Chapter 283 - 281: Chen Geng

Chapter 283: Chapter 281: Chen Geng

...

Everyone was stunned by Gu Lihuang’s words. Chen Laosan’s eyes flickered, and he couldn’t help but steal a scrutinizing glance in Gu Nuan Nuan’s direction. The two groups weren’t too far apart now, and with his good eyesight, he could see her features clearly. The sight startled him, and he quickly averted his gaze.

’Gu Lihuang is probably right. A niece takes after her uncle, and I did see President Zhang from a distance once. Looking closely, Gu Lihuang’s niece really does bear a striking resemblance to President Zhang.’ His heart tightened. ’Even if our side can’t seize this opportunity to get in his good graces, we absolutely cannot afford to offend them.’

"You’re lying! You think I don’t know? President Zhang’s own sister, Manager Zhang, is clearly married to our company’s Manager Song. How could her daughter possibly have the surname Gu?" Chen Yisheng’s face went pale, then he suddenly jumped up and shouted, though his voice lacked conviction.

It would have been better if he’d kept quiet. The moment he shouted, everyone started looking at him with even stranger expressions. He froze, unsure what he’d said wrong, and glanced around uncertainly. Unfortunately, everyone unanimously and pointedly avoided his gaze. He turned his head and saw Gu Lihuang’s mocking half-smile. With a roar in his head, he lost his temper and blurted out in frustration, "What did I say that was so wrong? Tell me! Am I wrong?"

"Yisheng, stop making a scene." Qian Jun, who was fairly close with Chen Yisheng, couldn’t bear to watch. ’This foolish kid... he might be a little clever, but his age and experience are what they are. There are many things he just hasn’t been through, so he can’t think them through clearly.’ If this continued, the situation would become even harder to resolve. So, he walked over to Gu Lihuang and said with an apologetic smile, "Huang, he’s still young. He’s just a kid who doesn’t know any better. Please be the bigger person and don’t hold it against him, alright?"

"Ahem."

Gu Lihuang glanced at Chen Yisheng’s still-defiant face and gave a contemptuous smile. ’Truly clueless.’ But then he saw Qian Jun’s attitude and the significant change in how everyone else was looking at him, and his mood brightened considerably. His objective was achieved; it wouldn’t look good to seem petty and small-minded now. So, he gave a "magnanimous" wave of his hand and spoke with an air of nonchalance.

He glanced from Chen Yisheng to Qian Jun. "If I were going to hold a grudge, I’d have done it long ago. Why would I wait until now?"

"Huang, you really are something else. That’s no exaggeration... I’ll go talk some sense into him first, then I’ll have him come over and apologize himself," Qian Jun said with a laugh, his tone now clearly laced with respect.

After speaking, he shot a glare at Chen Yisheng, who still looked defiant and was about to speak again, and forcefully dragged him away.

"When it comes to Huang’s character, there’s no question. In a word: ’Real’!" someone immediately chimed in, deliberately sucking up to Gu Lihuang. The speaker was none other than the simple-looking, burly He Dazhuang. Gu Lihuang didn’t bother with modesty and just chuckled. "Of course. You’ve gotta be broad-minded in life, right?"

"Hey, man," someone nearby asked, confused. "The expression is ’the real deal.’ That’s three words. How did it become one word when you said it?"

"Seriously, you have to ask about something so simple? Come on, let me explain it to you." The person who’d asked the question happened to be standing right next to Chen Geng, who cheerfully slapped a hand on his shoulder and slung an arm around him. "First, let me ask you, do you know what our Dazhuang’s greatest talent is?"

"What?" the man asked, his eyes wide with a blank look. It wasn’t just him; others couldn’t help but start pondering the answer, casting curious sidelong glances. The man thought for a long time but couldn’t figure out what talent the big oaf He Dazhuang, who seemed to only know how to eat, could possibly possess. He looked at Chen Geng with even greater curiosity.

"Heh heh heh, you don’t get it, do you!"

Chen Geng gave him an ’I-knew-you-wouldn’t-know’ look, then pointed to his own mouth and grinned. "His mouth, of course! You think that big lug just pretends to eat so much all the time? That guy can pop anything he sees into his mouth, chew it up, and swallow it down. For him to just eat two words and still manage to spit one out is actually pretty impressive."

"HAHAHA—"

The moment Chen Geng finished speaking, most of the group burst into laughter, and even the target of the joke, He Dazhuang, was no exception. One after another, they slapped their thighs, yelling, "That’s killing me!" The more dramatic ones were clutching their stomachs with tears in their eyes, crying for their mamas. Instantly, the atmosphere changed. The tension that had arisen from the conflict between Gu Lihuang and Chen Yisheng completely vanished in that moment.

"Damn it! So what if I can eat? Did I eat the food from your house or something?" He Dazhuang shot back at Chen Geng with a grin, but only after he’d had his fill of laughing.

"My bad, my bad! Dazhuang, Big Bro Dazhuang, I’m even calling you ’big bro,’ isn’t that enough? A great man like you shouldn’t hold a grudge against a lesser man like me." Chen Geng, ever the smooth-talker, sidled up and slung an arm around his shoulder, still grinning from ear to ear.

"Get lost, you’re shameless enough as it is. You’re a bit older than me, and you’re calling me ’big bro’? Are you trying to take advantage of me again or what?" He Dazhuang laughed as he shoved him away.

Chen Geng clutched his chest, feigning a wounded expression. He turned to Gu Lihuang with a pained look. "Huang, look at him. I already said I was sorry, and he still won’t forgive me. It’s a real waste of that big frame of his that he couldn’t learn an ounce of your magnanimity—the kind that’s vast enough to pole a boat in a prime minister’s belly. Ah, but speaking of which, that’s just the kind of person I am. I’m always cracking jokes and offending people. I wonder how many I’ve pissed off, intentionally or not?"

Having said that, Chen Geng looked at Gu Lihuang and continued in a tone of mock-reproach, "Take you, for instance. I’m sure I’ve offended you plenty in the past, but you can’t blame me for that one bit. I mean, who told you to keep such a powerful background a secret for so long? You just had to be all low-key. The ways of a cultured, well-read man like you are just different from us brothers in the convoy. We’re all a bunch of rough guys. Most of us can’t even recognize many characters; if you managed to graduate elementary school, you’re considered highly educated around here. We live by a simple rule: if words fail, let fists fly, and might makes right. How could we have known the ways of a refined gentleman like you? But I guess that’s the difference between the cultured and the uncultured, the high-class and the low-class."

"What are you talking about, this difference between cultured people and high-class people? If you ask me, I actually really like your straightforward attitude, the way all you guys are. You say what’s on your mind and deal with things face-to-face. The past is the past. There were surely times I wronged you all, too, so let’s just let it all go and not speak of it again, alright? From now on, I’ll try to change my old ways and learn from how you all do things. But if I make a clumsy mess of it, you all have to teach me. Tell me directly to my face, don’t just hold it in and resent me for it!"