KC | Chapter 4

After the morning meeting, Chen Xi dragged his two sore legs back to his workstation.

Most employees at Lanhai who had been there for more than half a year had their own keyboards and mice. Their desks would have little decorations that showed off their personality, like photo frames, honor certificates, or figurines. The KA desks were a little more spacious than Business desks, and even if Zhang Yuanji on the side wanted to put a fish tank on his desktop, it would be fine. But Chen Xi’s desktop only had a teacup and sticky notes. His office supplies, his name, they were all like him, with no personality at all.

Chen Xi’s computer keyboard and mouse were all issued by the company. Last month, when Zhang Yuanji was buying a wireless keyboard and mouse set, he asked if Chen Xi wanted to buy one together. He had wanted to buy it, but he always felt that sales was not a long-term job, that there was today but not tomorrow, and who knew when he might suddenly quit, so buying it would be a waste.

Now Chen Xi was extremely glad that last month’s decision had been the right one, because he was about to resign. If he had bought the keyboard and mouse set back then, the money left over would not even have been enough to pay the rent.

Why did he have to resign?

Because he had slept with his boss, and from now on they would be seeing each other all the time, so how was he supposed to keep working?

He had gone into sales because of Lin Yiran, come to Lanhai because of Lin Yiran, and was resigning because of Lin Yiran.

That really was “success and failure all depended on Lin Yiran.”

Chen Xi had originally wanted to use drunken recklessness to turn this page over, but the discomfort in his body kept reminding him that he could not turn it over! Sitting in the chair, his lower back ached so much it hurt just to breathe, and both legs were weak like they were not his own. Those two places were still manageable, something he could grit his teeth and get through, but the most fatal part was his butt.

Although Chen Xi looked delicate and weak, on the inside he was basically all tough hide and rough meat. When he was little, he ran wild and caused trouble, scraped his knees open several times, and had never once cried out in pain. Even when he climbed a peach tree and fell and broke his foot, he had not shed a single tear. His pain tolerance was very high, but his lower body kept aching in fine, dense waves. It was not the kind of pain that could pass after one hurt.

“How did it end up like this,” Chen Xi said softly to himself.

Chen Xi had never thought he would have a one-night stand with someone, and even less had he ever thought the one-night stand partner would be his direct superior. Last night had been the most crazy thing he had ever done in his life.

His parents had gotten pregnant before marriage. Even though they were going to get married sooner or later, they had not been prepared to have a child at the time. His mother was only 23 when she gave birth to him, and his father was a young beginner just starting out in the workplace. One person’s salary could not support a family of three. According to his mother, his father had smoked before he was born, but after he came along, his father quit smoking, because if he bought cigarettes, he could not buy diapers for him.

After going to college, his mother often reminded him to “be careful,” so Chen Xi had always held himself to a very high standard morally. If a relationship was not confirmed, he would not develop things further with a girl.

There had been a time when a girl asked Chen Xi to go see a movie. The atmosphere in the cinema was just right, and the girl leaned over to ask for a hug. Chen Xi pushed her away. At the time, he only felt that hugging and touching like that was inappropriate without confirming the relationship, and after he returned to the dorm, that girl blocked him.

But last night, Chen Xi had had sex with someone who could never confirm a relationship with him.

Chen Xi touched his burning forehead, seriously suspecting that what he had drunk yesterday was fake liquor, otherwise why would the after-effect be hitting now? He was still dizzy.

Thinking of Lin Yiran, countless grass-mud horses were charging wildly through Chen Xi’s head.

Zhang Yuanji’s diarrhea was only one link in the chain. What happened after that, one slap could not make a sound. The mistake was that Lin Yiran could still get hard even after drinking too much!

A health and wellness short video had said: drinking too much would stimulate the conduction of the nervous system, causing the brain to be unable to respond to sexual stimulation, which would lead to symptoms like not getting erect or having weak erections during sex.

He had already had a bit of erectile dysfunction when he drank too much. Why would a straight man get hard?

Lin Yiran, why the fuck were you hard!!!

Chen Xi remembered that Zhang Yuanji had said Li Hua was in 1603, so he went upstairs in a daze, thinking it was 1603, but in fact he knocked on room 1602.

Lin Yiran opened the door.

After Chen Xi entered the room, he did not even look at the person and just flopped onto the bed. Seeing that he was drunk out of his mind, Lin Yiran was preparing to shower, so he did not bother with him.

After showering, Lin Yiran came out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe and saw Chen Xi sunk into the blankets like he had fallen asleep.

The blanket covered half of his small face. His eyelashes fluttered flickeringly, and he did not seem to be sleeping very soundly.

The Chen Xi in Lin Yiran’s memory had always been very obedient. He felt that compared with KA, Chen Xi was more suitable for Business. Business needed people who listened, KA needed people who were proactive. Lin Yiran had let Chen Xi come to KA completely for selfish reasons, because Chen Xi was too much like him. They were equally diligent and hardworking, equally wise and decisive, equally possessing the determination and courage needed to complete sales targets.

Chen Xi looked like his younger self from 10 years ago.

Lin Yiran tucked the blanket corner around him, and suddenly thought of their first meeting.

On the second-to-last day of the quarter three years ago, Lin Yiran had worked overtime on a proposal until 21:00. Just as he was about to get off work, he saw that someone was still at the Business workstations, so he took the initiative to greet that person: “Working this late?”

Working overtime was normal for the sales position, but working this late in Business was not common. His wife had left before 19:00 and did not even wait to go home with him.

The boy at the workstation looked up, and when he saw him, he was clearly stunned. The boy’s face was very small, his skin very white, and the bluish shadows under his eyes stood out a little on the snow-white face, obviously from the pressure of the quarter-end and not sleeping well. The EXCEL file open on the computer desktop was a customer spreadsheet, clearly showing he was sorting out client information. Lin Yiran thought to himself: he was really hardworking.

“Have you eaten?” Lin Yiran asked.

The boy opened his mouth and made an “ah” sound, then shook his head. “Haven’t eaten.”

Lin Yiran saw that he looked dazed, very thin and small, and like he was easy to bully, looking exactly like himself when he had just joined the company.

“Want to go downstairs and eat something?” Lin Yiran took the initiative to suggest.

The boy made another “ah” sound, lowered his head and thought for a while, then slowly said, “Eat, eat what?”

This kid’s reflex arc was really long. His brain might be a little slow, no wonder he could not sign deals and had to work overtime.

“At this time, only Siji Lamian downstairs is open,” Lin Yiran’s pity stirred, and he slowed his speech. “I’ve been in sales for more than ten years, and I have a bit of experience talking to clients. Do you want to go downstairs with me to eat something, and by the way, talk about the client situation?”

The boy’s clear eyes flickered slightly. He quickly saved the customer info, closed the computer, and followed Lin Yiran downstairs to eat noodles with little trailing steps.

He ate very slowly, talking nonstop to Lin Yiran about the situations of each customer who had a chance to sign, as if afraid that if he spoke too slowly, Lin Yiran would finish eating and not analyze the clients with him.

Tomorrow was the last day of the quarter, and sales were facing assessments. The boy was anxious enough that red blood vessels seeped into the corners of his eyes, looking like a rabbit. Lin Yiran could not help reaching out and patting his head, saying, “Don’t rush, eat first.”

After the boy took two bites of noodles, Lin Yiran slowly began to analyze the client situation with him: “Out of these 3 clients you mentioned, which one do you think is more likely to give you the money tomorrow?”

Through the client characteristics the boy described, Lin Yiran judged the signing probability, and he already had an answer in his heart, but he wanted the boy to speak first.

“I don’t know.” The boy was frank. He thought all 3 of those clients might give him money.

“Which client do you think has the fastest progress?” Lin Yiran changed the question.

“Client A.”

“You just said A had already signed the contract half a month ago, but finance had been going through the process all along. How can you be sure the process will definitely finish tomorrow?”

“He promised me.”

“Who promised you, finance or the boss?” Lin Yiran’s gaze was sharp.

The boy was stunned by his focused look and thought for a moment before saying, “Finance.”

“Does finance have decision-making power?” Lin Yiran asked again.

“He said they had to wait for the boss’s signature, and it should be able to get signed tomorrow.”

“Then why don’t you ask the boss directly?” Lin Yiran said.

The boy scratched his head. “I called, but the boss didn’t answer. I changed numbers and called with a coworker’s phone, but he still didn’t answer. The boss just can’t be reached.”

“You can’t reach the boss, so finance can reach the boss?” Lin Yiran often ran into clients who dragged out orders, with the boss pushing it to finance and finance pushing it to the boss, which was the usual trick of the client side. In situations like this, it was usually because the other side’s funds were not turning over smoothly, and they could not make payment for the time being. The kid across from him had not been exposed to the world, and trusted the client’s words too easily.

“Do you think finance is closer to you, or closer to the boss?” Lin Yiran asked again.

The boy lowered his head and bit the chopsticks, as if he had figured it out. He said softly, “Then who do you think is more likely to give me the money?”

“Client C,” Lin Yiran said.

“But C is a sole proprietorship. The boss does not wear or carry any brand-name stuff, and does not look like someone with money. Also, he did not clearly say he could cooperate.”

“Client C is in the financial industry. People in this kind of industry are usually very cautious. If they did not have an intention to cooperate, they would not even let you meet them. Whether they have brand-name things or not is not important, that has to do with personal habits. Also, the other thing is…”

Lin Yiran’s deep eyes seemed to see through everything, and his low voice landed with weight: “A sole proprietorship does not need to make a transfer through a corporate account, the person can pay directly, saving a lot of steps. Most importantly, only with Client C can you get in touch with the boss.”

“The boss has direct decision-making power.”

After hearing this, the boy blinked his big eyes, made another “ah” sound, and suddenly came to a realization: “Thanks, Brother Lin!”

Lin Yiran laughed. “You know me?”

The boy lowered his eyes to look elsewhere, seeming a little embarrassed. “Ah.”

“You know me, but you won’t tell me your name?”

The boy looked at him, two patches of red clouds drifting across his snow-white face, and said in a muffled voice, “My name is Chen Xi.”

His name was as ordinary as Zhang San or Li Si, and a little casual too. It only took a few strokes to write. From childhood to adulthood, Chen Xi had never really liked his own name.

“Morning glow.” Lin Yiran took a sip of Hongbaoli and said, “Your name is good, suitable for sales, easy to remember!”

Before, when people called Chen Xi’s name, it had always sounded like they were calling a cat or a dog. He had never thought that his simple name would have this kind of use. He had long gotten used to being mediocre, but he had not expected that his mediocre name would become not mediocre because of this sales job.

Seeing that he did not make a sound, Lin Yiran buried his head and swallowed the noodles in big mouthfuls. After swallowing two bites, his eyes turned a little red. He wiped his eyes, coughed, and said, “There’s a bit too much chili in this noodles.”

Where would braised noodles have any chili.

Lin Yiran stood up and got him a bottle of Hongbaoli.

Chen Xi made yet another “ah” sound.

At the time, Lin Yiran had thought: this kid is kind of dumb, it seems like he only knows how to say “ah.”

But unexpectedly, the saying came true. On the bed, Chen Xi also only knew how to say “ah.”

If only Chen Xi were not so easy to bully, if only when they were really doing it he did not keep going “ah ah ah” nonstop, at least a little more forceful, so that Lin Yiran could clearly know what he meant, then Lin Yiran would not have exhausted his heart and mind, messing around with him for the better part of the whole night.