The world of film and television starts from a young age.

Chapter 2173 Disappointed with his son's lack of progress, He Yao made a promise
At the dinner table, Huang Lilin was drinking and chatting happily with Wang Yang and others. But as soon as the meal was over and only he and Xia Ming were left, his expression changed immediately.

“Ah Ming, let me tell you, you have to be careful of that Zhou Chen. That kid is no pushover.”

Xia Ming was completely confused and had no idea what was going on.

"What's wrong? What happened? Did Zhou Chen upset you so much?"

“He not only offended me, but he also offended you, Ah Ming. Can’t you give me a break? I’ve been acting as both your father and mother, trying to find you a partner and even risking my reputation, and you just don’t care at all.”

Xia Ming sighed: "You mean He Yao, Uncle? I didn't ask you to do that. I already said that you can't force feelings. You insisted on putting me and her together. I know you meant well, but I don't want to use my feelings or hurt He Yao. But what does this have to do with Zhou Chen?"

"What other relationship is there?"

Seeing that Xia Ming still hadn't reacted, Huang Lilin shouted angrily, "They've been trying to steal your man right from your face, and you don't even know what's going on? Are you even my nephew? Are you trying to drive me crazy?"

"Huh? You mean Zhou Chen and He Yao? That's impossible, isn't it?"

Xia Ming looked doubtful: "Zhou Chen and He Yao would hit it off? I find it hard to believe."

He knew what kind of person He Yao was after spending some time with her. As for Zhou Chen, although he wasn't familiar with him, he felt that Zhou Chen and He Yao shouldn't be attracted to each other. Moreover, he had heard from Su Xiao that Zhou Chen was getting along very well with the lively and cute receptionist at Tiancheng.

Huang Lilin shouted loudly, "Why don't you believe me? Ah Ming, you have to know that Yao Yao's father is He Shengli. Zhou Chen and Wang Yang must have seen this, which is why they wanted to poach our girl. Yao Yao is such a good girl. She is also very good to you. You can't let her down, and you can't let that brat Zhou Chen take advantage of you."

Huang Lilin was a loud and boisterous person to begin with, and this reaction was even stronger when he was anxious and angry. He had finally managed to get Xia Ming and He Yao to know each other, and of course he didn't want to see the cooked duck fly away, especially since it was poached by Zhou Chen. This was the result he could not accept the most.

Xia Ming, however, was not in a hurry at all. Instead, he calmly said, "Uncle, first of all, He Yao is not my girlfriend, so there is no question of her stealing my girlfriend. Secondly, if He Yao really likes Zhou Chen and gets together with him, I will only wish them well."

"Blessings my ass, Xia Ming, do you really want to see me die?"

After a loud shout, Huang Lilin's voice softened again.

“Ah Ming, you have to understand your uncle’s good intentions. Yao Yao is such a good girl. She is well-educated, gentle, generous, and understanding. Why don’t you care about her at all? If you can marry her, you will save yourself at least ten years of hard work. Then, no matter what you want to do, Zhao Xiankun will not be able to stop us. Why can’t you understand?”

Despite his earnest and heartfelt persuasion, Xia Ming clearly did not listen.

“Uncle, why do we have to rely on He Yao’s father? It’s not fair to He Yao if we have this kind of thinking, and I don’t want to use this method.”

"Ugh!"

Huang Lilin sighed heavily: "You can try again. If you don't want to be with He Yao, then you want to be with that Su Xiao? I just don't understand. What does Su Xiao have that compares to He Yao? In terms of looks, temperament, family background, Yao Yao is superior in every way. Why do you like Su Xiao? What are you thinking?"

Whether I like He Yao or not is none of anyone else's business. Who told you I like Su Xiao?

"Alright, stop pretending with me. I'm your uncle, your real uncle. I can see right through your little schemes. Every time you talk about Su Xiao, your eyes light up. But when I talk about He Yao, you're so impatient. Do you really think I'm blind?"

"Alright, you're right, I can't argue with you. But that's not the most important thing right now. I'm going to Qunxing Plaza to sign the contract in three days. Time is limited, and I'm busy. I have to talk to you now."

Xia Ming didn't want to continue the conversation, so he made an excuse to leave.

Huang Lilin still didn't want to let him go, and asked loudly, "What about Yaoyao? Zhou Chen has been keeping an eye on her. Women are afraid of persistent pestering. If you don't do anything, your wife will be snatched away by someone else."

Xia Ming didn't even turn his head: "What's mine is mine, and what's not mine is mine. There's no use in forcing it. Let them be. Don't worry about it so much."

Actually, he secretly hoped that Zhou Chen would pursue He Yao. If He Yao and Zhou Chen were together, he wouldn't have so many psychological burdens. As for what Huang Lilin said, without He Yao, they might not be able to use He Shengli's identity to profit for themselves. He couldn't think about that too much. He always felt that people still had to rely on themselves.

"You brat, you'll regret this one day."

A shortcut to success, saving him more than a decade of hard work, was right in front of him, yet Xia Ming dismissed it with disdain. Huang Lilin, who had been through it all, believed that Xia Ming would definitely regret it in the future.

"No, he doesn't take it seriously. I can't give up. I absolutely can't let that brat Zhou Chen get away with it."

The thought of Zhou Chen and He Yao getting together made him furious, especially when he thought of Wang Yang's smug face, it felt like a knife had been stabbed into his heart.

Three days later, Xia Ming and Su Xiao arrived at Qunxing Group on time. This time, Liu Tiesheng did not stand them up. He met with them directly, discussed the details, and finally decided to cooperate. A few days later, Tianke and Tiancheng went to Qunxing Group to sign the contract.

Both parties were very happy to have completed the signing. Huang Lilin earnestly invited Liu Tiesheng to dinner, but Liu Tiesheng politely declined. Liu Tiesheng only told them to prepare well and make sure to complete the project by the date specified in the contract. Huang Lilin naturally assured him that there would be no problem.

Having secured such a large project, Huang Lilin was extremely proud, walking with a swagger and acting like he owned the place. Wang Yang was not much different, equally radiant and smug.

The two older men couldn't control their emotions, while Zhou Chen and the other young people seemed more composed and less flamboyant.

After the initial excitement, it's time to get busy. The construction period for Qunxing Plaza is only a little over 400 days. That means that from the time they get the project until December of next year, they only have about 15 months. So they don't have much time to prepare. They have to start preparing immediately and construction must begin before October. Time is very tight, and they can't afford to delay.

Tianke is doing alright, but Tiancheng is facing some problems. Tiancheng currently has a Panlongshan project underway, which won't be completed until next year, so it's facing difficulties in terms of manpower and funding.

After a few days of happiness, Wang Yang also fell into a happy dilemma, starting to try every means to gather people and ask for money.

These days, getting a project isn't that difficult, but it's not that easy either. Starting construction isn't too hard either. The real challenge is getting funding.

Although Tiancheng has completed several projects this year, the remaining payments for three of them have not yet been received. These were projects won through internal bidding within the group; it's much harder to get payment for projects that are snatched up from outside.

Zhou Chen couldn't help with asking for money, so Wang Yang had to ask for it himself.

Wang Yang has been busy collecting debts lately and can't stay at the company, so Zhou Chen has to take charge. This kind of thing is no problem for Zhou Chen; he can handle it with ease.

Both Tianke and Tiancheng, two top-tier companies, were busy with the Qunxing Plaza project. Even though they were cooperating, starting the project was not easy, and coordinating and scheduling for both parties was a troublesome matter. Fortunately, Xia Ming and Su Xiao cooperated well and had a good understanding, so no mistakes occurred.

October has arrived in the blink of an eye. This year's National Day was very lively because the country once again held a grand military parade, and the whole nation rejoiced.

Despite being busy for so long, Zhou Chen still considerately gave the company's employees a long National Day holiday, which is also the only long holiday before the Spring Festival. After National Day, things will become even busier, and Zhou Chen is giving them a heads-up in advance.

Even Du Juan, the company's receptionist, was given a day off and was not required to stay at the company.

Before the holiday, Du Juan enthusiastically approached Zhou Chen.

"Director Zhou, I've made plans with some friends to go to Suzhou during the holiday. Are you free? Would you like to come with us?"

As she spoke, her face flushed, because she knew very well what it meant to invite someone she liked on a trip together. It meant that she was mentally prepared, and if Zhou Chen was willing, she would definitely be willing too.

However, Zhou Chen just smiled slightly and said, "I would like to go out and have some fun, but I really don't have time. You all have holidays, but I still have to be on duty at the company. Even during the National Day holiday, there are still many things to do."

Du Juan looked disappointed: "Oh, are you that busy? Can't you let General Manager Wang take the shift?"

Zhou Chen immediately laughed: "You've got some ideas. If my uncle heard this, he'd definitely scold you, saying that you, a mere receptionist, are bossing around the general manager."

"whee."

Du Juan smiled sheepishly. She had just said it casually out of disappointment; she certainly didn't have the ability to command the general manager.

With the arrival of the National Day holiday, apart from Zhou Chen, there are two other employees on duty in the company, and everyone else has been given a holiday.

The audit team that came to investigate Tiancheng earlier has already left and gone to three other Tian-branded subsidiaries. As for the investigation results of Tiancheng, they have already been uploaded to Xu Zhiping and Zhao Xiankun. There are quite a few problems, but so far there has been no feedback. It is estimated that Zhao Xiankun is waiting to investigate all five Tian-branded subsidiaries before deciding how to punish them.

However, Wang Yang didn't take this matter seriously at all. He was too busy to care about this. Even if Zhao Xiankun wanted to punish him, he would wait until then. Besides, he didn't think Zhao Xiankun would really do anything to him.

For those on holiday, even the longest vacation isn't enough to rest, and before they know it, it's the evening of October 3rd.

Zhou Chen closed the company gate, walked out of the company building, and was just getting into his car to find a place to eat when his phone rang. He was stunned when he saw the caller ID.

The person who called him was He Yao. They hadn't seen or contacted each other since they exchanged contact information that time, so the sudden call surprised him.

Although surprised, Zhou Chen still answered He Yao's call. As soon as the call connected, He Yao's voice came through, and Zhou Chen knew immediately that something was wrong with her.

As expected, He Yao's tone wasn't very friendly. She said she wanted to treat him to dinner and had already made a reservation. She told him that if he considered her a friend, he should definitely go, and then she sent him the location directly.

Zhou Chen didn't need to think too much to know that He Yao probably had problems with Xia Ming. Although Huang Lilin had been trying to bring them together, they had never really started anything; at best, they were just friends.

Having nothing better to do, he drove to the address He Yao had given him.

This was a decent Western restaurant. Led by the waiter, Zhou Chen arrived at a window seat and saw He Yao holding a wine glass, staring blankly into space.

It wasn't until Zhou Chen sat down in front of her that He Yao reacted. She looked melancholy, but when she saw Zhou Chen, she suddenly showed a not-so-good smile.

"You actually came! I thought you weren't coming."

Zhou Chen casually said, "Why wouldn't I come? Someone invited me to dinner, and it's such a high-end restaurant. Why wouldn't I come? I just got off work and haven't eaten yet. Did you order anything?"

"No, just order whatever you like."

"Then I won't be polite to you."

Zhou Chen immediately called the waiter over and ordered several dishes.

He Yao put down her wine glass and stared blankly at Zhou Chen. Seeing Zhou Chen order food so naturally, she didn't feel disgusted at all; on the contrary, she felt very comfortable.

This is how friends should be, right? Being too polite only makes things more distant.

She was in a bad mood today and wanted to talk to someone and have a drink, but when she looked at her phone, she realized that she couldn't find any friends who would respond to her at this time. Finally, she saw Zhou Chen's number and dialed it without thinking.

She hadn't expected Zhou Chen to come, since she wasn't actually that familiar with him, but to her surprise, he actually came, and he acted very naturally, as if they were old friends.

After Zhou Chen finished ordering, He Yao poured him a glass of red wine and parted her lips slightly.

"Thank you for coming. I don't have many friends, and even fewer people would come to keep me company at a time like this. Zhou Chen, thank you."

“There’s no need to be so polite between friends. I could tell from your tone on the phone that something was wrong. I was worried that if something happened to you and you ended up calling me last, I would be in trouble. So I rushed over here as fast as I could.”

"Pfft!"

He Yao was amused. Of course, she knew Zhou Chen was joking. She was in a bad mood, but she was far from being suicidal.

"Isn't it the National Day holiday? Why are you still working?"

"There's nothing I can do. As you know, we recently took on a big project with Tianke, and all the employees are on holiday. My uncle, the general manager, has also become a hands-off manager, so I'm the only one who can stay at the company and work overtime. I haven't even eaten yet."

"You must have had a tough time."

(End of this chapter)