Shen Li had once been so ruthless that Ji Zhouye had even thought about making sure he never had an easy day for the rest of his life.
Yet when it truly came down to it, seeing Shen Li look at him with eyes brimming with grievances, the hatred from the time of their separation unconsciously dissipated.
The car stopped in the estate parking lot. Shen Li unbuckled his seatbelt, preparing to get out.
His wrist was suddenly caught, followed by a sensation of weightlessness as he was pulled into a warm embrace. His breath was instantly filled with Ji Zhouye’s cold, crisp scent.
He raised his gaze, meeting Ji Zhouye’s deep eyes. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
“What is actually wrong?” Ji Zhouye lowered his gaze to look at him.
Shen Li remained silent for a moment. “There is genuinely nothing wrong.”
He did not want to discuss the messy family drama with Ji Zhouye, even though Ji Zhouye probably already knew all about it.
Ji Zhouye did not press further, pulling him into an embrace instead. “Then let us hold each other for a little while.”
Shen Li wrapped his arms around Ji Zhouye’s waist, his eyes gradually turning red. He held back the urge for a long time, finally suppressing the impulse to pour out all his grievances, including the pain of their parting.
Friday.
Shen Li encountered a tricky issue at work that needed handling, but based on his role as a driver and his professional ethics, he arrived on time to pick Ji Zhouye up from work. After Ji Zhouye got into the car, Shen Li gave him a heads-up. “I am heading back to the office afterward. There is still some work to process, so I might be back a bit late.”
Shen Li stole a quick glance at Ji Zhouye through the rearview mirror. The man in the backseat remained silent, radiating a faint chill.
During the time they had spent living in each other’s pockets, Shen Li still could not fully read Ji Zhouye’s mind. Sometimes Ji Zhouye treated him well, though he refused to admit it out loud, Shen Li could feel it.
At other times, he was icy cold, just like right now.
The grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly. “If processing the work takes too late, I will head back to my own place so I do not disturb you.”
“Go to Yedu Club.” Ji Zhouye’s tone was flat, so devoid of emotion that it was impossible to read.
Starting the car, the atmosphere inside settled into a heavy, mutual silence.
After a long while, unable to stand the oppressive air any longer, Shen Li broke the silence first. “What time are you coming back? I will come pick you up.”
“No need.”
This time, it was Shen Li’s turn to fall silent.
Does that mean he is not coming back at all?
Stopped at a red light, Shen Li irritably ran a hand through his hair and leaned back against the headrest.
Ever since returning to the country, he had been constantly tied up with Jiangqing’s affairs, leaving him little time to frequent entertainment venues. He had only been to Yedu Club a handful of times.
According to Ling Feng, money-for-sex transactions were rampant at Yedu Club.
While such transactions were common enough in clubs like this, the kind Ling Feng spoke of were not limited to men and women; men looking for other men there could be found in droves.
The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became. He wanted a cigarette, but driving made that impossible.
Agitated the entire drive, right as they neared the destination, Shen Li finally lost his restraint and asked carefully, “Do you have business meetings tonight?”
“No.”
“Are you coming back tonight?”
Ji Zhouye raised his gaze to look over, his expression ambiguous. A few seconds later, he said slowly, “Do you want me to come back?”
“Whether I want it or not does not matter; it depends on you.” Shen Li said no more.
Standing firmly in the position of someone with no qualification to be jealous, he dared not ask any further.
Watching Ji Zhouye walk into the club, Shen Li stepped out to smoke a single cigarette before driving away.
Bitter. It tasted overwhelmingly bitter.
He could not quite put a name to his current mood, a mix of sourness and a dull ache.
Shen Li understood his current standing clearly. He had no right to feel jealous, and no right to feel hurt. This exact realization was what hurt the most, making his chest feel as though a giant hand was squeezing it, cutting off his air supply.
His thoughts were a tangled mess, yet he dared not express them to Ji Zhouye. He could not decipher Ji Zhouye’s intentions and had no idea whether keeping him chained by his side meant Ji Zhouye still harbored feelings for him.
Inside a dim, glittering private room, Ji Zhouye pushed the door open and walked in.
“President Ji is here.” Li Ming had already poured the drinks and was waiting for him.
Ji Zhouye gave a faint acknowledgement.
Li Ming was the son of a friend of Ji Zhouye’s father, Ji Heng. Li Ming had studied physics at Nanjing University back then, attending the same school as Ji Zhouye. He knew everything about what had happened in the past, including how Shen Li had broken up with Ji Zhouye and ground Ji Zhouye’s self-esteem into the dust.
Ji Zhouye sank into the sofa, and Li Ming pushed a glass of liquor toward him. “I heard you helped him out again?”
“Yeah.”
Li Ming clicked his tongue, feeling it was entirely unworthwhile for Ji Zhouye. Back then, Shen Li had hurt Ji Zhouye deeply; someone so proud had been brought down lower than dirt, yet it still had not won back a single glance of care from the person he loved.
That Shen Li was struggling now was purely his own fault, a well-deserved retribution.
These were things Li Ming only dared to think in private. He never voiced them, let alone in front of Ji Zhouye, because saying them aloud would be like placing their friendship on the edge of a cliff where a single gust of wind could send it plummeting into an abyss with no bones left intact.
“Still unable to let him go?”
Li Ming asked a question to which he already knew the answer. If Ji Zhouye had truly been able to put it behind him, he would never have asked Li Ming to help facilitate cooperation with Jiangqing in the first place.
During Jiangqing’s economic crisis, every single company willing to step up and cooperate smoothly had been arranged directly by Ji Zhouye behind the scenes.
Li Ming let out a helpless sigh. He had assumed Ji Zhouye would only ever offer assistance from the shadows without showing his face, but it turned out he could not hold back in the end, stepping out personally to resolve the crisis. Just how deep must one’s love be to go to such lengths?
Ji Zhouye’s eyes turned dark and murky. “I want to be with him, to start over from the beginning.”
He picked up his glass and downed the liquor in a single gulp.
Li Ming frowned slightly. “No one can stop you once you set your mind on something.”
After a brief pause, he added, “You are giving him leverage right now, but suppose, just suppose, that one day Jiangqing stands back up, rivals JH, and he dumps you just like he did years ago, treating you like nothing more than a stray dog. What will you do then?”
Shen Li’s business acumen was plain for the entire corporate world to see. Jiangqing’s mess had only been holding him back. Now that Jiangqing was steadily recovering, reaching the same tier as JH would not take long.
Li Ming still remembered every bit of the despair and torment his brother had endured back then, and he refused to watch him repeat the same mistake.
Ji Zhouye’s pitch-black eyes were bottomless. “I will make him wish he were dead.”
Li Ming topped off his glass. “Why bother? Let yourself go.”
“I cannot.”
It was not as though he had never tried to let go, but he simply could not manage it. He had once thought that with enough time, he would naturally forget.
Yet every time midnight rolled around and dreams took over, that uninhibited figure and arrogant smile refused to be banished from his mind.
Time could make people forget certain individuals or events, but it could also engrave others far deeper into the soul.
Jiangqing Corporation.
Work that should have taken two hours ended up stretching across four.
By the time he finished processing everything, it was already 10:00 PM. Shen Li slumped in his office chair smoking a cigarette, reluctant to head home out of the fear that finding an empty house would lead to a spiral of wild imagination.
The office lights were bright, the air thick with a choking haze of smoke, and the glowing red tip of the cigarette between his fingers flickered erratically.
His thoughts were in complete chaos as he cycled endlessly through whether Ji Zhouye had gone home yet.
If he had not gone home, what was he doing?
Drinking with friends?
Or perhaps in a hotel room with someone else?
The burning red ember brushed against his middle finger. He glanced at it indifferently, not daring to let his mind wander any further because a single step down that path brought a suffocating sense of panic.
Just as he decided to just make do and spend the night right there in the office, the phone screen on his desk lit up. Seeing the caller ID, Shen Li froze for a second before sitting up straight and answering the call.
The line remained silent for two seconds before a low, husky voice sounded. “Come downstairs.”