KA | Chapter 6

March 3, 2027. This was my third visit to Pinsheng, and I didn’t see Shen Yuesheng.

His office door was locked. He might have gone out to eat, or maybe he hadn’t come to school at all. The CEO wasn’t some wage slave—Pinsheng was his family’s company, so he didn’t necessarily have to come to work every day.

WeChat was still blocked. I couldn’t see his moments.

Wasn’t he the one who said he wanted to sleep with me? So why was he still blocking me?

Maybe he forgot to unblock me from his blacklist. Or maybe he never actually wanted to, and those words were just meant to scare me away.

It was probably the latter.

When he explained the reason for asking me out, he was trying to discourage me. But he didn’t expect me to keep clinging to him, so he said he wanted to sleep with me just to scare me off.

I’d misread the situation.

I thought I could avoid the blade, but fate never gave me a choice in the first place.

After that day, I lost the drive to pursue key accounts. I went back to my old life, endlessly repeating the tedious work of making calls, scheduling clients, signing small deals.

Shen Yuesheng was like a pebble tossed into the sea of my heart, creating ripples that immediately sank.

On March 8, Women’s Day, I leveraged the Goddess Festival promotion gimmick and successfully signed two deals with gross profit under 10,000 yuan. Zhang Yuanji said I was a friend to middle-aged women, specializing in conquering all kinds of older sisters. Chen Xi said I was just picking off small clients for scraps, that I was the KA team’s junk collector.

Earlier, to build a personal brand, I’d changed my name. Now I felt like all that was pointless. Friend to women or junk collector, as long as I could make money, reputation didn’t matter.

The Old Master was discharged from the hospital. My mother borrowed 30,000 yuan from my second aunt.

My second aunt was a gossip. When my younger brother got into a junior college, she went around the neighborhood telling everyone, “My son got into university,” and all the neighbors thought my brother had gone to a 985 or 211 school. Turns out it wasn’t even a double non-elite school. My brother ended up taking detours to avoid the neighbors, never able to hold his head up.

My mother understood her younger sister’s character better than anyone. If she hadn’t been driven to desperation, she would never have borrowed money from her.

Right after borrowing the money, my second aunt started nagging her every day, constantly video calling to see what we were eating. If there was meat on the table, she’d be unhappy, making it seem like we had money for meat but not to pay her back.

As the weather warmed up, my mother’s rheumatism improved. She found a housekeeping job nearby, cooking and cleaning for elderly couples every morning.

I signed four more small clients and collected less than 20,000 yuan in gross profit. Combined with what I’d signed before, that was less than 60,000 yuan total. My performance review target was still short by over 40,000 yuan, and there was only one day left until the end of the month.

Lanhai’s sales policy was: 100% or above completion, commission based on completion rate and sales upgrade; 80%-100% completion, commission at 80% rate and sales maintain level; 60%-80% completion, commission at 60% rate and sales downgrade; 60% or below completion, commission at 40% rate and termination.

I’d completed 59% this quarter. If I couldn’t sign another deal on the last day, I’d be out of a job.

I’d been in sales for five years. This was my first time facing a performance review.

Objectively: the KA task was high, and I’d wasted time at Pinsheng. Subjectively: I wanted to be a glamorous KA but had no key accounts; I wanted to sign key accounts but had no connections.

I blamed myself for not having a clear positioning, for aiming too high. Now I wanted to sign small clients steadily, but there was no time. I’d sworn to my mother I’d “find a way,” but in the end I still let her borrow money. Everything I said I’d do, I couldn’t do. I couldn’t accomplish anything. I just wanted fate to take pity on me.

But who was I kidding? There were plenty of pitiful people in this world. Why would heaven take pity on me?

I wanted to complete the performance review. I didn’t want my second aunt demanding repayment. I wanted my mother to be able to enjoy retirement at home in peace.

So on the last day of the quarter, I came to Pinsheng for the fourth time. This time, I saw Shen Yuesheng.

*

On the desk was an ultra-thin large-screen monitor. Below the monitor was a rotating axis that gleamed with a crisp metallic sheen. Shen Yuesheng sat behind the monitor, his face—no bigger than a palm—barely visible.

“Xiao Yu, there’s a problem with the financial statements from Xiangcheng. Let Old Zhang wait a moment,” Shen Yuesheng said, eyes fixed on the monitor, not looking up. He’d apparently mistaken me for his assistant.

“President Shen.”

Shen Yuesheng looked up. He seemed surprised to see me.

I got straight to the point: “I want to sleep with you.”

Shen Yuesheng glanced at me and cut right through it: “Short on performance at month-end?”

Caught, my face flushed.

The window light fell on his cold white skin. His peach-blossom eyes reflected an icy glint. Shen Yuesheng moved his gaze back to the monitor. “I don’t have time to banter with you today.”

I knew his asking me out before was just a momentary impulse. Once he’d calmed down, he had no real interest in me.

But for money, I had to have interest in him.

People’s potential is squeezed out of them.

If I didn’t push myself, I wouldn’t have known I could be this shameless.

I clenched my fists and threw caution to the wind: “I don’t want 200,000. Just 30,000. 30,000 per time. Deal?”

Plenty of gay guys sleep around recklessly. I was afraid of disease, so I didn’t want 200,000 for a long-term arrangement. I just wanted 30,000 for a quick transaction.

Once the debt was paid, I could shut my second aunt up. My mother wouldn’t have to go do housekeeping anymore.

Shen Yuesheng’s gaze returned to me. He let out a cold laugh. “Aren’t you straight?”

“I’m bent now.”

“Didn’t you say before that you wouldn’t touch me even if you were naked?”

I made something up: “I never said that. You misheard.”

“30,000 per time? What kind of duck is worth that much?”

I pushed through: “President Shen, as long as the money’s right, I’ll do anything.”

Shen Yuesheng laughed coldly. I couldn’t tell if he was questioning my ability or if I’d angered him.

“Too expensive. Not interested.”

“But you clearly said before—”

“What did I say?”

He’d only mentioned giving his ex a 200,000 yuan breakup fee. He’d never said he’d give me 200,000.

This reaction clearly meant he was trying to renege. I should have agreed to him that day. Get the money first, then figure things out. Better than missing the opportunity and having no money to get by.

“You said that if the public opinion monitoring at 200,000 included sleeping with you, then we could talk.”

Since selling myself wasn’t working out, I’d shift to advertising services. If I couldn’t pay back the debt, at least I could keep my job.

Shen Yuesheng thought for a moment. “What I said was ‘I could consider it.’ Now I’ve considered it, and I don’t want to work with you.”

“Why?”

“Other companies do public opinion monitoring for 150,000. Why would I spend an extra 50,000 to work with you?” Shen Yuesheng said. “You don’t want 30,000, you want to raise it to 50,000, raising the price on the spot. Do you think you’re some rare commodity?”

Damn. I couldn’t sell myself, and I couldn’t sell advertising either. I wasn’t some rare commodity. I was just unwanted trash.

I shamelessly lowered myself, selling myself cheap: “President Shen, this is my first time. I don’t know how good my service will be, so I’ll give you a discount on the public opinion monitoring. Not 200,000—170,000 will do.”

If I couldn’t sell the single service, I’d have to bundle them.

170,000 would give me over 40,000 in gross profit, enough to complete my sales target.

“First time?” Shen Yuesheng frowned. “With someone like you, I should be charging you, not the other way around.”

What? I was clean and pure. I didn’t look down on him, and he was looking down on me?

I didn’t understand.

But that didn’t stop me from following his logic and raising the price: “That’s exactly why I’m giving you this price. Once I have experience, it won’t be this price anymore.”

The computer beeped. Shen Yuesheng clicked away at the keyboard, not sparing me a glance.

This man was meticulous. His words were airtight. Getting a bargain from him was too hard.

I backed down again, deploying my self-selling pitch: “Buy one, get one free. 170,000 for two times. How about it?”

Shen Yuesheng typed expressionlessly, as if he hadn’t heard what I said.

“President Shen, what’s your psychological price point?”

Shen Yuesheng said impatiently, “I don’t want to turn a straight guy. I’m also not interested in inexperienced virgins.”

Damn. When he wanted to sleep with me before, he’d seduced me directly without asking if I was straight. Now that he didn’t want to, he was suddenly respecting me.

“Being closeted is the same as being deep in the closet. Inexperience can be practiced,” I said earnestly. “Look, it’s the last day of the quarter, the end of the month. I’m short on performance. I’ll give you a flat rate of 160,000!”

“Have you no shame?”

“160,000, buy one get one free!”

“Get out.”

I had no choice but to drop the price to the lowest: “President Shen, I was rude when we first met. I know I was wrong now. I really desperately need this deal. Other companies are offering you 150,000. I’ll do 150,000 too. Deal?”

150,000 would give me over 20,000 in gross profit. Combined with what I’d signed before, that would be exactly 80,000, enough to keep my job and maintain my level.

Shen Yuesheng didn’t refuse this time. He leaned back in his boss chair, arms crossed, looking at me.

Trash that had already hit rock bottom would feel a subtle psychological shift from even the smallest sweetness. Now I could only comfort myself by thinking, “At least I’m not the bottom position.”

Shen Yuesheng had asked me out on impulse after being hurt by his ex. The fact that he was bickering with me over details meant he had a strong sense of pride and cared deeply about face.

People like that were afraid of provocation. Provoke them right, and they’d fall for it.

Now we were at the critical moment of signing. I had to provoke him to seal the deal.

I forced out a smile and spoke with double meaning: “President Shen, you keep rejecting me. Is it because you can’t?”

A water cup smashed against the wall behind me.

Good thing I had quick reflexes. If I’d been 0.01 seconds slower, I’d have been bleeding.

He was skinny as paper, but he had quite the temper and a strong grip.

Shen Yuesheng hooked his finger, signaling me to come over.

I walked around the monitor and stood in front of him.

He tapped the mouse a few times. I looked at the screen. It showed a chat history between Shen Yuesheng and another salesperson.

The other person had indeed quoted 150,000 for public opinion monitoring. The value-added tools were no fewer than what Lanhai offered.

Shen Yuesheng said, “You salespeople always talk about first come, first served. He’s been communicating with me for half a year. Why should I sign with you?”

If he couldn’t make this deal, he wouldn’t have shown me the chat history. The fact that he showed it to me meant he could sign—he just had additional conditions.

Same price as other companies, but he wanted to take advantage of me too. He’d figured out I was short on performance and was forcing me to comply.

Back then, I wouldn’t sell for 200,000. Now I’d fallen to being a value-added tool for signing.

Shame. Real shame.

I had no choice but to compromise. “What does President Shen want?”

Shen Yuesheng’s slender fingers slipped into my dress shirt, hooking the button through the gap and forcing me down.

Down, down, further down, until my cheek touched his thigh.

My head bent at the waist, curved like a shrimp. His cool voice drifted from above, full of seduction: “I can sign with you. I can even pay today.”

“Thank—”

Before I could finish, his leather shoe kicked at the back of my knee. I dropped to the ground on my knees, my forehead between his legs.

Shen Yuesheng sat in his boss chair, looking down at me with pity in his eyes, like he was giving alms to a refugee.

“You don’t want to do this, and I don’t have time anyway. How about we compromise—”

He pulled off his belt, pressed my head toward his thigh, and said: “Lick.”