On the way to the party, Gu Junxing briefly explained to Nian Suian about the Yan family, figuring it might be useful for her to know.
"The Yan family is the wealthiest in Jinjiang City, and no one has been able to shake their position for years. The Yan Group has many industries under its umbrella - hotels, real estate, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, and so on. However, they started in real estate, and that's still their main focus."
Hearing this, Nian Suian asked curiously, "So where do you rank in Jinjiang City?"
"Me? I'm not in the top ten, probably around twentieth," Gu Junxing answered honestly, neither boasting nor being modest.
Nian Suian nodded, thinking that in a world like Jinjiang where tycoons were everywhere, being ranked at all was quite impressive.
"Go on, tell me more about the Yan family."
"Today's party is to celebrate Old Mr. Yan's birthday - that's Yan Zhensheng. Although he's already seventy and officially retired from the company, in reality, any important decisions in the Yan family still need his approval."
"So he's like the emperor emeritus," Nian Suian summarized aptly, resting her chin on her hand.
Gu Junxing nodded, "That's not a bad way to put it." Resisting the urge to tell Nian Suian to sit up straight, he continued talking about the Yan family.
"Old Mr. Yan has two sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Yan Heguang, currently manages the real estate side of the group, and everyone assumes he'll be the future heir of the Yan Group. The second child, daughter Yan Hexu, studied medicine. Old Mr. Yan wanted her to join the group's pharmaceutical company, but she prefers being a doctor and teaching. She's already an associate professor at the Medical University. The youngest son, Yan Heyu, has a different mother from his older siblings and was born when Old Mr. Yan was quite old. He's Old Mr. Yan's favorite. He doesn't do anything specific but holds the title of general manager at the group's headquarters."
Nian Suian was nearly falling asleep listening to all this serious talk. What she really wanted to hear wasn't this kind of formal information, so she asked Gu Junxing, "Do they have any juicy gossip?"
This question stumped him. Gu Junxing rarely paid attention to entertainment news, and the little he knew was mostly from friends.
"The eldest son and daughter don't have much gossip, but the youngest, Yan Heyu, has the most scandalous stories," Gu Junxing recalled what he'd heard from friends. "Once, Yan Heyu's girlfriend had a fever at night, and after taking her to the hospital, he insisted on calling in the head of the respiratory department. Public hospitals don't tolerate that kind of behavior, so they called the police. It was quite a scandal for the Yan Group. Even though Old Mr. Yan usually indulges him, he gave Yan Heyu a good scolding that time."
Nian Suian found this hilarious. Calling doctors in the middle of the night - wasn't this a common plot in those tycoon novels? The female lead gets a tiny scratch, and the male lead has to call his doctor friend.
Or they rush to the hospital, grab the doctor by the collar, and say something like, "If anything happens to her, none of you will keep your jobs."
Nian Suian had always wanted to criticize these plots when she read them before. All these male leads, written as tycoons but acting like maniacs... every single one of them was a nightmare patient.
After laughing, Nian Suian sighed, "We really need to respect the law and order."
The venue for the party looked like an estate. As Nian Suian got out of the car and linked arms with Gu Junxing, she quietly asked him, "How much do you think this house costs?"
She used to play a game with friends at the mall, guessing the prices of items. Now she had upgraded to guessing house prices.
Even in high heels, Nian Suian was still a head shorter than Gu Junxing. He bent down slightly, tilting his head close to her ear, and softly answered her question: "This is the Yan family's private mansion. It's not for sale."
Once they entered the banquet hall, they first had to pay their respects to today's guest of honor, Old Mr. Yan Zhensheng. Although Yan Zhensheng was already seventy years old, he still looked vigorous and healthy, with a ruddy complexion and sharp eyes.
Nian Suian originally thought that for people who weren't very close, they'd just exchange a few polite words and be done. She didn't expect that Gu Junxing's long-standing bachelor image was so deeply ingrained that even Old Mr. Yan couldn't resist asking a few more questions now that he finally brought a date.
"I heard from Heguang that you got married, but you didn't even invite us for a wedding drink. We're only meeting your wife today."
Gu Junxing smiled slightly, "Work was too busy at the time, we didn't have a chance to hold a wedding ceremony."
Yan Zhensheng looked disapproving, "A man's career is important, but so is family! How could you skimp on the wedding?"
Yan Heguang, standing next to Yan Zhensheng, nodded in agreement, "That's right, Mr. Gu. No matter how busy you are, you shouldn't shortchange Mrs. Gu."
Nian Suian stood by with a dignified smile, as if the discussion had nothing to do with her.
Just as they left Old Mr. Yan, they ran into Qiao Yan, who had also come alone.
"Mr. Gu," Qiao Yan greeted Gu Junxing, then turned to Nian Suian and said, "Suian, Peipei's gone traveling, she's not at home. She must have told you, right?"
"Yes, she did tell me."
Since Qiao Yan also needed to go greet Old Mr. Yan, the three of them didn't chat further.
Seeing that Qiao Yan was alone, Nian Suian casually asked, "Has Qiao Yan always been single?" She had only heard Qiao Peipei mention once that her brother didn't have a girlfriend at the moment.
Gu Junxing first glanced at her, then answered, "I heard he had a girlfriend he was very close to before, but for some reason, she suddenly went abroad. Qiao Yan has been single ever since."
"Going abroad isn't the same as becoming a nun. Why break up just because of that? Surely a CEO can afford a plane ticket," Nian Suian quipped.
"You seem quite interested in his affairs?"
Nian Suian was a bit annoyed by Gu Junxing's question. She didn't know how he could interpret this as interest - wasn't it obviously just gossip?
"I'm interested in everyone's affairs. By the way, what are we supposed to do here? Just stand around stupidly in the hall?" In Nian Suian's opinion, this kind of party was incredibly boring. It wasn't even as good as the village weddings she'd been to before - at least those had proper meals.
Here, despite it being a birthday celebration, she couldn't see where the actual banquet was. There was food, beautifully plated, but no one was taking any. Everyone was just standing around in small groups, holding champagne glasses and talking. Of course, Nian Suian wasn't particularly hungry or wanting to stand out by going to eat, she just found it all pointless.
Gu Junxing looked down at Nian Suian's high heels, thinking she must be tired from standing.
"Come on, let's go take a break," he said, taking her hand and leading her through the hall, out a side door, and into a small garden.
They sat down together on a bench in the middle of the garden, partially hidden by a large shrub nearby.
"Let's rest here for a while before going back. No one will come here," Gu Junxing said as he took off his jacket and draped it over Nian Suian's shoulders.
Nian Suian didn't stand on ceremony and put the jacket on properly. Indeed, it was much warmer with the coat on.
"You're quite good at finding spots like this."
"You're right, standing around in the hall is pretty silly. In the past, I'd occasionally find a place to hide out too." Gu Junxing didn't add that sitting here with someone else was far more interesting than being alone.
Neither of them spoke for a while, but then they heard rustling sounds nearby.
Then came a woman's voice.
"Young Mr. Yan, here... is this appropriate? Mmm..."
"What's not appropriate? This is even more exciting."
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