Everyone maintained a cautious, wait-and-see attitude toward the managing director who had suddenly been parachuted into the company.
Su Baixin hurried to the restroom and held her scalded hand under the running cold water. When she finally stepped out, her eyes were rimmed with red. Two blisters had already formed on the back of her hand, throbbing with a sharp, persistent pain.
When the clock finally struck the end of the workday, Su Baixin watched from a distance as Yan Ji was surrounded by a bustling crowd. Yan Ji’s voice drifted out from the center of the huddle, “Since it’s my first day, and I want us all to get closer, dinner is on me at Ri Yue Tang.”
Wearing a bright smile, Yan Ji was escorted out of the office by the eager crowd, never sparing Su Baixin so much as a single glance. Su Baixin bit her lip, a wave of grievance surging in her heart. She didn’t follow them, choosing instead to leave the elevator alone, looking utterly dispirited.
“Xinxin, what’s wrong?”
Jiang Chen’s voice suddenly broke the silence. Su Baixin lifted her head and saw the deep worry etched across his handsome face. Her nose stung with tears, and she threw herself into his arms, sobbing loudly.
The sudden outburst distressed Jiang Chen terribly. He hurriedly held the young woman in his arms, his eyes filled with heartache. “What happened? Did someone bully you? Tell Brother Chen. I’ll get back at them for you.”
As he spoke, he gently caught Su Baixin’s right hand. She instantly let out a sharp cry of pain. Jiang Chen froze, lowering his gaze to look.
The back of Su Baixin’s hand, usually so fair, was now an angry red, making the two blisters look especially glaring. Jiang Chen’s expression instantly turned cold.
“Who did this?” He demanded.
Su Baixin didn’t answer, only continuing to sob like a small, wounded animal seeking comfort. Ignoring the stares of the passersby, Jiang Chen lifted her up bridal-style and carried her out, placing her gently into the sports car parked outside the office building.
His voice was now icy enough to freeze, “Xinxin, don’t worry. I’ll definitely make whoever it is pay for this.”
────ρя
Around nine in the evening, the group finally emerged from Ri Yue Tang. The crisp night wind instantly cleared Yan Ji’s mind. Smiling, she waved goodbye to her colleagues and walked toward the parking lot.
As she passed a narrow alleyway, the thick scent of blood drifted into the air.
Yan Ji’s footsteps paused. Tilting her head, she peered into the darkness and pondered for a moment before pulling out her phone. Guided by the faint glow of the screen, she stepped into the alley on her long, straight legs.
After only a few paces, Yan Ji spotted a young man lying on the ground, drenched in blood. If not for the weak rise and fall of his chest, she would have assumed he was a corpse.
Unhurriedly, Yan Ji took two steps forward and crouched beside him. Under the light of her phone screen, his features finally came into focus.
“Tsk.”
He actually looked pretty good.
“Since you’re handsome, I’ll save you this once.” She murmured. “When you wake up, don’t forget to repay me with your body.”
Yan Ji reached out to examine his injuries, but the moment her fingertips brushed the edge of his clothes, a hand shot out and clamped tightly around her wrist.
His grip was astonishingly strong. Yan Ji lifted her gaze and found that the young man on the ground had opened his eyes. Like a wolf lurking in the dark, his stare was fixed on her, dripping with a chilling, lethal intent.
Her wrist felt as though it were about to be crushed. Showing no courtesy whatsoever, Yan Ji raised her free hand and delivered a sharp chop to the back of his neck. Only after he lost consciousness again did she smoothly pull her hand free.
He had been stabbed once in the abdomen, and the wound was rather deep. Yan Ji tore several strips from his clothes, bound them tightly around the injury to stanch the bleeding, and then lifted him bridal-style. Carrying him out of the alley, she tossed him into the back seat of her car.
〖052: ……Aren’t you afraid someone will see you?〗
“What is there to be afraid of?” Yan Ji replied casually.
She began driving toward the nearest hospital, but just before they arrived, the young man in the back seat stirred and woke up again.
His hoarse, strained voice cut through the silence, “Don’t go…… to the hospital.”
Yan Ji glanced at him through the rearview mirror and pursed her lips. Reversing course, she turned the car around and drove toward the private villa Father Yan had gifted the original owner for her eighteenth birthday. Along the way, she made a quick stop at a 24-hour pharmacy to buy rubbing alcohol, bandages, and medical supplies.
After flipping on the villa’s lights, Yan Ji dumped the man onto the sofa. The bleeding from his improvised bandage had eased considerably. She took out the alcohol, soaked a cotton ball, and began cleaning the wound.
Realizing it could easily split open again, Yan Ji retrieved a needle and thread. With an entirely unchanged expression, she stitched the flesh closed. She wiped the area down with alcohol once more before finally wrapping clean bandages around his abdomen.
Once finished, Yan Ji stood up and cast a disdainful look at her own blood-stained shirt. Leaving him there, she went upstairs to the bathroom to take a shower.
Since this was her first time visiting this particular villa, she hadn’t brought any spare clothes. She had no choice but to come back downstairs wearing nothing but a bathrobe.
The night air was still a little chilly. Yan Ji carried a blanket down from upstairs and tossed it over the man. After all, if his condition worsened and he failed to survive the night, wouldn’t her efforts have been entirely wasted?
Yan Ji checked her wrist watch. It was already past eleven. Yawning, she headed back upstairs, casually switching off the downstairs lights as she went. The living room instantly plunged into darkness.
────ρя
The next morning, Yan Ji woke up early. After washing up, she wandered downstairs in her bathrobe, her gaze naturally drifting toward the sofa. Her memory sparked. She remembered she seemed to have rescued someone last night.
She pulled out her phone to order breakfast delivery, then called the family driver and instructed him to bring over a fresh set of clothes. Only then did she slowly pad over to the sofa in her slippers.
The young man’s complexion looked slightly better. Yan Ji reached out and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead.
Fortunately, he didn’t have a fever. He probably wouldn’t die.
Not long after, both the breakfast and her clothes arrived. Yan Ji changed into a crisp white dress and sat down at the dining table to eat.
Perhaps drawn by the rich aroma of food, the young man who had been unconscious all night gradually began to stir.
……
Qi Lian woke up feeling a violent buzzing in his head. The sharp ache from his abdomen made him frown deeply, while the scent of warm food hovered near his nose. He kept his eyes closed for a moment longer, sorting through his chaotic thoughts.
He had been ambushed and forced to flee into a narrow alley. At the time, Qi Lian could clearly feel his life slipping away. Just when he thought he wouldn’t survive the night, a young woman had suddenly appeared…… and promptly knocked him unconscious.
No wonder he felt a dull, throbbing ache at the back of his neck in addition to the agony of his stab wound.
“Awake?”
A woman’s voice drifted down from right above him.
The man remained silent, offering no reply. Yan Ji didn’t mind his coldness. She simply set a bowl of plain porridge down in front of him, picked up her handbag hanging by the door, grabbed her keys, and prepared to head to the office.
Before stepping out, she added one last thing, “The landline is right next to the TV.”
The door clicked shut behind her.
Qi Lian touched the neatly bandaged wound on his abdomen, his eyes narrowing slightly as he stared at the closed door.
────ρя
By the time Yan Ji arrived at the company, it was right around eight o’clock. She stepped out of the elevator and had just scanned her fingerprint to unlock the glass doors when two incredibly familiar voices drifted into her ears.
“Who was the one who ruined Xinxin’s hand like this?”
“Not talking, huh? The weather is turning cold. I guess it’s time for this company to go bankrupt[1]internet meme; it implies the speaker is so ridiculously powerful that they can destroy an entire business enterprise just because the changing seasons put them in the mood for it jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2462012_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2462012_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });……”
Yan Ji paused for a fraction of a second. Letting the glass door swing shut behind her, she took two steps inside to take in the full, absurd spectacle unfolding in front of her.
Jiang Chen and Ouyang Hao stood flanking Su Baixin like two knights protecting a delicate flower. Su Baixin’s right hand had been bandaged with extreme, almost ridiculous care, complete with a neat decorative bow tied on top. The surrounding employees were all staring at the trio in utter confusion, completely lost as to what was actually happening.
Still, Jiang Chen and Ouyang Hao’s faces were highly recognizable. After all, their families were at the absolute top of A City’s elite, and both young men frequently graced the covers of business magazines.
The branch manager frowned and stepped forward to defuse the situation, “Su Baixin accidentally spilled coffee on her own hand. It has absolutely nothing to do with her coworkers.”
“Heh. Why would Xinxin randomly spill coffee on herself? You people must be ordering her around and exploiting her every single day. She’s so kind and innocent, how could you bear to treat her this way?” Ouyang Hao sneered arrogantly, his tone practically dripping with overbearing malice. “It looks like none of you want to survive in A City anymore!”
The manager: “……”
This rich young master probably has a loose screw in his brain, right? Su Baixin’s position at the company was literally an administrative assistant meant to handle miscellaneous tasks. If she wasn’t supposed to do those things, were they hiring her just to put her on a pedestal and worship her?
While the manager was frantically screaming complaints in her head, she kept a professional smile plastered on her face and tried to explain, “Su Baixin’s job responsibilities at the company naturally include those tasks—”
“You actually made Xinxin do that kind of rough, menial work?” Jiang Chen interrupted, his brow furrowing deeply as his dissatisfaction flared. “With how delicate Xinxin’s body is, how could she possibly handle those things?”
The manager: “……”
There was absolutely no reasoning with these people.
“Manager Li.” After enjoying the circus for long enough, Yan Ji slowly walked over. She cast a sweeping glance over the dramatic trio before addressing the manager, whose expression had already turned completely dark. “Go back to your work. I’ll handle this.”
Both Jiang Chen and Ouyang Hao visibly stiffened the moment they saw Yan Ji. Neither of them had expected her to suddenly appear there.
Yan Ji turned her head slightly, her voice calm but authoritative, “If you have something to say, bring it into my office. Stop disrupting my employees. If you scare them so badly that it impacts their productivity……” She paused briefly, letting a gentle, entirely unbothered smile spread across her face. Her gaze lingered on Su Baixin for a heavy moment before she finished, “……the consequences won’t be something you’ll enjoy.”
Under Yan Ji’s piercing gaze, Su Baixin’s body trembled slightly, and she unconsciously took a small, fearful step backward.
……
“Close the door.”
Yan Ji set her handbag to the side and sat down in her executive chair. Crossing her legs, she gestured for the last person entering to shut the door. Ouyang Hao frowned, casually pushing the heavy door closed behind him.
“Xiao Yan, Xinxin is working at your company. How could you let her do that kind of rough, menial work?” Ouyang Hao immediately began accusing her, impatience bleeding into his tone. He lifted Su Baixin’s bandaged right hand, his face full of dramatic heartache. “Look at Xinxin’s hand! It’s already been ruined like this! Doesn’t your conscience hurt at all?!”
“Nope.”
Yan Ji raised an eyebrow. Sitting up a bit straighter, she rested both hands flat on her desk and spoke with absolute calm, “Please call me Yan Ji or Miss Yan. First of all, Su Baixin is the lowest-level administrative assistant in my company. Handling those trivial tasks is literally her job. What, does she want to take home a salary without doing any actual work? Do you think I’m running a charity?”
A mocking smile played at the corners of Yan Ji’s lips. Her dark eyes swept coldly across Su Baixin’s trembling form before she continued, “Second, Su Baixin hasn’t even graduated from university yet. She has no specialized skills, no experience, no professional qualifications, and no diploma. Other than running miscellaneous errands, what exactly do you think she is capable of doing?”
“But she’s your good friend! Shouldn’t good friends help each other out?” Ouyang Hao felt as though he could no longer understand the childhood friend standing before him. She used to be so considerate and yielding. How had she become like this?
Spoiled, bad-tempered, and even…… materialistic and vicious.
Ouyang Hao’s eyes filled with deep disappointment. His handsome face twisted into an expression of profound pain as he sighed. “Xiao Yan, you’ve truly changed. Jiang Chen, hurry up and talk some sense into her!”
“Xiao Yan—”
“Shut up.” Yan Ji was entirely out of patience. Her brows furrowed tightly, her dark eyes flashing with a dangerous coldness. Tapping her fingers rhythmically against the desk, she said slowly, “Since you can’t bear to watch your precious darling suffer here, then starting today, Su Baixin no longer needs to show up for work. Go handle the resignation procedures immediately, collect whatever wages you’re owed from finance, and get out.”
Su Baixin’s face instantly turned deathly pale. Her lips trembled as she stared at Yan Ji in sheer disbelief. “X-Xiao Yan, how can you treat me like this……?” Tears welled in her wide eyes, making her look incredibly pitiful and fragile. “Y-you clearly know how badly I need this job. My mother is still waiting for me to pay her hospital bills……”
“Yan Ji! Don’t go too far!” Jiang Chen shouted angrily. He gently patted Su Baixin’s back, wrapping her in a tender, comforting embrace.
Yan Ji was practically laughing from pure exasperation. Are all the people in this world mentally deficient idiots? And to think these two morons with negative IQs were supposed to become top, ruthless CEOs dominating the business world?
“Seriously, you two were admitted into A City’s top university with exceptionally high scores, right? Did street dogs eat your brains?” Yan Ji genuinely did not want to waste another breath on these people, genuinely terrified that her own intelligence would be dragged down by association. Rubbing her temples, she pressed on, “Don’t both of your families own massive conglomerates? Can’t you just stuff her into your own companies and keep her safely under your noses? Why do you insist on letting her out into the wild to plague someone else’s business?”
The rapid-fire barrage of logical questions left both Jiang Chen and Ouyang Hao utterly speechless. The two young masters exchanged blank, bewildered glances.
……Right.
Why hadn’t they just placed Su Baixin in their own companies?
Wouldn’t that be infinitely better?
Why had such an obvious solution never crossed their minds before?
Jiang Chen coughed lightly, clearing his throat as he looked back toward Yan Ji. The smile on her face was dripping with unadulterated ridicule. Her dark eyes no longer held a single trace of the dependence and affection they once carried for him. Instead, they were deep, calm, and utterly detached— like a stagnant pool of dead water that sent an involuntary chill down his spine.
The defensive words he wanted to snap back suddenly got stuck in his throat. Jiang Chen froze slightly, an inexplicable wave of irritation flaring up inside his chest.
Why had Yan Ji’s attitude toward him shifted so drastically?
It felt almost as if……
“Brother Chen, what are you thinking about?”
Su Baixin’s soft voice abruptly shattered Jiang Chen’s train of thought. Her round eyes were bright and clear, radiating an innocent, pure vulnerability untouched by the harsh realities of the world.
Looking at his own reflection mirrored in her adoring gaze, the lingering doubts in Jiang Chen’s mind instantly vanished without a trace. He smiled dotingly, his voice softening, “Nothing.”
“Alright, stop flirting in my office and interfering with my work. If there’s nothing else, you can leave now.” Yan Ji raised an eyebrow, kicking them out without the slightest hint of courtesy.
Su Baixin bit her lip and cautiously looked up at Yan Ji, only to be instantly frightened by the sheer coldness in her eyes. Tugging lightly on Jiang Chen and Ouyang Hao’s sleeves, she hurriedly led them out of the office.
The moment the door swung open, the colleagues gathered outside, who had been whispering among themselves, immediately looked over. They then quickly pretended nothing had happened and shuffled back to their desks.
Su Baixin could feel the hidden, judging gazes directed at her. She pursed her lips, a deep sense of grievance rising in her chest. She and Jiang Chen and Ouyang Hao were just good friends. Why was Yan Ji treating her like some kind of villainess?
“Xinxin, why don’t you come work at my family’s company instead? My dad just asked me yesterday to start taking over management there.” Ouyang Hao suggested, raising a hand to fondly ruffle Su Baixin’s hair.
Jiang Chen shot Ouyang Hao a sharp look, refusing to be outdone. He stepped closer and spoke up as well, “Xinxin, come to my family’s company. I’ve been involved in operations longer than he has, so I can actually teach you the ropes.”
Ouyang Hao and Jiang Chen locked eyes, the air between them instantly crackling with obvious hostility.
“Thank you, Brother Chen, Brother Hao, but I still want to stay here with Xiao Yan. She seems really angry with me, and I need to make her forgive me.” Su Baixin weakly rejected their invitations, a look of profound apology pooling in her eyes. She carefully asked, “You won’t be angry with me for saying no, right?”
“Silly girl, how could I ever bear to be angry with you?” Jiang Chen’s voice was incredibly gentle as he lightly tapped Su Baixin’s forehead in an intimate, protective gesture.
Ouyang Hao chimed in, “You’re just too kind for your own good. This is completely Yan Ji’s fault. Why on earth are you the one apologizing?”
“Don’t say that. Xiao Yan has been pampered since childhood. She’s not a bad person, she’s just a little spoiled and temperamental. Promise not to be angry with her, okay?”
Su Baixin’s kind words deeply moved both Jiang Chen and Ouyang Hao.
Their precious darling was just too pure, too considerate!
Hopefully, Yan Ji would properly reflect on her behavior. Otherwise, she shouldn’t blame them for disregarding their childhood friendship.
The two young masters exchanged a loaded glance. Everything was understood without a single word.
……
Yan Ji naturally had no idea what kind of mental gymnastics they were performing outside. Even if she did know, she would only think the three of them were a group of complete idiots and wouldn’t waste her energy paying attention to them.
Right now, she had actual company matters to fix.
As established, the company primarily dealt in cosmetics and skincare products. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a major brand, nor was it particularly outstanding in any competitive way. Sales figures had been plummeting week after week.
Yan Ji reviewed the data reports from the past fortnight, her brow furrowing slightly.
It was a total disaster. At this rate, the company would go bankrupt sooner rather than later.
Standing up, she walked out of her office and knocked sharply on the branch manager’s door.
“Director Yan, is something wrong? Did those two young masters make any impossible demands just now?” The manager, a woman in her early forties, asked immediately the moment she saw Yan Ji enter.
Yan Ji shook her head calmly. “It’s about work. What’s the status of our manufacturing equipment?”
“The equipment was all imported from overseas. It’s actually one of the most advanced batches currently available on the market.” The manager visibly relaxed upon hearing Yan Ji’s response. She had been genuinely terrified that those two powerful young masters would refuse to let the matter drop. How could a small, budding company like theirs possibly contend with titans like the Jiang and Ouyang families?
“And the products we’re currently manufacturing?” Yan Ji pressed.
“To be honest, they’re not doing well. The cosmetics market is heavily monopolized by a few major global brands. It’s incredibly difficult for small, unknown brands like ours to carve out a name for ourselves……”
Yan Ji pondered for a moment before making a decisive call, “Halt all equipment operations for one week. During this time, I’ll develop a few new formulas myself.”
“T-this……” The manager froze, her brow furrowing with awkward hesitation.
“Don’t worry.” Yan Ji reassured her smoothly. “The company won’t suffer any losses because of this.”
“……Alright then.”
Once she noted down the location of the production facility, Yan Ji immediately sent out an order for specific ingredients to be purchased from various traditional herbal medicine shops.
At this exact moment, she felt immensely grateful that she had picked up some genuinely useful skills from that cultivator back in her past. No matter the era or the world, women always held incredibly high standards when it came to preserving their beauty.
……
After checking out of the office, Yan Ji chose not to return to the Yan residence. Instead, she drove back to the private villa registered under her name.
Opening the front door, she found the entire interior plunged into absolute darkness.
Yan Ji pressed the wall switch by the entrance, instantly flooding the living room with bright light. The young man who had been resting on the sofa all morning was nowhere to be seen.
As expected, he had already left.
Yan Ji wasn’t at all surprised. She simply raised an eyebrow in amusement, switched off the lights, and drove back toward the Yan residence.
References[+]