【Zhou Xiang】The Tropic

1.

The next day is the agreed house inspection day.

At the breakfast table, Sun Xiang was sipping ketchup while talking about the plan: inspect the house, pack winter clothes, and by the way, bring over a desktop computer with better performance and a few game consoles.

Zhou Zekai said apologetically that he originally planned to go together, but he couldn't go because he had other things to do today.

"It's okay." Sun Xiang waved his hand.

He was very busy with Zhou Zekai.During the period of yesterday afternoon and evening, probably [-]% was specially reserved for the birthday.

After the meal, Zhou Zekai left first.Just as Sun Xiang answered the phone, he didn't pay attention. When he heard the door opening, he went to say goodbye, only to realize that this person was dressed more formally than usual today.

He guessed in his heart that he must be attending an important occasion: "Goodbye. Be safe. Let me know when you come back from dinner."

Zhou Zekai shook his head: "I won't come back tonight."

Sun Xiang was stunned for a moment, and then he thought, Zhou Zekai didn't only have this apartment, and apart from other properties, he must have his own home, so it's normal not to come back to live, so he didn't think about it.

2.

Not long after Zhou Zekai left, Sun Xiang also set off.

As soon as he arrived at the garage, Fang Minghua called and asked if he wanted to inspect the house today.

"Well, I'm ready to go out." Sun Xiang said, "It's about 10 o'clock."

"Haha, I reckon the date is about the same, I just have something to discuss with you." Fang Minghua said on the phone that the two princesses of his family wanted to go to the nearby Century Park to bask in the sun.It was too cold for a picnic in winter, so I asked if I could borrow Sun Xiang's kitchen to cook some food at noon.

Sun Xiang and Fang Minghua have known each other for a long time, so they couldn't hear the voice: the borrowed kitchen is a fake, don't worry about him inspecting the house alone, and want to help, so I will confirm his recent living conditions by the way, and cook him a delicious home-cooked meal. It was the real thoughts of the Fang family and his wife—after all these years of getting along, not only Fang Minghua, but Mrs. Fang also treated Sun Xiang as a younger brother, and often worried that he was busy with his career and no one would take care of him, so he needed to take care of him from time to time.

While Sun Xiang was moved, he felt a little guilty: "Brother Minghua, I seem to have forgotten to tell you..."

"what?"

"Hey, isn't the cross-river tunnel under construction? So I plan to rent Zhou Zekai's apartment for a long time, and move out after the inspection."

The other side was silent for a while.

Fang Minghua had a complicated heart.

He felt like an idiot for protecting Sun Xiang from Zhou Zekai nervously.It's only been more than a month, and not only are the two brothers living together well, there is nothing wrong with it, and they are even planning to rent it out for a long time.

What is going on?

What's more, although he wouldn't be so foolish as to think that Zhou Zekai could affect the construction period of livelihood projects like tunnel repairs, the timing of this connection is too coincidental, right?It is no exaggeration to say that even God is protecting this belated friendship!

At this point, Fang Minghua had nothing to say, he told Sun Xiang a bunch of precautions, and silently hung up the phone.

3.

Zhou Zekai had just parked the car when he met Ye Mingkang at the gate of the old house.The latter blinked with interest, walked up to him, and lowered his voice: "You didn't come back last night, did you go to Lujiazui?"

There is no impenetrable wall in the world, besides, Zhou Zekai did not intend to hide it.

He slowed down: "You know everything?"

"The eldest family is not sure." Ye Mingkang shrugged, "Anyway, my mother and your mother must know. But I swear, it is definitely not me who informs."

"Yeah." The corners of Zhou Zekai's mouth twitched, "It's not too bad that Lisa told you."

Ye Mingkang's mother, Jiang Zhongli, married Ye Hongyuan's original partner a year after his death, and then became pregnant quickly. This "perfect connection" caused the atmosphere in the old house to be very delicate for a long time.Out of a sense of debt, Ye Hongyuan acquiesced in calling her the English name "Lisa" directly by the younger generation.

Ye Mingkang has a clear mind, but he has no choice but to understand his mother's small calculations.He patted Zhou Zekai on the shoulder: "Don't worry, no matter who makes trouble later, I will definitely stand by you."

He purposely came to pick him up just to tell him this. Zhou Zekai was very grateful, but he didn't take it to heart: "It's just a night out, nothing bad."

While talking, they walked into the living room on the first floor, Zhou Zekai handed over the jacket and gifts to his aunt, and saw his mother talking with his aunt from a distance, with a not very good expression.

Ye Mingkang was not blind. Taking the opportunity of changing his shoes, he leaned over and asked Zhou Zekai in a low voice: "It's true that sleeping out will not be a problem, but what if they suspect other things? Are you really going to tell me the truth?"

"What's the price?" Zhou Zekai took it easy.

Ye Mingkang was slightly anxious, but he had nothing to do with him, and asked with a straight face: "What else could it be, your relationship with Sun Xiang! Don't say it's just friends, just friends, running over to live every three days?"

He had joked about similar topics before, but it was far less serious than this time.It's a pity that Zhou Zekai still kept his tight-lipped appearance, and replied indifferently: "If something really happens, I'll let you know as soon as possible."

Ye Mingkang still wanted to say something, but Zhou Zekai had already got up and responded to the greetings of several female relatives.

He was silent, straightened his clothes, and followed quickly.

4.

The eldest aunt seemed to be really ignorant, she simply cared about the reason why Zhou Zekai didn't go home on the night of his birthday.Zhou Zekai explained that he was busy with work and had dinner parties late, Ye Mingkang listened and slandered what kind of nonsense it was.However, Zhou Zekai had a very good impression on his family since he was a child. When he said this, the eldest aunt believed it easily, and began to worry about his physical problems. It is good to say that it is good to work hard, but we must learn from his uncle.

In front of Mrs. Ye Mingbei, Zhou's mother was inconvenient to preach to Zhou Zekai.Ye Mingkang agreed with his aunt, while secretly admiring her depressed expression, secretly pleased.

After a while, the eldest aunt suddenly had something to leave. Mother Zhou's eyes lit up, and she was about to send Ye Mingkang away, but right afterward, Lisa appeared and greeted warmly: "Oh, Ze Kai is finally here. The old man wants to leave." There is something I want to tell you alone."

Mother Zhou's eyes flashed.As if looking at the air, her gaze passed over where Lisa was standing, and immediately returned to Zhou Zekai, becoming soft and full of meaning: "Go, you are usually busy, today is a rare opportunity, talk to grandpa more."

Zhou Zekai said "Yes", and followed Lisa to the study on the second floor.

"It seems that sister Wanyi has heard about the shares." Ye Mingkang looked at the backs of the two of them and teased softly, "It's a foregone conclusion, why bother to do useless work."

"You—" Mother Zhou turned around with a cold face, only to see Ye Mingkang waving one hand in his pocket and lazily waving the other, and walked away without turning his head.

5.

Zhou Zekai walked into the study room, obviously feeling that the temperature in this room was higher than any other place in the old house.

Even so, Ye Hongyuan still had a thick blanket covering his knees, coughing from time to time.Ever since the incident with Ye Mingqin, his body hasn't recovered completely.

"Grandpa," Zhou Zekai sat down in the seat arranged by his aunt, went to hold his cold hand, and said with concern, "The temperature has dropped continuously recently, you should pay attention to your body."

"Hehe, Zekai cares about grandpa the most." Ye Hongyuan smiled a little, waved his hand, and told the occupants of the room to leave, "The doctor you helped introduce last time is very good, and the number of chest tightness has decreased a lot recently."

Zhou Zekai was about to say something, but Ye Hongyuan suddenly interrupted: "I won't talk about family affairs today."

"En." Zhou Zekai withdrew his hand, sat up straight, and nodded.

Ye Hongyuan cast an admiring gaze: "In a blink of an eye, Zekai will also be [-] years old. We must celebrate it well. Besides this meal, grandpa has prepared gifts for you. They are all at Lawyer Zhang's side."

"Thank you, Grandpa." Zhou Zekai nodded, "I'll contact Uncle Zhang later."

Ye Hongyuan patted his hand and sighed: "Part of it was prepared by your grandmother before she was alive. If she sees you now, she will be very pleased."

Zhou Zekai's eyes turned red involuntarily: "Grandma, she..."

"Don't talk about this." The nostalgia in Ye Hongyuan's eyes flashed, and then he became serious again: "There is another gift. Grandpa will talk about it alone."

Zhou Zekai had already guessed what it was, and subconsciously straightened his back, wanting to refuse: "I don't need—"

"5.00%." ​​Ye Hongyuan said decisively, "The shares of the group. Grandpa has already decided."

Zhou Zekai opened his mouth, but did not speak.The result was slightly better than he expected, but his mother was definitely not happy.

Ye Hongyuan seemed to have guessed his thoughts, and sighed slowly: "You may ask, why are you given shares, why is it 5.00%?"

Zhou Zekai nodded.

Ye Hongyuan lowered his eyes, rubbed the beads on his wrist, and did not answer directly: "Business partners, relatives and friends, all know that you are my grandson, but after all, there is no big fanfare like the 30th birthday present for your uncle last year. Hot headlines, you don’t blame grandpa, do you?”

"No." Zhou Zekai replied seriously, "I don't want to be covered by Hongyuan all the time."

He knew that he was different from Ye Mingkang.

Although in the eyes of others, Mr. Ye's love for them is equal, but the reasons behind them are quite different.

For him, half of it was because of guilt and regret for his mother.It's a pity that the father and daughter have been fighting tit for tat for a long time, and Ye Hongyuan couldn't express it directly, so he transferred the compensation to Zhou Zekai.The other half is pure love and appreciation.

For Ye Mingkang, Ye Hongyuan doesn't need any reason to love him.Ye Mingkang is the proof of his old age and vigor, the continuation of his life, and the most suitable and only suitable option for inheriting the family business in Ye Hongyuan's concept, which is deeply influenced by traditional thinking.

The outside world thought that Zhou Zekai could become Ye Wanyi's important weight - the faster he grows, the greater the probability of Ye Wanyi's success in fighting for power.Ye Wanyi currently holds 20% of the shares, while Ye Mingkang only has 15%. But on his 30th birthday, Ye Hongyuan announced that he would gradually hand over more shares to him depending on his performance in the next ten years.Therefore, whoever is the direct descendant of the Ye family is not as clear as Ming Jing, and the fact that the Ye family will belong to Ye Mingkang in the future is beyond doubt.

However, recently, as Zhou Zekai's birthday was approaching, there was a rumor from somewhere that Ye Hongyuan was also optimistic about Zhou Zekai, he was vacillating among the heirs, and planned to transfer a part of the shares to him.

No one knows how much a part is, which is very interesting.If the share transfer really existed, and with the 20% in Ye Wanyi's hand, would it be possible for the two to join hands to overtake Ye Mingkang?

When Zhou Zekai heard this, he took it as a joke.If Ye Hongyuan really has an idea, the first thing to do is to hold a birthday party for him similar to Ye Mingkang's specifications, so that ordinary people who eat melons will put the title of "Hongyuan's other young master" on themselves.

However, Ye Hongyuan did not, which is enough to explain everything.

With the obvious evidence in front of him, only his mother could continue to ignore it. At this moment, he was still delusional that Zhou Zekai could win more benefits from the old man.

Now, the 5.00% is said by Ye Hongyuan himself, which means that all Ye Wanyi's expectations have come to nothing.

Hearing Zhou Zekai's words, Ye Hongyuan's eyes showed satisfaction: "Zekai has always been sensible, and Grandpa sees it."

Ye Wanyi is his only daughter, he dotes on her, and makes concessions in various ways, but there is absolutely no room for negotiation on the principled issue of inheritance.Zhou Zekai could see this clearly, and Ye Hongyuan was very relieved not to follow his mother to reach out for things.

Because of this, he was in a good mood, and said with ease: "If Zekai brings his beloved girl home in the future, Grandpa will prepare more benefits for you."

This casual promise, to Ye Hongyuan, is a commonplace of gossip after talking about serious matters.So speaking, he who doesn't smile much on weekdays even showed a faint smile.

It's a pity that this smile only lasted less than five seconds.

Because his grandson, who has always been stable and proud, hesitated for a moment, and said to him: "No need for grandpa, what if I am like uncle."

Every word was like thunder on the ground, and it hit Ye Hongyuan unexpectedly.

Ye Hongyuan has been in charge of the business empire for many years, and it is easy to understand this subtext—in the context, this "uncle" cannot be Ye Mingbei, nor Ye Mingkang.

His first reaction was to stare at Zhou Zekai in disbelief.

However, his handsome grandson bravely returned his gaze.His gaze was very calm, almost the same as Ye Mingqin's a few years ago.

The old hand that was originally resting on the armrest was clenched uncontrollably and trembling slightly.Ye Hongyuan took a deep breath, and took another breath, as if the oxygen was suddenly insufficient. Repeated this several times, he narrowed his eyes, his eyes turned cold, and stared at Zhou Zekai like an eagle, but his tone was still kind:

"Are you joking with my grandpa?"

Zhou Zekai met his scrutiny: "What if it's not?"

TBC