Chapter 29 Zhengzheng saw him sitting on the sofa...

The number displayed on the scale was incredibly powerful. For several days in a row, Ying Shixue felt full all the time. Even when it was time for bed, Song Mingli forcibly dragged her from the computer in the study into the bedroom.

However, the tasks assigned in the following days were indeed busy. Generally, each project was assigned two secretariat staff, and he happened to be assigned to liaise with Sheng'an.

After years of being at odds, they've both become seasoned business shrewds. The intention to cooperate was agreed upon, but neither side was willing to back down an inch at the negotiating table. They've been playing a game of cat and mouse, pushing each other back and forth for almost half a month.

That day, Ying Shixue went to Song Mingli's office at four o'clock in the afternoon as usual. A snack was already laid out on the small table next to his desk.

This is the method that nutritionists collectively came up with later: avoid greasy and spicy foods, avoid cold and raw foods, eat until you are 80% full, eat small meals frequently, and do not eat before bed to avoid bloating.

He glanced at Song Mingli, who was reviewing documents, sat down in his chair, picked up his chopsticks, took a bite, and before he could put it in his mouth, his phone screen lit up.

Ying Shixue glanced at Xi Bojian subconsciously and said, "I heard that a new batch of fresh beef has recently arrived. I know a restaurant that makes really good beef. Do you want to go and try it together?"

Below is a photo of him taken by someone else at a restaurant.

I don't know where the other party got the idea that he had accepted an invitation to dinner during that brief meeting at the summit, which was already the fifth or sixth time in almost a month.

Ying Shixue was about to turn off her phone when her little finger accidentally touched the picture, and the photo suddenly zoomed in and pierced her eyes.

Ying Shixue glanced at it, ignoring it, and was about to continue when she suddenly noticed something and paused. Then, with a slightly unpleasant expression, she picked up her phone and zoomed in on a certain spot, zooming in again and again.

The image was blurry, and Ying Shixue was about to switch to software that could sharpen it when Song Mingli, noticing that he hadn't eaten for a long time, put down his pen and looked over: "Didn't you like what I made today?"

Ying Shixue, who had been slightly bending her fingers to operate the device, stopped midway. After a moment, she casually turned off the phone screen and smiled, "No, I was just saying I wanted to eat this..."

In the afternoon, Wei Chao was surprised to find that Ying Shixue had started packing her things around 5 p.m. "Are you leaving get off work?"

“Okay,” Ying Shixue sorted and put away the last document. “Something suddenly came up at home, so I have to go back right away. I’ll take the work home tonight to do.”

He also showed a rare display of youthful shrewdness and energy, quietly pointing towards the general office: "I didn't ask the boss for leave this time. When they come to investigate, Brother Wei, please cover for me."

This kind of thing happens quite often. Unexpected situations arise, and the leave application process is troublesome and deducts from the full attendance bonus. Besides, it's already past the end of the workday, so if you don't work overtime...

After all, they were all just doing work for someone else for a paycheck. Wei Chao sighed and waved his hand, saying, "Leave it to me."

"If you're too busy with things at home, you can stop doing it for now. Just send me a message and I'll do it for you."

Ying Shixue smiled and did not refute, "Then I'll trouble Brother Wei for now."

—

When Ying Shixue came out, she checked her watch. It was a little past six o'clock. If Song Mingli was fast, he would usually get home around eleven or twelve o'clock at night. In other words, if nothing unexpected happened, she could finish her work here before Song Mingli got home and found out.

I took a taxi after leaving the company, but the traffic was terrible during rush hour. By the time Ying Shixue arrived, it was already 7 p.m.

As dusk settled, waiters in black and white uniforms respectfully led him from the entrance to the lobby, then onto a glass-enclosed panoramic elevator that took him to the city's most renowned revolving starry sky garden restaurant. The melodious strains of a cello drifted on the night breeze. The large floral-patterned chairs by the windows were unlit, only illuminated by fragrant candles. Xi Bojian, dressed in a well-tailored suit, sat smiling at the table.

The tablecloth is snow-white and the tableware is silver. From here, you can see the bustling and dazzling night view of the city and the colorful lights overhead.

After the waiter led him there, he quietly withdrew. Xi Bojian stood up from his seat and gracefully pulled out a chair for him.

The candlelight flickered slightly in the boundless night. Xi Bojian cut the top-grade Wagyu beef, which had just been flown in from Xitu City that afternoon, into small pieces and pushed them in front of him: "Try it."

Ying Shixue's face was beautiful and delicate. In the dim, flickering candlelight, she seemed to be emitting a soft, captivating glow. At this moment, her long eyelashes drooped as she looked at the dishes in front of her, and her eyes, though hidden, seemed to be covered with a thin layer of ice.

Seeing that he hadn't moved for a long time, Xi Bojian put down the knife and fork she had just used with some regret, leaned forward slightly, rested her elbows on the table, supported her chin with the back of her hand, and tilted her head towards the distance.

The night wind ruffled the hair on his forehead, and his voice flowed more than a hundred meters into the air: "A long, long time ago, I wondered what it would feel like to stand at the highest point of Brahma City and look down into the distance."

He raised the wine glass on the table. The red wine in the glass was as mellow as silk. The starry night sky of Brahma City was shrouded in lights like a sea of ​​stars, casting a dazzling light and shadow on his glass. In the distance, the starry seas on both sides of the sky reflected each other, a magnificence far beyond imagination.

Xi Bojian took a sip of the scarlet wine in his glass and sighed softly, "The richest people in the world, Xi of the South and Song of the North..."

He slowly raised his hand, and for a moment Ying Shixue thought he was going to reach out his hand, but in the end he turned it and placed it on his own heart.

"From the first time I met you, I felt that we had the same thing in our hearts, and the subsequent meetings made me even more certain of this idea."

“My father is old-fashioned and conservative. My eldest brother, relying on his noble background, beats and scolds the servants at home. Even a barely good report card can bring smiles to my grandfather and father’s faces. Even after he took over the company as an adult and made such a big mistake in the contract he was handling, his maternal family transferred nine figures directly to his card without saying a word.”

"At the year-end banquet, he was flattered by everyone and felt proud that the Xi family had successors and that the century-old business could be passed on again."

"That is extremely, extremely unwilling."

"Because they all hold very high positions, they are already satisfied with their current status. But I am different. For more than 20 years, I have been silent and humble. I am no longer satisfied with staying in the dust."

For a wealthy family's illegitimate son, who has been marginalized and ignored for years, to say such things is extremely rebellious and would be subject to public condemnation. If others were present, they would probably be jumping up and down, beating him up and down, asking where he got the audacity.

But upon closer examination, one can discover the terrifying undercurrents hidden beneath the calm words.

Xi Bojian smiled and said, "You also think that I have nothing and that going against Xi Chengxu is like throwing an egg against a rock?"

Ying Shixue's expression remained unchanged, her sharp gaze almost piercing through the skull of the person in front of her, dissecting it to see every thought within.

After a long pause, he exhaled, his expression softening slightly, but he shook his head: "No."

He gazed at the thick, rich liquid in his glass: "Success or failure."

He had seen Xi Chengxu's failed case before, thinking that he could buy low and sell high by accurately judging the market. In reality, Pinker Manufacturing was already heavily indebted and riddled with problems. After signing the contract, they dealt him a heavy blow.

If it were an ordinary businessman, this move would probably have bankrupted him and left him destitute. But his account suddenly had nine figures, which miraculously filled the gap.

Outsiders only thought that Young Master Xi had suffered a setback and was unlucky, but Pinker, an old-established manufacturing company, had long been plotting to find someone to take over this mess. Why did it happen to be half a month before the Xi family's anniversary celebration, and why did it happen to coincide with the time when Xi Chengxu had paid off the bulk of the payment, leaving a gap in the cash flow?

"You don't want Xi Chengxu to fail on that project, but rather to use this huge, undeniable mistake to make Xi Hongyi, and even the entire Xi family, realize something."

"Xi Chengxu is not only the eldest son of the third generation of the Xi family, but also the grandson of the Ji family of Haitai."

"Clap, clap, clap," the sound of applause rang out, and Xi Bojian could be described as appreciating it.

Hai Tai has few children. Besides Xi Chengxu's mother, he only has one older brother. According to reports, he is not a very good candidate for the next wife. When the Xi and Ji families were united by marriage, the Ji family already had the idea of ​​seeking help from the marriage.

In a family with complex blood ties, the sudden rise of suspicion can be extremely deadly. The Ji family is willing to devote all its resources to helping because they value the enormous and continuous profits that Xi Chengxu can extract after Xi Zongbo's death and Xi Chengxu's rise to power a hundred years later.

In the past, to cover up the truth, Xi Chengxu did not have a close relationship with his maternal grandfather, at least on the surface. But that time, the mask was completely torn off, revealing the truth that Xi Zongbo could not tolerate.

Why were several respected uncles from the Xi family also present at this summit?

Ying Shixue watched his slow and deliberate movements, and her heart sank suddenly.

Today, the other party made no attempt to conceal their identity by booking a table on the top floor of the sky restaurant, clearly indicating that they have reached the point of revealing their true colors and no longer need to maintain a harmless facade.

His cell phone rang suddenly. He looked down and answered, only to hear Wei Chao's anxious voice coming through: "Secretary Ying, where are you? The person in charge at Sheng'an has suddenly changed! We have to start over..."

He could barely hear what Wei Chao said after that. Ying Shixue gripped her phone tightly, gave a brief reply after a moment, and then hung up.

Across from her, Xi Bojian appeared confident of victory. Ying Shixue suddenly smiled, her tone nonchalant: "Who the next head of the Xi family is has nothing to do with me."

Xi Bojian shook his head, placed the wine glass on the table, and the clinking of the glass made a startling sound in the silence: "If there's no connection, why did you choose Tianzhe Medical Devices so firmly from the very beginning when selecting your graduation project topic?"

With his free hand, he took out a well-preserved sealed bag from the inside pocket of his suit, slowly unfolded it in front of Ying Shixue, and pushed it towards him.

"You've been tirelessly searching for it all these years, haven't you?"

The object, no bigger than the palm of a hand, was completely exposed to the outside world, and Ying Shixue's breath caught in her throat for a moment.

In the reflection of the glass window opposite, he could clearly see his suddenly dilated pupils.

—

It was past ten o'clock when Ying Shixue returned to the villa. Aunt He and Uncle Liang should have all gone to sleep. The light coming from the window was dim. Ying Shixue pushed open the door with some fatigue and saw Song Mingli sitting on the sofa, who had been waiting for a long time.