“What are you making trouble about again?”
Ji Kun said impatiently.
“Stop targeting your second brother all the time for no reason.”
Ji Yunshan shouted, “He’s not my second brother! He’s a bastard!”
“Ji Yunshan! Why are you becoming as sharp-tongued as your mother? Wangyu is the one I called back. The company will rely on him in the future, so be more polite to him.”
“If I hear you say things like that again, I’ll cancel all your credit cards and take your car back.”
Ji Yunshan could only swallow her anger.
If she couldn’t deal with Ji Wangyu, she could at least deal with the people around him.
“Fine. I won’t talk about Ji Wangyu anymore. Then fire his secretary for me.”
“His secretary?”
“Yes, that Li Mai. She has a fox-like face.”
Ji Kun remembered Li Mai.
That name had been coming up a lot these past two days.
“What did she do to offend you?”
“She talked back to me.”
Ji Yunshan thought that since she was just a secretary, her father would surely agree.
But she was rejected.
“No. She didn’t do anything wrong. Why would I fire her? If word gets out, who would dare work for Ji Group?”
“Dad!”
“That’s enough. Stop going out and messing around.”
Ji Kun hung up the phone.
He then thought of what Zhou Songyan’s secretary, Sun Yuanjie, had said.
“Chairman Ji, Miss Li Mai from your company once worked with our President Zhou for a while in Sucheng. They only met briefly the other day, and President Zhou would like to invite her over to catch up.”
“Your company’s proposal for the Nancheng Resort still needs revisions. After it’s revised, please have Miss Li bring it over for our President Zhou to review.”
Ji Kun had been in the business world for many years and quickly understood what was going on.
He immediately called his secretary.
“Which department is Li Mai from?”
Secretary: “She’s the secretary that Second Young Master Ji brought back from Sucheng.”
That was why Li Mai was later sent to Rongzheng to deliver documents.
Although he didn’t know exactly what Zhou Songyan’s intentions toward Li Mai were, he knew he had to keep her close.
Whether Ji Group could get a share of the Nancheng Resort project depended on Li Mai.
…
Li Mai returned to the company.
She first went to see Ji Wangyu.
Seeing her come back so quickly, Ji Wangyu quietly let out a sigh of relief.
“Zhou Songyan didn’t make things difficult for you, did he?”
Li Mai replied, “It was okay.”
“President Ji, there’s something I want to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“I ran into Ji Yunshan at the entrance of Rongzheng just now and talked back to her once.”
Ji Wangyu said, “Go back to work. Ji Yunshan can’t control company matters.”
Right now, their father wanted to use Li Mai to please Zhou Songyan. There was no way she would be fired.
Li Mai felt relieved.
She returned to her desk and got back to work.
Over the next two days, the company didn’t send Li Mai to Rongzheng again.
Instead, she heard some gossip.
It was said that Ji Yunshan went to Rongzheng to block Zhou Songyan, used a loudspeaker to make a public confession, hung banners, and brought flowers and snacks.
Zhou Songyan called the police and accused Ji Yunshan of harassment.
Ji Yunshan was taken to the police station.
Many people witnessed it and recorded videos, which quickly went viral online.
Ji Kun was so angry that his high blood pressure flared up, and he was hospitalized.
Ji Wangyu, on the other hand, was in a great mood, humming as he went to work.
Li Mai sat at her desk, deep in thought, remembering how she had run into Ji Yunshan at Rongzheng that day.
That woman was really bold.
The Zhou family had always kept a low profile, and Zhou Songyan was low-key as well. After being stirred up like that by Ji Yunshan, he must have been furious.
Zhou Songyan was ruthless too—he actually called the police.
Li Mai decided she should stay far away from him in the future, in case Zhou Songyan thought she was trying to cling to him and reported her to the police as well.
The weekend was coming.
Li Mai was happy, and so was Chengcheng.
One didn’t have to work, and the other didn’t have to go to school.
Li Mai cooked Chengcheng’s favorite chicken wings.
After dinner, Chengcheng watched an English animal documentary.
Li Mai didn’t interfere; she had always respected her son.
She took her phone into the bedroom and called You Huan.
“Senior, I want to buy a second-hand car. Are you free this weekend to help me take a look?”
You Huan had an apple in her mouth and took a crunchy bite.
“Why buy a second-hand car? Just buy a new one. New cars aren’t that expensive now. If you take out a loan, the monthly payments won’t be much. With your salary, you can totally afford it.”
Li Mai said, “I still want to buy a used one—something around twenty or thirty thousand.”
Even the cheaper ones cost over a hundred thousand.
She wanted to save the money to buy a home instead.
Besides, Chengcheng would start elementary school in two years. She had heard that enrolling in elementary school in Beijing came with many requirements.
She needed to plan ahead.
If it really didn’t work out, she would have no choice but to take Chengcheng back to Sucheng for school.
You Huan didn’t try to persuade her further.
Everyone had different priorities.
Li Mai had always been someone with her own ideas.
“Alright, I’ll drive over tomorrow to pick you two up.”
“Okay.”
Just after Li Mai hung up the phone, an unfamiliar number came in.
It was a Beijing number.
She thought for a moment and answered it.
“Hello?”
The other side didn’t say anything.
Li Mai frowned.
“Who is this?”
The caller hung up.
Li Mai didn’t think much of it. She assumed it was a wrong number and the caller realized it and hung up.
She tossed her phone onto the bed and went out to watch Animal World with Chengcheng.
…
Zhou Songyan stood on the terrace, holding a glass of wine in one hand and his phone in the other, staring blankly at that string of numbers.
He was surprised when he got Li Mai’s contact information.
After so many years, Li Mai hadn’t changed her phone number.
Five years ago, he had deleted all of Li Mai’s contact details.
But the moment he saw that number, he remembered—it was the same one from five years ago.
“What are you staring at so intently?”
Peng Zixu draped an arm over his shoulder and glanced at his hand.
Before he could see clearly, Zhou Songyan flipped the phone over and covered the screen.
“Huh, won’t let me look? Chatting with some woman? Guan Qing?”
Zhou Songyan shot him a look and walked back inside.
Peng Zixu laughed and followed after him.
Qin Xuan jogged over and shouted, “We’re two short for a game. Hurry up, you two!”
Zhou Songyan placed his wine glass into Qin Xuan’s hand.
“You guys play. I’m going home to sleep.”
Watching his tall figure stride away, Qin Xuan was speechless.
“What’s wrong with him?”
Peng Zixu shook his head.
“He’s been a bit off lately. How should I put it… kind of sexually frustrated.”
“Probably been single too long. Should we find him a woman?”
Peng Zixu said, “You think he’s like you? Have you ever seen him look for women all these years?”
Qin Xuan stroked his chin and sighed.
“True. Old Zhou was really hurt by that woman. He’s stayed single all these years.”
“Who told him to hide his identity? If he really liked her, he should’ve told her who he really was. Everyone would’ve been happy.”
“What do you know? I actually agree with Old Zhou. It was a good test—it proved that woman wasn’t good. She despised the poor and loved wealth, obsessed with vanity. How could someone like that be worthy of him?”
“Sigh… who would’ve thought Old Zhou would get dumped for being poor? How ironic.”
Qin Xuan sighed with emotion.
…
The next day, You Huan drove over and picked up Li Mai and her son, and the three of them went to the used car market.
Li Mai had checked beforehand—most used car dealerships were concentrated in the same area.
After parking the car, the three of them started browsing.
You Huan suddenly pointed in one direction.
“Li Mai, there are a lot of people over there. Looks like they’re running some kind of promotion. Let’s go take a look—maybe there are discounts.”
Hearing the word “discount,” Li Mai grabbed Chengcheng’s hand and walked over.
“Let’s check it out.”
You Huan said, “It looks like a used car company. I’ve seen their ads recently.”
“Oh, they really do have a promotion! Buy through their company—one thousand gets you five thousand.”
Li Mai said, “That’s a pretty big deal for used cars. Let’s go in and have a look.”
Zhou Songyan never expected to see Li Mai at Qin Xuan’s used car company.
What shocked him even more was that Li Mai was holding a child’s hand.