Yuan Ye sat in the car smoking a cigarette. Spotting a black Hyundai in the rearview mirror that had been tailing him for a while, he casually discarded his cigarette butt, sent a text message, and then drove away. After driving for a short distance, that black Hyundai was suddenly rammed and flipped over by a car rushing out from the side, unable to follow any longer.
As soon as Yuan Ye stepped into the house, he noticed a pair of pajamas scattered on the sofa. Remembering that they were worn by Li Sheng, he folded them up neatly and placed them aside. Sitting on the sofa for a good while, he finally called Li Fan: “How could you be so careless this time? It doesn’t look like your usual style of doing things.”
“I don’t know. Higher-ups say they’re still investigating, but checking is just a waste of effort. We’ve already been exposed. Unless we raze his stronghold to the ground, this trouble won’t stop.”
“Are you thinking of making another trip to Myanmar?”
“I have the thought.”
“Depending on the situation, it might not necessarily require you to go.”
“What? You have news on your end?”
“Not confirmed yet. What’s the name of your younger brother’s boyfriend?”
Li Fan was stunned for a moment by Yuan Ye’s question, taking a good long while to confirm he hadn’t heard wrong: “How do you know about this?”
“Coincidence. Your younger brother isn’t exactly a low-profile person either.”
“Wei Heng, a brother of mine.”
“Your brother? Your brother has decent taste.”
“Damn it, don’t go spilling this to me. I’m trying my best to turn him straight before my parents find out.”
“Straight? Don’t bother wasting your effort. Just put your energy into leaving an heir for your family.”
“Speaking of which, in a couple of days, I’ll have to hand my younger brother over to you to take care of for a while. We discussed it just now, and my dad originally planned to take my younger brother and my mom to the military district, but with a whole household trailing along, it doesn’t look quite right. You might as well help me through to the end.”
“Done. But answer me a question.”
“Say it.”
“Why did your brother break up with Wei Heng?”
“Damn, they broke up? How come I didn’t know about this? This is great news!”
Unwilling to listen to Li Fan nag any further, Yuan Ye directly hung up the phone. After pondering for a moment, he called Du Yu: “Tomorrow you go to the advertising company, sign the contract, and settle the advertisement. As for the acquisition matter, you can pretty much leave it to your assistant.”
“You’re not coming?”
“Yeah, I’ve been busy lately. Unless something major happens, you don’t need to ask me.”
Looking at the hung-up phone, Du Yu felt miserable because he felt that he would rather run the acquisition than go to the advertising company. That advertising director, Yang Shu, was definitely sick. Damn it, he pestered him every day, calling him whether there was something or nothing, and could chat for five minutes even when there was nothing to say. He probably had never seen human society before—a tall and big young guy, quite talented indeed, but lacking in the brains department, especially lacking in emotional intelligence. He truly couldn’t read the room or catch a hint.
Right as he was thinking about it, Yang Shu’s call came in again: “Manager Du, it’s you coming to our company tomorrow, right? I’m passing by, I’ll pick you up.”
“No need, Director Yang. I’m leaving early tomorrow and have other things to do.”
“It’s fine. I’ll go shoot around your neighborhood around five o’clock. Give me a call and I’ll come pick you up.”
“No, I… No, wait, how do you know where I live?”
“Alright, see you tomorrow.”
Du Yu really wanted to block Yang Shu, but he couldn’t, because Yuan Ye had said that when poaching Li Sheng, this guy named Yang Shu was best poached along with him.
Early in the morning, Yuan Ye had cleaned up the house and appeared neatly dressed at the entrance of Li Sheng’s home. Li Fan was actually quite pleased that Yuan Ye was so diligent, though he still asked a token question: “Why did you come so early?”
“If I were any later, I wouldn’t have time to come over. I’m very busy.”
With the air of someone who didn’t give a damn about poking his nose into their family’s messy business, Yuan Ye walked into the house. Li Fan desperately wanted to roll his eyes, but still held it back. Li Sheng had already woken up. Actually, he didn’t have too many inconveniences, except that it was hard for one person to go to the bathroom, and his movements were a bit slower. After all, doing things with his left hand was not very convenient, eating was slower, and reading work materials was slower too—the page he had just flipped over would close right back up upon a turn of his body. In a fit of exasperation, he simply quit.
Standing at the doorway, Yuan Ye watched Li Sheng struggle angrily by himself for a long time, until Li Sheng discovered Yuan Ye standing there. Never having expected him to show up at his bedroom door, Li Sheng felt a trace of surprise and asked casually: “Why are you here?”
“I’m here to pick you up. From now on, you’re going to live with me.”
Li Sheng was homosexual. Knowing full well that Yuan Ye’s words easily led to misunderstandings, he still chose to pretend he didn’t think too much into it: “Live with you? Why?”
Yuan Ye walked in slowly, rummaging through his closet for some clothing items. When he flipped to the undergarments, his movements naturally slowed down a bit, making Li Sheng’s face flush slightly warm: “Because your older brother asked me to take care of you and entrusted you to me.”
Li Sheng wanted to refute, but suddenly Yuan Ye turned around and pressed down over Li Sheng’s body. The two of them were pressed very close, able to clearly feel each other’s exhaled hot breaths: “Don’t ask too much. You know full well about the family’s situation.”