Chapter 3: Burning Yard of Half a Lifetime (Revised)

Arriving at the company…

It was already 8:30 when Tang Man arrived at the company, not too late, nor too early. The manager had told her to arrive before 9 o’clock.

The accounting firm was located in an office building on the Second Ring Road, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold. Any company that could occupy even a small space here would not be an unknown entity.

As Tang Man was about to push open the car door, her hand was grabbed.

She turned her head and looked at the man in the driver’s seat with some confusion.

“What’s the matter?”

She thought she had dropped something, so she lowered her head to check the seat.

To her surprise, Du Henian just smiled, unfastened his seat belt, leaned over, pointed to the corner of his own mouth and said, “Morning kiss.”

Tang Man was stunned for a moment. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that it was already late on her watch. Not wanting to waste time, she had no choice but to lean over and perfunctorily touch the corner of the man’s mouth lightly.

“What time do you get off work tonight? I’ll come pick you up.” Du Henian rolled down the car window and said to the woman who was tidying her clothes.

This time Tang Man was a bit surprised, “Are you done with your project?” She remembered that Du Henian had said his project was at a critical stage some time ago.

“There’s still enough time to spend with my girlfriend.”

Hearing the woman’s question, the man in the driver’s seat curled his fingers, his expression not very good, but he tried his best to suppress it and just said with a smile.

His clear and handsome brows and eyes all revealed a hint of softness.

Perhaps it was because he wasn’t wearing glasses today, and his hair was a bit fluffy, looking just like when they first met, still very young.

It was rare to see Du Henian in such casual attire. Most of the time, he lived at school, wearing a shirt and black pants, with glasses, and his bangs pulled up, looking several years older.

Tang Man was in a hurry and couldn’t say much. She just waved her hand casually, picked up her bag and walked away quickly. Before leaving, she kissed Du Henian’s lips again through the car window and said soothingly.

“It’s my first day at work today, I’m not sure what time I’ll get off, and I may have a gathering with my colleagues. You don’t need to come pick me up, I’ll just take a taxi back.”

Du Henian had no choice but to nod and watch her leave, running with small steps into an office building.

It was only today that he learned his girlfriend had joined an accounting firm. After all, they both studied finance, so he thought Tang Man would prefer to go to a securities company, and had been contacting people at securities companies.

The parking spot was across the street from the office building, where parking was not allowed. Du Henian was lost in thought for a while, then heard the sound of a car horn behind him. Only then did he come to his senses, pinched the bridge of his nose, and drove off towards the school.

Recently, he had been preparing for graduation and still had a big project at hand, often staying up late. Last night, he only slept for two hours. Even a young man would feel a bit tired keeping this up.

Tang Man hurried and managed not to be late.

When she arrived at the company, since it was her first day at work, someone specifically led her to familiarize herself with the surroundings. She sat at her desk and fiddled with the financial software for most of the day without doing anything. The colleagues around her were also very friendly.

After having lunch with the team members at noon, she was notified by her superiors that she needed to go for an on-site project inspection, so she spent most of the afternoon outside.

Fortunately, it was an overcast day and not hot. The place they inspected was a wetland park that had already been built, with very good landscaping. Their group walked around inside for a long time without seeing anything interesting. In the blink of an eye, it was already five or six o’clock.

It wasn’t until it started raining that the team leader let them go home.

Perhaps because of the rain, the air was particularly good, with the unique damp and cold of the south, penetrating the skin through the seams of the pants. It was better than the north, with little wind, not enough to wet the trouser legs. In this light rain, it was quite comfortable to walk outside, and the air was not as dry and cold as in the north.

For the next three days, she was basically out on business. Because the project information was incomplete, apart from making a form, she didn’t do anything else. The rest of the time was spent surfing the Internet, browsing Weibo, and watching dramas, which was quite leisurely.

On Saturday, after working overtime in the morning, Tang Man went home in the afternoon to pack her things and was about to go to Du Henian’s place when she received a call.

It was from her father’s assistant.

“Miss Tang, Chairman Tang was in a car accident and has been admitted to the hospital.”

The man’s flat voice reached her ears. For a moment, Tang Man was stunned. For a second, she doubted that the other party was not saying that her father had been in a car accident and was admitted to the hospital, but that Old Tang had sneezed.

Being so calm and collected about her own boss being in a car accident, at this moment Tang Man finally understood why Assistant Xie was able to beat those buxom and beautiful secretaries to become Old Tang’s essential companion for travel.

“Is he in the ICU?” She walked out of the apartment building and couldn’t help but ask.

If so, it would be serious. Before going to the hospital, she would have to contact the company’s legal department again to confirm if there were any changes to Old Tang’s will before his death.

Assistant Xie was silent for a moment at Tang Man’s counter-question before answering no.

That’s good.

Although the relationship between Tang Man and Old Tang was difficult to describe, with grudges and grievances between them that were too long to be told clearly, she still sincerely hoped that Old Tang would live a little longer.

As her ATM, the man behind the money, Tang Man always felt that if Old Tang died, her comfortable days of living off him might be gone forever.

With this happening, Tang Man couldn’t go to Du Henian’s place anymore. She had no choice but to send him a text message, simply saying that she had left the neighborhood, and took a taxi to the hospital.

As soon as she got out of the car at the hospital, Tang Man saw Assistant Xie waiting at the entrance.

The man was tall and handsome, wearing a suit and shirt, looking very proper, with glasses on the bridge of his nose. At first glance, one could tell he was an elite who had come out of some formal occasion with Old Tang.

Because of his good looks, many people would take a look at the person standing at the entrance when entering and leaving the hospital.

Today was Saturday, and this man was still at work. Sometimes Tang Man even wanted to complain on his behalf, the evil of capitalism.

Unfortunately, now this capitalist was her father, and in Assistant Xie’s mind, she was probably considered a little capitalist.

“Assistant Xie, why are you standing here?” Tang Man walked over, taking out her phone from her bag and saying, “I can go in by myself.”

She had been to this hospital a few times and had a general layout in her mind. Old Tang was always in one of those few places every time he came.

“Chairman Tang asked me to come out and pick up Miss Tang.” Xie Li said expressionlessly, then led the way to the building behind.

Tang Man was checking her phone in the elevator. The message she had sent to Du Henian earlier had not been replied to until now. She didn’t know if he hadn’t seen it or if he was angry.

But when that person was angry, he was also gentle. In Tang Man’s mind, he was not difficult to coax. She didn’t take it to heart, and she was indeed tired of him lately. When a relationship lasted a long time, it was easy to produce boredom and even weariness.

This was not even marriage, not even the legendary seven-year itch. In just three years, the tediousness saturating this relationship had already made Tang Man very fed up.

She had once thought of ending this relationship.

She had other things on her mind, so it wasn’t until she put down her phone that she reacted to what Assistant Xie had said.

“Is Old Tang all right?”

Xie Li glanced at Tang Man out of the corner of his eye and grunted in a low voice, “After examination, Chairman Tang’s body is not in serious condition, only his right leg has some fractures.”

Tang Man frowned slightly, but in the end didn’t say anything.

Taking the elevator to the fourth floor, as soon as they got out, they saw several people coming out of a room not far away, holding briefcases and talking in low voices.

The group saw the two people who had just come out of the elevator at the same time. Their eyes first fell on Assistant Xie, and their faces instantly showed a few traces of genuine smiles, not avoiding a few greetings.

Tang Man didn’t want to cause trouble, so she quickly took a step back and stood behind Assistant Xie, most of her body obscured by his tall figure, while she looked with interest at Assistant Xie, who was exchanging pleasantries with the middle-aged men.

Old Tang’s assistant was a very strange person, at least in Tang Man’s mind.

Usually, when dealing with people, he always made people feel that he might be aloof and indifferent, but when dealing with people in the business world, he was not too inconsiderate to make people lose face. On the contrary, those who had contact with him would praise him, saying that he had a bright future ahead and thought highly of him.

As far as Tang Man knew, there were headhunting companies that had contacted him behind the scenes, offering high prices. It was just unknown why this person was still staying by Old Tang’s side, willing to be an assistant, even more filial than her, the biological daughter.

After sending off those few people, Tang Man couldn’t help but joke, “Assistant Xie is a promising youth. Those few people all recognized Assistant Xie, but didn’t recognize the boss’s daughter.”

Hearing this sentence, Xie Li’s body stiffened for a moment. He couldn’t help but glance at Tang Man, but found that her expression was casual, with a playful smile on her face, as if she had just said it offhandedly and didn’t mean anything else. Only then did he relax and reply.

“Chairman Tang was saying a few days ago to let Miss Tang come back to the company to work.”

“Really?”

Hearing this sentence, Tang Man only smiled and asked back lightly, not taking the other party’s words to heart. She stepped out from behind Xie Li and walked towards the ward not far away.

Knocking on the door and entering the ward, there were a few bouquets of flowers on the bedside table, and the TV in front of the bed was playing a variety show. Old Tang was lying on the hospital bed, holding the remote control and boringly changing channels.

Hearing the sound, Old Tang turned his head and saw Tang Man. His hand holding the remote control paused for a moment, and his gaze couldn’t help but look behind her.

Tang Man glanced at him, put her handbag on the sofa, looked at Old Tang’s right leg that was hanging in the air and tightly wrapped, and couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Don’t look, I didn’t notify my mom.”

The man sitting on the bed visibly became disappointed and said, “Unfilial daughter.”

Tang Man pretended not to hear and looked at the few young and handsome men in the variety show with interest. They had exquisite looks and seemed to be only in their teens, like minors, even their speech carried a hint of youthful immaturity.

Old Tang’s mumbling was endless in her ears. Assistant Xie didn’t follow Tang Man into the ward since she entered, and there were only the father and daughter in the room.

Finally, seeing that the person on the hospital bed was really nagging annoyingly, Tang Man couldn’t help but say, “Dad, stop mumbling. Even if I tell my mom, she won’t come to see you. Unless you die and we hold a funeral, maybe my mom will bring her lover to give you a bouquet of chrysanthemums, and bow to send you off by the way.”

In Tang Man’s opinion, Old Tang’s life could be completely summed up in one sentence.

Cheating in a moment, but half a lifetime was scattered in ashes at the crematorium.