Zhao Heilong had already beaten Yu Kaihe half to death. He stole a quiet glance sideways and saw that Qi Dengxian’s squinting left eye was now open, which finally allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.

He kicked Yu Kaihe over to the side, then smiled at Qiao Qiumeng. “President Qiao, I apologize. When a company gets big, all kinds of birds appear. I deeply apologize for this guy upsetting you!”

Hearing Zhao Heilong speak in this manner, everyone was taken aback.

Since when did the always domineering and arrogant President Zhao become so “deeply righteous”?

Qiao Qiumeng was stunned for a moment. After a long while, she finally spoke, “It… it’s fine. President Zhao, you are too polite.”

Zhao Heilong coughed, not daring to look at Qi Dengxian’s face, pretending not to know him. He said, “Well then, I’ll have the company settle the twenty million owed to the Qiao family later!”

“Moreover, for delaying so long, it’s certainly our side that violated the agreement. When the time comes, we’ll pay double the breach penalty!”

“This is a small token of my regard. President Qiao, please don’t refuse.”

Qiao Qiumeng said, “Huh? O-Okay… Thank you, President Zhao!”

Zhao Heilong nodded and shouted, “Tie this guy up for me. I’ll deal with him personally later!”

“President Qiao, I have some urgent matters, so I’ll be going first!” Zhao Heilong slipped straight into his Rolls-Royce like a wisp of smoke, urging the driver to drive away quickly.

He was terrified that if he delayed for even a second more, the Demon King behind Qiao Qiumeng would call out to stop him.

If Qi Dengxian spoke up then, should he acknowledge him, or pretend not to know him?

Only when the Rolls-Royce had driven a street’s distance away did Zhao Heilong finally breathe a sigh of relief, silently cursing his bad luck.

He thought he would never see Qi Dengxian again in this lifetime. Who could have imagined he would run to Zhonghai and even marry Qiao Qiumeng of the Qiao Corporation?

Long after Zhao Heilong had left, Qiao Qiumeng finally snapped back to reality.

Just at this moment, Zhang Shaojie came running over in a flurry.

“Mengmeng, are you alright? I heard something happened over here and ran over immediately!” Zhang Shaojie asked loudly.

“I’m fine…” Qiao Qiumeng breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Zhang Shaojie.

Zhang Shaojie’s face turned cold, and he snorted, “If they dare to continue reneging on the debt or making things difficult for you, I definitely won’t let them off!”

Qiao Qiumeng’s eyes lit up involuntarily. “It was you who called President Zhao, right?”

Zhang Shaojie paused. He wasn’t very clear on what had happened, but since Qiao Qiumeng asked like that, he simply nodded silently.

“It really was you! I was wondering why President Zhao’s attitude changed so suddenly. It turns out it was you, Brother Zhang, who called him!” Qiao Qiumeng said happily.

Just now, Zhao Heilong’s change in attitude had seemed incredibly bizarre and exaggerated to Qiao Qiumeng. She couldn’t figure out what was going on. Now seeing Zhang Shaojie appear, she felt as if she had been suddenly enlightened.

Zhang Shaojie laughed heartily, nodded, and said, “Calling President Zhao was just a small effort. I just casually said a few words to him.”

Qiao Qiumeng frowned and thought for a moment. The Zhang Group’s influence doesn’t seem strong enough to suppress Zhao Heilong, does it?!

However, on second thought, she remembered what Zhang Shaojie had told her about the Zhang Group preparing to go public, and she immediately realized.

“To be able to persuade Zhao Heilong, you must have paid a huge price… Did you tell him the news about the upcoming IPO and agree to sell shares to him?” Qiao Qiumeng asked somewhat nervously.

“Ha…” Zhang Shaojie’s brain was a bit fuzzy, unable to figure out what exactly was going on.

Qiao Qiumeng sighed and said, “To owe you such a huge favor, and even make you sacrifice your own company’s interests… I really don’t know how to repay you!”

Zhang Shaojie coughed and smiled. “Mengmeng, you know my feelings for you, so don’t say such distant words! To me, this is just a small effort. As long as I can help you, even if you asked me to climb a mountain of knives or plunge into a sea of fire, I wouldn’t even frown.”

Standing aside, Qi Dengxian couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He was somewhat speechless towards both his nominal wife, Qiao Qiumeng, and Zhang Shaojie.

One really knew how to fill in the blanks with her imagination, and the other really had thick skin…

Zhang Shaojie raised an eyebrow, turned his head, and shouted, “What are you laughing at? You useless trash, not only could you not help Mengmeng, but you almost harmed her!”

Qiao Qiumeng also looked at Qi Dengxian with a gloomy face and said, “You still have the face to laugh? If not for you causing such a big mess, would I have needed to humble myself to beg for help just now?”

“Brother Zhang solved such a big trouble for you. It’s fine if you don’t thank him, but what are you doing being sarcastic here? Can’t stand seeing others do well?”

“An ingrate like you really makes me feel ashamed!”

The corners of Qi Dengxian’s mouth twitched slightly. He waved his hand and said, “As long as everything is fine. I’ll be going first.”

He was too lazy to explain and disdained doing so, acting as if he had left everything to fate.

Qiao Qiumeng had originally gained a slightly positive view of Qi Dengxian because he appeared in time to save her from Yu Kaihe. But seeing his attitude toward her “benefactor,” Zhang Shaojie, she immediately became disgusted again.

“Brother Zhang, don’t pay attention to him. He’s just someone from the countryside, short-sighted and completely ignorant of manners!” Qiao Qiumeng said grumpily.

“Of course I won’t lower myself to the level of someone like him!” Zhang Shaojie laughed magnanimously. “Let’s go, Mengmeng. I’ll treat you to a meal!”

“You helped me so much, it should be me treating you,” Qiao Qiumeng said.

Qiao Qiumeng was now grateful to Zhang Shaojie from the bottom of her heart. After all, he was willing to share confidential information like the Zhang Group’s upcoming IPO and the employee benefits of capital increase and share expansion.

Now, he had even sacrificed the group’s interests to settle Zhao Heilong and help her recover the twenty million debt!

With this, she could secure her position as the CEO of the Qiao Corporation. How could she not be grateful?

At this time, Li Yunwan put down her coffee cup, paid the bill, and walked out of the coffee shop.

Just as Qi Dengxian was preparing to hail a taxi, he received a call from Li Yunwan, who said, “I’m treating you to a meal today. I have to thank you properly.”

“Why treat me for no reason? Not going!” Qi Dengxian refused directly without a second thought.

He planned to visit Huang Wenlang’s residence today. Since he had promised Huang Wenlang to help cure his daughter, he had to fulfill that promise.

Li Yunwan laughed, “Hey, do you still want to get news about Mengmeng from me in the future? If not, then pretend I didn’t say anything!”

Qi Dengxian frowned. From the looks of it, Qiao Qiumeng really had quite a few troubles. With Li Yunwan as an “insider,” he could always get timely news to help her solve problems.

Helpless, Qi Dengxian had to agree to eat with Li Yunwan.

The first thing Li Yunwan did upon seeing him was to express her gratitude: “I have to thank you for mentioning the Zhang Group’s matter yesterday. I went to investigate and found that there really are problems within their company!”

NOTES

Enlightened: Literally “daubing cream on the head.” A Buddhist term for sudden enlightenment or realization, having wisdom poured into one’s mind.

Climb a mountain of knives…: A common idiom for being willing to face extreme danger for someone.

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