57: Do you take the short film as reality?

"You mean to say that if I sleep with you, I can keep this job, right?"

Lin Hongyuan's smile, which he thought was smug but was actually greasy, made Chen Xinyi feel the urge to slap him across the face with the sole of her shoe.

"Hey, what do you mean 'sleep with me'? It's about us having an in-depth exchange and progressing together." Lin Hongyuan leered at Chen Xinyi and began to coax her:

"While you're young, as long as you seize the opportunity to progress, getting a promotion and a raise will be easy. If you can get promoted to finance manager in the company, it'll also add a layer of gold to your resume. When you jump ship in the future, you can look for jobs as a finance manager."

Lin Hongyuan continued to offer Chen Xinyi empty promises: "I have a friend working in the finance department at SH**N. If you're interested, I can help you with an internal referral after a while."

Young girls, at the end of the day, prioritize material things.

Lin Hongyuan didn't believe that after first hinting at her being laid off and then offering such generous conditions, Chen Xinyi wouldn't be tempted.

To be able to sleep with Chen Xinyi without spending a penny—just thinking about it made Lin Hongyuan excited.

Of course, if Chen Xinyi wanted it, Lin Hongyuan wouldn't mind transferring living expenses to her on time every month.

Before keeping the female college student he had now, he would occasionally find escorts whose conditions were even worse than Chen Xinyi's, and it would cost 2,500 each time, with overnight stays charged separately.

With conditions like Chen Xinyi's, if she were willing to be kept by him, Lin Hongyuan would even be willing to pay double what he paid that college student.

It's just that if he could pay absolutely nothing and get it for free, that would be best.

Just as Lin Hongyuan was daydreaming, Chen Xinyi's next sentence brought him back to reality, and his expression turned very ugly.

"No, have you watched too many brain-dead short dramas, or have you mistaken adult films for reality? Do you think that just because you're a crappy manager, you can threaten and sexually coerce company employees?"

With leverage in hand, Chen Xinyi didn't even bother to act anymore and pointed directly at Lin Hongyuan's nose to scold him:

"Why don't you take a look at yourself in a puddle of urine? The top of your head is starting to reflect light. How desperate must I be to even consider you? With that money and time, you'd be better off finding a good TCM doctor to fix your baldness first.

Besides, how much does the company even pay a month? You want people to work like cattle and horses during the day and sleep with the boss at night? Do you think the monthly salary is paid in US dollars?"

Chen Xinyi made no effort to hide the disdain on her face. Her barrage of insults made Lin Hongyuan's face turn the color of a pig's liver.

He hadn't expected that Chen Xinyi, who usually swallowed her anger, would dare to tear off the mask and confront him directly this time.

Considering they were still in the office and fearing that the commotion would spread, Lin Hongyuan had to lower his voice and threaten Chen Xinyi:

"The current economic environment is bad. I sympathize with you—if you get laid off, it won't be easy to find a job. I kindly offered you an opportunity to progress, yet you return kindness with ingratitude and even attack me personally!

With your attitude, let alone our company, even if you go to interview at other companies, HR won't dare to hire you.

I've been in this industry for twenty years, and I basically know everyone in the finance departments of those companies. If they ask me for a background check, I will definitely tell them the truth about your work attitude!"

Lin Hongyuan's words were airtight. Whether it was the earlier suggestion that Chen Xinyi sleep with him or his current threat of using his connections to blacklist her, it was all just implied, never explicitly stated.

Even if Chen Xinyi had recorded it in advance, there was nothing she could do about him; he had probably done this before.

And Chen Xinyi understood the threat in his words.

As a first-tier city, Guangzhou is not small, but every circle is just what it is.

Lin Hongyuan, an industry veteran, was definitely exaggerating when he said he would blacklist her, but if he really wanted to cause trouble, it would certainly be very difficult for Chen Xinyi to find a finance position in a large company.

If it were before, Chen Xinyi might have worried that offending such a petty man would cause her trouble.

But now it was different.

"Manager, last Friday night, my boyfriend and I were at the entrance of that Vina Hotel on Jinhong Road, and we ran into a man and a woman entering the hotel. That man looked quite a lot like you."

Chen Xinyi smiled with a hint of mockery, anticipating Lin Hongyuan's reaction.

Sure enough, upon hearing "Friday night," "Vina Hotel," and "a man and a woman," Lin Hongyuan's eyes widened instantly, and the shock on his face could not be hidden.

How could it be such a coincidence that they happened to run into them!

"You two must have seen it wrong!" Lin Hongyuan hurriedly argued, having no more desire to threaten Chen Xinyi.

"Oh? Did we see it wrong?" Chen Xinyi smiled slightly and tapped her phone a few times: "I happened to record it from behind, and I managed to capture the front of those two people as they entered the hotel. Why don't you help me confirm if I mistook someone else for you."

After saying that, Chen Xinyi held up her phone and waved it in front of Lin Hongyuan.

Lin Hongyuan clearly saw that the video was indeed of him and the female college student he was keeping, entering the hotel in an intimate manner.

With ironclad evidence, Lin Hongyuan instantly lost the strength to argue.

"Do you know that secretly recording others like this is an infringement of privacy and is an illegal act!"

"I haven't sent it out, so where is the illegal act?" Chen Xinyi put her phone away again: "Besides, if you think what I did is illegal, you can go ahead and call the police."

"You!" Lin Hongyuan was both shocked and angry, but he dared not make a scene.

He never expected the world to be so small, that when he went to open a room with the female college student, he would happen to be run into by Chen Xinyi and even have it recorded on video.

"So what if you recorded a video? We are just ordinary friends. I was just dropping her off at the hotel that night."

"Whether you two are ordinary friends or not, what does that have to do with me?" Chen Xinyi sneered:

"But it is quite interesting that two ordinary friends with such a large age gap would drop someone off at a hotel in the middle of the night, and even enter the hotel room together and stay inside for so long. What was the hotel room number you stayed in that night again? 5023, right?"

Hearing Chen Xinyi even state the room number, Lin Hongyuan felt as if the sky had collapsed: "What do you want? Are you trying to use this video to threaten me to get some money?"

"I'm not interested in money. If you stop bothering me in the future and let me work in peace, I'll pretend I never recorded this video. Otherwise, don't blame me for sending the video to your whole family."

"It's that simple?" Hearing that Chen Xinyi didn't even want money after getting leverage, Lin Hongyuan was suspicious.

"It's that simple. Believe it or not." Chen Xinyi stood up: "Can I go back to work now?"

"Yes..."

"In the future, if there are work issues, communicate online if possible. No need to waste time making me come over."

Chen Xinyi didn't want to stay in the same room with Lin Hongyuan for even a second. She left the office after dropping that sentence.

The office door closed, and Chen Xinyi's figure disappeared from view. Lin Hongyuan's face was filled with shock and uncertainty.

He had thought he could use the company's layoffs as a pretext to coerce and lure Chen Xinyi, who was acting holier-than-thou, into giving in. He didn't expect things to end up like this.

Lin Hongyuan began to regret being too careless last week; he shouldn't have entered the hotel together with her, letting Chen Xinyi stumble upon this matter.

"No, to be safe, I must break things off cleanly with Xia Xuan to avoid any future exposure."

Five thousand yuan a month, plus buying small gifts from time to time, was enough to keep such an obedient college student.

Now that he had to break it off, Lin Hongyuan felt a bit reluctant.