When the door was pushed open, Xiao Mo was standing with one hand braced against the edge of the table and the other gripping his cane.
The veins stood out on his hand.
He had already stood up and sat down several times.
He wanted to leave, but didn't dare.
Wang Xiaoliang sat across from him, saying nothing, watching him struggle.
Nuomi appeared in the doorway.
Her eyes and the tip of her nose were red, her forehead was covered in sweat, and her chest was heaving. She looked as though she had run all the way there.
She didn't enter.
She just stood there, looking at Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo's lips moved, but nothing came out.
"Xiao Mo."
She hadn't called him "Boss." She used his name.
"From now on, if you dare leave me, I'll kill myself right in front of you."
She paused.
"If you don't believe me, try it."
Xiao Mo glanced at her, then lowered his head.
Like a child who had done something wrong.
No one in the room spoke.
Wang Xiaoliang slipped his phone into his pocket, stood up, and walked unhurriedly toward the door.
There was nothing more for him to do.
At the door, he met Nuomi's eyes and winked.
Nuomi barely reacted.
As their shoulders brushed, Nuomi spoke very softly without turning her head.
"Thanks, Second Senior Brother. I owe you one. You can call it in anytime."
Wang Xiaoliang stopped.
"Buddy, we're square over everything before this. Neither of us owes the other anything. From now on, there's no need to keep score."
He said it plainly.
He knew just how much he and Wei Zijin had learned and benefited from working with Xiao Mo and Nuomi. What he had done today counted as repayment. From what he knew