just like it

In mid-July, the rainy season has just passed, and the temperature suddenly approaches 7°C. People seem to be thrown into a blazing stove just after leaving the humid and hot sauna.

Qiao Ruige stood by the window, watching the workers in the garden downstairs spraying the flowers and green plants.

Not far behind him, Qiao Mingshan was sitting in a wheelchair. The air conditioner was on in the room. Although the temperature was not too low, he still wore a knitted coat and a thin blanket over his legs.

Qiao Mingshan is over 80 years old, and lived in the hospital twice in the middle of last year and the beginning of this year. His body is not as good as before. He has lost a lot of weight and is supported by a tall skeleton, making him look older.

Even a little pathetic.

He has been talking to Qiao Ruige for a long time, but Qiao Ruige has been standing by the window and looking out of the window without even the slightest expression.

Qiao Mingshan's thick gray eyebrows pressed against his old eyes with heavy eyelids, and there was still a bit of sharpness in his cloudy eyes. He stared at Qiao Ruige silently for a moment, seemingly helpless, coughed a few times, and continued, "Is there any domestic It's convenient, it's always safer to have someone to take care of you, and I don't feel at ease if I leave this matter to others, so you just make a hard trip, anyway, you don't have much to do now."

Qiao Ruige still looked out of the window silently, as if he wasn't listening at all.

Qiao Mingshan frowned, and couldn't help emphasizing his tone: "After all, he is also your brother, and he is a family member. If he suffered such a big crime outside, why don't you show any sympathy or brotherhood? "

What he was talking about was naturally Qiao Xinda who was sent abroad by him two years ago.

Qiao Xinda went to the United States and established a new company with the funds provided by the old man. With the big tree of Qiao's Group, the development of the new company is not too difficult, and the old man is very pleased.

It's a pity that there was an unexpected situation. Qiao Xinda was robbed last month and was stabbed in the liver by the robber. He managed to save his life. He is still lying on the hospital bed and it is said that he will have to recuperate for at least half a year.Naturally, the American company was in turmoil, and the old man was even more worried that Qiao Xinda would not be taken care of in the United States, so he found Qiao Ruige and asked him to fly to the United States to bring Qiao Xinda back to China.

He talked for a long time, and his mouth was dry, but Qiao Ruige just looked out of the window all the time, with an indifferent appearance.

The old man is not a generous and loving character at all, to be able to speak patiently for so long is already a great tolerance for Qiao Ruige.

His brows were tightly furrowed, the wrinkles at the corners of his mouth sunken deeply, and he was obviously angry. He said sharply, "Did you listen to me? What's so interesting outside that you want to keep staring at it? Turn around and look at me." !"

Although Qiao Mingshan was old and his middle-qi was not as good as before, he still had a lot of momentum when he got angry and roared twice.

If I change to someone who is less courageous, I am afraid that I will be weak at the moment.

But Qiao Ruige is not someone else, and he is also courageous. He still looks indifferent, not even twitching his eyelashes.

Qiao Mingshan was breathing heavily. He felt that he should take two pills, and his heart didn't feel very well.

At this time, Qiao Ruige, who had been silent all this time, finally opened his mouth. He raised his chin towards the window and said, "Grandpa, that's where I was hit."

Qiao Mingshan was taken aback for a moment, and the anger that was still bursting out just now was like a punctured balloon, and it was completely vented.

Qiao Ruige turned around, looked at him and said, "You'd better find someone else, I'm afraid I can't help but hurt him again."

After finishing speaking, he didn't care how Qiao Mingshan reacted, and walked out of the room without looking back.

Coming out of the building, Qiao Ruige got into the car and slowly drove away from Qiao's old house.

He rejected Qiao Mingshan unceremoniously, and he didn't have any burden in his heart.

Qiao Mingshan, an old man over 80 years old, is still the chairman of the Qiao Group, and Qiao Mingshan's nephew temporarily takes over the vacant general manager post after Qiao Xinda left.

Qiao Ruige not only refused to accept any position in the Qiao Group that Qiao Mingshan arranged for him, even his own company cut off all the parts related to the Qiao Group. Although the size of the company was reduced by more than half, he only feel relaxed.

He can't choose and can't change the surname Joe, but there are some things he can choose.

In the evening, we had dinner at Luo Yuchuan and Jiang Miao's home.

Luo Yuchuan cooked the kitchen himself.

Qiao Ruige thinks that he has many things to regret in this life, but he will never tie himself up with the Qiao family and the Qiao Group, which is something he will never regret.

If not, I'm afraid he would never have the opportunity to eat at Luo Yuchuan's house in his life.

They may be friends all the time, they can have dinner together, they can find a restaurant to drink and drink all night, but it is impossible for them to invite them to their homes and cook some home-cooked dishes by themselves like they are now.

This is an ordinary but close friendship.

When he was still labeled as "the second young master of the Qiao Group" and "the future successor of the Qiao Group", Luo Yuchuan would definitely not do this, and they both clearly grasped the measure of "friendship".

Now, those who used to rush forward like mad bees and butterflies to offer courtship to Second Young Master Qiao, those friends who used to hang out together, have gradually receded like a tide, and those who have a little bit of competition in business have to step on their feet.

On the contrary, Luo Yuchuan, who used to be indifferent to each other, took the initiative to call him and asked, "Jiang Miao bought too much vegetables, would you like to come to my house to help eliminate some?"

Qiao Ruige thought, this is very good.

He doesn't feel that he is down and out now, but the signboard of Qiao's Group is indeed like a touchstone. It is clear at a glance who is a true friend.

There were not too many dishes on the table. There were several plates of seafood that Jiang Miao brought back from Jiang's house.

Qiao Ruige gradually learned about Jiang Miao and Jiang's current situation from Luo Yuchuan.

After Jiang Ze'an sent Jiang Yan to study abroad two years ago, his contact with Jiang Miao became more and more.He didn't accept the fact that Jiang Miao and Luo Yuchuan were together, but his attitude towards Jiang Miao has softened a lot. He often called him and occasionally asked him to go back. Before leaving, he always stuffed him with a lot of bags. thing.

Qiao Ruige felt that Jiang Ze'an's mentality was not difficult to understand.

Jiang Zhe'an is already 60 years old. A man over 60 years old must not only accept his own aging, but also learn to accept some unchangeable facts. He has to let go of his previous majesty and bow his head to reality.

Jiang Miao's current photography career is developing very smoothly. While Jiang Zhe'an clearly realizes that it is impossible for Jiang Miao to come back to inherit his career, at the same time, he wants to make up for the debt he owed Jiang Miao in the past.

Jiang Miao did not resist Jiang Ze'an's performance, and there was no grievance between him and Jiang Ze'an.They are just a pair of ordinary father and son, with estrangement and constant blood relationship.

Halfway through the meal, Wang Li called, and Jiang Miao went to answer it in the study.

Qiao Ruige said: "Your children are getting more and more powerful now."

Last year, Yao Jiangshu's costume album was published, which aroused wide acclaim, because it was made to commemorate the 45th anniversary and 60th birthday of the artist. The books were given to fans who have supported her for many years, and a few of them were sold out during the pre-sale.At one point, a netizen came to buy it after seeing the pictures of the album posted by fans. The publishing house saw that the momentum was good, and suggested to Yao Jiangshu for a second printing, but Yao Jiangshu declined.

Things are rare.

Wang Li carefully selected three and sent them abroad to compete, and it was no surprise that Jiang Miao won a grand prize.

Now Wang Li's business with Jiang Miao is mainly to take hard photos of celebrities or big-name manufacturers. The invitations are constant, and the rewards they get are no longer the same as before.

"Hey, you won't be under pressure, right?" Qiao Ruige raised an eyebrow at Luo Yuchuan, with a provocative expression on his face.

Luo Yuchuan smiled and said, "Yes."

"You earn a lot." Qiao Ruige said.

Luo Yuchuan shook his head: "It's not my pressure."

"Then what is it?"

Luo Yuchuan said, "He's going to Japan again next month."

Qiao Ruige thought for a while, and suddenly said: "Oh, I can't sleep alone, the pressure is really great."

Luo Yuchuan glanced at him lightly: "Fortunately, I'll be back in two weeks at most. Even if I really miss it, I know where to find it."

Qiao Ruige was taken aback for a moment, and said with a wry smile, "Please forgive me."

After a while, Qiao Ruige asked again: "Is the matter of the house settled?"

Luo Yuchuan nodded, looked back at the closed study door, and whispered, "Keep it secret, don't let him know."

Qiao Ruige nodded clearly.

After successfully winning the case in the financial center the year before last, Luo Yuchuan took the lead in several important projects. Now that he is a deputy, he has a bright future.A few months ago, he took a fancy to a conjoined villa. The developer had a friendship with Qiao Ruige and helped him get a discount. Now he has paid a deposit and is going to surprise Jiang Miao.

Qiao Ruige thought about it and said, "You really do great things in silence."

"Ok?"

"pretty good."

Jiang Miao came out of the study after making the phone call, and handed Qiao Ruige an envelope: "I almost forgot this."

Qiao Ruige froze for a moment, took it, felt the thickness of the envelope with his fingers, and said, "This time it's a bit much."

Jiang Miao said, "Well, I probably want to pay it off sooner."

Inside the envelope was a sum of cash, which Wu Xia deposited into Jiang Miao's bank card.

Every once in a while, as short as two or three months, as long as half a year, Wu Xia will deposit money in Jiang Miao's bank card. They couldn't find him, but it didn't prevent Jiang Miao from helping him transfer the money to Qiao Ruige.

Jiang Miao once went to check where Wu Xia deposited the money, and found the ATM machine number where he deposited the money, but the addresses were very scattered, and some even appeared in the northeast or southern coastal cities.

Jiang Miao suspected that Wu Xia had asked others to help save money. He had even considered this point, and was very cautious, not wanting to be found.

The money deposited on the card is sometimes two or three thousand, and sometimes four or five thousand. In the past two years, the total sum is nearly 4 yuan.

It is still far away from the one hundred thousand that Wu Xia owes Qiao Ruige, but the two-year repayment period he set for himself has long since passed.

Seeing Qiao Ruige's silence, Jiang Miao sighed softly, "You should work hard too."

Qiao Ruige rubbed his fingers on the envelope for a while and said, "Thank you."

Back home at night, just after taking a shower, Qiao Ruige received a call from Mrs. Qiao.

Mr. Qiao and his wife have immigrated to Italy and often travel by car among European countries. Mrs. Qiao complained on the phone today that the heavy rain delayed the trip for several days.

Qiao Ruige smiled slightly: "I'm not in a hurry, it doesn't matter where I stay and play for a few more days."

After chatting for a while, when she was about to hang up the phone, Mrs. Qiao seemed to hesitate for a while, and asked carefully: "The child, have you found it?"

Qiao Ruige said calmly: "Not yet, I will find it."

Mrs. Qiao sighed lightly, said good night and hung up the phone.

Mrs. Qiao was talking about Wu Xia, of course.

Jiang Miao once said that with Qiao Ruige's powerful information network, it would be difficult to find someone.

But Qiao Ruige knew that his powerful information network in the past was attached to the big signboard of the Qiao family, so there were naturally many methods and channels.Now that he has cut off from the Qiao family, he can no longer use many methods, and he is unwilling to touch many channels.

He once went to the small town of Wu Xia's hometown. Wu's father and Wu's mother rented a small shop and opened a small shop.Qiao Ruige didn't disturb them. He found out from the neighbors that Wu Xia had been working outside and rarely came back.

During the Chinese New Year, he stayed outside the small courtyard of Wu's house for several days, and Wu Xia didn't show up until the third day of the Lunar New Year. Only then did he realize that Wu Xia really didn't even go home for the Chinese New Year.

Qiao Ruige knew that Wu Xia was a family lover, so he couldn't figure out what kept him from coming back during the Chinese New Year.

Too busy at work?Still can't get a ticket?Or want to save travel expenses?Or simply... avoiding him?

No matter which possibility, Qiao Ruige felt very uncomfortable, especially the last one, it made his heart ache just thinking about it.

It's been two years, and time hasn't made him miss Wu Xia any less. He misses him very much, very, very much.

A few days later, Qiao Ruige went to a neighboring city to discuss a business deal. Considering the distance was not too far, he drove there without a driver.

The amount of this business is not large, and he didn't need to come forward at all before, but now it is different from before, and he has to do many things by himself.

The business talks went smoothly, and the contract was signed before noon, and the other party asked Qiao Ruige for dinner, but Qiao Ruige declined because he thought he could do something else in the afternoon.

When the two parties said goodbye at the door, Qiao Ruige saw a van with the logo of the courier company parked on the side of the road. The location seemed to block the way for his car to go out later, so he couldn't help but take a second look.

The other party's Mr. Huang was still talking to him about more cooperation in the future, so Qiao Ruige could only turn his head and say a few polite words.

At this time, he caught a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of his eye, was startled, and suddenly turned his head to look.

The figure walked quickly, and when Qiao Ruige turned around, he had already reached the side of the van and was blocked. Soon, the van with the logo of the courier company started to drive out.

Regardless of being polite, Qiao Ruige resolutely bid farewell and got into the car to chase after him.

Qiao Ruige was not familiar with the road conditions here, so he relied on navigation when he came here. Fortunately, there was a traffic light not far from the company's gate, and the speed of the van was not fast, so he didn't lose track.

He was staring at the van all the way, and the palms of his hands holding the steering wheel were faintly sweating.

The van drove for about ten minutes, turned a few streets, and stopped at the gate of a community.

Qiao Ruige didn't dare to get too close, and stepped on the brakes at a distance of about ten meters.

The cab door of the van opened, and the courier wearing the uniform of the courier company got out of the van, walked around to the other side while making a phone call, and opened the compartment door.

Qiao Ruige stared fixedly at that figure, his ears were filled with the sound of his own heartbeat.