Chapter 707 Obsessions
Jiang Zhe’s phone rang after he had a few glasses. He stood up to answer the phone call. Upon hanging up, he came back to tell Yu Xiang apologetically that his boss wanted him to work overtime, so he had to leave.
Yu Xiang wasn’t pleased. “Why do you have to work at this hour? Don’t you think your boss is being too harsh to you?”
Jiang Zhe flashed a helpless smile and answered, “There’s nothing I can do about it. My boss is also working overtime himself. He’s a workaholic.”
“That’s his problem. No matter how much he likes to work, he has no right to ask others to work overtime just to keep him company,” Yu Xiang grumbled.
“Yu Xiang, the job market is so competitive now. It’s not easy to get a job nowadays. I have no choice but to work overtime.” Jiang Zhe smiled bitterly.
“So? Are you just going to leave me here?” Yu Xiang asked coquettishly.
“I’m sorry…”
“Promise me you’ll buy me a meal tomorrow. Otherwise, I’m not letting you leave!”
“Okay. I’ll get back to you on that tomorrow.”
“No! I want you to promise me now,” Yu Xiang purred.
“All right, I promise you. If nothing comes up tomorrow, I’ll definitely buy you a meal.”
“That’s more like it!” Yu Xiang was elated.
By the time Jiang Zhe arrived at the office, it was already half past ten at night.
The moment Jiang Zhe entered, Nan Chen frowned when he detected the stench of alcohol on his body.
In truth, Jiang Zhe didn’t drink much, but he just wasn’t that good of a drinker. He had a low alcohol tolerance as well.
“I was out with friends and had a few glasses.” Jiang Zhe told the truth before Nan Chen even had the chance to question him.
Nan Chen was well aware of Jiang Zhe’s alcohol tolerance because he would occasionally ask him to drink on his behalf.
Whenever Jiang Zhe was told to do so, he never hesitated. In fact, he was rather enthusiastic. One would think that Jiang Zhe was a good drinker, but he would always get drunk easily.
Most of the time, Jiang Zhe had good self-control, and Nan Chen knew about it.
“When was the last time you drank?” Nan Chen asked.
“Last year,” Jiang Zhe answered honestly.
“Did you drink tonight because you were celebrating? Or did you find a girl you like?”
Nan Chen hit the nail on the head, but Jiang Zhe wasn’t surprised. After all, he knew how smart his boss was.
They knew each other inside out because they spent a lot of time working together.
“Yes. I met a girl,” Jiang Zhe admitted.
“Is her name Yu Xiang?” Nan Chen queried.
Jiang Zhe was so stunned that he was staring blankly at Nan Chen with his mouth open.
“Don’t worry. I’m not invading your privacy. It just so happens that the club you went to belongs to my friend. My friend knows you’re a cautious person, so his curiosity was piqued when he suddenly saw you showing up at the club with a beautiful girl. He ended up taking a photo of you guys and sent it to me. Well, I got curious too, so I got someone to look into the girl. At first, I thought it was going to take me a long time to find out who she was. To my surprise, that wasn’t the case. She’s Yu Xiang, the senior manager of the real estate department of Sunshine Group who just took office. I got you here because I think you should know that she’s our competitor’s executive. If you think what I’ve done is wrong, you can return to your drinking session,” Nan Chen said flatly.
Jiang Zhe broke out into a cold sweat. That was our first date, and we conveniently landed in a club owned by Boss’ friend. Isn’t this too much of a coincidence? What if we hadn’t gone to a club? What if we were to go to a restaurant or a bar? Would those businesses belong to Boss’ friends as well?
Even if it wasn’t a sheer coincidence, there was nothing Jiang Zhe could say about it because he was Nan Chen’s right-hand man and one of the key figures of Nanshi Corporation.
It was only right for Nan Chen to monitor both Jiang Zhe’s work life and private life.
If something were to happen to Jiang Zhe, Nanshi Corporation would definitely suffer losses.
One of the key factors Ouyang Duo lost everything when he thought he had everything under control was because Nan Zhengde had sent a spy to spy on him.
Obviously, Nan Chen wouldn’t want to have a spy spying on him. That was why he had to investigate everyone close to him.
In other words, whoever wanted to be a high-ranking employee would have to accept the fact that they would be investigated.
Still, Jiang Zhe was stunned by how fast Nan Chen had gotten the information he needed. Yu Xiang and I only came into contact two days ago, and we’ve only met today!
“She told me she was working in Archulea. So she lied to me?”
“No. She didn’t exactly lie to you either. She did just transfer back from Archulea,” Nan Chen answered.
“I’ve been thinking that there must be a reason behind her sudden appearance, but I didn’t expect this to be the case.” Jiang Zhe couldn’t help feeling dejected.
After all, Yu Xiang was his crush when he was younger. We reunited after so many years, and it turns out that she has ulterior motives for approaching me. This sucks!
“Do you know why she approached you?” Nan Chen asked.
“Well, what else if not the bidding war for the project on Serenity Street?”
Nan Chen nodded slightly. Jiang Zhe has never disappointed me. Indeed, he’s so smart that I don’t even need to give him hints.
“Although she’s from Sunshine Corporation and she’s one of the people in charge of the project, she’s still your friend. Without proof, I could be jumping to the conclusion by saying that’s the motive behind her approaching you. You can’t make an enemy out of her just because she’s working for our competitor. That won’t be fair to her,” Nan Chen uttered.
Jiang Zhe shot Nan Chen a grateful glance and replied, “I appreciate it, but she contacted me out of the blue. She must’ve approached me because of the project. But don’t worry. I won’t give her the chance to jeopardize us even if you don’t remind me.”
Nan Chen nodded. He trusted Jiang Zhe entirely.
“Still, I would like to try something,” Jiang Zhe said.
Jiang Zhe’s words were ambiguous, but Nan Chen seemed to have understood what he meant. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I want to try it out.”
Nan Chen merely narrowed his eyes and kept mum.
Just then, Jiang Zhe received a text on his phone.
Yu Xiang texted: Are you still busy? I think I miss you.
Jiang Zhe replied: You are?
Yu Xiang replied: Of course! It was very nice seeing you today. When I saw you, it felt as though we were meeting each other for the first time. You’re still the amazing young man from back then.
Jiang Zhe was saddened when he saw the text. I’m no longer the young man you used to know, and you’re also no longer the person I used to know. No one can turn back time. Everything from the past should stay in the past.
“Did she look for you again?” Nan Chen asked.
“Yes,” Jiang Zhe answered truthfully.
“Maybe you should forget about it. She seems important to you.”
“No. I would still like to try it out. There are some important things that no longer matter once you get them or see things clearly.”
“That’s true. More often than not, the things we find important are just our obsessions.”
