Chapter 916 — Gu Pengzhan's Terms of Retention

"All right." Gu Pengzhan nodded, and he and Wei Zhao went into the room together. He closed the door, then gestured for Wei Zhao to sit. "Xiao Yi, sit wherever you like. There's no need for ceremony among family."

"Thank you, Uncle Gu." Wei Zhao had grown used to Gu Pengzhan's warmth by now, and he took the seat facing him.

"Xiao Yi, Yaoyao tells me your strength is entirely gone, and that you mean to resign. Is that so?" Gu Pengzhan asked.

"Yes, Uncle Gu. To be honest with you, my strength now is hardly above an ordinary man's. I'm afraid I can no longer even protect myself, let alone Yaoyao and Xiaoshu." Wei Zhao nodded without a trace of evasion. "So I have no choice but to tender my resignation."

"I see..." Gu Pengzhan nodded. "Your strength being gone is no great matter. There's nothing wrong with being an ordinary man... Hmm. Do you like business?"

"Business?" Wei Zhao blinked, at a loss as to what he meant. "It's all right, I suppose..."

"All roads lead to Rome. A man can make something of himself in business as well," Gu Pengzhan said. "Xiao Yi, you're already the second-largest shareholder in the Gu Group, aren't you? Learning the trade would suit you. The day will come when I retire, but the Gu Group must be passed on..."

Wei Zhao was struck dumb. Gu Pengzhan had not said it outright, but his meaning was plain enough, and Wei Zhao was no fool. Gu Pengzhan was hinting that he might be groomed as his successor.

"Uncle Gu, the Gu Group will go to Yaoyao in the end. How could it be handed to an outsider?" Wei Zhao shrugged with a smile, politely declining the offer.

"Heh." Gu Pengzhan smiled faintly, then changed tack. "Xiao Yi, what do you think of Yaoyao?"

"Yaoyao? She's wonderful..." Wei Zhao studied him warily, thrown off by the abrupt turn and unsure how he ought to answer.

Seeing that his earlier hints about the group had gotten him nowhere, Gu Pengzhan decided to cut straight to the heart of it. "Then do you like Yaoyao?"

"Huh?" Wei Zhao froze, eyes wide. The question was far too blunt; he had no idea how to answer it.

Like her... of course he liked her. But until he understood what Gu Pengzhan was driving at, there were things he could not say carelessly.

"Yaoyao is lovely and beautiful... she's the school beauty, the goddess in a great many boys' hearts..." Wei Zhao said, putting it another way, though he hinted that he counted himself among them.

Outside Wei Zhao's room, two little spies had long since taken up their posts, eavesdropping on the conversation within.

The instant Gu Pengzhan asked that question, Gu Mengyao's heart clenched and her breathing turned quick and shallow.

"Hey, Sister Yaoyao, what do you think Brother Arrow will say?" Shen Yushu asked.

"Quiet!" Gu Mengyao was afraid Shen Yushu's interruption would make her miss what Wei Zhao said.

But when Wei Zhao's answer fell upon her ears word for word, Gu Mengyao felt happy, and a little disappointed too. Why did that man always talk around the point? Do you like her or not? What's the use of going on about other people?

"Heh. And you?" Gu Pengzhan looked at Wei Zhao.

"I think... any man who spent much time with her would like her..." Wei Zhao shrugged. Gu Pengzhan would not let it drop, so this was all he could say.

"Very well, let me put it another way." Gu Pengzhan had seen through him. "I want to leave the Gu Group of the future in your hands, for you to carry it to greater heights."

By now Wei Zhao understood. No wonder he had brought up the group before; now that he raised it again, everything was clear.

"Uncle Gu, I have a girlfriend..." Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. "I'm sure you know I just went to see her. I gave her an engagement ring..."

"Oh?" Gu Pengzhan was taken aback. He had not expected Wei Zhao to be serious about Tang Yun, and that made things difficult. His daughter could accept Xiaoshu, but could she accept Tang Yun?

"Uncle Gu, I know you think highly of me, and I'm grateful for it," Wei Zhao said. "But a matter of marriage still requires the consent of the people involved. I don't believe Yaoyao likes me. If she agreed under your suggestion, out of gratitude to me, she'd be going against her own heart, and that would be unfair to her. And unfair to Tang Yun as well..."

Wei Zhao truly did not believe the young miss liked him. Gratitude, certainly; as for that jealousy toward Tang Yun, it was all Shen Yushu's stirring up. In Wei Zhao's eyes, the young miss's feelings for him had more to do with being saved by him, and with the sense of security that living together had given her.

Gu Mengyao's tears welled up in an instant.

Who says I don't like him? I do, I do!

Gu Mengyao wanted to rush into the room and make everything clear to Wei Zhao, but she could not summon the courage.

Wei Zhao's attitude had already said everything: he would not give up Tang Yun. So what was left for her to say? Would that not be inviting humiliation? Was she to beg Wei Zhao to let her be his little wife, and Shen Yushu his littler one?

The young miss could not bring herself to do such a thing, or even to speak of it.

"I think Yaoyao and Tang Yun get along well enough?" Gu Pengzhan had not expected Wei Zhao to refuse so firmly... Though he did not much favor his daughter competing with another girl for a man; in his view, a good man ought to be devoted, just as he himself was.

Yet for the sake of that promise to his father, and for his daughter's own happiness, a note of compromise crept into Gu Pengzhan's words.

In other words, if neither Tang Yun nor Gu Mengyao minded, then neither would he.

Wei Zhao was stunned. He truly could not fathom what he had done to deserve such regard from Gu Pengzhan. From the very day he arrived, Gu Pengzhan had treated him with the greatest courtesy, nothing at all like the relationship between an employer and the man he hired...

Yes, Wei Zhao found it very strange. He did not know what secret lay hidden here. The old man would not tell him, and Gu Pengzhan was evasive as well, but Wei Zhao was certain there was something in it he did not know.

"Uncle Gu, you mean..." Wei Zhao looked at Gu Pengzhan in disbelief.

Fastest updates; for pop-up-free reading, please [visit].