Chapter 5: A Spy’s Proposal and a CEO’s Game

Zhou Ruoyu took a moment to process the information, then realized that the owner of Longyu Group’s rival company was none other than Gu Jiachen, the man who was keeping Gu Xue.

He was her rival in love… no, perhaps more accurately, her sworn enemy. Although Zhou Ruoyu had already given up on Gu Xue, a profound hatred welled up within her for this man, whom Gu Xue might have even actively pursued.

It was a crushing sense of defeat, as if her very dignity had been trampled underfoot by this arrogant man. Perhaps it was born of jealousy, for even if he was unaware of her existence, Zhou Ruoyu knew she would seize any opportunity for revenge.

As this thought solidified, the girl, who looked like a loli with long black hair, slowly clenched her fists. She raised her head once more, her gaze resolute.

“Yes, it’s… Gu Jiachen!”

On the other side of the screen, Gu Jiachen tilted his head, propping his chin with a hand. A slight smile played on his lips as he observed the earnest little figure before him. He raised an eyebrow, then continued his inquiry.

“It seems you’re quite keen on becoming a corporate spy. I’m rather curious, though, how did you come up with such a proposition? A university student fresh out of school, already planning to be a spy?”

“I… uh… cough, cough. Actually, I just purely don’t want the Chensi Group to prosper! I want to contribute to our Longyu Company, you know…”

Zhou Ruoyu scratched her head, her explanation sounding rather strained and guilty. Yet, her words weren’t entirely untrue. She genuinely wished for the Chensi Group’s swift demise. She pictured waking up tomorrow to news of Gu Jiachen’s arrest, and the black-haired loli would undoubtedly pop open champagne in celebration.

Hearing the girl’s words, the female HR manager on Gu Jiachen’s side felt her CEO’s smile widening even further. He let out a cold chuckle. Over his years in the business world, many had wished for his downfall.

But one so charmingly cute wishing him ill? This was a first.

“Why? Do you have a grudge against that Gu Jiachen?”

Gu Jiachen asked, genuinely puzzled. At this question, the black-haired loli, reminded of her heartache, silently lowered her head. The image of Gu Xue flashed in her mind. After a long moment, her fists clenched even tighter. Then, the girl nodded vehemently, declaring loudly:

“That’s right! I have a deep hatred for Gu Jiachen! I wish he would die! Gu Jiachen is a bastard, a genuine capitalist dog! The lowest of the low! He’ll definitely go to hell when he dies, never to be reincarnated. He’d better not have any sons, because they’d surely be impotent!”

“Ha, ha… Miss Zhou…”

The female HR manager quickly waved her hands, intending to intervene and caution Zhou Ruoyu. However, she turned to find her boss seemingly unfazed, shaking his head at her instead. He then turned back to the microphone, adopting a gentle tone.

“Oh? The lowest of the low? Pffft… Excellent! That puts my mind at ease. What a coincidence, I also want to deal with Gu Jiachen~”

Gu Jiachen shook his head with a cold smile, then continued.

“Miss Zhou Ruoyu, if you can truly get close to Gu Jiachen and extract corporate intelligence from the Chensi Group, then… I would, of course, be willing to arrange your employment at our company. Not only that, but for every piece of confidential information you send me, I will give you an additional, absolutely satisfying, generous reward. How about we exchange WeChat contacts?”

A sharp intake of breath—

The female HR manager beside him was stunned. Wh-what was happening? Was her boss actually recruiting a corporate spy for himself?

“Uh… this, it, it’s fine.”

Zhou Ruoyu nodded mechanically. In truth, she merely wanted to complete the task given by the prompt system. While her emotions in that moment might have been genuine, the content of her outburst was pure bluster.

A corporate spy? And… and getting close to Gu Jiachen? Not to mention she hadn’t changed back yet, approaching Gu Jiachen in her current form seemed rather unsafe. Moreover, Zhou Ruoyu had no idea how she would extract information from him. She possessed no power, no influence, no resources, and certainly not the psychological fortitude required.

Nevertheless, adding the Longyu Group CEO on WeChat was a beneficial outcome. Perhaps there would be future opportunities. Zhou Ruoyu nodded, then, convinced she had successfully completed the task and completely unaware of the implications, she exchanged WeChat contacts with Gu Jiachen on the other side before silently exiting the meeting.

****

Closing her laptop screen, the female HR manager turned and asked Gu Jiachen, her voice tinged with doubt.

“Boss… this… why did you agree to Miss Zhou’s proposal? She’s so…”

“Heh, because… you cast a long line to catch a big fish.”

Gu Jiachen gave a cold chuckle, then shook his head. He glanced at his watch, his expression thoughtful.

“Do you truly believe a young woman fresh out of college could conceive of becoming a corporate spy? She either doesn’t realize it’s illegal, or… she’s resorting to desperate measures to join Longyu. Given the fabricated gender on her resume, the latter seems more probable. Heh… perhaps she truly is an enemy of mine, intending to undermine Chensi while simultaneously implicating Longyu. Or is she simply greedy? Tsk, regardless of the motive, I have no fondness for such underhanded individuals.”

“Then… what are your thoughts?”

The female HR manager gazed at Gu Jiachen, utterly awestruck. Her boss was indeed the business prodigy who had emerged in Lihua City. To discern the trap hidden beneath such an absurd scene at a glance—his cunning was truly unfathomable.

“Hmph, my thinking is… if that little one is so eager to be a corporate spy, I might as well grant her wish. I’ll set a trap and thoroughly play with her. I’m quite eager to see how Miss Zhou Ruoyu intends to approach me, and then, just like all those who’ve tried to challenge me before, I’ll teach her a harsh lesson!”

****

On the other side, the black-haired loli closed the Penguin meeting and immediately looked anxiously at the small lightbulb icon in the top right corner of her vision. No, what was going on? Where was the prompt? Hadn’t she completed her task?

The girl grew a little anxious after waiting for a long time without hearing the impish prompt speak. Zhou Ruoyu slapped the table, then grumbled irritably into the air.

“Hey, what’s going on? I’ve completed the task, haven’t I? Change me back already! Ugh… Longyu probably won’t be contacting me anytime soon, so I need to quickly send out more resumes. Change me back, hurry!”

[Ding dong! Stop shouting, you small fry host! You haven’t completed the task yet. Didn’t this prompt make it very clear? After proposing to the Longyu boss, you still need to *act* on your proposal! You haven’t even approached Gu Jiachen, the boss of Chensi Group, so the task is incomplete! Tsk tsk, seeing as this small fry host dares to rush this prompt without doing any work, this prompt has decided to add a time limit to this task! Time remaining until the task deadline: 23:59:59. Failure to complete the task by the deadline will be considered a task failure~! Oh hohohohoho~]

Damn it… F***!