Chapter 57 Repayment Date: One Hundred Years
When Zhu Ao returned from the hospital, his assistant put down his briefcase and left. He sat behind his desk, grimacing, and took a deep breath, enduring the pain to finish the documents he hadn't approved that morning.
As Zhu Ao stood up, he caught a glimpse of a slightly wider figure on the frosted glass door, followed by a knock.
"Please come in."
Director Lü pushed open the door and entered. He was nearly seventy years old, with half black and half white hair. He was dressed in a well-tailored Zhongshan suit, and his face, etched with a few smile lines, maintained his usual amiable demeanor. He gently closed the door behind him.
"Oh dear!" Director Lü squinted as he approached, scrutinizing Zhu Ao's bruised and battered face: "...Jia Shu, this is truly outrageous! No matter what, you shouldn't have resorted to violence! And with such brutality! The news has spread throughout the company; it's had a terrible impact!"
Zhu Aoyi said, "Mr. Lü, please have a seat."
The two walked towards the reception area. Director Lü sat down first, and Zhu Ao, drawing in the cold air, slowly sat down opposite him with a frown.
"It's nothing, just a minor injury." Zhu Ao waved his hand. "Ever since Jia Shu's eyesight deteriorated, he's been holding back his anger. This time, I didn't handle things well and ended up getting caught in his crossfire."
Director Lü immediately understood Zhu Ao's tactful and suggestive statement, nodding repeatedly in agreement.
"President Zhu, you got a beating for nothing! I read that article, it's well written! ...Even heroes have trouble resisting the charms of a beautiful woman. Jia Shu is good in every way, except he's too attached to old feelings. If this 'Achilles' heel' isn't removed, he'll always be held back, and our group will always have a fatal hidden danger. I support President Zhu's painstaking efforts and courage."
Zhu Ao discerned the underlying stance in those last words, which were quite meaningful. He crossed his legs, leaned back on the sofa, shook his head slightly, and said with a hint of helpless resignation, "Mr. Lü, my target has never been him personally. The company has come this far step by step, and I can't just stand by and watch it fall into crisis because of one person's personal feelings... Someone has to be the bad guy. Honest advice is hard to hear, and good medicine tastes bitter."
"Well said, that's perfectly aboveboard!" Director Lü clapped his hands in approval.
A glint of light flashed in his cloudy eyes. Director Lü suddenly remembered something and slapped his forehead: "Look at my memory! I just heard downstairs that Jia Shu got slapped by his ex-mother-in-law, and then his retina detached?!"
Zhu Ao nodded in agreement.
Director Lü clicked his tongue several times, his face heavy, worried about the future of the group: "Jia Shu's old illness is also worrying. It can't go on like this. I think... he probably won't be out of the hospital for a while. The group is so big, it can't be without a leader, can it?"
Zhu Ao traced circles on the leather sofa with his fingertips, his thin lips slightly pursed as he quietly watched him.
Director Lü immediately realized that they were waiting for his statement, and immediately slapped his thigh: "Xiao Zhu, let me make a statement first. I personally appreciate your ability very much. Now that such a big mess has occurred, I wholeheartedly agree to have you, the second-in-command who knows the situation best and is most loyal to the group, take charge of the overall situation... As for the board of directors, I will communicate with them."
At midday, the bright sunlight poured in, turning the pristine white ceramic tile floor yellow.
The two men, who were more than thirty years apart in age, chatted happily, discussing everything under the sun. Mr. Lü would occasionally burst into loud laughter, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deep enough to trap a fly.
If it weren't for the assistant reminding Mr. Lü that he had another banquet planned for the evening, the two could have chatted until dark. As he left, Zhu Ao saw Mr. Lü to the door. Mr. Lü tilted his head back, leaned close to Zhu Ao's ear, and said, "Mr. Zhu, this feint was brilliant."
*
The slick smile on Director Lü's face vanished the moment he stepped out of Zhu Ao's office, replaced by an all-knowing indifference and a hint of mockery.
His assistant followed silently behind him.
The elevator doors opened, and the elevator was empty. The two people went inside, and Director Lü pressed the button for the underground parking garage.
The ladder doors closed, leaving only the hum of the tracks in the cramped space.
Looking at his blurry reflection in the gleaming stairwell door, Director Lü seemed to have thought of something extremely amusing, and suddenly chuckled, "Little Liu, tell me, isn't the human heart the most interesting thing?"
The assistant had been with Director Lü for ten years and knew what he wanted to hear, so he cautiously replied, "Yes, especially a smart person like President Zhu, whose thoughts are indeed hard to fathom."
"Difficult to predict?" Director Lü shook his head. "I think it's as clear as day. Zhu Ao is a ruthless guy."
The assistant looked puzzled.
Director Lü glanced at him sideways and pointed out, "Don't you understand? His performance today is called 'killing two birds with one stone.' The first act: he beat us up to show those of us who already had reservations about Chen Jiashu, so that we could take the opportunity to express our opinions. The second act: he wants everyone in the group to see how their loyal and righteous Chairman Chen can turn on a 'loyal' old subordinate. Even his own people have turned against him, doesn't that further prove that Chen Jiashu has been abandoned by everyone and is unworthy of his position?"
While the assistant was still pondering, Chairman Lü sighed, rubbed his fingers together, and thought for a moment: "However, Chen Jiashu is a 'one-man show' in the group, so getting rid of him will be quite difficult..."
The assistant stared blankly at the stairwell door for a while.
The difficulty mentioned by Director Lü is because Chen Jiashu has absolute control over the group. After General Manager Zhang left last year, Chen Jiashu bought back all of his shares, and now Chen Jiashu's shareholding has reached 70%.
"Perhaps... we could bring in external capital?" the assistant said meekly.
In a shareholding structure, the power to speak depends on the percentage of shares held. Diluting Chen Jiashu's shares would require sufficiently strong new capital. Although this would also dilute the shares of everyone else, if they could collectively dilute Chen Jiashu's shareholding to below 50%, they could break his 'one-man rule'.
The number on the screen had dropped to the fifteenth floor. Director Lü looked at it and chuckled, "External capital... I'm afraid it's easy to invite a god but hard to send him away... Let's see what Zhu Ao does. We'll... take it one step at a time."
“Oh, right,” Director Lü lowered his dry eyelids, “didn’t you tell me half a month ago that you saw Chen Jiashu holding a little boy’s hand in the lobby downstairs?”
The assistant immediately remembered: "Yes! That's right. Chairman Chen was holding the hand of that little boy, who looked about five or six years old and looked a lot like Chairman Chen. He wasn't shy at all and was looking around curiously; he was very cute."
Director Lü nodded and said slowly, "I heard some rumors later. That child is Chen Jiashu's son."
The assistant leaned close to Director Lü's ear and said, "Not only that. Director Lü, I later inquired around and heard that... he doesn't just have one son, but a boy and a girl. Twins. It seems he only brought his son to the company for a visit; his daughter didn't come."
Director Lü's face immediately showed an "I knew it" expression. He chuckled softly, and the elevator arrived at the underground parking garage with a soft "ding".
The stairwell doors opened, and the two stepped out one after the other, but Director Lü stopped in place and chuckled again:
"Oh... a son and a daughter, twins. Jia Shu has been divorced for six years, and suddenly he has two such big darlings... no wonder."
"I was wondering why Zhu Ao was in such a hurry all of a sudden, and why his methods were so crude, even resorting to posting long essays online."
The assistant laughed along, listening to Director Lü's witty remarks: "That's right, how could Zhu Ao not be anxious? Last year, when Chen Jiashu's eyesight deteriorated, he stayed by his side every step of the way, showing his loyalty, just waiting for the lonely Chairman Chen to hand over the position to him. Now that there are successors to the throne... isn't his position as a 'loyal minister' in jeopardy?"
"Heh, this is going to be interesting."
After speaking, Director Lü walked towards his car without saying another word. His assistant quickly stepped forward and opened the car door for him.
As the Maybach emerged from the underground parking garage, the blinding white light made the driver squint and drive even more cautiously.
About ten minutes into the drive, as they passed the First Municipal Hospital, Director Lü looked out the window and saw Chen Jiashu lying on the hospital bed.
Zhu Ao, that kid.
Four years ago, when the group had just gone public, the sales general manager, whom Zhu Ao had personally promoted, bypassed him and reported directly to Chen Jiashu to secure budgets and support for new projects.
Upon learning of this, Zhu Ao felt his authority was being challenged and rejected the project on the grounds that "the project requires huge investment, has an excessively long payback period, and will seriously drag down the financial data of the listed company."
Who could have predicted that the general manager was a tough nut to crack? With the mentality of "If you make me suffer, I'll make you fail too," he collected a complete project evaluation report and submitted it to the board of directors.
At the time, everyone wanted Zhu Ao to resign from the board of directors, but Chen Jiashu, valuing his talent, overruled the objections and personally pledged his life to save him.
Deeply lined fingers tapped on the window, the car started moving, and the street scene rushed past, the hospital long gone.
Director Lü glanced back, gave a cold snort, and thought to himself: If someone who betrays his brothers, disregards the group's interests, and is vindictive really rises to power, those below him will probably suffer.
*
Qin Qiao's father had an accident in the winter of the year Qin Qiao was a senior in college.
When Qin Qiao returned home for the Chinese New Year, she learned that Qin Lang had helped his neighbor by driving an electric tricycle to carry goods, but when going downhill, he couldn't stop and hit and killed two elderly people in their eighties and nineties who were taking a walk.
Yang Shuhua pulled her into the room and told her that they had lost a total of over 800,000 yuan, but assured her that the family had saved over 700,000 yuan for her trip abroad, which was still untouched.
Qin Lang was a middle school Chinese teacher who had always been honest and upright. After killing two elderly people in a car accident, he developed mental problems and became absent-minded during class. As a result, the students' grades dropped, and he was suspended from his job after receiving complaints from parents.
I had stopped working for more than a month, and then it happened to be Chinese New Year, so I stayed at home for almost two months.
Yang Shuhua also told her that her father dreamed about their deaths every day and couldn't sleep without sleeping pills.
To cheer Qin Lang up, Qin Qiao has been spending every day with him since he returned home, chatting with him and going shopping with him. He's in a good mood during the day, but reverts to his old ways at night.
Because she was with her father and was also in a bad mood, she hadn't checked her phone for several days. It wasn't until the fifth day after she returned home that she saw Chen Jiashu at the entrance of the residential area.
He was wearing a short black down jacket and matching black trousers. The white sneakers he was wearing were a gift from her. About two weeks ago, she went to a sneaker store and they had a buy-one-get-one-free promotion. She bought a pair for herself, and Chen Jiashu's pair was a gift.
My gaze returned to his face, and I was certain it was him.
"How did you know where I live?" Qin Qiao ran up to him.
I was very excited; this was the only happy moment I'd had since returning home.
“I asked Tongtong, and she told me.” Chen Jiashu brushed the stray hairs from her forehead.
Chen Jiashu had Chu Yutong's phone number because she had once had her phone repaired at his shop, as Qin Qiao knew.
"You guys have a holiday too?"
Chen Jiashu is now a distributor. To save on labor costs, he only hired two people. He and Zhang Shuang do the rest of the work together. The two of them are so busy every day that they don't even have time to eat.
"I came to see you."
Qin Qiao tried to pull him into the residential area, but Chen Jiashu refused, saying, "No, I bought a plane ticket for this evening. I'd like to invite you to lunch now."
She understood that he didn't want to see her parents.
The two went out for lunch and then strolled around a nearby park. Qin Qiao mentioned that she hadn't been checking her phone recently because something had happened at home.
A gentle breeze blew by the lake, carrying the chill of deep winter. They sat on a bench, and Chen Jiashu listened to her story, offering a few words of comfort and telling her to let him know if anything happened.
Hmm... they're boyfriend and girlfriend, they shouldn't hide anything.
The second time she went home was during the May Day holiday. Qin Qiao said she didn't want to go to LSE anymore, but Yang Shuhua wouldn't allow her to back out because she had already paid the deposit. Moreover, she repeatedly said that her family had money.
But her father has brain cancer... Qin Qiao really doesn't want to go.
At that time, she did not know that Chen Jiashu had met Yang Shuhua before his last visit to her. They had met in Lanchuan. Chen Jiashu recognized Yang Shuhua, who was riding an electric scooter to work, and stopped her. The two went to the side and chatted.
Chen Jiashu, being perceptive, learned about the events in Chu Yutong's family and guessed that they might be facing financial difficulties. He told Yang Shuhua that if she encountered any difficulties in the future, she should not hesitate to ask, as he did not want Qiaoqiao's plans to pursue graduate studies abroad to be affected.
A thousand pounds can be spent quickly in the UK if you want to. Qin Qiao could save half of it every month by being frugal. After six months, she adapted to the environment in the UK and started to work part-time. At this point, she stopped touching the money. She never mentioned it when she talked to Chen Jiashu on the phone, but she always knew how good he was to her.
As her first year in England came to an end, she missed home terribly, and she missed Chen Jiashu terribly too. She longed for him to come see her, but she knew international flights were expensive, so she could only dream about it.
Chen Jiashu became a first-level distributor this year, which made him even busier. Sometimes the two of them would only talk on the phone once every ten days or half a month. In the two months before graduation, she became busy and stopped thinking about Chen Jiashu. She only thought about finishing her graduation project as soon as possible.
Finally, she completed her 1.5-year program and graduated. She packed up to go home; there was a graduation party that evening. That evening, she chatted with some foreign classmates on the campus path. One of the male classmates, a warm and humorous boy, told a few jokes that made her and another girl laugh heartily.
But just then, she thought she was seeing things because of the setting sun.
Chen Jiashu was walking towards her with his head held high. It was rare for him to wear an overcoat, and this straight-cut, pure black overcoat looked especially good on him.
It was more captivating than any scene she had ever imagined.
Qin Qiao was stunned for a moment. Chen Jiashu approached her and grabbed her arm without saying a word. Under the surprised gazes of his classmates, he led her away from there and to the lakeside.
The setting sun dyed half the sky red, like an endless brocade unfurled, and the entire lake was enveloped in gold, it was extremely beautiful.
He said, "He didn't reply to my messages yesterday."
His rugged face was tinged with orange, making his features particularly gentle.
Feeling that this wasn't what she expected, Qin Qiao deliberately didn't reply.
"That's because you haven't called me for two months."
Qin Qiao leaned against a big tree. It was early spring, and the air was still a bit chilly. She was wearing a red coat, but she still felt that the tree trunk was rough and uncomfortable.
“I thought…” he paused, “I didn’t dare to disturb you… but I couldn’t help but want to come and see.”
It turned out she was waiting for his call, and he was also waiting for her call.
I understand.
"Chen Jiashu, you're not being honest. What do you mean by taking me away?" Qin Qiao teased him deliberately, but seeing his awkward expression, she had a sudden idea: "I'm going to find my boyfriend. He's waiting for me."
As soon as she finished speaking, she turned to leave, but her hand was grabbed tightly.
Qin Qiao grinned widely as he said, "I want to take you back to China with me."
Passersby glanced at them, and Qin Qiao chuckled, turning back to stand in front of him, very close, their bodies almost touching.
She tilted her head back, a small shadow looming in front of her. She stared intently at his Adam's apple bobbing as it moved, her arms wrapped around his waist with a gentle yet domineering air.
The next second, her lips were sealed by something soft, and the force on her waist tightened even more.
Receiving his passionate yet restrained affection, she hooked her arms around his neck and returned his kiss.
Instead of returning home immediately, they went to Norway first to see the Northern Lights before heading back.
It's early June in China.
Qin Qiao deposited the money she earned from her part-time job into the card Chen Jiashu had transferred money to her, and returned the pocket money to him intact.
"Jiashu, thank you. I'm returning it to you not to sever ties with you, but... your kindness is my greatest source of strength to keep going in England."
"...It's not a burden, it's the wings you gave me. Now I'm back, and the girl you once supported hasn't let you down. So please accept it. This isn't repayment, but...it's because I want to truly and equally walk every step of the future with you."
She knew that Chen Jiashu wanted a pure relationship; he loved her, loved her deeply, so what she wanted to give back to him was love, lots and lots of love.
Chen Jiashu caught the bank card, pulled her close, and embraced her.
Qin Qiao leaned close to his slightly reddened earlobe: "Jia Shu... tuition fees, I'll pay you back slowly when I make money... repayment period is one hundred years."
There were voices all around, mixed with the rumbling sound of wheels grinding against the ground.
Qin Qiao opened her eyes and found herself in a hospital.
There was a handbag on the bedside table; it was hers. She opened the handbag and took out her phone, which was turned off.
This is a triple room. Two of the beds are occupied by elderly people, and her bed is in the southernmost position by the window.
Hospital wards are all pretty much the same.
While waiting for the computer to boot up, a middle-aged couple walked in and stopped beside her bed.
"Ms. Qin, you're finally awake." She didn't recognize the woman, but the woman recognized her.
Just as Qin Qiao was about to ask how she ended up in the hospital, the woman said, "At six in the morning, my husband was driving along the coastal highway when he saw you collapsed on the beach. He took you to the hospital and only realized your surname was Qin after seeing your ID card. If you hadn't woken up, I would have called the police."
seaside……
Qin Qiao recalled that around 10 p.m. last night, she walked out of the new house that Chen Jiashu had bought for them, took a taxi straight to the airport, and took the next available flight back to Lanchuan.
In this familiar city, she had nowhere to go. As if possessed, she took a taxi to the nearest beach, just wanting to feel the cold wind and listen to the sound of the waves.
I never imagined I'd freeze to death on the beach.
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