Page 28

Cui Ling frowned. "But—"

"No buts."

"Do as I say," Qin You said.

Cui Ling hesitated, then pulled the folder back.

These materials, including the entire document, really weren't important. If they were, they wouldn't have been handed to the inexperienced Qin You.

Could Qin You really be a genius who, after only a few days at work, had already figured out how to prioritize? Was he leaving unimportant things for his subordinates to handle?

Still, he sounded so natural and casual when ordering people around. He had real potential as a capitalist.

As Cui Ling thought this over, he glanced at the back seat in the rearview mirror.

Seeing his boss playing games again, he clutched the folder and looked away.

Forget it.

A capitalist was still better than a spoiled second-generation heir.

Looking on the bright side, someone who couldn't lead a team would have to work himself to death.

The young master had grasped the importance of assigning people to the right jobs so quickly. In a way, that was a kind of genius too.

On the way back, Cui Ling thought over the documents Qin You had handled during this time and couldn't help feeling a surge of emotion.

After they got out of the car, but before Qin You went inside, Cui Ling asked again, "Young Mr. Qin, roughly when will you return to the company?"

A few remote meetings and documents were nowhere near enough to give Qin You a more comprehensive understanding of the company and its operations. Cui Ling wanted a definite date so he could arrange as much of the relevant schedule as possible beforehand.

"We'll talk in three months," Qin You said.

"Mm..." Cui Ling was still planning and took a second to register the answer. He abruptly snapped back to attention. "What? Three months?"

Qin You raised his left arm. "It takes a hundred days to heal an injury to your muscles and bones. Haven't you heard that?"

Cui Ling's face stiffened. "...Young Mr. Qin, you were stabbed. You didn't injure any muscles or bones."

Besides, the spoiled heir had only hurt his left hand. It hadn't stopped him from walking around, or from playing games all day!

"Also, I'll notify HR today to increase your bonus by ten percentage points."

What?

Cui Ling straightened his back, unable to keep the corners of his mouth from rising. "Young Mr. Qin, this..."

Qin You said, "Starting today, you don't need to bring me the documents the chairman asks you to give me anymore. Handle them yourself and give them straight to him."

What!

Cui Ling's smile immediately vanished. He hurried forward and followed behind Qin You. "Young Mr. Qin, this—"

Qin You stopped and glanced back at him. "Assistant Cui, if the chairman discovers this, you'll lose not only your bonus, but your job as well."

Following too closely, Cui Ling was caught off guard by the sight of those peach blossom eyes that seemed to be smiling. He stopped in his tracks instinctively.

A glimmer passed over his lenses and reflected in the plainly smiling eyes before him. For no apparent reason, he felt a chill and understood clearly that the words were true.

Qin You's tone was mild. It wasn't a threat, but a fact.

At times, Cui Ling found Qin You full of contradictions. Most of the time, he did as he pleased without restraint, yet occasionally he would naturally reveal a forcefulness that made people give way without realizing it.

"Think it over carefully. Without you, the next assistant will do an even better job for me."

Cui Ling: "..."

He had to admit the spoiled heir was right.

As long as he threw money at the problem, Qin You could always find a suitable assistant.

But Cui Ling couldn't make sense of it.

Things had been fine yesterday. Only a day had passed, and the spoiled heir had already stopped trying to get ahead. He had far too little patience for hard work.

Qin You patted Cui Ling on the shoulder. "Thanks for your hard work."

With that, he gestured to the butler beside him, then turned and entered the Qin Residence.

The target handled work efficiently, and most of it needed Qin You to make simplifying changes.

But since that still hadn't helped, he would try having Cui Ling do it instead. It would also keep Assistant Cui from having too much energy and spending all day planning to help him establish himself at the Qin Group. Two birds with one stone.

"Oh, Qin You's here."

As soon as Qin You reached the front hall, a man around forty greeted him with a smile.

The five children on either side of the man, two boys and three girls, also turned around and each called him "big brother."

The system reminded him, [Host, this is Qin Hengzhong's youngest child, and the original owner's youngest younger paternal uncle, Qin Hua.]

Qin Hua patted the children on their heads and walked over with a smile. "I'll go in with you."

Qin You didn't refuse.

Unlike the father and two sons of the Qi Household, Qin Hua was adept at reading a situation, even if there was little hope of making up for his lack of business ability.

When the original owner first returned to the country and Qin Hengzhong had high hopes for him, Qin Hua appeared to be the elder in the Qin Household who treated him most kindly, and he never made any demands of him.

When Qin Hengzhong became utterly disappointed in the original owner, Qin Hengzhong himself fell ill from overwork and pent-up troubles. The Qin Group was no longer united, and its people grew divided, forming factions and attacking those who disagreed with them. Qin Hua also appeared to go along with the situation and grew distant from the original owner.

Judging by those things alone, there was little to criticize about this younger paternal uncle, apart from the cold-bloodedness that ran in the Qin Household and his turning a blind eye to his own nephew's plight on the streets.

Of course, there was one other intriguing detail in the original owner's memories.

Qi Hailiang, whom even the Qin Household's collateral branches looked down on, was close to Qin Hua.

For someone who measured relationships by their benefits, associating with a person who had no value in himself was a losing proposition.

Qin Hua could even turn a blind eye to his own nephew's miserable plight, so why would he admire a brute who had all but married into a wealthy family on the strength of his looks for no reason?

"Qin You, this way."

"Your granduncles are here today too," Qin Hua said. "The house is lively. It's been a long time since the family got together like this."

Qin You smiled.

Qin Hengzhong's birthday banquet had only just passed. They were just words.

He walked through the partition into the banquet hall, where everyone had gathered in one room, all of them drifting toward Qin Hengzhong at the head of the room, whether deliberately or not.

When Qin You entered, Qin Hengzhong had just turned toward him when Qin Hua, seemingly oblivious, smiled at Qin You and introduced everyone in the hall.

Only then did he look at Qin Hengzhong and nod. "Dad."

When it came to dealing with people, Qin Hengzhong had always trusted this son. "Sit down."

Afterward, everyone began chatting.

Qin You also sat down on a sofa to one side.

He was no stranger to occasions like this, where things appeared harmonious on the surface but undercurrents were already surging. Even so, he had no desire to take part.

He noticed that Qin Yi and Qi Hailiang, whom he had seen yesterday, were there too.

Qin Yi chatted and laughed as usual.

Qi Hailiang and Qi Xianghe sat in a corner with dark expressions, glancing around from time to time for fear of being noticed.

Before long, Qi Hailiang stood up and made his way discreetly over to Qin Hua.

The two exchanged a few words in low voices away from the others. Qi Hailiang's expression grew even uglier, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and looked resigned to accepting it.

Qin You glanced at them and could tell that their conversation probably concerned him.

Sure enough.

At mealtime, everyone sat down to eat. They were halfway through the meal when Qin Hengzhong left to take his medicine on time, and Qi Hailiang came over with a glass of wine.

As he sat down beside Qin You, the table fell silent for a second. Everyone looked over, some openly and some discreetly, waiting for a show.

"Qin You," Qi Hailiang said, looking remorseful, "when we met yesterday, I didn't get a chance to say much to you. I've failed you as your uncle, and I'd like to apologize first."

Speaking quietly amid the loud conversations around them, he drained three glasses of wine in succession before continuing, "I understand that Xiang He went too far this time, and he deserves whatever punishment he gets. But think about it: he's your own cousin, after all. He's learned his lesson and knows he was wrong. Could you give him a chance to turn over a new leaf? And Xinwei—could you, for your aunt's sake, show mercy and at least spare him...?"

Qin You raised a brow. "Xinwei?"

He knew Qi Hailiang had come because of the video the system had posted, but only Qi Xianghe appeared in it. How had Qi Xinwei become involved?

He asked the system, [What's going on?]

The system was baffled. [I don't know, Host.]

Qin You said, [Look into it.]

The system said, [Okay!]

Qi Hailiang was smiling bitterly. "Xinwei has been well-mannered and sensible since he was a child. Those rumors are all malicious fabrications. Now they're all over the internet, and if anyone believes them, his acting career will be ruined. Qin You, Xinwei has nothing but respect for you as his big brother. He's never done a single thing to wrong you."

Qin You rubbed the side of his glass beneath his fingers.

Before he got married, Qi Hailiang's main occupation had been acting. He could summon the emotions for such a convincing display of vulnerability with ease.

But debasing himself before the entire Qin Household, showing no regard for his dignity, wasn't his own idea.

[Found it!]

The system opened a panel. [Look, Host. I posted Qi Xianghe's video. Since videos posted through the system can't be deleted, I made a deal with an online marketing company: whenever the spread slowed down, I'd pay more to boost it. The strange thing is, the company hasn't contacted me these past two days.]

After listening, Qin You's thoughts stirred.

The system opened the next page. [This is a trending topic about Qi Xinwei. To extract the key information, the gist is that since his debut, Qi Xinwei has not only privately accepted lavish gifts from fans, but also had sexual relations with different fans on multiple occasions, including underage fans.]

Qin You frowned. [Find out who's behind spreading this topic.]

The system said, [The topic was also spread by an online marketing company. The person behind it—huh? Host, it looks like this company belongs to the protagonist!]

Qin You's eyes flickered.

Qi Xinwei getting into trouble at this particular time was too much of a stretch to call a coincidence.

And apart from the Qin Household, the target was the only one who knew he was on bad terms with the Qi Household.

Given the target's relationship with the protagonist, he could directly intervene in the business affairs of both the Qin and Yan families. Mobilizing this small amount of resources to deal with an entertainer would be easier still.

The attention on Qi Xianghe's video had remained high. It seemed that too was at the target's direction.

Remembering that the target had indeed acted a little out of character before he left yesterday, taking the initiative to ask about Qi Xianghe, Qin You chuckled.

They had met face-to-face several times over the course of an entire day, and the target hadn't mentioned it once. If Qin You hadn't come to this family dinner, he wouldn't have known anything about it.