The social elite had been rocked by a storm of gossip over the past few days.
First, the Xie Group had forcefully intervened and cut off one of the Yin Group’s partner companies. Then came the sudden news that the Xie Group’s youngest son, Xie Qingmian, had been cured of his brain condition.
Before the women had even recovered from the rumor, they saw Pei Junshu proudly taking Xie Qingmian shopping, confirming it as fact.
The Yin Group did not last long under Xie Chenque’s attack. Its cash flow was cut off, and the massive company came crashing down.
Xie Chenque had finally finished dealing with the arduous business battle and at last had time to go home.
But by the time he returned, it was already deep into the night. He did not disturb Xie Fu and Pei Junshu. He had assumed there would be no one left in the manor, but when he entered the living room, he saw Xie Qingmian dozing on the sofa.
Xie Chenque paused, then walked over to the sofa and picked up the blanket that was half-slipping off him, covering Xie Qingmian with it.
The movement woke Xie Qingmian.
He rubbed his eyes and said in a slightly hoarse voice, “Big Brother, you’re back.”
As usual, Xie Chenque reached out and ruffled his hair. “Were you waiting for me?”
Xie Qingmian answered nasally, opening his unbearably sleepy eyes. “Big Brother, be careful of people whose names contain the fire radical these next few days.”
Xie Chenque raised an eyebrow. “And why is that?”
“Just be careful.” Xie Qingmian sat up, only to grow sleepy again. He leaned sideways against Xie Chenque and yawned.
Xie Chenque flicked him lightly between the brows. “What, do you think you can tell fortunes now?”
“I can tell fortunes.” Xie Qingmian mumbled the words indistinctly, then yawned again.
Xie Chenque found him rather amusing and nudged him. “Go upstairs and sleep. You’re practically falling over.”
“Mm, okay.”
Xie Chenque did not completely disregard Xie Qingmian’s words, but neither did he believe them without reservation.
The next morning, he rose early as usual. When he went downstairs, he happened to run into Pei Junshu.
“You came back last night?”
“Mm.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Pei Junshu sat down at the dining table at the same time as her eldest son.
Her eldest son was simply too independent. He never made her or Xie Fu worry about anything, which only made her feel a little more heartsick for him.
“I came back once everything was taken care of. It was late, and I didn’t want to disturb you,” Xie Chenque said.
Pei Junshu sighed. “How could that be a disturbance?”
Xie Fu came in from outside, still wearing his exercise clothes.
“You’re back. Is everything over there settled?”
Xie Chenque replied, “It’s all taken care of.”
Only then did Xie Fu nod in satisfaction and sit down beside Pei Junshu. “Why hasn’t Mianmian come down yet? Is he still asleep?”
“He waited for me in the living room last night, so he went to bed late. I’ll wake him in a while.” Xie Chenque’s voice had grown much gentler.
As soon as Xie Qingmian came up in conversation, the atmosphere around the dining table became much more relaxed and warm.
After breakfast, Xie Chenque was about to go to the office when Xie Fu suddenly called out to him.
“Now that Mianmian’s better, it isn’t good for him to stay at home all the time. Why don’t you take him to the office with you? Let him spend some time around more people.”
Xie Chenque considered it and thought it sounded like a good idea.
As the two of them spoke, Xie Qingmian came downstairs, stretching lazily.
“Morning, Mom and Dad. Morning, Big Brother.”
“Morning.” Seeing him yawn repeatedly, Xie Chenque asked why he had not slept a little longer.
“I’m seeing Big Brother off to work.” Xie Qingmian was genuinely exhausted. Recently, he had been staying up almost day and night to… play video games.
When he had first encountered online games, Xie Qingmian truly had not expected them to be so much fun. Humans really were geniuses! How had they managed to invent something this entertaining?
And there were so many different kinds. He could play whatever he wanted!
Xie Qingmian had become completely immersed in the online world.
Of course, besides gaming, he had also been intensely studying modern knowledge.
After Daoist Qingyun appeared, Xie Qingmian had come up with a guess. But since he had not met Qingyun in person, he had no way to draw a direct conclusion.
In any case, he had only just woken up. Games were wonderful.
Bah, life was wonderful.
Bah, bah, life was truly wonderful.
Still, whether his guess was right or wrong, he had to look after this older brother of his.
Xie Qingmian dragged himself downstairs through his sleepiness so he could give his brother a talisman for protection.
Taking advantage of the hug, he slipped the talisman into his brother’s suit pocket. Once he had finished, he straightened up at once, without the slightest reluctance to leave.
“All right, Big Brother. You need to go to work.”
Xie Chenque spread his hands helplessly. “You’re already up. Do you want to come to the office with me?”
Xie Qingmian responded with another lazy stretch.
“I haven’t slept enough yet. I’ll go tomorrow. Tomorrow.”
Xie Fu watched the brothers interact from the side and said with a smile, “Were you out robbing houses last night? How did you get so sleepy?”
“I went to bed just a tiny bit late.”
He had gone to bed a whole lot late. After waiting for Xie Chenque to return, he had gone back to his room and played on his phone for a while before sleeping.
And today, he had successfully failed to get up.
Xie Chenque went to work. Pei Junshu had a concert to attend that day, and Xie Fu accompanied her. After seeing Xie Chenque off, Xie Qingmian returned to his room and went back to sleep.
In the top-floor office of the Xie Group, Xie Chenque finished handling the contracts his secretary had brought him. He leaned back in his chair and looked out over the city, giving his eyes a rest.
He could not help thinking of what Xie Qingmian had told him the night before.
“Be careful of people whose names contain the fire radical.”
There were plenty of people whose names contained the fire radical, but none of them should have been capable of posing a threat to him.
Xie Chenque thought about it for a while but could not come up with anything, so he soon put the matter out of his mind.
With the Yin Group dealt with, the company was no longer as busy as it had been over the past few days. Xie Chenque left work along with the rest of the company.
As usual, the driver waiting to pick him up was parked in the same spot in the lot. Once Xie Chenque got into the car, the driver pressed down on the accelerator and drove away.
After they had traveled a certain distance, Xie Chenque noticed that the car seemed to be getting faster and faster.
He looked up at the driver warily and saw that the man’s hands were trembling uncontrollably on the steering wheel.
“I’m sorry, President Xie. I’m sorry.” The driver’s voice shook. “But I really have no choice. I won’t live much longer, and I still have two children.”
Xie Chenque shouted sternly, “Pull over!”
But his words failed to make the driver stop as they had before.
On the busy road, the black Maybach suddenly swerved hard and charged toward the flower bed by the roadside.
“Bang!”