CEO is Picky but Handsome - Chapter 35

“Visiting is not allowed now, right?” Gu Xinzhang sneered at the person in front of him, “Money really does make the devil work.”
The visiting room was dark and humid, and the only warmth was the sunlight coming in from the small window overhead. However, at midday, the light was skewed, only reaching the door and then refusing to take another step.
It was the fourth day of Gu Xinzhang’s detention, and Huo Zhun had bought his way in to see him. They were seated across a long table from each other, and as soon as they were seated, Gu Xinzhang’s face showed mockery. Huo Jun was not surprised, and even felt that any reaction from Gu Xinzhang nowadays would be normal.
The person sitting in front of him wears a gray and blue prison uniform, and on his left chest pocket, his number is marked. The uniform is wide and large, and Huo Jun remembers that Gu Xinzhang has to go to the gym more than five times a week to ensure that his pecs and abs are in perfect shape, which is not visible nowadays. His hair is disheveled and his chin bears green stubble, and with his pale face and tired eyes, who could tell that this is the Gu vice president who took the social scene by storm in the past?
“I just went to the press conference. The total sponsorship was finally taken by us.” Huo Zhun said, “Yongkang Group was permanently blacklisted by the organizing committee and will never cooperate.”
Gu Xinzhang looks at him coldly and smiles.
Huo Jun is oblivious and continues, “The two people who met with you that night have been disgraced, but don’t worry, the newspapers didn’t mention your name, and you’ll be out in the future ……”
“You’re still willing to let me out? ” Gu Xinzhang snorted, “You’re not afraid that I’ll go out and retaliate against you?”
“It’s not like you committed murder, of course you can go out.” Huo Zhun said blandly, “As for retaliation …… hands are long on you, I can’t stop it.”
“Heh,” Gu Xinzhang’s body leaned back, tiredly leaning on the back of the chair, he had felt that he had countless reasons and strength to hate Huo Zhun, but now, a heavy sense of powerlessness was born, “You’ve long known about all these things that I’ve done, haven’t you. That night, the reason I was caught by the police was all because of you. Very well, I betrayed you, and you betrayed me once, we’re even.”
“Not even, the two of us will never be even. Gu Xinzhang, I trust you and treat you as a friend, even if you betrayed me, I would never do the same to you.” Huo Zhun forces his eyes on him without a split second, “The police have been watching you for a long time. The Yongkang Group is too unbridled, I warned you to stay away from them, but you didn’t listen. Even if you managed to escape this time, there will always be a day when you can’t.”
“Don’t give me political lessons, I don’t eat this.” Gu Xinzhang sarcastically says, “Huo Jun, I know what you came here for today. You want to know who’s standing behind me? Don’t worry, I won’t tell you.”
“I don’t care at all who is standing behind you, I want to know and will find out myself. I only came here today to visit my old friend and ask him why he betrayed me.” Huo Zhun looks at Gu Xinzhang painfully, “What favor did that man promise you that I couldn’t give?”
Gu Xinzhang doesn’t reply, he looks fixedly at the handcuffs on his wrists and just smiles. Only after a long time did he raise his head and say lightly, “He granted me the qualification to join the board of directors, and a position as an executive director.” He looks at Huo Jun, “Mr. Huo, you may be able to give the former, but the latter, I’m afraid you can’t.”
An executive director, that is, to take Huo Jun’s place. Huo Jun furrows his brows, puzzled, “You want to be the executive director? Why?”
“Why? Heh, you don’t understand why? Fifteen years ago, we entered the company together. Starting as interns, we climbed step by step to where we are today. We’ve made great achievements for the group, and we’ve worked hand in hand to resolve repeated crises. But Huo Jun, if it wasn’t for your marriage with Xu Yingchen, would you be president? If it wasn’t for the many promotions after you became president, would I be the executive vice president today?” Gu Xinzhang pauses and smiles bitterly, “It’s so unfair.”
“Those old men on the board of directors, who were only a little bit helpful to the group in the early days of the business, are relying on their past accomplishments to strut their stuff. Such as Xu Shenqing’s stream, they even relied on nepotism to enter the board of directors, and they can’t do anything but business. But it is such a group of people, but has the qualification to dictate the development of the group, and even easily deny the achievements of the staff. Huo Jun, I’m not you, I can’t stand my efforts being blamed by this group of people, I don’t want to be around them for a minute!” Gu Xinzhang agitatedly said.
“Even if you make it into the board of directors and become an executive director, you’re just standing in my position and doing the same thing as me.” In the face of Gu Xinzhang’s anger, Huo Jun is surprisingly calm, “What makes you think that you will do better than me?”
“How do you know without trying?” Gu Xinzhang grunts lightly, “I’ve had enough of sitting at the very bottom of the board of directors and listening in. It’s obvious that I’ve done a lot for the group, but just because I don’t have any shares, I’m going to be publicly humiliated by any mediocre and incompetent board member who humiliates me. Huo Jun, if you were me, you would also do everything you could to enter the board of directors and end these days.”
“There are many ways to get into the board of directors, you can just ask me directly, it doesn’t even have to be this complicated.” Huo Jun said.
“You promoting me to the board of directors is ultimately not in name only. Besides, what’s the difference between that and me sitting at the end of the table. I need a crisis, a crisis that’s enough to shake up the group, to pull you down from that position, with me showing up at the right time to save the day. That way no one will question me. Huo Zhun, back then, weren’t you the one who sat in the presidential position because you managed to save the group?” Gu Xinzhang smiles gently and slowly as he opens up, “If you can succeed, so can I. If the total sponsorship falls through this time, it will cause the group’s stock price to sink, and when the directors collectively lash out, in conjunction with other maneuvers, you won’t be able to keep this presidential position!”
Huo Jun looks at his friend in silence, in front of him, this man who has always been civilized is in a state of madness.
“But now ……” for a long time, Gu Xinzhang woke up from the beautiful dream of holding great power in his hands, the whole person has shriveled down at a speed visible to the naked eye, “Congratulations, Huo Zhun, you’re still the lofty president of the Lord, and I, I’m already a a prisoner.”
The fighting room suddenly silent, only the window eaves of the ice prongs spent water, drip drip drip, ding ding sound. Last night suddenly came the wind and snow, outside three feet of snow, traffic is limited. On the way here, several traffic jams, Huo Jun sat in the car, thinking carefully about what to say when he meets Gu Xinzhang later. But how to think can not think, racked his brain to the end, only feel ridiculous.
They have been friends for more than ten years, and they have never spoken in a ventriloquist’s style, and occasionally, they just laugh it off when they say the wrong thing. In this world, there are so many people that Huo Jun can feel free to boldly reveal his heart, Gu Xinzhang is even one. But since when have they been reduced to the point where they have to think for half a day before saying a word?
Outside the window of the car, college volunteers wearing thick cotton coats sweeping snow, occasionally tired of bending, ball of snowballs thrown towards the companions, playing for a while. Once upon a time, he and Gu Xinzhang had been this close, yet time rushed by and that was surprisingly in the past as well.
“Xinzhang,” Huo Zhun moved his lips, his voice dripping with infinite exhaustion, as if the battle of wits with his best friend had made him deeply tired and even disgusted, “Tell me the truth, why? Why are you so desperate to sell out the company when you could be doing just fine? Is it because I did not do enough? Is it that I …… did not notice in time that you wanted to enter the board of directors, so you feel disappointed? Tell me the truth.”
Gu Xinzhang’s eyes opened slightly, stunned.
“Half of what you just said is true, and the remaining half, I’m afraid you don’t believe it yourself. You do want to be on the board of directors, you want to be the executive director. But the reasons may not be what you said. Moreover,” Huo Jun lowered his voice, “cooperating with Rong Sheng is seeking skin with a tiger, even if you didn’t understand it at first, when Rong Sheng appeared, you should have known. But you didn’t stop, instead you chose to continue. New Chapter, why? Dissatisfaction with the board of directors isn’t enough to make you this way, tell me the truth.”
Gu Xinzhang didn’t answer, he lowered his head and repeatedly shook his hand. He was a little cold, his hands and feet had been cold since he met Huo Zhun. He knows he should have refused this meeting, but he can’t lie to himself, at the moment he learned that Huo Jun came to visit, he did, indeed, rejoice more than reject.
He should still want to see Huo Zhun, want to hear him speak, even if the moment that person opens his mouth, he will break down his own disguise.
“You really want to hear the truth?” Gu Xinzhang raises his head and looks at him askance, seemingly smiling.
“I want to.” Huo Jun said.
Gu Xinzhang’s hands folded under the table, forget it, he thought, it’s too bitter to carry this secret alone, so just ……
tell him.
“Because of you.” Gu Xinzhang smiled in a flash.
“Me?” Huo Jun doesn’t understand.
“Yes, because of you.” Gu Xinzhang raises his face and looks straight at him, “Because I’ve liked you for many years.”
Huo Jun’s expression froze.
“In college, we lived in the same house, and I liked you on the first day of school. You laughed at me for being a GAY, but when others mocked me for liking men, you were the first to stand up and help me punch back. Do you still remember the fights we had? We back to back, beat them full of teeth, and then together to help to the infirmary medicine, the lights off at night, afraid of the school in case of discovery to give us a demerit. At that time, I held you, I thought, those couples to the very old time, is this way to help each other walk, if you can, I would also like to hold you, to the very old time.” Thinking back to the past, Gu Xinzhang’s eyes showed nostalgia, “To this day, I like you for seventeen years, so far, half of my life has been taken up by you.”
“You like me, why didn’t you tell me?” As soon as he learns that Gu Xinzhang is brewing a betrayal of himself, Huo Jun has been speculating on his motives. However, he couldn’t think of a thousand reasons, but he couldn’t imagine that the real reason, was this.
“I told you, you forgot. Back then, when you graduated from college, your classmates had a dinner party. You got drunk and dragged me around saying that I was your best buddy. At that time I confessed to you, Huo Zhun, I love you, I don’t want to be your brother, I want to be with you in another way. But when you woke up the next day, you forgot all about it.” Gu Xinzhang laughs faintly, “You forgot that you said you agreed, you forgot that you swore by the sky that you would be with me for the rest of your life. You even wrapped your arms around my shoulders and called out my name. Huo Jun, over the years, I’ve watched you get married, have children, and become entangled with countless women, but I’ve always remembered that you said you’d be with me for the rest of your life. Until today, when I look back on the past, I feel that it was the happiest night of my life. I feel like my entire being is filled with hope, and as long as the next day dawns, my beautiful dream will come true.”
“I’m sorry, I ……” Huo Jun’s words were interrupted halfway through.
“You don’t need to apologize, this is something I’m willing to do. Didn’t you want to hear me tell the truth? This is the truth.” The secret that has been hidden deep for many years is once picked out, Gu Xinzhang is filled with relief as if she is relieved, “Huo Jun, I can’t wait for another seventeen years. I’ve always been inferior to you, and I’ve never been able to do anything but stand behind you and be your help. If you’ve always been the high and mighty president, then what awaits me is another seventeen years. Huo Jun, I want to pull you down from that position, so maybe our relationship will turn around. I naturally look forward to a turnaround, but if unfortunately you know that I’m the one behind the dragging of you down, then at least I still have money and status. You, or money and status, I have to have one of these things in hand in order not to lose, right? Otherwise, in my life, living is too much of a failure.”
The two didn’t speak again, they just remained speechless relative to each other, silently running out of time. When the police came in to take Gu Xinzhang away, Huo Zhun got up in a huff and tried to pull Gu Xinzhang’s arm. But the figure dodged past with a slight flash.
“Didn’t you want to know who was pulling the strings between Rong Sheng and me?” Gu Xinzhang stares blankly at Huo Jun’s arm hanging in mid-air and laughs lightly, “It was Xu Bin, Xu Shenqing’s eldest son. Xu Shenqing favored his youngest son and secretly made a will to leave him all the shares. Xu Bin was enraged, so he came to me for cooperation. Under Xu Shenqing’s name, it was convenient for him to do many things, and no one suspected him, so our plans have been going smoothly.”
Huo Zhun’s lower lip moves slightly, and only after a long while does he give a dry smile, “Thank you.”
“Don’t be polite, I’ve sold my teammates to you, you must remember my goodness and help me reduce my sentence.” Gu Xinzhang laughed.
“Don’t worry, I’ve already found a good lawyer, the best in this field, and will help you fight for an optimal result.” Huo Zhun said.
“That’s good.” Gu Xinzhang sidesteps his head, as if there’s some emotion he doesn’t want to be probed by Huo Jun to quickly hide by this one action, “Right, Huo Jun, can you promise me something?”
“What?”
“In the future, can I trouble you not to come see me, I really don’t particularly want to see you.”
“Good.” Huo Jun coughed, “I’m not coming. If you need anything, you can ask someone to send a message to me, I’ll ask Ye Ling to come.”
“No, no, no, don’t ask him to come either.” Gu Xinzhang waved his hand back and forth, “I actually lied to you when I said I would chase him. I actually hate him in particular.”
After saying that, Gu Xinzhang winked and walked out of the door of the visiting room.
Shortly after Gu Xinzhang leaves, Huo Jun also pushes open the door to the visiting room and walks out.
Someone is leaning against the door waiting for him, and when they see him come out, they smile and say, “Mr. Huo is here?”
Huo Jun’s expression is a bit despondent, however, standing in front of him is Officer Zhang who is specifically in charge of Gu Xinzhang’s case, which calls for him to quickly cheer up and politely reply, “Well, Officer Zhang has worked hard these past few days.”
Officer Zhang and Huo Jun have known each other for a long time, and although they are not familiar with each other, they both respect each other. Originally, when Gu Xinzhang was arrested, Huo Zhun still wanted to make some connections to avoid the forced confession routine, but as soon as he heard that the person in charge was Officer Zhang, his heart was instantly solidified.
“This is all proper, handling cases.” Officer Zhang pulls out a cigarette and casually hands it to Huo Jun, Huo Jun waved his hand and politely declined, he then turned around and stuffed it into his mouth, “How was Huo’s chat just now? Okay?”
“Fine.” The smell of cigarettes is inhaled into his nostrils, causing Huo Jun’s brain to stir.
“That’s quite good.” Officer Zhang inhales deeply and laughs, “Right, I heard that Mr. Huo hired the best lawyer in the industry to defend Gu Xinzhang, and that lawyer offered a sky-high price, but Mr. Huo agreed without batting an eye.”
“That’s right,” Huo Jun raises his eyebrows, “What?”
“Nothing, it’s just that I want to advise Mr. Huo on a word that I shouldn’t have come to advise.” Officer Zhang smiles, “Gu Xinzhang treats you like this, but you return the favor with kindness, and help him on the inside, and help him on the outside, which makes our case team brothers and sisters look very touched. However, I still want to advise you to think twice before hiring a lawyer.”
Huo Jun didn’t say anything, just raised his eyes to look at him.
“Yongkang Group has already issued a statement to terminate the labor relationship with the two people involved in the case. The case has been investigated so far, and apart from you, there hasn’t been a second person who has come to ask about Gu Xinzhang’s death, so it’s obvious that the people above Gu Xinzhang have already given up on him, and it’s easy for you to get yourself involved at this point in time, making yourself unable to say anything.”Officer Zhang said, “I’m not advising you to keep to yourself, it’s just that at this juncture, why do you need to ……”
“I know, Officer Zhang, thank you for your kind words.” Huo Zhun slowly nods his head and smiles, “It’s just that Gu Xinzhang is my friend after all, and if I can contribute ten points to save him, I won’t contribute five. I know you’re doing this for my own good, so thank you for your advice. Please also rest assured that I have always been a law-abiding citizen, and will also instruct my lawyer to abide by the law, and will not cause any inconvenience to your case. Excuse me, I have something else to do, so I’ll leave first.”
Huo Jun crosses over to him and heads straight for the door. The sun is shining outside, but it’s still cold because of the snow that fell overnight. Someone in the yard is sweeping the snow with a large broom, he dodges to avoid the tip of the broom that comes across, but in his heart, he can’t help but start worrying, what if the next snowfall is so bad that they ask Gu Xinzhang to sweep it?
How could that pampered peacock do such a job?
So, if we don’t find a good lawyer to get him out, can we do it?
Those people are just talking nonsense.
In his heart, he was worried for a while and cursed for a while, lifting his foot, he stepped out of the door. Outside the door, that familiar car was waiting at the roadside, and in front of the door, there was a familiar figure standing.
Ye Ling!
Huo Zhun’s originally foggy heart instantly shines with sunlight, and if it wasn’t for the slippery snow underneath his feet for fear of falling into a dog-eat-dog shit, he would have run over at this moment.
“You’re back?” It’s not easy to stand in front of Ye Ling, Huo Jun’s first reaction is to grab that person’s hand. But somehow, in the end, he just implicitly patted Ye Ling’s shoulder.
“Well, I’ll be back when the big job is done.” Ye Ling is in a great mood and jokes with him.
Since that day when Huo Zhun personally came to his door, Ye Ling had been secretly approaching the relevant people from the tournament organizing committee for him so that regardless of whether or not the police took action, he could ensure that Phoenix Group would be the sole overall sponsor. Externally, Ye Ling has been on vacation, which has facilitated him to secretly contact the organizing committee. But it also led to the two people simply can not see each other, so daily communication can only rely on the phone, and the length of this phone call from the beginning of a five-minute development to the later once half an hour, the topic from the progress of the work spread to the firewood, rice, oil and salt, and even including Ye Ling today whether there is a good meal, every time to listen to the ink is dead.
“Very good, hard work.” Huo Zhun said approvingly.
To this sympathetic remark, Ye Ling honors it. God knows how hard those ten-fingered organizing committee members are to deal with, and he felt that his did work hard.
“I’ve made a dinner appointment for you with the organizing committee, tonight at six thirty, at the Sea Breeze Winery.” Ye Ling inclines her head and observes Huo Jun’s expression, “Mr. Huo, what’s wrong with you?”
Huo Jun doesn’t have much, it’s just that facing Ye Ling, and this bright smile, he ghostly remembers Gu Xinzhang’s burning gaze, and the sentence he said to himself-
“I like you.”
The vibration that these four simple words brought to his heart was no less than a tsunami.
“Well, that’s fine, let’s go together then.” It’s a while before Huo Jun comes back to his senses, glancing at the cold building behind him where Gu Xinzhang is being held captive, and letting out a long sigh of relief, “By the way Ye Ling, there’s something.”
Ye Ling’s long eyebrows raised.
“In the future, can you not call me Mr. Huo?” Huo Jun says, “You can call me by my name, Huo Jun.”
Ye Ling furrowed his brows, his expression seeming full of skepticism, “Is that good?”
“It may not be good for bosses and subordinates, but for friends, isn’t it too normal?” Huo Jun laughed.
“Friends ……,” Ye Ling softly recited these two words, “We count as friends?”
“This doesn’t count?” Huo Zhun reveals a “please stop it” expression.
“Okay,” Ye Ling burst out laughing, “Huo Jun.”