Offended to Death Anyway

The assistant quickly picked up the phone from the ground, reassembled the soft keyboard, fastened the clasp, installed the battery and back cover, and powered it on. After confirming it was still functional, he carefully handed it to Guo Siming.

Guo Siming froze, watching the assistant's fluid movements. Had he just thrown a Nokia phone?

"Where the hell did you get a Nokia?"

The assistant quickly replied, "I bought it downstairs just now. My previous phone was broken..."

"Call Director Guo," Guo Siming said.

The assistant quickly dialed the number and handed the Nokia to Guo Siming.

As night fell, Chen Mengchuan stopped his fingers from the computer he'd been sitting at for a long time, stretched his arms, and walked out of the room. In the courtyard outside, Zhao Wanyu was sitting in a chair, gazing at the night sky.

Chen Mengchuan walked over and cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Good evening, Brother Chuan."

"What are you looking at?"

"The stars in the sky. You can't see a sky like this, with stars like these, in Shanghai City," Zhao Wanyu said with a smile.

Chen Mengchuan also looked up. The sky tonight was almost cloudless, and the stars were scattered cleanly and sharply across the dark night, a breathtaking sight.

"Have you been to Balagetu Village before, Brother Chuan?" Zhao Wanyu asked with a smile.

Chen Mengchuan shook his head, unsure how to explain. He simply replied, "This is my first time here."

"Have you been to Qinghai before then?" Zhao Wanyu asked again.

"This is also my first time," Chen Mengchuan smiled. As he spoke, he found several constellations in the sky.

Zhao Wanyu turned around and looked at him seriously, pondering his familiarity with everything here: the airport, the vocational school, the guesthouse, those poplar forests, and this Wutumeiren Township, this Balagetu Village, and Ayase Sonoko. He knew it all so well, so naturally.

Was he lying? Zhao Wanyu frowned slightly, but then she thought of Ayase Sonoko and what Chen Mengchuan had told her at the airport: "Someone very important to me."

What... was going on? Zhao Wanyu didn't speak again, just quietly watched the brilliant, countless stars in the night sky.

"Miss Zhao, do you have a way for me to meet with your Manager Xu and Manager Toni?" Chen Mengchuan shifted his gaze back to Zhao Wanyu. These two giants of KeDa Intelligence were among the top figures in the global artificial intelligence field. If he could meet them, Chen Mengchuan believed he might have a chance to persuade them to join his team.

Zhao Wanyu also looked away and smiled, "If I can arrange for you to meet them alone, how will you repay me?"

"How do you want me to repay you? As long as it's not by marrying me, we can discuss anything else," Chen Mengchuan joked with a smile.

"Hmph, you sure think highly of yourself," Zhao Wanyu's face flushed slightly, though it was hard to tell in the darkness.

Chen Mengchuan smiled, "Then what do you want?"

Zhao Wanyu shook her head. She didn't know what she wanted herself. She had never lacked anything since she was a child, yet it felt like she lacked everything. If there was one thing she wanted now, it was to understand how Chen Mengchuan, who had never been to Qinghai, Wutumeiren Township, or Balagetu Village, and had never met Ayase Sonoko, could be so familiar with everything here. This was probably what she wanted to figure out, what piqued her curiosity.

She sighed softly, smiled at Chen Mengchuan, and didn't answer.

In the industrial park of Su City.

Late at night, in a Zangsu Mutton Noodle Restaurant, only Sun Zhongyong and Gu Xiaoxiao were left eating noodles and chatting.

"Did he really say that?" Gu Xiaoxiao asked, taking a sip of soup with a smile.

"What are you saying, does your brother... ever lie to you?" Sun Zhongyong said while eating noodles.

"Then should I go to Shanghai City and submit my resume? Maybe I'll actually find a company willing to offer a million-dollar annual salary," Gu Xiaoxiao picked up a small strand of fine mutton noodles with her chopsticks, blew on it, and ate it.

"A million-dollar annual salary? With your temper, you probably wouldn't last half a month before quitting."

Gu Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes, pushed her hair back with her hand, and lowered her head to eat noodles.

"What's wrong, still not convinced? Hmph, 30,000 yuan is already a lot. You just focus on helping Mengchuan get the supercomputer up and running, put your heart into it, and see if there's a chance to get even a small fraction of the shares," Sun Zhongyong said earnestly.

"You're that optimistic about Chen Mengchuan?" Gu Xiaoxiao couldn't quite understand her cousin's decision to gamble 100 million on one person.

"What's the current market value of American Fruit Company?" Sun Zhongyong asked.

Gu Xiaoxiao was stunned, "900 billion US dollars. Do you think Chen Mengchuan can run a company to the level of Fruit Company?"

"I don't know, but I'm willing to believe he can do it?"

"Brother, are you crazy? What kind of love potion did Chen Mengchuan give you? Or do you have some unspeakable secret deal?" Gu Xiaoxiao complained.

Sun Zhongyong rolled his eyes and said nothing, just continued eating his noodles.

"My dear brother, that's 15 million US dollars, gambling on a slim chance. I really don't know what to say to you. Anyway, now that it's come to this, we can only work hard to run the company. Do you have any news about him? Where did he go?" Gu Xiaoxiao asked while eating.

"Where he went, I don't know, but it's definitely not to Xia Science Academy," Sun Zhongyong replied.

"How do you know?"

"Because he told me to extort Xia Science Academy," Sun Zhongyong said with a very satisfied smile.

"Hmm? Extort Xia Science Academy? You guys are quite bold, extorting even Xia Science Academy. Aren't you afraid of being 404'd? Tell me, how did you extort Xia Science Academy?" Gu Xiaoxiao's spirits immediately lifted upon hearing such an exciting topic.

Sun Zhongyong briefly explained the whole story to Gu Xiaoxiao.

"You plan to extort Guo for 6 million?" Gu Xiaoxiao's eyes widened, as if she was meeting her cousin for the first time.

"It's to vent some anger for Mengchuan. According to Mengchuan, that Guo guy is loaded, and 6 million is just pocket change for them. Consider this money as a decoration fee from Guo," Sun Zhongyong said with a smile.

"Uh, brother, why don't you call that Guo Siming again and ask him to add another 10,000 US dollars and get me a computer too?"

"That doesn't seem right, adding more?"

"You've already added one, so adding another doesn't matter. We've already burned that bridge anyway," Gu Xiaoxiao egged him on.

"Alright, I'll call him then." Sun Zhongyong pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

In Xi'an City, after hanging up Guo Siming's call, Sun Zhongyong slammed his phone against the wall. The Nokia shattered into pieces once again. "Chen Mengchuan, you're going too damn far!"

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