Chapter 341 Borrowing Money
Looking at the huge sum of money, Gu Yan felt a mischievous urge stirring within him.
He squatted down, making a pitiful face: "Really? Then Uncle didn't bring any money today, so it's all up to Xiaoman to treat us, okay?"
Upon hearing this, Xiaoman tightened her grip on the coin, caught in a dilemma.
His original plan was to give half, or at most two-thirds, to his uncle... but the words had already been spoken.
Finally, she extended her little hand: "...Okay."
As a result, Gu Yan, that unserious uncle, actually took Xiao Man and started to squander money on her along the way home.
Roasted sweet potatoes, sugar-roasted chestnuts...
Xiaoman was being led by her uncle with one hand, and was eating small bites of chestnut meat that her uncle had peeled in the other.
It was indeed sweet and fragrant, but his little face was a bit stiff, and his other little hand kept touching the deflated little wallet.
Gu Yan was inwardly laughing so hard he almost fell over, but on the surface he remained serious and handed another string of candied hawthorns to his mouth.
"Come on, Xiaoman, try this, it's so sweet! Thanks to Xiaoman, Uncle is able to eat so much delicious food today!"
Xiaoman stuck out her tongue and licked the shiny sugar coating, temporarily putting her empty wallet out of her mind.
He took a small bite of the hawthorn and said, "You're welcome, Uncle."
The uncle and nephew strolled around leisurely for a long time before returning to the Gu family home as it got dark.
Pushing open the courtyard gate, Nan Zhiyi and Gu Xiao were already waiting.
After Gu Yan settled in at home in the afternoon, he made a special call to Gu Xiao's office, and only then did Gu Xiao realize that his younger brother had returned without a word.
Upon seeing him, Gu Xiao looked him up and down. "Finished with work?"
Nan Zhiyi smiled and called out to him, "Gu Yan!"
Gu Yan smiled at her brother and sister-in-law, put Xiaoman down from her arms, and the little girl immediately ran to her mother's side, holding up a candied hawthorn to show her.
Nan Zhiyi coaxed Xiaoman to put down the candied hawthorn first, and then pulled him to wash his hands and face.
The two brothers went into the study to talk.
This study was specially converted into a bedroom when my sister-in-law came to visit before, and the bed was made neatly.
As soon as Gu Yan entered, he seemed to lose all his bones, throwing himself onto the bed and letting out a long sigh of relief.
“I’ve been accompanying Mr. Ma around the Beijing-Tianjin area for several days,” he said, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. “Mr. Ma originally wanted to inspect garment factories, but now he feels that the policies there are more flexible. He’s tentatively considering setting up a pilot processing plant in the suburbs of Tianjin, mainly producing electronic watches and some simple small appliance parts. After he finished his inspection there, he flew back to Hong Kong this morning.”
Gu Xiao sat upright in the chair in front of his desk. He wasn't particularly interested in these business operations and only asked, "How many days can you stay?"
"I can stay a few more days this time. There are people over there keeping an eye on the initial preparations at the factory, so I can take a break."
He was only half telling the truth.
Now that the company in the south is well-established and doesn't require his constant monitoring, it's true that he wants to leave that stressful environment and catch his breath.
Gu Yan turned to the side, propped his head up with his arm, and faced his brother.
"Hey bro, did Gu Jianjun call you?"
Gu Xiao frowned immediately, his voice deepening: "How rude of you to call me Gu Jianjun. What does your second brother want with you?" He strongly disapproved of his younger brother's casual way of addressing his second brother by his given name.
Gu Yan pouted: "You'd never guess what he wanted to talk to me about." He thought his brother would guess some trivial family matters.
Unexpectedly, Gu Xiao gave a direct answer: "How about borrowing money?"
Gu Yan was somewhat surprised: "How did you guess? Well, you have a lot of connections in Jian'an, did you hear the news?" He thought Gu Xiao knew something through other channels.
Gu Xiao shook his head slightly; it was purely a guess.
“I don’t need to listen to any rumors. His position, deputy head of the supply and marketing department, sounds powerful, but in reality, he only handles the approval and allocation of scarce materials. It’s lucrative, and there are many temptations. Given his personality, and his... second sister-in-law’s personality, if he suddenly asks you for money, the amount is probably not small, right? Most likely, something went wrong and he needs money to cover the hole.”
Upon hearing this, Gu Yan fell heavily back onto the bed and bounced twice.
He was very frustrated, "Gu Jianjun actually had the nerve to speak up, I was too embarrassed to even listen."
“If it were you, my own brother, I’d find a way to scrape together 300,000, let alone 30,000. Gu Jianjun? What makes him think he can ask for that?”
Gu Xiao frowned even more deeply, as if he had a knot in his hair.
When did this happen?
“The day before I came to Beijing, they called my company directly. It’s been several days now, and I haven’t given up. I guess they haven’t given up either.”
What did you reply to him at the time?
"What else could I say? I couldn't just shut up, since we're still brothers."
Gu Yan pursed his lips. "I told you, 'Second brother, this amount is not small. I need to think about it. I've been having some cash flow problems lately and can't come up with that much all at once.' Let's just put it off for now."
Gu Xiao pondered for a moment, then tapped his fingers on the desk: "He can't contact you right now, and he hasn't called me either. The rest of the family probably can't afford that much money, and he certainly wouldn't dare go to Dad..."
"It seems he's in a real bind... He might really be driven to the brink, otherwise, given his pride, he wouldn't have asked you so directly."
He raised his eyes and looked at his younger brother lying on the bed, first instructing him, "Don't mention this to Dad. Dad is old and his blood pressure is unstable. He can't handle such dirty things. I'll ask someone to find out privately what trouble he got into with the Industry Bureau and how big the hole is."
Gu Yan turned over and writhed a few times on the bed.
“I’m not stupid, of course I know I can’t tell Dad. Anyway, I’m leaving this to you, brother. I don’t want to get involved in this mess.” He paused, then added, “When I get back to Huacheng in a few days, if he dares to call again, I’ll tell him all the money is tied up in goods and we don’t have a penny left!”
After dinner, Gu Xiao urged Gu Yan to go back to his room: "Alright, you've been busy for several days, go back to your room and rest early. The toiletries in the bathroom cabinet are all new, and there are two new sets of pajamas in the cabinet, take them and wear them."
Upon hearing this, Gu Yan grinned and looked at Nan Zhiyi: "Zhiyi is so thoughtful of me! So considerate! If it were my brother? He would probably just make do and wouldn't think of these little things."
Nan Zhiyi smiled, pursing her lips.
Gu Xiao slapped him on the back in an annoyed tone, "Stop talking nonsense! Go on, just stay home and get some rest."
Gu Yan then chuckled and slipped on his slippers, returning to his guest room.
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