Chapter 339: Chapter 339: A Small Test
"What kind of status do you hold? Can you actually finalize the collaboration between Hai Chuan and the Chu Group?" Sang Ning was skeptical of Li Juezhou’s words, thinking he was just spouting nonsense.
No matter how exceptional his background was, it didn’t seem plausible for him to have the authority to make such decisive calls.
"No special status, just an utterly ordinary CEO of Hai Chuan. But having the decision-making power over who to collaborate with, that’s within my capabilities." Li Juezhou replied with an unusually serious look in his eyes.
Sang Ning’s eyes twitched, the creases at the corners of her eyes contorting slightly. "You’re really playing the role, aren’t you?"
Li Juezhou raised a finger, placing it lightly at the corner of Sang Ning’s eye, giving a slight poke, causing her eye to distort.
"I’ve said all that needs to be said. Whether or not you believe it is your business." The corners of Li Juezhou’s lips curved into a faint smile.
Sang Ning gritted her teeth and smacked away Li Juezhou’s hand. Naturally, she didn’t believe his nonsense; all she could deduce was that her boyfriend’s background was even more complex than she had imagined.
After their night run, Li Juezhou dropped Sang Ning off at home, reminding her to get some good rest before they parted ways.
On the surface, Sang Ning agreed. Behind closed doors, however, she stayed up late to re-watch the surveillance footage, still unable to determine whether Doctor Zhou had been pushed off the building or not.
But unexpectedly, the surveillance managed to capture Li Sulan’s figure. Though it was only a fleeting few seconds, Sang Ning was certain—it was undoubtedly her. Li Sulan had visited Doctor Zhou’s home before the incident occurred.
Li Sulan—
Sang Ning murmured the name under her breath, schemes forming in her mind.
She placed her phone on the nightstand, pulled the blanket over herself, closed her eyes, and slowly drifted to sleep.
...
Sang Ning attended the scheduled meeting with the Chu Family, initially believing it to be just an ordinary dinner gathering. She hadn’t expected Chu Tian and Li Sulan to go to such extremes.
"Miss Sang Ning, welcome." As Sang Ning stepped through the front door, two attendants warmly greeted her.
The two attendants stood one on each side of Sang Ning, bowing slightly, their faces adorned with identical mechanical professional smiles, their attitudes meticulously polite. One of them held a black velvet box, inside which lay a dazzling four-leaf clover pendant necklace.
The other attendant wore clean white gloves. She raised her hands to carefully remove the necklace from the box, giving another procedural smile as she addressed Sang Ning, "Miss Sang Ning, this is a small meeting gift specially prepared for you by Mr. Chu and Mrs. Chu. Should I help you put it on now?"
The attendant’s hands hovered in the air, and just as she was about to step forward, Sang Ning interrupted, "You can keep such an expensive gift to yourselves; I don’t need it."
"This..." The smile on the attendant’s face froze abruptly, her expression turning awkward.
This task had been personally handed to her by Chu Tian—what would happen if she failed to execute it?
Sang Ning noticed the attendant’s predicament. Although she didn’t want to accept the necklace, she also didn’t want to make things hard for the attendants. After all, why should working folks make life harder for one another?
"They’re here in person, aren’t they? Why go to the trouble of sending gifts through others? If Chu Tian and Li Sulan ask about it, just tell them: if they truly want to give a gift, they should personally deliver it themselves." Sang Ning’s tone was calm, devoid of any oppressive edge.
The two attendants exchanged a quick glance. The one wearing white gloves hesitated before carefully placing the necklace back into the box and gesturing toward Sang Ning politely, "Then, Miss Sang Ning, please follow me."
As Sang Ning was being escorted away, the remaining attendant closed the velvet box and walked toward the opposite corridor, rushing to find Chu Tian before Sang Ning arrived.
"President Chu, Miss Sang Ning declined the gift. She said that if you genuinely wanted to give it to her, it would be better to deliver it in person." The attendant held the box in her hands as she stood respectfully, feeling anxious and fearing Chu Tian might blame her for failing the task.
She cautiously snuck a glance at Chu Tian’s reaction, noting that he simply glanced at the box in her hands and showed no other facial expressions.
The attendant’s heart raced until Chu Tian opened his mouth, "Got it. Keep the gift for yourself and leave now."
Wide-eyed with surprise, the attendant stared at him, stunned. Chu Tian frowned at her impatience. "What part of my words is so hard to understand? Get lost!"
"Thank you, Mr. Chu! Thank you, Mr. Chu!" The attendant clutched the box to her chest, bowing repeatedly before scampering out of the private room just as Chu Tian was about to start berating her.
The necklace, seemingly ordinary on the surface, was worth more than two years of her salary. This was a huge windfall for her.
"That girl Sang Ning is becoming harder to deal with." Chu Tian’s expression turned dark.
The reason he hadn’t delivered the gift in person but chose to send it via the attendants was to test Sang Ning’s attitude.
If she accepted it immediately, it would suggest that today’s encounter would likely proceed smoothly without any major issues.
But if she refused, it would be hard to predict.
Although she claimed they should deliver the gift themselves, Chu Tian had a read on Sang Ning’s stubborn nature during this period. Even if he did deliver it personally, she wouldn’t accept. She might even give him a hard time, putting him in an awkward spot.
"It’s fine. If gifting doesn’t work, we still have other moves. As long as she feels our sincerity, it’ll be enough." Beside him, Li Sulan spoke confidently.
Previously, their posture of asking for help hadn’t been humble enough, but she refused to believe Sang Ning could be entirely unyielding.
"Xiao Xi, go chat with Sang Ning first and apologize properly to ease the atmosphere. Your dad understands that you’re prideful and don’t want to be humiliated, so your mom and I will step out for a bit. Once you two have talked things over, we’ll come back in." Chu Tian turned toward Chu Xi, who had been silent all this time.
Facing Chu Tian’s gaze, Chu Xi bit her lip in frustration. To lower her head and admit fault to Sang Ning? It’d be better for her to drop dead instead.
Chu Xi’s reluctance was written all over her face. Chu Tian narrowed his eyes slightly and said sternly, "If you’re going to apologize, at least make it sincere. You’re the one who wronged Sang Ning in the first place. If it weren’t for you, Sang Ning wouldn’t have been sent back to the Sang Family. Would we be facing so many unlucky situations now?"
Ha. Chu Xi sneered coldly in her heart. Back then, didn’t Chu Tian also fail to successfully stop Sang Ning?
And now, he was twisting everything around to dump all the blame onto her.
Chu Xi remained silent. She didn’t dare talk back to Chu Tian, but her gaze carried traces of defiance.
Li Sulan glanced at the father-daughter duo, stepping in to mediate, "Alright, Xiao Xi, we’re doing this for the Chu Group to keep growing. Bear with it for now. Once we secure the partnership with Hai Chuan, there’ll be plenty of opportunities to deal with that annoying brat Sang Ning later."
"Got it, Mom." Chu Xi replied dejectedly.
Was this really the same Li Sulan who once swore she owed her and promised to spend her entire life making it up to her, giving her everything she had?
In comparison, even Hu Zhi, her poor mother, was better. At least within Hu Zhi’s means, the things she wanted were never denied.