Chapter 27
On the way home, Meng Zixian received a call from Xiao Jun, saying that he had just left the nursing home in Great Neck, Long Island, and was about half an hour away from Jericho. Xiao Jun had flown to the East Coast to look at several retirement community projects. Meng Zixian had seen his message when she was discharged from the hospital yesterday and had arranged to meet him at his house tonight.
The rain had stopped, and at 7:30 in the evening the setting sun sank into the bay.
Five minutes later, the car turned into the curve at the entrance to the residential complex. Three blocks away, Meng Zixian saw that in addition to his Range Rover, there was a beige Cayenne in his driveway, its headlights still on. Meng Zixian didn't recognize the car. Xiao Jun shouldn't have arrived so early.
The driver turned on his turn signal and was about to turn into the entrance of his house. Meng Zixian said, "Don't stop, just drive forward." He stared at the Porsche, watching the taillights go out and the driver's door open. Meng Zixian's right elbow, resting on the armrest, subconsciously tightened an inch. He knew what he wanted to do. He told himself that he didn't have a gun, and this wasn't a war zone.
As the car passed by his house, he saw Sylvia getting out of the Cayenne. Meng Zixian relaxed his right arm, breathed a sigh of relief, and asked the driver to stop the car.
As Meng Zixuan stepped out of the car and stood up, his vision darkened. He instinctively reached for his side, and the empty sensation of his hip froze him for a moment. Aside from a few instances in prison, he hadn't felt this tense in years. He wasn't sure what was causing the stress. It could be a side effect of the medication, or perhaps a problem with his body itself, suppressed by medication upon his release. Now that the effects of the medication were wearing off, he could vaguely feel the pain in his lungs.
Sylvia stood in the driveway, smiling, holding a basket filled with wine, crackers, and cheese. Meng Zixuan approached. She set the basket on the ground and extended her arms to embrace him. He kissed her cheek gently and inhaled the scent of sandalwood and bergamot on her neck.
She smiled and said, "Welcome back to normal life."
Meng Zixuan thanked her and said apologetically, "It's not convenient tonight. I have guests coming."
"Oh!" Sylvia tilted her head in surprise. "I'm sorry for being abrupt. I thought... I thought you had just been discharged from the hospital and would not have any work arrangements tonight. You are really a busy person. I should have called you first." She grinned, but quickly stopped.
As if unsure whether she should say it, she paused for a moment and exhaled: "...Is it your ex-wife?"
Meng Zixuan's gaze paused on her face for two seconds, and he responded calmly: "It wasn't her who came at night."
"But after you were discharged from the hospital, did you meet? You said on the phone that you were going to pick someone up at the airport."
Sylvia had a sensitive intuition, and Meng Zixuan had never concealed the matter of Chen Huan. Meng Zixuan realized that Sylvia had her competitive side. Perhaps it was because he mentioned picking someone up at the airport that he saw her at the door at this hour.
Seeing that Meng Zixuan didn't answer, Sylvia smiled awkwardly, "You must think I'm the kind of jealous and calculating woman, but please believe me, I won't hurt or be jealous of a woman I've never met for you. If my boyfriend fell in love with someone else, I would tell them to be happy.
"Ever since high school, the messages I sent to men were always shorter than their replies. If he asked me to go sailing at the beach, I'd just say 'Sure' or 'No time'. As for messages like 'You look so beautiful today,' I usually didn't reply. The conversation always ended with the last sentence he said. If he didn't contact me in two weeks, I'd assume it was a good idea to part ways.
"But it's a little different with you, isn't it?
"I know two months isn't a long time. We each have our own things to do, and you have to take care of your work in Hancheng. I'm not asking for any promises from you when I say this. You don't need to introduce me as your girlfriend to others, you don't need to post our headshots on social media, and you don't need to feel embarrassed because I'm in New York and you're in Hancheng..."
She seemed a little sad and lowered her head. After a moment, she raised her head again, still with a generous look, but her big eyes were filled with tears. "But I hope you know that I am working very hard to maintain our relationship, more than I can imagine. Perhaps I am not as good as your ex-wife at showing this vulnerability to you..."
While Sylvia was searching for tissues in her bag, Meng Zixuan coughed lightly and was silent for a moment. He asked, "What do you need me to do?"
"I can't compete with the person who occupied your life for ten years because you never let me into your world. If you don't let go of the past, the past will not let you go. But this is not what you want. That past is painful for you. You want to move on, right? If I misunderstood, please tell me directly."
Sylvia said this, raised her hand, and slowly stretched out to his right hand. Before her fingers touched, Meng Zixuan's arm muscles tensed, but he didn't move away. Sylvia squeezed his palm, exhaled a breath that seemed to have been held for a long time, and finally relaxed. She said maybe next time we meet, you can tell me about the past.
When Xiao Jun arrived, he was holding a large paper bag, saying it was beef tenderloin. It looked to be four or five pounds, larger than the slightly protruding belly button in front of him. The two men stood face to face in the living room. Meng Zixuan looked at the beef, which was bleeding, and asked if it was for me. Xiao Jun said, "The dean of Great Neck just bought some from Blue Mountain Farm. It's very fresh. He insisted on cutting a piece for me. If I don't take it, it would seem awkward, wouldn't it? I came to you with it when I left."
Meng Zixian went to the kitchen to wash his hands and asked him what he wanted to drink. Xiao Jun followed Meng Zixian into the kitchen and asked for a glass of iced cola. Meng Zixian said there was no cola.
"Orange juice is also fine, without ice."
"No." Meng Zixuan said he had coffee, milk, tequila, and whiskey.
"I want beer." Xiao Jun said.
Meng Zixuan poured him a glass of ice water and took the paper bag from him.
Xiao Jun had been running all day, his mouth dry. He sat down at the table, sipping water, and watched Meng Zixian unwrap the wrapping paper, pull out a butcher knife, press the piece of meat onto the cutting board, and lower his head to trim the fascia and fat. The knife felt smooth in Meng Zixian's hand, and cutting through the meridians was as smooth as cutting butter. Xiao Jun stood up, supporting himself, and leaned over to look at the brand of the knife. He found a few ordinary Victorinox knives stuck on the cutting board. He asked, "Where did you learn this knife skill? Is it taught in the army?"
Meng Zixian said that when he was a child, he helped out in my father's butcher shop.
"Jack McCormick? I just met him in Philadelphia to discuss a retirement community project. Isn't he in real estate?" Xiao Jun knows a lot of people in real estate in the eastern United States.
Meng Zixuan didn't look up as he trimmed the last few white fibers. "That's my adoptive father." He put down his knife, gathered the cut meat, and threw it into the trash can. "He saw me at the butcher shop when I was ten years old."
Xiao Jun placed his left hand on the edge of the dining table and stroked his hair with his right hand.
Before joining Chenyue, Xiao Jun had never worked with Meng Zixian. He had heard many rumors about this young man, the most reliable of which was probably that Meng Zixian took Ronghui from a small, unknown fund to the sales channels of major multinational investment banks' wealth management. This took only two months.
If it took him six months, it means he's a top salesperson, adept at navigating the financial jungle. But if it only took him two months, it means he's playing at a different table, ignoring the rules of investment banking when placing bets.
Wall Street's ambitious machine churns out gold. If you queued outside to buy a ticket, you'd be gobbled up by the greedy barbarians at the gate before you even touched the testicles of the bronze bull. Chen Yue's top boss, Ding Shangyi, gave Xiao Jun only three years to establish a strong financial group. Therefore, Xiao Jun needed someone with influence over the top capital markets. A year ago, he went to Qiguanzhou Prison to find Meng Zixian.
He originally wanted to persuade Meng Zixian to join Chenyue, but Meng Zixian refused, saying that he wanted to register a company of his own, named Qingyu. Xiao Jun asked what Qingyu did, was it overseas private lending? Meng Zixian said he hadn't decided yet.
They had met only a few times after that, until the discussion of Xuan Tao's acquisition came up.
Xiao Jun wasn't quite sure of Meng Zixian's personality. He brought a piece of beef, and Meng Zixian rolled up his sleeves and went into the kitchen, which struck him as pragmatic and easygoing. Many people said Meng Zixian had a complicated background and was very secretive about his military experience, but he himself didn't seem shy about talking about it. This struck Xiao Jun as a calm and confident person.
But the tense and cold atmosphere in the air just now made Xiao Jun alert again. He glanced at the temperature control on the wall, which was 62 degrees Fahrenheit. Meng Zixuan turned the air conditioner very low, and Xiao Jun thought that the chill that spread to his ankles in the kitchen was not his imagination.
When Meng Zixian cut the meat into sections, no one in the kitchen spoke, only the friction of the knife cutting through the meat fibers. After cutting, Meng Zixian said: "The tenderloin is good, it can be slow-roasted. But it needs to be marinated overnight, so you can't eat it today."
His words dissipated the previously tense atmosphere in the kitchen. Xiao Jun let out a slow breath, loosened his grip on the table edge, and took a long sip from his glass of water. He said, "It's okay. I'm staying with a friend in Great Neck. I'll come back tomorrow."
Meng Zixuan laughed softly, washed his hands, and pulled out a thin cotton rope from the drawer.
Xiao Jun cleared his throat and got to the point. "Xiao Meng, Wu Ruifeng was a bit hasty, but he was also trying to sort out the equity issue as quickly as possible. We're both on the same side, and you scared him off with just one phone call, causing him to quit going to the company. How can we work together in the future?"
The sound of scissors swishing was heard several times. Meng Zixian prepared five or six hemp ropes and began to tie the beef, tying the knots skillfully.
Xiao Jun said, "Even snakes and rats have their ways. Wu Ruifeng is truly capable. You'll see when the debts are packaged and sold. The asset management company is a deep-sea operation, and no one knows the channels better than him. If you sell a hundred million yuan worth of bad debt and get ten million, he'll get forty million. You're young, and you're flipping the table over a disagreement. You're losing real money."
Meng Zixian sprinkled salt and pepper on the meat, wrapped it in new paper, and put it in the refrigerator. He washed his hands again, dried them, and sat down at the table.
Meng Zixuan smiled, his face gentle. "I'm an extreme person, otherwise I wouldn't have spent three years in prison. During those three years, I was constantly learning and improving, and I learned that I need to be measured in my actions. I accept your criticism humbly. I'm willing to work with Wu Ruifeng. He'll do the work for you, and I'll help you find the money. Let's discuss his due compensation, his position on the board, and the company's development. All of these are negotiable."
The cold air from the soles of Xiao Jun's feet seeped into his bones. He glanced at the temperature control again. It was still 62 degrees Fahrenheit. Xiao Jun pressed his palm against the outside of his thigh, and his elbow remained motionless for a long time, as if it was stuck.
Meng Zixuan spoke calmly and clearly, "I didn't scare him yesterday. I was telling the truth. If he dares to threaten Shen Huan again, I will sit at his doorstep and wait for him to come back. I will break his legs in front of his wife and children."
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