Chapter 32

Tang Yizhou heard this, the face blocked by his sunglasses and mask stiffened.

Huang Shiyu standing at the door looked startled; Xia Gong, didn't you hear clearly? Manager Tang of Lofty Heaven Capital, she told them to scram back where they came from.

???

Really reasonable? The office door was open; Xia Xi's harsh cold rebuke carried out, most staff outside heard it, secretly sighing: Xia Gong, this thorny rose is not easy to pluck.

Huang Shiyu, face pale, stole a glance at the man beside her, raised her volume and repeated: "Xia Gong, it's Manager Tang of Lofty Heaven Capital."

Xia Xi's attitude unchanged, still that aloof coldness of keeping people at a distance: "Don't mention Lofty Heaven Capital; even if he were the Manager Tang of Heavenly Capital, I'd tell him to get as far away as possible."

Huang Shiyu: "……"

Tang Yizhou: "……"

He came today to make amends; on the way he had imagined Xia Xi's possible reaction; now his guess became reality, he found nothing unacceptable.

Tang Yizhou strode into the office, instructing Huang Shiyu: "Close the door, I have something to discuss with Xia…… Xia Gong."

Huang Shiyu, under pressure, glanced at Xia Xi sitting behind the desk; she didn't know their grudge, surely there couldn't be any enmity? Otherwise, how could Xia Gong, such a good-tempered person, be so rude to Manager Tang? Hmm, definitely Manager Tang was at fault first.

Tang Yizhou saw Huang Shiyu delay closing the door, speechlessly twitched his lips; truly worthy of being Xia Xi's assistant—Xia Xi hadn't spoken, she didn't move a muscle.

Tang Yizhou had to close the door himself, blocking Huang Shiyu and others' view outside.

Staff in the lobby whispered to Huang Shiyu: "What did I just hear? Is he Manager Tang of Lofty Heaven Capital?"

"Probably Tang Yizhou, the heir of the Tang Clan."

"He came to discuss a project with Xia Gong?"

"Of course not! Someone of Manager Tang's stature would send an assistant or secretary for a project discussion; how could he personally get involved?"

"Didn't you see the flowers and luxury goods he's holding? Bet he's here to court our Xia Gong."

"How would Xia Gong know Manager Tang?"

Faced with all kinds of questions, Huang Shiyu looked bewildered, she shook her head and answered everything with "I don't know."

"Oh dear, Xiao Huang, you're too tight-lipped; we're just curious, we won't go around spreading rumors."

Huang Shiyu gave a bitter smile; she wasn't bluffing them, she truly didn't know.

"Are you all this idle?! Finished your work?! The company hired you to chat during work hours?!"

Gao Ge came out of the office, seeing everyone not doing proper work, gathering to gossip about Xia Xi, he instantly flew into a rage, firing off three rapid questions; instantly the whole lobby fell silent.

Everyone, like partridges, shrank their necks pretending to be busy.

Xiao Wu, is your rendering done?

Right away, right away.

Xiao Zheng, pack up, we're going to measure a client's house.

Let's go, let's go, we're leaving now.

Hey, my 3Dmax crashed, who's free to come help me check it?

Gao Ge glared at them, then took the documents to the CEO's office.

Since Xia Xi came to Broad and Elegant, the company's atmosphere has changed, becoming lax and unprofessional; if outsiders saw this, nine out of ten would think their company is incompetent.

*【33】 Xia Xi's private office, Tang Yizhou placed the flowers and gifts on the desk, reciting the prepared apology.

"Xia Xi, last Friday's incident was my fault; the situation was a bit chaotic then, I wasn't able to formally apologize to you, today I specially came to your office to show my sincerity in apologizing, hoping you could forgive me. Of course, if you don't forgive me, that's fine too; the decision is yours. But I still need to make it clear that Li ChengHai was indeed acting on my instructions; I only told him to delay and cause trouble for you during the project talks, to give you a little lesson, ideally scaring you into kneeling and begging for mercy..." Saying this, Tang Yizhou felt a bit guilty; his eyes behind the sunglasses flickered, he found the following words hard to utter, he exhaled before continuing: "I didn't expect that old baldy would really go through with it. I may have low standards, but I'm not completely without morals."

No matter what he said, Xia Xi remained unmoved, her eyes fixed on the computer screen ahead, treating him as if he were air.

Tang Yizhou scratched the back of his head, out of ideas.

After a few seconds of silence, he tried bringing up Xu Yanfeng: "I know what I did was excessive, I have no face to ask you not to hold a grudge. Sigh... but it's all because seeing Xu Yanfeng injured that day made me angry, losing my usual rationality, leading to this awful idea." Xu Yanfeng injured? Xia Xi seized on the key point in his words, her fingers hovering over the keyboard, she lifted her head and gave him a look.

Encouraged, Tang Yizhou spoke with vigor: "You didn't see the wound on his face that day—a long bloody scar; asking him how he got it, he wouldn't say; I only found out through multiple inquiries that he had drunk too much the night before and accidentally fell. Besides you, what else could be the reason for his drinking? As his close brother since childhood, I naturally took my anger out on you."

Xia Xi: "Which day?"

Tang Yizhou paused, then understood her question, recalled, and said: "September... the 13th, maybe."

Xia Xi fell into thought; that day she had indeed encountered Xu Yanfeng; more precisely, Xu Yanfeng went to find Su Jinru, and she bumped into him; when he left, his expression looked a bit hurt.

She thought she had misseen it, but it was actually true.

That night, did he go drinking?

Tang Yizhou saw her attitude seemed to loosen, he played his last card, taking off his sunglasses and mask: "After you left last Friday, Xu Er rushed to Penglai Fandian, without a word beat me up; look at my face he hit—after a weekend, the swelling hasn't gone down. These past few days I've tried to find him countless times, but he refuses to see me; our friendship is basically over."

Xia Xi followed his words, casually glanced at him, froze, pupils dilated, she was frightened.

What kind of bristly pig has come running here???

From her eyes, Tang Yizhou saw shock; he felt a bit hurt, silently putting his sunglasses and mask back on.

"Have you finished speaking? If so, you may leave." Xia Xi's gaze lowered slightly, returning to the computer screen, her fingers tapping away on the keyboard, she resumed work.

Tang Yizhou couldn't read her mind. Was she forgiving him or not?

He clearly knew Xia Xi wouldn't get past this; he and Xu Yanfeng could truly no longer be brothers.

For now, Tang Yizhou didn't dare to cling on; he worried that annoying Xia Xi would backfire, so he could only sigh and leave with heavy steps.

"Wait." Xia Xi called out to him.

Tang Yizhou thought there was hope, his eyes lit up, he turned to look at her earnestly, but she pointed to the flowers and gifts on the desk: "Your things, take them."

Tang Yizhou: "……"

Xia Xi, fearing he'd pester her again, plainly laid out her words: "I won't forgive you. But let this matter drop; you don't need to come find me again, and I won't have any involvement with you. As for your worry that I'll harm your brothers, rest assured—we have no relation now, and we won't in the future."

"I didn't mean it that way, don't misunderstand." Tang Yizhou no longer dared to meddle in their affairs; he would definitely not interfere anymore: "Gifts sent out aren't meant to be taken back; these things represent my sincere apology to you—if you don't like them, just give them away. You're busy, I won't disturb you, goodbye."

Tang Yizhou left in a flash after saying that.

Xia Xi rubbed her brow, feeling a headache.

Tang Yizhou left the office, walked through the lobby; the staff seemed busy, but were actually sizing him up with peripheral vision.

Huang Shiyu followed to see him off, saying: "Manager Tang, take your leave."

Tang Yizhou abruptly stopped, stared at her for a moment, and crooked his finger at her.

Huang Shiyu pointed at her own nose, and Tang Yizhou nodded, meaning: it's you, come over.

Huang Shiyu hesitated and stepped forward, her tone very respectful: "Manager Tang, may I ask if there's anything else?"

Tang Yizhou: "Is Xia Gong's boyfriend Lu Mingji?"

He had heard Xu Yanfeng say that Xia Xi's current boyfriend was her boss. Since he could find where Xia Xi worked, it wasn't hard to know who her boss was.

Huang Shiyu exclaimed in shock: "What are you saying, Manager Tang! This kind of thing can't be spoken nonsense, we, Xia Gong, are still single; how could she possibly be a pair with Manager Lu. They're just an ordinary superior-subordinate relationship."

Tang Yizhou curled the corner of his mouth: "Are you sure they're not dating secretly?"

Xia Xi was Huang Shiyu's idol; hearing him say that about her idol, her face darkened: "Manager Tang, can you stop spreading rumors? Xia Gong told me herself that although she has a child, she is indeed currently single."

She and Xia Gong were chatting while waiting for someone at Penglai Fandian last Friday, during which they mentioned some personal relationship matters.

Tang Yizhou's eyes flashed with a glint, as if he had found a way to reconcile with Xu Yanfeng—by passing this crucial information to him! (End of chapter)