Chapter 164: Thank You for Your Wedding Gift

The person who had arrived was none other than Zhou Kuan. At this moment, he was standing two paces behind Jiang Zao, his eyes fixed intently on her.

A sudden shiver ran down Jiang Zao’s spine.

According to the information gathered beforehand, Zhou Kuan clearly was not supposed to be at the company today. Why would he suddenly appear?

The eerie atmosphere between the two instantly lowered the air pressure in the pantry. Several employees who had been slacking off while waiting to clock out for the day exchanged glances and quickly cleared out of the pantry.

The pantry on the 22nd floor was actually quite large. Two of its walls were made entirely of glass, and the office area was fully covered by surveillance cameras with no blind spots. Jiang Zao was not afraid of what Zhou Kuan might try to do to her.

She met his gaze head-on. "Is there something you need from me, Vice President Zhou?"

Zhou Kuan glanced at her swollen belly, stepped aside, and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"You're due soon, aren't you?"

Jiang Zao nodded. "Yes, the due date is a little over a month away."

Having finished brewing his coffee, Zhou Kuan held his mug and invited Jiang Zao to sit down at a nearby table.

Jiang Zao did not refuse.

Stepping carefully around the shards of glass scattered across the floor, she slowly sat down at a temporary seating area near the glass wall.

Zhou Kuan placed his coffee mug on the round table and sat down across from Jiang Zao.

"Did you receive the hard drive?"

Zhou Kuan's inquiry instantly put Jiang Zao on high alert. Unsure of what he meant, she remained silent.

Taking a sip of his coffee, Zhou Kuan said, "I'm guessing you received it. She would never let me off. She will definitely find a way to ruin my reputation."

Jiang Zao said nothing.

In her mother's diary, Zhou Kuan had always been portrayed as a paranoid, unhinged madman. Jiang Zao certainly did not believe a word of what he was saying now.

Zhou Kuan’s eyes never left Jiang Zao’s face, the longing in his gaze bordering on madness. Jiang Zao knew he was looking through her face to see her mother on the other side of time.

"You look a lot like your mother. Your personality is very similar, too. Good for you; not inheriting your father's inferior genes is a blessing."

Jiang Zao let out a cold laugh and finally spoke. "How exceptional are your genes, really? How much does Zhou Lihui look like you?"

Zhou Kuan pondered for a long time, then slowly replied, "Xiaohui also looked very much like your mother. He was very pretty, too."

Unsure of what he was aiming for, Jiang Zao refrained from continuing the conversation.

Zhou Kuan paid no mind to her silence and went on, "I truly don't understand why your mother didn't love me. Why, even after giving birth to a child, she was still unwilling to stay by my side."

Jiang Zao lowered her eyes. This was the aspect of her mother she admired the most.

In an era and environment like that, she had managed to fight back to such an extent. If she didn't love someone, she simply didn't love them. No matter what happened, that fact could never be altered.

As if oblivious to Jiang Zao’s momentary abstraction, Zhou Kuan continued to himself, "I always knew Jiang Jingyuan was your mother's husband. The fact that he was able to work under my command for so many years and climb step-by-step into management was entirely due to my secret assistance. It wasn't for any other reason; I simply wanted to see just where he was supposedly better than me. As it turns out, he is nothing more than an incompetent idiot. He only managed to marry Yuru because he happened to save her from some thugs."

Jiang Zao remained utterly unmoved. She already knew this past history; before coming to Changzhou to recuperate during her pregnancy, she had made a special trip to visit Jiang Jingyuan in prison, and he had told her all of these things back then.

Zhou Kuan went on, "Yuru is dead, and Xiaohui is dead. The people who caused all these tragedies are still alive. Before I die, I will drag them down to hell with me."

A look of sheer madness flashed in Zhou Kuan's eyes.

Jiang Zao gave a start, rubbed her arm, and asked, "So that's why you targeted Zhou Lichuan and the Zhou Group?"

Zhou Kuan withdrew his gaze and said flatly, "Yes, is there something wrong with that?"

Insane.

Jiang Zao thought to herself, keeping her lips tightly sealed.

Just as Zhou Kuan seemed about to say more, the heavy door of the pantry was yanked open with brute force.

"Zaozao!"

Having heard the news, Zhou Lichuan had raced toward the pantry like a madman, startling the employees in the office area into turning their gazes toward the glass walls of the pantry.

Zhou Kuan looked up, meeting Zhou Lichuan's eyes. "Xiaochuan, your second uncle is just having a chat with his niece-in-law. Why are you so excited?"

His expression had already shifted, making him look like a completely different person from the one who had just been reminiscing about the past. Such a rapid change naturally did not escape Jiang Zao, who was sitting right across from him.

Zhou Lichuan came to a halt in front of Jiang Zao, his eagle-like eyes fixed coldly on Zhou Kuan’s hypocritical smile.

"Zaozao, are you alright?"

The moment Zhou Lichuan turned his gaze to Jiang Zao, it softened instantly, his demeanor shifting so radically it was as if he suffered from a split personality.

Jiang Zao shook her head slightly, used the leverage of the arm he extended to her, and slowly stood up.

"There's something I've been dying to ask Second Uncle."

Hearing Jiang Zao drop the formal address, Zhou Kuan paused for a fraction of a second and said, "Go ahead."

Jiang Zao asked, "After Lichuan and I broke away from surveillance and moved elsewhere, you kept trying to contact me and have me come to your side. Was that also because of my mother?"

Zhou Kuan’s gaze toward Jiang Zao grew distant once more. "You are the only proof that she ever existed. At the very least... you need to live safely."

Jiang Zao nodded. "I understand. Thank you for your candor, Second Uncle. And thank you for the wedding gift. I like it very much."

Zhou Lichuan looked at Jiang Zao in astonishment, his eyes filled with utter perplexity.

Jiang Zao patted his arm, signaling him to walk outside.

Once they were out of the pantry, Zhou Lichuan no longer cared how many eavesdroppers there were in the office area. He grabbed Jiang Zao's hand and asked anxiously, "What were you two talking about just now? When did he ever send us a wedding gift?"

Jiang Zao cast an exasperated look at him. "Not just a wedding gift, even the baby's gift has arrived together with it."

"Did he send it to Tingshan?" Zhou Lichuan still didn't understand.

Jiang Zao stopped in her tracks, swept her gaze across the entire floor of the office area, looked at Zhou Lichuan, and finally let out a sigh. "It must be exhausting being your employee. You really ought to give them a raise."

Without a moment's hesitation, Zhou Lichuan replied, "Alright. Once the baby is born, I'll give a raise to all the employees."

Jiang Zao nodded, turned around, and began to walk away.

"You broke your mug because of me. Come on, take me to buy a new one to replace it."

Oblivious to everything, Zhou Lichuan simply followed along.

He didn't even have time to punch his timecard.

Then again, he was the boss; who would dare audit his attendance?

The moment the two of them stepped into the elevator, the office area erupted in an instant.

"Did I hear that right just now? We're getting a raise?"

"You heard right, you heard right! President Zhou said once the baby is born—does that mean in another two or three months, we'll all get a collective pay bump?"

"Such a wonderful thing!! Madam's word really carries weight; with a single sentence she got President Zhou to agree to a raise. I hereby announce that from this day forward, Madam is the number one person I worship!"

"Shh... This isn't finalized yet, everyone shouldn't go spreading it around casually. What if President Zhou finds out and gets angry and cancels our raise?"