Transmigrating Into the Beautiful CEO’s Doomed Substitute - Chapter 61

Yu Xinyan was cutting her steak with a smile, having gulped down a third of the orange juice by her hand in one breath. Sitting across from her was Shen Zhibing, dressed in casual wear, just like her.

“I said, why did you suddenly change recently? It turns out you got professional advice. You wouldn’t tell me before when I asked, so what made you want to discuss these things with me today?” Yu Xinyan was very happy to put a small piece of steak into her mouth, narrowing her eyes to fully enjoy the satisfaction in her palate.

Shen Zhibing still had a calm expression, occasionally lost in thought.

“Because there are some questions I can’t figure out and I want to talk to someone about them.”

“I knew it, you only remember me when you run into trouble. What surprises me is that what makes you so cautious isn’t a public matter.”

Taking her out for a game of ball and then shopping on the weekend would certainly not be about company affairs. They had such leisurely times when they were studying abroad, but they had been too busy with work in the past two years and hardly had time for it.

Shen Zhibing took a small sip of coffee, the faint bitterness on her tongue reminding her of her entanglement and confusion. The psychological doctor advised her to appropriately relax, maintain a balance between work and rest, and take time to allow her mind and body to fully rest and adjust.

The doctor also said that only when she was completely relaxed could she clearly know what she truly wanted. Shen Zhibing also knew she had been too uptight for many years, but when she truly wanted to relax, she found that there were few people around her she could make plans with, let alone confide her innermost thoughts to.

Once upon a time, Lin Muyun loved dragging her out to play and was always recommending fresh people and things to her. At that time, Shen Zhibing had just returned to the country and was entirely focused on her career, feeling that she had fewer and fewer common topics with Lin Muyun. She accepted fewer invitations, and their relationship slowly faded. Shen Zhibing was a little distracted, suddenly thinking that if she had frequently participated in the so-called gatherings organized by Lin Muyun back then, would she have known Qi Zheng earlier?

Seeing her spaced out and silent again, Yu Xinyan deliberately waved her hand in front of her with a feigned look of dissatisfaction: “You called me out, surely not just to watch you ponder from time to time. CEO Shen, don’t keep me in suspense, you’ve been keeping me guessing all day.”

Outside of the company, Yu Xinyan was not very afraid of Shen Zhibing. She usually wanted to crack more jokes, but CEO Shen was too busy and didn’t give her the opportunity.

Shen Zhibing collected her thoughts, carefully chose her words, and stated the real purpose of calling Yu Xinyan out today: “How do you view the relationship between physical reactions and emotional liking?”

A piece of steak got stuck in Yu Xinyan’s throat, neither up nor down, and she almost thought she had misheard.

She finally swallowed the steak and said with difficulty, “Are you using your weekend off to think about philosophical questions?”

Shen Zhibing glanced at her indifferently: “How is this a philosophical question?”

Yu Xinyan saw that she was not just speaking casually, thought for a moment, and said seriously, “To be honest, I think physiological and psychological reactions must be closely linked. Especially for women, the body and mind are interconnected, unlike men who can sometimes clearly separate the two.”

Yu Xinyan was usually bold and direct in this regard. When Shen Zhibing asked, she immediately understood what she was getting at.

“You mean, if a woman wants to be intimate with another person, it means she likes them?”

This was Shen Zhibing’s recent confusion. It was true that she harbored thoughts about Qi Zheng, and she didn’t deny it. But she couldn’t understand how she could have such impulses towards Qi Zheng, when she had never had any special feelings for any woman in the past.

“It’s possible, oh, but there’s another possibility.”

Shen Zhibing looked at Yu Xinyan, clearly interested in the other possibility.

Yu Xinyan opened her mouth slowly: “If you really want to have an intimate relationship with the other person, it means your body is in a state of extreme craving and is sending out a distress signal.”

Extreme craving? Shen Zhibing never thought of herself as that kind of person. In the past few years, she had rarely even thought about such things.

Sighing softly, she still couldn’t tell which one her feelings for Qi Zheng belonged to. But the strong desire to be close to her, to feel more from her, was something she couldn’t deny.

That was why this week, she hardly dared to be alone with Qi Zheng for a long time, and she hadn’t even been to the suburban villa.

Yu Xinyan saw her frown slightly, felt a bit incredulous but still gossiped and leaned closer, asking in a low voice, “Are you having this kind of trouble now?”

Shen Zhibing didn’t answer, but Yu Xinyan smiled knowingly: “Don’t be embarrassed, we are all adults, having needs in this area is normal. If you want something to spice things up, you can tell me.”

Spice things up? Yu Xinyan had mentioned this before, but Shen Zhibing was not interested at the time, so the conversation abruptly ended.

“It’s boring when it’s just two people for a long time, you always need something different to maintain freshness, right?” Yu Xinyan spoke mysteriously, with hidden meaning in her words.

Shen Zhibing, however, thought that she hadn’t even experienced a normal relationship, so she didn’t need anything to spice things up.

Her current distress was that her thoughts about Qi Zheng were somewhat uncontrollable, and she always thought of her. Especially when they were alone, she couldn’t help but want to get closer, and even wanted to kiss her.

But she hadn’t had such an opportunity for quite a while. After returning from her business trip to the United States, she deliberately kept a distance from Qi Zheng. Not to mention a stolen kiss, she had fewer chances even to secretly look at her.

However, the craving in her heart hadn’t lessened at all. In her dreams, it was even a scene of her holding Qi Zheng. Several times in her dream, they embraced tightly, and Shen Zhibing wanted to kiss Qi Zheng, wanting to relive that soft, intimate feeling, but Qi Zheng would avoid her.

The dream always wakes up at this point, bringing a deeper sense of loss to Shen Zhibing.

She wanted to hold her, she wanted to kiss her, she wanted to be close to her, Shen Zhibing was increasingly clearly feeling the voice from the bottom of her heart.

Was this the answer after the body and mind were relaxed? The psychological doctor told her that once she heard the voice in her heart clearly, she would know what to do.

So, what should she do?

Shen Zhibing already had the answer in her heart, but she was clearly hesitating. This was unprecedented for CEO Shen, who would not be this conflicted even when deciding on a business deal. She had no experience, yet she was restless and irresistible.

Seeing her unmoved, Yu Xinyan lightly nudged her with her elbow: “If you want toys, just tell me, oh, don’t be shy.”

Shen Zhibing gave her a look of disdain, silently indicating that she didn’t need it.

**

Qi Zheng felt that CEO Shen was exceptionally busy recently. She always couldn’t get an appointment to discuss data or report outlines with her. However, Yun Fei was not very busy, and even rested for two days after returning from the United States?

Although Qi Zheng was puzzled, she didn’t think much of it. After all, CEO Shen’s schedule was inherently dense, and just looking at Yun Fei didn’t explain everything.

“Xiao Qi, take this report in for CEO Shen later, I have to go to the purchasing department.” Yun Fei handed a file folder to Qi Zheng, gave a few instructions, and left.

Qi Zheng called to ask Shen Zhibing if she was free, and after receiving an affirmative answer, she knocked and entered.

“CEO Shen, Secretary Yun asked me to give this to you.”

Shen Zhibing looked up and saw Qi Zheng leaning over to place the file on her desk. She was wearing a light pink shirt today, a dark blue suit jacket with fine checks, and the collar, as usual, had only one button undone.

But from this angle now, Shen Zhibing could see the view she had seen in the United States, and couldn’t help but be stunned.

Qi Zheng placed the file down, stood up straight, and waited for her response, but what she saw was CEO Shen looking at her without speaking.

“CEO Shen, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go out first.”

Shen Zhibing lightly coughed twice and called out to her: “Stay for a moment, this report contains a lot of data, let’s discuss it.”

Qi Zheng wanted to say that this report was not her responsibility. Although the basic data was compiled by her, most of the content was written by Secretary Yun.

But since CEO Shen had spoken, she sat back down. Qi Zheng took the file folder from Shen Zhibing, while CEO Shen opened the electronic version that Yun Fei had emailed her.

Qi Zheng lowered her head and seriously looked at the report, feeling a little nervous, afraid that she would be unfamiliar with the content CEO Shen would discuss later. But after waiting for a while, she didn’t see CEO Shen talk about the report.

“What have you been busy with lately?”

Qi Zheng was momentarily stunned, then truthfully said: “I’m working on the branch company’s annual operating analysis.”

This was not ordinary work; it was to be the focus of discussion at the year-end meeting. Shen Zhibing had long wanted to reorganize the branch company, but she didn’t have the spare capacity before. Now that she had the time and ability, she naturally wouldn’t let go of this opportunity easily.

“Don’t feel stressed, include all the aspects you can think of. If you have any uncertainties, you can ask Yun Fei and the others,” Shen Zhibing paused, looked at her, and then said, “You can also come and ask me.”

Qi Zheng nodded to show she understood, waiting for Shen Zhibing to get to the main topic. However, CEO Shen clearly wanted to say something else, so the topic changed again: “Are you ready for the special team? It will be formally established soon, and I’ve already asked Yun Fei to organize the list.”

So fast? Qi Zheng had been preparing for this, but hadn’t heard any definite news, let alone an official announcement.

“This is an internal formation, directly led by me, so it won’t be announced with great fanfare throughout the company.”

Qi Zheng still nodded, always feeling that CEO Shen’s topics today were a bit jumpy, but fortunately, they were all things she could follow up on, otherwise, the silence would be too awkward.

Only then did Shen Zhibing slowly shift to the analysis report, picking out a few key points and asking for Qi Zheng’s insights.

Half an hour later, the discussion ended. Qi Zheng recorded CEO Shen’s instructions and the content that needed to be revised, preparing to organize them and give them to Yun Fei later.

She stood up to leave, only to hear CEO Shen say: “Are you free tomorrow night? Let’s have dinner together.”

Qi Zheng smiled awkwardly: “Not tomorrow night, I have a class reunion.”

A class reunion? A reunion just a few months after graduation? And it wasn’t a holiday.

Qi Zheng explained: “I don’t know why they chose this time, maybe everyone is relatively free lately.”

Shen Zhibing couldn’t help but want to get closer to Qi Zheng. Last night, she had a very long and comprehensive dream. In the dream, her relationship with Qi Zheng was not separated by this large office desk, not separated by so many vision-blocking clothes, and not separated by this kind of alienation where she wanted to find a topic but didn’t know which one was most appropriate.

Her fingernails even dug into Qi Zheng’s back. In the dream, she felt the texture of skin being scratched, and the constant rising and colliding of a certain part of her body.

A strong force wanted to break through the constraints. Shen Zhibing was entangled with Qi Zheng again and again in the dream. She aggressively dominated everything, as if she wouldn’t be satisfied until she tore Qi Zheng apart and swallowed her whole.

But in the end, the long dream left her with only a trickle, still with an unreleased feeling of gloom and frustration. Shen Zhibing woke up in the middle of the night and took a shower, the discarded items were in the trash can.