Chapter 26: Rules?
As Xia Zhenzhong’s secretary, Li Wen had been by his side for over a decade and knew him inside and out.
The moment Li Wen saw Xia Zhenzhong’s deeply furrowed brow and stern expression, she knew he was in an extremely foul mood.
There were some things Xia Zhenzhong couldn’t say himself, given his status, so it naturally fell to Li Wen to say them for him.
Li Wen, who had just been bowing and smiling obsequiously beside Gu Heng, now straightened up. Her expression turned serious as she sharply rebuked Fan Hong and his staff.
"Who let you in?"
"Don’t you know the rules?"
"Get out, now!"
Fan Hong, already feeling uneasy, found his smile stiffening on his face as he faced Li Wen’s rebuke and the cold stares of the others.
"I’m sorry..."
Though Fan Hong had once been a wealthy boss with tens of millions in assets, he was now just an ordinary employee. Upon hearing Li Wen’s scolding, he instinctively apologized.
Throughout the ordeal, he deliberately avoided even glancing at Gu Heng.
’I can take the humiliation, but I can’t put my little bro in a difficult position.’
’This was true even though his gesture of bringing complimentary dishes was just to fulfill his promise to Gu Heng.’
CLICK.
Just as the atmosphere in the room grew awkward, Gu Heng, who had been holding a contract in his left hand and a pen in his right, suddenly tucked the pen into the contract and tossed it onto the round table.
That single motion instantly drew everyone’s attention.
"Uncle Fan."
"We agreed on two complimentary dishes."
"Five dishes is a bit over the top, isn’t it?"
Gu Heng slowly rose from his chair and spoke to Fan Hong with a warm smile.
’Uncle Fan?’
Hearing Gu Heng use such a familiar term of address, the way everyone at the table looked at Fan Hong changed instantly.
As for Li Wen, who had just berated Fan Hong, the color drained from her face, and a sense of panic washed over her.
"Li Wen, I think you’re the one who doesn’t know the rules, aren’t you?"
"General Manager Fan was kind enough to bring us complimentary dishes. What kind of attitude was that?"
Xia Zhenzhong rose from his chair right after Gu Heng. He shot Li Wen a sidelong glance, his tone severe. "Aren’t you going to apologize to General Manager Fan?"
"I’m so sorry!"
"It was my mistake, all my mistake!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Li Wen bowed to Fan Hong again and again in apology.
At the same time, she hurried back to her seat, picked up her wine glass, then grabbed the wine bottle and started pouring.
"Manager Fan, my subordinate didn’t know any better. Please don’t hold it against her."
Xia Zhenzhong apologized to Fan Hong with a regretful expression, then turned to Gu Heng. "Mr. Gu, I’ll drink a glass as an apology to Manager Fan, if you’ll permit me."
"Director Xia, that’s not necessary."
"No need to punish yourself. Let’s all drink together."
Gu Heng smiled at Xia Zhenzhong, then picked up his glass and walked straight over to Fan Hong.
"Heng, there’s no need."
"You all continue your discussion. I’ll take my leave now."
When Fan Hong saw Gu Heng approaching with his drink, followed by Xia Zhenzhong and Yang Wenjie—both renowned throughout the entire northern legal world—also walking over with glasses in hand, he really started to panic.
"Uncle Fan, I wouldn’t be where I am today without you."
Gu Heng looked at Fan Hong, his expression full of sincerity. "I’ve been waiting several years for this drink. We have to have one together today."
A short distance away, Li Wen, who had initially poured herself half a glass, heard Gu Heng’s words. She silently raised the wine bottle again and filled her glass to the very brim.
At the same time, a classic scene from *Journey to the West: Conquering Demons* flashed through Li Wen’s mind, the lines replaying over and over in her head.
’You should have said so earlier!’
’Why didn’t you say so earlier?!’
’You should’ve just said so!’
Others who were standing nearby immediately poured a glass of wine for Fan Hong and respectfully placed it in his hands.
"Alright!"
"Then let me take this opportunity to toast to a successful partnership between Heng and Director Xia!"
Since Gu Heng had put it that way, Fan Hong stopped being hesitant. He accepted the glass and raised it graciously to Gu Heng and Xia Zhenzhong.
"Thank you for your good wishes, Manager Fan!"
Seeing the misunderstanding resolved, Xia Zhenzhong’s smile grew even wider.
"Manager Fan, I am terribly sorry."
"I offended you just now. Please forgive me."
Li Wen came before Fan Hong with a full glass of red wine. After her sincere apology, she tilted her head back and downed the entire glass in one go.
"Whoa, whoa..."
"You don’t have to..."
Seeing this, Fan Hong instinctively reached out to stop her.
"Manager Fan, it’s what she should do."
Xia Zhenzhong blocked Fan Hong’s arm, then raised his own glass to clink with Fan Hong’s. Afterward, he slightly lowered the rim of his glass to clink it against Gu Heng’s.
Then, everyone raised their glasses together.
This time, Gu Heng didn’t just wet his lips with the wine; he tilted his head back and drained the glass.
"Heng, Director Xia, I’ll let you get back to it. I won’t disturb you any longer."
Fan Hong gestured to the two of them, then led the five servers out of the private room.
CLICK.
As the door to the private room slowly swung shut, Fan Hong let out a long breath.
"Manager Fan, that was so impressive!"
"Those were all top lawyers from Jun Cheng Law Firm, and they all came over to personally toast you!"
Once they were out of the room, the young women who had gone in with Fan Hong immediately began chattering with excitement.
"Were they toasting me?" Fan Hong shook his head. "Wasn’t that all out of respect for my little brother?"
"If my little brother hadn’t said something, they would’ve kicked your manager out on the spot."
"Manager Fan, who is that ’little brother’ of yours, anyway?"
One of the girls asked, her eyes sparkling with admiration, "Getting all those top lawyers to flock around him, and they were all so incredibly respectful!"
"To be honest, I’m not sure myself."
Fan Hong shook his head with a wry smile.
After all, before today, who could have imagined that the young man who couldn’t even afford a proper meal three years ago would suddenly transform into such a respected and influential figure?
"Manager Fan, does that ’little brother’ of yours have a girlfriend?"
another girl asked hopefully. "And if he does, would he mind having one more?"
"Manager Fan, I’m single, sweet, and I have a really cute voice!"
"Can you give me his number? Just give me a chance!"
Once that floodgate opened, the previously "reserved" girls all became quite "bold."
"Go on, all of you!"
"Get back to work and stop daydreaming!"
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Fan Hong shooed all the girls away.
Then, he turned to look back at the closed door, secretly raising a finger to wipe the damp corners of his eyes before turning away and silently immersing himself in his work once more...
PS: It’s a new week! Goal: top ten on the urban new releases chart. Let’s go!