Ji Zhouye’s brows knitted with a trace of chill. “You did not mention who your boyfriend is.”
Shen Li glanced at Ling Feng before turning his gaze back to Ji Zhouye. “He did not ask who my boyfriend is.”
“He did not ask, so you did not say?” Ji Zhouye’s expression turned somewhat unpleasant.
Shen Li was momentarily choked for words. How did they end up stuck in this endless loop out of nowhere? Leaning back against his office chair, he speechlessly rubbed the bridge of his nose. “If he does not ask, how am I supposed to bring it up?”
Ling Feng stood silently.
What on earth were these two talking about?
What baffled Ling Feng the most was that his own boss actually dared to talk back to this big shot. The man standing before them was a heavyweight who practically ruled Jiangcheng with an iron fist.
Ji Zhouye’s cold, piercing gaze landed directly on Ling Feng. “Ask him. Who is his boyfriend?”
Shen Li remained silent.
Ling Feng fell silent.
Swallowing hard against his mounting nervousness, Ling Feng asked weakly, “President Shen, who is your boyfriend?”
“Wait, Ling Feng, whose side are you on?” Shen Li asked, half-angry and half-amused.
A traitor!
Ling Feng muttered, “I cannot afford to offend the great Ji.”
Shen Li fell silent.
So he was the one who got thrown under the bus instead?
Shen Li stood up from behind his desk, strode over to grab Ling Feng by the collar, and shoved him right in front of Ji Zhouye. “Open your eyes wide and look carefully. The person standing right in front of you is my ex-boyfriend, and also my current boyfriend.”
Only then did Ji Zhouye’s lips curve into a satisfied smile.
The more Shen Li thought about it, the more irritated he grew, so he added, “He is also the very scumbag you were just talking about.”
The smile vanished from the corners of Ji Zhouye’s lips.
Ling Feng wore a look of sheer terror and shock, coming dangerously close to dropping to his knees to apologize to Ji Zhouye. “Big Boss Ji, I am sorry. I should not have called you a scumbag. I am apologizing to you; I am truly, truly sorry.”
“How did that come up?” Ji Zhouye asked, surprisingly free of anger.
Ling Feng was practically out of his mind with panic, blurting out whatever came to mind. “Today President Shen asked me what it means when someone dislikes you but still kisses you, and then…”
Shen Li fell silent.
He looked at Ji Zhouye and could clearly see the amusement dancing in those dark eyes, yet there was not the slightest intention of offering any further explanation for what had happened.
A flash of disappointment flickered across his eyes. Shen Li felt as though his mind had gone haywire. Why did he even care about hearing Ji Zhouye explain? Weren’t they just lovers? What was there to explain anyway?
After finishing his panicked confession, Ling Feng hastily resumed his apologies. “Big Boss Ji, please do not stay mad at me.”
Shen Li slammed a file down onto the desk. “Work hours. Discussing matters unrelated to work is strictly prohibited.”
Ling Feng snapped his mouth shut.
Shen Li looked at him. “The cooperation with Shengyang continues. Go make the arrangements.”
“You are not allowed to go,” Ji Zhouye intervened coldly.
Ling Feng was caught in an impossible dilemma. Going meant trouble, and not going meant trouble.
“Ji Zhouye, you…” Shen Li gritted his teeth.
Ji Zhouye countered, “Are you cooperating with me, or with Shengyang?”
“Cooperating with you on what? Where is the file?” Shen Li demanded.
Ji Zhouye forwarded the electronic version straight to his email.
Shen Li did not even bother opening the document; he trusted Ji Zhouye. “Can we not cooperate with both?”
“No.”
If they could not, then they could not. The contract backing Shengyang Group’s proposal had glaring loopholes anyway, and the primary beneficiary would always be Shengyang. He had originally intended to use tonight’s dinner meeting to hash things out properly, but since Ji Zhouye had barged in and ruined it, so be it.
“Choose me, or Shengyang?” Ji Zhouye pressed.
“I choose you, okay? You win, you are my great-grandfather and my sugar daddy. If I do not choose you, who else is there?”
Remembering that he still had a score to settle with Ling Feng, Shen Li turned his attention to the assistant standing off to the side. “You are heading back to JH with your Big Boss Ji shortly. That is where you belong; my office has no room for someone like you.”
“Can I really? Big Boss Ji?” Ling Feng looked at Ji Zhouye with stars in his eyes.
That was JH they were talking about. Who would not have a heartbeat over that?
Shen Li fell silent.
His current state of mind could no longer be captured by any human language.
“Stay here. Your President Shen needs you much more than I do.” A smile tugged at the corners of Ji Zhouye’s lips.
Shen Li pulled a cigarette from his pack and clamped it between his lips without lighting it, fixing his gaze on Ji Zhouye. “When you leave, take your dog with you. Stop staying here to disgust me.”
Ling Feng fell silent.
He went from human to dog in a matter of seconds.
Ji Zhouye remained silent, his gaze locking onto Shen Li as the amusement in his eyes deepened.
Ling Feng looked back and forth between Ji Zhouye and Shen Li. “Umm, President Shen, do you have any other instructions?”
“None.”
With an enigmatic look in his eyes, Ling Feng chimed, “Then I will take my leave and not disturb you two.”
Before he even finished the sentence, he bolted like a wisp of smoke. Shen Li’s parting words never even made it past his lips before the man vanished completely from sight.
Reaching for the phone on his desk, Shen Li fired off a quick message to Ling Feng.
[Keep your mouth shut, or I will turn you into a mute.]
Ling Feng replied: [Understood, President Shen.]
Shen Li had zero desire to let too many people in on this secret. Who knew when Ji Zhouye might grow tired of him and call it quits?
Maybe tomorrow, maybe a week from now, or perhaps a month down the line. There was simply no telling.
Shen Li dark-screened his phone. “President Ji, do your friends know that I am your lover?”
Calling it a relationship sounded nice, but he knew the harsh reality better than anyone. He was nothing more than a kept lover.
Ji Zhouye’s gaze darkened slightly. “No.”
As expected, a lover was not something one could flaunt in public.
Shen Li struck a lighter and lit the cigarette between his lips, taking a deep drag before exhaling a plume of white smoke. “Even your friends do not know. What gives you the right to demand that the people around me know? Ji Zhouye, you are completely unreasonable.”
Stepping around the desk, Ji Zhouye walked over to stand right beside him, looking down from above.
Knowing he had no standing to question anything, Shen Li leaned back against his chair. “President Ji, let us not make this a public spectacle. When you get tired of this one day, it will be too messy to clean up.”
Ji Zhouye gripped the armrests of the office chair and spun it around, forcing Shen Li to face him directly.
Leaning in, he dropped one knee into the open space right between Shen Li’s legs, bracing both arms against the armrests on either side to trap the man forcefully within his personal domain.
Shen Li raised his gaze, his heart skipping a beat against his will.
Ji Zhouye’s facial contours were sharp and deep, the emotions swirling in his eyes shifting and indecipherable.
“If you dislike the title of lover, then why not be my boyfriend instead?” In a rare display of gentleness, Ji Zhouye reached out to button the topmost undone collar of Shen Li’s shirt, then straightened his slightly crooked tie.
Shen Li looked up into those eyes, drowning in a gentleness so profound he almost lost himself, only for his remaining sliver of reason to jerk him back to reality.
He deliberately averted his gaze. “President Ji, what kind of international joke are you trying to pull? Do you even like me, and you want me to be your boyfriend?”
Hearing those words tumble from his own lips, he suddenly looked every bit like a casual, irresponsible scumbag.
Ji Zhouye snatched the cigarette from his fingers and tossed it straight into the wastebasket. “Then do you like me?”
Shen Li pondered for a brief moment. “Are we talking about now, or the past?”
“The past,” Ji Zhouye asked first.
Shen Li let out a soft laugh, a trace of bitterness leaking through his eyes. “Of course I liked you back then. I liked you so much I genuinely thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives together.”
In a low voice, Ji Zhouye pressed, “Then why did you suddenly stop liking me?”
“Life is too long. Who can guarantee they will only ever love one person for an entire lifetime? If we had never broken up, could you guarantee that your heart would never wander?” Shen Li wanted to bury that sordid, unbearable past caused by Zhou Lifen, and his voice trembled slightly as he spoke. “Besides, a person’s life consists of far more than just romance.”