The two walked out of the office and saw three people standing at the far end of the corridor talking. Li Weiyi first noticed Xu Yi, then her gaze was drawn to the woman in the middle.

She wore a professional suit, was in her thirties, had wavy curled hair, a voluptuous figure with curves in all the right places, and striking features with fair skin and red lips. Just standing there, she exuded a capable yet alluring charm.

Xu Yi held documents in his hand, saying something to the woman. In Li Weiyi’s eyes, the boss truly looked refined, humble, and progressive in his youth.

Beside them stood a middle-aged man in a suit—lean, serious, and wearing glasses.

“Who’s that beautiful woman?” Li Weiyi asked curiously.

After so many years, Zhang Jingchan was also slightly startled to see those two.

“The woman is Liu Ying, Marketing Director, a professional manager hired from outside. The man is Cheng Chuan, CFO. He’s my father’s brother—he’s been managing finances since Fu Ming was founded.”

What Zhang Jingchan didn’t say was that he looked down on both of them. In fact, from the perspective of the future Chairman Zhang, he looked down on most of his father’s ragtag team of old companions. Liu Ying was decent at marketing, but she was a relationship-oriented talent with limited actual marketing planning ability. And back then… there had been gossip about her and Zhang Moyun. But those were all baseless rumors. Zhang Jingchan had never believed them—he didn’t think such a woman could shake his parents’ relationship at all.

As for CFO Cheng Chuan, in Zhang Jingchan’s view, he was obedient but lacked professional expertise. Before Zhang Moyun made his fortune, Cheng Chuan had been just an ordinary accountant in a small company. He’d followed Zhang Moyun all the way up, and though he often made mistakes, he’d never caused any major disasters. If he had no achievements to his credit, at least he’d worked hard. Plus, Zhang Moyun absolutely insisted on placing his own person in the finance position, and he valued brotherhood above all, so Cheng Chuan had remained firmly in this position. Even though Fu Ming Group was now on the verge of collapse, Cheng Chuan still enjoyed a comfortable executive life.

For something as massive as Fu Ming Group to collapse in one fell swoop, there were many complex internal and external reasons. People were inevitably one of them.

Liu Ying saw them first. She smiled before speaking, her bright eyes looking at Li Weiyi: “Young Master Zhang is here? Is there something you need?” Then she chided Xu Yi teasingly: “You must have known. Young Master Zhang came and you didn’t say anything early—I could have greeted him.”

Then Liu Ying walked up to Li Weiyi, casually tucking her hair back. A faint perfume scent drifted to Li Weiyi’s nose. Liu Ying lightly folded her arms, her tone extremely soft: “Young Master Zhang, Chairman Zhang mentioned last time that you ranked first in your entire department again. What a young hero—the student truly surpasses the master! Fu Ming’s future will surely get better and better.”

If Li Weiyi really were a nineteen-year-old youth, being praised like this by a mature, beautiful woman would probably make him blush and his heart race. She glanced at Zhang Jingchan and saw his expression was as indifferent as water—suddenly understanding that he liked the young type like Cheng Ruiyan. So Li Weiyi copied his expression and said flatly: “You’re too kind. I came to look at some materials.”

Cheng Chuan also smiled and exchanged pleasantries with Li Weiyi.

Xu Yi stood to the side smiling throughout. But since he carried the boss’s aura in Li Weiyi’s mind, she smiled sweetly and said: “Brother Xu Yi, I’ve finished looking up the materials. Thank you.”

Liu Ying and Cheng Chuan both froze, quickly exchanging glances.

Xu Yi nodded: “Be careful on the road. Should I arrange a car for you?”

“No need, we drove here.” Li Weiyi glanced at Zhang Jingchan. “Baby, say goodbye to Brother Xu Yi and Uncle and Auntie.”

Liu Ying’s face stiffened when she heard the word “Auntie,” while Cheng Chuan just laughed good-naturedly.

Zhang Jingchan, who’d been called out, showed a momentary stiffness in his expression before uttering two words: “Goodbye.”

The Ferrari had just driven out of the group’s main gate when Zhang Jingchan sneered coldly: “Baby?”

But Li Weiyi had her reasoning: “What else should I call you? Darling? Sweetheart? We’ll most likely return to our own bodies in three days. Why would I call out my own name in public and create unnecessary trouble?”

“Call me Xiao Li!”

“Please, I’m currently the dignified Young Master Zhang at nineteen years old, not ninety-one. What did you normally call Cheng Ruiyan anyway?”

“Just her name.”

“Tsk… see, I told you that you weren’t good to her.”

Zhang Jingchan drove expressionlessly, not wanting to talk to her anymore.

——

Business at the clothing store hadn’t been good these past two days. In the evening, Li Xiaoyi told the manager she was leaving and walked toward a small restaurant nearby. Just as she reached the entrance, she received a call from Zhou Zhihao—he’d originally made plans to have dinner with her tonight but something came up at the last minute and he couldn’t make it.

Li Xiaoyi instinctively felt relieved. After spacing out for a while, she ordered herself an inexpensive clay pot rice and quickly finished eating.

She stood on the crowded bus, her tired body leaning against the handrail. Thinking of Zhou Zhihao again, her heart felt like a muddy swamp overgrown with weeds—confused and chaotic.

Everyone said this was a rare good match and urged her to marry him quickly. Even her parents already saw him as their son-in-law. Yet she’d never felt much for him.

When he pursued her aggressively, she would blush, feel nervous, her heart would flutter. But afterward, when she calmed down, she felt an emptiness inside. She knew that given her circumstances, this was marrying up. She thought that as long as he was sincere and would treat her family well in the future, she was willing to be with him.

The two had almost made it official, but two months ago, that young man named Zhang Jingchan had come and subjected Zhou Zhihao to a barrage of accusations. She knew the youth’s words had no evidence, but somehow, she began secretly observing Zhou Zhihao.

She hadn’t noticed any violence—Zhou Zhihao had never gotten physical with anyone in front of her. But she discovered that sometimes his temper was quite short. One wrong word and his expression would change, turning dark and scary… She’d mentioned this to her mother, but her mother dismissed it, saying that men without temper have no ability, and that given his good circumstances, his personality would naturally be somewhat spoiled.

So Li Xiaoyi hesitated again.

Lost in thought, a figure flashed through Li Xiaoyi’s mind.

A couple days ago, when she went to take out the trash, she’d seen that person walk out from his home in the distance. At that moment, Li Xiaoyi’s mind went completely blank. It wasn’t that she didn’t know he’d returned from military service, but she’d been leaving early and coming home late for work these past days—this was actually the first time she’d seen him.

A vague sourness welled up in her heart. They’d broken up years ago, and she had a boyfriend now. He was just an irrelevant person.

After getting off the bus, Li Xiaoyi remembered they’d run out of rice at home, so she made a trip to the supermarket.

——

After Li Weiyi and Zhang Jingchan left, Zhong Yi immediately went to hire a reliable distant relative to provide twenty-four-hour care for his father. He understood that only by going out and earning more money could his father receive better care and his own life break out of this predicament.

He didn’t want to waste a single minute. He just wanted to earn money and pay off debts quickly so he could stand before her. After much deliberation, he called several comrades-in-arms and chatted for hours, inquiring about some business opportunities for making money. But he didn’t rush to make a decision, because he only had one chance.