Seduced the Obsessive NPC and Ran - chapter 7

Bai Cheng?

Why would he be at Yan Group?

Yan Jinge’s steps faltered.

Walking beside him, Yan Wei noticed the odd look on his son’s face. He followed Yan Jinge’s line of sight, but all he saw were a few ordinary office workers squeezing into the elevator.

“Jinge, what are you looking at?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

Yan Jinge lowered his gaze. “Dad, let’s go to the tech department first.”

“Alright.” Yan Wei didn’t think much of it.

In any company, no matter the department, “parachuted-in” hires never make a good first impression-especially when the newcomer is a Crown Prince personally brought in by Yan Wei.

The Crown Prince looked pretty young. His features were fine and strikingly good-looking, but he was even more unfamiliar than his younger brother Yan Qingyu. It was obvious he’d never set foot in the company before. And now he was starting out as a manager? Was that really going to work?

Did he even know what this position did?

Did he understand design? Could he review their work?

Did he know anything about programming?

As they listened to Yan Wei introduce who Yan Jinge was, everyone couldn’t help grumbling in their hearts.

“New officials always come in swinging, especially the ones who don’t know the business at all. They’re bound to point fingers at everything we do. And just look at him-he doesn’t seem easy to get along with. My guess is he’ll think up all kinds of ways to make our lives difficult. Ugh, the days ahead are going to be rough.”

“Exactly. Our company’s already not doing as well as Rongding, and now they parachute in another Crown Prince… Sigh. I’m really starting to lose faith in this place.” In the break room, Lin Xiaoxu waved everyone over and lowered his voice. “Do you guys know? President Yan is already considering transforming the company.”

“Transform?”

“Oh my god, if we really transform, doesn’t that mean every department’s going to have layoffs?”

“For sure.”

A heavy gloom settled over the group.

“Right, my friend told me about this,” Lin Xiaoxu reminded them. “You guys cannot let this leak.”

“Got it, got it, we’re tight-lipped!”

“Yeah, don’t worry.”

As everyone chimed in, Lin Xiaoxu put on a hesitant expression and dropped his voice even further. “Actually, there’s one more thing, but I don’t know if I should tell you…”

“What is it?”

“You playing coy with us at a time like this?”

With everyone crowding around him, it took Lin Xiaoxu a while to finally speak up, slow and deliberate: “I actually went to interview at Rongding a while back.”

“What?”

“You’re thinking of jumping ship?”

“…What did Rongding say?”

Under everyone’s stares, Lin Xiaoxu gritted his teeth. “They’ve already accepted me. I’ll be putting in my resignation soon. You all know Yan Corporation is on a downward slope-I really don’t want to keep grinding away here with zero hope of a raise. I’ve heard Rongding pays around this much…” He coughed. “Anyway, let’s not talk about salary. Let me ask you something more realistic: do you honestly think this parachuted Crown Prince will be more capable than President Bai of Rongding Technology?”

“That much money!? I always heard Rongding’s tech staff pull insane overtime. No wonder…”

“…Xiao Xu has a point. President Bai at Rongding next door is practically a business legend already.”

“You can’t even compare the two.”

“They just released a new robot vacuum recently. I barely managed to snag one for my place. It’s pricey, but it’s insanely good-and it looks amazing too! Then look at the products we crank out… sigh.”

After working everyone up, Lin Xiaoxu feigned reluctance again. “Honestly, I wasn’t planning to tell you this, but HR over there mentioned they might be gearing up for something big, and they’re really hungry for talent right now. I’m only sharing this because we’ve worked together for so long. If you guys want to…”

He didn’t finish, but everyone understood.

Their expressions varied, complicated and uncertain.

Lin Xiaoxu hurried to explain, “I’m not trying to poach you, really. I just want to give you another option because we’re friends. If you want to stay, I won’t say another word. I just feel like all of you are very capable, but staying here… your talent’s being buried.”

Still, no one said a word.

-They were all waiting for someone else to speak first.

As for their own thoughts, they kept those to themselves.

Just then, the break room door swung open. The parachuted Crown Prince stood in the doorway, a coffee mug in hand, walking in with an indifferent expression.

Everyone thought of what they’d just been talking about and felt a stab of embarrassment. They all turned their backs in unison.

…Who knew if this Crown Prince had overheard any of that?

Time to bail.

The group filed out as one.

One of the female colleagues was at the back of the line and couldn’t help sneaking a few extra glances at Yan Jinge.

His individual features were all attractive, but together they formed a kind of aggressive beauty. Especially his eyes-very beautiful, clear as flawless gemstones.

His proportions were excellent too: broad shoulders, narrow waist, long legs, every inch a natural clothes hanger. He wore a plain, fine-striped dress shirt on top and suit pants below. His posture was straight and poised. Even though his gait was casual, every movement carried an effortless elegance. One look and you could tell he was someone raised in luxury.

So this is what someone from a true wealthy family looks like…

Like a prince stepped out of a painting.

Her gaze went a little hazy, and somehow she ended up swaying in his direction.

As if afraid she might fall, Yan Jinge reached out with gentlemanly ease and steadied her by the shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine!”

The female colleague hurriedly waved her hands, the tips of her ears already turning red.

She lowered her head and quickly walked out of the break room.

She had just sat down at her own workstation when a coworker she got along well with scooted their chair over and leaned close, asking in a conspiratorial whisper, “So what are you thinking? Are you going to Rongding too? I mean, I don’t think Rongding can take all of us, but it doesn’t hurt to try, right? What if they just happen to pick us?”

The female colleague smiled and shook her head. “I’m not going.”

“Why not?”

“Because of how Yan Corporation has trained us, obviously.”

In her mind she recalled Yan Jinge’s face, and that deep, magnetic voice of his. She spoke with righteous conviction: “I joined Yan Corporation right after graduation. Back then I was just an intern. It’s only because Yan Corporation kept investing in me and training me that I made it to where I am today. How could I abandon Yan Corporation just because it’s going downhill now? Wouldn’t that make me a heartless ingrate?”

The coworker who’d asked the question froze for a second, feeling like they’d just been called out. Awkwardly, they muttered, “Didn’t expect you to be that principled…”

“Of course!” she said, chin lifting a little.

…

Although Yan Jinge’s current position in the company was that of a manager, Yan Wei wanted a preliminary understanding of his son’s abilities and also wanted to temper him, so he had intentionally tossed a lot of work onto him that technically did not fall under his job responsibilities.

Sitting in a temporary office that had been cleared out for him, Yan Jinge was going through evaluations of several ongoing projects at Yan Corporation.

Halfway through the stack, his phone rang.

It was one of the lawyers from the legal team.

“Mr. Yan, the matter you entrusted to us has been handled. We’ve recovered the full amount, and it should be transferred to your personal account sometime today.”

“All right, thank you for your hard work,” Yan Jinge said.

“It’s no trouble at all. This is what we lawyers are supposed to do.”

After hanging up, Yan Jinge called his assistant over. “Please bring me the résumés of all the employees in the department.”

The assistant answered promptly and hurried off to do as he was told.

By the time the assistant came back, Yan Jinge had already skimmed through almost all of the projects. Among them, he was interested in only one- a co-branded collaboration with another company.

If he remembered correctly, this company called Nirvana had gone public two or three years ago. The person actually in charge was very mysterious and had barely ever shown up in public, but their grasp of product positioning was precise. After entering the market, the company’s development had always been steady rather than explosive; it wasn’t widely famous like Rongding, where Bai Wei worked, yet it quietly dug in its heels and progressed step by step, like a drizzle that nourished everything silently. Its strength was undeniable.

Once the assistant brought over all the employees’ résumés, placing the thick stack on his desk, Yan Jinge said, “I see Nirvana and Yan Corporation have a co-branded project. I’m very interested in that collaboration. Send me the contact information for the person in charge of this project on their side.”

The assistant glanced at the files and responded, “Yes, sir.”

Not long after, Yan Jinge received the business card the assistant had forwarded. He saved the number and added the contact to his address book.

On the other side.

Bai Cheng stepped down from the car and walked into the Bai Family’s house.

He had barely set foot inside when thunder rumbled overhead, and a moment later, raindrops the size of beans came pelting down.

The weather had been erratic lately. It had only just cleared up yesterday afternoon, and today it had already clouded over again. The sun had almost never been seen, and plenty of people were grumbling about it.

Bai Cheng glanced back at the heavy, oppressive sky, at the rain that was quickly soaking the ground, and the corner of his mouth twitched faintly.

He was different. He liked rainy days.

A sharp bang suddenly split the air.

A ceramic mug came flying out of nowhere and smashed right into his calf.

The mug rolled across the floor with a hollow clatter and came to a stop on the edge of the carpet.

Pain shot up from his calf, spreading through his limbs and bones.

Bai Cheng lowered his head and looked at the mug. His brows didn’t even twitch. It was as if nothing had happened; even his gait didn’t change as he continued walking toward his room.

“Where did you go today?” came Bai Wei’s voice from the left, seething with anger.

Bai Cheng ignored Bai Wei’s hysterical rage.

Eyes bloodshot, Bai Wei pushed himself up from the shadows of the dimly lit room. “Dad hasn’t been home lately, so I’m the one in charge here. I asked you where you went. Why aren’t you answering me? Are you trying to defy me?”

Thunder boomed, as if to echo Bai Wei’s words.

Still, Bai Cheng didn’t say a word.

Bai Wei chased after him.

Bai Cheng quickened his pace, reached his room, and swung the door shut behind him.

Almost the instant the door closed, something else slammed into it from the outside. The doorframe gave a faint rattle.

Expressionless, Bai Cheng changed into loungewear, then went to sit in the soft single armchair by the window. He pulled one leg up, his cold bare foot resting on the edge of the seat, and wrapped the blanket tightly around himself until he was cocooned in it. His gaze fixed on the rivulets of rainwater snaking down the windowpane.

The sound of the rain and the intermittent rumble of thunder drowned out the curses Bai Wei was still spewing outside.

It felt like the world had shrunk down until only Bai Cheng remained.

Quiet and beautiful.

As time passed, the room grew darker and darker. Just when Bai Cheng had tipped his head back and was on the verge of dozing off, there was a sudden buzz.

His phone vibrated.

Bai Cheng opened his eyes. It took him a while to react.

He stretched out a slightly stiff hand and fished the phone out of his clothes pocket.

A little red dot had appeared beside his WeChat contacts.

Listlessly, Bai Cheng moved his finger.

The chat window popped up.

Miao Miao Miao Wu: Hello, President Bai. I’m Yan Jinge, manager of the Technology Department at Yan Group. I’d like to discuss a potential co-branded collaboration with you.

Author’s Note:

Bai Cheng: That WeChat name is so cute.