Chapter 26

Chapter 26

After eating the sandwich and milk to stave off his hunger, Chu Heng headed out with Chen Jinsheng.

He didn’t ask Old Ding to pick them up, instead driving out from the underground garage himself.

In City B, certain roads were always maddeningly congested, no matter the time. Chu Heng followed the car in front, inching forward meter by meter. When they reached a traffic light at an intersection, he glanced at Chen Jinsheng. "Probably another half hour to get there. You should catch some sleep."

Chen Jinsheng shook his head, whether because he wasn’t tired or simply didn’t want to.

Chu Heng didn’t insist and made small talk instead. "Your driver’s license has expired, right? Do you want to renew it?"

Chen Jinsheng: "Okay."

Chu Heng: "Apply in City W or City B?"

He only owned homes in these two places, so he figured it would be more convenient for Chen Jinsheng to sign up for a driving school in either city.

Chen Jinsheng: "Up to you."

Chu Heng thought it over. Considering his schedule for next year was uncertain—he might end up staying in hotels more often than at home—he finally said, "Let’s talk about it later."

The car crept forward slowly, but Chu Heng showed no impatience, going with the flow of traffic. Half an hour later, they finally arrived at the company.

The office park was quiet and serene, with excellent landscaping. Fountains were scattered between the buildings, and there were few people coming and going on the paths. As a work environment, it was quite pleasant.

His company was mid-sized, occupying the ground floor and basement level of one of the office buildings. It had started as just a studio. Although Chen Jinsheng had left him a considerable amount of money, back then it was all expenses with no revenue coming in, so Chu Heng couldn’t help feeling anxious and wanted to save as much as possible. He rented the first floor of a building on the edge of the park because it was cheap.

Later, as business picked up, the studio gradually expanded, and the team grew. By then, Chu Heng’s reputation in the industry had improved, and many companies reached out. But Chu Heng was used to being in charge, so he gritted his teeth and founded his own company. The initial development wasn’t smooth; the entire company relied on him alone to make money and put food on the table. Turnover was high, and those who stayed were willing to follow him, not necessarily the most talented.

Eventually, they managed to pull through. Chu Heng thought moving would be a hassle, so he directly rented the basement to connect with the ground floor. Although it lacked natural light year-round, it worked well as a rest area, meeting room, and training space.

Chu Heng had Chen Jinsheng add his fingerprint to the system at the access control, then led him inside.

"Boss."

"Boss!"

Shortly after entering, several young voices called out.

The studio was filled with young men and women, the oldest looking no more than twenty-eight or twenty-nine. Everyone appeared energetic and vibrant. Seeing Chu Heng enter, they poked their heads out to greet him, and a few curious or probing glances landed on Chen Jinsheng.

Those looking at Chen Jinsheng were from the PR department. Chu Heng said irritably, "What are you looking at? Get back to work."

The employees weren’t offended and replied cheerfully, "Got it. Brother Wang is waiting for you in the interview room."

In the interview room, besides Wang Yelong, there were six attractive young men and women—the promising young talents Wang Yelong had identified.

At a glance, Chu Heng had to admit Wang Yelong had a good eye. At the very least, none were "photo cheats"; each was easy on the eyes.

"Hello, Senior Chu." They greeted him somewhat nervously as he entered.

"Have a seat, no need to be nervous." Chu Heng walked over and sat opposite the conference table, picking up their resumes to review carefully. After a moment, he said, "Let’s start with self-introductions."

One of the girls spoke first. "Hello, Senior Chu. My name is Meng Zidan. I graduated from…"

After all six had introduced themselves, Chu Heng asked, "Why did you choose our company?"

Once they answered, Chu Heng followed up with several more questions, such as: What do you think are your strengths? What are your career plans? What do you think acting is? It was almost like a standardized corporate interview template.

Though puzzled, the six answered honestly.

Chu Heng nodded and closed the interview materials with a snap. "Welcome to our company. HR will discuss work details and compensation with you shortly. Do you have any other questions?"

Their prepared talent performances hadn’t been used. They exchanged glances and asked, "Aren’t you going to see how we act?"

"Brother Wang will conduct an initial assessment of your abilities. After that, HR will create a training schedule for you with regular evaluations over six months."

One person hesitated. "Will it only be training during these six months?"

"Of course not. You’ll also be arranged to audition for suitable roles in the middle, but securing a part will depend on your own efforts. Any other questions?"

No one spoke. As a top-tier star like Chu Heng, the sheer volume of scripts he encountered daily was several times theirs, not to mention the quality. Getting access to his resources was already a stroke of luck; they didn’t dare ask for more.

Their worry was that Chu Heng might only give them leftover, inferior roles in the future. But going to another company might not improve their situation much either.

In the end, they all shook their heads.

"Alright, you take it from here?" Chu Heng said to Wang Yelong.

Wang Yelong waved a hand. "Help me call Jing Jing in."

Jing Jing was the HR manager. Chu Heng had planned to do just that. He patted Chen Jinsheng, who was sitting beside him scrolling through his phone, and was about to leave with him when Wang Yelong casually added, "Nice outfit today."

After a pause, he tacked on perfunctorily, "Very handsome."

Chu Heng: …

As if he couldn’t tell he was making insinuations.

Chu Heng forced a smile. "Thanks."

With that, he left the interview room, called Jing Jing on the way, and headed to his office. Before entering, he had Chen Jinsheng register his fingerprint on the door lock.

His office style was identical to his penthouse—spacious and empty, with a standard setup of a desk and guest sofa chairs. The blinds behind the desk were closed, making the whole office look cold and sterile. Only the wall of trophies and awards on the east side added a touch of life to the space.

As soon as he entered, Chu Heng stretched lazily and flopped onto the sofa, saying to Chen Jinsheng:

"Make yourself at home."

The office had frosted glass windows facing the open workspace, and the blinds for privacy were also closed. Employees outside couldn’t see their boss’s relaxed posture, and he couldn’t see the staff whispering among themselves.

"He looks even more handsome in person than in photos."

"Of course, the boss’s taste can’t be that bad."

"Didn’t the boss clarify it was a misunderstanding, that he’s just an assistant?"

"Between the boss and Brother Wang, who do you believe? Besides, have you ever seen an assistant who can enter the boss’s office freely?"

They had all clearly seen Chu Heng having Chen Jinsheng register his fingerprint earlier.

"…Then I’ll go with Brother Wang. But Brother Wang was pushing us to finish the proposals every day a while ago. Why hasn’t he mentioned it lately? I’ve already revised the third version."

"What third version? We only did up to the second version. Did you work overtime behind our backs?"

"I call it being prepared. The boss likes men, you know. What if it really gets exposed someday? I don’t want to go several days without sleep."

As they whispered, they suddenly noticed the office door opening. They quickly reminded each other to return to their seats, pretending to work diligently, though their peripheral vision couldn’t help drifting toward the office entrance.

The person they were gossiping about came out holding an empty coffee cup, considerately closing the door before heading to the pantry.

The employees shared a knowing look. One of the women patted her chest, mouthed silently, "I'll do it."

...

The sizzling grind of coffee beans masked the sound of footsteps. It wasn't until a soft "hello" reached his ears that Chen Jinsheng noticed there was a second person in the pantry.

She was a woman with black-framed glasses, her hair dyed a brownish blonde and tied into a bun, carrying an empty mug.

The coffee machine had two spouts. Thinking the woman was there to get coffee, Chen Jinsheng moved over to give her space.

"Thank you." The girl placed her mug under the spout, pulled down the handle, and then took half a step back, looking a bit uneasy.

The coffee dripped out slowly. Chen Jinsheng waited over ten seconds, and the shallow ceramic cup was only half full.

"So, can I call you Brother Chen?" Chen Jinsheng heard the girl beside him ask.

He was taken aback that she knew his last name, but still nodded slightly: "Sure."

The girl gave a slightly shy smile: "My name is Ji Wenyue, everyone calls me Xiao Yue."

Chen Jinsheng had given the office area a quick once-over earlier and had some impression of this girl. Her workstation was decorated with many delicate and cute trinkets, and there were folders stacked higher than the cubicle partitions.

"Have you been at this company for a long time?" Chen Jinsheng asked.

Xiao Yue's eyes lit up, not expecting the aloof-looking Chen Jinsheng to start a conversation. She replied, "Yes, going on five years. Actually, it's not just me; the others have been here for at least nearly two years too. Brother Chen, what about you? What made you decide to become the boss's assistant?"

Given Chen Jinsheng's appearance, being a male model would be a piece of cake.

If not for true love, why would he come to be a lowly assistant?

Xiao Yue was sure of it, pondering how to fish for more information from Chen Jinsheng, when she heard him say: "The salary is good."

She instinctively nodded in agreement, adding, "Yeah, it really is. High salary, good benefits, the boss is never in, management is generous, and everyone gets along great."

Chen Jinsheng smiled: "Is your boss a good guy?"

"Couldn't be better," Xiao Yue said. "Ignore the bad reviews about our boss online. Apart from having a bit of a temper sometimes, being a little nitpicky, and can be kind of distant... uh, he's actually quite excellent in other aspects."

Thinking Chu Heng and Chen Jinsheng had only recently met, she racked her brains to speak well of Chu Heng, trying to leave a good impression on Chen Jinsheng. Unexpectedly, she listed several flaws right away and hurriedly tried to backpedal: "Look at our boss—handsome, wealthy, has his own place and cars, generous... uh, generous, no vices besides smoking and drinking, and most importantly, he never plays around."

"Plays around?"

"Yeah, our boss keeps to himself. In all my years working for him, you're the first person he's ever been rumored to be with."

Mainly because Chu Heng's temper was too foul, his mouth laced with venom, lashing out with sarcasm when displeased. Some people wanted to have some "intimate interactions" to start rumors but couldn't even manage that.

However, in the past six months, Chu Heng seemed to have done a complete 180, rarely scolding people anymore.

Chen Jinsheng asked nonchalantly: "But doesn't your boss have many popular ships?"

Xiao Yue was momentarily stunned before realizing Chen Jinsheng meant CPs. "Oh, that's just the roles they play, sometimes unavoidable for the show's publicity. Sigh, our boss works so hard, making his way alone in the entertainment industry, providing for a lot of people. Brother Chen, if you're with him, you must be extra tolerant. His outbursts are because he went through a lot in the past."

"Someone bullied him?"

"You bet," Xiao Yue said indignantly. "There was a period when roles he was up for kept getting stolen, agreed-upon variety shows and interviews fell through inexplicably, and even people came to hit him, deliberately targeting his face so he couldn't appear on camera. But that was a long time ago. Now, no one dares to easily cross our boss. Let's not talk about that. Brother Chen, how did you and the boss meet?"

"We met nine years ago. This coffee's getting cold, I should take it to the boss." Chen Jinsheng said, seizing the moment while Xiao Yue was still processing, picked up the coffee, and left the pantry.

He returned to the office where Chu Heng was scrawling his signature on documents. Glancing up distractedly, Chu Heng asked, "What took so long?"

Chen Jinsheng placed the coffee to his left: "Ran into one of your employees, Xiao Yue."

"Oh, that girl. She's quite good, diligent at work and kind-hearted."

Chen Jinsheng said: "She likes you a lot too."

He meant the kind of liking an employee has for their boss.

Chu Heng snorted: "Of course, she depends on me for her salary."

He put down the pen, took a big gulp of coffee, picked up the top document from the stack on the corner of the desk, and handed it to Chen Jinsheng: "Help me take a look, will you?"

"Business plan?"

"Mm. My studio started with just me and Wang Yelong. Later, when more people joined, we registered as a company. As you can see, I'm the only one making money for the company now. We invested in a few web dramas and movies before, but they basically all flopped."

He was good at acting, Wang Yelong had an eye for talent, but neither were cut out for business. That's why, in his previous life, he never retired behind the scenes until his death—though part of it was his enjoyment of the spotlight. But this wasn't a sustainable plan. So, right after finishing his thirty-year 'training' in the underworld and returning, Chu Heng had his employees draft company development plans.

They just didn't hit the mark.

The current version was already the best one.

After reading it, Chen Jinsheng didn't rush to give his opinion, instead asking: "You're not acting anymore?"

"Nothing beats being the boss," Chu Heng shrugged, lightly pushing off the floor tiles to spin his leather chair around to face Chen Jinsheng. "It's not that I won't act at all. Maybe one or two projects a year. But that's for the future, depends on whether this plan works out."

He didn't elaborate, just gestured with his chin towards the plan in Chen Jinsheng's hand.

Chen Jinsheng's brow twitched slightly. After a moment of silence, he said: "Give me some time."

Chu Heng thought the plan had too many flaws in Chen Jinsheng's eyes to be summarized quickly and nodded indifferently. Not caring where Chen Jinsheng took the plan, he said: "Let's eat first."

After lunch, the two had Old Ding drive them to the TV station. As usual, Chu Heng had Chen Jinsheng wait in the lounge while he went to the practice room to practice his song.

This time, he took off his jacket. In contrast to last night, he quickly got into the zone, mastering the entire song and catching up to Zhong Liang's progress. For a while, his ears and mind were filled with the rising and falling melodies, until the practice room door opened and several young men carried in boxes of boxed meals, reminding him it was dinner time.

He glanced at the wall clock.

The hour hand pointed exactly to six.

Chu Heng grabbed two boxed lunches and left the practice room.

The hallway during mealtime wasn't crowded. As Chu Heng turned a corner, he ran into two men walking towards him.

One he recognized—the station manager of this TV station, who was currently speaking to the man beside him.

That man had an imposing presence. A pair of gold-rimmed half-frame glasses rested on his high-bridged nose. Most of his hair, slicked back, was held in place by gel, with a few strands falling loosely at his left temple. He was dressed head-to-toe in designer labels. A deep blue suit hugged his well-defined figure, and the diamond-studded tie clip on his tie shimmered under the overhead circular lights.

The man saw Chu Heng, gave him an indifferent glance, and continued walking forward.

Chu Heng passed by him without changing his pace, soon rounding the next corner and disappearing from the short corridor.

"President Chen, why did you stop?"

The TV station director asked, puzzled.

Chen Jiasheng withdrew his gaze and said calmly: "It's nothing."