It was too big of a crowd to fit into one elevator.
After everyone came out, they saw Wei Zhiqian still carrying Tan Mo in his arms.
“What’s the deal with the president and that girl?” a voice said softly.
They were unaware that Wei Zhiqian had excellent hearing.
Holding Tan Mo in his arms, Wei Zhiqian slowed down. His ears wiggled.
“I couldn’t even see her face. I have no idea how she looks.” Without seeing her face, they could not identify her age.
“Ahem. Well, I did.” Loosening his tie, Manager Wang felt himself loosen up.
“You saw? When?” Manager Yang asked, suddenly alert.
Could it be that Manager Wang had become the new favorite?
Did he actually have prior information before the rest of them?
“I ran into them earlier this evening when I was taking the elevator,” Manager Wang elaborated. “The girl’s name is Tan Mo.”
“Tan Mo?!” A female colleague gushed in an excited manner.
The other male colleagues turned to look at her. Taken by surprise, Manager Wang asked, “Do you know her?”
The woman answered proudly, “Of course, she’s famous.”
“What does she do?” another male colleague asked.
“She’s still a student.” The woman held out her palm and counted her fingers. “I think she’s probably in her junior year.”
“She’s a university student?” the male colleague asked. “If she’s in her junior year, that would mean she’s 22 years old.”
“What? Gosh, no!” The woman gave the man a look, seemingly expressing that she was talking to a simpleton, and said, “When Tan Mo was only 15 years old, she was awarded valedictorian for her perfect score in liberal arts of B City. Because of that, she was personally invited by the dean to enroll in Beijing University.”
Manager Wang felt his face go numb from shock. “That means… Is Tan Mo only 18 years old?”
The woman did not understand why Manager Wang seemed so shocked by that.
Why was he not more amazed by Tan Mo being a genius?
He seemed so devastated as if he had just witnessed something morally depriving.
The woman nodded in confusion. “Yeah, what’s wrong with that?”
Manager Wang was lost for words.
What was wrong?
She was only 18.
Who knew the president was such a predator?
“Although she majors in finance, she became a disciple of Professor Gu under the Department of Chinese Literature at the early age of 13, when she was just a freshman. She participated in his research team and represented Beijing University, competing against China’s top six universities, and won the first prize in the ancient Chinese literature competition. They triumphed by absolutely crushing their opponent. Hua University was totally humiliated by the stark defeat. It was a glorious victory for Beijing University.”
“In her sophomore year, she joined Professor Tang’s team in the Department of History and became his disciple too. She then became the consultant and scriptwriter of “Legend of Wei and Jin” and walked on the red carpet at the Tulip Awards ceremony.” The female colleague explained, “It was then I first heard of Tan Mo.”
“At the time, when “Legend of Wei and Jin” had just aired, wasn’t everyone clueless about who the consultant and scriptwriter were? Everyone assumed it was some bigshot in the historical circle, but then Liu Runlin announced on the red carpet that both the consultant and scriptwriter were, in fact, Tan Mo. The entire Internet blew up with all the netizens talking about her.”
“There were also quite a few netizens who thought it was a conspiracy, suspecting Tan Mo of using her authority to take the credit of the actual consultant and scriptwriter, so a bunch of them did a background check on her resume. Once they started researching her, only then did everyone understand what it truly meant to be a real genius and a top student!
“Finally, they stopped their conspiracy theory about her being a fake.” The woman clearly knew what she was talking about. “I tend to stay up-to-date with entertainment gossip, which is why I know a bit more about her. If her name really is Tan Mo, and she’s that close to the president, then it definitely must be her.”
Someone finally said aloud what was on Manager Wang’s mind. “She’s only 18, which means the president is in a May-December romance!”
Another person nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it’s bad enough that she’s still a student. After all, she’s a little girl who has yet stepped out into society while our president is about to hit 30. I’m surprised that she’s only 18. Under normal circumstances, this girl would have been prepping for her college entrance exams around this time of year.”
Tan Mo was in her junior year and of legal age.
Eighteen might have sounded a little too young, but at least she was an adult.
Thus, everyone did not think much of it.
Tan Mo was young, but she was not underaged to be condemned of her morality and conscience.
But now, hearing what their fellow colleague had just said, it suddenly dawned on them.
He was right.
Under normal circumstances, she would be in her senior year of high school, waiting to take her college entrance exams.
Even if she had started school a year younger, she would only be a college freshman by now.
Manager Wang suddenly thought of his niece, who was currently a high school senior prepping for her entrance exams.
She was the exact same age as Tan Mo.
In the eyes of an adult man, a high school student was merely a kid.
Everyone stood silently.
He really was a predator.
Wei Zhiqian stopped dead in his tracks.
What gibberish were these people going on about?
He purposely slowed down so they would see the two of them, and this was what they thought of him.
Couldn’t they see the bigger picture?
Enraged, Wei Zhiqian hastened his steps. In large strides, he carried Tan Mo out of the building.
After Wei Zhiqian finally left, Manager Wang and the others breathed out a sigh of relief again.
“Did you see how quickly the president walked out? He seems particularly pleased.”
“God knows where he’s taking the young lady, carrying her around like that. He wouldn’t be taking her back to his own house, right?”
After hearing that last comment, everyone became quiet again.
Predator!
Wei Zhiqian silently gnashed his teeth.
He heard every last word they said, loud and clear.
How could those people be so vapidly judgmental?
Wei Zhiqian glanced down at Tan Mo.
It was a good thing Tan Mo did not hear what they were saying.
After carrying Tan Mo into his car, Wei Zhiqian started the engine and drove toward Beijing University.
There were still traffic jams on several sections of the road.
By the time they got to Beijing University, it was already 11:20 p.m.
“The dorms are closed now.” Without getting out of the car, Tan Mo knew by just looking at the time. “Could you take me home instead?”
Otherwise, she would have nowhere to sleep for the night.
“What time is your earliest class tomorrow?” Wei Zhiqian asked randomly.
“Nine o’clock,” Tan Mo replied.
Wei Zhiqian gently furrowed his brows and asked, “If you come from your house, won’t you have to leave at the crack of dawn?”
It just so happened to be rush hour, and the distance from her house to school was not exactly close.
“Yeah.” Just thinking about it gave Tan Mo a headache.
Seizing the opportunity, Wei Zhiqian asked casually, “Why don’t you stay at my place?”
“Your place? All the way back to the office?” The first thing that came to Tan Mo’s mind was Wei Zhiqian’s house being next to Weifeng Company.
That wasn’t much closer compared to the distance between her house and Beijing University.
It was no different from going back home.
“Did you forget? I have another house right around Beijing University,” Wei Zhiqian reminded her with a friendly chuckle. “That way, you won’t need to wake up earlier than usual, and you can just walk right over.”
“Ah, right!” Tan Mo suddenly remembered. This was perfectly convenient.
“Would it be bothersome for me to intrude?” Tan Mo asked.
“What are you talking about? It’s hardly any bother.” As he was answering, Wei Zhiqian had already restarted his engine and began driving into the neighborhood.
