Chapter 11
New Beginnings
When he walked closer, through his gla.s.ses, he could clearly see this great famous rich person, who seemed somewhat different from what he had seen in the photos and video materials before.
Previously, since the Xing group appreciated his work, he specifically studied Xing Yuan"s personal style and clothing tastes, and quite understood this man with a very cold temperament.
Yet when he observed him from up close, his strong breath like iron and ice simply hit him in the face. Ye Wenxuan finally discovered that originally those portraits on the magazines covers in fact had really deliberately softened Xing Yuan"s temperament drastically.
This should be a deep and mysterious man, accustomed to following his own desires.
Xu Yan stopped two meters away from the desk, and Ye Wenxuan also paused behind him. Xu Yan slightly bent and gently said in a very low voice: "Boss, the new photographer has arrived.”
The man heard his voice and placed down the magazine, lifting his head to look over.
He was obviously just sitting on the chair, but seemed to emit an even stronger momentum than the other two people standing in front of him. Ye Wenxuan endured the impulse to retreat a bit, standing in place to let him look him over.
"You"re called…what?" Xing Yuan propped an elbow on the armrest of his chair, asking with no expression.
Xu Yan immediately responded: "He is called Ye Wenxuan.”
Hearing this name, Xing Yuan slightly tilted his head.
The sunlight from outside the window happened to fall on his body, and Ye Wenxuan could see the man"s exceptionally handsome face, and that pair of dark blue eyes that seemed like gems.
Xing Yuan was of one fourth foreign blood, his grandmother was the daughter of a prominent aristocrat in northern Europe. Therefore, as a mixed race, Xing Yuan possessed a pair of ice-blue eyes, in addition to a strong nose and deep eye sockets. These features made him look extremely handsome. It was no surprise that this person would be a favorite for the cover of major fashion magazines for years.
In addition, according to the previously seen information, Xing Yuan"s height has exceeded 1.9 meters, in China he was simply an outstanding existence.
And at this moment being directly stared at by that pair of eyes that looked like sapphires, even Ye Wenxuan felt slightly dazzled.
Xing Yuan tapped lightly on the table and slowly said: "Ye Wenxuan…this name sounds a little familiar.”
Ye Wenxuan blinked, suddenly getting a bad feeling.
Sure enough, Xing Yuan"s next words were: "Who was the designer of the suit that we ordered from SFLS earlier?”
Xu Yan froze a bit, and then responded: "SFLS had a team collaborate on it, the main creative designer was Zhou Bai.”
Xing Yuan stared at Ye Wenxuan, from his clothes to his appearance, from the DSLR camera in his hands, to the boring black-framed gla.s.ses on his face.
Hearing Xu Yan"s words, Xing Yuan responded with a simple "um".
Then he said: "Dismiss him.”
Ye Wenxuan: "…”
d.a.m.n, he had come in for less than 5 minutes, he hadn"t even had the time to say a sentence, this fellow opened his mouth and wanted to dismiss him, this was a little too self-willed!
This won"t do, if his first solo task failed on the first day, he really would not have the face to go back to the Special Affairs Department to see Zheng Xingguo and Xue Yongchang.
"Chief Xing, that…" He cleared his throat and asked with a natural expression: "Can I know why? After all…this was my first day coming to work, and I didn"t have time to do anything wrong.”
Xing Yuan indifferently replied: "I don"t need an unprofessional person to handle a field that they do not specialize in.”
Ye Wenxuan: "Well…" Very reasonable, I have no way to refute.
"You were clearly a fashion designer half a year ago, but now you"re holding a camera and telling me that you are a professional photographer?" Xing Yuan used those blue eyes to look him over, his voice revealing no emotion: "I can hire the world"s top photographers, why must I use such unprofessional employees like you?”
Xing Yuan: "If you want me to hire you, you should give me a reason.”
Ye Wenxuan spit in his heart: What other reason do you want, obviously it"s because you"re going to be targeted by an extremist terrorist organization and chopped up into pieces! Lao zi came here to protect you in the name of humanitarianism, but you actually want to get rid of your savior less than five minutes after meeting?!
Of course, this reason was simply the same as "I wish for world peace," totally unreasonable and full of chuunibyou flavor. Even if there was no confidentiality agreement, he also couldn"t say it.
This obviously could not be considered a reason to apply for a job.
Ye Wenxuan dismissed these disorderly thoughts and took down the backpack that he had been carrying. He took out a folder from inside and walked forward a few steps to the desk, placing the folder gently on the table.
After he had done all this, he revealed a smile: "Chief Xing, these are some of my photography works, as well as all of the photography awards that I have received in recent years. Of these, they include some that have won the Ha.s.selblad, Poyi, and Pulitzer awards.”
"Oh?" Xing Yuan seemed to be a little surprised, but he took the folder and opened it up to flip through casually.
Inside there really were many eye-catching photographic works, within those some also indeed had won international acclaim. With Xing Yuan"s eyesight, he could tell that these awards were quite acclaimed and prominent, and the photos could really be considered quite good.
These works were really Ye Wenxuan"s, the awards were also real, he was not afraid of Xing Yuan investigating.
Zheng Xingguo arranging him the ident.i.ty of a photographer was not at random, but a decision made under the right conditions combining the actual situation of Ye Wenxuan and the sudden resignation of Xing Yuan"s photographer.
Xing Yuan"s expression didn"t change. He casually looked through a few more pages, and then said: "Since your photography skills are extraordinary, why did you run to become a fashion designer?”
Ye Wenxuan shrugged: "My hobbies are relatively extensive, art has a certain degree of interdisciplinarity. Because of painting, I liked fashion design, and because of fashion design I fell in love with photography, the two are not contradictory. Besides design and photography, I actually also like creative graffiti, jazz dance and violin. This wide range of hobbies makes me more energetic and love life more.”
Xing Yuan was noncommittal: "Good hobbies.”
Ye Wenxuan looked at him through the lenses, smiling more deeply: "So, you might as well just first let me try out for a few days, if I cannot live up to your expectations, then you can dismiss me at that time. This also would not cost you much energy.”
Xing Yuan again stared at him for a while, his eyes were calm and motionless. It was quite a while before he asked a.s.sistant Xu Yan who had been standing at the side as a backdrop board: "Who gave him a pa.s.s on his interview?”
Xu Yan gently said: "It was a.s.sistant Ruan.”
Xing Yuan: "Reason.”
Xu Yan: "He was the only one who had no ideas on you out of all of the candidates." After he said this, he added: "In every aspect, he had no inappropriate improper ideas.”
Ye Wenxuan, who had not experienced this so-called interview: "…”
What"s this, it turns out all of the other job applicants all had some sort of "improper thoughts"? This reason is also a little too far-fetched, okay?
Xing Yuan obviously paused a bit because of this answer, and then he threw the folder back on the table: "All right then, you"ve been hired. You will start work today, Xu Yan, you go talk to him about his responsibilities.”
Ye Wenxuan: "…”
Wait a minute, isn"t this a little too sloppy.
Why did he have an illusion…that all of the reasons that he said before seemed to all be ineffective, but the "no improper thoughts" played a key role?
Isn"t the hiring method of the Xing group too outlandish, chief Xing do you dare to be a little more narcissistic?!
He was still madly spitting in his heart, but Xing Yuan had already waved his hand, and Xu Yan immediately stepped forward and politely said to him: "Mr. Ye, please come with me.”
Ye Wenxuan unwillingly glanced at Xing Yuan and then lifted the backpack from the table and followed Xu Yan back through the original path to the door and went out.
Until that big door finally closed gently behind him, he finally felt that he had cast off that disquieting gaze. Ye Wenxuan kept on feeling some sort of strange sense of being out of sorts, but also did not know where it came from, so he could only follow Xu Yan through the promenade and go to the a.s.sistants" office on the other side of the 37th floor.
The decor styling of the a.s.sistants" office was obviously a far cry from Xing Yuan"s lavish office.
The floor was also covered with blue-gray carpets, but several desks were neatly arranged in the office, in the corner there was also a long line of information cabinets. With a glance you could tell it was an office for many people, there was none of that wanton and comfortable feeling from Xing Yuan"s office.
Right now a few people were sitting in the office. Xu Yan explained: "Chief Xing currently has a total of ten business a.s.sistants, each one is in charge of a different business, and usually they are always in this office. If you can"t find someone, they are most likely going to another department to discuss business matters.”
Then he pointed at the woman sitting at the innermost desk bending over her desk to write, and whispered to Ye Wenxuan: "You should have seen that person before, a.s.sistant Ruan had asked you for an interview before, go up to greet her.”
However, he really did not partic.i.p.ate in this so-called interview, this channel was also arranged by the Special Affairs Department. Ye Wenxuan was a little perturbed in his heart, but still thickened his skin to go over and introduce himself to the woman: "a.s.sistant Ruan, h.e.l.lo, I am Ye Wenxuan.”
a.s.sistant Ruan seemed to no longer be a 20 something young lady, she wore some delicate makeup and a bluish gray high-waisted uniform dress that looked conservative yet elegant. From Ye Wenxuan"s angle, he could see that she was writing on a sheet of letterhead, her handwriting was beautiful and neat, very pleasing to the eye.
Hearing his words, a.s.sistant Ruan paused her movements and raised her head to look at Ye Wenxuan.
"Ye Wenxuan?" She asked.
Ye Wenxuan: "Well, that"s me.”
"Oh, I see." a.s.sistant Ruan looked him over with no expression: "You showed a quite good performance during the interview, I hope that when you begin your formal work there will not be any mistakes. During this period of time you will be following a.s.sistant Xu to adapt to the new environment.”
The two people had not met at all, so Ye Wenxuan could basically determine that the Special Affairs Department had gone through a.s.sistant Ruan"s channel. He just did not know whether or not a.s.sistant Ruan had some sort of relationship with them, if they were not as familiar as he thought, if he hastily mentioned the Special Affairs Department that would definitely not be appropriate.
So he only nodded: "I understand, thank you for your promotion, a.s.sistant Ruan.”
After he thanked her he left, not staying behind.
Seeing that the two people had finished talking, Xu Yan did not keep introducing him to other a.s.sistants, directly bringing him to a small one-person office next door.
## This story is not quite right article ##
Xing Yuan: "Dismiss him.”
Xu Yan: "Good.”
Ye Wenxuan exploded in anger because of his dismissal, directly chopping Xing Yuan to death with a lightning bolt.
So the small gong died, and since then the small shou fled to the other end of the world.
BE ending reached.
End of story.
Xing Yuan: "Dismiss him.”
Xu Yan: "Good.”
Ye Wenxuan was dismissed on the first day, dazedly accepting another mission from Zheng Xingguo. He started to maintain electricity for all kinds of large festivals and galas.
Then he met the stage director who came over every day to check the circuitry, the two people got along very intimately, half a year later they became a couple.
Switched gong ending reached.
End of story.
Translator Notes:
[1] hit in the face – 扑面而来, idiom, thought the literal meaning fit well here, but basically means very direct, very blatant
[2] 1.9 meters – around 6 feet 3 inches
[3] chopped up into pieces – 大卸八块, might be an idiom, this is the meaning from Googling
[4] lao zi – 老子, some slang that basically means me/I in an arrogant manner, using the pinyin here to not lose the meaning
[5] under the right conditions – 天时地利人和, idiom, means time is right and conditions are favorable
[6] backdrop board – 背景板, basically like the cannon fodder/something you wouldn"t pay attention to, if there"s a more precise term lmk
[7] a far cry from – 天壤之别, idiom, difference of night and day, opposite extremes, world of difference
[8] letterhead – 印花纸, technically this means tax stamp paper, but I"m not quite sure what that means, so I"m a.s.suming she"s just writing on an official company letterhead
[9] BE ending – be结局, tbqh I am still not sure what exactly this means, what does BE stand for? bad ending? lmk if you have any thoughts…
Random Notes:
1.5 hours: 4 pm – 5:30 pm, for 3.1k characters to 2.3k words. Wow, was this chapter really shorter than the previous ones? For some reason it felt longer. There are also much more T/Ns here, mostly because I was majorly confused for certain terms. Lmk if you guys know anything that can improve those terms!