Chapter 8#

Yan Zishu never let a message go unanswered. He first replied to the easiest one: “The wound is not serious, thank you for your concern, Mr. Fu.” Then, to Fu Weishan’s lover: “Okay, I will inform Mr. Fu.”

In Yan Zishu’s phone contacts, there was a special category for the men and women Fu Weishan had slept with.

Therefore, it took him a moment to place her. This one, named Yuan Mu, was a female star who debuted from a talent show. Her family had some background, not quite a wealthy family, but with a strong desire to climb the social ladder. She had a sweet appearance, a round face, and big eyes, somewhat resembling Ji Chen.

Or rather, both he and she were just like Fu Weishan’s “white moonlight.”

In the past, Yan Zishu had even sent her the latest luxury goods of the season, on behalf of Fu Weishan, of course.

But now, those styles were out of season, and perhaps the person was too. After all, the official “shou” Ji Chen had appeared.

Upon receiving the message, Yuan Mu called him directly: “Mr. Yan, please, you must help me… I’m pregnant.”

Yan Zishu repeated, “Okay, I will inform Mr. Fu.”

He paused, then added, “Your health is important.”

Yuan Mu hung up resentfully.

As for this news, Fu Weishan’s reaction was a snort: “How is it that in this day and age, there are still people who think they can gain favor through a child?”

Yan Zishu knew that with Fu Jinchi as a thorn in his side, he detested the existence of “illegitimate children,” so he said nothing.

Fu Weishan sneered for a while and, as expected, still threw the problem of Yuan Mu to Yan Zishu to handle. As for handling it, what else could be done: a DNA test. If it was real, the child would suffer; if it was fake, Yuan Mu would suffer. It was just these things.

But, what a sin.

Fu Weishan didn’t take a minor character like Yuan Mu to heart. It was getting late, and he had a social engagement to attend in the evening.

However, it was destined to be a day of many misfortunes. Over here, a printing problem was suddenly discovered in the auction catalog. Yan Zishu asked the driver to take Fu Weishan, while he stayed behind to supervise the staff in a meeting to resolve it. If a reprint was needed, it would be troublesome and might not be ready in time.

Someone suggested producing a batch of exquisite adhesive labels to be manually applied to the places needing correction. But Yan Zishu vetoed it with one vote—customers would definitely peel them off out of curiosity and discover the issue: “Is this the best solution you can come up with?”

The emphasized word “best” seemed to carry immense weight. The propaganda department trembled: “This is probably… not a good idea.”

Finally, after much discussion, they decided to redesign a gold-stamping pattern to be applied over the erroneous parts of the print as a remedy.

At 9:30 in the evening, the miserable graphic designer was still being guided by a crowd of people chattering and modifying the design. Yan Zishu was multitasking, even simultaneously thinking about how to break the news to Yuan Mu. After all, she was a pregnant woman…

When Fu Jinchi came in, he deliberately made his footsteps heavy. Yan Zishu interrupted his thoughts: “Mr. Fu.”

“Have you eaten?”

“Not yet.”

Not only had Yan Zishu not eaten, but with him present, the people under him didn’t dare to move either. A work mistake had led to this situation; what was there to eat?

Fu Jinchi’s arrival eased the tense atmosphere somewhat. He had previously liaised with them about artworks and was familiar with everyone. They knew he was an easygoing person, and some of the bolder ones started to jest, asking if Mr. Fu was going to treat them to overtime meals.

Fu Jinchi took out his phone and threw it over: “Alright, you can order whatever you want.”

Everyone cheered, saying “Mr. Fu is wise,” but then someone who lacked tact shouted “President Fu.”

Almost instantly, the atmosphere froze into ice again. Who was trying to rebel?

The ordinary employees were actually far removed from the struggles of the wealthy family, and most were willing to be fence-sitters. But the terrible thing was, Yan Zishu was present.

Everyone secretly watched his reaction: who didn’t know that he was Fu Weishan’s eyes and claws?

Yan Zishu smiled as if he hadn’t heard: “How can we let Mr. Fu spend money? I should be the one to pay.”

Everyone quickly took the opportunity to step down, all saying: “Great, it’s rare to get a free meal from Director Yan, let’s order the most expensive!”

Yet no one really dared to order abalone and sea cucumber. They just made a gesture and ordered Domino’s. Yan Zishu placed the order.

When the hot pizza and snacks arrived, since eating was not allowed in the exhibition hall and office area, everyone went to the large steps outside. They spread out a multitude of boxes on the ground, some squatting, some sitting, and feasted.

Yan Zishu picked up a slice and ate it slowly. Fu Jinchi leisurely came over and sat next to him.

Both of them were tall, their long legs propped up, needing to span two large steps to fit, as if marking their territory.

Fu Jinchi laughed at him: “Not only is Assistant Yan made of iron, but his subordinates also have to work on an empty stomach?”

Yan Zishu wiped his hands slowly and methodically: “If they hadn’t made a mistake, they wouldn’t have to suffer like this now.”

“With your style, those who know will say you’re a perfectionist. Those who don’t will definitely call you a ‘scab’ behind your back.”

Yan Zishu actually thought about it for a moment. Scab, not yet. But in his original world, every new employee would be taught one thing: don’t be fooled by Director Yan’s face; he is the most detestable workaholic in the company.

“Yes, I’m disliked,” Yan Zishu was self-aware. “What about you, Mr. Fu? Did you come here specifically to watch us work overtime?”

“I almost forgot if you hadn’t mentioned it. This is from Zeng Zhanpeng for you, to thank you for his sister. I brought it.”

Fu Jinchi tossed a box over. Yan Zishu caught it, opened it, and saw two square cufflinks with crushed diamonds, sparkling brightly.

This was probably quite valuable. Fu Jinchi saw the actual item but was very disdainful: “Just this? This style doesn’t suit you.”

Yan Zishu put it away without comment: “I will thank Mr. Zeng later.”

Fu Jinchi smiled, tilted his head, and gestured with his eyes. The light from the streetlamp shone over, and his pupils reflected two miniature Yan Zishus—elbows on his knees, shirt sleeves rolled up, revealing a section of his wrist, his skin cold and white, his expression cool.

Fu Jinchi thought of a pair of antique ruby cufflinks he owned. They were picky about the wearer, but they should look very good on him.

*

Next, Yan Zishu lived up to expectations and fulfilled his duty as a workaholic, overseeing every detail with airtight precision.

Fortunately, until the end of the spring auction, there were no other major work blunders.

This year, besides Zeng Chuyi’s significant contribution to the transaction volume, what was even more eye-catching was a painting of a galloping horse by the modern artist Zhang Qianshi, which fetched a sky-high price of one hundred million yuan. The media took the press release and, following the required tone, reported on it “enthusiastically,” making the situation look very good.

However, insiders like Yan Zishu naturally knew that after the auction, no one paid or picked up the goods. For the so-called sky-high priced items, the process itself was more important, a beautiful number. The appearance of a high-priced transaction was a man-made market.

This industry was not for everyone, and not all of the Fu family’s businesses were clean. The water ran very deep.

In any case, the end of the auction marked the successful conclusion of an important task for the quarter.

Yinghan held a small celebration banquet internally. Because Fu Weishan was attending, Fu Jinchi once again obediently disappeared and didn’t come to stir up trouble.

The middle and upper management took turns toasting Fu Weishan. He was habitually arrogant and disdainful, taking only a symbolic sip, but no one dared to say anything.

Some employees also came to toast Yan Zishu, who was holding a glass of grape juice. Yan Zishu responded warmly.

Ji Chen appeared in Yan Zishu’s line of sight, still wearing that suit worth a few hundred yuan. He was a little uncomfortable at this kind of buffet reception, as if he didn’t know which foot to put forward first. The old employees just stuck to their own groups and didn’t pay him much attention.

He saw Yan Zishu, finally a more familiar person, and hurried over: “Assistant Yan…”

But he didn’t know what to say next. “What a coincidence, you’re here too?” That would be stating the obvious.

Instead, Yan Zishu raised his glass and praised him insincerely: “I heard you’ve been performing well recently, congratulations.”

The truth was that within his authority, he had people keep a close watch on Ji Chen, giving him any random task to do, as long as he didn’t cause trouble.

Speaking of which, Yan Zishu had even figured out a pattern—this was somewhat similar to the principle that if you have a pet, you need to find ways to wear out its energy so that it doesn’t destroy the house.

Ji Chen was still unaware that he was being regarded as Fu Weishan’s destructive pet, and he was also completely ignorant of the nitpicking, workaholic nature of the person before him. However, in fact, when Yan Zishu looked at him this way, it meant that he could tolerate anything Ji Chen did. Because no one would argue too much with a pet, nor would they have any expectations.

It might seem a bit disrespectful, but wasn’t it also good that it made things easier for both of them?

With this lukewarm attitude, Yan Zishu picked up some unimportant topics and chatted with Ji Chen for a while.

There is a saying that if you chat with someone and feel very comfortable without any effort, either the other person shares your interests, or the other person is much smarter than you. Obviously, for Ji Chen, Yan Zishu was the latter case.

Ji Chen gradually relaxed and even got excited chatting with him.

“About the school performance I mentioned last time, the drama club students asked me to help out in an emergency and play a role in the play… so…”

He stood there with his red lips and white teeth, and after a while, Fu Weishan, having dealt with his subordinates, leisurely walked over. He had naturally seen Ji Chen here, like a wolf seeing its prey, but pretended not to notice, saying to Yan Zishu: “Helen was just looking for you.”

Ji Chen quickly said, “Ah, President Fu, I’m sorry, I was delaying Assistant Yan’s work.”

Fu Weishan then pretended to notice: “Oh, it’s Xiao Ji. How has work been lately, has it been hard?”

Yan Zishu quietly took half a step back, yielding the main stage: “Then I’ll be taking my leave.”