Water and Fire~Chapter 105.1: A Big Flaw

 

Chapter 105.1: A Big Flaw

After Chu Qianmiao bought her plane ticket, she returned to the hotel to pack her luggage. As soon as she had locked up her suitcase, her phone rang.

She quickly answered. It was Ren Yan, and the room sounded a bit noisy on his end.

He said to her, "It's not easy to find a chance to talk to you alone. To cut to the chase, Qin Qianyu and I are also on our way to Beijing and will be boarding a plane soon. Send me your flight number later. When you land in Beijing, wait for me."

Before she could say anything, his tone changed. "Okay, that's it for now. Goodbye." He spoke calmly, as if he had just finished discussing a business matter with a business owner.

Before she hung up, she heard Qin Qianyu call out, "Boss, why are you standing here at the drink machine? Boss, do you want some water? Just bear with me. I'll buy you some after we pass security. Here's your boarding pass."

The call ended. Chu Qianmiao couldn't explain why, but she felt incredibly happy. She opened WeChat and sent a message to Ren Yan. After telling him her flight number, she couldn't resist teasing him a little. "Senior, you're so serious!" she texted him.

His message of explanation immediately replied, "Someone just said something."

A moment later, another message: "Of course I wouldn't speak to you like that in private."

She chuckled, clutching her phone. She knew, of course she knew.

She suddenly felt a thrilling sweetness in this private, secret love affair.

After she packed her things and left the hotel, she unexpectedly saw Gu Kai at the entrance. He arrived in a car from the Tiantian Food Company. As he walked over and helped her put her suitcase in the trunk, he said, "Our CEO, Li, said you need to return to Beijing to address the feedback on your project. I'm free, so I just asked the company for a car to take you to the airport."

Chu Qianmiao hurriedly thanked Gu Kai. She knew she'd have to show off to her boyfriend, her boss, once she landed. She'd completely cracked the new project, and everyone now considered her one of their own.

At the airport, flights from several cities to Beijing were experiencing massive delays. Ren Yan had already landed at Capital Airport, but hers hadn't yet.

She'd called and told Ren Yan to go home and get some rest. He had a new mission tomorrow, so he didn't need to wait for her. After all, her flight wasn't sure if it would take off that night, and even if it did, it would probably be late in the evening by the time she landed in Beijing.

She persuaded Ren Yan to go back, and after waiting for over two hours, she finally boarded the plane. By the time they arrived at Capital Airport, it was already 11 p.m.

Chu Qianmiao turned on her phone while waiting for her luggage, intending to quickly queue for a taxi after picking it up. But as soon as she turned on her phone, she received a call from Ren Yan, who immediately asked, "Have you come out yet?"

Her heart skipped a beat. "You weren't waiting at the airport all this time, were you?"

He said in a low, deep voice, "No." After a pause, he said, "I went home to drop off my luggage and pick up my taxi."

She held the phone, laughing silently.

How could her boyfriend be so good at being someone else's boyfriend?

Ren Yan took Chu Qianmiao out for a late-night snack and then drove her home. When they arrived at her place, they found a spot to park the car, and he wouldn't let her go. He unbuckled both of their seatbelts, leaned over to her, caressed her face, and kissed her lingeringly, as if to fill the void left by their long absence.

He parked the car in the shade, so from inside he could see people passing by. Passersby, not looking closely, wouldn't have noticed the man and woman engaging in indecent behavior inside.

The thrill of worrying about being seen by passersby made Chu Qianmiao's heart pound.

After kissing for a long time, he finally agreed to let her out of the car.

Before getting out, she thought for a moment and said to him, "Senior, when we get to the company tomorrow, don't look at me, and I won't look at you either, to avoid exposing either of us."

He smiled at her with a raised lip.

"Okay."

Even those few words, carefully chosen, hinted at a hint of doting in her.

She suddenly wanted to dote on him too, so she suddenly raised her hand and, like he had touched her that day, touched his head. With a smile on her face, she said to him, "Thank you for picking me up, Senior. Get some rest when you get home."

She saw him standing there in a daze.

He took her hand, rubbed it firmly, placed it on his lips, and kissed it gently, saying, "Okay."

She saw that as he spoke, there seemed to be two small, blazing flames in his eyes that could melt her.

Chu Qianmiao tried to be as quiet as possible as she went upstairs to open the door, afraid to disturb Gu Miaoyu's rest.

As soon as the door opened, she saw Gu Miaoyu standing over her, her hands on her waist, interrogating her fiercely. "You didn't let me pick you up, and you said someone else was picking you up. Now, tell me, besides me, who else do you keep as a little sl*t?"

Chu Qianmiao took the opportunity to honestly tell Gu Miaoyu about her relationship with Ren Yan.

Gu Miaoyu was stunned for a long moment, then sat down on the sofa, looking somewhat lost.

Chu Qianmiao sat down beside her, put her arm around her shoulders, and gently asked her what was wrong.

Gu Miaoyu turned to look at her, her expression a bit bitter. "I see you look so happy right now, and I should be happy for you. But we've been together since we were little, and now you're running off with some wild guy. I feel a little uncomfortable. It feels like the pig I've been raising for half my life has run off and is now digging up the vegetable patch."

Chu Qianmiao felt a pang of sadness when she heard the first part of the sentence, but she burst out laughing at the last part.

"Ms. Gu, could you please speak properly? Shouldn't you say it's me, the good cabbage, who's been taken away by some pig out there?"

Gu Miaoyu looked at her with the air of an old mother. "Shuishui, I'm so upset. Why are you still arguing with me about this now?"

After a pause, she took Chu Qianmiao's hand and said, "Shuishui, Ren Yan is the man who made you cry the most in this world. I used to dislike him. But seeing how happy you look when you mention him now, I think it doesn't matter whether I like him or not. As long as you're happy and satisfied, that's more important than anything else."

She patted Chu Qianmiao's hand like an old mother and urged, "Find a chance to tell Ren Yan a message from me. Tell him that I hope he will cherish you and treat you well without reservation, never lie to you, never do anything to let you down, and never mess around with other women or men. Otherwise, I, Gu Miaoyu, will not let him go even if I become a ghost."

Chu Qianmiao didn't know if her emotions had become more complex after falling in love, but Gu Miaoyu's words made her nose ache slightly.

She secretly thought that when Gu Miaoyu started dating someone, she would have to have a serious talk with that man about whether to be a ghost or not.

The next morning, Chu Qianmiao arrived at the company and met Qin Qianyu, Liu Lifeng, and Yan Yunqiang, all members of the Liya project team, in the conference room. It had been a while since they'd met, and the atmosphere was as warm as a family reunion.

Qin Qianyu engaged Chu Qianmiao in a nonstop conversation, not stopping until Liya's Qian Siji, Ke Mingjun, and the lawyer and accountant arrived. The accountant was Tang Jie and his supervisor. Chu Qianmiao and Tang Jie met, and another round of lively small talk ensued.

When everyone was gathered, Ren Yan came from his office, greeted everyone, and began to preside over the meeting, discussing a response to the feedback.

Chu Qianmiao flipped through the pile of feedback and discovered that the two issues highlighted were precisely the two most challenging issues for them to resolve on the project at the time: the proxy shareholding and the VAM agreement.

In their feedback, the regulatory authorities required the sponsor, lawyers, and issuer to provide detailed information on the reasons for the proxy shareholding, whether it had been cleared, and whether there were any potential disputes. They also required the background reasons for the VAM agreement, its content, its implementation, and whether there were any potential disputes. The regulators required the issuer to disclose these details truthfully and refrain from making false statements.

Chu Qianmiao looked at the two pieces of feedback and thought, Ren Yan was right. The two issues they had initially struggled with were indeed the key issues. She looked up at Qian Siji's expression. His former indifference was no longer visible on his face. The issues he had once considered minor were now listed in the pile of feedback. If any one of them was not answered correctly, Li Ya would have no chance of going public. He had learned the importance of the situation and had become obedient to Ren Yan's advice, no longer resisting.

The companies and intermediaries discussed the regulatory authorities' questions for two days. The two people who spoke most frequently and offered solutions were Ren Yan and Chu Qianmiao. Later, Ren Yan became less vocal, leaving Chu Qianmiao to offer solutions to most of the questions, often highly feasible. After her proposals, everyone engaged in in-depth discussion, detailing, and refining them.

Ren Yan only stepped in for exceptionally difficult problems.

Chu Qianmiao felt she had truly evolved, but it wasn't until Ren Yan stepped in, watching his calm and decisive resolutions, that she felt filled with admiration, yet also realized she still had much to learn.

She watched him, seated at the center of the conference table, effortlessly solving each challenging problem and presenting it to the audience in a simplified manner. Dressed in a suit and tie, he commanded the meeting with a commanding presence. She felt no one looked more handsome in a suit than he did. Even the way he gestured while speaking was impressive. His phalanges were so symmetrical, his fingers so slender, that anything he touched could be transformed into a work of art.

After solving a problem, Ren Yan looked up and said, "This is my general idea. Manager Chu will handle the details." Chu Qianmiao was watching him. His gaze met Chu Qianmiao's.

Chu Qianmiao quickly looked away.

She thought it was strange. Just before their eyes met, her mind had been preoccupied with work. Even if she found him handsome, it was because of his exceptional professional skills.

But the moment his gaze met hers, it was ruined. She almost forgot what he had said.

She felt so bad for being so unprofessional, and mentally slapped herself.

She focused her attention and returned to the problem. She then fleshed out the solution he had just proposed, one by one, her thoughts clear, organized, and thorough.

After she finished speaking, Tang Jie couldn't help but say, "Mr. Ren's solution was excellent, and Manager Chu's implementation was flawless. This was probably the most efficient feedback-response meeting I've ever had."