KC | Chapter 17

Chapter 17 Lips

After连续[?[1]] “skipping work” for a week at the beginning of July, Lin Yiran finally came to work.

Wang Shuang had finally caught the boss, and after morning exercise, without organizing any training, she went into the office first thing to block Lin Yiran.

After the former KA top performer Meng Hai resigned, almost all the projects had been taken over by Lin Yiran. The beginning of the quarter was a good time to divide up the client budget, and Lin Yiran certainly would not miss it. These past few days he had been contacting different client managers, and he had been so busy his feet barely touched the back of his head. Yesterday he drank until after midnight, could not get a designated driver, and slept in the car.

He came back to Lanhai today because he had to attend a senior management meeting later, and before he had even warmed the seat, Wang Shuang had come looking for him.

His hangover left his head not very clear. Lin Yiran had originally wanted to punch in, go to the company to rest for a bit and prepare the meeting content, but right now that plan had gone to waste.

The refined scum had a head full of dirty thoughts, but on the surface he still looked calm as water.

Lin Yiran often received clients in the office, and there were tea sets and a water dispenser ready. He poured Wang Shuang a cup of boiling water in a disposable cup, smiling as he said, “Don’t rush, drink some water and take it slow.”

Wang Shuang: …Was the boss trying to “scald my mouth with boiling water”?

Lin Yiran turned on the computer and sorted through sales data. Wang Shuang reported to him on the work progress and task completion for these past few days. Since the start of the month, KA had only closed one order, signed yesterday by Chen Xi, and the overall performance was a little sluggish.

By Wang Shuang’s previous work pace in business, after ten days into the month, a department would have signed at least ten orders. Now this KA pace was truly something Wang Shuang could no longer make sense of.

Lin Yiran, who had been looking at performance reports for years, was extremely sensitive to numbers and spotted the problem at a glance, KA’s gross profit was wrong.

Fine, the product gross profit was low, but even the consumption gross profit had been reduced?

“Any old accounts expired this month?” Lin Yiran pressed the shortcut key to make a pivot table and analyzed the advertising consumption of old accounts.

“Yes, Chen Xi’s old account stopped.” Wang Shuang paused, then continued, “I, I don’t really have any good solution.”

Lin Yiran pulled up the historical spending records of Chen Xi’s old account and found obvious data fluctuations at the end of last month. The failure of Chen Xi’s old account was not accidental, but inevitable. If the data fluctuation had been discovered earlier, losses should have been reduced.

Wang Shuang had been in sales for 10 years, there was no way she could not see these numbers.

Lin Yiran’s eyes flickered slightly, and he thought, Was it that you have no solution, or that you simply don’t want to solve it?

Chen Xi and Wang Shuang had an awkward relationship, and the culprit behind all of this was none other than himself. If he had not deliberately intensified the conflict between the two of them last week, perhaps things would be a completely different scene right now.

Forget it, saying more was useless. He had dug the pit himself, so he would fill it himself.

Lin Yiran glanced at his watch and frowned slightly. It was 8:40 now, and at 9:00 he had to attend the senior management meeting. If nothing unexpected happened, the meeting would last until noon. In the afternoon he would talk to Chen Xi about a solution, and then Chen Xi would have to go meet the client tomorrow. Every day the old account stopped running ads, Chen Xi would have more of a gross profit gap. Solving the old account problem was urgent.

He had originally wanted to leave more time to talk properly with Chen Xi, but now there were only 20 minutes.

Lin Yiran made the decision immediately, no longer asking Wang Shuang about the situation, and pushed open the office door to go find Chen Xi.

These past few days Chen Xi had kept telling himself not to think about Lin Yiran, not to think about that chaotic night.

But he could not control himself.

After returning to work these two days, he often could not help but look toward Lin Yiran’s office, and every time he did not see the man there, he would quietly let out a breath of relief.

This morning, from the moment Lin Yiran stepped into Lanhai, Chen Xi’s peripheral vision had been lingering on him the whole time. When Lin Yiran returned to the office and passed by Chen Xi’s workstation, Chen Xi saw him but pretended not to. He was afraid Lin Yiran would suddenly stop and say something to him, but Lin Yiran did not.

His heart was hanging very high, then gently set down again.

After morning exercise, Chen Xi could not focus on work at all. All of his attention was on Lin Yiran, even if Lin Yiran had not said anything to him.

As long as Lin Yiran was in Lanhai, Chen Xi would always have his emotions pulled by him.

Lin Yiran’s existence was intense to Chen Xi.

Ever since that “sudden enlightenment” at Wang Xin’s place, Chen Xi had less hatred toward Lin Yiran. Objectively speaking, this kind of thing did not happen from just one hand clapping , both sides had fault.

Before the interview last week had gone nowhere, Chen Xi had not wanted to let things go and had wanted to resign, but now he had not found another job, so he still had to do the work. So it was better to be more generous and just let it go.

Even if he did not want to let it go, there was nothing he could do. Lin Yiran had a wife, could I fucking still go be a third party, have an underground affair with him? Thinking about this stuff all day was not even enough to be annoying.

Before finding the next job and resigning, he would just quietly endure it.

Chen Xi caught sight of Lin Yiran walking toward his workstation out of the corner of his eye, and lowered his head to pretend to be selecting client resources.

Those distinct, bony fingers lightly tapped the top edge of Chen Xi’s desk, and Chen Xi looked up.

The plain white shirt, with no extra decoration, was tucked into dress pants. A Gucci belt drew out the waistline. Business attire was mostly black and white, yet no one could wear it as well as Lin Yiran.

“Come.”

Lin Yiran strode back to the office, and Wang Shuang tactfully came out of the office on her own. Chen Xi was still stunned at his workstation.

“Brother Lin wants you to go over.” Zhang Yuanji reminded him kindly.

There was no avoiding what needed to be avoided, but thankfully this office was completely transparent, so there was no need to worry that he would do anything to me again. Lin Yiran had 180 thoughts in his head, and his mouth was full of nonsense. I can’t let myself get wrapped up in his way of thinking. If he brought up last week’s matter, I would just curse him out directly and not let him continue speaking.

Chen Xi nodded and stood up to walk into Lin Yiran’s office.

Lin Yiran waited for Chen Xi at the door. He was half a head taller than Chen Xi, and standing in front of Chen Xi just happened to completely block him.

The show-lover king Zhang Yuanji stretched his neck to peek at the office. Through the glass partition he could only see Lin Yiran’s back, not Chen Xi, and he muttered, “Little Chen is way too thin.”

The pressure from the tall man pressed down on Chen Xi through the air. Chen Xi lowered his head and did not look at Lin Yiran. His chest felt stuffy, and he was a little short of breath.

The morning sun shot straight through the floor-to-ceiling window onto Lin Yiran’s face. Chen Xi had his back to the light and only felt the brightness in front of him.

Inside the quiet office, one could hear the sound of Wang Shuang typing on the keyboard outside. The two of them, with light and shadow crossing over each other, were like two statues, standing there in a stalemate.

Lin Yiran looked at the person before him as if he were examining merchandise.

Chen Xi’s looks were average, his personality was soft, only now a bit tougher. His figure was alright, but now that he was wearing clothes, he looked ordinary. Someone like him, if placed in public relations to drink with clients, no one would even order him. Not slutty, not charming, not alluring at all, there was completely no desire to sleep with him.

How did I end up falling into his trap?

Lin Yiran wanted to look carefully and figure out what was good about Chen Xi. He took a step forward, and Chen Xi immediately took a step back to widen the distance.

Looks like I scared him.

Forget it, I’ll look more carefully another day. Time was limited right now, so he should handle the serious matter first.

Lin Yiran used his own cup to pour a cup of warm water for Chen Xi, but Chen Xi did not take it.

His hand holding the cup froze in midair. Lin Yiran only paused slightly, then brought the cup to himself and drank more than half of it, easing the awkward atmosphere. Lin Yiran always had a way of not letting himself feel awkward. The lips that had just drunk water still had a trace of moisture left on them, adding a touch of softness to his sharp, angular face.

Chen Xi could not help but look at Lin Yiran’s lips, and then, afraid of being discovered, his gaze touched them only briefly before pulling away.

Lin Yiran slowly poured himself another cup of hot water, clasped both hands around the cup wall, kept drinking water, and still did not speak.

The office was very quiet. One could only hear the sound of Lin Yiran drinking water, and the sound of his own heartbeat.

Chen Xi did not have Lin Yiran’s composure. He could not hold it in and opened his mouth. “What did President Lin want with me?”

The corners of Lin Yiran’s mouth lifted slightly. When both sides were deadlocked in a negotiation, the one who spoke first was often at a disadvantage.

He called him “President Lin” and not “Brother Lin.” Today, if I don’t make you call me brother, I’ll write my name backwards.

This brat, I can’t cure you now?

Lin Yiran’s lips were soaked with water. He lightly bit his lip with his upper teeth, then extended the tip of his tongue to lick away the water stain. He did not look at Chen Xi at all, as if it were an unconscious movement while thinking.

Chen Xi stared at his lips and only felt the summer heat.

“President Lin wants to talk to you about clients.” Lin Yiran blinked, then suddenly turned to look at Chen Xi.

Chen Xi’s gaze, which had fallen on his lips, had not yet had time to withdraw. He was caught off guard, and his heart jumped half a beat. He did not even hear clearly what Lin Yiran had just said.

Lin Yiran once again pushed the cup toward Chen Xi, with the water mark left by his drink still on the cup rim.

Chen Xi subconsciously took the cup.

He always had no way to refuse these eyes, no way to refuse Lin Yiran.

Lin Yiran rolled his eyes half a circle, and the crafty light in his eyes flashed away in an instant. Lin Yiran analyzed Chen Xi’s position and had already simulated in detail in his mind what it would be like to talk with Chen Xi again.

No matter what kind of scene it was, as long as I direct his attention to me, make him look at me, bring him into my line of logic, this negotiation will be won.

Keeping talent is my goal.

He was looking at my lips.

This little fool couldn’t resist temptation.

“The client fell through, right? Call me brother, and I’ll teach you how to handle it.”

Lin Yiran always dangled Chen Xi like this. Since that cigarette three years ago, Chen Xi had called out “Brother Lin” countless times.

Chen Xi did not want his emotions to be pulled by Lin Yiran, but he had no choice.

He perhaps did not know that the shape of his lips was very pretty, so pretty that it made one want to press against them and take a bite.

We had done the most intimate thing, yet had never kissed or held hands.

Knowing full well that he had a wife, I still hopelessly fell in love. Lin Yiran was just a refined scum with absolutely no moral bottom line, but why, after being with him, did I keep thinking about it, and then when I saw that face, fell in again uncontrollably.

This was really deadly.

Really fucking deadly.

Chen Xi gave in to fate. “Brother Lin.”

Author’s Note:

If “Lin” is written backwards, it is still “Lin”……