Stepping into the old family estate, Chen Xingjian swept his gaze slowly around the surroundings.
A massive drawing table occupied the central position, piled high with unfinished works and inspirational concept sketches. The nearby bookshelves were packed to the brim with art books and precious art folios. Both sides of the hallway were covered in artists’ paintings, with oil paintings and watercolors making up the majority.
“Mother Li, help me look for that art collection. I remember placing it right on the bookshelf, so why can’t I find it anywhere?”
Bai Yishu had buried half her body inside the bookshelf, speaking without raising her head.
Looking at Bai Yishu, Chen Xingjian fell into a momentary daze. It was as if time favored her with extra partiality, unwilling to leave even a single trace of a wrinkle on her face, leaving her as graceful and serene as ever.
Bai Yishu called out for a long while without receiving a response, but when she suddenly lifted her head, she bumped straight into Chen Xingjian’s gaze. The corners of her eyes instantly began to turn red, and she turned around to conceal her face behind the book spines.
“What are you here for? Didn’t you say you’d never acknowledge me as your mother again?”
With a dry throat, Chen Xingjian slightly averted his face. “I’m only here to talk about official business today.”
Clack,
A thick, heavy book suddenly dropped to the floor with a muffled thud.
Mother Li hurried over, pulling Chen Xingjian to sit down by the dining table that had just been cleared off. “Young Master, sit down for a moment. You haven’t seen your own mother in so long how can you start talking about official business the moment you step through the door?”
“For a family to reach such a state of falling out is bound to be a disgrace. You’re at fault too, Young Master; though Madam doesn’t say it out loud, she still misses you very much in her heart.”
Frowning, Chen Xingjian felt no sense of warm mother-son harmony upon hearing these words; instead, he felt utterly out of place, like someone forced to wear a soaked cotton-padded jacket, suffering through misery all over.
“Mother, I’ll cut straight to the point. I have a friend who wants to participate in Yuanhe’s audition, but he accidentally got injured. I was hoping you could bend the rules and exempt him from the preliminary audition, letting him advance directly to the final selection.”
“Chen Xingjian!” Gasping for breath, Bai Yishu emerged from behind the bookshelf, looking at the son standing before her as if he were a stranger. “Are you trying to drive me to a dead end? Because you hold a grudge, you have to use Yuanhe to threaten me!”
Chen Xingjian felt a wave of a headache coming on, knowing his mother had misunderstood his intentions once again. “I didn’t plan it like that. I’m just letting him skip the audition, and isn’t the final result still up to you? If you’re worried about damaging your reputation, I can step forward to handle and negotiate it.”
Bai Yishu let out a cold snort. “Those people are experts at reading the wind and turning with the tide. Whether it’s your handiwork as Young Master Chen or my authorization, how could they possibly continue making fair and impartial judgments?!”
“It’s rare for you to come home today, and I truly don’t wish to quarrel with you. Do not bring this matter up again!”
“Mother, is there such a thing as absolute fairness in this world!” A stifled frustration surged within Chen Xingjian’s chest. The person before him was his mother; naturally, he couldn’t act as willfully and lawlessly as he usually did.
Mother Li hurriedly grabbed Bai Yishu, gently stroking her back to help her catch her breath.
It had been so difficult to get the young master to come back this once. If mother and son ended up quarreling all over again, the family would truly fall apart piece by piece, and repairing their relationship later on would be impossible.
Bai Yishu violently shoved Mother Li away. “Chen Xingjian! If you want to threaten me, then go right ahead and do it! Yuanhe was left to me by your father; it is not your turn to call the shots here!”
“I’ve been comforting myself with the thought that you broke that person’s leg by accident, but now you’ve actually set your sights on Yuanhe. I truly regret having a son like you!”
“If I had known that after taking over the family estate left by your father, you would turn into such a cold-blooded and ruthless creature, I would rather have died than let you take even a fraction of those things!”
Letting out a breath, Chen Xingjian tried his utmost to suppress the rising anger in his heart, his chest heaving violently. “Have I really changed my nature, or did you stubbornly jump to conclusions and assume your son was just this kind of cold-blooded, ruthless piece of trash all along?!”
“Young Master, please say a little less. Madam was simply furious in the heat of the moment.”
Stepping forward, Mother Li tried to persuade one and then the other, diligently smoothing things over.
Massaging his aching, throbbing brow, Chen Xingjian suddenly couldn’t even be bothered to explain further. “If Mother thinks it’s a threat, then let it be a threat. If you’re unwilling, I’ll simply host another audition event and schedule it for the exact same day as Yuanhe’s. The jewelry you use, I’ll use higher-grade, more expensive ones; the judges you invite, I’ll hire for double the price.”
“I am just such a wretch anyway, and it’s not the first day you’ve thought of me as this kind of person.”
With that, he turned around and walked straight out the door.
Bai Yishu leaned backward in a fury, nearly collapsing onto the floor and passing out from rage.
Following closely behind Chen Xingjian, Assistant Zhao offered a low, comforting counsel: “President Chen, don’t harbor anger against your own mother; she just doesn’t understand the broader picture.”
He had seen it crystal clear from the sidelines back then: it wasn’t a matter of whether President Chen was willing to take charge of the Chen family affairs at the time they simply hadn’t had a choice.
Even if someone caught in the very center of the vortex wanted to escape, they’d still have a layer of skin peeled right off by the rushing currents.
“President Chen, I think we still have to blame the people below for doing such an unreliable job. How on earth did they let Madam find out?”
The two returned to where their car was parked. Instead of rushing to get inside, Chen Xingjian narrowed his eyes and lit a cigarette.
His phone buzzed with three consecutive beeps another WeChat message sent to Chen Xingjian by Lian Que.
From Assistant Zhao’s perspective, Lian Que was head-over-heels attached to their President Chen. It seemed his greetings three times a day morning, noon, and night—were delivered almost without fail. Whether he happened to spot a stretching kitten by the roadside or a uniquely shaped little blade of grass, he would eagerly cup it in his hands to show Chen Xingjian.
If Chen Xingjian was in a good mood, he’d reply with a couple of words; if he wasn’t, he’d act like he hadn’t seen it. Lian Que wouldn’t get upset either, and if Chen Xingjian didn’t get mad, he’d just keep right on sending them.
Plucking the cigarette from his lips, Chen Xingjian tapped open the message Lian Que had sent.
Lian Que had recorded a short video of himself, overlaying it with a cat sticker while acting cute and cozying up to Chen Xingjian in a well-behaved manner.
Chen Xingjian re-watched that short video inside his phone three times over, and finally stubbed out the cigarette between his fingertips, letting out a soft chuckle.
[Ugly-looking.]
After sending that single line of text, regardless of how Lian Que fussed, acted cute, or put on a pitiful act to throw a tantrum, Chen Xingjian simply shoved his phone straight back into his suit pocket.
“Back to the company.”
Assistant Zhao couldn’t resist tossing out one extra question: “President Chen, are you really going to go head-to-head in a rivalry against Yuanhe?”
“Rivalry my ass. Does Yuanhe even have the capital for that?” Chen Xingjian let out a light scoff. “Just trying to scare her a bit. If I didn’t put it that way, would she ever grant Lian Que this back-door pass?”
His mother, born a proper lady of a distinguished family, had just finished studying art abroad when his father married her into the family. She hadn’t suffered much hardship in her life, so her way of thinking tended to be a bit simpler. Lay it on a bit thick, and she’d fall for the bluff right away.
Assistant Zhao felt a deep wave of admiration for Chen Xingjian, praising: “President Chen, you are truly wonderful to Mr. Lian. If Mr. Lian finds out how much thought you’ve put into him, he’ll definitely never be willing to leave your side for the rest of his life.”
“Who wants him clinging to me for the rest of his life?” Chen Xingjian laughed in exasperation, though his eyes were unusually touched with amusement. “Drive faster. I just texted him and called him ugly-looking; there’s no telling how angry he’s getting over it right now.”