Chapter One Hundred and Eighty-One: A Powerful Comeback (I)
Xiao Yu was really worried.
……
Initially, when the picture of their kiss had publicly spread, Xiao Yu had been forced into the miserable life of a celebrity. In addition to needing a face mask and sunglasses every time he left the house, he couldn’t even relax when he went to his car in the parking lot. Reporters jumped out of the most random places to interview him. Even though their questions weren’t hard to answer, Xiao Yu still avoided them whenever possible. It was pretty terrible to be asked the same question more than ten times in a single day.
Even though the times were rough, Xiao Yu didn’t feel like things were too bad, especially since YL’s public relations branch had done their work. Furthermore, Yan Jin was out of the country. According to Chu Ge, without one of the lead characters, discussion of their “forbidden love” would be fast to dissipate.
Xiao Yu hid and waited for ages. When he finally reached YL’s doors without being besieged by reporters, he let out a rare sigh of relief. Then, he was hit by another piece of big news.
NN was acquiring SI?!
Xiao Yu was stunned after seeing this news.
What was SI to Xiao Yu? It was the start of his career. It was his first step into a world of success, failure, and glory. It was a place he both loved and hated, but could never forget. Well, it was true that he hated it more than he loved it, but… it was gone, just like that?
Just like that.
Although the SI brand stayed, their core and management personnel had already been entirely replaced. Upon entering the online forum, Xiao Yu saw a sea of posts about unemployment and job-seeking. NN’s operations, management, and design software was many times better than SI’s. The Nan Family didn’t worry about lack of resources or staff at all and laid off many people in every department, leaving behind only their anguished cries.
Since SI was an old company, there was no shortage of SI veterans, some even having worked there for over ten years. These people had already settled down with a family in City S. With home mortgage rates being so high in S City, it was hard for them to abandon everything and move to another city. On the other hand, the jewelry industry in City S wasn’t too large. Aside from the two major brands SI and YL, the other companies couldn’t compare to them in either career progression or total compensation. Regardless, there weren’t enough job openings to satisfy such a large group from SI.
As a result, Xiao Yu received two hundred emails in a single night from former SI employees.
Most just formally inquired whether YL was still hiring, but a few tried to play the emotional card. They repeatedly sent emails pleading with Xiao Yu for a recommendation on the basis of their past relationships, saying that he was their last hope.
These people hadn’t said a word nor showed any concern at all when Xiao Yu had been abandoned by the company. Now, one after another, they came crawling back to him for help. Xiao Yu felt they were being quite ridiculous.
However, he also felt quite helpless.
From a bystander’s perspective, if all of this had happened to his friend, Xiao Yu would definitely urge his friend to ignore his hypocritical ex-colleagues. However, Xiao Yu didn’t have such a friend, and he wasn’t able to place himself in the shoes of an impartial observer. Many conflicting feelings rushed through him.
Furthermore, Xiao Yu had bountiful experience in being unemployed and searching for a job, so he could sympathize very much with their plight. He was clearer than anyone else about the difficulties in searching for a job, especially after being fired.
But, the only reason he had such experience was indirectly because of these exact people.
Back when Zhou Jinrong had superciliously told him, “Our company doesn’t need someone like you who sacrifices the company for their personal career,” Xiao Yu had desperately hoped that someone would speak up for him but to no avail.
Whether it was the interns who he’d personally mentored, his coworkers that he’d willingly lent a helping hand to, or even the people that had happily engaged in regular tomfoolery with him, they had all watched indifferently as the world turned its back on him.
In this day and age when fortunes regularly changed, no one knew when the predator could turn into the prey in a world of survival of the fittest.
Now that Xiao Yu had the opportunity to strike back, he could easily reply in kind with the same sneering attitude they had shown to him. However, what would that achieve?
Currently, Xiao Yu was both mentally and materialistically well off. He didn’t mind lending a helping hand to his former colleagues to the extent of his ability.
While it wasn’t true that Xiao Yu had forgotten his isolation and humiliation, some of his best memories were also at SI. There were still plenty of people from SI that had lent him assistance before to the best of their ability and scope. Xiao Yu had received quite a few favors from them.
Whether it was his ex-colleagues who had helped him to clock in when he was late, Old Man Wu who was friendly to everyone, or even the Lin Zhou and Zhou Jinrong with their ill intents, they had all helped Xiao Yu in some way to get him step by step to where he was now by Yan Jin’s side.
At least from the result, Xiao Yu didn’t feel like he was the loser.
But, that was the end of it.
Xiao Yu added a few modifications to the recruitment flyer he’d gotten from the human resources department and sent them out in a mass email.
Pressing the enter key, Xiao Yu suddenly felt incomparably light, as if a heavy weight had finally shifted off his chest.
That was the extent of his friendship with them.
Just like how he’d told Lin Zhou, henceforth, they would have no further relationship.
……
Now that he’d resolved the issue of his past colleagues, Xiao Yu thought he could finally release a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, he quickly discovered that he’d been too naive.
After NN had acquired SI, they fiercely rose to a powerful position. The amount of propaganda they disseminated was off the charts. On the other hand, YL modestly hid their strength and kept a low profile. Their relationship seemed quite harmonious on the surface, but how could the media leave things at that?
They didn’t want to see SI rise to its old power and YL make way for them. They wanted to see a resolution to their years of battling through their love-hate relationship. Would they fight, or would they officially make peace? They wanted to have talking points to evoke the viewer’s emotions and garner headlines!
They already felt extremely wronged that they hadn’t been able to raise a fuss about Yan Jin’s shocking kiss with his boyfriend. Now, no matter how you looked at it, NN acquiring SI had to have some plot or some additional topic for discussion. How could they let this opportunity slip by?
But currently, YL didn’t meet any of their hopes at all. In a manner completely unbefitting of an industry giant, YL had silently allowed SI to rise to the top, while their own media presence sunk to rock bottom. The media was about to die of anger! Unfortunately, they didn’t have any choice. They couldn’t force SI and YL into conflict. They could only turn their attention from the two companies and the marriage/war between the two families to interviewing the various parties involved.
The person most involved with matters between SI and YL was Yan Jin. But, because he was so far away, their next best candidate to interview was Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu’s background was so full of twists and turns, it satisfied even the reporters’ tastes.
When Xiao Yu was at SI, he helped YL get through numerous crises under the fake identity Mr. Mystery. Even after he gained fame as Mr. Mystery, he didn’t jump to YL immediately. Instead, it was after the car accident when he was abandoned by SI that he finally signed with YL. Not too long afterwards, SI was acquired. It can be said that he is the only survivor and beneficiary of the disaster, as if every move was planned by him. Step by solid step, he has reached the peak of the industry.
Whether it was on purpose or by accident, Xiao Yu could easily write a book if he wanted to with that experience and status. It was also exactly what the reporters wanted.
Therefore, just after escaping from a horde of entertainment reporters, he now fell into the net of another mob of reporters.
“You’ve got the wrong person!”
Xiao Yu pulled up his face mask that had been pulled down and wildly ran away. He shot towards his car at lightning speed. Once inside, he locked the door, feeling relieved after escaping with a new lease on life.
Then, a feeling of helplessness washed over him as he saw the mob of reporters plastering their faces onto the car windows. Even the security guards couldn’t pull them away.
Ai, what was he supposed to do?
Xiao Yu released a sigh.
Before, at this time, he’d still be in the company drawing designs. But now, with so many reporters tailing him, he had no choice but to leave on time so that the company could maintain their image of never requiring anyone to work overtime. That alone would have been fine, but now, even with the company explicitly banning interviews, there were still paparazzi that slipped through the net blocking him in the parking garage.
Things sucked. Things really sucked.
Xiao Yu silently pressed down on the accelerator.
He really wished that these days would end soon.
……
The fact was, he was still too naive.
Xiao Yu heard his colleagues excitedly discussing something related to a Gabriel Family and fell into a deep shock.
Just a moment ago, he had heard some mind-blowing news from a junior designer.
Starting today, YL was now classified as one of the Gabriel Family’s corporations. The new chairman would be assuming his duties very soon.
“Isn’t this… the same as being acquired?” Xiao Yu asked, flabbergasted.
“Huh? That’s a crazy interpretation… well, maybe it’s true,” the junior designer replied.
“What do you mean, ‘interpretation’? What did Chief say wrong? Isn’t it just like that?” Another designer cut in.
“Sure, sure, sure. You’re absolutely correct.” The junior designer’s attitude showed that he didn’t want to deal with the Mystery Designer’s braindead fans.
“But, why are we being acquired…?”
Xiao Yu felt like he couldn’t keep up with the surrounding conversation. To the best of his understanding, wasn’t being acquired extremely awful? Just a few days ago, when SI had been acquired by NN, there were many people sympathizing with SI and supporting YL. How could YL be acquired in the next instant?
And by an unheard of Gabriel Family?
How could things turn out like this? Was it related to Chu Ge? Did Yan Jin know? What should he do?
Xiao Yu was extremely worried.
