1122: 3 Seconds

3 Seconds

Alric Bauer didn't hear Long Jinjing's complaint. Even if he did, he wouldn't mind it too much. It was the nature of his work—product development—to spend a lot of money. To make an amazing product with high effectiveness, it had to go through many failures to be improved.  2

Similarly, it was also the nature of Long Jinjing's work to maintain Orchidia Beauty's expenses within a certain budget range. It was no wonder that Alric and Long Jinjing always butted heads about the Product Development Department's huge expenses. 

Back at the launch event, the three people on the stage returned to the centre. Everyone quietened and paid attention to them. All three had poker faces, not revealing any of their real thoughts. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot) com. Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

Jin Chonglin gestured for Chen Fei to make the announcement. She nodded and began speaking. 

"As many of you may remember, Orchidia Beauty holds the record for selling out the largest amount of skincare products in the country in five seconds. Tonight…."

The audience leaned forward. 

'Tonight what?'

Their expressions urged her to hurry up. Jin Chonglin's army of fans held their breaths. 

"Tonight…ah, my throat is dry. Can someone give me some water to drink first?" Chen Fei gestured at her assistant below the stage to give her a drink.

"Boo!"

"This woman is terrible!"

"No, actually she's excellent. She knows how to create suspense."

"Hurry up! Screw the drink!"

Chen Fei didn't mind the booing and complaints at all. In fact, she looked quite pleased with herself as she slowly savoured the plain water that her assistant handed her. After returning the empty glass to her assistant, she pretended to look confused.

"Ah, where was I again?"

"Boo!"

She laughed. Jin Chonglin and the emcee laughed as well. The booing audience laughed while continuing to boo. The atmosphere was lighthearted but the anticipation and excitement were almost electrifying. 

"Oh, right. I remember now." Chen Fei cleared her throat. "According to our official records, we have confirmed that all the products in Jin Chonglin's Prinz men's line have sold out in…"

"In what? Say it! Hurry up!"

By this time, Jin Chonglin was already grinning. Based on his expression alone, it must be good news. Nevertheless, everyone still wanted to know the exact time that his Prinz men's line sold out.

Chen Fei finally revealed it in a loud, happy voice. "Sold out in 2.69 seconds!"

A deafening sound of cheers and applause filled not only the hotel's grand hall but also outside where Jin Chonglin's army of fans continued to stay while watching the livestream of the event. All of them were celebrating as if their Prince Lin Lin won a major award. 

"We did it! Prince Lin Lin is the best!"

Then Chen Fei added, "Let's round it up and just say that it sold out in 3 seconds."

"Boo! It's 2 seconds, not 3!"

She heard the person who said this and raised an eyebrow, looking quite arrogant while doing so. "That's not how rounding works. So it's settled then. It's 3 seconds."

Jin Chonglin made a show of rolling his eyes. "Ignore her. She doesn't like that I broke Orchidia Beauty's original record by too much. So let's just give it to her and say it's 3 seconds, but of course officially, it's still 2.69 seconds! My fans are the best! Always! Thank you so much!"

"Kyaaaaaah! We love you, Prince Lin Lin!"

The standing ovation lasted for a whole two minutes. Even Dom and Long Jinjing were caught in the joy and excitement of breaking another record. This wasn't only Jin Chonglin's achievement but Orchidia Beauty's as well. In fact, it was Orchidia Beauty who benefitted the most. 

"Yay yay! Orchidia Beauty is the best to the highest level! Woohoo!" Dom was jumping all around and doing his rather impressive victory dance, not at all shy in busting his moves in front of so many people. 

Long Jinjing smiled at Alric Bauer who still looked calm overall but had a pleased expression on his face. "Congratulations, Alric. We wouldn't have achieved this if it weren't for the amazing products you developed."

He didn't deny it but didn't brag either. Instead, his eyes shone with eagerness. "This means that we profited a lot, right? So can I get a budget increase for my department?"

The smile on Long Jingjing's face froze before she sighed. "Let's talk about this another time, okay? I still need to see exactly how much we earned before I can consider your request."

He looked reluctant but still nodded and didn't bother her about the budget again for the rest of the night.

The launch of Jin Chonglin's Prinz men's line of all-natural skincare products with Orchidia Beauty was a huge, resounding success. It was so successful that it achieved a new record.

###

"We're here, Miss Jinjing," 

Long Jinjing opened her eyes when she heard the male voice. She had been half-dozing in the car's backseat. Covering her yawn, she looked outside and saw that they were inside the indoor VIP parking lot of the hospital. "Thank you, Shun."

Later, she entered Lu Zihao's private suite in the hospital's VIP section. Although it was already past 2 AM, nobody stopped her from entering because Lu Zihao was registered as a VIP patient. His visitors didn't need to follow the regular visiting hours. 

Also, nobody dared to go against Lu Zihao's subordinates guarding their boss' suite especially when almost all of them looked so frightening. Their looks weren't the scary part but their aura.

She could hear Grandpa Lu's loud snores from the guest bedroom beside Lu Zihao's room. She released a sigh of relief that Grandpa Lu was already sleeping. If he saw her coming at this hour, he would surely be worried about her. Grandpa Lu didn't need another person to worry about when he was already stressing about his own comatose grandson. 

"Nikolai," she whispered when she stood next to Lu Zihao's bed. She was still in her full attire that she wore at Jin Chonglin's launch event. "When will you wake up? Please wake up soon."

As usual, there was no response. Her heart clenched in pain. She held his big, rough hand and squeezed it.

"I still love you, you know."

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