Chapter 379: Shaking With Rage! To Think You’d Say I’m Not Pretty Enough?

Zhenshui Banquet, Lanting Private Room.

A brilliant crystal chandelier hung high overhead, bathing the entire room in bright light.

Since Wang Baoshan had arranged today’s gathering, he sat in the host’s seat, with Gu Heng and Qian Zhengxing on his left and right.

Jiang Man, who had been smoothly promoted to President of Jilin University Ninth Hospital at the start of the year, sat directly across from Wang Baoshan. Beside her was her daughter, Sun Xian, who was home for the New Year from her studies in the United States. Two years older than Gu Heng, she bore a strong resemblance to her mother, with fine features and a fashionable outfit.

“Hmm…”

“I understand.”

Five minutes ago, Sun Zhixing, the General Manager of Zhenshui Banquet, had suddenly knocked and entered the private room. He then walked straight to Gu Heng’s side and began whispering to him.

He was reporting on the incident that had just transpired with Luo Xiwen in the Xige Pavilion Private Room. Deputy General Manager Zhou Shun’an had informed him the moment he left the room, and he, in turn, had come to inform Gu Heng right away.

“Chairman Gu, call me if you need anything else.”

After finishing his report, Sun Zhixing excused himself from the room.

“What’s wrong?”

“Did something happen?”

The moment Wang Baoshan saw Sun Zhixing whispering in Gu Heng’s ear, he had tactfully turned to chat with Qian Zhengxing. Now that Sun Zhixing had left, he turned back.

“A small matter.”

Gu Heng smiled, not taking what Sun Zhixing had just reported to heart at all.

‘For a clueless clown like Pan Xiaomei, if Luo Xiwen, who’s been by my side for so long, could still get bullied on our own turf, then she’d have to be an absolute idiot.’

As it turned out, Luo Xiwen had handled it beautifully.

Not only had she made Pan Xiaomei and her family lose face completely, but she’d also made them bleed—financially.

“Ah?”

“President Wang, does your company still have any villas available in Yu Cui Garden?”

Gu Heng suddenly asked Wang Baoshan.

“There should be.”

“I’ll have my secretary check right now.”

Wang Baoshan wasn’t sure why Gu Heng had suddenly brought this up. He pulled out his phone while asking, “Is Chairman Gu looking to purchase another villa?”

“I’ve been thinking about it.”

Gu Heng nodded slightly, answering frankly.

“Fully furnished or a shell?”

Wang Baoshan got straight to the point, not even asking why Gu Heng wanted to buy another house.

‘When a rich man buys a house, it’s for one of three reasons: to live in, for investment, or to hide a mistress in a golden nest.’

Currently, Gu Heng had a mountaintop villa as his residence, a luxury property that was basically the pinnacle of what Beichun had to offer. So, his desire to buy another villa definitely wasn’t for his own use.

As for investment, that was even less likely. The national housing market was in a slump. Setting aside the fact that Beichun’s real estate had little investment value to begin with, even if Gu Heng did want to invest in Beichun property, he should choose a school district apartment or a property in a core location, not a villa, which was the least likely to lose money but also the hardest to sell.

‘So, ruling out the first two possibilities, only the last one remained.’

Gu Heng replied, “If there’s a fully furnished one with the same level of decoration as my current place, I’ll take that. Otherwise, a shell will do.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll ask for you right now.”

“I’ll have news for you in a moment.”

After speaking, Wang Baoshan relayed Gu Heng’s request to his secretary via WhatsApp and told her to get on it immediately. His efficiency was off the charts.

“Come.”

“Chairman Gu, let’s keep drinking.”

“Let me toast you again.”

After putting his phone down, Wang Baoshan immediately picked up his wine glass again.

“President Wang, this is already the fourth time you’ve toasted me tonight.”

Gu Heng joked with a smile, “I’m starting to suspect you’re just using toasts as an excuse to get me drunk.”

“No!”

“Absolutely not!”

Wang Baoshan clinked his glass against Gu Heng’s. “I’m truly grateful that Chairman Gu trusted me enough to give me such a massive project for the Zhen Cui Group in the Changbai Region.”

In truth, Wang Baoshan had wanted to organize this gathering before the New Year, but because Jiang Man, Qian Zhengxing, and Gu Heng himself had all been extremely busy, it was delayed until today.

The core reason Wang Baoshan was so eager to host was to express his gratitude to Gu Heng for awarding him the construction contract for the medicinal herb cultivation base that the Zhen Cui Group was preparing in the Changbai Region.

The ultimate goal for this medicinal herb cultivation base was a scale of ten thousand mu, with a final total investment that would exceed three hundred million. As the contractor for the project, one could only imagine the profits Wang Baoshan stood to make.

It might not compare to real estate development in the past, but in the current “civil engineering winter,” where countless former titans of the industry had fallen over the past two years, getting a good project like this—one that didn’t delay or withhold payments—was more than enough to make Wang Baoshan content.

“The project has to be done by someone.”

Gu Heng smiled. “President Wang has the strength and experience in this area, and we’re friends. It’s only natural for us to help each other for mutual benefit.”

“Less talk, more drinking. It’s all in the glass.”

Wang Baoshan raised his glass and once again drained it in one go.

“Hey, hey, hey!”

“You drained it again!”

“You really won’t stop until you’ve drunk me under the table!”

Seeing this, Gu Heng shook his head and had no choice but to down his glass as well.

Not far away, Jiang Man’s daughter, Sun Xian, watched Gu Heng with great interest.

“Don’t get any ideas you shouldn’t be getting.”

“Chairman Gu is outstanding and a good person, but he’s not right for you.”

No one knows a daughter like her mother. Even though Sun Xian had been studying abroad for two years and they hadn’t seen much of each other, Jiang Man could still see right through what she was thinking at this very moment.

“And why is that?”

Sun Xian glanced at her mother, questioning her.

“Because…”

Jiang Man fell silent for three seconds. “You’re not pretty enough. Even if you threw yourself at him, you’d only be setting yourself up for rejection.”

Sun Xian: “???”

Sun Xian: “!!!”

‘I’m so mad I’m shaking!’

‘What did my own mother just say?’

‘That I’m not pretty enough?’

‘The line of guys chasing me could stretch all the way to Longjia Airport, and she says I’m not pretty enough?!’

Seeing her daughter’s wide-eyed stare, Jiang Man silently twisted the knife. “I’m not lying, and I’m not trying to put you down. You just don’t meet Chairman Gu’s standards.”

“Mom!”

“You can use any other reason to talk me out of it, but not that one!”

“How am I not pretty enough?!”

“What, are Chairman Gu’s girlfriends all celestial beauties or something?”

Sun Xian was completely unconvinced. When it came to beauty, she had never felt inferior to anyone around her, from childhood to even after she went to the United States.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door again.

As the door swung open, Jiang Man turned her head. Seeing who had arrived, she said to her daughter, “There. See for yourself…”