Chapter Seventy-Four: With Subordinates Like These, How Could One Not Go Bankrupt?

Just as Bai Bing had said, in the presence of women, men are nothing more than a tissue—used when needed and tossed aside when not. Different men represent different lengths: the longer ones are kept around a bit more, the shorter ones are discarded even faster.

“If Lin Xiaolei fails again this time, are you still planning to help her?” Bai Bing asked Wang Zheng, her gaze fixed on him. This was the question she cared about most.

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Wang Zheng replied, slurping his Korean noodles. “Hey, wasn’t your hope that Lin Xiaolei would succeed so you could laugh at me in the end? Why do you think she’s bound to fail now?”

“She doesn’t know how to win people over. Look at the female employees—frowning, grumbling. Do you think they’ll work with any real dedication? They’re just going through the motions. Without loyalty, repeating old mistakes is inevitable,” Bai Bing analyzed.

“Exactly. Her greatest flaw is not knowing how to build relationships with her subordinates, to make them willingly work hard for her. It seems she hasn’t learned this lesson from her last failure. If things continue like this, resignations and job-hopping are only a matter of time. And her biggest mistake was bringing back those old staff who had left—it’s caused a split among the employees. Maybe she has some talent for management and business, but she doesn’t understand the art of handling people. Worse, she’s surrounded herself with incompetents. Isn’t that just asking for trouble?” Wang Zheng laughed.

“Mmm!” Bai Bing nodded repeatedly, thoroughly agreeing with Wang Zheng’s assessment. “In that case, we don’t need to waste much more energy on her. If you’re bored, why not come and...”

But before Bai Bing could finish, Wang Zheng raised his hand to cut her off.

“Your biggest flaw is not knowing how to get along with people,” Wang Zheng said to Bai Bing. “Why on earth should I stick with you for no reason? I’m not a three-year-old who’ll follow you just because you offer me candy. Wishful thinking. Do you think I have no mind of my own? Or do you imagine you’re someone special to me? I already told you—we’re not the same kind. I’m a free spirit, you’re in the chocolate camp. How could we be alike? So don’t bring up this ‘sticking together’ stuff in front of me anymore. We’re not that close, got it?”

“Then what would it take to be close?” Bai Bing asked. After all this time, he still said they weren’t familiar? She was genuinely curious what ‘close’ meant in Wang Zheng’s mind.

Hearing her question and seeing the earnest look on her face, Wang Zheng tilted his head and thought for a moment, then replied with great seriousness, “Laundry, cooking, cleaning—after passing the test for five years or more, maybe then, when you bring it up again, I’ll consider it.”

Bai Bing was stunned. Laundry, cooking, cleaning, and for five years? How was that any different from being a free maid? No, it was even worse than a maid’s lot.

Seeing the serious expression on Wang Zheng’s face, Bai Bing gritted her teeth, barely stopping herself from spraying her mouthful of noodles in his face. She forced a smile at him, then dropped her smile and went back to her noodles.

“Wishful thinking. I’ll have you in the palm of my hand within sixty months!”

The Korean noodles tasted all right, just the portion was too small. If Wang Zheng hadn’t had little appetite today, he could easily have eaten two more bowls. With nothing left to do, Wang Zheng found the lunch break unbearably long. There was nothing to occupy him in the office either. So, at Bai Bing’s suggestion, they went up to the rooftop café to rest for a while and take in the panoramic view of Jinghua City from above.

“Are you angry?” Bai Bing suddenly asked, noticing Wang Zheng had been silent for a long time.

“Hmm? Angry about what?” Wang Zheng replied, his gaze never leaving the window. Truth be told, this was the first time he’d looked down on Jinghua City from above. Only now could he truly feel the immense changes the city had undergone in the past eight years.

“You know, about me asking you to stick with me,” Bai Bing prompted.

“If I got angry over every little thing, I’d have inflated into a balloon long ago,” Wang Zheng said with a smile. “By the way, the two of us haven’t ordered anything, just sitting here enjoying the view. You think they’ll throw us out?”

“Since when did you become so thin-skinned?” Bai Bing laughed. She was surprised Wang Zheng would care about such a trivial thing. She remembered when he’d first returned to the country, striding down the street in his ‘tribal outfit’ like a beggar, boldly walking into malls and restaurants, pockets empty. Why didn’t he worry about that then?

“It’s not about being thin- or thick-skinned. It’s just that those noodles left me thirsty. Since you suggested we come here, shouldn’t you at least buy me a drink?” Wang Zheng asked.

“You... you really are a stingy capitalist. Worth a fortune, yet you want to exploit me. Are you even a man?” Bai Bing retorted. She was already paying for their breakfasts and dinners out of her own pocket—never once had she asked Wang Zheng for meal money. She hadn’t expected this shameless man to try and get a free drink, too. It was infuriating!

“Can’t you expense it to the company?” Wang Zheng said, snapping his fingers and ordering two coffees.

“Expense it?” Bai Bing was momentarily confused—she had no such expense account. But when she saw Wang Zheng’s finger pointing upward, she immediately understood, shooting him a glare as her answer.

They stayed in the café until it was time to go back to work, then returned to the company. The scene was the same as before: employees buried in their work. Who knew what they were so busy with.

By the copier, someone was printing documents. Wang Zheng strolled over, picked up a sheet, and nearly choked up the noodles he’d eaten for lunch.

Real estate?

Had Lin Xiaolei lost her mind? Even with the extra ten million or so she’d scraped together, Zhongtian’s assets only totaled thirty or forty million at most. And in a city like Jinghua, where land was worth its weight in gold, did she really think she could play at real estate with such a paltry sum?

Wang Zheng read on and understood—this wasn’t Lin Xiaolei’s idea, but that of one of her old subordinates. The plan was to invest in land on the outskirts of Jinghua, arguing that the city center was fully developed and expansion would soon reach the suburbs. The idea was to buy low now and sell high later... What utter nonsense! Wang Zheng tossed the so-called proposal aside in disgust. If these were the kind of people Lin Xiaolei counted on for help, it was no wonder Zhongtian was headed for ruin!

Fuming, Wang Zheng returned to his office. He’d told himself more than once not to get angry and just be a spectator, but the idiocy of that proposal made him want to grab a knife and go on a rampage.

These days, even to be a con artist, you needed brains and skills. Not even a proper scam artist would be so sloppy. Lin Xiaolei, Lin Xiaolei, you’d better not disappoint me too much. Otherwise, you won’t need to jump off a building—I’ll do it myself!

With a heavy sigh, Wang Zheng let out a breath. He really had turned into a balloon.

Just then, a sinister chuckle sounded from the side. There was only one person who would be so delighted by Wang Zheng’s frustration—Bai Bing.

“What’s your problem now? Got something stuck in your throat?” Wang Zheng snapped.

With a swoosh, a magazine came flying at him. Wang Zheng reacted quickly, caught it, and tossed it onto the desk.

“Right now, aren’t you feeling irritable, angry, frustrated, disappointed, and crushed?” Bai Bing asked with a sly squint, her bright eyes narrowed to slits, like a wolf spotting a lamb or Ximen Qing seeing Pan Jinlian—a look Wang Zheng found intensely annoying.

“And you?” Wang Zheng turned to her. “Are you thrilled, excited, elated, full of a sense of accomplishment?”

“Accomplished, no. I just love seeing you frown and sigh!” Bai Bing scooted her chair next to his, so now the two of them sat side by side at the desk, feeling like two schoolchildren whispering during class.

Wang Zheng edged his chair away. The last thing he wanted was to catch her idiocy.

“I know what you’re thinking!” Bai Bing crowed, scooting her chair closer again. “You wish I’d disappear from your sight, right?”

“No,” Wang Zheng replied.

“Liar. Of course you do!” Bai Bing insisted.

“I’m actually wondering why you don’t just jump out the window. Preferably headfirst, with a glorious, blossoming crash!” If she really wanted to jump, Wang Zheng would happily open the window for her—and wouldn’t mind giving her a little push.

“Hehehe, is that so? Thank you for thinking of me even in your worst moments. I’m so touched!” With that, Bai Bing locked her arms around Wang Zheng’s, laid her head on his shoulder, and used his shirt to dab away her tears—tears of laughter.

With a jerk, Wang Zheng sprang from his chair, shaking her off.

“Don’t you dare stain my clean shirt with your idiotic tears. And by the way, you’re washing this by hand!” With that, Wang Zheng strode out of the office.

“Hey, where are you going? Wait for me!” Bai Bing shouted, chasing after him.

“The men’s restroom!”