Chapter 42 The competition... However, our CEO Yi has already declined. ...

It was a fairly busy day. Bai Ye didn't order any groceries last night. When she got off work, she remembered that she didn't need to bring the groceries and could go straight home. However, as usual, she went towards subway line 2 when she entered the subway station.

It wasn't until she took out her phone to swipe her card that she suddenly realized she no longer needed to take the subway; she could now walk to and from get off work.

"Hey, if you're not going to swipe, could you please move aside?" came a reminder from behind.

Bai Ye quickly made way for them and walked against the flow of people to leave.

As dusk approached, Baiye strolled leisurely along the street.

It doesn't seem to matter that it's late, since she's all alone anyway. She doesn't need to rush back to cook, and no one will be waiting for her at home to eat.

There were many people queuing for the elevator.

During rush hour, there are many children attending extracurricular classes and tutoring classes here, as well as diners coming to eat.

Bai Ye followed the group of diners and went to the food court in the mall first.

There's no need for someone to go out for barbecue or hot pot; it's too crowded and will only make them feel more lonely.

Bai Yeke entered a rice noodle shop, which was quite crowded, but most of the people inside were eating alone. It seemed to be a simple meal for people working in the mall or nearby.

The rice noodles were served quickly, and Bai Ye habitually scrolled through her phone while eating.

I browsed through WeChat and Moments, and there wasn't anything new. Some people were posting pictures of their kids, some were soliciting votes for their children's extracurricular classes and competitions, and some were sharing inspirational quotes...

Bai Ye sighed, listlessly clicked a few likes, and returned to the WeChat chat list.

The first page is completely full.

Department groups, company groups, and various VIP customer groups.

She scrolled down for a while before she finally saw the profile picture, the person.

Clicking into WeChat Moments reveals page after page of various links, along with brief comments from Yi Sheng below each link, discussing stock trends, cutting-edge technologies, and predictions of emerging trends…

well.

Bai Yeke chuckled.

How does she resemble a beautiful, fashionable, and mature woman?

This perfectly matches the stereotypical image of Yi Sheng held by outsiders—the Abbess of Extinction.

That's too STEM-oriented.

Bai Ye really wasn't interested. She returned to the chat box, where the last message was from a few days ago when Yi Sheng told her she didn't need to cook and had ordered food.

Scroll up again.

Bai Yeke always felt that she and Yi Sheng rarely chatted; they mostly just left messages for each other.

But actually, this little bit of scrolling up seems to have no end. They chat for a few minutes every day, sometimes when they first arrive at the store, sometimes during their lunch break, just a few scattered words, but they accumulate a lot of information.

Bai Yeke always felt that the people she chatted with most privately were He Xin or Assistant Xiao Yang.

He Xin would occasionally call her to the tea room or arrange to have lunch together.

Assistant Yang used to chat with her every day because she was guiding her in making videos, but now she only pops up occasionally.

But it seems that none of them talked as much as Yi Sheng did to her.

That woman who didn't talk much, I didn't even realize I'd chatted with her for so long.

But in the past two days, they have had zero communication.

Bai Ye was somewhat stunned.

She wanted to send a message to Yi Sheng to chat about this bowl of rice noodles. She could complain or praise it. She had prepared several versions of her message, but she still didn't send it after finishing the bowl of rice noodles.

timid……

Bai Ye could truly feel her own fear.

Last night, before we parted, Yi Sheng's last words were accompanied by that cold and dejected look in his eyes.

She didn't have the courage to send a message.

Back at her apartment, Bai Ye didn't hide in bed like she did the night before. She took out her laptop, revised the various design plans she had on hand, updated a video, checked the comments on her recent videos, and finally set aside some time to watch other popular home renovation videos from popular content creators at 3x speed.

I spent the whole evening working.

The process was the same as when she stayed at Yi Sheng's house, and the time passed just as quickly. However, after it was over, Bai Yeke always felt a vague restlessness, as if there was something unfinished.

At 11:10, Bai Yeke opened Xiao Yang's chat window.

Coconut Cola: Work makes one feel fulfilled.

Xiao Yang replied instantly.

Little Lamb Rush: Wow, apprentice, you've finally had an epiphany!

Little Lamb, Rush! Your teacher is very pleased!

Coconut Cola: Master, you're putting me under a lot of pressure...

Bai Ye was both amused and helpless. She had tried her best, but her assistant, Xiao Yang, was like a perpetual motion machine. The contrast was too stimulating.

Little Lamb, Charge! It's not that bad, is it?

Xiao Yang, hurry up: If you were to work for our CEO Yi, wouldn't you be under immense pressure!

Little Sheep, Rush! I'm completely exhausted. I don't even want to talk about how Mr. Yi only got off work half an hour ago, and I only just got home. I'm only now getting a bath. There's no extra time for me to study or recharge today. *crying*

Coconut Coke: What?

Coconut Cola: Why are you guys working so late?

Little Lamb, Charge! I don't know either...

Little Sheep, Rush: Our CEO Yi used to work like this, completely absorbed in his work, but he hasn't done it for a while. He suddenly started doing it today, and I don't know if it's just a passing fancy or if it will continue for a long time. I'm very worried!

Coconut Cola: ...

Bai Ye was uneasy. When she lived with Yi Sheng, he didn't eat dinner at home every day, but he never came home later than 9 pm. Compared to that...

Was Yi Sheng doing this so that she could go home early?

That's wishful thinking; it doesn't make sense.

Ke Baiye really couldn't think of any other reason. It couldn't be that Yi Sheng just liked eating with her, could it?

Whatever you think, it's all related to her.

A faint smile appeared on Bai Yeke's lips.

Coconut Cola: What if she continues like this for a long time...?

Little Lamb Rush: Then I'll upgrade to another level!

Little Lamb, Charge! I will cherish this opportunity to hone my skills at work!

Coconut Cola: ...You're ruthless.

Little Lamb, Charge! What about you?

Little Sheep Rush: I see your video accounts on various platforms are getting pretty good views!

Coconut Cola: I've been a Gold Designer for a while now.

Little Lamb, Charge! You're amazing!

Coconut Cola: And recently, I should say that I've taken over the position of the number one designer in my store.

Little Lamb, Charge! I knew it! You were bound to come this far!

Bai Ye had no idea whether it was a joke or something else, but Xiao Yang had indeed helped her a lot.

Coconut Cola: It's all thanks to your guidance, Master!

Little Lamb, Charge! Hey!

Little Lamb Rush: Sure enough, people talk differently now that they're in a different position!

Little Lamb, Charge! You're really on the right track!

Bai Ye wanted to ask more about Yi Sheng's situation, but then she thought that it had only been a day, so what could have changed? As for Xiao Yang, as his assistant, she mostly knew about work-related matters.

She gave up reluctantly, said goodnight to Xiao Yang, and went to sleep.

The daytime work was uneventful, seemingly entering a stable period with no difficulties or challenges.

After getting off work, Bai Yeke lingered on the food court and chose a braised food shop to eat at.

While eating and scrolling through her phone, she received a notification about a cooking vlog from a content creator she had previously followed.

Everything became hazy and distant.

When she was still living with her stepfather, she would often watch these kinds of vlogs, fantasizing about moving out and living alone one day, cooking well, and living a decent life on her own.

When she moved into Yi Sheng's house, she was eager to cook breakfast and dinner in various ways. At that time, she was under some pressure to work to pay the rent. Now, she is completely alone and has no more worries or pressure.

She stirred the rice in the bowl with her chopsticks to mix the braised sauce and rice more evenly.

You can skip to the next video.

The rice and vegetables were both pretty good.

She felt no impulse, no excitement, no preoccupation, and not even the energy to go grocery shopping or cook.

It's quite convenient to eat here alone, the food is pretty good, and you can change the flavors every day. Why bother thinking about creating a new menu? Why spend an hour making a meal that can be eaten in ten minutes?

And no one will show any disapproving expression to tease her or be stingy with a compliment on her cooking...

Bai Yeke pushed the thought out of her mind. She quickly finished her meal, went back to her apartment to wash up, and began her evening work.

Xiao Yang's message popped up.

Little Sheep Rush: Report from the front! It seems our CEO Yi will be working at a high intensity for a while. I'm still working overtime tonight!

Bai Ye thought for a moment and replied with a message following Xiao Yang's thought process.

Coconut Cola: Congratulations!

Little Lamb, Charge! Hahahaha!

Little Lamb, Rush! Thank you! Thank you!

Little Lamb, Charge! I'm experiencing both pain and joy!

Tsk.

Bai Ye was a little worried about Xiao Yang's mental state.

Little Lamb, Charge! Oh, right! I have some inside information to share with you! It's about you towering giants!

Coconut Cola: What?

Bai Yeke felt a sudden, inexplicable surge of joy.

She had a premonition that something was going on inside the temple that they didn't know about, but Xiao Yang knew about it first.

That must be a collaboration between Cantian and Yishi, right?

Will Yi Sheng appear...?

Little Sheep Rush: Santen is holding an interior design competition, and designers from all your stores will have the opportunity to become famous!

Bai Yeke is now quite famous in Santen. Her origin is, of course, because she designed a house for Yi Sheng. However, there are also some top designers in each of Santen's stores. In addition to those cultivated and trained by Santen, there are also those poached from other brands.

This is a good opportunity for Baiye to take another step forward.

She's currently number one at the Yongfu Road store, but it's hard to say whether she's number one within the entire Santen brand.

Bai Yeke is quick-witted. After Yi Sheng's guidance over this period, she can now think about things thoroughly and not just from her own perspective.

Why would Santen hold such a competition for no reason? It can't be that they have too much money to burn, or that they're just trying to pave the way for their own designers.

Coconut Cola: Is this for the year-end sales?

Little lamb, charge! Bingo!

Little Sheep Rush: The autumn home improvement festival promotion has been well received. If Santen wants to make another push at the end of the year, it needs to do something different. This kind of design competition is a great gimmick!

Therefore, for this gimmick, Santian approached Yishi, hoping that Yishi, as a partner, could also participate in the cooperation this time and make the competition and promotion a grand and lively event.

Bai Ye could see that this was indeed a win-win situation.

Little Sheep Rush: Santian has already contacted us and sent an invitation. They hope that our CEO, Mr. Yi, can attend the event and make a brief appearance.

Little Sheep, Rush! But our CEO Yi has already refused.

? !

Bai Ye was slightly taken aback. Why was that?

Little Lamb, Charge!: That's weird, isn't it?

Little Sheep, Rush! I don't understand why President Yi would refuse either.

Little Lamb Rush: But she said I'll find out later.

Little Sheep Rush: Then, she also asked me to give Santen a suggestion, asking Santen to mobilize its stores and designers to use their personal connections to find celebrities to collaborate on model homes.

Bai Ye frowned. It was indeed a good idea, but it wasn't good for her because she had no connections to leverage.

Little Sheep Rush: Of course, in order to make this competition more eye-catching and appealing to consumers' psychology, this collaboration needs to be disguised as a coincidence. Furthermore, a larger proportion of the model homes are selected through online and on-site registration by consumers. Consumers who are successfully selected for the model home can have their home decoration costs reduced by up to 30%, as long as they agree to cooperate in the later exposure of the model home design.

Bai Ye nodded inwardly; such a discount would indeed drive consumers into a frenzy.

You should know that some of their customers don't have enough money on hand and use renovation loans to pay. But if they are selected for this event, customers who don't have enough money only need to pay a down payment and can get free renovations afterwards.

Three days later, as soon as Bai Yeke returned from the front hall, He Xin grabbed her arm. "Quick, quick! Look! There really is an event!"

He Xin pulled her to the computer screen, which prominently displayed the homepage of the Santian official website.

The winter sale is about to begin!

Your dream home awaits your challenge!

These two lines of text are powerful and vivid, with a background of snow and ice and a blurry house.

The bottom right corner reads in small print: "The Santen Interior Design Competition is about to launch. Stay tuned!"

"Huh! It's out already?" Bai Yeke was still a little surprised.

"Yeah!" He Xin rubbed her hands together excitedly. "I wonder what the eligibility requirements will be. I really want to join in the fun... Wait a minute! Why do you seem to already know?"

"Well……"

Bai Ye is not easy to sell to Xiao Yang. As a brand partner, if her private relationship with Xiao Yang is exposed, it will be troublesome if she is asked to take the lead in any future contact or communication between the two parties. Bai Ye hates trouble the most.

"Didn't you say before that headquarters was going to hold an event?" Bai Ye asked casually.

"Oh, right!" He Xin grinned. "But I didn't expect such a big fuss, especially since it was specifically for us designers!"

"Tsk, how naive, they even made it especially for us designers," Bai Yeke teased her.

"Oh dear!" He Xin shook her head. "Who cares what it's about? Anyway, the main character is our designer! After all these years, she's finally getting the job!"

Bai Ye waved goodbye to her and went to the tea room.

It would be a lie to say she wasn't excited when the competition was announced.

But thinking back to what Xiao Yang said last time about Yi Sheng refusing to attend, Bai Ye still felt quite disappointed.

It's too rare to see Yi Sheng by chance.

Did they just drift apart like that?

Bai Ye couldn't bring herself to do it; she couldn't help herself.

From the beginning until now, what has never changed for her is that she really wants to be friends with Yi Sheng, the kind of friendship that lasts a long time.

Bai Yeke stood in the tea room for a while and sent a message to Yi Sheng. She pretended that she did not realize that Yi Sheng was angry. There was no barrier between them, and her tone was no different from before.

Coconut Cola: Shall we go shopping together the day after tomorrow?

Coconut Cola: I'm going to buy winter clothes, do you want to take a look too?

After Bai Ye finished speaking, she let out a long sigh and was about to leave when her phone vibrated. She swiped to unlock the screen.

A life of simplicity: Good.

Bai Yeke's eyes lit up, and the corners of her lips curled up slightly. She suddenly felt a strong vibration in her chest.

She unconsciously clutched her chest; she realized how nervous she had just been.