Chapter 81.2: You Dare Touch My People
The incident started when Chu
Qianmiao passed the front desk on her way to the tea room and saw Xia Fengyong
stopping Wu Jin, the head of the Beijing investment banking department, as he
was leaving his office and heading to the meeting room. Xia Fengyong had
stopped Wu Jin and was fawning over him.
The flattery was so shoddy that Chu
Qianmiao was so worried she wanted to correct Xia Fengyong's grammatical
errors. Unable to bear it any longer, she went to the tea room to make coffee.
After she finished making a cup and
brought it out, she saw Xia Fengyong still engaging Wu Jin in a non-stop
conversation. He even dragged Wu Jin to a small reception room separated by a
semi-open glass wall near the front desk, where the two of them sat and
chatted.
The room was right on the way out
of the tea room, so Chu Qianmiao could hear their conversation clearly as they
passed by.
If Xia Fengyong had simply been
flattering, it wouldn't have been a problem, but his flattery began to smear
itself with ulterior motives. He praised Kan Qingzhou and disparaged Ren Yan.
When Chu Qianmiao first arrived at
Litong, she'd heard from Qin Qianyu and the others that Wu Jin was nearing
retirement and that Kan Qingzhou was eyeing the position of head of the Beijing
investment banking department. He was constantly trying to eliminate Ren Yan
and take the leadership position. Wu Jin's recommendations on candidates were
also crucial, so Kan Qingzhou often found himself courting Wu Jin.
Chu Qianmiao knew Kan Qingzhou's
tactics were petty and unpresentable, but she hadn't anticipated their
despicable nature this time, directly instructing his subordinates to go to the
leader and flatter him while framing Ren Yan.
She pondered for a moment, then
walked into the semi-open reception room with her coffee, greeted Mr. Wu, and
pulled up a chair to sit down.
When it came to flattery, she was
Xia Fengyong's forte. Unlike Xia Fengyong, who blatantly praised Kan Qingzhou,
she avoided directly praising Ren Yan. Instead, she described how Ren Yan
worked and how he led them on projects.
She described how efficient,
courageous, intelligent, and decisive Ren Yan was. Wu Jin nodded repeatedly.
Xia Fengyong was displeased,
remarking that every leader approached projects this way.
Wu Jin took the opportunity to go
to the restroom. Xia Fengyong's expression immediately changed, and he launched
into a barrage of taunts and insults. Chu Qianmiao was notoriously difficult to
defeat verbally, and a few words from her had already driven Xia Fengyong into
a rage. Furious, Xia Fengyong lashed out at Chu Qianmiao, saying, "You're
just Ren Yan's lackey. You're always relying on your pretense to get away with
things. What are you capable of? I'm the prospective sponsor representative. My
conversation with Mr. Wu is none of your business. Do you have the right to
speak in public?"
After hearing Qin Qianyu's words,
Ren Yan clenched his hands.
"Did she start an argument
with Xia Fengyong after hearing this?" he asked Qin Qianyu.
Qin Qianyu replied, "Of course
not. Boss, our Qianmiao is not the type to be so impatient."
He told Ren Yan, "No matter
how harsh Xia Fengyong's words were, she just kept smiling and didn't argue
with him. Until..."
Until Xia Fengyong brought Ren Yan
into the conversation.
He suddenly jokingly said to Chu
Qianmiao, "Hey, you're working so hard to speak up for your CEO Ren.
You're not secretly in love with him, are you? I'm kindly reminding you, don't
have a crush on him. Your CEO Ren has always abstained from women." He
leaned closer to Chu Qianmiao mysteriously, lowering his voice as if sharing a
secret, "It's said he's impotent."
The next second, Chu Qianmiao
splashed her coffee in Xia Fengyong's face.
Qin Qianyu's speech quickened as he
told Ren Yan, "Qianmiao, that girl! I thought she was stronger than Liu
Lifeng, but she's even more fiercely protective of you than Liu Lifeng. She can
tolerate whatever people say against her, but she can't stand a single word
against you. If someone says anything against you, she'll fight back and fight.
She even calls us "Yan-protecting devils." When she's protecting you,
her strength is far superior to ours, even when she blocked the wine for you."
Ren Yan's heart skipped a beat when
he heard that Chu Qianmiao had argued with Xia Fengyong to protect him.
He'd sweated from holding the
phone. Later, he realized it was his own palms that were sweating.
He thought she was such a foolish
girl. His reputation wasn't worth anything, not worth her risking her life for.
He clutched the phone and hurried
to the nearest elevator. It was stuck on the 18th floor for a long time, and he
couldn't wait any longer, so he hurried to another, farther elevator.
He heard Qin Qianyu say,
"After Qian Miao threw the coffee, Xia Fengyong was about to fight her.
Qian Miao was also adamant. She said, 'Come on, hit me. Hit me in the face.
After I get my injuries checked, I'll sue you. I'm from a law firm, so I'm warning
you.'"
"In all that time, Kan
Qingzhou showed up. I was surprised. How could Kan Qingzhou be so well-informed
and get there so quickly? Then he started bullying Qian Miao." Qin Qianyu
took a breath and continued, "Liu Lifeng and I saw Qian Miao hadn't
returned from the conference room for a long time, so we went out to look for
her. We found her being attacked by Kan Qingzhou and Xia Fengyong. Ugh, it's so
infuriating! These two grown men are so shameless! Liu Lifeng immediately
rushed to Qian Miao's aid. I went to ask Yu Lizi at the front desk what had
happened, but she kept mumbling and stammering. It just so happened that an
intern from General Manager Li Si's department had been printing materials at
the front desk. I only found out what happened after asking her."
Qin Qianyu's speech accelerated as
he spoke. "Mr. Wu came back later and saw everyone arguing, so he took
everyone to his office. I think things aren't going well. Kan Qingzhou keeps
nagging, as if he's trying to pin the blame on Qian Miao and get rid of her.
I'm going to get out and call you right away."
Ren Yan's pace quickened as he
walked toward the elevator. He asked, "Did Chu Qianmiao suffer a
loss?"
Qin Qianyu replied, "No."
Xia Fengyong was about to attack when Liu Lifeng rushed over and stopped him.
Liu Lifeng gave him a good beating. But precisely because he hadn't suffered
any loss, Kan Qingzhou was now relentless, demanding an explanation from his
subordinates. How could a subordinate be so disrespectful to his superiors? He
insisted on taking action against Leader Qian Miao. "We're not doing
anything," he said. "Leader, Kan Qingzhou is using his rank to
pressure us. Leader, please come back and support us."
Ren Yan ran, phone in hand.
Ren Yan was running back to Litong.
Colleagues along the way saw him running and were nearly blinded by shock. One
girl, who had just bought coffee from downstairs, lost her grip and dropped it
onto the floor.
The colleague next to her
exclaimed, "This is the first time I've seen President Ren run since I
joined this company. President Ren actually runs! My god, who could make
President Ren run?"
Everyone jogged after Ren Yan,
eager to see the person or event that had driven him to become a runner.
But they were isolated outside the
office of the president of the Beijing investment banking department.
Yu Lizi, the receptionist, came
over and shooed them away, "Go! Disperse immediately! Be careful! If
President Wu sees you, he'll deduct your bonuses one by one."
When Ren Yan entered the office of
the president of the Beijing Investment Banking Division, it was bustling with
activity.
The people were divided into three
groups. One group consisted of his subordinates. One group consisted of Kan
Qingzhou and his subordinate Xia Fengyong. The other was Wu Jin, the president
of the Beijing counterpart division.
Wu Jin was sitting in his office
chair.
He listened to the two groups
arguing over right and wrong.
When he entered, Kan Qingzhou was
righteously berating Chu Qianmiao.
"Mr. Wu, if you ask me, we
should investigate how she got in and who's backing her. She's only been here a
short time, and she's already acting so arrogantly, arguing with the leaders
and seniors. How dare she?"
Xia Fengyong also commented nearby,
"I don't know when the bar for investment banks became so low. You don't
have to be a graduate student or a returnee to study abroad, even a sleazy
undergraduate can get in."
It was during this moment that Ren
Yan entered the room.
He walked directly behind Chu
Qianmiao, placed his hand on her shoulder, and, meeting her surprised gaze as
she turned, pulled her behind him.
He had her stand behind him,
shielding her like a safe haven.
He stood across from Kan Qingzhou,
his face stern and his voice cold. "Who are you trying to get? She's my
person. You need to ask my permission before you touch her."
His glare was sharp, like a knife,
stabbing at Kan Qingzhou.
"How did she get in? She came
in through the formal recruitment process. By the way, I want to ask about that
Xia next to you," he said, nudging Xia Fengyong with his chin. "How
did you get in? Did you check?"
Xia Fengyong took a step back at
the sound of his voice.
"What else did you ask?"
Ren Yan turned back to Kan Qingzhou. "Who's backing her? What do you want
to hear? I'm backing her, but she has even stronger backing." Ren Yan
chuckled, "I tell you, it's her own ability that's backing her up."
He turned to Wu Jin. "Mr. Wu,
investment banking isn't a market; it's not about whoever argues loudest is
right. Investment banks are about competence. Arguing is pointless; it all
comes down to who has the stronger professionalism. Why don't you ask two
practical project questions and see who answers better, Chu Qianmiao or Xia
Fengyong. If Chu Qianmiao answers well, I hope Xia Fengyong will apologize for
calling her a mere decoration."
Wu Jin thought for a moment and
nodded. This seemed like the simplest way to simplify the situation and
effectively resolve this dispute.
Kan Qingzhou and Xia Fengyong
discussed it, and neither of them objected. Xia Fengyong didn't hide his
disdain, looking at Chu Qianmiao as if she were a mere decoration.
Ren Yan glanced back at Chu
Qianmiao and said, "Relax, don't be nervous. I brought you up, so,"
he smiled suddenly at her, "you can win."
Chu Qianmiao stared at Ren Yan,
startled, her heart skipping a beat.
0 Comments