After returning from dinner, Qian Duoduo checked the time and, as if possessed, dialed Qian Mao's office number. She hadn't expected to get through, but the call was still answered.
"Hey!" Qian Mao's voice came through.
"Third Brother, why are you still in the office? Are you not feeling well?" Qian Duoduo asked immediately when she heard Qian Mao's voice sound a little hoarse.
"It's nothing, just a bit too much work." Qian Mao glanced at the ashtray next to him and lied.
"Third Brother, something happened to Jiang Sisi."
"What happened to her?"
Qian Duoduo pursed her lips; her third brother's tone still carried a hint of nervousness.
"Third Brother. Jiang Sisi assaulted a police officer, was expelled from school, and was also detained for 6 months."
"How could this happen?" Qian Mao asked anxiously.
"Third Brother..."
“It’s you.”
"yes."
"Why?"
"She kept causing me trouble at school, even using student gossip to pressure me into giving in, and always acting like a victim so I'd come to you. I don't like that. If she had been honest with me, I would have respected her, but she's always scheming against me, it's so annoying. She even cut my bedsheets, I didn't intend to do anything to her, but she keeps nagging me about it, so I got angry and called the police." Qian Duoduo picked out the parts she could talk about: "I just wanted her to change dorms, but I didn't expect her to lie to the police at the police station, even self-harming to falsely accuse the police of assault, and trying to escape. When the police tried to stop her, she scratched one of them."
Qian Mao listened quietly and said, "I understand." He hung up the phone before Qian Duoduo could say anything.
He thought for a moment, picked up the phone, and dialed. After a short while, a deep voice came through: "This is Wang Xuan."
"Qian Mao."
"Secretary Qian, what brings you to call me?" Wang Xuan's voice was relaxed.
What happened with Jiang Sisi?
Wang Xuan was taken aback: "What, you know her?"
"Tell me what happened."
Hearing the seriousness in Qian Mao's voice, Wang Xuan immediately straightened up and began to describe what had happened. Fortunately, he had accompanied the entire interrogation; otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to describe the whole thing clearly.
After listening to Wang Xuan's description, Qian Mao asked, "How do you know all this so clearly?"
Wang Xuan said, "Isn't Qian Duoduo your sister? This isn't the first time I've handled her case. One of the police officers handling the case happened to be my apprentice, so I went in with them and watched them handle the case, which is how I witnessed the whole thing."
Qian Mao said, "Okay, I understand."
Wang Xuan hung up the phone and muttered, "What's going on here?" Could it be because his sister was the cause of this?
After hanging up the phone, Qian Mao reached for the cigarette pack on the table, but it was empty. He dejectedly threw the pack on the desk and leaned back.
When Lu Jiang came out and saw Qian Mao's appearance, he frowned and walked over: "What's wrong? Still troubled by love? Haven't you gotten over it yet?"
Qian Mao had been by Lu Jiang's side for several years, and he smiled.
Lu said, "Let's go, let's buy some things and then go to my place."
Qian Mao obeyed his leader's orders unconditionally. He immediately stood up, tidied up the documents on the table, locked the cabinet, picked up his bag, and followed Lu Jiang. He drove him to the department store, bought a few bottles of wine, and then went to the state-run restaurant to buy some snacks to go with the wine.
Back home, Lu put his things on the coffee table and said, "Let's eat here."
Qian Mao nodded.
Lu Jiang: "You haven't been acting right lately. Is the aftereffect of a breakup that strong?"
Qian Mao took a sip of baijiu and said, "This is the first time I've ever been attracted to a girl."
Lu Jiang: "I've met your girlfriend once. She's beautiful, but I don't think you two are a good match."
Qian Mao paused, holding his wine glass, and looked at Lu Jiang: "Boss, do you think the two of us are not a good match?"
Lu said with a smile, "You've been by my side for so many years, and I understand that your family hopes you can get married. But that girl, you two are not compatible. Although I've only met her once, I saw a hint of smugness and scheming in the way she looked at you."
"This is something that people of our status absolutely cannot touch." After saying that, he gestured back and forth between himself and Qian Mao a few times, saying, "We are bound together by fate, and we share both glory and ruin. You and I have climbed to where we are today together, and we both know how much effort it took."
After taking a sip of wine, Lu said, "Although you are my secretary, I also consider you a friend and a strategist. You are very smart. With my grandfather's current status and the Lu family's influence in the country's political center, as long as I don't make any fundamental mistakes, my future will be much brighter than this. Qian Mao, your future will be just as bright."
Qian Mao nodded, looked at the wine glass Lu Jiang was holding, and toasted him: "Boss, I understand what you're saying, but I'm a little upset. After all, I really developed feelings for him, but this is how it turned out. It makes me feel like I've met the wrong person."
Lu sighed and said, "Time is the best healer. All the things you can't let go of now, you'll find out as time goes by that you were just worrying about nothing."
Qian Mao took a sip of wine and nodded. He knew that Lu Jiang had a childhood sweetheart when he was young, and the two were about to get married. However, the Lu family had a misfortune at that time, and the sweetheart turned around and married someone else.
Thinking of this, he suddenly smiled.
Lu Jiang looked at Qian Mao with a smile and said, "Hey kid, what are you laughing at?"
Qian Mao said, "I suddenly remembered a sentence my daughter Duoduo said, and I found it very suitable for my current situation."
Lu suddenly became interested and asked, "Tell me about it."
Qian Mao said, "Women will only slow down my sword-wielding speed!"
Lu Jiang was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter, saying as he laughed, "This girl!" He then felt his heart skip a beat.
When Lu woke up, he touched his forehead and sighed, "I still have a long way to go to improve my alcohol tolerance." He stood up, walked out of the room, and saw Qian Mao lying on the sofa with a blanket over him, not sleeping soundly. The coffee table was already clean. He took a sip of water, looked at the clock on the cabinet next to him, and saw that it was five o'clock in the morning. He went back to his room to change his clothes and then went for a run.
When Qian Mao woke up, the sunlight was already shining on the sofa. He habitually looked at his watch. This was the first scholarship his younger sister had given to him and his fourth brother, one yuan each, which made him feel proud.
It was already 6:30. He immediately sat up, looked around, and realized it was a familiar room—his boss's house. He saw Lu Jiang already sitting on the single sofa next to him, reading a newspaper. He smiled a little embarrassedly.
Lu Jiang said, "You're awake. Get up and wash your face. I've already bought breakfast. Let's eat together."
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