897: Chapter 892 Time for a family photo!

Shen Ya also came over at this time; she looked very healthy now.

She was in charge of administration at the Branch Company. Meticulous and thorough, she was already capable of holding her own in the professional world.

"Brother, An Ran and Ning Ke just sent a video. They said they're abroad and can't make it back, so they told you to remember to save that bottle of good wine for them."

"Tell them if they come back late, they'll only have vinegar to drink."

Shen Yan flipped the sizzling, oily meat skewers while sprinkling cumin, the smoky air making him squint slightly.

This was true living.

Not that cold world full of schemes, betrayal, and death, but a world of human warmth filled with the scent of cumin, beer foam, and children's laughter.

The system in his mind, which always issued missions coldly, seemed to tactfully choose silence at this moment.

Just then, Chen Guangke's loud voice rang out again.

"Come on, come on! Everyone stop eating, the auspicious hour has arrived! It's time for the Shenyan Group family photo!"

"Hey, you there—Old Zhang, get your DSLR out. Don't use a phone; it won't capture President Shen's aura!"

Everyone laughingly put down their food and began to gather on the villa's lawn.

The backdrop was the brilliant lights of the villa and the distant night view of the city.

Shen Yan was pushed to the very center.

Liu Hui stood to his left holding a drowsy Shen An. Youyou rode on his shoulders, waving two reignited sparklers in her hands. Sparks flew, illuminating the little girl's excited, smiling face.

Shen Ya stood on the right holding Grandma Liu's arm, smiling gently and serenely.

That fellow Chen Guangke insisted on squeezing in behind Shen Yan, striking an extremely flamboyant bodybuilding pose and resting a hand on Shen Yan's shoulder, seemingly unconcerned about getting grease on his boss's expensive shirt.

Wu Ya stood slightly to the side, her body leaning subtly toward Shen Yan, her smile bright yet restrained.

The other Employees were either crouching or standing; some made peace signs, some held up beer bottles, and some were still secretly stuffing grilled prawns into their mouths.

"Everyone look at the lens! Saying 'cheese' is too cliché, what should we shout?"

Old Zhang, who was in charge of the photography, adjusted the tripod and asked loudly.

"Shout 'Get Rich'!"

"Vulgar! Too vulgar!"

"Then shout 'Shen Yan is Awesome'!"

"That's the one!"

Listening to the chatter around him, the corners of Shen Yan's mouth curled up unconsciously.

He looked up at his daughter on his shoulders; the little one was drawing circles in the air with her sparkler.

The brilliant light reflected in his black pupils, looking like two clusters of never-extinguishing flames had been ignited.

From a broken home and separated family to today's house full of friends and total victory.

The road in between was paved with blood and tears.

But he had made it through.

And he would lead this group of people toward even higher peaks.

"Ready! Three, two, one!"

Old Zhang pressed the shutter delay and then ran quickly, sliding into the very corner of the frame amidst a chorus of exclamations.

"Shen Yan—"

Shen Yan opened his mouth and, along with everyone else on this cool summer night, roared out the word that represented ambition and the future.

"—is Awesome!!!"

*Click.*

The image froze.

In the photo, there were no flames of war from Country K, and no deceit of the business world.

There was only a group of ambitious young people surrounding their king, laughing wildly as if the entire world had been trampled under their feet at that moment.

Before the group photo capturing "Shen Yan is Awesome" could even be developed and hung on the wall, the clamor of Blue Bay Villa was forcibly muted by the first ray of morning sunlight in H City.

A hangover headache was a luxury for the current Shen Yan; he didn't even give the alcohol a chance to stay in his system for more than eight hours.

His biological clock woke him up punctually at 6:00 AM. Liu Hui was still fast asleep, one hand resting on his waist, her breathing long and steady.

Shen Yan got out of bed quietly, left a note on the nightstand saying "I'll be back to see the kids tonight," and then turned to throw himself into that precision machine known as the "Business Empire."

In the conference room on the top floor of the deep blue group, the air was so cold it felt like it would freeze a person's bone marrow.

No one dared to breathe loudly; there was only the rustle of paper as Shen Yan flipped through documents, sounding like a reaper's countdown to the executives.

"This is the Artificial Intelligence market research you spent three months producing?"

Shen Yan tossed the stack of reports, two hundred pages thick, onto the mahogany conference table, his voice flat and unreadable.

"The data lag is longer than an old woman's foot-binding. I want future trends, not a summary of the past."

Cold sweat from the Marketing Director's forehead slid down his cheek, disappearing instantly as it dripped onto the expensive carpet.

Since returning from the border, the boss's aura seemed to have undergone a qualitative change; it was no longer the sharp edge of the past, but a bottomless sense of pressure.

Shen Yan didn't lose his temper; he just tapped the table, signaling Wu Ya to distribute the new proposal.

"The next step for Shenyan Group is an AI computing power center, not picking up scraps behind those few giants."

"I want to see a feasibility report for the acquisition of 'Aurora Technology' by the end of this month. Meeting adjourned."

A group of elites with million-dollar salaries felt as if they had been granted a general amnesty. They packed their things faster than rabbits, fearing that staying a second longer would leave them pinned in place by the boss's suffocating gaze.

The office door closed, and Shen Yan leaned back in his executive chair, rubbing his brow.

Only in this space where he was alone could his tense nerves relax even a fraction of a millimeter.

"System."

He called out silently in his mind.

A semi-transparent panel that only he could see appeared in the void before him, flashing with today's refresh notification.

[Today's intelligence refresh successful.]

[Intermediate Wealth Intelligence: San Francisco Chinatown, USA. 'Treasure Gathering Studio' antique Shop Owner Guo Zhendong is anxious to sell a batch of backlogged 'electronic waste.' Estimated ROI: 500%.]

Shen Yan's brow twitched slightly.

Electronic waste?

A five-hundred-fold return?

This was even more ridiculous than robbing a Bank. The last time such a high rate of return appeared was when he bought the bottom of that pharmaceutical company on the verge of bankruptcy in the stock market.

He clicked on the intelligence details, and a photo of the man named Guo Zhendong popped up.

The photo was a candid shot. Guo Zhendong was wearing a faded grey Tang suit, sitting on a small stool at the shop entrance eating a lunch box, looking like a perfectly ordinary, down-and-out Chinese businessman.

Slightly chubby with thinning hair and a look of worldly shrewdness in his eyes, he was the type of character you could find in abundance in Chinatown.

Shen Yan's finger slid through the void, enlarging the photo.

His gaze passed over Guo Zhendong's greasy mouth and stopped at the half of the forearm exposed by the rolled-up sleeve.

There was an inconspicuous tattoo there.