"With that resolved, Xie Zhi I"d have to trouble you to look up potential lands for the project. I"m also giving you free reign on the design. Present me the entirety of your skills. If I"m pleased with it I"ll cook you whatever you want. The preliminaries could be quite tedious, Yi Lan and Wei Ren will help. Submit the details you"ll come up with to me afterwards. We will then deliberate again along with the progress of company acquisition. You can also drag Zhen Yue with you. At the rate he"s going, Mamoru-nii might succesfully convert him into a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t any day now." Yan Qing Shan tilted her head towards the twins who exhibited a dumbfounded look. Ning Xie Zhi chortled at the latter part of her statement. "Oh? Isn"t he already a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t, by now? He keeps coming back every single day to get beaten up by Mister Mamoru. That guy is seriously ruthless. His strikes hurt so much, it"s qualified as an unsolvable mystery as to why that is." He remarked. Ning Xie Zhi found himself with throbbing forehead yet again courtesy of his seatmate, Jia Yi Lan.
"That"s enough of you, Xie Zhi. You always come up with these retorts. One of these days, Hong Zhen Yue will really tie you up and use you for target practice." The woman reprimanded sternly. Hong Zhen Yue gazed at her with fervent eyes.
"Don"t look at me like that. You should learn how to come up with a comeback yourself, you muscle-brained battle pervert." Jia Yi Lan continued, this time with Hong Zhen Yue as the target of her nags. Contrary to her sweet, harmless features and overall benevolent temperament, Yan Qing Shan has realized that Jia Yi Lan was capable of unleas.h.i.+ng heavenly wrath amongst the Aces. They fondly call it the berserk mode. Once Jia Yi Lan reaches this stage, one must securely hide himself lest he regrets it for his entire life. Next to Mamoru"s beating prowess was Jia Yi Lan"s. In short, Jia Yi Lan was scary when she"s mad. It was no wonder why her brother Wei Ren transformed into this nerdy sis-con who fears his sister as much as he fears the loss of food and the end of humanity.
"Why? Why were you so sure that we"d agree on this project?" Surprisingly, it was the quiet Luo Chen who voiced out a question no one has even tried to ask her since the start of their meeting.
"Heh. Why, you say? I guess I just knew. Besides, this project, even I find it interesting. Wouldn"t you see it the same way then?" Yan Qing Shan answered back. Luo Chen nodded at this and once again remained ever so quiet. Yan Qing Shan smiled to herself. It seems their resident silence incarnate was gradually venturing out the outside world. Yan Qing Shan has once asked the others if they knew why Luo Chen was like that. Qi Xia told her that Luo Chen was merely firm on his self-imposed rule of speaking only when he deems it necessary. Other times aside from that, he just couldn"t be bothered. Yan Qing Shan was also privy to the open secret that this trait of his, Luo Chen certainly got from his blood. It was a common trait within the Luo"s.
"The academy, what will you call it Qing Shan?" Jia Wei Ren inquired out of the blue. Yan Qing Shan eyed him strangely for a while before answering.
"Olympus. Olympus Academy." Yan Qing Shan answered with a short smile. The room was absent of any sounds for a while before it was shattered with the amused mumbles of a handsome young man.
"Olympus, huh? The dwelling of the G.o.ds. Uh huh. It truly is quite interesting."
----
The days following that meeting became even more hectic for the Aces. Aside from their continued abuse... erm... training, there was also the various task they needed to do to accomplish the tasks necessary for the completion of the first phase of their project. It was aptly named as Project Olympus.
Yan Qing Shan, with the help of Lan Jing Er, resolved the multiple problems that her newly acquired company had. She was able to stabilize its condition for now but Yan Qing Shan knew that unless she resolve the issue against the Yan Group, it would only be a matter of time now before Heidelberg Productions Inc. once again fall into chaos. Depite everything else, Yan Group was still a hegemon within the entertainment industry. This was a fact that she could only begrudgingly accept. It"s deeply rooted ties isn"t merely for show. One miscalculation and Yan Qing Shan may as well give up the company right away. Despite her wish to refute, her father, Yan Tian Yu wasn"t entirely idiotic especially when it comes to the welfare of the company. His devotion in this aspect was real.
Still, Yan Qing Shan didn"t show any trace of urgency regarding this. This was only natural since all of her pieces were now in place. She might have initially uninterested with the company except now, Yan Qing Shan had no choice but to act against it. She would have felt slightly remorseful about if she hadn"t found out that even in the company, Zhao Ming Yue has tainted it with her evil. Yan Qing Shan could almost see the frustrated face of her brother, Yan Qing Yu.
"Hmm. Qin Jiran"s ability to gather information can"t be underestimated. No, it is formidable if I do say so myself. Almost on par with Yui.
"It"s late. How long do you plan on staying up? This past few days, you"ve been so busy that you have even skipped meals. Are you seriously testing my patience, Young Lady Yan." A voice resonating an attractive timbre capable of evoking voice fetish tendencies sounded out by Yan Qing Shan"s ear. She turned her head to the source and was greeted by a devastating beauty that soothed her frayed and exhausted nerves. If only the beauty was emanating an almost tangible aura of annoyance, Yan Qing Shan truly could have melted in the beauty"s presence.
"You know, it can"t be helped Ah Jue. Now, don"t you dare start lecturing me because compared to my working habits, you are much more extreme." She answered with a pout as she put down the paper in her hand.
"I"m a man. I can handle the lack of sleep even better than you. This is scientifically proven; if you don"t want to believe confirm it for yourself. As for the meals, I try not skip as much as I can. Liu Ying also makes sure that I eat as healthy as possible because a certain someone turned into a nagging monster because of it. You see, compared to that certain someone I am very obedient." Zi Jue retorted as he leaned on the desk at her side.
Yan Qing Shan huffed in indignation and then cradled her head in her palm. Her amber eyes met his dark ones.
"This nagging monster has pa.s.sed on the virus to you, so it would seem." Yan Qing Shan uttered with a matter-of-factly tone.
Before she could even react, she felt a sharp, stinging pain in both of her cheeks. Yan Qing Shan glared at culprit who was busy squis.h.i.+ng and squeezing her cheeks with relish.
"Stop being cheeky. You need to get some rest, okay? It wouldn"t hurt to take a short break, would it? How about you take the day off tomorrow? I"ll clear out my schedule so we could go for a picnic." Zi Jue said tenderly afterwards as he softly patted her battered cheeks.
"Hmm. I need to think about it. You might be tricking me or something. I need to protect my virtue. Not to mention, I have so many things I still need to deal with. It"s only been a week of hectic work. That"s nothing in comparison to your months of workaholic tendecies, oh great emperor." Yan Qing Shan responded with a pondering look. Zi Jue stared at her blankly, the sheer force of it boring into her skin making her feel uncomfortable yet comfortable at the same time. It was a strange feeling.
"Sigh. Jokes aside, I sincerely believe the break will do you good. Qing Shan, I know you"re trying your best. And I"m proud of it. I"m proud of the hard work you"re putting in. But you also need to take care of your body. Also... I miss spending time with you. I miss you. So could you spare me some of your attention a bit?" Zi Jue replied with a mixture of despondence and pleading. Yan Qing Shan gaped in astonishment at his sudden declaration. She covered the smile blooming in her lips with a hand.
Yan Qing Shan composed herself with a light cough. She reached out her hand to Zi Jue"s cheeks and gave him a beaming smile.
"Alright. Let"s go on that picnic tomorrow. I kind of missed you too." She whispered with a trace of embarra.s.sment. It can"t be helped. She was weak to this sudden attack of his and had no choice but to completely surrender. Not that she was averse to it. Yan Qing Shan was in fact on cloud nine at this very moment.