I didn’t miss the arrogance in that request. Confused, I asked, “Miss Hou… is this our first meeting?” I didn’t remember meeting this woman before but clearly she had an opinion about me. I leaned back, my hand resting on the arm of my swivel chair. This Grace Hou wasn’t relevant in the previous timeline and that was the reason why I had no memories of her. So, why did she sound as if I had done something terrible?

“Yes.”

“Ah.” A thought popped into my head.

Was it possible that the four people who “volunteered” to work under my team were forced to do so?

Ah, this is more troublesome than I had originally thought. I would have to proceed carefully.

Saying no to Miss Jiang’s request would have shown that I was an arrogant woman who didn’t respect her seniors. However, seeing Miss Jiang before Cedric could formally introduce me to her meant that I was acknowledging that she was more important than Cedric. I didn’t want that to happen. In the past, I never cared about these things as I always thought I was above the rules.

I shifted my attention to the documents that Mr. Peng had handed me to buy time. Miss Hou cleared her throat to get my attention.

“Miss Chen?”

“Miss Hou, I should look over these documents.”

“Miss Chen, what about Miss Jiang?”

“What about Miss Jiang?”

“Miss Chen, I am sure you have heard of Miss Jiang’s name before. However, since this is your first day at work, I would like to inform you that Miss Jiang is Mr. Cedric Lin’s girlfriend. It would be unwise to offend her. Any more than you already have, of course, by taking part of her job.”

Cedric’s girlfriend?

As far as I knew, Cedric was never involved with anyone. However, her words triggered a few memories of Rhea Jiang. In the previous timeline, right after I had slept with Cedric, I had met her, but I didn’t know she worked here. She wasn’t hostile. In fact, she was friendly as she asked me about my childhood with Cedric. She knew that Cedric and I grew up together and she was curious about him. His likes and dislikes, favorite color, and food.

I wasn’t sure if she really was Cedric’s girlfriend, or just wanted to be, but either way this just got even more complicated.

I could feel Grace’s steely gaze on me.

For a few seconds, I didn’t know what to say. “Thank you for letting me know, Miss Hou.”

When Grace finally left my office, I let out a huge sigh of relief. If I wanted to help Cedric avoid upcoming misfortunes, I needed to be as firm as possible. As someone who reincarnated, I had the benefit of knowing the future.

But the future was already changing and if I had relied only on the things that I knew, I would surely have suffered some losses, and I couldn't afford any loss. If I admitted it to myself, I wasn’t thrilled to hear Cedric might have a girlfriend either.

“Miss Chen?”

I looked up at the man who was standing by the door. He was in his fifties, with scarred eyebrows, around six feet. He looked the same as when I destroyed him in the past.

It was none other than the COO of Silk and Laces. Mr. Reni Tao.

“Mr. Tao.”

Before Cedric took over the company, Mr. Tao had run it. Because of this, he attended quarterly meetings at the Lin Group, and I had genuinely liked him. A sincere smile blossomed on my face.

That man had been working in Cedric's company for more than twenty years. He, along with Cedric’s mother, started that company. When Cedric’s mother died and Cedric took over her spot, Mr. Tao stayed on.

When I decided to destroy the company, and when the scandals started piling up, this man was the only one who stood by Cedric. I had tried to convince Mr. Tao to leave Cedric, that Evan could give him an excellent position inside the Lin Group, I had offered to give him money and stability.

Yet, he insisted on staying.

Knowing this about him made be sure Mr. Tao was an admirable man.

Of course, at that time, I hated his loyalty.

Now that the place was crawling with people who I wasn’t sure I could trust, I was grateful for it.

“I can’t believe that the top IT expert of Lin Group agreed to work here.”

“Cedric is lucky to have me.” I joked while shaking his hand. “Please… would you like some tea?”

“Ah? No… I am just dropping by. I heard about the staffing problem. Don’t worry about it. Just enjoy your first day.” As usual, he was giving me his signature warm smile. Mr. Tao treated Cedric like his own son, but he was kind to everyone.

“Normal first day issues.”

“How was he treating you? He isn’t being too cold, right?”

“Who?”

“Cedric. I thought he might try to keep his distance.”

“Uhh…” Seeing my confusion, Mr. Tao added,

“Ah. Don’t mind this old man. How about we go to the boardroom together? We can talk on our way there.”

“Sure.” While walking towards the boardroom, I couldn’t help but think about his words. Was this because of Miss Jiang?