As Xu Tingsheng's mind was wandering off, that renowned model, You Qinglan who had suddenly sprung out of nowhere, had already arrived at the centre of the stage. After some simple greetings, she fulfilled her words from earlier as she leaned over and gave Li Mo, who seemed to be having a little difficulty breathing, a hug.
There was the sound of the audience collectively sucking in a breath of air, which was then followed by enthusiastic cheers.
You Qinglan was approximately 1.78m tall. In her high-heeled shoes, it surpassed 1.90m. Meanwhile, Li Mo was approximately 1.70m tall. Thus, that hug…
"The heck. This is really too enviable…"
"What a bully."
"Why?"
"She's almost using her breasts to slam Old Mo's face."
"The hug is a bit long. Old Mo probably feels dizzy."
"..."
Fortunately, You Qinglan released her grip before Li Mo fainted.
She rose and received the microphone from the emcee, saying, "I just love programming males who are shy but skilled. I wonder if Mr Li Mo would be willing to accept my handphone number?"
"Wa!"
Amidst startled exclamations all round, Li Mo nodded rather dazedly.
You Qinglan seemed to be ready for this as she took out a name card and placed it on Li Mo's palm, instructing nicely, "You can't give anyone else my number! Also...I'll wait for your call. If you will be nervous, a text is fine too."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Ah, alright," Li Mo was already numb to the world now.
"What act is this?" Xu Tingsheng was rather bemused, "Even if Li Mo is destined to have a fortune of hundreds of millions, she doesn't have to be so passionate with her status as an internationally renowned model, right?"
He didn't get it.
Because of this small interlude, those on stage got in the mood and began teasing Li Mo together.
The audiences' reaction was very heated too as Li Mo was soon left sweating profusely.
Meanwhile, the other person involved, You Qinglan, had already extricated herself and walked to the side of the stage at some point in time, coming to stand beside Xu Tingsheng.
Xu Tingsheng's height was originally more or less the same as hers. Still, because of her high-heeled shoes, he could only raise his head and gaze upwards, smiling in greeting.
He found that this model's gaze seemed a little too direct as she continuously stared at him just like that, the corners of her mouth curling upwards.
From her gaze and smile, Xu Tingsheng could distinctly sense something unusual. There was craftiness, amusement and a bit of interest within as it was as if she was thinking: Oh, so this guy is like this…
Xu Tingsheng had only just retracted his gaze when You Qinglan's gentle voice resounded by his ear, "Xu Tingsheng, Boss Xu? Your reputation precedes you."
Generally speaking, this 'Xu Tingsheng' should not appear under such circumstances in such a formal setting.
As for the 'your reputation precedes you', while it might be a pleasantry by nature, Xu Tingsheng sensed from You Qinglan's tone that she had really heard his name and exploits often and was finally getting to meet him only now.
He really wanted to ask: Do we know each other from somewhere? Or do we have a common acquaintance?
Still, Xu Tingsheng resisted the urge to do so.
The more it was someone who had been inexplicably flapped out by his butterfly's wings, the more he felt like he should avoid them as much as possible.
"This person, these people, we're clearly not acquainted, and I clearly never did anything to them directly...still, the truth is that they're all connected to me by fate?!" As this felt a bit terrifying, it seemed best that he did not see such things and pretended not to see it nevertheless even if he did so as to not get involved.
"Thank you for gracing Xingchen's annual gathering, Miss You," Xu Tingsheng eventually replied in a normal fashion and turned the other way, ignoring her.
You Qinglan no longer spoke, just that her gaze still continually flitted towards Xu Tingsheng.
Li Mo finally managed to extricate himself amidst a sea of laughter as he returned to the audience. Old Jin, Hu Chen and He Yutan consulted each other and gave the event people some instructions.
Soon, invigorating music once again played.
All the models who had participated in the earlier performances returned to the stage amidst the rousing music and flashing lights. This time, each of them carried a silver briefcase.
It was a grand affair.
The audience could already basically guess what segment was up next. They successively stood up and yelled while waving their number plates. Indeed, Hu Chen verified this now.
The annual gathering had entered the lucky draw segment.
"What are the prizes?"
For those who had not been evaluated as outstanding employees and could only get their hands on some shares the next year, they all placed their hopes on the lucky draw now.
Looking at the audience, Hu Chen smiled and said, "Rest assured, everyone. Today's probability of getting a prize will be extremely high. Almost everyone will score one."
"Wah!" Some people were incomparably excited.
"Sigh!" Some people felt deflated...the reason for this was that generally speaking, the greater the probability of scoring a prize in a lucky draw, the more likely it was that the quality of these prizes would correspondingly be lower due to their increased quantity.
People would not usually be so concerned about this. Still, the series of rewards from earlier had already whet their appetites greatly as they all could not help but look forward to a big surprise with abundant loot to be shared.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"There are only two kinds of prizes today," Up on stage, Old Jin took the microphone, saying, "First, shares…"
The audience erupted once more.
At the same time, Hu Chen approached Xu Tingsheng and explained that after some careful consideration, they had decided on reducing the amount of shares for the lucky draw from a million to three hundred thousand. This was because the significance of being outstanding would diminish if the amount of shares for this lucky draw was too high across the board.
This was another instance where they were wiser than he was. Xu Tingsheng naturally approved of this.
With three hundred thousand shares split into over a hundred goodies, ranging from a thousand to a couple thousand shares, it was more of a gesture than anything. Still, if Xingchen Games truly became listed in the future, the value of these shares alone might also not be very low.
This further spurred the sense of ownership and initiative of all of Xingchen's employees. Summing it up: The better Xingchen does, the better everyone does. Also, the rewards assuredly existed as they were not empty words.
"By the way, let me tell you that the special prize for this time's lucky draw is also shares...fifty thousand of 'em."
Old Jin waited for the gasps to subside before he continued, "Originally, everyone felt that it wouldn't be so good for the shares won in the lucky draw to surpass the share rewards for the third-tier prizes from earlier. But I insisted. My view has always been that luck is something which should definitely be respected. Moreover, the chances of the employees who also received prizes earlier scoring this prize is also the same!"
Everybody was left rejoicing with that.
"Apart from those shares…"
As Old Jin stepped to the side, all the models behind him simultaneously opened the briefcases…
"The heck...freaking gold bars!!!"
"This is really, overtly blatant."
"But why is it that I feel so excited?"
"Classic nouveau riche…"
Old Jin had told Xu Tingsheng earlier that there was something even more crude waiting. Apparently, here, in the briefcases held by the sexy models, were gold bars of varying sizes. With the crudest, most direct method, stimulating the nerves of all present...few people had truly had the opportunity to tangibly be in possession of gold bars before, whether they were worth a few thousand, over ten thousand, or several tens of thousands!
The more direct, the more stimulating.
This...was very Old Jin.
He had christened his son Jinshan, meaning Mountain of Gold.