Chapter 713 — Pig-Brained

Before long the door of the private room was pushed open again, but the one who entered was not the waiter from before — it was a middle-aged man. He walked briskly up to Gu Mengyao and said respectfully, "Eldest Miss, you're here! Why didn't you call me? I would have arranged a VIP room upstairs for you."

This middle-aged man was the general manager of the Pengzhan Business Hotel, surnamed Liu, thirty-five or thirty-six years old, with the sharp, capable look of a man who knew his business.

These days Gu Pengzhan's word was law in the Group, and he stood at the very zenith of his power; most decisions at the board meetings were his and his alone. So the men in charge of the various subsidiaries below were all looking over their shoulders, and those who had once been close to the other shareholders now wanted nothing more than to switch allegiance to Gu Pengzhan's camp.

There was no help for it. On the Group's board, Gu Pengzhan was not only the largest shareholder but also held the proxy decision-making rights of the second-largest shareholder, "Wei Zhao." That invisibly gave him the two most important votes, and no one else dared to raise an objection.

Manager Liu had no idea that the Group's second-largest shareholder was in fact sitting right in front of him. Had he known, he likely would have been frightened to death on the spot.

"I didn't want the trouble." Gu Mengyao frowned. She had not expected Manager Liu to come in person; had she known, she would never have taken out the VIP card. It was not that she was unwilling to go to the VIP room — she truly did not want to. To have her identity as the eldest miss recognized, to be surrounded and fawned over like a moon ringed by stars, was a feeling Gu Mengyao genuinely did not care for. That was why she had chosen to keep a low profile and simply ask for a private room. But now that Manager Liu had come, Gu Mengyao feared Tang Yun might misunderstand — that she had not taken her to the VIP room because she looked down on her.

The eldest miss hesitated a moment, then thought of a way to make amends. "Manager Liu, you still have VIP cards on hand, don't you? Make one out for my friend. I'll speak to Uncle Qing."

The subsidiary managers did have the authority to recommend and issue the Group's VIP cards, but the top-tier diamond card could only be issued after an application was submitted to and approved by Group headquarters. So unless the client was truly important, Manager Liu would not go to the trouble of issuing a diamond card.

And if Gu Mengyao said she would speak to Uncle Qing, then it was naturally a diamond card she meant. Manager Liu nodded and agreed at once. When the eldest miss spoke, how could the Group refuse? Especially since the eldest miss herself would be speaking to Uncle Qing.

Tang Yun, for her part, did not think much of any of this. Had Gu Mengyao put on the airs of the eldest miss the moment she arrived, it would indeed have seemed like she was showing off in front of Tang Yun. As it was, Tang Yun felt the eldest miss was rather modest.

Downstairs at the counter, Tang Yun learned that the VIP card Gu Mengyao wanted was for her. She shook her head quickly. "For me? I couldn't afford to eat here anyway... the prices are too high."

Tang Yun was only speaking the truth, and there was nothing shameful in it. The eldest miss surely knew what her family's circumstances were like.

"You can also use it at the Pengzhan Tower shopping center. There's a discount there too," Gu Mengyao explained.

"I... I usually just buy things at Night Market Street..." Tang Yun still refused. The card would be of no use to her, and she imagined it must be very precious besides; she did not want to owe Gu Mengyao a favor.

"Then make it out to Wei Zhao." Since Gu Mengyao had already said as much, she could hardly take it back now. Making it out to Wei Zhao came to the same thing.

Manager Liu found the name Wei Zhao a little familiar — as if he had heard it somewhere before. But in the eldest miss's presence he did not dare ask too much, and hurriedly issued a diamond card in Wei Zhao's name. Only after the eldest miss had left did Manager Liu pick up the phone and report the matter to Uncle Qing.

The moment Wei Zhao was mentioned, Uncle Qing's answer gave Manager Liu a terrible fright! Wei Zhao was actually the Group's second-largest shareholder, the one who had shown his face only once? And rumored to be Gu Pengzhan's son-in-law? What would a man like that need a membership card for?

Still, when he thought about how modest the eldest miss was, and how Wei Zhao must be a modest man as well, Manager Liu felt himself honored beyond measure — to think that he had issued a card to the Group's second-largest shareholder, and that the one who had recommended him was none other than Liu himself!

……………………

Li Dilei watched with eager eyes as Wei Zhao, Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, and Tang Yun walked out of the western restaurant. He rather regretted having let his lust get the better of him, and looking at the floor full of underlings who might be dead or might not, he felt a deep chill of fear.

But he had not forgotten Wei Zhao's words. He snatched up the phone and dialed his cousin's number. There were still so many silver needles stuck in his hands and his body, and he had no idea what was so remarkable about them. Yet he did not dare pull them out at random — after all, Wei Zhao had told him that pulling them out meant death. He did not quite believe it, but when he thought of Wei Zhao's ferocious skill, he had no choice but to believe.

The reason was simple: Li Dilei was the boss of these men, and Wei Zhao had struck down even these underlings until they lay on the ground, dead or alive — how could he possibly spare their boss?

"Hello? Lei? What is it?" Li Cihua was in a foul mood. The poisoning attempt had failed, and he still had no idea how to deal with Wei Zhao next. Now his cousin was calling, and he had no idea what the boy wanted.

"Cousin, you have to help me! My place has been wrecked, and I've got silver needles stuck all over me and I don't dare pull them out!" Li Dilei said, his face crumpled in misery. His only hope now was that Li Cihua would avenge him.

"Your place was wrecked? You've got silver needles stuck all over you? What do you mean? What exactly happened? Tell me in detail." Li Cihua was alarmed. Trouble always came when he was already at his most vexed. His little brother usually had nothing to worry about; everyone in the underworld knew he was Li Cihua's cousin and gave him a measure of respect. So why had something gone wrong today?

"It's like this..." Li Dilei did not dare hide anything, and told Li Cihua the whole story of how his lust had gotten the better of him, from beginning to end. It was not the sort of thing he could hide anyway — Li Cihua had men in the western restaurant too. That scar-faced fellow was one of Li Cihua's own, sent over simply to keep an eye on the place for him.

"Damn it! You really are a pig-brained idiot! Nothing to do all day but sit around idle, is that it? Are there no women anywhere else? You go and harass a customer, and you don't even worry about wrecking the business! Don't you know that restaurant of yours still pays tribute to the boss every month?" Li Cihua was furious. His little brother really had grown insufferably arrogant. But now that the boy was in trouble, he could not simply wash his hands of him. "The other party stuck silver needles in your hands and your body? Can't you go to a hospital? What use is calling me?"

Li Dilei was stunned. Yes — why had he been so obedient? What he ought to do now was go to the hospital, not call his cousin! His cousin was no doctor; he could not cure the silver needles in his body either!

Whether there was really anything wrong with those silver needles — would that not be obvious the moment he got to the hospital?