Through Thick and Thin

In a four-story villa, the hanging crystal chandelier in the living room was on, and the sound of high-heeled shoes was accompanied by the laughter of several guests.There are several black high-end commercial vehicles parked outside the courtyard, most of which are here to take the guests to the venue.

At the end of the convoy, a silver-white coupe was parked under the street lights, and the lights shone down, and the rear of the car cast a long shadow on the ground.

A young man in a suit was sitting in the passenger seat, holding a sparkling cigarette between his slender fingers.The man's appearance is very outstanding, beautiful and high-profile.He lowered his eyes slightly, but there was no interest in them.

On the balcony of the master bedroom on the fourth floor of the villa, a man in his 60s was also alone.He was sitting on the single sofa with a deeply hunched waist, and the ashtray in front of him was full of cigarette butts.He stared blankly at the evening sky, and when he raised the cigarette in his hand, his fingers trembled slightly.

At this time, someone knocked on the bedroom door, Xia Hao pushed the door open, looked at the figure on the balcony, and shouted: "Dad, Mom has called you several times."

Xia Yuanbo took one last puff of his cigarette, put out the butt, and stood up.He has worked hard in this life for too long, and his face is already old. He is over 60 years old, and he is no longer young. The deliberately dyed black hair can't hide his old face and tired expression.

Xia Yuanbo walked to his son, looking at his son with deep eyes for a moment.

Xia Yuanbo came to the living room, facing the guests who visited in advance, he swept away the embarrassment and anxiety when he was alone, put on a radiant appearance, shook hands with everyone enthusiastically, accepted congratulations and praises from everyone, occasionally And a big laugh or two.

Tonight is Xia Hao's birthday party. Seeing that it was almost time, Xia Yuanbo invited everyone to take a car to the venue. Mrs. Xia at the side was dressed elegantly and luxuriously, talking and laughing with several wealthy ladies.

Xia Yuanbo's married eldest daughter, Xia Xuanrou, naturally also came back to her natal home with her husband. She leaned against her car, holding her daughter in a tutu skirt by the hand, her eyes quietly passing through the crowd, looking at her father and brother.

Xia Hao planned to drive to the venue by himself. After watching his family get into the business car, he turned around and walked to the end of the line, and opened the door of the silver-white coupe.

The man sitting in the co-pilot had no emotion on his face, and didn't even look up at him.Xia Hao closed the car door, glanced at the other party, and suddenly moved his gaze to his neck. On the man's neck was a slender light gold collar, which was very ordinary.

Xia Hao frowned, stretched out his fingers to hook the man's neck ring affectionately, and shook it displeasedly: "Why are you wearing this? It's so ugly, where is the one I bought for you?"

The latter clapped his hands away impatiently: "I can wear whatever I want."

Xia Hao stared at him, raised his brows contemptuously, and said with a sneer: "Why, I think of him, are you sad?"

The man shook the cigarette ash, and said expressionlessly: "You take care of your fiancée first, then talk about me."

Xia Hao sneered indifferently, started the car, and in the rearview mirror, there was a malicious and piercing smile on the corner of his mouth: "I advise you, find out who you are, and don't always put on a dead face." Facing me. You are thinking about Xiao Zhan, right? That’s fine, anyway, I don’t care. It’s a pity, Su Weiyu, I’m afraid he won’t look at you again.”

Lu Chuiqing was sitting in the back row of the car, arranging her tie.Xiao Zhan didn't drive here today, but the driver, Uncle Wang, brought them here.

The suit for Lu Chuiqing's dinner party today was prepared by Xiao Zhan for him. It is a light gray suit with a dark check pattern and a brick red tie. Perhaps because he is a little nervous, Lu Chuiqing always feels that his tie is too tight.

He turned his head to look at Xiao Zhan who was sitting beside him. The gray-blue double-breasted suit and the light blue rose-patterned tie with cross knots set off his broad shoulders and narrow waist.Xiao Zhan's hairstyle has also been specially modified, and the eyebrow peaks on his eyes are still sharp.

Lu Chuiqing started from Xiao Zhan's house, and Xiao Zhan's ties were all tied by him. It stands to reason that he should get used to it, but every time he looked at it, he still couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Xiao Zhan took out the banquet invitation letter from his bag, opened the car door and walked out.Lu Chuiqing followed him up the steps of the venue, surrounded by well-dressed guests, and the parking lot was full of luxury cars that Lu Chuiqing had only seen on TV.

Lu Chuiqing pursed her lips, and looked down at herself. Xiao Zhan didn't tell him the price of the suit on her body, which probably would have left him dumbfounded.Although he is only buried among the rich people, at least he won't lose face.

The welcome staff took the gifts prepared by Xiao Zhan and put them in the special guest gift place, and asked him to sign the gift card very thoughtfully, and then led them to the long table seats in the venue.Exquisite pastries and glasses of champagne were placed on the table, and the exquisite program list, the introduction brochure of Borda Group and the number plate of the lottery were placed on the right hand side of the table.

After being seated, Lu Chuiqing raised her head and looked around the layout of the venue, she admired twice in her heart, picked up the wine glass and took a sip of champagne, it tasted good, and she drank a few more sips.

Xiao Zhan flipped through the group's brochure casually, and Lu Chuiqing leaned over and asked in a low voice, "Xiao Zhan, what gift did you give?"

The gift was prepared by Xiao Zhan before Lu Chuiqing came to Xiao Zhan's house. It was a square gift box. Lu Chuiqing had never seen anything in the world, so he couldn't tell what it was.

Xiao Zhan: "Cigar."

As soon as he heard that it was something that rich people would be interested in, Lu Chuiqing nodded.

After a while, a lot of guests came to the long table in twos and threes. Lu Chuiqing found that the guests at this table were relatively young, basically about the same age as Xiao Zhan, and they were probably friends in Xia Hao's circle.

At this time, there was a burst of lively footsteps outside the venue, and the protagonists of this dinner, everyone from the Xia family arrived.Xia Hao stood among his family members in a conspicuous brick red suit, with a radiant smile on his face.

Lu Chuiqing looked curiously, Xia Hao's appearance was indeed a sign, at least he was very energetic.Xia Yuanbo and his wife stood beside their son, chatting and laughing with the guests. Compared with the photos on the Internet, Xia Yuanbo in reality seemed to be older.

It is already mid-September, and there are only two months left before Boda Group encounters huge changes. No one can tell whether Xia Yuanbo, the head of the group at that time, had foreseen it in advance.

Lu Chuiqing scooped up the pudding in the dessert cup one by one, and looked at this wealthy family from a distance.He noticed a 35-year-old woman in a slim cheongsam standing between them. That person was probably Xia Yuanbo's eldest daughter, Xia Xuanrou.

Lu Chuiqing knew something about it when she searched for information about Boda materials before. Xia Xuanrou is an MBA from a famous foreign university, and she is also very talented and knowledgeable.But Xia Yuanbo seemed to prefer Xia Hao, the son of Alpha, so Xia Xuanrou hardly got much appreciation from his father, and finally became the full-time wife of the president's husband.

Xia Yuanbo first came to the stage to say hello to the guests, and let the distinguished guests rest for a while, and then the dinner will officially begin.Mrs. Xia and Xia Xuanrou's family were seated first, while Xia Yuanbo took Xia Hao to the tea room on the second floor, and simply confirmed the final banquet process.

Xia Hao sat comfortably on the sofa, looked at the pile of gifts brought up by the reception staff, and asked the reception staff beside him, "Is there Xiao Zhan's?"

The welcome staff agreed and gave Xia Hao the gift box sent by Xiao Zhan.Xia Hao casually opened the lid, glanced at the ten cigars neatly stacked inside, and snorted coldly.

A decent gift, not even a very expensive brand.

Xia Hao threw the box on the coffee table, and with a "bang", the cigar inside bounced.Xia Yuanbo turned his head, frowned and stared at his son, and asked, "Who gave it to you?"

"Xiao Zhan." Xia Hao took out one and put it in his mouth. The waiter at the side immediately lit it for him with a lighter. He took a few puffs and exhaled a thick puff of smoke. Make friends, but the gift he gave seems not to be worth it?"

"What are you smoking? Give it to me! You're going to be on stage in a while, what does your mouth smell like like cigars!" Xia Yuanbo shouted in a deep voice, "I told you a long time ago that he is a person worth making friends with, but you just put the relationship Made it so stiff!"

Xia Hao put out the cigar: "Dad, I don't think you need to think too highly of him. Their family is rich, but Xiao Hongguang has more than one child. If I remember correctly, he also has a brother and a sister born to his stepmother. Both of them are Alphas, right? One is just a short seller, nothing worth looking at."

Xia Yuanbo cast a gloomy glance at him: "Are you still in contact with that kid from Mr. Su's family?"

"Su Weiyu? Yes."

"I will announce your engagement tonight," Xia Yuanbo said, "Take it easy."

Xia Hao agreed perfunctorily.

Not long after, the dinner party officially began.Round after round of exquisite dishes were served, Lu Chuiqing didn't have much lunch at first, and didn't care about other things, thinking that since he was here, he must have a good meal and go back, not to mention that he was the only one besides Xiao Zhan at the banquet. I don't know anyone, so I don't have so many worries.

Although he subconsciously feels that most rich people may not eat too much to appear more reserved and knowledgeable, but he can't control that much. There were several plates and none of them were left.

Holding the knife and fork, Xiao Zhan used the fork to steadily serve the foie gras on his plate, and placed it on Lu Chuiqing's plate.

Lu Chuiqing blushed a little, but she was not polite to Xiao Zhan, she took it and ate it.

Xia Hao sat on the sofa directly opposite the stage, surrounded by his family and closest friends, and a young girl in a light yellow dress sat on the other side, drinking champagne silently.

In the middle of the dinner, the birthday star, the young master of the Xia family, came to the stage to express his thanks, and held a lucky draw for the lively atmosphere, all of which were prizes starting at [-] yuan.Lu Chuiqing watched helplessly, but failed to catch him, and sighed in frustration.

Afterwards, Xia Hao announced the news of his engagement to all the guests. His fiancée came to the stage with a smile and stood with Xia Hao. The two sides even kissed affectionately. Received applause from the audience.

Xia Hao clapped his hands with the guests below, picked up the microphone again, and said to the audience: "Everyone, listen to me while eating and drinking well. I have been working hard in the company with my family for the past few years. The company is now It is the company that made me thrive, and from the bottom of my heart, I have to thank many people.”

The birthday stars of this kind of banquet seem to say some provocative words to look forward to the future. In view of Xia Hao's status, the guests also gave enough face, and most of them stopped the tableware in their hands and looked up at him.

"Since I graduated from graduate school abroad, many things have happened in the past six or seven years, including joy and sorrow." Xia Hao's face was moved, and he sighed, "But I will never forget, my favorite family, my lover, I My closest friend has always been by my side and gave me the most sincere encouragement. And here today, I would like to thank an old friend of mine in particular. He is a senior who was at the same school as my country when he was studying abroad. He is a successful person. People who are worthy of my study have given me a lot of help on my growth path. Because of work reasons, I have not contacted him for a long time, so I am very happy that he can take time out of his busy schedule to come here today. I hope he You can come on stage and support me."

When Lu Chuiqing was wondering who the other party was, Xiao Zhan beside him put down the knife and fork, wiped his lips with a napkin, his eyes darkened, and a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"He is the chairman of Value Scan, Xiao Zhan." Xia Hao raised his hand, facing Xiao Zhan who was sitting at the long table on the left side of the hall, and his eager and high-spirited voice spread throughout the venue through the microphone, "Everyone welcomes with applause!"