Seduced the Obsessive NPC and Ran - chapter 9

“Ugh, Sister Wang, how many days has it been already? Once we wrapped up those last few projects, are you telling me there really haven’t been any new ones? I heard from Product they’ve come up with several ideas already.”

“Who knows. Still no news.”

The woman everyone called Sister Wang jerked her chin toward Manager Yan’s office. “Don’t all projects have to go through him now? I heard if he doesn’t sign off, it doesn’t matter how hard Product pleads their case, nothing moves. It all gets kicked back again and again until he’s satisfied.”

“Seriously? Damn, who’s the real manager of the Product Department at this point?”

“What can you do? He’s the legitimate Crown Prince. To be blunt, the whole company will be his one day. So however he wants to toss things around, the people below can only accept their fate and toss around with him. And… the way he’s acting now, he seems even more powerful than President Yan. Back then, President Yan was never this autocratic.”

“…Exactly. It’s so annoying.”

First thing in the morning and the office was already buzzing.

The crowd gossiped for a while. Then Sister Wang glanced around and couldn’t help asking, “Right, after Xiao Xu resigned, have any of you kept in touch with him?”

One question, and the atmosphere shifted.

Everyone looked at each other.

“Come on, it’s only been, what, two weekends…”

“We did get in touch.”

“Did he interview?”

“Mm, he didn’t get his hopes up. Just went over to have a look. We don’t know the result yet.”

“Hahaha, let’s talk when there’s news.”

It had been a little over two weeks since Yan Jinge took over as manager.

In those two-plus weeks, once the Tech Department basically wrapped up the previous projects, there was nothing left for them to do-no new projects from Yan Jinge at all.

People in Tech were starting to wonder if they were about to be out of a job.

They were getting restless.

When employees jump ship, they obviously want a company with better prospects, better pay, and work that matches their skill set.

Right now, the only place that really fit that bill was Rongding Technology.

With Yan Corporation on the decline and the whole “parachuted-in” story about Yan Jinge, a lot of people were thinking about leaving. But Rongding clearly couldn’t digest that many of them in one go. If they waited to be laid off and then went to interview at Rongding, competing for a single position against so many others would put them at a disadvantage. Better to move first-go interview early and lock down a spot.

From somewhat friendly colleagues, they’d suddenly turned into competitors. Everyone had their own agenda, and even their smiles at one another felt a lot less genuine.

“You interviewed too? When did you go? If I’d known, we could’ve gone together-safety in numbers.”

“Hahaha, yeah. Too bad.”

As they were talking, a sound came from the elevator area.

Yan Jinge stepped out of the elevator and walked toward the office.

He was in a sleek suit, custom-tailored to fit just right, drawing everyone’s eyes to his narrow waist and the long legs carrying him forward. His polished handmade leather shoes hit the tiles with a crisp, clean sound.

An assistant followed at his side, apparently giving a report.

There was no denying it-Yan Jinge really had presence.

The few people who’d been gossiping about him behind his back all immediately stood up when they saw him coming, smiling as they greeted him.

“Morning, Manager Yan.”

“Good morning.”

“Morning, Manager.”

Yan Jinge’s gaze swept over them and he gave a slight nod. “Morning.”

With that, he walked into his office.

The HR line rang almost exactly on the dot.

“Manager Yan, several people from your department have started the resignation process. Were you aware of this?”

Yan Jinge raised a brow and asked lazily, “Who are they?”

HR read off a few names.

He filed the list away in his mind. “Mm. Just process it. Let them know that since we don’t have any projects on hand right now, once they finish the necessary handover, they don’t need to come back.”

“Understood.”

HR hung up with a sigh.

This batch from the Tech Department were mostly brought up by the last generation of senior staff, or headhunted from other companies for their skills. And now seven or eight of them were resigning in one go!

Who knew whether they were upset about having to answer to Yan Jinge, or if there was some new policy from the company…

As for the ones left behind, once real projects started, even if they were technically competent, they were bound to be flustered and overwhelmed…

Sigh.

So what if he was the Crown Prince?

In a situation like this, even if they went out to poach people right away, it would still take time. And Yan Corporation could barely afford to wait. A mass resignation like this-whether or not it was actually caused by him, the blame would end up on Yan Jinge’s shoulders.

This time, he was destined to take a fall.

…

Meanwhile, at Rongding Technology.

“Man, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. It’s just that my dad found out and he just finished beating the crap out of me. You know how it is-our company’s small, and we’re already a bit tight on cash…”

Wang Bin’s voice came through the phone.

Maybe out of guilt, his voice got softer and softer as he spoke.

Bai Wei sat in his office without responding, his expression growing darker.

Thirty-six million was not a small number for him right now.

On the surface, the Rongding Technology Bai Wei owned looked like some giant, with online hype bragging that they could stand shoulder to shoulder with Yan Corporation-but a lot of that was just marketing.

Yan Corporation happened to be on a downward trend, while Rongding’s design looked slick and high-end, so they’d simply stepped on Yan Corporation’s back to climb up.

In reality, Rongding Technology had only been founded two years ago. They were still in a growth phase, their foundations extremely unstable, liable to be swallowed whole by any bigger group eyeing them hungrily.

At the moment, the funds in the company were all spoken for-paying salaries, expanding the company, operational costs. Every month, most of the returns had to be reinvested back in.
With barely any liquid cash on hand, Bai Wei, a total paycheck-to-paycheck type, refused to lower his standard of living-and he definitely didn’t want to sell his apartment or his car. Even after scraping money together from all over, he’d only managed to pool just over ten million. Where on earth was he supposed to find another thirty-six million for Yan Jinge?

He could only borrow it.

Yet it had barely been two weeks, and Wang Bin was already calling to demand the money back?

He drew in a deep breath. He was annoyed, but he wasn’t stupid enough to show it. Lowering his voice, he said, “Don’t worry. I won’t put a brother on the spot. I’ll start raising the money right now.”

He hung up.

Sitting in his executive chair, Bai Wei stared blankly at the documents in front of him.

Who else could he even ask to borrow money from?

The name “Yan Jinge” surfaced in his mind automatically.

In the past, whenever he needed something, Yan Jinge had always come through for him. He’d already gotten used to that.

“President Bai?”

His secretary set a cup of coffee down lightly on the desk, smiling gently. “What are you thinking about? Your face doesn’t look so good. If it’s something I can help with…would you let me share the burden a little?”

As she spoke, the secretary gently wrapped her hand around Bai Wei’s.

She knew about him borrowing money.

Bai Wei coolly explained Wang Bin’s call: “He says I have to wire him the money by tomorrow.”

The secretary froze for a moment, then consciously moved behind him and started massaging his shoulders. “Isn’t President Wang your friend? He should know what kind of trouble you’re in right now, shouldn’t he? To chase you at a time like this-he’s doing it on purpose to make things hard for you, isn’t he?”

Bai Wei instantly felt like she had hit the nail on the head.

Exactly.

When people lend money, they usually give at least a month, right? It hadn’t even been that long-this was obviously deliberate.

But he wasn’t about to voice that truth to his secretary.

He let his body relax, eyes half closing. “Don’t overthink it. He’s my brother; he wouldn’t do that to me. If he’s asking for the money now, he must really be in a tight spot.”

The secretary lowered her eyes.

In a soft voice, she said, “How about… I’ve got tens of thousands saved up. I can transfer it to you later…”

Tens of thousands?

What good would tens of thousands do?

It wasn’t even enough to cover the interest.

Bai Wei said flatly, “I don’t want to hear you say that again.”

The chill in his tone startled her. Her hand trembled; she blinked and called out, “President Bai…”

Bai Wei eased his voice. “Silly girl, how could I ever use your money? You’re the only one who knows I’m not as glamorous as I look on the outside. You never looked down on me or left me because of that. I’m already very grateful you’ve stood by me through all this-unlike Yan Jinge…

“Sigh. There’s no way I’d trample on your kindness like that.”

He sounded exhausted as he exhaled a long breath. “I remember every bit of kindness people show me.”

The secretary was taken aback.

Warmth surged through her chest. She pressed his shoulders more attentively, fingers working with extra care.

After a while, something seemed to occur to her, and she asked quietly, “President Bai… Didn’t Yan Jinge call in a whole team of lawyers to have all the things he gave you appraised in cash and taken back?”

Bai Wei frowned. “Yeah.”

The secretary pressed, still in a low voice, “Then what about the gifts you had me buy for him? I remember on that last business trip, you bought him a watch for three hundred thousand. And before that, there were all kinds of big and small gifts. I bought practically all of them, and the company accountants have every one of those expenses on record… I just feel-it’s so unfair that he can ask you to pay him back, but he gets to keep everything you gave him. Isn’t that totally double standards?”

Bai Wei’s eyes snapped open.

The next day, the moment Yan Jinge stepped into the office, he noticed the employees around him would glance at him, more than once, like they were holding back some gossip.

He didn’t think much of it. He was just about to step into the elevator when a familiar voice rang out from not far away: “Yan Jinge!”

Bai Wei was walking toward him with his secretary in tow, along with his buddy Wang Bin.

What was he doing here?

The money had been returned. The two of them should have parted ways cleanly by now.

Could it be about Rongding’s entire tech department quitting en masse?

That thought crossing his mind, Yan Jinge stopped in his tracks and looked at the group with a cool, detached expression.

The closer Bai Wei came, the more complicated his gaze grew.

The Yan Jinge standing in front of him now had completely shed the humble, self-effacing demeanor he’d had when trailing behind Bai Wei. The way he looked at Bai Wei now no longer held that overflowing, almost suffocating devotion.

He looked like someone truly in a position of power-back straight, presence sharp, his entire bearing elevated. The dark circles that had been a constant fixture under his eyes were gone, and his skin was paler, smoother, with a healthy glow.

As for the clothes he was wearing, Bai Wei recognized them at a glance: custom-tailored, the coat alone worth no less than three hundred thousand.

Bai Wei’s expression twisted with emotion.

He’d always assumed that after they broke up, even if Yan Jinge put on a strong front and acted like he had no intention of getting back together, deep down he had to be falling apart.

But now?

Judging from his current condition, Yan Jinge was living better than before…

Just look at him-mentally, physically, everything was better.

Meanwhile, Bai Wei’s own life was a mess, all thanks to Yan Jinge!

The thought made his brows knit tighter.

Why should Yan Jinge get to live so well now?

His gaze swept over the employees around them who had “coincidentally” slowed their pace to eavesdrop, and his spine straightened even more. He stopped just a meter and a half away from Yan Jinge and stood there in silence, eyes fixed on him with a look of wounded sorrow.

His secretary misread it as him being too sentimental to confront his ex.

Her heart ached for him, and she was more than willing to be his vanguard. She stepped forward, immediately going on the offensive: “Yan Jinge, you’ve got some nerve!”

Author’s note:

Yan Jinge: Bai Wei came over, and it wasn’t about Rongding’s tech department resigning. He must’ve guessed I used to work overtime behind his back…

Secretary: Yan Jinge! *blah blah blah*

Yan Jinge: …Sorry. I overestimated your intelligence.