A colleague exchanged glances with another person, then stealthily placed a magazine cover of a nude man right in front of Joelle’s computer screen when she was not paying attention. The fully exposed male model seemed to leap into Joelle's eyes without any warning, startling her into closing her eyes and hastily throwing the magazine away.

The magazine landed with a plop at the entrance, leaving her two colleagues taken aback, who quite obviously hadn’t expected Joelle to react so strongly to their prank.

"I'm sorry, I'll get it back for you."

Joelle took a deep breath; even though she disagreed with their actions, she did feel she’d overreacted. She has a grown son now and at some point, she's considered marrying a suitable man, after all, she’d have to confront situations like this sooner or later.

As she got up from her seat and walked to the door, intending to pick up the magazine, a pair of men's leather shoes suddenly appeared in her line of sight. Joelle looked up instinctively and saw a pair of straight long legs encased in an exquisitely tailored black suit. Perhaps because she was crouching down, the man seemed incredibly tall from her angle.

The man was wearing a bespoke black suit, his features were delicate yet three-dimensional; his aura exuding the unique sophistication of a mature man- calm and luxurious with an innate domineering presence.

Joelle had once heard that looking up at a person’s face was the true test of their attractiveness. However, she felt that the man standing in front of her was flawless just from the appearance.

Their eyes met, and suddenly his gaze dropped to the magazine opened on the floor. Her heart sank, she didn’t recognize him; quite likely he wasn’t an employee at Anshuo. But regardless of who he was, having someone see such an explicit book was a cause for embarrassment.

Just as she was reaching to pick it up, hasty footsteps echoed from the corridor. The deputy director glanced around before his gaze landed on the man standing before Joelle; visibly relieved, he jogged over: "President Jiang, you're here. All department managers are waiting in the conference room. When would you like to start the Managers’ meeting?"

President Jiang?

Could this man be… the new boss of Anshuo?

Feeling highly embarrassed, Joelle wished she could vanish on the spot. He must have seen the magazine when he glanced down, and since she was in the process of picking it up, he would naturally assume it was hers.

A trace of amusement flickered in Jiang Lu’s eyes, as he saw the fully exposed male model in a provocative pose on the magazine cover lying on the floor. The woman still crouched on the floor seemed to be in her early twenties, with rather refined facial features. However, did she really have such liberal tastes that she enjoyed such reading material?

Deceiving appearances, indeed!

His gaze returned from the floor with no emotion, only then did he glance at the heavily made-up female deputy director and began to speak calmly, "I never said I wanted to hold a manager-level meeting, tell them all to leave."

The deputy director paused for a moment, such meetings are generally the norm for new bosses taking office, so she had arranged it in advance. As for whether to hold one, it depends on the boss's preference. Since CEO Jiang has spoken, it's not a big deal after all. Just as she wanted to ask the boss if there were any other instructions, he suddenly spoke again seriously. This time, however, his words were directed at Joel. "Are you from the project department?"

The words "Project Department" were written right at the door of this office. Joel knew he couldn't escape, he swallowed and stood up from the floor. Meanwhile, he kicked the magazine he had been reading back towards the door, "Yes, I am."

"Come to the CEO's office."

Leaving behind such a brief command, the man turned around and left.