Chapter 35 – Cigarette (1/2)

“How come you have time to come here today?”

Qiu Qian rarely stayed at the shipping company’s headquarters. But today there was an unexpected guest.

Wang Yun looked slightly surprised. He walked into Qiu Qian’s luxurious looking office.

It was a big building next to the harbour. The floor length windows showed panoramic ocean views and also made the very spacious office not look empty and instead added an extra feeling of luxury. Wang Yun couldn’t help but sigh. “Sometimes it seems that you haven’t changed at all these years but when I walk into a place like this, I can really feel that you’re now a big boss.”

Qiu Qian laughed. He waved Wang Yun over the guest couch. “Sit.”

At this time three polite knocks sounded on the office door. A very neat looking secretary came in holding a tray with a pot of aromatic tea. She placed it down then left quickly. Such a well-trained and orderly employee showed the high standards of the company.

Of course Qiu Qian was not included within this. Although his flower print shirt had already been changed by Bai Lang to a well-fitted shirt custom made by “The Regal Suit”, however this didn’t prevent Qiu Qian from unbuttoning the top buttons as well as rolling up his sleeves. His arrogant and untamed demeanour had not changed from before.

Qiu Qian lifted up the pot and poured tea for Wang Yun. “Right now when doing business it’s not just about the contents. Some western people really like looking at the surface appearance. So I use this place to intimidate them a bit first so that everything after becomes much more smooth.”

Wang Yun thanked him. “Looks like everyone’s work has changed a lot. So much time has passed, sometimes it feels like we’ve become strangers. Next time I’ll go to over to Ah Cheng’s and see what his office looks like now.”

“Ah Cheng has changed even more,” Qiu Qian laghed. “The entire building is like a fortress, even the windows have iron bars.”

“That shows how well he’s doing,” Wang Yun shook his head. “I’m so busy that I haven’t had time go around and didn’t even know about it.”

Qiu Qian smiled again. He pushed a few things aside and sat down on the couch. “So what’s the reason for you coming all this way today?”

“Asking it like that it seems like I’m not welcome?” Wang Yun teased him.

“We’re not like that, come on. What do you need?”

“Then I also won’t beat around the bush. It’s Ah Quan who asked me come here to apologize on his behalf. For Bai Lang.”

“On his behalf?” Qiu Qian smiled faintly.

“He thought right now you probably aren’t very happy with him,” Wang Yun drank a sip of tea. “He knows that the things he said at the party weren’t good to hear.”

Qiu Qian flicked away some non-existent dust on his pants. “If he knows that then why did he say it?”

“Because he admitted that he’s jealous.”

After Wang Yun spoke, Qiu Qian immediately glanced over.

Wang Yun met his gaze and sighed. “Of course, it’s jealousy over Bai Lang’s good fortune to meet someone like you. Because right now Boss Hong’s tactics are really making him very frustrated.”

After this sentence, Qiu Qian’s expression became more normal. “This is something he should already be clear about. Back then the choice between me and Boss Hong was already given to him. He was the one who chose and nobody forced him.”

Wang Yun paused a second then asked, “Then if something like that happened to Bai Lang, what would you do?”

Qiu Qian’s gaze once again swept over Wang Yun. The gaze was so piercing that Wang Yun was filled with embarrassment.

Qiu Qian suddenly smiled coldly. “Bai Lang won’t get a choice like that. I won’t let anyone have the chance to give him such a choice.”

Wang Yun twitched slightly. He cleared his throat then said, “Then will you help Ah Quan convey his apologies to Bai Lang?”

“Sure ah,” Qiu Qian said. At this time he took out a cigarette box from his pocket. He asked Wang Yun, “Do you mind?”

Wang Yun shook his head. He said, “Last time at the gathering I didn’t see you smoke. I thought you quit. I have to say from a professional perspective that it’s not good for you.”

“Xiao Hai was there. I only smoke in the office.” Qiu Qian dangled the cigarette in his mouth and lit it with a practiced motion. He took a deep puff.

“It’s true that second hand smoke is bad for kids.” Wang Yun smiled and agreed. “But there’s others too. Such as my patients, it’s not good for them to smell second hand smoke. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I’ve changed hospitals.”

At this time Wang Yun took out his business card and handed it to Qiu Qian. His pair of eyes were fixed on Qiu Qian, carefully observing his reaction.

Qiu Qian took it and only glanced at it once. “University Hospital? Not bad ah. It’s famous throughout the country. This can be a considered a promotion ba.”

Wang Yun met Qiu Qian’s eyes before slowly looking away. He smiled.

“You can consider it like that. There’s many interesting cases there.”

***

The beer commercial made Bai Lang consider a lot of things, for example that only people of a certain level could do certain things.

After his rebirth Bai Lang had decided to get together with Qiu Qian for the purpose of gratitude. In the same manner he had put a lot of thought into his road as an actor. He had decided to pursue his own feelings and interests. He wanted to be able to pick his own scripts and play the parts that he wanted. As for fame or influence, to the reborn Bai Lang they weren’t as important as being happy and comfortable. He felt in this way if he didn’t have too many ambitions then he also wouldn’t become a burden to Qiu Qian.

But now that he wanted to stand side by side with Qiu Qian, then based on Bai Lang’s personality, his own happiness couldn’t help but be tangled up with his concern for Qiu Qian. Just like in his previous life when Bai Lang had been good to Kang Jian, in this life Bai Lang couldn’t help but want to take care of Qiu Qian. Bai Lang couldn’t stand becoming the source of trouble for Qiu Qian, even if the root of those troubles started because of Qiu Qian himself. In this situation he definitely didn’t want to sit by helplessly and wait for someone else to rescue him.

So Bai Lang decided to take the risk and accept “Chaos Street”. This was the crime thriller that Fang Hua had recommended.

He needed to steadily accumulate connections and build his reputation. Other than money, this was the best way to strengthen his position in the world.

As for money, at the time of “Gold” finally finishing its cinema run, it was also the time for the second book in that series to be placed on the market. It followed the same trajectory of the first book which had already laid down the foundations, and within two weeks broke the record set by the first book, selling 4 million copies. This allowed Bai Lang to obtain his first windfall and he began to lay down the foundations of his business portfolio.

Bai Lang’s sights were set on the online shopping platforms that ten years later would become popular and mainstream.

Thinking about the political and business influence of this platform years later, Bai Lang decided to choose it and forgo the real estate investment that would only bring his money and not much else. He decided to put all his money into investing in online shopping platforms. Right now this type of online company was only in their infancy and currently happened to be in the stage of hard fundraising for investors.