mutual benefit [gl]

On this morning, one month before the Ching Ming Festival, the funeral was held as scheduled in the funeral home in Z City.

On this day, the gods fell a spritz of spring rain very appropriately. Although it wasn't enough to drench the entire colorful city of Z, it was enough to drench some people's hot hearts.

Chen Yuanzhen wore a black suit and her hair was neatly tied back. Although she will not appear at the funeral today, she still only put on a little makeup to cover up the dark spots left by her years of staying up late. eye socket.

Chen Yuanzhen's car was parked far away outside the funeral home. There was no emotion in her eyes, and she watched the plants and trees outside the car window calmly and indifferently, and every move of people.

Not long after, she saw two or three black cars stop in front of the funeral home. Chen Yuanzhen slowly raised his hand to put on his sunglasses, and then continued to stare out the window calmly.

She saw Chen Yuanyang and his special assistant Yuan Kang get out of the car in a hurry, Chen Yuanyang was still buttoning up his suit while walking, Yuan Kang beside him hurriedly followed his footsteps to hold an umbrella for him, completely ignoring that his shoulders were already wet half.

Behind the two, there were two men in suits. They didn't hold umbrellas, and they carried beautifully wrapped bags in both hands.

Chen Yuanzhen squinted slightly, only to see that they had mentioned some nutritional supplements.

"It seems... a bit strange."

Chen Yuanzhen muttered to himself.

"Did you find anything?" Assistant Liao asked quietly.

"Well, Chen Yuanyang's appearance...why does he look so hasty, as if he was lifted from the bed temporarily."

"You said so..."

Liao Tezhu recalled the appearance of Chen Yuanyang passing by the car just now, his fair face was obviously swollen, the corners of his eyes drooped downwards, his hair danced with the cold wind before he had time to apply hairspray.

"You said that, the general manager looked really embarrassed just now."

"This is very strange." Chen Yuanzhen's tone was slightly playful, "Isn't he planning this make-up funeral?"

"Then would you like to get out of the car and take a look?"

Chen Yuanzhen pursed her lips and thought, she was really curious about who was behind the funeral, but now that she got out of the car, if Chen Yuanyang saw it, how would she explain it?

She was hesitating, but when she looked up, she saw another car parked at the door of the funeral parlor.

But the person who got out of this car was something Chen Yuanzhen never expected.

She saw Zhao Zhizhen stepping out of the car calmly. As soon as he got out of the car, there were people around him who were busy trying to hold an umbrella for him, but he waved his hand to push him away.

"Zhao Zhizhen...what about him?"

When Chen Yuanzhen was wondering, he saw that the car behind Zhao Zhizhen had slowly left the scene at some point, leaving Zhao Zhizhen standing alone at the door of the slightly cold funeral parlor.

Zhao Zhizhen looked up at the fine raindrops falling from the sky, stretched out his hand, and let the cold rain soak his palm.

He helped the silver thread on his temples, and suddenly turned around, walking in the direction of Chen Yuanzhen's car with a smile on his face.

The place that Liao Te helped to pick was at a corner not far from the entrance of the funeral parlor. It had a good view and a high degree of concealment. In addition, today Chen Yuanzhen specially ordered Liao Te to drive an inconspicuous old car, so Most people would not notice Chen Yuanzhen's car.

But Zhao Zhizhen walked straight in this direction, Liao Tezhu became a little flustered for a while, and turned around to ask Chen Yuanzhen if he wanted to leave quickly.

Chen Yuanzhen shook her head. She took off her sunglasses, opened the door, and got out of the car.

Seeing this, Liao Tezhu quickly grabbed an umbrella and got out of the car in a hurry.

Seeing that Chen Yuanzhen had got off the car, Zhao Zhizhen smiled, he stopped, and waited for Chen Yuanzhen to walk towards him.

Liao Tezhu quickly caught up with Chen Yuanzhen's footsteps. She opened her black umbrella to cover Chen Yuanzhen from the drizzle, but she didn't want to be pushed away by Chen Yuanzhen.

She walked up to Zhao Zhizhen and nodded slightly as a greeting.

"Since Mr. Zhao didn't open an umbrella, why can't I, as a junior, be unbearable?"

Zhao Zhizhen didn't speak, he glanced at Special Assistant Liao beside Chen Yuanzhen, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, then looked at Chen Yuanzhen again and said:

"Why is Director Chen here today?"

"I also want to ask you this question, Mr. Zhao."

Chen Yuanzhen met Zhao Zhizhen's eyes without any timidity. Zhao Zhizhen seemed to have expected that Chen Yuanzhen would tell the reason, so he just smiled and said:

"Then Director Chen and I are really destined."

"My elder brother has entered the funeral just now." Chen Yuanzhen said, "Do you think we also..."

"It's okay." Zhao Zhizhen interrupted Chen Yuanzhen gently, "The general manager will not be at the funeral today, and neither will people."

Chen Yuanzhen was startled when she heard the words, she frowned slightly, and looked at Zhao Zhizhen suspiciously.

Seeing this, Zhao Zhizhen smiled even more happily. He turned sideways, stretched out his hand and said, "Director Chen is probably tired from the journey, why don't you and I find a place nearby to eat and rest before talking."

Chen Yuanzhen immediately understood Zhao Zhizhen's meaning, she nodded and said, "Of course." After that, she turned her head and whispered to Liao Tezhu to observe the situation here, and then walked forward with Zhao Zhizhen.

"Then why don't you still take the umbrella?" Liao Tezhu asked with concern.

Chen Yuanzhen looked at Zhao Zhizhen, and saw that Zhao Zhizhen was walking forward in the rain with his hands behind his back.

"No need," Chen Yuanzhen turned around and smiled at Liao Tezhu, then she turned around again and said loudly in the direction Zhao Zhizhen was going:

"Spring rain is as expensive as oil. If I use an umbrella to cover the rain, won't I waste this good time?"

After all, Chen Yuanzhen quickly followed Zhao Zhizhen.

Although the funeral parlor is located in the suburbs, there are quite a few shops nearby that intend to carry out funeral business.The two of them didn't go far on the road, and they saw the bustling town from a distance.

"Director Chen hasn't been here, has he?"

Zhao Zhizhen asked softly.

Chen Yuanzhen nodded and said, "Yes."

"I've been with the chairman for these years, I don't know how familiar I am with this place, but I'm not unfamiliar either."

Zhao Zhizhen smiled, he walked slowly, every step was extremely steady.

"Helping the chairman deal with these miscellaneous things these years, I used to think it was bad luck, but now I feel good. After all, when I am sent here one day, I won't feel strange and feel even more lonely."

Hearing the words, Chen Yuanzhen turned to look at Zhao Zhizhen beside him, but saw Zhao Zhizhen's smile was warm, as if the person he said just now was not himself.

For a moment, Chen Yuanzhen felt that he didn't know what to say, so he continued walking silently.

The two walked for about 10 minutes, and Zhao Zhizhen took Chen Yuanzhen into a small restaurant.

Zhao Zhizhen obviously didn't lie to Chen Yuanzhen just now, he is indeed familiar with this place, as soon as he entered the restaurant, a waiter greeted him with a smile, asking him if he still wanted to open a private room.

Zhao Zhizhen nodded, and by the way told the waiter to order as usual.

Although there were no customers in the restaurant itself because of the rain, the private rooms that separated the lobby were still much quieter.

Chen Yuanzhen and Zhao Zhizhen sat opposite each other. Zhao Zhizhen took off his suit and folded it aside. Not long after, a waiter came in to serve the food.

"In the past 20 years, I have eaten all the restaurants nearby. I come here alone the most."

"I can see that too," Chen Yuanzhen said with a smile, "Just now when the waiter saw you, it didn't look like he was meeting a customer, but rather he was meeting the boss."

When Zhao Zhizhen heard this, the chopsticks in his hand froze, he raised his eyes and glanced at Chen Yuanzhen with a smile, then took a piece of sweet and sour pork tenderloin and put it on his plate.

"Why did Director Chen come here this time?"

"As I said just now, it's the same as you."

Zhao Zhizhen put down his chopsticks, he smiled and looked at Chen Yuanzhen for a while, and Chen Yuanzhen only responded with a shallow smile.

"Director Chen found the 10 yuan, right?"

"I didn't say anything."

"Do you know how profitable the funeral industry is now?"

Zhao Zhizhen didn't pursue Chen Yuanzhen, but changed the topic.

"The funeral parlor in Z City clearly quotes. There are three types of mourning halls. The most expensive one is as high as 6 yuan. Add in miscellaneous things, even if the item of cremation is missing. It's just 10 yuan, and I really can't help spending it."

At this moment, the waiter knocked on the door of the private room again. The two waiters came one after the other. First, someone set up a shelf on the dining table, and then the other waiter brought a plate of red and white ice cream on ice. beef.

After the waiter finished the arrangement, he turned and left. Zhao Zhizhen reached out to pick up the tongs, and put the pieces of beef on the shelf.

The hot tongue was licking the fresh and tender beef, Zhao Zhizhen's eyes were fixed on the beef on the shelf, and he sprinkled some seasonings from time to time.

Zhao Zhizhen shut up and stopped talking, which disturbed Chen Yuanzhen's interest. She turned her face away impatiently, and stopped watching how Zhao Zhizhen carefully roasted the meat.

Not long after, there was a smell of meat in the private room, and Chen Yuanzhen seemed to laugh happily when he heard Zhao Zhizhen.

She turned her eyes and saw Zhao Zhizhen picked up the scissors and cut open the slightly huge beef on the shelf, then gently picked up a piece with the tongs and put it on the plate in front of her.

"I love snowflake beef, so the requirements for meat sources are very strict. Director Chen can try it."

Chen Yuanzhen smiled perfunctorily, evading it with the excuse of bad appetite.

Zhao Zhizhen didn't force it either. After swallowing the food in his mouth, he used scissors to cut the snowflake beef on the shelf, and said with a smile:

"The 10 yuan that Director Chen is suspicious of was approved by the public relations department of Chen's real estate. However, there is no plan to ask the deceased's family to hold another funeral. It was originally used as a pension."

The barbecue on the shelf made a "sizzling" sound. Chen Yuanzhen couldn't help but glanced down, seeing that the red beef was gradually turning dark, and her stomach began to churn inexplicably.

"The deceased used to be a bricklayer, but he probably thought that bricklayers didn't make much money. He switched to work as a scaffolder at the beginning of last year, but he didn't expect that it would be the end of the year. Such a thing happened, and he lost his life directly. .”

Zhao Zhizhen knocked the scissors with his hands, shaking off the remaining fat on the blades.

"10 yuan is a lot of money for the family of the deceased, enough to support a period of life. The general manager probably calculated this way, so he didn't think too much about it, and just threw out this sum of money. What he said was the same After all, who would have thought that such a family would choose to spend 10 yuan for an unnecessary funeral."

Chen Yuanzhen understood what Zhao Zhizhen meant, but because she understood, she was even more confused.

If the purpose of Chen Yuanyang's giving the money was not for the second funeral, then why would the family of the deceased spend such a large sum of money on the funeral?

"Since Mr. Zhao brought me here, he must not just want to have a meal with me."

"Director Chen, think about it, if you want to spend money on a luxury item, under what circumstances?"

Chen Yuanzhen was taken aback when she heard the words, and then she quickly understood what Zhao Zhizhen meant, and her eyes widened involuntarily.

"Could it be you..."

"Director Chen, don't mistake someone." Zhao Zhizhen smiled and wiped his mouth with a tissue.

"I'm just running errands."

At this moment, Chen Yuanzhen's mobile phone on the table vibrated suddenly.When Chen Yuanzhen heard the sound, he saw that it was Special Assistant Liao's call.

Seeing this, she raised her eyes and glanced at Zhao Zhizhen. Seeing that he was calm, she didn't have much scruples and connected the phone.

She had just answered the phone and before she had time to say hello, she heard Liao Tezhu lowered her voice and hurriedly said:

"Director, suddenly a lot of media came to the funeral home, hurry up and take a look!"

Chen Yuanzhen just felt her head go blank, she subconsciously turned her eyes to Zhao Zhizhen, only to see that Zhao Zhizhen was already busy cutting beef again.

The author has something to say: Director Chen is not the one who punished the elder brother this time, you can guess who it is qwq