Proposal approved

No matter how long Xia Qinghe waited, no message came from Lin Fengmian. Sitting in the back seat, he muttered and rambled, "I told him not to work. I'd support him, but he wouldn't listen. He insisted on getting a job, and now look-he's so busy he doesn't even reply to my messages right away anymore."

Secretary Su: "..." As if the Fourth Young Master would reply instantly if he weren't working.

Fourth Young Master Lin hadn't necessarily replied instantly before, when he wasn't working, either. Yet Xia Qinghe had never rambled on like this then.

As though he knew what Secretary Su was thinking, Xia Qinghe continued, "When he wasn't working, even if he didn't answer my messages, at least I knew he was sleeping at home. Either my place or the Lin Family's-the two safest places in the world. That put my mind at ease. Now, when he doesn't reply, he's somewhere unfamiliar, in the entertainment industry with all its complicated personal connections. I'm afraid he'll be taken advantage of or swindled and won't have time to tell me, and he'll suffer."

Secretary Su and the driver, Chen Xiaohua, sat in the front and listened the whole way without saying a word, faithfully serving as his audience.

The moment they reached the Lanhai branch and Xia Qinghe stepped out of the car, his rambling stopped and his face turned cold again.

He raised his eyes and calmly swept his gaze over the people who had come to greet him, not a flicker of emotion in his eyes. Feng Chuyue alone was missing from the group.

There was a hint of madness in his calm gaze, and even the surrounding air seemed to cool.

"Hello, President Xia. President Feng..." The branch secretary swallowed. When she had received Feng Chuyue's call that morning saying he felt unwell and couldn't come to the office, she had nearly cried at the thought of what she would have to face.

Usually, it was subordinates who took leave under work pressure. She had never seen the head of a company pull the same trick when something went wrong and he faced an investigation.

It was rather childish.

"What happened to him?"

The branch secretary shuddered. "He... he's sick. He's taking the day off."

Xia Qinghe narrowed his eyes slightly, hiding most of the coldness in them and leaving only a trace of unfathomable darkness.

"Is that so?"

Xia Qinghe glanced at Chen Xiaohua.

Chen Xiaohua gave a slight nod and soon left with a carload of people.

"All right, let's go upstairs." Xia Qinghe led the way into the company.

The people who had come to greet him couldn't help breathing sighs of relief and hurried after him. They hadn't expected President Xia to accept such an obviously dubious excuse so quickly. He seemed rather... easy to talk to.

Not someone who lashed out at everyone he met, as the rumors claimed.

They had all forgotten the slap mark left on Feng Chuyue's face the night before.

Once they reached Feng Chuyue's office, an assistant hurried to make tea while the marketing manager stood to one side holding a document.

Xia Qinghe lifted the teacup with steady fingers. His eyes lowered, he gently blew the tea leaves aside and took a sip.

The tea was good, but whether the proposal was any good remained to be seen.

He set down the cup and held out a hand. The marketing manager hurriedly placed the document in it with both hands.

Xia Qinghe turned through it page by page, a barely perceptible trace of appreciation surfacing in his eyes. To be honest, the Lanhai branch's performance over the past few years had been unremarkable, with nothing particularly outstanding about its projects.

But the proposal in his hands gave him a different impression. It was exceptionally well done and thoroughly considered, even including several contingency plans.

Many parts of it coincided with his own ideas.

What did that mean? It meant the Lanhai branch had talented people, but that fool Feng Chuyue had suppressed them, leaving them unable to get ahead.

The marketing manager was named Lan Hai. He was in his forties and had worked his way up from a planning position at a factory under Xia Corporation to become the Lanhai branch's marketing manager.

Unfortunately, he had been unlucky. Not long after he became marketing manager, Feng Chuyue had been transferred down to the branch, and the suppression had lasted seven years.

Just when he thought he would never get ahead, Feng Chuyue had unexpectedly brought about his own downfall, personally delivering an opportunity right into his hands.

Lan Hai seized the opportunity and stayed up all night with his team, finally producing a proposal he considered presentable.

Xia Qinghe leaned back slightly against his seat, continuing to turn the pages at the same pace. Occasionally, he glanced up at Lan Hai, each look precise and calm.

Lan Hai couldn't tell whether he was satisfied with the proposal. Cold sweat slicked his palms with nerves. This was his only chance to get ahead. If he missed it, he might never have another in his life.

After all, Xia Corporation was the industry benchmark. Even if he changed jobs, other companies in the industry would run background checks. If they learned that he had spent these years at Xia Corporation accomplishing little and had no outstanding achievements, they might not hire him. Even if they did, they would use it to push down his salary.

At his age, he had neither the time nor the energy to start over as he had when he was young.

Xia Qinghe put down the document and sat quietly on the sofa. "I saw that the proposal calls for hiring another team of leading biology experts from overseas to conduct a survey. Have you considered the cost?"

The moment Lan Hai heard that, he knew Xia Qinghe had taken the proposal in. "Further down, I also included the option of hiring a domestic team of experts. I listed several of the better-known teams in the country, along with the projects they've surveyed in the past and their fees."

Xia Qinghe asked several more questions about the proposal, and Lan Hai gave substantive answers.

He nodded. The man before him was clever and understood what he had in mind. "All right, proceed according to your proposal. Contact these qualified domestic teams yourselves and get their quotes. Weigh the options carefully, then submit another proposal to me."

Lan Hai had just reached the door with the proposal when Xia Qinghe called him back. His heart lurched. Surely he wasn't rejecting it after all?

He had heard that Xia Qinghe was unpredictable. If he rejected it... Lan Hai didn't dare follow that thought any further. His vision simply darkened, and his whole body went cold.

Xia Qinghe said, "You stayed up all night yesterday. Your department can take a day off. Go home and get some proper rest. Contact the expert teams tomorrow."

Lan Hai felt he could breathe easily again, his whole body relaxing. "All right. Thank you, President Xia."

As he left the president's office, he wiped his trembling hands on his trouser legs, rather curious whether someone as intimidating as President Xia had any friends.

"Manager Lan, how did it go? Was the proposal approved?"

As soon as he returned to his office, the project team gathered around him. Every one of them had dark circles beneath their eyes and cracked lips from staying up all night. They didn't dare imagine what would happen if the proposal failed to pass.

Before Lan Hai came out, they had all worried that Xia Qinghe would beat their manager up. From the look of him now, Lan Hai seemed to be in one piece. There were no slap marks on his face, nor any red marks from being hit with a document.

His face was radiant, as though something joyous had happened in his family.

Lan Hai didn't keep them in suspense. "It was approved. He wants us to contact the domestic experts as soon as possible. But President Xia gave us a day off to get some proper rest and said to contact them tomorrow."

"Why wait until tomorrow? Let's get it settled right away. Then I can sleep soundly when I get home."

"Exactly. We can each contact one team and get it finalized while President Feng is away."