"Hey!"
Far from getting annoyed, Huang Xueli laughed when he heard that. He rolled up a sleeve, exposing half his bronze-colored arm, and made a threatening gesture at Liu Xinyu.
"You're that good at telling fortunes? If I knocked your eyes blind, you'd have a new source of side income!"
Liu Xinyu flinched in fright, scooted half a foot backward, and raised both hands in surrender. "I was wrong, Brother Huang, I was wrong! I was just joking, trying to liven things up."
Beside them, Zhou Qiang laughed so hard he nearly got a stitch. "All right, Liu Xinyu, stop provoking him. Even a police dog bites if you push it too far."
"Hahaha!"
The whole table erupted in laughter.
Only then did Huang Xueli settle back into his seat. He filled his glass, downed the liquor in one gulp, and smacked his lips. "At least you know what's good for you."
Zhou Qiang hurriedly steered the conversation back. His curiosity about this Third Brother was practically boundless.
"Liu Xinyu, ignore him. Keep going! What happened after you met?"
Liu Xinyu took a sip of soda water to moisten his throat.
"After that? Then it was time to talk business. I'd thought it would be a long tug-of-war-price negotiations, distribution, profit sharing... I had seven or eight plans ready in my head, all set to hash things out with them."
He paused, as though recalling the earth-shattering feeling he'd had at the time.
"But it wasn't anything like that. Those two, especially Third Brother, were practically a different species from other middle-aged men. Those old shareholders at my dad's company-which one of them isn't perfectly polite when they see me? 'Oh, young Mr. Liu is back!' 'So young and accomplished!'... They're polite, but you can feel that wall, that scrutiny