Zhao Muqing was both surprised and thrilled. He truly did not expect that the moment the transaction ended, Shen Guanzhi would unhesitatingly resort to belittling the other party. Hearing it felt immensely satisfying.
He quietly cast a glance sideways to observe Xu Yingtang’s reaction. The man did not look flustered in the slightest by this unexpected counterattack, keeping his expression completely unchanged as he smoothed things over. “Indeed. A distinguished guest is too distant, but Mr. Shen and I can be considered to have a bit of friendship.”
“Plenty of people do business with me, but none of them quite qualify as friends.” Shen Guanzhi feigned leisure as he lifted the teacup before him and took a small sip.
Zhao Muqing had no interest in pondering what undercurrents flowed between these two men. He simply played the part of an outsider, leaning comfortably against Shen Guanzhi’s embrace while listening to the verbal jabs flying back and forth. Although Xu Yingtang appeared unfazed on the surface, wealthy people surely loved saving face, and who knew how many fires were raging inside his heart right now. Thinking of this made Zhao Muqing feel even more pleased.
Once the housekeeper escorted Xu Yingtang out, Shen Guanzhi instantly withdrew the arm wrapped around Zhao Muqing’s waist, his tone devoid of all warmth. “Get up.”
Obediently, Zhao Muqing stood up from Shen Guanzhi’s embrace and shifted his hips to sit on the adjacent sofa. “Are you really going to fall out with Xu Yingtang over this?”
“My attitude has never been good toward him to begin with, so there is no such thing as falling out.” Shen Guanzhi raised a hand to signal the domestic helper to dispose of the now-cold tea. “I have no real interest ties with him either. I don’t lack him as a client, and he probably doesn’t lack this little bit of resource from me.”
“Oh.” Zhao Muqing chimed in casually. Unlike Shen Guanzhi, he lacked the backbone and confidence to go around offending people.
“If nothing else, come to my study.” Just as his voice trailed off, Shen Guanzhi stood up and walked toward the elevator entrance of his own accord, not even bothering to check if Zhao Muqing had heard him clearly.
Accustomed to this attitude from Shen Guanzhi, Zhao Muqing couldn’t be bothered to express any dissatisfaction and simply followed along. Fortunately, the elevator doors had not closed yet, so he took a large stride inside and stood right next to Shen Guanzhi.
The elevator ultimately stopped on the third floor. Following closely behind Shen Guanzhi, Zhao Muqing took his usual seat where he always sat when watching Shen Guanzhi rush to finish manuscripts. With his own eyes, he watched the man put on white silk gloves, retrieve the safe from the corner, spin the combination lock, and open it.
It was the very same gemstone-filled safe Zhao Muqing had seen back at the hotel room in Taozhou City.
With a glance, Shen Guanzhi signaled him to come over. “Pick one.”
Zhao Muqing couldn’t help meeting Shen Guanzhi’s gaze. “Are you giving this to me?”
“Mhm.” Through his gloves, Shen Guanzhi brushed against Zhao Muqing’s earlobe. “An ear cuff. Do you like it?”
Zhao Muqing did not have pierced ears, so the only way he could wear earrings was through ear cuffs. Unconsciously, he reached up to touch his own earlobe as well. “Why think of an ear cuff?”
“Your temperament is a very good match for it, and the shape of your ears is also quite nice.” Shen Guanzhi’s gaze lingered on one of his earlobes for a moment. “Have you ever worn one?”
“Not really.”
“You can try.” Shen Guanzhi opened a display cabinet of jewelry in the study and retrieved a pair of ruby ear cuffs from inside. The style was very minimalist, well-suited for a man with an understated aesthetic.
Zhao Muqing took the ear cuffs from Shen Guanzhi’s hands and began trying to put them on in front of the mirror, only to find that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get them to clip on properly.
“Give them here.” Figuring the man had finally seen enough of his ineptitude, Shen Guanzhi reached his hand out toward Zhao Muqing. Even with a layer of gloves separating them, Zhao Muqing could faintly feel the warmth radiating from the pads of the other man’s fingers against his earlobe.
The task that had given Zhao Muqing so much trouble was completed by Shen Guanzhi effortlessly. Observing his own reflection in the mirror, Zhao Muqing saw a small ruby adorning his fair earlobe, adding a distinct touch of elegance.
“Very good.” Shen Guanzhi’s evaluation for once departed from his usual use of the word decent. “Do you have any thoughts?”
Zhao Muqing was still not entirely accustomed to having accessories clipped to his ears, but as Shen Guanzhi had said, the gemstone adornments suited him exceptionally well, producing an effect even he hadn’t anticipated. “I actually really like it. I will leave it up to you then.”
He took off the ear cuffs, placed them back into Shen Guanzhi’s hands, and stared blankly at the gemstones inside the safe for a long time before finally raising his gaze to ask, “Which one is the most expensive?”
“These are all high-quality gemstones I specifically selected beforehand. Their value will not be low.” Shen Guanzhi pointed toward a cluster of cyan-green gemstones. “Didn’t you say the color cyan resembles you?”
Naturally fond of cyan-green, Zhao Muqing picked the lightest shade among the ones Shen Guanzhi had pointed out. “Then I choose this one.”
Carefully, Shen Guanzhi removed the gemstone and stored it separately in a dedicated preservation box.
Ever since that day, Zhao Muqing frequently found himself consumed by curiosity, wondering what the ear cuffs Shen Guanzhi was designing for him would ultimately look like.
Sometimes, when passing by the study on his way to the third floor at night, he felt the urge to take a sneak peek, but wanting to leave the surprise for himself, he ultimately turned around and headed straight back to his own room instead.
Zhao Muqing had morning classes scheduled, but once again, he inexplicably overslept. The other side of the bed was completely empty; Shen Guanzhi never bothered to wake him up when getting out of bed.
He didn’t even have time to properly eat breakfast, hurriedly grabbing a single sandwich as he got into the car, and finishing it entirely before arriving at the studio.
Inside room 012, the instructor was already preparing to begin the lesson. Zhao Muqing rushed through the door just in time to make it by the skin of his teeth.
He happened to be seated right next to Zhou Ling. During the break, Zhao Muqing noticed the other person holding a newspaper report, which struck him as quite novel since very few people read newspapers nowadays.
“Do you usually read the paper?” Zhao Muqing couldn’t help asking.
Zhou Ling gave an embarrassed smile. “Not really often. I just happened to pick this up inside the studio. Look, there is a report about Mr. Shen here.”
Leaning in closer, Zhao Muqing saw that Shen Guanzhi occupied a massive chunk of the page with a lengthy article accompanied by a photograph of Shen Guanzhi taken in some public setting.
Scanning quickly through the large block of text, he saw the headline hailed him as the evergreen general of the jewelry design industry. The first few paragraphs were full of glowing praise before diving into the subject’s personal background.
Shen Guanzhi had been orphaned at a young age and adopted by the family’s domestic helper, but after turning eighteen, he returned to his old family residence to live alone, eventually testing into the country’s top fine arts academy to study jewelry design.
While Zhao Muqing had read the original web novel, he hadn’t known all of these details. He only knew that Shen Guanzhi had been raised by Xu Cheng’s family, remaining completely unaware of him being an orphan or returning to his old residence at eighteen.
As for any deeper family background details, the report provided none.
“Mr. Shen is truly amazing, isn’t he?” Zhou Ling spoke up abruptly. “Have you ever heard anything about his parents?”
“Not really.”
“But,” Zhou Ling lowered his voice, seemingly embarrassed to let others overhear, “I heard you are Mr. Shen’s lover, and that he cares about you a lot, always coming to pick you up after class.”
“…” Fine. As expected, gossip was something that could spread at lightning speed.
“It is just a fling. He wouldn’t tell me about those kinds of things.” Zhao Muqing casually offered as an excuse.
“Perhaps Mr. Shen doesn’t see it that way. He treats you quite well.”
That was only because he served as a useful facade in a certain sense. “You are overthinking it.”
He couldn’t understand why everyone was always so obsessed with what kind of family background Shen Guanzhi came from. Unwittingly, Zhao Muqing recalled the time he previously asked Zhou Ling for her impression of Shen Guanzhi, only to receive a mouth full of high praise.
Could she have a crush on Shen Guanzhi? Lü Shuqiao had her own agenda, and Zhou Ling clearly did too. That block of ice truly was a deeply sinful man.
Realizing no answers were forthcoming from Zhao Muqing, Zhou Ling did not pursue the topic any further.
Once the break ended, Zhao Muqing refocused his attention entirely on the instructor.
Consequently, he missed seeing Zhou Ling behind him tear the newspaper report into tiny shreds and casually toss it into the nearby trash can.
Zhao Muqing arrived at Shen Guanzhi’s room over half an hour early. Although he came over every single night, this was the first time he looked around with such careful scrutiny.
Before transmigrating, his own bedside table would have featured a framed family photograph, yet Shen Guanzhi’s room didn’t even have a single picture frame in sight.
Shen Guanzhi did not seem in any hurry to draft the design for Zhao Muqing’s ear cuffs. Well before midnight, he had already changed into a bathrobe and sat down on the opposite side of the bed.
“Boss,” Zhao Muqing probed tentatively, “I saw a news report about you in the newspaper.”
“No one has interviewed me lately.” Shen Guanzhi paused his movements for a fraction of a second. “How old was that newspaper?”
“Who knows? I just grabbed it randomly in the studio.” Zhao Muqing offered a half-truth explanation.
When Shen Guanzhi remained silent, Zhao Muqing had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue. “The report said your parents…”
Mentioning this topic didn’t feel entirely appropriate. Before the final words left his mouth, Zhao Muqing wisely chose to shut up on his own accord.
Better to quell his curiosity.
Looking utterly unfazed, Shen Guanzhi asked, “Very curious?”
“About what?”
“What kind of people my parents were, and how they met their end.” Shen Guanzhi continued. “There are plenty of interview reports about me, but I never answer that question, which is why many people are curious and countless rumors circulate behind the scenes.”
“What kind of rumors?” Zhao Muqing blurted out instinctively.
“That I am the son of a criminal.”
Zhao Muqing almost choked on his own saliva. Where on earth did that piece of news come from? Surely it couldn’t be true, right?
Yet upon calming down, he realized that even if it were true, being the son of a criminal didn’t mean Shen Guanzhi himself was a criminal. It simply meant his background check for government positions would probably never pass.
“Then what is the truth?” Zhao Muqing began cautiously.
“What they said is true. My father was no good man.” Shen Guanzhi’s tone instantly grew several degrees colder. “And he did not die when I was very young either. In fact, I only received news of his death a few years ago.”
Zhao Muqing was so astonished his jaw nearly hit the floor.
“That is enough.” Shen Guanzhi cast a brief glance at Zhao Muqing. “Now you know a little bit more. Be more careful with your words and actions outside from now on.”
“…” Zhao Muqing instantly regretted his overflowing curiosity. “Is it too late to get amnesia right now?”
“Useless.” Shen Guanzhi let out a dry laugh, flipped the light switch, and plunged the surroundings into silence.
Zhao Muqing couldn’t help replaying the conversation in his mind. Shen Guanzhi’s father had only passed away a few years ago, so how had Shen Guanzhi managed to fool everyone all those years back?
With such a shrewd father, no wonder the son was no pushover either.
Irritated, Zhao Muqing shot a glare at Shen Guanzhi before finally closing his eyes.
If only he could hurry up and get rid of this man.