The Rise of the White Lotus

[Present Time]

"I love it— Nic, what do you think?" Lexi looked around once again before she aimed her question to Nico Zhuang who remained silent since a few minutes ago. After all, he constantly exchanged random discussions with her on their way to the 8th floor. 

"He likes it." Out of nowhere, Ethan Lu's familiar deep voice resounded across the whole laboratory. Hence, Lexi immediately turned around to where his voice came from. 

At the same time, everyone excluding Nico Zhuang turned towards the entrance of the room where Ethan Lu was unhurriedly making his entrance. He had known that the moment they arrived at the laboratory, maybe a minute or two had only passed and Ethan Lu along with his ever-loyal assistant Lyrick Jiang reached the floor. However, they didn't enter right away and remained outside— Nico Zhuang was very keen and instantly knew it was them with just a glance— hence his abrupt quietness. 

'No, master. Please don't look at me like that as if you're insinuating that I like her and not the place!' He wept inwardly as Ethan Lu always bullies him whenever he could. 

On the other hand, The moment Engineer Choi laid his eyes on one of the loudest names in the business industry at the moment, his eyes dilated double-time as he could not believe the walking ATM... no, a bank not far away from him. 

'Ethan Lu! No, Master Lu!' His inner thoughts screamed in panic— the same expression with the rest of his crew present. 

"Hmm..." Ethan Lu slid his hands inside his pocket and slowly scanned the whole room before he slightly nodded in approval. "Not bad."

"Not bad?" Lexi arched her brows as she crossed her arms under her breast. "Are you sure it's not BAD?" She emphasized the word 'bad' as she forced him to admit that it was a clean and sturdily constructed. 

"Heh, kidding, it's great— no magic happened in the budget, I see." Ethan Lu chuckled upon hearing Lexi sharply picked up on his half-hearted comment. 

He then strode to the nearest corner next to the door and placed his palm on the wall. Knocking it lightly, Ethan Lu nodded in approval once again before he turned to the flabbergasted Engineer Choi. 

"Good work." He complimented with a meek smile that sent extravagant emotions to the middle-aged engineer. 

"Master Lu!" Due to the overwhelming emotion of meeting and probably being acquainted to this godly man, Engineer Choi heedlessly called out— loudly which startled everyone aside from Lexi and Ethan Lu. 

"Thank you for the compliment!" With that said note, Engineer Choi made a deep bow. If he could kowtow, he probably would without any heed to his dignity or pride. Understandably, because right now, with this man's current status, one good word that would come out from his mouth, meant Engineer Choi's company would be saved!

Yes, in this industry, the ones in the top most control of everything— one way or another were all powerful. Just one word from them, they could destroy or save a company's life, just like that. After all, the ever so lowkey Lu Corporation who has remained at the top, was now soaring even higher— parring to the Han Corporation and surpassed the Liu Empire. This drastic progress of the company was all thanks to the new CEO of the Lu Corporation— Ethan Lu. 

"Hehe, don't thank me— I lost a bet because of you." Using his mischief, Ethan Lu grinned which froze the man in place the moment he had heard him. 

'He— he lost a bet because of me?' Ethan Lu's words were clear yet vague at the same time thus, he was thrown into a pool of confusion— a negative pool at that. 

"Mr. Lu, please stop teasing Engr. Choi." Rolling her eyes upon seeing the slyness behind her man's grinning lips, Lexi slightly shook her head before heading to one of the counters and took a seat. 

"Nico, why don't we get started today to prepare for the last project?" Ignoring Ethan Lu and everybody else, Lexi turned to Nico Zhuang's direction who was extra quiet as if his presence got much smaller than usual. 

'Madam, why are you dragging me in front of the master?! Do you want me to be skinned alive?!' Of course, no matter how frustrated his thoughts were inside his mind, Nico Zhuang's surface remained stoic yet innocent. 

He discreetly glanced at Ethan Lu who also glanced at him causing their eyes to meet— he swallowed a mouthful of saliva. 'Lady boss, please save me!!' He pleaded inwardly as he turned to Lexi's anticipating front depicting that she was oblivious of the threat near him. 

On the other hand, Lyrick Jiang bit his inner lower lip as hard as he could to restrain himself from bursting out into a fit of laughter. Even without a word, Lyrick Jiang knew the struggles of his colleague under their boss's watch. However, what made it fun for him was that he could not plead for his life as he was restrained to do so in front of Lexi. 

'Red would die from laughing too much if he saw Nico right now— this is a gold star gossip material.' Lyrick Jiang thought inwardly. 

"Le— I mean, I have plans tonight so I don't think I will be available." Almost calling her by her first name like he usually did, Nico Zhuang restrained himself from calling her that in front of Ethan Lu's presence as he came up with an excuse. 

"Oh, alright..." Frowning a little in disappointment, Lexi shrugged her shoulders as she stood from her seat. She then turned to the unrecovered Engineer as he was contemplating really hard if he had offended Ethan Lu in any way. "Anyway, Engr. Choi, I haven't seen my office yet, shall we discuss the last details in our contract?" 

"Huh?" When he heard Lexi's voice but barely got the gist of her sentence, he agreed without thinking too much about it. "Yes!"

With that said agreement, Lexi began taking a stride with the lead being Engr. Choi— leaving the grumpy Ethan Lu who was given the cold shoulder in front of everyone. 

Lexi and Engr. Choi left the room along with the man's assistant that only sent them to their destination but remained outside the office that was also completed. 

"Why is she ignoring me but not Nico?" Rubbing his chin, Ethan Lu muttered as he shot a glance to Nico Zhuang who was still standing rooted to the floor. 

"Master, please don't misunderstand. Our future madam probably wanted to preserve her privacy to avoid unnecessary gossip." Trying to save his dearest life that was now hanging on the line, Nico Zhuang rationalized and explained it to him. After all, his boss had turned sour and grumpy because Lexi spent more time with him. 

However, what could he do? It's not like he asked him to enroll him in this lady's classes!

"I don't misunderstand, I'm not that petty as per what my lady said, but I might give you an assignment to country M next month. Hehe." A devious grin formed on the side of Ethan Lu's lips as he spat his remarks. 

"Pfft—!" Lyrick Jiang snorted upon hearing their boss' humor. He knew that Ethan Lu was just teasing Nico Zhuang but still, the said shadow's complexion paled upon hearing the half-hearted threat. 

****

Outside the building: Parking space

"Aiya, these are the rare moments I am grateful that I am just a mere driver— I can avoid their public display of affection! Haha!" Jarred Guo heartily laughed as he already foresaw his boss and their future lady boss being lovey-dovey.