"Five minutes to settle this matter? How is that possible!"
Ma Hongtu, who had been zoning out, snapped back to attention. He laughed in anger. "Ms. Su, are you joking with me during the Lunar New Year? The mission I'm shouldering is related to the safety of people worldwide! It's a task that General Chen Zhoushan has repeatedly and sternly instructed me to complete! And you're only giving me five minutes to explain it? This is utterly preposterous!"
The more Ma Hongtu spoke, the angrier he became, and he suddenly stood up. Waving his arms, he interrogated Su Nanyin with great emotion, "For the safety of people worldwide and for General Chen's solemn entrustment, I've even given up my holiday to reunite with my family! If you delay this and the safety of the world is compromised, and General Chen and the International Biochemical Research Headquarters blame me, can you bear that responsibility?"
Facing Ma Hongtu's strong accusations, Su Nanyin merely frowned and met his gaze, remaining silent. Li Qianfan also said nothing, merely lowering his head and fiddling with his phone.
Su Nanyin's silence only emboldened Ma Hongtu. His arm-waving gestures grew larger, and his tone of accusation toward Su Nanyin became increasingly stern. "Most importantly, what right do you have to make decisions for Li Qianfan and refuse to speak with me? It's true that the whole world knows Li Qianfan's wife is surnamed Su, but her name is not Su Nanyin!"
"You—" Su Nanyin's delicate body visibly trembled, and her face suddenly flushed red.
"Oh. That's indeed the case." Li Qianfan also suddenly realized something and quickly leaned back, moving to sit a bit further away from Su Nanyin.
Ma Hongtu noticed Li Qianfan's reaction. His heart leaped with joy. "It seems Li Qianfan still has some sense of shame. If I can seize this opportunity to verbally abuse Su Nanyin away from him, won't the Li family, Longxu, and especially the Gao family, who hope he'll distance himself from Su Nanyin, be grateful to me?"
Ma Hongtu decided to seize this chance! And so— his speech became even more unrestrained in both tone and content. "Even if you are Guanyin of Su Nan, no matter how young and beautiful you are, please don't forget the cruel reality that you are much older than Li Qianfan! And don't forget who you are to Li Qianfan's ex-girlfriend (Du Junlin)! If you put it nicely, you're his mistress. If you put it bluntly, you're his paramour! What right does a paramour like you have to make such important decisions on his behalf?"
"You!" Su Nanyin's flushed cheeks instantly turned ashen. "Disgusting. This guy makes so much sense!"
Li Qianfan quickly leaned back again and sat even further away. He looked full of shame, as if a sudden enlightenment had struck him after Ma Hongtu's fierce rebuke. Ma Hongtu, brimming with energy— "You might be shameless, but do you think Li Qianfan isn't?" "To be frank, in my 44 years of life, I've never seen a woman as thick-skinned as you."
"Now!" Ma Hongtu, with a righteous and stern expression, pointed his right hand towards the door and said in a low voice to Su Nanyin, "Please leave! Don't disturb the important matters that Li Qianfan and I are about to discuss!"
The dignified Guanyin of Su Nan— after being thoroughly berated by Ma Hongtu, couldn't even muster a single retort. She glanced at her watch, stood up, and quickly walked out of the private room with her head down.
Ma Hongtu truly hadn't expected that after being so viciously insulted by him, Su Nanyin wouldn't dare to argue back and would just meekly scurry away. This made him feel as though every single one of his 108,000 pores had opened. He felt a sense of exhilarating comfort, his back straightened, his chin raised higher. His nostrils practically pointed to the sky. He scoffed inwardly, "Hmph, so what if she's the Guanyin of Su Nan who gives Longxu and many influential families a headache? In front of me, she's nothing but scum!"
Old Wang and Young Wang also looked at him with extreme admiration.
"Ahem!" Ma Hongtu coughed sternly and turned his gaze to Li Qianfan. He decided— after driving away that shameless woman, he would strike while the iron was hot and, from the perspective of an elder, stand in for Li Xiao of Longxu to give the beardless Li Qianfan a proper ideological education!
But— Li Qianfan also stood up and quickly walked towards the door?
Ma Hongtu froze, and blurted out, "Li Qianfan, where are you going?"
"The five minutes are up." Li Qianfan turned back, looked at Ma Hongtu, and smiled. "She gave you five minutes to explain why you were looking for me. But you only cared about venting your anger and wasted those five minutes."
"Huh?" Ma Hongtu was stunned again.
"I've recorded your brilliant speech just now." Li Qianfan dangled his phone and said, "I'll have Manager Zhao forward this video to General Chen."
"Huh?" Ma Hongtu was stunned yet again.
"Think about it, what right do you have to insult Guanyin of Su Nan like that? And what right do you have to put on airs with me? Just prepare yourself to be dismissed and kicked out after Manager Zhao, who highly values Guanyin of Su Nan, has a serious discussion with General Chen. Idiot." Li Qianfan's face was full of contempt as he uttered the last two words and slammed the door shut.
Ma Hongtu and the other two were completely petrified on the spot. Their brains had crashed.
Li Qianfan naturally didn't care how they felt. He quickly went downstairs, got out of the tea house, opened the car door, and got in. In the passenger seat, Su Nanyin had her feet resting on the dashboard and was taking out a pack of cigarettes. Li Qianfan snatched the cigarettes away and put them in his pocket. "Why are you smoking? No more smoking from now on."
Su Nanyin lazily retorted, "Who are you to tell me?"
"Don't be the bad guy for me anymore." Li Qianfan opened his phone, sent the video to Su Nanyin's WeChat, and said, "When you always do this, I feel very guilty. I'm afraid I'll get used to it and instinctively expect you to handle unpleasant things for me in the future."
"I'm willing, what can you do about it?" Although Su Nanyin had long decided to be the villain for the Li family mother and son, she was still very low after being verbally abused by Ma Hongtu. Her words were particularly sharp. "If you truly feel bad, why didn't you just beat all his teeth out on the spot? I think you're just being hypocritical, saying nice words. In your heart, you probably wish this silly girl could be your villain for life."
Li Qianfan frowned, reached for the door, and prepared to get out of the car. He intended to go find Ma Hongtu and beat all his teeth out!
"Where are you going?" Su Nanyin quickly reached out and grabbed his arm, her eyes inexplicably reddening. She shouted, "I was just severely insulted and wanted some comfort from you, and now you're giving me a cold shoulder?"
"Don't do this anymore." Li Qianfan closed the car door, started the engine, and said, "My life is still long, I can't let you be a villain for me my entire life."
Su Nanyin withdrew her hand and sneered again. "At most, you have eight more months to live, what kind of 'entire life' is that?"
Damn it. Bringing up the worst possible thing! Li Qianfan no longer wanted to talk to her and accelerated.
Li Qianfan was driving. Su Nanyin, with her feet on the dashboard, held her phone and spoke in a low voice with Manager Zhao. Tonight, Li Qianfan hadn't resorted to violence against the ignorant and arrogant Ma Hongtu. But Su Nanyin, who already knew from Meng Yue why Ma Hongtu had come to Siji City, had used the "I'll only give you five minutes" approach to unequivocally reply to General Chen on Li Qianfan's behalf: "With your attitude, you still expect to get Li Qianfan's bone marrow genetic samples? What a joke!"
After receiving the video file of Ma Hongtu verbally abusing her, Manager Zhao could not only express his dissatisfaction with General Chen but also use this incident to undermine General Chen's prestige. Nan Chen, Bei Zhao. Although they were not in the same system, once the pattern of "Nan Chen, Bei Zhao" formed, the two sides naturally considered each other their strongest competitor!
At 10:30 PM, Li Qianfan, holding a cigarette in his left hand with his arm out the car window, stopped the car at the entrance of the Su family mansion. *Ding.* The phone screen lit up. A WeChat message had arrived. As Li Qianfan opened his phone, Su Nanyin's peripheral vision caught a glimpse. But before she could see the message, Li Qianfan closed his phone.
Originally, Su Nanyin was already displeased with Li Qianfan's stingy behavior of not confronting Ma Hongtu. Now, his continued stinginess made her even more inexplicably annoyed. After the car stopped, she opened the door and got out with a sullen face. *Bang!* She slammed the car door with great force, startling Li Qianfan.
"Crazy." Li Qianfan muttered softly, then started the car. Su Nanyin, who had already walked quickly to the entrance, froze when she saw this and quickly turned back. "Where are you going?"
"What business is it of yours where I'm going?" Li Qianfan replied impatiently, rolled up the window, turned the car around, and accelerated away.