Chapter 287: Preparing to go overseas
"That"s why we can"t let her know."
Wu Tong felt Xu Tingsheng"s words to be rather shameless, "Helping you to keep a woman outside and hiding things-and this is even for Boss Lu"s own good? Indeed, men are all like this? Boss is still so young, and he"s already…"
Being a woman herself, asked to consider things, Wu Tong would definitely stand on Lu Zhixin"s side in this matter.
Still, when she had calmed down, she was also a capable, rational and experienced career woman. Wu Tong thought highly of Hucheng"s prospects. With her current position and importance in Hucheng, she was virtually a.s.sured of getting options and shares when Hucheng had gotten listed…
Therefore, having heard about this matter now, she actually had no choice but to handle it, and handle it diligently too, even if this went against what she believed was right.
Wu Tong agreed to handle things for Xu Tingsheng.
A happy Xu Tingsheng instructed Wu Tong further on some things before finally handing her a name card and telling her, "If there are some things that Sis Tong find inconvenient or you are unused to, you can look for this person…having been in Shenghai for so long now, he should probably have sufficient connections already to handle some of these miscellaneous affairs."
"Xingxin, Zhang Xingke? Isn"t he…"
Receiving the name card, Wu Tong was rather taken aback to find that it was Zhang Xingke"s.
After Xu Tingsheng had called him in front of everyone during the meeting that day, Wu Tong had tried her best to find out more about him.
At the present moment, he was Hucheng"s enemy.
"Enemy, yeah. You could say that there is deep enmity between us," Xu Tingsheng said, "Still, an enemy is actually another sort of friend. If there"s anything you need help with, Sis Tong, you can contact him directly. Relax, this is my private affair. He"d be more reliable than if you were to look for locals of Hucheng working in Shenghai."
At this moment, Wu Tong suddenly felt yet again that it really seemed like she should look at this "unreliable" boss of hers in a different light.
……
Wu Tong soon left for Shenghai to prepare for recruitment for Hucheng"s training inst.i.tute there.
While the bid to obtain one of those plots of land appeared calm and all on the surface, a storm was actually brewing beneath the surface.
The weight of those of the Black Horse Club began manifesting in various areas. At first, no one really thought much of this. Still, as the voices began coming from within the province, not just a single source and not just a single voice, the longstanding powers of the industry slowly realised that they had no choice but to take them more seriously.
They began slowly feeling nervous about their opponents who no longer seemed so insignificant and of no import to them.
……
A third year senior was pursuing the girl with the long plait, Ning Xia.
The occupants of Room 602 were filled with righteous indignation, all but Zhang Ninglang himself who was very composed.
The two lovers ate together at the canteens for every meal, alternating between Canteen 1 and Canteen 3. They took the self-study room and the library as the site for their dates. They ran together, went on strolls together, watched old movies broadcasted in the lecture theatre together. Quietly, they had embarked upon a love relations.h.i.+p envied by everyone.
Li Xingming had still been unable to take down Yayang. Of course, she had also never rejected him.
Yayang had entered the Student"s Union like she wished. There, she had smoothly secured her position as she waved around Tan Yao"s banner. Apparently, she had recently been in charge of getting sponsors.h.i.+p for the faculty"s freshmen welcoming party. Li Xingming took it upon himself to help her to ask Xu Tingsheng if Hucheng was interested in sponsoring them.
Since this matter was related to the university and a request from his roommate, Xu Tingsheng did not hesitate in the least as he got straight to the point, "How much money might you need?"
Li Xingming said, "Thank you, Bro Xu. I"ll ask Yangyang."
After a phone conversation with Yayang, Li Xingming told Xu Tingsheng that she wanted to meet with him in person to discuss it.
Xu Tingsheng said that she should look for Lu Zhixin on this.
After relaying the message, Li Xingming appeared rather troubled as he said to Xu Tingsheng, "Bro Xu, how about you give me face and I arrange for us to eat a meal? It"s been quite a while since I last ate with Yangyang, anyway."
Hearing his words, Xu Tingsheng frowned.
Li Xingming shouldn"t be this foolish, shouldn"t be this blind. Therefore, the only explanation had to be that Yayang was really too capable in having grasped Li Xingming completely, having him subtly under her sway.
Xu Tingsheng ate dinner together with Yayang and Li Xingming that night.
Hucheng would be sponsoring ten thousand yuan.
This actually wasn"t all that important. More importantly, Xu Tingsheng found that even he felt very comfortable around Yayang as they interacted at times, even though he had specifically gone there with caution in mind…
Therefore, this girl was truly capable indeed.
Xu Tingsheng was even tempted to recruit her into Hucheng, but thankfully managed to stop himself from doing so in the end. For some people, while they were indeed talents, they were more trouble than they were worth if one did choose to use them. Xu Tingsheng feared trouble greatly, especially troublesome women.
Having met Yu Yayang, Li Xingming was doomed. Also, there was no one who would be able to stop him from falling to his doom, no one at all.
Xu Tingsheng decided not to warn him too much about this. So long as the price of such was not too great, falling not to the abyss but just some ravine wasn"t actually a bad thing for men during their younger days. It would be a lesson worthwhile.
……
Chen Jingqi started working at Hucheng. She was very diligent and and a fast learner as well. Lu Zhixin was very satisfied with her.
After working hours, she still helped to take care of the injured Huang Yaming.
Soon, basically all Huang Yaming"s cla.s.smates and friends knew that he had a very good and very caring girlfriend. Only Huang Yaming himself knew that this wasn"t actually the case. His determination to win back Chen Jingqi"s heart wasn"t great enough, and things were also far more complicated and difficult than he had thought.
Of course, perhaps because he was temporarily crippled, the time he spent gallivanting outside was much lesser.
As for Chen Jingqi, she would not let him touch him.
The preparation for their bar was mostly left to Tan Yao, who would even have a meal, a movie or s.e.xual intercourse with Ye Qing from time to time. What did this mean? Not relating this to those words that had previously been said, their relations.h.i.+p was actually no different from lovers.
When Tan Yao mentioned Ye Qing again, what he said was stuff like "this girl"s pretty good" and "this girl"s pretty fun".
Ye Qing circ.u.mvented Tan Yao and looked for Huang Yaming to invest in the bar.
Of course, Tan Yao abided by his principles of not taking things seriously as Ye Qing aside, he still did as he usually did and found girls like he usually did. He even casually helped to take down one of Fang Chen"s. This had already become a peculiar source of enjoyment for him.
Fang Chen took took the initiative to ask Tan Yao out for a meal in order to ask him about this.
Halfway through the meal, after the two of them had already been pretending that nothing was the matter for over half an hour, Fang Chen was finally unable to hold herself back anymore as she got straight to the point, "Tan Yao, what do you think you are doing?"
Tan Yao continued feigning ignorance as he asked, "Sis, what did I do?"
Fang Chen said, "You yourself are the clearest on this. Her, and her. Did you do it on purpose?"
Tan Yao said, "Her who? Sorry, I"ve slept with too many and really can"t remember offhand. Hold on, let me think."
Fang Chen really went and waited as she thought back on those days when Tan Yao had been all "beautiful senior" and "Yanzhou"s G.o.ddess"…it looked like time flipped not just calendars, but people"s att.i.tudes as well!
After a while, Tan Yao feigned sudden realisation dawning upon him as he then said with a look of complete innocence on his face, "Oh, I remember now. Sorry about that. It was an accident!"
Fang Chen said exasperatedly, "Only a fool would believe that."
Tan Yao smiled, "It"s up to you whether you"ll believe it. Actually, you wouldn"t be able to do anything even if I did it on purpose, Sis. Right, regarding this matter, how about I give you a piece of well-intentioned advice?"
Fang Chen simply asked, "What?"
Tan Yao smiled slyly, "Don"t s.n.a.t.c.h what work isn"t meant for you. If you can"t do it, don"t force yourself. Set it aside and let someone else who can do it do it."
Fang Chen was utterly infuriated by what Tan Yao was insinuating. In truth, it was really as he had said. However extraordinarily skilled she was, she would still be unable to defeat Tan Yao here. She was innately at a disadvantage.
Fang Chen was trembling in rage as she hissed slightly before standing up and saying stubbornly, "Don"t you be too confident, Tan Yao."
Even as he continued eating, Tan Yao asked, "Try me then?"
Fang Chen turned, replying as she walked away, "Oh, I"ll try you. You see if I dare."
Tan Yao said, "What I meant was if you"d like to try."
Fang Chen turned and stared at Tan Yao.
Tan Yao said calmly, "Wanna try? I"ll convert you too."
Fang Chen turned, grabbed a plate of tossed cuc.u.mber and dumped it right in Tan Yao"s face.
Tan Yao pulled off a piece and chewed on it, smiling, "Even this is stronger than you."
……
Xu Tingsheng gave Professor Yan Zhenyu a call.
"Professor Yan, um, could I trouble you to help me send an invitation email over to my school when you"re free? Just say that it"s to invite me to partic.i.p.ate in the discussions regarding the verification of the Anyang Mausoleum," Xu Tingsheng said.
Professor Yan was smiling as he said, "You finally feel like coming over now, kid? After so many times that I"ve asked you."
Xu Tingsheng was chuckling as he explained, "No, Professor Yan, I actually won"t really come. I just want to make use of this to apply for extended leave with the university. It should be around twenty days or so. I intend to go overseas for a bit. Sorry for the trouble."
Yan Zhenyu, "……"
Xu Tingsheng said, "When the excavation starts, I"ll definitely be there."