Ji Hanxing and Yan Jinyue went their separate ways after leaving the hospital. Xue Hui drove him back to Star and Moon Grand Residence. Ji Hanxing had only just sat down at home when the system's voice sounded.
[As the host needs to attend a charity auction dinner in real life, this Domineering CEO Development System has added a basic domineering CEO skills course: clothing and jewelry, to give the host a solid theoretical foundation for showing off and putting others in their place. Please study diligently.] [The time limit for this course is two days. Your learning outcomes will be assessed on the day of the charity auction dinner. At that time, this system will announce the assessment requirements and await the host's completion.] [Task completion reward: 1 day of life. Failure: no penalty.]
As the system finished speaking, five hefty books on jewelry and video lessons appeared in Ji Hanxing's consciousness. He had to read and study all of them himself.
"Can't you just stuff it straight into my brain?"
Ji Hanxing wanted to cry but had no tears. Wasn't this way too much? Besides, he knew nothing about jewelry and had no interest in it. Just looking at the book titles gave him a headache.
[Host, please refrain from thoughts of taking shortcuts and gaining something for nothing. As the domineering CEO male lead of a romance novel, you are exceptionally gifted and possess extraordinary learning abilities. This system believes you can...]
"I can't! I'm not!"
Ji Hanxing hurriedly shook his head. He was just a fake domineering CEO. He wasn't worthy!
[Then the host must make up for a lack of talent with an early start. Begin working harder right now. If one hundred percent effort is not enough, give two hundred percent. Good luck.]
Ji Hanxing stared blankly at the ceiling. Even if he went without sleep for these two days, he couldn't complete this task.
[Does the host intend to slack off?]
The system's voice was full of menace. Ji Hanxing could only yield to its tyranny and compromise.
One lamp, one pen, one night-he was going to create a miracle!
Wasn't it just getting dressed? Who didn't know how to do that?
Ji Hanxing hadn't gone to the office for the past two days. Xue Hui handled all the company affairs. Deputy General Manager Wang was also frantic, trying every means to contact Ji Hanxing, only to be blocked by Xue Hui each time.
This was on Ji Hanxing's instructions. He planned to leave Deputy General Manager Wang hanging a little longer. Making a move against Deputy General Manager Wang was something the original owner of his body had wanted to do but had held off on.
Deputy General Manager Wang was the eldest son of Director Wang, a board member of the Ji Group. He had joined the Ji Group five or six years before Ji Hanxing and could be considered firmly entrenched there.
After joining the Ji Group, the original owner had clearly felt Deputy General Manager Wang and his subordinates ostracizing and targeting him. After analyzing the situation at the time, he had chosen to leave Deputy General Manager Wang alone for the moment and address the group's other problems instead.
He had begun sweeping internal reforms within the group, winning victory after victory through his own keen investment instincts. He had gone from a young heir parachuted into the company whom everyone looked down on to President Ji, whom everyone trusted, successfully establishing himself in the Ji Group.
According to the original plan, it should have been time to turn his attention to dealing with Deputy General Manager Wang. Everything was ready; all that remained was the right opportunity.
When Ji Hanxing received that anonymous tip-off email that day, together with the system's task, he knew the opportunity had arrived. He could act.
Using the evidence and leads provided in the email, Ji Hanxing had taken advantage of Deputy General Manager Wang's business trip to take down his younger brother-in-law, Minister Huang of the procurement department.
Ji Hanxing believed that whoever had sent him that email had deliberately chosen that moment, knowing Deputy General Manager Wang would be away. He also had a fairly good idea who had provided the leads: probably Director Zhang from the marketing department.
Ji Hanxing knew something of the friction between Director Zhang and Minister Huang. He also acknowledged and trusted Director Zhang's abilities, so he had entrusted him with changing suppliers for the ice procurement.
Ji Hanxing could more or less guess why Deputy General Manager Wang wanted to see him. He merely wanted to appear willing to make amends through his work, while actually trying to regain control of ice procurement.
For now, the best approach was simply not to see him.
[Ding! The host has completed the basic domineering CEO skills course: clothing and jewelry. Your learning outcomes will now be assessed.]
Dressed in pajamas, with his unkempt hair looking like a bird's nest, Ji Hanxing heard the system's voice and sprang up from the luxurious bed with a kip-up.
"Didn't you say you would assess the results at the dinner?"
[This system only said on that day, not at the charity auction dinner itself.] [Assessment one: please demonstrate what you have learned by successfully putting together an outfit that looks outrageously lavish, yet sophisticated, grand, and classy, for tonight's charity auction dinner.]
Ji Hanxing keenly caught a detail in what the system had just said. "Assessment one? Is there an assessment two?"
[Yes. Assessment two will be issued at random during the charity auction dinner. Please be prepared.]
Ji Hanxing curled his lip. He knew it. How could it possibly be as simple as putting together an outfit?
Yes, as far as Ji Hanxing was concerned, what was so difficult about getting dressed? Wasn't it just outrageously lavish? Wasn't it just sophisticated, grand, and classy?
He understood! He hadn't been able to afford a suit in his previous life, but he had seen other people wear them.
After two days and two nights of secluded study, Ji Hanxing had finally reached the moment when his learning would be assessed.
When he emerged from the walk-in closet brimming with confidence, he stood in front of the mirror and asked the system with equal confidence, "Well? This outfit's pretty good, right?"
The system...
Silence.
"System? System? Why aren't you saying anything?"
Ji Hanxing looked at himself in the mirror. His solid black suit looked very neat, paired with a plain white shirt underneath. His tie was also meticulously straight and proper, pulled very tight.
The system's continued silence made Ji Hanxing feel a little awkward. At a loss, he pinched a corner of his suit jacket's hem and glanced at himself in the mirror again.
He considered this suit ensemble very formal, with nothing wrong with it. In his previous life, the white-collar workers moving through those towering office buildings had dressed exactly like this.
[Are you serious?]
Only after a long silence did the system come out with that one question.
Ji Hanxing hesitated a little, but still nodded. "Yes."
[Take another look at yourself in the mirror! Does this look good? Does this look good?] [If you didn't have that face to carry it, could you even wear this outside? What an utter waste! Are you doing that face of yours justice?!] [How are you a domineering CEO? You're an insurance salesman on the street! A real estate agent! Are you going to sell insurance?]
Ji Hanxing looked at himself in the mirror. The system had guessed correctly. He had indeed copied the insurance salespeople he had seen in his previous life. Other people might look down on insurance salespeople and real estate agents, consider their suits cheap, and see their work as sales.
But Ji Hanxing envied them. Sales made so much money. The commission from one deal was enough to cover several months of running his stall. It wasn't as though he had never thought about entering that line of work, but he had neither the education nor the connections.
He had once gone to an insurance company, too, the sort of small private operation that wasn't legitimate. And that time, he...