Twenty-Five

 After finishing their conversation, both of them were a bit silent. There was some noise on Zhou Yang’s end, with intermittent banging sounds that resembled gunshots.

Su Hao was about to hang up; the atmosphere felt a bit awkward, like when two people who had been arguing suddenly reconcile, creating a brief sense of discomfort.

At this moment, Zhou Yang chuckled softly on the other end, “Do you want to come over and hang out?”

“Where?” Su Hao asked almost reflexively, with no real emotion, just a casual conversation between friends.

Zhou Yang looked back and scanned the area where Xu Dian and the others were. The women with them were all family members, mostly wives. Zhou Yang smiled, “The military technology shooting range.”

Su Hao glanced at the time and shook her head, “No, I still have work to do.”

“What are you busy with?”

“Sending a message to Shen He.”

Zhou Yang gritted his teeth, “Oh, okay. Then you should get busy.”

Su Hao smiled, “Alright, I’ll hang up now.”

After saying that, Su Hao ended the call. Zhou Yang looked at the disconnected call, stamped his long leg on the iron railing with force, shaking it vigorously. With one hand in his pocket, he thought about Su Hao mentioning sending a message to Shen He, his jaw tightened slightly. He opened the WeChat chat box, found Su Hao’s profile picture, and began typing.

After hanging up, Su Hao leaned back on the sofa, opened the chat with Shen He, and continued typing. She had already applied for a business trip to Dongshi and wouldn’t change it again; constantly changing was troublesome, and President Zeng was just easygoing.

After sending the message, she noticed a new WeChat message. Su Hao saw that it was from Zhou Yang. She instinctively wanted to skip it, but after a moment’s thought, she decided to open it.

Zhou Yang: You’re not going to hide from me anymore, are you?

Su Hao was silent for a while.

Su Hao: Not hiding anymore.

Zhou Yang: Good, much appreciated.

Seeing this, Su Hao smiled. At that moment, another message came in on WeChat. Su Hao chose not to reply to Zhou Yang and clicked to read Shen He’s message, which was indeed a lament.

Shen He: Ah? You’re going on a business trip to Dongshi? That’s so far. Dongshi is not as fun as Kyoto.

Su Hao: There’s no other way.

Shen He: Well, I’ll have to visit you next time.

Su Hao: Mm-hmm.

Sometimes, adult relationships are mixed with many elements and can’t be so pure or carefree. Long-distance friendships are even more challenging to develop.

Su Hao put down her phone and picked up her notebook. Before going to bed, she suddenly realized she hadn’t been in touch with her mother for two days. Su Hao sat up and called Cheng Ling. The call connected quickly. Cheng Ling asked, “Why are you still up? You’re not out on a date, are you?”

“No, I just finished reviewing work notes and was about to sleep,” Su Hao heard a probing tone in her mother’s voice.

Cheng Ling seemed a bit disappointed, “Oh, reviewing work notes. I don’t have anything to do either; I was about to sleep.”

Hearing her mother’s voice and breathing, Su Hao could tell she seemed to be doing okay these past few days. She felt somewhat relieved and said, “Mm, if there’s nothing else, good night.”

“Okay,” Cheng Ling replied, and then added, “Make sure to go out and date more, and make some more friends.”

“Alright, I know,” Su Hao chuckled, “Good night, Mom.”

“Mm-hmm.”

After ending the call, Su Hao pulled the blanket over herself and lay down. The air conditioner in the room was set on a timer, and she soon fell into a drowsy sleep.

The next day was Friday. As soon as she arrived at work, there was a meeting, a full-staff meeting. Su Hao hurriedly finished her milk, grabbed the meeting notebook, and headed to the conference room. Most people had already arrived. Su Hao sat in the finance area, lowering her head to silence her phone.

“Su Hao.”

“Su Hao.”

A few people called out to Su Hao. She looked up in confusion and saw Assistant Lu taking off his glasses and cleaning them, who happened to look over at that moment.

Their gazes met.

The people in the conference room erupted in laughter.

Su Hao was stunned for a moment.

She realized these people were joking about the two of them. Assistant Lu was also caught off guard and quickly waved his hand. Before he could finish, everyone saw Zhou Yang walking in, talking to President Zeng. Zhou Yang glanced at the laughing crowd with indifference and then looked silently at Assistant Lu.

Assistant Lu’s forehead immediately broke into a sweat, and he fanned himself.

Then, Zhou Yang took his seat.

Su Hao could feel the excitement among the women, who began adjusting their shirts and hair. Zhou Yang took the front seat, leaned back in his chair, holding a pen and playing with it. His eyes suddenly swept over and locked onto Su Hao’s gaze. The next moment, Zhou Yang rested his chin on his hand and casually curved his lips in a slight smile.

Su Hao hesitated for a moment, then lowered her head.

The aggressive look in the man’s eyes was indeed gone, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Soon, the meeting began.

Recently, there had been internal chaos, with people sent over by Zhou’s Group’s shareholders causing disturbances. They were still trying to take over Dongshi. Zhou Yang had been planning to deal with this for a long time. The people at Feijie were all young, having been replaced after he took over the company, and there were no factional issues.

However, the branch offices would inevitably face problems sooner or later. President Zeng is responsible for the financial sector and carries a significant amount of responsibility. He stood up, glanced at Su Hao and the two others, and finally said to Zhang Xian, “Arrange for more recruitment. Hire a few more people.”

“Also, Su Hao, you go on the business trip to Kyoto. Dongshi will be handled by Lu Mimi.” Su Hao was taken aback and exchanged a glance with Lu Mimi, who pouted and tapped the table, “I’m going? President Zeng?”

“Why?”

President Zeng smiled and pointed at her, “You’re more capable.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Mimi clicked her tongue but did not refute. Su Hao hadn’t expected that, after all the twists and turns, she would still end up going to Kyoto. She glanced at Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang was fiddling with his pen, holding his phone in one hand.

A few seconds later, her phone vibrated.

Su Hao glanced at it.

Zhou Yang: I asked Assistant Lu to buy a plane ticket.

Zhou Yang: How’s that? Am I good enough, sending you to see Shen He?

The man was quite straightforward, and Su Hao didn’t know how to respond. She silently turned off her phone screen; the meeting was still going on.

There was a secretary named Qi Lin who had been promoted to the position of chief secretary, serving as an acting president. People finally realized that Zhou Yang would have less opportunity to be at the company in the future.

He planned to focus all his attention on military technology.

Or rather, on Zhou’s Group, where he would also be involved. Thus, his intention was to resolve the Dongshi issue as quickly as possible. Zhou Yang had always given the impression of being a frivolous young man who did things in a way that was hard to discern, but now everyone realized.

The man was like a blade that had not yet been unsheathed—sharp and deadly.

After the meeting ended.

“Oh my god, it seems like Zhou’s Group is going to have problems.”

“It’s been problematic for a long time. President Zhou didn’t take action on Dongshi before because the people there were all high-ranking officials or related to the royal family. He turned a blind eye, pretending not to see, for the sake of the old President Zhou. Now that he’s starting to act, it means the problems are serious.”

“What about us? Will it affect us?”

“Hell no. The entire Feijie was revamped years ago. Otherwise, would you still be comfortably sitting here?”

“No wonder it’s quite chaotic there, with so many factions.”

“Of course. Only the Kyoto branch was set up after President Zhou took over, so it’s currently the cleanest and safest.”

“I have a feeling that after Dongshi is dealt with, the focus will shift to Haishi. Tsk tsk, we’re the safest here.”

“Yes, just eat and drink as usual. Although we might see less of President Zhou in the future. How about Qi Lin?”

“Impressive. Don’t you remember him? A few years ago, he single-handedly completed a military technology acquisition. Later, President Zhou transferred him here to familiarize him with the business, and now he’s put to use.”

“It seems President Zhou has always been prepared.”

Finally, there was no more discussion about Zhou Yang’s scandals. Su Hao reviewed all the chat records and realized that although the man seemed to do nothing, he actually accomplished a lot quietly. There was also talk about Zhou’s Group, which was currently managed by Uncle Zhou.

The issues at Zhou’s Group were serious.

Su Hao clicked into the chat with Su Qian.

She suddenly felt a bit guilty.

She typed:

Su Hao: Auntie, I’m coming to see you on Saturday.

Su Qian: Really? That’s great, I miss you so much.

Su Hao: I miss you too.

Su Qian: I’ll ask Zhou Yang to leave!

Su Hao: No, that’s not necessary.

Su Qian: Yes, it is!

Su Hao: “…”

At lunchtime, Su Hao went downstairs to find Tang Yu. The two of them arrived at the restaurant, which was lively as usual. The situation seemed oddly familiar.

Indeed, looking forward, Zhou Yang was there, still sitting at the same spot as last time. He was sipping coffee and flipping through a magazine when he noticed Su Hao.

He relaxed his fingers, letting the magazine fall.

The entire room erupted in exclamations and laughter.

Assistant Lu, who wasn’t a Feijie employee but worked for the military technology division, was puzzled. He had no idea about the gossip and was quite confused by the atmosphere in the meeting room.

Assistant Lu: “What’s going on?”

Over there, after getting their food, Tang Yu leaned in to whisper in Su Hao’s ear. Su Hao pushed her a few times, saying, “Stop joking, it’s really not like that.”

“Is that so? Then why don’t we sit near President Zhou? There’s a spot available over there,” Tang Yu said, pulling Su Hao’s hand and walking over. Su Hao helplessly checked her phone.

Zhou Yang: Come over and sit. There’s a spot here.

The spot was indeed the one Tang Yu mentioned.

Su Hao hadn’t replied yet.

Zhou Yang: You’re not still avoiding me, are you?

Su Hao: Not avoiding. I’m on my way.

The place was indeed crowded, with only two spots left at Zhou Yang’s table, which was the most popular spot with a view. Last time, squeezing in with others didn’t feel too good; having a separate spot was better.

After finishing her message, Tang Yu had already dragged Su Hao to squeeze into the high-top table next to Zhou Yang. Once Su Hao sat down, everyone laughed again.

Her seat was very close to Assistant Lu's, to the point where Assistant Lu could almost touch Su Hao’s waist with an outstretched arm. Of course, he would have to stand to do that, but Zhou Yang’s spot was close enough to touch directly. Zhou Yang lounged casually on the sofa and asked Su Hao in a low voice, “What’s going on with you and Assistant Lu?”

“Creating gossip? Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell Shen He?”

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