The manager turned to see two figures standing there, when he got a good look at one of them, he couldn’t help but shrink back.
“Do you want to know where Jin Sitian and Mr. Tian are?” The two figures were slowly approaching, and a cold voice spoke, making his entire body freeze up.
The disappearance of Mr. Tian and Jin Sitian was sudden and without any trace, but the company didn’t even give a single statement about it. In the beginning, he had suspected that they had both escaped in fear of retaliation from Tang Enterprise, but it looked like that wasn’t the case at all? Was it possible that their disappearance had something to do with the man in front of him?
The manager’s legs were shaking when he came to that conclusion, facing the two figures, there was a heavy pressure in the air that made it hard to breathe.
Gu Xiqiao glanced at Jiang Shuxuan, the cold expression still on his handsome face. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. So what had happened to Jin Sitian and Mr. Tian in the end?
Silently going around and doing these things, Gu Xiqiao felt like she had a new understanding of the man beside her.
“Where, where are they?” The tremble of the manager’s voice was not something you could miss.
“In the sky.” Gu Xiqiao smiled harmlessly. “Mister, do you really want to go up into the sky? But the words ‘never turning your fortune around’ is really suitable to be applied to you.”
She snapped her fingers, and continued to stare at the manager. “What do you think?”
The man already felt his body not responding to his thoughts, even when he opened his mouth, there was no sound. He looked at the angelic face of the beautiful girl in front of him in terror.
“I think it’s pretty good.” Gu Xiqiao responded to her own question, immediately deciding that people who committed too much evil were destined to have a rough life in the next half of their life. “Enjoy the rest of your life, mister.”
Although her tone was light, if you were standing near her, you could clearly see the seriousness inside her eyes. He suddenly realized that she was not joking about it at all!
“Miss Ning.” Gu Xiqiao turned her attention to Ning Qing, and seeing that she was pulling a box along, she said, “Can we find a place to talk?”
“Miss Gu?” Ning Qing was looking at Gu Xiqiao in a daze.
Those threats that the manager had aimed at her, it was impossible to say that she was not afraid of it at all. Sometimes, when she thought about how she had stayed strong and firm for so long, it really hadn’t been easy, and there would always be times where she thought about just giving in, but had managed to hold out at the end.
Gu Xiqiao flashed her a smile. “The car is parked out front, let’s go.”
The group of three walked towards the outside.
With a light flick of his fingers, a loud ‘bang’ came from behind them.
The sound was too loud to ignore, and Ning Qing couldn’t help but turn her head in curiosity. The manager that had been standing upright had somehow fallen down face first onto the ground, and it looked like it hurt a lot.
Seeing the state he was in, Ning Qing winced in sympathy.
“Get in the car.” Jiang Shuxuan had already opened the door, and seeing that Ning Qing was still staring in stunned silence, Gu Xiqiao nudged her with a smile on her face.
“Ah? Oh!” She was still someone in the entertainment industry after all, and Ning Qing knew that this brand of car was low-key but still luxurious. She had been struck dumb for a bit, but she carefully climbed into the back seat.
Gu Xiqiao also climbed into the back, and Jiang Shuxuan glanced at her but said nothing.
For A Millenium: How long will it take to hack someone?
Yu Ning: It depends on what, but it usually takes about half an hour.
For A Millenium: How slow!
‘My little system can be done in minutes, sigh, I really miss the little system.’
Yu Ning: …That’s considered slow? Really?
For A Millenium: Alright then, help me hack somebody then~
Yu Ning: …
Half an hour later, the manager received a text message. The balance of his bank account was only 211.56. His eyes rolled back as he fell down again, and he had just gotten up too.
“Miss Gu, this is…?” Ning Qing looked at the papers in her hand, a startled expression on her face.
The contract clearly stated that the other wanted to invest in her, and she kept flitting through the words, and they remained unchanged, she had not seen it wrongly.
Gu Xiqiao shoved her phone back in her pocket. “It’s a contract, Miss Ning. Ah, but I’m not the one who cares about all these matters about signing a contract. I’ll bring you to a place to stay in a bit, and someone will meet with you to sign it. The conditions and requirements are all written down clearly, so you can take it back and go over it at your own time.”
“But… Why?” Ning Qing glanced up at Gu Xiqiao. She knew that she was poor, having accomplished nothing in the three years she had been in the entertainment industry, she basically had no value at all, why would Gu Xiqiao want to invest in her?
“Don’t you have your own dream?” Gu Xiqiao said, meeting her gaze. “I believe in my own eyes, Ning Qing. I will wait for the day when you received an international award.”
After a while, the car came to a stop in front of a peninsula community.
A young woman was waiting by the door. “Miss Gu.”
“Un, take her to find a room then,” Gu Xiqiao said, nodding slightly to the woman. She then turned to Ning Qing, who was getting down from the car. “Well then, bye now.”
Ning Qing didn’t expect Gu Xiqiao to have arranged for a place for her to stay in a peninsula community. The peninsula community was not a top-notch community in the Imperial Capital, but it was much safer than most of the other communities around. Those people who lived in these kinds of communities were usually people of high ranks, and back then in her company, she knew that only first-rate artistes would be arranged to live in these communities.
She never expected to see the day that she would be able to do it too.
“Miss Ning, which floor would you like to live on?” The young woman led Ning Qing inside the building towards the elevator, a warm smile on her face.
Ning Qing’s eyes were round and wide. “I can choose which floor to live on?”
“That’s right, Miss Ning. This entire building belongs to our company, so you are free to choose any rooms, apart from those that have already been taken.”
…It seemed that she had joined a freaking great company?
“Then… the eighteenth floor[1], please.” Let’s start anew with a good omen then.
The woman pressed the button for the eighteenth floor. “A new tenant has just moved into the eighteenth floor, and there are three rooms left.”
They reached the eighteenth floor soon enough, and when Ning Qing stepped out of the elevator, she saw a young man. He seemed to be surprised at the sight of her, but he recovered and gave her a light smile. “Hello.”
“Hello.” Ning Qing returned the greeting without much thought, and remembering that they should be colleagues in the same company, she continued, “My name is Ning Qing.”
“Su Wu.” Su Wu returned easily, and pointed at the plate in front of the unit. “I’m living next door.”
“I’ll be in your care.” Ning Qing chose the unit next to his, and walked in to see the refined facilities in it. She felt like she was in a dream, and in her hands she still held the contract that Gu Xiqiao had given her.
She slowly brought the contract up to cover her face, and a choked laugh came out from her mouth, and then another, and it soon became a cross between sobs and laughter.
***
Outside the door, Su Wu was waiting for the elevator. Thinking of Ning Qing who had just walked into the unit, he muttered under his breath, “I’ll be in your care too, lucky one.”
He quickly obtained the property deed, and the house had also been renovated a while ago. Now, all he needed to do was retrieve his parents to stay here.
Su Wu returned home quickly, and drove the ordinary Volkswagen that was the company’s standard vehicle, he reached his destination not long after.
He didn’t expect that he would find a bunch of other relatives in his house. His grandparents from both sides, and even his aunts were all present.
“Little Wu, your aunt was just telling me that you didn’t take the clerical work that she had introduced to you, and even said that you wanted to continue writing scripts. How are you going to have good future prospects at this rate? Look at your cousin, Dazhi, he even owns properties now, you need to buck up!” This was said by his maternal grandmother, who was a daughter of a landlord in the old society. She had always been a dictator, and only favored Dazhi, the most promising grandson in her eyes, and she found Su Wu to be an eyesore.
Su Wu didn’t really care for such things, he glanced around to find his paternal grandparents sitting on the sofa, shrunk into themselves and silent. His parents were sitting to the side, their expressions grave, but also silent.
His aunt was sitting on the soda, drinking tea with her legs crossed. Her face had an extremely smug expression on it, and unexplainable anger surged in Su Wu’s heart.
If it were the past, he would have gotten angry and drove these people out with his anger, but today, he merely smiled softly and said, “I have found work in a company, and I was even allocated a house now. Since you guys are here, why not come along and take a look too?”
“You? Allocated a house? It isn’t a basement, is it?” His aunt glanced at him, unabashed contempt clear in her eyes.
Su Wu leveled a glance at her. “Whether you believe it or not, I don’t really care. Why not see for yourself then?”
The Su Wu today was different than usual, and his aunt and grandmother seemed to be stunned in the change of his attitude. Seeing Su Wu leading his parents downstairs, they looked at each other before following them down.
There were all old neighbors here, and his parents had played mahjong with them to pass time, and they had a good relationship all around. They met many people along the way, and Su Wu would greet them and told them that he was moving house, and that he would invite them over for a drink soon.
“I knew that Little Wu was promising the moment I saw him.”
“The elders of the Su family are blessed indeed!”
“I said it before, how bad can a child who managed to test into a prestigious university be?”
“…”
The neighbors were happy when they heard the news, and they were also cheerfully discussing what sort of gifts they should bring to the Su family when the time came.
Compared to his relatives, he didn’t know how much better they were.
“The youth shouldn’t boast about themselves, let’s see how you end up when you can’t find the so-called house that you’ve been allocated!” His aunt couldn’t help but throw out an insult while they walked. When she saw that Su Wu was driving a brand-new Volkswagen, her eyes burned with envy. Because they had just bought a house, the car that she drove was only a pitiful second-hand car. This Su Wu, showing off so much!
She drove her own car and followed behind Su Wu into the peninsula community, and she was stunned when she reached the doors.
“Su Wu really lives here?!” Su Wu’s maternal grandmother couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.
“How is that possible?” His aunt’s shrill voice rang out. “Everyone who lives here are definitely people of higher status and are wealthy, how can he be living here! It’s definitely just a pretense!”
Seeing Su Wu drive straight in, his aunt immediately let go of the accelerator.
“Hello, please show me your permit.” The security guard was very polite.
The aunt, who didn’t have a travel permit, glanced at the security guard. “The man in front of me just now is my nephew, tell me, does he really live here?”
“Ah, you’re talking about Mr. Su? He just moved in yesterday.” The security guard said cheerfully, he already had a good impression of the polite young man that was Su Wu.
The words he said rang loudly in their ears, did he really live here?! It wasn’t a lie?! Dazhi worked in such a big multinational company, and he didn’t get such good benefits either. What kind of sh*t luck did Su Wu step in?! The aunt’s face flushed in anger, and she turned her car around, driving away in anger.
“Little Wu, you have to work hard and well in the future, don’t let your boss down.” Su Wu’s parents looked at the exquisitely decorated house with surreal feelings inside them. After hearing Su Wu’s affirmative answer, they continued to remind him again and again.
Su Wu continued to nod his head in the right places. “Yeah, I know, don’t worry Mom.”
It was fortunate that he had landed in Nine Heavens, he would definitely work harder than anyone else, and wouldn’t disappoint anyone in the company.
***
Tang Qingqiu changed into something more solemn in the afternoon, and then he sneakily creeped into Xiao Yun’s Weibo. After browsing for a little while, he went off to meet the manager of Nine Heavens at the agreed time.
Both parties arrived on time, and Mu Zong was stunned for a while when he caught sight of Tang Qingqiu. He hadn’t expected for the man to come in person.
When Mu Zong had arrived at the Imperial Capital, he knew about all the big tyrants here. The Tang family was undoubtedly at the head of the Imperial Capital, and he even heard of some mysterious forces behind their strength.
However, he was also well aware that Nine Heavens had done some earth-shattering things in the Imperial Capital in the short time they had been here. When he first came to know about them, he had been heartbroken. He had wanted to ask Gu Xiqiao why she didn’t let him come and join the fun. Hearing Luo Wenlang recount the events in excitement, he regretted not being able to come over earlier.
Tang Qingqiu always had such a majestic aura that he exuded, and it was completely different from the other businessmen that he had encountered in the past. Fortunately, Mu Zong had been around Gu Xiqiao for quite a while now, and he had even met Jiang Shuxuan a couple of times. He recovered fairly quickly, and adapted fast too, and he composed himself to make sure he looked neither too humble or rude.
“Mr. Mu, I actually wanted to meet with your president.” With one look at Mu Zong, Tang Qingqiu already knew that he was not the driving force behind the scenes of Nine Heavens. A person of that capabilities wouldn’t appear so humble in front of him.
It wasn’t only him, the entire Imperial Capital wanted to see the enchanting figure behind the scene of Nine Heavens, who wouldn’t be interested?
Mu Zong smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, President Tang, I doubt she would agree.”
“Why?” Tang Qingqiu was sad and regretful about it, he was really looking forward to seeing an idol, even if it was just a glance. “Can’t we negotiate something?”
Mu Zong thought about how Gu Xiqiao was as a person, and he couldn’t help but let out a sigh. “Lazy. She’s just very lazy.”
Tang Qingqiu was caught off guard at such an answer, it was completely out of his expectation. “…”
If she was so lazy, how was she able to develop Nine Heavens into what it was today? He really wanted to pull out the person behind the scenes to see what kind of god or deity they were!
“President Tang, the collaboration that we would like to enter with your company pertains to cell fusion.” Mu Zong began their business discussion as he adjusted his glasses.
Tang Qingqiu, who was about to accept any collaboration with Nine Heavens to get into their good books: WTF?
“How did you even get the authorization for cell fusion?” Tang Qingqiu was still not able to reconcile the image of Gu Xiqiao being the patentee yesterday, and he didn’t ask after her for the patent right and instead planned to talk about it after a few more days.
He was stunned by Mu Zong’s words, his face felt numb from the information given to him.
Mu Zong thought about it for a while, he still wasn’t aware of how big this collaboration was. Initially, when Gu Xiqiao had first handed him this document, he still had major doubts in his heart. He wasn’t sure if Tang Enterprise would turn their nose up at this, but seeing Tang Qingqiu’s reaction, it seemed that this collaboration was anything but simple.
“Our boss sent it to me last night.” Mu Zong said truthfully.
“Who is your boss? We’re all partners here, right?”
Mu Zong apologized again, and said, “I’ll ask her when I get back.”
“Alright.” Tang Qingqiu sighed, mollified for the moment. He glanced at Mu Zong’s face, and found only a calm expression looking back at him, and he couldn’t help but add, “This cell fusion is a major breakthrough in the medical field. When the time comes, it will send waves in the global medical community, so I think that we should first determine a team, so that the later chaos can be contained properly.”
“I can feel the sincerity and earnest feelings from the values of your company, I hope we have a good collaboration.” Tang Qingqiu stood up with a grave face. He had first come here with the wish to see the founder of Nine Heavens, but he didn’t expect the other party to give him such a collaboration plan, and he still wasn’t sure whether it was a good surprise or a terrifying thing. He discarded his initial disappointment.
The patent was in Gu Xiqiao’s name, so she must be acquainted with the person from Nine Heavens, right?
Tang Qingqiu quietly plotted inside his heart.
Mu Zong, who was completely unaware of how f*cking terrific and kick a*s the documents in his hands were: Boss Gu, you prodigal person!
***
The prodigal Boss Gu had reached home at this time, and she gave a call to Mrs. Zhang. The two spoke about something for a while, and after hanging up, Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
Jiang Shuxuan was pouring some water into Haha’s bowl.
Xixi was flying around in front of Haha. Whenever it saw this glamorous bowl of Haha’s, it really was so tempted to knock it over!
“Brother Jiang, let’s go to N City!” Gu Xiqiao suddenly opened her mouth after pondering seriously for quite a long while.
Jiang Shuxuan straightened up from where he was, and turned to her. “Why the sudden decision?”
“I just got off the phone with Mrs. Zhang, she said that her daughter had gotten married to a rich man.” Gu Xiqiao said in a worried voice.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Jiang Shuxuan asked as he washed his hands, raising an eyebrow.
“Something was weird with her voice.” Mrs. Zhang was a housekeeper, and her household had an average income. Her daughter had married a rich man, and you could imagine how much the husband’s family would dislike them due to the difference in their background.
Gu Xiqiao always remembered Mrs. Zhang’s kindness in her heart. She had seen the notes that Mrs. Zhang would write, on the things that she could or could not eat. Little by little, she would remember it seriously.
She also understood Mrs. Zhang’s stubborn behavior, when she thought about this part, Gu Xiqiao couldn’t sit still. “Brother Jiang, let’s go and pick Mrs. Zhang up, and take a look at how her daughter is doing, being married to that family. If he’s not a good person, then let Mrs. Zhang drown him with money.”
[1] there’s the number 8 in eighteen, which is the symbol of good fortune in Chinese. On the other hand, number 4 sounds like ‘death’ in the Chinese language, so most building elevators would skip that number, going with level 3A instead of level 4.