CH 83

October 31, 2022kaychandra

Chapter 83: Flower Country’s Touching Best Pals[1]

The Bai family did not expect that a mere artist’s suicide would lead to such a mess. They had planned to bail Bai Qi out at first, but the police had sufficient evidence and didn’t accept the Bai family’s secret operations, so they put Bai Qi in jail.

There were a lot of disturbances outside. The Bai family’s dignified figures were hounded by journalists as soon as they left the house, which made them lose face and made the older generation of the Bai family very unhappy. The people in the branch families also started to become unstable. Rumors that the main family had lost its virtue and humiliated the Bai family’s moral character became more and more intense in the Bai clan.

Sometimes the fall of a family was often due to the internal roots being rotten, so as long as there was a gentle push from an external force, the building would collapse. At this time, if the people of the Bai clan had joined forces to deal with this matter, it would not have come to this. However, at this critical juncture, there were people fighting for power and profit and setting each other up. There were even people who united with outsiders to pit their own families, causing chaos within the Bai family and making the other prestigious families of Imperial Capital see a lot of jokes.

The elders sighed when they thought of Bai Qi. They thought that he was a more stable person than Bai Zhong, but didn’t know that he was even more ruthless than Bai Zhong when he did things. Bai Zhong just made a small fuss and didn’t play nice, but Bai Qi’s mind was simply a bit twisted.

Not to mention that outsiders thought Bai Qi was a beast in clothes, even they shivered in the bottom of their hearts when they found out what Bai Qi had done in private. He seemed to be a very gentle and refined child. How could he do something so terrible?

No matter how helpless and chaotic the Bai family was, Bai Qi’s case was about to go to court in two days. Originally, according to the order in which the case was filed, this case shouldn’t be judged so early. Unfortunately, the circumstances of this case were so serious and the impact was so great that the relevant authorities had to treat it as a special case, lest it cause even greater impact.

On the day before the trial, the hospital reported that Lin Kang had awakened. However, he still wasn’t out of danger because his digestive system had suffered a lot of damage. Gongxi Qiao accompanied the two elderly Lin family members to the hospital and stood outside the door of the intensive care unit. He hesitated for a while, but didn’t go in.

Many people didn’t want to see people they were familiar with after an incident like this. Gongxi Qiao was worried that his presence would irritate Lin Kang, so he just didn’t go in.

Lin Kang opened his eyes. His vision was blurry for a while before he was able to see that the white in front of him was the color of the ceiling. He tried to turn his head, but found that he was so sore and weak that he didn’t even have the strength to turn his head.

The nurse who was taking care of him immediately noticed that he had woken up and happily rang the emergency pager at the head of the bed.

When a group of doctors surrounded him for a physical examination, his messed up mind started to have the ability to think on its own. Was he still alive? When he thought of the Bai family, he smiled bitterly. He was alive but would be better off dead.

Listening to the low chatter of the doctors, he opened his mouth, but was too weak to speak.

“Mr. Lin, you just woke up, don’t rush to talk.” A sweet-looking nurse moistened his lips with a cotton swab dipped in glucose water. “We’ve notified your friends and family, and they’ll be here soon.”

Friends and family?

Lin Kang closed his eyes. Could it be that his parents had already been rescued? Moreover, this seemed to be a high-class intensive care ward. How did the company dare to arrange such a good ward for him, a little-known artist, despite the pressure from the Bai family?

Half an hour later, when he saw his parents who had aged quite a bit compared to the before, his eyes were so sore that they hurt.

“Dad, Mom.” His voice was gruff and unpleasant, and tears fell out of his eyes after just saying these two words.

Gongxi Qiao glanced at the ward, closed the door for the family and turned to talk with the attending doctor.

The attending doctor was specially arranged by Xi Qing. He was very famous in the industry. Although he was in his sixties, he looked like a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties.

“Are you saying that even if he can get through this dangerous period, he can’t sing a single song in the future?” Gongxi Qiao frowned. He remembered that Lin Kang’s dream was to be a successful singer.

“That isn’t necessarily the case. It’s just that he took too many sleeping pills, and it took him so long to wake up from the coma that I’m worried he’ll develop partial memory loss and delayed conditional reflexes as after-effects.” The attending doctor was very patient as he told Gongxi Qiao about some of Lin Kang’s possible symptoms. “Most of all, we’re also worried about the patient’s psychological problems, so the care from his family is very important.”

“Thank you.” Gongxi Qiao sighed. “In his current situation, can his parents look after him in the hospital?”

“With his parents around, his desire to live will be stronger.” The attending doctor nodded. “They can wear sterile gowns to care for him. Our nurses will also help the two old folks take care of the patient together, so you don’t have to worry in that regard, Qiao Shao.”

“That’s good.” Gongxi Qiao breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s been a lot of work for you lately.”

“It’s a doctor’s duty.” The attending doctor smiled and said, “Qiao Shao doesn’t have to worry about that.” If you asked him, Gongxi Qiao was a rare generous person. If the Lin family didn’t have this valuable person in their life, he didn’t know how miserable they would be now.

After glancing at the closed door, Gongxi Qiao decided not to bother the Lin family and left the hospital with his bodyguards. He then met with the legal team that Xi Qing had arranged for Lin Kang.

After meeting with the lawyers, he got in the car and received a phone call from Director Wang. It turned out that “The Greatest Warrior” was a huge success and the theaters wanted to postpone the movie’s withdrawal from theaters.

Only then did he realize that “The Greatest Warrior” had been in theaters for a long time. As the lead actor and investor, he had forgotten about it.

After talking to Director Wang on the phone, Gongxi Qiao sighed, rubbed his eyes, and looked out of the car window. Noticing that he was close to Xi Qing’s company, he said, “Let’s go to the headquarters of the Xi Group.”

At the Xi group headquarters, Xi Qing finished a video conference with a branch office. He was talking with several executives about a new plan when he received a short message on his cell phone.

“You guys can go down and think about the plan.” Xi Qing closed the file. “Let’s all go back.”

The executives left as instructed. Only Special Assistant Gou screamed in his heart, there it was, there it was, the boss’s enchanted smile.

“Special Assistant Gou,” Xi Qing called out to Special Assistant Gou who was walking at the back, “In ten minutes, please pick up someone from downstairs for me.”

Special Assistant Gou stopped and turned to face Xi Qing before saying, “May I know which guest I am going to receive?”

“It’s not a guest, it’s just that Xiao Qiao is coming to the company.” Xi Qing said in a softer tone, “He’s not familiar with our company, so I’ll trouble you to bring him up.”

“Okay, I’ll be right down.” Special Assistant Gou suddenly realized that it was Qiao Shao who was coming to the company. Apart from signing the contract on that occasion, this was the first time the second boss had officially visited the headquarters of the Xi Group, so he couldn’t afford to neglect this valued person.

Seeing the number one assistant come down in person looking like he was ready to receive a VIP, the company receptionists were a bit curious. Was a big shot coming over? However, in the appointment book, it seemed there weren’t any big shots worthy of the BOSS’s personal reception this morning ah.

Although they were curious, they didn’t dare to ask more questions. When the two black Bentleys pulled up outside the company gate, they all carefully observed them.

This kind of Bentley seemed to be one of the Bentleys that the boss usually liked to ride in.

Well, the bodyguard who came down from one of the cars behind seemed to be in the same style as the Xi group’s bodyguard team. Was it one of the Xi family’s old masters? However, since the BOSS took power, no old master dared come to headquarters and rely on their seniority to boss people around. They usually wouldn’t hang around the headquarters in order to avoid upsetting the BOSS, so it shouldn’t be the Xi clan’s own family.

After the person in the car came down, the eyes of several receptionists suddenly lit up.

Qiao Shao, Qiao Shao, it’s Qiao Shao ah! Even if Qiao Shao was wearing coffee-colored sunglasses, he was still handsome ah!

Tsk, tsk, tsk, they wanted to pounce on him.

“Qiao Shao.” Special Assistant Gou stepped forward and said in a respectful manner, “The boss asked me to come down and pick you up.”

“Thank you.” Gongxi Qiao took off his sunglasses and smiled gratefully at Special Assistant Gou. When he passed by the front desk, he also nodded and smiled politely at the young female staff at the front desk.

Special Assistant Gou, who was walking beside him, couldn’t help but feel in his heart that he was worthy of being the one the boss liked. He was graceful, treated people well, and emitted charming hormones from his hair strands to the soles of his feet. No wonder several receptionists’ faces were so red. Such a man was indeed a complete charmer to the opposite sex. Of course, for the same sex, he was also very appreciated.

The straight as a pencil Special Assistant Gou didn’t know that Gongxi Qiao was called one of the male entertainers that many netizens had the most gay fantasies about on a certain gay website.

After taking Gongxi Qiao into the president’s special elevator, Special Assistant Gou directly pressed the floor of the president’s office. Then, he described several important office department floors to Gongxi Qiao. Unfortunately, before he could introduce two of them, the elevator arrived.

“The boss’s office is inside. The office over here is for the secretary department.” Special Assistant Gou smiled as he introduced the layout of this floor. “I also have an office on this floor.”

“It’s nice.” Gongxi Qiao smiled at Special Assistant Gou’s enthusiastic introduction, but didn’t actively inquire about the Xi Group’s business. After sweeping his eyes over the potted plants placed in the corridor, he walked directly towards Xi Qing’s office.

Special Assistant Gou secretly watched his behavior closely, and then once again sighed in his heart. Putting aside the issue of gender, the boss was really lucky to find such a good lover.

He was capable, talented, graceful and good-looking, and he was also very measured in what he did. The whole person was perfect and flawless in 360 degrees. If the boss spent his life with such a person, it might really be a happy thing.

As an assistant, he had no right to express his opinion or advice on his boss’s private life, but this did not affect his appreciation of Gongxi Qiao.

“The boss is right here, please go in.” Special Assistant Gou knocked on the door of the president’s office, paused for a few seconds, then directly opened the door of the office, and then retreated to the side with a meaningful glance.

Seeing Gongxi Qiao, Xi Qing put down the pen in his hand, got up and said, “Come in and sit down.” After saying that, he glanced at Special Assistant Gou.

Special Assistant Gou understood in a second and wisely closed the door for the two of them before turning around and walking towards the secretary’s office.

Tang Lin saw him come in empty-handed and was a bit puzzled, “What’s up?”

“The boss has an honored guest with him,” Special Assistant Gou said. “You should make two cups of tea and go over there. Remember to make green tea.” Ever since he guessed that the boss liked Gongxi Qiao, he purposely looked up Gongxi Qiao’s life hobbies on the internet and knew that he liked green tea in summer and autumn, and black tea in spring and winter.

Seeing that he deliberately dictated such a sentence, Tang Lin felt confident that it really was a valuable guest.

After she went to the pantry and made tea, she carried it to the president’s room and finally knew why Special Assistant Gou’s attitude was so solemn.

“Qiao Shao, please have some tea.” Tang Lin put the two cups of tea in front of the two people and exited the president’s office. Although, as a single woman, she received critical damage when she saw the two smiling at each other, the consequences of disturbing her boss’s relationship would definitely be very serious, so she still had to be smart.

“Your assistant and secretary are quite good.” Gongxi Qiao saw that the two were very smart and discerning people. No wonder Xi Qing relied on them. He picked up his tea and took a sip. “The tea is also well brewed.”

“She’s my chief secretary, and usually only makes tea herself when a valued guest arrives.” Xi Qing frowned and took a sip. In fact, it was just so-so, not as good as the tea he brewed.

The “valued guest” smiled, put down the cup of tea and said, “Lin Kang has woken up. Tomorrow I have an appearance on behalf of the Lin family. I might have to deal with a lot of reporters. Remember to arrange a few more bodyguards for me.”

“As the lord of the manor, you have the right to arrange everyone in the bodyguard team,” Xi Qing said. “I’m worried that there will be chaos tomorrow. You must be careful.”

Gongxi Qiao nodded. He suddenly remembered that a Xi Group employee had posted a graphic description on Weibo about how the Xi Group headquarters staff meal was full of color, aroma and flavor, and most importantly, free of charge, except for a special stir-fry area.

The employees of many other companies were envious and jealous, but unfortunately the Xi group’s requirements for employees were too high. The general public couldn’t get in if they wanted to, and the headquarters were even more demanding. He heard that even the cleaners had to be closely scrutinized.

“I heard that your staff meal tastes good. I want to try it.” Gongxi Qiao smiled and said, “Do you want to come with me?”

Xi Qing, who had never eaten a staff meal before, was taken aback. However, he, who had never objected to Gongxi Qiao’s requests, nodded reflexively. “Okay.”

Gongxi Qiao smiled with a look of satisfaction.

For his own man, even if he couldn’t disclose his romance to the public, he wanted everyone to know that he was the most important person around Xi Qing.

Xi Qing is also very happy to take his lover to a group staff meal, so that the whole company could know that he was close to Xiao Qiao. It was just too good to be true.

The two men with the ambition to “show their love” appeared shoulder to shoulder in the lobby of the Xi Group’s staff cafeteria, astonishing the staff.

What was the big BOSS going to do, bring his best pal to inspect the environment of the cafeteria?

“Qiao Shao is very curious about our staff cafeteria, so the boss came down with him to have a taste,” said Special Assistant Gou, quickly solving everyone’s doubts.

So it dawned on the crowd that this was the case. No wonder the BOSS, who had never appeared in the staff cafeteria, had magically appeared today.

But those two people were really a pair of close good pals. The way they ate staff meals was even so meng. Looking at the boss, he obviously didn’t know how to get food at a cafeteria. Also Qiao Shao was following the boss with a grin, looking so eye-catching.

The way they stood together was so eye-catching and well-matched that they had to secretly take a picture of it.

Huh, they were two men standing together, why did they think of the words well-matched?

No matter, the big boss and the big star appeared, it was better to take pictures first.

So that day an employee of the Xi group posted: the big BOSS has never eaten a staff meal. Today, he even accompanied his best pal to try something new, his best pal is really invincible.

Some netizens complained that the boss was so exceptional that he didn’t even go to the staff cafeteria, what a good leader.

The employee calmly dumped a candid photo onto this netizen’s face.

So, after this netizen got a huge shock, this Weibo was reposted by many people. Therefore, from today onwards, Gongxi Qiao and Xi Qing were named by netizens as “Flower Country’s Touching Best Pal Combination.”

The straightforward netizens were still moved by the friendship between the two, and the people with strange brains had secretly hidden in the corner and started writing fanfiction.

The two parties involved in the online buzz were ignorant. Gongxi Qiao looked at the two meat and one vegetarian meals on the plate, tasted a few bites, and had to say with a clear conscience that the Xi group’s meals were indeed a hundred miles away from the university cafeteria.

Xi group food > film crew lunch box > school cafeteria food.

“Although it can’t compare to what the chef at home makes, it’s already very good.” Gongxi Qiao finished the meal and put the empty plates in the recycling area with Xi Qing. “Next time we have the chance, let’s try it again.”

“Okay.” Xi Qing gripped his phone and smiled in response.

The taste of the meal wasn’t important. What was important was that everyone thought the picture of him and Xiao Qiao together was a good match.

T/N

1. Best pals: 基友 this can mean a very close same-sex friend and also a gay partner, lol