Chapter 218 - 185: Do You Know What "Fallen Through" Means?

The staff below figured they could just get by with a half-hearted effort. After all, securing a prime location was difficult. It meant coordinating with the original brand that was there, and the previous tenants in those spots were all major brands with powerful companies behind them. Generally, no one wanted to risk offending them.

Yang Hui took out his phone and called the Vice President of Store Operations. He told the VP he was at Sanyang today and asked if he had time to meet in person. The VP had never met Yang Hui, but he knew that regional leadership had designated Yang Hui as the person in charge for Yanghe Commerce and had told him to take the matter seriously.

Unfortunately, the VP was busy in a meeting. He said he would have his leasing manager come down first and that he would follow shortly after.

Yang Hui didn’t mind who came down, as long as the problem could be solved. He and Shen Meng waited downstairs for less than five minutes before a man in professional mall attire approached. Yang Hui guessed this must be the leasing manager the VP had mentioned. Smiling, he took two steps forward, ready to shake the man’s hand.

But to his surprise, the man seemed to look right past him, instead staring at the person by his side and calling out in delight, "Shen Meng?"

Yang Hui pulled back his outstretched hand and glanced at Shen Meng. She gave a slight nod. "Zhao Rui, this is President Yang of Yanghe Commerce."

She was clearly reminding him that Yang Hui was the important one here, but upon seeing her, Zhao Rui was ecstatic. "President Yang, is it?" he said gleefully. "Just wait a moment. I’m going to catch up with an old classmate. You don’t mind, do you?"

His rank was clearly too low for him to know about Yang Hui’s relationship with upper management. Seeing how young Yang Hui was, he looked down on him, mistaking him for some low-level business developer from Yanghe Commerce and dismissing him entirely. Shen Meng, on the other hand, was the girl of his dreams back in the day. He had fawned over her constantly in high school, only to be rejected with the excuse that she had to focus on her studies. He had been trying to find out where she was all these years, and now, a chance encounter! If he didn’t seize this opportunity, wouldn’t he be spurning a gift from the heavens and inviting misfortune?

Shen Meng took a step back. Sometimes, a display of passion can be a form of emotional resonance for someone who likes you back. But for someone who finds you repulsive, it’s just a steaming pile of shit.

Right now, she was utterly repulsed. For one, her boyfriend was standing right beside her, yet this man was acting as if he didn’t exist while fawning all over her. For another, what was there to "catch up" on? She had never given him the time of day back in high school.

"Zhao Rui, why don’t you discuss the work with my boyfriend first."

’Boyfriend?’ Zhao Rui’s expression soured. He had assumed they were just colleagues. ’How could he be her boyfriend?’ He glared at Yang Hui, realizing how handsome the bastard was. ’Those damned peach blossom eyes are especially annoying.’

Yang Hui watched him with a cold smirk. ’How did a fucking idiot like this become a leasing manager? He must have gotten the job through connections.’

"Shen Meng, your standards aren’t that low, are they? You didn’t just grab some random guy to fob me off, did you?"

Another possibility occurred to Zhao Rui. Back then, she had used her studies as an excuse to reject him. Now that she was out of school and in the workforce, that excuse wouldn’t work anymore. So, she had just conjured up a boyfriend.

’Okay, confirmed idiot.’

Shen Meng was speechless. ’My standards are low for choosing Yang Hui? Where else would I find a man this handsome and this good to me, even if I searched high and low? And this Zhao Rui... with his crossed eyes and face full of pimples... where does he get this confidence?’ She was truly disgusted.

"Shen Meng, let’s go. We’ll talk to someone else." He had no interest in communicating with an idiot like this.

Zhao Rui glared at him with the kind of hatred reserved for a man who’d stolen his wife. "Yang Hui... President Yang, right? What is it you need from us? For Shen Meng’s sake, I can help you out."

Yang Hui let out a cold laugh. "I don’t need your help. Just tell your boss that this retail space doesn’t meet our requirements and we need to change it. I’ll discuss the details with him."

"Let’s go, Shen Meng."

Hearing this, Zhao Rui burst out laughing. "Doesn’t meet your requirements? Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much work we did to secure this space? You’re lucky to get any spot at all in Xinyue Square, and you have the nerve to be picky? Who the hell do you think you are?"

Yang Hui just shook his head. "Actually, my confidence is nowhere near as strong as yours."

With that, he turned and walked away. Shen Meng followed closely behind without saying a single word to Zhao Rui. Based on his attitude toward Yang Hui today, they would be strangers for the rest of their lives. Any talk of their past as classmates was meaningless.

Shen Meng’s attitude only enraged Zhao Rui further. "Fine! In that case, I’ll give it to you straight: your plan to open a store here is dead. Dead, you get it? It’s over. Plenty of people are lining up for this space. It’s not like you’re the only ones who can run an NLB store. You’d better think about how you’re going to explain this to your company."

Without looking back, Yang Hui sighed. "The one thing I hate most is talking to idiots."

Shen Meng added quietly from his side, "And the one thing I hate most is you getting angry at an idiot. It’s not worth it."

He laughed heartily. "Why would I be angry? He’s the one who’s pissed off."

’He wasn’t going to get angry over a fucking idiot like that. Why would he subject himself to that? That’s why he didn’t even bother trying to discuss work with him. Originally, he had planned to lay out his points logically and reasonably. But now? Now that this guy had pushed him, he’d just call President Tian directly and demand a new space. Let them get a taste of the power of connections. I’ll just use my pull to crush them.’

Indeed, what is one of life’s greatest tragedies? To suddenly run into the goddess you’ve secretly adored for years, only to discover—before your joy can even last three seconds—that she’s already taken. For someone with a thought process like Zhao Rui’s, this was simply unacceptable.

In his mind, her reason for rejecting him in high school was to "focus on her studies." That must have meant that, aside from her studies, she was fine with everything else about him. Now that her studies were no longer an issue, he should be the most suitable candidate. So how could a boyfriend suddenly appear out of nowhere?