Liu Ruyan came in with a long-sleeved, white s.h.i.+rt and red-colored, peg-leg pants. Her high cheek bones had a light makeup dusted upon them and her smooth skin glowed with a healthy flush. Smiling fresh lips appeared ever so gently, but one could notice the flames of desire flickering through the pair of honey irises, it framed his eyes from looking away.

Naturally, effective only for a short time, Naruto got his bearing back almost like a breeze of wind.

"Morning, did you finish your prep?" Liu Ruyan said, staring meaningfully towards Naruto.

Naruto was yet to open his mouth; Mingyu had already beaten him to it. Using a respectful tone, she confirmed: "We are set, Ms. Liu."

Liu Ruyan barely glanced at her, and then returned her gaze towards Naruto.

"Then we better get going. I must check with my personnel, so you can go ahead first."

After receiving Naruto's nod, she gently turned around, all set to go.

At this time, an elder pa.s.sed by her side, cupping his hand before his chest while slightly bending his body.

"Mr. Naruto, I am looking forward to work together with you," his venerable voice meekly peeped through his mouth.

"So do I, Mr. Fu," Naruto said after he returned the courtesy. The elder smiled, then swiftly chased after Liu Ruyan's swaying back.

Naruto lingered his eyes at their gradually shrinking figure then looked around before facing Mingyu, he said, "Where are Mr. Dugu and Ms. Diwu?"

"In the underground parking lot – Mr. Dugu is checking out the logistics, making sure nothing was left behind, and Ms. Diwu was helping him. In the meantime, the four of us waited for your arrival," Mingyu said.

"Un," Naruto nodded, contented as he was, then settled his eyes upon Zhao Hongyan. Brightly grinning but with a contrite look in his eyes, he said, "Sister Hongyan, sorry for taking your time, having you send us off."

"Oh, it's no bother," the ponytail woman exclaimed while waving her hand in dismissal, "actually, Chief Mo also supposedly attended with us together, but something urgent came up, so she had to stay behind."

"What happened?" Naruto furrowed his eyebrows.

"I am not quite sure, but I heard the management held a meeting all of a sudden," she put her finger on her sakura colored lips.

Naruto went silent; he remembered Ruoxi's frantic run when leaving the house. It certainly wasn't simply because she felt embarra.s.sed for her 'trying to be a good housewife' att.i.tude – maybe something had occurred in the company.

Zhao Hongyan's eyes seemed to convey her hesitation, then she said, "Don't bother yourself with this, you have your own task to finish. Make sure you do it properly, and don't forget to take care of Mingyu, and the others."

While she said this, Hongyan's tone had been full of mysterious vibe, as if she was hinting at something.

Mingyu blushed as she heard her best friend's advice to Naruto; she turned her face away in order to hide it from gazes of these women. Although Naruto didn't yield the same response as her, his innermost feeling had been startled.

Could it be, that Sister Hongyan knew the relation between us?

Naruto pondered a little, then concluded she had a suspicion but not a definite conclusion.

"We should head for the underground parking lot then. I'm afraid Mr. Dugu and Ms. Diwu had been waiting for us," Naruto cast aside his little thoughts since they were not of any important.

Zhang Cai who had been silent throughout the ordeal after his last inquiry looked as if wanted to voice out something but eventually no sounds came out from her mouth. Then they traversed the expansive lobby into the elevator and headed straight for the underground parking lot.

(***)

Ruoxi's slender fingers tapped on the meeting desk right in front of her, her seat surrounded by the desk's gradual U formation.

E/N: Reminds you of a chariot, no? XD

The directors, the various heads of departments, and executive officers – all higher-ups – were present in the room, including the cute PR Department Head, Mo Qianni, and the fatty Finance Department Head, Ma Dao.

Though, he looked thinner now.

Everyone's expression in the room was varied. Some people wrinkled their brows, few actually showed worry, and only those who scattered here and there were having a pale face.

"Ms. Mo, have you confirmed this information?" Ruoxi said gravely with a slight frown.

"Yes, President Lin, a hundred percent. It was conveyed by the director himself," Mo Qianni replied as she tightened her grip on the thin paper in her hand, her palm saturated with bead of sweat.

"1 Billion..." Ruoxi who rarely smiled even for a sneer, actually curled the corners of her lips, eyes became frosty as if it could freeze one with a single glance. She continued, "Chengsi TV company is really overbearing!"

"President, this matter is very strange," one of the directors opened his mouth, "previously they didn't haggle much about the price, had even agreed to the twenty million deal, but why the sudden rise in price?"

"They must have a hidden motive. We must get to the bottom of this before any decision is made!" exclaimed another director as his fist slammed into the desk.

"Be quiet..." Ruoxi glanced at him from the corners of her eyes before turning her beautiful yet glacial eyes towards Mo Qianni, "Ms. Mo, how exactly did they put forward this new… condition? Do you suspect any weird behavior or untoward situation?"

Mo Qianni stayed silent for a while, then said, "Report to President Lin, the first time I received this news was yesterday. I tried to contact them asking for clarification, but the connection failed. I thought Perhaps it was because already closing time, Then I tried to contact through direct private call (cellphone) but the connection also failed, but this time…," there was a heavy tone resided in her voice, "…my call as if was being rejected."

"What conclusion you have a.s.sume from this?" Ruoxi asked again, "Also where did you get this information in the first place?"

E/N: "I got my sources," I said, being all mysterious about it. XD. Cla.s.sic trope. lol

"I got it from my other client, who also had a connection with Chengsi..." Mo Qianni tilted her cute head while a.s.suming a pondering gesture, "Maybe they don't want to be bothered?"

E/N: You wish, girl. Ya'll just got your collective a.s.ses dumped. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Oh her naiveté is charming but troubling. SMH I hope she doesn't get screwed over in the future.

"Perhaps… whatever happened over their end is none of our business..." Ruoxi nodded, then she continued, "afterwards, what happened?"

"Well, I went to their office and found the gate still open, so I tried to enter..." Mo Qianni's expression turned uncertain, " but the security at the front gate told me the visitation hours were over, unless I had an appointment, otherwise, they suggested that I to come back on the next day."

"Did you mention it was an urgent matter?"

E/N: Go the cla.s.sy route and demand to see their manager XD`

"I did, but they still didn't let me through..."

"What were their manners like? How'd they treat you?" Ruoxi narrowed her eyes, her fingers no longer incessantly tapping against the desk.

"It was actually pretty hard to read. They were just as polite as all the other times I've visited." Despite what she said, Mo Qianni made eye contact with Ruoxi; those doe-brown eyes wavered an inexplicable light.

Ruoxi went silent, but one could notice the pair of already glacial eyes turn even colder, "and after that, you went home, and the morning after, you contacted them again… Then they finally confirmed the truth about the new deal – am I right?"

"Yes, President Lin," Mo Qianni nodded.

The entire room dropped into tranquility, everyone could hear the breezing sound of an air conditioner in the room, they sensed the tension that was increasing by seconds.

"President... what course do we take?" One of department heads cautiously asked Lin Ruoxi. He finally couldn't bear it.

"..." Ruoxi didn't give immediate response, as if she was pondering about something, spending a long time in silence, Five minutes had pa.s.sed, then ten. When the people in the room started to feel nauseated from the nervous aura enveloping the room, she finally parted her bright red lips.

"I will visit the company myself."

The people didn't express much surprise or shock at her statement, but they revealed slight worry.

"It was right to do so," Ruoxi said in a light tone.

"President, perhaps... this not a good time for you to act directly..."

"Oh? Why not?" Ruoxi didn't have a change in her expression.

"This matter is too strange. You should send a couple of people in your behalf instead..."

Ruoxi shook her head, her face remained stiff, "If I do that, they won't let them in."

This time, some people were startled – perhaps their CEO had realized something that they had missed.

"Then it's all more the reason for you not to get involved..." the person who kept expressing his concern toward Ruoxi is the Human Resource Department Head, Dong Zhuo, this year 35 years old.

His reputation in the company was not bad like Ma Dao, or too popular like Mo Qianni. His appearance was slightly above average and his performance in work was not really splendid. But since he grasped the livelihoods of many employees, lots of people tried to lick his boots whenever they had a chance.

But he did was famous for one thing; His undying love for their CEO.

It's the reason he still didn't get married despite already being on the middle phase of human's journey.

"I accept your gesture of worry. Any other time I will definitely reconsider, but their manner to us changed as if the sun was rising in the West. Something had happened behind the scene and I felt like they relayed an invisible message that they need to see me," Ruoxi swept her eyes across the people in the room.

After hearing her insistence in taken the problem by the reins, Dong Zhuo sighed and no longer prevented her.

Mo Qianni at this time suddenly opened her mouth, "President Lin, should we lobby other Television's Company in case things get out of hand?"

"Yes, this problem shouldn't hinder our motion for Autumn's exhibition. Prepare a list of available television companies, sort them out by the population size of their viewers and the quality of the product they advertise; take viewer ratings as the second variable. I want the list before noon , today."

"Yes!" Mo Qianni flipped open her note, fished out a blue pen from the breast pocket, and started scribbling on the small white paper in hurry.

E/N: Chicken scratch. I guess she knows them off the top of her head, then? LOL :/

A/N: No, she wrote what Ruoxi had said to her, not the list of Television companies.

"How's the progress of our design?"

"The product's basic model is finished. Some had their embroidery done while the others are still in the initiation phase. We also coordinated with the jewelry company, Ice Snow corporation, their gemstone is currently in the finis.h.i.+ng steps," the person who reported this revealed slight amazement.

This time lot of people had astonished expressions, including Mo Qianni albeit she only had it for a brief while before replacing it with a smile. Lin Ruoxi's eyes flickered in excitement, but she quickly covered it up with a mere cold nod.

"It progresses much better than I predicted, good," her gaze ~pierced~ another side, "how about the grand hall's setting for an exhibition? What problems do the Flowing Cloud Hotel have?"

While she said this, her tone had been filled with loathing, even naked despise breezed through the air she exhaled.

E/N: Daaaamn. Shots be firin', ladies and gents. XD

Department Head Ma broke a cold sweat, he hastily responded, "No, no, President Lin, things are work out well, the stage had no problem, the sound system just completed their maintenance last time, the grand hall's HVAC was alright, cottages for our and sponsors.h.i.+p product was half readied, five hundred more than seats had been allocated, part.i.tion for wall pictures was ready..."

He stormed through each one by one with urgency in his voice, each time he spoke as if a fire had lit under his plump b.u.t.tock.

After he finished, Ruoxi even disdained to acknowledge his achievement, didn't give him a slight good appreciation. She snapped her gaze away as soon as possible from him.

"As everybody knows, we have entered a very critical situation for our preparation. We can't let any sort of complication disturb our progress – this will negatively impact our ~ratings and favorability for sponsors.h.i.+p. Therefore it's a must for me to settle this by myself."

Everyone displayed their agreement with a nod.

"Then we're done for the day, everyone return to your own office and proceed with your work like usual, Ms. Mo, you accompany me to my office. There is an a.s.signment I have for you -- the details aren't convenient to be exposed here," Lin Ruoxi said, and then she stood up, swiftly turned her body and left the room.

Mo Qianni also stood up and nipped her steps to chase behind the cold beauty's slender back.

(***)

The bus they used to go to the village was a single deck type produced by Yutong's company, it had body paint half red and the other white while the surface was clean from any spots.

Right now, people were still transporting logistics into the bus, from the equipment they would need to establish to the stuff they would give to the orphanage.

Liu Corporation sent ten people excluding Liu Ruyan and her bodyguard; Yu Lei just had four people including Naruto.

For most of the people's eyes, although this was in the name of cooperation, clearly Liu Corporation won't let Yu Lei have the chance to dominate their big event. Not only they were having only three days of time to make a preparation for a trip.

But what was in the majority's perception was certainly not the same in Liu Ruyan's perception. Because in her eyes, one person from Yu Lei was enough to overturn the entire event's domination.

Of course, it's not that she had a high a.s.sessment toward Yu Lei's employee, but she knew someone who was capable enough to make it happen.

Diwu Yali and Dugu Wan appeared among them, but since the preparation from Yu Lei was far fewer, they had finished early. The duo chatted with a couple of employee from Liu Corporation until their sights caught the form of one prince and four beauties approached from afar.

E/N: A la harem fic, anyone?

- PS: FYI, a la is short for à la manière de (in the style of) in French. Pretty common…

A/N: This is harem fic… what are you on about?

They quickly excused themselves and dashed towards Naruto, in their mind, even though he was a new employee, a rookie, a baby white-collar one could say, but currently, he held the post of the leader in this small group of Yu Lei's representatives, therefore their manner was also different.

What made them show more respect towards Naruto, was his handling of the reins of leaders.h.i.+p. It was rather impressive. He wasn't stiff like any old greenhorn, or like an unconfident man who didn't know how to order his or her subordinate without a loud voice like an arrogant p.r.i.c.k or a soft voice like feared this group of men under him would swallow him.

No. It was of a man sure of his own capabilities and the willingness of those under him.

"Mr. Dugu, Ms. Diwu, how are you? And your kids?" before they managed to greet the blonde, Naruto had called out first.

"Haha, they are well, they are well..." Ms. Diwu nodded her head many times while streched forward her hand to clutch Naruto's hand.

"My baby can say 'Papa' now, extremely cute!" Mr. Dugu laughed, then he also accepted Naruto's handshake in an energetic manner.

"That's good, they must have hate me for dragging away their mom and pop for a quite sometime," Naruto said.

"Ah, it's nothing, it's not my first time away from home for work, beside, it's a good change sometimes for my husband to work twice as much!" Ms. Diwu covered her mouth in giggle.

"My wife threw a little tantrum but nothing over the top..."

Naruto smiled along with them before his eyes wandered around the bus and observed the people from Liu Corporation.

Unlike themselves who all wore different outfits, the Liu Corporation's people were very well coordinated. They all wore T-s.h.i.+rts with red jumpsuit track, along with its pants. On the back of the jumpsuit, there was a single sentence written in a white thick outline and rather bold black words "Liu Corporation for now and the future."

"Don't worry Mr. Naruto, our costumes won't lose out to them..." Ms. Diwu suddenly chirped in on the side.

"You say it like we are going on a parade or something..." Naruto shook his head in bitterness.

"Don't you know the act of charity is actually the act of parade in a most subtle way?" this time Mingyu stood beside him with both hands behind her back, which was bent a little as she tilted her head to look at his face. Her front dangled a little.

Please Mingyu, I know you are big – stop showing off!

"Each and every one of our actions will determine what the public will view us, by declaring that we are going to charity or a visit to some poor area, is likeo parading from point A to point B, although not a direct show, everyone will see us in the news, videos, pictures, televisions, and much more.

If we don't put effort, like not wearing the proper costume, incorrectly gauging the situation, they might see us as less interesting, less fascinating. Therefore it's not a strange behavior if we had reserved matching suits for the occasion."

"Well, if you put it that way..." Naruto looked at the other way and scratched his nose a little.

"Sadly, our preparation time was too short, even for a fas.h.i.+on and cosmetic focused company like ours..." Mingyu sighed while staring at the beehive in front with a displeased expression.

Naruto didn't have much of a response, but he gazed at the front view with a long wavering sight.

After some minutes later, the remaining logistic they needed to put inside the bus are getting fewer and fewer, it almost finished transitioning.

Then a familiar sweet fragrant greet his nose, a light scent of orchid lingered in the air.

"Mr. Naruto, sorry for making you wait..."

He didn't need to look to guess who the master of this blood-boiling intoxicating scent was, he was familiar enough with the aroma she possessed.

"Not really, I just arrived here a couple of minutes early then had a chat with my collague," Naruto smiled while faced the pair of honey irises.

This time Liu Ruyan appeared alone; Mr. Fu was nowhere to be seen.

Naruto's eyes revealed a slight inquiry.

"Uncle Fu was taking our car along with the driver, please wait for just another minute," she said.

Our car?

Before anyone's question mark had a chance to manifest, a mini van with silver-colored body drove from not too far a distance. The front part was a direct diagonal, with a slight protruding head. The curve was rigid, almost a box-like exterior.

The minivan drove a while then stopped before Naruto's team and Liu Ruyan, the pa.s.senger's side doors opened and the old Fu came out slowly. He pulled the edge of back pa.s.sengers's door and slid it fully to the left, exposing a very comfortable compartment, a leather covered seats with a s.p.a.cious s.p.a.ce among them, fine wines and snacks had been prepared inside and ready to be ravaged.

"Please, Young Miss, Mr. Naruto, come in," Mr. Fu presented his hand towards the interior.

"You first or me, Mr. Naruto?" Liu Ruyan questioned as she also started to walk towards the low-key auto.

Everyone was astonis.h.i.+ngly look at Naruto, even the people in Liu Corporation also stopped their activities and stared at their location with incomparable envy.

How many of them wanted to have a chance to just even speak to Liu Ruyan, but this strange Blondie now even had a chance to sit next to her, in a private and limited s.p.a.ce to move, for a quite long time, and enjoyed the luxurious commodity provide by Liu Ruyan herself.

E/N: IKR? I'm jelly too. :V

A/N: You are a jelly? Then I am a pudding~

Ms. Diwu Yali and Mr. Dugu Wan didn't have much to comment. After all, Naruto was their leader, it's not too far fetched if he sat together with the leader from the opposition.

Zhao Hongyan's eyes burned brighter, she ambiguously exchanged glances between the vixen and the reynard.

E/N: As you know, vixen is a female fox. Turns out that a male fox is referred to as reynard, dogs, and tods. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

A/N: Show off!

Zhang Cai didn't give out any response; she had been long silent since the last time she's spoken.

Song Lihua looked at Naruto with eyes tinted with green. Really, the heaven were somewhat unfair, a new employee could have a relation with the CEO from a big company such as Liu Corporation. Why not her?

"..." only Mingyu showed somewhat difficult expression, although she also wanted for Naruto to climb the social status and quickly network with the right people to boost his fame, but deep inside, she wished to sit together with him. It's not that she was against sitting together with another woman, even if it was a man, so long he knew the proper boundaries of human propriety, then she didn't mind.

She's not the kind of conservative woman who awkward with social contact, even with the opposite gender. That's also the reason why she was able to become one of the best employees of the Public Relation department.

She looked at Naruto for a while, catching the expression of the guy who seemed lost in thought made her heart heavy a little; she shook her head bitterly and berated herself for being too unreasonable and obsessive.

In any case, Naruto already had a wife, and also two lovers, why she needed to be bothered if he got close with other women?

"Sorry..."

But at this time, Naruto started talking with a carefree face, even the corner of his lips curved upwards quite far.

"Why? Did you think that sitting together with me would result in unpleasant relations.h.i.+ps with the others?" Liu Ruyan didn't seem fazed with his refusal, but she did frown her beautiful face a little.

"No, I uh... I think it's quite inappropriate for me to sit together with you," Naruto said, seemingly struck by a bout of embarra.s.sment.

"Is it because I am a woman?"

"Un, yeah, that is one of the reasons..." Naruto scratched his cheeks sheepishly.

"Mr. Naruto, are you that stodgy? I can't believe a person like you is actually so mindful in relations between different gender," Liu Ruyan said with a little displeased.

"Well, usually I won't mind about it..."

"Then, what's the problem?" the vixen began to get impatient.

"Hmm..." Naruto scratched his cheek again, but now he looked at the other way, no, he looked at Mingyu, and he said, so simple, so light, but inside tone full of dear meaning, "I have a fiance..."

E/N: It's been so long since I've read the first 100 or so chapters. I've forgotten all the relations.h.i.+p dynamics and what happened so far. I mean… I read all of it in 2 days or so and fell behind in Organic Chemistry. f.u.c.k my life TT_TT

A/N: Pat pat Editor-San