Chapter

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Chen, who began with an overview of the company's recent developments. He then assigned new tasks and wrapped up with a summary, which took about half an hour. Afterwards, the general managers of the subsidiary companies gave their reports. Wang Xuemei spoke first, followed by Chen Shouchun, the general manager of the building materials company and Chen Jin’s uncle. Next was Lin Quansheng, the advertising subsidiary’s manager. Lin had no blood ties to the Chen family—he was the original owner of the advertising company, and after Mr. Chen acquired it, Lin’s position was retained.

Finally, there was a task regarding the annual company celebration: department leaders were to collect suggestions from their teams on how to organize the event.

Normally, these meetings left Chen Jin half asleep, but today he was unusually alert, jotting notes in his notebook throughout. However, he wasn’t recording the meeting—he was copying out the Dao De Jing. In fact, he had intended to write out the Metal Qi Formula from the Baidi Xuanyuan True Scripture, but somehow only the Dao De Jing came out onto the page. He found this odd, but persisted: even as his hand wrote the Dao De Jing, his mind dwelled on the Metal Qi Formula.

Through this repeated contemplation and handwriting, Chen Jin felt his spirit grow ever stronger, as if he were floating beyond the mundane world. By the end of the meeting, he had transcribed the Dao De Jing nine times.

Actually, he’d stopped writing toward the meeting’s end. He sensed that his spirit was full to overflowing and that he now needed to harmonize his body, seeking a balance between mind and flesh. Although he’d already absorbed a ball of primordial energy that had transformed him physically, Chen Jin clearly felt some disharmony between his spirit and his body. He knew he needed to consolidate his gains.

Each cultivation stage had been explained to him by Wu Song in detail, and Chen Jin remembered well: the stage of Meditative Stability required one to strengthen both mind and body, fusing essence and energy, achieving a state of unified primordial energy. This would allow entry into the Stabilized Qi stage, where true energy forms and minor magical arts become possible.

At present, his spirit was so keen that it seemed on the verge of bursting from his body—though he knew this was an illusion. His corporeal form kept his spirit anchored; unless he reached the Spirit Stabilization stage, his soul could never truly leave his body, only imagine doing so.

The meeting lasted four and a half hours, from nine in the morning to one thirty in the afternoon.

Afterward, everyone went to the main cafeteria for lunch—a monthly tradition, meant perhaps to foster camaraderie among the company’s executives. Chen Jin had no chance of sitting with his parents, so he joined some other furniture store managers and the boss of the furniture company.

There were five Jinlan Furniture stores in Xialake County, and Chen Jin knew all the store managers. Today, though, one manager was absent and had sent his deputy instead.

“What happened to Old Chen?” Chen Jin asked the deputy.

“I’m not sure. He didn’t come in yesterday either. This morning he called and asked me to attend in his place. I’ve never been to a headquarters meeting before—finding the right conference room was a real challenge,” the deputy complained. Despite his grumbling, he seemed a bit pleased—perhaps hoping for a promotion.

“Maybe something happened at home,” another manager, Zhu Xiangyu, suggested.

“Could be. I’m not sure. But he’s seemed off lately—often napping in the office, looking pale. He seems... how to put it... like someone with kidney deficiency,” the deputy mused.

“Kidney deficiency? He just got married last month, and already he’s worn out?” Zhu Xiangyu exclaimed in surprise.

“Heh, you’ve seen his wife, haven’t you? If I had a wife like that, I’d be exhausted too,” another manager, Lu Changgeng, snickered slyly.

“Ahem, let’s keep the conversation decent while we’re eating,” the only female manager at the table gave Lu Changgeng a glance.

There were men and women, young and old at the table. Aside from Chen Jin, the others were all married or divorced, so such banter wasn’t out of place. Still, with the company’s top brass at the next table, it was best not to be too bold.

Chen Jin had attended Old Chen’s wedding. The man had indeed married an attractive wife, but not so much as to drain a man of his vitality—or at least, not Chen Jin’s interest.

The conversation drifted from home affairs to work matters, and since they had to wait for the executives to leave first, their lunch stretched to half an hour. No one lingered long—everyone had business to attend to.

Chen Jin did not talk to his parents and returned to his store.

On his way back, he casually glanced at the snack shop across the street. It was still open, though with few customers; the owner stood by the door, smoking.

The haze of smoke separated their gazes, but Chen Jin’s keen senses distinctly felt the man watching him—a prickling, needling sensation. Chen Jin ignored it and went straight inside.

By now, it was past three o’clock. Few people came to look at furniture at this hour; those who worked were at work, those in school were in school, and those with both free time and money were rare. The store clerks gathered in small groups, chatting quietly.

When Chen Jin entered, they became more subdued. He just smiled and headed for his office.

Soon after, Li Han arrived as expected.

“Chen, can we bring family members to the dinner?” she asked as soon as she entered.

“Family members? Are you finally going to show off your sweetheart?” Chen Jin teased instead of answering directly.

“It’s Xiao Ping. She has a cousin who wants to work here. I thought we could bring her along to dinner and maybe interview her at the same time. Is that okay?” Li Han blinked her big eyes as she asked.

“Sure, no problem,” Chen Jin agreed at once.

“And I want to invite Zhang Hui too, is that okay?” Li Han added, blushing.

“Him? Why?” Chen Jin was surprised.

Zhang Hui was the owner of the snack shop across the street.

“I’ve been wanting to ask him out, but he always turns me down. This time, when my girlfriends and I were eating at his place and mentioned you were treating, he actually said he wanted to join us. Of course, I said yes—this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, Chen, you have to help me,” Li Han pleaded, turning on her charm.

Her so-called “girlfriends” were actually the female sales clerks from the store—she even called the male ones her girlfriends as well.

“All right, fine,” Chen Jin reluctantly agreed.

“Thank you, Chen! You’re the best—next time I’ll introduce you to a cute girl,” Li Han said, delighted.

She skipped out of the office, all smiles.

“Looks like that guy still doesn’t trust me...”

...