Hidden Big Shot in the Real World

Chapter 41: The Hidden Big Shot in the Real World

When Wang Yue arrived at the company, no one else was in the office yet. He turned on his computer, tossed his backpack onto his chair, grabbed his phone, and headed downstairs for breakfast.

By the time he got back, most of his coworkers had arrived. Only Brother Yan was still missing. Wang Yue figured he must have gotten carried away playing games the night before!

Brother Yan had said he was the head of the household, so he could play games whenever he wanted, and the women in his family all listened to him. He'd sounded so confident that Wang Yue had almost believed him.

But judging by those dark circles under his eyes, he probably only played after his wife and kids had gone to bed. Still, Wang Yue wondered whether his nearly forty-year-old body could handle all that gaming. Shouldn't he at least get some exercise?

Time flew by, and before he knew it, more than twenty days had passed. Last time, there'd been over a month between returning to this world and starting to travel again, but he hadn't watched much TV during that period. By his calculations, the time was almost here. In a few days, he'd start watching So Young every day after he got back and see if he could return to that world. He could hardly wait.

With Wang Yue's current skill level, his workload was a breeze. One day, just before noon, a notification suddenly popped up on the company's WeChat:

Vice President Li: Wang Yue, come to my office.

Wang Yue blinked. Could he really be calling him directly? Had something happened? There were still a supervisor and a manager between Wang Yue and the vice president. How had it skipped straight to him?

Though puzzled, Wang Yue dutifully went and knocked on President Li's office door.

"President Li, you wanted to see me?" Wang Yue entered, took a couple of steps in, and stopped in front of the desk.

"Oh, Xiao Wang, you're here. I heard you're good with computers. Could you take a look at mine? The screen suddenly went black!" Vice President Li was around fifty-five, with graying hair. When Wang Yue came in, he didn't put on airs and got straight to the point.

"Sure, President Li. Let me take a look first." Wang Yue leaned over. The power light was still on. He put his ear near the computer and listened for a moment. The machine was clearly still running normally.

This was awkward. If he simply reached over and pressed the monitor's power button, would President Li think he was making fun of him?

Wang Yue quickly thought it through. He sat upright and rapidly typed out a short program, setting the computer to run the code automatically. Then, while his right hand lightly tapped Enter to run it, he secretly turned on the screen with his left.

Lines of code raced across the monitor. A few seconds later, the program finished, and the display lit up on its own.

"President Li, it's fixed!" Wang Yue stole a glance at his face. Seeing no sign that he'd noticed anything, he finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"Oh, that's all it took? You're really good! Young people these days are incredible, just incredible! Well, it's about lunchtime. Go on and get something to eat!" President Li sat down in front of the computer with a smile, still marveling at Wang Yue's skills. He didn't even look up before sending him on his way.

Seeing that everything was fine, Wang Yue happily headed out. But as he passed through the office, Manager Zhang stopped him and asked, "What did President Li want with you?"

Wang Yue thought about it. It wasn't anything serious, so he told the truth. "He just needed me to fix his computer!"

Manager Zhang gave him a look that said, "Do I look like an idiot?" Wang Yue met his gaze with complete sincerity. In the end, Manager Zhang waved him off and told him to go eat.

When Wang Yue got downstairs, Supervisor Liu asked him the same thing. Wang Yue was speechless and could only repeat his answer all over again.

After all that, he finally made it to the restaurant where he usually ate. He asked the owner for a bowl of noodles with twice-cooked pork, then sat there looking around, bored.

In the world of So Young, he'd mostly been keeping Guan Guan company while she ate rice. He really missed the noodles from this place. It had been more than ten years since he'd last had them.

As he waited, Wang Yue suddenly heard an intern at the next table, wearing his company badge, ask an older employee from the administrative department, "Master Lu, I heard President Li studied computer science at Tsinghua back in the day. So why'd he end up at a machinery company like ours?"

"Kid, you think people from the old generation who studied computer science only know computers?" The older employee with the surname Lu looked at him scornfully. "And who told you a machinery company doesn't need computer skills?"

"Huh? I thought—I mean..." The intern didn't know what to say.

"Don't go around thinking you know everything. You can think what you like once you're a boss yourself." The older employee shook his head and went back to eating.

It was like a bolt from the blue. Wang Yue's beloved noodles with twice-cooked pork suddenly didn't taste so good, and he nearly burst into tears! Were all Great Gods this devious? Why had that old fox, President Li, put on an act for him? How embarrassing!

That kind of low-key showing off was lethal. He was already a big shot in the industry, so why pretend to be a clueless little white flower?

But who was Wang Yue? His mentors were Xiao Nai and KO. Xiao Nai was always calm and unruffled. Even when he wasn't, he made sure to look it. And KO? When had he ever cared about saving face?

So Wang Yue calmly polished off his noodles in a few bites, then hurried back to knock on President Li's office door again.

"President Li! Great God! What did you actually want me for? You're a Tsinghua big shot. Why mess with me?" Wang Yue wasn't intimidated, but his face was full of flattery as he spoke.

"Oh, so you figured it out?" President Li gestured for Wang Yue to sit, then continued, "I was just curious. You used to be such a couch potato, and lately you've suddenly started getting your act together. I wanted to know what was up!"

"Having something to strive for gives you motivation," Wang Yue said modestly.

"Good. So tell me, what are you striving for?" President Li asked curiously.

"A wife, kids, and a warm home. What else?" Wang Yue replied casually.

"Those few words cover a house and a decent income. But in the Capital, that's not something an ordinary young person can achieve," President Li said meaningfully, looking at Wang Yue before sighing.

"That's true. These days, it takes the efforts of two or three generations just to buy a house." Wang Yue rolled his eyes.

"Exactly. So you have to work hard yourself. Otherwise, your grandchildren will still be complaining about it," President Li said, taking a sip from his thermos.

"So, President Li, do you have some kind of opportunity you're going to point me toward?" Wang Yue thought the thermos must be packed with goji berries. He didn't want to keep beating around the bush.

Wang Yue had realized that if he let President Li keep talking in circles, he might lose. Since he already knew where this was going, there was no point letting himself be led around like a donkey. Better to get straight to it.

"Oh, right. President Xiang, who we work with, has a piece of equipment that needs adjusting. I was going to send someone to take care of it. If you're confident you can handle it, go over there. Once you're done, come back and be my assistant. How does that sound?" President Li got straight to the point too.

"When do I go?" Wang Yue glanced thoughtfully at President Li. Was the rumor that President Li wanted to hire an assistant actually true?

"Go tomorrow. Head straight there, and come back to the company when you're done!" Seeing that Wang Yue seemed to understand, President Li smiled and made the arrangements. "I've already talked to your supervisor and manager!"

"Leave it to me!" Wang Yue turned to go, flashing an OK sign with his right hand. Those jerks had all teamed up to mess with him!

Hmph. He wasn't a donkey!