When Sheng Mumu arrived in Shen City, she played for two days straight.
Sheng Mumu was thinking it was time to get down to the real purpose of this trip.
She had discussed this in advance with Qi Mo, and early the next morning Qi Mo had a car and driver arranged to wait for her outside the villa.
Sheng Mumu planned to investigate the business environment in Shen City and see if she could open a branch of her Yueji Flower Shop here.
Just a few minutes after the car set off, they came across Qi Shaobai, who was jogging by the roadside.
When the car window rolled down, cold air rushed in.
Sheng Mumu gasped, looking out the window, "It's so cold and you're out jogging?"
Qi Shaobai didn't answer her question but looked inside the car doubtfully.
Besides the driver, there was only Sheng Mumu.
Sounding puzzled, he squinted, "Where are you going to play? Without me?"
Sheng Mumu sensed a hint of a child coaxing an adult in his words, which contrasted sharply with his usual lazy image.
Amused, Sheng Mumu smiled and said, "I'm going downtown to take a look around. If you're not bored, you can come along."
As soon as she finished speaking, the boy had already pulled open the back door and gotten in.
"Isn't my dad going with you?" Qi Shaobai asked as soon as he sat down.
Sheng Mumu maintained the loving couple persona with Qi Mo and lied without blinking, "Although we have a good relationship, we don't have to be together every day."
Qi Shaobai nodded slowly, "Oh."
It was true, his dad wasn't the clingy type.
Sheng Mumu had the driver take them to several famous wealthy districts in Shen City.
She thought many communities wouldn't allow strange vehicles to enter, but after the driver got out to speak with them, the security guards at the gates politely let them through.
Sheng Mumu marveled, "Impressive, Qi Mo's reputation can even serve as a pass in Shen City."
At the same time, she secretly thought that after the flower shop became profitable and she had repaid her debt to Qi Mo, she would give him a big red envelope as a "name usage fee."
At noon, they randomly found a restaurant downtown and had a simple lunch. In the afternoon, the car stopped at the entrance of the Shen City Flower Market.
The climate in Shen City was different from Jing City, so naturally the common varieties of fresh flowers were also different.
To expand her business here, understanding the local flower market situation was a necessary step.
Qi Shaobai followed behind Sheng Mumu and took the business cards she had just collected from the stall owners and helped put them in his pocket.
Including this one, she had already collected more than ten business cards in an hour.
Qi Shaobai glanced around at the scattered branches and dirty mud everywhere, and frowned,
"Why come do this yourself when Dong Assistant could probably gather information on all the stalls in less than ten minutes?"
Sheng Mumu looked at the aloof rich kid and raised her eyebrows,
"Not understanding the market situation and building relationships yourself is an express ticket to being ripped off."
Qi Shaobai nodded thoughtfully.
He couldn't help but wonder if his father had also been like her, doing everything himself in the early days of starting his business.
The two continued walking to the next stall when a middle-aged couple passed them.
The middle-aged woman suddenly turned her head and stared at Qi Shaobai's face again and again, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
The middle-aged man put his hand on his wife's shoulder, "What are you looking at?"
The woman hesitated, "That boy, his face looks a lot like my friend from the orphanage in the past."
The man glanced in that direction along her gaze and smiled, "Then your friend must have been very good looking."
The woman nodded, "Yes, Gu Wan was always very beautiful. Alas, it's a pity..."
Before she could take a closer look, the boy had already turned into a stall, and she could only vaguely hear his increasingly blurred conversation.
"I was your assistant, following you around today. Don't you think you should take me out for a nice dinner? It should at least be at the level of the restaurant on the mountain top yesterday."
"Looks like you're quite bold for your age. Adults bringing you out to see the world is already good fortune, not needing to pay tuition."
"This is also seeing the world?"
"For you it is."
"Hmph."
...
"President Qu, Chairman Qi is here."
After speaking, the assistant closed the wooden door of the tea room from the outside.
A flash of unexpected joy appeared in Qu Hui's eyes.
Over the years, she had contacted Qi's Group many times under the pretext of seeking cooperation with Tangxin Group, but had never succeeded.
This time, it was just a piece of information about that woman.
Yet he had come.
With a smile on her face, Qu Hui looked at the expressionless man.
"I didn't expect you to really come."
Qi Mo's gaze was as sharp as a blade, exuding chilliness. He got straight to the point, "Do you know her?"
Qu Hui chuckled meaningfully and poured freshly brewed tea into the teacup, pushing it in front of Qi Mo.
"Don't rush, let's chat slowly."
Qi Mo didn't speak or sit down, just waiting for her to speak.
Qu Hui pursed her lips and took a deep breath, as if mustering great courage to meet the gaze of the man with the frosty aura.
"Chairman Qi, you should be able to see that I like you very much."
When she finished speaking, she looked at him expectantly.
After a long silence, seeing that the man's expression hadn't changed at all, as if listening to something completely irrelevant, Qu Hui was flustered.
Leaning forward slightly with her hands on the table, she quickened her speech.
"From the banquet where my dad first brought me and I saw you for the first time, I've liked you."
"Do you know how hard I've worked all these years to make myself good enough for you?"
"I know many people like you, but I'm different from those rich ladies who just have looks. Only I really understand you."
Qu Hui clenched her fists, with excited light flashing in her eyes.
She recalled the scene when she first saw Qi Mo.
With just one glance, she could tell he was different from the men she had seen before.
His gaze on people had no warmth or emotion, only career and goals.
Qu Hui was convinced that a man like this needed a woman who could assist him in his career.
"In recent years, I've made Tangxin Group bigger and bigger, becoming one of the top companies in Shen City. I have the same career drive as you. As long as you're willing to get to know me, you'll see how well-suited we are—"
"Ms. Qu, I didn't come here to listen to these things. What kind of person you are is irrelevant to me," Qi Mo impatiently interrupted her. "I only want to know, regarding Gu Wan, what do you want to discuss with me?"
Qu Hui was stunned. The words she had kept hidden in her heart for so long were finally uttered but received no response at all.
Her heart felt gripped and ached.
She suddenly narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath, speaking slowly, "Qi Shaobai's mother is Gu Wan, right?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the man who hadn't looked at her directly finally slowly raised his eyelids and glanced at her, his gaze unfathomably deep.
Qu Hui laughed self-deprecatingly.
Sure enough, it was only when Gu Wan was mentioned that he would look at her.
