Even as a "normie," I'm completely oblivious to it.

"Of course! Besides me, Zixiao is probably second only to me in terms of her relationship with my brother. And Zixiao isn't here for any other reason than this; it's just how it should be. After all, she and my brother aren't in a romantic relationship, they're siblings!"

Yu Che rested his chin on his hand, looking at Zi Xiao with a mischievous grin.

45. Help out of a predicament

Zixiao was completely confused about the situation.

What is she doing? Even if Yu Che does like to cause trouble for her, there's no need for her to cause unnecessary chaos.

Xiao Meng turned her attention to Yu Che, who was speaking. Although she was grinning mischievously, she didn't seem to be joking.

"Miss Su... is what you're saying true?"

"Don't call me 'Miss,' it sounds irritating."

"Then... Su Yuche?"

Yu Che picked up where she left off, even though it was a rather important matter, she seemed nonchalant about it: "What I said earlier was true. If you really want to count, I am Zi Xiao's older sister, and Zi Xiao is her brother's younger sister, without a doubt."

"However, she was adopted by our family, so we are not related by blood."

After listening, Luo Xiaomeng had mixed feelings: "I see."

It has now been confirmed that Su Zixiao is indeed not Yu Zhe's girlfriend; the two were just acting at school.

But the fact that the two weren't related by blood made things complicated for her. Perhaps Yu Zhe did treat Su Zixiao like a younger sister, but the way Su Zixiao looked at Yu Zhe suggested she wasn't content to just be a younger sister!

It has to be said that Zixiao's expression was a bit unpleasant, but since there were still guests present, she only gave Yuche a look in protest: "How could you just say that out loud like that!"

Yu Che simply shook his head and smiled helplessly.

At that moment, Yu Zhe, who was sitting in the middle, did not say anything to Yu Che as Zi Xiao had expected.

He simply reached out and stroked Yu Che's head a few times, his eyes filled with nostalgia and relief.

What's going on here?

Noticing the puzzled looks around him, Yu Zhe put down his cutlery: "Yu Che just doesn't like being 'isolated'... Sigh, that was a long time ago... Anyway, in the situation just now, only Xiao Meng at our table didn't know the truth. Actually, I also think it's not good. We're all friends, there's no need for that."

Yu Che's silver hair brushed against Yu Zhe's palm, like a gentle white cat.

Since her brother said so, Zixiao agreed.

But she still turned her gaze to the other side: "Senior Xiaomeng, you already know the answer to the question you just asked. But I'd like to know, what are you trying to achieve by asking this?"

"..."

This really scared the little girl. Don't be fooled by Zixiao's usual gentle and refined demeanor; after living in the Su family for so many years, she has an invisible pressure when she's serious.

There's also a vinegar smell.

She broke out in a cold sweat, her eyes darting around: "No...no, I was just...just curious, yeah, just curious..."

"Really? Just out of curiosity?"

To be honest, Zixiao didn't believe it. Why would she deliver food to her brother without knowing he had a fever, and why would she care so much about his love life? Was it just out of curiosity?

Is the scope of curiosity really that broad?

After hesitating for a long time, Xiaomeng didn't know how to refute.

Just when she thought everything was over, Qin Ruoke, who had been quietly drinking soup beside her, was there.

He suddenly spoke.

Like divine soldiers descending from the heavens.

"Su Zixiao, I don't think Luo Xiaomeng meant anything by it. She's our class monitor, and she's surrounded by gossip about Yu Zhe from the girls in our class every day, including a lot of wild guesses. So she got curious after hearing it so much. In fact, she asked me about it before, but I didn't think it would be good to say it out loud, so I didn't say much at the time. So I think she was just curious."

Not only did they not lie, but they also kept a perfect record.

This is also thanks to Qin Ruoke's fairly good logical analysis ability.

Actually, she didn't know if Luo Xiaomeng had any other intentions, but Xiaomeng was the class monitor and her boss at the bakery where she worked. She knew that Xiaomeng had taken good care of Qin Ruoke in both her studies and work.

So at this point, if you can help out of the predicament, then do so; it's not a big deal.

Zixiao's cold gaze gradually softened. It wasn't that she completely believed Qin Ruoke's words, but at this stage, there really wasn't anything she could refute.

She could only pick up the cup, take a small sip of the water infused with goji berries, and think, "Oh well, I guess I should stick to health."

"Qin Ruoke... Thanks!"

Xiao Meng quietly thanked Qin Ruoke with gratitude. Although she usually acted like she didn't care about anything in class, she was indeed a warm-hearted person!

After resolving the issue, Yu Zhe gently rubbed his slightly aching head: "That's all for now. I need to go back to my room and get some sleep. It's not good to feel this bad all the time. Zi Xiao, you can clean up the dishes... Oh, and it would be best if Xiao Ruo Ke could help out too."

"

Okay, you go and rest, brother. I'll take you back to your room first.

Qin Ruoke seemed happy because she had been assigned work: "Um... okay, I will wash the dishes very clean."

Ideally, it could be used as a mirror! Although that seems completely unrealistic...

Yu Zhe had just gotten up when Xiao Meng, who was quite adept at reading the atmosphere, noticed the situation.

She immediately picked up the large lunchbox she had brought with her, which was now empty.

"Well, Yuzhe, you should get some rest. I have some things to take care of, so I'll head out now."

After Yu Zhe nodded, Xiao Meng skipped away from the apartment, looking very satisfied with her day.

Zhang Zhicheng didn't deceive her and took the initiative to create opportunities for contact. Regardless of whether she got closer to Yu Zhe, Xiao Meng was very happy today.

However, there was also a kind of sorrow that was hard to hide.

I really hope his cold gets better soon. Only now does Xiaomeng realize how much heartache and worry she feels when the person she likes is suffering from illness.

.............................. ..

Qi Xinye, who is currently attending a meeting at the Qi family's office building in Dongcheng, shares the same worry.

It took her a lot of effort to convince her father that she could also participate in some of the family's affairs.

The reason given was that Su Yuche, who was younger than her, had already taken the lead in the Su family's vast business system. So, it shouldn't be unreasonable for Qi Xinye, at her age, to start getting involved in some of the Qi family's affairs.

Although her father, Qi Yi, was somewhat unwilling, he reluctantly agreed because he was indeed in the wrong.

This is why Qi Xinye appeared in the Qi family office building today.

She was dressed in a formal suit, sitting upright, and looked around. Besides the various relatives of the Qi family who would always be there, there were also senior executives and managers of various industries under the Qi family.

This is a routine meeting, held every month, and serves as the Qi family's end-of-month summary.

Now, they are all waiting for the protagonist of this meeting, namely Qi Yi.

To the Qi family's relatives, he is the head of the Qi family; to the company's managers, he is the chairman of the Qi Group.

The meeting room was completely silent. In such a high-level meeting, no one wanted to cause any problems, as that would greatly affect their future prospects.

After waiting for a few minutes, the automatic door to the conference room opened with a series of sounds.

Wearing black-rimmed glasses and with a slender build, Qi Yi strode into the room.

When he walked to the executive chair at the top of the rectangular conference table, he did not sit down, but instead turned his gaze to the conference room door.

Another person entered, an elderly man with white hair. He leaned on a simply decorated but undeniably valuable tiger-head cane and slowly walked to the second seat next to Qi Yi's seat.

After seeing him sit down, Qi Yi then sat down as well.

This old man is Qi Jiang, Qi Yi's uncle, and Qi Xinye's great-grandfather.

Those present became even more serious when they saw him.

With this, a PowerPoint presentation lit up on the large screen in the conference room, signaling the official start of the meeting.

The atmosphere, however, became even more oppressive.

46. ​​A meeting that was not simple

The end-of-month summary was conducted in a very proper manner. Judging from the report presented in the PPT, it seemed as if the Qi Group had no losses at all, and all projects were profitable, and not just any profitable ones.

Although Qi Xinye didn't know the real situation, what was displayed on the screen was definitely not true.

She still remembers that her father, Qi Yi, was looking worried in his office just a few days ago, anxious about the losses of a major project.

If that's the case, then isn't the data in front of us fabricated? But why?

It's one thing to deceive outsiders, but do you have to deceive your own employees too?

Qi Yi tapped the documents on the table with his pen and summarized into the microphone: "In summary, last month, our group's performance improved significantly. In Fenghai City, we have never been the only dominant player. Our competitiveness has finally been demonstrated."

These words are pointed, especially the phrase "dominant family," which clearly refers to the Su family.

This made Qi Xinye frown.

The summary session concluded amidst applause and praise.

It was past noon, and the most important part of the meeting agenda was to discuss several projects that had not yet been finalized.

They called it "looking ahead to preparations for next month."

They changed the PowerPoint presentation; the image on it was of a barren land, and next to it was a concept diagram of a factory construction project.

Qi Yi didn't need to explain this himself. His secretary stood up and walked to the screen: "As you can see, this is a vacant lot in the western suburbs. It has been idle for many years. Now, President Qi and the board of directors are discussing buying this land to build a factory."

“This plot of land has a considerable building area and is located far from the city center, so the land price is relatively low. The key point is that Fenghai City actually lacks some heavy industrial manufacturers, which means that this is a weak link in our city’s industry.”

"This is the main project we will be discussing today, and President Qi hopes that everyone will take it seriously."

After speaking, the secretary returned to stand beside Qi Yi, and Qi Yi adjusted his black-rimmed glasses.

He glanced around the conference room and slowly began, "Everyone, let's share our opinions on whether or not we should take on this project."

The PPT shows the annual profit estimated using big data, as well as approximate figures such as input and output.

Upon seeing this, Qi Xinye's second uncle, who was also Qi Yi's cousin, immediately stood up.

"No problem at all. If you ask me, we've been talking about investing in this project for the past few years, but it's been shelved because of those unimportant projects. It's a good thing that it's finally on the agenda!"

Following closely behind, the company's marketing manager also stated:

From a profitability standpoint, there's no problem, and our designated products will have a considerable market share both domestically and internationally.

The most unrestrained of them all, Qi Yi's third brother, stood up and boasted, "Invest! What's there to wait for! We'll even expand the scale. With this factory's backing, surpassing the Su family in Fenghai City is just around the corner!"

Qi Yi frowned at these words and coughed twice to signal him to sit down quickly. In a formal meeting, some things can be said, but some things should not be said.