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Tsk, the wind isn't strong enough. Make it stronger.

000 turned up the blower in its hand. The breeze brushing lightly over his face became a biting gale and slapped Shi Jihan right across the face.

Shi Jihan: ...I didn't tell you to set it to maximum!

One hand held down his flapping suit jacket, while the other pressed down his bangs that were about to be blown away. He swore to defend his hairline to the death.

000 busied itself unstrapping the softbox, camera, blower, and speakers from its body, then asked excitedly, Host, wasn't our entrance cool enough?

Shi Jihan: There was certainly enough wind, and it certainly was pretty lame.

Sloppy puppy.JPG

People really couldn't make peace with their past selves. He didn't understand why, half an hour ago, he'd suggested making a dazzling entrance and even spent Malice Points on temporary props, making his debt even worse.

But it had worked. Everyone in the first-floor lobby had turned to look at him.

What? Was the front door leaking wind? Why was he getting blown around like that?

And someone came running over.

He grabbed him.

"Young Master Shi, you're finally here! Hurry, this way—the board meeting is about to start!"

Shi Jihan was dragged toward the elevator lobby. "Slow down, slow down!"

000: This is one of the employees you bought over. He's also Yan Bo, a pattern maker in Shen Qinghuai's project team.

Shi Jihan immediately noticed the enormous bags beneath the man's eyes and his swollen eyelids. He was clearly severely sleep-deprived. Huh? You're saying this Sad Frog works for me? Why did he defect?

000 marveled at his talent for nicknames. Because Shen Qinghuai is a workaholic, and the entire project team has been caught up in the grind. Yan Bo—who's been flattened into a mille-feuille by all that grinding—took one look at your useless, lying-flat nature and decided you were the one. He's the person in the whole project team who most wants you to rise up and squeeze Shen Qinghuai out.

o.O? That kind of sounded like an insult.

Yan Bo told him, "Young Master Shi, I heard all about what happened at the previous banquet. You've already done very well. Leave the rest to me—I'll make sure you get what you deserve!"

He patted his chest, his tone full of conviction.

Shi Jihan looked blank. "What? What do I deserve?"

Before he could finish asking, the crowd pushed him into the meeting room.

Only Yan Bo remained at the door, looking back at him with resolute eyes.

Ever since learning that Shi Jihan had gone head-to-head with Shen Qinghuai before President Wang and secured the investment, he had understood the signal.

—Shi Jihan had finally pulled himself together and was ready to seize power!

As one of the Third Young Master's top generals, Yan Bo would help fulfill every one of his dreams.

He had long prepared for this board meeting. All he needed was a word from Shi Jihan, and he would seize all of Shen Qinghuai's workload and strip him of his authority!

What? Who would do the work afterward, you asked? Of course Young Master Shi would take it all on himself.

Yan Bo strode into the meeting room with his head held high and sat in his seat.

He even gave Shi Jihan an "I get you" look.

Shi Jihan tried smiling back and nodded at him.

I have no idea what that means, but he's an incredibly loyal underling, Shi Jihan praised lavishly. I'll reward him with half my debt.

People entered the meeting room in twos and threes, and the vast space was soon full.

The meeting began, and Shi Bochuan gave a brief opening statement.

Before he had even said much, Shi Jihan let out a huge yawn as drowsiness washed over him.

A high-energy man's day ended at the morning meeting.

The speaker had already changed to Shen Qinghuai. "This collaboration is intended to break through market barriers, consolidate resources upstream, and pursue greater development for Shi Corporation."

"That means this project needs stronger promotion. We need it to become wildly popular."

"Why not make it wildly flooded instead?" Shi Jihan forced his eyelids open. "Then no one would be able to compete with me once I brought out my thesis."

Invincible!

Xu Zhiman, who was in the same group, secretly glared at him. "Brother Huai is speaking. Don't interrupt."

Shi Jihan curled his lip and muttered to himself, Flame-spitting baboon.

Shen Qinghuai noticed the commotion. "Shi Jihan also contributed quite a bit this time. Before President Wang, he used some, um..." He paused, unwilling to recall that night's experience, and glossed over it. "He used top-tier business negotiation tactics and established a good image before President Wang."

Oh my god, Shen Qinghuai has improved so quickly, Shi Jihan said to 000 with a grin. He's already learned how to be sarcastic.

Shen Qinghuai said, "We couldn't have partnered with President Wang again without his help."

Shi Jihan's smile dropped by one pixel. Stubborn as steel. Is he refining steel with his mouth?

Shen Qinghuai led the applause. "Let's thank President Wang for his discerning eye. In addition to our collaboration, he has invested another five million in us and become our angel investor!"

Thunderous applause broke out.

Huh?

Huh????

Shi Jihan clenched Lurdan and shook him hard. How could this happen?! Was he speaking Chinese? What exactly did President Wang see in us? Can't he have some better taste?!

000's voice trembled from being shaken. You bastard~~ let go of me!!

[Ding. Mission issued: Lavishly mock Shen Qinghuai when the collaboration fails and he falls into self-doubt, then seize his position. Mission reward: Malice Points +40.]

Do your missions have a delay too? Shi Jihan shouted. Cancel it, cancel it!

He didn't want to get docked 400,000!

[Is the host sure they want to cancel the mission?]

Of course he was sure!

Shi Jihan nodded desperately up and down, nearly shaking his brains into an even mixture.

[Mission canceled.]

He let out a long breath of relief, looked up, and met Shen Qinghuai and Shi Bochuan's approving gazes.

Shi Bochuan said with deep approval, "Third Brother knows to contribute to the company now."

Shi Jihan: ...

If I said I only did it to vent my anger, would you believe me?

He wanted to catch his breath and calm down, but accidentally inhaled wrong and coughed loudly.

Yan Bo took it as a charge signal. He sprang to his feet and declared in a resounding voice, "In that case, should President Shi and Team Leader Shen consider handing more work to Shi Jihan? Let him gain more experience and grow quickly."

The approval in Shi Bochuan's eyes deepened. That was exactly what he meant. He hadn't expected Yan Bo to be so perceptive and so good at picking up the conversation. "That's what I was thinking too."

That isn't what I was thinking!

Shi Jihan's breath caught in his throat.

I want to go home! he raged. Why did I come here to work? I might as well hang myself!

Shi Bochuan made the final decision. "There's a concept theme that hasn't been finalized. Let Third Brother handle this season's series."

Shi Jihan refused. "I don't—"

[Ding. Long-term mission issued: Use improper means in this concept design to help Shi Corporation get onto the trending searches. Malice Points +80.]

000: An important mission to strike at the protagonist shou has appeared! Once you get Shi Corporation onto the negative trending topics, it'll directly affect the protagonist shou's career and force him to decide to resign, leave the protagonist gong, and begin the crematorium arc!

Shi Bochuan said, "Hm?"

Shi Jihan said tearfully, "I will not fail my mission."

Making money wasn't shameful.

After the meeting, Shi Bochuan had his secretary transfer all the relevant materials to Shi Jihan.

Shi Jihan stared blankly at the thick stack of documents on the desk.

If he sold this as scrap paper, he could probably get himself a cup of Mixue Bingcheng.

Yan Bo walked up to claim credit. "Young Master Shi, I secured it for you! Although we're still some distance from our ultimate goal, I believe victory is in sight!"

Shi Jihan: ...

Those weren't ellipses. They were bullet holes life had punched into him.

Wait, Sad Frog helped me rise to power because he didn't want to work, right?

Shi Jihan patted Yan Bo on the shoulder. "Thank you for securing this opportunity for me."

He watched Yan Bo's eyes light up, then said, "So when the secretary just asked who I wanted to work with, I immediately gave her your name. Don't worry. Half the workload in here is yours."

Yan Bo had a bad feeling. His lips trembled. "Then... Young Master Shi, whose name else did you give her?"

"Listen to you. If I gave someone else's name, how would that show how important you are?" Shi Jihan slapped his shoulder hard, gritted his teeth, and smiled. "Just us two. Are you... happy?"

The Sad Frog looked even sadder.

-

Because of President Wang's generous additional investment, the company held a celebration banquet.

At a rival company that had heard the news, the boss, Xia Jun, was questioning the colleague who had attended the banquet.

"Why exactly didn't we secure the collaboration?"

The colleague said bitterly, "Because I still had too much shame."

Xia Jun: ?

Xia Jun thought for a moment. "President Wang is definitely a dead end now. But we can still work on Zhou Jingcheng's side and let Shi Corporation know what happens when they block our path to riches."

He made a grabbing gesture, hinting at the colleague.

"I heard President Zhou likes collecting imported red wine. I happen to have a bottle. How about we arrange a dinner sometime?"

The colleague understood. "No wonder you're the boss."

They were going to poach him halfway through!

That shamelessness really could make money.

Secretary Sun quickly learned of the news and asked Zhou Jingcheng what he thought.

"Boss, should we go?"

Zhou Jingcheng thought for a long time. "I like collecting red wine? Do I have such a pretentious hobby?"

Secretary Sun said gravely, "It's all part of your persona. We're packaging you and putting you out there to create an IP the company can freeload off, saving a lot on promotion costs."

Zhou Jingcheng: ..

"Boss, are you going or not?"

Zhou Jingcheng said, "Going. Of course I'm going."

The Shi Family brothers had acted as middlemen at his banquet to poach people, and they had even tried to kill him on the tennis court.

So what if he went to the appointment to put a little pressure on those two brothers?

Not only did Zhou Jingcheng go, he had Secretary Sun keep the news completely under wraps and only reveal it to Shi Bochuan on the day of the appointment.

After Shi Bochuan learned of it, he immediately informed Shen Qinghuai. After thinking it over, he brought Shi Jihan along too.

Third Brother had persuaded President Wang, so he surely had something exceptional about him.

Shen Qinghuai frowned and asked, "Could Zhou Jingcheng be planning to breach our contract too?"