Zhang Yang wasn't in their gossip group, but people still sought him out for information.
Soon, Zhang Yang saw the photos too.
He couldn't keep it from General Manager Jiang, so he went to report to Jiang Jingyu and asked what to do next.
Jiang Jingyu had no intention of hiding it from everyone. Since it had been photographed, he decided to make it public.
He asked Zhang Yang to order a bouquet of flowers, signed with his name, Jiang Jingyu, and send it to Tong An'an.
Tong An'an was busy in her office when Zhang Yang personally brought the flowers to the International Marketing Department.
Amidst the astonished gazes of everyone, he placed the flowers on Tong An'an's desk and then said:
"Same time, same place. General Manager Jiang is waiting for you for lunch. Miss Tong, work hard, I'll be going now."
Everyone was stunned and rushed to surround her flowers, discovering a sticky note with Jiang Jingyu's name on it. They asked Tong An'an in great surprise what was going on.
Tong An'an hadn't expected Jiang Jingyu to make such a big move today. However, since everyone already knew, she decided to admit it.
Jiang Jingyu was her boyfriend.
Not a single person had the mood to work, desperately wanting to figure out how the two of them got together. But Tong An'an was now the CEO's girlfriend, her status elevated by an immeasurable degree. No one dared to be presumptuous with her anymore.
Doubts lingered in their hearts, and they didn't even dare to speak to her.
Soon it was noon. Tong An'an went to find Jiang Jingyu and asked him why he suddenly sent her flowers.
Jiang Jingyu knew she didn't quite understand the machinations behind office politics and couldn't be bothered to explain. He said:
"It was going to be made public sooner or later. Why make it seem like I was doing something illicit, sneakily? I wanted to send flowers, so I sent them. I'm also supposed to go to the cafeteria with you for lunch today. Let's go eat."
Jiang Jingyu put his arm around her shoulder and they went to the cafeteria. Under everyone's watchful eyes, he helped Tong An'an pick out dishes, got her food, and they sat down to eat together.
The entire dining hall was quiet and eerie. Although no one spoke, you could feel all eyes scanning them.
Tong An'an felt immense pressure.
Jiang Jingyu comforted her: "It's normal for people to be curious and find it novel when it's just been publicized. Once they see it often, they'll get used to it. Don't mind them, just eat."
After eating, Jiang Jingyu again put his arm around her and entered the CEO's private elevator. Tong An'an stayed until the lunch break ended before returning to her office.
Now even Anna dared not approach her.
This girl really had some skills, actually getting the CEO to announce their relationship.
Even she herself was kept in the dark.
Of course, department heads, including the sales director and deputy director, knew that someone significant had emerged from their department.
That afternoon, Tong An'an was assigned business.
Tong An'an, from intern, officially became a regular employee and began to engage in core business.
Although she had done a lot of preparatory work, actually getting started was still quite challenging.
She didn't care about others' opinions. If she didn't know something, she would ask Anna or find the department head. In short, it was all for the business, and she proceeded as she normally would.
There was a time difference between overseas and domestic. After work, she still had to reply to messages from abroad, taking her work home.
It was already 12 AM. Jiang Jingyu sent her a message, and Tong An'an replied that she was still busy with work.
"This won't do. If you're officially starting to handle business, and you're living such a topsy-turvy life every day, I can't stand it. How about you transfer to domestic marketing?"
Tong An'an was unwilling. She quite liked international marketing, and the more difficult and challenging it was, the more fun she had working.
She told Jiang Jingyu, "As a boyfriend, you should support me and encourage me to work, not drag me down!"
"I'm unfamiliar with the business now, so it's tough, which is why I have to work this late. Won't it get much better once I get the hang of it? You can't be a stumbling block on my path to success. I'm planning to achieve great things. If you interfere with my work, then I won't be with you anymore."
Jiang Jingyu was amused to the point of laughing by her words.
She was becoming more and more confident. In their relationship, she was finally treating him as a boyfriend.
Jiang Jingyu quite liked her attitude.
"If there's anything you don't understand, tell me. Or should I come down and keep you company?"
"Okay, you can't sleep anyway. And you keep typing, which wastes my time. Just come down and explain things to me."
With Jiang Jingyu's help, the project was successfully concluded a little over a week later.
Tong An'an also managed to collect the final payment, completing her first business deal of her life.
Calculating it, she could get over 30,000 yuan in commission from this single deal alone.
Tong An'an was ecstatic. If this continued, she could earn a million a year.
Not only could she help her brother pay the bride price for his future wife, but she could also buy her parents a new house.
Life was truly beautiful!
While she felt life was beautiful, the other colleagues in the department didn't.
Clearly, her overall ability was not as good as everyone else's, yet she was assigned such good business. Wasn't it all due to General Manager Jiang's favor?
What was so impressive about climbing up through her looks?
Tong An'an wasn't a fool. Since her relationship with Jiang Jingyu was publicized, everyone avoided her as if she were a plague. Even Anna, who used to be cheerful with her, became much more polite.
The office lacked any warmth outside of work, and she found it quite disheartening.
One day, while Anna was at the pantry, she followed her, wanting to have a chat.
Anna honestly told her: "I don't care how you met General Manager Jiang, whether you two are just temporary boyfriends and girlfriends or whatever. My attitude towards you won't change, but others might not think the same way."
"It would be best if you and General Manager Jiang can go the distance. If you part ways midway, have you considered how you'll stay in the company in the future?"
"Also, regardless of the outcome of your relationship, all your efforts will be attributed to being Jiang Jingyu's girlfriend. Are you truly content with that?"
Tong An'an was naturally not content.
Apart from diligently helping her explain business matters, Jiang Jingyu hadn't seemed to instruct the supervisors to give her any special treatment.
She believed her salary was earned through hard work, so why should everyone think that?
But she had no other solution.
Life moved on. The supervisor assigned another major project to them. Three people formed a small group, requiring teamwork to complete.
During a meeting, when asked who was willing to join the group, Tong An'an raised her hand, and no one else was willing to join.
In the end, the supervisor forcibly assigned two people to the group, and they were quite reluctant.
In short, no one believed their love with Jiang Jingyu was true love and that they would last. Everyone was waiting to see her fail.
In the subsequent work, when communication was needed, they tried to avoid her as much as possible, or their tone was perfunctory, which greatly annoyed Tong An'an.
She hadn't expected the pressure of being Jiang Jingyu's girlfriend to be so immense.
This was only the beginning. If it continued like this, with no one trusting her, and her relationship with Jiang Jingyu becoming lukewarm, could she endure it?