The Only One With a Mouth in the CEO Novel - Chapter 14: Isn't Using the Pitiful Ploy on an Assistant a Bit Too...

Chapter 14: Isn’t Using the Pitiful Ploy on an Assistant a Bit Too…

Under Ye Jin’s friendly persuasion, Gu Qingyang finally stopped insisting on opposing Gu Chenxi.

He even listened to Ye Jin and started addressing Gu Chenxi as President Gu.

Though after calling him President Gu, a roll of the eyes would usually follow.

But for Gu Qingyang to reach this level was already quite an achievement.

Both Ye Jin and Gu Chenxi tacitly turned a blind eye, pretending not to notice his eye-rolling.

Additionally, since Gu Qingyang started working at the President’s Office, Ye Jin completely lost her alone time.

For some unknown reason, Young Master Gu—a hedonistic second-generation heir who loved eating, drinking, and having fun—had become unusually clingy.

He was like a piece of sticky plaster, impossible to shake off once attached.

Unable to avoid him, Ye Jin could only try to extract some information from him.

Ye Jin: Did you suddenly decide to join the group because of your friends? Were they all forced by their families to start working?

Yep. Gu Qingyang nodded. Since they’re all going, I have to go too.

Otherwise, staying home alone would be too boring.

Ye Jin was puzzled: Don’t you have any pursuits of your own?

Gu Qingyang detected the accusatory tone in her voice and asked, Then what do you think I should do?

…Hopeless.

Ye Jin even felt that Gu Qingyang wasn’t as smart as the Border Collie.

At least the Border Collie knew how to protect itself and wouldn’t follow strangers with ham sausages.

But Gu Qingyang? Just show him a little kindness, and he’d stick to you like glue.

He wouldn’t even realize if he was being tricked or sold out.

Ye Jin couldn’t understand it.

The Gu family was so wealthy, how did they raise such an affection-starved child?

And it wasn’t just Gu Qingyang.

Gu Chenxi was also quite abnormal.

He worked from the moment he opened his eyes until he closed them, even during breaks.

It was as if his sole purpose in this world was to work.

By this point in her analysis, Ye Jin felt despair.

If things continued like this, when would she ever be able to go home?

With Gu Qingyang poaching right under Gu Chenxi’s nose, Gu Chenxi couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

He swiftly handled the work at hand, scheduled a seven-day European trip, and took Ye Jin on a flight that very night.

He also left a pile of tasks for Gu Qingyang to prevent him from getting any ideas about following them.

Traveling with Gu Chenxi on business, Ye Jin enjoyed top-tier treatment—first-class flights, five-star hotels, luxury car transfers.

They dined at all the surrounding Michelin and Black Pearl restaurants, all covered by company expenses.

There were even guides and translators accompanying them throughout, so aside from work, Ye Jin didn’t have to worry about anything.

Their final day’s itinerary was attending an auction.

She and Gu Chenxi sat together in a private booth.

Gu Chenxi was reviewing a foreign document on his tablet, while Ye Jin, having nothing to do, flipped through the day’s auction items.

Ye Jin exclaimed in surprise, Today is a jewelry special event!

She glanced at Gu Chenxi.

He gave a casual nod without even looking away from the screen.

Boss, did you specially come here to save me? Ye Jin said, touched. How did you know I hadn’t bought a birthday gift for Madam yet?

Gu Chenxi let out an almost imperceptible snort.

Hmph, as if she had the nerve to ask how he knew.

From the moment he gave her that card, Gu Chenxi hadn’t received a single deduction notification.

Temporarily closing the document on his tablet, Gu Chenxi opened a note app and wrote a few characters with the stylus before turning the screen to show Ye Jin.

The bold, elegant strokes formed the words: Go pick one.

Ye Jin immediately responded: Yes, boss.

She then lowered her head to browse through auction items she would likely never have access to in her lifetime.

They were beautiful, with price tags to match their splendor.

Ye Jin repeatedly marveled inwardly.

Suddenly, she looked up and glanced at Gu Chenxi.

Noticing her gaze, he lifted his eyelids to look at her, as if asking a silent question.

Ye Jin said: It’s nothing, please continue.

Since Gu Chenxi rarely spoke, most of their communication happened through eye contact.

Ye Jin could interpret most of the emotions in Gu Chenxi’s eyes.

But there remained a small portion – a peculiar sharpness – that she couldn’t decipher.

She used to think this sharpness represented arrogance, or perhaps an aloof sense of superiority.

But now she suddenly understood.

It was the satiation of someone standing at the pinnacle of power, for whom everything was within easy reach.

It wasn’t that he looked down on any particular person.

Rather, he held everyone in equal contempt.

In the end,

Ye Jin selected a ruby necklace for Guan Yan.

Gu Chenxi purchased it for thirty million dollars without batting an eye.

Damn capitalist.

So wealthy that even if she made a video about it, people would mock it as ridiculously fake…

After the auction concluded, Gu Chenxi had finished reviewing his documents and was rubbing his temples to relieve eye strain.

A staff member delivered the purchased item to Gu Chenxi’s side.

With a casual wave of his hand, Gu Chenxi had someone put it away without even glancing at it.

Seizing the opportunity, Ye Jin stole a look and exclaimed admiringly: Madam will definitely love it.

Hearing this, Gu Chenxi gave her a rare smile.

The coldness about him softened with this smile, though the warmth didn’t reach his eyes – it wasn’t genuine.

Truthfully, Gu Chenxi didn’t care whether Guan Yan liked it or not.

What interested him more was that from beginning to end, Ye Jin’s eyes remained clear, showing little interest in these expensive jewels.

Somewhat regrettable.

The guide, who had worked with Gu Chenxi for many years,

volunteered to explain to Ye Jin: No matter how expensive the jewelry Young Master Gu buys for Madam, she’ll inevitably sell it and use the money to support Young Master Gu.

The guide added with clear displeasure: Madam has favored the eldest young master for quite some time now.

What juicy gossip.

No wonder Guan Yan’s neck was bare when she saw her last time.

And no wonder Gu Qingyang could buy multi-million dollar yachts on a whim.

Ye Jin was lost in thought.

The guide secretly glanced at Gu Chenxi with a complicated expression.

Seeing that the lavish lifestyle of recent days hadn’t corrupted Assistant Ye, he was now resorting to the sympathy card.

But wasn’t using such tactics on an assistant going too far?

The guide tried hard to convey his disapproval to Gu Chenxi.

Noticing this, Gu Chenxi shot him a cold look that clearly said: mind your own business.

The guide:…

He immediately lowered his head and composed himself.

If only the boss would use these tricks in romance instead!

All those clever strategies wasted on manipulating employees.

This wasn’t the end of it.

The guide still needed to assess the effectiveness of this sympathy ploy, so he specifically invited Ye Jin to dinner together.

Halfway through the meal, the guide suddenly put down his fork and sighed, To be honest, I think our boss really has it tough.

Ye Jin casually hummed in acknowledgment, focused on cutting her meat.

The guide continued, I wonder how many months this necklace will last once it reaches the madam.

Ye Jin asked, Have you ever heard this saying?

The guide replied, What saying?

After calmly taking a bite of steak, Ye Jin said, Don’t try to interfere with others’ karma.

The guide, who had been trying to fish for information, was taken aback, Huh?

Putting down her knife and fork, Ye Jin seriously analyzed, Look, if Manager Gu really minded the gift being given away, he could simply not send it, right? Why does he insist on sending it?

The guide followed her train of thought, Yeah, why?

Obviously because he doesn’t mind, Ye Jin said. Since he sent it, he must have already prepared himself for the possibility that the gift would be passed on to the eldest young master. Why should we feel sorry for him?

The guide murmured, …Hmm.

He actually found her reasoning convincing.

Ye Jin concluded, Besides, the three of them are willing participants in this dynamic, and they have the family wealth to back it up—thirty million dollars given away just like that. How long would it take an ordinary worker like you to earn thirty million dollars?

The guide immediately felt the immense wealth gap.

He couldn’t help but nod, That makes sense.

So instead of pitying our extravagant boss, it’s better to pity ourselves for being exploited by him, Ye Jin muttered as she picked up her knife and fork again. Being suddenly sent on a business trip, I haven’t seen my dog for a whole week.

Now, the dog was bound to the system.

And the system was bound to her phone.

After a week without checking, she had no idea how the video metrics were doing.

The dining table fell quiet again, with only the clinking of cutlery against plates.

The guide ate in silence for a while before suddenly having an epiphany and exclaiming in admiration, Assistant Ye, you’re truly a master at countering emotional manipulation.

After all these years, the second young master had finally met his match.

The Brother, you’re bad, carry series of videos had surpassed five million likes over the course of the week.

The account had nearly two million followers.

Ye Jin’s unparalleled success only highlighted the failure of the skinny guy and his group.

They were stuck with their account, which was seeing increasingly dismal metrics, while watching Ye Jin’s account soar in popularity.

Her starting point was even beyond what they could ever hope to achieve.

They grew silent, consumed by internal strife, glaring at Ye Jin’s account with gritted teeth, wishing they could tear her apart through the screen.

But it was futile.
Until one of them had a sudden idea, What if we create derivative videos based on her account?

He proposed this for two reasons.

First, Ye Jin’s videos were long and full of highlights.

Second, they had a natural advantage: they knew how to flatter.

Back when this marketing account was run solely by Ye Jin, they were all in the same club during university.

Everyone in that club was creating content, but all of them had poor metrics and struggled to gain traction.

Only Ye Jin stood out, with metrics that were unbelievably good compared to theirs.

So, to get Ye Jin to share her secrets, they constantly surrounded her with flattery, making her feel pleased every day.

When Ye Jin was happy, she was more than willing to bring them along and share her insights.

Now recreating derivative videos of Ye Jin felt like returning to their old trade for them.

This person acted immediately, attempting to create their first video.

It began with a cartoon sound effect: LMAO, who taught you to pass messages like this? You’re practically a genius in the art of message relay.

Then they clipped the message-passing segment from Ye Jin’s first video, paired it with background music and some transition effects—the entire production took no more than ten minutes.

They tentatively posted the video.

Within less than an hour, it surprisingly garnered two thousand likes.

The comments section was filled with laughter and memes:

That mouth of yours is dipped in poison.

This is gold. When will I ever be able to watch this without laughing?

Got me hooked again.

Dropping a portal here for easy rewatching of the original.

This last comment received the most likes and quickly rose to the top.

The collapsed replies were uniformly: Thank you, kind soul.

Skinny guy and the others, who were monitoring the backend data, fell into a collective silence.

Someone broke down: …Are we doomed to be Ye Jin’s simps forever?!

You think you’d even get to simp for a lifetime? Just wait until Ye Jin finishes her current work and has time to deal with us—see if she doesn’t tear you apart.

So we can’t even be simps anymore? the person deflated. I say we should just stop struggling, pack up, and go work in a factory.

Can’t you have some ambition?!

What ambition?

Keep simping! What if our efforts pay off and she decides not to come after us?

…Is that really ambitious?

Someone smacked the back of his head: Just say you’re in or out. And the rest of you—if you’re not in, you can quit now and go tighten screws in a factory sooner.

I’m in.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

The three reached a consensus, then turned their gaze to Skinny guy, who had been silent in the corner the whole time.

Skinny guy’s expression was grim: I guess we have no other choice.

Admitting that he lacked talent and creativity was difficult for Skinny guy.

But becoming Ye Jin’s simp felt strangely effortless.

After all, having followed Ye Jin for so many years, they had already developed the habit and mastered the techniques of simping.