Shen Zhiqian had not expected Zhu Xing to agree so readily, but given that Zhu Xing threw tantrums every now and then, this surely had to be one of his schemes.
After remaining silent for a moment, he ignored Zhu Xing altogether.
Turning around, he walked back into the dressing room, where Qu Qingyu was sitting on the sofa looking at his phone.
Xu Luo looked at the shoes in his hands with a troubled expression. “It looks like there is no way to wear these to dance.”
“Zhu Xing, I already talked to him about it. Let me have someone buy you another pair of shoes; there is still some time before the opening of the show,” Shen Zhiqian said somewhat distractedly.
“It is fine, I have a backup pair. It is just that this pair of shoes, what a pity.”
Xu Luo looked at the silent man sitting on the sofa, his emotions in turmoil. He was somewhat surprised that Qu Qingyu had actually come over, but that surprise was quickly followed by a sense of stolen joy.
Ever since he entered Lin University at the age of eighteen and saw Qu Qingyu speak as an outstanding alumni representative, Xu Luo had kept his eyes on him. Words like steady, refined, and handsome seemed as though every single complimentary term could be applied to Qu Qingyu.
Yet getting close to Qu Qingyu was simply too difficult. Fortunately, his cousin was good friends with Qu Qingyu’s friend Sun Chen. Relying on that connection to get closer to Sun Chen step by step, right up until now, a full two years, the number of sentences the two of them had exchanged hadn’t even exceeded ten, and every single one of those had been initiated by him.
Could the fact that Qu Qingyu had been able to make it to this performance mean that he, too, had developed different feelings toward him?
Qu Qingyu was looking through the information on his phone, data on Zhu Xing that he had just ordered his subordinates to track down. In the picture, the person’s hair fell to his shoulders, worn loosely, and his amber-colored pupils gazed off into the distance, sitting there as languidly as a cat.
Qu Qingyu carefully examined every single detail of Zhu Xing in the photo: the slender waist, the straight and long legs, and the cupid’s bow on that breathtaking face.
It was utterly beguiling.
His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. Qu Qingyu had also overheard the conversation between Shen Zhiqian and Xu Luo, and remembering that Shen Zhiqian was Zhu Xing’s fiancé, he couldn’t help sizing him up for a moment.
Shortly after, he stood up and pulled open the door. Behind him, Xu Luo hurriedly chased after him. “President Qu, where are you going? The program is about to start soon.”
“I have matters to attend to.”
A cold and unfeeling sentence left Xu Luo standing in place, watching him depart.
“Qingyu is extremely busy. Being able to come over here at all has already given you plenty of face.” Pang Quan didn’t mention that it was actually a bet between Sun Chen and Qu Qingyu, and that Qu Qingyu had only been brought over because he lost.
“I know, Cousin.”
Zhu Xing didn’t care whether Shen Zhiqian genuinely wanted to back out of the engagement or was merely trying to threaten him.
His most important priority right now was figuring out the whereabouts of that illegitimate son from the Qu family.
[250, both options are piles of dung. Do I really have to pick one to step in?]
[Host. In this novel, the biggest antagonists are precisely these two people. If you choose the minor antagonist, the male lead can just brush his sleeves and settle everything effortlessly. What narrative purpose would that serve?]
[Qu Qingyu is so capable; dealing with the old man and that minor one all by itself should be more than enough.]
[Host, this novel is different from the last one. This is a grand male-lead novel, and precisely because the male lead easily steamrolls everything along his path, ripples need to be created. Otherwise, this novel wouldn’t be satisfying enough and would feel too ordinary.]
Zhu Xing pondered this for a moment. Causing trouble for Qu Qingyu actually sounded rather entertaining.
[Help me locate the minor antagonist.]
[Understood. Data indicates that Qu Ying is currently at Jinlou.]
Jinlou was a very famous entertainment club in the neighboring city. Zhu Xing hurried toward the location provided by the system.
Qu Qingyu had just prepared to head home when a message came in from his subordinate: “President Qu, he just met with people from the Mingrui side over at Jinlou.”
“Head to Jinlou,” Qu Qingyu instructed his driver before putting away his phone.
Since Qu Ying was genuinely courting death, he would gladly grant him his wish. He had let the fellow bounce around for so long, making him think he had another chance to rise up.
Aside from the first time Qu Ying set foot through the Qu family doors and threw a sarcastic remark at Qu Qingyu, “Your real mother is dead, so you should hurry up and get lost too,” he had never dared to utter a single unpleasant word in front of Qu Qingyu again.
When Qu Qingyu went crazy, he dared to strike even his own biological father.
Zhu Xing looked at Qu Ying, who was about the same height as him and dressed in a suit, yet looked utterly unkempt. He felt a mild sense of disgust; to think this guy shared a father with Qu Qingyu, he couldn’t even imagine how gorgeous Ms. Lu Yingying must have been.
Qu Ying had a sultry-looking woman in a revealing outfit in his arms, his hand occasionally brushing against her thighs in a greasy and wretched manner.
[System, is there truly no more suitable antagonist?] Looking at this person, Zhu Xing felt a nauseating wave of what seemed like hair-grease odor even before getting close.
Zhu Xing had no intention of introducing himself to Qu Ying right now; he merely wanted to understand what kind of person this future potential business partner was.
Yet after seeing him, he wished he hadn’t looked at all.
Qu Ying and his companions were drinking. Sitting some distance away, Zhu Xing couldn’t make out what they were discussing.
[System, open video feed.]
[Host, that is not permitted. Certain permissions for this world are locked, requiring you to find a way yourself.] The system rejected him.
Having no other choice, Zhu Xing had to figure out a way to get closer to Qu Ying. Only by knowing what Qu Ying intended to do could he figure out the direction for stirring up trouble.
“President Qu, we can satisfy the conditions you proposed, but as for the funding.”
Qu Ying flashed a sinister and gloomy smile. “Rest assured, as long as you can pull this off, I will talk to my dad about the funding side of things.”
Mingrui had been a long-standing business partner of the Lu family, but seeing the decline of the Lu family and the disappearance of Lu Yingnian, and even with Elder Lu waking up, given his advanced age, he could do nothing aside from handing over his shares to Qu Qingyu, Mingrui knew there was no longer much profit to be made from collaborating with the Lu family.
Thirty years ago, the Lu family stood alone at the top, forcing every household to mind their manners around them. Thirty years later, the heir had gone missing and the company had declined.
The Zheng family, positioned right beneath the Qu family, was faintly showing signs of rising prominence. They had partnered with Mingrui in an attempt to swallow up the Lu family.
However, because Qu Qingyu held a forty percent stake in the Qu Corporation and the rights to the Lu family assets had also been temporarily handed over to him by Elder Lu, Mingrui, or rather the Zheng family, had a motive to collaborate with Qu Ying.
With both sides harboring their own hidden agendas, the partnership was struck, and everyone began relaxing and enjoying themselves.
Before long, the group from Mingrui departed early. Seeing Qu Ying stand up from the partitioned booth, Zhu Xing hurriedly gave chase.
Right as he followed him to the doorway, he saw Qu Ying standing frozen in his tracks at the entrance.
At that moment, facing Qu Qingyu, Qu Ying felt a jolt of panic and an ugly look crossed his face, yet he ultimately dared not say a word, after all, even his own father couldn’t do anything against Qu Qingyu.
In his original plan, Qu Qingyu had intended to give Qu Ying a direct warning to keep him from bouncing around every single day.
However, before Qu Qingyu could speak, he caught sight of the sneaky figure of Zhu Xing trailing behind.
Fixing his gaze on the person in the back, Qu Qingyu chose to ignore Qu Ying completely and walked straight toward Zhu Xing.
Resentment surged within Qu Ying, yet he was utterly powerless. Running head-on into Qu Qingyu, he didn’t even dare utter a provocative word. He cast a gloomy glare in Qu Qingyu’s direction, only to see him walking toward another man.
Just as he wanted to take a closer look at who it was, Qu Qingyu turned around, his eyes narrowing as he glared at him with displeasure. Qu Ying had no choice but to swallow back his gaze and scurry away in a hurry.
Zhu Xing wanted to follow, but his path was blocked dead in its tracks by the man standing right in front of him.
“Zhu Xing.” The voice was low and magnetic.
Back at school earlier, Qu Qingyu had acted as though he didn’t recognize him at all, yet he had tracked him down here mere hours later.
“What? Is President Qu here to pass judgment on behalf of your white moonlight?” The mention of the term “white moonlight” caused Qu Qingyu to frown. “What white moonlight?”
Zhu Xing gave him no chance to resolve his question; because of him, Qu Ying had already fled far away, leaving Zhu Xing with the realization that he might as well head back to school early.
Sensing that Zhu Xing seemed entirely disinclined to entertain him, Qu Qingyu stepped around him as he began to walk away.
“I don’t believe I have ever offended you.”
Zhu Xing walked further and further away, completely turning a blind eye. Qu Qingyu couldn’t fathom what this sudden bout of petty temperament meant, just as he couldn’t understand why he had felt an intense urge to get close to Zhu Xing the very first time he saw him, even though he already knew Zhu Xing had a fiancé.
Qu Qingyu caught up, snagging Zhu Xing by the wrist. The skin beneath his fingers was warm, and the faint, rhythmic thrumming of the pulse made Qu Qingyu unable to resist giving it a gentle stroke.
Zhu Xing.
Though they had acted like strangers during their first encounter, meeting a second time within less than two hours in this small world, the guy was still just as deeply closet-freaky.
And his very next sentence was: “Break off your engagement with your fiancé.”