Chapter 1103: Thank You for Your Flowers

Although his contempt for Zhu Zhe was written all over his face, Chen Zufa still didn't dare to act tough in front of Wang Yan. With a luxury car worth over a million parked right there and Wang Yan being so tall and imposing, Chen Zufa simply lacked the courage to make Wang Yan unhappy.

So he explained somewhat awkwardly, "Although Zhu Zhe and I have already broken up, we are still friends in a sense, so I came to check on her. It wouldn't do to arrive empty-handed, so I brought flowers."

"You're not being honest; doesn't this bouquet cost several dozen yuan? If you had brought two jin of pork ribs instead, wouldn't she have enjoyed eating them much more?"

"Uh..." Chen Zufa didn't know how to respond.

Zhu Zhe watched the spectacle from the side, squinting her eyes with a happy mood.

Then Wang Yan continued speaking, "Perfect; I've always been buying pork ribs and have never bought flowers before. I imagine Zhu Zhe feels quite happy receiving them unexpectedly. I'll accept these flowers from you; thank you. Here, they're for you now. Although they aren't very useful, if you put them in your office with some water, they can decorate the place for a couple of days and give you a good mood."

"Thank you; I like them very much," Zhu Zhe said, looking up at Wang Yan.

Wang Yan looked back at Zhu Zhe, the two of them exchanging glances back and forth as if no one else existed.

So should I leave?

Chen Zufa felt nothing but disgust; he coughed once, forced a smile, and said, "Well... I won't disturb you any longer; I'll be going now."

Wang Yan looked back at him with an expression that clearly asked why he hadn't left yet, smiled, and said, "Thank you for your flowers."

Chen Zufa forced another smile, turned away shamefully, and left. When he reached the corner, he still had to turn back and glance at that pair of scumbags.

He couldn't figure out how Zhu Zhe had managed to get involved with such a wealthy person. In his view, Zhu Zhe was just someone who scrubbed toilets and wasn't worthy of him, which was why he had kicked her to the curb and ended their relationship.

Since he couldn't figure it out, he could only think about it in a way he could accept: Zhu Zhe must have met Wang Yan while working at the hotel; Wang Yan wanted to try something different, and Zhu Zhe had her eyes on Wang Yan's money, so the two scumbags hit it off immediately. Therefore, Zhu Zhe would definitely end up with no good outcome, having been used for nothing by him. Like flowers in a mirror or the moon reflected in water, in the end, it would all amount to nothing.

Thinking this made him feel much happier. Looking back at the pair of scumbags leaning against the luxury car and chatting happily, Chen Zufa spat a mouthful of saliva, left in anger, and felt heartache over the bouquet he had bought...

"Thank you for the flowers you gave me. Today I really relied on you; otherwise, I wouldn't have known how to get rid of him. If he had started pestering me, it would have been terrible," Zhu Zhe said, holding the bouquet and smiling. "After not contacting me for so long, he suddenly pops up; he definitely has bad intentions."

"He's either plotting against a person or plotting for money. The former means he can't find anyone to marry, and the latter means he wants to borrow money or get you to guarantee those black loans. Although this guy looks neatly dressed, he has shifty eyes and doesn't look like a good person."

"Although he tries to hide it well, I think he is very anxious. He sprayed perfume, but the smell of smoke on him is heavy; it's not the faint scent of tobacco described in novels, but the result of heavy smoking. His fingers are stained yellow from smoke, meaning he smokes at least two packs a day. He has bad breath, which is caused by multiple factors, most likely long-term heavy smoking and drinking combined with an extremely irregular schedule."

"I think there's an eighty percent chance he wants to scam money; he might even try to scam a person first before going for the money. He will definitely come looking for you again. Because of my presence, he will most likely just test the waters first by asking to borrow money from you. If he fails to borrow money, he will fiercely mock you and recount your past misdeeds. If anything happens, just come to me; you know I'm incredibly idle these days, so I'll have a chat with him then."

Zhu Zhe looked at Wang Yan skeptically: "I think you should become a detective who solves major cases. Are you really one? You only said a couple of sentences, yet you deduced all this? Is it true or false?"

Wang Yan wasn't saying this to Zhu Zhe because he had watched a drama series. Even if he hadn't watched any dramas, he could tell Chen Zufa's state at a glance; after all, he truly knew how to solve cases and had seen many people and experienced many things. His eyes were a ruler; they were fiery golden eyes. While it might be absolute to say this applies to anyone, it is true that the vast majority of people cannot hide anything from him.

"He will definitely contact you again; when that happens, you'll know whether what I said is true or false."

Wang Yan smiled and patted her shoulder. "I'm off; call me if anything comes up."

With that, he got into his car and drove away cleanly.

Watching Wang Yan leave, Zhu Zhe smiled, lowered her head to smell the fragrance of the flowers, and then carried the bouquet into the hotel...

At first, she didn't take Wang Yan's words seriously, but over the next two days, Chen Zufa began calling her frequently. He tried to talk about the past, but she wouldn't listen. Then he started saying that there was no possibility of a successful outcome between her and Wang Yan, claiming that Wang Yan was just playing around, and so on, urging her to wake up soon and turn back from the wrong path. Using this as a pretext, he hinted at his desire to get married, thinking he could just make do with Zhu Zhe.

Zhu Zhe was so angry she laughed; she hung up the phone and immediately blocked his number...

But Chen Zufa did not give up; just like in the original drama, he showed up at her door on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, he was lingering at the entrance of the apartment building, waiting for someone to go out so he could slip inside.

It was precisely while he was lingering there that he bumped into Wang Yan, who had been wandering outside for most of the day and had just returned.

He saw Wang Yan from afar and subconsciously wanted to dodge, but where in this place could he possibly hide?

"What a coincidence, huh..."

"Meeting you downstairs at my home is indeed quite a coincidence."

"Uh... haha... well, I was just taking a stroll," Chen Zufa made up a clumsy excuse. "I'll be going now; goodbye, goodbye."

"Why the rush?" Wang Yan grabbed the back collar of his shirt. "I've heard everything from Zhu Zhe; you really cursed me out, saying that wealthy men specifically play with women, that I took an interest in Zhu Zhe because I wanted to change flavors, and that once I was done playing, I'd kick her away. You said people like me aren't even human and should all be arrested and executed by firing squad to save living people from harm and avoid wasting air. You were thinking of getting Zhu Zhe to extract a sum of money from me and then marry you, right?"

"No, no, big brother, listen to me; I absolutely didn't say that. As you know, women are all small-minded; she must still be holding a grudge against me for initiating the breakup back then, resenting me, so she exaggerated the facts. What I said was that Zhu Zhe isn't worthy of you, big brother."

"Zhu Zhe is just relatively good-looking; what else does she have? No degree, no culture. Although she is currently the manager of the Housekeeping Department, that just sounds nice; in reality, isn't she just someone who scrubs toilets?"

"Now she's exaggerating again, telling you things I never said, hoping you'll take revenge on me. Big brother, do you still keep a woman like that? Think about it; you drive a Porsche and are so wealthy; what young, beautiful woman can't you find? What's so good about an old woman in her thirties who still can't get married? To tell you the truth, big brother, it's fine if you just play around with Zhu Zhe, but there's no need to take it too seriously."

Wang Yan shook his head with amusement, then slapped Chen Zufa hard across the face twice, once forward and once back, before kicking him squarely in the stomach, sending him flying into the landscaped flower bed at the entrance.

The change happened too fast for Chen Zufa to react. By the time he did react, all he felt was a ringing in his ears, a burning sensation on his face, and churning in his stomach.

He lay painfully in the flower bed: "Why are you hitting people? I'm calling the police."

"Fine, make the call; I'll wait with you."

Chen Zufa's face looked extremely ugly. Seeing Wang Yan standing there with his arms crossed, looking completely at ease, he became afraid. The luxury car worth over a million parked there alone created immense pressure for him. He also realized clearly that beating him up like this would merely cost Wang Yan a thousand or eight hundred yuan in compensation; but what if Wang Yan beat him again afterward? What if he found other people to beat him?

Although they had gathered a group of people to study marriage scams and money fraud, they couldn't deal with a wealthy person like Wang Yan. They didn't have the guts to make trouble for Wang Yan; if they truly had the guts, wouldn't it be better to directly kidnap a wealthy person like Wang Yan?

After calculating all this, he softened his stance, put his glasses back on properly, struggled to his feet, and said, "You really don't recognize a good heart when you see one; I just won't bother arguing with someone like you."

"Let me make this clear to you: let today be the last time. If you dare to harass Zhu Zhe again, it won't be this easy. Now go."

"I just won't bother arguing with someone like you," Chen Zufa declared, engaging in spiritual victory again.

Wang Yan put on a fierce expression and made a move as if to chase after him and continue beating him. Chen Zufa was so startled that his legs churned rapidly; he ran a long distance in one breath. Only after confirming that Wang Yan was holding a phone and making a call without chasing him did he finally relax, but he still didn't dare to stop, fearing that Wang Yan might be calling people to deal with him, so he jogged away.

"Did you hear all that? Your taste in men really isn't that great," Wang Yan said, holding the phone to his ear.

Zhu Zhe's voice came through the phone: "Who hasn't had a moment of misjudgment? However, I truly didn't expect him to have become like this now."

"Arrogant and yet a failure in life, fighting against reality with his ego; he didn't manage to win that fight and instead fell into a vicious cycle of self-delusion. There's nothing particularly surprising about that."

"You really see things clearly; I didn't tell you anything, yet the moment you saw him, you figured out exactly what he said about you. That's amazing," Zhu Zhe praised, then continued, "After this incident, Chen Zufa probably won't dare to come again. Thank you, Wang Yan, for shielding me from a huge trouble. You haven't had dinner yet, right? Let me treat you to noodles tonight; I'll make my own zhajiang noodles. How does that sound?"

"Of course, that sounds great. Let's go to my place to cook; there's more space. Ye Zhenzhen and the others have just returned; I'll ask if they want to eat too, and we can all have dinner together. I'm downstairs right now; is there anything you need me to buy?"

"No need, I have everything; I'm preparing it now. Hanging up." With that, Zhu Zhe hung up the phone.

Both Ye Zhenzhen and Yu Chuhui watched Chen Zufa run far away. After Wang Yan finished his call, Ye Zhenzhen asked, "What's the situation? I saw that person's face turn red; did you hit him? What happened?"

"Zhu Zhe's ex-boyfriend; he's been harassing her recently. I happened to bump into him, so I just taught him a lesson; nothing major. If you want to gossip about the specific details, go ask Zhu Zhe yourselves."

Wang Yan smiled and said, "To express her gratitude, Zhu Zhe plans to show off her skills again tonight; she's making zhajiang noodles for dinner. Will you eat?"

"Of course we'll eat; Sister Zhu's cooking skills are excellent," Yu Chuhui said quickly.

Ye Zhenzhen also nodded repeatedly: "Exactly, we definitely have to eat; you didn't even need to ask. Who would refuse free food? Besides, Sister Zhu's cooking skills are quite good."

Chatting and laughing like this, everyone entered the building and took the elevator.

Inside the elevator, Yu Chuhui leaned against the wall: "Brother Yan, there's a question I'd like to ask you."

"Tell me about it."

"It's just that the leaders at my company are embezzling the fruits of our labor; they make us do all the dirty and exhausting work while they sit back and enjoy the results. What do you think we should do?"

"You've asked quite a few people, haven't you?"

"Yes, I've already asked Sister Zhu and Lucy."

"Their experience is sufficient; I don't need to say much more. It basically boils down to a few scenarios: First, if you have evidence, go over your leader's head and confront higher management to get your leader ousted. Second, talk to your leader; if you feel aggrieved about having no credit and no money, meaning the distribution of benefits is unfair, communicate with your leader and fight for your share. Third, say nothing, do nothing, and continue working diligently as before. Fourth, if you can't bear the indignity, just leave."

"What the two of them said should be roughly the same; regarding the order and combination of these options, you can decide for yourself."

"This is a plot point from the original drama; there's nothing much to add, so a polite reply will suffice."

"Of course, if it actually came to executing these plans, that would depend on Yu Chuhui's capabilities. If it were Wang Mou handling it, he would naturally have more options. If he couldn't even deal with a minor leader, what kind of life would he be living? He specializes in countering big brothers and leaders..."

"In the original drama, Yu Chuhui incited her other two colleagues to resist their leader, but they failed to handle it properly; the two colleagues were suspended from work, while she herself remained unaffected and continued working at the company."

"This was clearly very unethical behavior, displaying Yu Chuhui's character in all its glory. She was no different from He Minhong; both were equally detestable."

"However, later in the story, after those two colleagues resigned and found good companies, she jumped ship to join them. Together with those two colleagues, she performed brilliantly, earning considerable income and even receiving patent royalties."

"The two colleagues harbored no complaints; everyone united in sincerity, willingly following her command. Where does one even begin to reason with that?"

"Yu Chuhui was obviously very disappointed, but she still replied politely, 'Thank you, Brother Yan.'"

"No need for such courtesy. Just come up in a little while; we'll still be cooking at my place."

"See you in a bit." Ye Zhenzhen waved to Wang Yan and walked out together with Yu Chuhui.

"As the elevator doors closed, Ye Zhenzhen and Yu Chuhui exchanged a glance, then immediately scampered over to room 2202; opening the door and going inside, Ye Zhenzhen asked first, 'Jiji, what's this about an ex-boyfriend?'"

"Yu Chuhui also leaned in: 'That's right, Sister Zhu, tell us about it.'"

"What ex-boyfriend? I don't know anything about that." He Minhong, who was standing aside watching Zhu Zhe busy herself, was confused.

"Did Wang Yan tell you?" Zhu Zhe asked with a smile.

"Ye Zhenzhen shook her head: 'We happened to return at just the right moment and saw a man wearing glasses, covered in grass clippings, with a Ba Zhang Yin on his face, fleeing for his life. We asked Wang Yan what was going on, and he said it was your ex-boyfriend; if we wanted the gossip, we should ask you. Jiji, can you feel the flames of gossip dancing in my eyes?'"

"Yes, yes, Sister Zhu, please tell us quickly."

"Actually, it's nothing much; it's just that this ex-boyfriend thought I was a suitable marriage partner and wanted to settle down and marry me. Wasn't Wang Yan at work on Wednesday? I caught a ride with him, and when we arrived at our hotel, we happened to run into..."

"Zhu Zhe explained the whole situation, 'Then Wang Yan beat him up and told him never to harass me again. So now, since there are more people eating, we don't have enough ingredients at home; who wants to go out shopping with me?'"

"I'll go with you, Sister Zhu," He Minhong said, raising her hand.

"Let's all go," Yu Chuhui said. "We can buy some other things too, including alcohol; a little tipsy makes for good sleep."

"That suits me perfectly; wait for me to drop off my things at home. Jiji, Honghong, you two hurry up and change clothes." Ye Zhenzhen urged them, then whooshed out the door...