Published at 10th of September 2019 11:56 am

Chapter 124 - Dinner Party

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Translator(s): Zryuu

Editor(s): Amalea, FistFullOfDollars, Juurensha

Ying City.

After Zhou Sheng finished his presentation, he took a short break at his seat and sent Yu Hao a text. Yu Hao answered:【Accompanying the leaders for dinner】.

Zhou Sheng:【Then don’t look at your phone anymore, lest you get scolded. Try not to drink if you don’t need to.】

Yu Hao:【Ye Ge helped me take quite a bit, he’s too good at drinking, his expression doesn’t even change in the slightest】

Zhou Sheng:【Everything went smoothly on my side.】

Yu Hao:【That goes without saying. You’ve never failed before, no one in this world can beat you.】

Zhou Sheng smiled modestly and replied:【You can’t say that. For example, when I got hit in the head with a heating pad, I did feel quite defeated.】

Yu Hao:【Are you a freaking Cancer or Scorpio? How could you still remember such a small thing! And in the end it hit Gege’s head!】

Zhou Sheng:【It hit Gege’s head, but it was my heart that suffered the pain. Okay, don’t chat anymore, be a good kid. I’m going out for dinner too, and I’ll be flying to Beijing in three days.】

Zhou Laichun darted into the Major Business Department’s “18 layers of Hell” and patrolled it once. All employees who were waiting to get off work immediately started searching for something to do; those who chatted idly picked up files and pretend to discuss work, while those who were playing on their phones immediately looked up and opened half-written forms.

Zhou Laichun pointed outside as a signal to Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng hadn’t even caught his breath before he had to get up and leave with Zhou Laichun.

“I’ll go wash my face.” Zhou Sheng said.

“There are hot towels prepared in the car.” Zhou Laichun said, “Do you have anti-alcohol drugs ready?”

Zhou Sheng answered, “It’s okay, I can more or less drink.”

“Don’t drink, just give it to me.” Zhou Laichun said.

Zhou Laichun got into the car. The chauffeur turned around and handed him a hot towel, which Zhou Sheng used to rub his face vigorously.

“Your get-up with the glasses isn’t bad.” Zhou Laichun said, “Refined, like a scholar. What I regret the most now was not kicking your mother down from the building, and forcing you to study finance.”

Zhou Sheng answered, “After inheriting the company, it wouldn’t be too bad to send you prison meals from time to time.”

The chauffeur nearly laughed aloud. Zhou Laichun pulled open the front seat, and there was a thermos cup inside and a tea set. The chauffeur drove very steadily. If Zhou Sheng was the one driving, he would have definitely messed with him by suddenly braking and letting the tea spray all over his father’s face.

“You should know what to do tonight.” Zhou Laichun said, “From tomorrow onwards, you’ll be leading your own team.”

Zhou Sheng said, “What about my salary?”

Zhou Laichun said, “What do you mean? How much do you want?”

Zhou Sheng said, “You have to pay me a monthly wage ba! Do you think I’m stupid? If it wasn’t for supporting my family and wife, who would serve an overbearing bully like you?”

Zhou Laichun, “……”

“You’ve finished spending all the money on that card?” Zhou Laichun said, “You invested it all in that qun guy’s company?”

Zhou Sheng said, “Oh, I thought it was a betrothal gift for the Yu family na, I let him take it to Beijing.”

Those words nearly made Zhou Laichun vomit blood out of anger. Zhou Sheng said, “But you should at least pay me a wage ba. I know the past three months have been an internship, but I did work for you ah. Do you think that with Wu Bin’s capabilities, he would’ve been able to finish the entire proposal for the project? That other departments would have been willing to cooperate with him to get him the data and information? Even if something as ludicrous as that did happen, and he managed to do everything, would he have been able to present like how I did today? For such an important occasion, he wouldn’t even be able to speak steadily once he stands on stage ba!”

Zhou Laichun, “You……”

Zhou Sheng continued, “I even helped you kneel and lick the asses of all those officials, ran around each shop coaxing the store managers to work, sorted out the manpower required for the general manager office’s project, kept watch over all the employees on the floor to see if anyone wanted to rebel and set up a huge banner on their own on some other mountaintop, I did all the work for you that I was both supposed to and not supposed to……”

“Alright! I’ll pay you your wages for the past three months.” Zhou Laichun said, “Do you only have those miniscule tens of thousands of dollars in your eyes?”

Zhou Sheng said, “That’s the money I earned with my blood, sweat, and tears! Since you promoted me to the manager of a department, you’ll also need to give me base salary and a commission ba. What about my year-end bonus? How do we calculate that?”

Zhou Laichun said, “I’ll pay you the wages of a senior assistant for the past three months, okay? From next January onwards, you’ll pay yourself your own wages. Aren’t you the one in charge of budgeting?! It was sent over the day before yesterday, finance has approved it, and I signed it yesterday! It’ll be approved tomorrow morning. If you really want money, don’t pay the team their wages. I won’t say anything even if you take it all for yourself.”

Zhou Sheng, “Well, I don’t need to go that far. I’m not like you who docks your employees’ wages for a living.”

Zhou Laichun, “……”

Zhou Laichun drank his tea, and the more he thought about it, the more unreasonable it seemed. “Are you seriously discussing a monthly wage with me?”

“It’s only right and proper to be paid for my work!” Zhou Sheng was baffled, “What’s wrong with demanding remuneration for the legal toil I’ve done?”

Zhou Laichun couldn’t do anything with Zhou Sheng at all now. He had already proven his capabilities. In fact, aside from him, Zhou Laichun really couldn’t find anyone else who was suitable to nurture.

Comparing Zhou Sheng to that bunch of deputies who all had their own ulterior motives, who was as open and upright as him, or as vibrant and energetic as him? Even though he wasn’t well acquainted with business affairs, that could be slowly trained. But he wouldn’t be able to find another such dazzling talent throughout the whole company.

Zhou Laichun would sometimes feel that it was such a great pity that his son was gay. Isn’t it good enough to just be bros? Why did he have to poke the other guy’s ass?!

If his son wasn’t gay with Yu Hao, Zhou Laichun had it all planned out —— get Yu Hao to be his assistant and be little director Zhou’s general assistant. One was firm while the other was soft, Yu Hao could suppress Zhou Sheng’s temper, and he was someone who could be taken out to meet other people. Properly assist Zhou Sheng in the takeover, accumulate experience until they were about 30 or so years old, then who in the company would be a match for these two kids?

Yu Hao really wasn’t too bad -- he was a fine-looking boy and a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and he was even able to grow together with Zhou Sheng while their personalities complemented one another. In a few years, he would have another chess piece in hand, introduce a suitable girl to him for marriage……yet he turned out to be so ambitious and scheming! 7 percent! Does that beggar really understand the concept of 7 percent? Someone must be teaching him behind the scenes! He had really underestimated that hooligan son of a bitch!

When the car arrived at its destination, Zhou Laichun secretly cursed the Yu Hao who had ruined his well-conceived plans as he brought Zhou Sheng out of the car.

“Why are you wearing sports shoes?” Zhou Laichun just realised.

“I like them.” Zhou Sheng answered, then walked straight ahead. Zhou Laichun saw the shoes on his son’s feet and thought they seemed a little familiar.

“Ai, hello beautiful Jiejie!” Zhou Sheng found Xiaoqin waiting outside the restaurant.

“Ai!” Zhou Laichun said angrily.

Zhou Sheng walked over, but Xiaoqin smiled as she hooped her arm around his and walked into the room with him in this cordial manner. Zhou Laichun finished ordering the dishes, the guests came, and Zhou Sheng’s expression turned ugly.

Their guests were also a family of three -- the father was Zhou Laichun’s old comrade-in-arms, the mother was very beautiful, and they brought along a daughter who was about Zhou Sheng’s age. Zhou Laichun said to Zhou Sheng, “Sit next to Xiao Pei.”

Xiaoqin smiled, “Sheng’er just ended a meeting today, do you feel sleepy?”

“No.” Zhou Sheng smiled. He glanced at his father, but didn’t say anything and went to sit next to the girl. He tilted his head slightly sideways and asked politely, “What tea would you like to drink?”

“I won’t be able to fall asleep if I drink tea now, so just water is fine.” That girl said, then Zhou Sheng personally poured a cup of water for her. They chatted idly for a bit, Zhou Laichun began talking about the past with his old comrade-in-arms, while Xiaoqin smiled as she exchanged pleasantries with the other party’s wife. The girl was evidently quite interested in Zhou Sheng, but she wasn’t good at socialising. Zhou Sheng would ask one question, then she would answer it in turn, and sometimes she would even remain silent for a full minute. Even her mother started feeling anxious while she watched this, and really wished that she could take her stead in battle and answer for her in person.

“Xiao Pei isn’t the type to talk much in school.” The old comrade-in-arms said.

“Aunt has always said that I’m too quiet.” The girl named Xiao Pei answered.

Only then did Zhou Sheng knew that this was a niece. The other party’s family didn’t have any kids and only had this one niece, who they loved as dearly as they would their own child.

Zhou Sheng said, “Oh, then that’s good, I thought the cassette tape got stuck.”

Everyone laughed. Xiao Pei said, “I always get stuck, as soon as I get anxious I won’t know what to say.”

Zhou Sheng made her laugh with just a few words, as an indication to not be too distant. After getting a bit more familiar, Xiao Pei asked Zhou Sheng what kind of meeting he had. Zhou Sheng explained to her patiently, but Xiao Pei actually understood it all. When he talked about their competitors, Xiao Pei said, “I have a teacher who audits for that company. Their accounts, ai, I’ve never seen such false accounts with absolutely no sense of aesthetics in my life……it’s practically a disgrace to the world of falsified accounts!”

Zhou Sheng, “……”

Zhou Sheng didn’t expect that this quiet girl was actually studying something related to auditing. The two began discussing listed companies. Xiao Pei gave him some opinions, and after Zhou Sheng thought about it, he thought that it did seem reasonable so he casually noted quite a bit down on his phone.

“To tell you the truth, I’m a sports major.” Zhou Sheng, “And training for the Iron Man Triathlon. I only started coming into contact with all these things three months ago, so there’s a lot I don’t understand.”

Xiao Pei immediately looked like she had just heard something funny and bowled over laughing. Zhou Sheng poured some water for her, then he thought silently and didn’t say anything.

“It’s my first time seeing her talk so much.” Xiao Pei’s aunt had just discovered a New World and said to Xiaoqin, “Usually at home, there are times when she wouldn’t even talk to us for a whole day.”

“Youngsters have more in common to talk about.” Xiaoqin laughed helplessly.

“Actually, I’m a sports major too,” Xiaopei joked as well, “I play shot-put.”

Zhou Sheng, “I really am a sports major.”

Xiao Pei said, “Un, me too.”

Zhou Sheng said to himself, “You’re too funny.”

Both the hosts and guests enjoyed themselves this dinner. In the end, Zhou Laichun said, “Zhou Sheng, send Xiao Pei and the rest back to their hotel first? I’ll chat with your uncle a little more. Drive my car, you didn’t drink.” As he spoke, he threw his car keys to Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao got their driving licenses in the first semester of their third year, but they hardly drove usually.

Zhou Sheng and Xiao Pei left and walked along the road. Zhou Laichun’s chauffeur knew what to do and was already nowhere to be found, the car was parked by the roadside.

The lamps flickered on. Zhou Sheng looked around the surroundings, Xiao Pei said, “Ying City’s developing really well.”

Zhou Sheng thought about it, then asked, “Are you going to be a PE teacher then?”

“I actually want to be a reporter.” Xiao Pei answered, “But I’m no good at socialising with others, so I have to give up on that.”

“Is it?” Zhou Sheng smiled, “My lover’s working as a reporter.”

“Ah?” Xiao Pei felt a little embarrassed at once, but quickly reacted.

Zhou Sheng said, “What did they tell you?"

“Uh……” Xiao Pei felt a little angry, but fortunately Zhou Sheng made things clear so she nodded, “Your father opposes you two, right?”

“Un.” After Zhou Sheng confirmed it, there was nothing to be concerned about this anymore.

Xiao Pei said, “I wish you two all the best. Where’s your lover?”

“Beijing.” Zhou Sheng said.

Xiao Pei said, “A long-distance relationship is quite tough ba? You must persevere.”

“It’s okay.” Zhou Sheng said, “It’s not tough.”

Xiao Pei said, “I heard from your father that you’re leading a team by yourself to expand the business. It must have been tiring lately. You just finished a meeting today too, go back earlier to take a rest ba.”

Zhou Sheng laughed, “Do you know how to wield rods?”

Xiao Pei, “Rods?”

Zhou Sheng said, “I know how to wield rods, like this, this……” As he spoke, he swung a non-existent jingubang around a few times, “And this……fuck it all, I’ll smash Yun Lai Chun into pieces with this rod!”

“Hahahaha——!” Xiao Pei stood by the roadside and started laughing loudly.

After a while, Xiao Pei thought about it and said, “Teach me after you succeed, fuck auditing. I’ll smash the CSRC into pieces with a rod."

Zhou Sheng shuddered and thought, at the very least I’m just tearing my own family’s company down, but you want to destroy the CSRC? Then he said to Xiao Pei, “Chivalrous Swordswoman, you are brave. I’ll send you back to the hotel.”

Zhou Sheng drove Xiao Pei back to her hotel. They talked a little more, and in the end Zhou Sheng rolled the window down, “Xiao Pei!”

Xiao Pei turned around and smiled at Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng waved, “Persevere in your ideals!”

Xiao Pei smiled helplessly, it was a very sweet smile, “Jiayou to you too.”

After the dinner, everyone was drunk as they helped each other back. Lin Ze took the leaders onto a car, and the four stood in the cold wind as they gasped for breath.

“If a Porsche comes right at this time, it would be perfect.” Situ Ye said to Yu Hao.

Yu Hao, “There are quite a few shared bikes, it wouldn’t be too bad to get the leaders to sober up one by one……”

They still didn’t forget to diss each other at this kind of time, Yu Hao was really speechless. Lin Ze started flagging taxis and stuffed each one of them into one. Yu Hao said, “Boss has such a high alcohol tolerance……”

“Xiao Ye’s better than me.” Lin Ze’s eyes narrowed, “A few of our neighbouring departments would drink whenever they come, but he could almost hold off all of our drinks for us. And see, he still looks like nothing had happened to him.”

Yu Hao thought about it and realised he was right. Whenever the reporter and editing department offered a drink, Situ Ye would down them all and practically decimate them all. What was even more kickass was that his face was only a little red now even after drinking so much. This Lady Boss was absolutely incredible; he had slightly curly hair, his eyes were as clear as a limpid lake, he had such amazing photography skills and this high of an alcohol tolerance too. Where on earth did Lin Ze find such an excellent boyfriend? But after thinking about it carefully, these two are quite well matched.

“You flatter me.” Situ Ye said, “I just have a little bit of an advantage because of my hometown’s habits.”

“I feel like you’re Russian?” Yu Hao realised that Situ Ye did look a little like a mixed-blood.

“In what way does your Lady Boss resemble a hairy fellow?! Uyghur! A Chinese ethnic group!” Situ Ye didn’t know if he should cry or laugh, then his thoughts were diverted, “Did you not want to sing today?”

That little bit of reluctance in Yu Hao’s heart was seen through by Situ Ye. He was slightly unwilling, but he answered, “It’s okay, as long as it would make the leaders happy, it’s nothing much.”

This was Yu Hao’s first time singing specifically for people other than Zhou Sheng since the first day they met. It’s not like it was a matter of principle though. Singing a song, trying to please the leaders, he just treated it as helping Lin Ze. He still liked this team very much.

“He gave us back our public number.” Lin Ze answered, “You’ve worked hard.”

“Really?!” Yu Hao said.

Lin Ze, “He said so while smoking, you weren’t paying attention. Now you can have a good night sleep ba?”

Situ Ye said, “So, you didn’t put on a monkey act for nothing.”

Yu Hao was really thankful to the Heavens. He was still quite lucky after following Lin Ze; they could always overcome any dangers they faced. Situ Ye said, “He probably just wanted to knock us down a little and show off his might, to let Ah Ze know that he still has authority.”

“Will Jin Laoshi be able to get up tomorrow?” Lin Ze didn’t answer that and looked back, signalling that they shouldn’t discuss that in front of Jin Weicheng.

Jin Weicheng had drunk quite a bit but definitely not as much as Situ Ye. Situ Ye tossed Yu Hao a cunning look, meaning ‘power level 5 weakling’. Yu Hao realised that this Lady Boss of his was really too interesting and easily bore grudges since he remembered the words ‘raised by the rich’ for so long. Today, Situ Ye accepted all the drinks that were for Lin Ze and Yu Hao, but he just refused to help Jin Weicheng block his drinks, resulting in Jin Weicheng’s extreme discomfort from drinking so much.

“I can.” Jin Weicheng was thoroughly exhausted, “I’ll be fine after I sleep.”

“I’ll sing a song too to entertain everyone too.” Situ Ye said, “I can’t let our Xiao Yu sing in vain, listen up —— one, two, three, up! Huba, huba! Huba! Huba!”

Lin Ze, who sat in the passenger seat, seemed to have known what Situ Ye wanted to sing, so he immediately started singing along with him in a lilting voice.

“Daban City’s stone roads are hard and even na, watermelons are big and sweet, girls from there have long braids——”

Yu Hao, “Hahahahaha!”

“Those eyes are really pretty ——” Situ Ye and Lin Ze started jumping on the car.

“If you’re going to marry someone, don’t marry someone else, you must marry me. Bring your dowry, sing your song, come in the carriage to me——”

Yu Hao started singing aloud in the car as well, and the Didi driver sang with them too. They were just like a bunch of lunatics.

The car arrived at the bottom of Yu Hao’s apartment.

“I’ll send you up?” Lin Ze said.

After Yu Hao finished singing, his urge to puke grew even stronger. He said weakly, “I’ll be fine on my own. Jin Laoshi, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Jin Weicheng was already asleep.

After Yu Hao got home, he felt like his cold had gotten a little worse. He wanted to vomit, but he couldn’t. He opened up his laptop since he wanted to finish writing his review and send it to Lin Ze. After doing that, he wouldn’t need to take his laptop with him when he goes out for an interview tomorrow. That way, it wouldn’t be easily stolen either.

He forced himself to tolerate the discomfort from his cold and typed in a few sentences, but he really couldn’t hold on any longer and set an alarm for 6am. He’d wake up in the morning to finish his review. If he slept now, he’d still have 6 hours of sleep, and he’ll just pack up tomorrow morning ba.

Yu Hao felt like dying. He hadn’t fallen this gravely ill in several years. He took his medication again and slept muddle headed for a while. The fever medication couldn’t suppress it, and he started burning up again in the middle of the night.

At 2am, Yu Hao saw a video call from Zhou Sheng. He groped around for his phone and accepted it.

He had no energy left to turn on the light, but Zhou Sheng’s side was very bright.

“Wife?” Zhou Sheng said, “You haven’t slept? You don’t need to go to work tomorrow ba?”

“I’m dying.” Yu Hao said with a fever, “I don’t think I can make it.”

Zhou Sheng, “……”

“I’m so tired.” Yu Hao lay in bed, and after repressing his emotions for so long, he finally collapsed, “I feel so useless.”

Zhou Sheng, “Baby, how much did you drink? Didn’t someone help you? Turn on the light, let me take a look? What’s going on? Turn on the light!”

“I feel so terrible.” Yu Hao said, “I’m so hungry, but I can’t eat anything.”

Zhou Sheng said, “I’ll get Kaikai to go see you now.”

“I don’t want to see him.” Yu Hao said, “Don’t……I look too terrible. I still need to go out for interviews with Laoshi tomorrow, it’ll be an eleven-hour ride on a hard seat. I’m running out of money, transfer me some ba, 1000 is enough……” Yu Hao suddenly flipped over and finally vomited.

Zhou Sheng didn’t say anything for a long time and just breathed deeply, “Turn on the light ah! What’s the matter with you! There’s a card in one of your bag’s pockets……didn’t you see it? Spend the money in it!”

“I’ll sleep for a bit.” Yu hao closed his eyes, “I’ll talk to you again in the morning. I’m getting up in the morning to write a review. A Notice of Criticism for the entire company. I can’t hold on anymore, I can’t. The time we spent together was so great, I feel like the me then really didn’t know how……to be content. I just knew how to torment you, I’m sorry……my phone’s about to run out of battery……”

Yu Hao felt much better right after vomiting and didn’t want to clean it up.

His phone ran out of battery and automatically shut down.

Zhou Sheng hadn’t changed his clothes yet, and his hair was a complete mess as he stood in the living room of their rented house. He sent Yu Hao another WeChat message, no reply. He texted Lin Ze, but he didn’t reply either. Situ Ye replied and answered:【He didn’t drink much, but he has a bit of a cold. He still seemed quite okay when he got out of the car just now.】

Zhou Sheng:【Did he take cephalosporin?】

Situ Ye:【He didn’t, don’t worry, I saw the medication he bought before dinner.】

Zhou Sheng had almost been frightened to death. He quickly thanked him. Situ Ye:【He’s under quite a lot of pressure at work, but he’ll get better. Doesn’t he usually talk to you about it? I see you two video chat each other quite often.】

Zhou Sheng:【He didn’t, alright I got it.】

Situ Ye replied:【Never mind, give me half an hour. I’ll go over right now.】

Zhou Sheng sat on the sofa and waited. At 3.30am, Yu Hao’s roommate opened the door. Situ Ye started a video call, turned on the lights, and let Zhou Sheng see Yu Hao.

The room was a mess; books and papers brought back from the newspaper office were strewn all over the floor. Yu Hao had vomited quite a bit next to the bed. He hadn’t even taken his clothes off as he lay curled up at the edge of the bed. The heating was on; it was so hot that he didn’t cover himself with a blanket, and he was so skinny he looked like a stray cat that had just been picked up from the streets. Situ Ye cleaned up the vomit on the floor, washed the mop, and touched Yu Hao’s forehead. He said to Zhou Sheng, “He doesn’t have a fever, and he’s sleeping, do you want me to wake him up?”

“Don’t, let him sleep.” Zhou Sheng answered, “Thank you, thank you so much.”

Translator's Note:

Juurensha: awww poor Haohao. ZS, go take care of your man! And get him a better apartment!

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