Xi Shi

Ning Guangyao quickly stuffed the photo back into the drawer as he replied, “Cuishan, I’m inside.”

Luo Cuishan gently pushed the door open with a teacup in hand, before she lovingly smiled at Ning Guangyao and said, “Why are you shutting yourself inside right after work? I bet the past few days must’ve been hectic for you. Here, I got you some American ginseng tea.”

Ning Guangyao was a little touched by her attentiveness, as he received the tea from her. He replied, “You must be pretty well worn yourself. Remember to take care of yourself as well.”

Luo Cuishan smiled as she shook her head. Her line of sight however coincidentally peeked on the monitor display. What she saw stunned her.

Ning Guangyao sipped from the cup before he noticed that Luo Cuishan was engrossed on his computer display. He awkwardly shifted the topic as he said, “Oh yeah, is Guodong still unwilling to come back?”

“Yeah.” Luo Cuishan turned back to look at him, smiling helplessly. “That kid is in it for the long run. And you too, why do you have to push him that far? Regardless of what he has done, he is still our one and only son. You should give him a chance.”

“Huh, a tiny setback and he’s this defeated? How then can I expect him to take over the clan? When I was young I had nothing. Everything I have now was the result of my blood, sweat, and tears. The kid managed to get himself an executive position at such a young age. What more does he want? I believe it was my mistake for pampering him this much. He thinks everyone should be awed at his presence. He has to understand that it was his own misjudgment towards the Yang clan that has led to his pitfall,” Ning Guangyao said unwaveringly.

Luo Cuishan nodded. “Well, that’s undeniable. Since Grandfather’s death, while we’re still the center of attraction, our power is still all in all very debatable. We can’t go head on with the two elders of the Yang and Li clans.”

Ning Guangyao sighed as he emphasized, “Taking everything into consideration, you should advise him sparingly to admit to his mistakes. Otherwise, I would have no other choice than to send him to the bottom of the hierarchy to teach him a lesson.”

Luo Cuishan was terrified at his proclamation as she probed, “Are you sending him outstation? Others only do that for their résumé. Is—is that even necessary given the status of our clan? Where better to hone his skills than Beijing? Guangyao, you have to think this through. Our son might be naive and brash, but he has never disappointed us when it comes to work!”

Ning Guangyao humphed. He had no intention of arguing with his wife.

Luo Cuishan, filled with uncertainty, mumbled, “You… are concerned about Xue Zijing’s daughter, aren’t you?”

Ning Guangyao’s hand shivered as he barely held onto his teacup, staring at Luo Cuishan in a daze. “Why… are you…”

Lu Cuishan looked disappointed as she replied, “I know you have a history with Xue Zijing back in the days. No surprise there. She later went on to marry into the Lin family and give birth to Lin Ruoxi, and we had our child. From that day forth we had been stable and joyful, which is why I never brought that up.”

Ning Guangyao secretly let out a breath of relief as he diffidently smiled. “Nevertheless, she is the daughter of an old acquaintance. Now that neither of her parents is around, I feel responsible for what happens to her. Not to mention Yu Lei International is the key adhesion to the financial prowess within Beijing. I genuinely wish for them to prevail through.”

A glimpse of discontent flashed through Luo Cuishan’s eyes before she lifted her head. “Seeing how busy you are these days, just put this matter aside. Since I’m coincidentally heading to Zhonghai tomorrow for site inspection, why don’t you let me take this over and mediate connection over there in your stead? I believe it would be better for them if I could assist them physically.”

“Are… you serious?” Ning Guangyao was in slight disbelief.

Luo Cuishan rolled her eyes as she emphasized, “Do you really think I’d hate her daughter just because you had a past with Xue Zijing? The child is innocent. Besides, I am doing this for the wellbeing of our country’s economy.”

Feeling touched, Ning Guangyao stood up and held his wife by the hand. “All these years going through thick and thin, I am so grateful for your presence. But now I finally got to see how compassionate you truly are and it makes me guilty that I’ve never treated you better. To be honest with you, I was expecting you to be infuriated for my care towards the child. But for you to take the initiative to step up and help her is really something else.”

Luo Cuishan shook her head as she gave a sincere smile, “All I have in mind is to support you on the things you do.”

Ning Guangyao lovingly stared at his wife, his pupils gradually becoming watery before he ultimately embraced her with all his might.

Meanwhile, the headquarters of Yu Lei International were well lit. It was deep into midnight, but no one had left the company.

Several off-duty employees took the initiative to return to the office, as they switched positions with the ones at work, providing them with a much-needed break.

In accordance to Lin Ruoxi’s proposed strategy, every 10 minutes, accountants within the company would separately purchase small amounts of the company stocks, while the other departments would play the role in convincing investors to retain trust towards the company.

In the main conference hall, Liu Mingyu and a few other executive officers were discussing other possible methods to remedy the situation. Lin Ruoxi sat right at her commanding seat, attentively observing the constantly updating financial data on display.

Right at that moment, the conference room door was opened. It didn’t take long until everyone noticed the aroma of spices, causing all eyes to be focused on the door.

“Haha, you all have a great sense of smell, don’t you?” Yang Chen held multiple bags of different sizes as he jovially proceeded to leave them on the conference table, directly above some documents.

If it was before the incident, many would have been displeased by Yang Chen’s erratic interruption, but now that he was known as the CEO’s husband, no one would risk picking a bone with him.

“Director Yang, what are these?” A high-ranked executive broke the ice.

Lin Ruoxi, indifferent, shifted her focus over to Yang Chen.

“What else could it be? It’s supper,” Yang Chen replied as he retrieved the food inside the plastic bags. It didn’t take long before the table was placed with mala skewers, fried rice cakes, deep-fried loin and an array of assorted night market snacks.

The employees hadn’t had a proper meal since lunch, and now that it was late at night, the common delicacies that were usually disregarded were now a sight for sore eyes.

But they held back their urges and stared at Lin Ruoxi with intense gazes, waiting for her permission.

“Well don’t look at me, eat.” Lin Ruoxi nodded as she gave permission.

The employees happily went towards the snacks as they each grabbed something before gobbling away.

Yang Chen handed Liu Mingyu a bowl of beef noodles before he grabbed a few sticks of mutton skewers and brought it over to Lin Ruoxi. “Here, open your mouth!”

Lin Ruoxi frowned as she whispered, “Why does Mingyu get to have the beef noodles but I can only have mutton skewers?”

Despite whispering, Liu Mingyu on the near corner heard everything she said as she scanned around the room and noticed that she was undoubtedly the only one with noodles, but she ultimately phased out as she lowered her head, pretending not to notice the anomaly.

Yang Chen chuckled as he brought himself close to Lin Ruoxi’s ears before he said, “Mingyu has her dad to watch after her. It’s not the end of the world if she loses her job at Yu Lei. Her dad can still take good care of her. As for you, when you’re not CEO anymore you will have to come to sell mutton skewers with me. So now would be the best time for you to get used to the flavor. I managed to borrow a stall’s equipment for a bit to grill these myself!”

Lin Ruoxi was embarrassed as she agitatedly stared at him. “Is it very funny? I don’t need time to get used to it!”

Yang Chen shrugged as he taunted, “Well if you’re not eating then I’ll just pass these to Mingyu as well. What a pity, I spent a long time to roast these…”

Lin Ruoxi immediately replied, “Wait! I—I haven’t eaten dinner yet as well.”

“I thought you just said you didn’t need to get used to it? Wifey, how could you change your mind so quickly?” Yang Chen asked innocently.

“Well, that’s what women do. I can fill my stomach with these, can’t i?” Lin Ruoxi did not hesitate as she took them off Yang Chen’s hands and started nibbling away.

The executives binged on the snacks while blabbering with one another. Despite the chaos of the company, they found it refreshing to watch their CEO eat mutton skewers.

Yang Chen meanwhile placed the rest of the mutton skewers in front of Lin Ruoxi. There were at least twenty of them. Turning around, he said to the others, “Nobody’s allowed to take any of my wife’s mutton skewers! If I catch you, I’ll kick you off the building!”

“Huh? Understood!”

The executives present were stupefied by his remark, but they ultimately agreed in unison. After all, it wasn’t as if anyone would fight with their CEO for food.

Lin Ruoxi lifted her leg and lightly kicked Yang Chen on the calf. Her face was as red as a tomato, visibly embarrassed by Yang Chen’s actions.

Yang Chen was proudly giggling, with no sign of embarrassment as he went ahead and tidied up the plastic bags, ready to leave the room.

Lin Ruoxi asked, “Are you going over to Qianni’s?”

Yang Chen halted his footsteps and replied with a smirk on his face, “My wife is indeed smart.”

“Hmph.” Lin Ruoxi was not having it. “How considerate of you.”

Yang Chen sighed, “Well it cannot be helped, I’m a busy man, after Qianni I still have to deliver to An Xin too.”

“An Xin?” This time even Liu Mingyu was in all ears, as she wiped on her lips dripped with beef noodle broth. “An Xin is still here?”

“Of course,” Yang Chen continued with a smug. “If not for her, I couldn’t have gone out to buy supper. This is what I call teamwork.”

“Well, it sounds to me that you’re just finding an excuse to laze about.” Lin Ruoxi agitatedly bit the meat off the stick, disgusted to even look at this thick-skinned brat any longer.

Right at this moment, Yang Chen shifted his course and dashed towards Lin Ruoxi, before bending down and giving her a tight smooch on the face.

That sound instantly caught everybody’s attention in the room.

Lin Ruoxi was stupefied as she caressed the side of her face which got damp as a result. She nearly suffocated from the sudden public affection.

Yang Chen winked as he declared, “Whatever it is, just relax. No matter the outcome, I will be there to bear it.”

Lin Ruoxi dreamily gawked at her husband, before she finally caught on to her senses and nodded.

“Fret not! In the legends, there’s Xi Shi the femme fatale, whose beauty brought the nation to prosperity. You can always be the Xi Shi to my mutton skewer stand!” Yang Chen proudly announced while beating his chest.

Just a while ago she was touched by his words, but now she felt nothing but annoyance. “Get out!”

Yang Chen instantly darted out of the conference room, while at the same time boastfully waving goodbye to the executives present, which prompted them to all roll their eyes.

Lin Mingyu tried her best not to break into laughter as she continued slurping on the noodles. She then remembered something. “Boss Lin, if I remember correctly, there will be three major land auctions tomorrow over at Zhangzhou. We were previously keen on bidding. But now that our cards are on the table, should we proceed as planned?”

Lin Ruoxi, upon hearing information regarding business, instantly transformed back to her stern and stoical self. “Of course we’ll continue. But this time I’ll delegate someone else in your stead, I need you around to lead the public relations department.”

“But Boss Lin, I don’t think that’s appropriate.” Another executive interrupted their discussion. “Our share price has dropped for thirty percent already! If we proceed with the auction of such astronomical amounts, especially when our opponents are all on offense, aren’t we basically committing suicide?”

“Yeah, Boss Lin, it’ll only lead us to a point of no return!”

Lin Ruoxi was visibly unhappy as she replied, “I’m deeply aware of the consequences, but if we turn it down we’d basically be declaring to the world that we’re defeated. Our employees would completely lose their confidence too.”

Hearing her reasoning, they found it rather reasonable. It is most terrifying should one lose their spirit to battle.

At this moment, a temporary assistant came running into the conference room as he hurriedly said, “Boss Lin, devastating news. A few of our major shareholders are threatening to change the CEO, or they’ll sell their shares at filthy-low prices!”

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