Chapter 76: He Snatched the 001 Right Out of My Hand
Half an hour later.
The entire Ji Group Building had finally cooled down from the boiling panic and returned to a state of order.
Outside the building, amidst the biting winter wind, employees in their suits and leather shoes were walking back from the streets in small groups.
Because the Ji Group’s evacuation had been so sudden, it had triggered a chain reaction in the neighboring Defeng Bank and a nearby law firm.
A law firm partner was shouting into his phone while running: “Our IPO filing materials might have burned! …What? A false alarm? Then pretend I didn’t say anything!”
Fu Yue, the culprit behind this farce, had already been invited to Ji Hanmo’s office.
In the dead of a December winter, the room was filled with a cozy warmth.
Ji Hanmo’s office was elegantly decorated.
On his desk sat an ornamental kumquat tree, its orange-yellow fruits full and round. Beside the guest sofa, a humidifier puffed out wisps of white mist, while a few small fish frolicked in a gold-rimmed aquarium.
However, the man himself was surrounded by a heavy, low-pressure aura.
“Are you throwing a tantrum at me?” Ji Hanmo asked. He stood before the floor-to-ceiling window with his back turned, hiding his expression and emotions.
“No,” Fu Yue denied.
“For the past two days, you were avoiding me,” Ji Hanmo finally turned around and took a few steps toward Fu Yue, his gaze sweeping over him. “And what do you call this today?”
“I was just helping the company test the fire safety system.” Fu Yue decided to go for broke and came up with a random excuse.
Ji Hanmo let out a direct laugh upon hearing that.
“Fine.” He spat out a single word and began walking toward Fu Yue with steady, long strides.
“The fire safety system test is complete. The data is excellent.”
The man’s polished dress shoes clicked against the marble floor. Every step felt like it was treading directly on Fu Yue’s heart.
“Now,” Ji Hanmo came to a halt right in front of him, “it’s your turn to test the performance of the ‘Angry Boss System.'”
The man’s aura enveloped him.
Fu Yue instinctively took a step back. “I think… we probably don’t need to test that…”
“Oh?” Ji Hanmo looked at Fu Yue’s face. “Are you saying my performance is excellent?”
Fu Yue didn’t dare answer.
He wasn’t sure if the man in front of him was “driving” the conversation into suggestive territory.
But he noticed that Ji Hanmo’s eyes would occasionally flick toward the bag in his hand.
“Fu Yue,” Ji Hanmo spoke up, pointing at the item he was holding. “If you’re using this to plead for mercy, I might actually consider it.”
Fu Yue was stunned. He looked down at the bag in his hand.
It was a perfectly ordinary convenience store plastic bag that Chen Bai had given him, printed with a blue and pink logo.
The bag was semi-transparent.
At first glance, it looked unremarkable.
However—
The light pierced through that thin plastic film, illuminating the contents with absolute clarity.
A piece of loose wrapping paper had tilted to the side, revealing two rectangular boxes.
One was gold, and the other was silver.
On them were the highly recognizable digits—001.
And below that, the words were faintly visible:
Strawberry Flavor.
Ultra-Thin.
Fruit Sensation Experience.
Value Pack of 12.
Fck!*
A silent scream erupted in Fu Yue’s heart.
Chen Bai, do you have a hole in your brain?!
Would it have killed you to buy an opaque bag?
But in reality, when those two boxes were in Chen Bai’s hands, they had been wrapped in a layer of paper and hidden behind an opaque folder. They were completely invisible.
It was just that Chen Bai had been in such a rush to go to his “meeting” that he had snatched the folder away!
As for Fu Yue—
He had been carrying that plastic bag through the fire exits, corridors, and equipment rooms.
The bag had swayed with his hurried footsteps, and the friction had gradually loosened the wrapping paper.
But he hadn’t noticed at all.
He had paraded them across the market, swaying the bag all the way from B1 to the 98th floor.
He had passed by countless eyes…
The looks his colleagues had given him ranged from admiration—after all, the quantity was impressive—to a hesitant desire to say something. After all, Fu Yue hadn’t slept well for the past two days and had slight dark circles under his eyes…
“I thought you recently…” Ji Hanmo’s words trailed off halfway.
His expression was playful; it certainly wasn’t going to be anything good.
“Recently what?” Fu Yue asked weakly.
“That recently you preferred people who couldn’t use those things.”
He even knows about that?
He knows about that literary masterpiece regarding how a ‘eunuch can be a top’?
“When a systems expert sends the wrong file, it becomes an interesting anecdote. It spreads very quickly.” Ji Hanmo couldn’t help but chuckle twice as he gave his evaluation.
What interesting anecdote? This was an “end of life” anecdote.
At this point, Fu Yue’s threshold for shame had been pushed so high that even knowing Ji Hanmo had seen that “eunuch literature,” his heart no longer had the energy to roar.
Seeing his deathly pale expression, Ji Hanmo smiled. “What size are they?”
“What do you mean, what size?”
“These.” Ji Hanmo signaled toward the items in the bag with a look.
Stiffly, Fu Yue pulled out a box and glanced at it. “XL.”
“Give them to me,” Ji Hanmo said, reaching out his hand.
“What?”
Seeing Fu Yue frozen in place, Ji Hanmo simply reached out.
Fu Yue’s reflex was to back away, but Ji Hanmo had already taken the two boxes from his palm.
The atmosphere in the office suddenly became charged with ambiguity.
Fu Yue stared at Ji Hanmo tensely, his heart beginning to race.
With this setup…
Surely he wasn’t going to inspect the goods on the spot?
“These aren’t mine!” Fu Yue finally realized he had to clarify.
Ji Hanmo seemed to have seen through Fu Yue’s thoughts. He gave a light chuckle and gave an irrelevant answer: “Strawberry flavor. What flavor do you usually like?”
“I like ‘vanishing on the spot,'” Fu Yue answered in his head.
Ji Hanmo studied the packaging with great interest for a moment before slowly strolling back to his desk. He pulled open a drawer and tossed the items inside.
From an angle Fu Yue couldn’t see, the two boxes landed on top of a necktie in the drawer—a tie that had once belonged to Fu Yue.
“You…”
“You carried them all the way in here. Did you plan on carrying them all the way out for people to sightsee?”
Fu Yue: “…”
But wouldn’t leaving with empty hands be even more of a misunderstanding?
Buzz—
Fu Yue’s phone vibrated. He glanced at it; it was a message from Shen Junnian:
[I heard you caused another massive scene today? Do you need me to come bail you out? An entire street was evacuated in a panic; I’m dying laughing.]
Great. The news was spreading faster than he had imagined.
Scrolling to the previous message, it was from Chen Bai:
[Fu Yue, help me put that bag in a drawer. Whatever you do, don’t leave it on the desk.]
“…”
[Host, according to big data analysis, your ‘Social Death Index’ today has broken a historical record.]
Even the system was piling on.
Fu Yue felt that by now, the entire company was probably gossiping about his “high demand.”
No, wait!
Fu Yue suddenly realized—
Perhaps this was an opportunity?!
The act of bringing condoms to the office was outrageous enough.
And this accidental blunder was shocking enough.
Maybe he could use this to lead into the topic of his “sudden personality change” and resolve the issue of Ji Hanmo doubting his identity.
Let’s try it.
Once Fu Yue made up his mind, a smirk curled on his lips as he proactively walked toward Ji Hanmo’s desk.
He could try to act out some exaggerated behavior.
Like, sitting on it.
“Chairman Ji, I have some things I want to say to you…”
Perfect. He would use the fire drill incident as a conversation starter.
Fu Yue adjusted his breathing and leaned toward Ji Hanmo.
Then, supporting himself with both hands, he hopped up and sat on the wide desk.
He crossed his legs and leaned back, striking a sufficiently frivolous pose.
Everything was ready. The “script” was about to begin.
Fu Yue had already prepared his opening lines.
He would start with a world-shaking “I don’t want to pretend anymore,” then emphasize that he was someone with a volatile temperament.
If necessary, he could even cosplay as a sharp-tongued dance teacher and give a “slap” or two.
However, just as Fu Yue was building up his emotions and preparing to speak, he caught sight of a document by Ji Hanmo’s hand—Report on Fu Yue’s Dietary Habits.
Fu Yue froze.
The report was densely packed and detailed to a hair-raising degree.
Weren’t you investigating me behind my back? Aren’t you going to hide it?!
Ji Hanmo followed his gaze, but he only gave a slight smile.
“Didn’t you have something to say?” He looked up at Fu Yue.
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