Chapter 47#
A heart bobs up and down, unable to make up its mind which path leads to the best outcome.
Fu Jinchi drove Yan Zishu back to his apartment. Pedestrians were scarce on the road, and streetlights retreated rapidly. Approaching the destination, Fu Jinchi remembered something: “By the way, if anyone asks you about Li Chang’an recently… just say you don’t know anything.”
That was easy enough; Yan Zishu truly didn’t know. However, he frowned: “Did something happen to Vice President Li?”
If not for the sake of sounding polite, he might have asked, “Has something happened already?”
After all, it was known that Li Chang’an had a bad gambling habit and couldn’t resist temptation and instigation—it was just unexpected that it happened so quickly.
He had only secretly run off to Macau for a few months; had it even been half a year?
Regarding this point, Fu Jinchi could only rub his nose: “Maybe because his luck was just too rotten. Karma.”
Yan Zishu asked as cautiously as he would about work: “How serious is it?”
Fu Jinchi looked ahead and shifted gears: “Just wait and see, you’ll find out.”
*
The next day, Yan Zishu returned to work at the company. His face was still pale, lacking color, looking indeed like someone recovering from a serious illness.
He took his medical records to clear his leave. Along the way, he received greetings from many familiar colleagues but didn’t see Fu Xiaoyu.
Yan Zishu felt this was just as well. It wasn’t because he was afraid of awkwardness, but because he was afraid he couldn’t control his temper.
He also had someone check on the bar in the hot spring resort. The result was that he heard the bar had been reported for illegal drug trading and had been sealed off, with several employees arrested. Consequently, the hot spring resort was also temporarily closed for internal inspection and rectification.
This happened right after the company’s annual meeting. Some employees said it was quite a coincidence; fortunately, the incident occurred after everyone had finished soaking in the hot springs.
It seemed Fu Jinchi acted swiftly and decisively.
Yan Zishu temporarily crossed the bartender with two moles on his chin off his schedule.
He saw Fu Weishan in the CEO’s office, but Ji Chen was not there. Fu Weishan remained the same old self. Even if a subordinate took sick leave, he rarely paid attention to whether they were doing well, only telling Yan Zishu to focus on grasping the work at the end of the year.
On the contrary, Yan Zishu was observant—he couldn’t help it; he was really good at reading people’s expressions—and naturally discovered that compared to the face full of bad luck some time ago, the boss’s eyes and brows showed a hint of carefree confidence.
What Yan Zishu immediately thought of wasn’t that there was any change in his relationship with Ji Chen, but rather: Fu Weishan probably also knew that Mrs. Fu’s leftover henchmen had messed with Fu Jinchi’s state of mind and felt satisfied that he had vented his anger, right?
After all, even Fu Xiaoyu had heard rumors, true or false, and casually mentioned them as if they were nothing.
However, thinking that so many people named Fu were watching it as entertainment, Yan Zishu felt unhappy in his heart.
He even somewhat understood why Fu Jinchi wished for their bad luck every year.
Speaking of which, Yan Zishu rested in Fu Jinchi’s bed for two days and listened to so many past events. with ample time, he naturally pondered in secret whether Fu Weishan knew about the shady business of his maternal grandfather’s family. The conclusion was that it was impossible for him to be completely unaware.
As the protagonist gong, Fu Weishan himself naturally didn’t mix with the underworld; Yan Zishu was sure of this.
Probably Mrs. Fu knew that following her family’s old path had no future, so from the beginning, she didn’t let her son get his hands dirty.
But Fu Weishan could act as a clean person in the background while comfortably enjoying his mother’s protection.
Yan Zishu didn’t know how to evaluate it, only that it was truly melodramatic.
This year’s Lunar New Year and the Gregorian New Year were very close. The Spring Festival was in late January, so the year-end wrap-up work was indeed more rushed than in previous years. However, the person in charge of the bidding working group came to find Yan Zishu: “There is good news and bad news. The good news is that the government has just released an addendum to the tender, and the bid closing date has been extended accordingly. It was originally before the Spring Festival, but now the announcement says it will be delayed until after the statutory holiday of the Spring Festival.”
“That’s good too; the preparation time can be more sufficient.” Yan Zishu nodded. “What about the bad news?”
“The bad news is, predictably, we won’t have a good Spring Festival holiday!” the person in charge said.
Yan Zishu and the other party couldn’t help but laugh at this workplace humor tinged with helplessness.
After laughing, he comforted the person in charge: “Public bidding is originally a matter of doing one’s best and leaving the rest to fate. Just do your best.”
The person in charge sighed: “That being said, if we really can’t win it, oh my, won’t we have to look at the boss’s face for the whole year!”
Yan Zishu could only think to himself: Condolences. Anyway, according to the plot, we are destined not to win the bid.
Later, as Fu Jinchi reminded him, Yan Zishu received a call from an unknown number while at work one day. Someone on the other end asked him in a gruff voice, like a census taker, if he knew Li Chang’an and probed for some details.
Yan Zishu wanted to probe back, but the other side said “Don’t be too curious” and hung up.
But he didn’t need to be curious for long. Soon, Yinghan Group held an extraordinary board meeting near the end of the year.
The atmosphere of this board meeting was quite tense, making it seem like a secret rendezvous. Even the receptionist serving tea and water was shut out.
However, Yan Zishu still attended the meeting with his computer to take minutes.
Moreover, he already knew the agenda content in advance from the OA approval.
Li Chang’an’s gambling debts rolled from less than 100 million to 350 million. How this was achieved was, of course, not the key point of discussion at the meeting. It might be because of an unstable mindset, eager to turn things around, betting bigger and bigger. Anyway, the process wasn’t important, but in his desperation, he pledged his Yinghan shares to the bank, which became an established fact.
At the extraordinary board meeting, everyone first expressed shock, then argued. Besides kicking Li Chang’an out of the board as soon as possible, the discussion naturally revolved around how to get these shares back at the minimum cost and how to redistribute them.
Give them all to Chairman Fu Weishan? Naturally, they were unwilling; there was no such logic.
In the past, Third Uncle Fu was an elder with a harmonious relationship with Li Chang’an, and Fu Xiaoyu also called him “Brother Chang’an”. But at the meeting, Third Uncle Fu calculated the shrewdest, decisively abandoning this nephew. If he couldn’t take a bite of meat at this opportunity, it would be considered a loss.
Yan Zishu pushed up his glasses, feeling like they were a den of jackals.
In this den of drooling jackals, Fu Jinchi had taken leave and did not attend.
Ever since his biological mother’s tombstone was sprayed with red paint, Fu Jinchi indeed stopped appearing in the company, seemingly showing weakness.
Sometimes when Yan Zishu worked overtime until late, he would go to his office to take a look when no one was in the office area. It was always empty.
Hearing from Helen, even some gossip groups in the company were rumoring that Fu Jinchi had learned a lesson and dared not jump around anymore—it was almost New Year’s, and employees had no heart to work properly. The versions spread more and more, even saying he was sacked and beaten up. In short, all kinds of absurdity.
After laughing, Yan Zishu was suddenly struck by a thought: Could those absurd rumors have been released by the person involved himself?
Because Fu Jinchi didn’t want even an ordinary employee to know what happened to him.
Later, Yan Zishu asked Helen to help release a rumor, confirming the version about being sacked.
If the board of directors wanted to kick Li Chang’an out as soon as possible, they had to hurry up and hold another extraordinary shareholders’ meeting. Since the reason of gambling debt was really dishonorable and illegal, to avoid complications, it was best to complete it before the New Year, so they had to rush through the procedures.
On this day, Yan Zishu personally went downstairs to urge the process. When he came back, he unconsciously walked near Fu Jinchi’s office again.
Originally, it was a room Fu Jinchi occupied brazenly, but later the front desk made a nameplate for him and hung it on the door.
Now the nameplate was up, but the person was gone.
He stood in a daze for a while. When he turned around, he unexpectedly ran into that little beast, Fu Xiaoyu.
Fu Xiaoyu not only had no guilty conscience but also looked like he knew everything, sizing him up with a slimy gaze.
Yan Zishu glanced at him coldly, turned around, and was about to leave.
Fu Xiaoyu stopped him with “Hey, hey”: “Don’t go, I have something to tell you.”
The matter in his mouth wasn’t serious business either. He immediately veered to the lower body. Anyway, in Fu Xiaoyu’s cognition, drugging people was like a common meal, not behavior worth guilt. Instead, he eagerly inquired about the details between him and Fu Jinchi afterward.
Yan Zishu saw that he was really out of line but was blocked and couldn’t get away—Fu Xiaoyu was simply like a piece of chewed gum, disgusting and sticky. Suddenly, Yan Zishu reached out and grabbed his forearm, dragging him into Fu Jinchi’s office.
Fu Xiaoyu was just a silver-headed wax spear tip (useless showpiece). Yan Zishu usually knew to go to the dojo to practice boxing for exercise in his spare time. If he hadn’t been drugged, his strength wouldn’t lose to him. Fu Xiaoyu was caught off guard and pulled in by him; his collar was almost dragged to his shoulder, and the door slammed shut.
Two people hiding in an empty room like this could have two explanations: one was to beat someone up, and the other was to be in heat.
Fu Xiaoyu was originally worried about the former, but when he was pressed against the wall by Yan Zishu, the posture looked a bit like the latter.
“What, you dare to hit me and try?” Fu Xiaoyu rubbed his thigh against him. “Or do you regret it and want to be with me?”
Yan Zishu pressed against him with his elbow, sticking very close, but asked him in a low voice: “Do you know why rats eat their own kind?”
“Huh?” Fu Xiaoyu was confused. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“It’s the rats that burrow in the ground.” Yan Zishu answered himself. “Because they can get nutrition by eating the corpses of their own kind.”
Fu Xiaoyu still didn’t react: “Why are you talking about such disgusting things?”
Yan Zishu continued on his own: “So in a nest of rats, if one is about to die, the other rats will swarm up and eat him clean, especially liking to eat the brain. By the way, have you seen it? If not, I’ll find a video for you to watch.”
He thought, Why look for rats? Actually, just show the little beast the meeting recording of the board discussing how to “deal with” Li Chang’an.
“Fuck, are you crazy!” Fu Xiaoyu cursed. “What the fuck does this have to do with me?”
He was a little disgusted and wanted to push Yan Zishu away, but couldn’t. Yan Zishu exerted force, pinning him down firmly.
“What do you mean by this?” Fu Xiaoyu stared, fierce in appearance but faint in heart. “Let go quickly!”
“No meaning.” Yan Zishu spoke in his ear. “Just reminding you to be careful, don’t get eaten by rats one day too.”
After speaking, Yan Zishu smiled at him. The face was still that moving face, but the smile had an indescribable chill.
Fu Xiaoyu choked and swallowed. Yan Zishu shoved him hard. While he stumbled and lost his balance, Yan Zishu turned around, opened the door, and left with big strides. After a while, Fu Xiaoyu received a WeChat message. He looked down and opened it; Yan Zishu really shared a video of rats engaging in cannibalism with him.
Fu Xiaoyu was startled and almost threw his phone away: “Fuck! Is he crazy!” —