The Linshi Branch of Pingying Group.
On the 19th floor, the elevator doors opened, and a dashing, high-spirited wealthy young man stepped out. He was dressed in niche trendy brands, wore a brimmed fisherman’s hat, and spun his Lamborghini car keys on his index finger, flashing a bright smile at the female secretary waiting nearby: “Hello, I’m Vincent.”
“President Du, this way.”
The female secretary smiled politely and led him toward the CEO’s office. Intending to ask him to wait in the outer room first, Du Shengwen had already eagerly strode inward, saying with easy familiarity: “Ian, I’m here.”
The outer area served as a reception meeting room, while the inner area was the actual office. Behind two display screens, a tall figure was slightly bent over, staring intently at the desktop below. His side-swept bangs were slightly long, falling against his temples as he lowered his head, casting a soft touch over his handsome features. Yet his expression remained focused and steady, his shirt sleeves folded up to his elbows, his left hand wearing a black fingerless glove that extended past his wrist bone, and his right hand holding a calligraphy brush, revealing slender muscles as he calmly set brush to paper.
Du Shengwen leaned in to look: “Oh crap, you even paint traditional Chinese paintings! What on earth is this?!”
Painted on raw Xuan paper was a freehand landscape painting. Light ink rendered the distant scenery, with rolling mountains fading into milky-white gaps of mist, while dark ink dotted the mid-ground. A rugged mountain peak pierced through the clouds, craggy rocks jutting out and gnarled pines growing horizontally. Nearby, the lake was smooth as a mirror, and the trees and mountains on both shores varied in density.
Although a layman couldn’t explain the professional nuances, anyone could tell it was a work of exceptional quality.
Chi Jianying stopped his brush, dipped the tip into water to let the purple-rabbit hair fully absorb it, and then looked up at him: “Why is it you?”
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to hold a routine meeting with Sansheng’s CEO!”
“I was looking for your sister, President Sheng-hong.”
“She said it’s all the same whether she or I say it. I used to run Sansheng too!”
“Right, you took over for two years, company revenue dropped by 46 percent, the number of broadcasted dramas decreased by 38 percent, and not a single year’s gambling performance target was met.”
“Stop, stop, stop! Stop!” Du Shengwen made a halting gesture, his face twisting. “Ian, the company has already been sold to you, and I’m just someone collecting a salary here, so let’s not bring up my dark history, okay? That was only because my sister’s health hasn’t been good in recent years, otherwise I’d still be out joyriding every day! Besides, I didn’t do anything wrong. I consulted my brother and sister on all major matters and listened to meeting discussions for minor ones. It was definitely a market downturn issue! Furthermore,”
Du Shengwen crossed his arms and raised his chin triumphantly: “If I hadn’t maneuvered behind the scenes, how could you have taken down Sansheng so easily? This is my sister’s hard work of over a decade, completely a friendship price!”
Whether the phrase friendship price was true or false was up for debate. Pingying’s actual financial outlay to acquire Sansheng far exceeded its inherent market value, and it was an inflated price generated without competing companies to ensure a swift buyout. Yet for Pingying, especially for Chi Jianying, this business deal was definitely profitable because everything happened rapidly, without procrastination or buck-passing, unlike snail-paced negotiations.
Time was the most precious thing to him.
And for Du Shenghong and Du Shengwen, the premium behind this business deal was equally invaluable.
The Du family was a well-known domestic commercial real estate developer, specializing in chain hotels and commercial plazas. They started rising in prominence over sixty years ago, and the business was currently passed down to the second generation, namely Du Guangxiong, the father of Du Shengwen and his sister. Du Guangxiong was a romantic by nature, with a total of three legitimate wives and countless mistresses kept on the side. However, the only illegitimate son he ever acknowledged was Du Shengwen.
Though self-indulgent in his lower half, Du Guangxiong always kept a clear head. At his first divorce, he hadn’t yet inherited the family estate; when his second wife passed away from illness, he made damn sure his third marriage wouldn’t leave behind a huge handle for dividing marital property. On the other hand, Du Shengwen’s mother had some schemes of her own, serving as a long-term lover under the guise of a secretary while looking trustworthy enough, until she suddenly and secretly gave birth to a child behind everyone’s back, stirring up endless storms in the Du household.
Du Guangxiong was furious for a long time, but it was impossible not to raise the child. As time passed, he actually found Du Shengwen rather endearing, and everyone in the Du family tacitly accepted him. Among them, Du Shengwen had the best relationship with the second wife’s siblings. Perhaps because their mother had passed away early, Du Guangxiong clearly cared much less about them than the other two branches, making the cultivation of Du Shengwen a breakthrough strategy.
Now that Du Guangxiong was hospitalized and the time for inheritance distribution was approaching, Du Shenghong had deliberately projected signs of close ties with Pingying Group while putting forth certain conditions to Chi Jianying in order to secure more bargaining chips within the Du family.
While complex factors drove Du Shenghong to willingly offload Sansheng, the fact that Du Shengwen was indispensable was also undeniable. Chi Jianying didn’t say anything further, but as usual, he paid little attention to him and refocused on the ink-wash mountains and rivers on paper.
Left out in the cold, Du Shengwen was neither annoyed nor leaving. He simply walked around the office with his hands behind his back, exclaiming and commenting from time to time: “Damn, so many calligraphy brushes. You don’t actually use these to sign official documents, do you?”
“Signed with them before. Not user-friendly.”
“Oh my god, tea bricks! Are you kidding me? My dad drinks this kind of stuff.”
“You can take a block back to show your filial piety.”
“And there’s a bedroom too! Open the door, surprise inspection!”
“Fingerprint lock.”
“No fun.” After touring the office and peering into every visible spot short of rummaging through confidential files without finding a single piece of gossip material, Du Shengwen complained: “Ian, you’re pretty leisurely at work too, writing little characters, drinking little tea. How come whenever I invite you out on weekends you never respond, and only know how to stay home?”
“Weekends are closed to visitors.”
“Fine, fine, the old-school homebody style. Then how about after work today? Let’s go hang out at a club! It’s run by one of my buddies, totally legitimate and safe.”
Chi Jianying couldn’t even be bothered to respond.
“Let’s go, what are you afraid of? I remember you don’t have a girlfriend, nor a boyfriend either! I specifically asked Auntie about it.”
Chi Jianying’s movements paused. He lifted his gaze to stare at him, his expression extremely displeased: “Why did you contact her?”
Du Shengwen spread his hands, looking deeply aggrieved: “Hey, your mommy begged me to interact with you more and drag you out to socialize! She was so touched when she found out I reconnected with you. Ian, when you suddenly reappeared half a year ago, I was the truly shocked one. You’ve completely changed.”
“Twenty-odd years. It’d be weird if I hadn’t.”
The relationship between Chi Jianying and Du Shengwen could hardly be called close, yet it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar either. They were close in the sense that they were kindergarten and primary school best friends, desk-mates, and sworn brothers who always remembered to bring each other a treat and never betrayed one another even when scolded by teachers. They were unfamiliar in the sense that ever since Chi Jianying encountered a certain incident at age eight, his entire family moved north, and they never met again. Du Shengwen had been collateral damage to that incident, suffering abnormal mental states for nearly a year, after which the two families virtually severed ties with zero contact for over twenty years until they recently reunited over the acquisition of Sansheng Entertainment.
Bored by the distraction, Chi Jianying put aside his ink-wash painting and motioned toward the sofa: “Sit down. What are you drinking?”
“My throat is bone dry, and you’re only just thinking of that? Coffee, obviously, make sure to add ice.”
The female secretary entered carrying a tray, and Du Shengwen showered her with compliments, praising not only her good looks but also her exquisite brewing technique, pestering her for contact info for private lessons.
The female secretary’s smile grew stiff as she cast a look of rescue toward Chi Jianying.
Chi Jianying remained expressionless, his left fingers rubbing unconsciously as he stared coldly at Du Shengwen.
“Ahem, don’t be so serious, just kidding.”
After the secretary left, Du Shengwen brushed it off with a laugh: “Thought you might be eating grass right outside your nest too. The secretary younger sister really does look nice, I was giving a sincere compliment! But compared to the handsome guys and beauties in the entertainment industry, she’s still a bit lacking. How about it, any eye-catching ones inside Sansheng? Other companies work too, just ask me. I am extremely clear on their industry backgrounds!”
“Disgusting.” Chi Jianying muttered under his breath. His voice was fully worthy of his net worth and looks, deep like mellow wine, yet his tightly furrowed brows and disdainful gaze revealed intense sarcasm and contempt: “Distorted, filthy, sordid, go die! Do you think everyone is like you?”
Unlike the Du family, Chi Jianying’s family could be considered blessed with loving parents and complete happiness, and he possessed immense confidence that this affection would last until both grew old together. Because of this, he utterly rejected relationships and marriages not predicated on love, especially when flesh-trade transactions were flaunted before him.
“Okay, okay, my mistake!” Du Shengwen quickly capitulated.
Having grown up in completely different environments, he couldn’t force it. Seeing how genuinely repulsed Chi Jianying was, he could only sigh: “I was just wondering, didn’t your Pingying have its own subsidiary doing entertainment before? You’ve been running it for years, so why suddenly launch an aggressive merger? I thought there was some other meaning.”
“You’re asking me about corporate development planning here?” Still nursing residual anger, Chi Jianying twitched the corner of his mouth, speaking half-cryptically: “The previous industry had little to do with film and television. We just expanded because we felt like it.”
As one of the top domestic enterprises, Pingying Group was involved in an extremely wide array of industries, touching almost every major investment sector. Yet summarizing Pingying’s primary operational directions revealed vastly different pillars:
First, Virtual Intelligent Ecosystem. This was the root from which Pingying sprouted, a novel virtual reality technology that completely conquered VR interaction bottlenecks and seamlessly integrated the metaverse ecosystem. Simply put, through Pingying’s equipment platform, users could project any non-real elements they desired into reality without violating social conventions, providing a simulated 5D experience covering vision, hearing, smell, and touch, which spawned a series of related industries and served as the super-trend of the present.
Second, Biopharmaceutical Technology. This industry complemented the virtual intelligent ecosystem; it was rumored that breakthroughs in brain-region research provided the technological backbone for virtual reality interaction. Pingying made major advancements in brain-computer interface technology, which, coupled with the application of bionic exoskeletons, vastly improved the quality of life for multiple categories of disabled individuals.
Third, Real Estate Related. Pingying stepped foot into the real estate sector during its most volatile decade, but forged a unique path by hitching a ride on global warming and Far East Arctic development to construct projects there.
Fourth, Apparel and Home Textiles. This held the lowest profile, and ordinary people rarely realized Pingying’s business scope included it, housing multiple sub-brands ranging from budget-friendly to high luxury.
Fifth was the film and entertainment industry they had entered in the past two years, which incorporated some operations previously belonging to the virtual intelligent ecosystem, merged with the newly acquired media and video company.
“Just asking! Anyway, I’m definitely following your lead,” Du Shengwen expressed loyalty. “Still, it feels overall pretty rushed. The building is brand new, there aren’t many people working, and the office only has these few things. If you’re going to take office, at least make a bit of a splash.”
“Speaking of which, your previous position was way too low anyway. Why didn’t you go mix in the core departments?”
Chi Jianying currently served as the CEO of the Digital Entertainment Business Group, a corporate executive. But prior to that, he was merely a design vice president for a sub-brand under the Apparel and Home Textiles Business Group, a position that could be called the fringe of the fringes compared to the massive tech conglomerate.
Chi Jianying couldn’t be bothered to explain: “Pingying is not a family business.”
“That’s not what your childhood self-introductions sounded like!”
Du Shengwen suddenly straightened up, earnestly falling back into memory before laughing excitedly and imitating a child’s tone: “Hello everyone, I’m Chi Jianying Ian! Mommy says Jianying means meeting talents! Our family opened a company called Pingying, but Daddy says Pingying doesn’t mean relying on talents, it means relying on little Ying, and little Ying is me!”
“Ahahahahaha I’m dying! You were so hilarious when you were little!”
“…”
Yet Chi Jianying didn’t show a hint of a smile. His expression was neither awkward nor embarrassed; rather, after a momentary blankness, it coalesced into biting frost.
Du Shengwen’s exaggerated laughter instantly vanished.
Chi Jianying’s facial muscles tensed, and his body stiffened on the spot. The depths of his eyes were as cold as blades, devoid of any warmth, as though capable of piercing straight through someone. His tightly pressed lips trembled slightly, resembling a volcano on the verge of eruption, barely kept under control by his reason: “… You remember quite clearly.”
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, trying to steady his emotions. But his severely uncontrolled left hand betrayed his inner anger, smashing his coffee cup to smithereens.
“I’ve already forgotten, and I hope you never bring it up again.”
Although playboyish, Du Shengwen was skilled at reading facial expressions. He could tell that Chi Jianying’s previous flare-ups were merely due to philosophical disagreements, which could be defused by finding a slope down and changing the subject—he had even intentionally poked around a few times to normalize the topic and avoid feeling passive. But Chi Jianying’s current fury truly touched a reverse scale.
Yet he remained entirely clueless about the source of this anger. Was it really necessary to get this worked up over a childish childhood anecdote?
However, Du Shengwen was deeply familiar with the consequences of Chi Jianying’s emotional instability, and immediately bid farewell: “Alright, alright! I’ll take my leave first then…”
Office space was left in absolute silence.
Chi Jianying breathed silently. Snow-like impurities surfaced in his field of vision, and his thoughts became as chaotic as porcelain shards. He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, struggled to his feet, lunged toward the landscape painting that was finished but still damp, swapped brushes, and began writing inscriptions.
His vision shrank into a pinpoint smaller than one centimeter, and his right hand shook violently. Yet he remained oblivious, single-mindedly writing away as chaotic, uncontrollable thoughts flickered to the surface. He wielded his right hand with all his might, as if trying to slaughter those thoughts.
He didn’t remember the things Du Shengwen talked about.
He didn’t remember anything before the age of twelve, let alone eight.
But “He” remembered.
Jiuying remembered.
He would be replaced.
The next time he woke up, no, he wouldn’t wake up anymore.
“… President Chi? President Chi? Chi Jianying!”
After who knows how long, Chi Jianying finally snapped out of his nightmare. His vision gradually returned to a scope where he could clearly distinguish a person, and he saw Chen Xing holding a medicine box and a glass of water.
He rubbed his temples and refused: “Today is Friday. Tonight I have to meet Mr. Zhuang.”
The side effects of the medication would also impair the functions of the alternate personality, though he might secretly be glad to see it.
“But…” Chen Xing paused. “This leaves me unable to give an account to Auntie.”
“I’ll adjust before going home. It hasn’t reached the stage where increasing the dosage is mandatory.”
Looking at the landscape painting he originally created to maintain emotional equilibrium being ruined by his own hand into a smudge of ink, Chi Jianying tore it off, threw it aside, laid out a fresh sheet of Xuan paper, and prepared to copy scriptures.
He didn’t believe in Buddhism in the slightest, but copying unintelligible texts really did help reduce random wandering thoughts. Alongside that, he put on his earphones and selected a video.
Chi Jianying’s favorites folder contained various meticulously selected white noises: bell chimes, thunderstorms, burning fireplace sounds, as well as all videos by User 68446152.
User 68446152 was an ASMR video creator who produced high-quality, low-frequency content. Aside from traditional trigger sounds, they featured unique mouth sounds, heartbeat sounds, and whispers, which proved immensely effective at soothing his anxiety, surpassing anyone else by a wide margin. It was just a pity their whereabouts were mysterious, with no contact channels, zero replies, and private messages sinking like stones into the sea.
Fortunately, he hadn’t yet grown immune to their latest work.
Chi Jianying mechanically copied scriptures with his hands, mentally chanting the complex text while focusing his consciousness on the sound in his earphones, gel, feathers, wind chimes, fingers, heartbeats…
Until the final whisper:
“Good night.”
“Sweet dreams.”
He calmed down.