Tired from walking, I leaned against the railing, gazing at the night view across the river… I felt a little lonely, but instead of lighting a cigarette as usual, I simply counted the passing boats… one, two, three…
I kept counting, but then I forgot how many I counted, so I started over.
This is probably the highest level of loneliness: wasting the most precious time on something completely meaningless.
...
About ten minutes later, I received a call from Brother Ping. After I answered, he complained to me, "We have an appointment with the developer tomorrow afternoon to discuss the details of the cooperation. Where have you been? I haven't seen you all day!"
"You've arrived in Shanghai?"
Why did you suddenly go to Shanghai?
Because it was a serious matter, I lied to Brother Ping. I replied, "Sisi's dad asked me to discuss the company's structure... Don't worry, I've already booked a flight to Phuket for 7 a.m. tomorrow. I'll definitely be back before the afternoon."
"I really want to call you big brother. This is such a crucial moment! Tie Nan and An An have already transferred their investment money to our company's account. If this deal goes through, we'll all be set for life. If it falls apart, we'll all go to hell together!"
"It's not that serious. We have the initiative now."
"It's not what you think. The developer also has the idea of selling the project as a package... If they sell it to another developer, all our previous efforts will be wasted!"
“I think it’s unlikely. Selling it to other developers would definitely result in a loss. This is an already completed project. If we act as their agent and then inflate the price, their profits would be higher than any other party’s… They can’t be unaware of this.”
"You really don't know how serious it is when a developer's cash flow completely dries up, do you? ... If you really push them to the brink, they might resort to reselling to cut their losses... Michael, if there's even the slightest possibility, I don't want to say anything to you... You really need to balance things up. I know your one-click game project has a longer-term future, but we can't let our project slip... So many people are counting on you!"
I was getting a little anxious, and my voice unconsciously rose. "What's the point of saying that?... I already promised you I'd be in Phuket by tomorrow afternoon and wouldn't be late, and you still have to scold me... Do you really think of me, Michael, as such an unreliable person?!"
As I was speaking, I suddenly turned around to vent my emotions, only to find Ye Zhi standing not far behind me... We were both startled and just stared at each other without moving.
My attention was completely diverted, so I didn't hear what Ping Ge said to me; anyway, he hung up the phone first.
...
My heart was filled with mixed emotions, but I didn't take the initiative to walk towards Ye Zhi.
I waited until she was right in front of me before I asked, "We agreed to meet at 10:30, why are you here at 10:00?"
"I didn't want to keep you waiting, so I came early."
I looked at her; her hands were in her pockets, and her face looked a little tired… but she hadn’t lost any of her extraordinary aura. She was that kind of woman; as long as she stood there, everything else would pale in comparison.
She then asked me, "Why did you arrive early too?"
"I'm not as busy as you, so I'll just treat this as sightseeing... The night view of the Bund is really nice!"
"Really?... I was right behind you when you made that call... Did you put down something very important you were doing?"
I smiled, but then my heart suddenly turned serious, and I replied to her solemnly, "I have to come see you... because I can't tell you this over the phone."
Ye Zhi looked at me with some confusion, because I had come to Shanghai under the pretext of delivering a watch.
I took the handbag off my shoulder and handed it to her, saying, "I had my eye on a watch before, and I vowed to give it to you... But when I went to buy it, the salesperson told me that the watch had become a collector's item and was basically unavailable on the market unless I bought a second-hand one... After thinking about it, I couldn't give you something second-hand, so I bought this bag instead... Do you like it?"
Ye Zhi looked at it, and then nodded to me.
"If you like it, that's good..."
As I was speaking, I handed her the bag, but she didn't reach out.
I laughed and said, "What, are you worried that this bag will put a huge financial burden on me?... It's not that bad, I'm really not the same as before!"
"I don't care about these formalities. As long as you are doing well, I will be happy."
"If you don't care about formalities, why did you give me this watch in the first place?"
"I just hope it can give you a little bit of motivation."
“I feel the same way you do. I just want you to know that I’ve come out of this predicament… Please accept this. If you don’t, I don’t know how to talk to you about what’s next, because the way you keep people at arm’s length makes me feel like all this effort I’m putting in is a stupid thing to do.”
Ye Zhi looked at me before taking the handbag from my hand... I felt uneasy because this wasn't really what I wanted to give her, but even so, the bag looked so perfect on her.
...
After a brief moment of confusion, I finally spoke to her, "Vice President Wu has contacted me again. Don't rush to blame me or think I shouldn't have seen him... This time, he brought me some truly shocking news!"
Ye Zhi looked at me, gesturing for me to continue.
"I don't know the extent of your understanding, so I'll only give you my own..."
I've heard it all, and I'm passing it on to you... Vice President Wu said that the shipwreck you encountered in Thailand was orchestrated by Cao Jinbo... and the mastermind behind it was your father, Ye Lifan... At the time, he only wanted to imprison you in Thailand for a while to buy himself time to retaliate... However, for his own benefit, Cao Jinbo used the most ruthless methods against you... Because Cao Jinbo has connections in Thailand, and given the difficulty of cross-border investigations, it was treated as a simple shipwreck at the time... Vice President Wu said that if you can guarantee his son's status as a shareholder in Binjiang Group, he can infiltrate your father's network and help you find evidence of their scheme..."
(End of Chapter)
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