"Oh, I see… A year in jail isn't 12 months but 10… he was well-behaved, so he's out early. But that b**** is so abhorrent, bluffing him out of his money and then leaving him! Didn't they have a child together at the beginning?"
"…"
"F***! That's really going overboard. Get a place for Hu Zi to stay in first."
"…"
"Aw, I know that Hu Zi wasn't exactly honest about that, but we grew up together. I can't possibly watch him starve to death while doing nothing!"
"…"
"Okay, let's do this. We'll give him 200 dollars per person per month. That should be enough for him to support himself!"
With that, he put down the phone, scratching his head in annoyance. Seeing that Zhuang Nainai was looking at him through the rearview mirror, he smiled at her, then began relating his story to her out of unhappiness. "Aish, young lady! This Hu Zi is a person that I grew up with. We're all orphans, and we ended up becoming taxi drivers together. He's quite a good person at heart, but he made a mistake and ran someone over once… and he went to jail for it."
The driver paused, then continued, "His mistake was really grave — the person he ran over wasn't rich either and was leading a hard life. But then, Hu Zi's retribution came in the form of his girlfriend. Before going to jail, he had a girlfriend whom he had been living with, and the girlfriend was pregnant. Hu Zi had wanted to keep the child but the girlfriend hadn't agreed with him and had insisted on an abortion. She later agreed to give birth to the baby… on the condition that she be paid $200,000 for it. And Hu Zi actually agreed! Apparently, the person who asked him to go run the other person over — they had some feud with each other. But wow, $200,000! Sometimes I wonder why he hadn't been afraid of running over the person to death!
"Anyway, the bad will get their retribution, and that's what happened to Hu Zi. When he came out of jail thinking that he was going to take care of his wife and child, he found out that the girl had already gotten an abortion years ago, right after getting the money! Hu Zi was so angry, he wanted to punch her; instead, he got beaten up by her new man! Aish, what goes around comes around — so one really shouldn't harbor any bad thoughts!"
The taxi driver's words didn't make much of an impression on Zhuang Nainai.
Many car accidents could happen in a day in a place like Beijing City. Never did she think that this Hu Zi that the driver was speaking of would be of great importance to her.
In fact, she even praised the driver, "Ha, mister, you're quite a man with a sense of brotherhood!"
Having been praised by such a pretty lady, the driver scratched his head, embarrassed. He laughed and looked ahead. Even by the time they reached the Imperial Group building, he still felt as if they hadn't chatted enough. "Aish, how come we're here so quickly?"
Zhuang Nainai was tickled by the driver's behavior. She paid and left the taxi, only for the driver to shout, "Miss, your receipt!"
Zhuang Nainai waved her hand. "I don't want it!"
"No, please take it." The driver stuffed the receipt into her hands, then whistled to himself and drove off.
Zhuang Nainai thought nothing of it and simply threw the receipt into her bag. Then, she walked toward the Imperial Group building.
She had barely begun walking when she saw Su Jinhui walk out of the building. Upon seeing Zhuang Nainai, he was stunned. "Nainai, why are you here?"
Zhuang Nainai curled her lips. "I'm here to work overtime with you!"
Su Jinhui laughed. "Executive Assistant Ji just called me. He told me that the matters weren't urgent."
Zhuang Nainai was speechless with shock.