Chapter 34: Lackey Lin Jian

Ye Ziqiu had a habit: she would always arrive at the company early every day for work. Sometimes she came half an hour early, sometimes an hour, and occasionally even two hours early.

Today, she had arrived two hours early, getting to the office by seven in the morning. Naturally, she didn’t head straight to her office. Instead, she took a walk around the mall, the supermarket, the restaurants, and the hotel.

At eight o’clock, she returned to her office to process various documents. At eight-forty, her secretary came in, brewed her a cup of coffee, and reported her itinerary for the day.

"At 9:50 a.m., we are heading to the construction site, and at 10:40 a.m., there is a company briefing," Secretary Jin said. "At 11:30 a.m., you have a lunch meeting with Chairman Su from Xingsheng. In the afternoon—"

"Hold on," Ye Ziqiu interrupted. "Cancel the lunch appointment with Su Zhiwei. Also, notify President Lu to cancel our intended cooperation with Xingsheng."

"Uh... understood." The secretary quickly jotted it down, not daring to question her.

Ye Ziqiu massaged her forehead. Recalling something else, she added, "Notify the security department. Deduct this month’s bonus from the security supervisor, Zhang Qiang, and order him to overhaul the department starting today."

"Understood."

Ye Ziqiu paused, twirling the gel pen in her hand over and over as she pondered a certain matter. A moment later, she seemed to have finally made her decision. "Send out a notice. Promote Lin Jian, a staff member in the security department, to deputy supervisor. Raise his salary to Level One. That’s all."

Jin pushed her glasses up her nose, extremely astonished. Of course she knew who this Lin Jian was. He was the one who had helped President Ye subdue the kidnappers. Yet somehow, he had offended President Ye and had been banished to direct traffic at the hotel parking lot. The entire company was buzzing with the gossip. However, no one knew exactly what had happened.

And now, after directing traffic for just one day, this Lin Jian was being promoted to deputy supervisor of the security department?

"President Ye, the security department already has a deputy supervisor, Liu Fei. For Lin Jian to..." Jin meant to imply that a mere security department didn’t need two deputy supervisors. Besides, other companies usually outsourced their security needs to specialized firms. Only their company maintained an in-house security department.

"Add another position," Ye Ziqiu said nonchalantly. "The security department will become increasingly important in the future. Once the high-end residential project is completed, we will need to expand the team. We aim to build a first-class property management service, so a high-quality security team is indispensable.

"For now, let Lin Jian take charge of security matters on the corporate side, and have Zhang Qiang oversee the infrastructure and property management side."

Jin stuck out her tongue slightly. She knew it! With such a massive incident occurring in the security department, how could the supervisor, Zhang Qiang, only be penalized by losing his bonus? So this was the real play. Zhang Qiang was essentially stepping aside to make room for Lin Jian.

Their Recovery Group was currently investing in the construction of high-end residential projects, and phase one was nearing completion. Therefore, the security team would inevitably need to be expanded when the time came, requiring two separate leadership structures.

Ye Ziqiu had great foresight. She was already beginning to groom that lowly security guard, Lin Jian. Jin wondered how Lin Jian had managed to catch the big boss’s eye. Logically speaking, a top executive like Ye Ziqiu should never have had any interactions with a mere security guard. But now, all signs indicated that President Ye was paying close attention to him.

"Understood," Jin replied, turning and walking out in her high heels.

Meanwhile, Ye Ziqiu continued to twirl the pen in her hand. She thought about it carefully and decided it was necessary to have a talk with Lin Jian. After all, she had just promoted him. So she took out her phone and dialed Lin Jian’s number.

The phone rang six or seven times before it was answered. As soon as the call connected, before Ye Ziqiu could even speak, Lin Jian launched into a barrage of apologies. "President Ye, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to be late, but the traffic was just too backed up."

"You haven’t arrived at the company yet?" Ye Ziqiu flared up instantly.

The security department had different working hours from everyone else. Their shift handover was at exactly eight in the morning. That was a full hour earlier than the rest of the company’s departments. And now, it was already nine o’clock. That filthy rogue... that despicable brat hadn’t even arrived at work!

"COUGH, COUGH! I’m here, I’m here!" Lin Jian finally realized he had a big mouth and had just sold himself out.

"My office. Three minutes!" Ye Ziqiu snapped with a dark expression, immediately hanging up the phone. She was absolutely furious. As the boss, she held herself to strict standards. She was never late and never left early, and no one else in the company dared to violate the rules either.

Yet here was Lin Jian, a full hour late on just his second day of work! If it weren’t for... weren’t for... she was practically dying of anger. Had it been anyone else, she would have fired them on the spot. And to top it off, she had just given him a promotion! He was really dropping the ball.

"This is outrageous!" she spat, slamming her hand on the desk.

However, three minutes quickly passed, and Lin Jian didn’t show up. Ten minutes passed, and he still didn’t show up.

Finally, half an hour later, Lin Jian arrived. Secretary Jin knocked on the door. "President Ye, Lin Jian from the security department is here."

"Make him stand there and wait!" Ye Ziqiu’s voice was loud enough for Lin Jian to hear crystal clear from the outside.

Little Secretary Jin hurriedly closed the door, then turned to him with a stern face. "President Ye is processing documents. Wait here!"

She didn’t offer him a chair or anything. The lowly security guard had obviously offended President Ye again. It was truly baffling. Lin Jian felt extremely awkward. He had indeed gone a bit overboard.

"Um, pretty miss, what’s your surname?" Lin Jian asked with a cheeky grin.

Little Secretary Jin paused, then covered her mouth and giggled. He had called her ’pretty miss’. Well, it certainly had a nice ring to it.

"My surname is Jin. President Ye is in a fit of pique right now, so just wait a while," Jin said, offering Lin Jian a rare word of explanation.

Lin Jian nodded. "I know, I know. What I mean is, I’m going in now. I have something to tell her."

"You can’t do that. You’d better wait," Jin immediately refused. Was he joking? When President Ye threw a temper tantrum, even Jin trembled. She was terrified that President Ye might fire her.

"Don’t be like that. What I mean is, I want you to shout right now," Lin Jian prompted her.

Jin was thoroughly confused. "Shout what?"

"Just shout like this," Lin Jian instructed. "Shout: ’Stop right there! You can’t go in!’"

"Uh..." Jin was completely bewildered. What on earth was he playing at?

Yet, at that very moment, Lin Jian strode forward and pushed open the door!

"Ah? Stop right there! You can’t go in!" Jin actually shouted exactly as he had taught her! But as soon as the words left her mouth, she clamped her hands over it.

Lin Jian nearly burst out laughing. "Yes, just like that!" With that, he walked right in. Jin hurriedly followed behind him.

"You—who let you in? Get out!" Ye Ziqiu slammed her hand on the desk and stood up. Did he really dare treat her words like wind past his ears?

"President Ye, I have important matters to report! Extremely important!" Lin Jian hastily declared.

Ye Ziqiu maintained a frosty expression, glaring fiercely at Lin Jian. "Speak. What’s so important?"

"I saw Su Zhiwei downstairs!" Lin Jian said, acting like a fawning lackey.

"Huh?" Upon hearing Su Zhiwei’s name, Ye Ziqiu furrowed her brows. She finally cast a glance at Little Secretary Jin. "You may leave first."

"Understood, President Ye." With utmost professionalism, Jin turned and walked out, closing the door behind her.

As soon as Jin was gone, Ye Ziqiu shot Lin Jian a withering glare. "You... can you show some discipline from now on? This is the company, not my house. In my home, we can be friends, but you cannot pull stunts like this at work!"

Just yesterday, Ye Ziqiu had told Lin Jian they were friends, and she had more or less acknowledged his good character. But that didn’t mean Lin Jian could disregard her authority as his superior within the company. Such behavior was absolutely unacceptable in the workplace.

"I know, I know. It won’t happen again. It won’t happen again! I just saw Su Zhiwei having people set up a sea of roses in the lobby downstairs, so I rushed up here to report to you!"

"He still has the nerve to show his face!" Ye Ziqiu fumed.

"Does that mean you’re not planning to make peace with him?" Lin Jian asked, his eyes darting around slyly.

"Why would I make peace with him?" Ye Ziqiu snapped angrily. "A piece of trash like him—I wish I could kick him to death."

"Great! Leave this to me. I guarantee I’ll handle it perfectly. I am our company’s security guard, aren’t I? I’ll head down and take care of business!"

Lin Jian just wanted a confession from Ye Ziqiu. Didn’t they say there were no permanent enemies in business, only permanent interests? He wanted to make sure that if he clashed with Su Zhiwei, she wouldn’t end up taking Su Zhiwei’s side.

Now, it was obvious she had absolutely no intention of forgiving Su Zhiwei. And because of that, things were going to be much easier to handle.