LWDC Chapter 125

by Volare

Chapter 125: Ambiguous Business Tactics

Ning Fei and Duan Yunhong hadn’t seen each other since they parted ways at the small base, and they hadn’t even contacted each other much.

The only time they contacted was when the black SUV Duan Yunhong bought for Ning Fei arrived at the Tianyue Base. After receiving the car, Ning Fei sent him a message: [Arrived, thanks. (Attached photo of the new car)]

Duan Yunhong replied: [If you want to modify any accessories, you can also tell me.]

Ning Fei didn’t reply to this message.

It wasn’t that he didn’t modify the car, but he handled it himself, and didn’t tell Duan Yunhong after it was done. He had no obligation to report, and Duan Yunhong didn’t send any more messages afterward.

The days passed and winter arrived, then New Year’s Day.

Knock knock!

The door opened after a knock, and Yu Zhou leaned into Ning Fei’s office, asking, “Yue Fengping has a last-minute get-together with his old comrades, wanna join?”

Ning Fei remained noncommittal, only saying, “Why are you asking me? Don’t tell me you’re trying to set me up again?”

“With that bunch? If there was anyone suitable, I would’ve introduced them to you long ago, why wait until now? As for these guys, introducing them to you would only make you laugh at my taste.” Yu Zhou replied as he walked in, “Just go grab a free meal, if it’s interesting we’ll stay, if it’s boring we’ll find an excuse to slip away. I don’t want to be stuck alone listening to their ‘remember the good old days’ talk, sometimes I can barely hold back my bored expression, it’s so awkward.”

Ning Fei teased, “Weren’t you devoted to love? How can’t you even stand a small gathering?”

“I like him, not his old comrades. But since his comrades make up a part of his past, I can endure it when necessary.” Yu Zhou raised an eyebrow, “So are you going or not? Or do you have other plans?”

“I have an invitation, but I haven’t accepted yet.” Ning Fei said, “How about I bring someone else along?”

“Yue Fengping brings me, I bring you, and you bring another person, right?” Yu Zhou chuckled, “Tell me who it is first.”

“Wang Moye.”

“Pfft hahaha…!” Yu Zhou laughed even harder, “I knew it would be that ‘Samoyed’! He’s been pestering you ever since he was sent by Jinghui, his goal is pretty obvious. What, haven’t you given him a chance yet?”

“Not my type.”

“Many girls are talking about how young and promising he is, and how handsome he is, trying to figure out how to get him, and you still don’t like him?” Yu Zhou walked to the opposite side of Ning Fei’s desk, leaning on it with one hand, “Is he really not your type, or are you impotent, or… are you staying pure for someone?”

“Nonsense. Who am I staying pure for?”

“For someone who can easily afford a million in luck.”

“Ha, a million is nothing. Do you think spending a little money can make me happy? Haven’t I seen enough of this kind of situation before?” Ning Fei sneered, “I’m not interested in that ‘Samoyed’, partly because he’s too thin, not much meat, his body type isn’t what I like; on the other hand… I feel like he’s approaching me with ulterior motives.”

Yu Zhou leaned against the desk: “‘Ulterior motives’? Are you saying he just wants to flirt with you at Tianyue, not serious?”

“Is that a problem for me?” Ning Fei glanced at him, “I think he wants to find out something from me, but because I always refuse to take the bait, he might be planning to use ‘ambiguous relationships’ to trick me.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Zhou’s expression became more serious: “Find out? In what direction?”

“Hard to say. He likes to ask what I’ve been busy with lately, but he hasn’t specifically targeted any direction yet, probably because I’m not cooperating enough.” Ning Fei thought for a moment, “Actually, his words and tactics aren’t much different from those of someone pursuing me, but I can feel that he has other intentions.”

“If you say so, I believe you.” Yu Zhou said, “So you were originally planning to accept his invitation today?”

“I’ve rejected him several times already, it’s time to give him a little taste of success, let him think he has a chance. Otherwise, his true colors won’t be revealed.” Ning Fei replied, “But your gathering is better, even though we’re eating together, there are a lot of people, the distance isn’t too close or too far. And Yue Fengping and you are both there, Wang Moye probably won’t be too blatant, making it easier to deal with.”

“Since you’ve said so, what else can I do? I can only agree to help you execute this plan.” Yu Zhou took out his phone in front of Ning Fei, preparing to call Yue Fengping to ask, “Anyway, if you need anything, just give me a look, I’ll pull you away.”

Ning Fei reminded, “Tell Yue Fengping, don’t let him be tricked by the ‘Samoyed’ instead.”

“You can rest assured about that, Yue Fengping seems polite to everyone, but it’s difficult for unfamiliar people to have deep conversations with him. All his subordinates have this style, they’ll only chat about the cafeteria and unimportant gossip if they don’t trust you enough, it’s quite interesting…” As Yu Zhou spoke, he had already dialed Yue Fengping’s number. Yue Fengping answered quickly, and the call was finished in a few words.

“He said it’s okay to bring someone, no problem, new friends are welcome.” Yu Zhou waved his phone, “But he doesn’t know the real reason yet, it doesn’t matter, I’ll explain it to him in detail when I get back tonight. Ask if the ‘Samoyed’ is going.”

“Okay.” Ning Fei also took out his phone and opened his contact list.

That night, Wang Moye indeed appeared at Yue Fengping’s comrades’ dinner.

Unlike the “Samoyed” nickname Yu Zhou and Ning Fei had given him privately, Wang Moye himself was actually more gentle and refined, and intelligently perceptive. Yu Zhou called him “someone who looks like a master of the political arena.” He was fair-skinned and tall, wearing glasses, often wearing two black or brown long coats interchangeably, low-key but also highlighting a “clean feeling”. When he spoke, he was serious when he needed to be serious, and made people feel like a spring breeze when he smiled. It was not surprising that such a person was liked by girls.

Wang Moye was sent by the Jinghui Base to be mainly responsible for coordinating a cooperative project and was a short-term expatriate. The top person in charge of this project was Yu Zhou, and Wang Moye actually connected with Ning Fei. However, Ning Fei did not have a formal position, he was just an external staff member, so in terms of rank, Wang Moye was above him. But Wang Moye, who was clear about this, did not have any leadership or command style in his interactions with Ning Fei. He treated him as an equal and even took the initiative to make friends, being quite enthusiastic about Ning Fei, under the beautiful name of “hit it off at first sight”. He even occasionally revealed some ambiguous atmosphere in private chats with only the two of them. The degree was not too light or too heavy, enough for Ning Fei to notice, but not unpleasant.

Such an offensive, if faced by someone else, even if they were not so quick to accept it, would easily eliminate their wariness. However, Ning Fei smelled a strange smell in his close attitude.

And Ning Fei’s way of dealing with this “strangeness” was not to avoid it, but to use the plan against him. Coincidentally, there were not many internal agents in Jinghui, and Wang Moye’s position was not low, so he should be able to squeeze some news about Jinghui from him. The Jinghui Base has always been the political center of the country, and the wind that blows there first will surely blow throughout the country’s bases in the future.

Moreover, if Jinghui had any “salvation plan”, it would be better to know about it earlier so that they could cooperate sooner. Ning Fei would rather the Jinghui Base be the “savior protagonist” than let Huichuan steal the limelight.

–The point is not to let someone win so easily.

Therefore, Wang Moye deliberately approached, and Ning Fei followed his wish, seeing who could outsmart the other.

“What are you spacing out about?”

Wang Moye turned his head to look at Ning Fei, found that he had a faint expression and no reaction, and asked, “Are you drunk?”

“How is that possible?” Ning Fei came back to his senses, “It’s you who honestly drank the three cups of wine as a penalty when you entered, isn’t your stomach burning?”

“Haha, it’s okay.” He raised his eyebrows slightly, then leaned closer and whispered, “Actually, I ate something to line my stomach before I came out, and I took hangover medicine in advance, just in case. Don’t tell them, lest they say I’m cheating.”

Ning Fei looked surprised: “You even brought hangover medicine?”

“I travel a lot on business, I’m used to it.” Wang Moye smiled, “But these comrades of Commander Yue are quite interesting, I like them, so I drank it. Usually, in those work gatherings, if someone jokingly gives me a hard time like this when I enter, I would never honestly drink it all.”

Ning Fei thought to himself, you’re really good at using these distance-closing tactics, anyone who believes you is an idiot.

But what he said on the surface was: “It’s good as long as you’re happy, I was afraid you’d feel awkward.”

“I at least know Commander Yue and Director Yu, and you’re here, so it won’t be awkward.” Wang Moye wanted to pour wine for Ning Fei, but Ning Fei grabbed it first and poured it for himself. Wang Moye smiled, not arguing with him, and continued to whisper, “Are these all brothers who went through thick and thin with Commander Yue in the past?”

“Ah, yeah, probably.” Ning Fei knew that he also wanted to get something from these people, so he only replied with peripheral information according to Yu Zhou’s instructions, “But now they may not all be on the front line anymore. For example, opening a restaurant, selling breakfast, doing some small business or something.”

“Breakfast is good, breakfast is now the most stable and profitable small business.” Wang Moye smiled, “If I didn’t do what I’m doing now, I’d be willing to sell breakfast too.”

Ning Fei glanced at him: “So you’re saying you can cook?”

“Without being humble, everyone who’s eaten it says it’s good. Some colleagues even wanted to pay me to come to their homes as a private chef.” Wang Moye clinked a glass with him, “Unfortunately, I’m staying in a guest house in Tianyue, there’s no kitchen. How about we have a dinner party at your house someday? I’ll cook it myself.”

This was an almost explicit suggestion. What would happen after going home for dinner was something any adult could guess.

To go deeper, cooking and eating together is a very quick way to increase feelings. Even Duan Yunhong, during the time he and Ning Fei were semi-cohabitating, never really cooked together and then ate together.

Although theoretically both of them had a lot of knowledge and cooking shouldn’t be difficult, except for one time when Duan Yunhong simply grilled some meat outside, they never really had this idea.

“Forget about coming to my house, it’s messy, not good for entertaining.” Although Wang Moye’s “domestic side” surprised Ning Fei a little, it was far from touching him, “Let’s just drink outside, no need to bother cooking, and no need to bother cleaning up.”

Upon hearing this, Wang Moye lowered his eyes to hide his disappointed expression, and once again clinked glasses with him and sipped, “Okay, drinking outside…”

While these two were whispering together, on the other side, Yue Fengping also leaned close to Yu Zhou’s ear and whispered, “Is there something going on between Ning Fei and that Wang Moye?”

Yu Zhou was too lazy to even give him a second glance, and casually replied, “What’s it to you, Commander Yue, mind your own business.”

Yue Fengping became even more puzzled: “But isn’t Ning Fei with Duan Yunhong…”

Yu Zhou stepped on his foot under the table.

“Mind your own business, eat your food, and drink your wine!”