Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-One: Discussion
Mr. Mystery was the driver who caused the accident?!
……
That afternoon, all of YL except for Yan Jin and the senior executives engaged in the fiercest discussion they’d ever had.
“I say, shouldn’t there be a problem with this?”
“There’s problems no matter how you think about it.”
“I can’t comprehend this.”
“Let’s summarize what we know for sure. First, the mystery designer that appeared a year ago is FISH from the company across the street. Next, FISH got into a car accident with Chairman Yan in March. Finally, Chairman Yan has recruited FISH here to YL.”
“No matter what, Chairman Yan couldn’t have signed the offending driver, right?”
“Right, right. How could that be? It would be scary to have such a murderer in our midst.”
“I’m still recovering slowly from the shock of the accident. At least there weren’t any major injuries. If it were me, I’d never want to see the a.s.sa.s.sin ever again. It’s too scary.”
“Right, right. It’s fortunate that nothing worse happened.”
“What do you mean nothing worse? Chairman Yan had gauze on him during the funeral. It really hurt my heart to see that.”
“That’s still pretty good. My uncle once got into a car accident and spent two months in the hospital.”
“Heaven helps the worthy, and Chairman Yan was born under a lucky star. Someone said that if Chairman Yan hadn’t called emergency services quickly, that culprit wouldn’t have survived.”
“What? Did that really happen?”
“I am not sure if I should be saying this, but I heard that FISH didn’t sustain any major injuries either.”
“What? How can that be? Wasn’t it said that he was in a coma for a long time?”
“I also heard that. I have a friend at SI who told me that FISH returned to work the day after the accident to cause some more trouble before getting fired.”
“Maybe not the very next day, but it’s true he returned to perfect health really quickly.”
“Coincidence?”
“…I feel like it’s not.”
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence either.”
The group fell silent, pondering over the events that didn’t seem to make much sense.
“Wait, let’s not get distracted. Isn’t the primary issue determining whether FISH is Mr. Mystery?”
“Eh? Wasn’t that already confirmed? Director Shao said so.”
“What? Was I the only one that thought we were discussing why Chairman Yan would hire the driver who caused the accident?”
“It’s because the primary issue isn’t whether FISH is the offending driver. It’s if he’s Mr. Mystery.”
“… Can I say something? Isn’t the primary issue dependent on why FISH would want to cause trouble?”
“Ohh, seconded.”
“Thanks for enlightening us.”
“I always thought something felt wrong. So it was actually that.”
“Yeah, FISH is the mystery designer. He’s helped us for so long. Why would he want to cause trouble for the Chairman?”
“The mystery designer appeared a year ago. Does that mean FISH was already preparing to cut ties with SI a year ago?”
“But then, isn’t it a little dumb of SI to forcefully terminate him? They’d have to pay the severance package.”
“That must mean SI definitely didn’t know FISH wanted to cut ties.”
“I’d guess that they also didn’t know FISH was the mystery designer.“
“So what you guys mean is that this was all orchestrated by FISH? He deliberately provoked SI to fire him when he’d finished all his preparations to leave SI and join us?”
“That logic is flawed. Why would the mystery designer with his talents feel the need to prepare for so long to find his next job? Although we can be considered to be pretty good in city S, but it’s not like city S is the only city in the world. In reality, in terms of the jewelry industry, cities B or H are better than city S.
“Maybe he has some reason that he needs to stay in city S?”
“That sounds pretty far-fetched…”
“Speaking of which, is FISH really that talented? I feel like the mystery designer is better than him.”
“Holy s.h.i.+t?”
“Holy s.h.i.+t!”
“Holy s.h.i.+t.”
“Holy s.h.i.+t…”
“Hey, what’s wrong with you guys?”
“I think I’ve discovered something.”
“Me too.”
“Me three…”
“What? Stop messing around and tell me. Everyone’s waiting.”
“It’s not quite polite to say…”
“Let’s choose a representative to explain. The first ‘holy s.h.i.+t’ was from Director Shao. Director Shao, if you please…”
“Hey you little rascals… okay sure, I can spread some speculation. What speculation? Well, I didn’t personally see, but I heard that… didn’t FISH specially come to accuse the mystery designer of plagiarizing his work?”
“Hmm.”
“Hmm….”
“The f.u.c.k? So you’re saying that he was just acting?”
“This could explain the issue of FISH’s capabilities.”
“I feel like I’m pretty close to the truth now.”
“What a coincidence! Me too.”
“I’m confused. Is FISH out of his mind?”
“Please don’t trash talk the mystery designer. Otherwise, I might have to fight you tomorrow.”
“s.h.i.+t, you change sides so fast. Sure, sure, whatever, I’ll say it more politely. Why would FISH go through so much work for nothing? From our previous guesses, if he had already made up his mind to leave and also prepared his next position, he could plagiarize his own work. Sorry, I should say, he could further modify his own designs to both help us and hurt SI’s contracts. That all makes sense, but how come after he made a name for himself he didn’t directly join us then?”
“Maybe it’s because of the contract termination penalty?”
“That’s possible. If the termination penalty was too high, maybe YL couldn’t necessarily afford it.
“It should be something along these lines.”
“I feel like things are starting to make sense now.”
“… Not really. Why would FISH want to make trouble then?”
“Maybe the negotiation with the Chairman went south?”
“Unreasonable.”
“Maybe he wanted to job-hop again and return back?”
“That’s not really logical either. If he didn’t want to leave in the first place, he wouldn’t have left. With his ident.i.ty as the mystery designer, Zhou Jinrong would have bent his knees for him.”
“What if it is because of unrequited love with Zhou Jinrong, and so he wants to destroy him?!”
“…”
“Which fujos.h.i.+ jumped out this time? We’re talking about serious matters here.”
“Get out, you chauvinist pig! That’s me, and I’m on Team Yan-Mystery!”
“Yan, Yan-Mystery?”
“Team Yan-Mystery s.h.i.+ps Chairman Yan and Mr. Mystery. If you want more reference, you can come find me.”
“Hey, a fellow member! Let’s add each other online.”
“Sure, I know who you are. From the design department, right?”
“Haha, I know who you are too.”
“That’s way too scary.”
“See no evil, hear no evil.”
“Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?”
“I came in because of curiosity and what I have seen here makes me want to leave.”
“Alright alright, we’re discussing serious matters here.”
“So in the end, the main issue is that we don’t know why FISH wanted to kill Chairman Yan.”
“Hey, I suddenly thought of something. Did we forget one possibility?”
“What possibility?”
“Could it have been an accident?”
“What accident?”
“The car crash. Maybe it was an accident…”
“The f.u.c.k? I don’t think so.”
“f.u.c.k! I don’t think so.”
“f.u.c.k… I don’t think so either.”
“How can it be so coincidental? No matter how you look at it, there are issues with the car crash.”
“But there’s no other explanation. FISH doesn’t have the motive to cause trouble.”
“We should be able to eliminate the possibility that FISH did it on purpose.”
“Then, if it wasn’t to cause trouble, maybe it’s also an act?”
“That’s crazy. All this just to get SI to fire him?”
“I’ve encountered many things during my thirty years in this industry, but this is unheard of.”
“Thirty years? How old are you now?”
“Age doesn’t matter to heroes. The important matter is that this is unheard of.”
“Seconded. If it’s really like this, I’ll really think that FISH is mentally ill. Probably the kind that overdoses on drugs.”
“Definitely crazy.”
“Scary, I really don’t want him to join the design department.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions so quickly. I still think this is pretty unreasonable.”
“It shouldn’t have been an act. It’s really not possible with such a dangerous car crash. The potential damage is too high and there are lives at stake here.”
“My uncle works in Public Security and the accident was overseen by his division. I heard that although there weren’t any major injuries, the cars were destroyed. Not sure about FISH, but Chairman Yan’s car was worth several tens of millions. It was probably his most expensive car.”
“So expensive.”
“Indeed.”
“If it was really an act, he wouldn’t have hit this car. He can’t afford it, haha.”
“Maybe it’s to make it look more convincing?”
“Idiot. Who spends tens of millions to make something more convincing? It’s not like he’s one of those super rich with nothing better to spend money on.”
“Yeah, on the list of the top one hundred richest people in the world, there’s only one from city S, which is Yan Jin.”
“…… ”
“……”
“……”
“Why did it become quite so suddenly? Did I say something wrong? Maybe it’s not top hundred, but top fifty?”
“I think… maybe… I understand… a little now….”
“I… I think I also…”
“Could everyone start talking so that I won’t think I’m right? I’m pretty scared right now.”
“I’m a little scared too.”
“Director Shao, could you say something?”
“Hmm, this actually sounds quite reasonable…”
“Please explain.”
“Please.”
“Please.”
“Okay, okay. I believe with near certainty that if Yan Jin is responsible for this entire series of events from beginning to end, I think it would be… very logical.”
“My popcorn is already ready.”
“My snacks are already open.”
“Please present your case.”
“I also only just remembered this, but I once heard Yan Jin say that he was acquainted with the mystery designer long ago. FISH might have started helping us a year ago because of their friends.h.i.+p.”
“Can simple friends.h.i.+p make someone sacrifice so much? If SI found out, wouldn’t this be a crime?”
“It’s not so much that they think they can escape punishment for breaking the law, but that the laws aren’t too harsh on this kind of matter. There’s no issue if they don’t get caught. Up until now, all of the mystery designer’s works have been under other people’s names. It would be quite difficult to investigate.
“No wonder all of the mystery designer’s works were for free. This…”
“My fujos.h.i.+ senses are tingling.”
“This also explains why FISH never wanted to resign from SI, right?”
“Maybe he couldn’t bear to watch SI suppress us any longer. I’m from Marketing; you guys might not know what kinds of evil things SI did.”
“I know a little. My heart hurts for you, young lady.”
“So you’re saying that Chairman Yan had hidden motives from the start…”
“He purposely spread Mr. Mystery’s reputation far and wide so FISH had nowhere to retreat.”
“Yeah, he only wanted to help his friend out a little in the beginning, but then Yan Jin ended up blackmailing him. If he didn’t resign from SI then Yan Jin would reveal his ident.i.ty as the mystery designer. Then the law would be chasing after him.”
“And then he was dragged along onto the pirate s.h.i.+p.”
“And then Yan Jin orchestrated the car crash on March 5th, forcing SI to fire FISH. With no other path left, FISH was forced to join YL.”
“But didn’t we discuss that they wouldn’t do something so dangerous for something so small?”
“Dangerous? Maybe for normal people, but for people like Yan Jin who even have private jets at Beijing Airport…”
“Director Shao, what do you think?”
“Most people wouldn’t dare, but it’s hard to say with Yan Jin. He’s done this kind of risky thing before. From the end result, it seems like both sides escaped without serious injury.”
“It was definitely directed and acted out by Yan Jin. With his resources, he would have no problem a.s.sembling a team on the spot to rescue them.”
“There were probably people hiding underwater.”
“It’s said that there were no witnesses.”
“No traffic surveillance either.”
“But Yan Jin’s car had fifteen cameras.”
“Alright folks, we’re done here. Let’s go now.”
“We have enough evidence to make a conclusion.”
“Wow, Chairman Yan is this sort of person…”
“I kind of don’t want to believe it either…”
“d.a.m.n it, this is so extreme.”
“If I were FISH, even dying wouldn’t be so humiliating.”
“He probably doesn’t even know exactly when he got trapped.”
“Hey, I really admire Chairman Yan for being able even to do this.”
“Poor FISH.”
“I feel the same way.”
“I feel so sorry for him…”
“Actually, even long ago I wanted to say that Yan Jin——”
Can’t even be considered a thing.