BF Chapter 18

Zhan Shili let out a heavy sigh, went quiet for a moment, and asked, “What did you call me?”

“Baby,” Xu Shen repeated, “Do I not have permission to call you that?”

Zhan Shili saw the playful, mischievous smile in his eyes and calmed his racing heart: “Up to you.”

He pulled back some distance and sat up, helping Xu Shen button up the buttons of his shirt, which he had torn apart, one by one.

Xu Shen sat up as well, leaning over at the last moment to kiss him on the face, saying, “See you tomorrow.”

“Mn.” Zhan Shili glanced at the time; it was almost midnight.

Xu Shen pushed the door open, getting out of the car as Zhan Shili moved over to the driver’s seat. Before starting the car, something crossed his mind, and he rolled down the window to remind him: “When you get back, if your hand still hurts, have someone bring you some burn ointment. Don’t do this kind of thing next time.”

Xu Shen nodded leisurely: “Got it.”

Zhan Shili asked, “Are you able to sleep now?”

Xu Shen looked at him and said, “Should be able to.”

“Go upstairs.” Zhan Shili withdrew his gaze and drove away without lingering any longer.

Watching his car drive far away, Xu Shen raised his hand to stroke his bitten, broken lip for a moment, then smiled gently.

Halfway through the drive, while waiting at a red light, Zhan Shili received a new message.

It was another selfie sent over by Xu Shen: it was of the lower half of his face and his fair, slender neck, most eye-catching of which was a bright red mark on the side of his neck—the masterpiece he had just bitten out himself.

Zhan Shili didn’t reply; he stared and admired it for a moment before saving the photo in a very good mood, setting his phone down.

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Two weeks later, Zhaoqi Group and Ryder Fund officially reached an agreement for the sale of the project, with the two old industrial buildings in Mong Kok transferred under Zhaoqi’s name from Ryder Fund as an additional clause.

The agreement was negotiated by Zhan Shili after flying to Ryder Fund’s London headquarters, and the process was very smooth.

The final signing ceremony was held in Hong Kong. Ryder Fund headquarters dispatched another person to come over; Gao Yongcheng was also present, barely maintaining his composure, though unable to conceal the resentment and indignation in his expression.

Xu Shen merely acted as if he hadn’t seen it. However, later when entertaining the other party’s representatives, his secretary poured tea for everyone—when it was Gao Yongcheng’s turn, her hand trembled, spilling a bit of hot tea onto the back of Gao Yongcheng’s hand. As the secretary scrambled to apologize, Xu Shen said with a smile, “I think Mr. Gao should be understanding. After all, shaking hands is an ailment quite a few people have.”

His face shrouded in gloom, Gao Yongcheng ultimately couldn’t say anything more.

On the way back to the company, Zhan Shili told Xu Shen that Ryder Fund headquarters should be sending someone to replace Gao Yongcheng’s position very soon, so there was no need to keep this person on his mind anymore.

Xu Shen shook his head: “A person like him isn’t worth my minding. I never kept him on my mind from the very beginning.”

Zhan Shili said, “As long as you know what you’re doing.”

Now all that’s left is to complete the acquisition of those old tenement buildings in the old street, and then the entire project can proceed smoothly.

Regarding this, Xu Shiji instructed to settle it with money as quickly as possible, but Xu Shen didn’t want to do so. Things he was unwilling to do, he had no intention of listening to even if it was Xu Shiji’s idea.

“They won’t hold out for long. Nic, do you believe it?” Xu Shen said with an air of absolute certainty.

“What do you want to do?” Zhan Shili asked.

Xu Shen said, “I’ll take you to see it directly.”

The car drove to Mong Kok, and the two of them got off near the project site.

Those who pulled banners and distributed flyers on the street every day to attack Zhaoqi before were nowhere to be seen today; Zhan Shili had gone to London for a week and just returned, not expecting the matters here to be resolved so quickly.

“Let’s go.”

They went first to Rongji Tea Restaurant, but the door was locked and there was no one in sight, even in broad daylight.

When asked where Zhuang Rong, the owner of the neighboring tea restaurant, had gone, someone complained, “He ran away because of high-interest loans. Now debt collection companies come to block the door every day and even throw red paint on it. It’s really bad luck.”

Realizing something, Zhan Shili raised his eyebrows slightly.

Xu Shen turned back to wink at him, saying, “Let’s go to his house and take a look.”

Zhuang Rong’s home was located in the tenement building on the back street of the tea restaurant. Stepping into the dim, moldy stairwell, Xu Shen lightened his steps, holding onto the staircase handrail and walking up step by step very slowly, not minding in the slightest that his hands were covered in dust.

Zhan Shili followed behind him, raising his eyes to look several times; seeing Xu Shen turn his head amidst the floating dust and revealing those sparkling eyes, the words at the tip of his tongue were never asked out loud.

“I also lived in this kind of place when I was little,” Xu Shen took the initiative to speak first, saying like a sigh, “in Sham Shui Po. A while ago I went to take a look, and the building I used to live in has already been demolished.”

Zhan Shili couldn’t respond; reaching the turn of the narrow stairwell, he extended a hand to support his arm, reminding him in a low voice, “It’s very dirty, don’t hold onto it.”

Xu Shen smiled: “Used to it since I was little. Back then, the place I lived in didn’t even have lights in the stairwell. If you didn’t hold on, you’d fall.”

Zhan Shili handed him a tissue; he took it and slowly wiped his palms, finally handing the dirtied paper towel back to Zhan Shili. Zhan Shili didn’t mind, slipping it directly into his trousers pocket.

“Thank you, Nic,” Xu Shen said softly, continuing upward as Zhan Shili followed him.

Zhuang Rong’s home was on the fourth floor; from the second floor up, every floor’s stairwell was splattered with large areas of red paint, with the giant characters reading “pay back your debts” written in a bloody red all over the walls.

They went to press the doorbell of Zhuang Rong’s home. Sure enough, no one answered. Half a minute later, the door of the neighbor next door opened a crack; a woman glanced at them through the iron gate, then slammed the door shut again.

“He really went to hide from creditors,” Xu Shen shrugged and said, “Let’s go look elsewhere.”

Zhang Youwei’s home was in another building up ahead. As soon as they walked to the doorway, they heard a woman’s scolding and a child’s crying drifting from the half-open door.

“When I married you, you were a lawyer! What about now? You lost your job, you have no money. Can other people’s few words of praise calling you idealist and principled put food on the table? Who did I do this for? So what if I signed the contract with them behind your back?  The capitalists and bloodsuckers you talk about can give us money and food—why should I refuse? Are you trying to force me to break the contract so that my daughter and I can die?!”

The man’s hoarse voice of argument sounded weak, feeble, and utterly lacking confidence, followed by the sound of smashing things, coming intermittently amid the crying and cursing.

They didn’t knock, but just stood at the door and listened for a few minutes.

Finally, they went up to the rooftop terrace. Standing at the edge of the guardrail and looking down, Xu Shen took a long while before speaking: “I used to think that a place with just these few floors was already very high, but only now do I realize that a place like this is truly not much to look at.”

Zhan Shili turned to look at him: “Was it you who lured that tea restaurant owner to borrow money?”

Xu Shen’s gaze remained fixed on the crowded, bustling street below, remarking offhandedly, “Lured him to gamble, and then lured him to borrow money from a finance company. Now, situated like this, he can only afford to repay this debt if he signs with us as quickly as possible. As for that lawyer, I promised his wife that besides cash, I’d give them an extra flat, as long as she can persuade her husband to stop inciting others to make trouble.

“Making greedy people lose everything and making arrogant people bow their heads—it’s quite amusing, isn’t it?”

Xu Shen’s voice sounded almost ethereal; listening to it gave Zhan Shili a slight sense of discomfort: “Have you always had this kind of personality?”

Xu Shen finally turned back to look at him: “What kind of person do you think I am?”

Zhan Shili fell silent for a moment.

Xu Shen continued on his own thusly, “Did you think that because I lived in a place like this when I was little, I would empathize with them? No. I used to see plenty of these two types of people. They are the kind of people I hate the most. They always remind me of those unpleasant experiences from the past.”

Seeing the indifference in his eyes, Zhan Shili asked, “Which ones?”

“Do you really have to pick open my scars like this?” Xu Shen shook his head, not really wanting to speak.

He had indeed seen many people like Zhuang Rong and Zhang Youwei—

The greedy pair of landlord brothers who weren’t satisfied after taking money and even tried to force his mother to pay with her body.

An aloof, hypocritical person like his granduncle, with a mouth full of righteousness and morality, yet looking down on his mother for being a prostitute, refusing to let his mother be buried in the ancestral grave after her death.

“Then let’s not talk about it.” Zhan Shili raised his hand, pressing gently at the outer corner of his eye.

Xu Shen caught his hand: “Nic, you’ve been asking me, so what about you?”

“What about me?”

Xu Shen said, “Actually, you guys have investigated my past, and it wasn’t all fake—at least the childhood part was true. But what about you? I’ve never asked you where you came from, what your family does, or what kind of person you are.”

Zhan Shili remained impassive, “Curious?”

“Can’t I ask if I’m curious?” Xu Shen hooked his fingers with his, “Or do you feel I’m not qualified to ask you these things?”

Zhan Shili narrowed his eyes slightly, the expression on his face stilling: “You haven’t investigated me?”

Of course he had investigated him. However, he only found out that this person had no father and no mother, growing up in an orphanage since childhood, nothing more.

The more solitary a person was, the more secrets they often harbour. At least in Xu Shen’s view, this person named Zhan Shili was by no means as simple as he appeared to be on the surface.

“Nic,” Xu Shen always sounded like this when saying this name, the trailing tone lilting as if acting coquettishly with him, “Tell me.”

Zhan Shili stared at him silently for a moment, took a step forward, and lowered his head slightly, the tip of his nose brushing against Xu Shen’s.

Stepping back slightly, Xu Shen’s back pressed against the guardrail behind him. Encircled in Zhan Shili’s arms, he lowered his eyes: “What are you doing?”

“Are you that curious about my affairs?”

Their breaths mixed intimately, and Zhan Shili asked him, “Since you give yourself to me, what do you want in return?”

Zhan Shili had asked him this question more than once. Xu Shen’s voice sounded like a somniloquy: “A lot. You as a person, everything you have, your—”

His finger tapped against Zhan Shili’s heart, yet that final word was ultimately never spoken out loud.

An absurd thought flashed through his mind, and Xu Shen laughed first. He couldn’t even promise his own heart to him—with what right could he make demands of Zhan Shili?

Feeling himself being stared at unblinkingly by Zhan Shili like this, Xu Shen complained to him: “Don’t change the subject. You haven’t answered me yet: What kind of person are you?”

“Don’t want to say.” Zhan Shili refused him directly.

Xu Shen was slightly at a loss for words: “…”

Zhan Shili stubbornly refused to speak, saying into his ear one last time before stepping away, “I’ll only tell these things to my future wife. Are you?”

Xu Shen’s eyelashes trembled, and a subtle thought stirred within him.

Zhan Shili had already released him and stepped back, turning to walk off first: “It’s getting late, we should go.”

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