Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Jiang Yicen, woken by the bright light, slowly regained consciousness.

Nan Shuyi’s hand was just propped on the sofa, and he hadn’t moved away in time, still leaning toward Jiang Yicen, their distance extremely close.

He noticed a figure beside him and, after identifying who it was, murmured, "Nan Shuyi?"

Nan Shuyi replied, "Awake?"

"Yeah, is it very late?" Jiang Yicen had slept for a while, his voice low with a hint of a nasal tone. Feeling a bit rude, he immediately sat up straight.

Nan Shuyi didn’t step back. He found it amusing how Xiao Liuzi nervously tried to maintain his image at such close range, and this distance allowed him to see Jiang Yicen’s expression even more clearly.

"A little past six. We’re really working overtime today. They’re ordering crawfish, so we might all eat together. If you don’t like it, we can order something else."

When Nan Shuyi worked overtime at the company, he usually followed the employees’ meal orders and just ate whatever they had, rarely putting on the airs of a rich young master.

At Shiyi, his identity was that of Shiyi’s boss, not the Young Master of Nanyuan. He felt it necessary to be responsible to the employees under him.

Jiang Yicen didn’t move, just stared into Nan Shuyi’s eyes. "I’m not picky; anything is fine."

He had eaten a few at the night market before, their flavor intensely straightforward—just like human interactions, direct and blunt. The taste of crawfish was the same, with both spiciness and umami coexisting, the heat hitting the tip of the tongue, as easy to detect as saltiness and freshness.

Looking at Nan Shuyi like this, he noticed his deep eye sockets; when he focused on someone, it could make them fall in an instant. He also spotted a small mole at the corner of Nan Shuyi’s eye, something he hadn’t paid much attention to before due to few opportunities for such close eye contact.

Nan Shuyi asked him, "Bored?"

"Not at all. The view here is great. I could sit and read all day," Jiang Yicen said. "Plus, watching the group chat, I’ve learned a lot of new things, very different from what my family used to teach me."

He was so curious about the small mole at the corner of Nan Shuyi’s eye that he couldn’t help but raise his hand to touch it.

Nan Shuyi grabbed his hand as it reached toward his eye corner. "What’s up?"

Jiang Yicen asked him, "Is that mole real, or did you get ink on it?"

Nan Shuyi looked at him seriously. "It might be ink. Wipe it off for me."

Believing him, Jiang Yicen pressed his fingertip gently against Nan Shuyi’s eye corner and rubbed it.

But the ink spot didn’t come off, and he realized he had been tricked by Nan Shuyi.

Jiang Yicen widened his beautiful peach blossom eyes. "You’re messing with me."

Seeing that he had been taken in, Nan Shuyi let out a low laugh, then stepped back to let Jiang Yicen get up.

Jiang Yicen felt embarrassed by his magnetic laugh and touched his own burning ears.

Just then, Assistant Tang knocked on the door of Nan Shuyi’s office.

Nan Shuyi cleared his throat. "Come in."

Jiang Yicen straightened his shirt, worried that it might be wrinkled from sleeping, wanting to maintain his image and composure in front of others.

Nan Shuyi had long noticed Jiang Yicen’s fussy little habits: his clothes never rumpled, his buttons always fastened all the way to the top, always impeccably dressed. If it weren’t for his young age, it would give off a bit of a suave and unscrupulous vibe. But Nan Shuyi knew that Jiang Yicen seemed particularly innocent, nothing like a returned student from America—naively wholesome.

So far, he had never heard him say a single vulgar word; it was more like he was a young master raised in a greenhouse.

Assistant Tang said, "Boss, the delivery is here. Should I bring it in?"

Nan Shuyi pressed his own eye corner. "No need. We’ll eat outside."

He hadn’t expected that the tiny mole at the corner of his eye would ever come in handy. The spot still seemed to retain the warmth from Jiang Yicen’s finger rubbing against it, slightly hot.

Jiang Yicen had stayed in Nan Shuyi’s office for over two hours without leaving. Now, following him out, he saw a group of employees who were still working overtime.

These must have been the ones who handled the trending topic incident together in the group today.

They carried bags of spicy crawfish into the meeting room.

Even Assistant Tang, a man of few words, asked them, "Did you order from Lao Mo’s crawfish today?"

The manager responsible for monitoring online hot topics said, "Of course. His is the best nearby. Manager Nan asked us to pre-order earlier this afternoon."

Jiang Yicen stood beside Nan Shuyi and whispered, "Did you predict we’d be working overtime tonight and have them order?"

This was clearly a way to reward them, but if it happened often, everyone would know to always be ready for overtime.

Nan Shuyi leaned close to his ear and said, "You can’t expect the horse to run and not let it eat enough. That won’t work."

Jiang Yicen said, "I heard that nowadays, people call employees who work for the boss ‘oxen and horses’?"

Nan Shuyi chuckled. "Something like that."

Jiang Yicen looked at him with a hint of a smile. "So, if I work for Nanyuan, am I also one of the oxen and horses?"

Nan Shuyi’s smile instantly froze; saying yes was wrong, saying no was also wrong.

Jiang Yicen said seriously, "You’re definitely treating me like a workhorse, that’s why you assigned me the quarterly plan."

Nan Shuyi felt genuinely wronged and quickly defended himself. "I didn’t."

Jiang Yicen snorted. "I don’t believe you."

Nan Shuyi instinctively coaxed him, "Fine, I’ll write the quarterly report myself, okay?"

Jiang Yicen neither agreed nor disagreed; the initiative was in his hands now, and he was secretly delighted.

As they talked, they arrived at the meeting room filled with the aroma of spices. The employees had spread disposable oil-proof tablecloths on the table and were working together to open boxes of steaming hot crawfish, filling the room with fragrance.

Liang Anxia, the director of the PR department, personally unsealed the boxes. She was a very efficient woman and even managed to glance at her phone and reply to a message during the process.

She was much faster at opening boxes than her male colleagues.

Liang Anxia, sharp-eyed, said, "Boss, what flavors do you two want? We ordered three: garlic, spicy, and braised."

As she spoke, everyone’s eyes fell on Nan Shuyi and Jiang Yicen behind him.

Although their boss had been communicating with them in the group chat all afternoon, everyone’s gossip and curiosity had never stopped.

Liang Anxia, being a PR pro, saved Nan Shuyi and Assistant Tang the trouble of introducing him and took the initiative to ask Jiang Yicen, "Consultant Jiang, what flavor would you like?"

Jiang Yicen said, "Spicy is fine, thank you."

Liang Anxia’s eyes scanned like a scanner, and she casually grabbed a box and placed it in front of him. "Spicy! Here! Don’t let them snatch it away!"

A colleague from her team laughed and protested, "Sister Xia, don’t make us sound like animals."

"Aren’t you all? Every time we order from this crawfish place, if you’re even a step slower, the spicy ones are gone." She turned to explain to Jiang Yicen, "Lao Mo’s crawfish is best in the spicy flavor. Consultant Jiang, you’re in for a treat today."

"Thank you, Miss Xia. It seems I came at the right time today," Jiang Yicen echoed the others' form of address.

Liang Anxia laughed heartily and said, "No, no, no. If anyone deserves thanks, it's our generous Boss Nan. Today's on him. Boss, which flavor do you want?"

"Braised in oil, I guess." The garlic flavor was too strong—if he ate it, he wouldn't dare go near that clean-freak little turtle. He looked at Jiang Yicen with some doubt. "Are you sure you can handle spicy food?"

Jiang Yicen didn't let him off the hook. "Underestimating this hard worker of yours, are you?"

Nan Shuyi fetched several chilled drinks from the fridge, including Jiang Yicen's favorite lemon-flavored cola.

"I wouldn't dare underestimate Consultant Jiang," he said, opening the cola and placing it by Jiang Yicen's hand, then handing him two pairs of disposable gloves. "Wear them layered to keep the oil from seeping through."

Jiang Yicen noticed that everyone working overtime loved to laugh. They talked about anything and everything, even joking with Nan Shuyi. The way the boss and staff got along showed that Nan Shuyi had a certain knack for management.

In the past, his eldest brother had always been called the "Cold-faced King of Hell" by employees. At Nanyuan, superiors and subordinates alike avoided each other. Especially the lower-level employees—many tried to steer clear of management, even opting for separate elevators. He used to think that was normal boss-employee interaction. But today, Shiyi Company showed him that there was another way for a boss and their staff to get along. He learned something new from Nan Shuyi once more.

A man dressed in a very fashionable manner also joined their conversation.

"Consultant Jiang, which department will you be responsible for in the future?"

Assistant Tang naturally had no idea what the boss had planned, simply taking it as their personal banter. However, Nan Shuyi seriously introduced Jiang Yicen's future role to everyone.

Nan Shuyi said, "Product Development Consultant."

Jiang Yicen found out at that moment that he was the Product Development Consultant. It seemed like a reasonable explanation, since he had contributed two cookbooks from the Republic of China period.

The fashionable man said, "That must be impressive. Consultant Jiang, are you skilled in Chinese cuisine or Western pastries?"

Being so young, surely he specialized in Western food!

Jiang Yicen didn't know how to explain; he felt like Nan Shuyi had set a trap for him.

He made a harmless joke: "I'm better at eating."

Nan Shuyi then steered the conversation away. "The branch manager sent the police investigation results. Anxia, after we finish eating, check with the police, then draft an announcement as we discussed. Whether we can turn the tide and win this battle depends on tonight's move."

Liang Anxia, picking at the crawfish, said through a mouthful, "Got it."

While everyone else ate the crawfish with little regard for manners, Jiang Yicen remained unhurried, peeling and eating at his own pace. While others wolfed down two, he had just finished peeling one.

Nan Shuyi asked him, "Really not spicy?"

Jiang Yicen shook his head, having just peeled one. "Not bad. Want one?"

Nan Shuyi didn't refuse. He reached out, but Jiang Yicen raised the peeled shrimp meat. Nan Shuyi didn't let him change his mind and ate it out of his hand.

Everyone was already curious about their relationship, and now it seemed quite obvious.

Wait, wasn't their boss married in a low-key yet high-profile way?

There were no photos of his spouse online, making many people wonder that the person might not be much to look at. After all, the boss went back to work right after the wedding, as if the marriage was fake. Everyone assumed it was an arranged marriage—but did Nanyuan's young master need an arranged marriage?

Man, the boss's actions were pushing the boundaries of morality. It felt wrong, since they had never seen him so intimate with anyone before.

But Consultant Jiang's surname was Jiang. Maybe he really was the prince's spouse?

After they finished the crawfish with great enthusiasm, each serving came with noodles to mix into the sauce. Jiang Yicen ate half a portion, and Nan Shuyi finished the other half for him.

Seeing this, everyone came to a conclusion: the boss and Consultant Jiang were definitely a couple. Not only was Consultant Jiang smart and socially adept, but he also had great temperament, was young, handsome, and exquisitely featured. Who wouldn't fall for that?

None of them considered Jiang Yicen a future colleague or believed he was truly a product consultant. Since neither Jiang Yicen nor Nan Shuyi explained his work arrangements, everyone assumed Nan Shuyi had brought his "partner" along for fun.

Dinner ended, and everyone returned to their respective workstations. Nan Shuyi and Jiang Yicen also went back to the office.

Liang Anxia quickly sent the draft announcement for Nan Shuyi to review.

Seeing Jiang Yicen scrolling through the group chat discussions, Nan Shuyi called him over. "Help me take a look at this announcement. What do you think of it?"

When they got married, Jiang Yicen had already suggested methods for dealing with the media. Nan Shuyi felt that Jiang Yicen didn't lack the ability to handle emergencies.

Jiang Yicen stood beside him, leaning in to see, but the screen was too small.

Nan Shuyi stood up and offered him his seat.

Jiang Yicen felt something was a bit off but couldn't put his finger on it.

He stopped overthinking it and focused on reviewing the announcement for Nan Shuyi. He did spot one problematic area.

Shiyi's announcement had two purposes: first, to explain the police visit to the store and debunk the rumors; second, to promote Liu Dan as a highlight.

Jiang Yicen had his own idea. "Shuyi, I have a small suggestion."

Nan Shuyi said, "Go ahead."

Jiang Yicen said, "I know the company wants to ride this wave of buzz, but these are two separate matters. It might be better to release them separately. The first announcement should focus on the police visit to the store, emphasizing the fight between the two chefs. But we must protect Xiao Lan—she's the victim. The second announcement can then discuss the company's future development plans, including Liu Dan joining. Our brand direction will change, and we'll soon launch new specialty products to build suspense for our fans and the customers of Cuizhu Restaurant."

Nan Shuyi really felt that Jiang Yicen was shining again when he made this suggestion, but he wasn't blinded by his charm. He agreed with Jiang Yicen's proposal—it was indeed more concise than the draft Liang Anxia had written.

He asked Liang Anxia to revise the announcement based on Jiang Yicen's suggestion. After three rounds of revisions back and forth, they confirmed it was error-free and released it.

Nan Shuyi's work didn't stop at releasing the announcement. He also had to actively promote Cuizhu's new products and shape public opinion.

Nan Shuyi said to Assistant Tang, who had come in to report, "Tonight, we push our new hashtag: 'Cuizhu New Arrivals.' Then, send cease and desist letters to those influencer accounts with over 500 reposts. Every single one of them."

Jiang Yicen sat in Nan Shuyi's seat, listening intently while he discussed the follow-up process with Assistant Tang.

After Assistant Tang left, Nan Shuyi turned back to see Jiang Yicen with his hands folded on the desk, wearing a serious expression that seemed to say "I'm learning." It was so cute it made his heart skip.

A faint smile curled at the corners of Nan Shuyi's mouth. "Time to go home."

Jiang Yicen felt a little reluctant to leave. "Oh, okay."

He seemed to understand why his sister-in-law always liked going to the office to wait for his eldest brother.

So this was what it felt like to work overtime with one's husband—a heart full of fulfillment.