"Don't be so stingy, okay?"
"… "
"Dongdong!" She couldn't help but call him by his nickname.
“…” He persisted.
"Okay, okay, let's have tea."
Freehand surrender.
This man loves to take advantage of her weaknesses. Who made her always play the role of the emperor and him the queen? She spoiled him with these bad habits.
They agreed to meet in the revolving cafe on the top floor of the hotel where Zhan Dongzhen was staying. Xieyi saw him sitting by the window waiting for her when she walked to the door.
Zhan Dongzhen had lost all the childishness he had when he talked to her on the phone. He looked out the window at the bright lights, with a thoughtful expression. His facial features were delicate and his skin was very fair, which attracted many sidelong glances from the people around him. A young lady walked over and said, "Sir, is anyone sitting here?"
He curved his eyes, smiled gently and said, "Sorry, I'm waiting for my female companion." Then he pointed at Xie Yi who was walking in the distance.
Yang Wangjie's daily life is very dull, working from nine to five, and working overtime on Saturdays.
His family lives in a county town hundreds of kilometers away, so it was not easy for him to stay in City A after graduating from university. His family has no background, and his parents are retired workers in the county town. Because he studied in City A for four years and has been working in this industry for several years, he has quite a few friends. It was purely a coincidence that he met Shen Xieyi.
He happened to be on annual leave that week and went back to his hometown. His mother was a little worried about his single status, so she called his cousin who was also in City A and gave her the task. He was not deliberately single, but he always felt that since there was no one who was so suitable, he would wait and see.
On the weekend, his cousin invited him to dinner at her home.
"There's a pretty good girl in your brother-in-law's company. She's quite independent, unlike some of the crazy young people nowadays." My cousin said, "She's also from another place."
Then, he was given a photo.
It was a group photo, and Yang Wangjie looked at the person his cousin pointed at. The young girl in the middle of the group was a little tall and thin, and she was the only one grinning when the photo was taken.
That is Shen Xieyi.
Later, she said this when he sent her off for their first blind date.
"I... didn't know that Wu Weiming asked me to come because he and his wife wanted to introduce us to each other."
"Maybe saying these words will make you uncomfortable and make you think I'm self-righteous, but I really don't want to start a family now."
"I... Mr. Yang... If you feel that I am too frank and it disgusts you, I apologize."
"Actually... we can be ordinary friends. Of course, if you don't like me, then... you don't have to force it."
Xieyi stammered a lot and of course Yang Wangjie understood what he said.
After several contacts, he realized that this girl really only treated him as an ordinary friend, and it seemed that this relationship would never be able to recover, especially at the wedding banquet, he saw it very clearly from afar.
That Li Zeliang treated her very differently.
He always thought Xieyi was sincere and frank to others, without the shyness of a little girl. But it was different in front of Li Zeliang, she would actually blush because of a casual action or a word from that man.
Sometimes those involved are confused, while those who are not involved can see things more clearly.
Fortunately, Xieyi had clearly told him the ending since the first day they met, so he didn't feel too bad at the time, just a little regretful.
At the wedding banquet, the bridesmaid next to him suddenly said to him: "Are you Yang Wangjie? My brother always mentions you in front of me."
Yang Wangjie looked at the little girl in front of him and remembered that she was the groom Yin Xiao's sister, Yin Xiaomei. The girl smiled sweetly and did not have the airs of a rich lady. Perhaps because the Yin family's business had only started to pick up in recent years, the two siblings did not develop the bad habit of arrogance.
Smiley, Smiley, the name suits the person, Yang Wangjie thought at that time.
That night, Yang Wangjie was resting at home when he suddenly received a call from Yin Xiaomei.
"Brother Yang, my brother and Xiaoyue bought two movie tickets and don't want to watch the movie. Can you go with me?"
He was an adult and knew what Yin Xiaomei's seemingly casual invitation meant. He said, "Okay, but you can just call me Wang Jie from now on."
After watching the movie, Yin Xiaomei complained that she was hungry and wanted to go get some snacks. As soon as they sat down in the cafe, he saw Shen Xieyi and a man coming out.
Shen Xieyi also noticed him at the same time.
"Yang Wangjie." Xieyi stopped and greeted him, and the gentleman next to her nodded politely.
Yang Wangjie stood up and responded. He didn't know the man and Xie Yi had no intention of introducing them, so he didn't dare to extend his hand rashly and could only nod.
Xie Yi glanced at Yin Xiaomei, blinked, and asked Yang Wangjie in a low voice with a smile: "Girlfriend?"
Yang Wangjie smiled and said nothing.
When Xie Yi and the other person gradually disappeared from their sight, Yin Xiaomei said, "I think I've seen this woman before."
"You must have seen her. She also went to your brother's wedding." Yang Wangjie reminded her, and he left the last half of the sentence unsaid: he was the one who took her there.
"Oh!" Yin Xiaomei suddenly realized, "Now that you mention it, I remember that she was sitting next to Li Zeliang at the time. Xiaoyue and I discussed this for a long time."
"What are you discussing about them?" Yang Wangjie was curious.
"It's just a private conversation between ladies," Yin Xiaomei said, pouting her lips deliberately, "I won't tell you."
"You two sisters-in-law seem to get along well with each other, which is rare."
"Of course, I was the one who introduced my sister-in-law to my brother! You definitely don't know this."
The two of them chatted back and forth, diverting the topic away from Shen Xieyi.
Unexpectedly, Yin Xiaomei murmured again, "But I always feel that she looks familiar. Besides the time when my brother got married, I think we have met somewhere else before."
At that time, Yang Wangjie did not take this sentence to heart.
A few days later, Xieyi was watching a celebrity interview at home. She liked this program very much. The host always asked sharp questions and rarely took the people involved into consideration, which made them very embarrassed. Once, the interviewee walked out in anger.
But because of this, the ratings of this program soared. Later, no one knew who was offended, so the show was stopped live and was only broadcast on TV after editing the next day.
When Xieyi saw Zhan Dongzhen appear in the studio and sit opposite the host, she widened her eyes in surprise: This kid is not afraid of losing face.
The atmosphere at the beginning was quite harmonious, with the host saying some nice things to flatter Zhan Dongzhen. Later, the host's true nature gradually revealed itself.
The host asked: "Mr. Zhan, we all know that you got the controlling stake in Dongzheng from your father."
Zhan Dongzhen answered frankly: "Yes."
"After you took over, you carried out a series of reforms on Dongzheng. It is said that some of these actions caused dissatisfaction among shareholders?"
Zhan Dongzhen said, "Every time we make a major policy or system change, we have passed the resolution of the board of directors. I don't know what you mean by dissatisfaction." Zhan Dongzhen smiled and said, "But one thing is certain, I am not a pink 100-yuan bill, and I can't make everyone like me."
Hearing this, Xie Yi, who was gargling in the bathroom, suddenly sprayed the mouthwash in his mouth onto the mirror.
She had always thought that this man was very stupid, but she didn't know since when he had learned to be as cunning as a fox and very sly in such a society.
At this moment, Yang Wangjie also watched this program at home. He was Zhan Dongzhen? He realized what kind of person the man next to Xieyi was that night. Then, he couldn't help but laugh. If the relationship between Shen Xieyi and Li Zeliang was just a coincidence, then the appearance of Zhan Dongzhen was enough to show that she was not a simple woman. After thinking about it this way, he no longer had any delusions.
There is another person who watches this show.
Li Zeliang changed the channel and put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray.
"When did Zhan Dongzhen leave?" Li Zeliang asked after a moment of silence.
"Yesterday afternoon." Then, Xue Qigui handed a piece of paper to Li Zeliang, "These are the people he met in City A these days and some details."
Li Zeliang took it and read it roughly.
Xue Qigui said, "As long as we delay, I'm afraid that Dongzheng Group will not be able to sit still no matter what. Their project will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if it is delayed for one day. If it continues like this, I'm afraid they won't get a penny. It seems that we are determined to win, so please rest assured, Mr. Li."
"However," Xue Qigui added, "Zhan Dongzhen has been visiting City A quite frequently in recent days. Mr. Li, you have also seen this list. I am afraid that the government will put pressure on us at that time."
"I know the limit."
"Also, this is what Mr. Li asked me to investigate last time." After saying that, Xue Qigui handed another document to Li Zeliang.
Li Zeliang held it in his hand and flipped over it for a long time.
"If there's nothing else, I'll leave first?" Xue Qigui asked.
"Yeah." Li Zeliang put down his things, walked to the window and looked into the distance. He didn't know whether he heard the other party talking to him or not, and looked noncommittal.
When Xue Qigui left his house, he stood there without even turning his head. They all knew his temper and were used to it.
In order to facilitate his work, Li Zeliang bought an apartment in the city and lived alone. Apart from the hourly worker who came to clean the room every day, there were rarely any other people.
He was still looking out from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room, taking in the entire night scene of the city. The bright and colorful lights made his eyes appear even brighter.
He stood there for a long time, then suddenly turned around to look for wine. He paused when he had poured half of the wine into the cup, thinking silently, if it was really a cup of poisoned wine, would he be willing to drink it? Thinking of this, he looked at the stack of documents that Xue Qigui had just given him, his eyes suddenly darkened, and he suddenly became angry and threw the wine glass hard into the corner.
In an instant, the wine glass shattered into pieces and splashed everywhere.
He stared at the scattered glass fragments for a long time.
Finally, perhaps because he was tired or his mind had calmed down, he slowly sat down on the sofa, the corners of his mouth twitched and he smiled a somewhat desolate smile.
Xieyi has been working on one thing these days - facilitating the cooperation between Li and Dongzheng. She spent all her spare time working overtime to come up with the cooperation plan with Dongzheng Group. She is not an insider in the industry, so she read a lot of information and stayed up all night to analyze the various pros and cons of cooperating with Zhan and Li's acquisition of Lantian Bay alone.
She didn't simply want to influence the opinions of the entire Li family, but just wanted to let Li Zeliang or Xue Qigui know that the acquisition of Lantian Bay was not the only way for the Li family to make the greatest profit.
She showed it to Xue Qigui first, and Xue Qigui put on his glasses and read it carefully before saying, "Lawyer Shen, to be honest, you wrote it well. But this matter is not within your scope of work, and Mr. Li has already clearly stated his opinion, and we cannot go against his wishes." Then he returned the thing to Xieyi.
At the budget coordination meeting for the acquisition of Lantian Bay, when it was Xieyi's turn to speak, the assistant asked, "Lawyer Shen, do you have anything to say?"
She said, "If the relationship with Dongzheng Group drags on for a long time, it will also affect the Li family. Moreover, the purchase of Lantian Bay will hinder our capital recovery and will definitely affect the investment in other projects, especially the third phase of Guanlan Villa. I wonder if Mr. Li has considered this?"
Everyone present was waiting anxiously for Li Zeliang's reply.
Li Zeliang looked at Xue Qigui and said, "General Manager Xue, I don't want this kind of speech to appear in my meeting again." The voice sounded very clear in the spacious conference room.
After lunch, Xieyi went to the 23rd floor to deliver some materials while there were not many people around. Xieyi saw Li Zeliang from a distance at the other end of the corridor. He stood at the door with his arms crossed, listening to the sales manager. He usually only wore a white shirt indoors, with his sleeves slightly rolled up, so you could see the watch on his wrist.
"Mr. Li, I have something to talk to you about." Xie Yi said politely.
He looked at her deeply and nodded.
When Li Zeliang finished his work and came in, Xie Yi put the report on his desk and said, "I think this is a proposal that is completely beneficial to the Li Group. I worked hard for many days to write it. I just hope Mr. Li can take a look at it."
Li Zeliang asked: "Do you mean you worked hard for several days to write it?"
Xieyi thought his attitude was softening and nodded quickly.
He raised his eyebrows, picked up the folder with his left hand, and threw it into the trash can next to his seat. "You have your responsibilities. I didn't pay you to do this."
Xie Yi gritted his teeth and said, "Mr. Li, please respect others. If..."
"Lawyer Shen!" Li Zeliang interrupted her, "Please respect me too." His tone was extremely cold.
Now that things have come to this, Xieyi can't say anything more.
A few days later, Xie Yi went to a meeting, but unexpectedly, Xue Qigui's assistant stopped her.
"I'm sorry, Lawyer Shen, Mr. Li has told Manager Xue that you don't need to attend any meetings related to Dongzheng Group in the future."
Xie Yi was not very surprised when he heard this, he just said: "Then I will go in and look for Mr. Li."
"Mr. Li is not inside."
Ten minutes later, Xie Yi found Li Zeliang's office.
"Mr. Li, I don't understand why you don't let me interfere?" Xie Yi asked as soon as he entered the door.
"What do you mean?" Li Zeliang asked without looking up while concentrating on the documents.
"Since Tang Qiao is also in charge of the acquisition of Lantian Bay, why did you kick me out?" Xie Yi said.
Li Zeliang leaned back in his chair. "This is the company's decision. I have no obligation to explain it to you."
"Then why did you ask me to come here? If you think I am not doing the right thing, you might as well send me back to Tang Qiao." She said some angrily.
Li Zeliang glanced coldly at Secretary Lin who was standing behind Xieyi helplessly, and Xiao Lin tactfully retreated.
"Lawyer Shen, whether you work for Li's company in the future or not, please knock on the door before you come in."
It was obvious that Xieyi had forced his way in just now.
After Xiao Lin closed the door and left, Li Zeliang asked Xieyi to sit down and said, "You asked me why I don't allow you to interfere. Then I want to ask, why should I let someone who has a personal relationship with the other party get involved? What do you want? Stick your neck out for your friend? I don't believe you in Tang Qiao, Qiao Hanmin taught you this. How many good things did you say for Dongzheng Group? Was your proposal written for Li's or for Dongzheng? I used to listen and endure, but... Shen Xieyi, you are pushing your luck. Who in the Li's dares to openly defy me? But you, Shen Xieyi, can do it. As long as I say no, who in the Li's dares to mention it again? You, Shen Xieyi, can do it too. Shen Xieyi, let me ask you again, what do you rely on to push your luck in front of me like this?"
He asked several questions at once, speaking faster and faster, his tone was extremely angry, but he slowed down at the last sentence "What exactly?"
Xie Yi felt that he was in the wrong for a moment, and answered casually: "What do I rely on?"
"You just take advantage of the fact that I treat you differently from others and think that I, Li Zeliang, like you!"
Xie Yi was slightly startled when he heard this, and then his face turned pale, "I didn't."
"Ask yourself, what don't you have?" Li Zeliang said angrily.
She opened her lips slightly, as if she wanted to argue something but she didn't say anything, and the two of them remained in a stalemate.
After a while, Xie Yi slowly said, "It is human nature for friends to lend a hand in times of crisis. Moreover, the cooperation of Lantian Bay is a win-win situation for both Li and Dongzheng Group. But I don't understand why Mr. Li is determined to take Lantian Bay. I am born stubborn and have a strong personality. It is probably my nature that I contradict Mr. Li. I have absolutely no unreasonable thoughts. If Mr. Li has some misunderstandings, please forgive me."
Xieyi finished his speech calmly without arguing with him, just in the tone of her voice that she had decided not to come here to work tomorrow.
After hearing this, Li Zeliang closed his eyes, nodded, and said three words in a row: "Okay, okay, okay. In this case, why don't I fulfill your wish." He looked at her and said, "Shen Xieyi, let's make a deal."
Xieyi did not answer and waited for his next words.
He said, "I agree with Zhan Dongzhen's Lantian Bay cooperation plan." Then he paused, "But you have to exchange yourself."
Xie Yi stood up suddenly, "Mr. Li... you!"