KC | Chapter 41

Chen Xi had originally thought that Lin Yiran, being coaxed by Wang Shuang, might say a couple of things about it, but he hadn’t expected Lin Yiran to mention this at all.

Lin Yiran asked, “Did you see Xu Dongxu?”

Chen Xi shook his head.

His slender fingers tapped the tabletop now and then, and Lin Yiran said thoughtfully, “What about your ‘informant’?”

“Huh?” Xiao Fang was just a front desk receptionist, how could she count as an informant?

Lin Yiran hinted, “If you were to say which position in a company is the most gossipy, aside from the cleaning aunties, it has to be the front desk. Because these two positions come into contact with the most people and hear the most news, it would be hard not to be gossipy.”

“Ah!” Chen Xi suddenly understood.

The older the ginger, the hotter it was, he could get Xiao Fang to talk. How had he not thought of that before!

The suit pants wrapped around two slender, straight legs, the belt drew out a narrow waistline of barely half a palm, the fair skin made the small Chanel-style outfit look even more refined, and the black hair was soft and slightly curled, brushing over the eyebrows a little, with clear, bright eyes. A clean and pretty person really did leave an impression at a glance, and Lin Yiran felt a little regretful that he had made him dress up so nicely.

The little dummy had squatted in Gu Lin for a whole week and still hadn’t seen anyone, but he only knew how to say “ah.” If he wore this suit to flirt with the front desk girls, he could hook one with every cast.

“A lot of people are wearing suits like this now, so you won’t have much of a memorable point in this outfit. You might as well switch to a more low-key color scheme.” Lin Yiran did not want Chen Xi to dress this nicely, just like he did not want to post the photo of the pavilion in the group chat. He wanted to hide all of Chen Xi’s prettiness away, and secretly look at it from the dark corners at night.

Chen Xi said, “Oh.”

You only cared about a “memorable point,” not whether it looked good. It was me who kept wanting to cross the line, and I even thought you would like it.

When you like someone, you can’t help but pay attention to everything about them. Lin Yiran usually dressed mostly in black and white, and the flashy ties he had dozens of silently expressed the owner’s true preferences. Moral principles required Chen Xi to reject Lin Yiran, but what he subconsciously did was dress according to Lin Yiran’s tastes.

There was knocking from outside the room, and planning and technical staff were standing outside the office.

Chen Xi said, “Brother Lin, go ahead and handle your work first,” then pushed the door and left the office.

Lin Yiran was working nearby, Wang Shuang had no good face for him, and Zhang Yuanji wanted him to help write the closing report… Chen Xi could not stay at the company, so he shut down the computer and went to Gu Lin again.

After a week of continuous visits, Chen Xi had gotten familiar faces with many grassroots positions at Gu Lin. When he pushed open the main door, the front desk reception no longer treated him politely.

Salespeople could become experts in any industry in order to achieve their goals, and of course they could also take a script and challenge different roles. Chen Xi straightened his shirt in the restroom mirror and felt that he looked absolutely handsome today.

This eighteen-line actor with no practical experience upheld the rigorous attitude of asking Baidu whenever there was a problem, and searched “how to please a girl.” The highest-liked reply was to buy a gift, and the most everyday gift was to buy milk tea.

Chen Xi bought two taro boba milk teas and gave himself some courage.

Wasn’t it just to get information out of the front desk lady? Come on, I could do this!

Directly facing Gu Lin’s front desk was a huge marble sculpture, carved pretty artistically, though Chen Xi had not recognized exactly what it was. The background wall at the front desk was gray, grand and imposing, and at first glance there was nothing special about it. Chen Xi had done his homework, and to make simple decoration feel textured, one needed to use high-end main materials. Different main materials had large price differences, which was also why rooms decorated from the same design drawing had different comfort levels and different prices.

The walls of the reception area were covered with the honors Gu Lin Group had received over the years, and 80% of the photos had Mr. Wang in them.

Wang Yaohua had launched the banner of “Huizhou-style decoration,” which showed he had marketing ideas. He had posted his own photos on display boards in different areas, which showed he wanted to cultivate a fan-like adoration complex among his employees. Leaders with this kind of arbitrary and authoritarian heroism rarely accepted other people’s opinions, but Lin Yiran had said, Mr. Wang was very gentle?

Was Wang Yaohua pretending to be gentle, or had he been gentle ten years ago and changed now? These things were probably only something he could know after meeting him, for now they were all guesses.

Chen Xi walked up to the front desk, handed the milk tea to Xiao Fang, and smiled as he said, “Hello, I’m Chen Xi.”

“Ah.” Xiao Fang had just thought Chen Xi was joking, but she had not expected him to really come looking for her, and instantly blushed. She stammered, “What are you looking for me for?”

Over the past few years, the women Chen Xi had dealt with were either clients or coworkers. He had not spoken to a young lady for a long time, and he stiffly exuded charm that had nowhere to go. Biting the milk tea straw, he slowly drank the milk tea, trying to make his tone sound as flippant as possible: “Xiao Qiang and I are like sworn brothers. He always talks about you, says you’re especially nice. Only after seeing you today did I realize not only are you nice, you’re pretty too.”

Xiao Fang had just been overwhelmed by the taro boba, and then got hit with this greasy line twice in a row. She forcibly suppressed the churning in her stomach and thought: This little brother looks pretty good, so why does he talk so disgustingly?

Lin Yiran had walked through a sea of flowers without a single leaf sticking to him, handsome and good at flirting, easily playing roles like business elite, refined scum, and graceful gentleman. Chen Xi had never flirted around, and when he tried, it came out intentionally greasy, turning a top player into a sleazy man. Luckily his handsome face saved his life, otherwise Xiao Fang would have already called security.

Chen Xi had originally wanted to play the top player, using lines that matched the identity to open with, but he could not keep going after that. His character had gone ooc, and he felt like he could dig a hole in the floor with his toes. He thought: Flirting with a young girl is way too hard!

The front desk position was rather eye-catching, not a suitable place for a conversation, and Xiao Fang could not leave her post without permission. In order to avoid drawing attention, Chen Xi could not stay here for long.

Mainly because this outfit was too eye-catching, and people kept looking at him.

You could not ask too much on the first meeting, he had to say his main purpose! Forget it, he might as well stop acting and just lay it out directly.

Chen Xi stated his purpose without any pretenses, “I work at an advertising company, and I came here to chat with Mr. Xu Dongxu about advertising. Did Mr. Xu come today?”

Xiao Fang took half a step back to put some distance between them, then said, “Who?”

She had just joined the company and had not even recognized everyone yet, I had forgotten that.

“Here, this one.” Chen Xi opened the photo on his phone so Xiao Fang could recognize him more easily.

Xiao Fang looked at the photo and shook her head. “I don’t really remember him. He probably doesn’t come often.”

Chen Xi glanced at the front desk computer and asked, “Can your computer see which people clocked in to work today?” Generally, the administration department’s computers could see employee attendance.

A good-looking person could use their appearance to increase the other person’s favorable impression, and then it would be easier to get information out of them. Xiao Fang did not think too much and said, “Mm-hmm.”

Greasy-man Chen Xi brought out to the fullest the shameless spirit he had learned from Lin Yiran: “Gu Lin has too many gates, and I don’t know which gate Mr. Xu uses to go to work. What I’m thinking is, when Mr. Xu clocks in one day, you let me know.”

Xiao Fang had never met such an active guy before, and felt a little wary, but after drinking his milk tea she could not refuse, so she had to agree.

Thanks to Lin Yiran’s advice, with Xiao Fang as this informant, Chen Xi finally had a little breathing room in the second week of August.

On August 8, 2023, it was the Beginning of Autumn. Chen Xi slept at night with his blanket not pulled up properly and got cold enough that his legs cramped. At noon, after eating dumplings, he bought a bottle of calcium tablets. In the afternoon, while sorting out the Shining placement report, Xiao Fang sent word: Mr. Xu had come.

Chen Xi went straight to Gu Lin’s second floor, but then felt that it was not quite right to go looking for someone rashly during work hours, so he patiently waited until lunch time to block him.

The best spot to block someone was the second-floor escalator entrance, since this was the route that 80% of Gu Lin’s employees had to pass through.

Wave after wave of employees came out. By 12:30 noon, Chen Xi was already hungry enough that his stomach was growling, and he was also afraid that Xu Dongxu might suddenly come out and he would miss the chance, so he could only endure the hunger and keep waiting there.

At 12:40, Xu Dongxu arrived!

The Xu Dongxu from ten years ago had a crew cut and wore sportswear, very tacky and very plain. Today, Xu Dongxu had slicked-back hair and was in casual clothes, very trendy and very flashy. Apart from his face and height, there was nothing in common with the person in Lin Yiran’s photo.

“Hello, Mr. Xu. I’m Chen Xi.” Chen Xi took the initiative to step forward and greeted him with a smile.

Although Xu Dongxu did not know Chen Xi, he still nodded and replied, “Hello,” in keeping with the principle of not hitting a smiling face.

“I’m really sorry to come by so abruptly and delay your lunch break again,” Chen Xi scratched his head and pretended to be inexperienced, this time his script was “a college graduate who had just graduated.”

Men in their mid-thirties and up generally liked to lecture young people who had just graduated. Chen Xi had encountered many clients with a very strong dad-like attitude, and they would tell their juniors things that were heavily personal in flavor, just to satisfy their own sense of superiority. Chen Xi felt that Xu Dongxu probably quite liked lecturing others, so he played the role of a college student who had not yet seen much of the world, hoping to narrow the distance between himself and Xu Dongxu.

“Recently I’ve often seen our Gu Lin ads on buses, subways, and highways, and I feel that our slogan, style, and promotional copy are all very high-end, so I wanted to come learn some advertising planning from you.” Before coming, Chen Xi had prepared a rough draft in his head, and he recited the opening like he was memorizing lines.

“You’ve found the wrong person, I’m not responsible for that.” Xu Dongxu’s expression was faint.

You know my surname is Xu, and you deliberately blocked me here. You don’t state your real identity, and instead beat around the bush. What am I supposed to say to you?

Seeing that Xu Dongxu was about to leave, Chen Xi had no choice but to pick the key point and say, “You’re not responsible for this, so is the advertising company responsible? Mr. Xu, I just want to ask which advertising company we cooperate with. Was this ad slogan planned by you, or by the advertising company?”

I’ll just pretend I believe your “not responsible” line and go along with what you’re saying. It would already be good if I could at least find out the company we work with first.

Xu Dongxu could not be bothered with him, rode the escalator downstairs, and tossed out, “No comment.”

These days salespeople really knew how to act, this kid was playing the role of humbly seeking advice with me here.

Chen Xi got anxious for a moment and did not follow the script as he said, “Mr. Xu, I have a lot of advertising channels here, and the price is definitely cheaper than what you’re cooperating with. Can we talk?”

Without looking back, Xu Dongxu said contemptuously, “Just say you’re in advertising. I hate you people who are all flashy on the surface!”

Facts proved that to play a good “actor” you needed either talent or experience. If you had neither, then you needed self-awareness.

An eighteen-line actor with no self-awareness and no experience had taken on two extremely difficult roles, and failed again and again.

Breaking the ice with Gu Lin was harder than reaching the sky.