The cold liquor slid down his throat, but it did nothing to extinguish that pent-up fire in his heart; instead, it made him feel even more restless.

After a moment, a familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar figure appeared at the entrance.

As soon as he appeared, he caught the attention of many girls in the store.

Zhang Lei quickly stood up and waved vigorously: "Tang Song, over here!"

"Zhang Lei."

The two greeted each other.

Zhang Lei took the initiative to open a bottle of beer for him and pushed it in front of him: "I ordered some usual stuff, see if you want to add anything."

"This is fine, enough." Tang Song sat down opposite him, looking at his despondent demeanor, and directly asked, "What on earth happened? You seem completely off."

Zhang Lei picked up the beer bottle and gave a heavy clink with him, letting out a heavy sigh: "Let’s just drink one first."

Half a bottle of beer went down.

Two cold dishes and sizzling barbecue skewers were also brought up one after another.

Zhang Lei picked up an oil-dripping lamb skewer and bit into it hard.

While chewing, he bitterly said, "I damn... am getting booted from the company tomorrow."

Tang Song hesitated, "You got fired?"

"Yeah." Zhang Lei grabbed another grilled kidney skewer and stuffed it into his mouth, "Failed the probation period, the reason being ’incompetence in business skills.’

He smiled self-deprecatingly, his voice filled with uncontrollable anger: "I just got transferred from the branch to the headquarters, the clients haven’t been fully handed over yet, where’s the business? Is it funny or not funny? Damn... In the end, it’s just being replaced by someone with connections."

He drank the beer in big gulps and recounted the afternoon’s conversation with HR, and the experience of finding manager Liu Huixiang.

Tang Song listened quietly, without interruption.

When hearing the words "executive office," his eyes flickered slightly.

With sharp insight and thinking, he instantly realized something.

Remember last time eating here with Zhang Lei, they happened to run into Gao Junfeng.

This assistant to the vice president, if departmentally assigned, should be in the executive office.

Zhang Lei is a market backbone transferred from the branch, so even if there’s a layoff at headquarters, he should be returning to the Quan City Branch.

And now, this situation is clearly abnormal.

Thinking of Gao Junfeng, a cold gleam flashed in Tang Song’s eyes.

If it truly was Gao Junfeng’s doing, then it was clearly targeting him.

Zhang Lei was just collateral damage.

Two bottles of beer down.

Zhang Lei’s eyes were a bit red, his fist thumped on the table.

"I just can’t accept it! How much effort did I put in to get into headquarters? Those two years in Quan City, for the sake of performance, I drank so much my stomach perforated twice! Finally, I got to a point where I thought I could do great in Yan City, and what now? Ha, after a month, I’m written off."

"Do you know what the worst part is?" He pointed at his nose, "Today, I still have to act like a dog, handing over my hard-won client data bit by bit to that idiot who kicked me out!"

His voice was somewhat agitated, attracting the side-glances of people at neighboring tables.

Tang Song patted his shoulder, signaling him to calm down.

After deliberating for a moment, he said: "Zhang Lei, I’m going to make a phone call."

"Alright, go ahead."

Without getting up, Tang Song directly picked up his phone, found Jing’s number, and dialed it.

"Beep beep—" After just two rings, the call was quickly answered.

A sweet and obedient voice came through the receiver: "Hello? Song, good evening, I was just about to message you! We truly have telepathy! Are you missing me?"

Listening to the voice of his beautiful and rich friend, Tang Song couldn’t help but slightly smile, his voice becoming softer, "Of course I’m missing Jing."

"I’m missing you too, mua~"

Tang Song cooed sweet talk with his girlfriend, then turned to ask: "Jing, where are you? Are you free now?"

Jing exclaimed with surprise, "Of course I’m free! I’m at home, just got out of the shower, smelling good. Song, are you planning to invite me out?"

Tang Song laughed: "I’m having barbecue with a friend, why don’t you come join us?"

"Hi!" Over there Jing’s clothes rustling sounds came through, her tone full of eagerness, "Send me the location, I’ll be right over!"

"Yes, travel safely."

He hung up the phone. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

With a look of surprise, Zhang Lei said: "Whoa, Tang Song... You have a girlfriend? When did this happen?"

"Uh..." Tang Song paused, said with a poker face, "Quite a while now, a colleague from the previous company."

"Awesome! Must be really pretty, eh?" Zhang Lei’s eyes were full of envy.

He had set his sights on a female colleague in the finance department at Zhongcheng Group headquarters, just had a meal with her, but hadn’t even started pursuing, and now it’s over.

Tang Song sent the location to Jing while saying, "Ha, she is quite pretty. I’m inviting her to join for a meal, you don’t mind, right?"

"What are you talking about! It’s an honor for me to have your girlfriend come over." Zhang Lei promptly called out: "Let’s order some more! Waiter! Over here!"

Tang Song didn’t stop him.

Zhang Lei hastily ordered two more main dishes and three or four different skewers before sitting down again.

The two clinked glasses again, took a few bites of food.

Zhang Lei’s mood gradually sank.

If he were in a normal state, he’d be pestering Tang Song for gossip about his girlfriend.

But under the current circumstances, he clearly wasn’t in the mood.

Tang Song comforted him: "Don’t worry, Zhang Lei. Zhongcheng has deep waters, this kind of thing is common, maybe things will take a turn."