Chapter 134 - 133: Expressing Gratitude

Chapter 134: Chapter 133: Expressing Gratitude

"Brother, you... you guys, what are you doing here?"

Yu Xiangwan was washing up. Gu Qingning, who had run to get the door, truly hadn’t expected that the ones knocking at this hour would be Gu Qingran and Hua Si Fan.

She was so surprised she didn’t react right away, just standing stunned at the door, forgetting to even invite them in.

Gu Qingran looked at his younger sister—in cartoon pajamas, without a lick of makeup, her hair messily tied back—and was at a loss for words.

"Qingning, I’m mainly here with President Hua. I also wanted to see how you were doing."

Gu Qingran explained, then added teasingly, "It looks like you’re living quite well here."

"You’ve really made yourself at home. You’re dressed more casually than you are in your own house."

Gu Qingning gave a mischievous chuckle and said in a low voice, "Brother, I have no choice! I have to stay on the same level as Sister Xiang Wan. I can’t be too polished."

At the mention of Yu Xiangwan, Gu Qingning added hastily, "The apartment is too small, and it’s a bit of a mess."

"Wait here while we tidy up a bit. Then you can come in."

Without waiting for Gu Qingran to respond, she slammed the door shut with a BANG.

"Sister Xiang Wan, Dean Gu from Ning’an Hospital and President Hua from Huayu Medical Technology are here to visit..."

Gu Qingran and Hua Si Fan waited a good seven or eight minutes before the door opened again, revealing the Yu siblings and Gu Qingning, who had come to greet them.

He noticed that Gu Qingning’s hair was now hanging smoothly down her back, and she had changed into casual clothes.

As for Yu Xiangwan, her hair was still a little damp and she smelled faintly of shower gel. It was obvious she had just been in the shower.

Gu Qingran walked into the slightly cluttered living room—which wasn’t even as spacious as his office—and at the Yu siblings’ invitation, he and Hua Si Fan sat down on the sofa.

"My apologies for visiting so abruptly without any prior notice."

Hua Si Fan apologized first, then took the laminated sticky note from his pocket and handed it to Yu Zhiming.

"Dr. Yu, you remember this note, don’t you?"

Yu Zhiming took the note, glanced at it, and asked in surprise, "That new-energy Cayenne was yours?"

Hua Si Fan nodded. "Yes. The company bought it under the Binhai office’s name. I was the one primarily driving it during that time."

"Dr. Yu, thank you for the warning note..."

Yu Zhiming smiled and cut in, "President Hua, you’re too kind. It seems like it didn’t end up preventing the car from catching fire on its own, though!"

Hua Si Fan let out a soft breath. "Dr. Yu, the car didn’t spontaneously combust. I set it on fire myself."

Before the astonished Yu siblings could ask, he continued to explain, "Here’s what happened. When I returned from abroad to take over the company, I discovered that some people were embezzling company assets quite severely. I secretly began investigating and collecting evidence."

"They must have found out what I was doing. Afraid of being exposed, they decided to go all in and tampered with the Cayenne."

Yu Zhiming, stunned, interrupted, "Tampered with it? They were that bold?"

Gu Qingran chimed in, "Dr. Yu, don’t underestimate the evil in people’s hearts. When someone gets desperate, they’re capable of anything."

"There are plenty of murder cases in our country every year, after all."

Hua Si Fan took a shallow breath and continued, "Thanks to your warning note, Dr. Yu, I took the car to a repair shop. I found an electrical leak and realized someone had tampered with it."

"To avoid tipping them off, I pretended not to have noticed anything. I then deliberately set the car on fire mid-journey and passed it off as a spontaneous combustion incident."

A look of realization dawned on Yu Zhiming’s face. "So now?"

"Those people have received the punishment they deserved."

Hua Si Fan stood up and said, "Dr. Yu, without your warning, their plot might have succeeded."

"Dr. Yu, your warning saved my life."

"Thank you!"

As he said this, Hua Si Fan gave Yu Zhiming a deep bow.

Yu Zhiming quickly helped Hua Si Fan straighten up.

"President Hua, there’s no need for that. At the time, I just gave a casual warning. I had no idea there was such a complicated story behind it."

At that moment, the eyes of those two—Yu Xiangwan and Gu Qingning—were practically sparkling as they looked at Hua Si Fan.

’Their minds were already concocting a whole soap opera of ruthless corporate battles and life-or-death family feuds.’

After sitting back down, Hua Si Fan took a thin envelope from his pocket and placed it on the coffee table.

"Although the company is back on track, it hasn’t fully recovered its strength yet, so the personal assets I can access right now are limited."

"This is a check for two million. It’s just a small token of my appreciation. Please, Dr. Yu, you must accept it."

Yu Zhiming quickly refused. "President Hua, I can’t, I really can’t. While I may have helped, all I did was write a quick warning on a sticky note."

"President Hua, if you were to thank me with a small gift or treat me to a nice meal, I would gladly and happily accept."

"But two million is simply too much. If I accepted it, my conscience wouldn’t be clear. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night."

Hua Si Fan insisted, "Dr. Yu, to you, it might have just been casually writing a note. But to me, you saved my life."

"To be honest, I’m almost embarrassed to offer only two million to thank you for saving my life."

But Yu Zhiming waved his hands repeatedly. "My father always taught us to reap what we sow. He told us not to covet unreasonable returns that far exceed our efforts, and not to be greedy for windfalls."

"That kind of thing makes people greedy and causes them to lose their original peace and contentment. In the end, the loss outweighs the gain."

"Regardless of how much of a role that note ultimately played, for me, it was just a matter of spending ten-odd seconds to scribble something down."

"The effort was too small, but the reward is too great. A huge windfall like this would make me lose my peace of mind..."

And so it went, with Hua Si Fan insisting on giving and Yu Zhiming insisting on refusing.

Their back-and-forth was quite amusing for Gu Qingran and Gu Qingning to watch.

It also made them think to themselves that they hadn’t misjudged these men.

Both Hua Si Fan and Yu Zhiming were trustworthy people, worth knowing well.

Gu Qingran cleared his throat twice and interrupted them. "If you two keep going back and forth like this, you’ll be at it until dawn and still get nowhere."

"How about this: you both meet in the middle. President Hua can lower his reward, and Dr. Yu can raise his standards a bit..."

Gu Qingning chimed in, "Zhiming is planning to buy a car for four or five hundred thousand on an installment plan..."

In the end, with the Gu siblings mediating, and thanks to Yu Zhiming’s inexplicable persistence, Yu Zhiming and Hua Si Fan finally reached a consensus at six hundred thousand...

After seeing Gu Qingran and Hua Si Fan off, Gu Qingning studied Yu Zhiming seriously and even felt his forehead with her hand.

"You don’t have a fever?"

"Why are you suddenly so muddle-headed? Someone’s trying to give you money and you’re pushing it away with all your might. That doesn’t fit your usual greedy, stingy personality at all."

"Sister Xiang Wan, aren’t you going to do something about him?"

Yu Xiangwan said softly, "Even though I was green with envy over that two million, it really is too much. Accepting it would truly make me feel uneasy."

"Besides, when Fifth Brother truly makes up his mind about something, none of us sisters can stop him."

Just then, Yu Zhiming spoke up. "Gu Qingning, let me ask you something. What if you found fifty yuan on the street?"

"What would you do?"

Gu Qingning said without a second thought, "I’d be happy, of course! Lucky me, finding money right outside. I’d use it to buy a drink."

"What if you found five hundred?"

"I’d go get a nice meal!"

"What if you hit the jackpot and found five hundred thousand?"

"Um, I’d definitely turn it in to the police. If I hid it, I’d feel too uneasy to sleep."

After answering, Gu Qingning quickly retorted, "But that’s different! This is a reward from someone. I wouldn’t overthink it, and I wouldn’t feel any psychological burden at all."

Yu Zhiming said slowly, "That much money is too hot to handle. How could there not be any burden at all?"

"Besides, I consider Dean Gu and President Hua to be friends now. We also have a professional relationship and will be cooperating on business matters."

"It wouldn’t be right to accept their reward in its entirety."

A look of sudden realization appeared on Gu Qingning’s face. "Oh, so it’s not that you didn’t want to accept it, you were just thinking long-term."

"Hoping for a bigger return in the future?"

Yu Zhiming gave a small smile. "You could think of it that way, yes."

He then turned his gaze to Yu Xiangwan and said, full of confidence, "Sis, in the future, I’ll earn lots and lots of money through my own hard work and skills—far more than two million."

"You just wait. You’ll be able to spend as much as you want..."