Chapter 272 - Sad Memories

“Teacher Zuo.” He nodded lightly at Zuo Qian.

“Dr. Song, you were here to see Changqing?” Zuo Qian paused in his steps and pondered for a few seconds before continuing, “May I ask, have you and Changqing been quarreling lately? She seems to have something on her mind.”

“Thank you for your concern, Teacher Zuo. We’re in a little conflict but it’ll improve after some coaxing.” Song Chuyi nodded with a smile and passed him by.

Zuo Qian looked at his retreating back for a while before entering Changqing’s office. Her eyes were red and she looked sulky. She quickly rubbed her eyes when she saw him and said, “Teacher Zuo, what brings you here?”

“I’m here to go through the script with you,” Zuo Qian said gently, “Is this a bad time?”

“No.” Changqing put on a smile once again. “I wanted to discuss certain things on the program schedule. I think there’s some dialogue that we might have to change.”

“Which parts? Let me take a look…”

Li Shaobin returned home in his impressive sports car at 5 pm. When he saw the Audi parked in his courtyard, he quickly walked into the living room excitedly. “Old Song, how did things go? Did your father-in-law forgive you?”

He walked around but didn’t see Song Chuyi. In the end, it was the little nanny who pointed him to the indoor swimming pool.

In the swimming pool that was close to 100 meters long, Song Chuyi swam like a great white shark. His strong arms surfaced from within the water while splashing, forming a perfect curve.

“Old Song, how did things go?” Li Shaobin walked to the side of the pool where he stopped and asked with a grin, “Did your Qing Baobao pounce into your embrace after being touched?”

Song Chuyi propped himself up and sat on the edge of the pool as water trickled down his body. He swept Li Shaobin a weak glance and said lightly, “Changqing found a business partner on her own. He looked pretty impressive and he’s even from overseas.”

“Then didn’t you do all that for nothing? You missed your chance to get into her good books.” Li Shaobin was extremely shocked. “But are you sure Qing Baobao found him on her own? She has what it takes to do that?”

Song Chuyi scooped up the pool water with his hands and splashed it onto Li Shaobin’s face. “Don’t you dare call her that.”

Li Shaobin rolled his eyes silently. “Is there a need to be so overbearing over a name?”

“When you have a wife one day, how do you think you’d feel if I called her Baobao (1. Baby) too?” Song Chuyi asked him back.

“Er…” Li Shaobin scratched his chin. “I’m not sure if I can even find a wife. Besides, if you lose this chance to get into her good books, are you sure Changqing would still want you as her husband?”

Song Chuyi’s face sank as he fell silent.

“Why don’t I go find out about that person who’s working with the Yan Corporation then secretly mess up their partnership?” Li Shaobin had a sudden idea. He loved doing such immoral things.

“Forget it. If the Yan Family were to find out, they would think I’m the same kind of person as my brother. The Yan Corporation can no longer go through any more turmoil. Yan Lei is already about to get married.” Song Chuyi sighed. “If the Yan Corporation can find a better business partner, I should feel happy for them. However, I feel that the man who’s working with the Yan Corporation seems to be trying to snatch Changqing away from me.”

Li Shaobin stared at him wide-eyed. “Are you serious? It’s only been a few days, yet somebody’s taking action?”

“Also, that guy doesn’t look simple.” Song Chuyi’s brows were tightly knitted. “I wonder how Changqing got to know someone like that?”

“Isn’t that easy to find out? I’ll investigate him and give you the news tomorrow,” Li Shaobin said. “Right, now that you’ve resigned, what are you planning to do? Erm… do you want to go on a vacation with me?”

“…” Song Chuyi’s facial muscles twitched. “Are you sure no one would think we’re in that kind of… relationship if the two of us went on vacation?”

Li Shaobin became a little grumpy. “Life’s like this if you have no girlfriend and no woman to go on vacation with. I can’t possibly bring my subordinates on a vacation, right? Why don’t I ask Molun along and the three of us can go together?”

“I’m not interested in a vacation with men.” Song Chuyi stood up feebly. “You’d better get yourself a woman to go on vacations with quickly.”

“It’s not like I haven’t tried looking for one. I went on a blind date recently but I found her quite boring,” Li Shaobin said melancholically. “I find it even more boring than when I’m with you.”

Song Chuyi stumbled in his steps. As Li Shaobin’s friend, he really had to worry for the latter half of this person’s life.

The next day, Song Chuyi woke up before it was even seven.

As a doctor, after being accustomed to working long hours, he really wasn’t used to suddenly having no work.

Especially since he had neither his job nor his wife, he felt even more unaccustomed to it.

It would be great if he could cuddle his soft and delicate wife at a time like this.

He sighed silently and lay in bed for a while before getting up.

Li Shaobin slept until past nine before waking up. Song Chuyi was already done with breakfast and was sitting on the couch, reading the morning paper. Li Shaobin glanced over and saw that it was the job advertising page. “Old Song, you’re starting to look for a job already?”

“Mm,” Song Chuyi replied softly. “It’s only the small private hospitals looking for doctors. They’re not that great.”

“Nonsense, the best hospital in the entire city is your Bo Han Hospital,” Li Shaobin said. “However, Northern City Subsidiary Hospital isn’t bad either but it’s a public hospital. With your qualifications, getting in would be a piece of cake. The problem is just your awkward status. They might not be willing to hire you.”

Song Chuyi locked his brows together tightly. Li Shaobin said with a grin, “Why don’t you hustle with me? I’ll allow you to call me Boss.”

Song Chuyi scoffed and ignored him.

Just then, Hu Zhi scurried in. “Boss, Dr. Song, I’ve made some discoveries about Lin Yueli.”

“Who’s Lin Yueli?” Li Shaobin frowned.

“The person that you asked me to find out about—the person who’s working with the Yan Corporation is called Lin Yueli.” Hu Zhi even fished out a photograph from his pocket.

Li Shaobin looked at it. In the photograph, a gentleman was going down the stairs. He was dressed in a grey suit, grey waistcoat, and a light blue tie. He had a pair of sunglasses on and his hair was neat and tidy.

“This is Lin Yueli,” Hu Zhi said. “I got this picture from his overseas blog.”

“Is this the person?” Li Shaobin showed Song Chuyi the photograph.

Song Chuyi pointed at the photograph. “That’s him.”

“He looks pretty decent.” Immediately after saying that, Li Shaobin could feel the chill exuding from the man beside him all of a sudden and he quickly said, “However, isn’t it too coquettish for a man to put up such a photo on his blog? We’ve never done anything like this. How sissy. There’s nothing masculine about him. Hu Zhi, what do you think?”

“Yes, yes,” Hu Zhi said with a smile. “He isn’t as masculine as the two of you but he’s quite something. He’s a CFA certified financial analyst and he’s currently working with Mindell Investment Company in the UK. It’s said that his annual salary is around 200,000 US dollars.”

“200,000… US dollars.” Li Shaobin glanced at the man beside him once again. “Old Song, this salary… is a little high, even higher than yours. But… you also have quite some income from your investments.”

“This Lin Yueli has also privately invested in the stocks of a Chinese company, earning more than 10 million a year. In addition, people who are especially sensitive to the financial sector inevitably invest in some funds and stocks. His net worth should’ve already exceeded 100 million,” Hu Zhi continued reluctantly, “Moreover, his parents also own an independent company in the UK. They’re overseas Chinese who migrated years ago.”

Li Shaobin touched his nose. “Old Song, your love rival is quite strong but I didn’t expect Changqing to know someone so impressive.”

Song Chuyi’s face sank further. “Since he’s in the financial sector, why did he come over to dabble in the pharmaceutical business?”

“He’s helping his uncle.” Hu Zhi told them everything he knew. “His uncle imports and exports drugs and medicine in South America. I heard he’s about to enter the Indian market soon. Their business is doing very well and they also have a huge demand. Not only did they buy the Yan Corporation’s overstocked goods yesterday, but they even signed a five-year contract. Basically… once the Yan Corporation has this deal settled with, they really won’t have much to worry about. At least in this current stiff competitive domestic market, targeting the foreign market is indeed a huge breakthrough for the Yan Corporation.”

“This is a huge deal.” Li Shaobin nodded. “Signing such a huge deal just like that. I can’t help but suspect that this person has ulterior motives towards your wife too.”

Song Chuyi rubbed his glabella. Needless to say, he could already tell that yesterday.

“Get someone to watch his accommodations round the clock and inform me immediately once he makes any movements.” Song Chuyi threw the morning papers aside. He wasn’t going to hunt for a job for the time being. He had to see what this Lin Yueli could come up with.

At 11 pm at night, in the busiest hotel on Northern City’s bay.

In a cafe on the 15th floor, under the dim lights, a dashing, young, blond man was sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window with a cup of beer in his hand, immersed in the soft, alluring saxophone music.

“Apologies. I’m late because I just finished an event.” Guan Ying placed her bag on the table and sat opposite him. She had yet to remove the fine makeup from her exquisite face.

James smiled slightly. “It’s okay. I should be the one apologizing for asking you out so late at night despite knowing that you’ve had a rough day.”

Guan Ying’s pretty face blushed. James smiled. “Do you want to get something to drink?”

Guan Ying ordered a glass of fruit juice. “Why isn’t Lin Yueli here?”

“Oh, he’s been in a bad mood for the past couple of days.” At the mention of this, James’s gaze became inquisitive. “Changqing’s married?”

Guan Ying was stunned. Somewhere in the cafe, rays of brilliant lights in vibrant colors flashed past her eyes. She looked down.

James smiled knowingly. “Don’t tell me you’re married too?”

Guan Ying frowned. “How’s that possible?”

“When we asked you girls back in Mauritius, all of you said you weren’t married,” James said. “Apologies for asking such an impudent question, but to Yueli, Changqing is… truth be told, I suppose all of you should’ve been able to tell.”

“Then let me say something honestly as well. I didn’t think that you would come to China, much less Northern City.” Guan Ying looked out onto the bustling streets on the bay. “We always meet a lot of people in life. Some of them are just acquaintances. Back in Mauritius, we all had a lot of fun. It was just like a midsummer night’s dream, but outside of the dream, things aren’t that positive. We didn’t want to implicate anyone either.”