192: Chapter 192 The Wind Rises and the Bodyguard

Sometimes life doesn't have to be spectacular and earth-shattering every day. In the blink of an eye, three or four days had passed. Su Ye sat in the executive chair in the Future Technology chairman's office, constantly toying with a sandalwood prayer bead bracelet in his hand. He used to think it was quite old-fashioned, but now he found it rather amusing.

Su Ye looked up at Zhang Jing, who was sitting straight across from him, and asked indifferently, "Is the list confirmed?"

Zhang Jing picked up an A4 sheet of paper from the side; it had several names listed in a neat table.

"Boss, it's been confirmed. I have to say, this Liu Hongbo is really fast. In less than a week, he has corrupted six or seven of our middle and high-level managers and is already starting to exert pressure."

Su Ye didn't even look at the paper. Instead, he lowered his head to play with his beads and asked with a hint of confusion, "Could it be that the salary and benefits I provide aren't enough? They were corrupted so easily?"

Zhang Jing knew that Su Ye was asking with the answer in mind, or rather, talking to himself, but he wouldn't let Su Ye's words hang in the air. So, he said softly, "Boss, human desire is infinite. The salary you offer is 30% higher than the industry standard; that is already more than enough."

Su Ye nodded, placed the sandalwood bracelet on the table, and then pointed at the A4 paper with his index finger. "Since that's the case, it's not that I've failed them, but that they've betrayed me. Investigate them all clearly, and later we'll send them in to eat the state's food. My own rice bowl should be more appetizing than that."

Zhang Jing replied, "Understood, Boss. They are also making contact with the research staff. I've already assigned people to keep an eye on them. I believe a bunch of negative news will come out soon, trying to make us lose our footing."

Su Ye picked up his phone and scrolled through Douyin. Suddenly, he smiled, placed the phone on the table, turned it toward Zhang Jing, and pointed at it. "No need to wait for 'soon.' It's already happening. You can take a look; those researchers must have already run into trouble."

Zhang Jing pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, the lenses flashing coldly in the light. "Alright, Boss. You can just sit back and watch the show. I'll invite you over when it reaches the climax."

Su Ye waved his hand with a smile. "Alright, go get busy, but even when you're busy, remember to take care of your health."

Suddenly remembering something, Su Ye took a stack of vouchers from a drawer nearby and tossed them to Zhang Jing. Facing Zhang Jing's puzzled look, Su Ye picked up the bracelet to play with it again and said without looking up, "No matter how busy work is, don't neglect your family. I'm setting a rule for you: unless there are special circumstances, I want to see your office lights out before 6:30. Also, once this matter is finished and the Family Office is settled, take your family on a trip abroad. I've already picked the location for you: Santorini, Greece. I hear it's nice there. It's a private package, all expenses paid. Go have fun."

Zhang Jing was stunned for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face. He reached out to take the stack of VIP tickets and said, "Then thank you, Boss."

Su Ye waved his hand impatiently. "Go, go, go. Don't keep me from playing with my beads and playing games. Don't be so sentimental."

Zhang Jing didn't say anything; he just exited the office and gently closed the door.

He took out his phone and looked at the message displayed on WeChat. He gave a disdainful laugh and muttered to himself, "Thirty million plus a 5% stake to buy my defection? Tsk—I, Zhang Jing, am not that cheap."

His neatly trimmed thumb paused on the delete key, then he backed out. "Let's see if I can catch a big fish. I'll drag this out a little longer."

At 3:00 PM, Su Ye walked out of the office building and arrived at the underground parking lot, followed by a twenty-seven or twenty-eight-year-old young man with a crew cut wearing a suit.

Su Ye tossed his AGM car keys to Chen Guo and said with a smile, "From now on, you'll be driving this car."

Chen Guo caught the car keys in the air and nodded with a serious expression, saying, "Understood, Boss."

Su Ye looked at Chen Guo helplessly and sighed slightly. "I told you, there's no need to be so serious. Come on, give me a smile."

Chen Guo remained cold and stern, but he forced a smile onto his face. Combined with his otherwise unchanged facial expression, Su Ye felt it was a bit terrifying and hurriedly called a stop. "Alright, alright, alright, just stay as you are."

After saying that, he sat in the back row, while Chen Guo nimbly sat in the driver's seat. He started the ignition, shifted gears, and the car slowly drove outward.

Su Ye glanced at Chen Guo's back, his mind recalling what Zhang Jing had said to him two days ago: "Boss, there is a very suitable candidate for your driver and bodyguard. I don't know if you dare to use him?"

Su Ye took the file Zhang Jing handed over and raised an eyebrow. "28 years old? Retired from an elite special forces unit? He can come to be a bodyguard?"

Zhang Jing said with a smile, "I asked a friend to look for a long time to find this person. His background is absolutely fine. Moreover, he is an assault specialist, which makes him very suitable to be a bodyguard. During the test, I found five experts, each of whom could fight six or seven ordinary people with their bare hands, but none of them lasted ten minutes against him."

Zhang Jing paused and continued, "However, his demands are a bit high: an annual salary of one million, and he wants one million in salary as an advance. He doesn't accept long-term business trips abroad. Also, the contract must state that if there is an accident, the settlement fee is five million."

Su Ye narrowed his eyes slightly. Are these demands high? Honestly, they are very high. First, an annual salary of one million—as far as Su Ye knew, there were fewer than 100 bodyguards in the Great Xia mainland who earned this salary. However, as long as the strength is sufficient, there are still people willing to pay it.

But the part about not accepting long-term business trips abroad was quite interesting. Being a big boss, it's inevitable to travel abroad, and a month-long business trip isn't unusual. For a bodyguard to demand such a high salary and have this condition is too exaggerated, not to mention the five-million settlement fee afterwards.

Su Ye didn't directly refuse but asked Zhang Jing, "Do you think it's worth it?"

Zhang Jing nodded without hesitation. "I think it's worth the price."

Su Ye didn't hesitate at all. "Alright, then it's him."

While waiting at a red light, Chen Guo glanced at the rearview mirror at Su Ye, who was looking down at his phone, and his expression softened slightly before returning to being cold and stern.

Three months ago, when he found out that his only relative, his only younger sister, had Mucopolysaccharidosis, Chen Guo immediately looked it up online and felt like the sky had collapsed. He decisively asked for leave and returned home to take his sister for a check-up.

The test results were both good and bad. The good thing was that it wasn't severe and could be completely controlled; his sister wouldn't be much different from a normal person. The bad thing was that medical insurance couldn't cover it; it had to be paid out-of-pocket. And if they used good medication, the annual treatment cost would be in the range of 300,000 to 500,000.

Chen Guo didn't sleep all night. His salary was only a little over 10,000 a month, which couldn't cover his sister's treatment costs at all. The next day, using most of his savings, Chen Guo had his sister admitted to the hospital, while he himself chose to leave the unit he had been striving in for seven or eight years.

With a generous severance package, Chen Guo didn't wait but actively went to look for work. He needed a stable job with an annual salary of one million. He wanted to save as much money as possible to ensure that even if he weren't around, his sister could still live securely without having to worry about money.

After looking for a job for three or four months and hitting walls everywhere, Chen Guo finally met Su Ye—