Chapter 15 

For a moment, Yuan Zengxi felt an indescribable complexity in his heart, even a tinge of melancholy.  

A headhunter from Turui…  

In just a few short minutes, they had been knocked off their pedestal, fallen into the mud, and utterly humiliated.  

He realized one thing: so-called “Big Four Headhunters” were nothing—absolutely nothing—in the face of a powerhouse like Lin Koukou, who could crush them with sheer superiority.  

Turui Headhunters was located in a commercial building in Puxi, with branches across the country. The Shanghai headquarters alone occupied three floors, housing over two hundred employees.  

Zhou Fei didn’t even know how he had made it back.  

The office space was divided into several large sections, but no matter where you stood, the sound of phone calls filled the air—headhunters of all levels desperately communicating with clients and candidates, hoping to close a deal, make a fortune, or build their reputation.  

As he walked past the cubicles, the image of that woman’s gaze when she looked at him still lingered in his mind.  

Xue Lin had just emerged from a covert battle with Lu Taosheng, her face cold as she stepped out of the meeting room. Spotting Zhou Fei, she frowned.  

Though young, she held a high position in the company.  

She had started in sales, but when the industry slumped, she switched to headhunting. Selling products or selling people—the principles were the same. Since entering the field, Xue Lin had adapted swiftly, carving out her path with unstoppable momentum.  

In less than a year, she had risen to the position of deputy director.  

Earlier this year, *Headhunter Circle* magazine had featured her in an exclusive interview, hailing her as the “new-generation king who surpasses Lin Koukou”—  

Though Xue Lin herself despised being compared to Lin Koukou. After all, no matter how skilled Lin Koukou was, she had still been kicked out of Direction, proving she wasn’t that formidable. Still, the title undeniably reflected Xue Lin’s current, unstoppable rise in the industry.  

Zhou Fei was one of the subordinates she had recruited last year. He had always been proactive, full of energy, and stood out in the company.  

But now, he looked like he was sleepwalking.  

Xue Lin stopped him. “Zhou Fei? Weren’t you supposed to handle Jiang Shangbai’s case? Why are you back so early? Did you sign the contract?”  

Only then did Zhou Fei notice her, momentarily speechless.  

Xue Lin immediately sensed something was wrong.  

She didn’t press him in the open, instead leading him into her office before asking, “What happened?”  

Zhou Fei spoke slowly. “I might have messed up the Jiang Shangbai deal.”  

Today was supposed to be about securing the agreement before the client found another partner. But who could’ve predicted someone would swoop in at the last moment?  

Xue Lin was stunned. How could such a surefire deal fall through?  

Zhou Fei explained the situation.  

Perhaps out of shame, or perhaps to avoid facing it, he omitted the part where he had thrown away the other party’s business card, focusing only on the confrontation between them in front of Su Ying.

“That Su Ying isn’t an easy person to communicate with, and she’s quite impatient with headhunters. My conversation with her didn’t go well at all.” Zhou Fei grew more frustrated as he reviewed the situation, his voice dropping lower. “Those two headhunters from Crossroads, especially the woman, are extremely capable. Even if we tried again, I don’t think we could win this deal from her.”

Xue Lin immediately flared up upon hearing this: “Are you useless? How could you lose this deal? Do you have any idea how crucial this period is for me? Every lost deal affects my quarterly performance!”

The company had clearly split into two factions now.

One faction was led by Xue Lin, the other by Lu Taosheng. The two sides had already engaged in several overt and covert struggles, with only superficial politeness remaining between Xue Lin and Lu Taosheng.

Everyone was secretly competing.

In headhunting, whoever had stronger business capabilities would dominate the company’s decision-making. Performance was the hard metric—there was absolutely no room for slack.

The market director position at Jiang Shangbai came with an annual salary of three million, meaning the headhunting firm would receive a 900,000 yuan headhunting fee—no small sum.

Zhou Fei was scolded like a child but didn’t dare argue back, only murmuring meekly, “Director Xue, I’ll handle the remaining deals properly. There won’t be any more mistakes.”

“You shouldn’t have made mistakes in the first place—that’s your job.” Xue Lin’s face was taut, ready to berate him further when a sudden thought struck her. “Wait, you just said the headhunter who took your deal was from Crossroads—a woman?”

Zhou Fei nodded. “Yes. Why?”

Xue Lin’s mind raced.

Crossroads was an oddity in the industry—a relatively small firm.

A female headhunter capable of snatching a deal from Zhou Fei…

A name quickly surfaced.

“Pei Shu doesn’t have many female headhunters under him. Only that Ye Xiang has some skill—she leads his second headhunting team.” Xue Lin’s expression darkened. “But I distinctly remember Crossroads had looked into this deal before and given up on it.”

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have sent Zhou Fei to secure it.

After all, if Pei Shu were the opponent, her chances of winning would be slim.

Zhou Fei listened silently, not daring to speak.

Xue Lin pondered for a moment before slowly sitting down in her office chair, her gaze flickering. Suddenly, she said, “Give me Su Ying’s contact number.”

Zhou Fei was taken aback. “What do you need her number for?”

Xue Lin said coldly, “Even if it’s Crossroads’ people, it’s not impossible to try. Besides, I need to clarify what exactly happened with this deal.”

Zhou Fei handed over the number.

Xue Lin called immediately.

But barely two sentences into the call, after something Su Ying said, her brows suddenly furrowed in shock. “You didn’t know either? What… Why are they getting involved too…”

“Consultant Lin, were you previously close with Turui and Director Lu Taosheng?”

On the way back, Yuan Zengxi couldn’t resist asking.

Lin Koukou replied, “We knew each other before. There’s some history.”

Among the top headhunters from the Big Four, Lu Taosheng was one she rather liked. With over a decade in the industry and nearing forty, he had a harmonious and happy family life, carried himself with great poise, and was a very “upright” person who adhered to his own professional ethics—far from the type who would resort to any means to achieve his goals. He stood in stark contrast to that old fox Li Guoyong from Ruifang.

Her tone was deliberately understated, describing their relationship as merely “some” acquaintance, as if they weren’t particularly close. Yet to Yuan Zengxi’s ears, it carried a weight that belied its lightness.

Precisely because they were so familiar, she could afford to say only “some acquaintance.”

Yuan Zengxi, being something of a shrewd observer, could pick up on such subtleties. For a moment, he couldn’t help but wonder: What kind of dumb luck had landed him the role of Lin Koukou’s assistant consultant?

Lost in thought, he suddenly blurted out, “I should go buy a lottery ticket.”

Lin Koukou chuckled at this.

Shaking her head, she noticed they had arrived at Central Plaza and signaled the driver to pull over before stepping out of the car.

The revolving doors were busy with people coming and going.

Lin Koukou was just about to enter when, unexpectedly, Yuan Zengxi’s phone rang.

He glanced at the screen and made a surprised sound. “It’s Director Su calling.”

Lin Koukou paused mid-step, watching as Yuan Zengxi answered the call. “Hello, Director Su.”

A few words were exchanged on the other end.

At first, Yuan Zengxi’s expression remained normal, but as he listened, his mouth slowly fell open in shock. It took him a while to find his words. “Wait, didn’t we agree when we left that we’d send you the updated resumes later? Why…”

Lin Koukou immediately sensed something was wrong.

Su Ying’s reply came through.

Yuan Zengxi protested urgently, “But we have a signed contract. It’s not appropriate for you to cancel it just like this, is it?”

Were they suddenly terminating the collaboration?

Lin Koukou frowned and motioned for Yuan Zengxi to put the call on speaker.

Su Ying’s voice came through the phone. “I apologize for this, but you breached the agreement first, so I have the right to terminate it. The other party is a major company, and the person communicating with me holds a very senior position. They’ve promised to provide us with plenty of suitable candidates—ones that seem more reliable and better aligned with our company’s needs than what you’ve offered. So, I’m sorry, but our collaboration is over.”

A major company. A senior-level contact.

Yuan Zengxi felt a pang of discomfort, even a rare flicker of indignation. They had agreed on everything earlier—how could things change in the blink of an eye?

But since the other party was the client’s HR representative, he couldn’t afford to lose his temper.

So he swallowed his frustration and forced himself to remain polite. “Oh, I see. Well, in that case—”

Lin Koukou, however, wasn’t nearly as patient.

She already harbored a slight bias against HR—something well-known across the industry—and now this person was going back on their word without warning?

“Give me the phone.”

Without waiting for Yuan Zengxi to finish, she took the phone from his hand and addressed Su Ying directly. “Director Su, you just agreed to work with us, and now you’re backing out. Don’t you think that’s inappropriate?”

Her voice sounded calm at first glance, and her face wore a faint smile. But Yuan Zengxi could clearly see the icy sharpness in her eyes—there wasn’t a trace of warmth in them.

A chill ran down his spine.

He had a feeling something big was about to happen.

Su Ying was momentarily taken aback upon hearing Lin Koukou’s voice and explained, “It’s not that I don’t want to work with you, but they’re asking for an exclusive cooperation agreement with a non-compete clause. If I work with them, I can’t commission you anymore. Please don’t make this difficult for me. The company urgently needs people, so of course, I’ll choose the most reliable partner.”

Lin Koukou lowered her eyelids and smiled nonchalantly, “Mind telling me which big company it is?”

Su Ying hesitated, “That’s not convenient…”

Lin Koukou softened her tone slightly, lying without batting an eye, “You know our positions aren’t high. If we suddenly lose such a big deal, our superiors will hold us accountable. At least tell us which company it is so we can report back? Otherwise, we’ll get scolded.”

Su Ying remained silent.

Yuan Zengxi suddenly felt tense.

But Lin Koukou wasn’t in a hurry. She simply held the phone and waited.

After a long pause, Su Ying finally said, “It’s Direction.”

Lin Koukou: “…”

Su Ying continued, “Anyway, I hope you can understand this situation. If there’s a suitable position next time, we can—”

Lin Koukou couldn’t even be bothered to listen and hung up directly, even adding the number to her Blacklist in one swift move!

Yuan Zengxi was dumbfounded.

Lin Koukou tossed the phone back to him, her expression gradually turning icy, devoid of any warmth.

Direction.

She silently repeated the two words in her mind, her eyelids still lowered as she pulled out her own phone.

She hadn’t replied to the message He Chuang had sent earlier.

Now, she typed a line and sent it: Are you handling the Market Director position at Jiang Shangbai?

He Chuang replied almost instantly: No.

Not him?

Then it must be Gu Xiangdong’s team working on it.

Lin Koukou stared at the chat interface, unmoving.

But He Chuang’s follow-up message came right away: What’s up with this position? Are you back?

Lin Koukou didn’t respond again.

She switched to the browser and searched for news reports about Direction.

Since its acquisition, the company had rarely appeared in industry news, and over the past year, it had almost vanished entirely. The occasional mention described Direction as a sinking ship, having lost its vitality after being acquired by Quantum Group. Its elite headhunters had been siphoned off to the Advanced Talent Recruitment Team, draining Direction of its last drop of blood. Now, it was barely clinging to life.

Especially in the last six months—Shi Dingqing seemed to have disappeared. Rumors said she hadn’t intervened in any of Direction’s affairs…

As Lin Koukou read on, her emotions churned, and she suddenly craved a cigarette.

But she hadn’t smoked since coming down from the mountain and naturally didn’t have any on her. She reached into her pocket, only to find it empty. Glancing ahead, she spotted a convenience store.

Yuan Zengxi was still clutching his phone, thoroughly frightened by her. He stammered, “L-Lin Consultant, isn’t it… isn’t it a bit rude to just block her like that? What if she has other positions for us later, to make up for this…”

“Crossroads doesn’t take deals under a million. Even if she wanted to offer one, Pei Shu might not even consider it.” Lin Koukou let out a cold laugh, eyeing the convenience store ahead. Not feeling like walking, she turned to Yuan Zengxi and said, “Alright, stop whining. It’s not the end of the world. Instead of wasting time, why don’t you go buy me a pack of cigarettes?”

Buy a pack of cigarettes…?

Yuan Zengxi froze, completely caught off guard.

Lin Koukou simply asked, “Do you still want to work on this case or not?”

Yuan Zengxi instinctively asked, “Do we still have a chance?”

Lin Koukou continued scrolling through news about Direction on her phone, not even looking up as she casually replied, “Of course we do. First go buy your dad a pack of cigarettes, then I’ll tell you when you get back.”

Dad???

At that moment, Yuan Zengxi’s head was filled with question marks, hardly able to believe his ears.