All the parents around the world were proud of their children, and my old man was no exception. He was already very happy that the cooperation I had with Guo Xiang was successful, so when he heard Guo Xiang’s exaggerated praise and heartfelt gratitude to me, he was even more delighted. Although he still said that I didn’t live up to his expectation, his smiling face had already betrayed what he was really thinking in his mind.
My old man became completely drunk after the meal. Although he often drank alcohol from time to time, he hardly ever got drunk. In fact, as far as I could remember, he only got drunk twice, and this was the second time. In terms of the first time he got drunk, it happened five years ago. I could still remember vividly that at that time, after sending Chu Yuan to the hospital, my old man didn’t scold me or blame me, he just kept drinking alone until he started crying. However, the feeling he had this time was completely different.
My stepmother was even happier. After the meal, she grabbed Chu Yuan and Dongfang, and secretly asked about my recent life status. I just pretended to be unaware of what they were talking about and got up alone to see Guo Xiang and Xingyu out.
Regarding the name Xingyu, I was still trying to think about where I had heard of this name before. It sounded so familiar, but I just couldn’t remember it clearly.
Guo Xiang may look gentle and scholarly, and may even be a little shy, but his alcohol tolerance was really great. Half bottle of spirit unexpectedly didn’t have any effect on him. We found a teahouse near my parent’s house and sat inside.
The purpose of Guo Xiang’s visit to my old man today was mainly to find out where I lived. Because of what happened to me in the past few days, I basically didn’t turn on my mobile phone, so he couldn’t get through to me.
The teahouse was small, but it was quaint and quiet. I took the fragrant tea made by Xingyu personally and praised: “Unexpectedly, Xingyu has such great tea-making skills at a young age. You have really impressed me.”
Cleaning the tea leaves, dropping the tea leaves, making tea, removing the tea bubbles, and pouring the tea. Obviously, she was very skilled at this. From this, I was even more sure that this young and quiet girl must be a well-educated lady from a wealthy family.
Hearing my praise, Xingyu smiled slightly and said shyly: “Elder Brother Nan, you flatter me.”
“I am saying the fact. When people drink tea, what they want to enjoy is not just tea but also a calm state of mind. For a person like me who wants to enjoy a good tea but doesn’t have the patience to make tea like you, no matter how good the tea leaves are, I would not be able to truly taste how good it is. Hehe.” I took a sniff at the tea and then took a small snip. Then I felt a sweet fragrance floating between my teeth and slowly flowing down my throat. I couldn’t help but sigh like an old man: “this kind of tea is really great. Only those who know how to make good tea can make tea like this. Lao Guo, you are truly a fortunate man. I am very envious of you.”
“You look like an honest man, but I didn’t expect that you would be so good at flattering people,” Guo Xiang jokingly said: “You have Miss Mo, a fairy-like lady, to serve you, why do you need to envy me?”
I was puzzled, it seemed that Guo Xiang really thought I had some kind of relationship with Mo Fei? To be honest, I really didn’t like to be misunderstood like this. But just when I was about to explain, I saw Guo Xiang stare at the clear and fragrant tea in the cup and sigh sadly. “If I can really drink this fragrant tea for a lifetime, I’m willing to have my life shortened for ten years…” He muttered to himself in a low voice.
Although the voice was light, it was full of bitterness. Even a fool could hear it. Xingyu also lowered her head and held Guo Xiang’s hand. What were these two people doing? Why did they act like some kind of melodrama actors of some tragic play?
I couldn’t help but chuckle, “when it comes to relationships, the height difference between two people is not a problem, nor is age difference an issue. Besides, Lao Guo, you are not short, and only slightly older than Xingyu. Not to mention that you two have feelings for each other already. So is there really a need for such sorrowful words?”
“I know you want to mock me for being a lolicon,” Guo Xiang laughed, the sorrowful expression quickly disappeared from his face. This alone was enough to prove that this man was not ordinary, “Xiao Nan, before talking about it, I want to apologize to you first. The thing about you being dismissed by Fengchang, Xingyu and I are responsible for it.”
Guo Xiang came to me because he wanted to talk about this matter. As the main person involved in this matter, no one could have understood it better than me. I left Fengchang only because Mo Fei had deceived me. But after hearing Guo Xiang repeatedly say that he was responsible for it, I decided to listen to what he wanted to say first, “fine, if you insist. Lao Guo, you can just tell me why are you involved in my personal affairs? I’m still confused.”
Guo Xiang could not help but shake his head and smile bitterly when he saw that I was still not serious. “It is true that kind and magnanimous people are rare, but I’ve never seen anyone who has such a good heart as you. It only makes me feel more ashamed of myself.”
I had a good heart? I was speechless. Was he mocking me? Then I heard him say, “You persuaded Miss Mo to invest in Heng Xiang secretly, and Fengchang’s senior management didn’t know about it, right?”
I had already told Guo Xiang the reason why I wanted to make a short term investment in his company. Although he didn’t know that it was to help Mo Fei to pay off her mother’s debt, he knew that I urgently needed some money. That was why I was interested in that intermediary fee. With Guo Xiang’s cleverness, he probably saw through that it was Mo Fei who needed the money. Therefore, I didn’t deny it and nodded lightly.
“Let me guess, it is not you but actually Mo Fei who wants that intermediary fee, right?” As expected, Guo Xiang had already seen through it. Seeing that I silently agree to it, he smiled lightly and said, “as I expected, if you were doing it for your own benefit, even if Miss Mo likes you, she would not support such an action. Besides, from the fact that you were still a small office worker, it was not difficult to see that you are an indolent person, who is easily content with your present situation and has a limited ambition for advancement. You are not the type of person who is greedy for money or power. So why would you risk it for the sake of a few hundred thousand yuan?”
This Guo Xiang saw through me thoroughly, I chuckled without saying a word, neither admitting or denying it.
“Maybe Miss Mo has her own difficulties, but your investment has indeed helped Heng Xiang big-time. This is a fact that cannot be changed. Based on this, I should repay you with gratitude, but… we have actually done you wrong…” Guo Xiang punched his own thigh in regret and said. Seeing this, Xingyu hurriedly held his hand to stop him.
Were these two people just here to show their affection in front of me, this bachelor deliberately? I had the urge to flip the table.
Fortunately, Guo Xiang quickly stopped it and continued before I became jealous, “Xiao Nan, don’t you think it’s strange? Why did your investment in Heng Xiang alarm Chairman Mo? Moreover, after our successful cooperation, Fengchang has recovered the investment funds, right? This investment was personally operated by Miss Mo. Although it was true that it was very risky, it was a legitimate investment and you have also got the funds back. I know it is Consequentialism, the fact is the fact. Yes, you should be punished for your misconduct. However, with the favor that Heng Xiang owes Fengchang this time alone, it should offset the punishment. At least, they should not fire you, but you were still fired by the company. Don’t you think that it is strange?”
In fact, Mo Yizhi’s evaluation of me was more of praise than criticism, but he wanted me to resign for other reasons, it had nothing to do with these things. It was purely for Mo Fei. However, I did have a question in my heart——How did Mo Yizhi learn about my cooperation with Heng Xiang so quickly? Who told him?
“You mean, someone told Chairman Mo about this?”
Guo Xiang didn’t answer the question, his expression was weird, “On the day you were fired, did someone make a special trip to Fengchang and want to sell you a favor? However, you rejected it…”
My heart skipped a beat suddenly. How did Guo Xiang know about this? “It’s Zhang Mingjie, the son of our company’s vice-chairman Dong Zhangli, and Liu Xiaosheng, the son of the Liu Group. What’s wrong? Does this have something to do with them?” I answered honestly and asked a question at the same time. Although the two guys appeared at the time, it was too coincidental. But after thinking about it, I always felt that it was impossible for them to know what Mo Fei and I did.
Guo Xiang glanced at me apologetically, then patted the shoulders of Xingyu, who still lowered her head, and smiled bitterly: “In fact, Xingyu is her first name. Her last name is Liu…”
Liu? Liu Xingyu? I looked at the ashamed girl in a daze, and suddenly said, “Liu Xingyu, Liu Xiaosheng… you two are…”
“Siblings,” Liu Xingyu didn’t dare to look at my gaze directly and said timidly, “Liu Xiaosheng, it’s my elder brother.”
I was so shocked that I couldn’t close my mouth. No wonder when I first saw Xingyu, I felt a little familiar. As I looked carefully at her again, sure enough, they did look quite similar to each other. I was thinking quickly. In just a few moments, I figured out why they kept apologizing to me.
“It’s not Xingyu’s fault. It is all my fault.” Guo Xiang smiled bitterly and said to me: “The Liu Group is one of the biggest companies in Bei Tian City, so her family naturally doesn’t support our relationship. Especially with Heng Xiang’s situation at that time… Therefore, after Heng Xiang got Feng Chang’s help, Xingyu wanted to show it to her family. As a result… Xiao Nan, Xingyu didn’t do it on purpose. We didn’t know that Young master Liu would do this to you.”
It turned out to be like this. Although what Guo Xiang said was simple, from his tones, it was not difficult to guess that he must have tried to get help from the Liu group before, and probably got rejected. This might have caused Xingyu to bear a grudge against her family, and it was probably because of this that she wanted to tell her family that Guo Xiang got help from Fengchang. But they didn’t expect that this information would be used by Liu Xiaosheng in other ways.
Recalling what Xingyu had said during the meal, that she was envious of Chu Yuan for having an elder brother like me, it was enough to see that the relationship between her and Liu Xiaosheng must be extremely unharmonious.
Guo Xiang said guiltily: “Young master Liu later went to Zhang Mingjie and told him about this, and then with the vice-chairman Zhang Li, they exposed what you did to the chairman. I think probably the chairman didn’t want Miss Mo to bear the blame, so they asked you to take all the responsibility… Xiao Nan, it is all my fault. If I had been more careful, you wouldn’t have been…”
“No, Elder Brother Nan, it was all my fault. If I hadn’t talked that much and told my elder brother, you wouldn’t have…”
Seeing these two guys rushing to take responsibility, I held my belly and laughed, making both of them feel confused. I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and said, “It is not that. Do you really think that will get me fired? When I said that I resigned myself, I wasn’t trying to save my face. I resigned for other reasons, even if they came to invite me in person, I would not go back.”
After all, girls were more sensitive to emotional matters, or probably Liu Xingyu had heard Liu Xiaosheng said something, she was surprised and cautiously asked: “Elder Brother Nan, did you and Miss Mo have some kind of argument?”
