"But you can't just ask for such a high amount all at once, right?"
"I'm just showing my true intentions. Whether you give it or not is up to you. Besides, what if the CEO really gets dazzled and approves it without seeing clearly?" Hao Jian said, winking at Xiao Qiang.
"Impossible, unless the chairman has a brain aneurysm!" Xiao Qiang said decisively.
"Your chairman must have really had one, otherwise, she wouldn't be so desperately begging me to marry her." Hao Jian muttered under his breath.
"Ah, nothing." Hao Jian hurriedly shook his head, then urged, "Minister Xiao, hurry up, will you? I'm busy here."
Xiao Qiang glared at Hao Jian irritably, then crossed out a string of zeros behind the number and said:
"The company, well, it's impossible to give you the high salary you're asking for. Five thousand is the most, and not a yuan more."
Hao Jian said somewhat disappointedly. Five thousand wasn't even close to one ten-millionth of what he earned for one mission, but for the sake of returning to a peaceful life, it was something he had to accept.
"Little? You're just a driver. Aside from driving the CEO to and from work, you don't have to do anything else, and yet you still think it's too little?" Xiao Qiang said, somewhat scornfully:
"Do you only care about money?"
"Of course not, there are other things." Hao Jian quickly shook his head.
"Women. Instead of getting paid, I'd prefer the company to supply women!" Hao Jian answered seriously, he certainly wasn't joking.
Xiao Qiang covered her face with her hand, sighing deeply. She suddenly felt that she and Hao Jian were from different worlds. Maybe he really was from Mars.
After completing all the procedures, Hao Jian began aimlessly wandering around the company, flirting with female colleagues and fooling around with the male ones. In less than half a day, he had already gotten chummy with a bunch of people.
It turned out that this was a family business, reportedly left behind by Shu Ya's mother's side, operating for over two hundred years and was currently preparing to go public.
At that moment, Hao Jian suddenly spotted an acquaintance and immediately shouted, "Hey, Big Brother Tie Shan!"
Tie Shan turned around to see it was Hao Jian. His brow immediately furrowed into a '川' shape, his face darkened, and he charged at Hao Jian.
Hao Jian had made him look foolish that day, and he hadn't forgotten. Catching the kid today, he needed to teach him a lesson, to alleviate the grudge in his heart.
But just as Tie Shan was about to raise his fist, Hao Jian already came up grinning, offering a cigarette:
"Hehe... Big Brother Tie Shan, are your balls still hurting? Have a Greater China, calm the essence!"
Tie Shan twitched his mouth forcefully at the words 'aching balls', glanced at the cigarette, then at Hao Jian, hesitated for a few seconds, and then vigorously nodded:
For him, a security guard, it was really too extravagant to spend money on such good cigarettes.
Tie Shan and Hao Jian sneaked to the back door of the company to puff and blow clouds of smoke, and at that moment, Hao Jian also probed Tie Shan for information, "Tie Shan, how long have you been working here?"
"Almost three years now." Tie Shan exhaled smoke rings with immense satisfaction, the taste of good tobacco was simply unmatched.
"So that means you can be considered an old hand, right? I'm new here, could you give me some pointers—who should I pay attention to or what should I watch out for in the company?"
Hearing Hao Jian say this, Tie Shan immediately put on an elder's air and said seriously:
"You're not kidding, I've been mixing here for three years and I've seen all kinds of ghosts and goblins, every face in the company, upside down and inside out, is already etched in my brain—I know who likes salty, who likes spicy, who likes to watch flicks, and who likes to jerk off, I know it all."
"That awesome?" Hao Jian deliberately made a face of admiration.
"Absolutely, I'll tell you, there are a few people in the company you cannot afford to offend." Tie Shan lowered his voice and said:
"The first one is Boss Liang."
"Boss Liang? He's rich?" Hao Jian asked, puzzled.
"Rich my ass!" Tie Shan immediately showed a disdainful expression:
"He's nothing more than the head of our security department. He always has a stern face, as if someone owes him millions, so we privately call him Boss Liang. This guy, relying on his background as Senior Special Forces, looks down on us security guards. After joining the company, he even talked about militarizing the company management.
He drills us little security guards day in and day out, exhausting us to death, and he's still not satisfied, always nitpicking."
"But he's from your security department, I'm just a driver; he shouldn't be able to boss me around, right?" Hao Jian said.
"Who says? Didn't you know the drivers are also under the security department? Let me tell you, the thing Boss Liang despises most is someone like you who idles around, slouching and loafing. If he catches you, he'll definitely not let you off easy," Tie Shan stated with certainty.
"I see, so this Boss Liang is pretty hateful, huh?" Hao Jian nodded.
"Isn't that the truth! Security should just be security, why do we have to put up with all that nonsense? We only get a measly salary of a couple thousand a month, is it worth getting so tired? The old man is having a blast while we don't even have the energy left to get intimate with our wives when we get home." Tie San really lived up to being a burly fellow, daring to say anything.
"Then why don't you guys complain to the president?"
"Complain my ass, you shouldn't have brought that up, it just makes me angry. The president says his discipline is very stringent, worth learning from all of us. He's really in good standing with the president," Tie Shan said with resentment.
"So, he's relying on having connections," Hao Jian let out a cold laugh. That's right, if Boss Liang didn't have any backers, with Tie Shan's explosive temper, wouldn't he have rebelled by now?
"So, who's the second person I should watch out for?" Hao Jian hurriedly asked, continuing his probing.
"The second person to watch out for is that shrew Su Qin from the technology department. That woman, relying on her affair with one of the company's shareholders, struts around the company all high and mighty, as mean as can be. But," Tie Shan chuckled, "she naturally has that foxy look, and she's got a banging body, can't deny it's quite a sight!"
"And the third?" Hao Jian asked, while also making a mental note of the name Su Qin.
"The third is Old Sun from the sales department, that old geezer's heart is rotten to the core. He's always complaining about their department losing this and that and always tries to shift the blame onto our security department, accusing us of being inefficient, which causes things to get stolen. But privately, a lot of people say it's him who dragged the stuff out to sell.
Tell me, isn't he a scumbag?"
"He's nasty, definitely nasty. But it seems like it doesn't have much to do with me, does it?"
"Eh, you don't understand, do you? The sales department needs to ship out products, and they'll definitely need help from you drivers. If clients say something is missing later, he'll frame you drivers by saying you're not clean-handed and have stolen from the company," Tie Shan said earnestly.