Chapter 13 Who Moved President Gao’s Heart

Chapter 13: Who's Tugging at the CEO's Heartstrings?

The moment the message was sent, Lu Yingxiao regretted it.

Gao Yan was an observant person.

If she only replied with single characters in the future, wouldn't he be able to detect her subtle emotional cues?

He might even figure out what she was feeling right now for replying with one extra character.

But sent words were like spilled water; there was no taking them back.

Lu Yingxiao could only try to remedy the situation, thinking to herself that she would simply reply to Gao Yan with more than two characters from now on.

Having decided on this course of action, she stopped dwelling on it and went about her day as usual, going ahead and adding Teacher Xu on WeChat.

Teacher Xu quickly accepted the request.

Lu Yingxiao: "Hello, Teacher Xu. I'm Lu Yingxiao, Gao Youhe's sister-in-law. You can contact me regarding any matters concerning Youhe from now on."

Teacher Xu: "Sure."

Lu Yingxiao wanted to know about Gao Youhe's current situation at school.

She typed another line: "Teacher Xu, are you busy right now? Would it be convenient to talk to me in more detail about Youhe?"

Teacher Xu: "Of course. Youhe is the class monitor. She is a model student, always willing to help others. Everyone, classmates and teachers alike, likes her very much."

This reminded Lu Yingxiao of the scene that morning when she took Gao Youhe to school. Every student they met on the way warmly called out "Monitor" to Gao Youhe, gathering around her to chat animatedly. This was enough proof of how well Gao Youhe performed as monitor and how much her classmates liked her.

A proud smile spread across Lu Yingxiao's face.

Xia Huaimeng, sitting across from her, was seriously enjoying her delicious viral little cake. Glancing up and seeing the smile on Lu Yingxiao's face, she casually asked, "Who are you chatting with? You look so happy."

It wasn't a secret. Besides, it was also filled out on the onboarding forms.

Lu Yingxiao: "My younger sister's homeroom teacher."

Xia Huaimeng: "You have a younger sister? How old is she?"

Lu Yingxiao: "Eight."

Xia Huaimeng: "That's quite an age gap with you. She must be in third grade of elementary school then?"

Lu Yingxiao: "Yes."

Xia Huaimeng: "What a coincidence! I remember CEO Gao's sister is also eight this year, also a third-grade elementary school student."

Lu Yingxiao: "...That is quite a coincidence. Oh, right."

Worried that Xia Huaimeng might ask which school her sister attended, Lu Yingxiao changed the subject and asked Xia Huaimeng, "I saw a photo of a little girl on Sister Wan's desk. Is that her daughter?"

Xia Huaimeng: "Yes, but that's a photo from six or seven years ago. Her daughter is in sixth grade now."

Lu Yingxiao: "Why not display a current photo of her daughter?"

Xia Huaimeng: "Older kids need homework help, they're not as cute anymore. Three years ago, her daughter had an assignment to keep a silkworm observation diary. It really put Sister Wan through the wringer. She vented to us every day about how difficult silkworms were to raise, how they'd die if you weren't careful, and asked us which residential areas had mulberry trees planted, saying those silkworms ate so much that the mulberry leaves she bought were never enough."

"Your sister is in third grade now. She'll probably have to raise silkworms next semester. You should scope out places in advance to find mulberry leaves."

"If you run into any problems while raising silkworms, you can ask Sister Wan. She accumulated a lot of experience back then and even said she almost became a silkworm-raising expert."

Speak of the devil.

Wan Hui walked over to them. "What are you talking about? I could hear Huaimeng chattering from far away."

As she said this, Wan Hui scanned the entire break room.

It was morning tea time. Besides Lu Yingxiao and Xia Huaimeng, there were naturally other colleagues in the break room.

They seemed to be intently savoring their own snacks, but their peripheral vision was more or less focused on Lu Yingxiao sitting in the corner, trying to glean hints about her background from her conversation with Xia Huaimeng.

Lu Yingxiao had actually sensed this from the moment she first stepped into the break room.

She didn't pay it any mind.

She also knew that this kind of scrutiny definitely wouldn't let up in the future, unless she revealed the point of everyone's curiosity and told them exactly what impressive background she had.

She also understood that Wan Hui was, in a way, reminding her that everyone was secretly watching her.

Lu Yingxiao gave Wan Hui a grateful smile.

Xia Huaimeng, however, was a bit out of the loop. She objected to Wan Hui, "I was keeping my voice down!"

This was true.

Apart from when they were talking about company matters at a normal volume, when Xia Huaimeng had asked who she was chatting with, she had whispered, audible only to the two of them. But since Lu Yingxiao felt there was no need to hide it, she had replied at a normal volume. So, she vouched for Xia Huaimeng to Wan Hui: "Huaimeng and I have similar speaking voices. I was just talking to her about my sister."

Wan Hui wasn't really bothered by Xia Huaimeng's noise.

She sat down between Lu Yingxiao and Xia Huaimeng and picked up on Lu Yingxiao's topic. "I think I just heard something about raising silkworms? Are you going to raise silkworms?"

Lu Yingxiao: "It's for my sister. My sister is in third grade of elementary school. Huaimeng said that third graders might have an assignment to keep a silkworm observation diary next semester."

Perhaps raising silkworms was truly difficult.

When the topic of silkworm-raising came up, the usually sharp and capable Wan Hui seemed to recall some huge headache, her brow furrowing tightly.

"Raising those silkworms was the biggest nightmare of my life."

"Back then, every day when I woke up, I'd wonder if the silkworms were still alive. The mulberry leaves I bought online were still on the way, and I had to figure out where to pick more that day."

"Every night, my dreams were also about the silkworms. I'd dream they crawled out of their box, crying and saying they were so hungry, telling me to go find mulberry leaves for them."

Lu Yingxiao listened, feeling as if she were there.

She also learned the crucial lesson to raising silkworms from this: you must have an ample supply of mulberry leaves.

The Gao family garden was a full acre and a half, but when Youhe took her on a night tour of the garden last night, she didn't seem to recall seeing any mulberry trees.

If they didn't prepare the mulberry trees in advance, wouldn't Youhe have to search everywhere for mulberry leaves when she needed to raise silkworms next semester?

She thought about telling Butler Zhan that Youhe would need mulberry leaves next semester and that they might need to plant mulberry trees in the garden ahead of time.

But then she remembered what Youhe told her last night: CEO Gao had majored in horticulture in university, and he had designed the garden layout himself. If they suddenly needed to dig up the garden, Butler Zhan would have to ask CEO Gao first. CEO Gao would surely ask for the reason, and Butler Zhan, probably trying to play matchmaker between her and CEO Gao, would likely have him ask her directly.

All that back-and-forth was too much trouble. It would be simpler to skip the middle steps and go straight to CEO Gao.

So, Lu Yingxiao sent a message to Gao Yan: "Mr. Gao, I heard from Sister Wan that third-grade elementary school students need to raise silkworms in the second semester. The demand for mulberry leaves during that period is quite high, but it seems there are no mulberry trees planted in the garden?"

After texting Lu Yingxiao, Gao Yan continued with his work but was mentally counting how long it would take for her to text back.

Seeing it was an instant reply, Gao Yan knew right away.

After watching his negative video, Lu Yingxiao hadn’t come to dislike him any more.

Just then, there was a knock on the office door.

Gao Yan said, “Come in.”

Special Assistant Chen was slightly taken aback.

He seemed to detect a faint, almost imperceptible hint of pleasure in Gao Yan’s low voice.

“Mr. Gao, here is the detailed proposal for the South City project.”

This project was key to driving the company’s profits to a new high. Gao Yan focused in and carefully reviewed the document.

He was just about done when his phone on the desk vibrated.

Gao Yan glanced at it.

Noticing how Gao Yan’s expression suddenly turned serious, Special Assistant Chen asked, “Mr. Gao, is there an issue with the proposal?”

Gao Yan replied, “No major issues, but some details need further refinement.”

He precisely pointed out the areas in the document that required adjustments.

Special Assistant Chen jotted each one down.

Yet, seeing that Gao Yan’s expression remained unchanged—still as serious as before—Special Assistant Chen couldn’t help but glance at Gao Yan’s phone.

Who could have sent a message that made the always-composed and strategically-minded Mr. Gao look so grave?