Chapter 46 Cannon Fodder Assistant 11 What does it mean if an assistant's position is inappropriate...?

The summer evening breeze swirled fallen leaves from the asphalt road, gently pattering against the windowpane bathed in soft light. Qin Yanyun put down her wine glass, her eyes slightly raised, and saw Chu Yu swirling his red wine glass, his light brown eyes fixed on the red liquid that kept clinging to the glass and sliding down, his gaze as cold as if it had been quenched with ice.

Perhaps sensing Qin Yanyun's prying eyes, Chu Yu looked up and gazed at him. Two equally cold gazes collided, sparking a fierce confrontation.

"What are you looking at me for?" Chu Yu spoke first, his tone clearly impatient.

"If I had known I would end up eating with you, I wouldn't have come."

"It's not too late for you to leave now." Qin Yanyun didn't back down at all, looking at Chu Yu with a sneer, "Since you're so resistant to the idea of ​​the two of us eating alone, why didn't you insist on staying over there earlier?"

"You think I don't want to?!" Chu Yu's frustration intensified. "I'm just worried about making things difficult for Qing Ran. After all, he's your big boss. What if I, an artist from a rival company, insist on having dinner with him and get accused of being a business spy by your big boss?!"

Expulsion is a minor matter; the real danger is that Qin Zechuan might just fabricate a crime against the boy and send him to jail.

As Chu Yu spoke, he roughly rubbed his head a few times, making his hair even more fluffy and soft, but it did not lessen the gloomy expression on Chu Yu's face in the slightest.

"By the way, what's going on with your big boss?" Chu Yu asked again, his gaze falling on the white wall opposite, his eyes practically shooting through the screen to the two bosses and assistants next door who were talking about something.

He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Qin Zechuan owns more than just this one entertainment company; he owns the entire Qin Group. A boss of his caliber must be incredibly busy, if not extremely so. He wouldn't have the time to travel halfway around the world just to find a junior assistant under one of his employees, and even leave the employee caught in the middle out of the picture.

There seems to be something fishy about this.

Chu Yu lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, then looked up at Qin Yanyun, "You took Qingran to meet Qin Zechuan?"

“First of all,” Qin Yanyun held up one finger, “you are not the one who should call me Qingran, Chu Yu. I advise you to stay away from my assistant.”

"Second..." Qin Yanyun's expression darkened noticeably at this point, as if he was very reluctant to discuss the reason for Qin Zechuan and Li Qingran's meeting. After a long while, he finally spoke in a deep voice under Chu Yu's urging:

"I haven't introduced him to anyone, he's my manager..."

"Your agent?!" Chu Yu's brows furrowed even more. "Why did your agent take him to see Qin Zechuan? No... wait, Qin Yanyun, you wouldn't happen to be—"

"Things aren't what you think!"

Before Chu Yu could even imagine Qin Yanyun and Zhang Cheng as villains from ancient times who forced women into prostitution and sacrificed their assistants' innocence for their own resources, Qin Yanyun coldly interrupted him, saying:

"In the end, you're partly to blame for this!"

A pot fell from the sky and landed halfway on Chu Yu's forehead. Completely bewildered, he exclaimed, "Wait, what does this have to do with me?!"

"How can it not be your business!" Qin Yanyun grew increasingly angry, especially now that Li Qingran wasn't replying to his messages. The atmosphere around him became even more volatile, and his accusatory tone towards Chu Yu intensified.

"Originally, that photo wouldn't have gone viral, but you created a trending topic about him accidentally liking it, which directly brought him into the public eye, and with that same negative reputation. Do you think our company wouldn't handle this kind of thing?"

"..." Speaking of this, Chu Yu was indeed a little guilty, but he didn't want to take all the blame that Qin Yanyun had shifted onto him.

"Then why did you insist on following my slip of the hand? If it were just me, maybe that marketing account wouldn't have spread rumors."

"Heh." Qin Yanyun scoffed upon hearing this. "Do you even believe what you're saying? Besides, if marketing accounts didn't spread rumors, they wouldn't be marketing accounts. Otherwise, why do you think we've been stuck with the 'couple' label for so long?"

"That's because you're incompetent." Chu Yu rolled his eyes. "I've clarified this on every variety show, and I often say on Weibo that I'm happy being single. I've tried my best to get rid of the couple label, but what about you?"

Chu Yu slammed his index finger on the table and angrily shouted at Qin Yanyun, "Have you ever clarified this even once?"

"That's because I've never been on a variety show!" Qin Yanyun seemed even angrier than Chu Yu. "Besides, unless the person involved clarifies this, people won't stop shipping us. And the conflict between us isn't something that needs to be resolved tonight!"

Qin Yanyun took a deep breath to calm herself down before continuing:

"You probably saw it just now, Mr. Qin... he's interested in Xiao Li."

"My goodness, did we really have to wait until now to realize this?"

Chu Yu was amused by Qin Yanyun's slowness of perception. "I'm fine. Shouldn't you have realized what he meant when Qingran said he was coming too?"

“…I don’t want to argue with you about this right now,” Qin Yanyun rubbed his throbbing temples. He had just specifically asked the waiter for a pot of hot water, which was now placed in front of him. The white steam rising slowly blurred his expression, but it couldn’t suppress the oppressive atmosphere emanating from him.

"Let's not beat around the bush, do you want to cooperate with me?"

Chu Yu paused for a moment, then asked, "What kind of cooperation?"

"Get Xiao Li back!" Qin Yanyun put the teapot away a little, his sharp eyes unobstructed by the white mist. "Don't even think about being the one who's waiting in the wings. You saw it just now, Xiao Li didn't object to Qin Zechuan's decision. That means he doesn't have a bad impression of Qin Zechuan. If we let the two of them continue like this, you won't be able to get close to him, let alone become intimate with him."

“At that time, you might be in a worse situation than me,” Qin Yanyun said slowly, looking at Chu Yu. “At the very least, he will still be my assistant.”

Chu Yu: "..."

"Don't try to change the subject. Say things like you don't understand what I'm saying, or that you don't have any other feelings for Xiao Li. You can only fool your little assistant with those words. I don't believe it."

"...What do you want?" Chu Yu remained silent for a long time before speaking softly. His tone was still indifferent, but the initial confrontation was gone.

Qin Yanyun had already made plans when Qin Zechuan kicked her out, and immediately said, "At the very least, Qin Zechuan cannot stay here during the filming period."

Both of them had filming work during the day and had no time to spend with Li Qingran. If Qin Zechuan were to appear on set under the pretext of visiting the set and have some interaction with Li Qingran, it would be something that Qin Yanyun and Chu Yu could not stop.

Chu Yu had no objection to Qin Yanyun's plan. He was only worried about one thing: "What benefits would I get from cooperating with you? Don't wait until Qin Zechuan leaves and then detain Qingran and refuse to meet with me. Who can I complain to then?"

"Putting aside the fact that I'm not that kind of person and wouldn't restrict Li Qingran's freedom, just considering the matter of meeting Li Qingran, when Qin Zechuan was around, didn't you have even less opportunity to spend time with him?"

Qin Yanyun curled her lips, a ruthless glint flashing in her eyes, "Let's get rid of the strongest enemy first, and then the two of us can compete fairly. Otherwise, if Xiao Li can't withstand Qin Zechuan's offensive and agrees to be with him, then the two of us won't even have the right to compete."

That's indeed the logic.

Chu Yu pursed his lips, lowered his head and pondered for a while, finally nodding and saying:

"Okay, I agree, but the problem is, how are we going to get Qin Zechuan away?"

"I remember, your agent, Sister Lan, has a young artist under her management who's been getting really close to our CEO Qin's brother lately..."

Chu Yu looked up at Qin Yanyun, who raised an eyebrow at him slightly.

In the quiet private room, the two people sitting face to face looked at each other without saying a word, yet it seemed as if they had said everything.

Meanwhile, in another private room with only two people, Li Qingran lowered her eyes slightly, her smooth, clean fingertips idly tracing the shapes of knives and forks on a napkin.

Qin Zechuan sat next to him without saying a word, just quietly watching him.

In the dimly lit private room, someone was doing pointless drawing, while others mistook him for the person in the painting...

Qin Zechuan tapped his fingertips lightly on the table twice, his gaze towards Li Qingran flickered slightly, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

Qin Zechuan wanted to say something, but before he could speak, he heard the boy next to him say calmly:

"Did President Qin come here specifically to see me?"

Qin Zechuan was stunned.

The boy didn't look up; in fact, his fingertips lingered beside the sharp knife and fork. The silver blade reflected Li Qingran's cool and aloof features, making him appear even more indifferent, yet drawing people closer to him...

Qin Zechuan's Adam's apple bobbed. "So what if I am? What if I am not?"

"There's nothing I can do," Li Qingran said, raising her eyes and smiling at Qin Zechuan.

"I just wanted to use this question to speculate on why President Qin came here, that's all."

"Are you trying to figure out what the boss is thinking as an employee?" Qin Zechuan raised an eyebrow.

Li Qingran showed no guilt whatsoever; in fact, she nodded quite frankly.

"Isn't this a perfectly normal thing? Any ambitious employee would want to figure out what the boss is thinking."

This way, one can avoid slapping their hand on the horse's hoof.

Qin Zechuan was amused by Li Qingran's words. It wasn't that he was wrong, but rather... was the boy a very ambitious employee?

Sneaking an ice cream during work hours, and when faced with the temptation of a promotion and raise, his first reaction is to refuse, because he hasn't finished his work with Qin Yanyun yet.

In Qin Zechuan's view, this was an utterly lame excuse, since no one's name was specifically listed on the job description, so it didn't matter who did it.

Besides, Qin Yanyun doesn't only have him as an assistant; she can't live without him.

However, Qin Zechuan was not the kind of boss who had absolute authority. He respected his employees' wishes, so he did not object to Li Qingran at the time and agreed that he could finish his work and then return to his side as an assistant.

However, while he agreed, Qin Zechuan didn't say that he was completely at ease letting Li Qingran go back to Qin Yanyun's side.

After all, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that Qin Yanyun had special feelings for his little assistant. As for Chu Yu, Qin Zechuan wasn't sure before he came, but in the ten or so minutes he spent with him just now, seeing Chu Yu's gaze constantly sweeping over Li Qingran, Qin Zechuan had to admit, even if he didn't want to, that she also had some secret feelings for boys.

According to Qin Zechuan, Li Qingran and Chu Yu first met at the advance party for the variety show they are currently filming, and their second meeting was today. This means that Chu Yu may have fallen in love with Li Qingran at first sight on the day of the advance party.

Qin Yanyun was the same. She had originally been saying that she would never let any of her haters in to cause her trouble, but after meeting Li Qingran for the first time, she immediately changed her tune. She not only specifically asked the boy to be her assistant, but also took him with her to many work assignments.

Humans are indeed superior beings who are obsessed with appearances.

Qin Zechuan turned his gaze to Li Qingran, who did not flinch and allowed him to look her over openly. Her expression was very calm, as if being stared at was as normal to her as drinking water.

Qin Zechuan couldn't help but think of the photograph he had just placed in front of Qin Yanyun.

Actually, he hired someone to take the photos secretly, with the aim of getting rid of Qin Yanyun and Chu Yu, those two annoying third wheels, during dinner.

What Qin Zechuan didn't expect was that the first person to react angrily to this photo was himself.

In the dim light, the photo was blurry, but it was still clear that Li Qingran was walking between Chu Yu and Qin Yanyun. It was as if he was the real leader among the three, and the two people next to him were his loyal followers. At the moment the paparazzi pressed the shutter button, they were all staring at the boy walking between them with burning eyes.

The boy seemed oblivious to this, or perhaps he had grown accustomed to such stares, which is why he appeared so nonchalant.

Thinking of this, Qin Zechuan felt as if his chest was blocked by a wad of cotton, feeling stuffy and even making it difficult to breathe.

He bit his tongue to calm himself down, but his voice was already hoarse from his dry throat.

Do you consider yourself ambitious?

Li Qingran raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, "Am I not ambitious?"

Qin Zechuan chuckled upon hearing this, and said meaningfully, "A truly ambitious employee will not give up a great opportunity for promotion."

As he spoke, he tapped his fingertips on the table, and an invisible sense of pressure from someone in a superior position emanated from him.

The man spoke softly, his voice deep and magnetic, the slight rise at the end like a vibrant, venomous snake, enticing one to approach and touch him.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll think things through these next few days and take back your assistant status?"

He deliberately slowed his speech as he spoke, as if the words were popping out of his mouth one by one, like stones that would hurt if they hit someone.

But Li Qingran didn't feel any fear. He just rested his chin on his hand and looked at Qin Zechuan, his gaze moving from Qin Zechuan's eyes to his mouth and back to his eyes. Then, when Qin Zechuan stopped and looked at him, he gently raised the corners of his lips at him.

He still didn't answer Qin Zechuan's question, but instead asked in return:

"So, boss, are you going to take back this decision?"

Do you want to take it back?

Are you willing to take it back?

Are you... willing to take it back?

Qin Zechuan's dark eyes paused briefly for two seconds at the question. In his pupils, he clearly saw the boy tilting his head and smiling at him. The boy casually brushed the stray hairs from his forehead behind his head, making him look less childish and more aggressive, which made Qin Zechuan's heart skip a beat.

He seemed to be smiling, but his eyes were scrutinizing and judging him, as if if he uttered a single lie, he would be thrown into an emotional hell from which there was no chance of ever climbing out.

He knew.

He knows everything!

A thought suddenly popped into Qin Zechuan's mind.

Whether it was Qin Yanyun, Chu Yu, or himself, their feelings for the boy had long been noticed by the person in question.

The deity sat on a high platform, watching the believers below fight with a mocking expression.

He didn't care where his job would ultimately end up, because he understood that no one here would let go.

So, Mr. Qin, can you do it?

Don't you want me to be your assistant anymore?

Qin Zechuan's breathing gradually became rapid. The words he had prepared in his mind rolled back and forth on his tongue, finally settling into one sentence:

"Did you really take the wrong elevator?"

Li Qingran blinked, the corners of her mouth still curved upwards, "Yeah, boss, otherwise would I pretend to sit in the wrong seat?"

It was a coincidence at first, of course, but someone deliberately turned the coincidence into a fait accompli, and he had no reason to object to it.

It wasn't like he begged or forced Qin Zechuan to promote him.

The beast within the other party's heart was certainly not unleashed by him.

"..."

For some reason, Qin Zechuan suddenly tasted blood in his mouth. He looked at Li Qingran and suddenly smiled.

"what to do?"

He said, "Right now, I really don't want you to be my assistant anymore."

"Oh? Really?" Li Qingran seemed intrigued by Qin Zechuan's words, and unconsciously leaned closer to the man, reducing the distance between them and making their eyes appear clearer.

"What position does the boss plan to make me?"

He reached out, his fingertips landing on the wine glass beside him that had only been sipped once. Before he could even lift it, he felt a warm touch on the back of his hand.

"This is……"

Li Qingran glanced at Qin Zechuan's hand that was covering the back of her hand, then turned to look at Qin Zechuan.

"What is President Qin doing?"

"I'll change your wine."

Qin Zechuan said, "This drink doesn't taste very good. Let me get you a different one."

As he spoke, his fingers slid down from the back of Li Qingran's hand, then moved up to grasp the body of the wine glass. His voice grew even hoarser, and although he wore glasses, his eyes were still slightly narrowed, as if only in this way could he see the person in front of him more clearly, even more clearly…

Similarly, I don't think the assistant position is very suitable for you. I think you're more suited to—

"Bang!"

Before Qin Zechuan could reveal the mystery of Li Qingran's new position, the door in the private room, which had been tightly closed since Qin Yanyun and Chu Yu left, was suddenly kicked open from the outside.

The next second, two figures staggered in.

Qin Zechuan frowned.

Qin Yanyun pretended not to see it, and indeed he did not see it.

Because at that moment, all he could think about was the sentence Qin Zechuan had just said.

"Xiao Li..."

Qin Yanyun stared at Li Qingran, his eyes slightly moist, whether from panic or some other reason, with a faint redness at the corners. His voice trembled as he spoke.

"Could you please explain to me what you mean by 'the assistant position isn't suitable for you'..."

Li Qingran pursed her lips, not expecting the main characters to eavesdrop outside. For a moment, she didn't know how to explain to Qin Yanyun.

Just then, Qin Zechuan, disturbed by the two unexpected intruders, chuckled and looked at Qin Yanyun on his behalf, saying each word clearly:

"You should really ask me that question, since when I say assistant, I don't mean the one next to you, but mine."

"Mine, do you understand?"

Qin Yanyun didn't understand...

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Author's Note: President Qin: Since I'm unhappy, then nobody else can be happy either! [Angry][Angry][Angry]