Chapter 94: Meetings and Appointments (CEO + Secretary)

"—You can see that our projected sales and growth from the previous year was exceeded by our actual one by a twenty percent increase. If you have any other questions, I'll be answering them right now." Li Yang stood in front of the shareholders. His expression was calm. Even as he eyed the largest shareholder, his brother and by connection, the Li family.

His brother cleared his throat and asked. "Would you go over the expenditures once again? I can't understand why we ended up raising our expenses by ten percent higher than previous quarters. How exactly did you account for this, CEO? I get that our sales and growth increased, but there's not much change to our net income, is there?"

Li Yang eyed his brother, and the other board of directors studied the CEO's expression. There was no such thing as blood relatives or anything of that sort when it came to business. Any good businessman would say that it's an irrelevant matter.

The CEO addressed the matter.

—

"Phew, glad that's finally over, don't you agree, Yang?" Liang rubbed the back of his neck and sat down in the CEO's office. He lounged against one of the couches and sighed, "Heard Mister Song's CPA muttering underneath his breath and complaining, had to deal with that ya know?"

"Indeed." Li Yang studied the minutes of the meeting. "Do you have nowhere else to head to, Liang? I have other matters to attend to, and I expect the same for you."

"So cold."

His gaze flickered on the older man. "Well?"

"I guess I can leave if you're so insistent. I still have to provide my samples to the DNA test clinic today, ugh. Then I have to take our Gabi at some boutique for some lingerie." the man stood up and stretched. "By the way, I noticed that your secretary is looking extremely glowing. You don't happen to be dating her, are you?"

"Is it any of your business?"

"It's an HR matter—most would say that you'd be taking advantage of her, but she's been head over heels with you since I met her. Anyhow, I'd keep it a secret if it's true." He shrugged. "Although, I noticed that there's someone else with her. Is she a new employee of yours? I'd like to think that Miss Ying Yue He is quite capable of assisting you."

He raised a brow, "What if I did?"

"Woah. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, geez." His brother finally stood up and raised a hand, "I'll be going. But remember to take a break or something—working nonstop is making you look older than me."

Li Yang didn't bother giving him a reply until the man got himself out of his office. Once that was finished, he resumed with checking the documents.

"So you and your brother have this thing going on in the boardroom?" the Panda floated above him.

The CEO sighed and gazed at the creature, "What of it interests you?"

"Dang, your brother was right—take a chill pill." The Panda raised its paws, "Wait, you can't buy it since you haven't completed any main quests yet. You shot yourself in the foot, didn't you?"

"I have time to prepare." Li Yang summoned the shop screen and motioned to one of the items. "And that's what I need before I take any other quests, I can't foresee who I'll be forced to woo, can I?"

[ Would You Like To Purchase Harem Cultivation Qi Condensation - IV for 6000 Charm Points? ]

[ 75% Chance of Breakthrough ]

"What the actual…"

Li Yang folded his hands together, "There's no need to risk gambling on the points I earned when I can increase my own chances."

"But how did you… wait—It was last night? But you just trained for one night."

"It's not simply the fact that Miss Taiga overwhelmed me in combat, but the technique I discovered is probably categorized under an Insight." He pulled up his status screen.

[ Cultivation: Qi Condensation First Stage (3/9) ]

[ Constitution: None ]

[ Bloodline: None ]

[ Roots: Low-Level Roots ]

[ Fame: Olympian Corp: 995 ]

[ Sect: None ]

[ Cultivation Methods ]

[ Harem Cultivation (Mortal) ]

Power: Extremely Weak-Divine Grade

Comprehension: Beginner (17/32)

Stage: Qi Condensation (3/9)

[ Martial Arts Methods ]

None

[ Skills ]

Qi Infusion Technique (Uncommon)

The art of imbuing one's qi into living and non-living objects instead of gathering them for your body and spirit's cultivation. A certain fine control is needed to ensure that the amount of qi is just appropriate, otherwise negative effects will occur.

"Ah, right you gained a new Skill, and that's supposed to be a good feat for someone your level. Discovering techniques on your own and gaining insights to your Dao, in this case, the path of Harem? Eh?" The Panda rubbed its ears. "I guess your comprehension went up too, huh?"

"Yes, albeit I still don't actually understand it that much." He admitted and dismissed the screen. "I suppose Qi Infusion is useful, but even then, something not used that often unless one has managed to amass great levels of qi into their body."

"Yeah…" the Panda agreed. The creature fell silent for a moment and watched the CEO return to his work. It would have mentioned that there was some backlog in notifications from the fight last night, but understood that the man had his eccentricities in keeping up with his work schedule.

Albeit, the man was both lightening up in terms of his attitude and also becoming sharp at the same time, at least in how he interacted with others.

"Also, Panda…?"

The creature looked at him and scowled, "How many times have I told you—"

"What exactly is your name? I don't think I ever asked for it before… I think it's something I should know unless it's disallowed to know your name?"

The creature crossed its arms uncomfortably.

—

"Ah—this is so boring. This is what you mortal humans do all day?" Taiga reclined on her chair.

Ying Yue He paused and looked at the woman, spirit… or whatever she was. "Yes… but are you saying that you're not mortal?" Taiga had cleaned up and worn an actual outfit for the work office, which was strange enough, but she was also around to 'guard' over her boss.

Taiga puffed her cheeks, "Well, no—yes, but Taiga has a greater life span and will figure out how to extend it soon enough."

"I see…" Ying Yue He glanced at the time on her computer and stood up. She was supposed to prepare—

The woman sat back down and realized the tea incident. She had nearly forgotten about it, and it made her sigh. There weren't a lot of reasons to visit her boss in his office, and she was stuck with Taiga. Not that the other woman was anything unpleasant…

Until she received a call and answered it.

"Hello, good afternoon this is—yes, this is the direct call to the office of the CEO of the Olympian Corp…" She paused and blinked. The other person on the end was prompt, polite and a tad authoritative. "Transfer the call to CEO Li? Have you made an appointment, not a lot—ah, Heavenly Jade Pavilion? About a supplier? I see… Please hold on for a moment, Miss." Ying Yue He transferred the call after confirming some details.

And the woman sighed after that.

"What's the matter?" Taiga asked.

"I suppose it makes sense that Mister Li wouldn't wait for me to be able to pay him for the tea, he'd order a new batch at once." The secretary sighed, but then blinked. "But wait, Mister Li's tea is supposed to be for cultivation, so it means that Heavenly Jade Pavillion—"

Taiga wrinkled her nose, "Ah, the Tea Temptress' place? It's a tea shop that serves regular mortals, cultivators and spirits. If you enter the Veiled Space, you can meet with the latter two with no troubles. Expensive actually. Taiga hasn't been there herself—you can just chew tea leaves if you want benefits. Hmph."

Ying Yue He blinked, "Did you say Tea Temptress? Is that supposed to be some Cultivator name or title?"

"Oh, does Miss Secretary here don't know?" Taiga grinned at her. "Do you wanna know?"

She didn't like the sound of it, and yet… this wasn't her business. Ying Yue He shook her head and frowned. "The person called for a business matter, and I don't think it's very nice for you to say something about a person if you're not that familiar with them." Her thoughts went to Luo Ju Di, but otherwise, the secretary was firm on her beliefs.

Taiga stuck out a tongue, "You're no fun, like Bossman."

The secretary pursed her lips, not exactly liking the nickname Taiga dubbed her boss. She refrained from saying anything else, though, and instead kept her thoughts to better and happier things. Her gaze went to the calendar and the cute Panda sticker on one of the dates.

Tomorrow was the concert that she and her boss were attending to—Mister Li wouldn't cancel it, right? She knew that cultivation was now a thing, but he promised her and the man kept his word. The two of them were even supposed to go to the zoo to look at Pandas…

Ying Yue He's smile faltered.

Had she forgotten about all the trouble that she caused her boss? She chewed on her lip. It was alright to be a little selfish with liking someone, right? Ying Yue He didn't know. Her gaze flickered to Taiga.

Her boss' bodyguard.

Would this Taiga come and tag along with their date tomorrow?

The answer seemed like a resounding yes, and it would suck—how was she supposed to be comfortable when she knew that there was another person with them and listening to every word she said?

—-—-

Note: Adjusted my writing style and pacing by more scene jumps after a review of needing to stop 'telling' and focus on 'showing'. Trying to be more concise. This is better?