My Perfect Enemy is Finally Broke Novel - Chap 33
On the first day of work, Ji Ran’s phone rang thrice.
The first time, it was Xu Lin. Next was Old Hu, and finally, Yu Wen Wen. They were all afraid he’d be late and called him in the morning.
Biting into a piece of bread, Ji Ran hung up Yu Wen Wen’s call.
He had long since woken up due to Qin Man.
“This coat suits you.” Qin Man put a cup of milk in his hand.
“Stop kissing my ass.” Ji Ran’s expression was dark as he gave a yawn. “Wait for me to be fully awake, I’ll teach you a lesson.”
Qin Man glanced at his watch. “It’s almost time. I’ll go get the car, come out once you’re done?”
“I’m full.” Ji Ran stood up and walked towards the garage. “With your speed, are you looking for me to be late?”
After arriving, Ji Ran parked the car. In the past, it would always be registered as a ‘provisional license plate’. Today, it became an ‘employee license plate’ instead.
It was worth noting that Xu Lin was very efficient in some aspects.
It was now office hours and cars continued to pour into the parking lot. Ji Ran drove to the area the security guard pointed him to and turned off the engine.
Just as he got out of the car, he felt several burning stares around him. Looking back, he saw numerous employees frantically withdrawing their gazes.
It was Qin Man who caught sight of a few who hadn’t managed to look away in time. He met the others’ eyes for a second and nodded in acknowledgement. One of the women recovered her senses and hurriedly greeted them in panic.
These few days, news of Ji Ran coming to work had already spread across the departments. Everyone waited in anticipation; not for the project leader but rather, they wanted to see just who the illegitimate child was.
The elevator was filled with people. Once Ji Ran stepped in, he invited everyone’s gaze. There were curious, surprised, and probing looks as well as some other subtle expressions.
He stood still for a moment before he couldn’t resist asking. “Are you all staring at a monkey?”
“…” Everyone glanced away.
Qin Man’s lips quirked. He suddenly felt that Ji Ran’s temper was pretty good, at least he wouldn’t silently endure his anger.
The elevator rose to the 23rd floor before opening. Xu Lin was standing outside and waiting for them.
“Mr Ji, Mr Qin.” Xu Lin was relieved to see that Ji Ran wasn’t late. “I’ll bring you into the office.”
Entering the department, Ji Ran swept a glance around and wasn’t surprised to find only 5 people scattered around. Including them, there were eight people.
When they saw him, they quickly stood up and greeted him.
“Hello, Team Leader.”
“Good morning, Team Leader!”
Even in the nightclub, people would greet him from the entrance all the way to his seat, so he was long accustomed to it. He only made a sound of acknowledgement and asked Xu Lin, “Do I sit with them?”
His tone wasn’t very pleasant. Xu Lin smiled and replied, “Of course not. Your office is over there.” He pointed towards an empty room in the corner.
Although the area was small, Ji Ran’s office took up quite a large part of it. Standing by the French windows, he could overlook the city. In addition, there was a large sofa and rug.
Ji Ran looked at the extra desk and chair in the room. “What’s that?”
Xu Lin replied, “That’s Mr Qin’s desk.”
“…”
Qin Man laid the laptop down. “Thanks for your hard work.”
Xu Lin smiled, “No problem.”
Ji Ran clicked his tongue. “Can’t you put his desk outside? Must it squeeze in here?”
“You’ve just joined, so you may be unfamiliar with some aspects of the job. Having Mr Qin by your side may be more convenient.”
Forget it. Ji Ran waved his hand. “Alright, you may go out.”
After Xu Lin left, Ji Ran sat on the boss chair and yawned.
Qin Man was about to say something when there were a few light knocks on the door. A female staff member walked in and put several documents down on Ji Ran’s table.
“Team Leader, these are the projects our department is in charge of. Please take a look and ask me if there are any parts you are unsure of.”
He asked, “Is this team about to disband?”
The staff’s face reddened as she explained, “That’s not it. It’s because our team was formed in a hurry, that’s why there are fewer projects.”
In reality, Ji Ran already knew about it as he’d seen it on the documents before. Although it was called a small team, it was actually just a group where the staff were randomly picked from various departments. Out of the five, some were willing while others had problems with their work and were chased out.
The one in front of him was probably one of them.
“Alright, I understand. You can leave.”
Their team not only had few projects, but they were all extremely unimportant ones that were not worth more than a few hundred thousand yuan. Ji Ran casually threw the files aside and leaned back, putting his legs on the table.
“What’s Ji Wei’s extension number?” He asked the one next to him.
Qin Man walked next to him and picked up the file. The projects in here had decreased since the last time he saw it, they should have been changed during this period of time.
“I don’t know.”
“Go ask Xu Lin.”
“What are you going to do after calling Ji Wei?” Qin Man slowly put down the file. “Do you think he’ll give you more projects?”
“Who says I want his projects? Who’d care about it?”
“You also can’t completely blame this on Ji Wei. No one enters a company and immediately has big projects. After finishing these, the value of the projects that come in after will gradually increase.” Qin Man put the file in front of him. “These are only to familiarise you with the workings of this company. Moreover, good projects will need you to fight for them. After you finish these, I’ll bring you to discuss cooperation.”
“… Who needs your bringing?” Ji Ran stared at him. “Did Ji Wei hire you as his mouthpiece?”
“How is this possible?” Qin Man laughed, “I’m yours. It’s stated clearly in black and white on our contract.”
“…”
Ji Ran picked up the file in disdain and read a few words before looking back up. “Hey.”
“Go make a cup of coffee for me,” he ordered, “with milk and sugar. I don’t like it bitter.”
Qin Man took the empty cup and left. When he opened the door, several gazes shot towards him.
“Uh.” The one who brought the file in earlier stood up. “Ass…Assistant Qin, I’ll help you.”
News about Qin Man had spread across the company. Even those who hadn’t heard about him now knew him.
“No need,” Qin Man rejected her, “where’s the pantry?”
“Oh, I’ll bring you there.”
When he reached the pantry, Qin Man slowly tore open the packaging. “What’s your name?”
The lady froze. “Qu Ran.”
“Qu Ran.” Qin Man smiled, “Thanks for your help. I know the way back, you can return first.”
Qu Ran was dazzled by his smile. “A-Alright.”
After making the cup of coffee, his phone rang.
He stopped stirring and picked it up. “Hello?”
“Are you at the office yet? Have you gotten used to it?” It was Ji Wei.
“It’s good/fine.”
“My office is on the 31st floor. Shall we meet?”
“I can’t. I still have some matters to tend to.”
“What could there be?” Ji Wei fiddled with the item in his hand and sank into silence for a second before asking, “Is Xu Lin beside you?”
“No. I’m in the pantry.”
“Alright. How about having dinner tonight? Treat it as a welcome dinner.”
“I have something on tonight. Let’s do it another day.”
Ji Wei also didn’t press further. “In that case, contact me again if you ever need help.”
After hanging up, Qin Man turned to leave. On the way back, he passed by two male workers from a neighbouring department chatting.
“The one in the other department?”
“That’s right. His connections are quite good.”
“Those with connections are really different. They get to become a team leader immediately upon joining.”
“Haha, what kind of connection is that? It’s not like you don’t know the projects he has. In my opinion, it’s Mr Ji who is generous. If it were me, I’d let him starve to death on the streets. I’d never allow him to enter the company.”
“This is something you don’t know. This is Mr Ji’s way of humiliating him. With him under his thumb, he can do whatever he wants.”
“Haha, you’re right. Speaking of which, he really is a celebrity’s son, he looks quite handsome. All the ladies can’t stop looking at him.” The one talking was laughing when he swept a glance around and saw a person by the window. His smile immediately froze and the words that hadn’t been said yet died in his throat.
Qin Man held the cup and threw them a smile.
Somehow, the staff felt that this smile didn’t seem too friendly. He looked at the other person’s name tag and his expression immediately grew worse. “Mr-Mr Qin, it’s an honour to meet you.”
The other worker who saw him also froze and quickly turned around.
Qin Man didn’t speak. He held the cup and left.
It took some time for the two men to regain their senses.
“Is that Qin Man? Did he hear us? One of them began to regret it. “Will he go back and tell Ji Ran about this?”
“P-Probably not. Moreover, we only spoke the truth.”
“But, why did I feel that he was just looking at our name tags…”
“So what? Calm down. No matter how amazing he is, he’s now bankrupt. Do you think he can do anything to us?”
“…You’re right.” He wiped away his sweat.
Ji Ran grew bored while waiting and started a game. Yu Wen Wen was online and forcibly entered his party.
“Ran Ran, how’s your first day of work?” Yu Wen Wen used the in-game call function to ask him.
“Boring.”
“At least you have an office. Over here, I’m even ordered to take out the trash!” The more Yu Wen Wen thought about it, the angrier he became. “The hairstyle I spent an entire day doing! They made me wear a safety helmet! My freshly manicured nails! They made me put on these dirty as hell gloves! The new limited edition shirt I just bought! They made me act as a scarecrow in the strong wind!”
“…Can’t you just quit?”
“I can’t.” Yu Wen Wen could only give and take. “If I don’t work, I won’t have money. Will you provide for me?”
These words were coincidentally heard by Qin Man. He raised an eyebrow as he put the coffee down. “Try it and let me know if it’s alright.”
Ji Ran took a sip of coffee before replying. “I have no money. I was scammed by some bastard, you should ask him for some.”
Yu Wen Wen heard Qin Man’s voice and immediately changed his tune. “We’re good sisters, how could I possibly take your money? Just give it all to him. Man Man, I’ll see you tonight.”
Qin Man smiled and replied, “Alright.”
Ji Ran turned off the microphone and audio. “Tsk, you better not try and worm your way into being friends with my friends.”
Qin Man asked, “Is the coffee to your liking?”
“…It’s fine.”
Qin Man recalled the level of milk and sugar he’d used. “You like sweet stuff?”
“No.” Ji Ran didn’t even look up. “I just dislike drinking bitter beverages. Take these projects back and review them. See if there’s anything to change, otherwise, I’ll sign it.”
“Okay.”
Ji Ran spent the afternoon playing games and fell asleep on the sofa when he grew tired. He only woke up when he heard the sound of the door opening.
“Team Leader, if there’s nothing else, you can leave at 5…” Xu Lin was in the middle of speaking when he saw the person lying on the sofa. “…Did I disturb you?”
“No.” Ji Ran sat up and waved a hand. “You may knock off.”
Xu Lin, “…Okay.”
After Xu Lin left, Qin Man stood up and put on his coat while putting the files in front of Ji Ran. “Take a look at these documents again tomorrow before handing them in.”
Ji Ran scanned a couple and found detailed comments marking each one. Some business terms even had annotations printed beside them.
Qin Man’s day must have been spent on this useless project which was only worth a couple hundred thousand yuan.
Ji Ran’s refusal was forcibly swallowed back. “…Got it.”
The celebration venue was a small villa by the sea under Cheng Peng’s name.
After parking the car, Ji Ran got out and said, “I’m going to have a smoke. You can go in first.”
“En, smoke less.”
“Stop nagging.”
The night view of the sea was beautiful. Ji Ran stood by the entrance and watched for some time, only turning to leave when Yu Wen Wen called to hurry him.
“You’re finally here.” Cheng Peng looked at him and said, “I bought many ingredients, they’re in the fridge. Just cook whatever you want to eat.”
“Sure/Okay”
“And also,” Cheng Peng took out a box from the cupboard and said, “here’s your congratulatory gift for starting work.”
“How romantic.” Ji Ran received it.
“Chen An likes surprises, so I’m already used to it. You’re enjoying some benefits because of it.”
“Who’d care for such benefits?” Ji Ran laughed and hit his shoulder. “Come, let’s go in.”
“I need to go to the kitchen, the barbecue is easier and I didn’t hire a cook. You can randomly grill some.”
“Isn’t Chen An helping you?”
“He’s upstairs.”
“…” Ji Ran put down the gift. “I’ll go with you.”
“Don’t.” Cheng Peng suddenly stopped and glanced towards the living room with a subtle gaze. “You’d better go over. If you’re late, you won’t get a good seat.”
Ji Ran hadn’t yet reached the living room when he already heard the voices from there.
“Don’t you feel warm wearing this suit? I’ll help you hang it up.” It was a gentle voice.
“No thanks,” Qin Man said.
It was followed by rowdy jeering.
“Qin Man, you can’t give your coat to him. I’m afraid Wen Xiao won’t be able to sleep from happiness tonight.”
“Don’t say that. Qin Man, Wen Xiao has adored you for so many years. Isn’t he pitiful? Just let him touch your clothes a little.”
The one who spoke in the beginning was Wen Xiao and his voice at this moment carried a tinge of shyness. “Don’t talk nonsense.”
“What’s going on? Doesn’t Wen Xiao have a boyfriend?” Yu Wen Wen was stunned. “Haven’t you stopped chasing after Man Man for a long time?”
“How could he stop? You don’t know this, but last time, when you didn’t manage to call Qin Man over, Wen Xiao got dead drunk and cried his eyes out.”
Yu Wen Wen, “…”
“That’s not true. I just fought with my boyfriend, that’s why I was crying.” Wen Xiao lowered his eyes, not daring to meet Qin Man’s gaze.
Qin Man silently sighed. “It’s fine.”
Wen Xiao’s heart skipped as he gathered his courage to lift his head. “But, it’s true that I’ve adored you for a long time…”
“Hey.”
A voice interrupted Wen Xiao’s words.
The crowd looked towards the origin of the voice and saw Ji Ran walking towards another man. He used his feet to point at the stool.
“Give me a seat.” Ji Ran didn’t look at Qin Man.
That person also seemed to know Ji Ran’s temper well. Seeing the situation, he hurriedly got up. “Alright.”
Ji Ran sat down and crossed his legs like a haughty young master. He frowned at the person beside him who’d stopped moving. “Continue grilling. What are you looking at me for?”
“And you.” He looked at the weak and delicate man beside Qin Man. “Continue what you were saying. We’re all listening.”
