Chapter 95
Mr. Jiang kept his promise and formally introduced Gu Jiangkuo to every relative he met.
The citizens of Yanlin were generally conservative that year. Although everyone had heard that Xiaonuo from the Jiang family liked men and actually had a boyfriend, the fact that she introduced Gu Jiangkuo as a marriage partner in a serious manner still shocked all the relatives.
Gu Jiangkuo could see that although these relatives and friends didn't say anything on the surface, they didn't quite agree in their hearts. There were even two elderly elders who wanted to show their displeasure after hearing about it, but fortunately they were persuaded to leave by the younger generation who came with them.
Gu Jiangkuo gradually became worried from his initial joy, and quietly advised Jiang Nuo: "Nuonuo, why don't you just forget it." He didn't want to make things difficult for Jiang Nuo.
"Why should I just let it go?" Unexpectedly, Mr. Jiang's young master's temper was even tougher than his. "I don't have to consider their expressions. I just gave them a heads up. Don't worry about those two uncles. They're immature, but their younger generations are more sensible. These people eat and drink at my expense, and rely on my company for their livelihood. I let them recognize the boss lady as a courtesy. Anyone who makes me unhappy, young master, can be kicked out."
It was the first time that Gu Jiangkuo witnessed the "bully" side of Young Master Jiang. He felt that his temper was unexpected but also reasonable. However, he liked this "Evil Young Master Jiang" more and more in his heart.
Although Young Master Jiang was spoiled and picky, as long as he was served well, Jiang Nuo would not have any temper and would be as soft and sticky as a piece of sugar cake. However, when faced with outsiders bullying the people he cared about, such as Jiang Xiaomi, or...himself, Young Master Jiang would stand up and confront them, and he did have the confidence and ability to do so.
Who says handsome boys don't have masculinity? Gu Jiangkuo felt that Young Master Jiang's masculinity was stronger than that of many rough guys.
Gu Jiangkuo said softly, "I understand. I will be a good 'Mrs. Jiang' and will not embarrass you."
"..." Jiang Nuo only realized at this moment that he had spoken too hastily and called the other person "Boss Lady". He was a little worried that it would hurt Gu Jiangkuo's self-esteem, but looking at his expression, he didn't seem unhappy.
Gu Jiangkuo: "So, do I officially have the title? I'll have someone hand-make a pair of keychains, one with 'Boss' written on it for you, and one with 'Boss Lady' written on it for me. How about that?"
Jiang Nuo: "..." It seems that worry is unnecessary. This is not unhappy at all, it is clear that he is enjoying it.
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Gu Jiangkuo actually placed an order for a keychain, and spent his free time chatting with the Taobao seller about the details of the customization.
The New Year passed happily like this.
As the saying goes, "It's not the New Year after the fifth day." The fifth day of the New Year is considered the end of the New Year, but there are still two days left in the holiday. Most relatives and friends who should leave have left, but there are other guests at the Jiang family's house - Jiang Xiaomi's classmates come to play at home.
It turned out to be Rong Yi.
To Jiang Nuo in his previous life, Rong Yi was his lover's white moonlight and the target of his infidelity, but in this life, Mr. Jiang has Gu Dajiang, so now Rong Yi is just his younger brother's classmate, and an excellent student at that. Naturally, Jiang Nuo welcomes him very much.
As soon as Rong Yi walked in, President Jiang asked someone to prepare fruit snacks - Aunt Mei had already returned today - and he even made room for them in the living room so that they could play video games together.
This made Jiang Xiaomi a little jealous: "Brother, why do I feel that you treat him better than I do?"
Jiang Nuo laughed and scolded: "If you study as well as others, I will let you play every day."
Jiang Xiaomi was unconvinced: "You just like those who are good at studying! Studying doesn't mean everything."
"I got the first place in the grade again this time." Rong Yi said suddenly.
“???!” Jiang Xiaomi stared at him in disbelief.
Jiang Nuo immediately praised him highly: "Jiang Xiaomi, look at him! He's so impressive!"
Rong Yi handed over another beautifully wrapped bag, "Brother Jiang, this is a gift my mother asked me to bring you."
"Thank you, that's thoughtful." Jiang Nuo took it with a smile, and then, as expected, he praised her again, which made Jiang Xiaomi roll her eyes furiously. Gu Jiangkuo came over to interrupt, "Nuonuo, Aunt Mei asked what dessert you'd like to have this afternoon. I see there's a lot of variety. Why don't you go over and pick one out?"
Leaving the two little classmates in the living room, Jiang Xiaomi immediately showed an extremely disappointed expression: "I never thought you would be this kind of person, homosexual but inhumane."
Rong Yi: “…I didn’t.”
Jiang Xiaomi asked sharply, "Then how did you understand it so quickly?"
"..." Rong Yi choked, "I'm just smart. We good students are all like that. ... I'm like a fan of your brother. I want to be like him, so I want to show off more and get the recognition of my idol."
"So you're not here to play with me, but mainly to see him?"
“…”
"Fuck! You could just give me a polite denial?" Jiang Xiaomi said, clutching her heart. "Anyway, I advise you not to show it, or Brother Gu will beat you up. Don't be fooled by his size, he's incredibly petty when it comes to my brother. Brother Gu can lift a 40-pound bucket with one hand, walk at lightning speed, and even do a Thomas spin. Ten of you, tied together, wouldn't even be enough for him to warm up."
Rong Yi: “……………………”
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Gu Jiangkuo accompanied Jiang Nuo in the kitchen, pretending to pick out a circle of desserts, and asked casually, "What do you think of Rong Yi?"
"He's quite good. He's polite, well-mannered, and a good student. Let's treat him well and let Xiaosu play with him more. As the saying goes, 'the closer you are to the red, the redder you become.' If he plays with good students more, our child will at least pick up some good study habits."
Fortunately, although Nuonuo praised him in every word, it was from the perspective of an elder, which made Gu Jiangkuo feel relieved.
"You're right, but I think that no matter how the child performs academically, he is still Jiang Xiaomi's friend and should be treated well." Gu Jiangkuo also imitated Mr. Jiang's elder tone and spoke.
However, when Gu Jiangkuo returned to the living room with Young Master Jiang, carrying snacks, he saw that the two children had already connected the Switch to the TV. Rong Yi greeted them generously, "Brother Jiang, we've set up the four-player mode for 2v2 battles. Let's play together?"
Jiang Nuo hesitated a little: "I'm not good at playing games." Although he is only four years older than Jiang Xiaomi, his mental age is that of an old man who has lived two lifetimes. He doesn't really want to play childish video games like Breakup Kitchen.
"It's okay, I'm good at this and I can take you."
Gu Jiangkuo finally lost his patience and was about to speak when Jiang Nuo smiled and declined, "I'm really not very good at playing with the things you kids play with, and I have an online meeting. I'll excuse you for now. You guys can have fun. Rongyi, if you want anything to eat or need, just tell Aunt Mei anytime. Just treat this place as your own home."
After saying this, Mr. Jiang fled.
"Don't look at me," Gu Jiangkuo said steadily, suppressing his sense of relief, "We adults are very busy."
Then he followed Jiang Nuo's footsteps and went straight upstairs.
Assistant Gu knew best whether President Jiang had an online meeting today. He went up to the third floor and went straight to the bedroom, where he saw Nuonuo leaning against the headboard playing with her iPad.
"Nuannuo."
Jiang Nuo lazily raised his eyelids, "What are you doing here?"
"Nothing." Gu Jiangkuo climbed onto the bed consciously, naturally lifted the quilt, and lay down next to Jiang Nuo. "I'm just relaxing with my boyfriend. What are you watching?"
"TV series." Mr. Jiang yawned.
Although Jiang Nuo was still afraid of the cold, he had a problem: he would only cover himself with a quilt and not wear thick clothes, so his legs were bare, and only his upper body was wearing a thin velvet bear pajamas. When he first got into the quilt, his feet were actually a little cold. Since the 37-degree constant temperature leather heater was delivered to his door, Young Master Jiang unceremoniously stretched his feet between Gu Jiangkuo's legs to keep warm.
Then he didn't forget to warn: "Behave and be polite! Otherwise, you will be kicked out of bed!"
Gu Jiangkuo: "...I'll try to be polite."
Is it polite to stand up and salute involuntarily?
However, the TV series was very hypnotic, with no logic and full of flaws. However, it was said that the male lead was a new generation idol, but Gu Jiangkuo just looked average to him.
"Maybe it's because I watch Nuonuo every day that my aesthetic taste has been refined." Gu Jiangkuo thought.
Looking at Nuonuo next to her, she had fallen asleep with her head tilted, probably already dreaming. Her eyeballs were moving rapidly, a sign of light sleep. Her thin eyelids were trembling slightly, and her crow-feather-like eyelashes cast a light shadow on her fair skin.
One hand was still holding Gu Jiangkuo's right thumb.
Gu Jiangkuo's heart softened. He kept his right hand still and covered Young Master Jiang with the quilt. Then he lay down with his thumb held by him, listened to his boyfriend's breathing, and closed his eyes.
Perhaps the warmest thing in the cold winter is to take a nap with the one you love.
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After the holiday, on the first day of work, Mr. Jiang held a "regular meeting to focus on his work" as usual, but his own mind was not focused and he was still in the stock market.
On the first day of trading, the stock price hit the lower limit as expected.
Ding Pingzhou clearly remembered that in his previous life, this stock had been rising rapidly until April, when it began to fall. What was going on? Before the New Year, he was still hesitant, wondering if this was just a normal fluctuation that he had forgotten. But the closer it got to the end of the year, the more Ding Pingzhou felt something was amiss. By the time he finally made up his mind to sell, the market was almost closed for the Spring Festival.
The first thing to do after the New Year is to sell stocks.
As expected, it was another limit down. Although he managed to sell some of it as soon as possible, Ding Pingzhou also realized how wrong the problem was. The speed of selling clearly showed that the dealer was running away!
In other words, Jin Lin and Boyao Holdings behind him also gave up!
That meant the stock would continue to fall, with no hope. Ding Pingzhou had a rather rough year. He had researched the information and naturally knew that the Jiang family had fled long ago. How did Jiang Nuo get the information?
If it were in the previous life, if there was such news, Xiao Nuo would not have failed to inform him in advance.
If only he hadn't done anything wrong to Jiang Nuo, if only he had been devoted to Xiao Nuo, then nothing would have happened afterwards. But the regret was only fleeting, and Ding Pingzhou had more troubles to worry about.
He has to cash out quickly and pay back the loan sharks!
He could pay back the mortgages from banks and formal financial institutions later. The worst-case scenario would be that he would be put on the list of dishonest persons, have his properties and options taken away, and become a complete pauper. However, if the loan sharks were not repaid on time, the gang would kill him!
The cash I've withdrawn from the stock market can't even cover the high-interest loan repayments, and the stock price keeps falling. What should I do?
Ding Pingzhou was desperate and tried all kinds of treatments, and suddenly he thought of someone.
Li Qing, who had colluded with him in the previous life and cheated Jiang Nuo of all his shares!
Li Qing is a real local tyrant. He has so many male elders, both direct and collateral, who have been in jail that one can't count them on one hand. He was the main target of Yanlin City's "anti-gang operation" later.
If Li Qing hadn't been working at Jiang's at that time and hadn't had a clean resume, he might have been admitted.
But now, the Li family is still powerful. The phone was dialed, and it rang for a long time before it was connected. Li Qingliu's unruly voice came from the receiver: "Hey, Brother Pingzhou, what a rare guest."
The tone of voice made Ding Pingzhou feel very unfamiliar. After all, in the previous life, Li Qing was sent to the Jiang family by the Li family to be "whitewashed". Although it was finally proved that Jiang Nuo had an ungrateful person by his side, this ungrateful person surnamed Li had worked in a legitimate enterprise for many years. After all, he was dressed in human skin. On the surface, he spoke and acted like a civilized person. How could he be like now?
"Li Qing," Ding Pingzhou said humbly, "you have many friends in the underworld. Can you do me a favor?"
"Is it about loan sharking?"
"You know?" Ding Pingzhou was delighted. "Do you have a solution?"
"What's there to not know?" Li Qing's voice was vague, with both men and women speaking in a chaotic atmosphere. "You borrowed so much money at once, and they're treating you like a god of wealth, showing off everywhere. But now they know about your failed investment, and if nothing unexpected happens, they'll be coming to you soon."
"Please help me, tell them..."
"Hahaha, what can I say to you? Brother Pingzhou, you're kidding me, right? You owe me so much money, how can I say anything with all my heart? I don't have that much face. Considering our past friendship, I'll give you a piece of advice: I advise you to pay it back even if you sell everything you have. Otherwise, these people will be hard to talk to."
After Li Qing finished speaking, a busy tone came from the phone.
Ding Pingzhou stood there blankly, and for a long time he didn't remember to move the phone away from his ear. He just kept the same posture, staring blankly.
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In his bright and clean office, Mr. Jiang was multitasking, reading documents and looking at stock prices.
Gu Jiangkuo was like a full-time nanny, making hand-brewed coffee for him - the workers generally had to take a break until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The construction site was closed for these two weeks and the school was not in session, so Gu Jiangkuo temporarily returned to his assistant job.
"How is the lithium mine project going?" asked Mr. Jiang.
Assistant Gu really had a general understanding of the various aspects of the group's work. When President Jiang asked, she answered fluently, and even did not forget to give her boyfriend some invisible praise. "Jiang's is thriving now. Several companies we have contacted are interested in cooperating with us. Now it's a buyer's market for us."
Jiang Nuo was happy to hear this. Everything was moving in a good direction. If he kept it up, not only would he not go bankrupt, he might even be able to bring the Jiang family to heights that were previously unattainable. This would be worthy of Old Jiang's spirit in heaven.
Just then, Gu Jiangkuo casually brought up another unrelated topic: "One more thing. Do you remember that video that was taken of us at the concert?"
"The one we sang together? Of course I remember it. What's wrong?"
The two were forced to come out because of that video.
Gu Jiangkuo: "Overnight, the entire internet was deleted."
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