"Big Brother." Xu Chenglong straightened up and stood upright outside the door.
Wang Peng was stunned for a moment and noticed that the kid's yellow hair had been dyed black and his ripped jeans had been turned into a tracksuit.
The eye-catching floral shirt he wore yesterday has been replaced by a gray t-shirt.
He has undergone a complete transformation, inside and out; he's practically a different person.
"When did you arrive?" Wang Peng looked him up and down, wondering if he had misjudged him.
"I've been here for just half an hour. Didn't you say you were going to apologize to Zhao Tiezhu? So I came," Xu Chenglong said.
Li Mingzhu carried her child out of the house and looked at the energetic young man in front of her. "Brother Peng, who is this?"
"Hello, sister-in-law," Xu Chenglong said hurriedly. "My name is Xu Chenglong, and my father is Xu Mengxing."
He really didn't know how to introduce himself, so he could only bring up his father to save face.
Li Mingzhu was taken aback, but quickly smiled and invited him inside to talk.
"Wait a minute, go throw away the trash first." Wang Peng placed the trash bag in front of him.
Without any hesitation, he picked up the trash bag, turned around, and went down the stairs, quickly disappearing at the bottom of the stairs.
"You're a well-known playboy in the provincial capital, why are you being so well-behaved today?" Li Mingzhu chuckled and carried the child back into the house.
Wang Peng recounted his wrestling match with Xu Chenglong yesterday, going through the whole story from beginning to end.
"Oh dear, you've really beaten this kid into submission." Li Mingzhu said, both amused and exasperated, as she carried the child to the window.
Wang Peng followed and looked down through the window. Xu Chenglong appeared next to the trash can.
He opened the trash can with a look of disgust, threw in a black garbage bag, and took out a tissue to vigorously wipe his hands.
"Haha." Li Mingzhu was amused by his disgusted look.
"This brat is finally showing some semblance of humanity." Wang Peng shook his head, thinking that he shouldn't be a bad person at heart.
Perhaps it was because he was born into a single-parent family and lacked paternal love and discipline from a young age that he developed such an unreasonable and domineering personality.
“Honey, he’s not a born bad guy; there’s still hope,” Li Mingzhu said. “What do you think?”
Wang Peng nodded. If someone is born with a bad seed, then there's no hope for them.
"Let him stay with you, maybe he'll amount to something." Li Mingzhu handed her son to her husband, rubbed her arm, and went back to the bedroom.
The son, Wang Jiye, stared blankly at his father, blinked, and drool dripped from his mouth.
"Then come with me." Wang Peng sat on the sofa with his child in his arms and picked up a rattle to coax the child to start school.
After throwing away the trash, Xu Chenglong returned to the living room. Seeing this scene, he didn't say anything, but simply moved a stool and sat down opposite Wang Peng.
Half an hour passed, and Wang Jiye had fallen asleep, but Xu Chenglong remained sitting motionless on the stool, even more obedient than Wang Jiye.
"Could he really have been subdued by me?" Wang Peng wondered to himself as he carried the child back to the bedroom.
Seeing that his wife, Li Mingzhu, was also asleep, he placed the child beside her and carefully went out.
Li Mingzhu was still awakened by him. She opened her eyes, glanced at him, and then closed them again to continue sleeping.
"Let's go." Wang Peng beckoned to Xu Chenglong, took his suit, and walked out of the house.
He drove to the People's Hospital, parked his car in the parking lot, and turned to look at Xu Chenglong sitting in the passenger seat.
“You need to apologize to Zhao Tiezhu now. I’ll give you three minutes to think it over,” Wang Peng said, glancing at his watch. “It’s not too late to back out now.”
"I don't regret it." Xu Chenglong shook his head. "Brother Peng, I will work hard from now on."
"Oh, so you've turned over a new leaf, huh?" Wang Peng chuckled, staring at him with a half-smile.
In less than half a minute, Xu Chenglong felt his scalp tingling and his whole body felt uncomfortable.
“Brother Peng, I’ve had enough of the old life. I want to change my way of living.” Xu Chenglong turned his head and looked at Wang Peng.
The two looked at each other for a moment, and Wang Peng nodded: "It depends on your performance. If you violate company rules again, I will fire you."
As he spoke, he took out the thousand yuan that Xu Mengxing had given him and stuffed it into Xu Chenglong's hand, saying, "Get out of the car."
The two got out of the car, and Wang Peng led him to the second floor of the ward building, where they met Zhao Tiezhu, whose head was wrapped in bandages.
When the Zhao family saw Xu Chenglong, they were initially looking at the door, but he immediately turned his head to look at the window.
Xu Chenglong walked to the bedside, held up a thousand yuan with both hands, and bowed deeply.
"Uncle Tiezhu, I'm sorry, I was out of my mind that day, please forgive me."
"Hmph!" Zhao Tiezhu's eldest daughter, Zhao Chan, sneered, "My father was just giving you advice. You don't have to listen. Why hit him?"
"I'm sorry!" Xu Chenglong apologized sincerely again, maintaining a deep bow.
"Hmph, don't think you're superior just because your family has a little money." Zhao Chan put her hands on her hips, her face flushed with anger.
Wang Peng sensed she was about to lose her temper, so he smiled and reminded her, "Sister Zhao, don't get angry, let's talk it out."
Zhao Chan gave Wang Peng face, glanced at Xu Chenglong with disgust, and then turned to look out the window.
The air suddenly fell silent. Xu Chenglong remained bowed, his hands holding the money trembling slightly.
Two minutes later, Zhao Tiezhu turned around and said, "Boss, why don't you sit down and rest?"
“Okay, let’s have a good talk.” Wang Peng pulled Xu Chenglong to sit down and placed the thousand yuan in his hand on the table.
"Old Zhao, what did the doctor say?" Wang Peng asked, looking at the gauze on his head.
"The doctor said the stitches will be removed in seven days, and there's nothing seriously wrong." Zhao Tiezhu glanced at Xu Chenglong and sighed softly.
Wang Peng pressed further, "Have any company leaders come to visit you?"
"Yes!" Zhao Tiezhu hurriedly pointed to the sesame oil and rice at the bedside table, "President Du Lei came in person; these are company gifts."
A box of sesame oil, two boxes of biscuits, and three 10-pound bags of rice, totaling more than 100 yuan.
Wang Peng nodded and said with a smile, "What did Du Lei say?"
A hint of gratitude flashed in Zhao Tiezhu's eyes as he smiled and said, "President Du said this is paid leave, and I will still receive my salary during my recovery period."
Wang Peng smiled and nodded. "Old Zhao, what do you think of the company's handling of work-related injuries?"
"Very good!" Zhao Tiezhu unconsciously gave a thumbs up. "Boss, you treat your workers like your own people, which is unique in the provincial capital."
Wang Peng was in a good mood after being sincerely praised by his employees. He smiled and said, "That's good. I haven't treated my brothers unfairly."
"Not at all, not at all." Zhao Tiezhu hurriedly shook his head. "Boss, you're really good to the workers!"
Wang Peng smiled slightly and immediately steered the conversation towards Xu Chenglong, "Old Zhao, it's better to resolve conflicts than to let them fester, you see..."
"Hmph!" Zhao Tiezhu glared at Xu Chenglong and said coldly, "Xu Chenglong, if it weren't for the boss's sake, I wouldn't have taken your thousand yuan, let alone listened to your apology."
At this point, Zhao Tiezhu clenched his fist and said, "My family is indeed not as rich as yours, but my worthless life is worthless."
"Old Zhao, don't say such extreme things," Wang Peng chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.
At this moment, Xu Chenglong had lost his former arrogance and silently endured Zhao Tiezhu's cursing.
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