Chapter 35: To Her Liking

Lin Jian ran out of the president’s office after saying only a few words. It wasn’t until he had disappeared that Ye Ziqiu finally reacted. She had called him in to discuss something else, and she hadn’t even criticized him for being late! That bastard had completely derailed the conversation. Holding her head, she felt a slight headache coming on.

She wondered what Lin Jian would do once he got downstairs. She really wanted to follow him and watch the drama unfold, but her status as president didn’t allow for such frivolous behavior. Trapped in her office, she felt as anxious as a cat on a hot tin roof, intensely curious about what Lin Jian was going to pull!

Meanwhile, Lin Jian dashed toward the security room as soon as he got downstairs. He had forgotten to wear his security uniform today; he had left it at home, and he hadn’t gone back there this morning. However, he remembered there were usually a few spare uniforms hanging in the security room, left by others changing before and after their shifts. He rushed straight in without hesitation.

The moment he burst through the door, the six or seven security guards inside hastily stood up. This was especially true for the guy named Song Army, who had been bossing Lin Jian around at the hotel earlier. Seeing them all spring to their feet, Lin Jian was taken aback. He wondered what was going on. As a newcomer, there was no need for this group to stand up for him.

"Manager Lin, you’re here?" Song Army was the first to scurry over, bowing and scraping.

"Hello, Manager Lin. My name is Tan Jian."

"I’m Zhu Zicheng."

"I’m Wang Chuang."

"I’m Xu Xiaohui."

The guards quickly introduced themselves one by one.

Lin Jian’s face was full of question marks. "What do you guys mean? Manager Lin? Me?"

"Huh?" The men paused. "Manager Lin, you didn’t know?"

"I had no idea. But you’re saying I’m the manager now?" Lin Jian was quick on the uptake.

"Yes, exactly! The notice just came this morning. You are one of the deputy managers, in charge of the specific affairs here at the company. Manager Zhang Qiang has been transferred to be the person in charge over at the construction site."

"Oh, that’s great!" Lin Jian’s eyes lit up. "Brothers, say no more. Come with me on a mission. Let me change my clothes first!

"Also, dinner is on me tonight! Everyone in the security department is invited. Even those who are off duty today should come. And we’ll continue tomorrow night—two days in a row!"

"You’re the best, Manager!" Upon hearing this, the guards all gave him a thumbs up. It seemed this new security manager was quite easy to get along with.

"Let’s go, come do some work with me. You hit wherever I point, and don’t drop the ball." Lin Jian changed into a uniform top, grabbed a hat and a rubber nightstick, slapped the hat onto his head, and marched out with the baton in hand!

The other guards hurried to keep up. They couldn’t afford to mess up; they had to make a good impression on the new manager. As Lin Jian jogged ahead, his hat slipped askew. By the time he reached the first-floor lobby, it was completely crooked. At this moment, he looked a bit like a sleazy henchman.

"What’s going on here? What’s going on?" he bellowed the moment he entered the lobby.

The lobby was occupied by receptionists, other security guards, and several workers arranging roses. A few cleaning ladies were slacking off on the side, watching the spectacle. Naturally, there were also people from other companies here to discuss business. When Lin Jian’s shout echoed through the room, the entire lobby fell dead silent.

"Who told you to make such a mess here? Who set this up?" Lin Jian demanded aggressively as he strode over.

"I told them to. What about it?" Su Zhiwei, who had been standing at the entrance, sneered and walked over. He looked at Lin Jian with a mocking expression. "It’s you. No wonder it smells so bad in here."

He had called Lin Jian a stinky security guard before, so now he was insulting him again!

Lin Jian gave Su Zhiwei a cold glare. This punk hadn’t tasted his discipline yet, but he couldn’t hit anyone today. With so many outsiders present, it would reflect poorly on their company’s professionalism. Therefore, Lin Jian didn’t bother trading insults with Su Zhiwei. Instead, he turned around.

"Take all these flowers away. What does it look like, leaving them here? This is the Recovery Company office building. What’s the point of arranging flowers here?

"All security personnel, all cleaners, and you workers—move these flowers away immediately!" Lin Jian ordered loudly.

The security guards didn’t hesitate. Since he was the manager, what he said went, so they immediately stepped forward to move the flowers. The cleaners hesitated, and the outside workers didn’t budge at all.

Just then, Su Zhiwei sneered. "Those flowers are for your President Ye. I dare you to try and move them."

Sure enough, as soon as he said that, the guards froze in their tracks.

Even with tenfold the courage, they wouldn’t dare touch flowers meant for the president. This was exactly why no one had stepped up to intervene earlier. It was a wealthy Young Master, the vice chairman of the Xingsheng Group, courting their President Ye. Who would dare interfere? The guards winked furiously at Lin Jian, signaling him not to offend anyone since he didn’t understand the situation.

Su Zhiwei looked incredibly smug. If he had a tail, it would be wagging all the way to the sky right now. He shot a provocative look at Lin Jian.

He thought to himself that he had arranged flowers here plenty of times before, and not a single one of these lowly guards had ever dared to touch them. Without a direct order from President Ye herself, the security guards were nothing. No one would dare lay a finger on these roses. Because of this, he felt completely secure.

Furthermore, it was impossible for Ye Ziqiu to personally order the flowers removed. Doing so would be a massive slap in the face to him, the crown prince of Xingsheng. It would sour the relationship between Recovery Company and Xingsheng, turning them into true rivals. Therefore, he wanted to see just what this insignificant guard could possibly do to him!

Lin Jian picked his ear and looked at Su Zhiwei as if he were an idiot. "Are you really trying to use our President Ye to pressure us, you absolute simp?"

He let out a disdainful chuckle before his expression turned icy. "Everyone in the security department, listen up. I’ll say it one more time. Crush every last one of these flowers and throw them out!

"Don’t make me say it a third time!

"Move it!"

The security guard Song Army had already offended Lin Jian once, making today the perfect opportunity to make amends. Gritting his teeth, he kicked out, sending the carefully arranged heart-shaped rose display tumbling to the floor.

"Move them." The other guards didn’t hesitate either. Their job was to maintain order here; if outsiders came to set up flowers, it was their duty to intervene. Naturally, if anything went wrong, the blame would fall on Lin Jian. He was the manager, after all, and they just had to follow his lead.

"How dare you... You..." Su Zhiwei was so furious he could barely speak. He felt like a scholar trying to reason with barbarians.

At that moment, Lin Jian leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Mr. Su, I sense something unclean about you. Did you provoke something you shouldn’t have? There’s something wrong with you. You’d better find a professional to take a look."

Su Zhiwei glared at Lin Jian. "Just you wait. Someone will come looking for you!"

With that, he abandoned the verbal sparring, turned, and strode away.

The flowers downstairs were quickly cleared out, with the cleaners stepping in to help. Once the lobby was spotless, Lin Jian issued an order to the other guards.

"From now on, if anyone comes to deliver flowers or anything like that, throw them all out. They’re just a bunch of guys with too much time on their hands.

"Also..."

Just as Lin Jian was speaking, his phone rang. He pulled it out and saw it was Ye Ziqiu calling again. "President Ye, what are your orders?"

"That’s it?" Ye Ziqiu asked over the phone.

"What?" Lin Jian asked, utterly confused.

Ye Ziqiu scoffed. "I thought you’d have some brilliant method to make Su Zhiwei get lost. Just throwing out flowers? Anyone can do that. You act like you’re so capable."

"Oh my, has President Ye’s mood turned from cloudy to sunny?" Lin Jian walked over to a corner, grinning.

Meanwhile, the others had clearly heard Lin Jian address the caller as President Ye! So Lin Jian had connections in high places. He must have been promoted to manager directly by President Ye herself. No wonder.

"What do you mean, cloudy to sunny? When you went downstairs just now, I really thought you had a good plan. Hmph!"

Ye Ziqiu was actually in a rather good mood. No matter what, Lin Jian was like a mind reader—he knew exactly what she wanted. When it came to throwing out the flowers, she couldn’t explicitly order the security guards to do it; they had to take the initiative themselves.

After all, if she gave the order personally, she would thoroughly offend Su Zhiwei and Xingsheng. If the young master of the Xingsheng Group sent her flowers, and she ordered the security guards to throw them out, she would become a laughingstock in the industry. It would cause a massive rift with Xingsheng, making it difficult to mend relations in the future. However, if the security guards acted on their own authority, Xingsheng couldn’t do much about it. At most, they would complain to her, but she couldn’t exactly punish the security department for doing their job, could she? What kind of message would that send?

Therefore, the little security guard had handled it beautifully. It was exactly what she wanted.