Facing the stubborn and unyielding Cheng clan leader across the table, the newly appointed young account manager, Cui Yingquan, was silently lamenting his situation.
While others might not understand the intricacies of the bank, the Cui family certainly did. In fact, the bank's employees could be divided into three factions: the "Headquarters Faction," the "Office Faction," and the "Business Faction."
The Headquarters Faction, as the name suggests, consists of people from the headquarters. This group is the smallest, typically comprising relatives or friends of the core family members and high-level executives. They are sent to local branches to enjoy an easy life. Consequently, they usually arrive late and leave early, doing nothing but playing on their phones during work hours. Their basic salaries might not be high, but their monthly bonuses, annual bonuses, and various allowances are shockingly high, effectively making the local branch support them.
The Office Faction, as the name suggests, are those who sit in the office. This group often has connections with other prominent families (or more accurately, their parents have connections with other prominent families). As a result, they also do very little work but shine during the annual evaluations, securing large amounts of funding with just a few phone calls. Hence, their positions and salaries are very high.
As for the Business Faction, as the name suggests, they are the ones running around handling business. Their daily tasks involve catering to the Headquarters Faction and doing the work for the Office Faction, only to receive a basic salary and some bonuses at the end of the year.
Cui Zhongye himself belongs to the Office Faction. The funding businesses with the Sanchuan Zhu family, the Hejian Xing family, and the Shendu Cheng family were previously handled by his father. When his father retired three years ago, the corresponding connections were "inherited" by him. However, he found the work too much of a hassle, so he pushed all the tasks to Cui Yingquan from the Business Faction, only stepping in personally when it came to signing contracts.
Cui Yingquan, on the other hand, is an ordinary clan member. His parents are also grassroots employees handling clan affairs and have no background whatsoever, so he could not possibly defy the Office Faction at his workplace. When Cui Zhongye told him to deal with the Cheng family, he had no choice but to accept the order despite his reluctance.
However, the Cheng clan leader across the table, who seemed to be about his age, had an attitude that was sharp and cunning. His words were veiled threats, like "Did you encounter a killer and have your family wiped out?" Was that something a human would say? Everyone knew the Cheng family's Luo Hall was the largest assassin organization in Jiankang City. If the clan leader really pulled out a gun and shot him in the head, that would be far worse than offending the Office Faction. So, Cui Yingquan quickly made a frightened expression and pleaded for the two to calm down while he fetched Manager Cui Zhongye.
Leaving the negotiation room in a hurry, Cui Yingquan did not go directly to the second-floor office but instead secretly went to the counter and called out the on-duty lobby manager.
"Quick, punch me in the eye!" he urgently said when they reached a corner.
"What?" The colleague was immediately baffled.
"A ruse of self-injury!" Cui Yingquan gritted his teeth and spat out the three words.
"Oh, okay!" The colleague immediately rolled up his sleeve and punched him in the eye, making Cui Yingquan see stars and scream in pain.
"Ice pack! Quick, get an ice pack!"
The colleague quickly fetched an ice pack from the medical cabinet in the nearby restroom, and Cui Yingquan, holding the pack to his eye, asked through the pain:
"How is it?"
"It's bruised!" The colleague gave a thumbs up. "I hit just right."
"That's good." Cui Yingquan applied the ice pack to his eye, grimacing in pain as he walked to the second floor.
Upon reaching the second floor, everyone noticed his black eye and immediately someone joked:
"Yingquan, what happened? Did you get beaten up for flirting with the girls at the counter?"
The speaker was from the Headquarters Faction, who spent at least ten minutes every day chatting up the female tellers. Cui Yingquan ignored him, forcing a bitter smile, and walked up to Cui Zhongye's desk.
"What happened to you?" Cui Zhongye, playing a card game on his computer, was startled when he turned around. "Who hit you? The Cheng family?"
"No, I accidentally fell on the stairs and hit my eye." Cui Yingquan feigned a panicked expression and whispered, "Manager, the Cheng family refuses to let me handle this and insists you come down to negotiate personally."
"Useless!" As expected, Cui Zhongye's attention was diverted. He sneered and stood up, clearly disbelieving his excuse, thinking he had been beaten by the Cheng family but didn't dare admit it.
However, this was precisely the result Cui Yingquan desired, because with Cui Zhongye's level of coldness, he wouldn't bother to verify or confront the Cheng family, nor would he suspect that the beating was a ruse to deflect the issue.
As for whether Cui Zhongye would find someone else to fill the hole or handle the Cheng family personally, that wasn't his concern anymore.
Sure enough, Cui Zhongye stood up, planning to personally deal with the Cheng family. But as he reached the office door, he seemed to remember something and turned back to Cui Yingquan.
"Go check if the security guard is at the door."
"Got it." Cui Yingquan promptly responded, understanding that Cui Zhongye was feeling a bit apprehensive and wanted the security guard at the negotiation room door, ready to intervene if necessary.
But their opponent was the head of the Cheng family! The leader of the Tianluo assassins! Did he really think a few security guards could handle him? Naive. Well, I'm just following orders; any risks are the manager's to bear.
So, he hurried to call the security guard, while Cui Zhongye went to the negotiation room door. He straightened his posture and, looking at himself in the mirror beside the door, quickly put on a beaming smile.
Feeling it was too fawning, he adjusted to a more polite and reserved smile, then knocked and entered.
Inside, Cheng Jinyang and his cousin had grown impatient. From the beginning, they hadn't even been offered a cup of tea and had been kept waiting for nearly ten minutes.
Ridiculous!
"Miss Cheng." Cui Zhongye smiled faintly, picking up the file Cui Yingquan had left on the table. "Regarding the loan..."
"Talk to our patriarch." Cheng Yuexian interrupted with a wave of her hand.
"Oh, Mr. Cheng Jinyang, hello." No matter how lazy Cui Zhongye was, he knew the Cheng family had changed leaders. However, wasn't this new patriarch only an eighth or ninth grade supernatural? This family was truly in decline. Couldn't they just quietly exit the noble circles? I still need to find new clients from my father!
"About the loan." He put on a prepared sorrowful expression and began to ramble, "It's not that I intend to offend you, but headquarters recently re-evaluated client qualifications, and those who don't meet the criteria are strictly prohibited from receiving loans. I had planned to push it through by backdating, releasing the funds before approval, but they've even closed off that option. We have to get approval first now. I have no choice in this matter."
"Oh?" Cheng Jinyang said suspiciously, "Of all times, why did this client qualification review happen just days before our loan application?"
"This was a decision from headquarters. We're just a branch office and have no right to question their decisions." Cui Zhongye smiled politely, passing the blame completely.