Chapter 18: Claiming to Help but Actually Possessing

Chapter 18: Taking Over Under the Guise of Help

Monday morning at 7:30, Su Lichen's alarm went off. He silenced it, got up, and started making breakfast.

He used to wake up around 8:10, whether he was with Xu Moxing or after they broke up—that was his usual time to get up.

Since they never cooked breakfast at home, they'd grab something to eat out and just barely made it to the office on time.

But after Xu Moxing lost his memory, Su Lichen had to get up early to cook for him, and also eat himself before leaving.

After breakfast, Xu Moxing was still asleep.

The balloon was starting to deflate, slowly sinking, but it was still floating for now.

Su Lichen changed clothes and got ready to leave.

He glanced at the balcony, where the plush toys Xu Moxing had insisted on washing after winning them from the claw machine were drying.

Last night, Xu Moxing asked him where to put those plush toys.

“You decide—on the sofa or the bed, either is fine.”

Su Lichen was replying to a client’s message but still answered him.

“I think they’re probably dirty, so I’d better wash them.”

By the time Su Lichen finished replying, Xu Moxing had already thrown all the plush toys into the washing machine.

Su Lichen snapped out of his recollection. He picked up his briefcase and left the house.

When Xu Moxing woke up, he grabbed his phone as usual and saw the message from Su Lichen.

“Breakfast is on the table. Remember to take your medicine.”

After eating breakfast and taking his medicine, he was just opening his laptop when the doorbell rang.

Xu Moxing was taken aback and wheeled over to the door.

At the doorway stood a deliveryman holding a large box.

“Xu Moxing? Please sign for this.”

Xu Moxing took it and glanced at the sender: Xu Jianqing.

He opened the box; it was packed full of supplements.

Was his sister trying to fatten him up? With so much, he’d get fat eating all this.

Xu Moxing snapped a photo of the delivery box and sent it to his sister with a message:

“Got it. So much—how long will it take me to get through it all?”

A few minutes later, she replied:

“Until you gain back to a normal weight. It wasn’t cheap, so make sure you take them; don’t let it go to waste.”

Xu Moxing smiled again.

He took the items out one by one and lined them up on the coffee table, then took another photo to send to Su Lichen.

“My sister sent this. Enough for a year. She told me to gain weight. You might as well share with me—can’t let me be the only one getting fat.”

There was no reply—probably busy.

Xu Moxing put his phone down and continued studying.

Sister Zhang would come later, and he could ask her to figure out how to prepare these things.

Meanwhile, at the office, Su Lichen was called into Zhou Chengzhi’s office as soon as he arrived.

“Xiao Su, the Middle East client sent an email first thing this morning.” Zhou Chengzhi was smiling. “They said they want to sign the deal, and specifically asked for you.”

Su Lichen said nothing, waiting for the rest.

Sure enough, Zhou Ping, standing nearby, looked very sour.

“Brother Su, what did you say to the client?” Zhou Ping spoke with an unfriendly tone. “I’ve been the one handling it all along. Why would they suddenly ask for you?”

Su Lichen glanced at him. “I didn’t say anything.”

“How is that possible?” Zhou Ping stepped forward. “I told the client I would take over from now on. All my emails were signed with my name.”

Su Lichen didn’t respond.

Zhou Chengzhi stepped in to smooth things over: “Alright, alright. If the client specifies you, it doesn’t matter—it’s still the company’s deal no matter who signs it. Lichen, get ready and finalize the contract in the next couple of days.”

Su Lichen stared at him.

“Whoever signs it, it’s the same”? Then why didn’t you say that when Zhou Ping was poaching the deal earlier? Instead, you said, “Count me in.”

He didn’t say nothing, but just nodded.

“Okay, I’ll go prepare.”

He turned and walked out. As he stepped into the hallway, he heard Zhou Ping’s voice from behind:

“Mr. Zhou, something’s off. He must have said something to the client…”

“The client specified him; there’s nothing wrong with that. Let’s secure the deal first…”

Zhou Chengzhi wasn’t stupid. He knew Su Lichen was unhappy—any normal person would. Especially someone as sharp as Su Lichen.

But he also knew that his nephew couldn’t afford to lose the money, so he had to smooth things over.

Su Lichen didn’t look back, just kept walking.

Back at his desk, he opened his computer and stared at that email for a long time.

He had been working on the Middle East client for almost a year.

The deal should have been signed before the Chinese New Year, but for various reasons, it kept getting delayed.

Then, after he took leave to care for Xu Moxing, Zhou Ping, who had always wanted to poach his clients, found a legitimate excuse: “taking over.”

Of course, Su Lichen didn’t regret taking the leave. Compared to work, taking care of Xu Moxing was more important.

After all, as someone in sales, he could still work while on leave.

Taking leave mostly just meant he couldn’t reply to messages promptly, but he could still manage to respond within 24 hours.

Zhou Chengzhi was a sales guy too—how could he not know that?

Zhou Ping was in sales himself—how could he not get it?

In short, the two were playing a double game: one wanted to snatch something, and the other wanted to keep it all in the family.

Now the client specifically asked for Su Lichen to sign, and Zhou Ping was pissed.

He remembered what Zhou Chengzhi said earlier—“Whoever signs, it’s the same.”

Of course it wasn’t the same.

If Zhou Ping had signed the deal, the commission would be his. Even if Zhou Chengzhi followed through on his “you get a cut,” it would at most give Su Lichen a little kickback, with the bulk still going into Zhou Ping's pocket.

Moreover, for a stable major client like this, the initial order wasn’t even the most profitable. Once a steady partnership was established, Su Lichen would get steady commissions every month—those were the real gains.

That was also why Su Lichen had thought about quitting but never actually did.

That's how sales is: once you had a few stable big clients, you barely had to chase leads—just maintain relationships.

If he left, he’d lose all that.

Su Lichen totally got it—favoritism was normal, since Zhou Chengzhi was taking care of his own guys.

But once the favoritism became blind and had no limits, then Su Lichen had to seriously consider whether to keep working there.

When the boss acted like that, Su Lichen didn’t dare to go all out or pitch clients.

He never knew when Zhou Ping, some relative of Zhou Chengzhi, or some obedient subordinate Zhou Chengzhi liked would set their sights on one of his clients, and then Zhou Chengzhi would use some trivial excuse to take it away from him.

Su Lichen leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

Suddenly, he felt exhausted.

Not physically—it was the kind of exhaustion where you run as hard as you can, but someone is always ready to trip you up.

His phone buzzed.

He picked it up and saw a photo from Xu Moxing: a pile of supplements laid out on the coffee table.

He looked at the photo, the corners of his mouth curling slightly.

Su Lichen replied: “I’ll check it out when I get home tonight. I'm at a good weight right now. You need to gain weight—I don’t. I just need to build muscle, but I can help you eat some of them.”

Thanks to Xu Moxing butting in, Su Lichen was in a much better mood and decided to prepare the contract for the Middle Eastern client first.