CM | Chapter 12

After the awards ceremony, the media reporters were arranged to leave, and many guests headed toward Gu Chengwen.

Everyone knew that in the next few days, the name Gu Chengwen would appear on the front page of the financial news, and once again he would become Jiangcheng’s face.

All resources and interests would instinctively surge toward Gu Chengwen. Everyone scrambled to attach themselves to him somehow. Young people hoped to win his favor, competitors hoped to carve out a slice of resources from his hands, and the enemies who were secretly testing their strength against him would have to keep swallowing their anger.

Seeing Gu Chengwen surrounded by the crowd, Gu Yao did not join them at once, but walked the other way.

Even though she did not take the initiative to greet anyone, people kept shoving a stack of business cards into her hands as she went.

She held those cards until she left the venue and saw a dense crowd in the reporters’ interview area outside.

The people on the outside were all reporters, hemming in the person inside so tightly there was no opening. Every question was sharp enough to be dissected word by word.

The one surrounded by the reporters was none other than Du Tong.

Everyone knew that any interview Gu Chengwen did not want to attend would be handed to Du Tong as his spokesperson. This woman appeared around Gu Chengwen so often that the supposed “mentor and pupil” relationship had long since been twisted into all kinds of rumors, while Gu Chengwen’s wife and daughter almost never showed their faces in front of the media.

Gu Yao passed around the outside, went to the restroom, and touched up her makeup.

When she came out, the reporters had just finished one round of interviews and been sent by the staff to the lounge. Du Tong had also extricated herself from the crowd.

Gu Yao had no intention of making direct contact with Du Tong and was just about to leave as if no one else were around when the sound of high heels quickly caught up behind her.

Then Du Tong’s cool voice reached her ears: “Long time no see. I thought you wouldn’t come today.”

Gu Yao had no choice but to turn around and smile.

Du Tong raised a brow at that. Unlike the expressionless face she had worn in front of the reporters earlier, she was now full of sarcasm.

“I heard you were just kicked out by the association of Psychological Counselors, and it was because of a violent incident. I didn’t expect you’d still have the leisure to come over and join the fun today.”

Gu Yao kept smiling, polite and harmless. “I wasn’t kicked out. I resigned voluntarily.”

“Ah, so the violent incident part is true?” Du Tong said. “That’s strange. I thought psychological counselors just needed a mouth to do their work. I didn’t expect your mouth to be out of practice too, and that you’d need your fists to help out.”

Gu Yao nodded along. “My fundamentals just weren’t solid enough. If I had special assistant Du’s silver tongue when facing the reporters, I wouldn’t have made such a big mess.”

Seeing that Gu Yao showed no irritation at all and was not provoked by her words, Du Tong could not help falling silent.

That was exactly the effect Gu Yao wanted. She smiled again, preparing to leave.

At that moment, Du Tong suddenly said, “boss Gu already knows you punched Wang Meng’s nose bridge off.”

Gu Yao froze.

Since she had gone home, eaten lunch with Gu Chengwen and Li Huiru, and then come to the meeting hall with Gu Chengwen in the evening, Gu Chengwen had never mentioned it from beginning to end.

Du Tong said, “Want to know how boss Gu evaluated it?”

Gu Yao looked at Du Tong. She was quiet for several seconds, calm to an almost strange degree.

Then Gu Yao said, “I think, with my dad’s personality and how much he cares about me, he would only care whether I got hurt in this matter. Once he knew I wasn’t the one who lost out, he wouldn’t say another word, much less tell an assistant how he felt. After all, this is our Gu family’s private matter. special assistant Du, you’ve gone too deep into the role. Being too obsessed with work can easily drive you off the deep end. Maybe you should try dividing some of your time between work and your personal life. It would do you good.”

Gu Yao calmly laid it bare, yet still left Du Tong some face. That faint smile never reached her eyes. She was using her politeness, upbringing, and self-restraint to warn an outsider.

Du Tong said nothing. She only stared at Gu Yao.

Something Gu Yao could not read passed through those eyes.

But the next second, Du Tong’s phone rang. She quickly walked off to answer it.

Gu Yao turned back toward the venue, but Gu Chengwen was nowhere to be seen.

The venue supervisor came over then and said, “Miss Gu, boss Gu has already gone to the business lounge arranged behind us to rest. A few company bosses went with him.”

“All right, thank you.”

After the gathering, it was time for the businesspeople to have their private meetings. The bosses who got along, or who had business dealings with one another, would gather together and talk about romance, wine, flowers, and business moves.

Gu Yao had no interest in any of that. Staying here, she did not know what else she could do. She almost did not know any of the wealthy madams in the venue, and it was impossible to go up and make small talk with them. Originally she had planned to come over, show her face, and use practical action to prove that the rumors about “Jiangcheng Gene” were pure slander, but after arriving she realized she was incapable of helping with anything at all.

The people who had forced business cards on her were only doing it because she was Gu Chengwen’s daughter. But everyone knew perfectly well that Gu Chengwen’s precious daughter was a business dud, and trying to make a move through her was absurd. It would be far better to look for Du Tong, who was Gu Chengwen’s most valued top lieutenant.

Thinking of that, the spikes Gu Yao had instantly bristled up when facing Du Tong just moments ago collapsed one by one. She felt a little helpless, a little frustrated. Compared with psychology, this was a setting she was completely bad at dealing with.

Gu Yao lingered in the venue for a few more minutes, then prepared to leave. At that moment, a message came through on her phone, sent by Du Tong.

“boss Gu told me to have the driver take you back first. The car will stop at the entrance in ten minutes.”

Gu Yao glanced at it, closed her phone, and felt even worse.

She simply pulled her shawl tighter and walked straight out of the venue, down the stairs all the way, standing in advance on the red carpet below to wait for the car and get some air at the same time.

As for Du Tong’s sarcastic tone, in fact, the first time Gu Yao saw her after waking up a year ago, she had already clearly felt a strong sense of rejection.

Although Du Tong was Gu Chengwen’s assistant, she did not like Gu Yao. Every private meeting between them was barbed and cutting.

Back then, Gu Yao was still in recovery. She had a great many things to remember every day. She had to work hard to accept her own identity, background, who her parents were, who her boyfriend was, her career, family, living environment, and so on, so naturally she had no spare energy to pay attention to Du Tong’s oddness.

It was only later, after Gu Yao had picked her profession back up again and then saw in the news Du Tong answering reporters fluently, with pride shining in her eyes as if being Gu Chengwen’s spokesperson was something to be proud of, that Gu Yao suddenly understood. Du Tong, whose abilities were outstanding, not only respected Gu Chengwen, but adored him.

Gu Chengwen was the one who had single-handedly cultivated Du Tong into what she was. Du Tong had neither father nor mother, so she treated her mentor Gu Chengwen as her own father. The reason she worked so hard and performed so well was also to win Gu Chengwen’s approval, after all one compliment from Gu Chengwen represented the greatest honor in all of Jiangcheng’s investment circle.

Precisely because of that, Du Tong would surely be jealous beyond measure of Gu Chengwen’s daughter, who had not a shred of business sense or investment instinct, yet enjoyed all of Gu Chengwen’s affection.

When Gu Yao understood that layer, she decided not to keep score with Du Tong anymore.

No child can choose their parents or their background, and no law says a child must inherit the family business. If they can’t take it over, that just means they’re incompetent.

Unfortunately, a lot of people could not see it that clearly.

Gu Yao stood quietly on the red carpet, staring at the ground ahead of her.

Light spilled down, casting her shadow clearly on the ground. A gust of wind blew by, lifting the hem of her dress and scattering her hair.

Gu Yao tightened her shawl and glanced at the time on her phone. There were still five minutes left.

Then a low set of footsteps sounded on the stairs behind her, followed by another long shadow falling down.

Gu Yao turned her head.

The person who came was none other than the man who had just been sitting in Cheng Yaohui’s seat, with a mocking look and a gloating smile.

The man also saw her.

Without even thinking, Gu Yao turned back and looked at her phone again, hoping time would move faster.

But heaven did not grant her wish…

A faintly cool voice suddenly sounded behind her. “I didn’t expect the daughter of Jiangcheng’s financial tycoon Gu Chengwen to be cold-shouldered here.”

Very sarcastic.

Gu Yao heard it but pretended not to. She only stared at the two shadows on the ground before her until the taller one slowly moved to her side and stopped.

That shadow turned its head to look at her. Another gust of wind blew by, lifting both her skirt hem and the hem of this man’s suit jacket.

Gu Yao held back, and in the end turned around to meet the man’s gaze.

Xu Shuo’s lips were pressed together, the curve of his mouth very faint, seemingly polite yet sarcastic.

He was laughing at her.

But they didn’t know each other.

Gu Yao had not forgotten that in the venue just now, the malice radiating from him had been clearly aimed at Gu Chengwen.

Could he be a competitor?

Gu Yao suddenly asked, “How should I address you, sir?”

Xu Shuo said lightly, “Xu.”

“Which Xu?”

“The Xu with the double-person radical.”

“You’re President Cheng of Jiangcheng bank’s assistant?”

If she remembered correctly, after the man left the meeting hall, Chen Feng had told her that.

“No.”

“No?” Gu Yao was startled. “Then why were you sitting in President Cheng’s seat?”

“Oh, I’m just a small lawyer. I just arrived in Jiangcheng, and I don’t know many people, so I slipped in to hand out some business cards. I just happened to see President Cheng’s seat empty…”

He paused, then Xu Shuo smiled. “Didn’t want to waste it.”

“…”

Gu Yao did not believe a single word of what this man said, but this kind of thick-skinned, dead-end answer made it hard to find a breakthrough.

Gu Yao studied him quietly.

In business, she might be a novice, but when it came to human nature and people’s hearts, this was her home field.

Yet Xu Shuo did not care about her gaze at all. Right in front of her, he patted through the pockets on his body one by one and finally pulled out a wrinkled business card and handed it to her.

“Sorry, last one.”

“…”

Gu Yao felt that the design of this business card looked a little familiar, but that feeling was quickly buried by the absurdity of the situation.

She stared at the name and title on it and read it out one word at a time.

“Beer Babe No. 1, Lin Meimei?”

The air froze for two seconds.

Xu Shuo lowered his eyes, took a look, and laughed. “Sorry, this was given to me by someone else.”

Gu Yao said nothing. She only watched Xu Shuo take out a pen from somewhere on his body, flip the business card over, and quickly write a line on the back.

Xu Shuo put away the pen and handed the card back to her again.

Gu Yao did not take it. She looked at the line on the back, bold and powerful, full of sweeping strokes.

“Xu Shuo, Ming Shuo law firm, Donghua office building, Block A, mobile 138xxxxxxxx.”

Xu Shuo raised a brow. “What, not formal enough? Then add me on WeChat.”

Gu Yao was quiet for a second, took the business card, and tucked it into her clutch. In truth, she did not know what she was thinking. She just instinctively felt that this card was more important than the ones she had received earlier.

Gu Yao fastened her bag and, while sweeping the hair that had fallen over her eyes aside, asked, “Has Mr. Xu always looked at people like this?”

Xu Shuo drawled, “How was I looking at people?”

“Did I know you before?”

“No way, how would I know that?”

“Or did you and my father, Gu Chengwen, have some old connection?”

“How am I supposed to explain something I don’t even remember, Miss Gu?”

Gu Yao fell silent for a few seconds.

This Xu Shuo had been answering questions with questions all along. Either he was deeply skilled in negotiation, or he had come fully prepared.

Gu Yao suddenly smiled. “If we don’t know each other, why did Mr. Xu suddenly come talk to me?”

Xu Shuo looked as if he were very surprised. The light from the streetlamps spilled down and fell over his face, leaving a patch of deep shadow in his eye sockets.

“Because I saw Miss Gu standing here alone, and I thought it was strange that the people inside would cold-shoulder you, so I came over to ask after you.”

“So you were taking pity on me.”

“You’re welcome. Just doing one good deed a day.”

He was airtight.

And the conversation had been far too short. Gu Yao could not catch any useful clues at all.

Gu Yao moved her lips and was just about to attack again when she heard two beeps.

Gu Chengwen’s driver had already pulled the car up.

Xu Shuo lifted his chin toward her, gesturing with a very careless smile. “Oh, the pumpkin carriage has come to pick you up.”

“…”

Gu Yao ignored him, turned, and walked toward the car.

When she opened the door and got in, Gu Yao looked outside through the black-tinted window.

Xu Shuo did not linger. He crossed the driveway and headed straight for the parking lot.

Gu Yao casually opened her clutch, took out the stack of business cards inside, and found that every single one of them was exquisitely made. Some were artistically designed, some had gold edges. Only one was crumpled and seemed as if it had even gotten wet before.

Gu Yao pulled it out and, in the weak light, looked at it again, first the back, then the front.

It did not seem particularly unusual. Most likely this man named Xu Shuo had once gone to patronize that beer girl named Lin Meimei…

However, the next second, Gu Yao’s gaze stopped as if it had been split open by something.

She looked closely, and her brow couldn’t help furrowing.

Just beneath Lin Meimei’s name, there was another line of small print, showing the bar’s address and name, “Jeane bar”.

Jeane bar, wasn’t that the place where Zhu Shengxi had been photographed?

So this Xu Shuo also had a card from there?

Was this a coincidence, or…

Gu Yao took a breath and quickly entered the phone number Xu Shuo had written into WeChat’s Add Friend search, finding an account called Ah Shuo.

Gu Yao directly typed her own name into the friend request.

The request was accepted very quickly, but Gu Yao did not open her Moments to him.

Xu Shuo quickly sent over an emoji, a beer girl with a shamelessly coquettish vibe, twisting her waist to sell beer.

Gu Yao did not reply. She simply opened Xu Shuo’s Moments, and the first post was a photo he had taken of Jane Bar, and the angle was exactly the same as the one in Zhu Shengxi’s photo, the same table, the same bar backdrop, just with no one at the table.

At this point Gu Yao could already be certain that the Jeane bar on this business card was the same one Zhu Shengxi had gone to.

Then the question was, had this photo also been taken by Xu Shuo?

Wasn’t he a lawyer? How had he ended up doing paparazzi work too?

As Gu Yao was thinking this, WeChat rang.

Gu Yao looked down. It was still Xu Shuo.

“Sorry, Miss Gu. I’m driving right now. Let’s talk later.”

Gu Yao still didn’t reply. She clicked back into his Moments again, wanting to find something else.

Who would have thought that when she clicked back this time, Xu Shuo’s Moments was already empty.

He had blocked her too.