Chapter 13

Chapter Summary: "Do you want to buy a car?"

Mercedes-Benz, ride-hailing service, female driver.

Without a doubt, all of this was Xu Tianzhou's masterpiece.

It was so late, but Ni Zhenzhen insisted on going out. Xu Tianzhou had no choice but to call Su Wenjin and ask him to make arrangements.

Unexpectedly, Su Wenjin was quite thoughtful, specifically asking her secretary to go instead of the company's personal driver.

The thought of Ni Zhenzhen being kept in the dark, completely unaware of everything, and even praying for her secretary made Xu Tianzhou want to laugh.

That laugh almost woke Ni Zhenzhen up.

She shifted uneasily and muttered softly to herself.

Xu Tianzhou carefully discerned her words, and it seemed to mean "cold".

In her sleep, Ni Zhenzhen kept snuggling into Xu Tianzhou's arms, and Xu Tianzhou couldn't resist, so he had to hold her tighter.

It was indeed a comfortable position, and as Ni Zhenzhen breathed evenly and deeply, Xu Tianzhou closed his eyes. In that half-asleep state, Xu Tianzhou recalled Ni Zhenzhen's ecstatic tone when she spoke of the Mercedes.

He couldn't help but laugh and curse inwardly, "How stupid."

The next morning, Su Wenjin rushed to the conference room on the 58th floor.

Just now, Xu Tianzhou suddenly said he wanted to meet, but didn't say what it was about, so Su Wenjin had to postpone her plans.

Xu Tianzhou is a man of action, so this situation is very rare. Su Wenjin went through the company's various tasks in her mind, but still couldn't find a solution, and she became increasingly uneasy.

When Su Wenjin came in, Xu Tianzhou had already arrived.

Su Wenjin gradually slowed her pace, carefully observing Xu Tianzhou's expression. Fortunately, Xu Tianzhou seemed to be in a good mood.

This is definitely not his imagination.

Perhaps because we didn't have much contact, and the limited time we spent together was always spent talking about work, my impression of Xu Tianzhou was that he was reserved, serious, rarely spoke, and didn't smile much.

After all, given her status, it's only natural for her to be cold towards him.

That's why he seems so special today.

He sat alone at the conference table, not looking at anything, not doing anything. Even though it was the most boring time, his eyebrows and eyes were full of smiles.

Su Wenjin immediately relaxed a lot.

He was just a little curious about what could make him so happy.

Su Wenjin pulled up a chair and sat down. His intuition told him that something good might happen.

As expected, the secretary brought over two cups of coffee. As the coffee cups were being placed down, Xu Tianzhou looked up and said in an elegant and sincere tone, "Thank you for your help last night."

In the corner, there were newly planted green plants, their dense branches laden with kumquats. Xu Tianzhou's smile hadn't faded; a rare tenderness in his eyes mingled with the vibrant, bright color of the kumquats.

The secretary was taken aback.

This seems to be the first time in so long that Xu Tianzhou has looked at her properly.

Shortly after getting off work last night, the secretary received a call from Su Wenjin, asking her to pick someone up. It was such a trivial matter, yet Xu Tianzhou personally thanked her.

This was something the secretary hadn't expected.

Outside, it was freezing cold with a biting wind, but inside the conference room, it was warm and cozy.

The secretary was still wearing a light red dress with an off-the-shoulder neckline, her collarbone faintly visible.

Xu Tianzhou turned his head back, and his secretary also looked away, giving a shy and hesitant "hmm".

In an instant, the atmosphere in the conference room became even more spring-like.

Su Wenjin relaxed even more, so much so that she joked with Xu Tianzhou, "Don't just say thank you."

"..." Xu Tianzhou was silent for a few seconds, then nodded, seemingly in agreement, "That's true."

As he stirred his coffee with a spoon, he casually remarked, "You should quit. Let her take your place."

Su Wenjin was taken aback for a moment, then quickly laughed again, "How can you be like this? I'm thinking of you, and you're making fun of me."

He turned to his secretary, his smile gone, replaced by a completely businesslike tone, "How about this, I'll treat it as overtime, triple pay plus time off in lieu."

After saying that, he asked Xu Tianzhou for his opinion, "What do you think?"

Xu Tianzhou put down his coffee spoon, his tone indifferent and devoid of emotion, "When did you become so indecisive?"

Su Wenjin's expression changed slightly; those words were a bit harsh.

As the actual controller of Xinda Group, Xu Tianzhou does not directly participate in management. Su Wenjin has to make decisions on all matters, big and small, of the company. Now, Xu Tianzhou actually said that he has no opinions of his own.

Recalling the earlier words "Stop doing it," Su Wenjin couldn't help but feel a little nervous and quickly changed the subject, "What did you call me here for?"

Xu Tianzhou turned his head and told his secretary to leave first.

Su Wenjin's heart sank instantly. It turned out there really was something wrong. He had thought Xu Tianzhou had only come here to thank his secretary.

After his secretary left, Xu Tianzhou thought for a while, and finally, he seemed to have made an extremely important decision.

"Find me a Mercedes."

"What?" Su Wenjin was somewhat surprised. Although it wasn't appropriate to say it like that, he still blurted out, "You've come to your senses?"

Just recently, Su Wenjin had asked him if he wanted to buy a car.

It was in this same conference room that time, and all the other executives were there. Everyone looked serious and remained motionless, except for Xu Tianzhou, who kept changing his posture.

Everyone noticed Xu Tianzhou's unusual behavior, especially the executive who was speaking, who mistakenly thought that Xu Tianzhou had some dissatisfaction with him, which was why he was acting so impatiently.

After the meeting ended, Su Wenjin tentatively asked, "What's wrong?"

Xu Tianzhou closed his eyes, his face contorted in pain. "My whole body aches."

Are you sick?

"It was because of the crowded subway."

"..." Su Wenjin couldn't believe it.

He hadn't ridden the subway for several years. Although he had heard about how crowded the subway was, he hadn't experienced it firsthand.

Just how crowded is it that people are squeezed like this?

But that's not the most incredible thing.

The most unbelievable thing is that as a logistics company, Xinda Group has no shortage of transportation. The company has a lot of assets, including not only cars, but also thirty or forty airplanes. Who would have thought that Xu Tianzhou, as the boss of Xinda Group, does not own a single car?

Su Wenjin sincerely suggested to him, "Why don't you buy a car?"

He was afraid that Xu Tianzhou might have concerns, so he added that these days, cars aren't considered luxury items, and there are plenty of cars that cost tens of thousands of yuan.

"It's just a means of transportation anyway, it's better than squeezing onto the subway."

"And it doesn't affect your ability to pretend to be poor at all."

Of course, he only thought the last sentence in his mind and did not say it out loud.

However, no matter how eloquently Su Wenjin spoke, Xu Tianzhou still flatly refused.

“She wants to buy a house first,” Xu Tianzhou said with an indescribable tenderness.

Without needing to ask, it was clear that "she" referred to Ni Zhenzhen, so Su Wenjin didn't say anything more.

He thought the matter was over, but he didn't expect Xu Tianzhou to change his mind.

Was it something that happened last night that spurred him to decide to buy a car? But there's no need to buy a luxury car. Does he not want to pretend anymore?

For some reason, Su Wenjin thought of Ni Zhenzhen again.

Does this mean that Ni Zhenzhen no longer has to suffer?

Su Wenjin pondered to herself, while Xu Tianzhou tapped on his phone for a while.

A moment later, he showed his phone and said, "I want this."

Su Wenjin glanced at it; it was a picture of a Mercedes-Benz with the model number written next to it.

As if doused with a bucket of cold water, Su Wenjin could barely think. He said with some difficulty, "This... might be hard to find."

"I'll give you one day." Xu Tianzhou stood up, buttoned his suit jacket, and looked down at him. "I'll pick up the car tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Su Wenjin almost vomited blood. Wasn't it supposed to be one day? It should be the day after tomorrow, not tomorrow. Does it mean they're counting 24 hours from now?

Is this how it's calculated?