Chapter 32

AAAHHHH!

EARTHQUAKE!!!

Xiao Yu used his two little paws to hold onto the rising platform underneath him for dear life as he shut his eyes tight.

When all that shaking finally ceased, Xiao Yu heard a deep laugh and Yan Jin’s playful voice.

“Fishy, don’t be scared.”

Xiao Yu opened his eyes again as he raised to head to look at Yan Jin resentfully.

“Squeakkk.” What kind of maze is this? How can it move?

Xiao Yu knew that he did not have a fear of heights, but standing on a raised platform was certainly a terrifying experience. He carefully looked over the edge, and at first glance, his curiosity overtook his fear.

At that moment, he seemed to understand why there was a rising platform in the middle of the maze.

Looking down from the top, Xiao Yu saw a hamster acting cute as he laid on his back, exposing his white stomach and pinkish paws – it was simply too adorable.

When Xiao Yu was walking through the maze, he only focused on the four-seasonal oil paintings on the surrounding walls. Now, he realized that the ground of the maze also had a drawing. It’s just that it was not some famous painter’s oil painting but –

It was a picture of himself.

And it must have been secretly taken by Yan Jin.

“You like it?” Yan Jin poked Xiao Yu’s chubby little waist.

Teasing the hamster imperceptibly was the deadliest move ever.

Xiao Yu was not pretentious either as he ruthlessly opened his mouth for a bite.

Yan Jin quickly reacted by withdrawing his hand. Xiao Yu did not hold back the attack. Plus, it was coincidentally the edge of the platform and half of Xiao Yu’s body already leaning off of it.

Watching the scene unfold, Yan Jin immediately reached his hand out to catch the falling hamster. As Xiao Yu saw Yan Jin’s outstretched hands, he, who had already balanced himself initially, seized the opportunity and allowed his body to fall into Yan Jin’s palm. When the human let out a sigh of relief, the hamster promptly bit his little finger.

“Ssss – ” Yan Jin hissed as he was caught off-guard.

A moment of folly landed him in the trap.

However, the pain that he expected did not happen. Yan Jin stared intently at the hamster in his palm. It turned out that Xiao Yu did not launch himself for a real bite; instead, he was just rubbing his teeth on his little finger. It was not painful, just a little itchy.

Yan Jin tried to pull his finger away, but it did not work.

“Fishy, I shouldn’t have scared you. I’ll give you extra meals for the next two nights, okay?” Yan Jin knew what Xiao Yu was angry about, so he tactfully apologized.

Hearing that promise, Xiao Yu then slowly let go of his teeth and licked the red markings on Yan Jin’s finger.

Fine, if that’s the case, I shall forgive you then.

Xiao Yu thought arrogantly.

Initially, Yan Jin planned to accompany Xiao Yu for the entire weekend. Now that the deal was over, things were more relaxed. Plus, Xiao Yu just recovered from his sickness, so Yan Jin could not bear to see him cooped up inside the cage. Yet he wouldn’t be at ease if he was not there to supervise the hamster while he was playing.

Perhaps Heaven could no longer bear to see Yan Jin act out of character, and hence, before Yan Jin was about to revert back to his hamster slave persona, a single phone call ruined all of his plans.

“Blind date?”

“Did you mix something up with the meaning of a blind date? I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

“I’m not going back unless you are willing to admit your...”

Xiao Yu’s ears perked up as he quietly listened to Yan Jin talk on his phone.

Ohmygod, what did he just hear, a blind date? That Yan Jin? That man that was overflowing with talent with a net worth of more than a billion dollars? The one with an extremely attractive appearance, who never fooled around with women, and was only twenty-eight years young? That Yan Jin was actually going to a blind date?

Did something go wrong somewhere? Putting aside Yan Jin’s attractiveness among this generation’s population of women, even Xiao Yu’s eighteen-year-old cousin was making a racket that she wanted to marry Yan Jin, asking Xiao Yu to help her out.

If Yan Jin wanted to get married, he could just wave his hand around and a whole group of men and women would come kneeling before him.

What kind of person was making Yan Jin go out for a blind date? From Yan Jin’s tone, it probably wasn’t his friend. It was probably his family elders.

Xiao Yu heard many cases of parents forcing their children into marriage from his colleagues back then. He always thought that those were the worries of a normal, average person. Xiao Yu did not expect that Chairman Yan would also, in fact, experience getting into a forced marriage as well.

Xiao Yu gleefully thought, why not go online under a fake account to sneak into those groups that Yan Jin wasn’t aware of, and reveal this information to those ladies that like Yan Jin so much? That would surely be a wonderful scene to watch.

BANG –

The loud slam shocked Xiao Yu and brought him back to reality.

Yan Jin had slammed the door and left.

Suddenly, the entire room went silent as that loud slam echoed in the room.

Xiao Yu slowly realized... Yan Jin was... angry?

That was, in fact, the first time Xiao Yu had witnessed Yan Jin that angry, ever since he was adopted into this house. Xiao Yu found it interesting knowing that the all-mighty chairman who was powerful in the business world actually had something that he had no choice over? Did he not want to go on that blind date? Then, why not simply skip it? It couldn’t be that those people would poke a gun behind Yan Jin and force him to attend, right?

He really could not understand it.

That day, Yan Jin’s promise of adding extra meals was not fulfilled.

The Monday sunshine entered the room, hinting that a new week had begun. Xiao Yu surprisingly woke up early that morning. He looked at the empty bed and felt his emotions become complicated.

Last night, Yan Jin did not return home.

That was the first time that Yan Jin had not returned for the whole night.

When there was a first, there would be a second, and a third...

Wait, hold up. What’s with those thoughts like an abandoned wife? Stop, stop. Whether or not Yan Jin would be coming home had nothing to do with him. Without Yan Jin, he could also live a wonderful life.

Yan Jin should be in his office at this hour. Hence, Xiao Yu opened his QQ. Indeed, Grey-white SS was messaging him already.

[Grey-white SS]: Are you there? Do you have some time to discuss the Autumn Release Conference details?

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Yes, I’m free now.

Yan Jin promptly replied.

[Grey-white SS]: Great. The conference this time around will be very different from all the previous conferences. Mainly, there’s the issue about the exhibition booth. There’s a new rule. Last year, YL placed ninth. There are too many changes for this year, so we won’t know what will happen. Our main goal would be to stay within the top ten.

Next, Yan Jin sent him a relevant folder.

[Grey-white SS]: You can have a look at the folder first, then we’ll discuss this again.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Sure.

Xiao Yu downloaded the folder but he simply glanced through it. Within half a minute, he closed the thirty-plus page document.

Xiao Yu had seen that document before and it was not like it was different from the one he had read before. Compared to the content in words, his personal experience allowed Xiao Yu to understand this Autumn Release Conference better than that document.

It was just that, to avoid having Yan Jin think that he had an attitude problem, Xiao Yu decided to play his games for a while to drag time out a little before returning to the discussion.

When he opened the app and called up those disciples for a team fight, Xiao Yu challenged the boss character on his own and led the team to victory as his disciples cheered, “Goddess is the best”, “Long live the Goddess”.

Sigh, it’s so lonely to be invincible.

That game did not require much mechanical skill. Xiao Yu was already bored with playing it, but because he had not found a replacement game, Xiao Yu reluctantly tolerated this game for the time being. It was not that he did not know games that were more fun, but the majority of those would require a computer. In his current situation where he could only use the iPad, it was impossible to play those computer games.

After playing for a while, Xiao Yu estimated that it was about time. So, he went online and continued his conversation with Yan Jin.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: I’ve read through the document. The part about the original jewelry design is a first, isn’t it?

[Grey-white SS]: Yes. YL will be holding a meeting for this matter. Would you be able to come over?

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: You don’t have to be so formal. Just converse normally with me will do. Oh, about that, I’m not coming.

[Grey-white SS]: Without signing the contract, I can’t reveal confidential company information to you as this is different from the previous situation.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: It’s okay. I don’t need your meeting results.

[Grey-white SS]: If that’s the case, I would not be able to guarantee whether we would be able to use your work for the exhibition or not. The exhibition booth placement is extremely crucial for this Autumn Release Conference. Plus, as you can see, every company can only allow one corporate work for the Ragnarok competition. It’s a fierce struggle among our internal team of designers. We’re not able to give that to an outsider, and we hope you will understand that.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Understood. I’m not fighting for this place; I can submit my work under the individual category. Oh, and it’s not really on my own nominally. You need to help me find a person.

Xiao Yu had a clearer understanding of the Autumn Release Conference than Yan Jin. He knew that it was possible to enter the competition as an individual with high-profile publicity made for the original jewelry competition. Only through the means of winning the pre-selection would he be able to gain a chance to compete with corporate works. If he won a place in that category, he would also gain an exhibition booth.

[Grey-white SS]: There are two parts to the selection for the individuals and corporates for this original jewelry design segment. It is very difficult for an individual piece to win the pre-selection; after all, you are not facing a group of professional designers, but rather an unfixed number of public citizens who do not have judgment standards.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: And if I can assure you that I’ll pass the pre-selection?

[Grey-white SS]: Firstly, I would like to clarify that it’s difficult to mess around with the pre-selection this time around. That’s because the voting rights are made through the official website. Secondly, according to my experience, even if an individual work passes the pre-selection, it is very difficult to compete with the corporate work for a place. The professional judges will not give high scores to those works that are full of tricks to attract the public’s attention.

In fact, Xiao Yu knew about all those things that Yan Jin had mentioned.

When he was in SI, the company held at least more than ten meetings to discuss this original design that would allow an individual to participate. At first, there were many of them who wanted to enter the competition by submitting their work as individuals. That would prove their own abilities and also showcase their contributions to the company, which was why there were so many participants who expressed their interest. However, when the company realized that they would not be able to send everyone to the pre-selection, deciding how many people or even who would they send became a huge issue.

A human’s energy level was limited. It goes without saying that the Autumn Release Conference kept everyone busy. The company had to ensure the quality and attractiveness of the new batch product release as well as secure their rank with their corporate works. If they sent their designers to participate in the individual work segment, then this group of people would not be able to participate in their corporate work duties. Regardless of whether the company was sending their normal standard designers or their high-standard designers, both decisions would not be a good choice. Plus, instead of hoping that the individual work would overcome the pre-selection process and rise above the corporate works, it would be a better choice to focus their efforts on designing a good corporate piece and publicizing it well to fight for the best rank in the exhibition.

In addition to that, even if the company were to tamper with the voting system, it would only guarantee a top ten spot at best. There was no need to take a risk for the pre-selection.

The top ten exhibit booths had the best placements. From eleventh place onwards, the publicity effects would be vastly different. That was why the majority of the companies were vying for those ten places.

Last year, there was no exhibition for original designs. The ranking was determined by the number of sales generated from the year before. Xiao Yu still remembered that YL placed ninth and SI was fifth – you could say that SI had beaten YL by a great margin.

As for the reason, Xiao Yu proudly felt that it was because he had become SI’s chief designer.

A majority of his designs were in the distant lead in sales compared to other concurrent products. After Xiao Yu had become SI’s chief designer, he had doubled SI’s sales within a year. And that was how he made those people who didn’t agree with him shut up.