KEIGHTY: Special thanks to Banananim‘s ko-fi tips! ( ˘ ³˘)♥ (Extra Chapter 2/2)
Wen Guanghua had been with Ling Qiang for many years. Later, in order to build the new Lingyun, a development planning department was set up, with Wen Guanghua as the department manager. Asking him to follow Qiao Mudong somewhat meant letting him keep an eye on Qiao Mudong for him.
Wen Guanghua actually didn’t agree with Ling Qiang’s request to let some young men and women get close to Qiao Mudong. He didn’t have much contact with Qiao Mudong, but he could feel that he was a young man with strong opinions and ideas. He didn’t think Qiao Mudong was that good. It was easy for others to fall into these fancy traps set by Ling Qiang, yet this also means that, if Qiao Mudong fell into them so easily, Ling Qiang should not be so obsessed with this son. Wen Guanghua felt that Ling Qiang may be too conceited, or maybe he was a little confused about this matter. Despite that, he still took seriously what Ling Qiang ordered.
Qiao Mudong had previously said that Wen Guanghua could consider investigating whether there was a suitable site in Xicheng District. Although it was just a word of excuse to Dihong, Wen Guanghua did put some effort into doing what Qiao Mudong asked.
So when Qiao Mudong received a call from Wen Guanghua saying that there were two sites in Xicheng District and Beicheng District that he could consider, Qiao Mudong had no reason to refuse.
“Okay,” Qiao Mudong said. “I’ll take a look.”
However, Wen Guanghua did not accompany him personally. He said that he had sent someone to pick up Qiao Mudong and go there with him to have an inspection. In fact, it was just taking a look. According to Ling Qiang’s intention, there was no actual plan to find another land. It was just that the situation in Dihong was still unstable, and he wanted to delay it for a while, so Wen Guanghua didn’t even bother showing his face.
It turned out that the people who drove to pick up Qiao Mudong that day were a young man and a young woman.
Both the man and woman were in their early twenties. The girl looked pure and had an outstanding figure and temperament, like a newly graduated college student, while the other man wore a pair of glasses, looked delicate and gentle, and smiles a little shyly.
Qiao Mudong had never seen these two people in Lingyun before. At this time, he felt it was a bit strange, thinking that the two people in this car looked like actors heading to the TV station or something.
In fact, this girl was not a specially arranged one. She was really a college graduate that Lingyun just recruited this year. She used to be on the etiquette team at the school and was called Su Chang. The young man was called Lu Jincong and was hired temporarily by Wen Guanghua from outside. He didn’t say much; he just hinted clearly enough to let him get closer to Qiao Mudong. Wen Guanghua did not even say who gave the instruction, but he expressed his intention simply and clearly.
The task was arranged by Ling Qiang, and Wen Guanghua did it. As for the result, he didn’t really care too much.
Su Chang was still a little nervous when she saw Qiao Mudong. She sat in the passenger seat and handed the documents in her hand to Qiao Mudong, explaining the situation around the two lands along the way.
While Lu Jincong was driving the car, he glanced at Qiao Mudong in the rearview mirror from time to time.
Qiao Mudong was a little absent-minded. He didn’t really listen to what Su Chang said. What he was thinking about was that He Yu went back to work today, and he didn’t know what the situation there was like.
He Yu did go to work.
He mustered up the courage and continued to build himself mentally. When he walked into the big office, he still saw several people peeking at him secretly, but no one said anything.
He Yu went to see Ou Yunjia first, and Ou Yunjia told He Yu to go to work without worrying about anything else.
He Yu knew that Ou Yunjia had probably communicated it with his colleagues in the company in advance, and no one would probably mention it in front of him. However, basically everyone still knew about it.
Returning to his seat, He Yu said that he was not expecting to hide this matter from others for the rest of his life. If he really wanted others to think highly of him, he should work hard and make some achievements for that.
Fortunately, Zhang Qin was a down-to-earth person. He still arranged work for He Yu as before, and his attitude had not changed, which made He Yu feel a lot better.
After lunch, He Yu wanted to go to the balcony to smoke. There were already two colleagues there, and they usually had a good relationship with him. He walked closer, but before he could push the glass door open, he suddenly heard one of the people say, “You mean Ling Qiang?”
He Yu moved for a moment and heard the other person say, “Mm, Ling Qiang’s illegitimate son seems to be good brothers with He Yu.”
“No wonder,” said the person from before, “with He Yu’s background, our boss wants him, so there must be some connection.”
“Yes, I heard that that night, Ling Qiang’s son stood up to help He Yu. In the end, there was a big fuss, and they even started fighting.”
“Didn’t he say that He Yu used to work in Lingyun? Then all the public funds he misappropriated belonged to Lingyun, right? Ling Qiang’s son still protects him like this?”
… …
The conversation continued, but He Yu couldn’t bear to listen anymore and turned around to leave.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
In fact, what they said was not malicious; it was just an ordinary discussion, but no one would want to listen to others expose your scars in such a cold tone. So He Yu simply walked away instead of standing up to stop them.
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One of them was a girl holding a magazine. She said to a young man, “Quick, treat us to dinner.”
The young man replied, “The boss said he wanted to treat us, but he hasn’t invited us yet. You go and ask the boss to treat you first.”
“What?” the girl quipped. “Cheapskate!”
The young man grabbed the magazine and said, “This is obviously just a small advertisement, do you actually believe this?”
The girl said, “No, the business of this Shiyouwei restaurant is really good. I heard from my friends that if you go there late, there will be a lot of people already queuing outside. If you’re unlucky, you might have to wait for an hour or two.”
He Yu suddenly turned his head to look at them and saw that the young man had his head buried in reading the magazine, so he stood up, walked over, and asked, “Can you lend it for me to read?”
Perhaps because of Ou Yunjia’s instructions, everyone was unnaturally polite to He Yu. When he asked to see it, they quickly handed it to him. “Take it, ba.”
This was a magazine that introduces the city and surrounding tourist attractions and food. He Yu saw that the pages they were opening were the two pages used to introduce Shiyouwei. There were photos attached to it. It was indeed Li Tang’s in Renxin. The restaurant on the street was Shiyouwei, but the photo was taken at night. There were many stools outside the door, and there was a long queue. There was also a photo of a dish. The name was quite simple, but it looked bright and red in color. It was very tempting, and at the same time, He Yu was also very sure that this was not a dish that Lao Pang and the others could make.
He Yu asked strangely, “Is this restaurant still open?”
“Yes,” the girl answered. “The business is very good. Even if you go a little later than others, there will surely be no seats for you anymore.”
He Yu was a little confused for a moment, wondering if Shiyouwei had changed its boss. Otherwise, even if Li Tang had time, given his personality, he would not have made Shiyouwei’s business so prosperous.
He Yu returned the magazine, thanked them, and went back to his seat. He was spinning a pen in his hand. He hesitated for a long time before he finally called Qiao Mudong.
Qiao Mudong was looking at the open space in the west of the city at this time. The weather was hot, and the scorching sun was above his head. Qiao Mudong’s big build made him sweat easily, and soon, beads of sweat flowed down his forehead.
Lu Jincong took out a bag of tissues from his pocket and handed one to Qiao Mudong. “Mr. Qiao, wipe your sweat, ba.”
“Thank you.” Qiao Mudong took it and wiped the sweat on his forehead.
At this time, Lu Jincong took out another piece of paper and reached out to wipe the back of his neck. “It’s not convenient for you here, I’ll do it.”
Qiao Mudong glanced at him without saying anything, and then he heard the ringtone of his cell phone.
Picking up the phone, he heard He Yu say, “Let’s have dinner together tonight.”
Qiao Mudong answered, “Okay, won’t you work overtime?”
He Yu replied, “There’s no need to work overtime today.”
Qiao Mudong asked him, “Then what do you want to eat?”
He Yu said, “Let’s go to Shiyouwei. I want to see if Brother Li is still there.”
If Shiyouwei had been given to someone else, it was most likely that Li Tang had also moved out. He Yu just wanted to take a look, perhaps a little curious and a little surprised.
Qiao Mudong almost choked on his saliva. Shiyouwei’s business slowly started after he took it over from Li Tang. During that time, he visited many places around Chongfeng City and hired chefs. Later, he also followed Li Tang’s instructions. He didn’t renovate the restaurant. There were still just a few tables, chairs, and benches. After that, the business and its reputation got better and better. Soon, there were not enough seats, and this ended up in the current situation.
This was the case for people in cities. When people saw a place where business was so good that they need to queue up, more and more people would be attracted to go there. They didn’t care even if they have to queue up; they just have to taste it.
Qiao Mudong didn’t tell He Yu these things. After all, it was still a small business. He himself felt uneasy and spent a lot of energy discussing with Li Tang what to do next. Originally, Qiao Mudong had intended to buy He Yu a car. It didn’t need to be very good—just around 100,000 yuan—so that he could drive to work every day, but Li Tang persuaded him not to do so.
Li Tang said that when you need money, don’t waste it on things of little significance.
Now, He Yu suddenly said that he wanted to go to Shiyouwei. Qiao Mudong’s first reaction was that He Yu already knew about this. He asked, “Why do you want to go to Shiyouwei?”
He Yu was somewhat surprised. “I told you we’d go to see Brother Li.”
Qiao Mudong didn’t know whether he was serious or not and said, “Li Tang has so many things to do now, how can he still stay in Shiyouwei?”
He Yu replied, “I saw that Shiyouwei seemed to have been taken over by someone else, and the business was booming now. I wanted to take a look.”
Listening to his tone, Qiao Mudong guessed that he was probably telling the truth. He hesitated and asked, “If we go tonight, can we still have seats?”
He Yu said, “We would probably have to line up, ba.”
Qiao Mudong assured him, “I’ll find someone to wait in line for us. Don’t worry, I’ll pick you up after you get off work.”
Qiao Mudong hung up the phone and saw Su Chang and Lu Jincong standing not too far away and looking at him, so he waved his hand and said, “Aren’t we still going to Beicheng District? Let’s go now.”
Su Chang came out to do things sincerely. Seeing Qiao Mudong only take a few glances before leaving again, she was a little dazed. “Why don’t you take a detailed look at the surrounding situation?”
Qiao Mudong thought to himself that Wen Guanghua hadn’t set his mind here; otherwise, he would have inquired carefully about it, so he simply said, “I don’t want to take a look anymore. Let’s go.”
About an hour after He Yu finished calling Qiao Mudong, he received a call from Li Tang. He Yu was a little surprised because Li Tang rarely contacted him, and it happened to be when he was just thinking about going to see him.
Li Tang was obviously a reinforcement brought by Qiao Mudong. He just didn’t want He Yu to go to Shiyouwei. Li Tang didn’t understand what Qiao Mudong was thinking, but Qiao Mudong said, “I can’t even afford to buy him a car, so for now, I can’t let him know what I’m doing.”
Thus, Li Tang made this call to He Yu.
“Brother Li?” He Yu felt a little excited. “Why have you thought of calling me?”
Li Tang said, “I haven’t seen you for a long time. Are you free tonight? I’ll treat you two to a meal.”
“A meal?” He Yu said, “What a coincidence. I was planning to ask Mudong to go to Shiyouwei for dinner tonight and see you.”
Li Tang said, “I already moved out of Shiyouwei. You don’t have to come. I don’t live there anymore.”
As expected, He Yu was a little disappointed when he heard what he said. Although he didn’t stay at Shiyouwei for long, he still had some attachments to it.
Li Tang made an appointment with him: “At seven o’clock in the evening, call Qiao Mudong and come together in Juxiang Garden.”
“Where is Juxiang Garden?” He Yu asked.
Li Tang replied, “Look for it yourself.” After saying that, he simply hung up the phone.
Qiao Mudong was very grateful to Li Tang for his generous help and told Li Tang that he would come to treat him that evening.
Li Tang refused and said, “I invited He Yu to dinner, and he’ll just take you with him.”
After hanging up the phone, Qiao Mudong breathed a sigh of relief.
After being stuck in traffic and waiting for red lights along the way, Lu Jincong had already driven the car to the north of the city. It was a land left after a large commodity market was relocated to the north of the city. It was very close to the train station, and there were a lot of people around. There were many foreigners and migrant workers at the bottom who were mixed in the city.
After Su Chang got out of the car, her delicate brows furrowed slightly. It seemed that this place was not suitable for the new Lingyun building.
However, in the past two years, the city had been vigorously developing the Beicheng District. It wanted to move several large markets that were originally messy and leave them as high-end commercial land or build new high-end residential areas.
However, because there was a railway station across the north of the city, it could not be relocated. Eighty percent of the trains leaving Chongfeng Station depart from this station. The railway tracks were crisscrossed, making it difficult to move. Therefore, as long as the train station remained, Beicheng District was destined to become a gathering place for the migrant population in Chongfeng City, and the overall environment would be difficult to transform.
Su Chang didn’t say anything. Qiao Mudong came down to take a look and said, “Let’s go back.”
After getting in the car, Su Chang felt a little depressed, feeling that she had not done a good job and was afraid that Qiao Mudong would be unhappy. Lu Jincong obviously did not have those thoughts. He deliberately lowered the speed of the car and chose the main road in the city center. Almost all the time he drives over here, he really gets stuck in traffic. He looked at the time in the car and thought it would be best to drag this on until dinner.
Qiao Mudong’s first intention was to ask Lu Jincong to take him back and then drive to pick up He Yu and go there with him after work. However, due to such a delay, it was already past He Yu’s time to get off work, and he still hadn’t arrived yet.
He called He Yu, and He Yu said that he had already taken a taxi.
He Yu checked the location Li Tang had mentioned on the Internet and found that it was a very high-end restaurant in the south of the city, with some specifications similar to private family cuisines that were very popular nowadays. In comparison, it was much faster for He Yu to go directly from where he got off work than for Qiao Mudong to pick him up from the north of the city.
So when Qiao Mudong arrived, He Yu was already standing at the door, waiting for him.
He Yu watched a black Volkswagen drive up and stop in front of him. A man and a woman with outstanding looks were sitting in the front seat, and then Qiao Mudong got out of the back seat.
Qiao Mudong was eating with He Yu and Li Tang, and of course, he would not keep them together with him, so he said to them by the car window, “Sorry to bother you. It’s getting late, you should find a place to eat first.”
Su Chang said quickly, “It’s okay, Mr. Qiao.”
Lu Jinchong felt a little regretful. He looked at He Yu, smiled at Qiao Mudong, and then said, “Then we’ll go now.”
Watching the car drive away in front of him, He Yu hesitated and finally couldn’t help but ask, “Who are they?”
Qiao Mudong came over, put his arm on his shoulders, and walked towards the Juxiang Garden. “Lingyun’s employees.”
He Yu asked again, “Is Lingyun going to change its career to develop the entertainment industry as well?”
Hearing this, Qiao Mudong smiled and said, “Who knows, ah?”
The author has something to say:
… Continuing yesterday’s extra:
Hong Minhang ran out in one breath. He didn’t know how far he had run. When he finally stopped, the scenery on both sides of the street was a bit unfamiliar.
He felt very sad and very betrayed, but he also didn’t understand why he felt as such.
After running so far, he felt that he couldn’t run any longer, so he walked slowly along the street.
The image of the woman opening the door and Li Tang’s half-naked body appeared repeatedly in his mind, and he couldn’t even help but think about the scene of the two people hugging each other.
Hong Minhang was already in high school. His living environment had never been simple. He knew all those things. Even the boys who grew up with him had already experienced that feeling. But Hong Minhang didn’t. He always harbored passionate fantasies about Li Tang. He had never thought about what it would be like to be with a woman, let alone the possibility of Li Tang being with a woman.
But now, the facts told him that fantasies could only be fantasies.
Hong Minhang walked aimlessly along the street. He didn’t think about where he should go, his expression a little dazed.
Suddenly, someone stopped him on the roadside. Hong Minhang turned around and saw that she was a woman with an average appearance and an average figure. She had makeup on her face, and her hair was dyed yellow.
The woman didn’t say anything; she just looked at him with a half-smile.
Hong Minhang looked at the small shop behind her. It seemed to be a barber shop. The reason why it looked like a barber shop was because of the large mirror in the shop and two or three electric dryers on the table in front. Apart from this, there was nothing else. There was not a single customer, just a few women sitting or standing, looking at him expressionlessly.
Hong Minhang suddenly realized what kind of place this was. This kind of small barber shop was not a place for serious business at all. The women sitting at the door were all waiting for customers and were in the business of selling meat.
There used to be a shop behind Xiangzhu Street. From his room upstairs, Hong Minhang could see different men coming in and out of that dark shop from time to time.
I wonder: What does it feel like to be with a woman? What kind of mentality did Li Tang have whenever he had sex with women? Hong Minhang was suddenly curious. The woman was still looking at him with that half-smiling expression.
Hong Minhang walked towards the small shop behind the woman. The women sitting in the shop looked at him but did not move.
Hong Minhang saw a man coming out of the back room and was about to say something to him when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.
Li Tang stood behind him and said, “You’re coming with me.”
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