I Really Didn't Mean to Make Money

“Hello, these are the award rules for later. You can take a look.”

Shen Rou walked over at that moment and handed the written award rules to Ye Feng.

Ye Feng took the rules and read them carefully. His expression quickly froze.

He had thought the prizes would go to the top three, or maybe the top ten or twenty. But the award rules told a completely different story.

From first place all the way to the last, everyone was getting a prize—and not just one, but two.

Together, the two companies had over 80 employees. Two prizes per person meant more than 160 prizes. Could those two little cardboard boxes really hold that many?

If they were just small trinkets, maybe.

Ye Feng thought to himself and glanced at the table where the prizes were set up.

But when he saw the neatly stacked, square-shaped boxes, he froze. He recognized that packaging very clearly. Just a couple days ago, he had bought the latest model of that domestic smartphone brand himself—the top configuration version cost over 6,000 yuan.

There were actually smartphones among the prizes.

And as more employees brought out and placed the phones on the table, they were stacked into three neat piles.

Ye Feng quickly counted—fifteen units. That’s over 90,000 yuan! This boss was really splurging, giving out such expensive gifts to employees.

Ye Feng was stunned. Before he could fully process it, he saw another employee pull a larger rectangular box from the cardboard box. It was clearly bigger than the phone packaging.

Even without getting closer, he could see that it was a tablet. Same brand as the phones—he knew it too. Each one cost more than 4,000 yuan.

He counted—also fifteen. That’s another 60,000+ yuan.

Altogether, already more than 150,000 yuan.

Ye Feng kept watching, curious what other valuables they might bring out. But in the end, the employees only placed a stack of laminated slips of paper on the table.

Looks like the phones and tablets were the grand prizes for the sports event—30 items total, just enough for the top 15 participants. The rest of the laminated sheets must be consolation prizes.

That’s what Ye Feng assumed. He had hosted quite a few year-end parties for major companies, but bosses like Mr. Chen, who’d put out over 150,000 yuan in employee prizes, were extremely rare.

“The rankings are in. Here’s the list.”

Chen Xuan returned from the judges’ area—she had been waiting for the final results.

“Give it to me. Here are the award rules, take a look.”

Ye Feng took the rankings and handed the rules to his wife, then walked toward the prize table with the list.

Since the rankings were finalized, it was time for the awards.

At the table, he glanced down curiously at the laminated sheets. He wanted to see what these “consolation” prizes were.

But when he read the text on the sheets, he froze in place.

Chen Xuan, who had just finished reading the award rules herself, was equally stunned when she saw the items on the table.

The couple stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the laminated sheets.

> A XX-brand domestic smartphone, retail price 6,188 yuan.

A XX-brand refrigerator, retail price 3,998 yuan.

A XX-brand television, retail price 4,299 yuan.

...

Ye Feng stared at the sheets, a bold idea forming in his mind. Could it be...?

He turned and saw President Chen walking over, and cautiously asked:

“President Chen, what do these laminated vouchers mean?”

“Exactly what they say. Those prizes are too bulky to bring here, so we only brought a few of the smaller ones. The rest are represented as vouchers. After the event, employees can redeem their prizes with the vouchers.”

Chen Mo explained smoothly when he heard the question.

“This...”

Ye Feng opened his mouth, unsure how to express his current feelings.

From what he could see, none of those vouchers were for anything less than 3,000 yuan. With over 80 employees getting two each, that had to total at least 500–600,000 yuan.

What kind of company was this?

And this boss... he was really willing to go all out for his employees. It was hard to believe.

“Alright, let’s get on with the awards.”

Seeing Ye Feng spacing out, Chen Mo gently reminded him.

“Right!”

Ye Feng snapped back to his senses.

After pulling himself together, he began the award ceremony.

“The rankings are out. I will now call the names. Please come up one by one to select your prizes.”

Hearing the host’s announcement, the employees nearby lit up with excitement. They already knew what prizes were available and had been eagerly anticipating this moment.

“First place goes to... Wu Yu. Please come to the stage, Wu Yu.”

Wu Yu quickly stepped up upon hearing his name.

“Please choose two prizes,” the host said with a smile.

Wu Yu looked over the table and soon made his choices—a smartphone and a voucher for a laptop.

Holding both in his hands, Wu Yu was visibly excited. These two prizes alone were worth over 10,000 yuan—and he’d gotten them just by participating in a company sports event.

Being one of President Chen’s employees was seriously a blessing.

Thinking this, Wu Yu looked at President Chen and summoned his courage to ask:

“President Chen, may I take a photo with you?”

Seeing the hopeful expression on Wu Yu’s face, Chen Mo hesitated for a second but didn’t have the heart to refuse.

He stepped up to the stage, stood beside Wu Yu, and let the photographer snap a few shots.

“Thank you, President Chen,” Wu Yu said, bowing slightly.

Chen Mo looked at the sincerely grateful Wu Yu and almost said aloud:

> “The best thanks would be taking fewer orders.”

As Wu Yu left the stage, the second-place winner came up to receive his prize.

Chen Mo glanced at the employee on stage. He didn’t recognize him, but his tracksuit had the Cangxue Games logo. He was likely a recent hire.

Xu Yuan stepped up nervously. He had only been with the company for half a month and happened to catch the tail end of the sports event.

He thought it was just a casual activity for fun. As for the other employees talking about phones and laptops, he didn’t take them seriously.

He wasn’t new to the workplace—he’d seen plenty of bosses make empty promises.

Phones and laptops? He would’ve been happy with a 50-yuan phone credit voucher.

But now, looking at the phone and tablet in his hands, he realized he had been totally wrong. This boss was serious.

This company... was amazing!

He was determined to do well.

He nodded gratefully at President Chen and quickly stepped off the stage.

The award ceremony continued, with employees coming up one after another to claim their prizes. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Soon, the ceremony was nearing its end.

Host Ye Feng looked toward the next recipient.

“The next person to receive their prize is...”

Ye Feng’s voice paused slightly—then he called out loudly.