by He Han
President isn’t ‘Mary Sue’
by He Han
总裁不苏 by 河汉
Zong Cai Bu Su by He Han
Genre: BL, Warning: No Smut
Novel status: Finished, 5 chapters
Translation status: Complete
Translator: RuiHun
Editor: Addis
eBook: EyesOnly
~~~~Brought to you by ExR~~~~
SUMMARY
* * *
When Ruan Yan gets a new job, he expected the president the be tall, rich and handsome, but most importantly, ‘Mary Sue’. However, the plot doesn’t quite turn out the way he expected…
Chapter 1
* * *
Ruan Yan decided to change his job.
Back then when he came back after studying overseas, he was sweet-talked into a small entrepreneurial company. How small was it? The entire company had six people if one counted the boss and the old cleaning lady.
In the past three years, the number of employees grew by more than ten, yet not one project was completed and no products were developed. The money of angelic investors were completely squandered. After finally getting a commission with much difficulty, it was outsourced to another company due to their own lack of ability.
Even then, their boss who had a heart loftier than the sky would still have the sentence ‘we’ll become a listed company next year’ on the tip of his tongue. He even made it into a poster and stuck it on the door of every toilet cubicle. One day when Ruan Yan was holding in a number two whilst facing the toilet doors, he suddenly realized the truth: This can’t continue anymore! He was going to change jobs! Change jobs!
Learning from the mistake he made the last time he applied for a job, Ruan Yan directly set his goal on ‘listed companies’ this time around.
No matter what one said, in the end, the past three years did give him the chance to enter the profession. His personal abilities did increase, after passing a round of written exams and interviews, with the addition of a good appearance and temperament, there were actually two big companies who offered him an olive branch.
In the end, Ruan Yan chose QianHui Technology, an IT company under the mighty QianHui Group that had rapid development in recent years. With just one glimpse, one could tell it was an enterprise with a great prospect. The most important thing was that he saw the exclusive interview of QianHui Technology’s president in a business magazine. In the exclusive interview, he was described as a god-like figure who was tall, rich and handsome. A person who had the looks if one wanted the looks and had the ability if one wanted the ability. Worshipness blossomed in his heart, the person was just like a ‘Mary Sue’[1].
And so, on that clear sky on a Monday, he wore his best fitting suit, took his steadiest steps in his best mental state and stepped into the doors of the new company.
Going around the huge LOGO in the middle of the lobby, Ruan Yan sent the manager of the HR department a WeChat[2] message: ChenJie[3], I’m here.
ChenJie: Wait. Two minutes.
Ruan Yan: Okay.
The other person kept their promise on the two minute wait. Ruan Yan saw the tall, slim, experienced short haired woman walk out of the elevator and wave to him, “Xiao Ruan[4], over here.”
ChenJie took him around to familiarize himself with the work environment and introduced him to a few managers from the other departments. Ruan Yan followed behind her well-behaved and greeted others to make himself memorable.
He was talented in the areas of technology, so was naturally put in the Research and Development Department. To his side, ChenJie was discussing HR issues with the manager of the Research and Development Department. Suddenly, everyone’s phone rang, at the same time, the LED signs of every department displayed an emergency notice:
All employees who are fluent in Japanese, please immediately report to Secretary Tao.
Such a large-scaled call for employees must have meant there was an emergency. ChenJie quickly reacted and turned around to ask Ruan Yan, “Xiao Ruan, you came back from studying abroad in Japan right?”
“Um….yes,” Ruan Yan answered.
“Then go up and help out. This morning we had a trade negotiation with TianZhong Electronics, something probably happened with the translator.”
ChenJie was highly effective in her work, Ruan Yan didn’t have any room to argue as he was pushed onto the elevator.
ChenJie brought him over to Secretary Tao and greeted the other person, she didn’t say much and hurriedly went down the stairs after taking a call. Thus, Ruan Yan, who still hadn’t grasped the situation was left standing in front of Secretary Tao just like that. There were two other employees who were left to hang out dry like him, one wore the blue uniform of the Logistics Department and the other was a man who wore a suit and glasses.
Actually, there were quite a few people in QianHui Technology who knew Japanese, but there weren’t many who had the time and interest to fill in for this translator position, plus this also job had some difficulty. Before they had arrived, two people had already been denied by Secretary Tao. Probably because they were tight for time, Secretary Tao didn’t bother talking too much to them. He just threw them a piece of information written completely in Japanese and asked them if they understood, and whether they could interpret it for the Japanese client.
The logistics guy didn’t even look at it and just gave up, “Whatever, I can do some simple text translations, I can’t do interpreting. I still have things to do so I’ll take my leave first.”
Glasses guy roughly flipped through the information, and after seeing the large amounts of electronic component labels and analysis of software programs, he pushed his glasses reservedly, “I have no problem with Japanese interpreting, but this is too professional…”
Secretary Tao impatiently grabbed the information back and handed it to Ruan Yan, “What about you?”
It was a book with detailed descriptions of the company’s new product, it really was very professional, but Ruan Yan could still understand it. It was just that he hadn’t come across some of the descriptions regarding softwares unique to this company, so he was not very familiar with them.
He said to Secretary Tao, “I can pretty much understand it, but these two softwares…”
Secretary Tao lifted his wrist up and took a look at his watch. He sighed before flipping to a page in the information booklet, “Is this one okay?”
Ruan Yan looked through it carefully, they were all fairly basic descriptions. He nodded his head, “It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Okay then, come with me.” Secretary Tao signaled him to quickly follow her, “You still have two minutes to familiarize yourself with the information, it is mainly the stuff on pages forty-one to sixty-two. Don’t get stage fright, don’t say anything extra and don’t answer unrelated questions. Understand?”
“U-understand.” Ruan Yan was shocked that she could walk so fast with eight inch heels. He also found out that the work efficiency here was really high. Everyone looked extremely busy, from talking to doing work, everything was super efficient. It was completely different from his previous company where people got flustered from being too idle.
After such a comparison, Ruan Yan’s fighting spirit grew even greater.
Outside the meeting room, Secretary Tao had one hand on the door handle and looked at Ruan Yan, “Are you ready?”
Ruan Yan closed the information booklet, straightened out the lower hem of his suit and took a deep breath, “Ready.”
*Click*
Ruan Yan walked in, he was still slightly nervous, he felt as though he was kind of walking with the same foot and hand.
Li Han, who sat in the host seat exchanged glances wi
th Secretary Tao and then whilst pretending to be familiar with him, introduced Ruan Yan to TianZhong Electronic’s representative, “This is our translator, he will explain the advantages of the Dawn4 engine to everyone in detail.”
“…” Ruan Yan was a bit muddled.
Huh? Li Han? Wasn’t this QianHui Technology’s president, Li Han?
Why was he suddenly seeing the BOSS, and the BOSS even looked like he knows him well!
He didn’t have any mental preparation, wasn’t the plot developing too fast?
Oh no, today’s tie seemed a bit crooked!
He prayed to the Zhihu gods[5], how was he supposed to pretend that it wasn’t his first time seeing the man of his dreams?
Ruan Yan’s inner drama was plentiful, but in reality it was nothing more than a second. However, this was already enough to make Li Han dissatisfied. Li Han furrowed his brows and gave him a ‘what are you playing at, do you want to die’ glare.
Ruan Yan then realized and hurriedly used Japanese to greet the clients, “This is our first time meeting, I would kindly appreciate your comments. I am Ruan Yan.”
……..
The trade negotiation could be considered a success, Ruan Yan could pretty much answer all the client’s questions. He only got stuck on two fine details, but the issues were cleverly solved by Li Han in the end.
He had the ability and was worthy. His face was handsome and his legs were long, compared to the photos on the magazine, he looked even better in real life. Ignoring the slightly fierce glare, in Ruan Yan’s heart, Li Han had already become a ‘Mary Sue’ written in caps lock.
Returning to the Research and Development Department, Ruan Yan was still pondering over the short meeting when ChenJie gave him more greatly impacting news, “Tidy up your things and go upstairs.”
“What happened?” Ruan Yan didn’t understand.
“Assistant Cheng, who knew japanese, broke her leg last night when climbing the mountain to see a meteor shower, she has to stay in a hospital for a month.”
“Oh.” Ruan Yan didn’t know what to say, “Assistant Cheng really has many aspirations in life…”
“That’s why, you’ll replace her position during this period of time.”
Ruan Yan almost spat a mouthful of coffee on the keyboard, “Ah?”
ChenJie put it even more blatantly, “President Li has taken a liking to you, he wants you to be his temporary assistant.”
“…”
Before even warming up the chair in the Research and Development Department, Ruan Yan was packed up and thrown out.
ChenJie exchanged his HR files again and patted him on the shoulder, “You’ve got pretty good luck, young lad. Fighting.”
The young lad was full of excitement, “O-okay…”
* * *
[1] 苏 (Su) This is what is used in Chinese to describe characters who are Mary Sue. For those who don’t know, a Mary Sue character is idealized and seemingly perfect. They are extremely competent in multiple areas, physically attractive and is viewed as admirable to other characters, sometimes to the extent where it is just not realistic.
[2] 微信 (WeChat) It is now one of the most used chatting apps, as well as social media platform in China, like the chinese version of Line and WhatsApp.
[3] 陈姐 (ChenJie) Chen is the surname of the person. Jie, which means sister, is often used to address a woman/girl who is older than you, but only by a few years (thus would be rude and offensive if you called them auntie or grandma).
[4] 小阮 (Xiao Ruan) Ruan, is Ruan Yan’s surname (surname’s are at the front of the name in Chinese). Xiao, means small, and is often used to address someone who is younger than you.
[5] 知乎大神 Zhihu (知乎), is a Chinese question and answer website, where the questions are created, answered, edited and organised by the community of users. The 大神 aka gods of Zhihu, refer to those users who are extremely pro and can always give perfect answers.
Chapter 2
* * *
Ruan Yan officially started working and his office location got moved to the same floor as the president’s office.
The first job guide he saw was President Li’s personal information, it was pretty much the same as the one he read in the magazine. Someone with almost perfect study and work experience, who managed this company and brought it to such success at the young age of thirty-three, he really was the standard protagonist of a president genre novel.
It was just that he had a small question. In order to increase communication between colleagues, during chit-chat at lunch, Ruan Yan asked, “Why use red to label President Li’s horoscope?” It was double underlined too.
Xiao Wang answered with a weird expression, “It’s just to tell you that President Li is a very, very, very typical Virgo.”
Xiao Zhang interrupted, “Hey hey, don’t hate on our great Virgo.”
“We’re not trying to bring shame on you guys. You Virgos have the most trash talk about you on the internet.”
“Recently, the internet also says that things aren’t in favor for you Pisces people, I’m telling you that you better be careful these days. You were scolded fourteen times last week weren’t you? Try hard to break the record this week…”
Ruan Yan listened to them talk on and on, in truth he didn’t understand. He wasn’t well versed in horoscopes, thus couldn’t understand the deeper meaning of the red label.
However, after he really stepped into President Li’s circle of work, he instantly understood the care and thought put into this reminder.
Maybe because he left quite a strong impression being the translator, Ruan Yan received a phone call about a job regarding TianZhong Electronics that very afternoon, and was called over to Li Han’s office.
When he saw this person in the morning, Li Han had thought he was an intern who just graduated, however the HR Department said that this person had already worked for many years. He seemed rash and dumb, not mature at all. Li Han had originally not planned to make him his assistant, but the TianZhong Electronics’ joint project was very tight for time and had a lot of information. He really didn’t have the time to find another handy assistant, he could only make do and use this person for now.
Seeing Ruan Yan not even know where to put his hands and feet, Li Han asked in detest, “Which company did you work at before?”
Ruan Yan answered, “YingYou Network Company.”
Li Han gave a snort of contempt, “What rubbish company is that, I’ve never heard of it.”
Ruan Yan, “…” Why did he feel like the mood wasn’t right?
“I don’t care what you used to do. You are now my assistant, you are responsible for this office’s cleaning, file organization, delivery of beverages including coffee, as well as the restaurant reservations I want, the fruits I want to eat and the phone calls I don’t want to pick up. Understand?
“Yes, I understand.” Ruan Yan hurriedly noted it down in his little notebook.
Li Han randomly pointed to the neat pile of printed information, “This is the information given to us by TianZhong Electronics, I want you to pick out the important points and present it to me within two hours. The laptop over there is for you to use, Dawn4’s engine blueprint is on there for you to use as reference material. They’re all top secret files, don’t get any bad thoughts.”
“Okay, I understand.”
“Hmm, go pour me a cup of coffee, with milk and no sugar.”
Ruan Yan stuffed the little notebook into his pocket and quickly went out to pour a cup of coffee before coming back.
Before placing the coffee on the table, he closely appreciated the side profile of the president of his dreams, he thought that this face was just so handsome. If this was placed in an idol drama, then the female lead should accidentally spill the coffee or something, then get upset and say ‘sorry, sorry I didn’t mean to do it’ anxiously to successfully gain the attention of the high handed president…
Lost in various fantasies and thoughts, he
didn’t know how it happened but when he placed the cup down, Li Han coincidentally turned the president’s chair. The back of the chair knocked into a nerve in his elbow, his elbow slightly shook and the cup of hot coffee just slid off the tray and precisely landed on Li Han’s trouser legs.
At this very moment, Ruan Yan’s heart was crumbling —— No way! He was really gonna get this plotline!?
Time seemed to stop for a few seconds.
However, it only seemed to, because the boiling coffee on Li Han trouser leg was still steaming up hot air and dripping down drop by drop.
Ruan Yan apologized anxiously and upsettingly, “Sorry President Li. I’m really really sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose. Do you have any clothes you could change into here? I’ll go get it for you…”
Ruan Yan awkwardly lifted his head and met with Li Han’s calm and peaceful eyes. Right at that moment, he still felt as though there was a sliver of hope, such a ‘Mary Sue’ god-like man could possibly be very gentlemanly? Maybe he only ‘successfully gained his attention’?
Li Han moved.
His long, slender and elegant finger lifted the coffee cup on his leg, his lips carried a faint smile of unknown meaning.
He stood up, looked down at his wet pants before gradually lifting his hand…
And slammed it down with great force.
The cup flew along a curved path at great speed before braking to smithereens on the floor with a *crash*.
Ruan Yan closed his eyes by instinct.
An angry voice resounded in the office, “Why does every new assistant have to pour coffee on my pants?! Do I have some weird magnetic field on the lower half of my body? You have the guts to spill my coffee then why don’t you get the guts to pretend to slip and fall onto me?! My pants are worth ten thousand dollars each, compensate me! Pay me back now! Send the money through to my Alipay account!”
