Nobody had expected anything like this.
The hall, noisy and cheerful a moment before, went instantly quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
Everyone had frozen.
Bear in mind that the longevity peach on top of the cake was the thing Zhao Wenhua had specifically asked for. Now that peach — the one signifying health and long life — had gone over onto the floor along with the topmost tier, and the person most upset, most furious, most humiliated, and least able to accept it was, of course, Zhao Wenhua.
As for the girl who had turned her ankle, she was frightened out of her wits by this point, her soul gone clean out of her.
And just as nobody knew what on earth to do —
Xu Ye quickly cleared his throat, picked up a glass of wine from the table, and stepped forward with a smile. “The cake turns over today, and this year the figures turn over double! Sweetness on the floor, money at the door! Cake down to the ground — and us up to the high ground! Uncle Zhao, from one of the younger generation: good health, and everything as you wish it.” [TL: the toast runs on two homophones. 翻一翻 (“turn over”) and 翻一番 (“double”) are pronounced identically, as are 糕 (“cake”) and 高 (“high”) — so the cake falling to the ground and the company taking the high ground are the same syllable.]
In a room that quiet, Xu Ye’s voice might have had some kind of magical boost on it. Every word of it went straight to the heart of everyone there.
The awkwardness broke open in an instant.
The crowd of financial elites around him were each higher in emotional intelligence than the last. Xu Ye had made a start, and they took it up one after another.
Zhao Wenhua had come very close to losing his temper a moment before. After Xu Ye’s little speech his mood improved considerably at once — and losing his temper in a setting like this would certainly have become a talking point in financial circles afterward. Realizing it, Zhao Wenhua immediately broke into a loud laugh and started thanking everyone for their birthday wishes without pause.
Zhao Ming was stunned.
He had assumed Xu Ye had won Jiang Chao’s favor on looks and talent. It had not occurred to him that Xu Ye’s skill at sucking up was second to none as well.
Damn. I really have learned something today.
Seeing the atmosphere come back to life, Xu Ye said quickly to the girl, “Quick, get the cake cleared up off the floor. Don’t just stand there.”
The girl’s whole body gave a shudder of fright. Then she came to herself and hurried off with her colleague to fetch cleaning things.
Within a few short minutes the hall had returned to a peaceable mood.
Zhao Wenhua drew Jiang Chao quietly aside and laughed. “If you hadn’t brought that son-in-law of yours along today, I’d have been made a laughingstock.”
Jiang Chao didn’t explain much either. He only answered, laughing as well, “His mind does work rather fast.”
“Once he graduates, any interest in having him come work at my company?”
“You’d have to ask him that yourself. He’s set on building something of his own.”
“Ha ha. It’s a fine thing to have that ambition — unlike that nephew of mine, idling his days away. He goes abroad to study and comes back with a whole set of foul habits. Now he’s learned to smoke as well.”
“…”
While the two of them were talking quietly —
Zhao Ming pulled Xu Ye aside as well, put an arm around his shoulders and laughed. “You’re something, kid. I hadn’t even caught up with what was happening, and there you were getting my uncle out of it in two or three sentences.”
“When it’s over later, remember to say something more to calm your uncle down.”
“Don’t worry. Once a thing’s past, he doesn’t hold on to it.”
Xu Ye put down the small piece of cake in his hand. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
“Do you know the way?”
“It’s not as if your old man can’t find his way.”
Zhao Ming went blank for a moment, then burst out laughing.
He found Xu Ye very much to his taste. In all the time since he had come back to China, this was the first person he had met he could actually talk to.
He had made up his mind already: when Xu Ye came back he would add him on WeChat, and they might well become good friends later on.
Xu Ye went to the bathroom, took a piss, and had just come out after washing his hands when he ran straight into the girl who had caused the disaster.
She looked as though she had been waiting outside the bathroom for him deliberately. The moment she saw him she said, head down, “Um… thank you for what you did in there.”
“It was nothing.”
Xu Ye smiled and asked in passing, “They didn’t give you a hard time, did they?”
The girl said nothing. She looked rather hard done by.
Zhao Wenhua had not in fact given a member of the serving staff a hard time. The higher a person’s standing in society, the kinder they generally are to people at the bottom of it. The reason she was aggrieved was that the club manager had docked her wages on the grounds that she had knocked the cake over.
She hadn’t answered, but Xu Ye could guess most of it from her face.
“You get back to work. It should be finishing up in there soon.”
“Mm. Thank you.”
The girl bowed, and was quickly gone from his sight.
Back in the hall, well over half the people had already gone, and the rest were saying their goodbyes to one another and preparing to leave.
Xu Ye looked around, saw Zhao Wenhua waving to him, and walked over quickly.
“Xu Ye.”
Zhao Wenhua took Xu Ye’s hand very warmly, and with the other clapped him on the shoulder. “Come by my company sometime when you’re free. I’ll have Xiao Ming look after you — the two of you aren’t far apart in age, so you should keep in touch.”
“I will, I will.”
This was exactly what Xu Ye had come for tonight. He said quickly, smiling, “I’ll be sure to learn everything I can.”
With Zhao Wenhua and Jiang Chao steering them, Xu Ye and Zhao Ming added each other on WeChat, and after another few polite exchanges Jiang Chao took Xu Ye away first.
On the way back.
Jiang Chao said, smiling, “You did very well tonight. A good many people there will remember you. Several of them asked me your name specially.”
Xu Ye: “It’s all down to the opportunity you gave me, Uncle Jiang.”
Jiang Chao: “That’s enough. Don’t suck up to me. I’ve done what I can do, and the rest is up to you.”
Xu Ye: “Mm.”
Xu Ye: “Uncle Jiang, why is Zhao Wenhua so good to that nephew of his? Sending him abroad to study, bringing him into his own company.”
Jiang Chao said, “His son died when he was very small.”
Xu Ye: “I see.”
Meanwhile.
Also in a car.
Zhao Wenhua asked, of his own accord, “What did you make of that Xu Ye?”
“He’s all right.”
Zhao Ming answered with a smile. “He’s got high emotional intelligence. He’s pleasant to be around.”
“Now you’re back in the country, stop being in touch with that bad crowd abroad. Find yourself a few decent friends and put your mind on the straight road, do you hear.”
“Uncle, I—”
Zhao Ming hadn’t finished before Zhao Wenhua went on. “You can quit the cigarettes for me, and go easy on the drink. And if I catch you at a bar or anywhere like that again, you’ll be sorry.”
Zhao Ming heard him out, his face empty of any will to live.
…
Once Xu Ye was back at the dorm he had meant to message Zhao Ming later on.
To his surprise, Zhao Ming messaged him first. “Xu Ye, you’ve got a bit of charm about you.”
Xu Ye: “???”
Zhao Ming: “When I was leaving the club, that pretty girl who was pushing the cake came and asked me your name specially.”
Xu Ye: “Are you an idiot? That’s because I did her a favor.”
Zhao Ming: “I know, but she still got shouted at. She looked so pitiful that I slipped her a tip on my way out, and she wouldn’t even take it.”
Xu Ye: “That isn’t the custom here.”
Zhao Ming: “I start at my uncle’s company tomorrow. The good days really are over.”
Xu Ye: “Good luck. I’ll come ‘visit you inside’ when I’ve got time.”
Zhao Ming: “Right, it’s a deal. Next time you come over, I’ll give you a present.”
Xu Ye: “A present?”
Zhao Ming: “My uncle’s laid down the law — no more bars or anywhere like that. I’ve still got a few membership cards for bars, foot spas, commercial KTVs. No use to me now, so I’ll hand them all over.”
Xu Ye: “What kind of person do you take me for?”
Xu Ye: “I never go to places like that.”
Xu Ye: “But I have a friend…”
Zhao Ming: “Hahahaha.”
(End of Chapter 240)