Chapter 267: Take the blame for me
"......Ah?" Zhao Siming raised his head slowly.
This question was asked suddenly and inexplicably. He didn't know what Lu Yibai meant, and he didn't dare to give a hasty answer.
"What? Just answer whatever I ask you." Lu Yibai stretched his legs and hooked the chair beside him, sitting in front of Zhao Siming casually.
Although he had more important things on his shoulders, he was not in a hurry at all. He even had the leisure to ask Zhao Siming these inexplicable questions.
"Xiao Zhao, how many people are there in your family?" he asked again patiently.
Zhao Siming looked at him blankly and answered carefully: "Mr. Lu, there are three people in my family. My mother, my girlfriend, and me."
"Girlfriend?" Lu Yibai raised his eyebrows, looking a little surprised. "You already have a girlfriend?"
"Yeah." Zhao Siming nodded, feeling a little embarrassed, "I talked about it a long time ago."
"How long have we been talking?" Lu Yibai raised his long legs and crossed them leisurely.
Zhao Siming answered honestly: "We have been talking for five years."
"Five years..." Lu Yibai calculated the time in his mind. "You came to Lu's Group and followed me right after you graduated from college. It's been four years now. So, you and your girlfriend have been together since college?"
"Yes." Zhao Siming's cheeks flushed a little, and he admitted generously: "She and I have been together since our senior year, and this is exactly our fifth year."
Lu Yibai curled his lips and showed an approving smile: "Okay, then when do you plan to marry me?"
Zhao Siming: “Next year!”
Lu Yibai's question aroused his expectations for a better future. He grinned foolishly, his eyes sparkling with happiness.
"By this time next year I will have saved enough money for the wedding, and I will be able to marry her home in style!"
Lu Yibai nodded, and looked at Zhao Siming with a little more appreciation: "How much money do you need for your wedding?"
Zhao Siming hadn't realized the weirdness in Lu Yibai's question, and still answered honestly: "It will cost 500,000. Although my girlfriend said that I only need to give a small amount as a betrothal gift and go through the formalities, I think it's unfair to her. She grew up in her parents' home with no worries about food and clothing, and I don't want her to lower her quality of life just to marry me. So I want to work hard to earn more money."
Lu Yibai: "How much money do you need now?"
Zhao Siming: "I still need another 100,000. I have saved enough for the betrothal gift and the wedding banquet. My mother has already prepared a house and a car for me. I only need to save another 100,000 as a deposit for my married life, and then I can marry her home with peace of mind."
"...That's right." Lu Yibai rarely had the patience to listen to him finish his words.
He stood up from his chair, walked to his desk, and opened a drawer in the far corner.
Zhao Siming watched his movements and felt inexplicably uneasy.
Lu Yibai never allowed anyone to touch this drawer and rarely opened it in front of them. This was the first time that Zhao Siming had suddenly opened a drawer to take something out in front of him since he started working.
Zhao Siming wanted to look but didn't dare to. His eyes rolled around randomly, as if he was about to fight.
Lu Yibai glanced at him, a mocking smirk on his lips.
He took out a check from the drawer and wrote seven numbers on it.
"Xiao Zhao, you have been with me for four years. As compensation and reward, how about I grant you a long vacation so that you can go back and get married?"
"...Ah?" Zhao Siming was stunned for a moment, "Get married? Now?"
Lu Yibai came out from behind the desk holding the check and said with a smile, "Yes, now."
"...Why?" Zhao Siming frowned and looked at him, his eyes full of confusion, "Why did Mr. Lu let me get married now? I haven't even saved up half a million yuan yet."
Lu Yibai didn't answer his question, but only said: "You have been with me for four years. Although you haven't made any contributions, you have worked hard. As your boss, of course I have to give you a gift when you get married."
As he said that, he handed the check to Zhao Siming: "Take this check, and consider it as a gift from me, Lu Yibai."
Zhao Siming did not rush to take the check, but instead looked down at the number on the check first.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...
He silently counted the length of the string of numbers in his mind, and the more he counted, the more frightened he felt.
Seven digits, there are actually seven digits! Lu Yibai would actually give him a seven-digit gift?
Even if Zhao Siming was slow to react, he should have noticed something from this seven-figure check.
"Mr. Lu..." He raised his head and looked up at Lu Yibai, his eyes filled with anxiety.
Lu Yibai handed the check to him and urged him softly, "Take it. What are you standing there for?"
Zhao Siming didn't dare to take it.
He moved his feet and unconsciously took a step back, putting some distance between himself and the check.
"Boss Lu, I can't take this money."
"Why can't I take it?" Lu Yibai stared at him, the smile on his face fading little by little, "Do you think it's too little?"
"No!" Zhao Siming quickly denied, "I'm not complaining that it's too little! I just feel that based on my dedication to the company, I don't deserve so many gifts from President Lu. Besides, I made my wedding plans a long time ago, and now it's suddenly disrupted, and I'm not mentally prepared."
"...It's okay." Lu Yibai's hands were still frozen in the air, refusing to retract. "If you are not prepared, then I will help you prepare. I can prepare the betrothal gifts, banquets, and deposits for you. You don't have to do anything, just take a leave and go home and wait for the wedding peacefully."
“…”
Zhao Siming's eyes turned cold, and the uneasiness and anxiety in his heart instantly turned into intense panic.
He had followed Lu Yibai for four years and knew that Lu Yibai was not discussing with him but giving him notice.
He has to get married whether he wants to or not.
But he didn't understand Lu Yibai's intention of forcing him, so he asked directly: "Why?"
"Boss Lu, why do I have to go back and get married now?"
Lu Yibai was too lazy to play around with him anymore, and he had no intention of doing so.
"Zhao Siming, I can't respond to Pei Xingzhi's lawsuit. So you have to take the case for me."
"……What?"
Zhao Siming had long guessed that Lu Yibai would find someone to take the blame, but he never expected that person would actually be himself.
Lu Yibai didn't want to talk to him anymore, so he just forcefully stuffed the check into his arms.
"It's just a case of defamation. You don't have to be so scared. If you lose the lawsuit, you will only be imprisoned for a few years at most. When you get out in a few years, you will be in your twenties. It won't delay you or anything."
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