Flustered and in a rush, he logged out of his email and immediately called Jiang Mohai’s assistant.
“Assistant Zhang, what does the announcement in the email mean? Why is the beta testing being postponed?”
“This…” Assistant Zhang hesitated, at a loss for words.
Rong Ning grew even more impatient, his slightly furrowed brow tightening another fraction. “Tsk, stop beating around the bush, spit it out!”
“Someone reported us for plagiarism yesterday, and President Jiang is still handling it.”
“Plagiarism?” Rong Ning’s pupils dilated in shock. “Who reported it?”
Assistant Zhang stammered, “President Jiang said he can handle it.”
“I am asking you, who reported it?” Rong Ning’s tone was full of overwhelming authority, leaving no room for Assistant Zhang to talk nonsense.
“President Jiang’s family. Yesterday morning’s affair.”
“Them again?” Rong Ning bit his lower lip, his face turning gloomy. “Understood.”
Jiang Mohai’s father was the eldest among the Jiang family’s brothers, yet he was a good-for-nothing who messed around until he was over forty before finally fathering Jiang Mohai, causing him to be nearly twenty years younger than his two older brothers.
Being oppressed and bullied was a regular occurrence.
Three years ago, because of the Jiang family’s scheming, Lingyue, founded single-handedly by Jiang Mohai, had almost been driven to collapse.
And now they were pulling stunts again.
People with black hearts could never be whitewashed, not even an inch!
Furious to the point of blazing, Rong Ning immediately rushed to the company. When entering the office, he cast a glance across at the CEO’s office opposite his.
He knew Jiang Mohai wasn’t there, but he still found himself involuntarily looking in that direction.
“President Rong, these are the documents you requested.” Qin Shu carried a stack of files into the office.
“Mmh, put them on the desk.” Just as Qin Shu turned to leave, Rong Ning asked again, “Is President Jiang alright?”
Qin Shu thought for a moment and replied, “Same as usual: sharp-minded, clear-headed, incisive in speech, decisive and forceful…”
“Alright, that’s enough!” Rong Ning rolled his eyes at him. “Look at you busting out all the idioms!”
Qin Shu grinned widely. “Honestly, I really couldn’t tell any difference.”
Hearing him say that, Rong Ning finally felt somewhat reassured.
“Mmh.” Rong Ning nodded. “I’ll look over the documents first, you can head out.”
After thoroughly understanding the progress of the matter, Rong Ning went through all the research and development data for the new technology with a fine-tooth comb, and even summoned the personnel who might have had access to the core data one by one for questioning.
After a round of investigation, the processes and algorithms all had clear, traceable paths. What on earth gave the Jiang family the confidence to claim that Lingyue committed plagiarism!
Waiting the entire afternoon, Rong Ning still didn’t see Jiang Mohai return. Unsure of how the negotiations on that side were going, he hesitated for a long time before finally sending a text message to Jiang Mohai.
[Ah-Ning]: Is the progress going smoothly? I’ve looked over the data. The accusation of plagiarism is completely unfounded. We have the facts on our side, we aren’t afraid of them.
Rong Ning kept staring at his phone, but for a long time, no reply came from the other side.
Around nine o’clock in the evening, Qin Shu knocked on the door of the vice president’s office. “President Rong, what do we need to do next? President Jiang is busy over there, and everyone is waiting for your instructions.”
“Mmh…” Rong Ning rubbed his chin in thought. “Get off work, go home and rest.”
Qin Shu looked stunned. “We’re not waiting for President Jiang’s news?”
“The evidentiary documents are all prepared, whatever they ask for, we give them. No need to panic.” A shallow arc bloomed at the corners of Rong Ning’s lips, carrying a look of absolute confidence.
“Alright, I’ll notify the others right away.”
“Ah, wait a second!” Rong Ning crooked his finger. “Come here.”
Qin Shu bent over and leaned in closer to Rong Ning. “President Rong, what are your orders?”
Rong Ning’s eyes rolled around, lowering his voice significantly. “Old Yang from the Technical Department, keep an eye on him. When talking to him this afternoon, I felt something was a bit off about this guy.”
“You think he has issues?”
“I’m only suspecting it for now.” Rong Ning glanced at Qin Shu and patted his shoulder with a smile. “Work hard, triple salary.”
A single phrase of triple salary was enough to make someone sell their life, vile capitalism.
Qin Shu squeezed out a helpless smile. “Mission guaranteed.” Any hopes of getting off work vanished, but at least there was a triple salary to sustain him.
Everyone else in the company had already left, yet the lights in Rong Ning’s office were still blazing.
Around 10 PM, the phone on the table in front of him gave a soft buzz. Rong Ning hurriedly picked it up to check.
[Jiang Mohai]: Let’s have dinner together.
Rong Ning pressed his lips together and lowered his eyes, a strange taste wrapping around his heart.
[Ah-Ning]: Not going! Who wants to have dinner with you.
That was how Rong Ning replied to him.
Icy cold, maintaining the state of lingering anger.
[Jiang Mohai]: Then what do you want to do?
[Ah-Ning]: I’m sleeping.
[Jiang Mohai]: Sleeping in the office?
[Ah-Ning]: /Questioning emoji/ Where are you?
[Jiang Mohai]: Downstairs at the company.
Rong Ning immediately stood up, looking down through the floor-to-ceiling windows. A tall, slender figure stood out prominently amidst the crowd, looking exceptionally upright under the streetlights.
For some unknown reason, Rong Ning just stood there watching, actually zoning out. His thoughts drifted into the ethereal, and his chest felt heavily blocked.
Hesitating, he turned off the lights and went downstairs.
Seeing Rong Ning emerge from the office building looking far less dejected than he had the past few days, Jiang Mohai hooked the corners of his mouth, a smile filling his eyes.
Rong Ning feigned sternness. “So happy? Is the matter resolved?”
“Mmh, pretty much.”
Rong Ning let out a light scoff, rolling his eyes at him, and spoke in an unenthusiastic tone. “Pretty much means it hasn’t been resolved yet. What is there to be happy about!”
Jiang Mohai didn’t take up the thread. With a swift pull, he wrapped an arm around Rong Ning’s waist, staring at the person in his arms as he asked, “What do you want to eat? My treat.”
Rong Ning’s gaze turned frosty, his brows furrowing as he unhappily twisted his waist. “Put your dog paws down!” He wasn’t just anyone’s to touch.
“Huh? Shouldn’t good partners be like this? Aren’t we good partners now?” Jiang Mohai spoke with righteous confidence, completely sweeping the previous unpleasantness under the rug as if it had never happened.
Not only a scumbag, but also amnesiac?
“Who treats you as a good partner. You, Jiang Mohai, are my uncle, I remember that clearly!” Rong Ning said word by word, as if acting out of stubborn spite, pushing him away firmly. “Please maintain a safe distance!”
“Wasn’t it good the way we were before?”
“No, it wasn’t! Before, I liked you so I flirted with you, but now…” Rong Ning’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as he carefully analyzed his current feelings toward Jiang Mohai: the liking was there, but the mental exhaustion was real too. “Any more physical contact, and I can’t do it.”
Too hard to flirt, he didn’t want to flirt anymore.
“Oh.” Jiang Mohai lowered his eyelids, his gaze gradually darkening and his mood sinking along with it. “You were so concerned about company matters, I thought you weren’t angry anymore.” He shoved his hands into his pants pockets, his fingertips curling restlessly.
“Hey! Being angry or not has what absolute connection to being concerned about the company?” Rong Ning shot him a glance, his smooth chin lifting slightly in a proud, haughty posture. “I’m a shareholder too, alright.”
That sentence left Jiang Mohai completely speechless.
Indeed, it was only natural for him to care about the company.
Jiang Mohai let out a soft sigh. “Let’s go eat.”
The two of them casually found a nearby restaurant to enter. At this hour, there weren’t many people around, making it rather desolate.
After ordering and while waiting for the food, Rong Ning swept his gaze across the surroundings, leaned in close to Jiang Mohai, and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Old Yang from the Technical Department seems to have some issues.”
Jiang Mohai slowly lifted his eyelids, his gaze as calm as still water. Unhurriedly wiping the pair of chopsticks in his hand, he placed them onto Rong Ning’s tableware and spoke leisurely. “I know.”
Rong Ning widened his eyes. “You know? Are you a prophet?”
Jiang Mohai raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly. “Found out yesterday, already sent people to keep an eye on him.”
Rong Ning was even more shocked, unable to help drawing in a sharp breath. “Qin Shu went to tail him too. With two teams watching, won’t they be discovered?”
“No way!” Rong Ning’s expression turned panicked, and he immediately fished out his phone. “I’ll tell Qin Shu not to follow anymore.”
“No need, I’ve already reined the people in.” Jiang Mohai was completely unruffled, resuming his slow and methodical wiping of the tableware.
Rong Ning tossed his phone aside onto the edge of the table, letting out a mix of admiration and helplessness in a light scoff. “I really hand it to you, staying this composed.”
Jiang Mohai chuckled. “Dealing with those people in the Jiang family, I’ve already summed up some experience.”
Rong Ning found it hard to understand. “Great-grandfather is still alive, doesn’t he care?” Judging by seniority, calling Jiang Mohai’s grandfather’s father great-grandfather was correct.
“He can’t control them, and doesn’t want to care either.” He placed the wiped tableware in front of Rong Ning, his face expressionless and his tone cold.
Rong Ning lowered his eyes, puckering his lips as he muttered in a low voice, “The interpersonal relationships in big families are really complicated.”
“I don’t often go back to the old estate, out of sight, out of mind, doesn’t matter.”
“Then your parents, and your grandfather, are they good to you?”
“Mmh…” Jiang Mohai’s gaze darkened, but his tone remained very relaxed. “My parents weren’t good to me when I was little, now it’s just lukewarm. Grandfather is about the same, he frequently tells us to perform well so we can get a bigger share of the family assets.”
Mentioning this, a flash of coldness crossed the bottom of Jiang Mohai’s eyes. Pausing for a moment, he let out a cold scoff. “I’m certainly not counting on the old man to divide the inheritance equally.”
The more Rong Ning listened, the more he felt Jiang Mohai didn’t have it easy, and his mood grew heavy along with it. “First time hearing you talk about these things.”
Jiang Mohai took a sip of tea, his narrow eyes overflowing with flecks of amusement. “Is this the first time Ah-Ning has asked, too?”