The spring rain continued to fall relentlessly. Su Xingyan took the elevator downstairs by himself. Just as he pulled out his phone to check the time, it vibrated with a buzz. A fresh press release had been pushed to his feed. The headline was exceptionally sensational, making Su Xingyan’s eyes twitch slightly.
[Has the Playboy Finally Woken Up? Young Master Wei Splurges 100 Million on Autonomous Driving!]
Su Xingyan glanced at the news outlet responsible. Xingxu Media. Others might not know, but Su Xingyan recognized it at a glance, this was the Wei family’s media company.
The pattering of the spring rain into the puddles outside grew increasingly irritating. Su Xingyan let out a soft breath. Just as he gripped his phone and turned around, he saw Yan Chong’s tall figure leaning toward him. With his hands shoved in his pockets, Yan Chong lazily swept his phoenix eyes over Su Xingyan’s phone screen.
“‘Has the playboy finally woken up? Young Master Wei splurges 100 Million on autonomous driving…’” Yan Chong read the words aloud with a hint of amusement. When he finished, he lifted his eyelids and looked at Su Xingyan with a half-smile. “Doesn’t Hongye always focus on real estate projects? Why the sudden whim to cross over into autonomous driving?”
“Hongye is, of course, a real estate company. But one cannot hang himself from a single tree. Since it’s a subsidiary, exploring unknown fields isn’t a bad thing,” Su Xingyan said, turning off his screen and slipping the phone into his pocket, clearly having no intention of elaborating. “What would you like to eat, President Yan? Is the staff cafeteria alright?”
“Exploring unknown fields is certainly a good thing, but the field of autonomous driving is too much of a blank slate right now. The idea is nice, but the cost of trial and error is too high. The first person to eat the crab might not necessarily get a good result,” Yan Chong analyzed calmly, as naturally as if they were just making small talk.
Listening to him, Su Xingyan couldn’t help but look at him sideways. Amidst the continuous spring rain, he stared at Yan Chong’s sharp profile and pursed his lips slightly. Previously, Wei Chengran had asked for his opinion time and again, but in truth, what opinion could he have? His thoughts aligned perfectly with what Yan Chong had just said. Business isn’t something that can be achieved with just a good idea. It also requires a professional team and core technology. As for ideas? Ideas are the cheapest commodity.
Only naive rookies who haven’t been beaten down by society would think their ideas are unprecedented and revolutionary.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Does President Su also think I’m right?” Yan Chong chuckled as he looked at him, unable to resist teasing, “If you want to praise me, you can just say it. No need to be shy.”
Su Xingyan retracted his gaze, took an umbrella from his assistant, opened it, and walked straight into the curtain of rain. He replied with a cold sneer, “Has President Yan perhaps heard of the phrase ‘a proud army is bound to lose’?”
“My Chinese wasn’t very good growing up, so I really haven’t heard of that one.” Drenched in the rain, Yan Chong took a few quick steps to slide under Su Xingyan’s umbrella. His eyes curled with a smile as he looked up at Su Xingyan. “But I do know that right now, President Su and I are grasshoppers on the same boat. We share the glory and the loss.”
“If President Su wins, I win.”
Yan Chong took the handle of the umbrella from Su Xingyan’s hand. The originally cold handle had already been warmed by Su Xingyan’s palm, and that faint warmth was now transferred directly into Yan Chong’s hand without any reservation. Su Xingyan looked up at him, his pale lips slightly pursed. He stared at him in silence for a long moment before replying, “Then you’d better hold this umbrella steady.”
“Rest assured, President Su, I will never let you get wet,” Yan Chong replied smoothly, acting every bit the perfect gentleman.
The spring rain continued to patter down, making one feel restless.
Wei Chengran held the steering wheel with one hand while casually scrolling through the press release Xingxu Media had sent out for him with the other. Few people knew that this media company actually belonged to his aunt. Over the years, while it appeared to be throwing dirt on Hongye on the surface, they were actually as close as family, using entertainment gossip as a front to generate a lot of positive publicity for Hongye.
Wei Chengran figured he could do the exact same thing this time, reverse psychology. Since the Hong Kong media was watching his entrepreneurial venture closely anyway, people were going to badmouth him whether he did well or not. Instead of waiting for others to gossip, he might as well jump into the fray himself. For one, he could control the direction of public opinion. Secondly… well, it was just like that phrase Su Xingyan always used: Without breaking down the old, you can’t build the new!
Wei Chengran was thinking with absolute confidence when he suddenly heard a dull thud.
He slammed on the brakes, snapped his head up, hurriedly unbuckled his seatbelt, and jumped out of the car. There, right beside the front of his car, a flashy replica racing motorcycle was sprawled on the ground. A young man wearing a white helmet was pinned beneath the bike, crying out in pain.
Wei Chengran rushed over to move the bike and help him up. “Hey… you, are you alright?”
“Alright? Brilliant, you blockhead!” Tang Songzhi stumbled as he stood up with Wei Chengran’s help. Pulling off his helmet, he turned around and glared fiercely. “Do you even look at the road when you drive? If I hadn’t been going slow, you would have knocked me out of the Milky Way by now, do you know that?!”
Tang Songzhi took after his mother, born with beautiful, stark white skin and a delicate frame. As he turned his face into the fine, dense spring rain, his handsome, clean features suddenly crashed into Wei Chengran’s vision. Wei Chengran froze for a moment, and it took him a while to look away and rub his nose. “Sorry about that. This car of mine is autonomous and still in the testing phase. It probably failed to detect you just now.”
Tang Songzhi narrowed his fox like eyes and let out a frustrated laugh. “Oh, autonomous driving. How bloody impressive.” He snorted coldly, looking down to pat the dust off his trousers. “So just because you’re developing autonomous driving, you get a free pass for hitting people? What, are you not human? Are you a ghost or what?!”
“That’s not what I meant…” Wei Chengran frowned, staring back at Tang Songzhi with irritation. He couldn’t understand how someone who looked so delicate could be so incredibly prickly the moment he opened his mouth, just like a little chili pepper. But since it was his fault to begin with, he suppressed his anger and waved his hand. “Let’s go. I’ll take you to the hospital.”
Wei Chengran turned to leave with a casual, indifferent air.
Behind him, Tang Songzhi glared at him viciously. “Hey! You messed me up like this, how am I supposed to walk?”
Wei Chengran turned back, only to see him dragging his injured leg, struggling to take a few steps. Tang Songzhi extended his arm unhappily, gritting his teeth. “Get over here! Support me!”
Wei Chengran took a few steps forward and supported Tang Songzhi. As his gaze swept over Tang Songzhi’s pale profile, the rain happened to stop, and a sliver of sunlight broke through, illuminating the side of Tang Songzhi’s face. For a fleeting second, Wei Chengran was reminded of Su Xingyan.
He and Su Xingyan had been desk mates for three years in middle school. Back then, he used to do this often, turn his head and quietly look at Su Xingyan’s profile. Yanyan… Yanyan. It seemed like it had been a very long time since he last looked at Yanyan like that. When exactly did that change? Wei Chengran couldn’t remember.
“Hey, why are you staring at me like that?” Tang Songzhi suddenly turned his head and asked.
“…It’s nothing,” Wei Chengran rubbed his nose, brushing it off. “What’s your name?”
The spring rain returned after a brief pause, pattering against Wei Chengran’s test vehicle. Meanwhile, at Hongye over a dozen kilometers away, the sky had already cleared, and the first neon lights of the evening were beginning to flicker.
Su Xingyan looked like an elegant, meticulous person, but he wasn’t particularly picky about his food or daily life. When Yan Chong said he wanted to eat, Su Xingyan had planned to take him to the staff cafeteria for a quick meal. Who would have thought the man would look at him with a half-smile and ask if President Su really intended to dismiss him with a simple ‘two meats and one vegetable’ combo?
Su Xingyan choked on his words for a moment. Just as he opened his mouth to argue, Yan Chong sighed softly over the sound of rain dripping from the umbrella’s edge. “Is President Su like this with every business partner, or are you just playing favorites and treating me with special neglect?” Before Su Xingyan could reply, Yan Chong added deliberately, “If I’m the only one getting this treatment, then I suppose I should feel honored.”
Su Xingyan: ?
He narrowed his eyes and swept a glance over Yan Chong. Clearly, an hour ago at the conference table, this man had been utterly uncompromising, yet right now he was lowering his posture, making it look as if someone had deeply wronged him.
Su Xingyan looked at him coldly. “Yan Chong, this kind of persona doesn’t suit you.” Even so, his steps had already shifted in the opposite direction of the cafeteria.
It was the first time Yan Chong had heard him utter his name. First and last name together, delivered through that naturally cool voice, it carried a unique flavor. In that instant, a string in his heart plucked sharply, and he almost blurted out.
Say it again.
“What do you want to eat?” Su Xingyan turned his head back to look at Yan Chong, his gaze cold and composed. His delicate brow furrowed slightly as he reminded him, “We only have an hour and a half.”
“Would your company consider extending your lunch breaks?” Yan Chong snapped out of his daze and chuckled. He guided Su Xingyan toward his business van. “Relax a little. A new French restaurant just opened nearby. How about we give it a try?”
Su Xingyan didn’t say yes or no. He walked over to the car and instinctively moved toward the back seat. Before he could climb in, however, he paused as if realizing something. He looked up, and sure enough, Yan Chong was resting one hand on the steering wheel, looking at him with a half-smile. “Do you take me for your driver? Come over here and sit next to me.”
Su Xingyan: ?
Three seconds later, Su Xingyan let out a soft breath and sat in the passenger seat after all. However, he glanced at Yan Chong and suddenly announced, “No French food.”
Yan Chong raised an eyebrow, only to hear Su Xingyan say with a perfectly straight face, “Let’s have Western food instead.”
For some bizarre reason, Yan Chong let out a low laugh. He turned his head and sized Su Xingyan up with an amused look. “I thought President Su wasn’t picky about these things.” Still, he didn’t mind. He turned the steering wheel and slowly drove off. “Fine, whatever President Su says goes. We’ll eat whatever you want.”
Su Xingyan ignored him. In reality, he didn’t have anything he particularly wanted or didn’t want to eat. He simply didn’t want this man to have everything go his way, so he intentionally found something to contradict him on.
The spring rain had stopped quietly a long time ago. The air was thick with the scent of mugginess and humidity.
In the end, they settled on a Western restaurant that had been open for nearly a decade.
Su Xingyan didn’t have much of an appetite. He left his steak mostly unfinished, only lightly picking at some vegetable salad before setting down his knife and fork. He sat across from Yan Chong, watching him quietly. He didn’t rush him, but being stared at like that would usually make anyone feel quite uncomfortable. In the past, during moments like this, Wei Chengran would always shovel down his food as fast as possible, then wipe his mouth and say indistinctly. Yanyan, I’m full, let’s go.
All to avoid Su Xingyan frowning at his watch a second later to remind him that they were running out of time.
However, who was Yan Chong? Even if the King of Heaven came down, he wouldn’t be able to control this man.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Is there money on my face?” Yan Chong pretended to be entirely oblivious to the heavy gaze. He calmly pierced a small piece of steak, lifted his eyes to glance at Su Xingyan’s barely touched plate, and raised an eyebrow in amusement. “And here I thought President Su was dying to have Western food.”
Su Xingyan caught the mockery in his words. He shot a cold look at him, picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth, and shot back, “I wanted to eat it earlier, but now I don’t. Is that not allowed?”
With that, just as Su Xingyan was about to set down the napkin, a familiar figure caught the corner of his eye.
Yan Chong was about to say “Of course it’s allowed,” but seeing him suddenly freeze and stare open mouthed at the side, he turned his head too. Following his gaze toward the window, he saw a pair of young men dining and laughing merrily. The one on the right was dressed in a wild, unrestrained style with a pair of black headphones hanging around his neck. The one on the left…
He clearly had very delicate features, but he was heavily made up, looking remarkably glamorous and alluring.
Yan Chong’s eyes narrowed dangerously. After a long silence, he turned back and looked at Su Xingyan with a half-smile. “What is President Su staring at over there? Don’t tell me… that’s your husband?”
“Am I the only one looking? What are you looking at, President Yan?” Su Xingyan’s face didn’t change color as he pulled his gaze back to meet Yan Chong’s dark eyes. “Don’t tell me… that’s your fiancée?”
“You investigated me.”
Yan Chong narrowed his eyes, his gaze turning several degrees colder in an instant.
Su Xingyan sneered, throwing the words right back at him. “You say that as if President Yan hasn’t investigated me.”
“Just standard reciprocity.”