“Nic!”
As Zhan Shili walked out of the venue, the deathly pale Xu Zikang seemed to snap back to reality. Pressing the controls on his wheelchair, he chased after him and tried to call him back.
Zhan Shili must have heard, but he turned a deaf ear to it. He didn’t even look back, simply following He Mingzheng and the others as they quickly left.
Xu Zikang had fully become an abandoned pawn. He no longer had any value to Zhan Shili, and even sparing him another glance felt unnecessary.
Xu Zikang looked disbelieving, as though even today he still couldn’t believe Zhan Shili could truly be this heartless. He clenched his hands tightly, hyperventilating, on the verge of collapsing.
The reporters swarmed him, shoving microphones to his face, talking over one another as they asked what he thought about the paternity test and whether he would later go to court against Xu Shiji over the issue of the will.
Xu Zikang gritted his teeth so hard he couldn’t get a single word out. In the end, his secretary came over, blocked the media cameras, and escorted him away.
In the underground parking lot, Xu Shen had just gotten into the car.
Cai Lihao, who had left earlier, called: “Cool~ He Mingzheng’s face just now was priceless. He’s beaten Zhaoqi so many times over the past two years that he really got too pleased with himself. This time he finally took a major fall. That felt great!”
Xu Shen said contemptuously, “People really can’t get too carried away. He Mingzheng is exactly like that. He thought he could keep beating Zhaoqi forever. How could that be possible?”
“But now that he failed this time, I’m afraid life won’t be easy for your darling sweetheart from here on,” Cai Lihao laughed. “That kid Nic finally managed to get onto Zhuosheng’s board, only for this whole thing to fall right through. Do you think He Mingzheng will let him off?”
Xu Shen lowered his eyes, his voice flat: “He brought it on himself.”
Cai Lihao couldn’t be bothered asking any more either. He invited Xu Shen out for drinks that evening, and after exchanging a few more words, Xu Shen hung up first.
The sound of a wheelchair turning came from ahead. He glanced over coldly and saw Xu Zikang being pushed out of the elevator area by his secretary.
Xu Shen originally had no intention of paying him any attention, but the listless Xu Zikang’s expression changed the moment he saw his car. He immediately drove his wheelchair straight in front of it, startling the driver into slamming on the brakes.
Xu Zikang went around to the back seat and pounded furiously on the door beside Xu Shen, his emotions running high.
The window rolled down. Xu Shen remained seated, merely turning his head slightly, looking at him as though he were a piece of trash.
“Third Brother, is there anything else?” After saying that, he added, “Oh, I forgot. You’re not the Third Young Master of the Xu Family at all. You’re the bastard your mother had from sleeping with some wild man no one even knows.”
At last, he could openly return those two words to the Xu Family—and to Xu Zikang in particular.
Xu Zikang’s face twisted savagely as he screamed hysterically: “You’re lying! That paternity report is fake! You forged it! I don’t accept it! Father was deceived by you, he must have been deceived by you!”
Xu Shen sneered, looking at him with both pity and disgust.
He wondered what Xu Zikang’s reaction would be if he told him the truth, that he was actually Xu Zhongtai’s son. Would he be relieved that he was still a member of the Xu Family, or would he be unable to accept it and go even crazier?
Xu Shen thought maliciously, but unfortunately, now still wasn’t the time. Before the inheritance lawsuit was fully settled, he wouldn’t tell Xu Zikang.
He wanted this man to lose everything and truly be swept out of the Xu Family like a piece of trash.
“Too bad Father has already decided your mother was a promiscuous slut and that you’re a bastard,” Xu Shen said coldly. “If you want to blame someone, blame your dead mother. Why did she have to give birth to you as some other man’s son instead of Father’s? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have humiliated yourself this badly today.
Tsk, has Nic completely stopped paying attention to you? Look how materialistic he is. The moment he found out you weren’t a young master of the Xu Family, he immediately turned his back on you. What was that thing you said last time again? ‘He treats you like something throwing itself at him, and you’re not even disgusted with yourself’? I’ll have to hand that one back over to you.”
Zhan Shili’s name and that line, which was no different from outright humiliation, were like some kind of switch that completely ignited the darkness inside Xu Zikang. He glared viciously at Xu Shen, lunged forward with both hands gripping the car window, eyes bleeding with hate: “You won’t stay this smug forever, impossible! Impossible! Sooner or later, you’ll have a day like this too!”
Xu Shen said indifferently, “I was just telling someone that people shouldn’t get too complacent, it’s true. I’ll kindly share that piece of advice with you.”
He said nothing more, rolled up the window, and gestured to the driver: “Let’s go.”
Xu Zikang tried to keep clinging to the car, but his body simply didn’t have the strength to support him. In the end, he slipped down miserably and fell out of his wheelchair.
Xu Shen’s car sped away.
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Zhuosheng, office.
When He Mingzheng entered, he left only Zhan Shili inside. He didn’t tell him to sit and began with a dark expression: “Give me an explanation for what happened today. You really didn’t know anything about Xu Zikang’s parentage beforehand?”
It had been a long time since he last tasted defeat, and this time he had lost so thoroughly.
He had poured several tens of billions into attacking Zhaoqi with everything he had, and now he was caught between a rock and a hard place. Even after becoming a major Zhaoqi shareholder, he couldn’t get onto Zhaoqi’s board at all. Today, he had become the laughingstock of the entire city, losing to a brat still wet behind the ears. He simply couldn’t swallow the humiliation.
“I truly didn’t know,” Zhan Shili said calmly. “Sorry. Even if Xu Shiji had let his guard down completely, something like this still wouldn’t be something he’d tell an outsider like me. Besides, he himself probably only just discovered it.”
“How could it happen at such a perfect time, right at the most critical moment?” He Mingzheng was furious. “You were always close to Xu Zikang before. You didn’t notice anything at all?”
Zhan Shili said again: “Apologies.”
“What use is your apology to me?”
He Mingzheng angrily smashed a glass ashtray beside him: “I want you to think of a solution! What are we supposed to do now?! I put this much money into buying Zhaoqi shares, and in the end we can’t do anything with them. How am I supposed to explain this to the people on the board?!”
Zhuosheng had already overextended itself after snatching several major projects from Zhaoqi in quick succession. After that, He Mingzheng persuaded the board to spend a huge amount of money trying to swallow Zhaoqi, only for everything to fall apart at the final step. And because some unknown party had kept competing with them for shares, Zhaoqi’s share price had risen too quickly, meaning the cost they had poured in had actually gone over budget. Now, even if they admitted defeat outright and resold the Zhaoqi shares they had purchased, buyers would inevitably drive the price down, and they would still lose a huge amount of money.
Zhan Shili thought for a moment and said, “The only thing we can do is actively look for buyers and resell the shares, minimizing the losses as much as possible. Or we can directly approach Zhaoqi’s shareholders and see whether any of them are willing to buy the shares back.”
He Mingzheng’s face turned completely black: “You want me to admit defeat and beg them to buy the shares back?”
Zhan Shili said, “Uncle He, what you and Xu Shiji have between you is nothing more than a personal grudge. With Xu Shiji in his current condition, there’s no way he can return to Zhaoqi anyway. Why keep wasting effort targeting him? As for that Young Master Shen, right now he has only barely managed to preserve his position at Zhaoqi. Zhaoqi has also suffered serious damage after this battle. Zhuosheng has several major projects in hand and will surpass them in every aspect sooner or later.”
He Mingzheng closed his eyes and said nothing for a long while.
He was trying his best to be patient.
Zhan Shili was brushing him off; a child who wasn’t his own could never truly be raised to loyalty.
After a long while, He Mingzheng opened his eyes again and said coldly, “Go out and do your work. I’ll give it some more thought.”
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After night fell, Xu Shen appeared at Cai Lihao’s bar.
Cai Lihao had an arm around a pretty girl, swaying in the middle of the dance floor. Xu Shen had little interest, so he sat down at the bar and had someone mix him a cocktail.
He drank it listlessly, killing time. After Cai Lihao finished dancing, he came over and draped an arm over his shoulder: “What’s with you? The big crisis is over, so why do you still look so dispirited?”
Xu Shen didn’t have much to say: “Just a little tired.”
Cai Lihao laughed: “What? You really ended things with your darling?”
Xu Shen shook his head slightly as he drank his wine: “Game’s over.”
His voice was a little hoarse. When he said those two words, his gaze flickered slightly. He had clearly won today’s battle and should have been at his most triumphant, yet he simply couldn’t muster the joy.
“Alright,” Cai Lihao didn’t feel sorry for him. “There are plenty of fish in the sea. I’ll introduce you to someone better.”
“Forget it,” Xu Shen had no interest at all.
After joking around a bit, Cai Lihao brought up something serious: “I got word this afternoon that the Singapore casino-hotel project we talked about before has started accepting bids. Is Zhaoqi going to participate? If so, I’ll have people go over tomorrow to discuss the cooperation details.”
Before, he had used the casino license in his hands as bait to lure Xu Ziren into the trap. He didn’t mind actually letting Zhaoqi take a share of the profits, but Xu Shen refused: “Forget it. Let Herong handle it yourselves. Zhaoqi isn’t touching that kind of business.”
Cai Lihao raised an eyebrow: “So aloof!”
“No,” Xu Shen said. “We’re planning to cooperate with mainland government entities, so we need to leave a good impression. If we touch this kind of business, there’ll be no chance, so it’s unnecessary.”
Cai Lihao felt that his own level would never catch up with Xu Shen’s: “Suit yourself.”
As they were talking, Cai Lihao’s female companion came over and clung coyly to his arm: “Brother Paul, let’s go dance some more.”
Cai Lihao looked utterly helpless.
Xu Shen casually lifted his chin: “Go. I’ll drink by myself.”
Cai Lihao patted him on the shoulder again: “Just wait, I’ll definitely find you a few good ones.”
The girl whisked Cai Lihao away. Xu Shen didn’t take his teasing seriously and continued drinking his cocktail.
One cocktail obviously wasn’t enough to get him drunk. He was simply somewhat unsettled, and glanced up absentmindedly and noticed another person sitting across the round bar, also drinking.
It was a man, a young man whose physique, appearance, and temperament all resembled Zhan Shili’s to some degree.
For a moment, Xu Shen almost mistook him for another. He stared at the man for a while. The other person noticed, turned his eyes toward him, paused slightly, then lifted his glass in greeting.
At last, Xu Shen smiled.
Out with the old, in with the new.
By the time the drink in Xu Shen’s hand was almost finished, the man opposite stood and came over, then ordered another drink for him.
The other man introduced himself: “Brandon.”
Xu Shen nodded and introduced himself.
They drank and chatted casually. Brandon was very talkative. He said he had previously worked in New York and had returned very recently, planning to change environments. It was rare for him to come somewhere like this to relax, and he hadn’t anticipated having an unexpected pleasant surprise tonight.
Xu Shen asked him, “What unexpected pleasant surprise?”
The other man smiled but didn’t elaborate.
Xu Shen looked at him and felt that maybe he really was getting a little drunk. Suddenly, the line “when you smile, you don’t look like him anymore” popped into his head, tickling himself into laughter.
So corny.
Brandon into his eyes intently: “Did something I said make you laugh?”
“No,” Xu Shen rested his arm on the bar and propped up his temple, eyes glazed over with drunkenness. “I thought of a friend of mine. You look a lot like him, but…”
The other man asked, “But what?”
“But you’re still different.”
Xu Shen thought that perhaps he would never experience that feeling again, the one he had felt the first time he saw that person.
That evening in Manhattan, Zhan Shili had turned and walked toward him. His face had been expressionless, yet when it came into his view, it had been even more dazzling than the sunset’s glow.
That had been the first time Xu Shen tasted what it felt like for his heart to flutter, though he was reluctant to admit it.
Brandon didn’t quite understand: “How am I different?”
Xu Shen shook his head: “It’s pointless to keep asking questions until you get to the bottom of things. Didn’t anyone ever teach you to read others’ expressions?”
“Sorry,” Brandon said. “But being different is normal. Maybe the ways I’m different are better.”
This piqued Xu Shen’s interest: “You’re very confident, aren’t you?”
The other man said, “Perhaps.”
The conversation then veered off to other topics.
Xu Shen remained rather unenthusiastic throughout. Brandon had also returned from New York, so no matter what subject they casually talked about, there was plenty to say, and at least the conversation never fell flat.
When Cai Lihao finished dancing and came back, he saw that Xu Shen had managed to hook up with a new guy all by himself, and one who looked somewhat like Zhan Shili at that. He grinned, let out a whistle, and winked at Xu Shen.
Brandon went to the bathroom, and taking that opportunity, Xu Shen asked Cai Lihao, “This isn’t someone you found for me, is it?”
“How could it be!” Cai Lihao exclaimed dramatically. “I said I’d find someone for you, but I’m not that fast. And someone who looks this much like Nic is hard to find, okay? You actually managed to run into one on your own. That really is fate. You got lucky, kid.”
Xu Shen, however, disagreed: “I don’t think he looks like him.”
Maybe there really had been some resemblance at first glance, but it was all superficial.
Nic was Nic, and Brandon was Brandon—they were completely different.
There would never be a second Nic…
Cai Lihao asked, “Then why were you chatting and laughing with him?”
“What does it matter?” Xu Shen exhaled, reeking of alcohol. “I got tired of the old toy, so I’m switching to a new one.”
Cai Lihao was speechless: “Take your time playing, but be careful not to really mess things up.”
By the time Brandon returned, Cai Lihao had already gone upstairs to the hotel with his female companion. Xu Shen didn’t really feel like drinking anymore either, so he stood and waved at him: “I’m leaving.”
Brandon asked him, “You’re drunk. Want me to call a car to take you home? Where do you live?”
Xu Shen looked at him through drunken eyes and said ambiguously, “I thought you’d just ask me out directly.”
Brandon said, “If you’re willing, that works too.”
“No,” Xu Shen changed his answer, his tone turning serious. “I don’t hook up casually. You’re not qualified.”
Brandon walked him out of the bar and waited with him by the roadside for a taxi.
Xu Shen hadn’t called his driver to pick him up. He glanced at his watch; it was almost eleven.
“Can I get your contact information? Maybe we can have a drink together again when you’re free?” Brandon asked in a gentlemanly manner.
Xu Shen answered perfunctorily, “If fate brings us together again.”
Just then, Zhan Shili’s car drove over and stopped beside them.
The window lowered. Zhan Shili glanced once at the person beside Xu Shen, then passed over him directly and gestured to Xu Shen: “Get in.”
Xu Shen lowered his eyes and looked at him silently.
Zhan Shili met his gaze and said again in a low voice: “Get in.”
Xu Shen remained standing where he was, his gaze fixed.
At this moment, Zhan Shili’s face looked especially unfamiliar to him. The man he had gone to such lengths to keep before, yet couldn’t, was now saying he wouldn’t give up and coming back to pester him. How absurd.
After betraying him once, how dare he still appear as though nothing had happened, stirring up his emotions time and time again? What gave him the right?
The man beside him hesitated before interjecting: “Seren, you…”
Xu Shen cleared his mind, took out a business card he carried with him, turned around, and slipped it into Brandon’s breast pocket: “Didn’t you just say you were looking for a job? I happen to be short an assistant. If you’re interested, come for an interview later.”
Surprise appeared on the other man’s face.
Zhan Shili’s expression visibly cooled.
Xu Shen ignored him. A taxi happened to be approaching from behind, so he waved it down, walked over, and pulled open the door. Before getting in, he said one last thing to Brandon: “See you at the company.”
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t/n: Sigh, it happened TT (reconciliation countdown: 10)
Be ready for pain… I really can’t tell who was more justified, but maybe I wasn’t meant to tell anyways? It’s too subjective, just immerse yourself in the experience I guess ^^
Buckle Up~
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