Chapter 736
Generous Enough
Upon hearing Wang Zhilan's words, Tang Zhijie was overjoyed. The heavy burden that had been weighing on his heart for so long vanished instantly. Before Xu Bo'an could speak, Tang Zhijie, who had been hiding in the corner, quickly scurried over to Wang Zhilan with a half-bowed posture and a fawning smile, saying, "This boss is so grateful to you. You are like a second parent to me!"
Wang Zhilan looked at Tang Zhijie coldly and said, "You don't need to thank me. I did this entirely because of Mr. Xu. If it weren't for Mr. Xu, your left hand would have been crippled today, and you might even have been sent to jail. The person you should be thanking is Mr. Xu!"
Who would want someone like Tang Zhijie, who takes out loans and has shady dealings? Wang Zhilan believed Xu Bo'an felt the same way about Tang Zhijie. So she didn't give him a friendly look and instead attributed all the credit to Xu Bo'an, which was a way of giving him face.
Upon hearing Wang Zhilan's words, Tang Zhijie said to Xu Bo'an, "Cousin, what happened today was my fault. Thank you for helping me!"
Xu Bo'an was furious at Tang Zhijie's attitude. Not only did he never do anything good, but he also caused trouble all day long. He said to Tang Zhijie in an annoyed tone, "Today is my cousin's eighteenth birthday. Such an important day, and you almost ruined it. You are really a useless and troublesome person! I don't know what to say about you!"
Tang Zhijie said, "Bo'an, I was wrong today, and I apologize to everyone!"
Xu Bo'an looked at Tang Zhijie and said, "What's the use of an apology? If it weren't for the fact that you're my cousin, I wouldn't bother with you. Since President Wang is so magnanimous as to not pursue these matters, then this matter ends here. But I'm warning you, this is a one-time thing. If something like this happens again, you'll have to pay for it, and you'll have to go to the police station. Nobody will care about your petty affairs!"
Since Xu Bo'an had helped him so much today, Tang Zhijie quickly and sensibly said to Xu Bo'an, "Yes, what my cousin said is all right. I will definitely turn over a new leaf and never do anything reckless again!"
Xu Bo'an looked at Tang Zhijie coldly and said, "I hope you keep your word! You'd better watch yourself!"
Wang Zhilan had business to discuss today. She glanced at her watch and saw that it was getting late. After exchanging contact information with Xu Bo'an, she said goodbye and left in a hurry with her group.
The people in the hall returned to their seats and continued their meal peacefully.
Sitting to the side, Tang Muyang spoke first: "I told you that Cousin Bo'an is even more capable than before, but you didn't believe me. Now you should believe me! That big boss not only waived Cousin Zhijie's million-dollar loan because of Cousin Bo'an, but he also didn't pursue the matter of stealing the boss's necklace. Just how much influence does that require? It's unimaginable!"
Cousin Bai Jingshu exclaimed, "And Cousin Bo'an just fought against so many professional bodyguards, and he took them all down in no time! He looked so cool! How did you do that, cousin? I admire you so much!"
As expected, girls see things differently from boys. Xu Bo'an looked at his cousin Bai Jingshu's excited expression and affectionately ruffled her hair, saying, "Little girls like you only think about how handsome someone is all day long. Let me tell you, you have to study hard in college, don't get love-struck!"
Bai Jingshu was, after all, a young girl who had just come of age. She felt a little embarrassed after hearing Xu Bo'an's words and looked at him, saying, "Cousin, I'm not that kind of person!"
Everyone couldn't help but laugh when they saw Bai Jingshu's adorable appearance, and the atmosphere at the table finally became lively.
After this little incident, Tang Zhijie and his mother Wang Caiying, who were sitting with Xu Bo'an, were no longer as arrogant and domineering towards Xu Bo'an as before. They felt very awkward. The more they insulted Xu Bo'an at the beginning, the more painful it was for them to be slapped in the face now.
At this moment, they were so ashamed that they didn't even dare to look Xu Bo'an in the eye.
Especially Xu Bo'an's maternal uncle, who felt ashamed when he thought of the unreasonable attitude his wife Wang Caiying and son Tang Zhijie had shown towards Xu Bo'an, but no matter what, he was still Xu Bo'an's maternal uncle, and no matter how embarrassed he felt, he still had to express his opinion.
Tang Junxiang, Xu Bo'an's maternal uncle, stood up and said to Xu Bo'an, "Bo'an, if it weren't for you stopping this today, even if our family sold everything we owned, we still wouldn't be able to pay back that much money. If they really pursued the matter, our family would be finished. Your uncle thanks you here, and I also apologize to you for the unpleasant things your aunt and brother said to you at the beginning!"
Because his aunt, Wang Caiying, is a rather assertive person, and his uncle usually doesn't bother to argue with her for the sake of family harmony, people think that his uncle is the type of man who is henpecked.
Xu Bo'an said, "Uncle, you are my elder and my own uncle. Since I am here, I can't just stand by and watch you go down a dead end. I will try my best to help if I can. You don't need to be so polite with me!"
Upon hearing his nephew Xu Bo'an's words, Tang Junxiang, Xu Bo'an's maternal uncle, felt ashamed and said, "You have helped my family so much. Even if I said a thousand words, I could not express my gratitude to you. I won't say anything more, I'll do it!"
After finishing his drink, Tang Junxiang saw his wife Wang Caiying and Tang Zhiqiang standing there unmoved, only knowing how to eat. He was furious and shouted at them, "You two should apologize to Bo'an right now, especially you, Tang Zhijie. How dare you say that Bo'an is good for nothing? If you could be even as good as a hair on Bo'an's head, I would be relieved. I really don't know how I could have given birth to such a thing as you. It's a disgrace to our family!"
Although Tang Zhijie was unhappy to hear his father's reprimand, he was still terrified because those people had almost crippled his hand and he had almost been sent to the police station.
If Xu Bo'an hadn't intervened, Tang Zhijie wouldn't be sitting here unharmed right now. Even if Tang Zhijie is utterly useless and his future performance is uncertain, he is still extremely grateful to Xu Bo'an at this moment.
This time, Tang Zhijie did not argue with his father's reprimand. Instead, he listened to his father, poured himself a full glass of wine, stood up, and said to Xu Bo'an, "Bo'an, I was a bastard. I shouldn't have said those things to you. Thank you for helping me today. I will definitely be a better person in the future!"
Xu Bo'an said, "We're all family. I sincerely hope you're doing well. I hope you keep your word and work diligently in the future. If you encounter something like this again, you won't be so lucky!"
Tang Zhijie said, "I understand. Just watch my performance in the future."
After saying that, he downed the entire glass of wine in one gulp.
Then, Xu Bo'an's usually assertive aunt, Wang Caiying, formally apologized to him and expressed her gratitude. Xu Bo'an then said, "Alright, let's leave it at that. Today is Jing Shu's eighteenth birthday celebration, a special day for my aunt's family. Let's have my aunt and uncle say a few words!"
The people sitting at this table were all relatives from Xu Bo'an's mother's side. When Xu Bo'an's aunt, Tang Ruizhi, heard Xu Bo'an's words, she didn't mince words and stood up directly, saying, "Then I'll take this opportunity to say a few words. Back then, my siblings and I couldn't even get enough to eat or wear. Now we've been fortunate enough to live in a good era. Look at us siblings, we're all doing better and better, especially Bo'an. He's grown from that mischievous boy into such an accomplished man. It's truly beyond my expectations. You younger generation should learn from Bo'an and strive to make our Tang family more and more prosperous! Then we can say we haven't lived in vain."
Xu Bo'an's mother had five siblings. Tang Rongzhi was the eldest, while Xu Jiancheng is now retired and has only one son, Xu Bo'an.
Tang Rongzhi has three younger brothers. The eldest, Tang Junxiang, used to work for a state-owned enterprise, but the enterprise went bankrupt. He and his wife, Wang Caiying, then ran a small restaurant. Now that they have reached retirement age, they receive a monthly pension of over two thousand yuan. The restaurant business continues, and their life is relatively comfortable. The couple has a son and a daughter, Tang Zhijie. Their daughter reportedly works for a state-owned enterprise, but in recent years, due to her cousin Tang Zhijie's lack of success, it is estimated that he has almost squandered the family's savings.
The second son is Tang Junyi, Tang Muyang's father. He and his wife run a furniture factory, and business is doing quite well. They live a good life.
The third son is Tang Junhui. He and his wife both had formal jobs before, but they are now retired. They have two daughters who have graduated and started working.
The youngest is Xu Bo'an's aunt, Tang Ruizhi. She and her uncle both work in state-owned enterprises, and her uncle is now a junior manager with a very good salary. They only have one daughter, Bai Jingshu, who was admitted to a prestigious university this year. Their family's financial situation is already quite good for ordinary people.
The Tang siblings, who came from the countryside, are indeed quite good, but there isn't a single one who is particularly outstanding.
Therefore, my aunt's words placed high hopes on the next generation. After all, revitalizing a family is not the result of one generation's efforts but the result of several generations working together.
Afterwards, the family sat together and chatted for a while. Just as the banquet was about to end, Shen Ruiying, who was in charge of finance at Wang Zhilan's company, came to Xu Bo'an's table again.
When Tang Zhijie saw Shen Ruiying return, he assumed that they had gone back on their word about not needing him to repay the loan and were coming to collect the debt from him again. Tang Zhijie was terrified.
He kept his head down the whole time, not daring to lift it even once, for fear that Shen Ruiying would see him.
Shen Ruiying walked up to Xu Bo'an, took out a set of car keys, and handed them to him respectfully, saying, "Mr. Xu, our boss, Ms. Wang, said that today is your cousin's coming-of-age ceremony. Since she happened to be here, she asked me to give this car to your cousin as a gift! The car is parked downstairs. She has something important to do right now, so she asked me to bring it to you!"
To be honest, Xu Bo'an was quite surprised to hear Shen Ruiying's words. Although he had saved Wang Zhilan once, Wang Zhilan not only did not hold it against his cousin Tang Zhijie for stealing her necklace, but also waived all of Tang Zhijie's one million yuan loan. Xu Bo'an felt that Wang Zhilan had done a great job and made him look good in front of his relatives.
Although Xu Bo'an's abilities do not need others to prove them, people are often like this, feeling that other people's proof is more convincing. Wang Zhilan's appearance directly changed the relatives' attitude towards Xu Bo'an.
When Xu Bo'an saved Wang Zhilan, his thoughts were simple: he just wanted to do as many good deeds as he could. He never expected that Wang Zhilan would be such a grateful person.
Xu Bo'an was genuinely surprised that she was now even giving his cousin a car. However, since it was a kind gesture, he didn't refuse. He took the car keys from Shen Ruiying's hand and said to her, "I appreciate your boss's kindness. Please thank him for me!"
Shen Ruiying nodded politely to Xu Bo'an and then left.
Only after Shen Ruiying had walked away did Tang Zhijie finally breathe a long sigh of relief and raise his head.
Shen Ruiying gave Xu Bo'an a BMW car key. After Shen Ruiying left, Xu Bo'an handed the car key to his cousin Bai Jingshu.
Bai Jingshu had only recently gotten her driver's license, and she already had a car—a BMW, no less! She was overjoyed and smiled sweetly at her cousin, Xu Bo'an, saying, "Cousin, you're amazing! Thank you, cousin!"
However, Xu Bo'an's aunt and uncle took the car keys from their daughter and were about to hand them back to Xu Bo'an, saying, "Bo'an, we can't accept this gift. That Mr. Wang just waived so much of Zhijie's loan; he's already given you so much face. We can't accept his gift again; it would be hard to repay such a favor!"
Although Xu Bo'an felt that saving Wang Zhilan was just a small thing, from Wang Zhilan's perspective, Xu Bo'an was a great benefactor who saved her life.
Xu Bo'an knew in his heart that this gift was nothing to Wang Zhilan, a big boss! That's why Xu Bo'an accepted it gladly.
My aunt and uncle said this out of consideration for Xu Bo'an. Xu Bo'an knew they meant well and didn't want to cause him any trouble.
Xu Bo'an smiled and said to his aunt and uncle, "Aunt and uncle, you don't need to worry about these things. Since she dared to give me these things, it means I'm worth the price. I have my own judgment on this matter, so you can rest assured to accept the gifts."
After hearing Xu Bo'an's words, Aunt and Uncle finally felt relieved and handed the car keys to their daughter, Bai Jingshu. Everyone looked at Bai Jingshu with envy.
Needless to say, Xu Bo'an naturally received another wave of praise from his family! (End of Chapter)