Chapter 76: New Company, New Colleague

Chen Yang drove around the urban area of Qingshui City all day, but his gains were not big.

The properties he eyed either had owners unwilling to sell, or were asking too high a price, leaving little room for appreciation.

In his previous life, after graduating, he rarely returned to Qingshui City, and he wasn't clear about the city's future urban planning. He only remembered that most new housing developments were built away from the city center, while the old town largely retained its original appearance.

Chen Yang actually preferred investing in storefronts of new developments. Not only did they offer greater appreciation potential, but more importantly, he could buy several at once. Old storefronts, aside from those in the city center's commercial district, had no investment value, and moreover required negotiating with each owner individually, which was a hassle.

Du Yuee had to run back and forth between the supermarket and the Lin family, leaving her unable to focus. After thinking it over, Chen Yang found Zhang Linlin, who still worked at the marketing center of Shuanglin Market, and asked her to help keep an eye out.

Zhang Linlin, being a professional in this line of work, was well suited. Chen Yang was also generous, agreeing to pay her a thousand yuan as a hardship fee once they settled on a storefront.

After settling matters in Qingshui, Chen Yang prepared to return to Xingcheng. The headquarters' affairs were currently being handled solely by Shen Anna. As an absentee boss, he always felt uneasy about it.

These past few days, Yexin kept calling Chen Yang to complain, berating him for being inhumane and exploiting a woman who had just suffered an emotional wound.

Chen Yang said work could fill the emotional void, and Shen Anna's current state might not be a bad thing. As a result, Yexin scolded him even more harshly.

To avoid further harassment from that vicious woman's phone calls, Chen Yang had no choice but to return to Xingcheng first.

Shen Anna also rented an entire floor above Liu Shijie's company in the Xinhe Building to serve as the temporary headquarters of the People's Agricultural Products Trading Company, with an annual rent of three hundred thousand.

When Chen Yang arrived, he found that the office renovation was already completed and most office supplies were in place. With Yexin and Liu Shijie helping out, he wasn't surprised.

The only surprise was that Shen Anna's CEO office was actually larger than his chairman's office and even had a private lounge. Judging from Yexin's constant complaints, Shen Anna had likely been staying at the office these past few days.

Good partner, she really intends to fill her emotional void with busy work!

"Anna sis, I think your current way of working has some problems. Constantly working hard without breaks won't let you achieve the best results. Know that only by reasonably scheduling rest time and balancing work with rest can you truly improve work efficiency. It's like a car: if it runs continuously for a long time without maintenance or rest, it's prone to breakdowns or even being scrapped; we humans are the same—under prolonged high-tension work, body and mind bear tremendous pressure, and over time this will inevitably affect performance. You need to stop."

"Chen Yang, my work state in the Beautiful Country is quite normal. You don't need to worry!"

"I'm not worried, but someone is worried!"

"Heh, don't mind Yexin; she's had smooth sailing since birth, so she wouldn't know how hard entrepreneurship is."

"We have money; we can hire a few more people to share the load."

"Are you teaching me how to work? Or would you like to take over as CEO?"

"Fine! Then I'll consider I never said anything."

Seeing that he couldn't persuade Shen Anna, Chen Yang could only give up.

He walked around his temporary company and found that Shen Anna's preparations were indeed meticulous. Besides their two offices, she had set up departments for human resources, finance, procurement, sales, legal, warehousing logistics, quality inspection, market research, and network security.

Once the relevant staff are in place, a complete corporate system will be established.

Chen Yang was very satisfied with Shen Anna's work efficiency.

"Anna sis, when are you planning to hire people?"

"No rush; first take me to the airport to pick someone up."

"Who?"

"A former colleague of mine; I'd like her to come over to manage the HR department."

"How capable is she?"

"She's adequate; for a company of our size, she's sufficient."

Chen Yang was speechless; he was ready to invest a hundred million, yet Shen Anna still complained about the small scale. Who should he reason with?

Out of curiosity, Chen Yang drove to Xingcheng International Airport to pick someone up. He didn't expect that after just a few minutes of driving, Shen Anna would fall asleep in the passenger seat.

To let Shen Anna rest a bit longer, Chen Yang drove the car to the airport and didn't wake her. Instead, he took the pickup sign she had prepared in advance and went to the arrivals exit.

He held up the sign and waited half an hour before seeing a woman in a black suit slowly walking over, pushing a huge suitcase.

She was about thirty, her eyes like a cold pool—deep and icy, making one dare not meet her gaze directly, as if even a second glance would freeze her. Her black suit wrapped her slender figure, yet it also resembled a layer of cold armor, shutting out outside warmth and enthusiasm. Her steps were firm, each stride exuding an undisputable aloofness, as if the world's clamor and prosperity had nothing to do with her.

"Are you Chen Yang?"

"Hello, I'm Chen Yang. You must be Luo Xue, right?"

"Boss, good to meet you—I'm Luo Xue. You don't quite match how Anna described you."

"Oh, is that better or worse?"

"She said you're a monster. But I think aside from being a bit handsome, you're no different from an ordinary person."

"Hmm, you're right—I really am just an ordinary person. I just got a bit lucky and acquired some wealth that shouldn't have been mine, and then I became your boss."

"..., Anna, wasn't it agreed that you'd personally come pick me up?"

"She's resting in the car. These past few days, while I haven't been in Xingcheng, she's been handling everything alone, so she must be exhausted."

"Let me state first, I'm not Anna—I don't work overtime!"

"Fine! I also hope you can persuade her not to push herself too hard. The body is the capital of revolution; if you wreck your health, what's the use of earning ten billion? You need the fortune to enjoy it."

"..."

Luo Xue fell silent. This new boss was unlike the listed-company bosses she had encountered before—he completely disregarded convention. Others liked to maximize exploitation of labor, but he wore an expression of utter indifference.

Such a boss is easy to get along with, but whether he can lead them to grow big and strong remains uncertain.

At that moment, Shen Anna hurried over from behind Chen Yang.

"Little Xue, I'm sorry—I had promised to pick you up personally, but ended up falling asleep."

Luo Xue smiled: "No problem, it's the same if the boss picks me up."

Shen Anna nodded, pointed at Luo Xue, and introduced her to Chen Yang: "Chen Yang, let me formally introduce you—this is our new colleague Luo Xue. Luo Xue, this is our future boss Chen Yang!"