Chapter 290: Killing You with Gentleness

"Knock, knock, knock."

The Secretary knocked and entered, bringing in a stack of documents for her to sign.

"Fine, I'll take a look. You go out; I'll call you when I've finished signing."

The Secretary went out, and Shi Youxuan looked through them roughly before dialing Zhu Yiwen's number: "Sir, there's an order on the silk side that I think has a problem..."

Zhu Yiwen had just prepared to close his eyes and rest on the plane when he received Shi Youxuan's call; he listened carefully and then told her what to do.

When the call ended, he was still quite satisfied with Shi Youxuan.

Careful and cautious, she would not act on her own authority.

Everything centered around him—this was the ideal candidate in Zhu Yiwen's mind!

But soon, he grew annoyed.

Shi Youxuan had no ideas of her own and asked him about everything, regardless of how trivial it was; that wasn't even the main point.

The most important thing was that she demanded Zhu Yiwen keep his phone on twenty-four hours a day so she could find him at any time to discuss things with him!

Zhu Yiwen knew better than her how much work there was at the company.

Keeping the phone on twenty-four hours a day would exhaust him to death.

Before they even reached A Country, Zhu Yiwen's patience was nearly depleted, and he said to Shi Youxuan, "From now on, you make the decisions for orders under thirty million dollars; you don't need to tell me."

"Mm," Shi Youxuan agreed.

Then, just as they got off the plane and met the people there to receive them, before they could even shake hands or exchange pleasantries, Shi Youxuan's call came again.

This time, it was an order over thirty million.

It was just a normal business transaction for the company, the kind that didn't need to be reported to him at all!

So, Zhu Yiwen relaxed the criteria further.

When they arrived at their accommodation and settled into the hotel, the A Country Ministry of Commerce sent someone to invite them to dinner; just as they entered the private room... Shi Youxuan's call came again!

All of Zhu Yiwen's patience was completely exhausted.

He simply turned off his phone and stopped paying attention to her.

Soon, Jian Yining's phone rang...

Jian Yining went out to answer the call and returned a few minutes later, telling Zhu Yiwen that he had explained the situation here to Shi Youxuan and told her to call back later.

Zhu Yiwen was annoyed beyond measure; he knew "later" meant less than ten minutes.

He had overestimated.

Not a few minutes later, Jian Yining received another call from Shi Youxuan, still needing to consult him, and still about the same matter.

Zhu Yiwen went outside to take the call, and it wasn't even a big deal!

The people from A Country were quite enthusiastic at first, but later, seeing Zhu Yiwen go out to take calls so frequently, their attitude gradually cooled.

They even asked if they looked down on the people of A Country?

A Country was a small country, but L Country wasn't very big either.

If there was contempt, they shouldn't do business together; the people of A Country were enthusiastic and straightforward, and they liked to be direct.

Zhu Yiwen hurriedly explained, saying it was a call from his wife, and even let them see the caller ID on the screen: Wife.

Only then did the attitude of the A Country Ministry of Commerce staff become enthusiastic again.

It was a close call; they almost hadn't even seen the place before the business fell through!

Zhu Yiwen dared not answer Shi Youxuan's calls again.

During the banquet, in order to make up for the bad impression from earlier, both of them drank very hard and tried to build rapport; the banquet didn't break up until midnight.

Zhu Yiwen couldn't hold his liquor to begin with, and after going outside and getting hit by the wind, he felt even more dizzy.

He barely managed to make it to his accommodation, and just as he lay down, the phone rang again...

"To hell with you." Zhu Yiwen grabbed the phone and threw it hard against the wall, then it fell to the floor and even the battery popped out; it finally stopped ringing!

However...

Zhu Yiwen was sleeping soundly.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Jian Yining knocked on the door.

If he didn't hear it once, he'd do it twice; if twice didn't work, he'd do it three times...

It started as "knock, knock, knock," but later it turned into "thump, thump, thump" as he pounded on the door.

Zhu Yiwen was finally woken up by the pounding.

"Who is it? Get lost!"

Zhu Yiwen rarely drank, and when he did, he only wanted to sleep; if he didn't sleep well, he would suffer from the hangover for several days.

Now, his head felt like it was about to split open.

"Chairman, your wife is calling for you." Jian Yining covered his mouth, forcing himself not to laugh out loud.

"Tell her to solve it herself, don't come asking me about everything!" Zhu Yiwen roared.

Jian Yining said, "I don't dare say that. If something goes wrong, I can't take the responsibility. You'd better tell her yourself."

As he spoke, the corners of his eyes and brows were full of smiles.

He was smiling so beautifully.

"Whoosh—"

The door was pulled open, and Zhu Yiwen, with a livid face, snatched the phone and practically roared into it: "Shi Youxuan, you listen to me. Being my wife isn't about being a parasite; you can't just eat and not work. You need to take responsibility and manage the company well when I'm not home, instead of asking me about every little thing."

On the other end, the recording button had already been pressed; she was waiting for exactly these words.

But Shi Youxuan still asked cautiously: "What if something goes wrong? I'm afraid I won't manage it well."

Zhu Yiwen: "Shi Youxuan, if I needed a puppet on a string, I wouldn't have chosen you. You need to be clear on that!"

"Mm, understood."

"Before I return, do not call me on your own initiative, do you understand?"

"Alright, I understand."

After hanging up the phone, Zhu Yiwen was about to throw it again... Jian Yining was quick-witted and snatched it away: "Mine, mine, this is mine."

"Chairman, please get some good rest, I won't come to disturb you again."

Jian Yining took the phone and vanished in a flash.

Zhu Yiwen returned to the room and flopped onto the bed, falling back asleep.

He didn't wake up until noon the next day.

But waking up was about the same as not waking up.

His head still hurt, seemingly even more than it did last night.

He couldn't remember what had happened last night, only that he seemed to have answered a phone call... but!

It was just answering a phone call, so how did the phone end up shattered?

And the front door was wide open; could a thief have entered the room?

The official seal and important items were all in the room, and Zhu Yiwen was instantly drenched in a cold sweat.

He hurriedly sat up and began to look for his briefcase... damn it, the bag was gone.

He wanted to call for someone, but as he jumped off the bed, his foot tripped over something, and he nearly fell!

However, upon seeing the "thing" that had tripped him, Zhu Yiwen was pleasantly surprised instead—it was his briefcase!

He picked it up and opened it to check; everything in the bag was there, not a single thing was missing.

"Whew—"

Only then did he feel relieved; it had been a false alarm just now.

He flopped back down onto the bed again.

It wasn't that Zhu Yiwen hadn't woken up, but that he felt truly miserable.

It seemed he had caught a cold; his nose was stuffed, his head felt like it was splitting, and he was likely still running a fever.

The air conditioning in the room was set quite high, and since he hadn't covered himself with a blanket at night, he must have caught a chill and trapped his sweat.

A cold wasn't a major illness; even without medicine, he would be fine after resting for two days.

But he couldn't rest; he had to go look at that plot of land today, and the journey was quite long, requiring a full day for the round trip.

Delaying one day today meant staying in A Country for one more day, and he was worried about important matters in the United States, Jiangzhou, and L Country.

He wanted to ask the front desk to send over some cold medicine; if he took some, he could hold on and keep going.

At this moment, A Qing came over to remind him that the people from A Country were waiting, and asked when the Chairman would be heading over.

That plot of land had already been cordoned off by the state, and without special authorization, no one could enter.

Zhu Yiwen: "I'll go right away."

He struggled to climb up, but fell back onto the bed; his head was heavy and his feet light, and he truly couldn't get up.