"What time will today's bidding start?"
The secretary jogged to keep up with He Cheng, and handed over the work schedule for the new day. He Cheng took it over, glanced at it, and suddenly stood still.
"Substitute?" He Cheng's voice was full of anger, "Why didn't you notify in advance?"
"This is the order of the chairman, he said..."
"Are you working for him or for me?" He Cheng patted the arrangement page into his arms and said angrily, "If you don't want to do it, get out!"
The new little secretary had never seen He Chengfa get so angry before, and he froze in place for a while.
"What's the noise?"
A steady voice sounded from the other end of the corridor, and the little secretary breathed a sigh of relief.
"… dad."
He Cheng's complexion was very bad, but he restrained himself a little, and called out respectfully.
He Cheng's father, He Jingtang, was in his early fifties, with a steady pair of steps and a straight back. When he walked over to compare him, his physique was actually comparable to that of his son.
Those sharp eyebrows and eyes that had seen all the vicissitudes of the world swept across He Cheng's face, and He Jingtang said coldly, "Come to my office."
He Cheng waved the little secretary to leave.
The father and son walked into the chairman's office, and He Cheng closed the door behind him. He Jingtang sat behind the desk, crossed his hands on the desk, and looked at him quietly.
Having not seen his father's expression for a long time, He Cheng felt a little nervous for no reason. He calmed down and asked, "Why did the bidding meeting need to be replaced by another person? I have been following up on this project before, and that is my job."
"You also know it's your job." He Jingtang frowned, knocked on the solid wood tabletop, and made two dull and shocking sounds, "You can still cause trouble."
"What's the trouble, Mai family?" He Cheng caught the point sensitively, and couldn't help laughing absurdly, "Am I afraid of the Mai family?"
"Are you afraid that I won't care, but if you go out like this, you will lose my face."
The cold words were accompanied by a pair of torch-like eyes.
He Cheng slightly raised the corners of his mouth, "When did I lose your face?"
"He Cheng!"
He Jingtang took out a stack of photos from the drawer and threw it in front of He Cheng. The photo was hit on his body and fell to the ground in a spin. He Cheng lowered his eyes and saw Xu Ran's sleeping faces.
In the dream, there were vague traces of pain showing between the eyebrows, and the light in the photo was very dim, probably taken when he was imprisoned by Mai Xing.
"Who is he?" He Jingtang asked sharply, "Your new lover?"
"... where did you get this photo?"
He had seen the photos of Mai Xing left at the guard's place, and these were the same. It seems that Mai Xing sent more than one place.
He Jingtang was furious, "I'm asking you! Where did this man come from?"
He Cheng closed his eyes with a headache, "His name is Xu Ran, and he is the one who has been following me."
The two of them have been together for ten years, and He Jingtang has never met Xu Ran. He Cheng had vaccinated his family from the very beginning, he would never marry a woman in his life, so the He family didn't care much about who he brought with him. He Cheng should have known what to do and what not to do.
He Jingtang's stern eyebrows almost knit together, "What happened to him by the Mai family?"
"It's nothing, I just suffered a little flesh injury, and I'm in the hospital now." He Cheng paused, "And before that, we had already broken up."
"Break up? You still have the face to talk about breaking up now!" He Jing stood up vigorously, pacing back and forth angrily, "Do you know how many people have come to ask me what happened to you in the past two days! You know Mai Ying How strange is the way Hong looks at me? Now that everyone knows that your lover was tied up by Mai Xing and beaten up, where do you let the He family face? Can't you even look down on a lover?!"
He Jingtang was so angry that his shoulders were shaking, he stopped and took a sip of hot tea to calm down a little.
"Whether you broke up or not, he is your responsibility. Even if you are pretending, you have settled him down for me. I will not allow him to have any accidents in the name of the He family."
"... There's no need for that." He Cheng said, "He doesn't dare to make trouble."
"If I tell you to go, go!" He Jingtang gave him a fierce look, "Until I deal with him, I won't let you take over any important work in the company."
"what?"
He Cheng was startled, and then rushed up with anger, "You want to take away the project I'm working on because of a stranger, aren't you afraid of being laughed at?"
"A joke? My son is almost thirty years old, and it's a big joke for the elders to worry about your love life!"
He Jingtang came to He Cheng, looked him straight in the eyes, and beat his chest word by word.
"You promised me that you won't go out and mess around, and you won't cause trouble. I see you as the biggest trouble now."
He Cheng was so angry that he clenched his fists tightly, but he didn't speak back.
He Jingtang rubbed the space between his brows and waved his hands, "Go out. Clean up the floor."
He Cheng bent down to pick up the photo and stuffed it into the trash can.
Looking at his back, He Jingtang suddenly asked, "What did you tell Mai Xing the day you rescued that Xu?"
"It's nothing." He Cheng said without turning his head, "I just said, if he threatens me with such boring things again, I'll take his skin off."
Then there was a heavy slam of the door, echoing in the depths of the empty corridor.
When Qiao An came to visit, Xu Ran was flipping through his phone aimlessly.
Joan took a bouquet of pink carnations, adorned with pale yellow gypsophila, gathered together in small handfuls, bringing a fragrance to the room.
Xu Ran put down the phone and smiled at him.
Joan sat down by the bed, "I heard Xiaobai say you... I want to come and see."
He put the flowers on the bedside table, and arranged the red ribbons that were hanging down to fit.
Xu Ran stared at him blankly, and said softly, "I'm fine."
Joan didn't speak, just glanced at the deep purple bruise on his neck.
Xu Ran shrank his shoulders and hid his neck with his collar. The hospital gown was too big, and he wore it in a one-size-fits-all size like a sack, full of holes when blown by the wind.
Joan looked at him, "You don't look very well."
Originally not very healthy, because of being hospitalized, she became thinner, her eyelids were black and blue, and her lips were bloodless.
Xu Ran shook his head with a smile. He thinks he's fine.
Qiao An's expression was a bit complicated, he didn't know what to say, but he always felt that something had changed in Xu Ran, and this change made him very disturbed.
"You..." He paused, and asked carefully, "When will you be discharged from the hospital?"
"One month later." Xu Ran said. He didn't count the specific day.
"..."
There was embarrassment in the silence, and now Qiao An was completely aware that something was wrong. He was suddenly not sure whether he should appear here, Bai Jinming only told him that something happened to Xu Ran, but did not give details.
On the contrary, Xu Ran sighed softly, and slowed down his tone, "I'm fine, really."
He understood Joan's situation. Qiao An is not a bad person, he just loves to make friends as he did when he was a child, but unfortunately there is a He Cheng between the two of them, and they are destined not to be able to have a good relationship.
Qiao An is He Cheng's white moonlight, and He Cheng is his cinnabar mole. And he is nothing.
He couldn't describe He Cheng's paranoia and dominance to Qiao An in the past ten years. Even though Qiao An was the person most likely to understand him in the world, this kind of sympathy was not what he wished. It also hurts habitually.
Why does it still hurt? It shouldn't hurt anymore.
Xu Ran touched his left chest, where it was flat and cold.
Joan misunderstood his movements and got up in a panic, "Is your heart uncomfortable? Do you need to call a doctor?"
Seeing that he was about to ring the bell, Xu Ran helplessly stopped him, "My heart is fine."
No... maybe there is a problem, otherwise why would he still be in pain after all hope was lost, reminding him of the nostalgia that should have been abandoned but still remained in his heart.
Qiao An looked at it worriedly for a while, then said softly, "He Cheng is a very willful person."
Xu Ran lowered his eyes.
Joan licked the dry corner of his mouth, "I know I shouldn't say this, but he... he always does."
Self-righteous giving, never caring about the feelings of those around him.
Xu Ran was a little surprised, "I thought you two broke up because..."
"It's because I'm going abroad, yes," said Joanne, "but that's not the only reason."
He took a deep breath, "Even if I don't go abroad, we won't be together for long."
"Why?" Xu Ran was confused.
Joan smiled helplessly, "At that time, he was so arrogant and lawless, every time he said how to treat me in the future... I know he can do it, but his kind of fanaticism scares me. People always make mistakes , I can't imagine his reaction if he finds out that things are not going as planned."
"...you don't trust him?"
"Maybe, I was only seventeen or eighteen back then, and the only person I could trust was myself."
Xu Ran's head was buzzing, but he couldn't tell what it was like.
Those things that Joan didn't believe and chose to give up were all things he could only wish for. He Cheng had never made any promises to him during the ten years together, even Xu Ran would not ask for it deliberately, but those good things were indeed wishes that he was so extravagant that he dared not even touch them.
If it was him, he would probably follow He Cheng for the rest of his life.
Maybe that's why Qiao An could be He Cheng's only one, but he couldn't. Qiao An is so smart that it hurts, it is a hurdle that He Chengchun can't get over, and everything after that is not as important as that beautiful and delicate boy that year. Because it couldn't be compared, when He Cheng was eighteen years old, he fell hard, and when he got up, he would never fall on another person again.
"You have suffered a lot these years." Joan whispered, "I can see it."
Xu Ran looked at the tree outside the window. Two sparrows were parked on the tender green branches, chirping and huddling together, whispering whispers that only they could understand.
"Don't mention this." He turned his head and smiled at Joan, "It's all over."
The sun hit his thin face, and a faint shadow was drawn at the corner of his mouth. Qiao An was stunned, and said in a daze, "Okay."
Xu Ran took out two oranges from the fruit basket and handed one of them to him.
For the next hour, no one mentioned He Cheng again. Before leaving, Joan hesitated and said, "I accidentally saw your mobile phone just now... Do you want to rent a house? I have a friend who is in a real estate agency. Would you like to ask for me?"
In a daze, Xu Ran shook his head, "It's okay, I just took a look."
Joan just thought he was being polite, and didn't ask too much, "Well, remember to come to me if you need it in the future, and I'll ask him for a friendly price for you."
Xu Ran smiled and said yes.
Joan left, leaving a little emptiness beside the bed.
Xu Ran looked out the window, lowered his head, and turned on his phone.
In the location classification of the rental software, the default location address is this city. Xu Ran's fingers stayed on it for a while, but he gritted his teeth and slid down the interface.
He had always wanted to go to the south, and now he finally got his wish.
The author has something to say: From today onwards, there will be 6,000 daily updates until the end, with one chapter each at 18:00 and 21:00
I have changed jobs, and I am currently in a transitional period. I will try my best to save the manuscript, but there will definitely be times when I will not be able to make it in time. I will guarantee at least one chapter every day. Second, if I need to ask for leave, I will make a sign. Hope you understand
I have read everyone's comments, forgive me for not knowing what to say when I am short of words. Thank you for liking this story. Xu Ran is growing up through all kinds of trials and tribulations. I hope he will get better and better.
Curse for everyone: He Cheng is a big dog who doesn't understand love
Happy Valentine's Day