Seventh Year Of Separation chapter 63

We Are Partners

It was around eight in the evening when Liu Qing sent a message, saying there was a good restaurant near the hotel and invited Li Zhao and Gu Jiahe to have dinner together.

Gu Jiahe had just finished showering and was lying drowsily on the bed when Li Zhao dragged him up.

“Let’s go, time for dinner.” Li Zhao took out two of Gu Jiahe’s clothes from the luggage and helped him put them on.

“What did you eat to have so much energy?” Gu Jiahe struggled even to lift his arms. Li Zhao had been swimming back and forth in the pool for dozens of laps, and then gave him some sort of weird hydrotherapy. Yet, here it was, late at night, and he was acting like nothing had happened.

Li Zhao patted his belly. “I think you just have a poor appetite. You should eat more in the future.”

Five minutes later, the two of them were in the elevator, heading to the restaurant Liu Qing had reserved.

Sammy was already ordering from the menu when they arrived, and she waved happily when she saw Li Zhao and Gu Jiahe come in.

The two of them sat opposite each other.

Sammy noticed that both of them had half-dried hair and asked, “Did you guys go swimming? You seem full of energy.”

Gu Jiahe chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah, something like that.”

Gu Jiahe couldn’t see any signs of extravagance from Liu Qing. Although the restaurant’s decoration and food were good, the prices weren’t high, and the atmosphere was relaxed.

There was music playing at the bar, and there was a singer performing live.

The four of them chatted casually, all of them having a background in law, so they had plenty to talk about, and the atmosphere was quite pleasant.

While Gu Jiahe was halfway through his meal, he got up to go to the bathroom. When he came out after washing his hands, he happened to meet Sammy.

Sammy took the initiative to speak to him. “Mr. Gu, when are you going back to school?”

Gu Jiahe smiled in response. “I’ve been busy with work lately, maybe next month.”

Sammy nodded. “To be honest, I miss the days when I was in college. By the way, did you and Li Zhao meet in college?”

Gu Jiahe shook his head. “No, we were high school classmates.”

Sammy was a little surprised. “Wow, you’ve been together for a long time then.”

Gu Jiahe replied, “Not really. We were separated for a while.”

Sammy exclaimed, “I couldn’t tell. I thought you two had been together all these years.”

Gu Jiahe handed Sammy a tissue. “Do we have good chemistry? I haven’t noticed.”

Sammy said, “The bystanders see more than the game players. But are you guys living in Liu Qing’s apartment now? He mentioned to me last time that he gave Li Zhao a discounted rate, only six thousand. I told him it would be less trouble to rent it to you than to find tenants outside.”

Gu Jiahe paused when he heard the amount of rent. “You said the rent is six thousand?”

Sammy nodded. “Yeah, what’s wrong?”

Gu Jiahe quickly changed the subject. “Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about going back to school, there’s an alumni day next month, right?”

The two of them returned to the main hall, and the main course was already served.

Gu Jiahe didn’t notice anything unusual and had a pleasant conversation with the other two.

Sammy was now working as an investment lawyer. She mentioned that one of her interns was leaving, and she looked a bit regretful. “He’s quite capable, very meticulous in his desk work. It’s a pity we have such a high intensity of work here, we can’t retain people.”

Gu Jiahe became interested. “Is he interested in corporate legal work? I need a specialist assistant; I haven’t found anyone suitable yet. The resumes HR gave me weren’t up to par.”

Sammy immediately opened WeChat. “Wait a moment, I’ll get you his resume. I’ll send it to you later.”

Gu Jiahe didn’t expect that he could solve a recruitment problem just by going out for dinner.

He did need a subordinate, and he’d needed one for a long time. With the increasing number of investment projects and branch offices in the company, the legal review process was almost three to five times what it used to be. He couldn’t handle it all by himself.

But it wasn’t easy to find someone in this field. Gu Jiahe had mentioned the need to HR before the New Year, and it was already May, but he hadn’t been able to find a suitable candidate.

They finished dinner and went their separate ways to enjoy their free time.

There happened to be a large ecological park near the hotel, so Gu Jiahe and Li Zhao walked along the lakeside towards the park. 

Gu Jiahe didn’t expect that the candidate recommended by Sammy would add him on WeChat so quickly.

The person was young and polite. He immediately greeted Gu Jiahe with respect for his seniority. Within two minutes, he sent over his latest resume.

Gu Jiahe opened the file on his phone and scanned the resume. The young man seemed polite and well-mannered, having just graduated with a bachelor’s degree. His school background, academic achievements, and internship experience were all commendable.

“What are you looking at?” Li Zhao saw him looking at his phone intently.

“Oh, just the candidate’s resume mentioned at dinner.”

“Yeah, you definitely need to hire an assistant.” Li Zhao nodded.

After closing the document, Gu Jiahe took a few steps forward, took a few deep breaths of the fresh air by the lake, and then suddenly stopped and turned around.

Li Zhao almost crashed into him as he couldn’t stop in time. “What’s wrong?”

“Ge, our current rent is actually six thousand, right? The other half was paid by you, wasn’t it?” Gu Jiahe looked at Li Zhao’s shoelaces and asked softly.

“Yeah.” Li Zhao hadn’t expected him to bring up this matter suddenly and was a little stunned. “How did you know?”

“Sammy just told me.”

“Yes. But I just…” Li Zhao instinctively wanted to explain, not wanting to hurt Gu Jiahe’s self-esteem again because of this.

“No, I’m not blaming you. You spent the money, I have no reason to be angry.” Gu Jiahe smiled and looked at him.

“So what were you…” Li Zhao tentatively asked.

“Next time, just tell me directly. I’m not that fragile. Okay?” Gu Jiahe walked under the dim streetlights, his hair looking soft, his tone as calm as the lake at midnight.

Li Zhao remained silent for a few seconds, then nodded behind him. “Mm.”

Gu Jiahe slowed his pace, and Li Zhao quickly caught up to walk alongside him.

Half a minute later, Gu Jiahe suddenly stepped back, and Li Zhao ended up walking in front of him, side by side.

Gu Jiahe took a quick step forward and jumped onto Li Zhao’s back, wrapping his arms around Li Zhao’s neck.

It was like the games they used to play back in high school.

Although Li Zhao was startled, he quickly smiled and supported Gu Jiahe’s thighs with his hands.

Gu Jiahe whispered softly in his ear, “Ge.”

“Yeah,” Li Zhao carried him under the streetlights.

Gu Jiahe’s warm breath brushed against Li Zhao’s neck, as if time had slowed down.

After a while, Gu Jiahe spoke up, “Although I call you ge, we’re partners. You don’t have to always take care of me. We can discuss everything, okay?”

Li Zhao turned his head to look at him, and Gu Jiahe’s eyes sparkled.

Li Zhao smiled at the evening breeze and patted Gu Jiahe’s thighs. “Got it, my partner.”

After returning from the resort area, Gu Jiahe woke up early on Monday.

After handing over the intern’s resume to HR, he quickly arranged an interview.

As Sammy had said, the candidate was indeed very capable. Gu Jiahe asked several legal questions related to the business, and the candidate answered them fluently, although there were some minor flaws in the details.

After leaving the meeting room with the resume, Gu Jiahe’s mood improved. He casually chatted with the HR manager, who suddenly mentioned, “By the way, how’s your preparation for this week’s mid-level incentive plan review?”

Gu Jiahe was taken aback. “What preparation?”

The HR manager looked surprised. “Don’t you know? As I mentioned to you before the New Year, the company has a mid-level incentive plan. Those who pass the performance review can receive stock options. It can be exercised when the company goes public. The application has been open for a while.”

Gu Jiahe frowned. “No one told me about it.”

The HR manager seemed puzzled. “Really? The email was synchronized to all department heads. Didn’t Mr. Wu tell you?”

Gu Jiahe was sure that Wu Mou had never mentioned this to him.

The HR manager saw him holding documents and running to the office, busy asking, “Hey, where are you going?”

Gu Jiahe just felt a surge of anger.

He had heard about this incentive plan, but he hadn’t seen the official nomination email yet, and he thought it had been abandoned.

Unexpectedly, it was blocked by Wu Mou and never forwarded to him.

Gu Jiahe pushed open the glass door of Wu Mou’s office directly.

Wu Mou was making a phone call inside. Seeing him come in, he frowned and gestured for him to wait aside for a while.

Gu Jiahe patiently waited for more than ten minutes until Wu Mou hung up the irrelevant phone call.

Gu Jiahe restrained his emotions and asked, “Director Wu, why didn’t I receive the email about the stock option plan?”

Wu Mou seemed surprised that he suddenly brought this up, “What do you mean?”

Gu Jiahe patiently asked, “All the department heads, including HR and other business departments, have been nominated. Why don’t I have this qualification?”

Wu Mou picked up the teacup in front of him and shook it, “I received the email last month. I thought you didn’t plan to apply, so I didn’t forward the application email to you. Moreover, our entire center, HR, and finance have nominated several people. Are you sure you can compete with them?”

Gu Jiahe felt a surge of anger rising from the bottom of his heart.

Wu Mou always acted like a good person outside, giving good opportunities to other departments, and never fought for any benefits for his own department.

Gu Jiahe looked up at him, “I am confident in competing with them fairly. But this is something I have the right to know about the company’s policies. I have been involved in the company’s IPO preparations, and my tenure in the company is no less than anyone else’s. As for the results of my work, I don’t know where I am inferior to others.”

Wu Mou glanced at him, his tone also a bit annoyed, “But, it’s Monday now, and the review is on Wednesday. Can you make it? Others have been preparing for almost a month.”

Gu Jiahe said firmly, “Of course I can make it.”

After Gu Jiahe returned to his office, he immediately opened his laptop.

Wu Mou had forwarded the application email to him.

Gu Jiahe looked at it, and there was less than half an hour left until the application deadline. He quickly filled out the form as required and sent it to the person in charge.

He glanced at the time on his phone. He had less than 48 hours to prepare his job materials.

That evening, Li Zhao called him, saying that he had bought a lot of groceries from the supermarket to cook for him. Gu Jiahe thought for a moment and decided not to break his promise. He brought his laptop with him after work.

Li Zhao was busy in the kitchen, waving a spatula according to the recipe on his phone. Before the dishes were ready, he heard the door being pushed open.

Gu Jiahe entered the house and changed his shoes in the hallway.

Li Zhao turned around to chat with him, “I went to the nearby supermarket today and got some super fresh ribs. They’ll be stewed soon.”

“And, I found out that they restock vegetables at ten o’clock in the morning here, so we don’t have to rush to compete with the elderly for vegetables early in the morning anymore.”

To his surprise, Gu Jiahe didn’t say anything.

He leaned out to look, and Gu Jiahe walked straight to the dining table, opened his laptop bag, and took out his notebook.

After about ten minutes, Li Zhao brought the hot food to the table.

Walking behind Gu Jiahe, Li Zhao saw him working on presentation slides.

“What’s this?” Li Zhao asked.

Without lifting his head, Gu Jiahe answered while facing the computer screen, “It’s a performance report.”

Li Zhao was puzzled, “But it’s not mid-year or year-end. Why suddenly make a performance report?”

Gu Jiahe opened a large chart, extracted the key points, and quickly scanned through them.

After half a minute, he replied to Li Zhao, “There’s money to be made. Our company has released a batch of stock options. If the review passes, we can get them.”

After finishing, Gu Jiahe saw that three dishes were already on the table. They indeed looked appetizing. He leaned over and kissed Li Zhao on the cheek, “You have some talent in cooking.”

Li Zhao opened the recipe on his phone and showed it to him, “Anyone can do it by following the instructions.”

Gu Jiahe nodded at him but didn’t slow down his typing speed.

Li Zhao persuaded him, “You can continue after eating. I can help you too.”

Gu Jiahe glanced up at him. Seeing the anticipation in his eyes, he put down his computer and closed the screen.

Tonight, Gu Jiahe ate much faster than before. He usually liked to chat with Li Zhao during dinner, but today, he remained unusually silent.

After nightfall, Li Zhao leaned on the bed with his iPad. He had just received the latest client information from He Xiao. After calling back and explaining the key points of the client’s needs, he started working on the documents Qin Yi gave him during the day.

When he finished dealing with this pile of trivial matters and looked at the time on his phone, it was almost one o’clock in the morning.

He rubbed his neck but found that Gu Jiahe was still sitting at the desk.

Gu Jiahe seemed to have no intention of sleeping yet. He hadn’t changed into pajamas and was still wearing the shirt he wore to work.

He was still typing on the keyboard under the desk lamp.

Li Zhao thought for a moment. The last time he saw Gu Jiahe work so hard was when they were preparing for the bar exam together in college.

He put down his iPad and walked up behind him, rubbing his shoulders, “Go to bed early. We’ll do the same thing tomorrow.”

Gu Jiahe shook his head, “No, I have to attend the review on Wednesday. I also have a meeting tomorrow morning, so there’s no time.”

Li Zhao stood behind him for several minutes, but couldn’t help asking, “Why are you suddenly so career-oriented?”

Gu Jiahe’s fingers suddenly stopped moving, and the bedroom fell silent.

His Adam’s apple rolled, and the hand holding the mouse tightened.

After half a minute, he turned his head to look at Li Zhao, “I want to make money, a lot more money than now.”

What Gu Jiahe didn’t say was, “I don’t want to rely on you for rent in the future. If there comes a day when you need me, I don’t want to be empty-handed.”