KC | Chapter 72

Chapter 81 Rules

Chen Xi had a hangover and his head was not very clear. In the morning, his stomach felt nauseous and he could not eat, and on top of that, after last night’s “unloading”, he was a little floating, so his current state was basically working on sheer willpower.

He remembered that when he was young, he watched cartoons, where some little tough guy stormed through the 12 palaces. Every time the protagonist was about to be KOed, he would shout “Athena”, and that little tough guy who could not be beaten would rely on his willpower to crawl up from the ground every time. Chen Xi had not understood it back then, but now he did. Gu Lin was the “Athena” floating off in the distance, and work was the 12 palaces torturing him.

Work pressure needed an outlet. Chen Xi had not found a proper path for release before, which caused the powder keg to explode into three different versions of himself. Now he had found one. He was not a person obsessed with desire, but relieving pressure through sex would loosen his tense nerves, and last night’s Phone Sex, though done in a rough way, did indeed relieve stress.

Pressure made people twist out of shape, alcohol numbed the nerves, the body slipped out of control, sinking and then floating up again. Lin Yiran seemed to have found the pressure controller on him, turning the valve and letting a flood pour out.

In the course of their relationship, Lin Yiran seemed to be more proactive, but Chen Xi was not passively accepting it. He had never been someone who would swallow his grievances and compromise. If he did not want it, he would directly tell Lin Yiran to “get lost”.

Sex could be a way of expressing feelings, or a way of relieving pressure. What was wrong with doing something with the person you liked over video? He was not being a third wheel, so what was there to feel embarrassed about?

He had seen it, touched it, even rubbed it, so why still act reserved?

Chen Xi enjoyed the process of indulging himself, and he liked the feeling of being needed. As Lin Yiran needed him, he also needed Lin Yiran.

After the morning meeting ended, the KA team was like it had been injected with chicken blood, those who were supposed to visit clients grabbed their bags and left, and those who were supposed to collect money urgently and with red faces chased payments.

Zhang Yuanji took the lead and recovered 50K yuan, Li Hua followed closely and recovered 60K yuan, and Lin Yiran privately chatted with them to have the repayment information shared in the company WeChat group, where the KA large group was full of good news.

Chen Xi was used to checking messages in the outside message box of the company WeChat group, because he hated the “read” function. WeChat rang, and Xu Dongxu sent him a netdisk link, valid for 7 days.

Heh, brothers last night, cautious this morning. In the workplace, the word “profit” came first, and without win-win, where would brotherhood come from.

Chen Xi organized the materials Xu Dongxu sent over, and after getting a rough idea, he discussed the direction of the proposal production with the planner. Whenever he threw himself fully into work, time passed very quickly, and before he knew it, it was lunchtime.

After lunch, Chen Xi felt a little sleepy and wanted to smoke a cigarette to perk himself up. Chen Xi was flicking ash by the trash can in Lihua Building when he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

“It’s not that I don’t want to travel, it’s that our performance pressure this month is too big. The leader just gave the word, saying, ‘strictly implement the assessment.’ My job is almost gone, so how could I still be in the mood to travel? If you insist on traveling, then wait until next month. When I’ve been assessed, I’ll go travel with you!”

KA Wang Dan was standing by the curb, yelling into the phone, “The way you said that makes it sound like I’m already married. Isn’t this everyone’s first time! I also know this is probably the only honeymoon trip of my life, but the performance is really lacking. Why don’t you go tell your leader and change the vacation date to next month?”

“What kind of problem do your administration people have, anyway? Taking marriage leave and still looking at the date on the marriage certificate? Who made the rule that marriage leave has to be taken within one year? I got my certificate and only had the wedding two years later, why still won’t they let me take leave…”

Wang Dan turned around and saw Chen Xi, and her cursing immediately stopped.

“I’ve got something to deal with here, let’s talk later.” Wang Dan hung up the phone, and the person on the other end was obviously her husband.

Chen Xi wanted to comfort her, but did not know what to say. If you were not in that position, you could not shoulder that responsibility, and no matter how you advised her, it would be wrong.

Wang Dan gave a bitter smile. “My husband works in the catering industry. The headquarters often opens new branches, so he’s always out on business trips helping support them. Last year we held the wedding on the weekend, and he came to work on Monday. His marriage leave has never been taken. We originally planned to take marriage leave this month and go travel, but…”

But then she was facing an assessment again.

Life forced people to make choices. When career and love came into conflict, no matter how you chose, it would not be easy.

–

The two went upstairs together, Wang Dan returned to her workstation, and Chen Xi turned toward the restroom.

As the saying went, “A lazy donkey shits and pisses a lot before going on the grind.” Before working, Chen Xi always had to linger a bit. It was not deliberate procrastination, it was just that he did not have many key clients in hand. If he could not make money, he would have no motivation to work. If he had a pile of key clients like Lin Yiran, Chen Xi would be willing to hold it in even if he did not go to the toilet every day.

Speak of the devil, and he appears. Just after coming out of the restroom and washing his hands, he had only taken a couple of steps when he ran into Lin Yiran.

The two met in the long, narrow corridor, completely unprepared.

The older one reacted faster than the younger one, pushed open the door of an empty meeting room beside them, and brought Chen Xi inside.

Chen Xi widened his eyes, had just managed to say the word “Lin”, and his mouth was blocked.

“What the hell did you eat, it tastes like scallions.” Lin Yiran bit him twice, frowned, and looked rather disgusted.

“Mixed rice.” Chen Xi said unhappily, “If you find it disgusting, why are you still biting? You’ve bitten me into getting ulcers.”

“How is that still my fault?” Lin Yiran lifted Chen Xi’s lip and took a close look. There really were two white spots, and they were indeed mouth ulcers.

His palm held Chen Xi’s face, kneading it until it deformed, and he laughed. “What, not getting enough, and it’s making you burn with frustration?”

Chen Xi punched him. “I’ve got no clients, that’s why I’m anxious!”

There was only one month left in this quarter. The only big payment recovery was from Pinsheng, and there was not much gross profit either. Wang Dan had assessment pressure, and Chen Xi was not doing much better.

“I’ll take you to meet clients tomorrow, don’t get all worked up.”

His rabbit eyes instantly lit up. Chen Xi hugged Lin Yiran and asked, “Really?”

“Of course. I just set a time with Director Liu from the scenic area. I’ll pick you up at 9 tomorrow morning, and we just need to get there around 10.” You were not this excited even when we did that last night. Looks like key clients have more appeal than me.

“Oh right!” I got the incentive for Zao Wang City, and I can split 200K in gross profit. I don’t have to worry about this quarter’s assessment now, yay yay yay!

How could he possibly tell the truth when talking to a leader? He had to express his love for work at all times. Chen Xi rolled his big eyes around and pretended to be surprised. “You’re not coming to the company tomorrow morning?”

Lin Yiran flicked his forehead. “If you want to come at 8:30 in the morning, come by yourself. I’m leaving at 9.”

“Haha!” Being able to sleep half an hour longer tomorrow morning, my leader is taking me to skip work, so awesome!

Chen Xi wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him hard with a loud “bo”.

Lin Yiran wiped his face in disgust. “Next time, if you eat scallions, don’t kiss me.”

“Hey, you really are something… you do such dirty work, and you still嫌弃 me?”

“The one who finishes and then goes straight to sleep without even showering is obviously you, and you still say I’m dirty?”

“I got up in the middle of the night to wash up, you didn’t see it.” Chen Xi lied without blinking.

“Fine, fine. Remember what you said, and next time get up and wash yourself in the middle of the night.”

Chen Xi: …

Arguing with a negotiation expert would only make you doubt your life.

–

“Oh right, Brother Lin, I just ran into Sister Dan downstairs. She originally planned to take marriage leave this month to travel, but after hearing you talk in the morning and making it sound so scary, she doesn’t seem to be planning to take marriage leave anymore…”

“What do you mean, ‘what I said sounded scary’? I was only stating facts, which sentence was alarmist?”

Chen Xi swallowed and immediately gave in, “Yes, yes, everything the leader said is right, it’s just that Sister Dan’s husband’s company has a rule, it seems they have to finish their marriage leave within one year after getting the certificate, or it becomes invalid after the deadline. If Sister Dan doesn’t take leave this month, then she won’t have any marriage leave left, and you only get married once in your life, this is just too…”

“Lanhai has this rule too.” Lin Yiran seemed to think of something, and his expression paused slightly.

Only then did Chen Xi realize it was inappropriate, and he quickly tried to smooth it over in a very awkward way. “I just happened to hear it, so I’m telling you. I’m not questioning your way of managing things, and even less… don’t overthink it.”

Those deep eyes were unable to let light through, and his eyelashes blinked rapidly a few times, as if he wanted to sweep away those past things. Lin Yiran gave a soft laugh. “The assessment is Lanhai’s system for sales, and the KA assessment method has never changed. My aggressive management style really does make you all nervous, but this is something every KA has to face.”

“As for marriage leave…” Lin Yiran looked at Chen Xi and said frankly, “I was too busy back then, so I never took it.”

“Not just marriage leave, my annual leave has only been taken for 2 days when I had COVID.”

Chen Xi reached out to hook his hand and held it gently, feeling a little sorry for him.

Lin Yiran’s overly strong ambition for his career meant that he rarely rested even on weekends, let alone welfare leave. The choice Wang Dan was facing, Lin Yiran had already faced three years ago, and he had chosen work.

Lin Yiran’s phone rang. It was sent by another vice president, reminding him to attend a meeting. The senior management meeting at the beginning of the month would take a long time, and it was annoying. He did not want to attend, but he had to, because that was Lanhai’s rule.

Most Lanhai employees’ understanding of Lin Yiran was limited to “signed contract good news”. They often saw the KA vice president signing contracts, but rarely saw Lin Yiran in the company. In outsiders’ eyes, Lin Yiran was low-key in character but high-profile in his work, refined yet independent, a leader full of contradictions and very mysterious.

Over the years, Lin Yiran had rarely cared about how others saw him, but he hoped Chen Xi could understand his difficulties.

“Chen Xi, before I had a car and took the bus, I often thought, if only I had a car. After I had one, transportation really became much more convenient. A trip that used to take 20 minutes by bus on the old road could be done in 5 minutes by driving onto the elevated road. I used to not understand why the traffic light downstairs was especially long between 8:10 and 8:20. Later I heard people say that during that time, city leaders would pass by this street, so traffic could not be blocked, and that’s why the signal timing was adjusted.”

“The stage from not having a car to having a car is something I could fight for through my own efforts, but changing the length of the traffic light is something most of us cannot do.”

“With our current ability, we cannot change the rules.”

Lanhai’s assessment was the rule, and the rule would definitely be enforced. It would not be adjusted because of someone’s marriage leave or any other event.

The law of survival of the fittest was an eternal truth. If your ability was not enough, you had to submit to circumstances and should not try to break the rules.

“But it’s not like there’s no way.” Lin Yiran smiled wildly, the bones of his nature carrying a trace of unruliness, “I know someone who makes fake certificates. Get a fake marriage certificate and change the date, then if you want to take marriage leave next month, just take it.”

“I’ll send you the person later, and you send them to Wang Dan. This idea was all yours, it has nothing to do with me.” Lin Yiran pinched Chen Xi’s face and said fiercely, “If you dare expose me, I’ll fuck you to death.”