Du Tong felt like he was done for, but made one last desperate attempt. "How is that possible! It's not like I've never met President Yan. How could this little brat possibly be him! Stop joking... how could I not recognize the chairman of my own company?"
Su Jin narrowed his eyes. "You don't read the messages in the work group, do you? Ignoring work messages during office hours-did you drop dead at your desk?"
"Huh? But... I!" Du Tong hurriedly pulled out his phone. The receptionist had posted a message in the group half an hour ago.
Attached was a photo of Xia Shule: The new chairman is here for an inspection. Everyone, be on your best behavior!
"Fuck..." Du Tong lowered his phone in defeat. His legs went weak, and he could barely stay upright. He knew he was finished... "President Su, President Su, I've created so much value for the company. Surely you can't just fire me on the spot?"
Du Tong shot Xia Shule a resentful look.
Wasn't this all because he hadn't said anything? If he'd told me, how could any of this have happened? He must be looking for a scapegoat to establish his authority after taking over!
"President Su! President Su, he must have done it on purpose! He deliberately set me up!" Seeing that Su Jin was unmoved, Du Tong swallowed his pride and begged. "Chairman Xia, Chairman Xia, please don't do this. I've really worked hard! You've made your point, so please let me off?"
Sweat poured off Du Tong. Du Jianhao had never seen anything like this and stood beside him, not daring to say a word.
Didn't Uncle say he was close to President Su? What was going on?
"Worked hard?" Xia Shule found that absurd. "Then tell me how this ugly nephew of yours got in here. I thought someone had brought in a platter of pig's head meat."
Su Jin edged away from the two slabs of pig's head meat in disgust. The chairman had already spoken, so what fucking good would begging him do? They should have known better than to provoke him, instead of refusing to face the consequences afterward.
He called HR to arrange for the few people who would be "going solo" to leave. In other words, they were getting fired.
Song Dimu shook Xia Shule's arm. "Come on, let's go. I'll take you to the hospital. You've lost so much blood!"
Just looking at all that blood made his legs weak, yet Xia Shule still had the energy to stand there trading barbs!
Xia Shule let Song Dimu pull him along, following whenever he tugged without resisting. As they passed the Du Family's uncle and nephew, he said, "Don't worry. Not only am I not letting you off, I'm going to take it even further. This won't end with you getting fired~"
Xia Shule smiled, an almost obsessive viciousness in his eyes. He looked a little unhinged, but returned to normal a moment later.
After the two left, Su Jin swiftly dealt with the matter. Before the afternoon was even over, Du Tong was officially out of the company and left with his nephew.
Clearly, though, neither of them accepted it. They simply had no choice in the face of greater power.
But they would accept it soon enough, because Xia Shule had already thought of a more entertaining game.
Outside the company.
"Why aren't we taking a taxi?" Xia Shule asked.
Song Dimu replied, "I drove here. I think it'll be faster."
Then he forcibly bundled Xia Shule into the passenger seat, proving much stronger than Xia Shule had expected. The air inside the car was fresh, without any smell of fuel or car air freshener.
The blood on Xia Shule's wrist had begun to clot, but his entire hand was stained red, making it look rather frightening. He found it strange that Song Dimu could afford a car given his circumstances.
Song Dimu seemed to notice Xia Shule's confusion. After all, he kept looking around the car.
Song Dimu explained, "This isn't my car. Jiang Gechen gave it to me so I could come whenever he called..."
His voice grew quieter as he spoke. A little kindness from Xia Shule, and he had already forgotten his lesson. In the past, Xia Shule would get angry whenever he mentioned Jiang Gechen.
"Oh." Xia Shule stopped looking around. He'd thought as much. How could a poor little thing like Song Dimu afford a car? "He's pretty stingy, then. This is all he gave you?"
Song Dimu glanced at him in surprise, then quickly looked away, afraid Xia Shule would notice.
He didn't dare say anything else and simply focused on driving, pressing the accelerator almost all the way down.
He was already used to driving at this speed. Whenever Jiang Gechen summoned him, he set a time limit and got angry if he didn't arrive in time. After enough trips, Song Dimu had learned to drive this fast.
Xia Shule noticed his wariness. "Don't worry about me getting angry. I won't get upset over Jiang Gechen anymore, and I won't make things difficult for you because of him again. About what happened before, I wanted to apologize..."
"No need to apologize!" Song Dimu interrupted loudly. "What you did today... already made up for everything before."
The moment Song Dimu saw that splash of red, he had already forgiven everything. People could call him pathetic if they wanted. In any case... he was deeply touched.
For the first time, someone had stood in front of him to shield him. He had long since grown used to being mistreated, only to suddenly find himself protected.
Xia Shule burst out laughing. "Has anyone ever told you you're a people pleaser?"
Song Dimu shook his head. He didn't know what that meant. All he knew was that when someone treated him well, he had to remember to be grateful.
No wonder he's the innocent little flower of a male lead, Xia Shule thought. This is what a real innocent little flower looks like. Those scheming fakes who look pure on the outside but are rotten on the inside just give the term a bad name.
The car fell quiet. Having lost so much blood, Xia Shule grew drowsy and had no energy left.
He had wanted to say something nice to Song Dimu, apologize, and have a heart-to-heart.
But now he couldn't even keep his eyes open.
At a traffic light, Song Dimu seized the chance to ask Xia Shule a question.
"Why didn't you tell him you were the chairman? Then he wouldn't have dared bully you..." Song Dimu's gaze drifted to his blood-covered wrist.
Xia Shule's eyes were hazy with sleep, but he still remembered to give a serious answer, even if his words came slowly. "If I told him, he'd treat me respectfully because of my position and status. But what about everyone else? What about people without any status? I'm teaching him not to bully people so casually. They might be someone he can't afford to offend. That way, he'll probably think twice before bullying someone again."
"You can tell someone a lesson over and over, and they won't learn. Let them experience it, and once is enough. We'll see if he remembers..."
Xia Shule fell asleep. Song Dimu stared at him, barely daring to breathe too loudly.
He seemed to understand a little why Xia Shule always had so many people around him willing to stand up for him, speak on his behalf, and even fight for him.
Had they been protected by Xia Shule like this, too?
But the Xia Shule he remembered was domineering, unreasonable, and expected the whole world to bend to his will. Jiang Gechen had even said Xia Shule was always ordering him around in high school.
Honk- A car behind them sounded an impatient warning.
Song Dimu snapped out of his thoughts and hurriedly drove on.
Xia Shule woke up on his own when they reached the hospital, perhaps thanks to his sixth sense. He got out and headed inside by himself, while Song Dimu, who had brought him there, scurried along behind him instead.
Xia Shule found Xu Wenchuan's office with practiced ease, knocked, and went in. He did that every time he visited. Last time, he'd been in such a hurry that he hadn't even knocked.
Xu Wenchuan: Guys, do you understand what I have to put up with?
Once inside, he found that Doctor Xu wasn't there, but a woman was. She was also wearing a white coat, so she was probably another doctor.
"And you are...?" The woman was sitting in Xu Wenchuan's chair.
"His patient. My wound reopened. Where is he?" Xia Shule was exhausted now, and his speech had become almost as terse as Yan Zhiyi's.
Hearing that this beautiful young man was only a patient, the woman inexplicably felt relieved.
"He's in surgery. Sit down and let me take a look."
Xia Shule obediently sat down. It didn't matter who examined him, as long as they fixed it quickly.