Chapter 5

Translator: Amber.es

Editor: merahmapple 🍁

Reorganising the company was not a simple matter. The top management was complex and the work was intense. By the time things got on track, it had passed from late summer to early autumn.

Zhu Qiaoming greeted Qu Zhengyan in his office and talked to him about his stay. “Zhengyan, you told me before the trip that you still want to return to Beijing to work after the end. However, the focus of the next stage for the head office’s development is the investment business in East China. This will become the centre. I think it is better for you to stay here. What do you think? Do you still insist on going back?”

Zhu Qiaoming was a senior from Qu Zhengyan’s university days. When he returned from studying abroad, Zhu Qiaoming became his immediate supervisor. The relationship between the two was not only a working relationship between a supervisor and subordinate, but also a friend who can share things with. If they were to be separated, it would be a shame.

“No, I decided to accept your suggestion,” Qu Zhengyan smiled. “I plan to stay.”

“Really?” Zhu Qiaoming was overjoyed. “That’s more like it. Why did you suddenly change your mind?”

“Because you said this city is good.”

“This is not the first time I said…” Zhu Qiaoming looked at his expression. “What’s actually going on?”

Qu Zhengyan smiled back. “Remember that I told you I was looking for someone?”

“Of course I remember. He…” Zhu Qiaoming was a little surprised. “…is here?”

“Yes.” Qu Zhengyan nodded.

“Ah, that’s great.” Zhu Qiaoming was happy for him. “If it’s your fate, even if you are separated by thousands of miles, you will still come together 1 Chinese idiom:有缘千里来相会 . It was the right choice to come here.”

“You’re absolutely right.” Qu Zhengyan nodded.

With a smile on his face, Qu Zhengyan walked all the way back to his office. Even the staff passing by could feel his joy. But when he sat down at his desk, his brows knitted involuntarily.

After the merger of Wanda’s business, the original headquarters was reduced to just a business office under Yinhai. The redundant staff were gradually rearranged, and the computer center personnel were transferred to various business offices. He Ziming, together with Yu Junxing and several other colleagues, was transferred to the headquarters. A distance of one floor from Qu Zhengyan. One on the fifth floor and another on the third floor.

Since that day, the two of them have not met.

Nine years and seven months was a long period of time, enough to stretch the intimacy of the two teenagers to the end of the world, to let the person become him, yet not like him. If it was in the past, Qu Zhengyan could not imagine that there would be a day, where both of them would not talk or meet each other even if they were in different high schools. No matter the hecticness, no matter how long it was delayed, no matter how his mother thinned her lips, he still had to dial a call to Xiao Jin.

Speaking of it, although the relationship between the Qu and Du’s family was not close, they could not be considered enemies. After Qu Zhengyan was born, his mother’s aversion to Du’s family suddenly peaked. It was a long time later that Qu Zhengyan learned the reason. His mother felt that the rumors and whispers spoken by the “First Old Lady” were “really too much.”

Mrs. Qu, Jing Yunlin, was born in a Singaporean Chinese business family. While studying abroad, she met and fell in love with Qu Lanruo, who held a PhD in economics. When Qu Lanruo decided to return to China to teach, the beautiful and enthusiastic Singaporean girl ignored the strong opposition from her family and single-handedly arranged matters to marry this cultured and outstanding lover in a flash, following wherever the husband went 2 Raws: 嫁鸡随了鸡, literal meaning is married chicken follows the chicken. .

In the end, she was the only daughter of the Jing family. What was done was done. It was too late to change anything 3 Idiom: 生米既成熟饭，想发火都发不出 .

In less than two months, the newly appointed Mrs. Qu had good news. She was pregnant. This time, the head of the Jing family sent word. If the first son returned to the Jing family, they would forgive these two little ones for making their own decisions. With a branch offered, the young couple naturally agreed. In view of the domestic fertility policy at that time, Mrs. Qu did not change her nationality.

However, what was unexpected was that Mrs. Qu did not get pregnant again until the eldest son was seventeen. When she was pregnant again, she was already a thirty-nine-year-old woman.

If it happened to another, it might not be a cause for concern. However, Jing Yunlin was unlike the other college women her age – her status backgrounds, her bearings and temperaments, her way of speaking, her straightforward personality and elegant choice of dressing style was all different. With her refreshing and unrestrained beauty, in that era where everyone was dressed in gray, plain and dull outfits, she was simply a breath of fresh air — one that attracted many eyes.

The men’s gazes were mainly concealed appreciation. Although she may not match the era’s definition of attraction, and was sometimes too overwhelming, she was definitely beautiful.

The women’s eyes were much more complicated. Flickering with envy and jealousy and also appreciation, yet tempered with unreasonable speculation and belittling…

Sometimes, this kind of non-malicious mind appears in the name of concern. For example, for a very simple matter, Jing Yunlin once said that she didn’t understand why someone would persuade her not to change her clothes every day. It was just her hygiene habit since she was a child. What’s wrong with taking a bath and changing clothes every day? Why did it evolve into a style issue? It wasn’t until she had a confidant a few years later that she realised. After they talked with each other, Jing Yunlin realized that another meaning of changing clothes every day in the eyes of some people was to be coquettish and to seduce men…

This could also be regarded as a difference in cultural background and ideological concepts. Jing Yunlin was not stupid. She understood by analogy, and immediately comprehended why the atmosphere around her had always been weird over the years. Of course she also knew who was spreading these words behind her back. Although she didn’t point it out, she always kept her distance unhappily.

However, after the second pregnancy, where the “First Old Lady” gossipped with the neighbors and colleagues about Jing Yunlin, comparing her to a old-at-heart □□ 4 Raws had the symbols, probably to scold haha – 老心不老的□□ , tittering as she laughed. As soon as she learned of it, Jing Yunlin was furious. Henceforth, the Du’s family was blacklisted.

However, no matter what others think, children will not understand. From the time when the children around the same age in the compound could run and jump about, they naturally started playing with each other. From the first time the small Qu Zhengyan saw the beautiful Du Yongjin, he became a hopeless subordinate.

~~*~~

T/N

Singapore~! 🇸🇬

1

Chinese idiom:有缘千里来相会 2

Raws: 嫁鸡随了鸡, literal meaning is married chicken follows the chicken. 3

Idiom: 生米既成熟饭，想发火都发不出 4

Raws had the symbols, probably to scold haha – 老心不老的□□