Chapter 149: An Extra Two Hundred on the Bonus

At first, the onlookers, unaware of what was really happening, assumed Carly had come specifically to lend his support to this Chinese-owned company. They were just about to find out who the mysterious owner was when they saw Carly order his assistant to take out a closure notice and paste it across the entrance of Yiren Group’s branch office.

Su Qianqian was the first to step forward and block them.

“Who are you people?”

“The Paris Chamber of Commerce.”

“Your company was established without our approval. We are here to seal the premises.”

Bang!

Lu Ye sent the man sprawling down the steps with a kick and sneered. “The Paris Chamber of Commerce is nothing more than a private organization made up of a bunch of trash companies. Who gave you the right to seal another company?”

Carly strode forward across the red carpet.

He raised his hand high, intending to slap Lu Ye and put him in his place, but Lu Ye’s hand moved much faster.

Smack!

Carly clutched his cheek and stared at Lu Ye in disbelief.

His bodyguard had been standing right behind him, yet he had not reacted in time. More accurately, he had never imagined that anyone would dare slap Carly in public.

Who was Carly?

He was the richest tycoon in Paris, a giant of the French real-estate industry, and the man elected by countless entrepreneurs to serve as president of the Paris Chamber of Commerce.

Slapping him in the face was tantamount to slapping the entire Paris Chamber of Commerce. If dozens of prominent businessmen joined forces to punish your company, how could you possibly continue doing business?

For his own safety, Carly had hired a full-time bodyguard. But the man had never once been called upon, simply because no one in Paris dared offend Carly.

And now Lu Ye had walked up and slapped him without a word, leaving everyone utterly dumbfounded.

“Who are you?” Carly demanded in astonishment.

Lu Ye folded his arms across his chest and snorted arrogantly. “Head of security at Yiren Group. Lu Ye.”

Damn it!

How dare a mere security captain slap him?

“I am Carly, president of the Paris Chamber of Commerce!”

Carly glared past him at Su Qianqian and demanded, “Miss Su, why aren’t you restraining your subordinate?”

Clearly, he had done his homework beforehand. He had recognized at a glance that the beautiful young woman behind Lu Ye was the chairwoman of Yiren Group.

Su Qianqian smiled. “You’re the one making a scene and causing trouble at my company’s opening ceremony. Why should I restrain him?”

With that, she walked over and patted Lu Ye on the shoulder.

“Good work. I’ll give you a two-hundred-yuan bonus this month.”

Lu Ye immediately beamed and bowed repeatedly. “Thank you, boss!”

The husband and wife played off each other so perfectly that Carly nearly exploded with rage.

“Do you two even see me standing here?”

“Of course not,” Lu Ye replied, entirely unashamed. “My eyes only have room for our beautiful and brilliant President Su. What are you, you ugly, bearded bastard?”

Su Qianqian chimed in, “Exactly. Our head of security is so handsome that I can never get enough of looking at him. You’re only here ruining the scenery.”

“That’s enough!”

Carly was on the verge of breaking down.

He was a man who valued his pride above all else. Being humiliated in public like this was worse than death.

“Leo, take this pretty boy down!”

“Yes, sir!”

Leo was his bodyguard.

He stepped out from behind Carly, rolled up his sleeves, and displayed biceps larger than most people’s heads. With a cold laugh, he said, “Pretty boy, one punch from me might kill you.”

Carly snorted. “Leo is the European free-fighting champion. Get down on your knees and lick my shoes clean. I might consider telling him to spare your life.”

Lu Ye sneered. “The European champion, is he?”

Smack!

A slap as swift and violent as thunder struck Leo across the face.

“Lick his shoes, was it?”

Smack!

Another slap immediately landed on Carly’s cheek.

Lu Ye had held back with the first one. This time, he put his full strength behind it.

Whether Carly or Leo, both were left with five bright red finger marks across their faces.

Leo’s cheek burned—not only from the pain, but from the humiliation. He collected millions of euros every year without having to lift a finger. Yet now that he was finally needed, all he could do was watch helplessly as his employer was slapped in the face. He had never been so humiliated in his life.

“I’ll kill you!”

Leo transformed into a human battering ram and charged headlong at Lu Ye, reaching out to lock his arms around Lu Ye’s waist and throw him to the ground.

But Lu Ye did not appear to move. Instead, his entire body seemed to float sideways several yards.

Leo missed completely and went sprawling across the red carpet, landing face-first right at the tips of Su Qianqian’s shoes.

Before he could even raise his head, Su Qianqian instinctively kicked him twice on the head with her high heels. Then, clutching her skirt, she hurriedly backed away several steps.

“Ah! You filthy pervert!”

Leo felt utterly wronged. He had not seen anything at all.

But the position he had landed in really did look as lecherous as it could possibly be, as though he had deliberately lunged forward to sneak a peek beneath her skirt like some disgusting pervert.

“Damn it! How dare you leer at our President Su?”

Before Lu Ye could do anything, the male employees of Yiren Group came roaring forward and began kicking and punching Leo. Before long, he crawled out of the crowd with a swollen, bruised face, begging everyone to spare him.

The European free-fighting champion?

Hah. Spit!

Did he think he could take on a hundred men?

Lu Ye looked at Carly with a smile. “Mr. President, violence won’t solve any problems with me. Do you have any other tricks?”

Carly glared at the battered Leo and snorted in disgust.

“Useless!”

Then he turned around and raised his arms toward the surrounding crowd.

“Did you all see that? This Yiren Group is nothing but a gang of robbers and bandits! They have openly provoked us on our own soil and assaulted our countrymen!”

“As proud Frenchmen, we absolutely cannot allow these despicable foreigners to take our money!”

“On behalf of the Paris Chamber of Commerce, I call upon all my fellow citizens of Paris: let us boycott this thuggish foreign company, Yiren Group, and drive them out of France!”

A crowd beneath the steps immediately joined in, shouting in unison.

“That’s right! President Carly is absolutely correct!”

“These inferior foreigners have no right to earn money from the French!”

“Get out of Paris! Get out of France!”

There was no doubt that these people were paid supporters Carly had arranged in advance, waiting for this very moment to help smear Yiren Group.

“Hahahaha!”

Lu Ye first burst into loud laughter, then stepped onto the stairs and looked down at them arrogantly.

“Who wants the measly pennies in your pockets?”

Carly snorted. “Still refusing to admit defeat!”

“If you don’t care about our money, why did you spend so much effort advertising your branch office a few days ago?”

“If you don’t care, why did you travel halfway around the world to expand into France?”

Lu Ye planted his hands on his hips and answered righteously, “Hee-hee, we’re rich, and we feel like it!”

“You should understand that not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry is qualified to become a client of Yiren Group.”

Su Qianqian said, “The Yiren Group name speaks for itself. No matter how much you try to slander us, you cannot tear it down. We do business on the strength of our ability and our reputation—not by pulling petty tricks to maliciously attack outside competitors, as you are doing, President Carly!”

“Nonsense!”

Carly pointed at Su Qianqian and shouted, “You’re twisting right and wrong!”

“You’re the ones playing dirty. Before your company has even opened, you’ve already been boasting about starting a price war with businesses in the same industry. You’re the ones maliciously suppressing your competitors and drawing attention through cheap publicity stunts!”

“As for ability, my Carly Construction Company once undertook the renovation and restoration of such world-famous landmarks as the Arc de Triomphe, the Paris Palais, and Notre-Dame de Paris. That level of expertise is second to none anywhere in the world. What right does Yiren Group have to lecture me about ability?”

At this, the onlookers nodded in agreement.

Carly Construction had long enjoyed an illustrious reputation. In Paris, and indeed throughout France, everyone knew its name. By contrast, they had never even heard of this newly emerged Yiren Group, much less seen any achievements it could proudly display.

When doing business in real estate, the quality and strength of a company were what clients valued most.

As for flashy publicity stunts, they might attract attention for a moment, but they were of no practical use.

Seeing that his words were having the desired effect, Carly seized the opportunity to promote his own company with renewed confidence.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Carly Real Estate is about to enter into a partnership with an Arab prince to build the most luxurious palace in the world. That is the proof of Carly Real Estate’s strength!”

The instant he finished speaking, another convoy drove toward Yiren Group. Every vehicle had a gold-plated body—a vulgar aesthetic found nowhere on earth except among Arab oil tycoons.