Chapter 41: The Passive Scumbag

When his parents asked him to meet the person recommended by Auntie Wang for a blind date, he hadn't yet met Zhao Xiangjun. Now, although his relationship with her wasn't officially declared, it was effectively established, so he naturally couldn't go on a blind date.

He called his mother that night after returning to his apartment. She was overjoyed to hear that Chen Xiao had a girlfriend, but she still insisted he meet the woman—not as a blind date, but merely as a friendly gesture to satisfy Auntie Wang.

He was honest with Zhao Xiangjun about the background of this situation. He felt there shouldn't be deliberate secrets between them; if he didn't tell her and she found out later, it would lead to an unnecessary misunderstanding. He knew Zhao Xiangjun well; she seemed indifferent to things, but once she decided to care, nothing could sway her.

To his surprise, Zhao Xiangjun said calmly, "It’s fine. Don’t make things difficult for your mother. Besides, what if you actually meet someone you like?"

Chen Xiao broke into a cold sweat. What kind of logic was this?

He asked tentatively, "Then, will you come with me?"

"Hmm."

Well, it seemed she wasn't entirely indifferent after all.

"I’ll just sit on the sidelines and we’ll pretend we don’t know each other. If you two hit it off like a turtle meeting a green bean, I’ll just pay the bill and leave first!"

"..."

Why did she have to be so infuriating?

***

At Feng Doctor Robotics, Ma Jing went to the General Manager’s office to have a contract stamped. Chen Xiao had sent her the electronic file that morning, and it needed to be processed today for Zhongjian Equipment Co., Ltd.

Using the company seal required the General Manager's approval. When Feng Feifei saw the contract was from Chen Xiao, she flipped through it briefly and signed the authorization form, instructing Ma Jing to take it to the Finance Manager, Xia Yun, to have the seal applied.

It was their second collaboration, and the contract template was largely the same as the first. She mainly checked the order amount, which was indeed the 12 million Chen Xiao had mentioned yesterday. She wondered why she had heard a magpie chirping when she left home this morning—good things were happening today!

Beyond the confirmation of the 12 million order, she had another piece of good news.

In the company, Feng Feifei currently served as both CEO and CTO. This was manageable when business was light, but as the company scaled, finding a seasoned industry expert to serve as Chief Scientist was becoming urgent.

Just moments ago, a senior alumnus from her time studying in Germany, also Chinese, told her he was planning to return home to develop his career. He was a top expert in AI image processing. While they hadn't stayed in close contact, she knew he was highly regarded in the field. He had reached out to her after hearing her company was doing well, curious to see if there was room for mutual development.

She had immediately countered with the urgent need for a CTO and offered equity incentives. The alumnus was very interested and agreed to return within the next few days to meet her in person.

Thinking back to their situation two weeks ago compared to today, it was night and day, and all of this was brought about by Chen Xiao. On the eve of the company's near-collapse, he had stepped forward, standing with them through thick and thin, proving with his actual ability that he could turn the tide single-handedly.

The status of such a top-tier salesperson in her heart was vastly different from a salesperson who joins during the company's later growth phase. The former offered help in a time of need, while the latter merely added flowers to a tapestry. This was why she now placed absolute trust—and even gave indulgence—to Chen Xiao.

Xu Wu was also in a refreshingly good mood. As the Business Director of Zhifei Aerospace, the pressure of her performance targets was immense. Especially as a beautiful and tall executive, gossip was inevitable, so she needed to prove herself through results to silence the critics more than anyone else.

She went to the finance department early that morning and gave the finance manager two tasks: expedite the contract stamping and process the commission payment so it could be issued immediately once the funds from Zhongjian arrived. This technically violated financial regulations, but having obtained the "Imperial Sword" of approval from her boss, they had no choice but to comply.

Zhifei Aerospace had stronger capital than Feng Doctor Robotics, with hundreds of millions in business annually. Even so, the 7 million in orders Xu Wu had secured in just a few days was startling—especially since the payments were made immediately upon signing. If her team of ten had such efficiency, her boss would be grinning in his sleep.

"Manager Xu, please sit."

The General Manager of Zhifei Aerospace, Cha Lan, was in his fifties, balding, under 165cm tall, and had a large, dark birthmark on his eye. Xu Wu had only been at the company for a month. Hiring her as a "paratrooper" and giving her the position of Business Director showed Cha Lan’s boldness. Xu Wu had once suspected he lusted after her beauty, but she was confident in both her professional abilities and her own self-protection. For the past month, she had guarded against any potential workplace harassment while working desperately to close deals to prove her worth.

By utilizing excellent management skills, she had significantly improved the team's cohesion, execution, and capability. Seeing this, Cha Lan was even more satisfied. A beautiful vase was only for display, but a beautiful woman with substance was worth cherishing—especially one who didn't cost him money and actually helped him make more.

Xu Wu sat across from him, her posture perfect and her demeanor elegant. Cha Lan nodded inwardly.

"Manager Xu, I wanted to talk to you today. You’ve brought the company two orders totaling 7 million in the last two days."

"I saw the special commission application you submitted; the client is the same person both times. Who is this Chen Xiao?"

Xu Wu didn't hide anything. She introduced Chen Xiao’s identity and mentioned his feat of securing 27 million in orders within a week without holding back. Even with his deep cunning, Cha Lan couldn't help but twitch at the mention of 27 million in a week; it was superhuman. He knew that at least half of those orders could have been handled by Zhifei Aerospace.

"Manager Xu, is it possible to poach this person?" Cha Lan asked with a meaningful smile.

He assumed Chen Xiao must be lusting after Xu Wu, otherwise, he wouldn't be helping her like this. Since Chen Xiao was merely a salesperson at Feng Doctor Robotics and seemingly underutilized, he must be dissatisfied. With a larger company, better compensation, and the girl he liked, surely poaching him would be easy?

Poach Chen Xiao? Xu Wu wasn't narcissistic enough to think Chen Xiao helped her because he liked her. In her eyes, he was just a "scumbag" who wouldn't take initiative, wouldn't refuse, and wouldn't take responsibility.