Chapter 26: Chapter 26 Red Swallow
As Yang Chen greeted some enthusiastic new colleagues, he sluggishly made his way to his seat. Just as he sat down, several attractive women surrounded him, each one eyeing him eagerly.
"Hey handsome, nice to meet you. I'm Zhao Hongyan." This was a woman in a beige dress with big wavy hair, captivating with her almond-shaped eyes as she reached out her delicate hand for introduction.
"Hongyan, you're reaching out to the new colleague already, aren't you afraid of scaring him?" Another woman, dressed in light blue, giggled. Her face was slightly round, and she continued, "You're Yang Chen, right? In our PR department, the one you need to be most careful of is the lovely Hongyan here. She devours men without leaving a trace!"
Zhao Hongyan didn't blush at all, she simply hummed, "Zhang Cai, stop it. Everyone knows your appetite is the biggest. You can't sleep at night without a man!"
"Hmph, that's not true, Hongyan, look at Mingyu here, she's never been married. No matter how hard we compete, we can't beat her!" Following Zhang Cai's gaze, Yang Chen looked at the silent woman at the end. She was wearing a pink dress, tall and slender, with short hair dyed with a few strands of wine-purple, her delicate features exuding a unique charm.
Liu Mingyu smiled gracefully, "What are you all competing for? I welcome the new colleague, but not in the way you're thinking." With that, she extended her slender jade hand and said, "Yang Chen, would you mind shaking hands?""Oh, of course." Yang Chen naturally didn't mind such a bit of intimacy.
As soon as Yang Chen touched Liu Mingyu's delicate hand, he felt Liu Mingyu's playful pinky lightly scratching the palm of his hand. Looking up, he saw Liu Mingyu winking playfully at him.
Such a simple ambiguous gesture made Yang Chen feel somewhat elated. No wonder so many men were eager to join Yulei International. The women here were of such high quality on average, and what's more, their "enthusiasm" was off the charts!
Following the warm welcome from the three women, many female colleagues in the office also came up, smiling and saying welcoming words to Yang Chen. Of course, there were some adult jokes thrown in.
After more than ten minutes passed, Yang Chen finally saw a male figure among his surrounding colleagues. He was wearing a white shirt, with a somewhat short stature and fair complexion, looking somewhat like a shy college student with a hint of bashfulness on his delicate face.
Yang Chen found it amusing that the only male colleague didn't come forward to greet him. Instead, he seemed hesitant. Wondering why a man couldn't loosen up around these women, Yang Chen took the initiative to extend his hand and said, "I'm Yang Chen. Looks like you're the only male colleague in this office. Let's get along well in the future."
The delicate man shook Yang Chen's hand lightly, his face blushing slightly as he muttered softly, "Um... um... I'm Chen Bo. W-welcome to our department."
Chen... Bo? That name could be chosen, but the way he looked...
Yang Chen couldn't help but laugh inwardly, "Your name has some meaning to it, very manly."
Upon hearing this, Chen Bo immediately blushed even more and lowered his head shyly, whispering softly, "Th-thank you."
Yes, he was shy. The man named "Chen Bo" was as bashful as a woman!
Several female colleagues gathered around, and the woman named Zhang Cai giggled, "Yang Chen, you don't know, our Xiaobo is a top student from Peking University. Before you came, he was the only one in our PR department."
"Now things are better. With Yang Ge here, our office finally has a bit of balance," a younger female PR staff member already started addressing Yang Chen as "Ge" (older brother).
After exchanging some banter with the women for a while, without delaying office hours too much, Yang Chen returned to his seat and began organizing the various documents and office supplies on his desk.
The desk closest to Yang Chen's was the one where Zhao Hongyan, who had offered him a handshake earlier, was seated. With a smile, she asked, "Hey handsome, need any help? If you don't understand anything, just let me know."
Yang Chen thought for a moment and asked, "Is it possible for someone as shy as Xiaochen to work in PR? Doesn't PR involve dealing with clients and hosting them? Can he handle it?"
Zhao Hongyan was momentarily taken aback by Yang Chen's question, not expecting him to inquire about this. She covered her mouth and whispered, "Xiaochen is said to have gotten in through connections. Since he seems quite shy, we give him some clerical tasks to do. Generally, he's not involved in business negotiations."
Yang Chen nodded, and that explanation made sense.
Suddenly, Yang Chen chuckled and said, "Actually, I'm not very good at talking either, and I don't understand how to negotiate business deals. I think in the future, you guys can also give me some odd jobs to do. Serving coffee, tea, and water suits me just fine. I can handle physical work. What do you think?"
Zhao Hongyan couldn't help but giggle at Yang Chen's suggestion, her laughter shaking her like a flower in the wind. "Yang handsome, you're quite the joker. I've heard you're a Harvard graduate, and there aren't many people in our entire company with that level of education. You want to be a tea-serving errand boy? Who would believe that?"
"I'm serious, don't you believe me?" Yang Chen furrowed his brows in frustration. Why didn't anyone believe him when he was telling the truth?
Seeing Yang Chen's seemingly sincere expression, Zhao Hongyan had to wave her hand and said, "Alright, alright, I'll believe you. Actually, you're still in the probationary period, and there isn't much work to do anyway. Let me talk to the girls. How about you take care of buying breakfast, making coffee, and moving things around? We used to take turns doing those tasks, but now you can handle them all by yourself. How does that sound?"
"Really?" Yang Chen's face lit up with excitement. Buying breakfast, making coffee, and moving things around—what a perfect job for him!
Seeing Yang Chen so excited, Zhao Hongyan didn't know how to respond to her joking remark. She muttered, "He's really strange," before nodding in agreement.
"Alright, it's settled then. Remember to let everyone know. I'll buy breakfast for you all tomorrow, and I'll cover the expenses for now," Yang Chen said contentedly, turning back to continue organizing the items on his desk, ignoring Zhao Hongyan's stunned expression.
Five minutes later, when Zhao Hongyan wanted to see what Yang Chen was doing again, she was dumbfounded...
Yang Chen had already put all the documents on the desk into a cardboard box under the desk. There was only one computer left on the desk, and on the computer screen was a very familiar sight—a version of Pokémon Connect!
This guy! He really intended to be an errand boy. On his first day of work, he started playing games! Zhao Hongyan felt a bit dizzy.
Just then, a woman dressed in a black tight-fitting dress, white knee-high socks, with a plain and conservative appearance, suddenly entered the PR department office. She calmly asked, "Is Yang Chen, the new recruit for today, here?"
Seeing this woman, many of the employees present showed expressions of surprise, then they all looked at Yang Chen strangely.
Yang Chen regretfully closed the half-finished game of "Connect" and looked up, asking, "Here, what's the matter, ma'am?"
"Ma'am?!" The female employees present were all struggling not to burst into laughter.
Sure enough, the woman in black, upon hearing this address, furrowed her brow even more and spoke with an even more unpleasant tone, saying, "I am Wu Yue, the secretary and assistant to the CEO. The CEO wants to see you now. Follow me immediately."
The CEO? Why would the CEO want to see me on my first day of work? Yang Chen wondered as he stood up, but he followed Wu Yue's flat silhouette out of the office without asking any further questions. As soon as Yang Chen left, the entire PR department office erupted into excitement. Clearly, everyone felt that this was a big deal. In the office of the department head, Mo Qian Ni saw this scene outside and also showed a somewhat puzzled expression.