Chapter 3: Little Assistant, Proper Attitude
Choosing the fifth day was a calculated move by Chen Shuo.
It wouldn’t affect his holiday mood, and it also gave Li Ge two extra days. He was genuinely worried that after returning from his philandering abroad, the other party’s mind would still be preoccupied with those matters.
However, being met with a barrage of curses was something Chen Shuo hadn’t anticipated. After a brief pause, he reminded himself that this was work, so he politely offered his New Year’s greetings.
“Happy New Year, Mr. Li. I am CEO He’s personal assistant, Chen Shuo.”
The man’s tone was steady, his speech measured and precise, without any inflection, his voice as if sculpted by a machine.
Li Ge also paused briefly, remembering that the person on the other end was his cousin’s elusive personal assistant. He seemed to have seen him in the parking lot of a bar two years ago, but couldn’t recall what he looked like.
Since it was his cousin’s assistant, he restrained his emotions and asked, “What’s the matter?”
Guessing that Li Ge had cursed the wrong person, Chen Shuo’s impression of this Mr. Li went directly from zero to negative. Speaking any more than necessary felt like a waste of time, but due to work, he had to say a few words.
“The musical you are interested in will be performed on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, February 23rd, at 7:30 pm. I’m reminding you in case you forget.”
Not mentioning it would have been better. Mentioning this matter made Li Ge annoyed again.
He wasn’t particularly interested in the musical. It was the little star he had just dumped a week ago who specifically wanted to see it. He Yan happened to have an invitation from the organizers, so he asked for it.
Having laid the groundwork, Chen Shuo got to the main point: “There’s also a document and the invitation together. Can I go to the audition next month? I won’t cause you any trouble.”
What was wrong with this assistant? Bringing up sensitive topics, wasn’t he deliberately provoking him?
Li Ge frowned and stubbed out his cigarette, saying unkindly, “What, do you want to be in a movie too?”
“…”
Caught off guard by the retort, Chen Shuo concluded: Besides being unreliable, Li Ge also couldn’t manage his emotions well, taking his anger out on innocent people.
Clearly, now wasn’t a suitable time to continue the conversation. He invoked He Yan’s authority, explaining, “You misunderstood, I’m acting on CEO He’s instructions.”
“Misunderstood what?” Li Ge continued to retort. He didn’t take a mere assistant seriously at all. It was just the other party’s bad luck to run into him when he was in a bad mood.
“I have no intention of being in a movie.” Chen Shuo continued to explain.
“Really? I was going to offer you a second male lead role, it doesn’t even have many lines.” Li Ge asked, “Guess why?”
Chen Shuo wasn’t interested in guessing, he only knew that Li Ge was going to take it out on him. No matter what he answered, Li Ge would definitely find fault and make trouble for him.
“Sorry, Mr. Li, I won’t take up any more of your time, goodbye.”
The mechanized syllables sounded like a pre-programmed response, which irritated Li Ge, “Wait, did I tell you to hang up? Let me tell you why, because he keeps bringing up sensitive topics, he’ll die quickly.”
Chen Shuo’s expression changed slightly. After a half-second pause, he said, “Okay, I understand, thank you, Mr. Li.”
The little assistant humbly accepted the instruction with a proper attitude. Li Ge didn’t bother to continue the retort, his gaze casually drifting towards the window. The blind date his family had carefully selected for him had appeared.
“Fuck.” He immediately hung up the phone, opened the door, and got out of the car, simultaneously messing up his hair. With a body reeking of cigarettes and an unkempt appearance, he chased after her, shouting her name, “Fangfang!”
The car became quiet again, so quiet that the ticking of the clock on the wall could be heard.
Chen Shuo looked at his phone, which had returned to the home screen. Li Ge’s fresh “fuck” still echoed in his ears.
It was unpleasant, jarring, and irritating.
Today was the auspicious fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the day to welcome the God of Wealth. It wasn’t worth getting upset over such a small matter.
He put down his phone, took out special fish food from the cupboard, and sprinkled some into the fish tank next to the refrigerator. Soon, several small Rhodeus fish nimbly swam towards the food, each vying for food like starving ghosts.
After the eighth day, the New Year was considered over. The roads were bustling with people and cars, and the entire city of Beicheng returned to its usual busy rhythm.
Chen Shuo was still on vacation, but that pesky Lin Yuzhi had been harassing him non-stop since the ninth day, either calling or sending text messages, putting on a show for him, lamenting his impending miserable fate of being homeless and hungry.
“Assistant Chen, please tell me, when will the audition be? If I don’t get another role soon, I’ll starve to death. If you still have a conscience—”
“I’ll contact you in March,” Chen Shuo interrupted Lin Yuzhi.
“But tomorrow is March! What date will you contact me? Tell me the truth, is CEO He lying to me? Sob… No, I want to see CEO He!”
Here we go again. Chen Shuo wished Lin Yuzhi had some guts to actually cause a scene and then settle down, instead of harassing him like this, slowly boiling him like a frog in warm water.
He suppressed the urge to block him, saying that he was currently following up on the matter and there would probably be news in late March, successfully getting rid of Lin Yuzhi.
After the small incident on the fifth day, Chen Shuo didn’t plan to interact with Li Ge again, deciding to find a connection himself to resolve this mess.
It just so happened that CEO He had kept a star three years ago, and he still had the contact information of a small director. He just had to spend some money and treat the person to an expensive meal.
For the next two days, Chen Shuo didn’t rush to contact the director, first going out to take care of his personal matters.
There had been no follow-up from the gym that had closed down. He heard that the owner had fled abroad. He was heartbroken and his money, nearly ten thousand yuan, had gone down the drain.
Chen Shuo liked stability and hated change.
After investigating the commercial area around his apartment, he finally found a satisfactory gym. This time, he was much more cautious. No matter how persuasive the salesperson was, he resolutely purchased a quarterly membership.
As soon as his personal matters were taken care of, he immediately went to Gewu Media Co., Ltd.
Early spring in Beicheng carried a hint of chill, not much warmer than Jiangcheng. Li Ge’s heart was also cold.
The boss had been in a foul mood since returning from Jiangcheng. Yu Rui, his assistant and driver, didn’t dare to breathe loudly. After the car stopped in the building’s underground parking lot, he quickly got out and opened the back door.
“Mr. Li, we’ve arrived.”
As soon as Li Ge got out of the car, his phone rang. He took it out and looked at the caller ID. His brow relaxed a little, and he quickly answered.
“Aunt.”
“Hey, Xiao Ge. It’s the Lantern Festival today, come to Aunt’s house for dinner tonight. Your cousin will be back tonight too.”
“Alright, I’ll be there after work.”
The person on the other end of the phone was none other than Li Ge’s cousin, He Yan’s mother.
He had always liked this aunt since he was young and loved going to He’s house. Whenever he returned to Beicheng for winter and summer vacations, he almost always stayed at He’s house, just like his own home.
“About that, I’ve heard from your mother, don’t feel bad. Our Xiao Ge is such a good kid. When a good girl comes along, Aunt will personally introduce her to you.”
“…” Li Ge was speechless. Firstly, he didn’t expect the news of him being rejected by a girl to have already reached Beicheng. Secondly, he didn’t expect his usually open-minded aunt to have been influenced by his own mother.
He might as well skip this reunion dinner and go out and have some fun.
Yu Rui observed his boss’s expression and saw that his already foul mood had worsened after the call. He carefully followed behind Li Ge, trying to minimize his presence.
Reaching the elevator, he quickly reached out and pressed the up button.
“Yu Rui.”
“Yes!”
“That person,” Li Ge thought for two seconds, but couldn’t remember the little star’s name, “the one with a mole on his chest, the one who had plastic surgery, tell him to go directly to Director Liu, let the movie be filmed as it should be.”
So Mr. Li still remembered this matter. Yu Rui breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure about the mole on the chest, but he knew about the plastic surgery. He didn’t dare to say the person’s name. He had been scolded for mentioning it the other day.
But unable to gauge his boss’s unpredictable mood, whether they had broken up or not, Yu Rui dared to probe, “Mr. Li, was it because he had too much hyaluronic acid injected?”
“He makes me sick,” Li Ge warned his assistant, “I don’t want to hear anything about him again.”
It was that serious? Yu Rui nodded repeatedly and replied, “Okay, Mr. Li, leave it to me.”
Li Ge: “So he harassed me for a few days?”
Yu Rui: “…”
The elevator was arriving soon. Li Ge was annoyed, even talking felt tiring. He finally warned his assistant, “You’re only good at driving now. If you can’t handle things well, pack your things and get lost.”
“…” Yu Rui wisely shut up and followed him into the elevator dejectedly.
Li Ge was thinking of an excuse for the evening. He definitely couldn’t go to the He family. His cousin would definitely tease him at the dinner table. He Yan could be quite annoying sometimes.
The elevator reached the twelfth floor, and he walked out, inadvertently catching sight of a tall figure in his peripheral vision.
He turned to look, and the man in a casual suit had just entered the elevator next to him. He only managed to glance at the brown paper document bag in the man’s hand.
The entire twelfth floor of the building was rented by Li Ge, so seeing unfamiliar faces coming and going wasn’t unusual.
He didn’t think much of it. Just as he passed the front desk, he was suddenly called out by an employee.
“Mr. Li!” The receptionist reported promptly, “An assistant surnamed Chen delivered a document to you before the New Year. You haven’t been to the company, so he just came to take it back.”
Li Ge belatedly realized, “Was the person who just left Assistant Chen?”
“Yes.” The receptionist continued, “He called yesterday afternoon. He heard that you hadn’t returned to the company, so he came. He said it wasn’t an important document and told me not to remind you.”
Li Ge suddenly remembered the small incident on the fifth day.
“But he left this.”
The receptionist handed him an exquisite envelope with the theater’s logo printed on the cover. Inside was the expired invitation.
Li Ge told the receptionist to dispose of it, took out his phone, and searched for the call log from the fifth day. After finding the unknown number, he threw the phone to his assistant, who was following behind him.
“Contact him, get the document back, and give it to Director Liu.”
Receiving the task unexpectedly, Yu Rui quickly took out his own phone and dialed the number.
Chen Shuo had just reached the underground parking lot, not yet reaching his parking space, when his phone rang.
He was a loner, with almost no personal social interactions. Most of his calls were work-related. He thought it was his boss, CEO He, but it was an unfamiliar number.
“Hello.”
“Hello, hello, is this Assistant Chen?”
The tone on the phone sounded a bit urgent, and it wasn’t a familiar voice. As soon as Chen Shuo confirmed his identity, he heard the other party rambling, asking where he was and asking him to stay put.
“I’m Mr. Li’s assistant, my name is Yu Rui. Why did you take the document? I’ll go to the parking lot to find you right away, I’m getting into the elevator now, please don’t leave.”
Before Chen Shuo could decline, the call was cut off.
His expression remained calm, but a flicker of emotion arose within him. Like master, like servant. This unreliable person’s assistant also hung up the phone before he could finish speaking.
When Yu Rui rushed to the underground parking lot, he found that Assistant Chen had disappeared without a trace.
So he hurriedly took out his phone, preparing to contact him again, when he saw a new unread message on the screen.
“I’ve already contacted the director, so I won’t bother Mr. Li anymore, thank you.”
Contacted the director? Yu Rui didn’t think too deeply about it. It was about getting someone into the production crew anyway. He mistakenly thought Assistant Chen had contacted Director Liu in advance through his boss, so he returned to the company to report the situation.
Inside the CEO’s office.
Li Ge was sending messages to Qiao An and the others, discussing where to go for fun that evening. He didn’t pay attention to what his assistant said, only catching bits and pieces, mistakenly thinking that Yu Rui and Assistant Chen had communicated in the parking lot.
The little assistant didn’t dare to bring up sensitive topics again and was quite sensible.
“Mr. Li,” Yu Rui asked, “what role should we give the person we’re putting in?”
Having almost finished discussing with Qiao An, Li Ge heard this clearly this time, remembering his cousin’s instructions to just go through the motions.
He figured He Yan’s taste couldn’t be bad. If the acting wasn’t good, the person could still be used as eye candy. Giving him a role would also help He Yan completely get rid of the harassment.
He put down his phone, “Show me that person’s photo.”
Having spoken in vain earlier, Yu Rui had to remind him again, “Mr. Li, Assistant Chen took the document, we don’t have a photo here. But don’t worry, Assistant Chen has already contacted Director Liu. Whether to give him a role or not is up to you.”
“Look at you handling things.” Li Ge didn’t bother to care anymore, “Based on his acting, give him any supporting role. If he’s really bad, he can play a corpse. This project is yours now.”
Yu Rui thought to himself: How wicked.
