Chapter Sixteen: Who Told You to Overestimate Yourself?

The press conference didn’t end until after four in the afternoon. Fang Zhiyin had been busy socializing with various people the entire time and hadn’t even noticed when the Ouyang Junyan by her side was swapped out for someone else. By the time she finished and returned to him, she found his face tense, his gaze toward her brimming with anger…

“What’s with you?” Fang Zhiyin asked in astonishment.

“I should be asking you that!” As expected from this hot-tempered man—the look on his face made it clear this was not going to be a pleasant conversation.

“Is this the Ouyang Junyan who ordered me out of bed at dawn to make him breakfast, complained it tasted awful, and then insisted I go running for training?”

Fang Zhiyin didn’t even have time to ask the twenty-eight-year-old Ouyang Junyan why he’d suddenly kissed her in front of Lin Xiaomei and everyone else earlier!

Now the thirty-five-year-old Ouyang Junyan had appeared.

“If it’s not me, then who else could it be?” Ouyang Junyan glared at her, clearly displeased. “How did you get me into a place like this? I’m in the middle of a new project—you have no idea how busy I am!”

…She really didn’t know!

Fang Zhiyin found herself being dragged away from the venue by the thirty-five-year-old Ouyang Junyan, who bundled her into a car as if she were a piece of luggage.

As they left, Lin Xiaomei happened to see them. Her radar-like eyes followed them, and she frowned unconsciously…

“Hey! Where are you taking me?”

“To the company,” Ouyang Junyan said coldly.

He hailed a taxi and instructed the driver to head to the office.

Fang Zhiyin was stunned. “You can go by yourself—why do I have to come too?”

“The company is under full military-style management now. As the CEO’s wife, how can you not take part?” Ouyang Junyan’s lips curled into a chilling, sinister smile.

Fang Zhiyin pressed a hand to her chest, a wave of powerful unease sweeping over her.

Was it too late to jump out of the car now?

Twenty minutes later, the two of them arrived at Ouyang Group.

Since Ouyang Junyan’s marriage to Fang Zhiyin, he’d leveraged her family’s wealth and connections to resurrect Ouyang Group in just a year.

Fang Zhiyin and Ouyang Junyan kept their work strictly separate, never interfering in each other’s business. She had never even visited Ouyang Group before.

She never imagined she’d be dragged there by the thirty-five-year-old Ouyang Junyan.

Upon arrival, Ouyang Junyan became like a fearsome beast. The moment employees spotted him, they fell silent in terror.

Fang Zhiyin was dumbstruck by the sight, completely at a loss as to what was happening.

The first thing Ouyang Junyan did after returning was call for his assistant and instruct him to bring Fang Zhiyin a uniform.

“What? A uniform?” Fang Zhiyin stared at him in disbelief.

“Military management. Standard company attire,” Ouyang Junyan replied expressionlessly.

Three minutes later, the assistant returned with a drab gray polo shirt.

The shirt was hideous beyond words!

“Ouyang Junyan, are you messing with me?” Fang Zhiyin exclaimed.

“Put it on!” he commanded again.

“You’re insane!” Fang Zhiyin yelled in fury, throwing the shirt on the ground. Then she stormed out of Ouyang Group without looking back.

For some reason, a thought flashed through her mind: People live for dignity!

But before she reached the door, two burly security guards flanked her and easily carried her back before Ouyang Junyan.

The entire process took less than half a minute.

You son of a—! Fang Zhiyin unleashed a torrent of curses in her mind.

Ouyang Junyan’s eyes fixed on her like an eagle’s, then swept coldly over the employees. “Tonight’s eight o’clock physical training is suspended. We’ll have a tug-of-war competition instead. The company will be split into seven teams by headcount. Teams will compete, and the winning team will receive this month’s rolling bonus.”

What?

Physical training?

Tug-of-war?

Fang Zhiyin nearly spat blood. “Ouyang Junyan! Do you even know what you’re doing?!”

She could accept him tormenting her in every imaginable way—after all, he was the husband she’d chosen herself. But he couldn’t treat his company’s employees like this!

If the twenty-eight-year-old Ouyang Junyan found out about this, he’d be devastated!

He wasn’t here in person, but Fang Zhiyin knew he always treated his staff well—celebrating birthdays, organizing team-building events, even treating them to afternoon tea from time to time.

“In order for a company to break into the Fortune 500, go public, and eventually compete internationally, the employees must be physically strong,” Ouyang Junyan declared, imperious and unfeeling.

Going public…

Competing internationally?

He was truly out of his mind!

“Ouyang, didn’t you just say you’re busy with a new project? If you’re so busy, stop tormenting everyone else!” Fang Zhiyin protested.

“No worries, they’ll get used to it sooner or later.” He spoke with chilling indifference. “I was too lenient before, never exercised them properly. Just a few days of overtime and half of them collapse…”

“What do you mean?” Fang Zhiyin was shocked. “You’re making them work overtime non-stop?”

“It’s only been a few days…”

“Madman!” she spat.

“I’m doing it for their own good!”

“I don’t know what you’ve been making them do, but you’d better stop it right now!” For the first time, Fang Zhiyin shouted at him. “Yes, a healthy body is the foundation of everything! Proper exercise is important, but you’ve gone way overboard! Don’t you know what ‘the opposite of what’s intended’ means?”

She was both heartbroken and utterly disgusted with the man before her.

Ouyang Junyan remained unmoved by her anger and pain. After a moment, he spoke again, his tone lazy, “You’ll also be joining tonight’s tug-of-war. If your team beats mine, I’ll consider your request.”

Fang Zhiyin, not quite sure what got into her, retorted hotly, “Fine, you said it!”

“You think you can win?” Ouyang Junyan sneered—as if the day Fang Zhiyin’s team beat his, iron trees would bloom across the world.

“We won’t know unless we try.” As soon as she finished, the employees who’d overheard their argument burst into applause for her.

But Fang Zhiyin immediately regretted it.

She’d always dodged gym class whenever possible, always looked for ways to slack off. And now she was going to compete in a tug-of-war against Ouyang Junyan? She must have lost her mind!

That evening, she ate takeout in her ugly gray uniform. While she was eating, Ouyang Junyan wasted not a single moment, dragging his employees into a staff meeting.

She’d only been there an hour or two and already felt suffocated—she genuinely feared that if this went on, Ouyang Group would be “played to death” by the thirty-five-year-old Ouyang Junyan.

At precisely eight o’clock, Ouyang Junyan appeared again and announced that everyone should form their own teams.

Fang Zhiyin didn’t know a single person there, and Ouyang Junyan certainly wouldn’t team up with her, so after everyone else had picked, she ended up with the leftovers…

Including an uncle who was only six months from retirement.

Altogether, they had eight people. Looking at her makeshift team, Fang Zhiyin had to admit—they were a sorry sight, the old, the weak, the sick, the frail.

Two elderly men, three or four middle-aged women.

Every other team had a few strapping men.

Perhaps feeling a twinge of pity, Ouyang Junyan shoved his own assistant—a girl even skinnier than Fang Zhiyin, barely eighty pounds by the look of her—onto her team.

The assistant looked just as bewildered as Fang Zhiyin.

“Thanks a lot!” Fang Zhiyin gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes at Ouyang Junyan.

He smirked coldly, his gaze saying clearly: Serves you right for overestimating yourself.