Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Mistaken Identity

Lin Xu had intended to hand the documents to the secretary and let her handle them, but before she could speak, the secretary enthusiastically escorted her into the office.

“President Ji just went to a meeting, you can sit here and wait,” the secretary said, then hurriedly brought back a cup of coffee, “I’m just outside, just call me if you need anything.”

Before Lin Xu could reply, the secretary turned and left the office, leaving her alone in the space.

“The secretary seems pretty busy,” Lin Xu muttered, placing the documents on Ji Tingyang’s desk.

Sitting down instinctively, she experienced a bit of what it felt like to be a president in the empty office.

She played with the ornaments on the desk and pulled open the drawers here and there.

When she opened the bottom drawer on the right, her attention was caught by a framed photo.

Lin Xu picked up the frame and opened it to find a family portrait; she looked closely and found it vaguely familiar.

In the photo, two young boys carefully protected the baby in the middle, their smiles radiant. Behind them, a couple held hands, gazing down at the two children sitting in front with indulgent expressions of resignation.

This photo… was the family portrait taken when her younger sister was just born, very heartwarming.

But since everyone was not looking at the camera, they took another one.

Unexpectedly, Ji Tingyang had printed it and brought it to the company, but why hadn’t he displayed it?

Lin Xu wiped the dust off it before putting the frame back in the drawer.

Getting bored while waiting in the office, Lin Xu went out for another round and encountered a frantic woman coming out of the elevator area, heading straight for the president’s office.

She emerged again in less than two seconds, surveyed the area, didn’t see the secretary, and then lifted her chin at Lin Xu, “The new assistant?”

“Me? I’m not…”

Lin Xu paused, about to deny, only to hear her continue asking, “Where’s President Ji?”

“He’s at a meeting, if you’re looking for him you can…”

“Help me make ten copies of this document, quickly,” she lifted the document in her hand, waving it at Lin Xu.

Why do people never wait to hear others out, Lin Xu felt resigned, responding, “I can’t do it.”

After over twenty years, many technologies had been upgraded; when Lin Xu had first come back to life, she couldn’t even use the new features of mobile phones, let alone copy documents.

The woman clicked her tongue disdainfully, “If you can’t, go check! How did you get hired as an assistant if you can’t even do this?”

She seemed very busy, her actions brisk, and she received another call while speaking.

She shoved the document into Lin Xu’s hands, turned to pick up the phone, and her domineering voice instantly softened, “Darling~ what is it?”

“Oh, stop it~ Are we still on for tonight…”

Seeing the woman only focused on flirting over the phone, Lin Xu had no choice but to pull out her phone, look up how to use the copier, and start making the copies for her.

Just consider it a good deed for the day.

The woman talked on the phone for half an hour, then, after hanging up, extended a hand toward Lin Xu expectantly.

No response.

She furrowed her brow in anger, waved her hand impatiently, and shouted, “Where are the documents!”

Lin Xu: “Almost done, just two more to go.”

“Copying documents and still dawdling! I don’t know what the company hired you for!” The woman stomped over, pushed Lin Xu aside, and started fiddling with the copier herself.

But a few seconds later, paper jammed in the machine and the copier stopped working.

After kicking the machine several times and realizing it was futile, she commanded Lin Xu in a bossy tone, “What are you standing there stupidly for, come over here and fix it! Do you realize you’ll be responsible if you delay President Ji’s meeting materials?”

Lin Xu’s face grew cold, “Maybe if you spent a few minutes less on the phone, you would have made it in time.”

“Half an hour to photocopy a document? With such sluggish work performance, you still dare to blame me?!” The woman sneered as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world.

“If you’re so capable, why didn’t you do the photocopying yourself?” Lin Xu rolled her eyes.

The woman was fuming.

As a director of the administrative department, everyone in the department dared not treat her with anything less than courtesy. And here was this mere assistant, not only slacking off at work but also having the audacity to give her attitude!

At that moment, the private elevator opened.

Ji Tingyang hurriedly walked towards his office.

The meeting had just ended, and his secretary had informed him that Wen Li was waiting in his office.

Wen Li had never visited the company to see him, and although Ji Tingyang was puzzled, his pace quickened significantly.

However, when he saw Lin Xu outside his office, his expression grew even more astonished.

Could it be that his mother had come with Wen Li?

Ji Tingyang walked over, but before he could even ask, a woman ran up to him and pointed at Lin Xu, complaining.

“President Ji, how did you hire this assistant? She can’t do anything right. It took her more than half an hour just to print a document, and I could have delivered it to the meeting room earlier. It’s all her fault. Your meeting ended, but it still wasn’t done, delaying our work.”

An assistant?

Since when had his mother become an assistant?

Could it be that she had applied for a job at Ji’s and that’s why she was here?

Ji Tingyang looked at Lin Xu perplexedly, who merely shrugged and offered no explanation.

The woman was still complaining about the new assistant’s lack of work competence, while Ji Tingyang’s expression gradually turned icy.

“I informed you yesterday that I needed this document for today’s meeting. You had all that time and didn’t prepare, and now you’re saying it’s an assistant’s fault?”

The woman’s body tensed slightly, and she said guiltily, “Yesterday, yesterday I was too busy and forgot, I… ”

“It’s all her fault! President Ji, if it weren’t for her, my materials would have been ready long ago.” Her heart skipped a beat, and she recklessly blamed Lin Xu.

Lin Xu’s eyebrows lifted as she retorted, “First, I’m not an assistant; second, you brought the document when the meeting had already started—you were late; third, it wasn’t me who delayed the task.”

She wasn’t a mute to be falsely accused and remain silent.

“I, I…” The woman still tried to argue.

“Don’t explain to me. I only look at results, not the process.” Ji Tingyang’s working demeanor was formidable, his gaze sharp as a blade, daunting anyone from meeting his eyes, “Go to HR to settle your salary, you don’t need to come to work tomorrow.”

The woman’s eyes immediately filled with tears, “President Ji, I won’t dare anymore, please don’t fire me…”

Ji Tingyang bypassed her, taking Lin Xu back to the office, shutting out the noise of the crying woman outside.

The office was empty. Just as Ji Tingyang was about to ask his secretary where Wen Li was, he heard the secretary apologize to Lin Xu, “Lady Wen, I’m sorry, I had gone to deliver meeting materials to President Ji and wasn’t outside to attend to you, causing you trouble.”

Ji Tingyang was surprised, his mother was actually pretending to be Wen Li?

Lin Xu was also surprised, “Lady Wen? My last name isn’t Wen.”

The secretary was even more astonished, “Then who are you?”

“Lin Xu.”

The secretary: “…” Who the hell spread the rumor that Wen Li was the one dropping off and picking up President Ji from work every day!