Li pulled out her phone and opened the [Little Secretary System].
If she had previously thought this app was useless, after acquiring Zhu Jingyi’s personal data and verifying its accuracy, she could no longer ignore it.
Thinking back to how she had received the app—how time had stopped while she was on the subway and how she had dreamed of the faceless president showering her with money—
Most eerily, the president’s office in her dream was identical to the real one behind her.
… Her mind was in turmoil.
This was too bizarre!
This [Little Secretary System] couldn’t possibly be the work of some hacker. Even setting aside the supernatural elements, the amount of personal information she had received about Zhu Jingyi was something only Zhu Jingyi himself should know.
There was no scientific explanation.
So, was it possible that this was some kind of treasure?
Like Aladdin’s lamp, a fairy wand, Spider-Man’s powers, Harry Potter’s magic, or Doraemon’s gadget pouch…
Countless thoughts flashed through her mind and she couldn’t help but pray:
System, oh system, please be a system that brings in a lot of money.
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