The meeting continued. The meeting lasted more than two hours, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Mo Jingshen’s clear and deep voice sounded as Ji Nuan accidentally lifted her hand again and rubbed the back of her neck. “The meeting is adjourned. Let’s take a break and continue in an hour.”

The others stared at each other in surprise.

They were prepared when they knew they were coming to Shine for the meeting. It was said that CEO Mo was a workaholic, especially after he took over the Shine Group. Important meetings usually lasted for hours in Shine, with few interruptions or long breaks.

Hearing Mo Jingshen’s words, Shen Mu opened the door of the meeting room, but the others still thought they had misheard. Even Deputy Director Chen, who Mo Jingshen was staring at coldly from time to time, didn’t dare get up.

“CEO Mo, do you really want a break? If we take a break now, the meeting won’t be over by six,” a secretary standing beside whispered.

Mo Jingshen said no more but got up and left coldly.

Now that CEO Mo had left, it was true there would be a break. The others were relieved. Some went to the bathroom, some went to drink water, some talked on the phone, and some rubbed their eyes and sat down to rest.

Sure enough, if you weren’t the employee of the Shine Group, you wouldn’t know what the working atmosphere was like here. The first time they held a meeting in Shine, they felt the pressure.

Even Deputy Director Chen felt that he had chosen the wrong place. Mo Jingshen was never a pushover, and even the leaders of the municipal and provincial governments had to respect him, but he was polite to them. Now in the Shine Group, the other leaders and partners were so overawed by him that they didn’t even breathe loudly, including him, who was just a deputy director of the construction bureau.

Making sure Mo Jingshen had left, Deputy Director Chen put on a smile and looked at Ji Nuan, who was about to go out. “CEO Ji, you must be tired after a two-hour meeting. Would you like to go downstairs for coffee with me for the one-hour break?”

Ji Nuan stood up. She turned around, looked at Deputy Director Chen who was in his forties with a pair of silver-rimmed glasses, calmly turned away from him who was coming to take her hand, and said with a smile, “A few days ago when I drove past a high school, I saw a very beautiful little girl. I heard others said her father is the deputy director of the construction bureau. Is that girl your daughter?”

The smile on Deputy Director Chen’s face froze.

“Is the lady who was waiting to pick her up outside the school your wife? I really envy your perfect family. Your wife is not only beautiful and virtuous but also sends your child to school and picks her up from school every day. However, at that time, I heard others said they rarely see the girl’s father.” Ji Nuan smiled. “If that is really your daughter, Deputy Director Chen, I advise you to spend more time with your family and take the time to pick up your child from school. Work is not as important as family, isn’t it?”

Ji Nuan said very tactfully, with a smile on her face.

Deputy Director Chen immediately pulled back his hand and nodded awkwardly. “Yes, yes..”

Ji Nuan glanced at him again. Her voice was soft and gentle as if she were speaking casually, but Deputy Director Chen felt as if she were hitting him in the face with these words. “I think your wife is lovely. Although she has already had a daughter, she looks so young, and I think women at her age have a special charm that women at my age don’t have. Each has its own merits. When a man is successful in his career, he should not look at young girls, but at his wife.”

Hearing Ji Nuan’s words that sounded like both an advice and a warning, Deputy Director Chen was so embarrassed that he didn’t say anything. Ji Nuan walked straight out of the meeting room.

As soon as she walked out, Xiao Ba followed her out and whispered to her, “Boss, did you notice that CEO Mo asked to turn up the temperature of the air-conditioner after he saw you rubbing your arms in coldness, and asked to adjourn the meeting after he noticed that you were rubbing your neck in tiredness?”

Ji Nuan cast an indifferent glance at her. “Is your focus misplaced? Why did I bring you here?”

Xiao Ba curled her lips and handed her the meeting papers. “I just sat in the back and sorted out all the meeting materials. I took notes of the meeting for the last two hours. I didn’t miss any content.”

With that, she said happily, “I just learned that assistants like me need to go through a simple security check before entering the meeting room of the Shine Group, but Assistant Shen let me in without checking me. Boss, is that special treatment?”

Ji Nuan gently smacked Xiao Ba on the head with the documents she had just received. “You wish.”

Shrinking her neck, Xiao Ba took the meeting papers in an aggrieved whisper. “But Assistant Shen clearly didn’t treat us as outsiders just now..”

Ji Nuan went straight out as if not hearing her.

The rest time was only an hour, and the meeting would continue after the break. Ji Nuan was going to go downstairs to find a milk tea shop and take a rest with Xiao Ba, but the latter received a phone call from her boyfriend, who said that he was in the vicinity and planned to take her to eat French food this evening. When he knew Xiao Ba could take a short break, he immediately asked her to sit with him for a while in a nearby park.

Ji Nuan could not bear to disappoint the two young lovers who had been separated from each other by their busy work, so she gave Xiao Ba a few hours off and told her that she didn’t need to attend the meeting again. She could record the meeting’s contents with her recording pen, and Xiao Ba could sort out the minutes of the recording tomorrow.

Xiao Ba left happily. Ji Nuan didn’t like drinking milk tea alone, so she took the papers and found an empty reception room on this floor to take a rest where there were black leather sofas, water dispensers, and disposable cups.

She poured herself a cup of warm water and sat on the sofa, rubbing her neck from time to time.

She was always busy with her work when she was in the UK, and she had been busy since she came back to China, so her neck and shoulders become sore if she worked too long or sat too long.

There was no one outside. She leaned back on the sofa and rested. The sofa in the reception room was so comfortable that she felt sleepy after closing her eyes for a while.