Chapter 499 - 226: Jiangcheng’s Women! (Middle)
Yu Xuan was the last one to arrive at the private room.
The dishes had all been served.
When everyone saw her, they all teasingly called out "Secretary Yu" and greeted her warmly.
After they had been eating for a while, Li Jinshu suddenly pulled a fan out of her bag. Fanning herself, she said deliberately, "How come it’s getting a little hot in here while we’re eating?"
Everyone was speechless.
’The air conditioning is blasting, and you’re saying it’s hot?’
But soon enough, everyone noticed that the fan she was using looked somewhat familiar, a lot like their own.
Song Xiaowei, being the most innocent, asked, "Sister Li, where did you buy that fan?"
"Oh, this fan?"
Li Jinshu replied with a smile, "I didn’t buy it. Xu Yun sent it to me as a gift a while back when he was traveling. I think it’s from Guilin. What do you think? It’s pretty, right? It even has my name on it."
Silence fell over the group.
They all understood what was going on in an instant.
They had thought he had only sent one to them, but seeing the fan in Li Jinshu’s hand, their defenses were instantly shattered.
Because it wasn’t The Only One anymore!
"What a coincidence. I have one too."
Furious, Su Mu, who was sitting to the side, pulled her own fan out of her bag, intending to expose Xu Yun’s shameless act on the spot.
’No wonder Yu Xuan gave me that look when she saw my fan the other day. She must have gotten one too!’
Seeing this, Ning Qian also silently pulled a fan from her bag and said in a small voice, "I have one too."
"Me too," Song Xiaowei said, producing another one.
Li Jinshu was dumbfounded. ’How could everyone have one?’
She looked at Yu Xuan and Liang Yan. "Don’t tell me you two have one as well?"
"I have one," Yu Xuan said with an awkward smile. ’So it finally came out.’
But it was Liang Yan, sitting beside her, who felt the most awkward of all.
Because while everyone else had one, she truly didn’t!
In that instant, her status in Xu Yun’s heart compared to the other women was painfully obvious.
But in a situation like this, she couldn’t lose her composure even if she had lost the ’battle’. She could only follow Yu Xuan’s lead and calmly reply, "I received one too. I just didn’t bring it with me."
"So, he sent one to every single one of us!"
Li Jinshu stared at the five round fans on the table and couldn’t help but mutter, all her previous pride gone, replaced by instant gloom.
She thought she was The Only One, but it turned out to be a group message!
The only difference was that each fan had its recipient’s name on it!
"Player, scumbag, shameless, despicable!"
Li Jinshu’s affection for Xu Yun was out in the open, so it was perfectly reasonable for her to complain.
The others were all involved with Xu Yun in secret, their relationships unable to see the light of day.
Even if they were dissatisfied, they could only endure it in silence.
Besides, Su Mu, Song Xiaowei, and Ning Qian weren’t really dissatisfied, just not as happy as they had been when they first received the gift.
Song Xiaowei and Ning Qian, in particular, didn’t dare to be dissatisfied.
As for Liang Yan...
She wanted to complain along with everyone else too.
’You guys at least got a fan, I haven’t even seen the shadow of one!’
But she didn’t even have the right to complain.
Her relationship with Xu Yun was purely that of a card-playing buddy and a business partner; she was the one who had overthought things.
This incident forced her to once again recognize the reality of her situation and her own status.
Faced with such an explosive revelation, Yu Xuan, as his secretary, naturally had to step in and try to explain things to the various "boss ladies" on her boss’s behalf.
"Actually, in a way, having a round fan with your own name on it can be considered a one-of-a-kind gift," Yu Xuan said. "It shows that you’re all very important to him, that you’re all his good friends. The boss put a lot of thought into it."
"You know, what you’re saying makes sense."
Li Jinshu agreed upon hearing this. "But he’s still too lazy. He doesn’t even know how to give gifts properly. Doesn’t he know he should give everyone something different? You have no idea how embarrassed I was when I took it out just now."
"It’s fine, as long as you’re not embarrassed," Su Mu teased. "We were the ones who were embarrassed just now."
"Right, right, President Su is right," Ning Qian and Song Xiaowei quickly chimed in with a laugh, eager to change the subject.
Liang Yan didn’t want to dwell on the matter of the fans either.
For the others, it was just an awkward moment, but for her, it was genuinely heartbreaking!
’Since there are no romantic feelings between us, I’ll just talk money with Xu Yun!’
She changed the subject, turning to Yu Xuan. "By the way, Secretary Yu, what have you been busy with lately? I never see you whenever I visit President Su’s office."
"I’ve been busy with matters President Xu assigned to me recently."
Yu Xuan joked self-deprecatingly, "A few days ago, President Xu transferred 50 million to the charity. If I don’t figure out how to spend it for him quickly, I’m going to get chewed out."
When Liang Yan heard this, she felt a pang of resentment.
’I scraped together 5 million for you, putting myself in a tight spot financially, and you just turn around and start splurging with 50 million from Xu Yun?’
’Comparisons are truly odious.’
Li Jinshu, on the other hand, was fine hearing this. She wasn’t short on money at the moment, had all her expenses covered, and was determined to be self-reliant and earn her own keep.
But Yu Xuan’s words still allowed everyone to keenly pick up on another piece of information: she, Yu Xuan, was still in contact with Xu Yun.
Unlike them, who had been completely cut off.
Liang Yan immediately piped up, "Secretary Yu, my dear sister, could you please tell President Xu for me that the entertainment company he and I have is in desperate need of cash? Ask him to transfer some funds to tide us over."
"I can’t get in touch with the boss."
Yu Xuan asked, confused, "Didn’t the boss say you should talk to President Su if you’re short on cash?"
Su Mu chimed in, "My company is also expanding rapidly right now. I don’t have any spare cash at the moment, just enough for my own use. I can’t support her."
"See?"
Liang Yan said pitifully, "Now I can only come begging to you, the God of Wealth. How about you divert a little of the foundation’s money for me to use first?"