Zhou Jicang was unpretentious and witty in his speech, and following his toast, the atmosphere in the banquet hall reached its climax.
In other words, the real mingling had begun.
Guests began carrying their wine glasses around, seizing the opportunity to drink with those they had long wanted to meet but never had the chance. Regardless of the outcome, at least they could familiarize faces.
The table where Xiao Ming sat was the most revered in the room, and common folk wouldn't dare approach it. Yet, there were no shortage of individuals qualified to toast to Zhou Jicang and the like, and nobody was foolish enough to leave Xiao Ming out.
Thus, after a dozen or so rounds, even with Xiao Ming's decent tolerance, he became somewhat tipsy and noticeably more excited.
Seizing the opportunity when her father was away mingling, Zhou Qingyuan sat next to Xiao Ming, holding a glass of wine and said heartily, "Mr. Xiao, I'm sorry about before, I misunderstood you. This glass is to apologize!"
Xiao Ming looked at her with a smile, remaining silent and still.
Zhou Qingyuan put down her glass, "Why aren't you drinking?"
"You're the one apologizing, why should I drink? And you don't even call me 'uncle.' An impolite child doesn't deserve respect."
Zhou Qingyuan immediately clenched her teeth and, after suppressing her irritation, pouted and said in a coquettish manner, "Mr. Xiao, even though you are good friends with my dad, after all, our age gap is there, you're only a few years older than me.
If people find out I'm calling someone in their twenties 'uncle,' I'll be laughed at.
Let's be equals; from now on I'll call you 'brother,' how does that sound?"
"Not good."
Xiao Ming rejected without hesitation, showing the ring on his left ring finger, "'Brother' is too ambiguous; it can easily lead to misunderstandings.
Also, stop pretending, you don't have a coquettish bone in your body, don't you feel disgusted when you act spoiled?"
Zhou Qingyuan raised an eyebrow, "You seem to know me very well. Have we met before?"
Met before, and very familiar at that, extremely familiar.
Images of a past life surfaced in his mind, softening Xiao Ming's gaze unconsciously, yet he asked, "Do you know who's the most difficult to see through in this world?"
"Smart people."𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
"Wrong. It's ordinary people. Because they are ordinary, they have no fixed nature. They show absolutely different, even completely opposite, behavior patterns in the face of different situations.
'Human nature is complex,' this phrase is determined by them, who constitute the vast majority of humankind. You can never accurately predict their future.
But it's different for smart people.
Thoughts always have patterns to follow; the more distinctive the characteristics, the more fixed the thinking, making it easier to guess."
"So, me being smart is actually worse than being ordinary?"
"It depends on how you look at it. At least ordinary people don't have to worry about whether or not they should call someone 'uncle.'"
Zhou Qingyuan fell silent.
She felt as if she were standing naked before Xiao Ming, yet he appeared as a foggy enigma to her, dangerous yet incredibly enticing.
This greatly annoyed her.
After a while, she asked, "If I wanted to leave Canghai Group, what industry do you think I would be suited for?"
Xiao Ming shook his head, "Save it, girl. If you want free business advice, you'll have to come work for me."
With that, he got up and headed toward the restroom in the corner of the banquet hall.
Zhou Qingyuan sipped her red wine softly, murmuring to herself: His 'girl' sounded so natural, why does it also feel somewhat familiar to me?
After finishing in the restroom, Xiao Ming was stopped by someone outside – it was the director.
The director was also rather helpless; previously, Xiao Ming had him over a barrel with the villa situation, but hadn't made clear what he would do next.
Feeling uneasy, the director had to lower himself and proactively seek reassurance.
"This... Mr. Xiao..."
"Leader," Xiao Ming interrupted him, "do you know Director Zheng from the Jiangbei Real Estate Planning Department?"
Unclear about the reason, the leader thought for a moment, then nodded, "I have some impression. Do you have history with him, Mr. Xiao?"
"It's no wonder you are a leader, I am far behind you," Xiao Ming chuckled, "Because I didn't recognize that Director Zheng before, someone gave me the comment 'ignorant and fearless, their heart should be condemned', which was really embarrassing."
The leader's eyes brightened, immediately displeased, he said, "Nonsense! Who does he think he is? A mere section-level official, no different from a waiter, dares to criticize an outstanding entrepreneur. He really doesn't know his place!
Mr. Xiao, rest assured, I will bring this up at the meeting tomorrow. For this kind of scum who has no sense of service, we must deal with them seriously and will not tolerate their behavior!"
"Ah! Leaders are truly different, with their status comes a broader mind. No wonder there's an old saying 'a prime minister's mind should be broad enough to paddle a boat in'.
Leaders like you, always thinking of 'service,' must take care of your health. It's important to balance work and rest, take time to rest, enjoy life, everything you have is well-deserved."
After hearing this, the leader felt reassured, and after exchanging several more flatteries with Xiao Ming, he finally turned and left.
Watching his back, Xiao Ming smiled faintly.
In his last life, this leader had been rather unlucky. Although he had some grey income, overall, he was less harmful than the real parasites, but unfortunately, he ended up being the one to take the fall.
'Clear waters are devoid of fish', as long as one is capable and can get things done, bringing benefits to the people, some personal issues really don't matter in the grand scheme of things.
After all, the wasted life of Confucius has long told us that saints are not suited for the political arena.
Returning to his seat, Zhou Qingyuan still wanted to chat with him, but his phone rang. He pulled it out and saw it was Zhang Dachuan calling.
"Dachuan, what's up? I've had quite a bit to drink, so I can't participate in any entertainment activities anymore."
"Bro, there's trouble. My sister-in-law might be in big trouble!"
Zhang Dachuan's voice was very anxious, gripping Xiao Ming's heart.
"What happened? Quick, tell me!"
"My mom just called me, she said someone asked her to get some abortion pills from the hospital..."
Zhang Dachuan was brief and quick as he relayed the situation to Xiao Ming, who felt numb all over, immediately hanging up the phone to call Jiang Xue.
But after several attempts, the phone did not connect, and Xiao Ming's face turned ashen, drenched in cold sweat.
"Yu, Hanqing, have the company send another car, I have an emergency..."
"Take my car!"
Zhou Qingyuan threw over a set of car keys.
Xiao Ming, not standing on ceremony, said apologize to the elders for me and then dashed off.
About ten minutes earlier, at the Jiang family home, Jiang Xue, who had finished dinner, was washing dishes in the kitchen.
She was in exceedingly good spirits and couldn't help but hum a tune.
Her husband was getting better and better day by day, his work also more and more smooth, her father had no serious health problems, and even her mother had begun to show her a kind side.
If in the future her brother could be more sensible, and her children born healthy and strong, then her life would be complete, filled with only happiness.
How could she not be happy?
Quickly, she finished the dishes with skill and cleaned the stove until it was spotless. Turning around, she was startled by her mother's gloomy face right in front of her.
"Mom, what's the matter..."
Zhou Aifeng raised the glass in her hand and stiffly said, "You haven't drunk your juice."
Jiang Xue instinctively felt something was strange, but it was, after all, a gesture from her mother, and she didn't want to refuse.
Taking the glass, she suppressed the churning in her stomach, took a deep breath, held her nose and brought it to her lips.