The Former Assistant Seduced The Current President - Chapter 6

Yan Xi, who was having dinner at a small restaurant downstairs, received an email from Lin Wei. He put down his chopsticks and studied his phone for a long time. What exactly could he discern from this blurry photo, where the focal length seemed to have been stretched to the limit?

Is the new president one of these people? That black shadow?

He typed out the question, but hesitated and deleted it. Lin Wei had previously criticized him for having low emotional intelligence and speaking inappropriately. He needed to change that; he did not want to ruin her mood. Instead, Yan Xi found a polite nodding sticker and replied to the email, acknowledging Lin Wei’s good intentions.

Furthermore, although Yan Xi struggled to remember faces, he possessed a unique mnemonic skill: he remembered people by their clothing style. For example, he could observe his colleagues’ preferences and habits in dressing. Yan Xi had a powerful ability to distinguish colors and styles, which made remembering people relatively easier. The photo Lin Wei took was very blurry, but Yan Xi could tell that the new president preferred serious, formal attire in heavy, dark colors. Remembering that was enough.

After sending the reply, he happily picked up his chopsticks. Excellent. Another day of high emotional intelligence.

The welcome banquet ended successfully, and the driver took Shi Ye back to his hotel. His new home in Jia City had been under renovation for half a year before he even planned to return, but the furniture and decorations were still incomplete. Shi Ye did not want to return to his old, stifling family mansion, so he decided to stay in the hotel for a transition period.

After getting out of the car, Shi Ye signaled the driver to leave. He loosened his tie and unbuttoned his cuffs; the constraints of his formal suit lightened considerably. Shi Ye hated the complex mixture of perfume and cigarette smoke that clung to him, and he certainly did not want to bring such scents into his room. The night breeze was gentle, so he began to stroll slowly along the road.

Without realizing it, he arrived in front of a familiar bar. The neon lights flickered in the night like an enchanting dancer beckoning him. Shi Ye paused, staring at the entrance, fantasizing if the beautiful young man would rush out again in the next second and crash into him.

It had been several days, but he still could not forget those eyes. They were clear yet tinged with confusion, like a cold spring shrouded in mist, possessing a peculiar, alluring power that haunted him. Shi Ye had thought that for someone as ascetic as he had been for years, doing what he did was absurd enough. However, when he woke up the next morning and found seven hundred yuan in cash on his pillow, the absurdity of the situation doubled.

President Shi felt thoroughly insulted. What kind of person did that little sheep think he was? Even if it were that kind of situation, it could not be that cheap!

Shi Ye could not decide if it was more infuriating to be treated like a callboy or to be insulted by such a low price. He had been slept with and then dumped, and he did not even know the other person’s name. This feeling left Shi Ye deeply dissatisfied.

The crime scene had also left behind a necklace. Shi Ye was not sure if it was a tip the other person left for him or an item accidentally dropped. Regardless, Shi Ye had plenty of reasons to meet him again. Yet, Jia City was so vast that finding someone was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Added to that, he had just taken over the company, with countless eyes watching him and a mess of problems to handle; he had no energy left to spare. He was frustrated and helpless.

Bang.

As if sensing his thoughts, the bar door was suddenly pushed open. Shi Ye’s breathing slowed as his narrow, dark eyes locked onto the entrance. The person who walked out had a face he recognized, though it was not the little sheep.

The bearded man walked out unsteadily. When he looked up and met Shi Ye’s wolf like gaze, he turned away with an annoyed look, intending to retreat.

“Wait,” Shi Ye called out, trying to sound composed. “Do you know the name of the person I took away last time?”

The bearded man squinted at Shi Ye, crossed his arms, and laughed with a look of triumphant satisfaction. “What is the matter? Are you not his boyfriend? You got dumped so quickly that you did not even get his name? Tsk tsk tsk.”

Shi Ye’s expression darkened. “Do you know him or not?”

The bearded man snorted. “If I had known him sooner, you would not have stood a chance.” He then turned and swaggered away. Shi Ye felt his two wasted minutes were not worth the effort and, in a fit of pique, kicked the curb.

At 7:00 a.m., the moment his alarm went off, Yan Xi woke up. It was his first day at the new store. Although he was the only employee, his long standing sense of responsibility would not allow him to slack off. He turned off the alarm and sat up, his head feeling heavy and lingering with traces of a bizarre dream from the night before. He shook his head, trying to discard the fragmented scenes.

He walked into the bathroom and squeezed toothpaste onto his brush. The person in the mirror looked exhausted. Yan Xi felt both awkward and confused, reflecting on why he would have such strange dreams.

“Forget it, it probably was not for no reason.” Feeling guilty, Yan Xi splashed cold water on his face to wash away the lingering effects of the dream.

As he walked into the kitchen to get milk, he checked the news on his phone. An advertisement popped up, and Yan Xi accidentally clicked on it. The link took him to a mini program called Daily Fortune. A screen full of pink peach blossoms flashed:

“Your aura is particularly vibrant today, and your romantic luck is booming. Your charm and confidence will attract attention, and you have a chance to meet your ideal partner.”

Yan Xi chuckled and shook his head. “Hardly necessary.”

Since puberty, he had realized he was not interested in the opposite sex; all the women around him had ended up as good friends, like Lin Wei.

After taking the subway and riding his bike, Yan Xi finally found the new store address in a commercial zone called Sunshine Block. It was a conceptual product display store, but the location was chosen in a remote alleyway, showing how perfunctory the execution was, even though it was a project personally selected by the former president.

Yan Xi used the password provided by the company to unlock the door. He stepped halfway inside and suddenly stopped, taking a long, deep breath. The interior decoration was actually quite nice, following the currently popular minimalist style, simple and grand. However, the gray marble floor was covered in footprints, the gold plated shelves had torn packaging paper, the wooden cabinets were covered in thick dust, and there were clear fingerprints on the huge floor to ceiling windows. Worst of all, a stack of cardboard boxes higher than a person was piled in the corner; if someone accidentally fell into them, they could be sold off and no one would ever know.

Standing in the massive store, facing the endless dust and trash, Yan Xi felt truly alone. Only now did he realize the desolation of being banished to the frontier. He did not have time to be sad; he had to pull himself together. He took off his coat, unbuttoned his collar, rolled his sleeves to his elbows, grabbed a broom, and began cleaning from the corner trash.

The busy physical labor gradually faded his long standing psychological shadows. If only his lower back did not ache so persistently.

“Welcome!”

The door’s voice prompt suddenly rang out. Yan Xi steadied himself on the ladder. Looking back, he saw a spirited middle aged woman standing at the door. The woman entered, paused, and then fixed her eyes on Yan Xi, her gaze filled with an indescribable, complex emotion. Yan Xi felt a chill run down his back, and he did not know where to put his hands.

His mind suddenly flashed back to the pink peach blossoms on his phone screen this morning: “Your aura is particularly vibrant today, attract attention.”

He was a bit confused, standing on the ladder unable to move forward or backward. “Ma’am, you.”

Just then, the prompt rang again. Another woman walked in with a bucket and mop. Her reaction was identical to the first woman: she paused, then looked up and stared intently at Yan Xi. The two even exchanged glances. Yan Xi gripped his rag, subconsciously looking down to see if he was disheveled.

The first woman suddenly rolled her eyes in anger and, right in front of Yan Xi, took out her phone and dialed a number.

“Boss, what is going on? Did we not agree that this job was for us to do? Why did you hire another cleaning service? How is the pay supposed to be calculated now!” the woman complained loudly.

Yan Xi’s shoulders slumped, and the rag in his hand fell into the bucket with a splash.

The person who answered the phone was the administration department. After promising to compensate for some of the lost work, the two women glared at Yan Xi, picked up their things, and left in a huff.

Having received two glares for no reason, Yan Xi gave a bitter smile and carefully climbed down the ladder. Suddenly, Lin Wei called him:

“You are really something, fighting a lonely battle and doing the initial cleaning of the store yourself. You are surely destined to be one of the top ten company figures of the year.”

Yan Xi rubbed his fingers, which were wrinkled from the rag water.

He had not expected that someone as stingy as Manager Ma would actually be generous for once and hire cleaners for the store.

Noticing that Yan Xi’s mood was not great, Lin Wei immediately comforted him: “I have some good news. A batch of interns will be coming soon, and I will send two of them over to help you.”

Yan Xi’s chest felt a little lighter. “When will they arrive?”

“In about three to five days. Save your energy these next few days; do not overwork yourself.”

“Thanks,” Yan Xi said.

“Do not mention it. Oh, right!” Just as she was about to hang up, Lin Wei added, “I just went to the marketing department to get a report and heard them discussing that President Shi plans to visit the offline store for an inspection soon. Be prepared.”

Yan Xi leaned against the bar, looking around the empty exhibition hall. “What is President Shi coming to inspect? The air quality?”