Chapter 18: 700 Million!
Everyone arrived at the hotel that Ma Gaosheng had booked in advance and took their seats.
Ma Wei, who was following behind, saw his father’s behavior and his whole face turned various shades of color.
He had lost all face!
But his father clearly didn’t mind at all. As soon as they sat down, under Ma Wei’s shocked gaze, he eagerly took out a cigarette and offered it to Fan Ren.
“General Manager Fan, have a cigarette, hehe.”
Fan Ren quickly accepted it with both hands and waved it off. “Manager Ma, no need for this. Liu Jun is done with his business over there and will arrive soon. You can talk to him then. It’s not a big deal.”
The other man was more than two generations older than him, and being flattered like this made him feel uncomfortable all over.
After hearing this, Ma Gaosheng felt relieved inside.
As expected of someone young who could come up with such impressive technology—he was neither arrogant nor impatient, which made Ma Gaosheng look at him with new respect.
If only his son could be half as good as Fan Ren.
Ma Wei sat down silently beside him. From the moment they met until now, he hadn’t said a word.
Fan Ren glanced sideways at him and couldn’t help but sigh at how unpredictable the world was.
Just one or two months ago, Ma Wei had been so arrogant in front of him, and that image was still fresh in his mind.
Now, Ma Gaosheng was dragging him here to apologize for some trivial matters that Fan Ren didn’t even care about.
Everyone at the table harbored their own thoughts. Soon, the private room door was opened from outside.
“General Manager Liu is here!”
Ma Gaosheng quickly stood up, walked to the door, and hurriedly offered the cigarette in his hand.
Liu Jun showed no smug expression on his face and also exchanged polite greetings as they sat down.
But when he saw Ma Wei, who had been silent over there, he remembered that this guy had “stolen” Fan Ren’s girlfriend.
He couldn’t help but let out a soft “hmph.”
Wine and dishes were served. Ma Gaosheng poured himself a full cup and then stood up.
He didn’t feel embarrassed at all and raised his glass to Fan Ren. “I’m here this time to set aside the patent matter for now. Mainly, it’s to apologize to General Manager Fan on behalf of my son.”
With that, he forcefully pulled the silent Ma Wei to his feet.
He glared fiercely at his son and continued, “To tell the truth, I only learned about that incident not long ago. I apologize to General Manager Fan here and hope you can be magnanimous. I’ll drink it all; you do as you please.”
With that, he threw his head back and downed the white liquor in the cup in one gulp.
Fan Ren looked at Ma Gaosheng, who was acting somewhat absurdly, with a face full of speechlessness.
Was it really necessary?
In his view, Ma Wei’s actions weren’t really anything that offended him.
The matter with Xu Min had been turned over long ago, so why was it being brought up again and again?
But it wasn’t convenient to explain anymore now. Explaining too much would just make it seem like the matter was dragging on endlessly.
“No problem, Manager Ma. I’ll drink with you.”
As soon as he put down his cup, Ma Gaosheng over there refilled his own glass.
“General Manager Liu, I was blind a few days ago. Please don’t hold it against a petty person like me. You do as you please; I’ll drink it all!”
He downed it again in one go.
To be honest, Fan Ren was genuinely a bit impressed by Ma Gaosheng’s demeanor this time.
Most people couldn’t pull off lowering their stance like Ma Gaosheng was doing.
Moreover, the other man’s current status wasn’t low at all, yet he was still humbling himself like this, toasting and apologizing to two young people in their twenties.
Impressive!
Seeing this, Liu Jun didn’t act superior either and quickly stood to drink a cup as well.
Then Fan Ren hurriedly invited everyone to eat a few bites of food. Only then did Ma Gaosheng’s long-suspended heart finally settle.
He was afraid the young people would be hot-blooded and ruin his face—that would be fine—but he worried it would affect the patent authorization because of the previous incident.
At the other side of the table, Tang Lifai seemed to have only brought his mouth; he ate by himself, ignoring the performance of the three at the table.
On the contrary, Zeng Yingying beside him was watching with great interest.
Tang Lifai reached under the table and patted Zeng Yingying, shaking his head slightly at her. Only then did she react.
She couldn’t help but inwardly sigh: this was the workplace, full of intricacies everywhere.
If not for Tang Lifai’s reminder, she would have offended someone again.
From earlier on, Ma Wei had been acting extremely sullen. His father’s cup after cup of liquor and his posture lowered to the dust made him very uncomfortable.
Although neither Fan Ren nor Liu Jun had done anything excessive, he still felt a stifled anger in his heart.
At this moment, from the corner of his eye, he looked at Fan Ren, who was casually eating his food as if nothing had happened, ignoring the patent authorization discussion between Ma Gaosheng and Liu Jun on the other side.
In his eyes, it carried a bit of the air of a petty person reveling in success.
Finally, Liu Jun proposed granting the patent to Deli Electric Power at a price of 7 billion, and the meal came to an end.
As everyone walked out and reached the entrance, Ma Gaosheng forcefully stuffed two prepared gifts into their hands.
Ignoring Fan Ren and Liu Jun’s rejections, he just smiled and waved goodbye.
The two helplessly looked at the clearly expensive gifts in each other’s hands, then handed them over to Tang Lifai and Zeng Yingying, who had been following them.
“Take them. You’ve worked hard these days.”
After Fan Ren said that, he waved goodbye to the two and went back to his place with Liu Jun.
After saying goodbye to Tang Lifai, Zeng Yingying returned to the shared apartment with an excited face and joyful steps. She was really too happy.
She had just opened the gift, and inside lay a jade sculpture she didn’t recognize.
Next to it was a shopping receipt with a five-digit number starting with 7 that shocked her so much her jaw dropped.
Wonder if it could be sold for money?
Humming a cheerful unknown tune, Zeng Yingying pushed open the door. But the scene before her made the tune in her mouth stop abruptly.
In the rental apartment, Liu Xinyue was lecturing Xu Min with a look of disappointment in her lack of progress.
Looking at Xu Min now, she sat dejectedly on the sofa, silent, letting her good girlfriend chatter endlessly in her ear.
“What did I say? You wouldn’t listen. Now look what happened?”
“Men are divided into two types. One is like Fan Ren—if he can’t have you, he’ll keep you in mind forever and never forget you in his life.”
“The other is like Ma Wei. Think about it: did he lack girls chasing him in school? You rejected him over and over, annoying him, and he just tossed you aside.”
“So what should I do? I just wanted him not to see me as that kind of unreserved girl who jumps into a relationship right after breaking up with my ex.”
Xu Min, annoyed by the talk, retorted.
Hearing this, Liu Xinyue said with disappointment in her lack of progress, “What reserved or not? As long as you have that membrane, you’re forever reserved. My girl, how many times do I have to explain this simple truth to you?”
“Pah, what nonsense are you saying? Who’s going to sleep with him? It’s not even a sure thing yet. Oh? Yingying’s back? Eh, which handsome guy sent this gift?”
Xu Min felt embarrassed all over and quickly turned the conversation to Zeng Yingying at the door.
Zeng Yingying looked embarrassed and subconsciously clutched the gift box tighter. She was afraid they’d open it—the shopping receipt inside would definitely give them a big shock.
Not to mention, if Liu Xinyue found out, there’d probably be no kind words.
“Um, it’s nothing. Company reward gift. J-just a little trinket worth a few dozen bucks. What are you guys talking about?”
Hearing this, Xu Min’s face instantly turned red. How did the topic come back to her?
“Talking about what? Ma Wei, of course. You don’t know, today was Ma Wei’s birthday. Little Min specially prepared a belt worth several thousand for him in advance, plus a birthday cake. Guess what?”
Zeng Yingying subconsciously shook her head. Xu Min felt helpless watching Liu Xinyue blabber on without restraint beside her.
Fortunately, after so many years together, she was used to it. Big-mouth types like her couldn’t be stopped, but luckily Zeng Yingying wasn’t an outsider—her knowing wasn’t a big deal.
“What happened?”
Zeng Yingying turned out to be a pretty good straight man.
“Hey, Ma Wei rejected it. He made an excuse about being ‘busy’ and just left.”
As she spoke, Liu Xinyue pointed at Xu Min, looking regretful on her behalf.
Xu Min annoyedly rubbed her head where it had been pointed, which hurt a bit, and gave up. “What can be done? Anyway, it’s already like this.”
“Right? Ma Wei must really be busy?”
Zeng Yingying hadn’t expected Ma Wei to have such an episode before coming to Xinghai today and subconsciously defended him.
“Pah, are you two idiots? Busy with what? No matter how busy, can’t he conveniently accept a gift? Eh, forget it. Talking to you two just pisses me off—one messed up, the other knows nothing. No fun.”
With that, Liu Xinyue huffed and got up to return to her room.
Seeing this, Xu Min didn’t feel like chatting with Zeng Yingying about relationship issues either, sighed, and went back to her room.
Zeng Yingying breathed a sigh of relief. She clearly knew something but couldn’t say it. After a while, it made her unsure how to face these two roommates.
If it got exposed later, she’d probably be scolded to death.
It seemed that after getting this month’s salary, it was time to move out.
Thinking this, she also went back to her room to wash up.
