Chapter 161: Their Kind of Men

Qiao Jiu did not believe that Liang Xiujin did not understand this logic. He should know Guan Wei well enough to realize that she was not the kind of person to make unreasonable scenes.

On the contrary, because she loved him, her tolerance had no bottom line.

Liang Xiujin looked at Qiao Jiu, his brows slowly knitting together.

Qiao Jiu met his gaze directly as well. "Mr. Liang, have you had any contact with Miss Xu recently?"

She remembered the last time she asked Liang Xiujin if he had gone to the hospital to visit Xu Yi later on, he hadn't answered.

Now, when this question was asked, he remained silent just like before.

The answer was self-evident.

Qiao Jiu smiled. "So you see, hasn't the root of the problem been found?"

She didn't say any superfluous words, turning instead to look at Liang Xiucheng. "Let's go, time to eat."

Liang Xiucheng walked past Liang Xiujin, giving his arm a light pat. "Think it over carefully yourself."

The two didn't go too far, finding a restaurant nearby.

When they went inside, Qiao Jiu looked back and saw that Liang Xiujin was still standing at the entrance of the company lobby, head lowered as he fiddled with his phone, unsure of who he was contacting.

Once inside the private dining room, Liang Xiucheng flipped through the menu while Qiao Jiu took out her phone. Instead of calling this time, she sent a WeChat message to Guan Wei, asking her where she was.

Despite that person's phone being turned off, WeChat messages still received replies, and it was practically an instant reply.

Guan Wei said she had gone out, wasn't sure how many days she would linger outside, and would contact Qiao Jiu when she got back.

Qiao Jiu raised the corner of her lips and teasingly asked: Did you have a falling out with Mr. Liang?

Over on Guan Wei's end, it took a long while before she replied: It's not a falling out.

Not a falling out?

Qiao Jiu hesitated slightly: Could it be you're breaking up?

They had gone through such a huge mess before and still got coaxed back together; she hadn't heard her mention anything earth-shattering this time, so Qiao Jiu didn't quite believe she would just break up straight away.

Guan Wei's temperament was similar to hers. People like them generally tended to stubbornly stick to their guns once they made up their minds.

Guan Wei didn't reply to this question, going completely silent.

Qiao Jiu didn't press further, only telling her to take good care of herself before putting her phone down.

After finishing ordering the dishes, Liang Xiucheng asked her, "Got in touch?"

Qiao Jiu nodded. "Gone out to wander around, probably nothing major."

Liang Xiucheng sighed. "Don't let the fact that Boss Guan runs a bar fool you; her personality is actually quite conservative. Back then, she even went to take care of my mom for the sake of my brother, putting herself in a very low posture. With a personality like hers, she would only ever do that if she liked someone immensely."

"It's a pity your brother doesn't know how to cherish it," Qiao Jiu said. "Are all you men like this?"

Liang Xiucheng corrected her, "Those men."

"Fine, fine, fine," Qiao Jiu smiled. "That whole bunch of damn men."

Once the dishes were served, the two ate and chatted, discussing the project involving cooperation with Lu Fengzhou's side.

Liang Xiucheng wasn't the one in charge of the project, but he had heard Liang Xiujin mention it a few times.

He said, "Lu Fengzhou is cut out for business. His mind turns fast, he considers things thoroughly, and he's very meticulous. My dad has been following this project too, and his evaluation of him is quite high."

Qiao Jiu let out an "mm." "Otherwise, my dad wouldn't have handed the entire company over to him on his deathbed."

Her old man must have seen Lu Fengzhou's capability, but he just hadn't calculated that Lu Fengzhou would kick her aside afterward.

The two didn't say anything else, and after finishing their meal, they left the restaurant.

Liang Xiujin had already left; his car was no longer in the parking space in front of the company.

Liang Xiucheng had nothing urgent to deal with, so he drove Qiao Jiu home first.

On the way home, Lu Fengzhou's call came through. Qiao Jiu waited a moment before answering, pretending to be completely oblivious. "Aren't you busy over there?"

Lu Fengzhou said, "Just finished getting busy. I've got some free time right now."

Qiao Jiu purposely asked, "Aren't you going to meet the business partners again this afternoon? You should have entertainment events scheduled for tonight, too."

Lu Fengzhou fell silent on the other end for a moment. Instead of denying it, he remained vague, "We'll see tonight, maybe it won't be too busy."

Qiao Jiu sneered inwardly, but her tone remained pleasant when facing the phone. "Alright, then make sure to get some rest."

As soon as she said that, Lu Fengzhou seemed to have nothing more to say. Qiao Jiu originally thought he would immediately acknowledge it and hang up the phone.

Instead, he spoke up, "Qiao Jiu."

Qiao Jiu let out an "ah." "What is it?"

Unsure of what he had thought of, Lu Fengzhou let out a faint sigh. "Wait for me, I'm coming back tomorrow."

Qiao Jiu curved the corners of her lips. "Leaving in such a rush, coming back after staying there for just one day? Have you finished talking business? If there's nothing urgent, stay there a few more days, deal with things completely before talking about it."

Lu Fengzhou probably didn't catch the implication in her words either, simply saying, "It's about done."

Qiao Jiu said "Alright," and then remained silent.

Lu Fengzhou waited on the other end for a while, wondering if he was waiting for her to say something else.

Seeing that there truly was nothing more to talk about on this end, he finally hung up the phone.

Once Qiao Jiu put her phone down, Liang Xiucheng turned to look at her. "Who was that?"

He hadn't heard the conversation on the other end, so Qiao Jiu didn't explain too thoroughly. "A friend."

Strictly speaking, it was a fuck buddy, but saying that aloud really didn't sound very nice, so she swallowed the words just as they reached the tip of her tongue.

Liang Xiucheng withdrew his gaze and thought for a moment before saying, "I saw Lu Fengzhou last night."

Qiao Jiu blinked. "And?"

"And Huo Ting," Liang Xiucheng said. "Lu Fengzhou must have been entertaining clients and drank a bit too much. The two of them were in the club's fire escape, and Huo Ting went up and hugged him. I originally wanted to watch the show, but as soon as I saw that posture, I quickly beat a retreat."

Qiao Jiu chuckled. "This Huo Ting, she's quite obedient."

When she gave her that idea back then, Huo Ting had bared her teeth and shown reluctance, but she turned around and sought him out anyway.

Liang Xiucheng glanced at Qiao Jiu again. Not seeing any sign of anger on her face, he felt much more at ease.

He said, "I heard that Huo Ting seems to like Lu Fengzhou."

She did like him. Qiao Jiu nodded. "Huo Ting had her eyes on him even before I married him, otherwise I wouldn't have been in such a rush. I was just afraid she'd snatch him away back then."

As it turned out, she regretted it to death after managing to snatch him into her own hands. Had she known Lu Fengzhou had this kind of character, she would have let him go wreak havoc on Huo Ting instead.

Liang Xiucheng hesitated. "I didn't watch for too long, mainly for fear of seeing inconvenient scenes. I don't know what kind of attitude Lu Fengzhou holds toward her."

Qiao Jiu slowly narrowed her eyes. "Who cares?"

Previously, Lu Fengzhou's evaluation of Huo Ting wasn't very high, and he became quite impatient whenever she was brought up.

It was just that creatures like men were unpredictable. Huo Ting looked passable, and if she really was willing to throw caution to the wind to secure a way out, it wasn't guaranteed that Lu Fengzhou would refuse.

Thinking of this, she recalled Lu Fengzhou coming to her place yesterday. He had been drinking heavily indeed, but she hadn't smelled any other scent on him.

Forget it, forget it. She put a stop to her own train of thought and decided not to dwell on it anymore.

If not Huo Ting, there was still Song Wan. That person had traveled thousands of miles over there; he definitely couldn't let go of Song Wan either.

Men like this—being too popular wasn't necessarily a good thing. Why hadn't she thought of this before? Her vanity had been satisfied, but the troubles were endless.

The car drove up to Qiao Jiu's residence. After getting out of the car, Qiao Jiu waved at Liang Xiucheng. "Drive safely."

Liang Xiucheng turned to look at her. "I thought you'd invite me up for a cup of tea."