Tit For Tat (Beloved Enemy) - Chap 91
The next day, GuQingPei went to his company very early. They rented an entire floor of an office building in XiZhiMen’s best location. Even though there are only 20 employees at the moment, GuQingPei is full of expectations for the future.
When he got to the company, he gave his partner a call. Then he took his subordinates to the financial department to take care of some business. Busy for an entire day, it wasn’t until five o’clock in the evening when he remembered that he hadn’t eaten all day.
It just so happened that at this time ZhaoYuan called and asked him out to go eat.
In the last two years, ZhaoYuan had visited him in Singapore once. Both of them have also met once in France. Even though they rarely see each other, they have maintained their contact. When GuQingPei returned to Beijing this time, he didn’t inform too many people. ZhaoYuan was one of the few people he told.
ZhaoYuan got married a year ago and gave birth to a daughter. So right now, her body is still slightly plump, but still, it did not diminish her elegance.
“QingPei, you’ve finally returned.”
GuQingPei gave her a hug and smiled, “Yeah, I’m finally back and not intending to leave again.”
ZhaoYuan did not know the real reason for his departure. Even though she later asked about YuanYang, the topic was pushed aside by GuQingPei’s half-hearted phrase of, “it was just fooling around.” So since then, ZhaoYuan never asked again.
This time when the two people met at the hot pot restaurant, their topics were merely about work, parents, and children. Especially when they got to the topic of children, GuQingPei jokingly said, “Why didn’t you bring the little one out for me to see? I prepared such a big red envelope for her.” GuQingPei took out a thick red envelope from his briefcase.
ZhaoYuan lightly laughed as she pushed the red envelope back, “No rush to give it. Her grandmother said that she’s too young, afraid that she’d get sick, so she said to wait a little while before taking her out. When it’s her one-month birthday celebration, you’re definitely invited.”
GuQingPei stuffed the red envelope in her hand and laughed, “Then I am not giving it to your daughter but to you instead, the courageous mommy.”
ZhaoYuan didn’t evade it any further and graciously accepted. Since she had gotten married, GuQingPei no longer paid her alimony, however GuQingPei didn’t mind supporting her for life. After all, when they got married, he was already mentally prepared to do that.
ZhaoYuan looked at him, “QingPei, after having a child, the feeling is very different. Really, it’s as if my whole person is complete. How about you? Have you thought of having a child?”
GuQingPei sighed, “My parents mention it all the time. I planned on finding a surrogate. This issue will have to be solved eventually.”
“I’ll support you.”
The two people chatted along while eating. Unknowingly the sky’s become dark.
Before all the food arrived, and while the two were still engrossed in their conversation, suddenly a chilling voice came from above GuQingPei’s head, “Oh, isn’t this Director Gu.”
GuQingPei’s body shooked. Turning his head, he saw YuanYang with his girlfriend standing behind them.
ZhaoYuan recognized YuanYang instantly. YuanYang’s appearance is one that is unforgettable after seeing once. She looked at GuQingPei astonishingly, then looked at YuanYang; however, that expression is quickly concealed and turned into a formal smile.
GuQingPei put down his chopsticks, gracefully used the napkin to wipe his mouth. He stood up and extended his hand, “Director Yuan, what a coincidence.”
YuanYang looked at his hand. He was fully startled for two seconds before reaching out to shake it. GuQingPei didn’t know whether it was his own illusion, but he felt YuanYang’s hand trembled a bit.
YuanYang’s girlfriend politely nodded her head at GuQingPei, and then look at YuanYang, “YuanYang, this is…?”
YuanYang grinned, “My former boss.”
“Ahhh.” The girl nodded, “Director Gu, greetings.”
GuQingPei also shook her hand, “Director Yuan, you’re not going to introduce your beautiful girlfriend? ”
YuanYang tightly pursed his lips but didn’t open his mouth. He just looked coldly at GuQingPei and ZhaoYuan.
The girl didn’t wait for YuanYang to take the initiative, she candidly introduced herself while flinging her hair, “I’m LiuZiWen, you can just call me Xiao Liu. Had I known ahead of time that we’d bump into friends, I would have put on some makeup before coming out. (Then turned to say to YuanYang) Really. You have to rush me to come out and eat. I already said I wasn’t hungry,” the girl gave a blaming look toward YuanYang.
YuanYang’s face showed no facial expression at all.
GuQingPei exposed a mild and elegant smile, “Miss Liu looks just as perfect like this, no need for cosmetics. The simple yet elegant, natural beauty is most important, most beautiful and most rare, you’re a perfect match with Director Yuan.”
LiuZiWen is stunned, looking at GuQingPei’s charming smile, her face suddenly turned red.
Seeing how LiuZiWen blushed so naturally, for a moment, YuanYang’s anger started to seep from his heart. With a smirk, “Director Gu’s words are still just as flattering.”
GuQingPei smiled disapprovingly as he turned to look at ZhaoYuan, “I forgot to introduce, this is my friend, ZhaoYuan.”
ZhaoYuan smiled and greeted them.
“Ah, and here I thought she is Director Gu’s wife.”
YuanYang’s eyes turned gloomy. He stretched his hands to LiuZiWen’s waist. “Since we’ve bumped into each other, might as well have a meal together.” LiuZiWen looked at YuanYang’s hand, her expression had a trace of strangeness, but nevertheless she calmly sat down without saying anything.
GuQingPei’s gaze also swept past YuanYang’s hands, raising his lips to a faint smile, his eyes quickly moved elsewhere.
ZhaoYuan called for a waiter and handed a menu to LiuZiWen, “Miss Liu, order some food.” LiuZiWen has a very easy-going and carefree personality that gives people a sense of familiarity. Laughing cheerfully as she and ZhaoYuan talked about the foods in the menu.
GuQingPei sat directly across from YuanYang. Because both of them are tall, their legs would inadvertently touch. GuQingPei can only retract his leg; however, YuanYang didn’t care a bit, from time to time his knee would bump into GuQingPei’s leg. GuQingPei can only move his body back a little. To ease the awkwardness, he asked, “How come Director Yuan is coming here to eat? You live around here?”
“My company is nearby, what about you?”
“ZhaoYuan picked the place.”
YuanYang gave a sarcastic smile, “You two have always had a lot in common.”
ZhaoYuan quietly observed YuanYang’s expression. LiuZiWen had no idea what is going on between the two, but ZhaoYuan have seen it with her own eyes before. At this time the atmosphere between the two people is a bit weird.
GuQingPei lightly replied, “Of course.”
YuanYang fisted his hand under the table but appeared calm on the surface. Taking a sip of his tea, “I heard that Director Gu started your own company, what have you been busy working on?”
“What I’m familiar with, property management and real estate. Just to make a living.”
YuanYang raised his eyebrow, “Oh? Do you need my help with anything?” When he asked this sentence, his tone is obviously that of ridicule.
GuQingPei smiled, “When needed, I will definitely not hesitate to ask Director Yuan.”
YuanYang lowly laughed twice, “Absolutely don’t hesitate to ask. What I have today, the person I should be most grateful to is surely Director Gu.”
GuQingPei’s heart trembled, “That’s not at all true. I’ve only mentored Director Yuan for a period of time, everything that director Yuan have gained is from your extraordinary talent. It has little to do with me.”
In the past two days, he has gained an understanding of YuanYang’s business. Even in his wildest dreams, he didn’t think that YuanYang would have expanded his business big enough to compete against WangJin in just a period of two years. With YuanYang’s youth, this is really an impossible feat, but he really accomplished that. Regardless of it being YuanYang’s own abilities, or by pure luck, or even from his background, he was still able to accomplish that. Based on this point alone, GuQingPei felt a new level of respect for YuanYang. It’s not that he’s never anticipated YuanYang to have such a day, but he definitely didn’t expect it to be so soon. He’s clearly realized that the distance between him and YuanYang is very, very distant. Even if they are sitting directly across from each other at the moment, they won’t even touch with their hands reached out.
“Director Gu is really too modest,” YuanYang muttered as he leaned his elbow at an angle on top of the table with his fingers propping his chin and his expression glaring directly at GuQingPei, “What I have today, is absolutely because of Director Gu.”
At this time, even LiuZiWen noticed that something is not right between them as she silently turned around and looked at them.
GuQingPei flashed the two ladies a smile, “You finished ordering the dish? Let’s eat first. At this hour, the wait is long.”
YuanYang took the menu, “Let me pick a few (dishes).” He called for the waiter and quickly ordered three dishes. GuQingPei was slightly surprised. YuanYang looked at him, smiling coyly, “Aren’t these all the foods that Director Gu liked to eat it?”
GuQingPei lowered his eyes and gave a dry smile.
LiuZiWen leaned over and raised her eyebrows to ask, “How did you know?”
“I was Director Gu’s assistant for almost a year. Everything about Director Gu, from INSIDE and OUT, I know it clearly.” YuanYang specifically emphasize the four words, “from INSIDE and OUT.” GuQingPei hearing these words, it was especially piercing.
LiuZiWen knitted her brows; ZhaoYuan made an indifferent expression and turned her face.
YuanYang poured a cup of tea for GuQingPei, “Back then, you didn’t like to eat hot pot because it’s oily and greasy. What happened? Being abroad for two years, your tastes have changed?”
GuQingPei has gotten to the point where he can’t stand YuanYang’s constant mockery and sarcasm. Unnaturally, he snapped, “A mountain can’t turn, but a road can. People eventually need to change.”
ZhaoYuan also felt YuanYang’s menacing aggressive tone. She lightly murmured, “I was the one who picked this place.”
YuanYang swept her a chilling glance.
Seeing YuanYang’s chilling expression, ZhaoYuan was shocked. Cold sweat immediately fell. YuanYang’s expression is no different from two to three years ago when he saw her and GuQingPei hugging each other. No, it should be said that, this kind of expression made her even more fearful than before.
This man, how can he be so scary?
From childhood till now, ZhaoYuan had always been a tough and bold girl. This is the first time that she was scared to the point of not being able to say anything just from seeing a man’s expression.
The atmosphere suddenly became very tensed.
Although GuQingPei did not see YuanYang’s expression, he could have likely guessed. His heart felt very uncomfortable. Patting ZhaoYuan’s back, “Do you need to rest? You’ve just finished your confinement period(T/N) you shouldn’t be out and about.”
T/N – Confinement period – this is the one month immediately following childbirth, aka “sitting the month.” In Chinese tradition, new mothers are pretty much expected to just sit around in pajamas for a month to recover from childbirth. But there are a lot of rules, such as not being allowed to go outside, have a shower or drink cold water for an entire month, to name a few.
ZhaoYuan forcefully smiled, “What do you mean running about? You’re the first person I’ve seen after my confinement.”
“Oh JieJie(T/N) just gave birth to a baby?” LiuZiWen asked excitedly.
T/N – JieJie means older sister or a polite way to greet an older female.
ZhaoYuan smiled, “Yeah, I’ll show you some pictures.” She took out her cell phone and the two women started to talk about the baby pictures.
YuanYang coldly voiced, “You’re still so concerned about her.”
GuQingPei frowned, coldly, “I should be.”
YuanYang glanced at him, then changed the topic, “I have a piece of land in Qingdao. I’m currently in the process of looking for a partner for development, are you interested?”
GuQingPei didn’t want to cooperate with him at all. With his personality, even if he was not interested, usually he will politely reject. But this time, he didn’t even try to beat around the bushes and bluntly retorted, “Director Yuan’s business is so extensive, my small-scale business really don’t have the qualification to cooperate with Director Yuan. Every sector of my company is in need of capital, but thank you very much for Director Yuan’s good intentions.”
YuanYang squinted at him, “You didn’t even ask anything about the project, yet immediately rejected, this is definitely not in line with your character.”
GuQingPei smiled and waved his hand, “No matter how good the project is, it would still require a lot of capital.”
YuanYang laughed, “Director Gu is not crying poor to me, right? If you open your mouth, I’d gladly help you.”
GuQingPei shook his head with a smile. He didn’t even try to be polite, “That’s not needed.”
YuanYang softly asked, “Why, are you afraid of owing me?”
GuQingPei looked up, his eyes brightened, “I believe we don’t owe each other anything long ago.”
YuanYang’s eyes flashed with a trace of fierce ruthlessness. This time, GuQingPei saw it clearly, such that he was secretly scared.
‘Don’t owe each other anything.’ YuanYang continuously rehashed each one of these words from this phrase, as if wanting to chew and swallow it into his stomach.
End of the Chapter
