Chapter 45: Irina Beauty Center

Linjiang City, Power Supply Bureau.

In Zhang Xun's office, staring at a text message on his screen, he said with a gloomy face, "There are surprisingly no major issues."

Qi Muyang, dressed in an executive windbreaker and looking somewhat sophisticated with his gold-rimmed glasses, held his own teacup and asked with a puzzled look, "Are the fire safety standards of Wei Lin's company really that meticulous?"

"I'm surprised too," Zhang Xun frowned.

After a moment of thought, he said, "I can't swallow this anger! I'll keep pushing the fire safety angle for a while, and then I'll target him for health code violations!"

Looking at this vindictive colleague and former classmate, Qi Muyang hesitated for a moment and said, "On second thought, Wei Lin actually saved both of us. There's no need to hold a grudge against him."

"Saved both of us? Couldn't we outrun that migrant worker?" Zhang Xun snorted, saying, "He was showing off in front of Zhuang Qing, making us look like total cowards. And he even forced both of us to shell out two thousand yuan each, acting all high and mighty!"

"Zhang Xun, honestly, I think Zhao Yuanqing is even more despicable. Why don't you go after him instead?" Qi Muyang tried to shift the focus of conflict.

Zhang Xun had his eyes on Zhuang Qing, while Qi Muyang's target of affection was Han Ying, which made him harbor even greater hostility toward Zhao Yuanqing.

"I don't know Zhao Yuanqing's background."

Zhang Xun lowered his gaze slightly and brushed it off casually.

Of course he knew Zhao Yuanqing's background.

Through the company license plate of the Cayenne, he had tracked down the parent company to Fulong Medical and spotted Zhao Yuanqing's name in the enterprise registry of the Fulong Group.

Fulong Medical was a benchmark enterprise in Linjiang City, and Zhao Fulong's name carried significant weight locally. How could he ever dare to cross Fulong?

Xinlin, on the other hand, was just a small enterprise whose scale and output were completely incomparable to Fulong. Given his capabilities, Xinlin was the only target he dared to mess with.

"Wei Lin is no pushover either. If you keep causing trouble for him like this, won't he find out?" Qi Muyang worried aloud.

"I didn't make my move the very next day. More than ten days have passed, how could he possibly suspect it was me?" Zhang Xun snorted, then added, "Besides, even if he found out, what could he possibly do to me?"

Remembering the scene where Wei Lin brandished a knife and forced the two of them to fork over their money, a chill ran down Qi Muyang's spine. "I always get the feeling that Wei Lin is even more troublesome to deal with than Zhao Yuanqing."

"He's just a small business owner, are we really going to be afraid of him?" Zhang Xun dismissed the thought.

...

Irina Beauty Center.

Third floor, reception room.

Yuan Xiao'e, wearing a light blue professional suit, was meticulously refining her makeup in front of a small mirror on the table, utilizing various miniature tools from her cosmetic bag.

"Xiao'e, didn't you already put on makeup today?"

Wu Chunmei, a fellow beauty consultant, asked with curiosity as she noticed Yuan Xiao'e hurriedly touching up her face again after sending a few text messages.

"A client is coming later."

After applying a fresh coat of lipstick, Yuan Xiao'e turned her face toward her and asked, "Is this color a bit too vibrant? Should I switch to a lighter shade to look more dignified?"

Wu Chunmei asked in astonishment, "What kind of client makes you care this much?"

"A male client." Yuan Xiao'e smiled mysteriously.

"Yuan Xiao'e, you really have too much time on your hands. You haven't produced any decent sales figures, but all you do all day long is fuss over your own face!" Huang Ting, the supervisor dressed in a black suit, burst through the entrance of the reception room and immediately launched into a tirade against her. "If you really have nothing better to do, go pour me a cup of coffee!"

"Oh."

Yuan Xiao'e obediently raised herself from her seat and went to fetch the coffee for Supervisor Huang.

...

Half an hour later, Wei Lin arrived at Irina Beauty Center and seated himself before Yuan Xiao'e.

"Wei Lin, fill out this form first."

Before he could ask about Zhang Xun's background, Yuan Xiao'e glanced at Huang Ting not far away, handed over an intention form first, and winked playfully at him.

Familiar with the routine, Wei Lin picked up a ballpoint pen and scribbled wildly across the paper, checking boxes at random.

In the signature field, he wrote down his own name, but for the telephone number, he put down Zhao Yuanqing's digits.

"President Wei's phone number is really nice." Noting the string of seven nines at the end, Yuan Xiao'e silently memorized it and didn't forget to offer a compliment: "It must have been very expensive, right?"

"An old number, not worth much." Wei Lin suddenly lowered his voice and began inquiring about Zhang Xun.

To know your enemy and yourself is to win a hundred battles.

Since he suspected that Zhang Xun was the mastermind behind the scenes, his priority was to find out about Zhang Xun's employment and family background.

Zhang Xun had been brought in by Yuan Xiao'e; neither Zhuang Qing nor Han Ying knew him, so Wei Lin had no choice but to seek her out.

After climbing Mount Nanshan, Yuan Xiao'e had indeed created a small group chat, occasionally sharing videos of surrounding scenic spots, but responses in the group had been sparse.

—Only Han Ying occasionally replied to her.

As time went on, the group practically turned into a dead chat.

The affection of a woman like Yuan Xiao'e was nothing more than a three-minute burst of enthusiasm; it came fast and went just as quickly.

After being dealt three consecutive blows by Zhao Yuanqing, her subsequent contributions had dwindled to almost nothing, and recently, they had stopped entirely.

Naturally, Wei Lin was quite content with the peace and quiet.

Had it not been for Zhang Xun operating behind his back, he would never have thought of Yuan Xiao'e, let alone made a special trip to Irina.

After some conversation, Wei Lin learned that Zhang Xun had once brought his girlfriend to Irina, which was how she had met him.

Yuan Xiao'e only knew that he currently worked at the Power Supply Bureau and had connections within the fire safety and health inspection systems; she didn't know much else.

"Even the health inspection system?"

Wei Lin's expression shifted slightly.

"Wei Lin, why are you suddenly asking about Zhang Xun?" Yuan Xiao'e expressed her curiosity.

Hesitating for a moment, she retrieved a stack of client records from the cabinet beneath her desk, handed Zhang Xun's file to Wei Lin, and whispered, "You can't tell Zhang Xun about this! Our company is very strict; we are strictly forbidden from leaking client information!"

"I understand!"

Wei Lin snapped a photo of the document, noticing that it contained not only Zhang Xun's name and phone number, but even his home address.

Down to the exact building and apartment number.

"Skypoint City? Ha, a high-end residential complex! No wonder."

He guessed that Zhang Xun had deliberately left his home address just to show off—perhaps hoping Yuan Xiao'e would see it, or perhaps to impress the female companion he had with him at the time.

"Yuan Xiao'e, are you working or just gossiping? If it's casual chatter with a friend, please don't take up work hours!"

Supervisor Huang, who had been eavesdropping in the shadows for a while, saw that the two had been chatting endlessly without touching upon the subject of beauty treatments, and spoke up in a cold, deep tone: "According to company regulations, chatting during work hours results in a fine of five hundred yuan!"

Flustered, Yuan Xiao'e hurriedly defended herself, "President Wei is truly a client. We were just discussing a bit of personal business first, we'll get to... we'll get to it in a moment—"

"Discussing business?" Huang Ting, who was going through menopause, sneered and said, "Unless a specific project is booked and an initial deposit is paid, I consider all of this loafing around!"

Yuan Xiao'e's sales performance for the past two months had been dismal, and Huang Ting had long since disliked her, seizing every opportunity to vent her frustration.

From her professional perspective, Wei Lin had not brought a female companion, nor showed any signs of having undergone medical or long-term cosmetic procedures, meaning he was simply not a potential client for Irina.

Such irrelevant individuals were definitely unwelcome in her eyes.

"I, I..."

Yuan Xiao'e stammered, completely losing the ability to defend herself, and mentally prepared herself to swallow a five hundred yuan fine.

"Thanks, I won't disturb your work any longer."

Wei Lin stood up, intending to transfer five hundred yuan to Yuan Xiao'e the moment he stepped out of Irina to compensate for her loss.

As for booking a specific project and paying a deposit? He had no intention of playing the fool.

"Wei Lin!"

A delighted, soft cry suddenly echoed from the entrance of the reception room.

Carrying a small Hermès bag and dressed similarly in professional attire, Zhou Rong had merely cast a casual glance as she passed the doorway, only to spot Wei Lin standing up just as she was about to walk by.

"Why are you here? You're in my territory and you didn't even give your big sister a heads-up? Aren't you being a bit too much of a stranger?"

Zhou Rong walked over with a beaming smile.

"President Zhou!"

"President Zhou!"

"Hello, President Zhou!"

Everyone in the reception room, including Huang Ting, immediately sprang to their feet and greeted her respectfully.

"President Zhou, is this gentleman a friend of yours?" Huang Ting's sharp and sour face melted into smiles in an instant as she enthusiastically said, "He didn't even mention it!"

"A good younger brother of mine." Zhou Rong, who originally hadn't planned on stepping inside, walked up to Wei Lin with a smile and feigned annoyance as she said, "If you wanted any treatments done, you only had to give me a call. What's the meaning of sneaking in here on your own?"

"I just dropped by to ask a friend about something, no need to trouble you, Sister Zhou," Wei Lin smiled and said.

"Huang Ting, go get my little brother a cup of coffee." Zhou Rong gave a casual instruction, then glanced in surprise at the flustered Yuan Xiao'e, asking, "Is she a friend of yours?"

Wei Lin nodded with a smile.

"Are you done talking?" Zhou Rong asked again.

"Done." Wei Lin replied with a smile.

"Huang Ting, bring the coffee straight to my office." Zhou Rong swept her gaze across everyone, feeling that this wasn't an appropriate place to talk, and said, "Wei Lin, come on, let's go to my office upstairs!"

"A friend of mine from out of town is coming to Linjiang City soon and might have some business dealings with you."

"Shall we go up and chat for a bit?"

Wei Lin readily agreed, "Sounds great!"