Lu Chen's first sight was a pair of surging breasts, then her cold and aloof face.
However, within this captivating coldness, there was a hint of inexplicable shyness.
Looking at this face, Lu Chen felt a surge of attraction. Actually, he was most fond of cold and aloof beauties; they particularly aroused his desire to conquer. The icy Dong Qingqing he first met was now his pet; and the cold and aloof female assassin Yu Menglan now had quite a few ambiguous interactions with him, all of which he found very pleasing.
The coldness index of the beauty before him was definitely no less than that of Dong Qingqing or Yu Menglan.
However, the thought that she was actually Ouyang Bihua's plaything made Lu Chen feel a little depressed.
However, a goddess-level figure like her could not possibly become a man's plaything? Especially not Ouyang Bihua, a man who looked so obviously cunning and unreliable?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder? There's nothing he can do!
The icy beauty who suddenly appeared was none other than Du Haoqi.
She hesitated slightly, seemingly unsure how to speak.
She even took a deep breath, making something already swollen even more swollen.
Lu Chen was somewhat mesmerized, openly scrutinizing her.
Du Haoqi snapped, "What are you looking at?"
Lu Chen's lips curled into a wicked smile. "Looking at something nice, is it wrong to look?"
"You!" Du Haoqi gritted her teeth, spitting out two words: "Pervert!"
Lu Chen scratched his head and sighed. "Honestly, you have no respect for me, the new director. Believe me, I'll dock your pay later."
Du Haoqi said coldly, "You dare?"
Lu Chen chuckled. "Of course I wouldn't dare. I'm afraid if I dock your pay, you'll get angry and pack your bags, and I won't be able to see anything nice anymore. Wouldn't that be a loss?"
Du Haoqi's face paled with anger. She was already embarrassed to bring it up, and now she didn't know how to say it.
Lu Chen suddenly reached into his pocket and handed her a small item. "Here, this is for you!"
Du Haoqi looked at it; it was a paper crane.
She frowned, "What do you mean? Have you lost your mind?"
This little lab technician was really rude to the director.
However, for some reason, Lu Chen wasn't angry.
He simply shoved the origami crane into Du Haoqi's hand and laughed, "During the meeting earlier, you kept looking at me. Anyone who didn't know better would think you'd fallen for me. But I know why you were looking at me."
Then, he waved goodbye, brushed past Du Haoqi, and walked away.
After walking past, he took a deep sniff, "So fragrant! It really is the scent of a beautiful woman!"
Du Haoqi turned around, glaring at his retreating figure with hatred, and gritted her teeth, saying, "What a lunatic! So inexplicable. Hiring someone like this as director, who knows what will happen in the future!"
With that, she angrily threw the origami crane to the ground.
"Do you know why I was looking at you? You're crazy!"
Du Haoqi felt incredibly frustrated. She'd been too embarrassed to ask the question in the first place, and now this interruption had ruined it all. She was already prone to internal heat, and now she was even more furious, wanting nothing more than to rush over and chop Lu Chen to pieces.
Just as she was about to turn and leave, she noticed something unusual about the origami crane.
"There's writing on it? Did he write something?"
Du Haoqi thought for a moment, then picked up the origami crane and unfolded it to look.
Her eyes lit up.
It was clearly the prescription he'd mentioned when they met near the herbal medicine planting area. This prescription was even more detailed, even including specific exercises and massage techniques.
Finally, there was a smiley face and a sentence: "Beautiful lady, I know you can't remember, so you want to ask me, right? I was afraid you'd be too embarrassed to ask, so I wrote it down for you. Remember, don't be constantly stressed and never satisfied; it's exhausting."
This sentence made Du Haoqi's face instantly turn bright red.
"Lu Chen, who exactly are you?"
The icy beauty murmured to herself.
At noon, Lu Chen and Shangguan Bei had a cozy lunch together. Shangguan Bei said apologetically, "Brother Chen, I reported today's events to Grandpa. He was very happy and asked me to congratulate you on joining Flying Eagle on his behalf. However, he and Lao Pang went to Italy for business and can't come back for the time being. He said he'd have a good meal with you when he gets back!"
Shangguan Yingneng?
Lu Chen's mind flashed back to the night he was attacked at the grilled fish stall, and the leader of one of the four major families of Yunzhou City who rushed to the scene. The words, "You dare attack my granddaughter? Do you really want me to wreak havoc in Yunzhou City?" still echoed in his ears like thunder. What a menacing statement!
Lu Chen chuckled, "It's alright. Your grandfather is very powerful. Speaking of having dinner with him, I'm actually a little scared!"
Shangguan Bei smiled sweetly, "Brother Chen, don't worry. My grandfather is fierce only towards enemies; he's very kind to friends and family. Besides, I'm here. If he dares to be fierce to you, I dare to be fierce to him! I'm his only granddaughter, and he's incredibly good to me. I want him to treat you the same way."
Listening, Lu Chen couldn't help but reach out and gently stroke Shangguan Bei's delicate chin, teasing her a little. He said, "Little Bei Bei, you're so cute!"
Indeed cute. This Shangguan Bei appeared so serious in front of everyone, even a little menacing, a complete strong woman. But beside him, she was like a sweet little girl.
Shangguan Bei also said, "I only seem cute in front of Grandpa and Brother Chen."
Those words were truly heartwarming!
Lu Chen thought of her murderous grandfather and couldn't help but ask, "By the way, those people who tried to assassinate you last time, it seems they were later assassinated by their master's men. Is there any news now?"
This matter concerned Yu Menglan, and Lu Chen couldn't help but feel a little tense.
Shangguan Bei shook her head slightly: "Those people are very well hidden. Even the female assassin who tried to kill me in your shop last time—we haven't found out her whereabouts yet. However, my grandfather seems to know who did it, but he can't find any evidence."
"Grandpa avenged me in another way. He messed with him in the stock market, deliberately causing several listed companies he heavily invested in to go bankrupt, making that person lose nearly 300 million. In addition, he spent a lot of money hiring seven female bodyguards to protect me closely, because male bodyguards are always a bit inconvenient. I call them the Seven Flowers; Xiutian, who picked you up this morning, is one of them."
Lu Chen nodded: "Your grandfather is really shrewd!"
This was genuine.
Yu Menglan's boss behind the scenes is definitely not a good person, and for Shangguan Ying to be able to cause him to lose 300 million, that's really something for him. However, anyone who can rival Shangguan Ying must be very wealthy; 300 million is probably not a big deal for them.
This fierce battle, of course, won't end so easily.
Lu Chen even had a premonition that he would be deeply involved.
After lunch and a short rest, Shangguan Bei took Lu Chen to visit the production workshop.
The entire company, resembling a traditional Hakka walled village, was orderly.
The first floor housed the packaging workshop and warehouse; the second floor the production workshop; and the third floor the research lab. The fourth-floor rooftop was a drying area for Chinese herbal medicines. The company employed about 700 people, producing over twenty kinds of tonics and health products, as well as some medicines—the ones Shangguan Bei had mentioned earlier, specifically for treating rare and intractable diseases.
In fact, the government and the World Health Organization provided funding for the research and development of these drugs, and Shangguan Bei had secured a considerable amount. However, the produced medicines, besides being purchased by the government and the WHO, were also used by Shangguan Bei to provide free aid to patients. This resulted in a loss-making situation.
Scarcity drives up prices. Medicines like these, because very few people suffer from the corresponding symptoms, have high production costs and are difficult to mass-produce. In addition, the various raw materials are also quite precious, so they are generally very expensive.
A small bottle of medicine powder weighing five grams could cost tens of thousands of yuan on the international market, several times more expensive than gold.
"Brother Chen, what I'm most proud of is that our experimental and production equipment here is extremely complete and advanced. We have nearly five hundred pieces of equipment of all sizes, with a total purchase price approaching three billion! The company has been open for over three years, but we're still only breaking even. At the current rate of development, I estimate it will take another four or five years to fully recoup the investment before we can even talk about profits."
"But with you joining us, I believe that will speed things up!"
Lu Chen was secretly astonished. Wow! The equipment alone cost nearly three billion? That's more expensive than a satellite?
And that three billion doesn't even include the costs of factory buildings, raw material cultivation, and worker wages. Eight years to break even, with annual net profits of three to four hundred million? That's quite frightening.
For a moment, Lu Chen felt like he had stumbled upon a giant gold mine.
However, thinking about it, it's understandable. It's a sunrise industry of the Flying Eagle Group, one of the four major families in Yunzhou City, with immense financial resources. It's bound to be a key investment project.
Therefore, such a large investment is normal; a large investment means a large return.
Although Shangguan Bei hadn't yet told Lu Chen about his salary and benefits, Lu Chen believed the figure would be enormous. Perhaps even large enough that in three or four years, he would have enough leverage to challenge Wan Qian.
The thought was quite pleasant.
After getting to know some of the managers in these departments, Shangguan Bei led Lu Chen out of the factory area.
This time, they arrived at the accommodation area located next to the factory.
This accommodation area was also a Hakka walled village, only smaller than the factory buildings, but still five stories high. The roof was covered with transparent tempered glass, and the central circular plaza was divided into several areas. There was a gym, reading room, coffee shop, barbershop, mini-supermarket, etc. Although compact, it was small but complete, and looking down from upstairs was quite interesting.
Shangguan Bei said, "The company invests a lot in employee welfare facilities. Besides these, there's a massage room, a chess and card room, a movie room, a restaurant, and an indoor swimming pool on the first floor. Basically, this place is like a small city. You could stay here for years without any problem, and you'd be very comfortable!"
Lu Chen scratched his head and said sincerely, "Really, I don't want to leave now that I'm here."
"That's great!" Shangguan Bei said, "Then you can stay! I couldn't be happier, I'd stay with you every day!"
Her eyes were full of joy as she spoke.
Lu Chen chuckled, remaining silent, but seeing Shangguan Bei's eyes gradually dim, he couldn't bear it.