KC | Chapter 88

Chapter 99 Fishing

Chen Xi had originally thought Lin Yiran was calling because he cared about him. He had not expected that it was to tell him, “I’ll be home a little late today.”

“Ah?”

The background noise on Lin Yiran’s call was a little loud. It sounded like there were a lot of people, “It’s a get-together with the old client group, introducing a new client-side partner. After this round of drinks, we should be going to KTV for another round. I estimate I’ll be home at the earliest by 10.”

“Oh.”

“If you’re sleepy, go to bed first.”

“Okay.”

So Brother Lin really had made an appointment with clients. I even thought he was deliberately dropping me off. Looks like I’m not that important after all.

Chen Xi transferred to the subway. From Oulai to Fuhaizhibang, he rode more than 20 stops. By the time he came out of the subway station, more than an hour had passed, and he was not as drunk as before anymore. At least he could walk normally now.

He floated home in a daze, flopped down and went to sleep. He did not know how long he had slept before his bladder felt unbearably full, so he got up to use the bathroom. His mouth felt awful, corroded by vomit, so he brushed his teeth. Returning to the empty bed, he symbolically sent Lin Yiran a WeChat message,

「晨曦：林哥我睡了，晚安(′‵)」

He did not wait for the other side to reply. Chen Xi set his phone to airplane mode, lay back down, and kept sleeping, almost all the way until daybreak.

Some famous people had seen Los Angeles at 4 a.m., while office drone Xiao Chen only got to see Yucheng at 4 a.m. when he slept too much.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, the streetlights were still on, and most of the vehicles on the road were big transport trucks. It seemed only money could force people to work themselves to the bone. If you talked about life and ideals with a truck driver, he would probably curse at you, right.

Although he had gone to bed early yesterday, there was nothing to do now even if he got up. He might as well keep sleeping. Office drone Xiao Chen had no grand ambitions and no life ideals. He lay back on the bed, hugged the human-shaped pillow, and kept sleeping. Lin Yiran seemed to be awake, and maybe not. A little head burrowed into his arms, and he subconsciously smoothed the hair there, hugging him and falling asleep together.

Chen Xi was woken by the alarm clock. When he woke again, the sky was already bright. There was no one in the room, and Lin Yiran should have gone running or met clients. Chen Xi leaned more toward the former, because if Lin Yiran was meeting clients, he would tell him in advance, just like last night, almost like reporting work.

Reporting or not reporting, it was fine either way. They each had their own careers, and the sense of security he got from Lin Yiran was already enough.

He vaguely remembered smoking on the 19th floor two years ago, when Lin Yiran had controlled his smoking amount because of “my wife doesn’t like the smell of smoke.” He was a man who kept his promises. Since he had promised that “there wouldn’t be other people while we’re dating,” Chen Xi was willing to believe him.

He had to go see Sun Xingshun at ten, so Chen Xi quickly washed up. Just after he finished washing, Lin Yiran happened to carry ingredients into the house. Chen Xi saw the fish he had been thinking about nonstop, and his stomach unsatisfactorily growled once.

“Yo, pretty busy.” Seeing Chen Xi had changed into that little-chic style again, Lin Yiran guessed he must be going to meet a client.

“Mm.” Chen Xi stuck close to him, wrapped his arms around his neck, and kissed him once. Feeling a little embarrassed, he said, “Sorry, bro, I’ve been too busy these past two days.”

Lin Yiran nodded, set down the ingredients, and browsed his phone. There was no emotion to be seen.

The memo named “Little White Rabbit” had another line added to it: a useless little waste who couldn’t even tell fish from shrimp.

The morning was tight on time. Chen Xi was afraid of being late, so he symbolically asked, “Does Brother Lin want to send me today?”

Lin Yiran took off his sports T-shirt, his upper body bare as he let the sweat out, and pretended not to hear Chen Xi. On his own, he said, “It’s been a long time since I ran a half marathon. So tiring.”

Chen Xi, a face-obsessed person, had his eyes glued to the abs that were beaded with sweat. He swallowed and forcefully pulled his reason back: “Brother Lin, I’m going to meet a client. I’ll definitely be back at noon today. At noon, let’s eat fish together.”

Lin Yiran’s expression was light, “Go on. I’m going out in a bit too.”

“Ah, Brother Lin, you have an appointment today too?”

Lin Yiran smiled, “You can make appointments with clients, why can’t I?”

Chen Xi lowered his head and gave a soft “oh,” and for some reason, his voice turned muffled, “Brother Lin, have you been making appointments with clients these past two days?”

“No. Didn’t I say before, I pushed all the clients for these two days. I just saw you making appointments, so I followed along and made some too.”

“Ah?” Chen Xi blinked, his face full of disbelief.

Key clients were not the same as small and medium clients. Business owners usually did not have much free time. I had camped on Xu Dongxu for half a month, and every time I met with a client-side partner, I had to grovel. So why, with you, did key clients seem like they were waiting for an imperial summons every day, ready to be “summoned” at any time?

Muscles washed by sweat after exercise looked even fuller. Lin Yiran’s expression was still light, but his abs were secretly exerting force. The muscles contracted and expanded with his breathing, and every word he spoke made them tremble slightly: “When the client-side partner wants a kickback, the one who holds the initiative is me. When to give it, and how much to give, of course I decide.”

Chen Xi was hooked by those abs and could not move. Forgetting the time, he only focused on watching the teacher give a lesson. He suddenly remembered a classic film series from some country. When he watched it in college, he had felt it was unbelievable. Now, he felt that if all the lecturers were like Lin Yiran, it might be even more exciting than in the films.

The teacher’s whole body emitted the scent of sweat and strength. Wearing only sports shorts, he was sexier than if he wore nothing at all. Although Chen Xi had seen every inch of him, he still could not suppress his blush.

Whether three years ago or now, Chen Xi’s heart had never stopped racing for Lin Yiran. Every time he was with him, the air around them would turn hot.

Lin Yiran could control his heartbeat and stir his emotions. As soon as Chen Xi saw him, there was no room in his eyes for anyone else.

The hot breath landed on the top of his head. Chen Xi held his breath, his little heart thumping wildly, and stammered, “If I don’t take the initiative, would the client-side partner think I’m neglecting them?”

This refined scum looked down on using cheesy tricks like wall-presses or chin lifts. He simply stood in front of Chen Xi and stated the fact, “If you don’t take the initiative, leave me hanging for a day, wouldn’t nothing happen anyway.”

Oh my god, how is that nothing happening? It’s clearly frustration with nowhere to vent, trying to lure me into lighting the fire!

Good student Chen Xi walked up to the teacher, rose on tiptoe, and kissed his lips. One kiss, two kisses, three kisses, leaving light, scattered, cute kisses on those beautiful lips.

Chen Xi blinked his innocent big eyes, his voice very soft, “Brother Lin, I was wrong. I definitely won’t leave you hanging again in the future.”

Lin Yiran knew Chen Xi liked his muscles, and of course Chen Xi also knew Lin Yiran liked him, pure and tempting. The student had learned directly from the teacher and was using it right away. Lin Yiran’s gaze flickered slightly, and Chen Xi hugged his waist and rubbed upward. Lin Yiran suddenly stepped back, and Chen Xi was dumbfounded.

Xiao Chen, who had just gotten up, was also a little at a loss.

The teacher asked a question, “You said you wouldn’t leave me hanging. If the client invites you again, what then?”

The dumb student did not know this problem.

An excellent teacher would use analogy when teaching, to make it easier for the student to understand: “Me, I’m just too easy to talk to, which gives you the illusion that I come when called and go when waved off. However you look at me, the client-side partner will look at you that way too.”

Chen Xi pouted, “I’m pretty easy to talk to with clients, but you said before, ‘You have to lick well enough to sign.’ If you don’t lick, how can you sign?”

Lin Yiran took a cigarette into the kitchen, turned on the stove, and lit the cigarette.

“The most effective way to change the client-side partner’s impression is through aura. If you don’t have aura, or your aura is insufficient, you can cooperate with objective things to create it together. For example, when I light a cigarette with the stove’s fire, when you see the blazing flames, you feel like I’m angry.”

The open kitchen made it easy to observe the lesson, but at this moment Chen Xi looked at the teacher standing in front of the fire, smoking, and could not learn anything at all.

So handsome, so wild, so fucking hot, how could someone even be sexy when they were angry!

The teacher would never have imagined that while he was lecturing in the kitchen, the student in the living room was not listening properly at all, his head full of yellow trash.

He turned on the range hood, stood underneath and took a drag, then continued, “Do I even need to teach you how to control the atmosphere? The night before yesterday, weren’t you pretty good at controlling my atmosphere? So why can’t you get tough with the client-side partner?”

Chen Xi ran over clatter-clatter-clatter, wrapped around Lin Yiran’s waist like a sloth, and rubbed his face hard against his abs. “I can with you, how can I be tough with a client?”

There was a lazy, sexy tone in Lin Yiran’s low voice. It was obvious he was doing it on purpose: “You should be a little restrained. If you fall too easily, it’ll make you look cheap.”

After seeing it, kissing it, and touching it, who the hell could still be restrained!

At this moment, the student was consumed by lust and completely could not listen to the lesson. He only wanted to be in the kitchen with the teacher…

Lin Yiran wrapped an arm around him and walked all the way to the living room. Chen Xi looked toward the floor-to-ceiling window, feeling faintly excited, and then was pushed to the entryway again.

Chen Xi swallowed his saliva with a slurp, his face red as he said softly, “Brother Lin is angry? How about we play angry sex?”

Lin Yiran said with a smile that was not quite a smile, “There’s an old saying that goes, ‘The one who owes money is the boss’ . As the ‘boss,’ you can’t take every job onto your own shoulders. You have to know how to refuse.”

After saying that, he pushed the person out the door.

Chen Xi swiped his fingerprint to get back in, then put on a tough face, very hard-headed: “Fine, don’t touch me tonight!”

Lin Yiran seemed to know he would come back. Standing at the entryway, he lifted a leg and gently kicked Xiao Chen, saying, “Look at the way you’re looking for grass, not a bit convincing.”

Chen Xi: …

Together with his leather shoes and briefcase, the man was swept out the door. Lin Yiran said lightly, “The aura you should show to a client-side partner with a vested interest is fuck you, not fuck me.”

He had said fuck several times, but in the end, it was all talk and no action.

Chen Xi looked at the tightly shut door, his cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish. Then Lin Yiran sent him a message,

「林狗：快跑，甲方等你呢！加油.jpg」

Good heavens, I had just been distracted by that old beast and forgotten this. There’s only half an hour left, I really do need to run.

Chen Xi blocked the whole way with the briefcase holding the contract, swung Xiao Chen onto the subway, recited Buddhist scriptures more than 20 times, and by the time he got off the train, he had finally returned to normal.

After entering the sci-tech innovation center, Chen Xi quickly adjusted his state, and the little Y bug instantly turned into a professionally capable business elite. Only then did he finally understand why Lin Yiran wore a shell.

Because when facing key clients, neither of them could be themselves.

The Shining signing process was fast and smooth.

With Chen Bin, that dog who looked down on people, present, Sun Xingshun kept a straight face the whole time to avoid suspicion. Chen Bin checked the contract and stamped it for Chen Xi. Chen Xi continued to act as the humble Xiao Chen, not daring at all to throw out a fuck you aura.

After signing the contract, Chen Xi took the opportunity to say, “Shouldn’t we recharge the advertising placement account?”

If we recharge, then just give the annual-frame first payment directly, and I can also get a share of the incentive.

Before Sun Xingshun could speak, Chen Bin said, “There’s still more than 10,000 in the account. It’s fine to recharge tomorrow too.”

Chen Xi & Sun Xingshun: …

“The account is growing quickly now, and it feels like the 10,000 won’t even be spent by tonight. Lan Hai’s collections are large on Mondays, and finance is slow when recharging money. Don’t delay our promotion,” Sun Xingshun smoothed things over, “How about this, I’ll ask finance in a bit. If the public account has money, we’ll transfer it to Lan Hai first. Manager Chen definitely can’t let our promotion get cut off.”

Chen Xi quickly nodded, “Don’t worry, President Sun. Brother Bin has also worked hard these days. Thank you very much for Shining’s trust. Lan Hai will definitely do its utmost to do its best.”

Sun Xingshun said, “Then let’s leave it at that for now. I still have a meeting in a bit, Chen Bin, see Manager Chen out.”

Chen Bin sent Chen Xi to the elevator hall. While waiting for the elevator, he did not forget to say a couple of things, “Although Lan Hai’s account base is low, the quality of the leads is poor. It still needs continued optimization.”

Chen Xi smiled on the outside but not the inside, “Mm-hmm, we’ll have to trouble Brother Bin more. We’ll work together with full cooperation to optimize the account.”

After leaving the sci-tech innovation center, he received a message from Sun Xingshun,

「事事顺利666：下午钱就到，放心兄弟。」

「晨曦：妥了孙哥。喝咖啡.gif」

Chen Bin, this stupid guy who only knew how to work, was even worse than Xu Dongxu. At least Xu Dongxu knew how to read the situation. He deserved to work under Sun Xingshun for the rest of his life and never get promoted.

The key person had already been handled. The little bit players, though unwilling, could not stir up any big waves.

Chen Xi went home happily. After getting off the subway, he passed by an orange shop along the way. Looking closely, it was a self-service unmanned store.

Mm, unmanned was good, unmanned was good.

Shy Xiao Chen looked left and right, and seeing no one around, he quickly pushed the door open and went into the store.

Five minutes later, with no one on the road, Chen Xi flew out through the door, the briefcase bulging embarrassingly, his face red like a bubble teapot.

When Chen Xi got home, there was no one in the living room. Four dishes and a soup were laid out on the table, and the soup was still steaming, clearly just made not long ago. Lin Yiran heard the movement and walked out from the study. Chen Xi smiled and said, “Brother Lin, didn’t you just say you had an appointment with a client? How come you’re cooking now too.”

Lin Yiran said lightly, “The aura wasn’t enough, so I didn’t make the appointment.”

Chen Xi laughed until his row of little white teeth showed, “Could Brother Lin be hooked by me and unable to walk away?”