Another Day of Pretending for the Wealthy Couple - Chapter 67

Ji Tanyuan was utterly speechless at his train of thought.

“When did I ever put you on equal footing with him? Why are you being so unreasonable?”

After saying this, she tried to get up from Zhong Yan’s embrace.

Zhong Yan quickly pressed her waist to stop her. “My fault.”

With the prize almost in his grasp, he must have been out of his mind to argue about trivial matters. He really must have been confused.

Zhong Yan placatingly kissed the corner of her lips. “My fault, but if you must choose one, you have to trust me, not that guy surnamed Shen.”

Whether it was Shen Xiling or Shen Xichen, they were both scum who deserved to perish.

Ji Tanyuan narrowed her eyes slightly, the dim light casting a dazzling halo around her.

In the distance, her phone kept lighting up, but no one paid it any attention.

Gu Beiming hung up the call and put away his phone.

“He’s not answering. Probably asleep again.”

He returned to the sofa, poured himself a drink, and then glanced at Cheng Gengxu, who was browsing the news on his phone nearby.

He muttered under his breath, “Enough already. She’s not going anywhere. What are you staring at all day?”

Cheng Gengxu looked up, his tone neither light nor heavy. “Should I stare at you instead?”

“At stock trends, at whether Furong Real Estate will surpass Huashi to stabilize the real estate industry and become the top dog.”

“It won’t.” Cheng Gengxu said flatly.

Gu Beiming curled his lips into a smile. “I knew I came to the right place by visiting you, Boss Cheng.”

After saying this, he walked over to Cheng Gengxu and sat down, acting like they were the best of buddies. “Tell me, bro, why won’t it? So, I can act accordingly.”

Cheng Gengxu shot him a glance. “How are you going to act accordingly? As a state-owned enterprise employee, you don’t need to worry about this.”

Gu Beiming clicked his tongue. “It’s all because of Rong Xi. She asked me if I wanted to participate in the project. What should I do? On one side, there’s Zhong Yan’s wife, and on the other, Rong Xi. It’s hard for me to choose.”

Cheng Gengxu said, “All hospitals under the Beijing Hospital Group have conducted re-examinations and inspections on Ming Pharmaceutical for drug procurement. The Health Commission has also randomly inspected some of Ming Pharmaceutical’s drugs.”

“Do you know who got Zhao Qingye into trouble?”

Gu Beiming’s heart sank. “It can’t be because he secretly instigated Shu Yun to embarrass Ji Tanyuan, right? That was half a year ago.”

Cheng Gengxu sneered, “How the hell did you even get a girlfriend? Did you really think that was ‘secret instigation’? Only Shu Yun, with her muddled brain, couldn’t tell someone was egging her on.”

Shu Yun, stimulated by the sudden marriage of the person she liked, had fallen into a dead-end mindset and couldn’t snap out of it. A few words from others were enough to make her act impulsively without thinking, stubbornly charging headfirst into a wall. But what about the others? They were all shrewd. Who couldn’t understand the implications of Zhao Qingye’s words?

Phrases like “no feelings, bound to divorce sooner or later” and “there’s no fate that can’t be won with effort”, weren’t they all just encouraging Shu Yun?

And then there was Rong Xi, who, under the guise of being a close friend, advised her to give up while actually fueling her resentment. These two, one openly and one covertly, drove Shu Yun to the brink of obsession. Their recent low profile over the past two months probably meant they were scheming something else.

Zhao Qingye had been brought into their circle by Rong Xi, so they had given her some face and hadn’t outright refused to hang out with him.

But after a few years, such boundary-crossing behavior was unacceptable. Zhao Qingye wasn’t a child. His fanning the flames and enjoying the spectacle were clearly aimed at sabotaging Zhong Yan’s marriage alliance.

Gu Beiming finally understood, letting out an “oh” of realization, followed by a sigh.

“Do you think he did this because he’s fallen for Ji Tanyuan, or simply because Zhao Qingye didn’t even bother pretending anymore, so he decided to teach him a lesson and kick him out of our circle?”

Cheng Gengxu thought for a moment. “What do you think? It’s definitely because of Ji Tanyuan.”

But whether he’s fallen for her, that’s something outsiders can’t really discern.

Cheng Gengxu lowered his head again to look at his phone. Xin Gan’s schedule was too packed; he hadn’t seen her in two weeks. Ji Tanyuan had promised not to overload Xin Gan with work, but then she went ahead and filled her schedule with tasks and classes.

She was determined to master both acting skills and popularity, aiming to become a household name and reach the pinnacle of her career.

So now, he could only keep up with her through his phone. He felt he was about to lose his patience, this girl, once let loose, was like a wild bull off its leash, never looking back.

She even claimed that her company’s boss was like a parent to her career, full of gratitude. Did she even know that he had invested two rounds of funding to make it happen? She was being sold out and still counting the money for them. Once Ji Tanyuan started money laundering under her name, she’d finally understand.

In Xin Gan’s eyes, everyone in the world was a good person except for him, Cheng Gengxu. The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became, and he started finding Gu Beiming annoying as well.

“Can you stop bothering me? Go find your girlfriend.”

Gu Beiming replied, “She’s busy, dealing with a lawsuit.”

After saying that, Gu Beiming continued to “seek advice” from Cheng Gengxu. “You just said that even if Furong Real Estate restructures the Qinghe Real Estate project, it still can’t compare to Huashi Real Estate? Why? It’s not just because Huashi has 49% state-owned assets, is it?”

Cheng Gengxu put down his phone and looked at him. “Why does Ji Tanyuan help Xin Gan? Because her Jinglong shares raised nearly ten billion in two rounds of financing, and I’m her largest investor. As the party B, she naturally has to please me.”

Gu Beiming nodded, finally understanding.

“So, this couple is teaming up to corner Furong Real Estate.”

Ji Tanyuan pulled Cheng Gengxu over to temporarily stand on the same side, while Zhong Yan threw cold water on Zhao Qingye, leaving him to deal with his own mess.

After the explosion, Rong Xi lost the easiest source of liquid assets.

By then, Furong Real Estate would be like a fish on the chopping block.

Absolutely astonishing.

Gu Beiming stood up and paced back and forth in the open space, exclaiming as he walked, “Are these two devils? Are they at home right now scheming together?”

He took out his phone and dialed again.

The call didn’t go through at first, so he tried a second time before it connected. An angry voice came from the other end: “You’d better have an emergency.”

Gu Beiming cut straight to the point: “Have you fallen for Ji Tanyuan?”

There was silence on the other end, followed by a sweet voice chiming in: “Wow, Zhong Yan, you’ve fallen for me? How come I didn’t know?”

Gu Beiming hadn’t expected Ji Tanyuan to be there. He also hadn’t considered that the two of them weren’t scheming about how to collaborate against others in broad daylight. In fact, they rarely discussed business in private, simply doing what couples normally do.

Logically, it’s normal for spouses to like each other, but their marriage was largely arranged without regard for feelings.

Though he knew this well, Gu Beiming felt he shouldn’t have said it in front of Ji Tanyuan, especially since they weren’t close and she was Zhong Yan’s wife.

So, he laughed it off and tried to smooth things over: “Falling for Miss Ji, isn’t that just natural and right?”

Zhong Yan, hearing Gu Beiming’s attempt to save face, stood by the bed, stunned.

Falling for Ji Tanyuan was natural and right?

He then looked at Ji Tanyuan, whose cheeks were flushed, eyes glistening like clear springs, and neck and collarbone covered in love bites, a clear testament to the wildness they had just shared.

Unaware of Zhong Yan’s change in expression, Ji Tanyuan continued to smile smugly and said, “Of course. Falling for me is only natural.”