Hu Yue thought about it for a moment but decided to sit down anyway.

"Order whatever you like," Chen Cheng said, waving over a waiter.

Hu Yue took the menu, scanned it briefly, and said, "Give me a bottle of beer."

Hmm?

Chen Cheng looked up at her blankly. What had triggered this?

Well, if she hadn't been triggered, she wouldn't have run off in the middle of a meal.

Chen Cheng shook his head; he'd find out soon enough.

Hu Yue was too embarrassed to order much, so Chen Cheng took the menu and added several more dishes. "White shrimp, white fish, water bamboo, and arrowhead. Then, bring a plate of fatty beef and a plate of fatty lamb."

"That's all for now. Bring it out quickly."

After dismissing the waiter, Chen Cheng looked at Hu Yue curiously. "What's going on? You seem to be in low spirits."

Hu Yue forced a smile. "It's nothing, Mr. Chen. Thank you."

Hu Yue poured herself a glass, raised it, and prepared to toast Chen Cheng. "Mr. Chen, I also want to thank you for letting me handle your business."

"I received my bonus. After taxes, it was over two hundred thousand yuan, hehe."

At the mention of the bonus, a genuine smile finally appeared on Hu Yue's face.

Money really was the best cure for sorrow.

Chen Cheng chuckled and clinked his glass of herbal tea against hers.

"No need to thank me. It was business that needed to be done anyway; it wouldn't have mattered who handled it."

Hu Yue shook her head. "That's not true. I asked my colleagues later, and they said you specifically requested me."

"So, I really should thank you for your support. I'll drink to that."

With that, Hu Yue tilted her head back and downed the glass of beer.

The corners of Chen Cheng's mouth curled up slightly. Wow, she was quite the bold drinker.

He wasn't one to be pretentious, so he took a sip of his herbal tea as his part of the toast.

He loved drinking this while eating hotpot.

Hotpot and herbal tea—one brings the heat, the other cools it down.

It was a classic case of magic defeating magic.

Chen Cheng set down the can and continued, "Your bank is certainly fast at paying out bonuses, though."

Hu Yue thought for a moment and said, "Exchanging USD to CNY is a policy-encouraged business at our bank, so those bonuses are paid out the very next month."

"If it's deposit gathering, the bonuses are paid out a bit slower."

As she spoke, a smile she couldn't hide reached Hu Yue's eyes.

If Chen Cheng's funds remained at Shenmao Bank and weren't transferred away, she would receive a deposit gathering bonus just as generous as the currency exchange one later this year.

Chen Cheng was an insider; seeing her silly grin, he knew exactly what she was thinking about.

She had even been moved to the Private Banking Department to serve as Chen Cheng's Exclusive Manager.

The moment the bank appointed her, she had called Chen Cheng to let him know.

With the change in position came a corresponding increase in salary.

Chen Cheng chuckled. "It looks like you've become quite the little rich lady all of a sudden."

"I just got lucky to have met you," Hu Yue said, reigning in her smile.

Looking at the corners of Hu Yue's mouth, which even the recoil of an AK-47 couldn't suppress, Chen Cheng recalled a saying from an older acquaintance: 'Children from poor families should stay away from finance.'

It really did make sense.

If it weren't for Chen Cheng, Hu Yue might have spent her whole life behind a Teller counter. At best, she would have retired as a Lobby Manager.

Meanwhile, children with backgrounds and connections would enter the bank and be promoted quickly due to 'outstanding performance.'

Or they could just slack off, doing just enough to meet their monthly performance requirements.

While others could meet their quotas with the flick of a finger, children from ordinary families might have to beg everyone they know just to stay busy all month.

"Alright, let's talk about something else. During that meal, who made you so angry?" Chen Cheng waved his hand. He was more concerned about what kind of person Tao Wuji was.

This involved his selection for the secretarial office, so he wouldn't be careless.

Besides direct contact, learning about someone's character from those around them was also a good option.

Hu Yue thought about it and decided to explain what had happened at the dinner table. She felt the events before they sat down weren't worth mentioning, so she automatically skipped them.

Chen Cheng's mouth twitched. Great, in that whole room, not a single person except Cheng Jiayuan was easy to deal with.

Miao Xiaohui had directly exposed Cheng Jiayuan's crush on Hu Yue, and Hu Yue hadn't given Cheng Jiayuan or Tao Wuji any face at all, simply storming off.

"So, Tao Wuji knew you liked him, and yet he still tried to set you up with Cheng Jiayuan?"

Hu Yue nodded huffily. "Yes!" After saying that, she downed another glass of beer.

Chen Cheng's mouth twitched again. This kid was thick-skinned and black-hearted.

Tao Wuji and Cheng Jiayuan were so close they were practically joined at the hip; Chen Cheng didn't believe for a second that the kid didn't know about Cheng Jiayuan's background.

This kid actually used the girl who liked him to curry favor with Cheng Jiayuan.

That was fucking cold.

In that instant, Chen Cheng felt that this person was dangerous and could never be fully trusted.

However, people who were this thick-skinned and black-hearted were exactly the kind of 'talents' who could be useful for certain tasks.

Chen Cheng blinked, having come to a conclusion in his heart.

Tao Wuji might become a sharp sword, but he would never enter the inner circle.

Chen Cheng began his brainwashing tactics. "It seems God doesn't want you to have both love and a career at the same time."

"You can only choose one."

Hu Yue thought about it, nodded in agreement, and gave a self-deprecating laugh. "That's really how it is."

"Then focus on your work," Chen Cheng said with a smile.

The expression on Hu Yue's face suddenly froze for a moment; she had thought Chen Cheng was comforting her.

She sat up straight and said to Chen Cheng seriously, "Mr. Chen, you really are a good person."

Emm...

Chen Cheng spread his hands, looking at Hu Yue somewhat speechlessly.

Do I really fucking need a 'good person card' from you?

"You know, some people don't like it when others call them a 'good person'?"

Hu Yue hurriedly explained, "Mr. Chen, I didn't mean it that way."

"I just think you're very easy to get along with, very down-to-earth."

"Like this hotpot restaurant—I never imagined you would eat at a place like this."

"Then where should I be?"

"Well... The Bund, floor-to-ceiling windows... and a restaurant with a pianist."

Chen Cheng's mouth twitched; it was a classic stereotype of the wealthy.

Chen Cheng continued his brainwashing: "Hu Yue, do you know what the biggest difference between the rich and ordinary people is?"

"What?" Hu Yue looked at Chen Cheng in confusion.

"Choice! Rich people can choose as they please."

"As long as it's delicious, he can eat at a garden villa restaurant or at a roadside BBQ."

"He isn't restricted by an 'elegant' environment."

"Those elegant environments filter out ordinary people, but ordinary restaurants can't filter out the rich."

"Choice!" Hu Yue murmured, lost in thought.

After a while, Hu Yue asked again, "Aren't rich people very health-conscious?"

"Aren't you worried about the food hygiene issues in a roadside restaurant like this?"

Chen Cheng smiled and shook his head. "In a whole year, the number of times I eat at a restaurant with non-standardized operating procedures is extremely low; it's a low-probability event. And food hygiene issues are also a low-probability event."

"Moreover, boiling at 100°C for one to three minutes can kill the vast majority of bacteria and common pathogens."

"What we often call 'unclean' or 'unhygienic'—the biggest problem is actually that the food isn't cooked through."

"The people who should truly worry about food hygiene are actually ordinary people."

"They eat quickly, they're in a rush, and they have to eat this kind of fast-served food every single day."

"They have no choice. They have neither the time nor the economic means to support other choices."

"You're an economics student. You can imagine what happens when low-probability events accumulate."

Chen Cheng deliberately spoke to her from this high-status posture.

Chen Cheng was her client, and she knew the balance of his bank account.

Although class distinctions were no longer openly promoted, she knew very clearly in her heart that Chen Cheng was not on the same level as her.

At a time like this, Chen Cheng's words carried weight.

If your boss tells you, 'I understand your difficulties...'

Give him a slap; he doesn't understand.

But if a big boss tells you privately that such-and-such will be very profitable in the future...

You would definitely take it to heart, and you'd even lose sleep thinking about whether it might be an opportunity for you too.

"Probability... choice... the right to choose," Hu Yue's eyes glazed over as she murmured unconsciously.

After eating for a while, Chen Cheng prepared to pay the bill, but Hu Yue rushed to pay instead, saying she wanted to thank him.

Chen Cheng didn't stop her; he was too lazy to fight over a bill.

"Goodbye, Mr. Chen. Have a safe trip," Hu Yue said, her hands folded as she stood respectfully by the car to see him off.

Chen Cheng operated the convertible top with one hand while nodding to her with a smile. "Yeah, you should head back early too."

With that, he hit the gas and drove away.

Hu Yue stared blankly at the receding shadow of the car, her face slightly flushed as she mimicked the roar of the engine with her mouth.

"Vroom~ vroom vroom..."

The seed had been sown, just waiting to take root and sprout.