The Secret Realm of Time, His and Her Life Through the Changes

Chapter 108 Nepotism

Zhou Yanruo arranged for everyone to sit on the sofa in the living room first, and she turned on the TV and picked out a variety show.

“Zihang just moved in, so the house isn’t fully furnished yet. If any of you are hungry, there are some snacks under the coffee table. Please help yourselves.” Zhou Yanruo said, then turned and went to the kitchen.

Shang Yibo walked to the balcony and looked down, where he saw the main gate of the residential complex. It seemed that Zhou Zihang had already seen them enter the complex, which was why he was waiting for them in the elevator lobby.

Zhou Yanruo came over with a bottle of sparkling water and handed it to Shang Yibo, saying, "Are you hungry? Zihang said it will be ready soon."

Shang Yibo took the sparkling water, unscrewed it, took a sip, and said, "Do you live here too?"

"Yes, it's upstairs."

"The environment here is nice, and the neighborhood is quite quiet."

"Mainly because it's close to the group's headquarters building, making it convenient for commuting to work."

“But you haven’t been to Rushang Building much lately, and you probably won’t be going there often anytime soon.”

Zhou Yanruo smiled. She understood what Shang Yibo meant. Now that she was his manager, she couldn't always go to the office in the building as usual.

“You mean you have to travel for work frequently now, right? That’s even better. I can stay in hotels, I don’t have to commute every day, and I don’t have to go home and cook for myself after work. Anyway, I’m all alone, so it’s convenient no matter what,” Zhou Yanruo said softly. “After so many years of living alone, I’ve long since gotten used to it.”

Shang Yibo was surprised. In his limited, fragmented memories, Zhou Yanruo's family was originally from Beijing. Her parents were professors at Tsinghua and Peking Universities, and her closest relatives included her grandmother, who lived far away in Xichuan. However, twenty years had passed. Perhaps her grandmother was no longer alive, but her parents should only be of retirement age. So why did Zhou Yanruo say she was alone? Did her parents take her abroad twenty years ago, and now her parents had settled overseas? Hearing her say it in a forlorn tone, it didn't seem like she was alone.

What exactly happened? Should he just ask her directly? Shang Yibo hesitated.

Just as he was pondering this, Shang Yibo's phone rang. He pulled it out of his back pocket, glanced at the caller ID, and saw that it was Fang Xichen.

Zhou Yanruo subconsciously followed Shang Yibo's gaze to the phone screen, where she saw the two English letters 'MA' displayed.

Shang Yibo swiped to answer his phone, "Mom, is that you looking for me?"

Zhou Yanruo finally realized that Shang Yibo's phone number 'MA' was the pinyin for "Mom". She smiled and thought to herself that Yibo was only a few years older than a teenage boy, and probably had only recently come out of his rebellious phase, or even hadn't come out of it yet.

She nodded to Shang Yibo, who was answering the phone, indicating, "You take the call, I'll leave now." Then she turned and left the balcony, leaving Shang Yibo space to answer the phone.

Fang Xichen's unhurried voice came through the phone: "Yibo, Hong Yun added you as a WeChat friend, but you didn't accept the request."

Shang Yibo's head throbbed at the thought of Hong Yun; he couldn't even avoid her, let alone add her contact information. "We're not even friends, why would I add her on WeChat? Who gave her my WeChat? Was it you?"

Fang Xichen said, "I gave it to her. She said she was one of your fans or something and hadn't been able to contact you. I was worried that something might happen and it might really delay things."

Shang Yibo said, "Okay, I understand. Is there anything else?"

After a moment of silence on the phone, Fang Xichen continued, "Yibo, I know you don't really like Hong Yun, but she is, after all, the granddaughter of Chairman Hong of Hongliang Group, and the only heir of their family in this generation. Your father's cooperation plan with Hongliang Group is at a critical stage of negotiation. Could you just give me this perfunctory answer...?"

Shang Yibo frowned, interrupting Fang Xichen, and said coldly, "Does my dad have to rely on nepotism to do business now?"

Fang Xichen sighed softly, her tone full of helplessness, "Recently, Rushang Group has encountered some troubles, which has caused your father a lot of worry. At this critical moment, we can't help your father, but we shouldn't create any more trouble for him, don't you think?"

Shang Yibo said, "Is there anything my dad can't handle?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Shang Yibo realized he had gone too far. Fang Xichen would never speak in such a tone about Chu Fanqing being in trouble, nor had she ever worried so much about Chu Fanqing's inability to handle it. Therefore, there was only one possibility: the Rushang Group was currently facing considerable difficulties. Based on Shang Yibo's understanding of Chu Fanqing, who was always arrogant and had an extremely strong sense of self-respect, she would absolutely not allow Fang Xichen's family to intervene and resolve the issue.

Fang Xichen added, "I had someone look into Hong Yun. Apart from having a bad temper and being spoiled by her family since childhood, she's a pretty good girl at heart. She's very ambitious, studying modern media in the UK. As soon as she returned to China, she planned to start her own business and establish a film company. Of course, her family will also give her a lot of support."

"What does this have to do with me?" Shang Yibo muttered under his breath, then returned to the previous topic and asked, "Is my dad's situation very troublesome?"

"See, father and son are of the same mind. You still care about your father. Go ask him yourself," Fang Xichen said with relief.

Ding Jiajia came to the balcony, where Shang Yibo was standing to the side. She didn't notice that Shang Yibo was on the phone. "Yibo, dinner is ready. Everyone is hungry. Come on over."

As soon as Shang Yibo turned around, Ding Jiajia noticed he was on the phone. She shrank her neck and pointed her thumb in the direction of the restaurant.

Shang Yibo nodded, indicating "I understand".

Fang Xichen heard Ding Jiajia's voice and asked, "Aren't you home? I thought you were at home reading the script and hadn't gone out. I was going to ask you if you were coming home for dinner tonight. Your drama starts filming next week, and you'll be gone for several months."

"I'm having dinner at a friend's house. I'll let you know later if you want to come home for dinner. They're waiting for me. I'll hang up now."

"Yibo, you should add Hong Yun on WeChat. Maybe she really needs to talk to you. You two know each other, you used to play together a lot when you were kids."

"understood."

Shang Yibo hung up the phone, hesitated for a moment, and then accepted Hong Yun's friend request.

As soon as they verified each other on WeChat, Hong Yun sent a message: "Shang Yibo, what were you doing at Qingjiayuan?"

Shang Yibo thought to himself, "Uh... did they install a tracker on me? How come I'm being watched wherever I go? This feeling is absolutely terrible."

He typed out a line of text: "What's it to you?"

I thought about it and didn't send it. I deleted it and retyped a new line: "Gathering at a friend's house."

Hong Yun replied instantly: "Can I come along?"

Then she sent another message: "Just got back from abroad, don't have any friends, so bored, I'm getting moldy at home."

Shang Yibo replied directly: "It's inconvenient, you don't even know me."

Hong Yun: "Why don't you introduce me to someone and we'll get to know each other? I'll go over right now."

Shang Yibo: "I'll introduce you to him next time."

Hong Yun: "You're even more dawdling than when you were a kid. This time, I'm leaving right now."