CH 10

They say that children start growing up when they are three years old. Zhou Weiwei hadn’t been following Zhou Hao for long before he learned to insinuate sarcasm coldly.

The representative who had just been smiling stood in place with his face like a pig liver, as if hit by a hammer. Tang Yi didn’t have any intention to help him either. Instead he took Zhou Weiwei on his lap, brought over a small milk cup and said gently, “Here, have a sip of milk.”

The whole day after that, no one else came over to try their luck. Whether it was eating or playing with Zhou Weiwei in the hotel pool, Tang Yi had a rare moment of peace and quiet. After arriving in Sanya, Ning Zeyu went to worship Guanyin of the Southern Seas and only came back at three o’clock in the afternoon. On the way, he called Tang Yi excitedly.

“Tang Yi, don’t forget to get HAPPY tonight! They say there’ll be pretty chicks to share a hot spring with!”

Tang Yi responded, “Okay.”

“Hey, by the way, I heard that Lin Rui went back today?” Ning Zeyu tsked, a little confused, “How badly is he hurt? Isn’t it just a little scrape? I was envious for a while when I heard that the company was reimbursing the round-trip airfare and accommodation costs for their families. Isn’t this just free travel?!”

Tang Yi really didn’t know about Lin Rui’s return, but he didn’t want to know either, so he let out an “oh”. “I don’t know.”

“That’s right, hey, I bought some fruit, I’ll give it to you when we get to the hotel! Which room are you in?”

Basically no outsiders knew about Tang Yi staying with Zhou Hao. They arrived at the hotel early and went out again last night. Tang Yi hesitated for a moment and Ning Zeyu was smart enough to sense it, “Then what, you can come and get it from me, I’m in 1602.”

Ning Zeyu bought a lot of fruit. He didn’t care about the eleventh study trip and took advantage of it to go to the Nanshan Temple to pray for peace for the elderly in the family. He bought a lot of fruits by the way and planned to take them back home. The boxes of fruit were packed and there were many ripe ones that were ready to eat for Tang Yi.

The tropical fruits were indeed sweeter than the ones bought in T City, and Zhou Weiwei, Tang Yi’s little tail, followed him everywhere he went. When they came to Ning Zeyu’s room to eat the fruit together, the little one picked up the mango and tried to nibble on it.

Ning Zeyu was surprised to see the child, tsked and flicked his finger on Zhou Weiwei’s head, “This has to be peeled, you can’t chew it directly!”

Zhou Weiwei blinked and looked at Tang Yi. Ning Zeyu couldn’t help but be happy, “Wow, you don’t believe me! Bear kid, I’ll get it for you.”

There was no knife in the hotel room, so Ning Zeyu took the mango and split it like a sweet potato, roughly pulling off the skin. When he handed it to Zhou Weiwei, it was a whole lot smaller.

Zhou Weiwei obviously didn’t want to eat it, and asked for a piece of skin from Ning Zeyu to nibble on.

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Tang Yi was always smiling at him, but when he saw him gnawing on the peel, his eyes stung and he couldn’t help but turn his head away.

When he and Gu Yanting started living together and bought a house, they were so poor that they could only afford to buy some fruit to eat when it was a festival or something. At that time, on a rare occasion they bought mangoes, Gu Yanting would carefully cut the pulp into squares and put it in a bowl, bringing it to Tang Yi’s desk. Then he squatted on his own by the trash can and gnawed on the peel.

Ning Zeyu had already carelessly pulled another one and handed it to Tang Yi.

Tang Yi was stunned for a moment and said with a smile, “I’d better eat a banana.”

The star of the evening’s party was Shen Fan.

When Zhou Hao was driving last night, he pointed out the reason for the party as if unintentionally. Originally, the former president of ER had an absolute controlling stake in ER, and the rest of the directors, including Zhou Hao, together accounted for a minuscule amount of shares.

However, with the continuous development of ER over the years, the tiny share dividends had become a considerable amount of remuneration. The wealth is very attractive, so some of the old directors began to dilute the shares of the former president through capital increases and acquisitions on the pretext that the company needed to grow. There were even directors who had started with shares in technology and wanted to increase their share, and for that they ran to the home of the original boss and cried.

When the company was first set up, ER was just a small company with a registered capital of 100,000 yuan. Over the years, the company had developed, with shareholders staying and leaving, and the old directors who remained after the replacement of one crop after another, had the basis to talk to the old boss about brotherhood.

The original boss had a generous character and was repeatedly stabbed in the back by his so-called brothers, and now some of the directors started to attract capital to focus on the film and entertainment industry, so the old boss had no choice but to retire to the background and let his own son take over.

The boss’s son was Shen Fan. Before he came, the directors had already turned Shen Fan’s background upside down, but they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

He was an excellent young man who had been a good student at school since he was a child. However, in the eyes of these old goblins who had been rolling around in the frying pan of society for many years, good students were the least worthy of being feared.

So when Shen Fan proposed that he would like to meet the middle management of the company in Sanya as he took up his post, the old directors made a clever change to hold a general meeting in Haikou and “stop by” in Sanya afterwards.

On the one hand, it showed that they had a considerable right to speak, thus giving Shen Fan, a green young man, a warning. Secondly, few people among the middle management knew the inside story. If someone left after the meeting in Haikou, they would have inadvertently offended Shen Fan. Young people are always hasty and flamboyant; if Shen Fan really tried to make an example of them, the chicken that had suffered an unwarranted disaster would immediately be forced into the old directors’ camp.

While Zhou Hao spoke casually, Tang Yi secretly broke out in a sweat listening to him.

In any case, he did have the idea of going back halfway after the meeting. Let’s not talk about Shen Fan and Gu Yanting being friends, but from this incident alone, he had almost become someone’s target. What’s more, now that he and Gu Yanting had split up, he didn’t have the slightest intention of climbing the ladder by relying on his old relationship.

“Tomorrow, it’s the right thing to dress up,” Zhou Hao inclined his head at that time, his eyes smiling. “If you can, wait for me to come back and we can go together.”

Tang Yi was lost in thought for a moment. He wanted to ask if it was coincidental or deliberate that Zhou Hao took him along at noon, but he didn’t ask until he had gone to bed.

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“Wear something formal for the evening.” Tang Yi leaned on the hotel sofa and turned his head to remind Ning Zeyu. “The new boss will be there, so it’s best to pay attention.”

Ning Zeyu froze for a moment, a little surprised, “Isn’t it that we’ll just all get together for a meal and then have fun together after dinner?”

Tang Yi smiled, “It won’t be any trouble for you to come up and change your clothes again then.”

Ning Zeyu let out a cry, “That’s right, so let’s go there together?”

“No,” Tang Yi looked at Zhou Weiwei who was eating with his face all sticky and sighed softly, “You go down first, I’m waiting for someone.”

Zhou Hao’s flight was still late. Tang Yi brought Zhou Weiwei back to his room and was head over heels looking for the little one’s evening dress when he got a notice from Secretary Zhao.

“Mr. Zhou’s flight was delayed and the exact departure time was not set,” Secretary Zhao said with a sad expression.

Zhou Hao’s original flight was scheduled for after three o’clock in the afternoon, and it was just time to arrive in Sanya at six o’clock, so he could come to the hotel to change and go to the banquet hall. However, the flight was delayed at the moment. It was okay if it was delayed for less than half an hour, but if it was delayed for a longer time, the party might be missed completely.

Secretary Zhao asked Tang Yi with some caution, “Manager Tang, do you want to go there first or?…”

There would be a small ceremony at the beginning of the party, and the higher the status, the later the guests would appear. So if a middle-level person like him came later than the leaders, it would be a clear sign of disrespect.

Tang Yi himself didn’t want to offend the leaders, especially Shen Fan. However, at this moment Zhou Hao had not yet returned, and Secretary Zhao said “or”…

He gently lowered his eyes and slowly shook his head, “It’s okay, I’ll wait for Mr. Zhou.”

Secretary Zhao retreated in response, not forgetting to bring the door of the suite shut on his way out.

Zhou Hao was a strict leader and at the same time so particular about many things that he was practically nitpicking. Secretary Zhao, who received a salary several times larger than others, naturally incorporated this nitpicking into his duties and implicitly grasped the understanding of certain special requests.

For example, before Director Zhou left, he told Secretary Zhao that when he informed Manager Tang of something, he had to see him in person. When he passed the conversation to Director Zhou, Secretary Zhao naturally added his comments on the other party’s movements and expressions.

“Mr. Zhou, I have already spoken to Manager Tang. Manager Tang didn’t hesitate and said he would wait for you to go together.”

The voice on the other end of the phone was low and steady, and Secretary Zhao listened with bated breath, finally getting two very weighty words.

Zhou Hao said, “Very well.”

Secretary Zhao couldn’t figure out whether it was said about him or about Tang Yi, but overall he was quietly relieved. Then he was stopped by Zhou Hao who added with a smile, “Even if he hesitated, he wouldn’t let you see it.”

—

Right next door to Zhou Hao’s suite, a similarly upright-looking man was also listening to his assistant’s report.

“Mr. Shen, Mr. Lin already returned to T City and just called to ask when you’re going back.” The assistant omitted to imitate the shy and resentful tone of that Mr. Lin today and pinpointed the part that Shen Fan wanted to hear.

“He said he was planning to throw a birthday party for Mr. Gu and asked if you were coming.”

“Oh?” Shen Fan’s long, slender fingers gently rested on the side of his face, touching a tear mole at the corner of his eye as he hummed, “I’ll come.”

“Okay.” The assistant made a note and added, “Yesterday from noon to evening, Mr. Zhou was with Manager Tang, and today Manager Tang brought a child with him, which was found to be Mr. Zhou’s illegitimate son.”

Shen Fan sat on the sofa with his long legs crossed, spitting out a word indifferently, “Hm.”

The assistant had almost finished reporting when he remembered the call from the old man at noon and said with a bit of apprehension, “The old man said that you must be on time tonight. There are a dozen directors of the company downstairs, so don’t take them lightly.”

“……” This time Shen Fan didn’t speak but raised his eyes and looked over carelessly.

The assistant’s heart trembled when he heard Shen Fan say slowly, “A dog that can’t recognise its master, do you think I should beat it or should keep it?”