Chen Xin stood at the corner of the stairway, silently gazing toward the direction of the study, his heart in disarray.
What was Du Feng being called over for?
Who was Du Feng? Despite his gentle appearance and reticence to argue with others, he was actually even more ruthless than the stoic Bai Long.
Usually, Chen Xin handled problems that were out in the open, while Bai Long took care of the thorny issues, and Du Feng was like a reserve member, ready to step in whenever an emergency arose.
Something big must be happening for him to come to the study at this time.
But what could it be?
The night attack on Mei Garden, the abduction of Madam Lai, and the car accident Yuan Feng was involved in—all these episodes suddenly flooded back into Chen Xin’s mind.
These incidents infuriated even an outsider like him; how much more so would they affect Li Zishen?
Could it be that Brother Shen had been secretly taking action all along?
At that thought, Chen Xin suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. It was indeed time to give Wang Junchen a good lesson, otherwise, he might really start thinking too highly of himself.
Meanwhile, inside the study.
Du Feng stood respectfully, hands hanging at his sides, facing the icy gaze of Li Zishen.
After an indeterminate amount of time in this stalemate, Li Zishen finally spoke slowly, "How many in Jin City?"
"There are two that we’ve discovered so far."
"It seems... he’s been prepared."
"Although there is yet no evidence to prove it, I firmly believe Ye Wanhua is indeed Yi Xiaodan. Otherwise, Wang Junchen wouldn’t have set such an elaborate trap. Moreover, Shen Shiyi has bases not just domestically, but also abroad, especially in countries Y and D."
"About the bases... combine efforts with Bai Long. Maybe it’s something Wang Junchen intentionally leaked."
"Yes, understood. And about Old Yang..."
Du Feng took two steps forward, asked in a low voice, then resumed his respectful stance.
Madam Lai had secretly tasked Old Yang with investigating Ye Wanhua. Li Zishen, as the helmsman of the Leng Family, was aware of Old Yang’s every move well within Jin City since the very beginning.
"No need to intervene," Li Zishen paused, slowly rising to his feet, "let him investigate on his own, without interference."
With that, Du Feng nodded slightly.
The two left the study one after the other.
At half past one in the afternoon, in the business suite of a five-star hotel, ten Hai Sheng employees gathered in the living room, eagerly awaiting Chen Ran’s summary.
As the newly appointed department manager, this feeling of being the center of attention was something he had never experienced before.
"You’ve all worked hard on this trip to Jin City!"
After speaking, Chen Ran cleared his throat and took a sip of mineral water passed to him by a colleague, then looked around at each person with a grin, feigning composure.
The morning’s exchange was very successful, even better than yesterday’s, and there were a lot of participants.
Was that it? Just one sentence?
This seemed too casual, considering he’d talked for at least five minutes the day before.
Perhaps he was too tired to talk from the morning’s crowd?
"And also..." his words trailed off with a couple of light coughs, "I don’t think I need to say more, you all... well, you know, we’ve exceeded the target our boss set for us."
His words brought smiles to everyone’s faces.
"Shall we have a meal together to celebrate?" a bespectacled man shouted.
Chen Ran shook his head, feigning disapproval, "Of course, that’s a must! A meal is nothing; the ultimate goal has to be a bonus."
Applause suddenly broke out.
"Don’t you all want rewards? Just securing the contract with that heavyweight company this morning means our bonus would be this much."
Chen Ran quickly extended his hand and gestured.
Faces looked around at each other, all overcome with excitement, clearly understanding the subtext of his words.
"Bonus? So there’s a bonus on top of the subsidy for this trip? That’s never happened before; sometimes even the hotel expenses would be skimmed off.
The Lingxiao Group sure has deep pockets!"
"I wonder how many zeros there are behind this number?"
"It’s definitely more than you think!" Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel fire.net
"This isn’t the same as our year-end bonus, right? This is an extra reward?"
"Right, different things are separate."
Everyone’s spirits were high, all except for Sun Lina, who sat quietly on the side, silently sipping ice water.
Chen Ran was younger than her and had joined the company later, yet now he’d become her immediate supervisor. Tang Xiaowan, whom she once deliberately made things difficult for and looked down upon, turned out to be the hidden big boss behind the scenes.
She had never imagined this.
Sigh, maybe it’s best to just resign when I get back.
Working in the same department, how awkward would it be to have to see each other all the time!
She kept replaying the day she interviewed Tang Xiaowan in her mind, growing more and more ashamed.
How could she have been so blind?
But even so, these past few days in Jin City, out of a sense of responsibility and dedication to her work, she had actively cooperated with Chen Ran’s battle plans, meticulously organizing the logistics.
There’s always a return for one’s input, and as the manager, Chen Ran had naturally taken it all into account.
"Alright, alright, that’s enough. Talk to Sister Sun about dinner, majority rules, as long as it doesn’t break any laws, we’ll go."
With a single sentence, Chen Ran shifted everyone’s attention to Sun Lina.
This caught her off guard, and she stared fixedly at Chen Ran until a female colleague gently patted her shoulder, snapping her out of it.
"Sister Sun, how about the seafood buffet?"
"No, hot pot is better, it’s lively. Jin City is too cold, nothing beats a hot pot to warm up."
"The buffet is nice, you can choose whatever you want to eat!"
"Sister Sun, why don’t we try some Jin City specialties?"
While everyone was discussing what to have for dinner around Sun Lina, Chen Ran had quietly left the room and slowly walked down to the end of the corridor.
He had never been this happy since graduation. It turns out he could actually handle big responsibilities.
Despite taking on the manager role with calm and bravado as if fearing nothing, he had actually been anxious for these past few days.
Now he had finally successfully completed the tasks Tang Xiaowan had given him and felt a huge sense of relief.
He took a deep breath and pulled out his phone.
Good news is always meant to be shared, especially with family, but Chen Ran thought first not of his parents but of his uncle Wu Qiming.
He had been his role model since childhood.
"Uncle, are you busy right now?"
"I was just talking about you with your aunt, and then you called. How is Jin City, everything going smoothly?"
"We’ve signed a few clients, and there are a few more out-of-town ones scheduled, looks like there won’t be any problem, essentially we completed the boss’s task ahead of schedule. After we finish this afternoon, I plan to have a meal with everyone. They’ve all been very cooperative on this trip."
A hearty laugh came from the other end of the phone, "Not bad at all, you’re quite capable! Be generous at the dinner tonight, your uncle will transfer you some more later on."
"No need, the boss already took care of it, gave it to us yesterday," Chen Ran replied with pride.
That was a hefty sum for dining expenses. In Jin City, you could order whatever you wanted without running out, as long as it wasn’t outrageously pricey.
Tang Xiaowan’s generosity shocked Chen Ran.
"He’s already given it?" Wu Qiming nodded thoughtfully, then continued, "Worthy of being the chairman’s wife... indeed a person who does big things. Keep it up, work hard, maybe in the future..."
Just then, the phone beeped.
"Uncle, I’ll let you go; I’ve got an incoming call. It’s the boss. Bye for now." Chen Ran glanced at his phone screen and hurriedly interrupted.
"Alright, alright, no problem, take it."