Chapter 499 - 239: Marriage Pressure and the Female Secretary
Chapter 499: Chapter 239: Marriage Pressure and the Female Secretary
For example, even if no one lives in the ancestral home, they’ll still go back during the New Year to put up a "Fu" character and set off some firecrackers.
This is a man’s attachment to his roots.
The so-called "traditionalists," perhaps, were just men who had the concept of "settling down and building a career" etched into their very bones.
Their methods might be a bit extreme, but as times changed, they just failed to keep up with modern ways of thinking.
Take Lin Shen, for example. He had no desire to get married at all.
He had already built his career and had plenty of women.
As for a home, wherever his parents were, that was home!
"Time for bed!"
Lin Shen stretched and got up, planning to shower and head to bed.
The weekend was over, and the work week was about to begin!
—
September 22, 2025. Monday.
24°C to 28°C. Cloudy, with a gentle northeasterly breeze. 34% humidity.
[Construction Bank: A deposit of 240,000 yuan was made to your account ending in 7946 at 12:01 AM on September 22. Current balance: 16,200,000 yuan.]
At 7:00 AM, Lin Shen woke up early to get ready.
First, he took a shower, then he did his skincare routine and blow-dried his hair into place.
Unlike his usual textured crop, this time Lin Shen styled his hair into a slicked-back look with a 70-30 part.
After all, different occasions call for different hairstyles; there’s an art to it.
Today, Lin Shen was the chairman of Shennan, so naturally, he couldn’t dress as casually as he usually did.
He needed to look more mature and dependable to earn his employees’ trust.
So, after styling his hair, Lin Shen applied some hairspray. Feeling the look was a bit too stiff, he teased out a thin wisp of his bangs to hang down slightly.
This added a touch of youthful energy to the otherwise serious look, perfectly suiting his age.
"All set!"
Coming out of the bathroom, Lin Shen walked into the master bedroom. From a wardrobe reserved specifically for his suits, he pulled out a custom-tailored one.
After getting dressed, he adjusted his collar and cuffs in the mirror. He suddenly felt like one of those dapper villains from the movies.
All dapper and respectable on the outside, but a real player in private.
Lin Shen smirked, narcissistically snapping a mirror selfie before leaving the bedroom and heading downstairs with his car keys.
He got into the driver’s seat of his Maybach S680 in the underground garage, hit the gas, and sped off.
On the way, he silently reviewed the talking points for the meeting, complaining to himself.
’Why am I, the boss, this nervous?!’
—
「8:00 AM, Huamao Mansion.」
On the third floor was the East China Branch of Pet Guardian Home.
Sun Mingli walked into the office as usual. As she made her rounds past the second floor, she noticed many employees were missing from their workstations.
The first and second marketing and operations teams were particularly empty—it looked like more than half of them were gone.
Only a handful were busy at their desks.
’Where is everyone?’
Sun Mingli was baffled. She was about to call over the supervisor in charge, but then she realized the supervisor was gone too!
’Huh?’
Sun Mingli frowned, a growing feeling that something was wrong.
Sure enough, when she returned to her general manager’s office on the third floor, she found her secretary had been waiting for her.
"President Sun, this is bad."
The secretary rushed over to Sun Mingli, looking anxious and clutching a large stack of documents.
"At least forty people from the marketing department have submitted their resignations!"
’Resignation letters?’
Sun Mingli frowned. She immediately pushed open her office door, sat down in her chair, and began reviewing the resignation letters one by one.
Most were from the marketing department, with a few from other departments. All of them were veterans who had been with Pet Guardian Home for over a decade. It was no exaggeration to call them the pillars of the East China Branch!
Sun Mingli believed in the loyalty of these veterans. With families and children to support, they needed stable jobs. They would never resign without a very good reason!
And certainly not in a mass resignation like this!
There was only one possible explanation for this: poaching.
’But how is that possible?’
Sun Mingli frowned, unable to wrap her head around it.
After all, Pet Guardian Home was the leader in the domestic pet industry, and its salaries were among the highest.
’How could veteran employees be convinced to jump ship?’
Unless a competitor paid a fortune to poach them.
But poaching a few executives would be one thing. Why poach so many rank-and-file employees?
Could an established company even absorb that many new hires at once?
Which meant there was only one other possibility.
A newly formed Pet Industry Company had poached them all!
BANG—!
Once the realization hit, Sun Mingli slammed the resignation letters onto her desk in a fit of rage.
"Just let me find out which company is behind this! I’ll sue them into bankruptcy! This is a blatant violation of their non-compete agreements!"
"But..."
Even though she knew Sun Mingli was furious, the secretary felt she had to offer a gentle reminder.
"None of these employees signed a non-compete agreement. They left of their own accord. Can we even win a lawsuit?"
"Are you asking me? I’m not in the legal department!"
Sun Mingli shot her secretary a harsh glare before rattling off instructions.
"Xiaoli, take this down."
"First, compile a list of everyone who resigned. Then, check with the Social Security Administration to find out which company is now paying their contributions."
"Second, tell the finance department that these people who left without good reason aren’t getting a single cent of this month’s salary. If they want to make a scene, tell them to take it to labor arbitration."
"Third, tell all department heads to come to the fourth floor for a meeting. Immediately!"
"Yes."
After her secretary left, Sun Mingli slumped into her chair and rubbed her aching temples, her heart heavy.
Losing so many employees so suddenly was bound to affect daily operations.
Fortunately, most of them were from marketing, which wasn’t a critical department.
’At worst, we’ll just have to pause a few marketing campaigns.’
’I refuse to believe they can steal Pet Guardian Home’s market share with marketing in such a short time.’
’Dream on!’
Faced with the mass resignation, Sun Mingli wasn’t flustered in the least. She was even curious to see what kind of stunt this new company thought it could pull.
After all, the pet industry was already a red ocean, with intense competition among all the major players.
’Entering the market at a time like this... you’ll just lose your shirt!’
Sun Mingli snorted, then rose and left her office, heading to the conference room.
Of the seven people who were supposed to be there, only Qin Yuenan was absent.
Sun Mingli was already used to her absence. Since Qin Yuenan had already resigned, it didn’t matter whether she showed up.
But then, she suddenly connected Qin Yuenan’s departure with today’s mass resignation, and a daring thought surfaced.
’Could it be... Did Qin Yuenan take them all with her when she jumped ship?’
Frowning, Sun Mingli turned directly to the new marketing director, Qin Yuenan’s replacement.
"Did Qin Yuenan come in today?"
"She didn’t."
’She didn’t?’
Sun Mingli felt her suspicion solidifying into certainty.
’It had to be Qin Yuenan’s doing!’
—
「8:10 AM, Huamao Mansion.」
A dapper, suit-clad Lin Shen strode into the building.
Xu Lei was already there, having been waiting for him on a sofa in the lobby for some time.
Today, she was dressed in a standard secretarial uniform, giving her a very sharp, professional look.
The ensemble—a black blouse, a gray pencil skirt, black stockings, and red-soled high heels—perfectly accentuated her full, curvaceous figure.
Coupled with her black-framed glasses, she once again reminded Lin Shen of some... ’special interest’ videos he’d seen.
’She looks just like that girl with the glasses!’
Lin Shen thought to himself as he spotted Xu Lei from a distance.
Xu Lei spotted him at the same moment. She immediately rose to her feet, the CLICK-CLACK-CLICK of her heels drawing the attention of many office workers as she hurried over to him.
’She has so much class!’
"President Lin."
Xu Lei gave Lin Shen a slight bow in greeting and handed him a document she was holding.
"This is a draft of your talking points for the meeting today."
"You prepared this for me?"
Lin Shen was genuinely surprised as he quickly scanned the draft’s contents.
It meticulously detailed everything he needed to cover in the meeting, all neatly arranged in sequential order.
Such a thoughtful gesture made Lin Shen glance at Xu Lei’s distinctive, long face, and he praised her inwardly.
’This secretary is damn good at her job!’