KC | Chapter 40

Zhang Yuanji discovered a secret.

The cause was that this morning, Lin Yiran said at the morning meeting that the Gulin recruitment slot would be given to Chen Xi; the process was that Wang Shuang disagreed; the result was that Lin Yiran did not hold Wang Shuang down, and after announcing the recruitment, he went straight to a high-level meeting.

If this had happened as usual, Zhang Yuanji would not have thought much of it, but ever since returning from Bingchuan Gully, Zhang Yuanji had always felt that there was something off between his good brother and the leader.

Since the celebration banquet at the beginning of last month, Chen Xi had become dispirited for several days in a row, as if he had been avoiding Brother Lin all along, and the two of them should have had some “conflict.” As for the reason for that conflict… Zhang Yuanji suddenly remembered the red marks on Chen Xi’s neck, and sweat seeped out on his forehead.

Zhang Yuanji’s head was full of “my brother seduced a married man”, “my leader is pretending to be straight and tricking people into marriage”, “I shouldn’t be in the car, I should be under the car”… The client information was no longer being answered, the closing report was not being done, and he had completely lost the mood to work.

Chen Xi had just gotten the Gulin development rights and was sorting out the advertising data for the renovation industry beside him. Chen Xi had believed Lin Yiran’s “making a living on his looks” strategy. To make Xu Dongxu remember him, he spent a thousand yuan on a full outfit on Sunday. Right after his credit card was just swiped for 300 yuan in Bingchuan Gully, he swiped again for several thousand yuan on a suit and leather shoes. Today he wore a whole set of Xiaoxiangfeng style to Lanhai, drawing countless girls’ sidelong glances.

Zhang Yuanji had not carefully observed his brother before. Today, he sharpened his eyes and studied Chen Xi closely.

The collar of the gray-white plaid shirt was unbuttoned by two buttons, revealing a delicate collarbone. The hem of the shirt was tucked into the suit pants, and the pocket opening of the dark gray suit pants had gray-white stripes, matching the shirt perfectly. The belt cinched out a lean waistline, and two long legs were propped under the office desk. Seen from the side, that figure was just like a celebrity.

Zhang Yuanji stared at his neck and thought: Today is Monday, Brother Lin came to the company for a meeting, no wonder you dressed up so coquettishly… Brother, you… are pretty fair-skinned. Soft and fair, just like a little girl, no wonder Brother Lin…

The two of them usually seemed pretty normal at the company, not like they were having a secret affair.

But a secret affair was something you had to do in secret, wasn’t it? If it could be discovered so easily, what the hell was the point?

Then he suddenly remembered Lin Yiran’s look when he was smoking with Chen Xi, the way Lin Yiran inserted himself between him and Chen Xi when they took photos, and what Lin Yiran said when he wanted to sit in the same kayak as Chen Xi…

Zhang Yuanji considered his words carefully and asked Chen Xi, “Xiao Chen, why did Brother Lin give you the Gulin development rights?”

“Personal charisma.” Chen Xi casually made up a nonsense answer. Two days ago he had asked Lin Yiran how he had won over Xu Dongxu, and Lin Yiran had answered him the same way. What the master said, the apprentice learned.

The king of watching the fun rarely stayed silent. All sorts of signs showed that his good brother might have something going on with the leader, but fortunately there was no solid evidence.

Gulin Decoration headquarters was located on the commercial street in the center of Yucheng. The boss was rich and overbearing, renting out the first four floors of the most expensive office building in Yucheng, decorated in brilliant splendor. The floor tiles were laid into square patterns, and the exterior walls were covered with golden glazed tiles that glinted dazzlingly under the sunlight. As Chen Xi approached the main entrance, the wooden doors were carved with patterns, and the traces of age-worn finishing highlighted the accumulation of years, solemn and majestic.

As expected of a leading renovation company, even the storefront was dressed up with plenty of face.

When he pushed the door and entered the main hall, a strong fragrance hit him. Before Chen Xi could even take a closer look at the interior structure, a receptionist came up and asked, “Sir, are you here for renovation? Has the house been handed over? How many square meters is it?”

“I made an appointment with someone.”

“Who did you make an appointment with? I’ll help you call them over.” The receptionist followed Chen Xi enthusiastically as they walked forward.

Little Chen, who was socially anxious, was a bit unable to handle such enthusiastic service. He thought: I didn’t make an appointment with anyone, I just wanted to look around casually, is that not okay? Is your service benchmarked against Haidilao?

“I made an appointment with a friend, she’s on the second floor.” After Chen Xi finished speaking, he headed straight for the escalator to the second floor.

Lin Yiran had told him that the second floor of Gulin was the office area, and only after he got to the second floor would he have a chance to see Xu Dongxu.

As the escalator rose, Chen Xi looked down and saw a huge oak tree rising straight up from the first-floor lobby, going all the way to the ceiling. The escalator on the second floor barely passed over the tree roots, and the tree was at least 30 meters tall. Chen Xi looked up, and above his head was a huge simulated sky, a deep blue color dotted with pure white. Gulin was like a paradise apart from the world, no matter what the weather was outside, it was always sunny here.

The magnificent feng shui layout instantly made Chen Xi feel the charm of renovation design, only he did not know whether Gulin made this layout to “rise from the ground” or to “settle in one corner,” or maybe it simply wanted to be an evergreen vine.

Chen Xi wanted to collect as much Gulin information as possible, and the first thing was to figure out the layout here.

Walking forward along the corridor on the second floor, the load-bearing columns particularly introduced the “Huizhou-style craftsmanship” that Boss Wang was proud of. Chen Xi had checked this craftsmanship before, and all kinds of news platforms were very good at hyping it up. At a glance, he could tell that this was a press release written by Gulin and then published together with news platforms. It was clearly blowing its own horn. But renovation consumers did not work in the advertising industry, so naturally they did not know the tricks involved. Seeing the flood of praise for Huizhou-style craftsmanship, they would definitely be tempted, and over time it became a signature of Gulin Decoration.

Just like Lin Yiran first made a name for himself with “making a living on his looks,” and then for decades strengthened outsiders’ perception, until over time his appearance became his brand.

It had to be said that Gulin’s marketing from the user side was really on point, and the shaping of its brand concept was also quite successful. All of this came from the marketing department, and from Xu Dongxu’s contributions over the years.

Chen Xi walked past the construction area and came to the villa mansion area on the west side. The decoration here was more minimalist than in other areas. The expensive main materials highlighted the texture, and on the display boards in the villa area hung photos of designers. The antique frames presented the designers’ resumes. The overall style of the villa area was like Hogwarts Castle, with murals of magic tutors hanging on the walls, solemn, professional, and grand.

At the end of the villa area stood a piece of pine and stone, engraved with: 1936.

Chen Xi hardly encountered anyone in the corridor. People in different positions in different areas were all busy with their own jobs. Gulin’s human resources had been fully utilized, and management was well organized. No wonder it had developed so quickly.

There were many renovation companies in Yucheng, but as for a chain renovation group company spanning multiple provinces, Gulin was the only one.

Gulin’s success came from its advanced design concepts, unique construction techniques, strong brand marketing, and management system, all four of which were indispensable.

In the first week of August, Chen Xi wandered through Gulin’s various floors, moving among different departments. Letting the cold looks and wariness of others wash over him, he was like a sculpture embedded in Gulin, completely motionless.

In the blink of an eye, it was Friday again, and Chen Xi went back to Lanhai in the afternoon to deal with a week’s worth of piled-up work.

Zhang Yuanji’s client needed to remit payment based on the ad placement closing report. The previous closing reports had all been done by planning, but this time, because the placement “brushing water” needed many data changes, the planning team could not adjust the dimensions for made-up data accurately, so he had no choice but to do it himself.

Zhang Yuanji had never made a spreadsheet before. He was getting a splitting headache, and every day he hoped Chen Xi would come back to the company. Today he finally caught the person, and begged bitterly, “Xiao Chen, save your brother.”

Chen Xi still had to do the dazzling placement report, push forward other regular clients, and write the weekly report. He really could not split himself in two, so he had to refuse, “Brother Zhang, brother really can’t save you.”

Zhang Yuanji looked left and right. In KA, besides Chen Xi, only Wang Shuang was there. He also could not bring himself to ask Wang Shuang to write his closing report, so he could only brace himself and keep typing away.

Wang Shuang asked Chen Xi, “Where did you go this week?”

Chen Xi ignored her.

Wang Shuang was used to employees taking her seriously before, and being ignored by Chen Xi made her so angry that she pounded the keyboard with crackling sounds.

“I’m talking to you.” Wang Shuang’s tone turned forceful. Her inherent understanding was, it was only natural for a leader to watch employees work. Chen Xi had not returned to Lanhai for a week, so as his direct superior, I have the right to know what he was doing.

Chen Xi rolled his eyes at her and said lightly, “You have to argue with me once at the beginning of every month, right? You’re even more punctual than when your ‘relative’ comes.”

“You didn’t come to the company for a week and I still can’t ask?” Wang Shuang frowned and said, “Who knows where you’re slacking off, what company’s employee is as undisciplined as you? You get paid plenty every month, and if you don’t work properly, are you worthy of Lanhai…”

The more Wang Shuang said, the louder she got. She was about to raise “Chen Xi didn’t come to the company” to the level of social prosperity. Chen Xi did not want to deal with this crazy woman, so he put on his headphones and continued working.

Zhang Yuanji’s mouth hung wide open, and he thought: The post-95s are really reshaping the workplace, not even giving their leaders any bad habits.

A pair of long legs crossed past the workstation, walking with the wind. Lin Yiran carried a briefcase and had just returned to the office when Wang Shuang immediately pushed open the door and went in to complain.

Seeing that Chen Xi and Lin Yiran had no real interactions, Zhang Yuanji felt that he had been too sensitive a few days ago. He believed in Chen Xi’s character, and also believed that Lin Yiran was not gay.

“Xiao Chen, tell me, why did Wang Shuang go to see Brother Lin? You just pissed her off hard. Was she going to complain?”

“Heh, whatever.” He did not even have a key client, and all he did every day was complain. He was just eating his fill and having nothing better to do.

After about 10 minutes, Wang Shuang came out of the office with a green face.

Lin Yiran sent Chen Xi a WeChat message, telling him to “come.”

Chen Xi’s phone did not have a privacy screen, and Zhang Yuanji caught a glimpse of the message from “林狗”, then tugged at Chen Xi, “Lin… Brother Lin wants you to go find him.” Chen Xi turned off the computer screen and went into the office.

Zhang Yuanji’s head was full of the “got bitten by a dog” line that Chen Xi had said after the celebration banquet last month… His WeChat remark for Brother Lin was “Lin Dog”…

Damn, it matched up!

Zhang Yuanji’s brain short-circuited and automatically completed what Chen Xi had just said: Heh, whatever she wants, she should also see what my relationship with Lin Dog is.

No wonder Xiao Chen dared to push back at Wang Shuang, no wonder he could get the Gulin development rights, so it turned out he had “someone above him” and was acting with no fear at all!

Wang Shuang complained, “Does President Lin usually not care about you all?”

“Huh?” The Brother Lin in Zhang Yuanji’s head had just turned into “Lin Dog”, and the jump to “President Lin” was a bit too much, so he was stunned by the sudden question.

“Chen Xi didn’t come to the company for a week, and President Lin actually told me to ‘not bother with him’!” Wang Shuang had not expected Lin Yiran to “shield” Chen Xi.

How could Brother Lin not care? He often did surprise checks and threw voice and video calls at the visiting KAs.

The evidence was solid, and Zhang Yuanji was so frightened by this major secret that he was shaken to the core. His gaze drifted away, he took a deep breath to calm his emotions, and slowly said, “Some things are just like that, you can see through them, but you can’t say them out loud.”