Misty Nights in Hong Kong - Chapter 20

The One Who Looks Most Like a Dodder Flower!

She glanced sideways at him. Fu Sinian was lowering his head, his well-defined fingers typing intently.

The next second, her phone dinged again.

She opened the new message and froze the moment she saw its contents.

She looked at Fu Sinian in astonishment.

She truly hadn’t expected this, nor could she understand it.

After a moment, Gu Xiangsi suddenly realized something and quickly replied to the message.

When Fu Sinian saw the reply, he scoffed.

Lu Liang, sitting nearby, took in the entire exchange.

As expected, he’d always suspected there was something fishy between these two.

Gu Xiangsi stood up, picked up the teapot, and poured Fu Sinian another cup of tea. Then, turning around with a smile, she respectfully addressed him, “President Fu.”

Her clear voice rang out in the quiet private room: “President Sun, you’re well-acquainted with President Zhao, President Lu, and even President Fu. As a mere nobody, there’s really no need for you to go to such lengths for me.”

After a pause, she shifted her tone: “As for why I asked your daughter for those two million, she knows the reason deep down. Since she insists on making me prove it, I suppose you’ll at least take President Fu’s word for it!”

Everyone was stunned, their eyes turning to Fu Sinian in unison.

How had this suddenly involved him?

Gu Xiangsi held her teacup and walked over to Fu Sinian’s side.

At that moment, Fu Sinian was lazily reclined in his chair, lifting his gaze to look at her.

“President Fu, I accept your proposal.”

After speaking, Gu Xiangsi downed her tea in one gulp.

“What the hell is going on?”

Unable to hold back, Lu Liang was the first to press for answers.

Fu Sinian unhurriedly took out his phone, opened a video recording, and spoke calmly.

“Apologies, but I have a little habit, I enjoy collecting gossip.”

The conversation in the video was crystal clear. Li Hao kept his head down, so no one could see his expression, but Gu Xiangsi noticed his hands clenched into tight fists, his knuckles turning white.

Sun Shangxiang’s face was full of shock, clearly, she hadn’t expected their argument to have been recorded.

“Stop it!”

She shouted urgently.

She had just spent a fortune the past two days to remove her scandal from the trending searches. Now, this video felt like it was stripping away her last shred of dignity, making her unbearably uncomfortable.

Sun Bin also felt his face burning with shame. He turned to Fu Sinian, coughing awkwardly, his tone laced with flattery.

“President Fu, are you really not giving me any face at all?”

Fu Sinian lifted his peach-blossom eyes, his expression already darkening.

“Face?” He smirked. “Should I call you ‘brother’? Would you dare to answer?”

The moment those words landed, the room fell into stunned silence.

Sun Shangxiang was also dumbfounded, turning to Sun Bin in a panic. “Dad, what… what does that mean?”

Sun Bin coughed lightly. Given Fu Sinian’s status, if he were to call him “brother,” Sun Bin truly wouldn’t have the guts to accept it.

He looked at Sun Shangxiang, his voice unsteady. “You should call President Fu ‘uncle.’”

Sun Shangxiang was taken aback. “Are we related to the Fu family?”

Sun Bin nodded. There was some distant connection, but it was tenuous at best. There was no need to spell it out, just establishing the association was enough.

By revealing this connection today, the Sun family’s status would surely rise.

Sun Shangxiang had always been adept at flattering the powerful and stepping on the weak. Immediately, she beamed at Fu Sinian. “Uncle… Uncle, I never imagined we’d have such a connection. Since we’re family, this whole mess is just a misunderstanding.”

Fu Sinian didn’t even glance at her, completely ignoring her. “The trending search was my doing.”

“After all, I’m someone who loves doing good deeds. And look, thanks to me, my dear niece, you’ve gone viral.”

Fu Sinian wore an expression that said she should be grateful.

Sun Shangxiang’s face instantly flushed red with anger.

Sun Bin hadn’t anticipated this turn of events either and quickly tried to smooth things over. “President Fu, my daughter was being foolish, she brought this on herself. Please don’t take it to heart.”

He then turned to Gu Xiangsi’s side. “Manager Gu, I’ll make a call right away to clarify that this was all a misunderstanding.”

Lu Liang, never one to miss a chance to stir the pot, chimed in with a smirk, “So, Sinian, what exactly is your relationship with Manager Gu?”

All eyes turned toward them.

Gu Xiangsi was also puzzled. She had made their relationship clear during the anniversary celebration, yet no one had spilled the beans all this time.

Fu Sinian replied casually, “Creditor and debtor.”

“Until she pays me back in full, you’d all do well to keep your hands off her.”

Lu Liang raised an eyebrow, this was blatant protection.

Later, regarding Sun Bin’s design requests, Zhao Niensen directly assigned another designer to take over.

Meanwhile, Gu Xiangsi’s workload increased with the addition of Lu Liang’s yacht design project.

Zhao Niensen gave Gu Xiangsi a meaningful look before nodding in agreement. “Naturally. Manager Gu, shouldn’t you thank President Fu for granting you such a generous favor?”

Gu Xiangsi had no choice but to force a smile and comply. “President Fu, you’re… surprisingly kind.”

“Now that you know how kind I am, you should think carefully about how to repay me.”

Fu Sinian delivered the infuriating line with ease.

“After all, not everyone is lucky enough to have such a lenient creditor.”

Gu Xiangsi: “…”

Lenient?

The corner of her mouth twitched violently.

This was Gu Xiangsi’s first time working on yacht design. In the days following her assignment, she spent every moment on board taking measurements.

Laser rangefinder, folding ruler, sketchbook, she carried them all, handling everything personally. Even the most inconspicuous beveled edges in the guest dining area were measured meticulously and annotated with precision.

Lu Liang, watching from the side, couldn’t help but remark to Fu Sinian, who was lounging on the sofa swirling a wineglass.

“Miss Gu is truly dedicated. I’ve never seen a designer obsess over details like this, structural properties of composite materials, actual thickness of soundproofing layers. Anything related to the design, she’s noted down in that book of hers without a single oversight.”

Fu Sinian feigned indifference, glancing at Lu Liang. “I’m the majority stakeholder in this yacht project now. And I hold veto power.”

“You’re not planning to use that against Manager Gu, are you?”

Lu Liang clicked his tongue. “I really don’t know what Manager Gu did to offend you. The treatment she’s getting is downright tragic.”

Fu Sinian narrowed his eyes, holding his wineglass as he gazed into the distance through the crystal. A faint smirk curled at his lips.

Jiang Liangchen and Duan Jingwen exchanged glances before grinning at Lu Liang, deliberately setting him up.

“Brother Liang, don’t tell us you’ve taken a liking to Manager Gu?”

Fu Sinian lowered his gaze, silent, only tapping his fingers lightly against the glass.

Lu Liang swirled his wineglass, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Manager Gu? Among all the women I’ve met, she’s the one who looks most like a dodder flower.”

“Otherwise, Sinian wouldn’t be so helpless against her, would he?”

“Holy shit, how did you figure that out?” Duan Jingwen and Jiang Liangchen looked stunned.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?”

Fu Sinian grabbed two apples and hurled them at Jiang Liangchen and Duan Jingwen.

The two caught them deftly, then shot Lu Liang a challenging look, urging him to continue.

Lu Liang chuckled, “Look at him these past few years, has he ever shown interest in any woman? He might seem like he’s targeting Manager Gu, but the way he looks at her is clearly not innocent.”

Jiang Liangchen and Duan Jingwen nodded in agreement. “Damn, impressive. No wonder they say you dated eight and broke up with eight, yet still had each of them singing your praises while blaming themselves. A true master of love.”

Duan Jingwen stopped laughing and turned to Fu Sinian with a serious expression. “What exactly are you struggling with?”

Fu Sinian shot him a sidelong glance, and Duan Jingwen immediately backtracked. “Alright, alright, my bad. I’m just worried that after all your efforts, instead of pulling her closer, you might end up pushing her further away.”

Fu Sinian’s expression darkened. His fingers tightened abruptly around his wine glass as he lifted his gaze to Duan Jingwen, his tone unreadable.

“Africa just secured an aid project for a photovoltaic power station. They’re short on a chief coordinator. Want to go supervise?”

Duan Jingwen’s smile froze. “Come on, bro, the mosquitoes there are bigger than fists. If my delicate skin goes, will I even make it back in one piece?”

Fu Sinian gave him a faint glance and said nothing more, but the silent warning in his eyes, “One more word and it’s decided”, made Duan Jingwen shut his mouth instantly.

The private room’s door swung open as a staff member hurried over to Lu Liang, hesitating to speak.

Lu Liang raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

The man lowered his voice. “Mr. Lu, Mr. Zhao is in the next room… He wants to play ‘High Mountain, Flowing Water.'”

“Speak of the devil.” Lu Liang’s brow twitched. “If he wants to play, let him. It’s not a big deal.”

As the owner of this private club, he knew its discretion was top-tier, catering mostly to scions of wealthy families and the spoiled elite. The games here were always wilder than those outside.

If Zhao Niesen had requested it, there was no harm in indulging him, it was just another social game, after all.

“But there’s a waitress inside who looks…” He paused, his gaze flickering subtly toward Fu Sinian. “She looks exactly like the woman in Mr. Fu’s wallet.”

“What?” The group exclaimed in unison.

Fu Sinian, who had been slightly lowering his gaze, abruptly lifted his eyes, his sharp stare cutting through the air.