When Gu Tuo prepared to leave, Fang Jinshi stood up to see him out.
Realizing he had occupied a substantial chunk of the tycoon’s time, he couldn’t help but note apologetically, “Thank you for listening to me ramble on about so much nonsense today.”
Typically, his desire to vent and share wasn’t this intense. He had spoken this much with Gu Tuo simply because they shared such a profound, natural kinship.
“It wasn’t nonsense. I genuinely enjoy listening to you talk about these things.” Gu Tuo tilted his head to look at him, his dark eyes brimming with absolute sincerity.
Fang Jinshi smiled. He scrutinized Gu Tuo’s face for a few seconds before declaring with mock gravity, “Verification complete. You’re not just offering standard polite pleasantries.”
As they reached the threshold, Fang Jinshi didn’t forget to press Gu Tuo to take a potted green plant. While fresh-cut blossoms were undeniable in their beauty, their shelf life spanned mere days; a hardy potted plant was a completely separate matter—with proper care, it could survive for years.
“Your work forces you to stare at a computer terminal all day. Keeping a small plant right by your desk can help counter radiation. Furthermore, vegetation works wonders for improving indoor air quality. Having it by your side will refresh the air and naturally elevate your mood. It’s a win-win!”
Fang Jinshi unsparingly marketed the tiny cactus in his palms. He hoisted the small pot high. The round, chubby succulent sat submissively nestled inside its white porcelain holder, extending a network of long, sharp needles until it resembled a prickly little ball.
Gu Tuo’s gaze drifted downward, locking onto the highly formidable-looking “prickly ball.” For some unexplainable reason, the sight of it immediately reminded him of Fang Jinshi bristling and dynamic right in front of Li Jin. Didn’t he resemble this exact cactus?
A subtle shift crossed his eyes.
Interpreting the look as a sign of interest, Fang Jinshi smoothly thrust the planter toward Gu Tuo. “Go ahead and take it with you. It desperately desires to live on your executive desk!”
Yet, Gu Tuo ultimately declined his kindness. “My work schedule is far too packed; I won’t have the time to look after it properly. If I can’t guarantee its survival, I’d rather not take it in the first place.”
Fang Jinshi didn’t quite agree with the logic. “You haven’t even given it a trial run! It’s incredibly easy to care for!”
Seeing that Gu Tuo’s stance remained unyielding, he didn’t push the matter further, noting instead, “If you’re reluctant to invest effort into a potted plant, you can always accept fresh flowers. When the arrangement I gave you finally withers, slide back through my doors. I’ll curate a fresh bouquet for you.”
Gu Tuo hadn’t explicitly intended to accept Fang Jinshi’s offering. Yet on the exact day the blossoms in his executive suite finally withered, driven by a bizarre, unexplainable impulse, he found his steps guiding him straight to the threshold of Fang Jinshi’s flower shop anyway.
Then, he calmly carried a fresh bouquet back to his office.
Going back and forth in this casual manner, an unwritten protocol gradually solidified between the two—the exact moment a floral arrangement reached the end of its life cycle, they would rendezvous at the florist.
Consequently, Fang Jinshi’s flower shop finally secured its absolute first regular client. Fang Jinshi also steadily developed a brand-new habit: calculating the survival window of the flowers while quietly awaiting Gu Tuo’s arrival.
On this particular day, the family chef had whipped up a fresh batch of artisanal cookies. Fang Jinshi sampled one, finding the sweetness perfectly balanced and the texture delightfully crisp and fragrant. He carefully packed a generous portion to bring to his shop.
If his botanical calculations were correct, Mr. Gu was scheduled to collect his fresh bouquet today. When the tycoon arrived, they could share the delicious treats together.
By the time afternoon rolled around, the sun was hung high in the sky, diffusing a scorching, oppressive heat through the atmosphere.
Yet before Fang Jinshi could welcome Gu Tuo, his doors played host to a highly unexpected visitor instead.
“Oh my, what earthly kind of odor is this? It’s practically assaulting my nose!”
Accompanied by the sharp, crisp clicking of stilettos against the floor, a high-and-mighty female voice rang out.
Fang Jinshi’s brows knit together. Lifting his eyes, he caught sight of his cheap maternal cousin, Liu Linong, clutching a handful of designer shopping bags as she marched arrogantly into his shop.
She came looking for trouble. Fang Jinshi instantly formulated his internal verdict.
Liu Linong hadn’t arrived alone. The moment she crossed the threshold, she began frantically fanning the air with her hand, acting entirely as though she were on the verge of suffocating from the scent.
Trailing closely behind her, her high-society friend caught the cue to pick a fight. She mimicked the dramatic sniffing motion, exclaiming in mock horror, “Good heavens, you’re absolutely right! Why is this floral aroma so staggeringly pungent? Linong, is this genuinely your cousin’s boutique? I heard he was supposed to be a young master from an incredibly wealthy lineage; surely he isn’t peddling low-grade, cheap flowers here?”
Fang Jinshi had no idea from what dark corner of her mind she had managed to piece together the phrase “low-grade flowers.”
Fixing a faint, mocking smile onto the two women who were intentionally looking for a fight, he noted evenly, “Given how immensely sophisticated and well-traveled you two ladies are, I suppose you’ve never actually stepped foot inside an authentic florist before? A dedicated flower shop plays host to a vast array of distinct botanical varieties; it is mathematically inevitable for the fragrance profile to run a bit complex and heavy.”
On the surface, he used the phrase “sophisticated and well-traveled,” yet every single syllable dripped with a sharp mockery of their sheer lack of worldly exposure.
Hearing the retort, Liu Linong’s brows snapped up sharply, her elegant rose-like features instantly twisting into a fierce, malicious mask. “Fang Jinshi, what kind of attitude is that? I caught whispers from everyone that your business was failing, so I intentionally brought my friend along to support your shop. Is this how you treat paying customers?”
Listening to her monologue, one would genuinely believe she was acting out of the pure goodness of her heart for his well-being.
Fang Jinshi didn’t let her spark an ounce of irritation in him, replying smoothly, “Ah, my sales volume truly is quite pathetic. I originally curated this space to target a highly exclusive, boutique lifestyle aesthetic. But since we lack foot traffic right now, I suppose it allows just about any random, unrefined person to wander through my doors.”
The moment the words “random, unrefined person” hit the air, Liu Linong instantly mapped them to herself, her rage exploding to the surface. “You!”
Her chest heaved violently with raw fury, her glamorous face contorting with a fierce, dangerous edge. “How dare you, Fang Jinshi! In your eyes, I am nothing more than ‘any random person’? What exactly do you take the Liu family for?
What do you take your own mother for?”
Fang Jinshi utterly loathed her predictable tactic of continuously inflating a minor dispute into a grand family crisis. It seemed that throughout her entire existence, this was the singular strategic move she was capable of executing.
At that thought, Fang Jinshi’s expression turned brutally cold. “Let’s leave our extended family relations out of this discussion entirely. If an individual chooses to execute an independent act of stupidity, should the entire Liu family be forced to foot the bill for your behavior? Cousin, have you honestly never encountered that beautiful old proverb—the one who initiates a petty provocation is inherently pathetic?”
He had originally desired nothing more than for the two of them to inhabit separate spheres, completely untethered to one another. Yet here she was, charging straight to his front steps to spit on his business while expecting him to place her onto a sacred pedestal. The sheer scale of her delusion was so massive that even the full harvest moon of the mid-autumn festival would hide away in pure shame!
Liu Linong discovered to her absolute horror that every single time she attempted to parade her authority in front of Fang Jinshi, the endeavor permanently concluded with her own absolute public humiliation.
In reality, she had explicitly arrived today to catch a glimpse of Fang Jinshi living as a pathetic laughingstock. She simply hadn’t anticipated that instead of witnessing a comedy, she would be aggressively dismantled by Fang Jinshi’s tongue until she became the ultimate joke.
Hearing him weaponize the proverb against her, a sudden bolt of inspiration struck her mind, and she violently seized upon what she perceived to be Fang Jinshi’s ultimate, bleeding vulnerability: “You assume I came here merely to provoke you, completely blind to the reality that my heart is breaking over your utter lack of ambition! You are a dignified young master of the Fang lineage, yet you allowed a low-tier little actor to violently snatch your man right out of your hands! Instead of ruthlessly striking back to reclaim what is yours, you choose to wallow in this state of stagnation, occupying a premium commercial space just to run a dead flower shop that commands zero customers. You are an absolute disgrace to the Fang family name!”
A single monologue delivered a rapid-fire strike straight to Fang Jinshi’s dual vulnerabilities—romantic failure and commercial stagnation.
How could a man defined by such absolute failure possibly harbor the audacity to hold his head high in front of her? Liu Linong hoisted her sharp chin even higher, a deeply mocking, sarcastic sneer coloring her eyes as she looked down upon him.
Fang Jinshi, however, remained dead silent, acting entirely as though her words had successfully broken his spirit.
Catching the tactical opening, Liu Linong’s high-society friend rapidly stepped in to reinforce the assault: “She’s entirely right, Young Master Fang. Just listen to her; beneath her sharp words, Linong’s heart is completely focused on your best interests. Her tongue might cut like a knife, but her soul is as gentle as tofu. You’re throwing such vitriol back into her face is truly beyond the pale.”
Fang Jinshi abruptly let out a sudden, melodic laugh. He drawled softly, “Focused on my best interests? Actively dragging petty, low-tier romantic entanglements into my space to poison my peace—you call that my best interests?”
His innate elegance was undeniable; simply standing there, he exuded the pride of a solitary emerald bamboo stalk. Yet the most captivating element of his presence remained his crystal-clear eyes—brimming with an unyielding wave of absolute conviction that shone so brilliantly it made looking at him directly an agonizingly difficult task.
“In the eyes of people like you, perhaps an existence is defined solely by the scraps of affection tossed to you by a man. But I am not like you. I do not draw breath merely to serve a romance. I possess my own independent destiny, and I will permanently refuse to allow a single soul on this earth to dictate its terms!”
The declaration cut through the air with titanic force, dropping onto the room like an absolute verdict.
Liu Linong froze solid in sheer shock. Her high-society friend manifested an equally petrified, wide-eyed stare. The two women stood locked in an absolute, suffocating silence, completely stripped of the ability to utter another word of mockery.