So the two of them came over after all.
As soon as they entered the milk tea shop, they spotted Ji Xiangzhou. Ye Yang was the rougher, more outgoing one. He swung his schoolbag onto the table in front of Ji Xiangzhou. "I knew it! Brother Zhou, you wouldn't stand us up!"
Zhao Fei was the more reserved, steady type. He slowly sat down. "I thought you'd gone home with your guardian, Brother Zhou."
"So, Brother Zhou, who exactly was that beautiful woman who came to bail you out?" Ye Yang was dying of curiosity. He had brushed past Brother Zhou's guardian in the hallway earlier.
He had noticed that Brother Zhou's guardian was a gorgeous woman!
Long, wavy hair! She was even prettier than his brother's gorgeous girlfriend!
Zhao Fei had said the person who came to bail Brother Zhou out was his sister-in-law, but Brother Zhou had said he didn't remember having a sister-in-law.
So he was dying of curiosity! What exactly was the relationship between that gorgeous woman and Brother Zhou?
Zhao Fei was very curious too. Of course, what he was curious about was much the same as Ye Yang. As far as he remembered, he and Ji Xiangzhou had been good buddies for two years, but he had never seen him bring a guardian over.
And the first time one showed up, it was a knockout-a gorgeous woman!
"I'm curious too. So what exactly is your relationship with that beautiful woman?"
Holding his milk tea, Ji Xiangzhou slowly took a sip. Their excited reactions left him speechless. It was just one of his guardians coming to school. What was there to make such a fuss about?
There was a hint of coldness in the boy's eyes as he said slowly, "She's my sister-in-law."
Zhao Fei was puzzled. "Huh? She's your sister-in-law, but just now you were asking when you'd ever had a sister-in-law!"
Ji Xiangzhou said, "She's the wife my brother just married."
Ye Yang was rather oblivious, and he was also a sucker for good looks. Still caught up in the excitement of Brother Zhou's guardian being a gorgeous woman, he didn't consider why the younger brother hadn't known his older brother had gotten married. Instead, he said excitedly,
"Wow, Brother Zhou, your sister-in-law is so pretty! May I ask how it feels to have such a beautiful sister-in-law?"
Ji Xiangzhou went still for a moment and sank into thought.
At the mention of Ji Xiangnian's wife, the dozen or so minutes he had spent with Fang Ning replayed in Ji Xiangzhou's mind.
He felt no dislike or aversion toward her.
If he had to rank them, he felt a little more favorably toward this person who wasn't related to him by blood than toward the twins and Ji Xiangnian, who were.
Other than that, he had no other feelings. After all, she was just someone he had spent a dozen or so minutes with. What other feelings could there be?
No, there was one more thing. His first thought about this sister-in-law was that she had terrible taste. She had actually married Ji Xiangnian. Who knew what she saw in him?
So young, yet she insisted on choosing an old man like Ji Xiangnian. Wouldn't someone young and strong be better?
Ji Xiangzhou came back to his senses and said coldly, "Are you here to play games with me or to gossip?"
Only then did Ye Yang snap out of it and slap his forehead. "Oh, right! Talking about a beautiful woman made me forget all about that! Come on, let's play!"
Zhao Fei suddenly chimed in, "Brother Zhou, if I remember right, your brother's pretty old, isn't he? Why would that young, beautiful woman fall for your brother? Could she have terrible taste?"
Ji Xiangzhou said, "I think so too."
Ye Yang: "..."
Wait, Brother Zhou, is it really okay to talk about your brother like that?
Meanwhile, Fang Ning sat in the car and returned Ji Xiangnian's assistant's call, telling him about the situation at Ji Xiangzhou's school.
Hearing that Ji Xiangzhou's situation had been taken care of, the assistant said nothing else about it. They exchanged a few polite words and hung up.
In the United States.
Ji Xiangnian's negotiations with the foreigners had gone on for three or four hours and were almost over.
An hour later, Ji Xiangnian came out of the conference room. The negotiations that had lasted several days had finally ended, and the matter was settled.
Ji Xiangnian returned to the separate room in his office and changed out of his thoroughly soaked clothes before sitting down in the office again.
The assistant had worked with Ji Xiangnian for several years and knew his thoughts and temperament. He immediately knocked and went in to report on Ji Xiangzhou's situation. "Chairman Ji, regarding the matter at Xiangzhou's school, your wife just called and told me it's been taken care of."
"Xiangzhou's homeroom teacher didn't mention anything else. They only asked his guardian to make sure to tell him not to do anything dangerous like climbing over walls again."
Ji Xiangnian's hand paused briefly over the documents. In less than half a second, it resumed moving as usual. "Mm, as long as it's taken care of. Don't forget to increase Fang Ning's living allowance next month."
He and Fang Ning had clearly defined their contractual relationship and agreed that neither could interfere with the other. Now that he had asked her for a favor, he naturally had to give her something in return.
After the assistant finished reporting on this matter, Ji Xiangnian continued working on the documents. But the assistant showed no intention of leaving. He stood there, looking as though he wanted to say something but was hesitating.
He looked up and asked, "Is there something else? Is there a problem with the company back home?"
The assistant nodded and said in a businesslike tone, "Chairman Ji, there is something else, but it isn't about the company. It's about Xiangchen and your wife."
At those words, the assistant could clearly see a slight frown appear on that composed face. The fountain pen in his hand was set aside as well. "Xiangchen and Fang Ning? What could possibly have happened between those two?"
The assistant placed the information sent over from back home on Ji Xiangnian's desk. "Here's what happened. Today, Xiangchen and Fang Ning got into a fight on set and ended up at the police station."