“It is a little.” Shen Li looked at him.
His stomach had already felt rather uncomfortable when they went out for dinner, and after drinking quite a bit of red wine, a burning sensation clawed at his insides.
“We are going to the hospital.” Ji Zhouye gave him no room for refusal, leading him toward the parking garage.
On the way to the hospital, Shen Li leaned back against the passenger seat, his brows furrowed slightly.
The pain intensified, and the hair on his forehead was damp with sweat.
He was used to pain, but it had never hurt quite like this before.
Ji Zhouye raised the partition inside the car, a tension etched between his brows that he had never shown before. “Does it hurt badly?”
“It is fine.”
“Do you know which part of your entire body is the hardest?” Ji Zhouye asked.
Shen Li looked at him. “President Ji, I am in this state. Can you spare some attention for driving?”
“I was talking about your mouth. What were you thinking about?”
He was completely speechless. “I was talking about my teeth. Teeth are the hardest part of the human body. Surely President Ji knows that?”
“We can test that out tonight and find out.”
This man’s head was entirely filled with vulgar thoughts.
At the hospital.
After the checkup concluded, the doctor went over the precautions and instructions.
“No smoking, no drinking, eat on time. If you continue to disregard your dietary discipline, you are going to destroy your body completely. Take your medicine on time.”
Shen Li acknowledged the instructions.
The doctor had seen plenty of patients like Shen Li, so how could he fail to hear the perfunctory tone in his voice?
Glancing at the person standing behind him, the doctor asked, “What relation are you to him?”
Ji Zhouye opened his thin lips. “A friend.”
“This young man does not look like someone who takes care of himself. Since you are his friend, you need to advise him more. He is still so young; if he ruins his body now, he will regret it when it is too late,” the doctor said.
“I understand.”
After taking the medicine, the pain subsided significantly, and Shen Li followed Ji Zhouye out of the hospital.
“The money will be transferred to you tomorrow,” Ji Zhouye said. “Starting today, you live at my place.”
“Understood.”
“From now on, let me see your face before ten o’clock every night, or face the consequences.”
There was a curfew too.
Back at the estate with him, Shen Li originally expected a sleepless night, but Ji Zhouye unexpectedly did nothing at all, simply pouring him a cup of hot water before leaving.
Shen Li was particular about his sleeping arrangements and found it somewhat difficult to adjust to an unfamiliar environment.
Yet, what could he do about not being accustomed to it? He had signed a contract selling his labor, leaving him with no control over his own circumstances.
Still, with these one billion funds, Jiang Qing’s finances could stabilize. Although the economy could not recover to the state it was in during his father’s time, it could at least gain a solid foothold, saving him from hovering on the brink of bankruptcy every single day.
The next day at seven o’clock.
Shen Li prepared to head out for the company, but just as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was called back.
“Eat the breakfast on the table.” Ji Zhouye sat on the sofa, his long legs crossed.
“I do not have the habit of eating breakfast.”
Ji Zhouye’s dark eyes narrowed slightly, carrying a hint of danger. “Hmm?”
“I will eat.” How could he dare disobey the words of his sugar daddy? Shen Li walked over, sat down on the carpet beside him, and after taking a couple of spoonfuls of porridge, looked at him. “Are you not eating?”
“I have already eaten.”
“Oh.”
After finishing breakfast, Shen Li stood up to clear away the tableware on the table.
“Leave it.” Ji Zhouye placed a medicine box in front of him, his tone admitting no refusal. “Take your medicine.”
Shen Li looked at the medicine on the table, then shifted his gaze back to Ji Zhouye. “Has your brain short-circuited?”
It was a slip of the tongue, and he regretted it the moment the words left his mouth.
He picked up the medicine from the table, shoved it straight into his mouth, and swallowed it without even drinking any water. “Well, I am leaving.”
The bitter taste of the medicine spread across his mouth as he swallowed it with a frown.
He really had no idea which nerve in Ji Zhouye’s brain had misfired.
“Wait a moment.” Ji Zhouye tossed him a set of car keys. “Drive me to the company.”
He was no longer just a lover; he was a chauffeur now.
Arriving at the company, Ji Zhouye stepped out of the vehicle.
“President Ji, take care.”
The moment those words fell, Ji Zhouye tapped against the car window. Shen Li lowered the glass. “President Ji, please instruct me.”
“Pick me up promptly at five o’clock.”
He had successfully unlocked the chauffeur position.
Shen Li drove Ji Zhouye’s Maybach to the company. When Ling Feng saw Shen Li stepping out from the driver’s seat, his jaw nearly dropped to the floor in shock.
The moment he locked the car door, Ling Feng circled the vehicle once. “Boss, did you change cars?”
“It is not mine.” Shen Li patted the car body. This Maybach left the car he currently drove streets behind. He had to admit that the current Ji Zhouye was someone he could not compare to.
For thirty years the river flows east, for thirty years it flows west.
“Not yours?” Ling Feng’s expression grew even more colorful. This Maybach must have cost tens of millions at least. In Jiang Cheng, for someone to casually hand a car worth tens of millions to someone else to drive, what kind of background must that family have? “Boss, are you being kept by someone?”
Shen Li’s eyelids twitched. Was it really that obvious?
“Which wealthy sugar mommy is it?”
Shen Li glared at him, and Ling Feng immediately quieted down. “Meeting at nine o’clock.”
Before heading upstairs, Ling Feng reached out to touch the Maybach one more time; getting to touch it made it worth it for a lifetime.
A thought crossed his mind, and he let out a sigh. Why had no wealthy sugar mommy ever kept him?
“Boss, am I ugly?”
“Not ugly, right?”
“Then am I handsome? Can I charm a wealthy sugar mommy? Look at my life, can I take a shortcut? My stomach is weak, I want to eat soft rice.”
The elevator doors opened. Shen Li glanced sideways at him and gave the back of his head a slap. “Stop daydreaming. Get ready for the meeting.”
That slap instantly woke Ling Feng up from his dream.
With this billion in working capital to tide them through the crisis, all projects were operating normally once again.
After the meeting concluded, Shen Li remained inside his office, reworking the business plan. He wanted to use the shortest possible time to return that billion to Ji Zhouye, principal and interest included.
Now that Jiang Qing had weathered the most agonizing crisis, he could finally catch a slight breath.
Yet, compared to the crisis at Jiang Qing Group, Ji Zhouye was far more difficult to handle. He could never quite fathom what was going on in Ji Zhouye’s mind.
At lunchtime, Ling Feng entered the office to inform him that someone downstairs was looking for him, and Shen Li directly told them to come up.
The visitor was Ji Zhouye’s assistant, carrying a lunch box. “President Shen, it is time for lunch.”
Did he look like someone who could not afford a meal in Ji Zhouye’s eyes?
Shen Li accepted it. “Sorry to trouble you.”
He smiled. “President Shen, I will watch you eat.”
With no other choice, Shen Li sat down on the sofa in the lounge area and began to eat. He asked, “What is your name?”
“Song Yan.”
“When did you start following Ji Zhou…” Shen Li paused slightly. “Following President Ji?”
“Just a little over a year.”
Shen Li ate his meal in a distracted daze, intentionally or unintentionally probing Song Yan for news about Ji Zhouye.
Song Yan did not conceal anything, answering whatever was asked.
Shen Li originally thought things would end once he finished eating and Song Yan could go back and report, but he never expected Song Yan to hand him another medicine box. “Take your medicine, and I will head back.”
It was the stomach medication prescribed by the doctor.
Shen Li shoved the medicine into his mouth, took a sip of water to swallow it down, and only then did Song Yan depart.
Just as Song Yan was leaving, Ling Feng happened to walk in from outside. His gaze lingered briefly on Song Yan as they brushed past each other.
“He looks a bit familiar.” Ling Feng looked at Shen Li, who was curled up on the sofa. “Boss, who was that?”
“My creditor’s assistant.”
“So that is where our company’s billion in working capital came from?” Ling Feng asked.
“Mmm.”
“And here I thought you were actually being kept by someone, Boss.”