HR Chapter 25

Chapter 25 Dou E

“This kid’s gotten bolder in just a few days.” Bai Ze muttered to himself, thanked the two security guards, walked to the side and made a call. It took a long time for the call to connect, and the first thing he heard was an annoyed roar: “Who is it!” The voice was so loud that Bai Ze had to move the phone away from his ear. Bai Ze wasn’t angry, and said unhurriedly, “Fang Fang, I’m waiting for you downstairs.”

He had just hung up the phone when a burst of hurried footsteps came from the third floor, and Fang Yiwei, wearing pajamas and with a bird’s nest on his head, rushed down, throwing himself directly at Bai Ze: “Bai, I’m guilty, please forgive me!”

“The death penalty can be avoided, but the living penalty is unavoidable!” Bai Ze pushed Fang Yiwei away and walked upstairs. Fang Yiwei immediately followed behind, begging for forgiveness and apologizing. Bai Ze said as he walked, “There’s been another ruckus at home, and I don’t want to go back just yet. I’m bringing Shu Xiu here to freeload a meal and change clothes, I got soup spilled on me by your kid.”

“Who was it? I’ll fire him right now.” Fang Yiwei expressed his anger this way, and found a brand new shirt and suit for Bai Ze. Bai Ze was a few years older than Fang Yiwei, but their figures were similar, and Bai Ze was even a bit thinner than Fang Yiwei.

Every time Fang Yiwei saw Bai Ze wearing his clothes and still looking like he couldn’t fill them out, he couldn’t help but sigh. A strong physique is the capital for being a troublemaker.

Bai Ze was adjusting his cuffs, ready to leave, but Fang Yiwei grabbed him, not letting him go. Bai Ze said, “Shu Xiu is still downstairs, and also, prepare some chestnut cakes for me to take when I leave.”

Fang Yiwei grabbed Bai Ze’s sleeve and wouldn’t let go. “He’s not a child, he won’t get lost. Let’s chat for a while.”

Bai Ze stared at Fang Yiwei, his gaze scrutinizing. “Logically speaking, you should be spinning around at Mi Shengfei’s beck and call. It’s a crucial time, you should be busy to death, but you can laze in bed and sleep, and Mi Shengfei doesn’t even care. Did you two have a fight?”

Fang Yiwei’s personality is that he’s weak when you’re strong, and strong when you’re weak. He’s lazy and doesn’t like to be in the spotlight. If he can sit, he won’t stand, and if he can lie down, he won’t sit. When he’s alone, he’s like a spinning top, forcing himself to spin when he should. But if there’s someone to help, it’s completely different. He’ll only move when pushed, or even completely ignore himself, happy to be idle.

Mi Shengfei seems very proper on the surface, but is a rogue at heart, full of bad ideas. However, when he met Fang Yiwei, this extremely lazy guy, he was helpless. When he’s alone, he doesn’t complain about how hard he works, but when there’s such an idle person around, he feels extremely unbalanced.

On the first day the two cooperated, Fang Yiwei didn’t say a word, and Mi Shengfei made all the decisions. On the second day, Fang Yiwei said three words: “Mm,” “Okay,” “Good.” On the third day, Fang Yiwei was lying on the sofa listening to a report, and halfway through, snoring came from the sofa. Mi Shengfei couldn’t bear it any longer and, in a fit of anger, parted ways with Fang Yiwei, each responsible for a part, and then they would summarize at the end.

Fang Yiwei acted like he had suffered a great injustice, turning black and white upside down and accusing Mi Shengfei, scratching his bird’s nest head and saying angrily, “Mi Shengfei is too hateful. He gave me the most thorny task, which was both trivial and troublesome, with a lot of information. I took people to investigate and sort it out for three days and nights before I finished it. It was killing me!”

Bai Ze had no sympathy. “Mi Shengfei is too kind to you. You still have time to complain. Try it under Shu Xiu’s hands and you’ll know which side is heaven and which side is hell.”

Fang Yiwei cursed. “Is he even human? He’s just a monster. If I had to live as tired as he does, I’d rather die.”

“Everyone seeks different things. He also has his own difficulties.” Bai Ze said, standing up and reminding, “Control your laziness and cooperate with Mi Shengfei’s work. Don’t make any mistakes, or you’ll be in trouble.”

After saying that, he left. The two security guards guarding the third floor looked at him with the same respect and admiration as if he were a deity. They didn’t know what kind of Buddha Bai Ze was that could make their boss willingly act like a little brother.

When Bai Ze came downstairs, only Shu Xiu was left at the table. He had ordered a table full of meat dishes and was feasting on them. Bai Ze was a little angry when he saw this, and stopped a waiter passing by, pointing to Shu Xiu and saying, “Take all the dishes from that guest away. Don’t serve what hasn’t been served yet. The money for what he ordered will still be paid. Also, bring a red date and black rice porridge, a steamer of vegetarian buns, and a purple yam cake. Thank you.”

Shu Xiu was eating happily when suddenly a few waiters came over and took away his dishes. He was about to get angry when his gaze turned to Bai Ze, who was frowning at him. He quickly gnawed down the pork knuckle in two or three bites and threw it into the plate that was about to be taken away, pulled out a napkin to wipe his mouth and hands, and waited for Bai Ze to sit down. He called out “Brother” as if nothing had happened and didn’t say anything else.

The food came quickly. Shu Xiu took a bite of the porridge and complained, “Still drinking porridge? There’s no taste in my mouth. Brother, you don’t know, that idiot was eating meat while I was drinking porridge, and he ate it right in front of me!” Thinking of the week of fasting, his heart was full of injustice.

“Then I don’t understand, how did you gain weight?” Bai Ze guessed there was something special in the porridge. Shu Xiu lowered his head and didn’t speak. Three meals a day, no two meals the same, three big bowls each meal, and supper at night. It would be strange if he didn’t gain weight.

They hadn’t finished eating when they saw Mi Shengfei roll in from outside the door and rush straight to the third floor. It didn’t take long before he dragged Fang Yiwei down, who was only wearing pajamas. Mi Shengfei took advantage of his height, dragging Fang Yiwei like catching a chick. Fang Yiwei made futile struggles, his eyes darting around, and finally found Bai Ze’s figure in the corner when he was about to be dragged out the door. He immediately shouted, “Bai, save me!”

Mi Shengfei’s footsteps paused, and he looked towards Bai Ze, the corners of his lips raised. He increased the strength of his hands, dragging Fang Yiwei out the door.

Bai Ze and Shu Xiu tacitly chose to turn a blind eye, silently shedding a tear of sympathy for Fang Yiwei, sighing that he brought it upon himself.

The guests in the hall were all inexplicably confused, wondering who this Bai was. As if they had seen such a commotion many times, it didn’t cause much of a stir.

From this, one disadvantage of Qianwei Restaurant was reflected. There was only a front door and no back door. The private and public domains were connected, and there was no partition in between. Such embarrassing things as being dragged out to work could only be done in public, and there was no way to hide it.

When they returned to the Lu Mansion in Lan Yuan, it was almost noon. Bai Ze keenly noticed that the alert had been lifted, threw the car keys to the servant who came out to greet him, and went straight into the door. He bypassed the screen wall and glanced at the garden as he passed. The wind was gentle under the flower stand, and there was no one there. He entered the house and found no one in the living room, so he handed the chestnut cakes to Sha Tang and went directly to the study upstairs.

Shu Xiu wanted to go back to his room to sleep, but was intercepted by Sha Tang halfway. Sha Tang looked him up and down, left and right, pinched his chubby face, and nodded, as if inspecting the raw materials for a roasted suckling pig.

After looking him over, he returned to the kitchen and brought out a bowl of Angelica and mutton soup to Shu Xiu. “I’ve warmed it up several times. If I warm it up again, the medicinal effects will be gone. Drink it while it’s hot. I’ll replenish the blood you lost within the month, Brother.”

Shu Xiu politely declined this, Bai Ze was weak and had to eat medicinal food to nourish himself every time the seasons changed. But he felt lonely eating it alone, and with the idea that nourishing alone was not as good as nourishing everyone, he forced others to eat it with him. He had to eat it for a whole month every time, and he couldn’t avoid it. Whoever avoided it had to eat twice as much. His memory wasn’t very good, but he couldn’t let down Sha Tang’s good intentions, so he sat aside with the bowl and ate, asking, “Where’s Brother? And Xiao Qi isn’t here either? Are you the only one at home?”

Sha Tang said weakly, “They’re all here, one in the study, one in the bedroom.”

Originally, they had fought, made a fuss, and reconciled. Xiao Qi suddenly thought of Zhu Yan and said, “Hey, where’s Big Uncle? He hasn’t given me a gift yet.”

Qi Yue blurted out, “You think everyone is like you. Second Brother went on a mission that night and is working like a dog!” He felt wronged for himself and Zhu Yan, and suddenly felt a chill down his spine, so he quickly closed his mouth and focused on changing the gauze on Xiao Qi’s foot.

Min Jia peeled a boiled egg and stuffed it directly into Qi Yue’s mouth, poking his nose and saying, “Don’t bite it wrong, don’t talk.” He sat aside and joined the chestnut peeling.

Qi Yue nodded, took a bite, and the speed of his hands immediately increased by more than one level.

Xiao Qi’s feet were as white as jade, making the wounds look horrifying. The small wounds were like dense red rashes, and there wasn’t a single piece of good flesh on the entire sole of his foot. Even Qi Yue, who had performed countless surgeries, gave him a thumbs up, “Ruthless!”

Before he could put his hand down, Xiao Qi kicked him down. Xiao Qi jumped off the sofa and kicked Qi Yue, muttering something, no one knew what. He kicked him a dozen times before stopping. After kicking him, he sat down again, propping up his feet and waiting for Qi Yue to continue wrapping his feet, looking arrogant and tyrannical, spoiled and proud.

Lu Qinyuan wasn’t surprised at all. He was wondering why Xiao Qi was so good-tempered. It turned out he was waiting for this. Lu Qinyuan helped count, not too many, not too few, just the length of one Xiao Qi.

Min Jia was slightly lost in thought. Others might not have heard what Xiao Qi was muttering, but he was close enough to hear it clearly. Xiao Qi was saying, “Bully Jia Jia, bully Jia Jia, bully Jia Jia!” He himself didn’t understand what Qi Yue bullying him had to do with Xiao Qi.

There was now a scene that perfectly reflected Qi Yue’s inner thoughts: Dou E’s injustice!

So wronged! Qi Yue wanted to cry but had no tears. Did it have anything to do with him? He was just a good subordinate who took money to do work and obeyed his superiors!

Looking at Xiao Qi’s expression of “I hit you, but I didn’t feel happy,” Qi Yue wanted to slap him, but the truth was, he couldn’t do anything. Xiao Qi was Lu Qinyuan’s treasure, only he was allowed to beat and smash him, and no one else was allowed to poke him with a finger. But if he didn’t say something, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. Qi Yue got up and pointed at Xiao Qi’s nose, paused for a long time, and squeezed out three words: “Little madman!” He continued to wrap Xiao Qi’s feet resignedly and helplessly.

But he couldn’t quell the anger in his heart. Many words surged in his mind, like “getting a bargain and selling it,” “biting the hand that feeds you,” “no good deed goes unpunished,” “ungrateful,” “pig fat blinded your eyes,” “undiscriminating,” “blind little madman”… Qi Yue recited every word he could think of in his heart.

After settling the score, the problem turned back to Zhu Yan. Xiao Qi wasn’t stupid, it was clear that Lu Qinyuan was using his position to take revenge for personal grudges and was deliberately dispatching Zhu Yan. In the past, Zhu Yan was only responsible for Lu Qinyuan’s safety as a bodyguard, but now he was reduced to a vanguard who fought and killed outside. Whether it was the standard of living or the intensity of work, there was a world of difference.

But Lu Qinyuan was wronged in this regard. Lu Qinyuan did intervene in Zhu Yan’s dispatch once. Bai Ze went directly to him and said, “Lord Lu, either give me a vacation, I’ll rest for a few days.” From then on, Lu Qinyuan didn’t interfere with Zhu Yan’s work, it was completely Bai Ze’s personal arrangement.