The birthday banquet ended in the evening.
After the guests had dispersed, the old lady, beaming with joy, exchanged pleasantries, and eventually turned to the third branch of the Zhou family, "Jianmin, Jinhua, you should head back and rest early too, it's getting late..."
"Jiayi, since the branch company is entrusted to you, you must take it seriously and set an example. Only then can grandma entrust you with even greater missions in the future. Don't let grandma down."
At eighty-eight, the old lady's words were cleverly crafted, winning people's hearts with artful manipulation.
Zhou Jiayi, so young, felt only moved by these words, "Grandma, I understand. Jiayi will definitely not let you down."
Lastly, the old lady looked towards Gu Changsheng without saying much, only revealing a kindly smile.
Gu Changsheng was indifferent, aware that the old lady was not simple—
A smile that hides a knife.
Exiting the door.
There were much fewer cars outside. One nearly-scrapped Volkswagen belonged to Zhou Jiayi, while the other, an older model Mercedes, was owned by Zhou Jiancheng and his wife.
"Dad, Mom, drive safely, we'll head back first," said Zhou Jiayi as she bid farewell.
Unexpectantly, Liu Jinhua stepped forward furiously, pointing at Gu Changsheng and started to curse loudly, "Gu Changsheng, do you have paste for brains? Eighty million, eighty million worth of treasures, and you just gave them to the old lady? What were you thinking? Even if you gave them to her, would she remember our kindness? In the end, just offering Jiayi a branch company presidency and that's it."
"Heh, the old lady surely plays a good game, lifting heavy as if it were light."
After scoffing, she continued glaring at Gu Changsheng, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. If that eighty million were ours, would we need to grovel before others?"
This sudden outburst caught everyone off guard.
Zhou Jiayi was the first to snap back to reality, "Mom, why would you say that? We and grandma are family."
"Family? If we really were a family, we wouldn't have been kicked out of the main residence back then. Jiayi, you're too naive. That eighty million will end up in the hands of the first and second branches in the end."
"As for Gu Changsheng, hmmph, even more of an idiot!"
Zhou Jianmin could only shake his head in resignation, "That eighty million from ten years ago, would now be worth over a hundred million. What a waste."
However.
In Gu Changsheng's heart, there was only a cold sneer.
Heh, eighty million, so what?
Not worth mentioning.
As for giving you the money, what would it really achieve?
He did not want to argue, for everything was done considering Zhou Jiayi's feelings.
Liu Jinhua then said, "Alright, I won't waste more words. Jiayi, you take over the position tomorrow, and do your best... Also, your dad and I are a bit tight on money recently, see how much you have and bring some to ease our situation."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiayi, still processing the previous statement, was shocked by the latter, "Mom, Dad, last month, Changsheng and I already gave you a hundred thousand."
"A hundred thousand? That's nowhere near enough!" Liu Jinhua was harsh in tone but clearly felt guilty.
Zhou Jianmin, quick-witted, smiled and said, "Your money, we're keeping it safe for you, also to prevent you from spending recklessly."
Although Zhou Jiayi felt something was amiss, she couldn't refuse and pulled out a card, "Here, there's three hundred thousand on this. I originally wanted to buy a congratulatory gift for grandma with it, but it ended up not being used."
At the mention of three hundred thousand, Liu Jinhua's eyes immediately brightened, "Okay, we'll keep it for you. Let us know when you need it."
With that.
The mother and daughter said no more. Liu Jinhua turned and got into the car.
After they left, Zhou Jiayi turned, holding Gu Changsheng's hand tightly, "Changsheng, you don't blame me, do you?"
Gu Changsheng knew what she wanted to say and feigned ignorance, "Blame you for what? Isn't everything alright?"
"It's just, just..."
"Alright wife, no need to say more, honoring your parents is only right," Gu Changsheng tried his best to comfort her.
After all.
Zhou Jianmin and Liu Jinhua asking for money wasn't new, he had grown accustomed to it over time.
It's just that recently they had been asking for money too frequently. They both had company equity and dividends, what was going on lately that they kept asking for more?
Gu Changsheng didn't ponder too deeply; to him, money was merely a set of numbers. Eighty million given to the old lady didn't upset him; so, why would this three hundred thousand?
"Wife, let's also head home quickly. Tomorrow is your first day in the new position, and you can't be late."
Zhou Jiayi opened her mouth, unsure of what to say, only able to deeply bury the friendship in her heart, "Hmm, let's go home." Zhou Jiayi opened her mouth, unsure of what to say, only able to deeply bury the friendship in her heart, "Hmm, let's head home."
...
The next morning, Zhou Jiayi went to the branch office.
The new official took office with boundless enthusiasm, and Gu Changsheng couldn't really stop her. After washing up, he looked at his delivery service uniform and laughed... Just yesterday at the birthday feast, he had teased Mr. Wu from Treasure Pavilion. He probably thought he was just joking.
8:30 in the morning.
Gu Changsheng arrived at the delivery headquarters.
Outside, dozens of electric bikes were parked, dense and numerous.
As was his habit, he leaned his bike against a tree and then went inside.
Delivery Group One, an empty rest room where the delivery boys usually spent most of their time on the road, so the headquarters didn't require much decoration.
There weren't many people delivering food in the morning, so the rest room was mostly filled with idle chatter and banter.
As soon as Gu Changsheng entered the room, he attracted quite a few glances.
The well-known fool of the group, naturally drawing attention to himself.
Among the crowd, a burly, dark-skinned man, who was the leader of Group One, came out and immediately started making trouble for Gu Changsheng, "I just tallied up yesterday's order count, and our group didn't meet the target. Looking at the statistics, well well, Gu Changsheng, absent without permission, didn't take a single order yesterday. Our entire group's going to be dragged down by you."
"I won't say much else. Our penalty fee is twenty-five yuan per person, and it's coming out of your pocket. Cough it up."
Heh.
Gu Changsheng was amused.
Looks like we've got a few nobodies here.
He had a particularly memorable impression of this man who often gave him trouble.
If he hadn't shown up today, it might have been fine, but now that he was here, it wasn't going to be that simple to get past.
"Twenty-five per person? Let me count... there are ten people here, so I should give you two hundred and fifty?"
The man hadn't expected Gu Changsheng to agree so readily, and said with a laugh, "That's right, give me two hundred and fifty."
Yet, Gu Changsheng coolly said, "Heh, I think you're the real 'two-fifty'."
With those words.
The room went silent.
How dare he?
The team leader, regaining his composure, became even more furious, "Are you f***ing with me? I'll beat the crap out of you!"
As the man aggressively approached, a hint of disdainful coldness appeared at the corner of Gu Changsheng's mouth. He struck like lightning, beating him to the punch, and slapped him hard—
Smack!
The man immediately spat out a mouthful of blood and teeth, his body, carried by the momentum of the powerful strike, flipped in the air, landing painfully on the ground, unable to get up for a long while.
Gu Changsheng's smile remained unchanged as he stepped forward, sweeping his gaze over everyone, "Who else wants money? Come on, step forward!"
The scene was silent, utterly incredulous.
And at that moment.
The back door opened, and a graceful woman walked out; it was Chen Xue, the manager of the delivery subcontractor.
When she saw the team leader on the ground, she was shocked, "What happened here? What are you all doing?"
On the ground, the team leader, as if receiving a pardon, quickly scrambled to his feet and pointed at Gu Changsheng, "Mr. Chen, he was absent for no good reason yesterday. I just mentioned it and he started hitting me. All the people present can vouch for me."
As his gaze swept over them, several cronies chimed in, "That's right, Gu Changsheng caused our group to miss yesterday's performance target."
"Not only that, he started hitting someone, he's really bullying us too much."
"Is it easy for us to earn this hard-earned money?"
"Punish him severely!"
"Fire him!"
"Otherwise, the crowd won't stand for it!!"
The atmosphere suddenly grew tense...