“Just some small accessories and shopping cards that girls like,” Zhou Mo smiled. “Deputy Tang, no need to be so nervous.”

Tang Yao remained silent.

The waiter brought the hot pot and lit the fire, asking, “Anything else you need?”

Tang Yao and Zhou Mo: “No.”

The waiter nodded to both of them and left.

Zhou Mo pulled on the cord beside the table, and bamboo curtains immediately dropped down on all four sides for soundproofing. One of them seemed to hit something on the railing, making a faint noise.

The restaurant was noisy, and neither Tang Yao nor Zhou Mo noticed.

With the quiet space created, Zhou Mo no longer beat around the bush.

“I’m not at Hui Shang anymore. I switched jobs in June and now I’m in charge of real estate risk control at the Jiujiang Group,” Zhou Mo said. “After the New Year, our company plans to acquire that piece of land by the river to build the ‘Riverside City’ commercial district. The commercial area will drive the development of surrounding industries, turning that barren land into a core business district that will overshadow Xinguang Paradise and Century Plaza.”

Tang Yao smiled faintly: “Have property developers’ concepts for hyping house prices become so sophisticated now?”

“Be a bit friendlier, junior,” Zhou Mo wasn’t bothered.

His glasses were purely decorative. He took them off and casually cleaned them: “There are many restrictions on loans for commercial housing. We want to go the route of building an eco-park to get the loan approved first, so we’ll need Deputy Tang to be lenient when the time comes.”

Remembering something, Zhou Mo sincerely added: “The cookies are just a meeting gift. Our loan application amount is 70% of Riverside City’s estimated value, between 2-2.5 billion. Once the loan is released, we’ll immediately give Deputy Tang…”

Zhou Mo exposed his left hand and used his right hand to write a “2”, a “7”, and finally a “0” on his left palm.

It wasn’t meant to be 270 yuan.

It was 2 followed by 7 zeros.

Tang Yao’s brow furrowed imperceptibly, then relaxed: “It’s not about whether I’m lenient or not. If the conditions are met, it will naturally pass. If not, adjustments need to be made,” she pushed the cookies back, “I’m sorry, but I really can’t accept this.”

Zhou Mo persuaded: “I work for Jiujiang, you work for Hui Shang. We’re both high-level employees at the end of the day. Why make things difficult for each other?”

Tang Yao’s expression stiffened slightly: “Am I making things difficult for you, or are you making things difficult for me?”

“When I give, it’s goodwill. When you don’t accept, naturally it’s making things difficult,” Zhou Mo also composed his expression, with some deeper meaning, “I said, I brought these for several friends.”

Equally “bountiful” cookies.

Possibly for Gan Yiming, possibly for the higher-ups of A City’s branch, and possibly for even more people.

In this circle, many end up in prison, many walk a fine line, and even more, spend their entire lives unable to rise from management trainees to financial workers…

Tang Yao’s gaze fell on the cookie box in front of her, slowly closing the lid that was previously ajar: “I don’t like it.”

Zhou Mo: “We’re not kids anymore. Refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit might not be so good.”

Tang Yao: “I don’t drink.”

Zhou Mo: “You may not drink, but I don’t believe Deputy Tang has ever attended a drinking party that couldn’t be refused.”

Tang Yao turned to grab her bag: “I’m sorry, I’m not feeling well. I’ll leave first.”

Zhou Mo pulled the cord, rolling up one of the sound-proofing curtains: “It would be impolite to let a lady go home alone. I can call a friend to escort you.”

As Zhou Mo finished speaking, Tang Yao’s movements stopped.

Through the unobstructed angle, Tang Yao saw four men in black standing at the entrance, seemingly chatting casually. But when Zhou Mo pulled up the curtain, it was as if they had gained a new field of vision, their hawk-like gazes colliding with Tang Yao’s.

Tang Yao’s back suddenly trembled.

“Why don’t you stay a bit longer, Deputy Tang?” Zhou Mo carelessly put some vegetables into the pot.

The surrounding noise was deafening, yet Tang Yao felt as if she was alone in this restaurant.

Tang Yao’s throat bobbed, her fingertips gripping her bag strap turning white, then, she sat down.

A few meters away, the screen in front of Jiang Shiyan was flickering intermittently. He couldn’t hear or see clearly what the two were saying, but as if sensing something, he frowned and wanted to go over. Cheng Siran reached out to stop him: “You can’t hear anything, what’s the point of rash action? Go back and watch the recording.”

Meanwhile, Tang Yao took a deep breath and composed herself: “I once considered you a senior schoolmate.”

Zhou Mo: “I also considered you a junior schoolmate.”

Tang Yao: “Can we leave some leeway for each other?”

“You’ve given me an impossible request.” Seeing Tang Yao’s silence, Zhou Mo pushed the cookie box over again, his tone much softer, “Among our batch of management trainees, you’ve risen the fastest, with a bright future ahead. But you must understand, if a pot of soup is all murky, a drop of clear water in it becomes meaningless—”

“You should know about my father,” Tang Yao interrupted Zhou Mo, changing to a casual tone, “He was in ‘Touching China’ last year.”

A railway expert, with outstanding contributions, enjoying a special allowance from the State Council.

Zhou Mo didn’t understand Tang Yao’s meaning.

Tang Yao spoke unhurriedly.

“When I was eleven or twelve, an uncle came to visit our home. At that time, my father was in charge of a project, and that uncle wanted to contract for building materials. He gave my father a piece of jasper brought back from Myanmar. My father refused to accept it, but my uncle insisted on giving it. In their dispute, someone accidentally broke it.”

Tang Yao said: “That piece of jasper was worth over 500,000 yuan, more than a decade ago. My father wanted to compensate him, but I was afraid of becoming like the protagonist in Maupassant’s story who spent a lifetime in hard labor just to repay a necklace. I cried and asked if we could pretend it never happened. My mother, in my impression, was someone who cared about fame and fortune, climbing from an ordinary teacher to an expert position at the time. I thought she would be on my side, but strangely, she was unusually determined to sell our house to pay the full amount, and she gave me a sound beating.”

Tang Yao chuckled lightly: “That was the first and only time I was ever beaten in my life. At that time, Teacher Zhou told me that self-discipline and self-restraint cannot be broken. Oh, by the way,” Tang Yao thought of something, “My mother shares your surname, Zhou Jingyu, and Zhou Mo, both surnamed Zhou.”

Zhou Mo’s eyelashes were half-closed, pushing the cookies towards Tang Yao again: “Only heaven and earth would know. It’s just friends meeting, putting a box of pastries in your bag, it’s simple.”

Tang Yao pushed back: “If you give it to others and they accept it, that’s their business. But I really can’t accept it,” Tang Yao used a particularly reasonable tone, “If you take it back, I’m the kind of person who fears trouble and won’t make a fuss. But if you insist on giving it…”

Tang Yao paused for a moment, “I’m now fully in charge of the initial review. I promise you, your application won’t pass the first threshold of the credit review department.”

Tang Yao’s tone was calm, but her attitude was firm.

Zhou Mo pushed the cookie box towards her, Tang Yao pushed it back, their gazes clashing in mid-air.

As they exerted force on the cookie box back and forth, it slid straight toward Tang Yao’s direction.

“Zhou Mo.” Tang Yao uttered, just two words.

The edge of the cookie box barely touched the table edge in front of Tang Yao.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

“Goodbye.” Zhou Mo put the cookie box back into his briefcase and stood up to leave.

Tang Yao nodded, watching him leave the store with rapid steps, getting into a car with the four men in black. The car started, turned the corner, and left.

The exhaust seemed to roll with the wind, blowing into Ziwei Pavilion.

Only then did Tang Yao realize that at some point, her back had become soaked with sweat.

She smiled bitterly. There was no jasper, no selling of a house for 500,000 yuan. She rarely talked about her family background, and she didn’t expect that the first time she mentioned it at work would be under such circumstances.

What she feared most was half-hearted acquiescence.

Unable to refuse outright, Zhou Mo’s mix of soft and hard tactics came on too strong.

Who knows how many people half-heartedly accepted the cookies, how many half-heartedly rolled in bed with someone other than their partner, how many had a second time after the first, like a bottomless abyss.

The table diagonally opposite was also empty now.

Tang Yao calmly withdrew her gaze, poured the chicken soup Zhou Mo had served her into the trash, and then, facing an empty seat, ladled half a bowl for herself from the pot, sipping it slowly in small mouthfuls.

The degreased black chicken soup was delicately flavored and fragrant, with a hint of freshness from the vegetables.

Tang Yao would normally find it delicious, but now the more she drank, the less flavor she could taste…

The soup boiled, cooled, boiled again, and then the fire was turned off.

Meanwhile, Jiang Shiyan and his companions in the car were trying to recover the screen recording. It kept freezing, and they repeatedly restarted it.

Half an hour later, Tang Yao called the waiter over to pay the bill. The waiter asked if she wanted to become a member, she said “No need,” and then tidied up for a while.

When Tang Yao left the store, it was past seven, and the sky had turned completely dark.

Cheng Siran, with his sharp eyes, saw her and directly pulled the disgruntled Jiang Shiyan out of the car.

Tang Yao had mild night blindness. As she was looking for her car in the dimly lit parking lot, suddenly someone – as if pushed by others – stumbled out from the side, staggered a couple of steps, and stopped in front of her.

Tang Yao looked up and saw Jiang Shiyan in his hip-hop outfit.

Before Tang Yao could process his appearance, she saw Jiang Shiyan pointing behind him: “It’s Cheng Siran and the others,” there was no one in the car, Jiang Shiyan stammered an explanation, “Cheng Siran and the others heard it was member’s day with discounts at this restaurant, so they said they’d come to eat. We didn’t expect you to be here too, just a coincidence…”

Tang Yao stared directly at Jiang Shiyan, not responding.

Jiang Shiyan suddenly remembered she had told him she was eating dinner here.

Jiang Shiyan immediately felt like slapping himself, but on the surface, he still smiled apologetically, sheepishly saying: “I was just wondering why the restaurant name sounded so familiar, turns out you had told me you were eating here. If Ziwei Pavilion’s business is so good, it must have a lot to do with its good name…”

The surroundings were dim, Tang Yao pressed her lips together, her eyes glimmering with tiny flecks of light.

Jiang Shiyan’s voice grew smaller and smaller, and finally realizing something, he changed his expression and clicked his tongue, his eyebrows immediately furrowing into a ‘川’ shape: “What did that Zhou Mo say to make you unhappy? Hm? Did he say you were fat or short? Where’s that annoying spirit you usually have with me? Couldn’t you retort if he said something about you? If you couldn’t out-argue him, couldn’t you call me over to scold him? You just let yourself be bullied?!”

Tang Yao still didn’t react, just staring at him steadily.

Jiang Shiyan got more and more angry, but couldn’t bring himself to vent at Tang Yao. He kicked a bush by the roadside, feigning fierceness: “Are you deaf when I’m talking to you? Who are you pretending to be a wooden man for? You’re usually so quick-witted it’s almost unbearable, how can you be so stupid in front of others…”

His chatter was noisy, but Tang Yao’s previously confused and helpless heart miraculously settled along with his tone.

“Jiang Shiyan.” Tang Yao called him softly.

Jiang Shiyan turned around: “What?”

Tang Yao gently tugged at the hem of his clothes, looking at him with those eyes full of soft light, then, Tang Yao bit her lip, asking softly and cautiously: “Can you… hug me?”

In that instant, Jiang Shiyan’s heart melted completely.

What anger could he have left, and what temper could he possibly maintain?

He looked at Tang Yao, asking with particular helplessness: “Can I refuse?”

The expression on Tang Yao’s face froze for a moment, “You can.”

She was about to let go of his clothes.

Jiang Shiyan smiled: “But I won’t.”

“Huh?” Tang Yao didn’t react.

“Come here.” Jiang Shiyan unzipped his down jacket, put his hands in both pockets and then opened his arms, using the open jacket with its slight warmth to envelop Tang Yao, hugging her into his embrace.