Chu Shichen turned his head: "Your mother?"
Xiang Mingzhang looked straight ahead: "Yes, Mrs. Chu knows him."
The last time Chu Shichen went to Xiang's house, he didn't see Xiang Mingzhang's parents. Why were they absent from the family gathering? The person he called on the phone just now was "Miss Bai". Did Xiang Mingzhang's parents separate
The second half of the journey was silent, and Xiang Mingzhang sent Chu Shichen to his doorstep.
Before getting off the car, Chu Shichen said, "Thank you for taking me back."
Xiang Mingzhang was in a good mood: "Give my regards to Mrs. Chu for me."
Chu Shichen said, "Please give my regards to my aunt too."
"You're welcome." Xiang Mingzhang leaned lazily against the back of his chair. "I'll give her two bottles of honey. She should thank you."
Chu Shichen took two steps back and watched Xiang Mingzhang disappear into the distance. When he returned home, a row of dimmed lights were left on in the villa, but the lights in the master bedroom suite were brightly lit.
Mrs. Chu was still awake, so Chu Shichen went to her room to greet her. Although he was somewhat curious about Xiang Mingzhang's family affairs, he didn't want to pry into them.
Their relationship is that of superior and subordinate, not even friends, so the boundaries should be clearer.
Xiang Mingzhang drove along the Huanjiang Highway and gradually left the city. Manzhuang was on the outskirts of the city, a private manor built on the mountain. It was almost dawn when he arrived.
Seventy percent of Manzhuang is gardens, with two building complexes in the north and south. Xiang Mingzhang drove in from the north gate, parked the car casually, and walked into a secluded courtyard carrying a shopping bag.
He walked along the winding corridor following the floor lights, and the last bend led to the main living room. The door opened in advance, and a middle-aged woman in simple clothes appeared at the door.
"Ming Zhang?" she called to the figure in the corridor.
"it's me."
Xiang Mingzhang agreed, walked closer quickly, raised his hand to hold the shawl on the other person tightly, and said, "Mom, I hope I didn't disturb your rest."
Xiang Mingzhang's mother is Bai Yongti, with beautiful and deep facial features. Although she is old and has no makeup on, she still looks like a great beauty.
She smiled faintly and said, "No, I'm copying scriptures."
Xiang Mingzhang took Bai Yongti into the house. The large living room looked elegant on the surface, but it was actually deserted. The four treasures of the study were placed on the table, and there was a copy of a Buddhist scripture with half-dry ink written all over it. The only common word on it was "Amitabha".
An arched door connected to the small dining room. Sister Qing, who was taking care of Bai Yongti's daily life, brought food and said, "Mr. Xiang didn't have dinner, come and eat it while it's hot."
Xiang Mingzhang was already hungry, so he washed his hands and sat down. He picked up the chopsticks but didn't know which dish to pick up.
White jade willow sprouts, cucumber and corn rolls, celery leaf jade meatballs, only the dried bamboo shoots dumplings are not green.
Bai Yongti is a Buddhist and is used to being a vegetarian, so there is no meat in the kitchen. Xiang Mingzhang barely fills his stomach and says, "I brought a few bottles of honey."
Sister Qing took it out of the shopping bag and said, "The bottle is so cute. The black tea you asked someone to send last time was also packaged very beautifully."
Bai Yongti was not interested in fancy clothes and jewelry, and she lived a secluded life and had nothing to lack for, so Xiang Mingzhang would often send her some nice food or small gadgets to please her.
"They were all given by others. I am just offering them as gifts." Xiang Mingzhang said, "Mom, do you remember Mrs. Chu?"
Bai Yongti thought for a moment and said, "I remember that Mrs. Chu was very cheerful and loved to laugh."
Xiang Mingzhang said: "Her son works for me."
Bai Yongti nodded, without asking about the details or continuing the conversation. She sat silently on the other side of the round table, unilaterally ending the casual conversation between mother and son.
Xiang Mingzhang was used to it. Bai Yongti didn't care about what was happening outside Manzhuang, even if it was happening around him. Even if he hadn't been there for a long time, the process had always been the same.
He lowered his head to eat, but the more he chewed, the less he tasted the food, so he simply put down his chopsticks early.
The mother and son said good night to each other. Xiang Mingzhang went back to the bedroom to take a shower. He hadn't been there for a long time. The bed was brand new and had a smell that was even more unfamiliar than that of a hotel.
He leaned against the head of the bed. There was no sign of life in the exquisite house. The sky was high and the trees were deep outside. When the lights were turned off, it was as if he was in a long silent forest, and his heart felt lonely.
Xiang Mingzhang turned on the desk lamp again. There was a cup of honey water on the bedside table, with wisps of hot steam coming out of it. He picked up the cup and took a sip. It was slightly sweet and warm, and slowly flowed into his aggrieved stomach.
Xiang Mingzhang picked up the phone, edited a message and pressed send.
In the Chu family study, Chu Shichen stayed up all night to finish the PPT. It was his first time doing it, and he just copied the template, so there were probably a lot of problems, but he felt quite accomplished.
The phone screen lit up and he opened the WeChat message he had just received.
Xiang Mingzhang sent: Honey water tastes very good.
Chu Shichen replied: That’s good.
Two minutes later, Xiang Mingzhang: Are you still awake so late
After typing on the keyboard all night, Chu Shichen typed slowly. He was too lazy to be polite and said directly: You haven't slept either.
Xiang Mingzhang: I can’t sleep.
As soon as this reply was sent, Xiang Mingzhang immediately regretted it. Why did he say this to a subordinate
It's like complaining, which has no effect except being long-winded. But withdrawing it would be like admitting that you said something wrong.
Xiang Mingzhang was about to reply with one more sentence to end the conversation. He didn't want to listen to Chu Shichen's nonsense advising him to go to bed early, and he didn't need Chu Shichen to care about why he couldn't sleep.
Unexpectedly, at this time, Chu Shichen sent a PPT file.
Xiang Mingzhang: “…”
Chu Shichen: I’m done. You can take a look if you can’t sleep.
It was almost one in the morning when the secretary asked the boss to look at the PPT she had made. Xiang Mingzhang had never encountered such an outrageous thing in his more than ten years of work.
After Chu Shichen sent the message, he waited for a while but did not receive a reply. He returned to the chat list and pinned Xiang Mingzhang's message to the top to avoid it being drowned out by other messages.
Because the second person on the list is Qian Hua.
After they parted at the nightclub last time, Qian Hua sent messages to Chu Shichen every now and then to ask him out. Currently, there are more than 300 unread messages, including 250 voice messages.
At first Chu Shichen politely declined, but later on, because the messages were too frequent, he simply stopped replying.
The next day at work, Chu Shichen made coffee and brought it to the president's office, then checked the day's work arrangements with Xiang Mingzhang.
After that, Chu Shichen said, "There is a seminar in Nanjing that I have to attend recently, which will last for two days. The organizer has not yet set a specific time, and I am waiting for notification."
Xiang Mingzhang was flipping through the documents: "Got it."
Chu Shichen said: "If there is nothing else, I will go out."
Xiang Mingzhang suddenly looked up. He didn't get enough sleep last night, so he wore a pair of glasses to cover his dark circles. Others looked gentle when wearing them, but he had a high and straight nose, sharp and deep eyebrows, and the thin silver-rimmed frames made it even harder to tell whether he was happy or angry.
Xiang Mingzhang said: "I have sent the PPT to your email."
The eyes behind the lenses blinked, and Xiang Mingzhang said nonchalantly, "No, it's very hypnotic."
Chu Shichen went back to the secretary's office to check his email. The PPT had been modified, and a blank page was inserted at the end to write questions and suggestions.
The font is bright red, there are no paragraphs, no punctuation marks, and some parts are not even broken into sentences.
It's not hard to tell that the writer was a bit manic at the time.
In the next few days, Chu Shichen fulfilled his duties as a secretary to prevent Xiang Mingzhang from finding any opportunity to find fault.
The second exchange was held as scheduled at the headquarters of Lixin Bank, led by Peng Xin. The exchange was very successful and did not let down the efforts of the project team during this period.
This project is huge and has a long schedule. There is a month and a half interval before the bidding, so everyone can take a break after working so hard for so long.
In order to reward the project team and boost morale, Peng Xin decided to have a big dinner together and then give everyone three days off to have a good rest.
After booking the restaurant, Peng Xin went to invite Xiang Mingzhang.
Xiang Mingzhang knew that the employees would definitely feel uncomfortable if he went there, so he asked Peng Xin to take everyone out for fun and he would be responsible for reimbursement.
Peng Xin went to invite Chu Shichen again. Since joining the company, Chu Shichen had rarely interacted with his colleagues in private. He was willing to attend, but Xiang Mingzhang did not want to go, in case something happened and he was told to be there.
Chu Shichen had no choice but to refuse and prepare to stay and work overtime.
As a result, just a quarter of an hour after the project team left, Xiang Mingzhang walked out of work in a casual manner with his bag.
Chu Shichen thought he was unlucky, went to the office to turn off the smart system, packed up and went home.
He came out of the office building and saw from afar that the park gate was blocked with people.
When I got closer, I heard an argument and it seemed like someone was deliberately causing trouble.
Outside the gate of the park, a large Hummer was parked sideways in the middle of the road. The security guard tried to persuade and then drive the owner away, but the owner just refused to leave.
The driver was driving Xiang Mingzhang home from work and was blocked at the door. He was about to call the police when the owner of the Hummer suddenly jumped out of the car and shouted - "Chu Shichen!"
Chu Shichen passed by and couldn't help but stop.
Qian Hua ran up to him and said, "Finally I caught you!"
With so many people watching him, Chu Shichen didn't care about the embarrassment and asked in a low voice, "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you." Qian Hua said dissatisfiedly, "Why is it so difficult to ask you out? You called me perfunctorily and didn't reply to my messages. Are you going to break up with me?"
Chu Shichen said: "Then you can't block the entrance of the company."
Qian Hua smiled mischievously: "I sent a WeChat message in advance, saying I would come to see you, and you didn't say no."
At this time, the driver got out of the car, walked over and said, "Secretary Chu, can you ask your friend to get out of the way, otherwise I will have to call the police."
"Wow, a driver is so tough." Qian Hua looked into the car through the windshield, "Who is sitting in the back? Is it Mr. Xiang?"
The car window was lowered a bit, and Xiang Mingzhang tilted his head to reveal half of his face, his expression and eyes were full of arrogance. His uncle Xiang Kun had some friendship with Qian Hua's father, and he also had some impression of this idiot.
Qian Hua waved his hand: "Hi, Mr. Xiang, I'm here to pick up my buddy for happy hour, wanna join us?"
Chu Shichen was tall, he picked up Qian Hua's lazy body and warned him in a low voice: "Stop fooling around!"
Qian Hua twisted his body and said, "What's the matter? I'm a hospitable person. Would Mr. Xiang be willing to honor me?"
The last time he stayed out all night at a nightclub, he was probably hanging out with this idiot. Xiang Mingzhang said, "No, don't get in the way of your partying."
Chu Shichen sensed the irony in what he heard and looked up at Xiang Mingzhang with such contempt, as if he had been fooling around with Qian Hua.
Having missed the dinner party, being in such a big trouble, being talked about by a crowd, and being despised by Xiang Mingzhang, Chu Shichen's thin skin had never experienced such a rich test.
He felt a little angry and just wanted to leave the scene as soon as possible.
Just ignore it, in order to calm Qian Hua down, Chu Shichen strode to the door of the Hummer and asked, "Do you want to leave?"
Qian Hua came running over: "Let's go!"
Xiang Mingzhang watched coldly as Chu Shichen got into the passenger seat. There was a roar, and the Hummer turned around and sped away. He raised the window to block out the exhaust fumes that lingered at the gate.
The driver asked: "Mr. Xiang, are we going back to the apartment directly?"
Xiang Mingzhang suddenly wanted to have a fight and said, "Let's go to the club."
The Hummer turned out of the street. Chu Shichen put his elbow on the car door, his palm supporting his forehead, feeling a headache.
The phone rang and the organizer in Nanjing sent a notification.
After reading the reply, Chu Shichen had to deal with important matters, so he switched to the address book. Xiang Mingzhang's expression in the car window appeared in his mind. After a pause, he pressed the call button.
After the call was connected, Chu Shichen explained neatly: "The time for the seminar has been set. It's next Monday."
Xiang Mingzhang said: "Book the train tickets and hotel."
Chu Shichen was unsure whether Xiang Mingzhang would go alone, so he asked, "Do you want to bring an assistant? I'll send a notice."
Just as he finished speaking, Qian Hua came over and said, "I'll introduce you to a beauty tonight!"
Xiang Mingzhang heard it all clearly. He was calm and dignified in front of others, looking like a gentleman, which almost made him forget what kind of person Chu Shichen was in the past.
He held the fuselage in his hand and blurted out sarcastically, "You must be holding it in."
There was silence for a moment, and Chu Shichen said, "What?"
Xiang Mingzhang said: "Save some energy for the romantic scene, don't delay your work on Monday."
Chu Shichen didn't bother to explain the first half of the sentence: "What do you mean?"
Xiang Mingzhang said: "I will take you with me on this business trip."
(End of this chapter)