130: Chapter 130 Conspiracy

At twelve noon, Qiao Yichen arrived at the door of Liu Yanran's office, carrying two takeout meals.

Knock, knock, knock.

A crisp "Come in" came from inside.

Qiao Yichen pushed the door open and locked it behind him on his way in. The two of them had agreed in the morning that since the rain was too heavy today, they wouldn't go downstairs to eat, and just ordering two bento boxes would suffice.

He placed the bento boxes on the desk and said to Liu Yanran, "Let's eat, while it's hot."

Liu Yanran nodded, and the two of them each opened their own takeout. His was a crispy chicken leg set meal, and hers was a Japanese teriyaki set meal.

Qiao Yichen took the opportunity to ask about business: "Today should be the last day of the project, right? The second draft presentation is next Monday, isn't it? How is the preparation going?"

Liu Yanran picked up some food with her chopsticks and said while chewing, "Just about there. The second draft is actually the deepening of the initial draft we worked on together earlier. It covers five dimensions in total—visuals, strategy, communication, content, and execution. Today is Friday, so we're mainly focusing on strengthening the final execution dimension."

Qiao Yichen asked, "Is it going smoothly? Do you need to work overtime today?"

Liu Yanran thought for a moment, her chopsticks pausing: "Progress was a bit slow this morning. There were objections to the budget framework, and it needs to be recalculated. If we can't resolve this issue quickly this afternoon, we'll have to put in some extra hours tonight."

Qiao Yichen nodded, his tone natural and without a hint of hesitation: "Then I'll wait for you."

Liu Yanran took a bite of rice, looked up at him, and with a hint of a smile in her eyes, said: "What about you? How is that Fragrant Grain Record project you're handling? I remember it's in the execution phase now, right?"

Qiao Yichen was gnawing on a chicken leg. Hearing this, he looked up, still chewing, and said indistinctly, "The data is still within the normal estimated range. It's not great, but it's okay, it's stable."

Liu Yanran nodded, her tone becoming a bit more serious: "As long as there are no slip-ups, that's fine."

Qiao Yichen shrugged, his tone carrying a touch of smugness: "But it's been quite relaxed lately. I only need to keep an eye on the data, so I have more time to slack off."

Liu Yanran looked at him with a smile, teasing him on purpose: "Do you want me to give you more work?"

Qiao Yichen immediately waved his hands, his expression exaggerated: "That won't be necessary! I'm doing just fine as I am, really, just fine."

Liu Yanran was amused by him and lowered her head to continue eating.

He finished the last bite of the chicken leg, wiped his hands, and suddenly turned serious: "Yanran, I need to trouble you with something."

Liu Yanran glanced at him, waiting for him to continue, her chopsticks hovering in mid-air.

"I want you to use the company's name to ask the administration department of Liquan Group for the email addresses and WeChat accounts of two people—Vice President Wang Yiming and Director Zhang He," Qiao Yichen said. "One is the Vice President, and the other is the Marketing Department Director."

Liu Yanran's chopsticks paused. She looked at him, her eyes thoughtful: "You plan to send it to these two?"

Qiao Yichen nodded, his tone serious: "I want to directly tip them off about Li Fan's bribery. These two people—one is competing with Li Fan for the position above, and the other had their current Vice President position snatched away by Li Fan. Both have conflicts of interest with Li Fan. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of inquiring about them."

He paused and added, his tone firm: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

After listening, Liu Yanran didn't rush to respond, remaining silent for a few seconds before speaking. She put down her chopsticks, picked up her water glass for a sip, and said slowly, "This shouldn't be difficult. I'll ask their administration department in the name of the Sweet Spring project team later. Since the project has reached this stage, it's reasonable and justifiable to need to communicate directly with Vice President Wang and Director Zhang."

Qiao Yichen nodded and added a reminder: "It's best to get both the email and WeChat, a double safety net. I'll send it through both channels to ensure they receive it; if they miss one, there's still the other."

Liu Yanran nodded, not saying anything more.

The two continued eating.

After eating, Qiao Yichen didn't rush back to the Planning Department, but instead lay down straight on the sofa in her office.

"I'll sleep here for a while." He said, pillowing his head on his arms and squinting his eyes, his tone carrying a hint of playfulness, "The sofa here is soft; it's much better than my workstation."

Liu Yanran glanced at him, her tone indifferent, but the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned: "Suit yourself."

Qiao Yichen opened his eyes and beckoned to her, his eyes full of smiles: "Want to join me?"

Liu Yanran ignored him, lowered her head to tidy up the lunch boxes on the table, and shoved the disposable chopsticks back into the bag.

Qiao Yichen didn't care; he stood up, walked over, and pulled her toward the sofa. Liu Yanran stumbled two steps as he tugged her, and before she could protest, she was already pulled down to lie horizontally on the sofa with him.

The sofa really wasn't big, and it was a bit cramped for two people to lie on, but Qiao Yichen held her tightly, filling the space perfectly.

Liu Yanran was held in his arms; she struggled, but couldn't break free, so she eventually gave up and just muttered softly: "Childish."

Qiao Yichen didn't reply, just held her a little tighter.

Outside the window, the rain poured down, hitting the glass with a steady rhythm like a lullaby.

Qiao Yichen closed his eyes, his chin resting on top of her head, and said softly: "Take a nap."

Liu Yanran didn't speak, just leaned closer into his embrace.

Time flew by until four in the afternoon.

Qiao Yichen was staring blankly at the data on his computer screen when his phone vibrated.

It was a message from Liu Yanran containing two pieces of information—Vice President Wang Yiming's work email and corporate WeChat, and the same for Director Zhang He.

It was followed by a sentence: "These are all for work; they probably don't have private ones. The administration department provided these for direct project communication."

Qiao Yichen looked at it and typed back: "You've been a huge help. But whether it's work or private, it makes no difference to me, as long as I can get the message across. The rest depends on them."

Liu Yanran replied with a nodding emoji and added: "I'm going back to the meeting; the budget issue still hasn't been hashed out."

Qiao Yichen: "OK, thanks for your hard work."

Putting down his phone, he leaned back in his chair, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

The contact information was in hand.

The next step was to figure out when to send this message to the two of them.

Too early wouldn't work, as it might alert the enemy. Too late wouldn't work either; once the results were out, it would be too late.

He calculated in his mind: The second draft is due next Monday, and the results should be out that same day. So, send it on Sunday night or Monday morning. Let them see it as soon as they get to work.

That would be perfect.

Just as he was thinking about this, his phone vibrated again.

A message from Zhou Qian popped up: "What are your plans for the weekend?"

It was followed by an emoji of someone resting their chin on their hands, looking expectant.

Qiao Yichen glanced at the rain still falling outside the window and typed back: "Are there any places you want to go this weekend? The weather forecast says it's finally going to be sunny tomorrow."

There was silence on Zhou Qian's end for a few seconds, then she sent several emojis in a row—a kitten rolling, a puppy spinning, a bunny hopping—and finished with: "I don't know either. Do you have any recommendations?"

Qiao Yichen looked at those bouncing emojis on the screen, couldn't help but smile, and typed: "I don't know where to go either, but that's okay. We can talk about tomorrow's plans tomorrow."

Zhou Qian asked again: "Why do you seem so free every single day?"

Qiao Yichen replied with a smile: "Is it that obvious?"

The other side sent an emoji of someone nodding vigorously, the little character's head almost falling off.

Qiao Yichen confessed honestly: "The project I'm handling has reached the stage where I just need to monitor the data every day, so I am indeed quite free."

He paused and added, "But you're quite free too, having time to chat with me."

Zhou Qian immediately retorted, her typing speed quickening: "I'm very busy, okay! I interviewed several people today; I'm exhausted, and my brain can barely function."

Qiao Yichen: "Then, was the cold brew and small scone I ordered for you this afternoon good?"

Zhou Qian replied quickly, her tone coming through the text: "It was really quite good! How did you know I like scones?"

Qiao Yichen: "Guessed it. As long as it was good, I can order them again next time."

After sending that, he switched to Yu Peishan's chat window.

The main idea was to spread the attention evenly.

On Yu Peishan's end, she was complaining about a difficult client who came to the front desk today. She sent a long string of messages, and Qiao Yichen went along with what she said, occasionally sending an emoji to agree.

Time just ticked away, bit by bit.