Chapter 10: Transmigrated as a Cheapskate Phoenix Man (10)
Just as Cen Yu opened the proposal and was about to make the revisions, he noticed his phone vibrating.
He glanced at the caller ID and was surprised to find it was Sang Qianshan?
Why was Sang Qianshan calling him? As he pondered it for a moment, he watched the call hang up.
A second later, the phone rang again.
Cen Yu pulled out his Bluetooth earbud, grabbed his phone, and stepped into the stairwell—
“Something up?”
“Nothing…” Sang Qianshan’s voice on the other end was a bit noisy, sounding as if he had put the call on speaker. “Just wanted to call you.”
Leaning against the stairwell handrail, Cen Yu looked down at the tiles underfoot. “Speak up if there’s something. Moving to your new place? I can’t meet up anytime soon.”
“No,” Sang Qianshan immediately denied.
“I heard you’re in a relationship,” Sang Qianshan said. “I haven’t met your partner yet. Perfect chance for a get-together at my new place.”
Haha, once you meet him, he’s gonna become your partner instead.
Cen Yu thought to himself, though a smile remained on his face. “Sure, just let me know whenever you’re free.”
“Mm,” Sang Qianshan quickly replied from the other end. “A friend sent me some fruit last time. Since I’m almost never home, I’ll have my assistant send it over to you. Same old place?”
“Yeah,” Cen Yu thought.
Except for the fact that Sang Qianshan was going to steal his wife—which wasn’t very honorable—he was genuinely a great friend in every other aspect.
“Gotta run, time for me to get back to work.”
“Mm, bye-bye~”
Hanging up the phone, Sang Qianshan saw his manager standing nearby with a look as if he had seen a ghost.
Snorting internally, Sang Qianshan tossed his phone onto the nearby sofa. “See that? Of course I have friends.”
The manager looked like he was swallowing back a tirade…
You call this a regular friend?!
He finally realized who that person was—the one whom the assistant kept reporting about, saying Sang Qianshan was always sending food and drinks to a specific address.
He had previously assumed the person was Sang Qianshan’s secret lover, but his assistant mentioned it was just an ordinary apartment—logically speaking, with Sang Qianshan’s terrible temper and his level of generosity, if he were genuinely dating someone, they certainly wouldn’t live in a basic apartment like that.
And it had been a real eye-opener for the manager too: apart from when he was acting in front of a camera, he had never heard Sang Qianshan speak to anyone in that tone of voice.
Normally, he was as impatient as could be, but during this call, he acted like he was itching to pull out a male lead’s voice from a romance film.
“…Your friend… has a partner?” the manager asked carefully.
“Mm.” Sang Qianshan wasn’t particularly happy whenever this topic came up.
He felt Cen Yu was being thoroughly dishonest, hiding the fact that he was dating… If it hadn’t been for Cen Yu’s partner happening to answer the phone back then, he probably wouldn’t even know about it.
He still remembered that night when he called Cen Yu to ask about a game disk they had played together and where Cen Yu had put it.
Unexpectedly, the person who picked up was a strange, yet very gentle male voice.
Except that person’s voice felt strangely cold.
Hearing that unfamiliar voice, Sang Qianshan had frozen for a few seconds. “Who are you? Why do you have Cen Yu’s phone?”
The voice fell silent for a moment, then shifted into a soft, tender tone. “I’m Cen Yu’s boyfriend.” He asked cautiously, “Who are you?”
Cen Yu’s boyfriend?!
Hearing this, Sang Qianshan was shocked at first, followed by a surge of displeasure in his heart. Frowning, he asked, “Cen Yu didn’t save my contact name?”
“He did,” the voice continued. “Though the saved name is ‘Big Star’.”
“…” Sang Qianshan fell silent. “Forget it, tell him to call me back later.”
Yet up until midnight that night, Sang Qianshan didn’t receive a return call from Cen Yu—so he impatiently sent him a message.
Only then did Cen Yu explain that Yu Xinyu had probably forgotten, having fallen asleep shortly after taking the call.
Sang Qianshan had felt a bit irritated inside, though he didn’t know what on earth he was irritated about. All he could say was—
[When did you start dating someone?]
[A while ago.] Cen Yu answered vaguely.
[How come you never told me?]
Cen Yu replied—
[Well… I didn’t want to come out directly to you.]
Sang Qianshan had frozen for a few seconds upon seeing Cen Yu’s reply.
He had almost forgotten about that—
Back in school, there were far too many guys who confessed to him. He made a point of showing no mercy whatsoever, and over time, his reputation for being homophobic spread far and wide.
[You’re different.] Sang Qianshan had replied.
[Let’s meet up when you’re free so I can get to know him.]
“He does have a partner,” Sang Qianshan said. Leaning back on the sofa, he looked at his manager, who was lost in thought. “Don’t even think about it, not a chance.”
“I’d rather hire a fake friend than bring him on a reality show.”
He didn’t want Cen Yu exposed to the cameras at all, nor did he want him being scrutinized by a bunch of random strangers, and even less did he want every single word they said to be magnified and argued over after the show aired.
The manager looked at Sang Qianshan and said helplessly, “Alright, my lord, I’ll go hire a friend for you.”
At 5:30 PM, Cen Yu finally sent the revised proposal over to Lou Baichuan—
In truth, he had finished the revisions at 1:00 PM, but the core wisdom of workplace slacking was never to finish early, lest the leadership feel your workload wasn’t full enough and squeeze even more out of you.
Seeing that 6:00 PM off-work time had arrived,
Lou Baichuan stepped out of his office and clapped his hands a few times—
“We’re going to the team dinner shortly. I’ve made reservations, and the address has been sent to the group chat.”
“Colleagues with cars, please carpool. If there aren’t enough rides, take taxis directly, and the company will reimburse you later.”
Glancing at Cen Yu, who was preparing to hitch a ride in Gao Lanyuan’s car, Lou Baichuan suddenly said, “Cen Yu, stay behind for a moment. I need to talk to you about the proposal.”
“…” Cen Yu looked up at Lou Baichuan.
Come on, bro, team dinner at 6:00 PM.
I sent you the proposal at 5:50 PM, and you just HAVE to give me feedback today?! Besides, he remembered this proposal didn’t even need to be submitted for approval until next Wednesday…
“Is there a problem?” Lou Baichuan had already taken off his suit jacket, wearing only the suit vest from his three-piece suit and his shirt. The tie around his neck was impeccably neat, not a strand of hair out of place on his forehead—looking not in the least bit like someone who had worked a full day, but rather like he had just stepped off a business banquet.
“No problem.” What else could Cen Yu say? A worker’s life wasn’t a life!
Gao Lanyuan looked at Lou Baichuan and sat back down just as he was about to stand up.
“?” What are you doing?
“I forgot my car was sent for maintenance today,” Gao Lanyuan said with a smile, looking at Lou Baichuan. “Perfect timing to wait for you guys and hitch a ride in Boss Lou’s car.”
He was young, about to graduate as a senior, usually possessed a sweet tongue and sharp mind, and was quite handsome, making him very popular in the company. Assigning his desk next to Cen Yu’s was originally intended for Cen Yu, a senior employee, to mentor the newcomer, so what he said seemed natural enough.
Lou Baichuan looked at the smiling Gao Lanyuan.
Inexplicably, he picked up a subtle aura of a fellow competitor, which made the look he cast toward Cen Yu carry a bit more displeasure. Tapping his fingers against the glass door of his office, he said to Cen Yu:
“Bring your laptop and step inside.”
“We’ll wrap this up quickly, then head over to the dinner once it’s revised.”
