I Revealed My True Identity After Confessing My Love - Chapter 48

Du Xiran stared at the heart shape in her bento box, sinking into a long silence.

Her colleagues were still hovering around, gossiping about her lunch.

“Old Du, come clean, are you in a relationship?”

“I’ve only seen bentos this nice in photos from online influencers.”

“It’s definitely not takeout, that’s for sure!”

“Oh my, this little heart is just too cute, hahaha~”

Their voices weren’t quiet. Laughter echoed through the pantry, piquing the curiosity of others.

A few interns who were eating also crowded around to watch the excitement. One girl said to Hu Hanqiao, “Director Du is so beautiful; maybe a devoted man really did prepare a ‘love bento’ for her. I’m so jealous.”

Hu Hanqiao glanced at Yan Zhenghao and said pointedly, “Yeah, I’m so envious. It would be such a blessing to receive a love bento.”

Hearing this, Yan Zhenghao subconsciously looked toward Ye Nanning in the office area.

Hu Hanqiao looked over sourly and noticed that Ye Nanning also had a bento. She remarked, “Maybe Ye Nanning’s bento was sent by someone too. Do you think she’s already dating?”

The girl replied, “Hard to say. Even if she isn’t dating, she has so many suitors, it wouldn’t be strange for someone to send her lunch, right?”

Yan Zhenghao withdrew his disappointed gaze.

However, Ye Nanning didn’t notice their stares because she was only focused on the situation with Du Xiran. She was debating whether she should rush up to help explain. She watched Du Xiran worriedly, fearing her boss might suddenly snap if it were her, she’d be ready to jump out a window to escape.

To her surprise, after a brief moment of shock, Du Xiran quickly regained her calm expression. She smiled at her colleagues and said, “What are you all looking at? Never seen a bento that smells this good?”

The colleagues continued to laugh.

Du Xiran calmly heated her food, picked up a piece of garlic pork rib, and tasted it. With great relish, she said, “Mmm~ it’s delicious. Want a taste?”

As she spoke, she proactively offered pieces to a few colleagues. Their attention was immediately diverted as they gave her a thumbs up.

“This is really good! Who made it?”

“I’m so jealous, I want a bento too!”

“Can I have another piece?”

Du Xiran hid the lunch box in front of her. “No more. Something this delicious stays with me.”

“Old Du, you stingy thing.”

“Just one more bite~”

“At this point, I wish it was takeout so I could at least buy it.”

“Who gets to eat this well? Oh, it’s me,” Du Xiran teased, successfully inciting a wave of jealousy before triumphantly carrying her lunch box back to her office. As she passed the workstations, she caught Ye Nanning’s pitiful gaze, arched an eyebrow, and made a playful “fierce” face at her.

Ye Nanning immediately flashed a pleading look.

The corners of Du Xiran’s mouth curled into a smile.

The incident passed without further drama. Ye Nanning breathed a sigh of relief, finished her meal quickly, and then pretended to be asleep for a nap. After waking up, she went to a meeting. Once the routine project meeting ended, Du Xiran said, “Ye Nanning, stay behind. I want to talk to you about the assessment.”

Ye Nanning sat across from her, hands folded on her lap, acting as obedient as could be.

“Tomorrow is the assessment day. The HR department will conduct a comprehensive evaluation based on your attendance and performance, but the focus will remain on your work. When you get back, organize a work summary like a resume listing the projects you’ve participated in, your responsibilities, and the progress of each. Give it to Xu Huan to check, then submit it to me.”

“Okay,” Ye Nanning nodded. She was about to leave when she noticed Du Xiran resting her chin on her crossed hands, looking at her meaningfully.

Ye Nanning swallowed nervously. “Director Du… is there something else?”

“Yes. Have you ever made a bento for anyone else?” Du Xiran asked directly.

Ye Nanning shook her head.

Du Xiran: “Then why did you put a heart in it?”

“Well… that…” Ye Nanning stammered, “Isn’t that how they do it online?”

Du Xiran was silent for a moment, then laughed. “So you thought a ‘love bento’ had to have a heart in it?”

Ye Nanning: “Yeah.”

Du Xiran burst out laughing. “You silly girl… don’t put one in next time, or people will misunderstand.”

Ye Nanning said, “I’m sorry.”

Du Xiran: “No need to apologize. I just don’t want people thinking I’ve kept a ‘toy boy’ for myself.”

!!!

That definitely wouldn’t do!

Ye Nanning said, “Don’t worry, I will absolutely not put a heart in next time or let people think you have a toy boy!”

Du Xiran smiled. “Alright, go back and prepare your materials.”

“Okay.” Ye Nanning returned to her desk and began organizing her summary table. She sent it to Xu Huan for proofreading and finally handed it to Du Xiran.

Du Xiran looked through it carefully and realized that Ye Nanning’s work was incredibly detailed. As a VP, she couldn’t possibly monitor every detail of an intern analyst’s daily work usually, she just assigned major tasks and let the assistants and analysts coordinate.

Before the end of the day, Du Xiran and several other VPs who mentored interns went to HR for a meeting to provide their references.

Seeing them go downstairs together, the interns guessed what was happening. They immediately started chatting in their small group, and the atmosphere became tense.

Hu Hanqiao waited anxiously for the results. Seeing Director Li return to his office, she took some documents and walked in. “Director Li, here are the materials you wanted. They’re all printed.”

“Mm, okay. Put them on the desk.”

Hu Hanqiao didn’t leave immediately after setting them down. She looked at him hesitantly.

Director Li looked up and smiled. “Are you looking for the results?”

Hu Hanqiao nodded.

“We won’t know the elimination list until tomorrow. Currently, we’ve only selected the ‘Outstanding Intern’ it’s Ye Nanning from Director Du’s side.”

Hu Hanqiao felt a pang of bitterness. “Did Director Du say a lot of good things for her?”

“Yes, she’s her mentor if she doesn’t back her own person, who would she back? You? Besides, this was decided based on factual evidence and materials, not just a few good words,” Director Li smiled. “Hanqiao, I can see you have high standards for yourself. You were probably a top student at school. But the further up you go, the more you realize your own ordinariness. Your skills are good, you’d be a standout at other companies. It’s just that this batch of interns is exceptionally talented. If you don’t make the cut, don’t be disappointed there’s bound to be a platform better suited for you.”

Hu Hanqiao understood his subtext: she had lost her competitive edge in this group.

Director Li added, “But that’s for later; nothing is final yet. Lisa is also having a hard time deciding, so we are trying to negotiate to keep everyone. It depends on the result of Lisa’s talk with the big boss.”

“The big boss?” Hu Hanqiao looked at him in surprise. “Does the intern review require the big boss’s oversight?”

“Usually no, but tomorrow Director Ye happens to be coming to inspect various departments, so he’ll be stopping by HR to see the selection results.” Director Li took a calm sip of tea. “There’s no need to broadcast this. Director Ye is a low-key person and dislikes bureaucracy. Just do your job tomorrow and don’t act too fawning.”

Hu Hanqiao’s eyes flickered. “He doesn’t like bureaucracy?”

“Correct.”

“Okay, thank you, Director Li.”

The next day, Ye Nanning prepared another bento for Du Xiran. This time, she was careful not to include a heart. She drove to the office full of energy.

Du Xiran asked curiously, “Why are you happier driving this car than your Maserati?”

Ye Nanning straightened her face as she often did when nervous. “Maybe because ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’.”

Du Xiran laughed. “True. For people like you who are used to shark fin, occasionally eating vermicelli tastes fresh.”

Ye Nanning: “No, that’s not exactly why.”

Du Xiran: “Then what is it?”

Ye Nanning: “I like… having someone to go to work with.”

“That’s true,” Du Xiran stretched comfortably. “Having a companion does make things more interesting.”

As they neared the company, Du Xiran suddenly asked, “Are you nervous today?”

“No,” Ye Nanning said.

“That’s good.” Du Xiran decided not to tell her about the big boss’s inspection, fearing it would make her nervous for no reason.

Since the “Outstanding” award was already settled, and given Ye Nanning’s calm demeanor, she would surely perform well in front of the big boss.

“Keep it up, Ye Nanning. I want to be colleagues with you for a long time.”

The corner of Ye Nanning’s mouth twitched into a small smile, but she didn’t reply because she was a bit greedy.

She wasn’t satisfied with just being colleagues.

At lunchtime, colleagues gathered in the pantry again to see Du Xiran’s bento. Du Xiran herself was quite nervous, as if opening a Pandora’s box; no one knew what was hidden inside.

She slowly opened the lid, and the crowd gasped.

“Damn, it’s so cute!”

“Old Du, I’ll trade my chicken wings for that rice ball!”

“Let me take a photo, this is incredible!”

Du Xiran was also pleasantly surprised. She hadn’t expected Ye Nanning to shape the rice into panda rice balls, nestled adorably in the box. It melted her heart. Next to them was asparagus arranged like a bamboo forest, with a meat dish and a vegetable dish on the layer below.

This time, even Du Xiran couldn’t resist taking out her phone to take a picture.

After the group spent several minutes photographing the bento, Du Xiran finally sat down in the pantry to eat. Food this good-looking and delicious had to be seen by everyone!

Ye Nanning looked over and smiled secretly.

“It seems you really aren’t nervous at all,” Hu Jiaxu said beside her.

“Yeah, no need to be. The die is cast being nervous won’t help.” Ye Nanning calmly focused on her meal. She hadn’t made a panda for her own bento, she didn’t have enough time.

“You have a great mindset. I wasn’t nervous at first, but Director Ye is coming this afternoon, and I’m a bit scared. I heard he’s quite a formidable person,” Hu Jiaxu whispered.

Ye Nanning’s chopsticks paused. She slowly turned to her. “…Who did you say is coming?”

“Director Ye! You know, the big boss, the man on the company profile. He’s actually quite handsome,” Hu Jiaxu said.

The food on Ye Nanning’s chopsticks fell back into her bowl.

Around 3:30 PM, Lisa arrived on the floor with several people. Their entrance immediately drew the employees’ attention.

However, everyone just nodded to the tall man beside her and continued working.

Hu Jiaxu quickly sent a message to Ye Nanning: [Ahhh, I’m getting nervous! The big boss’s aura is so strong, I’m panicking! What if Director Ye asks me a question? How do I answer! Right now I really envy your calm mindset!]

Ye Nanning: [Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I’m panicking too..]

Hu Jiaxu: [? Ye Nanning, you’re disappointing me. Ahhh, what do I do, he’s walking over! Please don’t ask me anything!]

Lisa led Director Ye and his secretary into the large conference room, then came out to gather the interns and their mentors.

Ye Nanning took a deep breath, unable to move her legs, until a hand rested on her shoulder. A gentle woody fragrance enveloped her, and Du Xiran’s low voice sounded in her ear: “Don’t be nervous, it’s okay.”

Ye Nanning turned to look at her, showing her vulnerability for the first time: “Director Du, I’m a little scared…”

“Don’t be afraid. You’re definitely staying. I’ll bet Du Heruo’s weight on it.”

Ye Nanning was caught off guard and laughed, her tension easing significantly.

Du Xiran smiled and let go, stepping forward. “Let’s go. Let’s face your future together. I won’t let you be disappointed.”