Chapter 3: The King of Saying One Thing and Meaning Another

Peking Union Medical College Hospital’s inpatient department was right in Dongdan, very close to the company. After work that evening, Ning Meng walked directly to the hospital to visit Tang Zhengwang, his wife, and their son, all three of whom had been hospitalized after the accident.

When Ning Meng found Tang Zhengwang, she clearly saw him shudder the instant their eyes met.

He looked like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, as if Yang Bailao had suddenly found himself cornered and hunted down by Huang Shiren.

Ning Meng hurried to show some humanitarian concern. She put down the fruit she had brought and explained why she was there. “I heard that you, your wife, and your son were all hospitalized here, so President Lu asked me to come over right away and check on you. How is everyone recovering?”

Tang Zhengwang’s eyes immediately reddened. “The two of us old folks are basically fine now. It’s just my son… He suffered an intracranial injury and is still suffering in the ICU!”

Ning Meng was moved. She only looked calm on the surface. Deep down, she was overflowing with maternal instinct—so much so that if anyone dared call her ‘Mom,’ she would dare go straight out and file the adoption papers.

Faced with Tang Zhengwang’s deep love for his son, Ning Meng felt so heartsick that she could practically squeeze herself into a puddle of lemon juice.

“President Tang, are you having any difficulties in your daily life?” Ning Meng asked.

Tang Zhengwang’s lips moved several times before he finally summoned the courage to speak. “We can manage the difficulties in our daily lives. It’s the problems with the business…” He paused, sighed, and then simply poured everything out in one breath. “With everything that has happened to my family, to be honest, several major deals at the company have been delayed, and we’re having some temporary cash-flow problems. I know the term of your investment has already come due, but given our current situation, it really is… How about this, Secretary Ning? Please help me say a few words to President Lu. Give me three months, and I promise I can get the company back on track! I know that sounds like an empty promise, but please, you really have to believe me…”

The more Tang Zhengwang spoke, the more agitated he became, almost as though he were about to grab a knife, cut open his chest, and pull out his heart for Ning Meng to inspect.

Ning Meng interrupted him and stated clearly, “President Tang, I’m not here to collect a debt. I’m here to bring you money.”

Tang Zhengwang froze on the spot.

Ning Meng continued, “The truth is, President Lu still has confidence in your company. He’s willing to wait a little longer and look for a suitable opportunity to exit once the company’s situation improves. Before that, in order to help you cover the funding gap, President Lu is willing to help you secure some working capital through debt financing.”

The moment Tang Zhengwang heard this, he burst into tears.

“Thank you! Thank President Lu! Thank you, Secretary Ning! Thank you! To meet investors as thoughtful as you… I truly… I truly would go through fire and water for you!” He wiped away his tears with his fingers and solemnly told Ning Meng, “Secretary Ning, please make sure you tell President Lu this for me. Whether or not he remains my investor in the future, as long as he ever needs my help, I, Old Tang, won’t hesitate for a second. I’ll charge ahead and risk everything for him!”

By the time Ning Meng left the hospital, it was already dark. She casually ate a bowl of noodles at Yonghe King, then boarded a bus.

There happened to be an empty seat in the last row. Ning Meng walked over and sat down, resting her head against the window as she watched the familiar sight of congested traffic outside while the bus crawled forward in fits and starts.

It seemed as though this place was always stuck in traffic.

Whenever project partners came over to discuss business, they could never resist complaining to her, “The Wangfujing-Dongdan area is ridiculously congested! I left two hours early and still almost arrived late!”

But every time, they would also say enviously, “Well, no wonder. This is the center of Beijing, after all. Any company that can set up shop here must be seriously impressive! And anyone who can work here must be one of the industry’s top elites—just like you, President Ning!”

Leaning against the window, Ning Meng smiled faintly.

What a cruel misunderstanding.

What did all that prosperity and glamour, all that elite brilliance, have to do with her? She wasn’t ‘President Ning.’ She was only a secretary.

Outside the window, a Maybach glided past. Ning Meng instinctively straightened up and raised her head. After seeing the license plate clearly, she realized it wasn’t Lu Jiming’s car. She rested her head against the window again.

Then she laughed at herself.

She really was becoming neurotic from work. The moment she saw a Maybach, she assumed Lu Jiming was passing by and that she would soon have to start another battle of wits with that man suffering from chronic Boss Syndrome.

She leaned back against the window. As the bus rocked and lurched through the stop-and-go traffic, bathed in the orange glow of the streetlights outside, she found herself wondering what kind of person Lu Jiming really was.

If there were rankings for saying one thing while meaning another, this guy would definitely be max level. His mouth was sharper and more piercing than the tip of a knife, yet his heart was as soft as a slab of hot tofu. He looked incredibly difficult to serve and like a complete bastard, but when you thought about it carefully, he actually seemed to be a pretty decent person.

Ning Meng quickly gritted her teeth and overturned the conclusion that ‘Lu Jiming is actually a decent person.’

After Ning Meng got home, she read some professional books for a while and took a shower. By then, it was almost eleven o’clock.

She turned off the lights and got ready to sleep.

Just as she was about to drift off, her phone rang piercingly.

Ning Meng picked it up and saw Lu Jiming’s number on the caller ID.

Her heart gave a jolt. She suddenly felt that seeing a Maybach from the bus earlier that evening had been an ominous sign.

Sure enough—

Once she answered, the voice coming through the receiver was not Lu Jiming’s. “Hello? Little Ning Meng? I’m one of your boss’s buddies—we’ve met before! Your boss has had some drinks and he’s a little dizzy, so he can’t drive! I’ll send you the address in a second. Hurry over and pick him up, and pay the bill for him while you’re at it, okay?”

Without giving Ning Meng any chance to refuse, the call ended instantly. Then a text message containing an address stabbed glaringly into her inbox.

Ning Meng stared at the message, gritting her back teeth and breathing heavily through her nose.

Just a moment ago she had thought he was a decent person. Ha! Decent, my ass! Scumbag!

Ning Meng forcibly dug herself out of bed and took a taxi to a bar in Sanlitun.

She ground her teeth the whole way there. She hated herself for being unable to simply open her mouth and say no.

Why couldn’t she refuse? How many times had this happened already? After being dragged into this again and again, she was practically acquainted with his entire circle of disreputable drinking buddies.

She thought that perhaps it was because she hadn’t firmly refused the very first time Lu Jiming asked her to do something like this. With some things, if you failed to say no cleanly and decisively the first time, you might never be able to open your mouth and refuse again.

Ever since that first night when she had gone to a bar in the middle of the night to fish him out and take him home, she had only encouraged his rotten habit of Boss Syndrome, making him more and more justified in believing that he could order her around not only during working hours, but after work as well. As long as he occasionally gave her a raise for no particular reason, every outrageous demand somehow became part of her job.