Chapter 155: Prejudice

Fu Wenzhou's bandages needed to be changed twice a day. Later on, Song Qingyou always had Yun Nian do it, as she didn't dare to look at the injuries on his body for fear she wouldn't be able to hold back her tears.

At this moment, Yun Nian was in the bedroom helping Fu Wenzhou change his dressings, while Xu Zezhan, Gu Bai, and Song Qingyou were having breakfast on the fifth floor.

Gu Bai chewed on a piece of bread, finding it completely tasteless. "Breakfast back home is still the best."

Xu Zezhan peeled a boiled egg and tossed it into Gu Bai's bowl. "Be grateful you have anything to eat at all. Stop being so picky."

Gu Bai picked up the egg, took a bite, and looked at Song Qingyou, who was drinking porridge. "When do you guys plan on heading back?"

Song Qingyou raised her eyes. "Once Fu Wenzhou's wounds heal."

Hearing this, Xu Zezhan looked somewhat surprised. "That's going to take another month. Do you plan on staying here with him the entire time?"

"Mhm." Song Qingyou's expression remained calm.

Gu Bai asked in astonishment, "The Song Corporation is right in the middle of its transformation. Can you really afford to stay away for so long?"

Song Qingyou showed little expression. "I can."

Gu Bai stared at Song Qingyou for several seconds before saying, "Anyway, Xu Zezhan and I will be heading back to the country first. We'll drop by the Song Corporation when we have time, so don't worry."

Song Qingyou nodded. "Okay."

Xu Zezhan pondered for a moment and then asked, "Have you considered cooperating with Yunrui?"

Song Qingyou put down her spoon. "What do you mean?"

Xu Zezhan explained, "Don't you have a batch of chips that hasn't found a buyer yet? Coincidentally, the supplier providing chips for Yunrui right now is too slow with deliveries, and headquarters is considering switching suppliers. If we cooperate, we can take that entire batch of chips off your hands, but on one condition: the price must be ten percent lower than the market rate."

Song Qingyou agreed, "Ten percent lower is fine, but Yunrui must sign a cooperation agreement with us for at least three years, and the Song Corporation guarantees monthly, on-time deliveries."

Xu Zezhan tapped his fingertips on the table. "Deal."

Gu Bai watched from the side, dumbfounded, unable to understand why they were talking about corporate business while eating a meal.

It made him look like he didn't take his work seriously at all.

Biting into his egg, he stood up, unwilling to stay any longer in the presence of these two workaholics. "I'm going to take breakfast to Wenzhou."

Song Qingyou then asked two more questions regarding the current crises the Song Corporation was facing during its transformation, and Xu Zezhan analyzed them for her one by one.

"If you want the Song Corporation's transformation to be thorough, you can't just catch the wave of AI intelligence; you have to get involved in all related industries as well. It would be best to strengthen your own independent research and development capabilities."

Song Qingyou said, "Thank you."

Xu Zezhan replied indomitably, "Independent research and development is a good thing, but the initial investment costs are too high. You might as well consider Liang Muchuan's cooperation proposal. Didn't he want to hand his entire project team over to you before?"

"I didn't plan on taking it," Song Qingyou said.

Xu Zezhan smiled mischievously. "You can look at it from a different perspective: take his R&D team into your Song Corporation, give him some non-voting equity, and put in a bit of capital yourself. It wouldn't be taking something for nothing, but the ultimate control would remain in your hands."

Song Qingyou paused slightly. Such a ruthless idea was just what Xu Zezhan could come up with.

Xu Zezhan continued, "The Liang family suffered heavy blows because of his uncle's incident, and Liang Muchuan's project is still running at a loss. His father has already told him to shut the project down immediately. So if you make a move now, the timing is just right."

Xu Zezhan leaned back in his chair. "In a sense, not only are you saving Liang Muchuan, but by giving him a bit of equity, he'll be too grateful to you."

Song Qingyou's mouth twitched. "...Is that so?"

"Of course," Xu Zezhan said. "We are business people; profit comes first. Don't think of him as Fu Wenzhou's brother. Just think of him as an ordinary passerby who encountered difficulties while starting a business."

"..." Song Qingyou said, "Isn't he your brother too, though?"

Xu Zezhan's lips curved upward. "Brothers are meant to be taken advantage of."

Besides, what he said was the truth. If Liang Muchuan's father refused to allocate funds from the parent company, Liang Muchuan would have no choice but to stop.

Once the funding was cut off, the project would inevitably be forced to terminate, and by then, a bunch of people would swoop in to pick up the leftovers.

Tsk.

Naturally, those leftovers should be snapped up by one's own people.

Song Qingyou pursed her lips. She naturally knew that Xu Zezhan was telling her this to help her, and she had never been a saint anyway. Since those leftovers were destined to be picked up by someone, she might as well be the one to do it.

She looked at Xu Zezhan and said sincerely, "Thank you."

Xu Zezhan shrugged. "No need to thank me. Just stop pushing random girls' WeChat contacts onto Gu Bai."

Song Qingyou was momentarily rendered speechless. After a moment, she suddenly asked him, "I remember you used to have a girlfriend?"

Xu Zezhan answered, "Yeah, so?"

"Then why do you still..." Song Qingyou trailed off, leaving her words unspoken.

Xu Zezhan understood her meaning. He gave a self-deprecating chuckle and said, "I'm trying hard to straighten myself out."

Although Song Qingyou didn't quite understand their community, she still respected it. "Loving someone isn't shameful. You've simply harbored an unrequited crush on someone without a future, and it has nothing to do with gender. If you date someone you don't like simply because the person you like doesn't love you back, you're not only hurting others, but you're also hurting yourself."

Xu Zezhan's smile turned somewhat bitter as he gazed out the window. "In families like ours, marriage is rarely something we can decide for ourselves. In the end, both he and I will end up marrying someone deemed suitable."

Song Qingyou was silent for a few seconds before speaking. "I used to think that way too. I thought I didn't have long to live, and I was afraid of people looking at Fu Wenzhou and me with strange eyes, worried about them gossiping behind our backs. But later I realized that overthinking is useless. Being able to stay together properly is what matters most. I love him so much that I even selfishly hope that even if I pass away one day, his world will contain only me."

Song Qingyou said softly, "No matter who you end up marrying, I hope you can marry someone you genuinely love. That person doesn't necessarily have to be Gu Bai; someone else is fine too, and being a man doesn't matter."

Xu Zezhan's pupils shrank abruptly as he silently looked at Song Qingyou.

Song Qingyou slowly continued, "Any kind of love in this world deserves to be bathed in the sunlight, so this is nothing to be ashamed of. Gender cannot limit what you like, and neither can anything else."

Xu Zezhan kept his lips pressed into a tight line, remaining silent for a long time.