The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 2036 Overreacting

"What did you replace?" Charles asked when he noticed the hesitant look on David's face. He could only assume that David had found something.

"It seems that Mr. Xu was acquainted with Leila." David had just received this piece of information and wasn't initially planning on telling Charles. However, since Charles had asked, he had no choice but to tell him.

David had no way of replaceing out if Leila had really been involved in this or not.

Something seemed to flash across Charles' eyes upon the mention of Leila. He smiled and said, "Seems he's planning on getting in our way."

Charles became visibly relaxed once he'd heard that it had something to do with Leila.

He had already decided on taking this project. He knew Mr. Xu was just buying time before he actually signed the contract.

On the way to the hotel, Charles received a call from Melissa.

Charles knew Melissa was calling to ask if he was going to be home for dinner.

Charles wasn't planning on answering the call. David immediately noticed that Charles was resting as he had his eyes closed. David then instantly picked up the call for Charles. "Madam, this is David."

"Where is Charles?" Melissa couldn't understand why David was answering Charles' phone for him. 'Was Charles still working? Or did he just not want to hear my voice?'

All of these thoughts ran past Melissa's head in those few seconds.

"Mr. Lu's in a meeting now. You can leave a message with me, and I will tell him later," David said politely.

"Oh, I see."

Melissa calmed down when she heard this. She was just worried about him. Furrowing her brows together, she said, "Nothing, it's nothing. Just take care of him and tell him to eat properly." "No need to worry, madam. I'll take care of Mr. Lu."

Melissa then hung up the call after giving David a few more instructions.

Charles only opened his eyes when he'd heard David hang up. He asked, "How are the kids?"

"Everything's fine, and the Cloud Advertising Company's doing fine too." David knew that this was what Charles was concerned about.

Soon, they arrived at the hotel. They'd agreed to meet at six, but Mr. Xu didn't seem to care about the time as it was soon half an hour past six, and he still wasn't there.

"Mr. Lu, don't you think Mr. Xu's being impolite?" David said, unable to hide his irritation. Charles didn't deserve to be made to wait like this.

"Contact his team," Charles said calmly.

David didn't understand Charles at first. After giving it some thought, it seemed as if he realized something. He then took his phone out and made a call.

After he'd settled everything, Mr. Lu and his assistants arrived at the restaurant next to the hotel.

"Mr. Lu, where is it? Could you tell me about this place?" Mr. Xu got out of the car and walked towards Charles with a huge smile on his face-obviously fake.

"Mr. Xu, you'll replace out once you get inside," Charles said, grinning.

They were now both playing each other.

Charles wasn't one to back down in the face of a challenging negotiation. However, he was quickly turned off by people who involved their personal life in their work.

And Mr. Xu was that kind of person. So Charles decided to teach him a lesson.

Soon, they arrived at the room they had reserved for that night.

"Mr. Xu, this is our first time meeting even though I've heard of you before. You've really impressed me today. You certainly live up to your name." After taking his seat, Charles gestured for the waiters to begin serving the dishes. He looked at Mr. Xu, who sat opposite him and was looking disinterested.

Mr. Xu wholeheartedly accepted Charles' praise, without any trace of humility. He responded, "Mr. Lu, you're flattering me. If you don't mind, I've heard something quite interesting about you. Would you mind if share it with you?"

David subconsciously felt nervous when he heard this. He immediately looked at Charles.

Charles eyed David, a meaningful look on his face.

It seemed that Mr. Xu was going to explain himself now.

"Mr. Xu, please go ahead. I'd love to hear it," Charles replied casually.

Mr. Xu cast a meaningful glance at Charles and said, "It's nothing bad. I just heard that Mr. Lu is a consummate romantic and has had intimate relationships with many beautiful women, including his former secretary. I just can't help but wonder if there's any truth to this."

"Mr. Xu, how dare you!" David suddenly stood up, and he looked utterly furious as if he couldn't control his anger any longer.

'Mr. Xu is being rude and impolite. How dared he talk about Mr. Lu like that!' David raged in his mind.

"Sit down." Charles gestured for David to remain silent.

David glared at Mr. Xu before reluctantly sitting down.

David thought he was going to do whatever it takes to teach Mr. Xu a lesson if he continued to behave like this.

"Mr. Lu, your assistant seems to be overreacting. So is what I've said true?" An obvious sneer was pasted on Mr. Xu's face.

Charles remained stoic. He pursed his lips and said, "Mr. Xu, would you mind telling me where you heard this particular rumor?"

Mr. Xu hadn't expected this from Charles as he'd assumed Charles would get angry. He seemed frozen in shock before responding, "I just overheard it at some of the parties I've been to. Mr. Lu, please don't take it so seriously."

"Of course not. It's false, and it's just a nasty rumor. I hope you won't let this affect our pending partnership. It will be a pity if it affected that." Charles leaned forward to pick up his cup of tea and took a sip. Mr. Xu's face paled upon hearing this. He couldn't believe Charles was threatening him with their project.

He was going too far.

With this, Mr. Xu decided he was going to provoke Charles further. It was rumored that Charles was a heavy drinker. Tonight, he was going to prove this.

As he thought of this, he smiled and said, "Well, Mr. Lu, since it's just a rumor, let's just forget about it then. Let's not let it ruin our night. What do you think about that?"

"You're right. The food has been served. Let's eat."

"Mr. Lu." Mr. Xu suddenly raised his glass and said, "To the success of our project."

"Cheers." Charles raised his glass without hesitation.

They clinked glasses and drained the contents in one go.

Mr. Xu kept making up excuses to get Charles to drink.

They drank hard liquor. David couldn't stop them, nor could he drink on Charles's behalf, so he was naturally quite worried.