Chapter 64 Suspicion
Aside from the dense hutong gatehouses in the core area, the eastern and western sides of the imperial capital offer strikingly different views. The west boasts aerospace complexes and state-owned enterprise headquarters, many of which are remnants of the last century. The east, on the other hand, is home to steel giants and consumer meccas, with a wave of internet-famous shops undergoing renovations at an average rate of six months.
Whether in terms of geographic size or cultural heritage, the imperial capital truly deserves the title of vast. Jiang Ranxu had lived in the capital for over thirty years, and even stepping into the eastern section outside the Second Ring Road felt completely lost. His knowledge of the eastern section came entirely from his father.
When Jiang Shao was young, he tinkered with futures trading in Chaoyang, losing so much money that loan sharks would call his home. But he was adept at blaming everyone else for his mistakes, blaming the evil United States for international disputes and shrewd outsiders for business failures. Thus, in Jiang Ranxu's childhood memories, the east was a place of bad feng shui, crawling with shrewd (literally, unlucky) outsiders.
On the day Meng Weishen officially joined the new company, Jiang Ranxu drove him to the China World Trade Center. On the way, he vaguely realized that this place was incompatible with him...an incompatibility that was engraved in his genes.
The morning rush hour was drawing to a close, but traffic on the East Third Ring Road was still a scrambled mess. Even when the car reached the base of the company building, it was still jammed. Finding a parking space was a struggle; the three underground garages in the building were completely packed. Jiang Ranxu finally found a vacant space in a nearby hutong that hadn't been demolished.
He was worried that residents would dry pickles on the roof of his car, and wanted to run away immediately after Meng Weishen delivered them to the door of the building, but Meng Weishen invited him to the company to meet the rumored Mr. Kuang.
The elevator climbed intermittently, stopping at almost every floor for a major change of personnel. Jiang Ranxu took the opportunity to rub against Meng Weishen: "Your boss introduced you to a blind date and a divorce lawyer. She probably doesn't like me very much."
"No. She just thinks I got married too quickly and was too careless, so she's worried that I'll be cheated by bad guys." Meng Weishen said firmly, "As long as she gets to know you, she won't think too much. You're very popular among married women."
"So I'm the bad guy... Will she kick me out of the company as soon as we meet? Will she threaten me to leave you immediately or she'll call the police to arrest me?"
"No! Mr. Kuang is a smart man. And I won't leave you."
Jiang Ranxu pretended to be deeply touched and rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek: "Thank you, you are so kind to me. But I don't want you to lose your friends because of me..."
Jiang Ranxu was enjoying his pitiful act when the elevator stopped on the 34th floor. Three familiar faces suddenly appeared outside. Before he could move away from Meng Weishen's profile, his face was completely exposed.
Standing in the center is Meng Weishen's boss, Kuang Jia. This woman has supermodel potential, with long arms and legs, and her cheekbones protruding after her divorce. She could easily walk a runway. To her left is Yan Cunrui, the wealthiest of Jiang Ranxu's clientele. From her hairpins to her dresses, everything is Miu Miu, clinging to Kuang Jia's arm like a sweet mochi. To her right is Asher's ex, Li Yingxuan. This guy is quite gifted even for warm-blooded animals, wearing formal attire regardless of season, practically unaffected by the elements.
Jiang Ranxu cursed his bad luck inwardly. This new company not only had Kuang Jia, but also the blind date she introduced, and the divorce lawyer she introduced!
Although he thought he had kicked away all three stumbling blocks in his marriage, he always felt a little guilty when facing three old enemies at the same time.
Kuang Jia looked bewildered: "Wesley, this is your..."
Yan Cunrui was also confused: "Xiao Meng, why are you with Doctor Jiang again?"
Li Yingxuan was very frugal with words, so he just turned his eyes away in disgust.
Kuang Jia keenly realized that the two people around her might know the truth, so she looked around for confirmation.
Yan Cunrui said: "Doctor Jiang is Xiao Meng's brother, but he's not really that close."
Li Yingxuan said, "Jiang Ranxu is a fraud suspect whom Wesley met through a "three-no" matchmaking agency."
Seeing the mess growing bigger and bigger, Meng Weishen quickly explained: "Boss Kuang, this is Jiang Ranxu, it's me... my married boyfriend."
At Yan Cunrui's brief exclamation, Kuang Jia's expression froze. After a long pause, she politely greeted him, "I see... I've long heard of you, Mr. Jiang."
Jiang Ranxu gently brushed away the wrinkles on his shoulders and said politely, "Hello, Mr. Kuang. The same goes for you. Meng Weishen often mentions you at home."
"This is the first time an employee has brought their family to our company. Let me give you a tour. I'll also help Wesley get acquainted with his new work environment."
Kuang Jia sent Yan Cunrui and Li Yingxuan away and led them to the sensor glass door.
This is a small but beautiful tech company with an open design. Workstations and the pantry are separated only by greenery, allowing light to freely fill every corner. There's no ceiling above the workstations, and the pipes crisscross like a miniature maze, creating a sense of height and space.
Meng Weishen was assigned a small, independent office, with a glass window on one side and a wall on the other, separated by blinds. It was a blessing for those with social anxiety, as it was quite quiet.
Kuang Jia was indeed a smart person. She did not ask any more questions about their privacy, but only explained the work arrangements and product development prospects to Meng Weishen.
According to the other party, the company had been established for less than a year and was still in its early stages, currently relying primarily on orders from the shareholders' existing customers. Meng Weishen's work would be relatively flexible in the short term, allowing him to tinker with his own small products in his free time. Who knows, he might even come up with something truly successful.
Jiang Ranxu knew the limits of social interaction. When Kuang Jia and Meng Weishen were discussing their professional interests, he didn't need to interrupt. Only when Kuang Jia showed them around her office did he compliment her on her beautiful succulents and their diverse variety, suggesting she might consider opening a plant shop. He promised to bring her a pot of Bingpo Yulujin next time, and Kuang Jia happily thanked him.
The two men broke the ice, and Jiang Ranxu asked him at the right time: "Boss Kuang, are Boss Yan and Li Lu also from your company?"
"It doesn't really count," Kuang Jia said. "Cun Rui is a small shareholder in our company. She doesn't care if her investment pays off. She's supporting my career out of friendship. Lawyer Li is our legal advisor. Even though he's focused on divorce cases since going independent, when he was with his former partner, he only served listed companies."
The onboarding process for a small company was straightforward, and Meng Weishen had successfully secured his new identity before lunch. Jiang Ranxu, still concerned about his car parked in the alley, urged him to find a place to eat.
Perhaps bad luck always has omens. The elderly didn't dry pickles on the roof of his car, but they hung out a few pairs of underwear that looked like rags and splashed them onto the hood of his car.
This alley nestled between the high-rise buildings resembled an old patch on an ornate robe, ugly and out of place. Jiang Ranxu felt a pang of impatience, like a cat scratching at his heart. His reversing skills had never been so refined, and he quickly escaped to the asphalt road, which was as wide as eight lanes.
The vehicle drove towards Liangma River, five kilometers away.
As autumn deepened, the peak season for paddling had passed, but the river still teemed with red paddleboards. The imperial capital was never short of idlers, and today they were lucky enough to be among those strolling along the river on a weekday.
Jiang Ranxu sorted out his thoughts and the more he thought about it, the more he felt the crisis was imminent.
The lawyer was like a time bomb. Because of Asher's actions, he hated him and could blow him up at any moment. Furthermore, with Kuang Jia and Yan Cunrui fanning the flames, if Meng Weishen really worked with them, it would only be a matter of time before something went wrong that was beyond his control.
He considered how to persuade Meng Weishen to reconsider and not rush into making a decision, but Meng Weishen was clearly immersed in his longing for his new job:
No clocking in, no attendance checks, no performance indicators, no daily or weekly reports. He even jumped several levels, becoming the company's technical director. Even though he was a lone commander with only three or five regular employees, the feeling of being promoted was exhilarating.
...Jiang Ranxu really couldn't find an opportunity to persuade him to quit.
After counting over and over again, Meng Weishen finally found a shortcoming: "The salary level is quite urgent. I have to wait until the new product is successfully developed before I can get the commission. But it doesn't matter. I will find a way to save money. Ten thousand yuan a month is still..."
"No need." Jiang Ranxu was prepared for this. "You've already saved 80,000 to 90,000 yuan with me. I'll give it to you in a few days along with the interest. You can use it to buy a car so it's more convenient to go to work in the east."
Meng Weishen was stunned. Jiang Ranxu then weighed the other person's hand and teased him like a puppy:
"That's why I said saving money is useful. There will always be a place to use it in the future. Since you can't save money, then I will help you save it. Do you understand now?"
——
[R Jiang] Lawyer
[R Jiang] You go and get rid of him. You go and get rid of him. You go and get rid of him. You go and get rid of him. You go and get rid of him. You go and get rid of him. You go and get rid of him. You go and get rid of him. You go and get rid of him. You go and get rid of him.
[Cheap Matchmaker]... You better have touched it by mistake. I thought my phone was haunted.
[R Jiang] You go and kill him and make him disappear from VV Soy Milk forever.
[Cheap Matchmaker] Isn't it that the lawyer works in the same company as the straight guy? It's like he moved into your second bedroom.
[R Jiang] It doesn’t work in the same district
[Cheap Matchmaker] Your relationship is obviously very stable, and the straight man loves you to death. Why do you act like a resentful husband, worrying all day long that your husband will be seduced away by some strange woman?
[Cheap Matchmaker] I think the most dangerous factor is you. All straight men hate those who like to make trouble. Stop being crazy.
[R Jiang] If the lawyer comes to you to get information again, you are not allowed to say a word.
[Cheap Matchmaker] Oh, so you’re afraid of your dark history being exposed~
Jiang Ranxu stared at the wavy lines on the screen, wanting to sandwich the line between a pancake and feed it to Qin Shi Huang.
He was about to edit a new warning message when Sister Ni suddenly pushed the door open and informed him with a frown, "Doctor Jiang, there's a patient at the front desk clamoring for a dental appointment, but there's no record of their appointment."
These days, even going to the dentist can be considered a celebrity, so how could someone be so weird as to seek trouble? Jiang Ranxu casually asked, "Who is it?"
"I don't know. He didn't want to reveal his name. He said if you knew it, he would hide forever. Anyway, he's a middle-aged man."
"This is pediatric dentistry, where do middle-aged patients come from?"
"Hey, I'm also confused. Why don't you go out and take a look? This guy is quite aggressive, and the girl at the front desk can't handle him."
Jiang Ranxu searched his mind, but couldn't figure out when he'd ever solicited middle-aged clients. Could it be that Director Tan had posted random ads on some self-media platform? He had no idea.
He saw the man's face from afar. A face that only appeared in nightmares and painful memories, and now it appeared in the hospital where he made a living.
His physical reaction was faster than his emotional one, a mass of iron fishhooks lodged in his stomach, churning violently. He stumbled back to the clinic and called the police station.
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