Chapter 30

After this round of analysis by Lin Zi, Yun Duo realised that she was indeed about to be done for. If the rumours began to take this turn, not only would she offend Qian Xu-Dong, she would even draw the resentment of the people around her. She would definitely stand out from her current duo with Lin Zi to become Director Liu's number one hated person. Moreover, what would her colleagues think of her? Young, impetuous, and over-reaching, resorting to unscrupulous methods in order to achieve her ends, gossipy and immoral ...

Although everyone would only spread the rumour secretly, all of the hate would eventually end up on her head.

"That's just too vicious ..." Yun Duo's legs felt weak just thinking about the possibility. "Who did I offend? Going so far to harm me."

"I don't know." Lin Zi shook his head, his chin still leisurely propped up against an arm as he chewed. He was still eating his candy.

Yun Duo was rather anxious. "Then what should I do?"

He shrugged. "You're the boss. What you say, goes."

With a pitiful expression, Yun Duo gently tugged on his arm, pleading softly, "Can you help me? You must have some idea."

"I only scored 52 points for my language paper."

"You're bearing a grudge over that?" Yun Duo set aside her dignity and dredged out a fawning attitude. "Even though you only scored 52 for your language paper, you're still an academic god! A god of academics who leaves us mortals trembling!"

"Beg."

"Hey ..." Yun Duo looked at him with a dark expression.

"Okay," Lin Zi snapped his fingers, and then patted her shoulder with particular righteous emphasis. "Since you've already pleaded with me, I will help you just this once."

Yun Duo lightly pushed his hands away. Young man, you're really getting too high over this act ...

As for how to help Yun Duo, Lin Zi instantly zoned in onto the core of the problem: Qian Xu-Dong.

If she wanted to make this whole problem go away, Yun Duo would need to build a good relationship with Qian Xu-Dong.

Yun Duo felt particularly troubled by this. "He's Director Liu's right-hand man, and I've just snatched an exclusive interview from him. How can I have a good relationship with him?"

"Young girl, you need to learn how to analyse human nature," said Lin Zi, brimming with confidence, "Qian Xu-Dong is a very conceited person. Just invite him for a meal and lavish him with some praise and flattery, then leave it to me to assist from the sides."

"You assist me from the sides? Do you know how to flatter others? Why do I feel so insecure about this ..."

Lin Zi chuckled, "A guru naturally has his own grand schemes."

Despite not knowing what 'grand schemes' Lin Zi was talking about, Yun Duo still chose to put her faith in him. Well, it was mainly because she had no one else to trust right now anyway. She and Cheng Mei were both rookies in the workplace, so Cheng Mei would not be able to give her any good suggestions. Teacher Sun was a really nice guy — if he were to provide his input, it would definitely be to put down her pride and just go make peace with Qian Xu-Dong.

As for how to flatter Qian Xu-Dong ... Yun Duo was not an idiot; she still knew a thing or two.

********
Yun Duo invited Qian Xu-Dong, Teacher Sun, and Lin Zi to have dinner together at a high-end restaurant. Teacher Sun, like Lin Zi, was there to assist her. Compared with Lin Zi, Teacher Sun was a professional-level assist — with him around, one never had to worry about awkward silences.

During the meal, Yun Duo toasted Qian Xu-Dong, expressing her gratitude for him. The reason for the gratitude was those questions prepared for the exclusive interview. As Qian Xu-Dong had prepared for an interview beforehand, so he must have had a hand in drafting those impromptu questions for the interview.

"The topics and questions you had organised were amazingly professional, not at all like they had been created in a rush." If it were up to me, I wouldn't be able to rush them out even if you gave me two days. I think the success of the exclusive interview this time is primarily due to you, Teacher Qian. I'm only sharing part of the glory. Teacher Qian, I've read quite a number of your articles. There's really so much for me to learn from you."

When Qian Xu-Dong heard what Yun Duo had to say, his bad mood over the last few days was eased slightly. He thought, Well, at least you still have the decency to admit it. Unfortunately, the credit has already gone to you. The listed interview reporter is you, Yun Duo, and not me, Qian Xu-Dong.

"Oh, Yun Duo, you're still young and new. Come learn more from your Teacher Qian in future," Teacher Sun said, and then he turned to say to Teacher Qian with a smile, "You wouldn't know how funny this girl was when she first joined us. That day during the Swim Championships, charging in when Tang Yi-Bai was being questioned ..." And so he shared the story of how Yun Duo argued with the other reporters during her very first interview experience, and then added on about how Director Liu kept nagging at her after that. Only with that did she learn how to be more obedient.

Qian Xu-Dong listened to it all then asked Yun Duo, "So you got to know Tang Yi-Bai from that time?"

"Yes, and then I complained to Tang Yi-Bai about how I was scolded so much by my superiors, and Tang Yi-Bai was such an upstanding guy that he said he owed me one. And so he gave the exclusive interview this time to me. Initially, I was planning to ask Director Liu whether to invite you along as well, but things just happened too quickly and unexpectedly that I forgot back then, and by the time I remembered, Director Liu had already chased me out to the reception room."

Qian Xu-Dong waved his hand magnanimously. "He's returning a favour, so you should just accept it. It's just an exclusive interview." As he said this, he suddenly felt that this really wasn't such a big deal after all — it was just an interview with an athlete who was barely becoming well-known. It's not like he had never interviewed an Olympics champion before; Tang Yi-Bai was nothing in comparison. And then, he looked at Yun Duo. That worried and tentative look ... Qian Xu-Dong thought, A newbie is still a newbie in the end.

Even though he still did not have much fondness for Yun Duo, at least he did not feel so repelled anymore. He was a senior after all, why should he pick a fight with a little girl ... so Qian Xu-Dong thought to himself.

And so the group continued to chat aimlessly for a while. The conversation turned towards the stock market, and Teacher Sun asked Lin Zi, "Lin, do you think there will be a rise in the market next month?"

The corners of Lin Zi's lips quirked. "What rise? Instead, it’s still going to be unstable for quite a while — at least another 2 to 3 months — unless a significantly favourable policy appears, but the probability of that is relatively low."

As soon as Qian Xu-Dong heard this, he was dismissive. "You're certain about this?"

"Yes," Lin Zi nodded, "I'm that certain about it."

This person was so confident that it seemed rather arrogant — Qian Xu-Dong was stunned.

Teacher Sun laughed and said, "Qian, let me reintroduce you to Lin."

In order to avoid Lin Zi from using his status to bully his way in the office, after his interview, the interviewers all decided to keep mum about his background. Thus, there were very few in the office who knew his true identity, and Lin Zi himself kept a very low profile without making a fuss about it.

Right then, Teacher Sun was loquaciously 'reintroducing' Lin Zi to Qian Xu-Dong. His attitude was such that Qian Xu-Dong felt as if he had been entrapped in a multilevel marketing (MLM) network.

When Teacher Sun ended his introduction, Lin Zi was not phased at all. "Teacher Sun, you're too kind. Don't frighten Teacher Qian."

Qian Xu-Dong: =.=

Qian Xu-Dong asked, "Then do you have any good stock recommendations?"

"I'll show you some of the units I've bought recently. You can try them out. If you get them now and dump them about 7 working days later, how much profit you'll make is uncertain, but you shouldn't suffer any losses."

Qian Xu-Dong looked over the stocks Lin Zi was recommending. They were all those that had risen recently, making him even more dubious. "You aren't just a Zhuge Liangi.e. adviser/strategist. It is common to use this name to refer to clever people with strong analytical skills as Zhuge Liang was a very famous strategist. after the fact, right?"

Lin Zi could only show his bank account to him. Qian Xu-Dong was instantly dumbfounded by the amount inside the account, and he was left staring vacantly for a long time.

Lin Zi was still explaining, "Just playing around, that's all. It's hard to earn much on the stock market these days, and there's no leverage either."

After seeing the truth for himself, Qian Xu-Dong's attitude towards Lin Zi changed subtly. He asked Lin Zi why he had come here to be a reporter, and Lin Zi once again began his spiel about chasing his dreams. This time, he did not receive any contempt for it. Qian Xu-Dong was especially moved after listening to his speech.

They chatted very happily amongst themselves, completely neglecting Yun Duo.

After the meal, Lin Zi drove Yun Duo home. On the road, Lin Zi said, "Now you can relax. This big brother has already become Qian Xu-Dong's idol. Everyone at the agency knows that you and I are a combo package. Out of respect for me, Qian Xu-Dong will also smile at you."

Yun Duo rested a hand against the car window. "Congratulations on taking in yet another devotee."

Lin Zi's lips twitched as he smiled, and then he turned to glance at her, asking, "How do you plan on thanking me?"

"Hmm, let me think about it."

"Don't say anything like offering yourself to me in marriage. That'll leave me in a difficult position."

Yun Duo rolled her eyes. "You think too much."

After turning a few ideas over in her mind, she still did not know how she should thank him. This wealthy fellow lacked for nothing — any sign of gratitude on her part was insignificant before him. So she could only ask, "Then how would you like me to thank you?"

"I want to eat Greek-style roast lamb."

Yun Duo nodded, "This is easy enough. Let me first look for a Greek restaurant in the city."

"I want to eat it in Greece."

"..." Yun Duo sweatdropped. "Tuhaoi.e. a wealthy person, typically noveau riche, can you be a little considerate of ants like us? Even if I withdraw all my money, after deducting the round-trip airfare, we'll at most be able to eat some baked potatoes in Greece, alright? And perhaps not even enough to fill us up either ..."

"My treat."

Yun Duo disagreed. "Then how can that still count as me thanking you?"

Lin Zi became rather annoyed. "No to this, and no to that, what exactly do you want to do then? I've helped you out, but you won't even let me eat roast lamb."

Yun Duo: qaq

Lin Zi sneered. "Acting cute is not going to work. Accompany me to Greece next week. I'll pay for your flight, you'll pay for my meal."

Lin Zi's highly anticipated trip to Greece for roast lamb did not happen in the end. Because Yun Duo did not even have a passport ... Lin Zi could not help but disdain his boss once more, and then he added this to her tab.

And then, they went to Xining西宁: the capital of Qinghai province in central China..

Yun Duo went to Xining on orders to interview the swimming team who were training at the highlands training base there. Lin Zi funded his own way there.

The interview assignment was relatively simple. It was primarily gossip about the training condition of a few of the more well-known athletes, as well as a brief introduction of the benefits of training in the highlands. Before they came, Tang Yi-Bai had once told Yun Duo that the team was 'as tired as dogs', but Yun Duo had not believed him. However, when she arrived at the highlands ... yup, she did not know whether anyone else was as tired as a dog, but she herself was already reduced to that state.

The oxygen content in the air was only three-quarters of the oxygen content at sea level — just a few steps and one would start to pant. Under these conditions, Tang Yi-Bai and the other swimmers had to swim over 10,000 metres every day. It was painful just thinking about it.

When she arrived at the swimming hall, unexpectedly, Yun Duo found the athletes in pretty good spirits. She interviewed several coaches in succession, snapping photos all around. Her final interview was with Coach Yuan Roon-Mei and Coach Wu Yong. They were coincidentally standing together, looking at their respective protégés. Yun Duo found the scene rather interesting — she raised her camera and took a shot with all four people, two at the poolside and two in the water, in the frame.

When Qi Rui-Feng and Tang Yi-Bai were done with their swim, they surfaced from the water and waved to Yun Duo in greeting as they leaned against the edge of the pool.

Yun Duo was almost done with her interview tasks and was about to wrap up. Lin Zi stood beside her, head bowed over his phone. With no care for anyone else around, he asked her, "Boss, let's go play at Qinghai Lake, okay?"

When Tang Yi-Bai heard this, he held onto the edge and looked up at Wu Yong, and then asked with a grin, "Coach Wu, can we go play at Qinghai Lake too?"

Wu Yong's beard shook as he laughed coldly.

With a long stretch of Qi Rui-Feng's arms, he tugged gently on the leg of Matron Yuan's pants, asking in a cute and meek manner, "Matron Yuan, I also want to go to Qinghai Lake."

Matron Yuan looked down at him and gave him a very, very kind smile. "Close your eyes."

Qi Rui-Feng did not understand why he had to, but he did it anyway.

Matron Yuan lifted her foot and gave a solid kick to his sturdy shoulder. "Let me send you to Qinghai Lake!"

Heartbroken, Qi Rui-Feng was kicked right into the water, sending up a huge splash.

Having completed this act of violence, Matron Yuan turned to face Yun Duo and said, "You can leave this out of your report."

Yun Duo covered her smile with a hand, nodding. Her gaze then shifted to see Tang Yi-Bai looking at her with a bright smile. When he saw her looking over, he quirked a brow at her. His eyes reflected the light of the water, clean, bright, and shimmering.

Yun Duo turned her gaze away and said with a shake of her head to Lin Zi, "We're not going."

"Why?"

"I get seasick."

Lin Zi snorted. "That's a terrible excuse."

After Yun Duo and Lin Zi left, Wu Yong looked at his beloved student with a half-smile. "Not a girlfriend?"

Tang Yi-Bai shook his head but smiled. He then turned and dove into the water, his agile and flexible body cutting a wave straight through the clear blue water.

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Previous: Chapter 29
Next: Chapter 31

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