Chapter 65: Silver-Tongued

The next morning.

When Ye Chen rose from his bed, it was already past six. He ran a lap at the residential complex, freshened up, and then hurried toward the company with five large pork buns in hand. This time, Ye Chen didn’t swagger in with Li Ruo’s BMW; instead, he drove his humble little Alto. Besides, that BMW had already been tucked away in the garage of his newly purchased villa. The Z4 was indeed flashy, but far too ostentatious—what would people think of a lowly security guard driving a luxury car worth millions to work? If that wasn’t showing off, what was?

After parking the Alto in the company lot, Ye Chen made his way to the building in haste.

At the front desk, the pretty receptionist, Xiao Mei, saw Ye Chen rushing in and stood to greet him. “Ye Chen, there’s no need to hurry. President Li isn’t here yet.”

“Really?” Ye Chen paused, then, feeling mischievous, produced five pork buns from his pocket as if performing a magic trick. Smiling slyly at Xiao Mei, he said, “You’re always so good to me. How should I thank you? I bought five pork buns for breakfast—why don’t I give you three?”

“Huh?” Xiao Mei blushed and quickly shook her head. “No, that’s not necessary!”

“How could you not need them? I think you do!” Ye Chen frowned playfully. “The ancients said, ‘You are what you eat.’ So, don’t you think you’d benefit from a few more pork buns?”

“Ah?!” Xiao Mei was momentarily stunned, not quite able to process his words. But when she did, her entire face burned with embarrassment. Ye Chen was such an infuriating man, flirting shamelessly in broad daylight. Didn’t he know she’d never even had a boyfriend? Her brows knitted, about to retort, when suddenly Li Ruo entered the lobby with Lin Ziwen by her side. Xiao Mei shot Ye Chen a series of warning glances.

“How about it? Don’t you think I have a point?” Ye Chen blinked at her, completely oblivious to the danger approaching from behind. Instead, he grew bolder. “Based on my eye test, you’re at most a 34B. Eat a couple more pork buns and work hard—you might get yourself up to a D.”

Xiao Mei’s face was crimson. She cursed herself for ever engaging with Ye Chen; now she was completely flustered, and President Li was watching the show from behind. Suddenly, Li Ruo spoke. “Ye Chen, why don’t you take a look at mine, then?”

Ye Chen turned around at once. Behind him stood a woman of striking elegance in her company uniform—a black skirt suit over a white lace-trimmed blouse. Because of her ample curves, the top two buttons of her shirt couldn’t be done up, revealing a tempting expanse of snowy skin and a deep, shadowed valley.

“So big, so white, so deep!” Ye Chen blurted out three compliments in quick succession. But as soon as he saw her face clearly, he froze. It was none other than Li Ruo herself. In that moment, her expression was icy, her eyes so cold they seemed to sharpen into blades ready to cut him down.

Ye Chen forced an awkward smile. “Heh, good morning, President Li!”

“Hmph, you’re here early, aren’t you?” Li Ruo snorted. “Do you come to the company just to flirt with girls?”

“Well…” Ye Chen grinned. “As a certain great man said, ‘Never let work get in the way of flirting with beautiful women!’”

“I’ve never heard of any great man saying that!” Li Ruo was taken aback. And not only her—Xiao Mei and Lin Ziwen looked equally dumbfounded. None of them had ever heard such a ‘wise saying.’

“He’s standing right in front of you, isn’t he?” Ye Chen thumped his own chest.

Xiao Mei and Lin Ziwen couldn’t help but stifle their laughter behind their hands. This fellow always managed to come up with something unexpectedly funny. But Li Ruo was not amused; her glare only grew more chilling. Ye Chen swallowed, took a few steps back, worried she might pounce on him at any moment.

“Silver-tongued scoundrel!” Li Ruo glared at him, then turned on her heel. As she left, she threw a command over her shoulder: “Go clock in at your department, then come see me in my office!”

Watching Li Ruo and Lin Ziwen walk away, Ye Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief. Xiao Mei grinned. “You’re in trouble this time, Ye Chen. Let’s see if you dare to run your mouth again—I was even giving you signals!”

“Heh, I’m not afraid!” Ye Chen smiled at her, then added, “Don’t forget to eat those three pork buns, Xiao Mei!”

With that, he dashed through the open elevator doors. Xiao Mei wanted to say something, but by the time she looked, Ye Chen had vanished. Gazing at the three pork buns, a shy smile crept onto her face.

As soon as Ye Chen entered the elevator, as luck would have it, Deputy Director Qian was already inside. The moment she saw him, her beady little eyes widened. Ye Chen pretended not to notice. Last time, he’d made a fool of this obnoxious woman, and she surely wouldn’t let it go easily. His principle was simple: don’t mess with others unless they mess with you first, but if they do, make sure they regret it utterly. If this fat sow dared to come for him again, he’d make sure even her husband, Director Cao, wouldn’t recognize her afterward.

“Hmph, no manners at all—everyone’s queuing for the elevator, and someone shamelessly cuts in!” Deputy Director Qian muttered, not daring to name Ye Chen directly. She clutched her Louis Vuitton purse and puffed out her belly in indignation. Ye Chen let it slide. What was the point of a grown man bickering with a woman like her? He rolled his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

As the elevator filled up, it soon became overloaded. The last girl to get in shrugged and backed out helplessly. The doors closed, and the elevator began to rise.

But within seconds, someone in the crowded elevator silently let out a muffled fart. The stench was unbearable—far worse than rotten eggs. Everyone pinched their noses and frowned in disgust. Ye Chen shook his head, fanning the air before his face. Then, noticing Deputy Director Qian looking like she was about to explode, he blurted out, “Damn, the fat woman with the Louis Vuitton purse just farted—what a stink!”

Before anyone could react, Deputy Director Qian frantically waved her hands. “No, it wasn’t me! Really, it wasn’t!” But the crowd shot her looks of annoyance and disgust. No one dared say anything outright—after all, she was the deputy director. One after another, people got off at the next available floor in a hurry, none daring to linger in the elevator lest they succumb to the noxious fumes.

“Ye Chen, you bastard, you did that on purpose!” Deputy Director Qian seethed.

“How did I do anything on purpose?” Ye Chen glanced at her with disdain, then waved as the elevator reached the fifteenth floor. “Deputy Director Qian, this is my stop. See you around!”

As the doors opened, Ye Chen strode out. Deputy Director Qian glared after his retreating figure, wishing she could crush him with her enormous bulk.

Ye Chen ambled over to the security office to clock in. Since Li Ruo had told him to report there first before coming to her, he figured there was no rush. If she needed him urgently, she’d surely call him at once.

But as soon as he entered the bodyguard room, he sensed something was off. His eyes swept the room sharply. Captain Cao was back, his leg in a cast, leaning on a crutch, regaling the others with tales.

“See this flight suit? I wore it during my service with the Russian special forces!” Captain Cao puffed on a cigarette while the other bodyguards looked at him in awe.

“Captain Cao, you used to fly fighter jets?” someone asked.

“Of course!” Captain Cao replied, exhaling smoke with a smug wave of his hand. “MiG-29s from the former Soviet Union—that was my ride!”

“Wow…” The room filled with admiring gasps.

Vice Captain Jin grinned and joined in. “Captain Cao’s glorious past is something regular soldiers like us can’t compare to. My own history pales in comparison.”

“Come on, Vice Captain Jin, tell us your story!” The bodyguards, a timid bunch at heart, always yearned to hear others’ exploits, if only to berate themselves in their minds.

Imitating Captain Cao, Vice Captain Jin took a drag from his cigarette, then pulled out a gleaming dagger. “Back in the day, our unit was deployed in the Golden Triangle hunting drug traffickers. It was dangerous as hell—three days and nights without sleep. This very knife was my lifeline during two weeks of survival there!”

The bodyguards listened, eyes wide with fascination.

“Well, well…” Ye Chen strolled in with a smile. “Looks like you’re all having a story-telling session?”