Chapter 34 What does he want to do?
"According to a police report, Sun Yu, the founder of Wanheng Technology Company, fell to his death from his company headquarters yesterday afternoon. Preliminary investigation has ruled out homicide..."
Qin Qiao stared intently at the teleprompter and delivered the news report in a clear and objective voice.
The next item was breaking news. Qin Qiao tapped the armrest of his chair with his index finger, interacting with the control room to indicate that it was ready to begin.
Switch to the next news item.
At 9:30 sharp, the broadcast ended. Qin Qiao bypassed the anchor desk, unbuttoned one button on her suit jacket with her left hand, and simultaneously removed the microphone from her chest with her right hand.
Song Yiyi took the microphone, handed it to the staff member next to her, and strode out with her.
Two shadows, one in front of the other, were cast across the white tiles. Qin Qiao turned her head and asked Song Yiyi, who was following closely behind her:
How's the news about the Xinyi boy being abused by his stepmother going?
"I've got all the footage. I'll finish editing it tonight, and it'll be released after the police make their final confirmation." Song Yiyi said angrily, "That woman deserves to go to hell."
Qin Qiao glanced at the girl indifferently: "Reports only need to state the facts and let the facts speak for themselves; that's more powerful than cursing."
Song Yiyi paused, then quickly followed: "Understood, just state the facts, don't overemphasize personal emotions."
Qin Qiao, holding her coffee, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked around. Her gaze fell on the giant LED jewelry billboard in the mall across the street, where five emerald green characters were sprayed on the exposed white space: "Thankful and Delightful Price!"
Thanksgiving...another Western holiday.
On her way home from get off work, Qin Qiao still turned into this mall. She went to the brand's counter on the first floor and chose a gold-inlaid jade necklace. She stood in front of the small mirror and held it up to her neck to compare it. It suited her skin tone very well.
Yang Shuhua will definitely like it.
Yang Shuhua wasn't materialistic. She could wear a base layer that cost 99 yuan, or sneakers that cost 1,000 yuan. Qin Qiao would buy her gifts every year for her birthday, Mother's Day, and Women's Day, including perfumes, skincare sets, and designer clothes and jewelry. Yang Shuhua never refused them and always accepted them with a smile. After a while, she would repay her in another way, such as enrolling her three children in art classes.
She was just a traditional Chinese mother who devoted all her energy to herself and her children, and was particularly stingy with herself.
Although Yang Shuhua's illness did not pose a high risk of breast cancer, it still made Qin Qiao very anxious. She would occasionally have nightmares at night. She had already lost her father, and she couldn't imagine experiencing that kind of heartbreak a second time.
Chen Cheng lied to Yang Shuhua about that matter, only because she didn't want Yang Shuhua to keep nagging her about marriage, so she adopted Chu Yutong's "bad idea".
That day, Chu Yutong casually sent me a link to a secondhand website:
"Qiao'er, download it first, search for local services, take a look, and ask me if you don't understand."
Nowadays, websites can do almost anything you can imagine, from picking up and dropping off kids to cooking at home and spending holidays with family... all sorts of strange and wonderful things.
As she scrolled through the various services on the tablet, her jaw dropped in astonishment time and time again.
The big data push function is powerful. At night, a landscape photo of "Yinian Mountain" pops up on the homepage, and the service content is to accompany family members.
'Yinian Mountain' is located in Yizi Township, in the southwest corner of the province. Yizi Township is a famous tourist attraction in China. She had a strong liking for this place, so this landscape photo caught her eye.
Moreover, the IP address displayed is still Lanchuan.
She sent a message to the man named 'Jingran', and he responded quickly, sending a service fee schedule of nearly a hundred words.
Plumbing and electrical repairs, appliance repairs, coding assistance... Accompanying your parents is just one of our services: We guarantee to strictly meet your requirements and ensure your parents' satisfaction. 100 yuan per hour, extra charges apply for overtime. Any additional services must be announced in advance and will be charged separately.
He's also a returnee who studied abroad. It's not to say that everyone who has studied abroad is necessarily wealthy, but the skill range is just too wide.
And... the photo on this degree certificate looks more and more familiar.
Isn't he... the man who helped her at the bar and then personally came to return the photos?
His name is... Chen Cheng.
They arranged to meet at a coffee shop in the city center. She arrived first and sent him a message saying "I've arrived" via the website.
"I'm here."
A clear, distinct voice rang out from behind.
Qin Qiao put down her phone and was about to turn her head when a tall, slender, dark-skinned figure swept past her and sat down opposite her with a magnanimous air.
Unlike the last time, which was rushed, this time Qin Qiao was able to get a closer look at him.
The man had short hair, almost like a buzz cut, with stiff strands that stood up like the quills on a hedgehog's back. His eyes were half-closed, with thin eyelids, a broad and even gaze, and strong facial features.
In an era when Korean and Japanese styles were popular, it was rare to see someone with their forehead completely exposed and unadorned, exuding the air of a soldier from the military.
Looking at the man's face, she couldn't help but think of Chen Jiashu. He had the same hairstyle more than ten years ago, but it changed after marriage. His sideburns were shaved very short, and the top of his head was thinned. When blow-drying his hair, he would deliberately blow it to the left so that the stray hairs would not cover the handsome features of his eyebrows and eyes. This hairstyle has continued on him ever since.
They sat for more than half an hour, and basically, she asked a question and Chen Cheng answered it, his tone sincere and without the slightest hint of frivolity.
When chatting on the website, Qin Qiao always assumed that he was a talkative and cheerful young man, but she didn't expect that in real life, this man had a mature air about him.
Qin Qiao had a good impression of him, so she proposed a collaboration. The man grinned and revealed a bright smile.
She extended her hand proactively: "Then it'll be a pleasure to work together."
A slender, long arm, visible beneath his black T-shirt, crossed over the glass tabletop and clasped her hands: "Sister Qiao, it's been a pleasure working with you."
Chen Cheng charges by the hour, and payment is made after the service is completed. The first time Qin Qiao took him to see Yang Shuhua, it took two hours and ten minutes, and Chen Cheng rounded down the price to two hundred yuan for her.
That evening, as they walked out of the residential area, Chen Cheng told her that he had recognized her as the host of the roadshow earlier that year at the bar.
That roadshow was hosted by the Lanchuan government and was a public welfare event.
There's a psychological effect called the "familiarity effect," where strangers' faces and behaviors, which have no connection to you, are automatically filtered out. But once you get to know them, the world seems to be rearranged.
You can see him everywhere you go.
On the street, a man in a suit speeds along the non-motorized vehicle lane on an electric scooter, his back bulging from the wind; in the dead of night during a torrential downpour, a man jumps off his scooter to help an elderly scavenger pick up cardboard blown away by the wind; a week earlier, at the foot of a financial building, a man had an argument with a girl, who refused to pay him because she was dissatisfied with the code he wrote.
That day in the coffee shop of the financial building, after they started chatting, Qin Qiao learned that he ran a technology company.
As we all know, although tech companies have been a hot sector in the last two years, they are also one of the most money-consuming industries. Chen Cheng's savings plus the three million given to him by his parents were all used up in less than six months.
Now, every day I wake up to money, and I can't bear to disband the team, which consists of like-minded friends. So, we all got together and decided to take on other small projects while also doing some part-time work.
Chen Cheng chuckled and raised an eyebrow: "Have you ever seen a CEO who works for someone else and pays his employees' salaries? That's me."
That night, Qin Qiao took out a bank card from the metal box, which contained the six million yuan she had received in her divorce settlement with Chen Jiashu. After a moment of silence, she made a decision: she would help this man named Chen Cheng.
Although they had known each other for less than a month.
There are two reasons:
Firstly, Chen Cheng's ambition and positive attitude towards life inspired her;
Secondly, to distract and divert Yang Shuhua's attention.
Since she didn't feel the pinch of losing money she hadn't earned herself, she invested the money in Hengyu without batting an eye.
After that, she would occasionally visit Chen Cheng at his company. One day, Qin Qiao was amazed to see him repair the complex ceiling light in his office with his bare hands.
"You also know plumbing and electrical repair?"
"Plumbing and electrical repairs pay much higher prices abroad, way more than washing dishes." Chen Cheng jumped off the stool. "I can also repair home appliances, believe it or not?"
Home appliance repair... A figure flashed through Qin Qiao's mind, and she chuckled.
*
The following week, Chen Jiashu, Zhu Ao, and Tian Jiayue were all in Hong Kong. In addition to attending the four-day international financial summit, they also held multiple rounds of talks with investment bank executives to conduct in-depth discussions on strategic cooperation such as overseas bond issuance and mergers and acquisitions for the group.
At the banquet that evening, Chen Jiashu drank quite a bit of alcohol, and due to his poor eyesight, he became unsteady on his feet and could barely stand.
Tian Jiayue helped him into the room and put him on the bed. As soon as he lay down, Chen Jiashu couldn't get up. He loosened his tie, ripped it off roughly, and threw it away.
Two red marks appeared on his fair neck, scratches he had made himself.
Tian Jiayue went into the bathroom, turned on the tap, took a towel from the rack, and wet it with warm water.
Chen Jiashu felt his neck was still tight, so he unbuttoned the top button, which made him feel much better. He tilted his head and fell asleep again.
Tian Jiayue sat sideways on the edge of the bed, gazing at Chen Jiashu's face, which was flushed from the alcohol. She took a deep breath, leaned forward, and placed a towel on the man's forehead, wiping it carefully and meticulously from the bridge of his nose to his cheeks, his chin, and finally his long neck.
My heart was pounding faster and faster, like an invisible drum beating repeatedly.
This wasn't the first time Tian Jiayue had seen this man up close, but it was the first time she had done anything for him.
After wiping her face, her gaze fell on the man's hands. The man was 1.9 meters tall, and his hands were straight and white, like lustrous and translucent white jade, like a finely crafted work of art.
“Brother…” she whispered softly.
The man turned over, his back to her, his white shirt outlining the slightly slender lines of his waist and back, which was captivating.
"Knock knock." There was two knocks on the door.
Her heart skipped a beat, as if she were falling from a great height. Tian Jiayue sprang to her feet, clutching the damp towel in her hand. Warm water dripped from between her fingers, splashing onto the carpet in a continuous stream.
Silent and still.
She opened the door and smiled at Old Song standing at the door: "You've come."
*
Chen Cheng had just arrived at the company in the morning when the finance manager stopped him and said, "Qiao Shu's first payment hasn't arrived yet."
Nine days have passed, all his materials have been submitted, and due diligence has been conducted. Why is there still no movement?
Chen Cheng's unease deepened. Could it be that the due diligence investigation had gone wrong?
Zhou Zhou, sitting at his workstation, raised his chin and said to him, "Chen Cheng, this won't do. Everyone's waiting to cook rice. And the factory and suppliers just called again to urge payment. Why don't you go to Qiaoshu and... find their manager and ask about the situation?"
Chen Cheng hurriedly went downstairs, drove his electric scooter, and arrived at Qiaoshu headquarters half an hour later.
The sunlight shone on the curtain wall, reflecting a dazzling golden light that hit his eyes.
His vision went black for a moment, and he paused slightly before speeding up and running straight into the building.
The man was wearing a gray cardigan sweatshirt, a crossbody bag slung over his shoulder, and loose-fitting pants. He was very handsome and claimed to be the CEO of a company, but he looked more like a salesman.
The receptionist wouldn't let me in.
“I came here last time, and you even made me a cup of tea, don’t you remember?” Chen Cheng tried to rouse the receptionist’s memory.
The receptionist said impatiently, "I don't remember."
Chen Cheng glanced at the name on her name tag: "Ms. Li, please help me contact General Manager Zhu. It's really urgent, extremely urgent."
The receptionist apologized again: "President Zhu doesn't meet with just anyone, and besides, he's not at the company these past two days."
Where is Chairman Chen?
"Don't even think about it, Mr. Chen. He won't see you."
Chen Cheng walked out of the group dejectedly. The gentle breeze of early morning carried a chill, and even though the morning sun was bright, he still shivered physiologically.
The swaying shadows of the trees danced across his face, and the bluish-gray smoke swirled forward. After finishing his second cigarette, Chen Cheng took out his phone from his pocket and found Qin Qiao's number.
He didn't want to trouble Qin Qiao, but now more than a dozen people in the company were waiting for him and for this payment. He needed to know where the problem lay so he could make corrections, instead of just sitting there waiting.
Qin Qiao only returned to the office in the afternoon and finally had time to sit down and check her phone for messages in the work group.
Chen Cheng sent her a message and made two phone calls, both at 9:40 a.m., and the message was sent three hours earlier.
[Sister Qiao, I'm sorry to bother you. The thing is, Qiaoshu conducted due diligence a week ago, but the first payment hasn't come through yet. I'm worried there might be a problem somewhere. Could you please call Chairman Chen and ask if there's anything that needs to be rectified? We will definitely cooperate fully.]
Nine days have passed since the due diligence began, yet the payment has still not been made… The person who will ultimately approve such a large project is Chen Jiashu. If there were any problems, the legal department would have notified Hengyu to make rectifications before the funds reached him.
Therefore, the only possible obstacle is Chen Jiashu. What does he want to do?
Now he's using his power to arbitrarily create obstacles. Doesn't he know that this is a matter of life and death for a startup? This kind of manipulative behavior doesn't seem like a simple procedural issue; it seems more like...deliberate obstruction.
Qin Qiao jumped up, grabbed the car keys from the table, and went to find Chen Jiashu right away.
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