Chapter 342 - 216: Refusing a Toast, Only to Drink a Forfeit

Chapter 342: Chapter 216: Refusing a Toast, Only to Drink a Forfeit

Why do you keep provoking me, again and again?!

Chen Xiao scooped up her legs and, to Gao Yue’s utter shock, flipped her over so she was lying face down on the sofa!

Before she could even react, he grabbed the hem of her skirt and flipped it up!

’Damn, she’s wearing safety shorts!’

Gao Yue finally snapped out of it, turning her head back with a hazy look in her eyes. "What are you doing?"

Chen Xiao had been ready to give up when he saw the safety shorts, but then she glanced back at him with that bewitching look.

Instantly, the negative effects of his Endurance Value took over again. "Let me just check where you were hurt last time."

’Safety shorts are no obstacle!’

AH! Gao Yue cried out softly as a sudden cool sensation spread across her rear!

’Chen Xiao, you damn pervert! Can’t you tell the difference between my safety shorts and my panties? Why did you pull them down together?’

He got a firm handful, then another!

On the round, snowy mounds of her bottom, marks from Chen Xiao’s "Tathagata Divine Palm" and "Eagle Claw Skill" were everywhere.

Gao Yue lay there, her face flushed and her body limp. In her entire life, she had never been manhandled like this!

She couldn’t even move a finger. Thankfully, it didn’t last long. Chen Xiao quickly straightened her clothes and helped her sit up.

Just then, the sound of high heels echoed from outside. Xu Wu was back!

Seeing Chen Xiao acting as if nothing had happened, Gao Yue, the hazy look not yet gone from her eyes, viciously stomped on his foot. "That’s for pretending!"

Chen Xiao whispered, "Provoke me again, and I’ll visit your office tomorrow!"

Gao Yue stomped on his foot again.

Chen Xiao glared at her. "Is that your way of saying ’Welcome’?"

Just then, Xu Wu pushed the door open, holding two A4-sized sheets of paper covered in dense text.

Not noticing the blush on Gao Yue’s face, Xu Wu handed one of the documents to Chen Xiao.

She kept an identical copy for herself so they could go over it together.

"The year-end bonus standards for the regular employees in the business divisions are set as you just instructed. I’ve already had HR confirm the specific amount payable to each person."

The executives’ bonuses were larger and more important, as they directly affected their motivation, so she wanted to review those with Chen Xiao in detail.

"For the chairmen of the business divisions, my recommendation is a bonus of three million. This amount should be more than what they’ve received previously, but it’s definitely not as high as the Junxiao Group’s internal standard. If they meet their targets next year, their bonuses will be at least five million."

"Mm, I have no objection."

"As for Ah Yue, since the hotel management division was just established this year and she’s currently the acting CEO, I was planning to give her a bonus of 500,000."

Gao Yue hadn’t been expecting a year-end bonus at all. After all, her salary was already two million a year. Compared to her previous job, it felt like a meteoric rise. A bonus wasn’t that important.

Besides, she hadn’t even been with the Junxiao Group last year.

She was just about to refuse when Chen Xiao said, "Make it two million. We don’t short-change our own people!"

’Our own people?’ Xu Wu and Gao Yue both stared at him. ’By what definition?’

Was it because she was Xu Wu’s best friend, or was it because she and Chen Xiao were also... one of his people?

Xu Wu and Gao Yue had different thoughts. Xu Wu knew that two million was nothing to the group. In Chen Xiao’s own words, it was "paying a king’s ransom for horse bones"—a gesture to attract true talent.

Since he had already proposed it, she couldn’t object, or it might affect Ah Yue’s motivation.

Gao Yue glanced at Chen Xiao. ’This isn’t compensation for manhandling me just now, is it?’ she thought. She pressed her lips together. Two million... that was so much money!

Back when she was running in various social circles with Li Xiao, she had thought she was on top of the world, earning tens of thousands a month with a company car, a driver, and a worry-free life.

But compared to her life now, it was a completely different world!

’And then there’s Miss Xu,’ she mused. ’Even though I’m technically a group executive now, the gap between our ranks is more than just a little.’

Chen Xiao glanced at the paper again. Zhao Hui and Lin Ya were on it as well. He figured they were also key personnel the group was grooming, which was why they were listed here while other store managers weren’t.

Zhao Hui: two million. Lin Ya: two million.

Chen Xiao thought that was fair. After all, their positions were merely team leads within a business division.

Unlike Gao Yue, who was on track to become the head of an entire business division.

"I don’t see yours on here..."

Xu Wu shot him a look. "You’re the one who has to decide mine, Your Highness. Am I supposed to issue my own bonus?"

In truth, she didn’t really care. Chen Xiao had already given her 1% of the company’s permanent equity. Given the company’s current assets, that 1% was already worth 1.6 billion!

"How about twenty million? Too little?"

Xu Wu replied, "Do you own a gold mine or something? I’ve only been here a few months, and you want to give me twenty million!"

Gao Yue could only roll her eyes. Miss Xu really was in a different league.

He was worried twenty million was too little.

"It’s reasonable," Chen Xiao said. "I’ve given so much to all those outsiders. How could I possibly short-change you?"

The way he said it, he clearly considered Xu Wu one of his own people. All those ’outsiders’...

Gao Yue chimed in, "I’m one of those ’outsiders,’ you know..."

She deliberately dragged out her words. Chen Xiao knew she was mocking him, implying he was capable of doing such improper things even to an "outsider."

Xu Wu slapped her on the thigh. SMACK. ’Okay, these two,’ Gao Yue thought. ’Talk about birds of a feather... they both love slapping people’s thighs!’

She knew Chen Xiao had another motive: he wanted to use the bonus to help her pay back the eleven million she owed the company, which would still leave her with several million to spare.

Otherwise, Xu Wu would remain eleven million in debt to the company, and he worried it would be a psychological burden for her.

She wasn’t one for dramatics. Understanding Chen Xiao’s intentions, she didn’t refuse again. She had already given her life to him; taking this bit of money was hardly a loss on his end.