Chapter 41 Greeting Card: You don't seem to have a red tie.
The cold light from the police station's ceiling shone down, casting shadows on the red banners on the wall. Even in the early hours of the morning, the lobby was still bustling with people. People gathered here for all sorts of conflicts, but Zhang Minglang and Tang Yi were an exception.
Tang Yi looked up at Xu Xiaoxiao and Cheng He, who were being mediated by the police not far away, and then silently lowered her head again.
It had been a long time since she and Zhang Minglang had sat down quietly side by side like this.
"How have you been lately?" Zhang Minglang asked, breaking the silence between the two.
Tang Yi nodded: "Of course."
The room fell silent again. Zhang Minglang wanted to ask her if she had made up her mind, but he didn't dare to speak.
He could only steal a glance at the back of her round head by leaning back.
Tang Yi suddenly turned around, looked at him seriously, as if she had finally mustered up enough courage to open her mouth and say something.
Someone who was stealing glances suddenly met her gaze, and guiltily looked away to look at the ceiling.
"I will seriously consider the matter of exposing it."
Tang Yi looked straight into his eyes, even though he wasn't looking at her for a moment.
Zhang Minglang was startled by her sudden and direct words, and he hurriedly looked at her.
Tang Yi smiled and said, "Don't you have anything to say to me?"
Yes, of course.
Zhang Minglang silently responded in his heart. But his mind was blank, and he couldn't think of anything to say.
He had rehearsed in his mind for a long time, but could only utter "I'm sorry".
Tang Yi shook her head: "There's no right or wrong in this matter. If I had to say, it's me who's sorry to you."
She sat up straight, turned to face him, and said seriously, "I was a bit extreme back then, and my attitude towards you was bad. I'm very sorry."
"No, no, it's me..."
"How long are you two going to keep taking turns apologizing?" Xu Xiaoxiao, who had been pulling Cheng He away from a distance, couldn't help but jump out and interrupt them with a look of exasperation.
Tang Yi and Zhang Minglang's eyes met, and they couldn't help but laugh at the same time.
The two reconciled, seemingly by chance but also by necessity.
Tang Yi enjoys her current relationship with him, but she also knows that she should set aside enough time to think about Zhao Linrui.
However, Tang Yi has already come out, but someone is still not over that night.
Zhang Minglang sat at his desk, his computer on, with documents that needed his signature spread out on the table. He casually twirled a pen in his hand.
He was still savoring the eye contact and smiles they exchanged that day.
Imagining Tang Yi's crescent-shaped eyes and gently trembling eyelashes, he felt like a naive teenager having a crush, and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
The phone on the table vibrated. He snapped out of his reverie, forced a smile, and reached for it to check.
[Just laugh it off and I'll add you as a friend]
The nickname didn't look familiar. He frowned, intending to ignore it, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of the other party's application.
[Just laugh it off: You'd better get through quickly, I'm Yiyi's good friend [smile]]
Zhang Minglang stared at the smiling expression at the end of her sentence, as if he could see the murderous intent that she couldn't hide in it.
So at 2:30 pm, Zhang Minglang sat in a coffee shop, enduring the scrutinizing gaze of Xu Xiaoxiao across from him.
He gave a gentlemanly smirk: "Ms. Xu, is there something you want to tell me by inviting me out?"
Xu Xiaoxiao crossed her arms, narrowed her eyes, and said something else: "You're the president of Junmao, Yiyi's boss?"
Zhang Minglang lowered his head slightly: "Exactly."
To everyone's surprise, Xu Xiaoxiao snorted coldly, her tone extremely impolite: "Don't think that just because Tang Yi likes you, you can make decisions for her on your own! Let me tell you, I will never allow it..."
However, Zhang Minglang didn't pay any attention to what she said next and interrupted her, slightly agitated: "What do you mean? You're saying Tang Yi likes me?"
Xu Xiaoxiao realized with a start that she had let something slip.
Seriously? They haven't even confessed their feelings yet?
She quickly pursed her lips, her eyes darting around, and said, though her tone was unconvincing, "Is that the point?! I'm here to warn you not to disrespect Yiyi's decision!"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Zhang Minglang shut up and stopped asking questions, but nodded solemnly: "Don't worry, I already know my problem."
Seeing that his attitude was relatively good, Xu Xiaoxiao softened her tone. She picked up her coffee and took a sip before slowly saying, "Tang Yi's family treated her badly, so she got used to bearing everything on her own."
She composed herself, as if lost in memories: "We were classmates in junior high school. She was obedient and well-behaved from a young age, doing whatever her mother asked her to do. The only time she rebelled was probably when she was looking for a job."
“Her mother is a university professor. She looks down on her job and thinks it’s shameful,” Xu Xiaoxiao said, glancing meaningfully at Zhang Minglang, whose brows were furrowed. “So she’s quite difficult and troublesome. If you can’t stand it, I advise you to give up as soon as possible.”
But Zhang Minglang shook his head firmly: "I will not give up."
Xu Xiaoxiao pouted: "The last person to say that has already gone abroad."
Zhang Minglang vaguely knew she was referring to Bai Zeyu. But he curled his lips in disdain, his tone full of contempt: "That mama's boy is no match for me."
Xu Xiaoxiao remained silent, because there was truly nothing wrong with what he said.
"I don't know what Tang Yi's previous boss was like, but I had a very bad impression of him! A boss who can make his secretary endure such harassment for so long probably isn't a good person either!"
Seeing that Zhang Minglang was about to speak, she quickly held up her hand to stop him: "Don't try to use the excuse of prioritizing the company's overall interests. I don't care about the big picture or the small picture. All I know is that my Yiyi suffered a great injustice under him and was even gagged and forbidden to speak!"
Zhang Minglang's eyes were filled with sadness, but he was no longer prepared to explain that he did not mean that.
What else is there to explain? Even if he says that he has different views from President Lin and his grandfather back then, even if he swears that he will never follow in their footsteps, what good will it do?
The damage has already been done, and the only thing he can do now is to resolve this old matter according to Tang Yi's own wishes and prevent such a thing from happening again in Junmao.
He nodded vigorously: "Don't worry, I fully support all of Tang Yi's decisions. I admit that I didn't ask about her feelings when I upset her last time, and that was entirely my fault. I will definitely preserve the evidence. If Tang Yi wants to speak, I will fully support her; if she doesn't want to speak, I will help her suppress it. I will absolutely not allow this to happen again in the company."
Xu Xiaoxiao stared intently into his eyes, realizing he wasn't lying. As if she had finally made up her mind, she suddenly sat up straight and asked him earnestly, word by word, "Are you really sure you want to continue this relationship with Tang Yi?"
Zhang Minglang didn't avoid eye contact at all: "I'm 100% sure I want to spend my life with her."
Xu Xiaoxiao was silent for a while before finally speaking: "These are things I shouldn't be saying, but I..."
“Ms. Xu, I want to thank you first.” Zhang Minglang seemed to have a premonition, so he spoke first.
This opening remark took Xu Xiaoxiao by surprise. She raised her eyelashes to look at him.
Zhang Minglang continued, "I am very grateful that you trusted Tang Yi unconditionally and kept her secret when she was wronged back then. I also thank you for not thinking about how to help her vent her anger and insult the people from the company that hurt her at this time, but calmly helping her solve the problem."
After listening, Xu Xiaoxiao couldn't help but mutter, "I didn't scold you because I have good manners."
"The problem between us lies with me. I didn't give her enough security to make her trust me, so she preferred to suffer alone rather than accept my help."
His gaze was firm and earnest: "So, I beg you to give me a chance, a chance to understand her past. Only in this way can I properly embrace her, instead of eroding the trust between us through blind trial and error."
As the sun sets and dusk falls, people come and go in waves at the coffee shop.
Around 5 p.m., Zhang Minglang walked out of the coffee shop as the last rays of sunlight fell.
He dragged his tired body back to the company. Tang Yi's workstation was empty, and only a few people were working overtime to finish the last bit of work in the entire work area.
A colleague passing by saw him and greeted him. He gave a low "hmm" and didn't look up.
Zhang Minglang pushed open the door and sat down on the sofa in the president's office. He leaned back weakly against the soft sofa back, crossed his legs, and stared at the ceiling, recalling everything he had just heard in the coffee shop.
Oppression from parents, being dumped by boyfriend, gossip from colleagues...
How many long, dark nights did Tang Yi, who is now as calm as a lake no matter what, endure alone?
Her current calm and composed personality is not something she was born with, but rather a new shell that grew after she was reborn from the ashes.
Zhang Minglang felt as if his heart was being slowly tortured with a thousand cuts, each cut a dull, agonizing pain.
His hand, which had been resting lightly on his forehead, fell limply and suddenly bumped into something on the leather sofa.
He opened his eyes and looked down. In the corner of the black sofa, there was a long, black cardboard box.
The colors are mixed together, and you won't notice it unless you look closely.
Moreover, for him, for nearly a week, he had been like a lost soul, working mechanically and numbly, and when he was tired, he would just lie down on the table for a while, hardly ever setting foot in the sofa lounge area.
Zhang Minglang picked up the cardboard box with a puzzled look and gently opened it.
Inside lay a dark red tie. The last rays of sunlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the fabric of the tie, and he could even see the dust floating in the air above it.
He reached out, picked up a small card that was lying quietly at the bottom of the box, and turned it over.
On the piece of paper, several lines of neat handwriting were clearly written:
Happy birthday, Zhang Minglang.
You don't seem to have a red tie.
Zhang Minglang's heart pounded, and he carefully but expectantly removed his thumb from the bottom right corner of the paper.
In the lower right corner of the paper, under his finger, were two elegant words.
Tang Yi.
His heart was like a domino that had been pushed over, like a bowling pin that had been rolled over by a bowling ball, like a knot in yarn that had been tangled for a long time but was suddenly untied.
Suddenly, three familiar knocks sounded at the door.
Zhang Minglang stared blankly at his tie, then looked up. The door was pushed open, and the tip of a high heel peeked in.
The owner of the paper appeared before them.
"President Zhang..."
Tang Yi paused for a moment at his strange expression, then looked down and saw the tie in his hand.
“You caught me,” she smiled and shrugged. “Well then, happy birthday in advance.”
A deafening roar filled his ears. Zhang Minglang could only hear his own clear and powerful heartbeat.
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