As soon as they entered the restaurant, Shen Li caught sight of Lu Ang sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window. Lu Ang spotted him at the same time.
Shen Li noticed that when Lu Ang saw Ji Zhouye standing beside him, he froze visibly. Meanwhile, the aura around Ji Zhouye grew increasingly icy.
Shen Li bumped his elbow against Ji Zhouye’s arm. “Look, he sees us. President Ji’s goal has been achieved. Are you satisfied now?”
Ji Zhouye did not speak, but his expression clearly conveyed the words: I am not satisfied.
Having failed to arrive on time, having stood Lu Ang up, and now running into him by chance, Shen Li felt that out of basic politeness, he naturally needed to go over and greet him. He looked at the difficult person beside him. “You go ahead and order. I am just going to say hello.”
“You are not allowed to go.” Ji Zhouye’s voice was frigid.
If outsiders could not tell, how could he possibly fail to see Lu Ang’s hidden intentions?
Shen Li raised an eyebrow, a slightly unserious smile playing on his lips. “Is President Ji trying to restrict my personal freedom, or are you jealous because you saw me talking to someone who used to chase after me?”
The warm restaurant lighting cast a soft glow over Shen Li. With that roguish smile lingering in the corners of his eyes, Ji Zhouye momentarily dazed, feeling as though he were looking at that youth from the past once more.
Recovering from his brief stupor, he snapped back to reality. “Jealous? You wish.”
Looking straight into Shen Li’s eyes, Ji Zhouye revealed a cold, unfeeling edge beneath his gaze. “If I truly wanted to restrict your personal freedom, you would not even be able to step out of the estate. I am warning you, do not push me. Just because I am not restricting you right now does not mean I will not do so later.”
The warm lighting could not mask the chill radiating from his entire body.
The smile faded slightly from Shen Li’s face. “Then let me thank you in advance. Fortunately, it is an estate and not a dark, damp basement.”
Ji Zhouye glanced at him sidelong. “If you want it to be, it can be a basement too.”
“Consider what I said unsaid.” Shen Li rubbed his nose awkwardly. “I am just going to say a quick hello. Out of basic courtesy for future cooperation, nothing more.”
Ji Zhouye remained silent, and Shen Li took his silence as tacit approval.
That high-spirited youth from back then had now grown slick and worldly.
Ji Zhouye walked over to their reserved table, keeping his gaze locked on Shen Li the entire time.
Shen Li greeted Lu Ang politely. Lu Ang’s expression shifted slightly. “Are you and Ji Zhouye back together again?”
Involuntarily, Shen Li glanced sideways at Ji Zhouye, their eyes meeting.
He had no idea how to answer that.
If he answered that they were not together, he was still a kept lover, living with him day in and day out and sharing the same bed every night.
If he answered that they were together, he was merely a lover who could not bring himself into the light. It was just a transaction, nothing more.
A strange, sour pang squeezed his heart. He said, “No.”
Lu Ang nodded. “Go ahead and take care of your business. We can catch up another day.”
Lu Ang had noticed that Ji Zhouye’s gaze was fixed squarely on them. In the Jiang Cheng business circle, everyone knew the consequences of offending Ji Zhouye. Furthermore, Ji Zhouye and Shen Li had a history, and Lu Ang had once even confessed his feelings to Shen Li right in front of Ji Zhouye.
Back then, a vast chasm separated Shen Li and Ji Zhouye.
When Shen Li’s father was still alive, Jiang Qing was the largest enterprise in Jiang Cheng, and Shen Li was a bona fide elite young master of high society.
Meanwhile, Ji Zhouye’s family ran a small company. While considered moderately well-off in the eyes of ordinary people, in the business circle, JH was an entirely insignificant nobody at the time.
Yet, Ji Zhouye had used a mere single year to propel JH to prominence within the business world, establishing a position that no one could ever shake.
Jiang Qing had plummeted from its former glory to utter ruin in the span of a single day—the very day Shen Li’s father died.
Shen Li sat down opposite Ji Zhouye, who pushed the menu across the table toward him. “What did he say?”
“He asked if we were back together again,” Shen Li answered truthfully. There was nothing to hide or gloss over regarding such a matter.
“And how did you answer?”
“I said no.”
Ji Zhouye’s expression grew visibly colder. In his eyes, Shen Li was practically leaving the door open for other men. “Being a lover counts as being together.”
Shen Li paused slightly, looking at Ji Zhouye with disbelief in his eyes. “Should I go back and tell him that right now?”
“Next time, remember to say so.” Ji Zhouye lifted his chin slightly. “Order your food.”
Shen Li was still turning Ji Zhouye’s words over in his mind to figure out what they meant. “I am treating you, so you order.”
“No need.”
In the end, Shen Li ordered several dishes that Ji Zhouye used to love, though he had no idea if he still liked them now.
He remembered every single one. He had never forgotten—he had neither forgotten the dishes he loved nor the person himself.
He could not bear to forget all the kindness Ji Zhouye had once shown him.
After Shen Li finished ordering, Ji Zhouye took the menu back and added two more dishes that he knew Shen Li loved.
Without even realizing it, Shen Li had ordered exclusively food that Ji Zhouye used to prefer, failing to select a single dish for himself.
Unconsciously, his thoughts had given him away far too clearly.
“Shen Li,” Ji Zhouye called out.
Shen Li raised his gaze, waiting for whatever he was going to say next.
Ji Zhouye pondered for a moment. “I will give you another five billion, and you give me twenty percent of Jiang Qing’s shares.”
Shen Li had no idea why Ji Zhouye wanted shares in Jiang Qing Group. “You do not need to give me the money, but the shares are yours.”
Without Ji Zhouye, Jiang Qing would likely have already declared bankruptcy and collapsed completely, let alone leaving any shares to speak of. He was more than willing to hand them over.
Staying by Ji Zhouye’s side as his lover was partly because Ji Zhouye had used Jiang Qing as leverage, but another part of it stemmed from his own desire to remain by his side.
Seeing him agree so readily, Ji Zhouye felt a flicker of surprise.
Ji Zhouye was intentionally creating ties between them. Given Shen Li’s capability, it would not take long for him to pay back that one billion. Once it was fully paid off, the two of them might truly never have any connection again.
Getting shares in Jiang Qing was different. As long as those shares remained in his hands for even a single day, that tether would exist for a day.
Unless he cast him aside, Shen Li would never be able to escape from his side.
On the day Shen Li’s father passed away, Zhou Lifen had been swindled by a man and transferred away the majority of Jiang Qing’s assets. After his father’s death, the shareholders had all packed up their money and fled.
Now, at Jiang Qing Group, Shen Li had the final say on everything. “I will bring the share transfer contract tomorrow.”
“I will come to your company to find you tomorrow.”
Shen Li nodded slightly.
Signing a contract always called for a degree of formality.
Hesitating for a few seconds, Shen Li finally spoke up. “If this were the old Jiang Qing, you could still extract some profit from it. What on earth are you plotting with Jiang Qing as it is now?”
He looked earnestly at Ji Zhouye, hoping to catch a single flaw in his expression that would prove his suspicions wrong.
“My goal is to humiliate you.” Ji Zhouye’s words poured a bucket of cold water over Shen Li.
Shen Li laughed. To say he felt no ache in his heart would be a lie, but his tone remained as unserious as ever. “Then whatever methods President Ji has, hurry up and use them. As for me, the thing I fear least right now is being humiliated.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Compared to having no money, none of this matters.”
Ji Zhouye merely looked at him in silence, feeling as though a sharp thorn had driven deep into his heart.
He wanted to see Shen Li act like this, yet he was terrified of seeing him like this.
He hated seeing him struggle, yet he feared him doing well.
Infuriated and helpless all at once, Ji Zhouye let out a harsh edge in his voice. “Since you needed money so badly, why did you not come to me sooner? I was right there. All you had to do was ask, and I would have given you however much you needed.”
As long as he came to him, whether he begged or not did not matter all that much anymore.