Chapter 42: 042 Are you from the north, deliberately looking for trouble? Chapter 42: 042 Are you from the north, deliberately looking for trouble? The storm raged, dark clouds looming heavily over the city.
Tang Wan returned to her room for a bath, and when she ca out, she saw her phone lit up with several consecutive storm warnings. She hung Jiang Jinsang’s coat aside to dry and then headed to the front hall with her umbrella—it was ti to prepare dinner.
“Where is grandpa?” Tang Wan asked the maid, Chen.
“His old ailnt acted up; he went back to sleep and said not to call him for dinner.”
Tang Wan frowned, poured a cup of hot tea, and knocked on the old man’s door.
“Co in.” His voice sounded muffled through the door.
After she pushed the door open, she saw the old man leaning against the bed head. His rheumatism was acting up; his legs and knees were sore and weak, and he seed to have been drained of all his strength, his lips even turning pale. On the TV across the bed, a classic war movie was still playing.
“Have you taken your dicine?” Tang Wan sat beside the bed.
“I have, but it’s not very effective.”
“I’ll rub them for you; it might feel a bit better.”
“It’s not necessary. It’s just an old problem…”
Before he could refuse, Tang Wan’s hands were already on his knees. The massage wouldn’t relieve the pain, it was more of a comfort for the mind.
“With your legs hurting so much, don’t know why you didn’t rest earlier. I’m grown up now; you don’t need to wait for to co ho; if you feel unwell, just rest in your room.”
“Who said I was waiting for you? I lost track of ti playing chess with Xiaowu.” The old man stubbornly retorted, “Wanwan, what exactly is your opinion of Xiaowu?”
Tang Wan chuckled lightly, “No particular thoughts?”
“If you have no thoughts, why did you run off to his room in the middle of the night?”
“I had sothing important.”
“What important thing can’t be handled during the day but needs the dead of night? Let tell you, if we turned back the clock a few decades, this kind of behavior from both of you would be considered hooliganism.”
Tang Wan paused, her fingers montarily stiff, “You’re overthinking…”
“I’m not trying to pressure you into marrying soone. I just want to see you settle down in my lifeti. Otherwise, my latter years might pass without any joy.”
He even picked up a photo from the bedside, “My dear, it looks like I’ll have to break my promise, I might not be able to witness Wanwan getting married.”
“What a good child she is, and I really don’t understand what these young girls today are looking for in a partner.”
…
Tang Wan felt a headache coming on as she talked with him for a good while.
The downpour continued, and the old man’s legs hurt all night. In the early hours of the next day, he was too exhausted and finally fell into a deep sleep.
**
Tang Wan sat in the study, looking at the Cyan Feather materials purchased the day before. After mulling over for an hour, she finally mustered the courage to call Manager Chen.
“Uncle Chen.” The manager’s kid was already in high school, so calling him uncle wasn’t excessive.
“What’s the matter?”
“About that partnership, could you talk to the other party and push it back a bit?”
“Is Old Master unwell?”
“On and off, and I can’t focus on my work, feeling uneasy. It’d be best to postpone until next spring. If they don’t agree, I might not be able to take on this project.”
“I understand. We haven’t signed the contract yet, I’ll go talk to them again.”
“Thank you.”
…
Beijing
In a towering skyscraper, a crisply dressed assistant holding a stack of docunts knocked on the office door.
“Co in.” The man kept his voice intentionally low.
After the assistant entered, he arranged the docunts that needed attention before speaking up, “Manager Chen, who makes the Cyan Feather headdresses, just called. He wants to push back the ti of the cooperation.”
“Specific ti?” His voice was still normal.
“Next spring.”
His face darkened in an instant, “Reason?”
“He said the artisan responsible for the production has a family mber who’s not well and needs ti to care for them.”
He scoffed.
The most common reasons employees ask for leave──personal illness, needing a doctor’s visit, or a family mber, even extending to their cats or dogs being unwell and needing a day off.
The most exaggerated was, last ti a special assistant was out of town on business and said they’d be back a day late because:
“The plane got stuck in traffic, I can’t make it back.”
Plane… stuck in traffic?
Is this so kind of joke?
So female employees frequently cited stomach pains as a reason, which is understandable, as there are always a few inconvenient days each month, but…
Three to four tis a month is pushing it.
And others like, “My hair’s too oily, it might damage the company’s image, I’m going ho to wash it.”
How many hairs do you have? Don’t you know yourself?
…
He put aside his work and looked up at his assistant, “Do I look like soone easy to fool? Just as we were about to sign, they say they need to delay?”
“Where do they get the courage to bargain with us?”
“Our terms aren’t good enough?”
The assistant pursed his lips, “It seems like they don’t care, and moreover… we’ve been eager to make this partnership happen, we’ve been passive from the start, losing our initiative.”
He took a deep breath, “Where’s their studio located again?”
“Pingjiang.”
“Prepare a plane ticket for .”
“You an…”
“As a partner, if soone in their family is sick, wouldn’t it be normal for to visit them?” He stated matter-of-factly.
The assistant nodded, fundantally afraid it wasn’t a simple hospital visit but rather a deliberate provocation.
“Recent storms in Pingjiang have canceled all flights.”
“Then we’ll drive!”
…
When the car left the Beijing toll station, he imdiately regretted it; he had planned to drive through the night to reach Pingjiang by early morning, thereby not disrupting his work schedule.
But the nightti storm caused closures on the highway, leaving him and his assistant stuck at the toll station overnight.
When the new day broke, his eyes were bloodshot, and stubble was showing on his chin.
After finding a hotel to freshen up and rest, he had his assistant call Manager Chen, causing the manager’s heart to tremble in fear—why had he co?
This was not a pleasant man to provoke.
Manager Chen imdiately called Tang Wan—who was startled. She had just declined yesterday and today he arrived in Pingjiang saying it was to visit, but clearly, it was for sothing else, most likely to cause trouble.
**
In the hotel
The man was changing into a suit, adjusting his tie to look exceptionally tidy and proper. This was no simple visit to a sick person; it was a deliberate confrontation, he had to make an impactful first impression.
“Xiaowu is also in Pingjiang, shall we let him know?”
“Let’s decide later, we can give him a ‘surprise’ then.”
Surprise?
The assistant shook his head: With Xiaowu’s temper, you might not even be able to step through his door!
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