As soon as Xiao Huai left the conference room, Michiko chased him out and chased him to the elevator room: "You want to see Dr. Lin?" ”

Xiao Huai was silent, but this was also a straightforward answer.

"Don't go see her!" Michiko's voice suddenly became sharp, "She is the fiancée of Ji Yunchong, chairman of Dongsheng, and she frequently appears in the newspapers. If you are photographed by a reporter with her, all kinds of nonsense speculation will have an immeasurable negative impact on your reputation and the reputation of the investment bank. ”

Xiao Huai pressed the elevator button and turned his face to look at her: "Thank you for the reminder, I will pay attention to my public image." ”

"She doesn't love you, what can you do when you see her? Confess to her? Get involved in her marriage? You've wasted too much time and energy on this woman—"

"Hill." Xiao Huai politely called Michiko.

He looked at her face that was slightly distorted because of her emotional out-of-control: "You are my most effective work assistant, without you, many affairs may not be able to go smoothly." But now that I'm off work, you can relax and not have to worry about my daily chores. ”

Michiko's face became more and more ugly, and her usual arrogant posture was discarded aside, staring straight at Xiao Huai, her voice revealing bitterness: "I have always thought that even if you don't make some words clear, you should understand my feelings for you." We've known each other for six or seven years, we've had a lot of happy times, and our relationship can go one step further. ”

At this time, the elevator "ding" sounds, and the door opens automatically.

Xiao Huai stood still and waited for the elevator door to close before speaking: "I think I am an honest boss, and I have never done anything that caused you to misunderstand at work. ”

"I'm not mistaken, you obviously liked me! When I first took over the investment banking headquarters, I often worked late in the office alone, and occasionally slept in the company. When you saw this, you took me back to the villa in Munich and let me sleep in your house. ”

Yes, this is the gentlest thing Xiao Huai has ever done to her.

She thinks that she occupies a very important place in his heart, otherwise why does he keep the people around him not close and not far away, but he takes special care of her?

Xiao Huai said: "When Leo works overtime until late at night, I will also arrange a room for him in the villa." The assistant's job is too tedious, and you have to be on the way, so I do this to make it easier for you to rest. ”

"But you agree that I will sleep in the guest bedroom on the fifth floor, in the closest place to you."

Xiao Huai was a little speechless. He only remembered that he had asked Michiko which guest bedroom he would like to sleep in, just as he had asked Lin Pi which floor he wanted to sleep on, but he had never thought about which one was nearer or farther.

Michiko doesn't think so. She and Xiao Huai get along well, and if they continue to develop, they will definitely become a couple, but Lin Li appeared - this woman with a blandly expression, who seems to have no desires and no desires, but actually wants to refuse and welcome, and the city government is quite deep.

Michiko was furious, and when she spoke again, her tone was full of jealousy and contempt that could not be concealed: "You forgot the fact that you waited outside the restaurant for three hours, but Dr. Lin spent Valentine's Day with someone else?" What do you want to experience again? ”

Xiao Huai's face changed slightly.

Michiko regretted it for a moment. Xiao Huai is not an ordinary person and pays great attention to the protection of the individual*. She told him that she was watching his every move.

A panic appeared on her face: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interfere in your private life. After Valentine's Day, you were in a very depressed mood, and I was so worried that I couldn't help but ask the driver...... I apologize to you, please forgive me. ”

Xiao Huai looked at her silently for a while, pressed the elevator button, and walked in.

"Starting tomorrow, you have a few days off." He said.

The elevator door slowly closed in front of Michiko.

She stood stiff, and the pain that pierced her heart suddenly exploded, catching people off guard.

She tried her best to restrain the humiliation of being rejected, clutching her chest and taking a few deep breaths in succession, but the bits and pieces of the six or seven years of getting along flashed through her mind, and she only felt that her self-esteem and pride had been lost in an instant to a useless woman.

What is so good about that woman? Why is it worth Xiao Huai to leave his work again and again and pursue it with condescension?

Carried away by anger and lost in jealousy, Michiko took out her mobile phone and dialed the Tosheng Group's board of directors number.

The phone rang twice and was answered.

She reluctantly adjusted her breathing and lowered her voice: "Hello, I am Josephhsiao's personal assistant, please transfer Director Ji Yunchong for me." ”

*

The investment bank is about a dozen kilometers away from the "1936" restaurant.

When the car drove onto the elevated road, it was foggy and raining, and the rain hit the windshield with an unusual sound. The driver said "It seems that cold air is coming" and turned on the on-board FM radio.

The radio host reminded people who are still on the road that the city has issued a yellow warning for heavy rain and the temperature will drop to 5-8C.

Xiao Huai looked at the night intertwined with rain and fog outside the car window, and said in a deep voice: "Please drive faster." ”

The driver did as he was told. However, the driving skills of some "road killers" are so poor that they don't even dare to step on the accelerator when it rains, and they are walking and stopping in front of them slowly, causing the cars behind them to be completely unable to raise their speed, and move forward a few meters and meters.

The rain was pouring down, the roads were getting more and more congested, and the queues of vehicles were long.

Xiao Huai pressed his eyebrows with his fingers and sighed: "The car moved to the ramp in front of it and took the ground road instead." ”

The driver changed lanes, moved forward with a needle, and finally drove off the elevated road, and the time had passed for more than an hour.

The driver glanced in the rearview mirror: "Boss, it's almost 23 o'clock, do you need to call Miss Lin Li?" ”

Xiao Huai was silent for a while, and spit out a few words: "That's too deliberate." ”

The car stopped and walked on the road, Lin Li didn't know it, sat in the restaurant and checked the recent business flow, and the more he looked at it, the more he became congested.

Before moving to Munich, she hired a professional manager of a restaurant on a high salary, but the result was that the turnover did not increase, the customer complaint rate soared, and the restaurant lost money every day.

She questioned the manager, and the other party handed over a letter of resignation without saying a word.

She can see that this kind of manager who only chooses high salaries, high commissions, and high returns often puts the pursuit of their own interests in the first place, and has no plan to run a restaurant for a long time.

Lin Li disagreed. If the manager is derelict in his duties, the commission should be deducted from his salary, and for those employees who have been complained by customers, the performance bonus of the month should also be deducted.

As soon as Lin Li said these words, the hot-tempered employees immediately argued with her, shouted "quit", and slammed the door.

Without the staff and the head chef, Lin Li sat alone in the empty restaurant, and deeply realized that opening a store and doing business alone really seems to be beautiful, but it is actually full of difficulties.

Lin Li rubbed the corners of his forehead and smiled bitterly.

Business is struggling, but the monthly business loan is not moving. If she fails to repay her monthly payments on time, not only will the store be forced to auction by the bank, but her personal credit record will also be tainted...... Hey, what to do?

She racked her brains and didn't come up with a good idea.

When the rain began to fall, she turned off the lights in the restaurant one by one, then dragged her suitcase out and walked towards a taxi parked on the side of the road.

The heating in the car was turned on sufficiently, and the stereo was playing FM radio, so the driver must have been a little bored waiting.

When the car started, she dialed Ji Yunchong's phone, and before she could speak, Ji Yunchong asked first: "Mumu, are you home?" ”

"No, I just left the restaurant."

"You can't wait to inspect the restaurant as soon as you get off the plane, isn't it bad business?"

Lin Li replied simply: "I just can't be idle, and I work hard." Did you practice walking today? ”

"Eight hundred steps."

"How do your knees feel? Does it hurt? ”

"It doesn't hurt, I'm just haunted all day today, constantly thinking about the past, remembering our old times. At that time, I was studying in Munich for the preparatory department, and you stayed in China to study in your third year of high school, and we were separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, so we could only communicate through transatlantic phone calls. I don't remember once complaining on the phone that the lunch here was too basic, and it was actually a platter of potatoes and salad lettuce, which was no longer a problem for me, but a lack of food at all. ”

Lin Li smiled lightly: "Why do I think you are complaining about the unpalatable hospital meals?" ”

Ji Yunchong smiled heavily.

Listening to the sound of her breathing, he poured out softly: "Mumu, I miss the pork bone soup you cooked. Would you like to fly back sooner? ”

Lin Pi didn't answer. She noticed a business Mercedes-Benz driving on the opposite side, and she couldn't see the number clearly, but she saw the car speeding through the stagnant water, splashing high.

She was stunned, remembering that a certain big man had abruptly hung up her phone not long ago, and couldn't help but suspect that she was thinking too much, so she retracted her gaze and said to the patient on the other end of the phone: "I will tell your assistant how to cook pork bone soup." ”

The taxi went away, but the business Mercedes braked sharply at the door of the restaurant.

The window was lowered, revealing Xiao Huai's face.

He glanced at the darkened dining room and saw that the job postings on the glass windows had been replaced with new ones.

The new notice was obviously just pasted not long ago, and the paper was soaked by the rain, and the ink-colored handwriting blurred: "Our store is temporarily closed from now on, and the resumption of business hours is to be determined, and we apologize for the inconvenience." ”

He stared at the line, his face very complicated.

The rain poured on the windows, drenching the leather on the inside of the windows, and fine droplets of water quickly gathered on the leather surface. The water beads gathered into strands, slid down silently, dripping onto the back of his hand.

The driver looked at Xiao Huai through the rearview mirror: "Boss, we can go downstairs to the apartment and wait for Miss Lin Li." ”

There was silence.

At the end, Xiao Huai raised the window: "If she is photographed by a reporter, it will cause her trouble." Let's go back. ”

The car turned around in the narrow and silent alley and drove towards the road from which it came.

At twelve o'clock in the evening, the rain died down and the whole city fell silent.

Occasionally, a few cars drove on the road, at the bend, at the fork, briefly took a look, and then each went in its own direction, parting ways, forgetting each other.

……

The time since then has not been good or bad.

The shares of Zhongxi Pharmaceutical (A shares) are still in a state of suspension, and its H shares (foreign shares) listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have smashed and plummeted in several consecutive trading days, and some analysts believe that this move will inevitably trigger a sharp fall after the resumption of trading of Chinese and Western Pharmaceutical A shares, when the decline will exceed 24%, it is very likely to lead to the risk of liquidation of the equity chips bought at a high level before "Dongsheng and its concerted actors".

However, there are other analysts who believe that since Dongsheng, which has deep pockets, chose to use leveraged funds to increase its holdings in Chinese and Western pharmaceuticals at a high level, it must have also made a corresponding risk control plan, and it is unlikely that the stock price will fall sharply to defeat Dongsheng. However, under the pressure of high leverage, the H-shares of Zhongxi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. plummeted in turns, and the market value of tens of billions evaporated instantly, which can also be described as a huge test for Dongsheng.

Commentators have their own opinions, and the war of words is not lively. A battle for equity has entered a "protracted war" from the initial "blitzkrieg" with the suspension strategy of the Chinese and Western pharmaceutical industry.

At this time, another major event happened in the stock trading market - the A-share market, which had been rising all the way, peaked and fell after standing at 5,800 points at the end of the first quarter.

5800、5600、5400…… The broader market fell endlessly, falling to 5,100 points.

Commentators say that the bull market in A-shares is not over and will rebound soon.

But this is not the case, and in the next few trading days, the A-share market fell to 5,000 points.

All deeply trapped investors hope that this is a support level for an upward rebound. However, the sky did not follow people's wishes, and A-shares ushered in the darkest day: the large-cap stock index plummeted by 7%! All sectors fell across the board, with more than 2,000 shares falling sharply and more than 600 shares falling to the limit.

The sad tears of the shareholders flowed backwards.

But there are also a small group of discerning investors who have escaped the stock market crash because they hold high-performing stocks. What are Top Performing Stocks? Stocks that have risen against the market, such as shares of Dongsheng Group.

For a time, institutions and retail investors rushed to hold Dongsheng's shares, and even among the small and medium-sized shareholders of Chinese and Western Pharmaceuticals, there was also a voice of "accepting the acquisition offer as soon as possible".

The stock market is changing, and standing in line is the most important thing.

*

In the blink of an eye, it was the weekend, Xiao Huai did not rest, stayed at No. 34 on the Bund to work overtime, and at the same time checked with Leo about the work schedule for the next week.

"Boss, the "A-share trend analysis" you announced last month is the first article that successfully predicts that A-shares will have a plummeting trend, so the economic column of "Oriental Fortune" would like to invite you to ......"

"Refuse."

"There are still a few media outlets ......"

"All refused."

Hurriedly crossed out all the interview appointments in the notepad.

Xiao Huai saw that he was unfamiliar, and reminded: "Michiko may need to take long-term sick leave, you need to familiarize yourself with the work she was responsible for as soon as possible." ”

nodded, checked the work arrangement of the whole department, and said, "Boss, you are on the gossip forum." ”

He handed over the pre-printed gossip post. The post has an average of more than 10 million views per day, and the headline is very sensational: "The family of Josephhsiao, the flower of 818 kaolin, the founder of the financial comprador of the late Qing Dynasty, ruled the Commerzbank for half a century"

The first five pages of the post detail how Xiao Huai's great-grandfather, Xiao Zhengfu, went from a primary school apprentice whose parents died and worked in the old Shanghai Ocean Bank to a partner in a money bank, and then became a guest of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Hongzhang and a comprador of the Deutsche Commercial Bank.

The poster did his homework and drew an illustrative diagram of the intricate relationship, revealing how Xiao Zhengfu and Li Hongzhang were integrated with politics and business, and the government and the opposition.

On the sixth page of the post, the poster changed his detailed explanation style, hurriedly brought over the lives of Xiao Huai's grandfather and father, and when it was his turn to introduce Xiao Huai, he began to use pictures to swipe the screen.

The first is the cover photo of Xiao Huai when he was interviewed by the magazine "The Banker" a few years ago, and the next few are private photos of him when he attended family gatherings and friends' parties. It stands to reason that the latter should not have been leaked, but it was suddenly made public online.

Xiao Huai received a Western-style education, and when he was with family and friends, he would occasionally hug and kiss the cheek. Netizens didn't know the details, and they coaxed them one after another.

"It turns out that he is the person who has a tough fight with Dongsheng, and he is so handsome! It's a pity that the woman next to him has changed and changed, so, a playboy. ”

"The penultimate picture has highlights! Look! When he and the girl were in a tent, his pants seemed to be set up in a tent...... Flash blind! What a shame! ”

"There is a Japanese woman in a kimono in several photos in a row. What does this mean? Germans like Japanese chicks? German-Japanese alliance? ”

Xiao Huai didn't finish reading it, and he didn't pay attention to this ignorant discussion at all.

However, the illustrated gossip post did not sink, but was manually pinned by the forum moderator, and the number of clicks continued to rise. The comments at the bottom of the post are also very strange, at first focusing on Xiao Huai's private life, portraying him as a "philatelic man", and then evolving into a malicious slander of his ancestors-

"Xiao Zhengfu is a rotten thing who only recognizes money and doesn't recognize his mother. There are more than 20 members of his family, all of whom are compradors of major foreign companies, and they are the lackeys of foreigners! In the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang was the main peacemaker, and Zuo Zongtang was the main battle. After Zuo Zongtang recovered the whole territory of Xinjiang, his prestige and status overwhelmed Li Hongzhang, so Li Hongzhang asked Xiao Zhengfu to hunt down Zuo Zongtang's money bag, Hu Xueyan. ”

"As soon as Hu Xueyan died, the comprador system of foreigners completely controlled China's financial lifeline! Li Hongzhang is a traitor, Xiao Zhengfu is a big traitor, a vassal and accomplice of imperialism in China! ”

"Xiao Zhengfu and his descendants are like locusts, sucking the blood of the country dry - the central bank of the late Qing Dynasty, and the Xiao family holds shares; The board of directors of the central bank of the Republic of China government, in which the Xiao family also holds shares; What's even more terrifying is that the Xiao family controls both the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the Central Mint, and embezzles a lot of money from Chairman Chiang/Jie/Shi! ”

The Xiao family also formed a "marriage alliance" with the wang clan in old Shanghai. For example, Xiao Zhengfu's eldest son was engaged to the daughter of another family, the Su family, but Xiao Zhengfu moved to Switzerland with his wife and children in his later years, not only completely leaving the Su family, but also taking away the huge amount of money that the Su family used to demolish the textile factory. Vile! Shameless! ”

In the one-sided comments of netizens, Xiao Zhengfu and his family members were portrayed as the financial predators of the late Qing Dynasty, and with a series of theme posts "In-depth Analysis of Why Xiao Zhengfu is a National Cancer in the Republic of China" and "How Xiao Zhengfu Transferred Huge Assets Overseas" were published on major forums, the negative impact gradually escalated.

As for Xiao Huai, he was the first foreigner to predict the sharp drop in A-shares, and soon a strange voice came out, criticizing him for maliciously shorting A-shares.

Xiao Huai had long been aware of these voices as premeditated and targeted attacks, but the domestic Internet did not implement a real-name system, so he could not determine who the defendant was, so he could not sue the Internet trolls.

Things are starting to get out of hand.

Professional-stirring sticks such as Internet trolls continue to smear his family and himself, and even his "history" of being short on the Hong Kong dollar and the Australian dollar a few years ago has been turned out by good deeds, and he has been taken out of context and deducted a big hat of "intending to short the RMB".

There have been unwarranted things since ancient times. The controversy was rampant, and finally alarmed the authorities.

Officials had previously committed to actively bailing out the market. Xiao Huai is a senior executive of Deutsche Investment Bank in China, representing the basic attitude of investment banks towards China. If this attitude is inconsistent with the official bailout policy, executives will inevitably be unpopular with the government.

Xiao Huai received a "circular letter" issued by the municipal government, asking for a written explanation of the prediction of the collapse of A-shares some time ago.

It was an experience he had never had before. He did what he should have done within the scope of his work, said what he should have said, and turned his head to become a "factor" that interfered with the stability of the stock market in the pen of the Internet trolls, which was questioned by the authorities.

He has been in the industry for six years and has not failed once.

But today, he and his family are a laughing stock.

*

It was close to midnight when Xiao Huai finished writing the written explanation.

He left the office and went downstairs to pick up the car.

As the car sped down the unobstructed elevated road, approaching the speed limit of 120 mph, he stared ahead and stepped on the accelerator.

Light music was playing in the stereo, and the viola played a depressing melancholy tune, and he listened to it for a while, then turned off the music and turned on the FM radio.

The male host of the radio station is doing a midnight emotional program, telling the story: "The world population is 7.2 billion, and according to the life expectancy of 80 years, the probability of two strangers meeting is 0.00487, and the probability of falling in love is 0.000049. It can be seen that the possibility of two people in the world falling in love is far less than that of the middle 5 million. ”

"Cherish every friend and relationship around you, because it is already a great miracle that you have met."

In order to enhance the atmosphere, the host inserted a piece of music full of lingering feelings. Xiao Huai drove intently, as if he was listening, but he didn't seem to be listening.

"There is a kind of fate called forgetting. A friend of the listener wrote to him that his grandfather and his girlfriend's grandfather were friends and had a good relationship. It's a pity that the two grandfathers died early, and neither of them was born at that time. ”

"One day, he sent his cousin to the hospital to give birth, and fell in love with his girlfriend, who was an obstetric nurse at the time, but his girlfriend was not single, and he was very painful, so he chose to go to a different place when his job was transferred."

Unexpectedly, two years later, he met his girlfriend again in the sleeper car of the train, and luckily she was already single! He told himself that God had given him another chance and that he would never miss her again, so it took him a long time to chase his girlfriend down. ”

When the host said this, he interjected the music. Xiao Huai felt that those voices were not sensational enough and more than harsh, so he simply turned off the broadcast.

As he drove his car, he was about to merge from the branch road onto the main road when he looked up at the sign on the elevated road: Huashan Road exit ↗

That's the direction of Mahkota Hospital.

He slowed down the car, hesitated and drove forward for more than ten meters, and suddenly changed lanes to the right and drove towards Huashan Road.

There was no rain tonight, and the night breeze blew through the half-open car window, taking away the tiredness and fatigue of the day. With his left hand on the steering wheel and the other on the gear knob, he stared straight ahead.

Parked, registered, he sat on the seat, waiting for the voice to call.

When it was finally his turn, he took a few steps toward the examination room, and suddenly stood still, staring at the hidden door, his eyelashes quivering, and his eyes welling with an indescribable emotion.

He turned and walked in the opposite direction, out of the emergency building, to the side of the street, pulled the car door and sat in.

He jerked into gear, the car vibrated for a moment, and sped off.

At first, it was aimless, and I didn't know where to go.

Later, when he saw the sign on Zhenning Road, he turned a corner, stopped when he passed a convenience store on the way, walked in and bought a bottle of beer, and then drove to Lane 521 of Zhenning Road.

This old house, which was built in 1911 and the year of the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, has lost its owner after more than 100 years of impermanence.

Xiao Huai sat in the car and drank unhurriedly.

The boundless darkness obscures the sky and the earth, and this is the time when the night is the most gloomy and the most unstable of human nature. He sat alone in the car, the transparent body of wine sliding between his lips and tongue, the cold and pungent taste was not good, and people couldn't help but frown.

The mobile phone in his pocket vibrated a few times, he thought it was a low battery warning tone, and he glanced down but was stunned.

It was Lin Li's call.

The phone continued to vibrate, and he hesitated in his heart, but still connected the phone.

The signal was not very good, and the noise seemed to be caused by Lin Li's change from one place to another. After a while, the murmur disappeared, and the familiar tone appeared clearly in the earpiece with a bit of anxiety: "Xiao Huai, is you the one who came to hang the emergency room?" Where are you? It's been a long time. ”

He paused and opened his mouth: "It's not me." ”

The other end of the line suddenly became quiet.

Suddenly, a slightly embarrassed voice sounded: "There is a man with the same name and surname who came to the emergency department, I mistakenly thought it was you, I'm sorry." ”

"It's fine."

"I'm still on duty...... Well, goodbye. ”

"Wait a minute."

When he blurted out these three words, there was an undercurrent surging between his eyebrows, and his face and ears were stained with a layer of drunkenness, like a symptom caused by alcohol allergy, but it was not enough.

He pursed his thin lips, and there was still a little wine left on his lips: "Lin Li, I-"

She seemed to sense something, and with a soft "um", the soft voice was then lowered, as if whispering next to his ear.

"Xiao Huai, are you in a bad mood?" 166 Reading Network