Nie Yunshen was so anxious to hear what Shu An was saying that he lost track of his breath and nearly drowned himself in the bathtub.
He breached the surface with a loud splash, grabbed a bath towel to wrap loosely around his waist and gave his hair a frantic rub with a smaller towel before heading into the bedroom. He then threw himself onto the soft, spacious bed.
His body felt refreshed and comfortable after the soak; all ten thousand pores had loosened up, leaving him so mellow that he felt he could sleep for an eternity the moment he closed his eyes.
In fact, he was out within two minutes. He had assumed these sudden revelations would keep him tossing and turning but when he woke up to a floor flooded with morning sunlight, he realized he had been overthinking it.
After washing up, he dug a spare phone out of his nightstand, swapped his SIM card over and headed out to work.
During the morning rush hour, Z City’s main arteries were clogged with soul-crushing traffic. Drawing on his experience, Nie Yunshen took a detour onto another route. It was a few extra kilometers but smooth sailing all the way.
Once he parked and headed upstairs, his sharp assistant promptly brought in his breakfast the moment he entered the office. Nie Yunshen took a sip of coffee and opened his computer, habitually checking his work emails first. Since F Bank’s headquarters was in the US, their working hours were the exact opposite of those in China, meaning that there were often emails from the middle of the night or early morning that required replies.
He was halfway through breakfast and hadn’t finished his emails yet when he heard two short notification pings. He turned his head to glance at the spare phone lying beside him, picked it up, opened WeChat, and tapped on Feng Hao’s profile.
The first message was flight information for a direct flight to Z City next Wednesday; the second was Feng Hao saying arrogantly, “Come pick up your Emperor!”
Nie Yunshen replied with three words: “This emperor’s busy.”
Feng Hao said, “I brought you top-tier M12 beef.”
Nie Yunshen: “Say no more. A brother’s return demands a pickup!”
That’s just how reality is.
After exiting WeChat, Nie Yunshen casually sent a text to Shu An: “Are you free next week?”
Only after hitting send did he realize something felt off about the phrasing. He stared at the screen for a long time while pondering the question of “can you retract a text message?” before finally sighing in resignation. You can’t.
To avoid any misunderstanding, Director Nie felt he should call to clear things up. However, the phone rang for a long time until it hung up automatically yet the other side never picked up.
Consequently, Director Nie, who hadn’t even finished his breakfast, became quite frustrated. He tapped out another text and sent it over: “Call me back, damn it!”
Just as the message showed it was successfully sent, his assistant walked in carrying a large stack of materials for his review, all of which were urgent cases requiring approval today.
Director Nie quickly entered work mode. He was busy until the lunch break before he finally had a moment to check his phone only to find that Shu An had not only failed to return his call but hadn’t even replied to a single text.
Damn it, he just gave a deep, emotional confession yesterday and today he’s pulling a disappearing act already? This performance is way too unprofessional.
Nie Yunshen picked up his phone, mulling over whether or not to call again. Before he could reach a conclusion, the ringtone blared abruptly, startling him so much he nearly dropped his backup phone on the floor.
He glanced at the number and hit the answer button, sounding annoyed: “What have you been doing all morning?”
“I’ve been in a meeting since nine o’clock and didn’t hear it because my phone was on silent,” Shu An said with a hint of a laugh in his voice. “I’m free next week. Is Director Nie asking me out on a date?”
Nie Yunshen rolled his eyes. “A cattle rancher is back and wants to treat you to dinner. It has nothing to do with me.”
“Oh,” Shu An responded airily, then said, “In that case, I might not be free after all.”
Nie Yunshen sneered. “CEO Shu certainly is a busy man. Fine, fine, go tend to your world-shaping affairs.”
On the other end, the smile on Shu An’s face widened involuntarily. “I actually might have to go on a business trip, but I’ll do my best to arrange it.”
Nie Yunshen twitched the corner of his mouth. “I’ll call you again then. Let’s leave it at that for now…”
Shu An stopped him. “Is Director Nie free today, then?”
Nie Yunshen gave a cold laugh. “I’m not free. I have to go buy a phone after work!”
Shu An asked, “What happened to your phone?”
“It couldn’t take it anymore and committed suicide!” After snapping back, Nie Yunshen hung up immediately and got up to find Du Cheng in the business department for lunch.
After finishing lunch, his assistant informed him that someone was waiting for him in the reception room. He reflexively asked, “Is their last name Shu?”
The assistant shook her head. “No, he said his surname is Yang.”
Nie Yunshen breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn’t Shu An, he could relax; he was truly terrified of what kind of nonsense that guy might pull next.
And yet—
The very first thing Mr. Yang said upon seeing him in the reception room was, “Hello, Director Nie. I am the assistant to CEO Shu of the Lans Group. My surname is Yang…”
It was truly impossible to guard against.
Assistant Yang had brought Nie Yunshen a new phone, the exact same model as the one he had smashed yesterday.
Nie Yunshen’s face was as black as the bottom of a coal pot, leaving Assistant Yang trembling in fear.
“Director Nie, you must accept this phone. If you don’t, I likely won’t pass my probation period. I worked so hard to get into the Lans Group after three rounds of interviews and two written tests. If I can’t even handle a small task like this, CEO Shu will definitely fire me…”
How could Director Nie stand by and watch a kid who just graduated and found a job lose his livelihood because of him? Consequently, Nie Yunshen could only accept the phone with a darkened expression and return to his office stony-faced. He completely failed to notice the triumphant look that flashed across the kid’s face the moment he turned around.
Assistant Yang then opened WeChat, tapped on a certain profile picture, and cheerfully typed four words: “Mission accomplished.” After hitting send, he walked out of F Bank with his head held high.
Nie Yunshen had just walked into his office when a text message arrived. Shu An asked him, “Are you free after work now?”
Nie Yunshen was practically driven to laughter by his anger. He dialed the number directly: “CEO Shu, do you have any idea how strict our bank’s regulations on accepting bribes are? Any gift exceeding 200 yuan must be reported. Aren’t you just trying to make me commit an error?”
Standing before the massive floor-to-ceiling window in his office, Shu An looked down at the city streetscape spread out like a chessboard hundreds of meters below with a slight smile playing on his lips: “Items given to you by a client are called bribes. What I give you doesn’t count.”
Nie Yunshen threw himself into his chair and gave it a half-turn with a flick of his toe, before tapping his fingers lightly on the desk, “What exactly are you trying to do, CEO Shu?”
Shu An said, “Court you.”
Nie Yunshen was stunned by this blunt answer. For some reason, he suddenly remembered the very proactive young Russian guy from university he had bragged about yesterday. In a momentary lapse of judgment, he blurted out, “Did you learn this move from my junior?”
Shu An didn’t answer.
Nie Yunshen listened to the breathing on the other end for a moment, his lips twitching into a stiff smile as he tried to laugh it off chaotically. “In your own words, it’s just about mutual pleasure; don’t make it complicated. Find some time to let me top you and we’ll call it even.” Without waiting for Shu An’s response, he hung up the phone.
A few minutes later, Shu An sent a WeChat friend request. Nie Yunshen tapped “Accept,” but when setting the tags, he hesitated for a good while between “Client” and “Friend” before finally placing him in the “Friend” group.
The screen showed that they were already friends, yet Shu An hadn’t sent him any messages.
Shu An’s profile picture was a distant shot of a snowy mountain, likely taken while skiing abroad. Much like the man himself, it embodied “lofty and cold” to the extreme.
Nie Yunshen pondered for a moment before clicking into his Moments. He scrolled back hoping to find some clues regarding his love life but the feed hit the bottom in fewer than ten posts, there was absolutely nothing. They were almost entirely reposts of the latest trends and policy directions in the domestic economy and real estate industry. The earliest post was a photo from the 18th of last month: a very recognizable shot of the honeycomb-structured corridor at Z City International Airport without any text. He must have just returned to the country that day.
Seeing absolutely nothing of interest, Nie Yunshen exited the page in boredom. Turning his head, his gaze fell on the new phone. Recalling Shu An’s two-word declaration from earlier, he suddenly felt a wave of restless irritability. He stared at a certain client’s MFA on his computer for three minutes, nitpicked a mountain of issues, and clicked “Reject” directly in the system, bouncing the BCA submitted by the Business Department.
Sitting in the outer office, the Risk Control Assistant was completely bewildered upon receiving the rejection email. Every credit proposal and risk control measure for this case had been approved during last week’s preliminary review meeting; logically, the possibility of a rejection was slim. Just moments ago, Xiao Zhang from the Business Department had called to ask when Boss Nie would approve the case and the assistant had confidently boasted that it would definitely be done this afternoon, since their boss always followed a “today’s work for today” rule and never dragged tasks into the next day. To his surprise, less than two minutes after sending that reply, he was metaphorically slapped in the face by his own boss.
The assistant felt like crying, not because of the metaphorical slap to the face, but because he had no idea why the boss had rejected the case. Was the documentation incomplete? Was the report unclear? Was the financial analysis insufficient? Had he submitted it in the system after a sloppy preliminary review? Was there a problem somewhere that he had failed to catch in time?
It’s over, it’s over, it’s over; the boss is going to tear him apart!
The assistant opened the CM system while trembling with fear and trepidation. Before he could even locate the rejected case, he heard the door to Nie Yunshen’s office swing open.
Reflexively, he stood bolt upright and shouted at the emerging Nie Yunshen, “Boss!”
That single shout made every heart in the Risk Control Department shudder; the senior colleague next to him nearly dropped her water glass on the floor.
Nie Yunshen walked over and gave him a sharp flick to the forehead. “What are you shouting for? I’m not deaf!”
The assistant clutched his forehead, teetering on the edge of tears. “Boss, you rejected the Nuocheng case?”
“How long have you been at this bank? Don’t you know how to read an MFA? Why are ‘Other Receivables’ so large? And why weren’t raw materials and finished goods listed separately in the inventory? Why was ‘Construction in Progress’ lumped into ‘Fixed Assets’? Why did last year’s profits drop so much compared to the year before? How are shareholder dividends being reflected? Why did management costs suddenly spike this year? The Business Department didn’t make it clear, and you didn’t notice it during your review at all? What am I even paying you for!”
“Waaaah, Boss… Director Du already explained all those points during the preliminary review meeting…”
“If he said it, does that mean it doesn’t need to be reflected in the report? Am I supposed to remember every word he says to me 24 hours a day?!”
“No, Boss, I was wrong! I’ll re-examine it immediately and have them add supplementary explanations for all the anomalous financial data in the report!”
Nie Yunshen nodded with satisfaction. His coal-black expression lifted from cloudy to bright, and his lips curved into a gentle (?) almost tender smile as he patted the young assistant’s head. “Be meticulous when reviewing reports. Every risk control detail must be reflected in black and white to ensure that if any issues arise with this case in the future, we have a basis to rely on.”
“Yes, I understand, Boss.” The assistant nodded like a woodpecker while grumbling inwardly: Boss, please stop smiling at me like that, that smile is absolutely terrifying!
Mm, as expected, transferring his own frustration onto others made him feel much better.
Director Nie turned quite cheerfully toward another subordinate: “Xiao Zhao, aren’t you going to Xinshan for a site inspection this afternoon?”
Xiao Zhao, who was currently organizing files, looked up in a panic: “Yes, Boss.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Xiao Zhao: “???”
After speaking, Nie Yunshen checked the time and left behind a casual “we leave in half an hour” before swaggering back into his office, completely ignoring the massive psychological shadow his words had just cast over his subordinate.
The four managers and five assistants of the Risk Control Department exchanged glances, their eyes all conveying the same question: “What is wrong with the boss today?”
Among them, Xiao Zhao was the most bewildered. A tiny case like this required the personal involvement of the Corporate Lending Department’s Director Nie? Was there some new development? Or did his boss feel he couldn’t even handle a small project worth a few tens of millions? Could it be that the lunch the owner of Xinshan treated him to last time had been discovered? Waaaah, it really wasn’t a bribe! In that godforsaken place around Xinshan, there isn’t a single place to eat within five miles except for the factory ah, save me!
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Glossary of Terms:
* MFA (Management Financial Analysis): Financial management analysis. Primarily used to analyze a company’s past financial data and future financial projections.
* BCA (Business Credit Analysis): Corporate credit analysis. This is the main report the Risk Control Department references when approving projects. It is written by the project lead in the Business Department (the RM in charge of the case) and covers key sections like the company’s basic profile, operations, financial status, risk analysis, and future development.
* Reject: To turn down or bounce back a proposal.
* Credit Proposal: The specific terms and structure of the credit/loan.
* CM System (Credit Mate): A proprietary loan approval system developed by the bank. Every bank has its own version; no need to focus too much on the specifics.
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Lucien On ABRWF Chapter 34.1