I Really Didn't Mean to Make Money

When he heard the part about “50 meters,” even though he had already known about it beforehand, he still nearly lost control of his expression.

It was the first time he’d ever heard of a 50-meter racewalk.

“This sporting event will also have an important participant—our very own boss, President Chen!” 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

“Let’s welcome President Chen to the field!”

As the host’s voice fell, all the camera operators and the four aerial drones simultaneously focused on Chen Mo in the stands, and the stadium erupted in enthusiastic applause.

Chen Mo had already started walking down as soon as the host called his name. Since he was already wearing athletic clothes, he didn’t need to change. And it was only a 50-meter racewalk—no need to worry about sweating.

Besides, he was just there to make an appearance and earn some participation points before heading back.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want the priority selection rights; it’s just that aiming for first place in total points would be far too exhausting—not worth it.

And at the end of the day, the most you’d lose out on was two thousand yuan or so.

Once the prizes were handed out and he pocketed his 8 million yuan, would he really care about two thousand yuan? That’d be a joke.

By the time he got down to the track, the other racewalk participants were already in position.

Chen Mo took a serious look around—good grief, all familiar faces.

Wei Yan, that rebellious one; Li Shen, that sly old fox; Wang Maonian; Wu Yu from the sales department; and Fang Chang from Cangxue Games...

Among these, aside from Wu Yu, the rest had all been forced by him to participate in the games.

He didn’t expect them all to have chosen the 50-meter racewalk.

“Hello, President Chen.”

Just as he stepped onto the field, the group greeted him in unison, as if it had been rehearsed.

Chen Mo nodded and headed to his position for the race.

“All the 50-meter racewalk participants are in place, and the referee is ready. Once the signal is given, the race will begin.”

“Let’s look forward to seeing who will be the racewalking champion this time!”

The two hosts worked together to provide commentary from the stands.

Bang!

A shot was fired.

“The race has begun! Let’s see who’s in the lead—why, it’s President Chen!”

“Who would’ve thought that President Chen, who’s so strategic in managing the company, would also be leading the pack athletically?”

“Not only is he keeping first place, but his form is calm and composed. He’s practically strolling through the race—how fitting for President Chen.”

On the field—

After hearing the starting gun, Chen Mo set off at a relaxed pace.

He wasn’t aiming for first place anyway—he just wanted to take it easy.

But after a few steps, he felt something wasn’t right.

Looking around, he realized no one had gotten ahead of him.

Turning back in confusion, he saw Li Shen and the rest trailing exactly one meter behind him in perfect formation.

Each of them had an exaggeratedly strained expression on their faces, as if they were putting in great effort.

Chen Mo’s mouth twitched. These guys—could they act any more fake?

To anyone who didn’t know better, the scene on the track didn’t look like a race. It looked like a gang leader leading his little brothers on a leisurely stroll.

The 50 meters passed quickly.

Chen Mo finally completed the brief event and couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.

A perfectly good racewalk had turned into a group walk.

“Congratulations to President Chen for winning first place in the racewalk! With a time of 1 minute and 9 seconds...”

Host Ye Feng loudly announced the result.

Chen Mo paused for a moment, shot a cool glance at Li Shen and the others, then returned to the stands.

“Master, President Chen seems a bit unhappy,” Wu Yu said to Wei Yan with some concern.

“You don’t get it. That’s not unhappiness—that’s being serious. Employees from both companies are here. If President Chen doesn’t act serious, how’s he going to manage the company later?”

“Oh...”

Wu Yu nodded slowly, realizing it kind of made sense.

Then he thought of something and asked, “Master, earlier you said we should give face to the boss during the race. Should I give up my priority selection right and let President Chen choose his prize first? Wouldn’t that show more respect?”

He had signed up for every event, and thanks to his youth and daily morning training, he was practically guaranteed to be the points leader.

Wei Yan immediately shook his head when he heard that.

“That’s not giving face—that’s undermining him!”

“Do you know why President Chen prepared all these prizes? It’s because he wants to use this sports day and the generous rewards to boost employee cohesion and sense of belonging.”

“These prizes were all bought for the employees, so everyone can feel the company’s generous benefits and become more loyal.”

“Now think about it—if another company offered you a salary that’s 10% higher than what you earn now and tried to poach you, would you go?”

Without thinking, Wu Yu immediately shook his head. No way.

The company treated him so well, plus there were so many hidden perks—only a fool would jump ship.

“You see, that’s exactly the effect President Chen wants.”

“You really think he joined the competition just for two lousy prizes? With President Chen’s net worth, he could buy as many appliances as he wants.”

“He participated just to join in the fun and set the tone for everyone else. We just need to play along appropriately.”

Wei Yan patiently explained, knowing his cheap disciple still needed polishing.

“I get it now, Master.”

Wu Yu looked grateful and silently thanked himself for asking—he’d nearly messed up big time.

Back in the stands, Chen Mo sat down as the other competitions continued.

Just like that, the sports day went on until about 2 PM, when all the events finally wrapped up.

Next up was the final awards ceremony.

The host stood on stage and announced:

“All events in this sports day have now concluded.”

“Next comes the moment everyone’s been waiting for—the awards ceremony!”

“The rankings are still being tallied, please wait two minutes.”

After Ye Feng finished, a few company employees carried several tables over and placed them beside him. He figured the tables were for displaying the prizes, and was a bit curious about what the company would give out.

At that moment, he saw President Chen walking over from the stands and quickly went to greet him.

“Good day, President Chen!”

“Mm, thanks for hosting today—it’s been a long day.”

Chen Mo politely acknowledged him. All in all, this husband-and-wife hosting team had done a solid job. The whole event had been energetic, not dull at all.

“You’re too kind, President Chen. We took the job, so of course we had to make it festive.”

Ye Feng smiled.

Soon, he saw several employees carrying over two cardboard boxes.

Ye Feng sized them up—the boxes weren’t that big.

Probably just some small gifts, he guessed.

But still, for a boss to go this far for his employees was already impressive. Plenty of companies didn’t even bother with events like this, let alone prizes.