After posting, Eunuch Li thought that once the scumbag was found and his wrongful accusation cleared, everything would be fine, so right on schedule he slipped off to the salon downstairs for a spa treatment to maintain his “good looks” — leaving Jiang Xiaoyi behind, unable to reach him to delete the post, in a state of constant dread.
Meanwhile, the new boss still hadn’t shown up, but his actions were already dramatic —
“Did you see the HR restructuring email announcement?” Wang Yani held up her phone, looking utterly traumatized. “I heard this is only the beginning…”
Jiang Xiaoyi opened the email and looked — the entire Comprehensive Operations Office had been wiped out, half of the Strategy Office was let go, and even support functions like Legal and Finance had people cut.
“According to HR, Director Ye thinks our Ruiyi departments are bloated and unwieldy. Even though we’re supposedly a leading enterprise in the cultural and entertainment industry, we’ve had five consecutive years of losses on our financial reports, so he wants to drastically streamline staff. Right now only some departments have been adjusted — our Project Incubation Department hasn’t been touched yet, but there’s no guarantee about later… I wonder who’s next on the chopping block. Wish it could be Eunuch Li, for the good of the people.”
Wang Yani said this offhandedly, but Jiang Xiaoyi felt a wave of bleakness inside.
Eunuch Li might really get dragged out and beheaded at the palace gates — but she herself might be buried alongside him as a sacrifice.
She never expected that after finally securing her perfect attendance bonus, she might lose her job instead…
What made Jiang Xiaoyi even more upset was that she’d actually had high hopes for this Ye Zhen —
Ruiyi was, after all, a subsidiary of the Ye Family Group, and the company genuinely had many problems. But its internal relationships were tangled and complicated, full of favoritism and competing interest groups, making reform genuinely difficult to push through. Now that a “crown prince” had parachuted in, it did seem to signal that headquarters took Ruiyi seriously and was determined to reform.
Except…
Except this Ye Zhen clearly had no idea what he was doing!
Besides the department cuts and layoffs, the staffing reshuffle email also included reassignments for management —
Director Zhang, who was well-versed in practical entertainment industry planning, got transferred from the Planning Department to the Analysis and Operations Department, which writes industry analysis reports; Director Miao, skilled at analyzing industry trends, was transferred to the Enterprise Research Department, which handles visiting and liaising with entertainment companies; and the director of the Research Department, who was extremely familiar with client companies, got sent to Industry Planning — something he knew nothing about…
This was basically: whoever was unsuited for a role got reassigned to exactly that role!
This Ye Zhen was throwing his weight around as the new crown prince, treating the whole thing like some game of musical chairs!
Not only was he no easy pushover, he was also an incompetent airhead with a pretty face!
Jiang Xiaoyi was internally lamenting all this when she saw Wang Yani take a phone call and immediately look tense. “Quick, quick, notify Eunuch Li!” she said anxiously. “HR says Director Ye is coming to inspect our Project Incubation Department in half an hour!”!!!
Jiang Xiaoyi’s vision went dark. Were her last days at Ruiyi really going to end in just this half hour…
**
“Jiang Xiaoyi! Are you trying to summon my spirit or something?! I was just getting a spa, and you called me over twenty times! You drained my phone battery! What’s so urgent it couldn’t wait?”
Half an hour later, Eunuch Li stormed back into the office, cursing under his breath. Jiang Xiaoyi immediately rushed up to try to explain — this really was a matter of life and death that couldn’t wait — and just then, the elevator dinged. Ye Zhen had arrived.
This time the man had changed clothes — no longer in casual wear, but in an obviously expensive suit. The Western tailoring didn’t look the slightest bit loose on him; it fit perfectly, tall and broad-shouldered, and the well-cut trousers made his already long, straight legs look even more so. He looked like a walking clothes hanger, and paired with that face — even though Jiang Xiaoyi had seen him not long ago — she still felt a visual impact, as if the whole Project Incubation Department had been lit up by his presence.
Striking looks, young and handsome, but with an extremely commanding presence.
Handsome, genuinely handsome. Unforgettably handsome.
Unfortunately, Jiang Xiaoyi had no mood to appreciate any of it. She kept her head down desperately, silently praying.
There’d been other people in the elevator besides herself earlier. The boss was busy with important matters and prone to forgetting faces — maybe he wouldn’t remember her.
The Administrative Director, following behind Ye Zhen, was about to make introductions when Eunuch Li furiously cut him off —
“Well, well, so it’s you! Finally found you! No matter how sharp you dress, it doesn’t hide bad character! Dressed so formally — are you off to a wedding? Men this flashy are always the ones with bad manners!”
Jiang Xiaoyi’s sketch had been eerily accurate — so accurate that the moment Eunuch Li laid eyes on Ye Zhen, he recognized him instantly.
Jiang Xiaoyi had calculated every possible scenario, but never imagined that Eunuch Li, so used to throwing his weight around, would blunder into disaster while completely oblivious to the truth…
He jabbed his finger right at Ye Zhen’s nose without a shred of courtesy, then glanced at the still-stunned Administrative Director trailing behind Ye Zhen. “Old Ji, we’ve feuded for years, but I never expected you’d still have some principles left — helping me catch this scumbag who wronged our whole Project Incubation Department!”
The Administrative Director looked like he might actually cry, forget sweating — he immediately tried to salvage the trainwreck: “Director Li, are you sure you haven’t got the wrong person…”
“No way!” Eunuch Li declared triumphantly. Not content to die alone, he turned to Jiang Xiaoyi, who’d been keeping a low profile with her head down, and warmly invited her to join him in his glorious demise.
“Our Jiang Xiaoyi here, a proper art school graduate, draws with incredible skill — practically a hundred percent accurate likeness! You saw it on the internal forum too, right? Otherwise how could we have caught this ill-mannered man so quickly? Don’t worry, I’ll put in a good word for you in front of Director Ye from now on.”
At that moment, if Jiang Xiaoyi had had a grenade in hand, she’d have wanted to take Eunuch Li down with her.
Would you shut your damn mouth!!!
If you’d just said a little less, I might’ve kept a decent, whole corpse!
Sure enough, the moment Eunuch Li finished speaking, Ye Zhen’s cold gaze swept over toward Jiang Xiaoyi.
Eunuch Li glanced at his watch. “But wasn’t Director Ye supposed to come inspect us? Why isn’t he here yet? Perfect timing to drag this ill-mannered man in front of him and clear our department’s name — you know, high standards have always been the hallmark of our department…”
Eunuch Li was still going on with his self-praise when the coldly composed Ye Zhen cut him off: “Li You’ai, leaving your post during work hours — per company regulations, that’s a one-month performance bonus deduction.”
“Huh? Where did I leave my post? I’ve been right here!”
“Unfortunately for you, I happened to see you walking into the building from the salon downstairs. Of course, everything requires evidence, so I’ll have HR pull the salon’s records to calculate exactly how long you were away. Since we’re at it, we’ll also go through your past records to check whether you’ve left your post before — and deduct the performance bonus accordingly.”
No one in this entire company had ever dared challenge Eunuch Li’s authority like this. He was instantly enraged. “Who the hell are you?”
The Administrative Director broke out in a cold sweat. “This — this is Director Ye…”
Wang Yani was stunned, Eunuch Li was frozen solid, and everyone else’s expressions were equally awkward — only Ye Zhen remained composed, as if embarrassment simply didn’t apply to him.
He curled his lips slightly, glanced meaningfully at Jiang Xiaoyi, and then said slowly, “Yes, might as well introduce myself now. I’m Ye Zhen. From now on, I’ll be directly managing the most well-mannered Project Incubation Department. I hope that one day, your good manners can reform my bad ones.”
“……”
“Also, Jiang Xiaoyi, is it? You drew this portrait of me? And spread it widely across the company’s internal network?” Ye Zhen smiled. “I heard it’s very accurate. A hundred percent likeness?”
Eunuch Li had already recovered from the blow and immediately went to grab Jiang Xiaoyi’s drawing from her desk, drawing a clean line between himself and her. “Director Ye, I’m sorry, I got carried away in the moment, listened to Jiang Xiaoyi’s instigation and malicious accusation, and misunderstood you…”
“……” That damn Eunuch Li — supposedly comrades in the same trench, fighting the same battle — but the moment “the enemy” Ye Zhen showed up, without even a hint of torture, he’d sold Jiang Xiaoyi out and become a full-blown traitor without hesitation!
Ye Zhen looked at the drawing and smiled, apparently not angry. “It’s drawn quite well. I didn’t expect the Project Incubation Department to have such a talented employee.”
Plenty of bosses valued talent and could tolerate quirks and pushback from capable people — so was this attitude from Ye Zhen a sign he was letting things slide? Had she earned “the enemy’s” appreciation through sheer skill?
With this assumption in mind, Jiang Xiaoyi cautiously looked up, and found Ye Zhen smiling at her.
Was this all water under the bridge now?
Should she say thank you at this point?
Just as Jiang Xiaoyi was about to speak, Ye Zhen’s smile vanished: “But I never authorized this. So you’ve infringed on my rights. Drawing an unrelated portrait during work hours — that’s a performance deduction.”
“……”
“Also, not giving way for someone else in the elevator based on order of arrival is indeed bad manners.”
Did this mean — it seemed the boss still had some conscience and self-awareness? So things were turning around again?
Ye Zhen smiled, instantly shattering Jiang Xiaoyi’s fantasy: “But it’s a basic duty and virtue for an employee to yield to their boss.”
“……” A devil is still a devil.
“Given that you didn’t know who I was, I’ll let it go this time.” Though his face had been smiling just a second ago, in the next moment Ye Zhen’s expression turned cold. “Don’t let it happen again.”
“As for this drawing, redo it.” He looked at the portrait Jiang Xiaoyi had drawn, his face displeased. “The proportion of the eyes relative to the whole face doesn’t match my real appearance, and the eyelashes are drawn too sparse. I can’t forgive this kind of amateur mistake. Working for me requires absolute rigor. A drawing like this can’t be called a hundred percent accurate at all.”
Ye Zhen smiled again with that flawless face. “And remember not to use work hours for this.”
“There will be a position reshuffling in a few days — I hope you’ll all cooperate. If anyone feels the adjustment doesn’t suit them, they can go through HR to resign.”
After saying all this, he swept a cold glance over everyone once more, then followed the Administrative Director and left.
……
What kind of new species of weirdo was this??
Jiang Xiaoyi had thought that after surviving Eunuch Li, she could handle any type of boss. But today she truly saw the world for what it was — her confidence humbled, realizing she still had a long way to go, far from ready…
While Jiang Xiaoyi was internally ranting nonstop, Wang Yani and the other female colleagues gazed at Ye Zhen’s retreating back with pure admiration —
“Director Ye is so handsome!”
“That’s how a real boss should talk! Just like watching a TV drama! Even more real than a drama star! And so much presence!”
“His face and body are so appetizing, I just ordered a pizza and milk tea on the spot because of it…”
……
It’s not like you’re the ones who got yelled at!
A bunch of shallow people whose whole moral compass follows a pretty face!