novelraw Chapter 469 - 468: Becoming More Like My Mom
Chapter 469 - 468: Becoming More Like My Mom
Ji Rui handed over Mr. Huang’s materials to Lawyer Fan, and two days later, Lawyer Fan had some news.When Lawyer Fan called, Ji Rui was in a meeting with several senior executives of the Ji Family.
Le Tong was sitting next to him, and when the phone rang, Ji Rui’s voice didn’t stop as both Le Tong and he glanced at the phone screen.
Ji Rui made a pause gesture, didn’t leave his seat, and directly answered the call, "Hello!"
"Mr. Ji, there’s a lead on the matter with the one surnamed Tong."
The mental patient who stabbed Ji Rui had the surname Tong.
"Speak!" Ji Rui stood up and walked into the small resting room adjacent to the meeting room.
"The one surnamed Tong has confessed everything, saying he took money from that model and promised to take your life."
"A cash transaction between them?"
"The model helped him pay off over half a million in loan shark debts and bribed people on that side, so we couldn’t find out anything no matter how hard we looked."
Of course, Lawyer Fan’s team wouldn’t have thought to expand the range of suspects to include the Ji Wen wife’s family unless Ji Rui had gotten some occasional information during a meal that day, leading him to connect the dots. By now, Lawyer Fan and his team would probably still be focusing on the originally suspected few individuals.
"Alright, keep a tight watch on this. Make sure to catch the mastermind behind all this."
By now, the mastermind could only be Ji Wen and his wife or Old Madam Ji, or even Mr. Ji himself.
No matter who it was, Ji Rui didn’t plan to let them off, but deep down, he vaguely hoped it wasn’t Mr. Ji.
Although the report from Lawyer Fan was mostly within Ji Rui’s expectations, coming out from the small resting room, Le Tong still noticed a subtle change in his mood because of that call.
Naturally, the elite executives in the meeting room couldn’t see any difference in their president compared to usual. But Le Tong could sense from his tight lips when silent and his thoughtful look with his eyes downcast while drinking coffee that the call had caused Ji Rui much inner turmoil.
After the meeting, the executives packed their materials and left one by one, leaving only Le Tong and Ji Rui in the meeting room.
The revolving performance report on the projection screen, Le Tong organizing the spread-out materials from the meeting, but her eyes were on Ji Rui.
"That was Lawyer Fan just now? Was it about that case?"
"Mm." Ji Rui replied concisely, answering both questions.
"Not going smoothly?" Le Tong inferred from Ji Rui’s reaction.
"No, quite smoothly."
At this moment, Ji Rui was truly conflicted.
If he had to choose, he would prefer that the one surnamed Tong simply wanted to harm him on his own, not under the Ji Family’s orders.
Although Ji Rui had long since separated himself from those few in the Ji Family, subconsciously, he still held a slight bit of hope for Mr. Ji, who had the grace of raising him.
Even if every time he was worn out and disillusioned, he still couldn’t help but hold on to that hope again and again.
"Then your mood..." Le Tong glanced at him again, hesitated, "Why does it seem not too good?"
Ji Rui rubbed her head and smiled, "No, you’re overthinking it."
Still holding expectations for Mr. Ji, who had done many excessive things to him, was something Ji Rui was embarrassed to share with Le Tong.
He feared that such a self would make Le Tong feel that he was indecisive and weak.
Le Tong studied him seriously, seeing he had no intention of telling the truth, she didn’t press further, just took away his coffee and went to pour it out.
"It’s cold, don’t drink it."
Since becoming lovers, Le Tong occasionally showed a domineering side to Ji Rui.
For instance, like now, without asking his opinion, she directly took his cup and poured out the cold coffee, and for example, at quitting time, whether or not President Ji was willing, she would directly shut down the computer and kick him out of the office...
Far from finding domineering Le Tong annoying, Ji Rui actually enjoyed this feeling of being nudged and managed by someone.
Of course, this kind of dominance was only between the two in private; in public or work settings with others, Le Tong was still that humble and polite secretary to the president.
"Le Tong, you’re becoming more like my mom!"
Ji Rui’s slightly gloomy mood started to brighten up because of Le Tong’s ray of sunshine.
Le Tong didn’t refute, and when she returned, she placed her palm on top of his head and rubbed a few times.
"Good boy!"
The teasing tone made Ji Rui not know whether to laugh or cry.
"Don’t you find it odd having such a big son?"
A large hand reached over, pulling her onto his lap sideways.
Le Tong grinned and pinched his cheek, "What’s odd about it? I’m just rehearsing for the scenario in more than a decade. In ten years, Baobao will surely be as tall as you."
Ji Rui dismissively teased her, "In ten years, Baobao will have his little girlfriend and won’t listen to your endless nagging."
Le Tong shrugged nonchalantly, "Then I’ll nag my little grandson."
Ji Rui laughed at her teasing, "You’re dreaming beautifully, wanting to dote on a grandson at thirty-five in ten years?"
Le Tong broke free from his embrace, piled up the documents from the table, and got up to leave, "Don’t tell me you don’t want to!"
Ji Rui followed her with a smile, "It’s not about what we want or not, it’s about whether you think Baobao would be willing to be tied down at sixteen?"
The two walked out of the meeting room with banter, and Ji Rui’s inner gloom had completely dissipated.
In the afternoon, Le Tong went to the theme park to inspect the work accompanied by Xiao Li.
Since its opening, the theme park’s visitor numbers have been steadily rising, thanks to excellent marketing promotions by the marketing and advertising department. Compared to the decline in performance of other Ji Family businesses due to stock price fluctuations in the previous period, the theme park business is booming and quite successful.
In this prosperity, Baobao has played an extremely significant role.
The various projects of the theme park primarily target minors, so the children’s feedback after playing became incredibly valuable information.
On the opening day of the park, Le Tong and Ji Rui accompanied Baobao for a day of play. Ji Rui was purely there to accompany, while Le Tong played with him and asked Baobao many questions simultaneously.
That night, back home, Le Tong stayed up to summarize and analyze Baobao’s comments, held several hours of a video meeting with marketing department elites, and developed a supplemental business plan overnight, rapidly modifying the originally set business model.
The modified plan was submitted to Ji Rui the next day, and a few days later, the theme park began operating under the new marketing plan.