Chapter 194 - 172: The Past and Fear

"Brother Zhao, is President Sang working overtime today?"

Assistant Xiao Zhao had just come out of the boss’s office after delivering some documents when a colleague immediately pulled him aside.

"He’s still looking at reports. Doesn’t seem like he’s leaving."

Knowing why he was asking, Xiao Zhao leaned in and whispered in his ear.

The colleague immediately sent a crying emoji in the group chat, and soon, the screen was flooded with them.

Obviously, everyone was waiting for news.

It was like the boss had taken the wrong medicine or something. For the past few months, he’d been acting as if the company were on the verge of bankruptcy. Not only did he wear a stern expression all day, but he’d also started staying at the office at the drop of a hat, working late every night. It was inhuman!

With the boss burning the midnight oil like that, how could the employees dare to leave early?

They had no choice but to get swept up in the grind.

Although the boss paid for overtime, what good was earning all that money if you had no time to spend it?

At first, they thought something was wrong with the company, but then the quarterly report came out. Revenue was up 18% year-over-year, and all projects were progressing smoothly.

The boss was just being nuts.

During this time, the colleagues came up with all sorts of guesses.

If the boss weren’t unmarried with no children, they probably would have guessed he was getting a divorce—the kind where his wife cheated and got full custody.

Xiao Zhao was well aware of these little maneuvers. He patted his colleague’s shoulder and said quietly,

"If you have something to do, just go! If you’re done with your work, why insist on staying? The overtime pay isn’t even that much."

Hearing him say it so casually, the people nearby looked at him, speechless.

It was a company tradition that if your wife was pregnant, you could leave on time as long as there were no urgent tasks.

’So what if his wife is pregnant? What’s he so smug about? My kid’s old enough to run errands, but am *I* bragging about it?’

One time, Xiao Zhao’s wife got the notification that he had left work but called the company when he didn’t come home on time.

The company looked into it and found that after clocking out, he’d forgotten to tell his wife and had gone out drinking with friends instead.

When President Sang found out, he frowned and lectured him, saying, "Your wife is at home going through a difficult pregnancy, and you don’t go home after work? What are you doing messing around outside? And drinking? Don’t you know a fetus can’t be exposed to alcohol? If you get drunk, someone has to take care of you. That’s not how a good husband should act. Since you have so much energy, why not stay and work overtime? Is it because you lack passion for your job?" The speech left everyone around them completely stunned.

No other boss meddled in their employees’ private lives, but when President Sang did it, no one in the company, including the employees’ families, thought poorly of him.

At Yuan Yan Venture Capital, the boss genuinely cared about his employees’ happiness.

For company team-building events, he always had employees bring their families. During holidays, he would also prepare gifts for the families, saying things like, "Thank you for the hard work of supporting our employee," and so on.

In addition, the boss had a special clock-out system created. When an employee swiped their card to leave, their family would receive a notification. If the person didn’t get home on time, their family could call the company to ask.

For this purpose, the boss specifically hired two young women with beautiful, sweet voices to answer the calls.

With all these measures in place, even though employees often worked overtime, you never heard of anyone’s marriage running into trouble.

What was more, if someone felt overwhelmed and considered switching jobs, their wife would talk them out of it before they could even hand in a resignation letter.

A while ago, a guy at the company next door lied about working late every night. In reality, he was leaving work early every day to go to his mistress’s place.

Later, his wife found out, and she came to his company to cause a scene while pregnant, giving everyone quite a show to watch.

That kind of thing would never happen at their company.

Yuan Yan Venture Capital had good benefits and high salaries. And just as the boss cared for his employees, the employees cared a great deal about what their boss thought of them.

While everyone else was still debating whether to work overtime to make a good impression, Xiao Zhao had already packed his briefcase, picked up the gift he’d bought for his wife, and was leaving on time.

But just as he reached the elevators, he saw the boss approaching, looking utterly delighted. He seemed relaxed, yet he jabbed the down button three times in just a few seconds.

"Boss, is there an emergency? Do you need me to come with you?"

The ever-capable Assistant Xiao Zhao was extremely grateful for how well the boss treated him, so he never turned down overtime when his boss needed him.

But today, the boss just glanced at him, replied with a curt "No need," and paid him no further mind.

It wasn’t until they took the same elevator down to the parking garage that Xiao Zhao saw his boss’s long legs moving at a blur, disappearing in the blink of an eye into a dusty old Volkswagen.

As the car’s rear swung around, Xiao Zhao got a clear look at the person in the driver’s seat.