KC | Chapter 22

“A newly opened fish restaurant. I’ve been craving it for half a month, and today I can finally eat it.” Lin Yiran licked his lips, and without listening to Chen Xi’s opinion, he headed straight toward the alley by Lihua Building.

Talking about a key client had to start with breaking the ice. Ever since the two of them had “deeply communicated,” Chen Xi had clearly been averse to Lin Yiran. Lin Yiran used the key client as a pretext and communicated with Chen Xi a few rounds, and their relationship eased a little, but Lin Yiran felt that was still not enough.

If the client side kept failing to move forward, then to make the other party lower their guard, the best way was to find a place different from the office and chat casually. That was why Lin Yiran always went to socialize. He treated the client side like this, and he treated Chen Xi the same way.

Chen Xi was 3 meters behind him, looking east and then west. Only after seeing that there were no acquaintances around did he trot to catch up.

After following for a few steps, he suddenly figured it out, why was he thinking so much? Wasn’t it just a meal, why did it feel like sneaking around having an affair.

Although this time of day was not a proper meal hour, the fish restaurant was still booming. The two of them sat by the wall. Lin Yiran scanned the QR code on the table and rattled off a bunch of orders, while Chen Xi kept his head down scrolling on his phone, enjoying the free meal with complete peace of mind.

What was wrong with freeloading one meal from him? Last time, wasn’t I the one who paid for the bedsheet money!

After cursing Lin Yiran in a double-meaning way, Chen Xi seemed to have opened up his Ren and Du meridians, and when facing Lin Yiran, he no longer felt as tense as before. Lin Yiran had once been Chen Xi’s male idol, but now, with the idol image shattered and the male god falling from the altar, Chen Xi had torn off the filter of blind worship and completely seen through this refined scum.

After all, they had cursed each other and slept together, there was nothing to keep pretending about.

Lin Yiran scanned the code, ordered the food, paid the bill in one go, then scalded the cups with boiling water, and he scalded Chen Xi’s set too.

The waiter first brought two small dishes of cold appetizers. Lin Yiran arranged the tableware and helped Chen Xi break apart his chopsticks.

Chen Xi pretended not to see it and kept scrolling on his phone, thinking: He really does know how to take care of people. Who knows how many people he had “taken care of.”

Live fish was killed and simmered on the spot, so the dishes came slowly. Lin Yiran poured a cup of barley tea,夹了一口拍黄瓜, and chewed with a crunch in his mouth.

“This meeting is really annoying. I haven’t eaten since morning, I’m starving to death.” Lin Yiran finished the barley tea, first filling his stomach with water. To break the ice with a key client, he couldn’t talk about work at the start, he had to pick an easy topic.

Chen Xi was a little hungry too. He put down his phone,夹了一口 cucumber, and did not pick up the topic. He had just finished using brains and energy in a fight of wits with the client side, and now he did not want to go round and round with Lin Yiran anymore. Before, when he had nothing to do, he would always sneak glances into Lin Yiran’s office and had seen the whole wheat bread he had stockpiled. He thought: You have two boxes of whole wheat bread sitting in your office, and they’re almost growing mold, yet you’re starving yourself like this, it’s pure what you deserved. I don’t care whether you ate or not, it’s not like I told you not to eat.

Chen Xi’s white shirt was not made of very good fabric, the collar had started to come undone a little, and along the loose thread you could see a clear collarbone. Lin Yiran looked away, wanting to light himself a cigarette, but the restaurant forbade smoking.

Tch, restaurants that let you smoke had bad environments, restaurants that didn’t let you smoke made you want to smoke instead. When you want to do it, you don’t want to do it, and when you’re not allowed to do it, it just keeps tempting you.

Chen Xi seemed not to know that he was very easy to sleep with…

Out of the corner of his eye, Lin Yiran saw the waiter carrying the fish walking toward their table, and he got a wicked idea. He took a sip of barley tea, making his lips glisten, then stretched out his long leg under the table into the space between Chen Xi’s legs and bent his knee.

Chen Xi yanked his leg back abruptly. Frowning, he was just about to curse at Lin Yiran when the waiter came over with the platter and served the fish.

Lin Yiran hurriedly夹了几块鱼肉 and ate with his head down, not forgetting to look up and call to Chen Xi, “What are you staring blankly for? Aren’t you hungry?”

A lump of anger got stuck in Chen Xi’s throat, and he swallowed the words he had not yet cursed out together with the fish meat.

The fish was fresh and tender, it really was delicious, but it was strangely choking.

A young man in his mid-twenties did not need to control his diet to keep a good figure, while a middle-aged man in his mid-thirties needed to strictly control his diet and cooperate with a fitness plan to maintain his appearance.

The two of them were on completely different frequencies. Chen Xi completely could not understand Lin Yiran’s special hobby, and Lin Yiran also had not expected Chen Xi to understand him.

Just now I let you curse me a few times, now I’m drawing you closer and successfully breaking the ice. Later, after I help you deal with the client issue, the “debt” between us will be settled. Don’t keep thinking about quitting, don’t draw a line between us. We still have to work together in the future, and there’s a long road ahead.

Chen Xi took two bottles of Hongbaolai from the refrigerator and gave one to Lin Yiran. Lin Yiran told him to exchange it for a bottle of mineral water.

Weren’t you quite fond of drinking Hongbaolai before? Why did you change to drinking mineral water now? Your taste changed fast, and your sexuality changed fast too. An unstable old lecher.

Lin Yiran spat out a fish rib, with not a trace of meat on it, eating it extremely cleanly. Just like that night, when he had squeezed Chen Xi dry until not a drop was left, he had also eaten extremely cleanly.

Just now, when asking about the client situation in the elevator lobby, Lin Yiran had already guessed it to about eighty or ninety percent, but he did not tell Chen Xi directly.

KA had to stand on its own, had to be able to control the situation, and Chen Xi was still not enough right now.

It was better to teach a man to fish than to give him fish. He had to train Chen Xi’s ability to think independently.

“How did you talk to the client just now? Come on, I’ll be you, you be the client, let’s recreate the scene. I’ll analyze it carefully for you.”

When the key client was mentioned, Chen Xi instantly entered the state. He put down his chopsticks, copied Sun Xingshun’s smiling tiger look, and grinned at Lin Yiran, “How much can you give me?”

Lin Yiran swallowed, and his heart started thumping again.

You little fool, even though your smile looks pretty good, do you know there’s rice stuck at the corner of your mouth.

“I can give you something satisfactory.” Lin Yiran reached out and wiped away the rice grain from the corner of Chen Xi’s mouth.

Chen Xi’s attention was fully on the client and he did not notice his little action. He thought: We didn’t directly reply to the client from the very beginning, I wasn’t wrong about that part.

“Before Lanhai, another salesperson had come to me. I thought he was too slick with his tongue, so I looked at you and thought you were good, but I didn’t expect you to also go around in circles with me.” Chen Xi emphasized the words “slick with his tongue,” repeating Sun Xingshun’s words, and at the same time cursing Lin Yiran.

“I am pretty good.” Lin Yiran said while eating fish, “The other clients I work with, the ones whose daily ad spend is over ten thousand, all say the same. Clients with high spending all think highly of me, not only because I don’t tell lies, but also because working with me makes money.”

Chen Xi froze.

In just two sentences, Lin Yiran not only refuted the client’s mockery, he also praised the client, and even raised his own value!

This old lecher really did have some skills. There really was a gap between him and me.

“I also really want to work with your Lanhai, but other channel companies all give a 20% rebate, and under the same line cost, if you don’t give a rebate, I can’t explain it to the boss.” Chen Xi threw out the problem again.

Lin Yiran sucked the fish head in his mouth, speaking unclearly, “The line cost is the same… then what about the lead efficiency? Is the lead precision of the channel accounts as high as ours? How about I go and discuss the data with our network department later?”

Chen Xi froze again.

Right, Sun Xingshun shamelessly insisted that the line cost was the same, and I was too embarrassed to confront him face to face, so I forgot to consider the issue of lead precision. As long as I can review the data with their network department right now, Sun Xingshun will definitely be stunned.

After I leave, this smiling tiger will definitely need to verify again the data I showed him in the PPT. But this also meant he had not carefully evaluated Lanhai’s operating results before.

How did I not think of this back then!

While Chen Xi lowered his head in thought, he frowned and blinked, his eyelashes fluttering. Lin Yiran knew his eyelashes were very long, and when Chen Xi was held in his arms, those eyelashes would often brush against his shoulder, ticklish.

Lin Yiran’s heart itched right now.

The long leg under the table stretched over again. Chen Xi snapped back to his senses, and this time he was sure, Lin Yiran was doing it on purpose.

That shameless old lecher!

Chen Xi was just about to blow up when Lin Yiran swallowed the fish meat and said, “Since you want to work with me, I definitely can’t let you down here, but the 20% rebate is indeed high. My clients with daily spending over ten thousand only get a 2% rebate. Ai, I also want to work with you, so tell me, what should we do? Why don’t you point me to a way.”

Chen Xi was completely stunned.

Lin Yiran seemed to be handing the initiative of the negotiation over to the client side, but in fact he was forcing the client side to make the decision for him. Every sentence he said hit the point, yet it did not feel deliberate. He always managed to say the kind of words the client side could accept at just the right time, seeming offhand, but in fact pressing step by step, not giving the client side any room to turn it around.

As long as the client side pointed the way, this deal was basically locked in.

This damn man, he was really good!

His leg brushed past his knee, sometimes close and sometimes distant. Lin Yiran’s thin lips were moistened bright by fish oil, and the collar of his well-cut white shirt was open by two buttons, revealing a sexy Adam’s apple.

Muscular legs, a rolling and low-panting Adam’s apple, a mouth that said bastardly things… I really wanted to sit on your lap, grip your throat, and bite your mouth hard.

“Brother Lin, I didn’t hold it down before, the client told me to come back and find leadership to approve the policy. What should I do?” Just now he heard Lin Yiran on the phone, saying he would go meet the client later. Now at most he could still talk with me for 10 minutes, I can’t let desire cloud my judgment, I have to cherish the time and get to the point.

Lin Yiran said, “How do you want to do it?” You want me to help you go talk?

Every day the client side delayed pushing, Chen Xi would lose several thousand in gross profit. Now that he had to ask Lin Yiran for help, he had no choice but to say a few pleasant words: “Brother Lin, if the client side resumes placing ads on Lanhai, it will help the KA overall ad spend target get achieved. I, I’m afraid I won’t negotiate this deal well, can you help me go talk to them?”

“I can, but it’s best not to.” Lin Yiran said, “If I go talk, the client side will think you can’t play a decision-making role, and in the future whenever there’s something, they’ll come to me. The client won’t value you, and then it’ll be even harder for you to negotiate in the future.”

“Brother Lin, let’s talk about the future later. Right now I want Flash and Lanhai to cooperate quickly and finish this quarter’s task assessment.” You’re afraid the client will look for you and waste your time, aren’t you. Is your precious time for keeping your wife company, or for going out to “take care of” other people?

A burst of fire suddenly shot up in Chen Xi’s heart. He held back the fire and persuaded himself, I can’t shout at him, I have to stay calm, right now I’m asking him to help me negotiate the deal and solve the problem.

“The client’s telemarketing team has 40 people, and their daily labor cost alone is several thousand. They can’t do without leads. Channel companies have high line costs. If they cooperate with Lanhai one day later, they lose one day of profit.” Lin Yiran said, “At this time, you need to hold steady and wait for the client to contact you first.”

There was a battle in Chen Xi’s mind.

No. 2, who had lost reason: What if Sun Xingshun doesn’t contact me, then I’m done!

No. 1 kept shouting: The fire is already at my eyebrows and you still want me to wait? Wait for your mom!

No. 3 finally stopped being the good guy: Lin Yiran, what the hell kind of rotten idea are you giving!

Time was tight now, soft methods did not work, so he could only come hard.

Chen Xi’s eyes swept over the empty seats around them. In a volume only the two of them could hear, he said quietly, “You slept with me, and now you don’t want to handle me?” Since you don’t want face, why should I want face, can face help me sign the deal?

Lin Yiran: …

Chen Xi simply broke the jar and let it smash, and said viciously, “Are you helping me or not?”

Lin Yiran thought: It’s not that I don’t want to help you, it’s that I really can’t help you. The reasoning has already been explained very clearly, why won’t you listen?

“I…” The negotiation expert was momentarily at a loss for words, feeling that however he explained the situation, it would sound like he was making excuses.

But since he was about to go to the appointment anyway, Lin Yiran tossed out one line, “I have to go meet the client right away, there isn’t enough time.” Before Chen Xi could speak, his long legs instant-moved to the doorway and he directly slipped away.

You were so fierce just now when teasing me, so why can’t you handle it when I ask you to negotiate a deal?

Chen Xi was about to be pissed to death. After sleeping together, he hadn’t gotten anything at all, and it felt like he had been freeloaded on for nothing.

Lin Yiran always managed to make Chen Xi repeatedly dance on the edge of exploding.