Chapter 67 Chances of Victory "Your presence by my side is my greatest..."
The banquet was a star-studded affair, attracting a large number of celebrities and media.
After Zhang Minglang stepped down, Tang Yi took over the presentation of the project PowerPoint, which she knew all too well. She used videos and photos she had taken in Ju County to visually demonstrate the psychological difficulties and current situation faced by rural youth.
After Tang Yi finished speaking, Zhang Minglang went on stage again and announced that he would personally lead the way by donating a sum of start-up funds, which prompted many people in the audience to raise their placards to pledge their donations.
A gentleman judges by actions, not intentions. Whether it was a genuine desire to help or merely an attempt to curry favor with Junmao Group, this charity gala at least achieved Tang Yi and Zhang Minglang's expected results, and the donation amount gradually exceeded expectations.
Zhang Minglang kept this move a secret from the company's board of directors. By the time the press release was published by the media present that day and reached Zhang's ears, it was already too late.
The next day, public opinion was in an uproar, the company's stock price rose due to Zhang Minglang's personal reputation, and the board of directors was in unprecedented turmoil. At that time, Zhang Minglang was lying on the bed in the guest room of Tang Yi's house.
This story begins the night after the banquet the previous evening.
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Tang Yi carried a slender wine glass all the way here, and when she turned around to look for Zhang Minglang, the man was already quite drunk.
A sofa was placed in the corner of the banquet hall. Zhang Minglang leaned back on the sofa, casually lounging with his eyes closed.
The waiter brought over a glass of hot water. Tang Yi took it, thanked him, and turned to call out to him, "Wake up, drink some warm water."
Zhang Minglang still retained a sliver of reason. He heard a familiar voice, struggled to sit up, took the water glass, and drank it down in one gulp.
From the surface, it's hard to tell that this is a drunk person.
As the water glass emptied, Tang Yi struggled to pry open his tightly clenched fingers and take the glass out. Just as Tang Yi was about to get up, she suddenly felt her wrist being pulled, causing her to lose her balance and sit back down on the sofa.
Tang Yi's heart skipped a beat. She immediately hid her hands behind her back and looked around. Fortunately, everyone around her was busy socializing and no one noticed this dimly lit corner.
Tang Yiwei felt a little relieved. She turned around and pulled Zhang Minglang's hand off her wrist, her tone harsh: "Zhang Minglang, you'd better be drunk!"
Zhang Minglang chuckled twice with his eyes closed: "Unlike you, I don't pretend to be drunk."
Upon hearing this, Tang Yi inevitably recalled the scene of the two of them kissing in the corner of the sofa in his house.
The smell of alcohol emanating from Zhang Minglang enveloped her, making her face flush. She felt the taste of alcohol on her lips deepen, as if it had been absorbed by him.
Tang Yi's eyes darted around slightly, but her voice remained calm and composed: "We'll leave early. I'll have Assistant Zhou keep an eye on things. I'll take you home first and then come back."
She quickly arranged everything afterward, and her mind cleared up a bit. She took out her phone from her handbag, got up, and went to the balcony to call and arrange a car.
However, Zhang Minglang's hand was even more secure than her bracelet; he still had his arm around her wrist, and his arm was raised as she stood up.
Tang Yi looked up and glanced around, her eyes still fixed on the crowd, not on him, but speaking to him: "Let go."
"I won't let go."
Tang Yi nodded, turned to look at him, and said in a light but warning tone, "You can refuse now, but don't even think about touching my hand for the next week. I mean what I say."
Before she could finish saying "I mean what I say," Tang Yi felt her wrist loosen. She chuckled, picked up her bag, and walked out.
The wind was howling outside the glass door, and it was getting late. Tang Yi, wearing only a thin dress, shivered as she stepped from the warm interior into the cold night.
She reached for the cold iron handrail, only to be pulled back by the chill. Tang Yi was looking down at her phone, about to make a call, when suddenly a large suit jacket was draped over her shoulders.
Tang Yi was startled. She turned around and saw that Zhang Minglang had come out, wearing only a shirt, with the red tie at the collar fluttering in the wind along with the strands of hair on his forehead, all in the same direction.
Zhang Minglang leaned on the armrest, squinting his eyes as he gazed contentedly into the distance. Tang Yi reached out and nudged him, saying, "You're dressed so lightly, hurry inside, don't catch a cold."
His eyes were still a little blurry from the alcohol. Hearing this, he turned around and stopped her from taking off her coat, chuckling softly, "You came out dressed so lightly, didn't you?"
Zhang Minglang reached out and pulled Tang Yi's suit collar closer together, wrapping her up completely. He said, "You're the one who should be careful not to catch a cold."
Tang Yixiao: "You're not drunk now?"
Zhang Minglang leaned back against the railing: "Drunk? Of course I'm drunk! I'm terrible at taking care of myself. If you leave a drunk like me at home to take care of myself, I'd probably be paralyzed on the floor tomorrow..."
As she continued speaking, things became increasingly absurd, and Tang Yi's voice suddenly turned cold: "Zhang Minglang."
He turned his head and lightly slapped his mouth with his palm: "You shut up, don't say such unlucky things again."
Tang Yi then temporarily let him go.
The two figures, one tall and one short, were separated from the noisy, bustling, and troublesome social interactions inside by a glass door behind them. In front of them, a tall fountain stood in the center of a circular floor tile, its water constantly gurgling. Moonlight shattered on the never-ending water, giving it a crystalline glow, like a diamond bracelet.
"Chairman Zhang, they haven't come to you yet?"
Tang Yi turned her head away, her voice so soft it seemed it could drift away on the wind at any moment.
Zhang Minglang chuckled, looking smug: "I already contacted them, but I turned off my phone."
Tang Yi didn't speak again, but looked at the distant fountain with a heavy heart. The water jets rose and fell, just like her restless heart.
Zhang Minglang noticed her reaction, leaned closer, and said in a deliberately relaxed tone, "Don't worry, I definitely won't drag you into this. Getting scolded is nothing; I'm quite good at it."
Tang Yi slowly shook her head, but her eyes never left the fountain: "I'm just a little scared."
He feared that, as his secretary, she had always been helping him make the most rational decisions and reminding him to weigh the pros and cons. However, this time, instead of stopping him, she became the biggest supporter and planner of the banquet.
Although Tang Yi had enough confidence in Zhang Minglang's abilities, she still wasn't 100% sure if she was helping him onto the right path.
If all negotiations fail, Zhang Minglang may lose his job in the group, and she certainly won't fare well either.
She didn't know when it started, but Tang Yi no longer dared to rush forward alone. She would hesitate, become slow, and pause because she worried about the impact of her actions on Zhang Minglang.
When two people are willing to invest their feelings and fall in love with each other, will they hesitate and worry about whether the other person is successful or not?
Then Zhang Minglang quickly gave her an answer.
He reached out and took Tang Yi's hand, gently rubbing it to bring her a little warmth. "I'm the mastermind; you're at most a half-accomplice. This battle was ordered by me. As for Grandpa, I'll take care of it if the sky falls. He's very shrewd; he knows perfectly well that only his grandson would do something like this. Otherwise, why hasn't he come to reprimand you yet?"
Tang Yi glanced down at her phone. The screen was completely blank; not a single call or message had popped up.
Zhang Minglang turned his head and glanced inside through the glass. Everyone was busy drinking and chatting, and no one noticed the two people on the balcony.
So he took her hand and gently kissed it. The night was dark, the wind was cool, but her lips were burning.
Zhang Minglang looked up at her, speaking slowly and deliberately, his eyes shining with certainty: "The fact that you can stand by my side is my greatest chance of winning."
Tang Yi looked at him, the wind blowing through his hair and hers, like invisible threads that had already secretly bound the two of them together.
A handshake at a blind date dinner, eye contact in a bar with its lights shimmering, a deliberately uttered "long time no see" at the company meeting, his arrival on the rooftop she might never know about, a quiet yet bustling walk by the lake, the patter of rain on her head and over her coat...
Their fates were both accidental and inevitable; they didn't know from which point their paths crossed, and once they did, they were inseparable.
It is said that the probability of two people meeting in this world is about 0.00487%, and the probability of them falling in love is even lower, at only 0.000049%.
People who are in love are always lucky, and they are no exception.
She thought to herself.
When the two walked through the glass door, most of the guests had already left. During Tang Yi and Zhang Minglang's absence, Assistant Zhou took on the important task of receiving and seeing them off.
Zhang Minglang was dressed too thinly, and after being exposed to the cold wind outside the window for so long, and because he had been drinking, he was in a bad mental state when he came in, complaining of a headache and feeling hot all over.
He was probably about to develop a fever. Tang Yi couldn't bring herself to leave him alone at his home, so she made up an excuse to Assistant Zhou, saying that he could stay there a little longer and they wouldn't need him to take him home.
However, Assistant Zhou, like a block of wood, saw that Zhang Minglang was unwell, and a strange sense of responsibility welled up inside him. He righteously refused, "How can that be? I'll take you back to President Zhang's house!"
Tang Yi was speechless. She blinked and suddenly thought of another excuse: "President Zhang left early, and our media friends are waiting for him to interview us. I have to take care of President Zhang right now, so I can't get away for a while. How about this, you go and do the interview in our place?"
Upon hearing this, Assistant Zhou waved his hands even more vigorously: "That won't do! I... I get nervous as soon as I see a camera, and I can't say a word. Secretary Tang, you're the planner of this banquet, how about we switch places? You can go do the interview, and I'll take President Zhang home?"
Tang Yi was helpless; she really had nothing more to say.
Zhang Minglang was annoyed by this. He scoffed, "Afraid of cameras? The company is full of surveillance cameras, how come you're still alive and well?"
Assistant Zhou was on the verge of tears: "It's different, Mr. Zhang, the surveillance camera wasn't pointed at my face..."
Zhang Minglang had no energy to argue with this blockhead any longer. He gritted his teeth and said, "Then tell the media to raise their cameras a bit higher and create a surveillance angle for them to interview you, so you won't be speechless."
He left those words behind and, without another word, pulled Tang Yi towards the door, leaving behind the helpless Assistant Zhou and the cameras of the media friends behind them.
Even after the two got into the taxi, Tang Yi couldn't help but chuckle softly.
Zhang Minglang touched her cheek with his hand, displeased, making her shrink away from the cold. He said angrily, "What are you laughing at?"
Tang Yi sat back down, the smile from before gone: "Smile, Assistant Zhou."
Zhang Minglang hummed twice, looking at Tang Yi's hand that she was holding to warm him, and then glancing at the navigation on the driver's phone in front of him. He said, seemingly casually, "I haven't even laughed at you yet. You've come up with so many excuses, trying to lure me back to your home?"
Tang Yi: "If you don't want to, I'll ask the driver to change the destination right now."
Zhang Minglang quickly backed down, holding back Tang Yi who was about to lean out and call for her master, while repeatedly saying, "I want to, I want to."
Tang Yi was obviously joking, but the master in front of her took it seriously.
He raised his voice and said, "Handsome guy/beautiful lady, I can't change the address on the spot, otherwise the system will deduct points from my score!"
Zhang Minglang repeatedly said, "I won't change it." He leaned back, looking into Tang Yihan's smiling eyes, and smiled back, his eyebrows curving. He moved closer, the lingering smell of alcohol still clinging to him from the wind.
He looked at her and said earnestly in a soft whisper, "Even if you offer me more money, I won't change it. I won't change it for the rest of my life."
A lifetime, such a long unit of measurement.
The city was still brightly lit at night, with tall office buildings lining the wide roads, their glass windows resembling a dense honeycomb.
That night was the first time Tang Yi seriously imagined their entire life together.
Author's Note: * "It is said that the probability of two people meeting in this world is about 0.00487%, and the probability of falling in love is even lower, at only 0.000049%." Source: Internet.
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