Song Nuan was anxious.
"No, I'm just scared. Qi Chen, you know, I only have you now," Song Nuan's eyes welled up with tears. "I don't care what outsiders say or think, it's okay if they call me a mistress, it's okay if my career is ruined, but I'm afraid of losing you. I can't help but be insecure—"
Gu Qi Chen's expression softened slightly, but his tone remained indifferent.
"My grandmother is ill. She's always liked Qin He, and I want to ask Qin He to stay with her for a while."
Song Nuan's eyes lit up. She had been worried about Gu Qi Chen's recent coldness towards her, and she hadn't had many opportunities to get close to him.
If she could win over Gu Qi Chen's most cherished grandmother—
"Qi Chen, let me take care of Grandma!" Song Nuan said softly, her eyes full of sincerity.
"You?" Gu Qi Chen frowned. "Grandma doesn't know about our relationship yet."
"It's okay, I'll just take care of Grandma as your friend. I promise I won't mention your divorce from Sister Qin," Song Nuan playfully put her finger to her lips in a cross gesture, a blush rising on her fair face. "Qi Chen's grandmother is my grandmother. I also want to try my best to make Grandma like me a little."
"Oh, Qi Chen, please agree," she said with a feigned pout.
Gu Qi Chen's gaze swept over her face subtly.
A minute ago, Song Nuan had been on the verge of tears, her emotional shift was indeed quite rapid.
A certain wire in his mind was becoming clearer.
Gu Qi Chen hummed, "I'll have Yu Jing pick you up tomorrow and take you to the old house."
"No need, I can go by myself. Yu Jing is someone you're used to having around, how can he be my driver?" Song Nuan said with a smile.
She deliberately made a phone call in front of Gu Qi Chen, canceling a few appointments.
Her slender neck tilted slightly, and she looked happily at her phone, smiling. "For Grandma, even if I cancel a few appointments and delay my work, what does it matter? Don't you think so, Qi Chen?"
Gu Qi Chen didn't say anything. He drove Song Nuan back to the Song family residence.
The next day.
Qin He woke up a little late. After unblocking Gu Qi Chen's number last night, he had said he wanted to discuss matters regarding the old house, but he never called, leaving her waiting for a long time.
After washing up and having breakfast, Qin He went to the company with Zhou Yang.
She entered her office on the top floor.
While waiting for someone to report on work, Qin He opened the company's surveillance feed.
She casually selected a break room, and discussions could be heard from within.
"Young President Qin is late again today. Did you hear?"
"Isn't it? I heard our group leader say that he heard from the manager that Miss Qin leaves early every day and pushes all her work reports to Assistant Zhou. I really don't know what she's here for."
"She's a rich young lady. She probably just wants to come and throw her weight around, and show off her status. After all, Qin's is her family's company. If I were her, I'd be even more arrogant."
Qin He curled her lips. It seemed her reputation at Qin's wasn't very good lately.
But it didn't matter. She was only acting as president for her brother for six months. If they could get through this period smoothly, she wouldn't bother expending energy to cultivate a diligent persona.
After all, getting enough sleep was the most important thing.
The morning meeting was scheduled for 9:30 AM.
This was Qin He's first meeting since taking over as Qin's president.
Several executives were already seated, waiting.
The head of the business department and a few deputy heads were present, including Minister An, who was responsible for the current cooperation.
"I'm here in Haicheng to negotiate with the recently emerging An Nan Group. An Nan Group holds many channels in Haicheng, and they are interested in cooperating with our daily chemical division."
Qin's subsidiaries covered a wide range of industries, from real estate to over a dozen daily chemical brands.
Qin He narrowed her eyes, listening to Minister An's eloquent speech.
The gist of it was that the daily chemical market in Haicheng had always been Gu's territory.
The Qin and Gu families had been rivals for many years. With Gu's dominance, Qin's brands had always lagged behind Gu's in sales channels there.
For luxury brands, Gu's occupied prime locations in major shopping malls.
For affordable lines, Gu's had long secured prime shelf space in supermarkets and similar venues.
In short, cooperating with An Nan Group could change the current situation. Furthermore, the company had achieved recent successes in online sales, making it an emerging industry miracle.
In the conference room, the executives were all listening with great enthusiasm.
"What are An Nan Group's requirements? Do they want a share of the profits, or do they have other demands?" someone asked.
Qin He sat languidly in the main seat, her posture relaxed, and remained silent until now.
Minister An glanced at Qin He a few times, a fleeting look of disdain flashing in his eyes.
He "sincerely" looked at Qin He and said, "President Qin, the best part of this cooperation is that An Nan doesn't plan to take a share of our future sales. They are currently looking to expand their scale and propose that if we pay fifty million yuan, they will open up the Haicheng market for us!"
Fifty million yuan was not a small sum, but Haicheng was a top-tier commercial city, and by calculation, it wasn't much. Most people in the conference room were in favor.
Zhou Yang listened to everyone's opinions and turned to Qin He, "What are your thoughts, President Qin?"
Only then did Qin He put down the pen she had been playing with, her starry eyes slightly raised, her gaze clear and sharp.
"Minister An, how many years have you worked at Qin's?"
"President Qin, in a few months, it will be twenty years. Why do you suddenly bring this up?" Minister An asked with a smile.
Qin He curled her lips. "Twenty years. It seems you were at Qin's when my father was in charge."
"Yes, the late President Qin always took good care of us, which is why we are dedicated to Qin's!"
Qin He threw her pen onto the table. "Betraying the company – is that what you call dedication?"
"President Qin, what do you mean by that?" Minister An's face showed a moment of panic, then he assumed an innocent, wrongly accused expression, tinged with anger.
The executives on the side exchanged glances, looking somewhat helpless.
They had all witnessed Qin He's recent work attitude, which was as if she was just playing at Qin's, and there had been no shortage of gossip.
This was the first meeting, and even if the new president wanted to make a splash, this was a bit too exaggerated.
"Pre-paying them fifty million yuan is their sincerity, and Minister An actually thinks this is a good idea!" Qin He sneered.
She pointed to the data analysis of An Nan Company on the screen, which displayed a chart of An Nan's recent online sales platform traffic.
The precise, dense data was almost impossible to decipher, and analyzing it thoroughly would likely take days.
But Qin He pointed precisely to one piece of data: "How did you analyze the data for this single day's online sales? The data on the preceding curve chart clearly shows it was in line with previous days, but here it has directly broken records, by more than a hundred times. With such an obvious loophole, is it a work error or intentional?"
Minister An immediately defended himself: "It's just one piece of data. Even if there's an error, it won't have a significant impact on the overall data. President Qin has sharp eyes, but this is not a reason for you to reject the cooperation and accuse a 'veteran' of the company!"
Qin He narrowed her eyes. "You really won't give up until you're in dire straits!"