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When Grandpa saw him, the first thing he said was, "You've lost weight."

Grandpa Zhao also said, "Chao Sheng, are the meals in Jinzhou not tasty? You were already thin, but now you're even thinner after coming back!"

"How's your leg, Chao Sheng?" Gu Yuanming also watched Zhou Chaosheng grow up. This kid was smart and likable since he was little. After hearing about his car accident, he couldn’t eat or sleep properly. Now that he saw that he was fine, he finally felt relieved.

"I'm fine, Grandpa Gu, just another month of recovery and it will be fine," Zhou Chaosheng said.

"That's good."

As soon as the words fell, Zhao Xiaohui’s voice came from behind, "Grandpa, we finished pulling the weeds! Can we eat now?"

Zhou Chaosheng’s gaze fell on the messy lawn, thinking to himself that the weeds they pulled must have been done badly.

Sure enough, Grandpa Zhao scolded, "Eat, eat, eat, all you ever think about is eating. I told you to pull the weeds, but you’re cutting corners. Look at how Qingqiu pulled them, and then look at yours, it looks like a dog chewed on it!"

Zhao Xiaohui: "...."

_

Lunch was prepared by the three grandmothers together. They were getting older, so usually, someone else would take care of the cooking. But today, they gathered together, with nothing else to do, and chatted in the kitchen while cooking.

When it was time to eat, the round table was filled with nine people.

In the big courtyard, meals weren’t so formal. During meals, they’d chat about daily life, talking and eating at the same time.

His grandmother showed a lot of concern for him at the table, including asking about his relationship status.

When the topic of "a partner" came up, Zhou Chaosheng couldn’t help but think of Jiang Yuanye, who was far away in Jinzhou.

He had some PTSD regarding that word.

Facing eight pairs of eyes, Zhou Chaosheng hesitated, "I’m not really thinking about that for now, but if I do, I’ll bring them back to meet you all."

As he said this, Gu Qingqiu and Zhao Xiaohui looked at him with particularly complex expressions.

Grandma Gu noticed the look in her grandson's eyes and curiously asked, "What’s wrong, Qingqiu? Does Chaosheng have a situation?"

Gu Qingqiu: "..."

"No, Grandma, you know Chaosheng. His standards are high, and it’s rare for anyone to catch his eye."

As soon as he said this, everyone burst out laughing. "Chaosheng, you’re not young anymore, it’s time to think about it. Look at Xiaohui, he’s had five or six girlfriends." Grandma Zhao used her grandson as an example.

Zhao Xiaohui: "...."

Grandpa Zhao continued to bring up his grandson’s “black history”: "Not just that, but more than ten, twenty, always on the gossip news. He still hasn’t had a proper relationship, Chaosheng, don’t follow his example."

Zhao Xiaohui: "...."

He must’ve been picked up from a garbage pile!

He grumbled, lowering his head to eat. When he raised it again, he saw Zhou Chaosheng’s bowl was piled high with dishes from Grandpa and Grandma, which made him even more depressed.

Zhao Xiaohui: "..."

No comparison, no harm.

_

After finishing the meal, Zhou Chaosheng stayed behind to chat with his grandfather. The conversation centered on his life and health in Jinzhou.

When they were nearly done, his grandfather suddenly said, "I think your grandmother is right. You're 26, it's time to consider finding a partner."

Zhou Chaosheng: "...."

When those two words came up, Jiang Yuanye's face suddenly flashed across his mind.

It startled him.

"Grandpa, there's no rush. I don't have anyone I like yet. If one day I meet someone, I’ll definitely bring them back to meet you first," Zhou Chaosheng said sincerely, almost swearing an oath.

Hearing this, his grandfather reluctantly said, "Alright then."

After staying in the courtyard until 1:30 PM, Zhou Chaosheng and his two childhood friends said goodbye to his grandparents.

Once outside the courtyard, Zhao Xiaohui suggested going to the club to bet on horses. Gu Qingqiu didn’t have any objections, but Zhou Chaosheng shook his head and refused again.

"Why? Are you so busy lately that you don't even have time to bet with us?" Zhao Xiaohui crossed his arms and asked, looking quite relaxed.

"That’s funny coming from you, when you were blacklisted four years ago and weren’t busy either," Zhou Chaosheng replied nonchalantly.

Zhao Xiaohui sighed and waved his hand, "Alright, alright, you go do your thing. But don’t forget to call us once you're done. Don’t forget the meal you owe us."

Zhou Chaosheng smiled, "I know, I won’t forget."

After bidding farewell to his friends, Zhou Chaosheng took a car to Huajie. After the urgent meeting yesterday, this was the second meeting after the incident. During the meeting, he explained in detail what he discussed with Zhao Xiaohui and Gu Qingqiu yesterday and shared his plan to expand into the European market.

The senior management was surprised after hearing the plan.

They weren’t surprised about expanding into the European market, as this had been discussed a few years ago. The only difference now was shifting focus from North America to Europe.

What surprised them was that, after his memory loss, Zhou Chaosheng had already started moving forward with company business in such a short period of time.

This work ethic...

It was truly admirable.

No wonder he founded Huajie back in university.

Look at his brain, it’s probably reaching an IQ of three hundred.

No matter how much the people below were contemplating, after Zhou Chaosheng finished giving instructions, he wrapped up the meeting within half an hour.

After the meeting, Liu Yan presented a solution to him.

"Mr. Zhou, we can use digital marketing to post video ads on YouTube and Instagram, then leverage KOL influence to promote the new product. We can also invite top media and influencers for advertising collaborations or product reviews, increasing the brand exposure."

"New product?"

"Yes, recently my team and I have been researching the features of drones. We’ve developed a new skill that allows the drone to intelligently follow while sensing obstacles. Additionally, we’ve developed flying glasses and a dual-camera flagship drone, guaranteed to amaze every customer."

Zhou Chaosheng nodded, "Send me the data later."

Liu Yan: "Okay."

Zhou Chaosheng smiled, "You’ve worked hard. I’ll have Wiesen inform the finance department and get you your year-end bonus."

The company’s year-end bonus was up to 400,000, and Liu Yan blinked in disbelief, as if fireworks were exploding in his mind. He suppressed the overwhelming excitement and, feeling very composed, thanked Zhou Chaosheng, "Thank you, Mr. Zhou. It’s my duty as a member of Huajie."

After giving Liu Yan a few more instructions, Zhou Chaosheng asked everyone to leave.

Then Wiesen knocked and entered, he curiously asked, "Boss, what kind of spell did you put on Liu Yan? He's been grinning like a fool and can’t stop laughing."

Zhou Chaosheng: "..."

"Your year-end bonus is gone."

"Boss, no! I was wrong!! I won’t speak out of turn again, please... please..."

—

Not long after the U.S. added Huajie to the "Entity List," news broke that Huajie was fined 2 billion.

This caused a huge stir online and the news repeatedly made it to the top three on Weibo's trending list.

Netizens had mixed opinions, but most were sympathetic toward Huajie.

In the field of domestic drone manufacturing, Huajie stood out. Since its establishment, Huajie's business has expanded from drone systems to a diversified product line. It has become a global leader in multiple areas, including drones, handheld imaging systems, robot education, and intelligent driving.

Currently, Huajie has 16,000 employees globally. In addition to the headquarters in Kyoto, it has offices in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Eastern Guangdong, Western Sichuan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and other locations, supporting sales and service networks across more than 100 countries and regions.

"I dare say, Huajie is the U.S.'s most hated domestic company!"

"I just checked online, Huajie drones account for a whopping 80% of the global market share! I didn’t realize until I looked it up, it’s shocking." "My brother works at Huajie, earning 30,000 a month. I wonder if this incident will affect him..."

"They’re just doing this because they have nothing better to do, fabricating all these baseless claims."

"Support Huajie’s rights! We must sue them hard!"

—

After Zhou Chaosheng returned to Kyoto from Jinzhou, he had been here for over a month. During these thirty-odd days, he had either been visiting relatives or his grandfather, and aside from work meetings, he spent most of his time accompanying the elders for tea, chess, and chatting.

After the incident with Huajie, he became even busier. He worked non-stop, often staying up until one or two in the morning. He even had to fly to several countries in between to handle overseas business, so busy that he almost forgot about Jiang Yuanye.

It wasn’t until he had been in Kyoto for almost three months that Jiang Yuanye suddenly called him at 10 PM one evening in the middle of the month.

At that time, Zhou Chaosheng was busy looking at financial reports and didn’t notice who was calling. He simply swiped to answer the phone.

After a brief silence, a familiar and lazy voice reached his ears.

"Hello."

Hearing this voice, Zhou Chaosheng’s mind froze for several seconds. He then looked down at his phone in disbelief.

When the screen displayed the three characters "Jiang Yuanye," his brow twitched slightly.

He remembered that during the three days he "lost his memory" in Jinzhou, Jiang Yuanye had taken his phone and saved his own number into his contacts. At the time, he had planned to delete it once the person left, but the goodnight kiss from the other party had messed with his mind, and he eventually forgot about it.

"Hello? Are you there?" Jiang Yuanye called again when Zhou Chaosheng didn’t respond, repeatedly calling him "baby."

Zhou Chaosheng: "What is it? Do you need something?"

Jiang Yuanye laughed, "Did you check your WeChat?"

Zhou Chaosheng didn’t pay much attention to WeChat, but he knew the other had added him, which he deliberately ignored.

"I haven’t checked. What’s up?"

"Alright, then check it now and add me"

Zhou Chaosheng twirled his pen and feigned confusion, "We’ve talked this long, and I don’t even have your WeChat?"

"Of course you do." Jiang Yuanye replied calmly, "You deleted me the last time you threw a tantrum. You’re always like that, throwing tantrums and ignoring people afterward."

It sounded like Jiang Yuanye was helpless.

Zhou Chaosheng: "..."

He didn’t want to listen to Jiang Yuanye’s nonsense any longer and directly said, "Alright, I’ll accept it now, but I have something else to do."

Without waiting for Jiang Yuanye to reply, Zhou Chaosheng pressed the hang-up button.

Zhou Chaosheng knew that once Jiang Yuanye had a goal in mind, he wouldn’t stop until he achieved it. Even if he blocked the other party’s number, Jiang Yuanye would just use another number to bother him. It was better to accept the request from the beginning since they wouldn’t chat anyway.

With that in mind, Zhou Chaosheng opened WeChat and accepted Jiang Yuanye’s friend request under "New Friends" in his contacts.

As soon as he accepted it, Jiang Yuanye immediately initiated a video call.

And he... he actually...

He actually clicked "Accept" with a trembling hand!

Zhou Chaosheng’s shocked expression hadn’t even faded when Jiang Yuanye, wearing only a bathrobe, appeared on the screen.

The bathrobe was wide open, exposing a large portion of his skin and abdominal muscles, lit by the warm light. As the video shook, his chest muscles flashed by, stirring up all sorts of thoughts.

Zhou Chaosheng: "...."

It seemed Jiang Yuanye had just taken a shower. His hair was still wet, and he immediately started a video call. He was holding a white towel, wiping his hair, while raising an eyebrow and smiling at him: "Baby, good evening."

Zhou Chaosheng: "..."

"Did you hear me?" Jiang Yuanye draped the towel over his shoulder, then waved his hand in front of the camera, seemingly checking the signal.

"...I heard you. What do you want? I’m busy right now." Zhou Chaosheng said coldly.

"Oh, nothing." Jiang Yuanye, pretending not to hear the impatience in Zhou Chaosheng’s voice, smiled ambiguously: "I just called to ask you—"

Zhou Chaosheng: "What?"

Jiang Yuanye suddenly moved closer, his face enlarging on the screen.

The next second, Zhou Chaosheng heard the warm voice of the other person as he saw his lips move.

"Just wanted to ask you..."

"Do you miss me?"

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