Chapter 96: Simple or Not

Yu Chengmin entered the office with a confident stride, brewed some tea, hung up his coat, and sat down to press a button on the landline. “Has Ni Feihong submitted her resignation letter yet?”

There was no response.

Only then did Yu Chengmin glance through the glass wall outside and noticed that the seat was empty. Was the young father Ma not at his workstation now?

“He’s quite something,” Yu Chengmin muttered to himself, rising to ask someone else, “Where’s Xiao Ma?”

“We haven’t seen him since this morning. Looks like he didn’t come in,” the staff member replied. “Mr. Yu, should I call and question him?”

Yu Chengmin thought for a moment. That guy seemed to know some sensitive company information and wasn’t just an ordinary office clerk. So he shook his head. “No, I’ll call him myself.”

The staff member’s mouth formed an ‘O’ in surprise. Impressive—Mr. Yu was really protective of that kid. That fellow was really lucky. Rumor had it that even Si Nan had lost his temper, but no one knew what had happened.

After daydreaming, the staff member deliberately tried to make conversation with Yu Chengmin. “About Ni Feihong…”

“Forget Ni Feihong. Tell her to submit her resignation letter to me immediately,” Yu Chengmin snapped impatiently and went back into the office.

Though his words were harsh, they were orders nonetheless. The young man decisively went to Ni Feihong’s office and said, “Mr. Yu wants you to submit your resignation letter.”

“Forget Yu Chengmin. Get lost,” Ni Feihong shot back without hesitation.

The young man turned around, feeling thoroughly discouraged.

Without Xiao Ma around, Yu Chengmin felt something was missing; work didn’t flow as smoothly.

Thinking it over carefully, Yu Chengmin realized that without Ni Feihong’s bad habits and her tendency to boss Xiao Ma around unnecessarily, he rarely needed to involve him much. So why did it feel so awkward now?

Staring at the 3660 full package on his laptop, he recalled that Zhou Dongyun had personally come to borrow it yesterday. That proved the kid was a treasure. Letting him go wasn’t impossible, but it felt a shame.

Unable to resist, Yu Chengmin picked up the phone to call Xiao Ma.

Just then, the young man reentered and said, “Mr. Yu, Ni Feihong refused to submit her resignation and even insulted you.”

This was exactly as Yu Chengmin expected; he had probably said the same to her himself. He also thought the assistant was a bit of a fool and deserved to be moved out. It was obvious this guy liked stirring up petty drama.

At that thought, Yu Chengmin felt a bit deflated. Even in dealing with Ni Feihong, Xiao Ma had been quite useful.

Waving his hand, Yu Chengmin said, “Alright, I got it. You can go now. Don’t spread rumors or make trouble in the future, and take the door with you on your way out.”

The young man awkwardly complied.

Without hesitation, Yu Chengmin dialed Xiao Ma’s number. “So you’ve rebelled and aren’t coming to work?”

Xiao Ma, having stayed up late the night before, was still in deep sleep and reluctant to get up. He blurted, “Zhou Dongyun’s matter isn’t settled yet.”

Yu frowned deeply. “Enough. I won’t call you out on the fact that you sound half-asleep, but I have one demand—show up within an hour. Then I won’t count you as late or absent.”

Before Xiao Ma could respond, Yu Chengmin added, “No excuses,” and hung up.

An hour later, Xiao Ma arrived.

Yu Chengmin said little, nodding slightly. “Fine, at least you came.”

Xiao Ma was surprised he wasn’t scolded and felt a bit guilty about slacking off.

Yu Chengmin said, “Go see Ni Feihong and have her submit her resignation letter to me.”

“That’s basically asking her to kill me,” Xiao Ma muttered, shaking his head.

“That’s your problem, not mine. That’s part of the job. Anything else?” Yu Chengmin stared at him.

“Well, how should I put it?” Xiao Ma asked.

“That’s your problem too. Use your head and find a way,” Yu waved him off.

Xiao Ma had no choice but to leave, lingering outside Ni Feihong’s office, pondering his approach.

Ni Feihong noticed him loitering and called over Long Zemei to bring him in.

Inside the office, Ni Feihong asked, “What are you skulking about out there?”

Xiao Ma swallowed hard. “Feihong, before you get mad, Mr. Yu sent me to ask you to submit your resignation letter.”

Ni Feihong crossed her arms leisurely. “Then tell me, why am I doing this?”

Xiao Ma thought for a moment. “First, you know you can’t stay at the company, so why not part ways amicably? Second, you and Mr. Yu don’t get along, but you have no issues with the company. Submitting the resignation will save her some HR expenses. It’s the start of a clean break.”

Ni Feihong patiently said, “I don’t really care about the compensation. The problem is, why should I make her happy? If she wants me gone, she can just fire me.”

Xiao Ma said, “Feihong, calm down. She does want you gone, but you want to leave too. It’s mutual, not just her will. Like you said, you don’t need the compensation much, and neither does the company. I believe she just finds it inconvenient to discuss this with you face-to-face but has thought it through. She wants to save face for everyone. If things turn sour, being fired is a blemish on your resume, and your next employer won’t like that.”

Ni Feihong considered this. “Makes sense. In this small circle, it would have some effect. But my new boss is Xu Meihui, just as cunning as she is. Xu Meihui won’t need anyone to tell her; she’ll know the reasons and the inside story.”

Then, unexpectedly, Ni Feihong nodded. “Fine, I’ll submit my resignation soon. She’s hired a good assistant—and that assistant was personally brought in and trained by me. Consider that my parting gift to the company. Let’s call it an amicable separation.”

What? She agreed? Xiao Ma was thrilled.

After deciding, Ni Feihong was easier to talk to and smiled slightly. “See? Doing something well isn’t hard; it’s about mindset and how much effort you’re willing to invest. You clearly care about your work and have put in effort. What you said wasn’t completely reasonable but suited my temperament and showed you considered me. I agreed partly because of your attitude. I don’t want a small matter to sour a good employee’s heart.”

Damn... When did she become so reasonable? Xiao Ma stared at her in astonishment.

Ni Feihong blinked. “Anything else?”

“Not really, just felt like talking more since you’re leaving. People like you, once out that door, probably become strangers to me,” Xiao Ma said, still sounding a bit naive.

Ni Feihong smiled slyly for a moment. “How did you come to that conclusion? Didn’t I give you my contact info the first time we met?”

She added, “But don’t pester me. I’m always busy. We won’t have much in common or work overlap. It’s not like we’ll be strangers, but if you try to meet or chat with me, I probably won’t have the time or inclination to respond. Let’s leave it at that.”

Xiao Ma felt some disappointment. “You’re not going to disappear and change your number, are you?”

Ni Feihong smiled and shook her head. “No. I’ve trained many people. My temper is bad, that’s true. But most who’ve worked with me part ways amicably. Many are useful, including you. I keep their numbers so they can contact me when they want to change jobs. Talent isn’t some mystical concept; these people are, at least by my standards. Now you understand why I said, ‘If you can’t do well here, you won’t do well anywhere.’ Sometimes the circle is really small. How wide your future is partly depends on this. You don’t necessarily need a good godfather. If you do well, your son will have a good godfather. Simple, right?”

“...”

Xiao Ma was speechless at this training fanatic. She even gave him a lesson before he left. But surprisingly, such matters boiled down to something so simple?