Chapter 19 As You See It
Out of politeness, Zhong Hejing did not comment on the other person's profession. Even if she had known Qiao Wu before, it was only when they were about ten years old. Besides, people's hearts are ever-changing, and the past cannot be retrieved.
She focused her attention on the scene.
Zhong Min's return to the Zhong family was not voluntary, so he has always had a strong sense of rejection and treats everyone the same way, feeling that the whole world has wronged him.
However, Zhong Hejing, who grew up in privileged conditions, could not empathize with him. Although they were not familiar with each other, she initially had a sibling-like affection for Zhong Min, but she could not withstand Zhong Min's repeated challenges to her bottom line.
As an adult, it is incredibly foolish to act on impulse without considering the value of the matter. This is not the first time that I have caused Zhong Ru any trouble, so Zhong Ru no longer wants to get involved in these trivial matters and has asked me to come over.
She had already heard Luo Zhihua apologizing when she came in, and she could roughly guess what was going on.
Zhong Ru used Zhong Shixia's lack of sensitivity to control Zhong Min and force her to return to the Zhong family. During this time, Zhong Shixia must have encountered many problems at school.
But in this environment, it all boils down to an exchange of interests between adults. She waved her hand and said, "Please take the child out first, teacher."
She didn't want Zhong Min to see her arguing with others.
The teacher, who was used to handling these kinds of things, was about to go and take care of the children.
Qiao Wu stopped him, saying, "Wait a minute."
Everyone looked at her.
"Why go out?" Qiao Wu sat down next to Lu Ning and gently pressed the back of her hand. "Since you've done it, you have to take responsibility. What's an apology worth? Since they've acted so recklessly because of their family background, they should also see what price their family has paid for this. There are always people more powerful than you, and being young isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card. What do you think, Mr. Luo?"
Luo Zhihua forced a smile and said, "I think it makes sense."
Then he asked, "What do you want?"
“You can negotiate with other people’s families, but we don’t want anything from our family,” Qiao Wu said. “I’ve already called the police.”
"!!!"
Even Zhong Hejing didn't expect things to develop this way.
In this school, who doesn't assume that any big or small incidents involving children should be resolved with resources?
Calling the police... This is truly a first for me.
Luo Zhihua: "Report... call the police?"
When did you call the police?! I didn't hear her make a phone call!
"My child was just leaving school when he was surrounded, provoked, and attacked by a few strange kids. Can't I even call the police?" Qiao Wu laughed. "Besides, Mr. Luo made the choice first. If he won't reason with me, then I'll have to let someone else do it."
She didn't make the call herself, but there was a driver at the school gate and bodyguards in the car. This wasn't just a matter of information.
"Don't call the police!" Luo Zhihua's legs were shaking. To be honest, people like them in the real estate business were most worried about dealing with these kinds of people. "We have plenty of projects; we can talk about it slowly!"
"Excuse me." Qiao Wu raised his hand, stopping the other person from walking over. "My child is a minor and doesn't understand these things. The only thing he knows is to call the police if he is bullied."
"Alright, I've said my piece. As for anything else you want to talk about, then let's talk about it."
"Dad!" The children were so frightened they ran away in terror.
A group of spoiled and unruly rich kids never imagined they would one day meet police officers, and they immediately started wailing and howling in the office.
Qiao Wu didn't want to listen anymore. She picked up Lu Ning's schoolbag and said, "Let's go."
"Wait a minute." Zhong Shixia brought over the money she had just picked up. "Your money."
Zhong Min knew that her younger brother was not good at expressing himself, so she said with a straight face, "He just wants to pay back the money, he doesn't mean anything else. He has kept this money for more than a year, and he will keep thinking about it if you don't take it back."
“But what happened back then…” he frowned, “shouldn’t you give us an explanation?”
After today's incident, Lu Ning is now a little scared. She worries that if she really gets into a fight in the future, Qiao Wu might actually pin her down in the office and let her see what the consequences of causing trouble are.
So she immediately interrupted Zhong Min: "I know I was in the wrong first, but I didn't know he was there. It was my fault for hitting him, and I only hit him back when he tried to hit me back!"
"Fight back?" Zhong Shixia couldn't recall such a thing. "I didn't mean to hit you."
"I told you, if you're so capable, you can hit me back. You even raised your hand as you walked over!"
Zhong Shixia's lips tightened: "I asked you to look at the clothes."
He was picking something up when his new clothes got torn, so he squatted down to fix them, not expecting to be hit by a stone.
Even when you walk over, you should raise your hand to show her your torn clothes, to show that you didn't squat there on purpose to stage an accident.
There's no way around it, clothes that cost 18 yuan are really fragile.
To his surprise, the little girl suddenly attacked him, crying as she hit him.
As a result, his already damaged clothes were in even worse condition; none of his clothes, pants, or shoes were in good condition.
After hearing the whole story, Lu Ning was speechless: "Then why didn't you say so sooner?"
There really are clothes for 18 yuan?!
Zhong Shixia looked at her in confusion: "You didn't tell me to say it."
Lu Ning: "..."
She snatched the loose change and said warily, "I'm taking your money now. We're even for today. Don't come looking for me again!"
Although the money wasn't much to her, she thought the man was crazy, and if she didn't accept it, she was afraid she'd be blocked at his door every day.
Zhong Shixia's expression finally softened slightly: "Mm."
He was constantly on edge carrying so much money.
Seeing that the two children had finished speaking, Qiao Wu glanced at Zhong Hejing's location, his attitude suddenly becoming gentle and even somewhat intimate: "We'll go back first, we'll keep in touch by phone."
Unexpectedly, she would say goodbye. Zhong Hejing paused for a moment before nodding, "Okay."
Can I contact you by phone? Contact me for what?
Are they in a relationship that can be maintained?
After everyone left, Zhong Hejing remembered what she had been about to do after being reminded by her teacher.
She originally intended to resolve the issue the way she always had, but upon seeing the two unfamiliar younger brothers, she suddenly changed her mind.
She smiled and said, "Since the police have already been notified, let's see how they handle it. Whoever is responsible will take responsibility. I'm not in good health, so I won't worry about it."
After saying that, she stood up and looked at Zhong Min and the other person: "Let's go."
Even if Zhong Min was unwilling, he could not stay with these people any longer, so he took Zhong Shixia with him and followed her out.
As they walked out of the classroom, they saw Qiao Wu and Lu Ning walking out of the teaching building together.
Lu Ning took her schoolbag off Qiao Wu, tilted her head back and said something while gesturing wildly.
Qiao Wu listened attentively, glancing sideways, occasionally smiling and patting her head; the scene looked exceptionally harmonious and warm.
Unlike the Lu family in Zhong Hejing's memory.
The Lu family experienced a major upheaval, after which family relationships became quite strained. Lu Ning, the child, has always been arrogant, not to mention the other Lu brothers.
But it looks a little different today?
Although you can still see that Lu Ning has some childish temper, it doesn't matter. She is unusually obedient in front of Qiao Wu.
Moreover, judging from Lu Jiang and Lu Jinzhi's temperaments, Qiao Wu would definitely not be the housekeeper they chose.
So what exactly happened?
Never mind, we have things to deal with right now.
"Zhong Shixia, you go to the car first." She stopped.
Zhong Min glanced at her, then stopped as well, and gave her younger brother a push: "Go on."
After everyone left, Zhong Hejing said, "I don't want today's incident to happen again."
Zhong Min had anticipated this, and he scoffed, "But don't you already know what I am? I can't compare to you high-ranking families."
"If it weren't for the Lu family and Qiao Wu, do you think we would have come out so quickly?" Zhong Hejing looked at him coldly. "What exactly are you so proud of?"
The Zhong family is no longer the Zhong family it once was.
Previously, she could still get closer to the Lu family, but ever since Zhong Ru and her father broke off their relationship, each of them had their own lovers, and then she got pregnant, had a child, and was going through a divorce and endless entanglements, these things did happen without anyone noticing. The power in the company was scattered and chaotic, and people's hearts were unsettled.
Adding to his own health problems, the domineering Zhong Ru took over everything, causing the Zhong family to fall into decline.
Even if you're here to negotiate with Luo Zhihua, there has to be a give and take.
Sometimes Zhong Hejing felt so tired that she thought they should all just die together. All this money, profit, and family reputation was suffocating her.
"I'm proud?" Zhong Min laughed angrily. "You didn't even ask for my opinion and pushed me to this point. How many times has Shi Xia transferred schools? Was it because of you? Did she come to this school because of Zhong Ru? Now that something's happened, you complain that I didn't do a good enough job. What, do you expect a thug to do something earth-shattering? To be ranked in Forbes? Is your bloodline inlaid with gold or diamonds to make you so awesome? Let me tell you straight, I'm going to make Zhong Ru unhappy!"
"Smack!"
Zhong Hejing slapped him across the face, making Zhong Min's head tilt to the side.
The air suddenly became quiet.
"So you want the entire Zhong family to play with you?!"
Zhong Hejing was so angry that her vision blurred, and she leaned against the wall next to her, closing her eyes and panting.
Zhong Min let out a deep breath, stopped talking about it, and took out his phone to make a call: "Come and pick up your CEO Zhong!"
Upon hearing this, the driver waiting at the school gate hurriedly got out of the car, fearing that something else might happen to the young lady.
The two arrived in different cars. After seeing the driver take her into the car, Zhong Min also got into his car and drove away with Zhong Shixia.
Lu Ning waited in vain for the driver to leave. Seeing Qiao Wu staring intently outside, she asked in confusion, "What are you looking at?"
The two cars had long since disappeared at the end of the street. Qiao Wu shook his head slightly: "It's nothing."
It seems that Zhong Hejing's health is worse than she realized.
In the information Xie Yi and her father gave her, besides the list, there were also some rather private stories about each family.
Having served as Lu Jiang's assistant for so many years, Qiao Zhiyi has his own methods for dealing with these wealthy families, and therefore knows a lot about them.
Now that she has taken over, her father will certainly give her all this information without reservation.
That's why, after unexpectedly encountering Zhong Min at school today, she paid more attention to the Zhong family on the list and looked through their information more thoroughly.
It was because of this that she connected the dots between Zhong Min and Zhong Hejing.
Zhong Hejing did not appear in the original storyline.
However, Zhong Min's storyline includes an older sister who died young.
The story that Qiao Wu knew unfolded from the perspective of the male and female protagonists. When the male protagonist appeared, he was already a promising figure. His background was only mentioned occasionally to pave the way for his character.
He was forced and threatened by his mother to inherit the family business, his so-called father was trying to harm him at every turn, and his sister was only mentioned briefly.
Children's memories may be somewhat lacking, and their memories of childhood playmates may be vague, but Qiao Wu's are not.
Zhong Hejing is a little older than her, but she is actually a nice person and has always been very healthy.
People with solid financial means have careful consideration for their food, clothing, and daily necessities. They also have nutritionists and regular check-ups, so their health won't suddenly collapse.
After Zhong Min's sister passed away, both he and Zhong Shixia were targeted by their nominal "father," and it is self-evident who the only beneficiary was.
The Zhong family.
The group of people returned home one after the other, but none of them paid any attention to each other, and they all went back to their rooms.
Zhong Hejing rested in bed for a while before she recovered.
Although he is in poor health, Zhong Min is currently harboring deep resentment towards the Zhong family and is unfamiliar with the company's business. Furthermore, Zhong Ru is unwilling to delegate authority to others, and many things still have to go through her hands.
She got up to go to the study to look at company documents, but when she saw her pale and haggard reflection in the mirror, she was still a little distracted.
She used to be glamorous and unafraid that anyone would see her disheveled state, just like Qiao Wu we see today.
But things are different now.
She even despicably used the phone number Qiao Wu left behind before leaving as leverage to suppress Luo Zhihua.
Just then, her phone suddenly rang.
It's Qiao Wu.
Business people don't block people for trivial reasons, so Zhong Hejing kept her phone number but never contacted her.
I didn't expect that Qiao Wu would actually make the phone call when he said he would.
She hesitated for a moment, then answered, "Hello?"
"I'd like to ask you to meet up," Qiao Wu said on the other end of the line. "I wonder if that's alright?"
In the past, Zhong Hejing would have definitely refused, because she didn't know what she could say to Qiao Wu.
But now she has changed her mind: "Tomorrow at three in the afternoon."
"Okay, shall I choose the location or you?"
"Let's go to the Lu family's place. Don't you have to work?"
The Lu family also has a designated place for discussing matters.
"Okay, see you tomorrow."
-
At 3 p.m. the next day, Zhong Hejing arrived at the Lu residence on time.
She hadn't been to the Lu family home for many years, but the place remained orderly and even more luxurious and opulent.
It doesn't look like it's going to collapse.
Generally, cars from outside the Lu residence have a designated parking lot, but Zhong Hejing heard the maid in charge of reception say, "Butler Xiao Qiao said that your car can come in directly."
Zhong Hejing was somewhat surprised.
She was not only surprised by her special treatment, but also by the attitude of the Lu family towards Qiao Wu. In her memory, Qiao Wu used to always treat herself as the legitimate eldest daughter of the Lu family and was not very popular with these servants.
Soon she was led by the car ahead to the place where she had agreed to meet Qiao Wu.
The weather was nice today, and Qiao Wu was sitting in a pavilion in a traditional Chinese garden, looking through something.
Hearing the sound, she stopped what she was doing and looked up. In that instant, Zhong Hejing suddenly felt that if this were really her first time visiting the Lu family, she would also think that Qiao Wu was the owner of this place.
It wasn't because of her attitude, but because of her temperament.
As the others left one after another, Qiao Wu put down what he was holding on the table and stood up. Seeing that Zhong Hejing's complexion was even worse than the day before, he lowered his eyes slightly.
"Please sit down."
Zhong Hejing sat down in the pavilion and heard Qiao Wu ask, "Would you like something to drink?"
She subtly took in her surroundings and the other person's attitude and expression, and politely said, "Water, thank you."
It was clear that Qiao Wu was indeed the Lu family's housekeeper. From the moment she entered the house, everyone in the Lu family treated her with utmost respect, showing no sign of dissatisfaction, and the house was always in perfect order.
Qiao Wu poured two glasses of water in front of the other person and drank one himself.
"What do you want?" Zhong Hejing asked.
"Just a casual chat." Qiao Wu's gaze was calm, and his tone was also very gentle, as if he were having a casual conversation. "I noticed yesterday that you didn't look well. Have you seen a doctor?"
Zhong Hejing was reluctant to discuss her private matters too clearly with the other party, only saying, "It's just a minor ailment, I'll take care of it."
Then she saw what Qiao Wu had been looking at.
Grade 8 in-class exercise book.
Lu Ning's?
This person's previous annoyance with Lu Ning's noise was genuine, so what is he doing now?
Qiao Wu knew that the other party might have some misunderstandings about him, so he didn't ask too many questions. Instead, he said, "My attitude towards you was a bit bad before, but that wasn't my intention. If you have any questions, you can ask me now."
Zhong Hejing was stunned for a moment, not expecting the other party to be so frank.
But to be honest, everyone has a lot of friends when they're young, but probably not many of them will stay with them in the end. Instead of dwelling on those childhood memories, it's better to look forward. No one is as innocent as they were back then.
"No." Zhong Hejing took a sip of water. "You asked me to come here just to ask this?"
"More or less," Qiao Wu said gently. "I just wanted to check on how you've been."
Zhong Hejing choked: "We don't seem to be that close?"
"Hmm." Qiao Wu showed no embarrassment at being pushed away and said calmly, "So it's just because of the friendship we had as childhood friends."
Of course she knew that they hadn't been in contact for so many years and didn't know anything about each other. Neither of them knew what the other had become.
But Qiao Wu wasn't the type to hesitate or look back. She had lived a lifetime longer than most people and had even experienced the despair of being unable to control her own destiny.
Therefore, she is very carefree in many things, especially towards people.
No one is inherently good or inherently bad, so even if Zhong Hejing has changed and become cunning and selfish, Qiao Wu will still choose to pay the price for the harmonious time they spent together in the past.
Just like how she would temporarily stay for the sake of the Lu family.
As for whether or not to arrange another meal together, that depends on the other person's attitude.
At least since they met, Zhong Hejing's attitude towards her had been within her acceptable range. If it were someone else who was glib and smooth-talking, Zhong Hejing might have immediately accused them of meddling, but Qiao Wu's straightforwardness shocked her.
After a long while, Zhong Hejing finally found a clue. Since Qiao Wu wanted to talk about this favor, she would do the same.
"In that case, I'll ask about your recent situation as well."
Qiao Wu smiled: "As you can see, it's fine."
"I never expected you to become the Lu family's butler."
"They need me."
Zhong Hejing couldn't hold back any longer: "Can you... do it well?"
“My answer is that I will do a good job. As for whether you believe me or not,” Qiao Wu looked into her eyes and said seriously, “that depends on what kind of person you remember me as.”
No matter what, Zhong Hejing was once the head of the company and the sole heir of the Zhong family.
Outside, people respectfully address her as President Zhong.
She's a bit conflicted right now.
If the Qiao Wu she remembered was that hypocritical and disgusting person, she wouldn't even be here, let alone believe him.
But if it's the same person who was smiling confidently and calmly yesterday, the one who once held her hand when she got lost in the Lu residence, the one standing in front of her now who openly expresses concern for her because of past friendships.
That person will do a great job.
Zhong Hejing unearthed the answer from her own heart.
From a young age, Zhong Ru demanded that she become the most outstanding successor, and everything she did was strictly controlled, to the point that she would always subconsciously chase after people who were even more outstanding.
Qiao Wu, despite being younger than her, was the first person she, in her innocent youth, wanted to become.
She used to wonder what a younger sister like Qiao Wu would be like when she grew up.
Now she sees it.
That's also what she thinks she should become when she grows up.
Zhong Hejing's hand holding the water glass trembled slightly.
But now the Zhong family is on a downward spiral, and she is neither human nor ghost, and it is unknown how many days she will live. Every step she takes is driven by interests, and she has even abandoned her childhood and dares not recall it.
She failed to become the person she envisioned herself to be.
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