Urban Martial Saint

Ye Qing ran to three more companies that afternoon, but the result was the same: they didn’t bother to talk to him much. As soon as Ye Qing finished introducing himself, they sent him away.

In one day’s time, there was no gain on the streets either. Those disabled beggars all went into hiding, making it somewhat difficult for Ye Qing to find his younger brother.

Just before the end of work, Ye Qing hurried back to the company. Wang Xuan had been waiting for him and immediately approached him upon his return, saying, ”Ye Qing, you’ve been out all day, how did those business deals go?”

”I haven’t closed any deals yet,” Ye Qing answered truthfully.

”You haven’t closed any?” Wang Xuan raised his voice, deliberately drawing the attention of most people in the company.

As it was nearly time to leave, everyone was idle. Hearing the voice, they all turned their heads to look.

”You’ve been out all day and out of these few deals, you haven’t closed a single one?” Wang Xuan said loudly, ”What kind of work is this? What have you been doing all day?”

Ye Qing kept his head down and remained silent; he didn’t want to argue with Wang Xuan over these matters.

Wang Xuan looked at Ye Qing with a cold gaze and said, ”Ye Qing, I don’t know what you used to do. When you join the company, you have to follow its rules and everything you do must serve the company’s interests. You’ve been out all day and have achieved nothing, and you’re only coming back to check in when it’s almost time to leave. What does this mean? What do you think the company is?

Do you think you can come and go as you please? Let me tell you, my employees must be serious in their attitude while working. With your work attitude, how can you justify the salary you receive every month!”

Ye Qing was already silent, but the surrounding people began whispering among themselves. Having spent a long time in the company, they naturally understood Wang Xuan’s character. He might have some abilities, but he was too selfish and arrogant, never treating others with respect. Even if they weren’t from his department, he would take the opportunity to criticize them.

However, he had never spoken as harshly as he had today. Facing a newcomer with such harsh words, people couldn’t help but speculate whether there was some personal grievance between him and Ye Qing.

Wang Xuan looked at Ye Qing with cold eyes. Today, Mu Qingrong was not in the company, and he deliberately took this opportunity to humiliate Ye Qing in front of everyone. If Ye Qing fought back, he would say even more unpleasant things. Unfortunately, Ye Qing remained silent, preventing Wang Xuan from saying many of the things he had prepared.

”Ye Qing, why don’t you speak!” Wang Xuan said angrily, ”What? Do you think what I’m saying is wrong and you’re preparing to protest in silence?”

”No,” Ye Qing shook his head and said, ”I’m sorry, Manager Wang, I’ll continue to follow up on these businesses tomorrow.”

Wang Xuan glared at him and said, ”Continue? Hmph, so you’re planning to be out all day again tomorrow?”

In a low voice, Ye Qing said, ”To discuss the matters of the business, I’m afraid it needs to be done at their company.”

”You’ve been to their company today and still haven’t clarified things, so if you go tomorrow, will you be able to clarify then? If you can clarify tomorrow, then why didn’t you just clarify everything today?” Wang Xuan nitpicked, intentionally targeting Ye Qing.

Ye Qing felt helpless; if someone wanted to find trouble with you, there was nothing you could say to stop them.

After cursing a few more times and seeing that Ye Qing still didn’t speak, Wang Xuan said, ”You have to secure these deals for the company. I won’t say much more; you can think about it yourself.”

Ye Qing nodded and walked back to his seat.

Wang Xuan glanced at Ye Qing’s back, spat, and cursed in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, ”This is the guy who’s been a soldier? What a spineless waste, I don’t even know if he’s been educated. It would have been better to hire a dog as a sales representative than to hire you!”

Everyone looked at Ye Qing in unison, but Ye Qing seemed as though he hadn’t heard, simply tidying up some materials on his desk.

Huang Yun looked at Ye Qing with contempt. In her opinion, a man could lack ability, but not backbone. Now they’re stepping all over you, and you still don’t utter a word, showing no spirit—what kind of a man is that?

When it was time to leave, Ye Qing, carrying a file bag, followed the crowd into the elevator. However, it was clear that most people in the company were keeping their distance from him.

After leaving the office building, Ye Qing walked back alone along the street. It wasn’t far from the neighborhood where he lived—a maximum of half an hour’s walk, which could save him a yuan in bus fare.

Halfway home, Ye Qing saw a familiar face: it was Huo Pingping.

Huo Pingping wore a professional suit: a black skirt, a white blouse, and that slightly dapper little black jacket, which gave her an air of capability. She was already striking in appearance, and dressed like this, she had a kind of cold beauty similar to Mu Qingrong’s, although her makeup was heavier than Mu Qingrong’s, which slightly detracted from her temperament.

”Hey, soldier boy, what are you doing here?” Huo Pingping shouted from afar, totally indifferent to the onlookers’ glances at Ye Qing.

”I just got off work and ended up here,” Ye Qing answered honestly.

”What the heck, you’re planning to walk home?” Huo Pingping widened her eyes and said, ”Your company is at least ten stops away from our neighborhood, how long will it take for you to walk there—a year of the monkey?”

Ye Qing said, ”I got used to it when I was a soldier. Now, I don’t have much time to exercise every day. I always have to find an opportunity to keep fit.”

Huo Pingping curled her lips and said, ”You’re already discharged, why bother with so much? What, living with a few beauties now, you start preparing to exercise?”

Ye Qing didn’t speak. He knew that Huo Pingping was someone who could tease out anything. If he clashed with her, who knows what she would call him.

Huo Pingping continued, ”But you’ve come at just the right time, come over and give me a hand.”

”Okay,” Ye Qing nodded in agreement.

”Eh, how come you don’t ask me what I need help with?” Huo Pingping asked curiously. ”Aren’t you afraid it’s some troublesome matter?”

Ye Qing counterasked, ”Even if I disagree, would you let me go?”

Huo Pingping replied, ”Of course not, it’s not easy catching a strong lad like you. I definitely need to make good use of you.”

Ye Qing shrugged and said, ”There you go. Whether I agree or not, it’s the same outcome, so I might as well agree from the get-go.”

Huo Pingping looked Ye Qing up and down and said, ”You seem to take it pretty well. But rest assured, sister here won’t let you help in vain. As long as you help me out, I’ll treat you to dinner tonight.”

Huo Pingping led Ye Qing to a nearby residential complex and on the way, she explained the specifics to him.

Huo Pingping’s company was similar to Mu Qingrong’s, dealing in construction materials too. However, Huo Pingping’s company was much larger than Mu Qingrong’s and had better benefits. Huo Pingping was a salesperson there, and in terms of business acumen, she was much more skilled than Ye Qing.

The security equipment for this residential complex was managed by Huo Pingping’s company, but recently, the complex’s surveillance system had been experiencing frequent problems. The cameras outside were often vandalized.

This issue was relatively common in the industry. The business was hard to run, especially because post-sale maintenance work was very difficult.

For Huo Pingping, this time was even more troublesome. The business in this complex was under her responsibility. Despite after-sales service having repaired it several times and replaced many cameras, the problem still occurred frequently, and the company had started to view this project as a liability.

As the salesperson responsible for this business, she was ordered by her manager to come and solve the problem personally.

Indignant, Huo Pingping said, ”I was actually thinking about calling you. You’re quite skilled at detective work, aren’t you? This is perfect, with your expertise, help me investigate and see which ’Bastard’ dares to tamper with my cameras. If I don’t cripple him today, I might as well take his surname!”

Ye Qing glanced at Huo Pingping and pondered secretly: Who could be so unlucky as to offend such a shrew?

Upon reaching the residential complex, they first met with the security guards to explain their purpose.

The guards were two men in their thirties, both quite tall, their accents not local. One was slightly leaner, the other was strong and stocked, with a fierce look in his eyes.

After listening to Huo Pingping’s intentions, the skinny guard immediately started to rant, ”Just what is your company doing? Every time this camera fails, not even capturing the faces of those who damage it. In the past two months, the community has been burglarized three times. Do you have any idea how much was lost? These are the kind of cameras your company installs for security systems?

I’ll tell you, with these incidents, your company has to take full responsibility!”

Huo Pingping was furious. Even a guard was daring to raise his voice at her? But she was under their roof and had to bow her head.

Huo Pingping said, ”I’m terribly sorry, the camera malfunction is a problem with our technical department. But as the cameras keep getting vandalized, I mainly came this time to ask if you two brothers have seen any suspicious individuals?”

”Suspicious individuals? If I had seen any, wouldn’t I have caught them already? You really think we guards are just loafing on the job?” the lean one retorted angrily. ”Because of these issues, do you know how much salary we’ve been fined? It’s just the two of us for such a big complex, of course we rely on surveillance for security.

But then, your cameras are always malfunctioning, how do you expect us to work?”

Huo Pingping was left utterly embarrassed. The company’s cameras malfunctioning like this was really rare. Yet, it was this particular complex where the cameras kept failing, not even catching a glimpse of the vandal, and this put the company in a very passive position.

”This issue, actually I...”

Before Huo Pingping could finish her sentence, a surprised voice suddenly came from the entrance of the complex, ”Hey, Pingping?”

Huo Pingping turned to look, and saw a plump girl standing outside the guard room, looking at her in astonishment.

”Huang Yun?” Huo Pingping immediately widened her eyes in surprise.

Ye Qing looked at the plump girl, somewhat astonished himself. This girl was none other than Huang Yun from their company!

(A readers’ group for this book has been established, the group ID: 310323423, and friends are welcome to join the group chat. Additionally, a friend’s new book ”Urban Medical Saint” is recommended, which can be found by directly searching ”Urban Medical Saint”.)