KC | Chapter 57

The damp air after the rain gave the refined scum a soft protective tint, hiding the direct and open look in his eyes.

Chen Xi was temporarily dazed by the joy of his crush becoming real, and he got hooked in a muddle-headed way, without stopping to think about the logic of the other party’s words. When facing Lin Yiran, he always could not keep his brain with him.

Seeing that his goal had already been achieved, Lin Yiran stuffed the car key into Chen Xi’s hand and said, “Wait for me in the car.”

Your part is over, now it was my round.

Chen Xi’s reason came back to him. He repeatedly reminded him, “Brother Lin, there are a lot of people here today, Guan Chao and the students from Pinsheng are all here, you…” Don’t lose your mind again and start a fight with Shen Yuesheng in public.

Lin Yiran gave a light laugh. “What are you thinking about? Brother is the contractor here to help you ask for money, not some underworld boss collecting a debt.”

After all, the two of them had a record before, so Chen Xi was still a little uneasy. “Shen Yuesheng’s brain circuit is not very normal. If he says anything too much, Brother Lin, don’t take it to heart.” That fox spirit was easy to talk nonsense.

Lin Yiran had 13 years of sales experience, and he had seen all kinds of clients. Shen Yuesheng was at least a so-called “principal,” and no matter how you put it, he was a cultured person. Seeing Chen Xi so nervous about the two of them meeting, Lin Yiran felt there was definitely something fishy in it.

He straightened his shirt and lifted an eyebrow. “What did Shen Yuesheng say to you that was too much?”

Chen Xi: …

Facing a marketing expert with eight hundred scheming thoughts, Chen Xi, a single-celled organism, had limited brain capacity and always came away defeated in every battle.

Forget it, he already knew how I met Shen Yuesheng. I’d better not stop him.

–

Shen Yuesheng was sitting in the first row of the audience seats, filming promotional material for Moments, when an uninvited guest suddenly broke into his phone’s frame.

Lin Yiran stopped right in front of him.

The surrounding noise seemed to freeze. The two of them were only a few steps apart, like a taut bowstring was pulling at the air, swords drawn and crossbows ready, a spark away from exploding.

“Hello, President Shen. I’m Lin Yiran from Lanhai KA.” Lin Yiran walked over and took the initiative to open the conversation as the contractor.

“Shen Yuesheng from Pinsheng.” Shen Yuesheng’s expression was flat.

It looked like a friendly opening, but neither of them extended a hand, because neither wanted to shake the other’s hand.

Lin Yiran did not mention the first meeting at all, and simply communicated about the possible problems in this cooperation: “Affected by the weather, the original stage plan will need some adjustments. If it’s convenient for President Shen, can we communicate about it now?”

The performance was about to start, and some problems, even if discovered, could no longer be changed. Lin Yiran said they were “communicating” with him, but in reality, it was “notifying” him.

Shen Yuesheng raised his phone as if he were taking photos, not even looking at him. “Not convenient right now.” As the client, why should I passively accept the contractor’s notification?

The career-minded little loser thought about it back and forth, but still did not feel at ease letting a flammable ice cube and an explosive package meet. He quietly slipped out from the back stage. Seeing the two of them in such a water and fire conflict, he immediately went weak, his legs softer than after being done by that old beast, and he almost knelt on the ground.

There were 5 minutes left before the performance. The giant LED screen on the stage lit up, and all the Pinsheng students took their seats.

The stirring warm-up music rang out across the venue: P-p-p-poker face p-p-poker face!

Chen Xi could not read the two poker faces, but he was drawn over all the same, as if he had caught fire, and this was only because of work, definitely not because of their charm. (1)

The little loser dragged his weak legs over to the two contraband items and hurriedly said, “This is my leader, Lin Yiran. He saw it was raining today and came to help. Now the rain has stopped, the help has been finished, and he’s preparing to leave.” After following this event execution for so many days, the payment was about to be settled, I’m begging you both, please don’t go crazy.

What had seemed like a calm summer camp event was actually surging with undercurrents. The stirring poker face became ear-piercing, and the war without smoke was about to erupt.

A strong smell of gunpowder came from between the two of them. Chen Xi felt that if he lit a match and put it between them, it would explode on the spot.

Shen Yuesheng raised an eyebrow: If you leave now, you’re a coward.

Lin Yiran gave a light laugh: Whoever leaves is a grandson.

–

Lin Yiran opened again: “Is President Shen filming activity promotional material? This part of the content is all included in event execution. If President Shen is in a hurry, I can have the marketing department send it over now. In order to ensure the promotional effect, Lanhai will also arrange the release of a joint article at the same time.”

Chen Xi was surprised. He opened his phone and looked at the event execution item list he knew by heart. Indeed, there was no “activity promotion” in the execution items. He secretly reached out and tugged at the hem of Lin Yiran’s T-shirt, constantly giving him looks.

Lin Yiran put his right hand behind his back and gently pinched the little claw, while his left hand was in his pants pocket. On his wrist was the Nine-Colored Deer bracelet.

Shen Yuesheng pretended not to see their little movements, but he could not ignore Chen Xi’s clothes.

The two people opposite were both wearing sportswear, one black on top and white on the bottom, the other white on top and black on the bottom. A suggestive red mark was stamped on Chen Xi’s neck, and where his clothes came from was self-evident.

Chen Xi had rather shivered from the cold an hour ago than accept his coat, and now he was wearing this person’s clothes.

It was really glaring.

Shen Yuesheng felt unhappy. Although Lin Yiran had given him a way out, he did not want to go down it, and said coldly in a teasing tone, “Lanhai Culture is pretty open-minded.”

They allowed office romance, and even same-sex relationships, you really had it all. On purpose wearing couple clothes, even putting on such a bright bite mark, who were you showing it to? I won’t take this favor. I’m just going to confront you. It doesn’t cost much to find a third-party company for activity promotion, and I’m willing to pay for it.

Chen Xi’s cheek twitched slightly. Compared with the two high-IQ ones, he was a bit slower, but he was not stupid.

Under normal circumstances, when a cooperating client talked about the contractor’s personnel structure, it mostly meant dissatisfaction with the execution process, and they were nitpicking the staff or manpower. Shen Yuesheng’s situation was either dissatisfaction with the execution process, or he simply wanted to nitpick.

That damned fox spirit did not have good intentions.

The refined scum wore a mask of false kindness, his speech calm and unhurried, polite and proper. “Chen Xi has caused President Shen trouble these past few days. Let’s add each other on WeChat. If there’s anything in the future, you can come directly to me.”

Come to me, don’t look for Chen Xi.

Look at the way you’re staring at Chen Xi, it’s like a fox looking at a rabbit, ready to eat him at any time.

You won’t even go down when I’ve given you the stairs, and you still dare to think about my person?

You really don’t know your place.

“I didn’t…” cause him trouble. Lin Yiran covered his mouth and did not let him speak. Chen Xi glared with wide eyes, his face full of unwillingness.

After being bullied by this fox spirit for days, you came and didn’t speak up for me, fine, but you still wouldn’t let me speak. It made it look like I had not served the client well and the leader had to clean up the mess.

Covering someone’s mouth was too intimate between a superior and a subordinate. Lin Yiran had done it on purpose. First, to show his relationship with Chen Xi, second, to reveal the bracelet on his wrist, and third, to speed up the negotiation.

Lin Yiran did not like others coveting his prey. Wearing that skin felt uncomfortable, and he did not want to waste words with Shen Yuesheng.

As expected, when Shen Yuesheng saw the bracelet, his eyes flickered, and the cold, stern expression on his face cracked.

–

The negotiation process could be grand, or it could be only a few sentences. The negotiation scene could be in a coffee shop, a company, or under the stage. There were many ways to negotiate. Success or failure depended on whether the initiator achieved the goal.

Lin Yiran let go of Chen Xi and stood very naturally beside him. At first glance, the two of them did not seem very close, but only someone like Shen Yuesheng, who had other motives toward Chen Xi, could keenly discover that the distance between them was not the normal social distance, 1 hour ago Chen Xi had been at least 0.5M away from him.

There was no need to say much when communicating with smart people. Everything was about benefits and proof. Lin Yiran using the bracelet to show his identity meant he was telling Shen Yuesheng, I have the resources of the government affairs and culture and tourism side; deliberately creating a bite mark and wearing couple clothes with Chen Xi meant he was telling him, don’t touch my person.

What Lin Yiran “said,” Shen Yuesheng understood.

Pinsheng’s personnel structure was incomplete, and Lanhai was a relatively cooperative outsourcing company; the culture and tourism connections on Gu Zheng’s side had temporarily broken off, and Lin Yiran had culture and tourism ties…

Capitalism did not do business without profit. After weighing the pros and cons, Shen Yuesheng put down his phone and proactively showed Lin Yiran his WeChat friend code, saying, “What exactly was President Lin just about to communicate to me?”

Lin Yiran scanned the code and added him as a friend. The Nine-Colored Deer on his wrist was especially eye-catching.

“President Shen can handle his own matters first. It’s fine even if we don’t communicate.” If you don’t want to hear it, then I won’t say it, and I’ll leave the topic hanging here, dangling you with this bracelet.

“President Lin, what are you saying? Lanhai has put a lot of effort into this event these past few days, I’ve all seen it.” If you want to say it, then say it. If you don’t want to say it, then say something else.

My father learned that I wanted to make a cultural tourism study IP, and in order to make things easier for handling matters in the scenic area, he specially got me the Nine-Colored Deer bracelet from Gu Zheng’s father. The bracelet that only the director of the culture and tourism bureau could get, how did you have the same one?

When the contractor was the client’s only supplier, or when they controlled the client’s core resources, the contractor could become the client’s client.

Lin Yiran took the initiative in the negotiation and explained the issues one by one: “The dynamic effect that was planned for the stage lighting, but now it has to use LED; projection mapping can be turned on, but because there are suspended impurities in the air, the effect can’t be guaranteed; the digital special effects CGI probably can’t be turned on… What can be confirmed for use now are only the regular mechanical devices.”

Chen Xi: Σ(⊙▽⊙”a！ So many adjustments needed? No wonder Brother Lin didn’t let me speak just now… If I had spoken, Shen Yuesheng would not only turn hostile, he’d probably peel a layer of skin off me.

These were all objective facts affected by force majeure, and Shen Yuesheng nodded to show he had no objections. More than these, he was even more curious about how Lin Yiran got that bracelet.

“Unexpected storms can happen, and today really was too rushed. We were not considerate enough on our first cooperation.” Lin Yiran combined leniency with severity, his implication being that Lanhai would not take advantage of uncontrollable factors at the client’s expense. The activity promotion he had just mentioned was to make up for the deficiency, a gift for you.

Shen Yuesheng nodded. “President Lin is too polite.”

The fire in the shura field went out in an instant, and Chen Xi was completely baffled.

Last time he did not understand why those two were in such a “water and fire” mess, and now he still did not understand why they could “turn hostilities into friendship in an instant.”

He had just been worried that that dumb Shen Yuesheng might say nonsense and that the two of them would fight, but he had not expected them to be this harmonious. This was… meeting with a smile and forgetting old grudges?

It was not exactly meeting with a smile, and stopping a car was not exactly some grudge either. Shen Yuesheng wanted the resources of culture and tourism, and Lin Yiran wanted to move Pinsheng. Under the drive of利益, enemies could temporarily become friends.

The fire burned through the linked camps. Zhou Yu laid out the plan first, Zhuge Liang had already guessed the situation before the fire even started, and Lu Su only understood what was going on after thinking about it for a few days once the fire had already burned. If the intelligence of the three were ranked, Lin Yiran was Zhou Yu, who laid out the strategy, Shen Yuesheng was Zhuge Liang, who understood at a touch, and Chen Xi was Lu Su, who only understood after thinking for a while after it happened.

But fortunately, everyone present was a military adviser. If you swapped in Zhang Fei, he might not understand what had happened even after another three or five years.

–

A real negotiation master did not rely on the intimidation of negotiating presence, nor on repeatedly stacked quantities of words. Rather, on the basis of knowing the other side’s needs, they had to be clear and orderly, using language or actions that the other side could “understand” to accurately convey the information.

The time for the event performance arrived. On the screen, misty mountains and rivers kept changing, and blue light bands flickered around the stage like the flight path of a spaceship. At the center of the stage, a circular column rose amid the cheers of the whole venue. Around the column platform were galaxy tracks, with stars glittering. The impurities in the rain did not affect the lighting at all, and instead made the huge stage seem broader and deeper, with a little more mystery.

The music grew stirring. The performers came onstage to drive the huge mechanical arms, and the arms wrapped around the column. Planets flew through the brilliant galaxy in arcs, and in the end all the light points gathered at the center of the stage, where the host made a dazzling entrance.

Shen Yuesheng had not seen Lanhai’s stage rehearsal before, and was now stunned by the scene in front of him. It had to be said, it was worth every penny.

Lin Yiran stood in front of the misty galaxy stage and gave Chen Xi affirmation: “Well done.”

The lighting, props, and performers on the stage blended together perfectly. Chen Xi looked at the visual feast he had built and felt the enthusiastic applause from the whole venue, enjoying this moment.

In just a few days, going from 0 to 1, his effort had not been in vain. It had received everyone’s recognition.

Lin Yiran was proud of him, and also fascinated by him.

The charm Chen Xi gave off was huge, so much that even someone battle-hardened like himself could fall for it. No one would not like him, let alone the fact that the guy surnamed Shen was naturally gay.

He wanted to tear off that mask of false kindness, grab the fox spirit by the neck and make him get the hell away; he wanted to occupy Chen Xi’s gaze and make him only look at himself.

But for the sake of signing the contract, he had no choice but to temporarily block out his personal grudge and stop the blazing fire from the explosive package.

The refined scum wore an elegant trademark smile, covering up the twisted and dark side underneath.

Author’s note:

(1) Adapted from the lyrics of poker face: I’ll get him hot, show him what I’ve got; No he can’t read my poker face.