Chapter 21 Zhuang Bieyan, you've been hiding your true strength!
Golf course lounge.
Qian Zhaoye glanced at his watch; his temples were throbbing. He had been waiting here for seven hours.
A knock sounded at the door, and a man in a suit walked in with a perfunctory smile on his face. "Mr. Qian, I'm so sorry, Mr. Wan is currently entertaining an important client and I'm afraid he won't have time to see you today."
Qian Zhaoye's jawline tightened as he suppressed his anger: "Please tell President Wan that I am willing to offer a three-point discount."
The man's smile remained unchanged: "President Wan said that today's schedule is already full."
The door to the lounge closed again, and Qian Zhaoye's knuckles turned white from gripping it so tightly.
This project was originally negotiated by Qu He, but Mr. Wan suddenly changed his mind before signing the contract, preferring to pay the penalty for breach of contract rather than agree to continue the cooperation.
His phone kept vibrating, and Qian Zhaoye irritably hung up on Qiao Mian's call.
He turned and dialed Qu He's number, but the same cold, electronic female voice answered: "The number you dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later..."
"Hold!"
Qian Zhaoye kicked the chair next to him hard.
As night fell, Qian Zhaoye drove to Zunyue.
The doorman recognized his license plate and jogged over to greet him.
He tossed the car keys over, "Same spot as always."
As the elevator reached the second floor, Qian Zhaoye bumped into several familiar faces.
Several vice presidents from peer companies, whom I had previously worked with on projects.
"Mr. Qian! What a coincidence!" The head of the group, Vice President Zhang, with his beer belly, came up to greet him. "I heard you went to see Mr. Wan today?"
Qian Zhaoye didn't expect the news to spread so quickly, and gave a slight smirk in response.
Vice President Zhang warmly put his arm around his shoulder: "Come on, come on, there's a gathering today, let's go together."
The elevator went straight to the fourth floor, and Qian Zhaoye raised an eyebrow slightly.
Zunyue represents the powerful elites of Beicheng; here, money is merely an admission ticket, power reigns supreme.
"We're really lucky to have Mr. Ling here today. Mr. Zhuang will be there for the farewell banquet later too," Vice President Zhang said, leaning over.
Qian Zhaoye frowned: "Young Master Ling?"
"Ling Huo!" Vice President Zhang winked, "The one who climbed up to the Zhuang family..."
Qian Zhaoye was taken aback.
Ling Huo, the heir of the Ling Group, is an idle and good-for-nothing playboy.
The elevator stopped on the fourth floor and the doors opened.
On the sofa in the center of the private room, a young man in a white T-shirt was lounging with his legs crossed, playing on his phone. He didn't even bother to lift his eyelids when he heard any noise.
"Mr. Ling!" Vice President Zhang immediately put on a smile and went up to him.
Ling Huo waved his hand without even looking up.
Vice President Zhang: "This is Mr. Qian from Kuangye Technology..."
Ling Huo scratched his ear, looked up, and lingered on Qian Zhaoye for half a second. "Alright, everyone, sit down."
His voice was languid.
"Mr. Ling, what about Mr. Zhuang..." Vice President Zhang rubbed his hands, hesitating to speak.
Ling Huo finally put down his phone, glanced at his watch, grabbed his suit jacket from the sofa, and casually dusted it off. "Remember to stand behind me later."
The moment the door to the private room closed, the expressions of the several vice presidents immediately changed.
"Pah! What nonsense!" Vice President Zhang took a swig of wine. "So what if they've latched onto the big players?"
"Keep your voice down, they're not ordinary people anymore."
"Mr. Qian, if you ask me, you're the one with real ability," Vice President Zhang suddenly raised his voice. "Starting from scratch and building this up to where you are now, you're far better than those who rely on their parents!"
"Exactly!" the others chimed in.
Qian Zhaoye accepted the whiskey offered to him, the alcohol exuding an air of arrogance.
He recalled the hardships he had endured building his fortune from scratch, while a rich second-generation like Ling Huo could easily reach the heights he had always dreamed of.
The alcohol burned his throat and ignited the resentment in his chest.
As he drank glass after glass of wine, Qian Zhaoye's vision began to blur.
In a daze, I seemed to hear the name Qu He.
Someone patted him on the shoulder and asked, "Mr. Qian, where's your capable female secretary? She used to be waiting downstairs when we drank, why haven't I seen her today?"
Qu He's name pierced Qian Zhaoye's nerves like a thorn, instantly clearing his mind and bringing back those forgotten images.
It was late at night in the parking lot, and Qu He was silently waiting by the car. It was when he was drunk that Qu He carefully helped him up. It was when he had a stomachache from drinking that Qu He offered him medicine.
But now she actually dares to resign and even wants to cancel the engagement...
Qian Zhaoye downed another glass of wine.
In the dimly lit private room, the dark side of human nature was magnified many times over.
"Although Mr. Qian's secretary dresses in an old-fashioned way, her figure...tsk tsk..."
One of the vice presidents pulled out his phone and waved it, saying, "I once took a picture of someone's back, and you know what..."
Several men burst into laughter and clamored to see the photos.
"Mr. Qian, what's your secretary like in private?" Vice President Zhang made a lewd gesture, his face full of lewdness.
For them, everyone knows what happens in the office, but once they leave home and close the office door, nobody cares if you're a secretary or a mistress.
Qian Zhaoye tightened his grip on the glass. Reason told him he should stop her, but alcohol and pride got the better of him, and he just tugged at the corner of his mouth: "Her? She's just like everyone else. Rigid and boring."
Once the floodgates were opened, a barrage of blatant teasing followed.
As Qian Zhaoye listened to their lewd fantasies about Qu He, his stomach churned with indescribable emotions.
But in the heat of anger, a strange, indescribable pleasure welled up inside him.
Qu He, look, this is the consequence of your wanting to leave me.
"What's so funny? I'd like to hear it too."
A clear, cool male voice pierced through the laughter and noise.
The inner ring of lights above suddenly turned on, making everyone squint.
When I opened my eyes again, a man in a dark patterned suit was standing next to the sofa, the metal lapel pin on his tie gleaming coldly.
The man stood with one hand in his pocket, looking down at them as if they were a group of ants.
"Mr. Zhuang...Mr. Zhuang!" Vice President Zhang's voice trembled.
Ling Huo jogged in, his face deathly pale: "Brother Zhuang, I..."
Zhuang Bieyan raised his hand to stop him, his gaze falling on the phone that had fallen onto the sofa.
The man with almond-shaped eyes next to him stepped forward, placed one foot on the low glass table, and grabbed the phone: "Oh, taking pictures secretly?"
"A bunch of grown men, doing all these filthy things?" Yu Shan sneered.
"Young Master Yu! It's a misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding!"
Vice President Zhang's legs went weak, and he sobered up considerably.
Yu Shan swiped his finger across the screen a few times, then slammed the phone to the ground. He ran his leather shoe over it several times, and the screen shattered.
Yu Shan's peach blossom eyes were filled with ice: "Have you no shame?"
"We've had too much to drink!" several vice presidents nearby protested in trembling voices.
"Did you drink too much?" Yu Shan nodded thoughtfully.
He looked around, grabbed a freshly opened bottle of Louis XIV from the table, and took a swig from the bottle. "Coincidentally, I'm drunk too."
He snapped his fingers, and the manager immediately bowed and came in.
“These people…” Yu Shan traced their fingers one by one, like the King of Hell inspecting his troops, “Throw them all to the police station!”
Vice President Zhang knelt down abruptly: "Young Master Yu, we really know we were wrong!"
Even a cornered beast will fight.
Several vice presidents crawled to Zhuang Bieyan's feet, saying, "President Zhuang, you are so magnanimous..."
Zhuang Bieyan remained silent throughout the banquet.
"President Zhuang..." Qian Zhaoye forced himself to stand up, but when he met those unfathomable eyes, all his explanations got stuck in his throat.
Security guards filed in.
Even after getting into the police car, Qian Zhaoye still couldn't understand why Yu Shan would fly into a rage over a complete stranger.
Inside the private room, Yu Shan looked at Ling Huo, whose eyes were full of innocent naivety, patted him on the shoulder, and said earnestly, "Little Ling, you still need to grow."
The top floor of the Zunyue Hotel.
Yu Shan leaned against the bar and took a sip of his drink. He gestured to the table, and a waiter quickly brought him a fresh glass of wine.
He carried the bag towards Zhuang Bieyan, who was sitting on the sofa looking at his phone.
"Want some drinks?"
Zhuang Bieyan didn't even raise his head.
Yu Shan twitched the corner of his mouth, a hint of frustration in his expression, and downed his drink in one gulp. "You really plan to wait until your wedding to drink this?"
Zhuang Bieyan didn't reply; he was just typing, seemingly chatting with someone.
Yu Shan stepped over the coffee table and sat down, then leaned over to look at the chat history on Zhuang Bieyan's phone.
"Gu Yu?" He raised an eyebrow. "You want the captain of the North City Criminal Police to personally interrogate those drunkards?"
Zhuang Bieyan put away his phone.
Yu Shan nudged his shoulder, a look of amusement on his face. "I just stood up for you, and you're still hiding this from me? Do you know that female secretary they were talking about?"
Zhuang Bieyan frowned slightly. "Her name is Qu He."
Yu Shan said "Oh," his tone taking eighteen turns.
Her inner gossip was burning fiercely, "When did you two get together? No wonder you were so excited when I heard someone say she was boring and dull..."
“She dared to climb a two-meter-tall bayberry tree when she was five years old,” Zhuang Bieyan suddenly said.
Yu Shan was taken aback.
What bayberries? Who's climbing the tree?
Belatedly realizing what was happening, his peach blossom eyes lit up. "Wow! Zhuang Bieyan, you've been hiding your true abilities!"
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