Chapter 36 I Will Never Forgive You

He flashed a look of disgust and pushed aside her hand, which was reaching for his collar. She felt her long nails dig into the back of his hand, the pain in her fingertips. She smiled, confirming that this man no longer had any feelings for her. The balcony lights were off. She walked a few steps away, leaning against the railing to watch him. After not seeing him for several months, the cold, sharp features of his face had become unfamiliar. "Is anyone here?" she asked. "You're crazy!" "What are your future plans?" "It's none of your business." "I want to know my daughter's future growth path and what your plans are for her." "No need to plan, she's doing well now." "Well? You're still the same, running around all day long, how can you take care of her? She's very insecure, you know?" "Don't you have any idea why she's like this?" There was a call, she hung up, sent a message, and replied to what she wanted to say, "I can't interfere with your busy work now, I just care about my daughter. You can't take good care of her, I want to take her to New Zealand for a while to help you reduce the burden..." He interrupted, "What do you mean by try? What do you mean by burden? She is a person, not a test product, not a burden. You have to be responsible for giving birth to her!" Playing ball today, he was very tired at this point. He rubbed the corner of his eye and the bridge of his nose with two fingers, and continued, "You have been out of control of your emotions towards her for a long time, and you have been away for several months. This is the source of her anxiety. Since you are back, spend time with her well and don't talk about other things." "If you don't agree, then I will reconsider the issue of custody." She turned to the other end of the balcony. "Was it your idea, or his? You'd better not even think about it. This is my bottom line." "You've been away from home for a long time, and you haven't fulfilled your guardianship responsibilities properly. Today's your day off, and you always come back late at night. This is evidence, and I have all the records. If we go to court, you won't be able to keep custody. I'm not planning on taking that step right now. I'm just going to take her to live with us for a while. If you can't figure it out, it's not impossible." He sensed that her thinking had changed from before; someone must have suggested it. "A threat?" She remained silent. "I'm warning you, if you cause her further harm, I won't forgive you." "Think it over. If you don't let me take her away, I won't be able to see her for just a few months this time. I have other things to do, so I won't stay long this time." She didn't really want custody; she wanted to return to New Zealand soon, and she had agreed to let Shi Shi stay with her for a while. The man she was with had suggested she take Shi Shi with her and try to use custody as a pretext. Seeing that he ignored her, she glared at him...

He shot a look of disgust and pushed away her hand that was reaching out to touch his collar.

She felt her long nails digging into the back of his hand, her fingertips hurting. She smiled, confirming that this man no longer had any feelings for her.

There was no light on the balcony. She walked a few steps away, leaned against the railing and looked at him. After not seeing him for several months, the cold and angular profile of his face seemed unfamiliar.

"Is anyone there?" she asked.

"Neuropathy!"

"What are your future plans?"

"It has nothing to do with you."

"I want to know my daughter's future growth path and what your plans are for her."

"No need to plan, everything is fine now."

"Very good? You're still the same, running around all day long. How can you take care of her? She's very insecure, you know?"

"Why is she like this? Don't you have any idea?"

When a call came in, she hung up and sent a message, saying what she wanted to say, "I can't interfere with your work right now. I'm just concerned about my daughter. You can't take care of her well, so I want to take her to New Zealand for a while to try and help ease your burden..."

He interrupted, "What do you mean by 'try it out'? What do you mean by 'burden'? She's a person, not a test subject, not a burden. Giving birth to her means taking responsibility!"

Playing basketball today was exhausting. He rubbed the corners of his eyes and the bridge of his nose with two fingers and continued, "You've been losing control of her emotions for a long time, and you've been gone for months. This is the source of her anxiety. Now that you're back, spend some time with her and don't talk about anything else."

"If you don't agree, then I'll have to reconsider the custody issue." She turned to the other end of the balcony.

"Is it your idea, or his? You'd better not even think about it. This is my bottom line."

"You've been away from home for a long time, and you haven't fulfilled your guardianship responsibilities properly. Today is your day off, and you always come back late at night. This is evidence, and I have all the records. If you take legal action, you won't be able to retain custody. I don't plan to take that step right now. I'm just going to take her to live with us for a while. If you can't figure it out, taking that step is not impossible."

He felt that her way of thinking was different from before, and it must have been someone's idea.

"threaten?"

She said nothing.

"I'm warning you, if you cause her further harm, I will never forgive you."

"Think it over. If you don't let me take her away, I won't be able to come back to see her for a few months. I have other things to do, so I won't be staying long this time."

She didn't really want custody and wanted to return to New Zealand as soon as possible. She also promised Shi Shi to stay with her for a while. The man she was with suggested that she take Shi Shi over with her and try to use the custody as an excuse.

Seeing that he no longer paid any attention, she glared at him, pulled away, and walked a few steps before turning back. "Wait until Shi Shi's birthday. I can take her out for a few days, right? I'll go back to New Zealand after I send her back."

When she left, he went to check on Shi Shi's room. She was awake, but she hadn't slept well. She rubbed her eyes and said, "Dad, Mom said she would take me away. I don't want to go to a place I don't know."

He guessed that Li Yasong had done some ideological work on her.

He flicked her face with his fingertips and smiled, "We're not going anywhere."

"I don't want to go out with my mom on my birthday either. I don't like that uncle. I want to be with my dad."

"Know."

The scales of Shi Shi's emotions tilted towards him. He felt ashamed as an adult to ask a child to be sensitive and balanced.

On Monday, when he was on his way back to the company, Li Yasong sent him flight information for a week later. She secretly booked a flight for Shi Shi to go to Yunnan with her, and the departure date was Shi Shi's birthday.

He is not in a good mood.

Passing by the front desk, several people sitting in the reception area saw him, and one of them immediately stood up and greeted him very politely, "Hello, Mr. Shi!"

He had no memory of seeing this face before, so he didn't show any expression, nodded slightly, and walked in quickly.

The person who said hello was Chen Wenzhong from K Hunter.

He brought two people from his team to visit Jiang Lingli for a customer follow-up, one of whom was Li Yan, who had just joined the company.

Some of the candidates they recommended have joined the company after the guarantee period, and the final payment for some positions has arrived at the payment request period. The most important thing is to dynamically track new job requirements at Xingtan.

Jiang Lingli had something to do, so she asked them to wait.

Last year, Chen Wenzhong failed to poach Tan Ming, so he tried to poach Li Yan.

K Lie and Lin He's situations were the opposite. Thanks to its corporate brand, K Lie had relatively little trouble securing contracts, but it often lacked high-end candidates. In the two previous Xingtan bidding rounds, Lin He had out-recruited several positions. Chen Wenzhong was curious about how Lin He found talent and wanted to poach one of their people.

Like Tan Ming, Li Yan rejected him privately last year. This time, she was desperate and took the initiative to find him to give her a chance.

Upon joining the company, Li Yan immediately experienced the competitive advantage of this renowned bidding platform. Calling clients meant at least getting a say, and having a say meant opportunity. The scale and platform's brand aura gave him a much more respectful reception when communicating with clients, something he'd struggled to experience when pursuing new clients at Lin He.

This was the first time that Li Yan met Shi Zhenglin. Another friend had come here frequently because of Xingtan orders recently. He had met Shi Zhenglin before but they had not had enough time to interact with each other.

"He always has a stern face and I've never seen him smile." Another kid whispered.

Chen Wenzhong brushed off his suit trousers and said, "He has such a bad attitude towards headhunters. He scolded me before, and it was like hating the entire headhunting industry."

"When did this happen? Didn't you make an appointment with him?"

They had previously asked Jiang Lingli to make an appointment with Shi Zhenglin, hoping to communicate with him directly about their talent needs, but they failed several times.

"It happened a long time ago. It was just a failed case I handled. I won't mention it anymore."

Chen Wenzhong was unwilling to say, and they didn't dare to ask any more questions.

He was extremely embarrassed to be looked down upon by Shi Zhenglin in front of his friends, so he turned to Li Yan to change the subject and establish his authority.

"I brought you here today as a great gift for joining us. Xingtan is now our KA. I'll assign any future cases they have to you. You should have worked on their cases before at Linhe, so you're familiar with them. I don't want you to be just a researcher. I'll take you to BD more often."

"Thank you, boss, for the opportunity." Li Yan said in a flattering tone.

When he first arrived, he had to please Chen Wenzhong.

The recommended candidate is currently stable and the payment is going smoothly. Jiang Lingli also gave him a new position. After the follow-up visit, Chen Wenzhong said he would take them to find a place to celebrate in the evening and also called other team members.

At dinner that evening, Chen Wenzhong was reserved at first, but after drinking more, he opened up. Having led his team to profit, he was lauded like a deity, and he became dignified. And when he got dignified, he started boasting, either discussing company secrets or candidate gossip, inevitably discussing Star Tan. Someone mentioned Shi Zhenglin, and he became animated, recounting his experiences with him.

"He never deals with headhunters. When I was looking for a candidate for the Shanghai position, someone told me he was thinking of leaving and asked me to poach him. As soon as I called, he accused me of invading his privacy and asked where I'd heard that. That Shanghai position was highly sought after, and there was no way he could be pried away. I heard that Lin He's talks with KG fell through, and he must have been upset by Lin He. So, in this business, keep secrets confidential and don't offend candidates carelessly. If we meet on a narrow road, we might cross paths again on that mountain."

Chen Wenzhong had drunk too much and probably forgot there was someone at the table who used to work at Linhe. He continued, "You guys in this business, you have to remember to compete with your competitors. You need to be as quick-witted as you are. It's a pity that he ended up working elsewhere, and it's not as good as the one in Shanghai. I don't know which company got the orders from him."

Li Yan's face flushed when he heard this, and his heart was in turmoil. The doubts that had been entangled Lin Yao and Long Weihe for so long were revealed here. He cursed inwardly, "It must be you, the bastard, who said nonsense in front of Shi Zhenglin and ruined Lin He's reputation."

He picked up the cup and drank it. After drinking, he looked at Chen Wenzhong's face and asked tentatively, "Boss, who asked you to dig out Shi Zhenglin?"

Chen Wenzhong smiled mysteriously, "People who ask others to poach people are either their friends or their enemies. We just need to get the information and not get involved in other matters."

"Are you talking about Li Mingpeng? Where is he working now?" asked another drunken friend. He was following Chen Wenzhong on the Shanghai delivery and knew the situation.

"Don't talk nonsense, I don't know." Chen Wenzhong was not completely confused yet and was unwilling to tell the whole story.

The name Li Mingpeng hit Li Yan's head hard. He was afraid that he would forget it after drinking too much, so he went to the bathroom, opened the memo on his phone, and typed in the pinyin of Li Mingpeng.