Shen Li walked up to Ji Zhouye’s desk, the smile at the corners of his lips growing deeper. “President Ji, if, and I am just saying if, the lottery prize is five million yuan, would you be willing to give me a few more chances?”
Ji Zhouye already guessed the prize amount, so he went along with his words without exposing him. “What kind of chances?”
Shen Li’s eyes darkened slightly.
He wanted a chance to start over.
Suppressing the strange emotions surging in his heart, Shen Li braced both hands against the desk, a slightly mischievous smile on his face. “More chances to perform, like treating you to dinner, going to the movies, or traveling.”
The lights reflected in his eyes, making them shine bright like dazzling stars in the dark.
A hint of a smile touched the corners of Ji Zhouye’s eyes. “If I have the time, sure.”
Smiling, Shen Li placed the winning lottery ticket right in front of Ji Zhouye. “Five million, not a penny more or less.”
“Congratulations,” Ji Zhouye said, the corners of his lips curving upward.
“Once I claim the prize and pay the taxes, I will split half of it with you. Winners share the wealth,” Shen Li said with a bright smile. “I know you are not short on money, but you are not allowed to refuse.”
Ji Zhouye’s gaze drifted down to his lips as he casually dropped a seemingly random remark. “I want to bully you.”
“Huh?”
Shen Li’s mouth had just opened to say, I am about to share my money with you, yet you are sitting there thinking about how to bully me.
Before a single syllable could escape, cool, thin lips pressed down onto his, sealing the words he wanted to say in a deep kiss.
The kiss caught him completely off guard. Unable to put up any defense, he could only passively endure it, letting himself be thoroughly bullied.
The next day, in the Jiang Qing Group office.
The two of them stared at each other in mutual silence, looking back and forth.
Ling Feng was the first to break, unable to hold back any longer. “President Shen, if you have something to ask, just spit it out.”
Shen Li carefully chose his words. “If someone doesn’t like you, but still takes the initiative to kiss you, what do you think is going on?”
“Acting like a hooligan, obviously,” Ling Feng said, before immediately backtracking. “Personally speaking, of course, for your reference only.”
If someone didn’t like you yet still kissed you, aside from acting like an absolute rogue, he genuinely couldn’t think of any other explanation.
Looking at his own CEO, he realized things couldn’t be allowed to continue this way. Based on the CEO’s description, the other person sounded precisely like a scumbag.
After struggling internally for a moment, he spoke up with cautious care. “President Shen, if I may speak bluntly, I think the other person might be a scumbag. That is usually how scumbags operate.”
Shen Li stared in silence.
Ji Zhouye was a scumbag?
He didn’t look like one at all.
“You can get back to work now,” Shen Li said.
“Understood, President Shen.” It was truly a miracle not to get chewed out this time.
Ji Zhouye was a scumbag?
Was he really?
He didn’t like him, yet he kept kissing him, did that make him a scumbag?
Countless questions bubbled to the surface. For a split second, Shen Li even found himself wondering if Ji Zhouye truly was a scumbag, unwilling to like him yet entirely willing to sleep with him.
Then he reconsidered: if Ji Zhouye was a scumbag, what did that make him?
If they were talking about being scummy, he was several shades scummer than Ji Zhouye.
Acting as Ji Zhouye’s lover was a mutual exchange of needs to begin with. It was he who had first harbored greedy desires, wanting to stay by Ji Zhouye’s side indefinitely.
Deciding to drop the matter entirely, Shen Li figured that overthinking things only bred anxiety without solving any problems. Besides, Ling Feng was completely unreliable, and his words were even less trustworthy.
Just as he picked up a document, Ji Zhouye’s call came through.
Shen Li answered it, hung up a few seconds later, set the documents down, and bolted out of the office, jogging all the way to catch the private elevator downstairs.
When the elevator doors slid open, Shen Li looked up and locked eyes with those deep, unfathomable black eyes. “Why are you here?”
“What? Not welcome?”
Ji Zhouye stood right before him, his tall and imposing frame radiating a sharp aura. With smooth facial contours and superior bone structure, those long, narrow black eyes carried a cold, aloof detachment.
“Welcome,” Shen Li murmured softly.
Stepping out of the elevator, Shen Li reached out to grab Ji Zhouye’s wrist, leading him over to the fingerprint scanner in the private elevator lobby.
He unlocked the system with his fingerprint and stepped inside to register a new set of data. Tapping lightly against the screen, he lowered his gaze, gently pried Ji Zhouye’s hand open, and pressed his thumb firmly against the glass scanner. With a smile touching his lips, he said, “To properly welcome President Ji, this elevator is officially at your service from now on.”
Watching the fingerprint registration flash successful, a nearly imperceptible smile curved the corners of Ji Zhouye’s lips.
When he exited the fingerprint interface, the screen displayed three registered prints: one freshly recorded by Ji Zhouye, one belonging to Shen Li, and a third whose owner remained a mystery.
Ji Zhouye’s gaze darkened. “Whose fingerprint is the third one?”
Shen Li’s eyes darkened in response, the smile vanishing entirely from his face. “My father’s.”
Ever since taking over the company, Shen Li had intentionally preserved every trace of his father’s presence left behind.
Ji Zhouye looked at his side profile with an unreadable expression. A few seconds later, he reached out, swiped the screen, and exited the fingerprint menu.
A warm hand settled gently against the back of Shen Li’s neck, massaging softly. “Can I just come straight up next time?”
Shen Li had a fleeting illusion that Ji Zhouye was trying to comfort him. He looked up into his eyes. “Mn, just come straight up next time.”
Back in the office, Shen Li brewed a cup of coffee for Ji Zhouye before returning to work, still having several documents left to process.
Ji Zhouye stood by the floor-to-ceiling window taking a phone call.
Ling Feng had a work report to deliver and simply pushed the door open to walk in. In the past, when Jiang Qing was snowed under with work, he used to barge in and out of the office hundreds of times a day. Knocking had annoyed Shen Li so much that he finally told him to just walk straight in whenever he had business.
That habit had stuck around ever since.
Catching sight of the man standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, Ling Feng walked straight up to the desk. “President Shen, is this your boyfriend?”
That back view bore an uncanny resemblance to the one he had glimpsed that night.
Shen Li glanced over toward Ji Zhouye, who was still on the phone.
Lifting his gaze to Ling Feng, Shen Li asked, “What is it?”
Since he didn’t deny it, Ling Feng took it as tacit confirmation. “Shengyang Group wants to talk about a partnership. There is a dinner banquet scheduled. Should we go or not?”
Given how arrogant Shengyang Group had acted previously, even giving Jiang Qing a hard time, Ling Feng still felt resentful on Shen Li’s behalf even though they had later apologized. He had looked into the proposed collaboration; the prospects were mediocre, and the returns were minimal. Given Jiang Qing’s current standing, they could easily afford to pass on it.
Ling Feng handed the partnership proposal over to Shen Li, who skimmed through it briefly. “We go.”
Ling Feng protested, “President Shen, did you forget how they treated us?”
“Precisely because I remember.” Shen Li’s eyes deepened slightly. “The business world is a battlefield, unpredictable and ever-changing. It wasn’t easy for Jiang Qing to crawl back up from the bottom, which means we should cherish every single opportunity even more.”
Ling Feng fell silent.
Shen Li closed the file. “Go make the arrangements.”
“Understood,” Ling Feng replied.
Ji Zhouye let out a soft “Mn,” wrapped up his phone call, and turned around. “No. Tell Shengyang Group that Jiang Qing will not engage in any collaborations with them from this point forward.”
Spotting Ji Zhouye, Ling Feng froze in utter shock. Collecting his wits a second later, he hurried to apologize. “I am so sorry, President Ji. I mistook you for President Shen’s boyfriend.”
Swallowing the word “boyfriend,” Ling Feng scrambled to rephrase it. “I mistook you for President Shen’s friend.”
Ji Zhouye had heard every single word Ling Feng had just said.
Ji Zhouye’s gaze landed squarely on Shen Li. “You didn’t tell him?”
Shen Li shrugged lazily. “I did.”
“What did you say?” Ji Zhouye asked.
Shen Li pointed a finger at Ling Feng. “I told him I have a boyfriend.”
Ling Feng looked back and forth between them in utter bewilderment. “What on earth are you two talking about?”