Chapter Eighty-Nine: I Came to See You

"The banquet is tomorrow night. The invitation has already been delivered to the company, and they specifically named you as a guest."

Hearing that he had been named, Zhao Fan smiled. A banquet that specifically named him, yet sent the invitation to the company? How amusing.

"I'll go to the company tomorrow to pick up the invitation."

"All right."

Just as Zhao Fan was thinking the call was about to end, Han Chen spoke again. "Mr. Zhao, I have some thoughts about the company's operating plan."

"Go on."

"We're short-handed. Should we hire some more people from overseas?"

Hire people?

A thought suddenly clicked into place for Zhao Fan. He asked, "Do you have any talent recommendations?"

"Yes. Some people from my university are graduating this year and are planning to return home. They want to settle on work first."

People from Han Chen's university?

"No problem. You handle this. As long as they have real ability, we can keep them all."

"All right."

The next day, Zhao Fan arrived at the company early in the morning. He thought he had come early, but he had not expected Han Chen to be even earlier.

Just after passing through the office area, Zhao Fan noticed light moving about. When he went over to look, he found Han Chen.

Han Chen had heavy dark circles under his eyes, his gaze fixed on the computer screen while his hands kept hammering the keyboard.

Zhao Fan stood nearby and watched him for more than ten minutes.

"I say..."

"Who is it?"

The moment Zhao Fan opened his mouth, Han Chen was startled so badly that he sprang up from his chair, and instead Zhao Fan was frightened into silence.

The two stared at each other. After a few minutes, Zhao Fan coughed twice. "Shall we talk?"

Han Chen reacted a little slowly. "Talk about what?"

"About why you're still working overtime here."

Han Chen rubbed his forehead. "Oh. There was a problem last night. I thought it wasn't a big deal, so I stayed at the company and wanted to solve it before leaving."

Zhao Fan tipped his chin toward the side. "Do you know what time it is?"

The decision made last night, and now it was already broad daylight.

Han Chen finally seemed to realize it. Just when Zhao Fan thought he would put down what he was doing, Han Chen lowered his head again.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't bother me. There's only a little left, and it'll be fixed."

Zhao Fan: "..."

After thinking it over, he ultimately did not go and shut the computer off.

At Han Chen's current state, if he turned the computer off, the man would probably fight him to the death.

He glanced at the time. It was eight-thirty in the morning. He gave Han Chen half an hour and decided to come back after nine.

Time slowly approached nine o'clock. The company employees also began arriving one after another. Zhao Fan took the invitation from his secretary and found that it was an engagement invitation, with the name Hong Mingda of the Hong family written on it.

After a moment's recollection, Zhao Fan dredged up his memories of the Hong family.

The Hong family of Sun City mainly did contract manufacturing, specializing in processing parts for others, and they were among the more active participants at auctions.

Because of that, Zhao Fan had a rather deep impression of them.

The head of the family was named Hong Mingda. At auctions, the others rarely greeted one another, but he was always smiling and chatting with everyone everywhere he went.

The only thing Zhao Fan found strange was that he had never spoken more than a few words with Hong Mingda. Yet an engagement invitation had been sent over. This really was...

He casually folded the invitation shut, then suddenly thought of something and opened it again, his gaze locking onto the three characters of Hong Mingda's name.

Wait.

The one getting engaged was Hong Mingda?

In that instant, Zhao Fan's expression twisted slightly.

If he remembered correctly, Hong Mingda was already well over fifty.

"Knock, knock, knock—"

The office door was knocked on. Zhao Fan set the invitation down and said as if nothing had happened, "Come in."

The secretary pushed the door open and entered. "Mr. Zhao, there's a young lady outside surnamed Yang who wants to see you."

A young lady surnamed Yang?

Zhao Fan was puzzled. Who did he know that was... wait. Yang Yuqing?

"Please invite her in."

"Yes."

As soon as Yang Yuqing entered the office, she greeted him with a bright smile. "As expected of Mr. Zhao. This company is really taking shape now. Impressive!"

"Thank you for the compliment. It's been a long time. What brings you here today?"

"It's been a long time because I went abroad."

"You went abroad?" Zhao Fan blurted out reflexively, then slapped his forehead. "Look at my memory. You planned to go abroad from the beginning."

It had been several months since school started in Sun City, and summer vacation was almost over. It was perfectly normal for Yang Yuqing to have gone abroad for a while.

"How was it overseas?"

"Not good enough to call it good, and not bad enough to call it bad. Anyway, it wasn't as comfortable as being in Sun City."

As she spoke, Yang Yuqing walked straight to the seat across from Zhao Fan and sat down. Her gaze dropped, and she noticed the invitation on the desk, lifting her brows slightly.

"An invitation from the Hong family?"

Zhao Fan was surprised. "How did you guess that?"

"Before I came out, I happened to run into someone from the Hong family. My father introduced a few things to me. The one getting engaged is Hong Mingda."

When she said this, there was obvious disgust on Yang Yuqing's face. Hong Mingda was already in his fifties; his son was about her age, yet he was still pulling an engagement stunt. An old lecher.

Seeing the change in her expression, Zhao Fan smiled faintly. "You dislike him?"

"Very much."

"No need to care. They're strangers anyway. Are you going to this banquet?"

Yang Yuqing immediately shook her head. "No. They say it's an engagement, but it's really just a business discussion with a pretext."

"That does make sense."

Although they had not seen each other for more than half a year, Zhao Fan and Yang Yuqing spoke with remarkable ease, as if they saw each other every day.

As they chatted, Zhao Fan suddenly checked the time.

"Please wait a moment. I'll step out for a bit."

It was already half past nine. He needed to go check on Han Chen.

Yang Yuqing nodded and remained in the office without moving.

Zhao Fan went to Han Chen's area, and saw the latter still hammering away at the keyboard, which brought a trace of helplessness to his heart.

"I say, are you trying to work yourself to death?"

He walked over to Han Chen and tapped the desk with his knuckles.

Han Chen rubbed his eyes. "Work myself to death?"

Zhao Fan fell silent, then gave the two people beside him a look.

"Do it!"

The three moved in unison, grabbed Han Chen, and hauled him onto the sofa in the adjacent office.

Facing Han Chen's bewildered stare, Zhao Fan snorted. "I want living people working for me, not dead ones. Let's go."

After the others left and the office door closed, all sound inside and out was suddenly cut off.

Yang Yuqing waited in the office until Zhao Fan returned, and she found it odd.

"What did you go out to do just now?"

"Handled a small matter."

They chatted idly for more than ten minutes before Yang Yuqing checked the time and took her leave.

"I won't keep you from your work. Let's talk again when you have time."

"All right."

After seeing Yang Yuqing off, Zhao Fan turned back and saw several people gathered together chatting. As he drew near, he realized they were talking about him and Yang Yuqing, guessing that the two of them had some kind of relationship.

"Cough, cough..."

Deliberately clearing his throat a couple of times, Zhao Fan walked past without so much as turning his head.

A relationship with Yang Yuqing?

He hadn't even made a career for himself yet. Where would he find the time to fool around with romance?

Shaking his head, Zhao Fan thought to himself that young girls always loved fixating on matters of the heart.

That afternoon, Zhao Fan had a work schedule posted directly in the company, clearly stating that overtime was allowed, but all-night shifts were not.

If a person's constitution was strong, that was one thing. But if even one person with a weak body worked through the night and collapsed dead from exhaustion, his company would be in serious trouble.

That night, Zhao Fan went to attend Hong Mingda's engagement banquet.