Wen Ying savoured the paternal love that Old Wen concealed, tender as a young sprout.
It was too fleeting.
Just like Zhu Bajie eating a ginseng fruit; he had not even tasted the flavour before it was gone!
Turning her head, Wen Ying then told Xie Qian about Shu Lu’s trip to the magic city.
“I think she went to throw in her lot with Zhao Dong.”
Wen Ying simply could not understand it at all. “What on earth is going through Zhao Dong’s head? He never does anything proper; he just schemes up these underhanded plots from the lower dregs of society.”
If he has the guts, he should declare war openly!
Sneaking about with these shady deeds.
Shu Lu was only sixteen; her character was already selfish by nature, and if she fell into Zhao Dong’s hands, influenced by his thinking, she would only grow worse and worse.
Wen Ying did not pity or feel sorry for the other girl; she just loathed how Zhao Dong never confronted things head-on, how these furtive little manoeuvres of his were utterly infuriating!
“Character determines behaviour, behaviour determines outcome.”
Xie Qian was not surprised in the least.
The unknown was what bred fear; once you knew, it was no longer frightening, and you could prepare for many things in advance.
“You need not concern yourself; I will have someone keep an eye on your cousin and see what Zhao Dong is truly up to.”
What Zhao Dong was truly up to intrigued Xie Qian as well.
Last month, Zhao Dong had gone to Japan, and Sara Zhuo had gone too.
Before that, Sara Zhuo had gone to Europe, and Zhao Dong had been in Europe as well, seeking technical support for “Silan”.
These two were truly an amusing pair.
Xie Qian had initially thought their meeting was at Xie Jinghu’s behest; because he had kept an extra eye open, after Sara Zhuo and Zhao Dong had gone to Japan one after the other, Xie Qian had specially asked Qi Assistant, who was by Xie Jinghu’s side.
After turning into a traitor, Qi Assistant had always wanted to rack up some achievements to show off in front of his future boss; he had not skimped on covering for Zou Weijun in the company at ordinary times. Upon hearing Xie Qian’s question, Qi Assistant was puzzled: “President Xie should not know, should he? If President Xie knew, he would surely… ahem.”
Sara Zhuo was forbidden from returning to the country, and Xie Jinghu dared not fly off to see her with great fanfare; the only opportunities for the two to meet were when Xie Jinghu went abroad on business.
Jin Hu Group did have some operations overseas; some matters could be handled by subordinates in Xie Jinghu’s stead, but others required Xie Jinghu’s personal attention.
The latter sort, even Xie Yuping could not block; unless Xie Jinghu ceased managing “Jin Hu” altogether, only then could he be thoroughly tethered!
Since a wild dog like Xie Jinghu could not be tethered, he was bound to sneak off for a bite of dung now and then, and because he was starved at ordinary times, he would certainly not miss a chance to gobble it up.
But Qi Assistant could confirm with one hundred per cent certainty that President Xie had not gone to Japan last month!
“Then I understand; thank you, Assistant Qi.”
“Oh, you are too polite!”
Only afterwards did Qi Assistant realise.
President Xie did not even know his mistress had gone to Japan; so how had Young Master Xie known?
Could it be that Young Master Xie already had a grasp on that woman’s every move?!
It was a chilling thought upon reflection!
Qi Assistant was only frightened for less than three seconds before he grew delighted again.
Young Master Xie was formidable; only then did being a traitor for him hold value, which meant Assistant Qi had not backed the wrong horse.
However, President Xie’s henchman and President Xie’s mistress sneaking off to meet in secret, while President Xie himself was in the dark; for several days, Qi Assistant could not look Xie Jinghu straight in the eye. President Xie’s hair looked so black and thick, yet it seemed to glimmer with a faint, elusive green sheen!
What Qi Assistant could think of, Xie Qian could naturally think of as well.
Such a suspicion was rather nauseating; Xie Qian had not planned to bring it up, but since Wen Ying had mentioned Zhao Dong, Xie Qian alluded to it vaguely.
Wen Ying did not catch on at first and grew quite angry: “Zhao Dong is so sneaky, that woman is too… wait, you say the two of them secretly met up in Japan?”
No way; could it be what she was thinking? Had that Zhuo woman cuckolded the scumbag Xie?!
Sara Zhuo was willing to be a mistress, so her moral line was low to begin with; if she were truly devoted to Xie Jinghu single-mindedly, that would not fit the woman’s usual style at all.
But why choose Zhao Dong for an affair?
Though Xie Jinghu was a thorough scoundrel, if Wen Ying set aside her bias and evaluated objectively, from looks to wealth, Xie Jinghu outstripped Zhao Dong by far too much!
Sara Zhuo and Zhao Dong could hardly be true love.
What made Zhao Dong stand out from the others was simply that he was Xie Jinghu’s henchman.
A henchman and a mistress getting together, colluding inside and out to swindle a man’s money; Wen Ying had handled such cases!
How could that be allowed!
Wen Ying did not care whether Xie Jinghu was cuckolded; if he was, it would be fitting retribution, but Sara Zhuo teaming up with Zhao Dong to embezzle funds was unacceptable; was that Xie Jinghu’s money? Bah, that was Auntie Zou’s and Xie Qian’s money!
“Bring this matter to your father’s attention…”
Wen Ying was positively thrilled.
It might not kill Sara Zhuo in one blow, but it would absolutely hammer Zhao Dong to death.
“Your thinking is sound, but we lack evidence.”
Xie Qian’s words deflated Wen Ying; her round cheeks puffed out flat, and the corners of her eyes drooped downward; Xie Qian chuckled: “What is the rush? No evidence now does not mean no evidence forever; I have endured this long, I am not in a hurry.”
In the magic city, Gong Sheng’s negotiations with the government departments had reached their conclusion.
The demands Xie Qian had put forward, the government had initially rejected, but the plot of land under Xie Qian’s name was simply too vast; full compensation in property plus cash was indeed a heavy burden.
This became the basis for negotiation.
Once Hongqiao Railway Station was built, the distribution of goods would still rely on logistics; Xie Qian was not seeking to monopolise the entire market, he only wanted to seize the initiative; it was not an overly excessive demand, really.
Whichever logistics firm handled it would do; letting Xie Qian’s company give it a try was not impossible, and if Xie Qian exploited the partnership to bully and dominate the market, his logistics company could be dealt with later.
Gong Sheng had followed the talks throughout and believed formal signing after the new year was a near certainty.
Xie Qian was not anxious, for he had spent two years rooting his foundations in the magic city; he already held cards in his hand!
His logistics company was of course no match for “Jin Hu” at present, but this was Xie Qian’s personal territory; Xie Jinghu could not interfere in the slightest, and that was Xie Qian’s confidence.
Wen Ying studied him closely and found that Xie Qian was indeed calm and composed; she could not help but smile too:
“You are not anxious, so nor am I; those who ought to be anxious are not us to begin with!”
Xie Qian looked up at the高考 countdown in the black-bordered top right corner; only 140 days remained until the gaokao, and he reached out to take a practice paper from Wen Ying’s desk, pointing at the wrong answers: “I can afford not to be anxious, but you still should be; after all, I cannot sit the exam in your stead.”
Xie Qian could not only not take the exam for Wen Ying; he and Peng Guangrong were both non-local candidates from Rong City and would need to return to the capital to sit it.
“Oh…”
Wen Ying truly had nothing much to occupy her lately.
The novel’s publication had been handled by Yuan Fenghui as agent; “Seeking Yong” was finalised but not yet published, and she could write the second book in the Jiuding series after the gaokao just as well; the family atmosphere was better than ever before, so it seemed all she could really do was study!
The end-of-term exams were approaching.
The first semester of senior year was about to conclude.
Slag students like Wen Ying and Li Mengjiao, who had been whipped into shape by Xie Qian for two and a half years, could face the winter holidays with equanimity; Peng Guoqing was the pitiful one.
Slag students, when they had not yet entered the fold, were all insufferably arrogant, thinking they had simply lacked the will or effort before, and that if they truly applied themselves, how could they possibly not excel!
Facts proved otherwise; other people had studied for so many years, and for a slag student to catch up in a short time was truly too difficult.
More than once, Peng Guoqing had broken down from studying and entertained thoughts of giving up.
Xie Qian saw it all but did not try to dissuade him; if Peng Guoqing wished to learn, he taught, and if not, he saved his own effort.
In the end, Peng Guoqing could not hold back and asked Xie Qian, “You are not going to urge me to push a bit harder?”
Xie Qian’s gaze was indifferent, his smile faint too: “Why would I urge you? In any case, whether you get into a 211 university or not, you have a path forward; if you give up, that is fine too; it leaves one more spot at a 211 for an ordinary family like mine, and I ought to thank you for passing the opportunity to another.”
