BF Chapter 14

The place Zhan Shili took Xu Shen to was a private club located on Des Voeux Road West in Sheung Wan.

Incense curled gently over the coffee table, the background light music trailed a soothing lingering rhyme, and a wealthy lady sat alone drinking tea by the French windows.

Zhan Shili walked up unhurriedly, greeting her: “Joanna.”

The woman raised her head, a smile appearing on her face upon seeing him, her tone also exceedingly affectionate: “Nic, you’re here. Have a seat.”

Zhan Shili introduced her and Xu Shen: “This is Seren, Zhaoqi’s Fourth Young Master. Seren, Joanna is the wife of Huidu Bank’s Liang daban¹a daban 大板 is essentially a top boss. kind of like a dalao, if you’ve seen the term before.”

Xu Shen was secretly surprised by this woman’s identity, but showed no sign of it on his face, stepping forward and extending his hand: “Mrs. Liang, hello.”

He wasn’t Zhan Shili, and since he was meeting her for the first time, he naturally wouldn’t address her directly by name.

The woman didn’t rise, giving his hand a loose handshake, her smile polite and distant, “Hello.”

After sitting down, Zhan Shili began chatting casually with the woman; this Mrs. Liang had been living in London previously, only having just returned to Hong Kong last month. Zhan Shili spoke with her in a familiar and intimate manner, or to put it another way, he treated her with a kind of subtle ambiguity between a man and a woman that couldn’t be spoken of to outsiders.

Xu Shen perceived it, quietly observing the woman: about forty, well-maintained, an exquisite and elegant wealthy lady, every smile and gesture dripping with charm, especially when her watery gaze flowed toward Zhan Shili.

Zhan Shili personally brewed a pot of tea, pouring a cup for her and Xu Shen each, handing the tea to the woman first, then turning back to gesture to Xu Shen: “Try it.”

A teasing glint flashed in Xu Shen’s eyes.

Zhan Shili’s face was calm, without the slightest trace of embarrassment, his gaze falling back onto that Mrs. Liang.

The woman tasted a sip of the tea, sighing softly: “The earl grey tea you brew for me is still the best; I’m used to drinking this tea, but you’ve spoiled my palate. Nobody else can brew this flavor, and even when I try to myself, it’s always missing something.”

Zhan Shili said, “It’s just psychological on your part.”

The woman looked at him, saying, “Perhaps.”

They reminisced about old times for half a day, leaving Xu Shen left out in the cold on the side, consciously refraining from interrupting or chiming in trying to get noticed.

When the tea was almost finished, Zhan Shili finally spoke of business, bringing up Zhaoqi’s Mong Kok project and saying he wanted to find Liang daban to talk.

The woman smiled, “Nic, did you actually come to find me for business affairs?”

Zhan Shili asked her composedly, “Joanna, can you help me with this favor?”

“Since you’ve asked, how could I not help?” the woman sighed, “It’s rare for you to ask me to help you with business affairs once, so naturally I’ll do my best.”

Zhan Shili nodded: “Thank you.”

Afterward, the woman made a phone call right in front of them; after hanging up, she told them that Liang daban was playing tennis with friends nearby at the moment, and they could head over in half an hour.

“I have plans with friends to go shopping with a friend; Nic, go do your work, I’ll make an appointment with you next time,” the woman said.

Zhan Shili rose, walking over to pick up her scarf draped over the sofa armrest, shaking it open to drape it over her shoulders.

His expression and movements held no servile flattery, and it was all done very naturally.

The woman patted the back of his hand lightly with her palm, and as she stood up, gave Xu Shen a final nod, then departed.

Once the person was far away, Zhan Shili sat back down in the spot the woman had just occupied.

Leaning back into the sofa, Xu Shen raised an eyebrow: “Explain.”

Zhan Shili took the tea brewed for Xu Shen that he hadn’t drunk, took a sip, and said, “Met her when studying in the UK before. We were both members of a tea lovers’ salon over there, so after coming and going we got familiar.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

Xu Shen asked, “Did you know her husband’s identity beforehand?”

“Knew it,” Zhan Shili admitted, “knew it the first day I met her.”

Xu Shen teased, “No wonder you’re so attentive, brewing tea for her and draping scarves over her.”

“I was originally an assistant anyway,” Zhan Shili didn’t care in the slightest, “Didn’t Young Master Shen also do jobs like serving water and brewing tea for people before?”

Xu Shen asked: “Is that the same? Those people are my dad and his old friends, and rounding up they’re all my elders. What are you to her? A kept man?”

Zhan Shili stared into his eyes filled with banter, and after a moment, shook his head slightly, “No need to go that far. Besides, she’s a very proud person and still remembers that she has a family and a husband.”

“Then what is it?” Xu Shen asked curiously, “A male confidant?”

Zhan Shili thought for a bit, saying, “If you want to define it that way, you can too.”

“Then what about you?” The smile in Xu Shen’s eyes grew deeper, “Do you treat her as your female confidante?”

Drinking his tea, Zhan Shili replied unhurriedly, “I don’t need a female confidante.”

Anticipating this response, Xu Shen sneered, “Nic, you’re really… too evil.”

Zhan Shili calmly set down his teacup, not minding how he put it at all.

Xu Shen leaned forward to pick up Zhan Shili’s tea, also taking a sip.

It was indeed very good; Xu Shen used to dislike this kind of foreign tea, but today for the first time he tasted a somewhat different flavor in it.

“She just said it was your first time asking her to help you on business affairs,” setting down the teacup, Xu Shen asked, “Nic, are you doing this for my sake?”

Zhan Shili’s gaze stayed on his moistened lips for a second, not answering immediately.

Xu Shen said softly and gently: “To have you sell your male charms like this for my sake, I really feel guilty, you’ve worked hard.”

“It’s enough as long as you know who I’m doing it for.” Zhan Shili nodded casually, knowing deep down that he was intentionally saying such words again to amuse himself at his expense.

Xu Shen kept smiling, nor did he expose this man.

Helping him was actually helping Zhan Shili himself; Xu Shiji had Zhan Shili look after his side, so they were temporarily grasshoppers on the same rope, and being able to produce achievements yielded benefits for everyone.

Zhan Shili reminded him, “That Liang daban is no ordinary person. Unless the boss himself steps forward personally, he won’t be willing to bestow the honor of seeing you; even your second brother might not necessarily get him to make time for a meeting, so we could only use this method. When you see him in a bit, you have to think clearly about how to convince him.”

Xu Shen nodded: “Rest assured, I’m prepared.”

Half an hour later, they arrived at a nearby tennis club.

After waiting on the side for a few minutes, Liang Zongxian finished playing tennis, coming over to sit down with a towel still hanging around his neck and wiping his sweat, his gaze sweeping from Zhan Shili to Xu Shen: “You’re that Fourth Young Master of Zhaoqi?”

Xu Shen handed him a business card; the other party glanced at it, setting it down casually, saying: “I was quite surprised that you could find your way to my wife; my wife has always never interfered in these matters previously.”

“There was a reason for it, bothering Mrs. Liang, my apologies,” Xu Shen apologized first before entering the main topic, “Presumably Mr. Liang, you’ve also guessed our intention. Zhaoqi wants to acquire that old industrial building of Ma’s on Sai Yee Street in Mong Kok; the debt claims for the industrial building are at your bank, so we came directly to talk with you.”

Liang Zongxian said frankly, “Heard about it—the Ma Family has brought this matter up with us. Their financial situation right now isn’t too good, but they still have quite a few quality assets in hand; the bank still believes that it is feasible to postpone loan repayments after debt restructuring.”

Xu Shen wasn’t surprised; Ma Shide holding onto that building without letting go was actually neither wanting to sell it to their Zhaoqi nor to others, wanting to keep it for himself to make plans after recovering in the future.

He asked the other party, “By transferring the debt claims to Zhaoqi, you can immediately recover the loan handed out, and our project can also be pushed forward as soon as possible; isn’t such a win-win cooperation good?”

Liang Zongxian laughed, “To tell the truth, we’ve cooperated with the Ma Family for quite a long time; the debt disputes involved aren’t just that single building. We have to make an overall consideration, and letting them undergo debt restructuring as soon as possible is the most suitable; their recovery is also good for us. Moreover, directly carrying out a debt claim transfer at this time is somewhat unreasonable.”

“That’s provided that they can recover,” Xu Shen said.

Liang Zongxian asked, “What do you mean by this?”

Xu Shen said, “The technology company under the Ma Family carried out financial fraud when it went public independently two years ago. Now that someone has reported them, the Securities and Futures Commission is investigating them. It’s estimated that Ma Shide will be summoned very soon; once the news spreads, Ma’s stock price will surely plummet and by then, the situation would be beyond redemption.

Upon hearing this, Liang Zongxian asked in surprise, “Is this news of yours true?”

“Of course,” Xu Shen said with certainty, “Mr. Liang has such a wide network of connections, asking anyone around casually will let you know that this matter is absolutely true.”

Zhan Shili was also somewhat surprised looking at Xu Shen so confident; he had never heard of this matter before, and even Xu Shiji hadn’t heard of it.

When they left, it was already nearing dusk; after getting into the car, Zhan Shili didn’t start the engine immediately.

Xu Shen looked at him: “Still not leaving?”

Zhan Shili asked, “The matter you spoke of just now, where did you hear it from?”

Xu Shen smiled and said, “A former colleague of mine was also a Hong Kong native, who happened to have resigned and jumped ship from the accounting firm that helped them forge the books. Back then, he was targeted and squeezed out by his boss precisely because he refused to take on this job for the Ma Family, leaving him no choice but to resign. Once while drinking with him, I heard him complain about this while drunk.”

Zhan Shili understood: “So you had someone go report Ma Shide, going through all this trouble just for this trick of pulling the rug out from under him?”

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Xu Shen spread his hands and said, “It can only be said that Ma Shide was unlucky.”

Zhan Shili asked, “How long have you been at the company? Just starting to get in touch with this project, how could you do these things so quickly? Or did you actually figure out the company’s situation long ago, coming prepared?”

Xu Shen turned his head, his gaze tracing over that face of his that had bewitched who knows how many people: “Yeah, figured everything out except for you.”

“Me?” Zhan Shili repeated this single word, his gaze pausing slightly.

“Nic,” Xu Shen murmured, “What kind of person are you actually? Is seducing and playing with people’s hearts also one of your methods to achieve your goals?”

“Knowing I’m a liar,” Zhan Shili reminded him, “Why don’t you stay further away from me?”

Xu Shen tapped his own lips that had been touched by his finger earlier: “I also know you’re beautiful on the outside but heartless on the inside, but what can I do? Who told me to take a liking to you.”

His voice paused, then continued, “What I said just now, ‘except for you.’ You are my unexpected delight.”

Zhan Shili was captivated by the way he was looking at him at this moment, and a subtle ripple arose in his heart: “In what way?”

Xu Shen said, “In every way.”

After a moment of silence, Zhan Shili turned his eyes away, tossed a candy over to him, and started the car.

“Same here, except you’re sweet-tongued and heartless.”

⋆⋆⋆⋆

t/n: this chapter was a little bit tough to name. In the raws, it’s “黑心,” which can be ruthless or also mean heartless. Since the whole thing between them revolves around both not being able to offer up their hearts to each other, I ultimately chose heartless instead, although ruthless is nearly just as fitting.

Maybe I should’ve just translated it literally as “black-hearted,” but then the title won’t get referenced in the chapter itself… (that is, because saying black-hearted sounds a little off when I can translate it better with heartless/ruthless yk)

What a dilemma :c

⋆⋆⋆⋆

♡♡♡ if you like my translations, please consider buying me a kofi~! ♡♡♡

• 1
  a daban 大板 is essentially a top boss. kind of like a dalao, if you’ve seen the term before