Su Xingyan was completely frozen by the paint splattered all over him. Without a moment’s hesitation, Yan Chong scooped him up in a bridal carry and put him into the car, speeding all the way to the nearest hospital. Once there, Yan Chong carried him out again, treating the situation with absolute gravity, and only felt at ease after placing him securely on a stretcher.
An hour later. Wearing blue striped hospital pajamas, Su Xingyan sat in the VIP ward, calmly and composedly sipping hot milk. He drank very slowly, leaving a faint milk mustache on his upper lip, which he subtly pursed away a moment later.
“…Block the news. I don’t want a single media outlet reporting on today’s incident. If any photos have already been taken, buy them out. It doesn’t matter how much it costs. As for the assailant…”
Su Xingyan was arranging the upcoming work with his assistant on the other end of his earpiece. When he mentioned the assailant, he paused slightly and looked up at Yan Chong, who was sitting nearby. At this moment, Yan Chong had his arms crossed, his handsome brows knitted tightly together. His already overbearing face looked even more murderous now, making him appear exceptionally formidable.
Oddly enough, Su Xingyan let out a soft laugh. Looking at Yan Chong, he asked quietly, “What about the assailant?”
Yan Chong snorted. “Dead.” Seeing Su Xingyan frown, Yan Chong took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and corrected himself. “I didn’t use lethal force. But he’s probably heavily injured. When I put you in the car, I stuffed him into the trunk along the way. He’s been sent to the emergency room.”
Su Xingyan asked, “Then…”
“I’ve already filed a report about this. The police will come over in a while to take your statement. Just tell them exactly what happened.” As Yan Chong spoke, he lifted his wrist to check his watch. “Right now, the police should still be interrogating that grandson. Once he’s patched up, he’ll be thrown behind bars. He definitely has someone backing him, and we won’t let him get away easily.”
Su Xingyan had nothing left to say. This man handled things with much more propriety and thoroughness than he had imagined. As far as their partnership was concerned, this was a good thing. Releasing a sigh of relief, Su Xingyan hung up the phone. Only then did he notice the bruise on Yan Chong’s forehead.
Su Xingyan said, “Yan Chong, come here.”
“Why are you calling me over? Didn’t you push me away back then?”
Yan Chong lowered his gaze, still feeling a lingering fear when he recalled the scene in the shantytown cage homes. Yet, meeting Su Xingyan’s eyes, he took a deep breath and stepped forward anyway. “Why did you push me away then? Wouldn’t it have been better to have me block it in front of you?”
“I have no reason to let my ally get hurt.” Now that Yan Chong was close, Su Xingyan could see it clearly, the man had indeed taken a blow to the forehead, and it wasn’t light. A purplish blue bruise was visibly forming. Su Xingyan sighed softly, his finger gently touching the bruised area. “Isn’t this what President Yan said before? We are grasshoppers tied to the same string, your win is my win.”
“Hiss.”
Yan Chong hadn’t felt much earlier, but being touched so gently by Su Xingyan now, a sudden wave of soreness washed over him. Yan Chong frowned and glared at him. “Do you think I don’t feel pain?”
Su Xingyan pulled his hand back, his smile thoroughly composed. “If it hurts, why haven’t you gone to get it bandaged?”
“I thought that by staying here to guard you, you’d be moved to tears of gratitude and owe me a favor.” Yan Chong gave a half-smile, his words exaggerated as he reverted to his usual high and mighty demeanor. “Seriously, you should do a thorough investigation when you go back. In your company… I’m afraid there are people with malicious intentions.” He paused, then smiled again. “Perhaps, more than just one.”
Su Xingyan narrowed his eyes, looking at him with calm amusement. “Why couldn’t it be someone by your side?”
“Why couldn’t it be someone by my side…”
Yan Chong muttered the phrase, appearing to ponder it quite seriously. In reality, however, he already knew the answer. “President Su, have you ever heard a saying? A benevolent person cannot command an army.”
Su Xingyan raised his head, meeting his gaze. “Does President Yan think I am benevolent?”
Yan Chong’s smile turned deeply meaningful. “You’re only fierce toward me.”
Knock, knock!
“Hello, the meal you ordered has arrived.”
Yan Chong turned around and saw that the food delivery from the private restaurant he had ordered from had arrived. He took it and placed it on Su Xingyan’s bedside table. “Eat first.”
How could Su Xingyan possibly be in the mood to eat right now?
“I don’t really want to…”
“Only when you’re full will you have the strength to work, right?”
Yan Chong spoke with a half-smile, but his tone left absolutely no room for argument. Su Xingyan rarely allowed himself to be controlled by others, but after a moment of silence, he finally seemed to compromise, moving the meal from the bedside table onto the overbed table.
To his slight surprise, it was exactly what he wanted to eat.
Yan Chong watched as Su Xingyan took small bites of the fish. This man had always eaten very elegantly, every bite of food had to be taken properly, and the same went for the fish. Even though there were clearly no bones, he still ate very slowly. Yan Chong suddenly realized he had found a way to manage Su Xingyan.
In fact, Su Xingyan had eaten quite a lot of fish since he was a child. When he was young, his mother would make fish soup for him whenever she had the time. At first, he refused to drink it, so his mother would change up the recipe in various ways to coax him, patiently guiding him by saying. Children who eat fish grow up to be smart. Our baby must grow up to be the smartest one.
Only now, he could never again drink the fish soup made by his mother’s own hands.
Su Xingyan finished the last sip of fish soup and put down his chopsticks. Just as he was about to call someone to clear the table, his phone buzzed and vibrated. Su Xingyan picked it up to look, it was a message from Wei Chengran.
【Yanyan, why are you ignoring me?】
Su Xingyan froze. Tapping into the chat window, he realized that Wei Chengran had actually sent him quite a few messages throughout the morning. Granted, they were all trivial, redundant chatter.
【Yanyan, are you awake? Did you eat the loving breakfast I prepared for you?】
【It’s been a long time since I last made it. Is it still good? If it tastes bad, let me know, okay? I’ll improve next time! 】
【Yanyan, I’ve arrived at the company. The weather is pretty nice today 「Image」】
Su Xingyan read through them line by line, the corners of his lips turning up imperceptibly. Honestly, sometimes he couldn’t understand a person like Wei Chengran. Clearly, when he was busy before, he couldn’t even be found, yet now he was sticking to him like chewing gum. Just like a child. But then again, this person had been clingy toward him since childhood.
Su Xingyan’s heart softened, and he typed out his reply word by word. 【I’m not ignoring you, I’ve been busy.】
With his arms crossed, Yan Chong leaned against the wall, quietly watching the faint smile that had graced Su Xingyan’s lips. This man usually looked cold and unapproachable, but when he actually smiled, he was gentle, elegant, and moving. Without realizing how long he had been watching, Yan Chong withdrew his gaze, a phantom smile tugging faintly at his thin lips.
Sunlight poured into the ward, and a gentle breeze rustled the curtains.
Su Xingyan was quite different from his useless husband. Wei Chengran had thick earlobes, he was born a young master who lived a sheltered life, getting whatever he wanted without lifting a finger. Su Xingyan, on the other hand, clearly possessed a face of striking nobility, yet he simply couldn’t idle about, he was fated to be a worker who constantly fretted over everything. After staying in the hospital for a mere half a day, he immediately made moves to return to Hongye.
Yan Chong initially disagreed, but Su Xingyan ignored him, handling the discharge procedures with the nurse on his own. “I had Shaoqing schedule a meeting for four o’clock. I still have an hour to get back. If President Yan doesn’t plan on giving me a ride on his way, then I will hail a taxi back myself.”
As Su Xingyan finished speaking, his eyes swept over him with a feather light glance. At that moment, Yan Chong was holding a financial magazine that Tang Chao had brought to help him pass the time. Meeting Su Xingyan’s warning gaze, Yan Chong raised his sharp brows. “It’s on the way. Any place under the sun is on my way.”
Yan Chong stood up, put down the magazine, and even made a sweeping gesture to clear the path for Su Xingyan. “After you, President Su.”
Su Xingyan looked up at his extended hand and gave a superficial smile. “Much obliged.” With that, he followed the nurse and walked out.
Withdrawing his hand, Yan Chong watched Su Xingyan’s departing back as he left with the nurse. For some bizarre reason, he recalled a male peacock he had seen in a zoo many years ago. Very beautiful. Su Xingyan was just like a beautiful and proud male peacock. Of course, he certainly wouldn’t think so himself.
Su Xingyan quickly finalized the discharge procedures. Knowing how stubborn this man could be, Yan Chong stopped arguing and simply instructed Tang Chao to return to the company as quickly as possible.
They sped along the road. When they arrived at Hongye, it was only three-forty.
Seeing Su Xingyan and Yan Chong return, Zheng Zhibei rushed over, frantically wiping a forehead full of sweat. “A-Yan… President Yan, are you both alright? I was worried sick the moment I heard the news, terrified that something had happened to you. I…”
“News? What news did you hear?”
Before Zheng Zhibei could finish speaking, Yan Chong cut him off with a half-smile. Walking beside Su Xingyan, Yan Chong stepped past him and sized up Zheng Zhibei with calm amusement. “It was merely an emergency meeting that was called. Does Director Zheng need to be this worried?”
“This… this…”
Sweat immediately poured down Zheng Zhibei’s face like rain. He could only wipe his sweat with a square handkerchief while casting a pleading look toward Su Xingyan. “A-Yan.”
“I’ve said it before, address me as President Su just like everyone else does in the company.”
Su Xingyan frowned slightly, his gaze turning somewhat complex as he looked at Zheng Zhibei. Zheng Zhibei was not only a veteran of the company, by seniority, he was actually Wei Chengran’s maternal aunt’s husband. Strictly speaking, this relationship wasn’t a close blood relation, but Zheng Zhibei was good to Wei Chengran, and Wei Chengran liked him, so the two families had imperceptibly grown closer.
Seeing that time was up and almost everyone had arrived, Su Xingyan formally commenced the meeting.
Everyone held their breath, unable to gauge what Su Xingyan was about to say, so they all remained silent. Sitting at one side of the conference table amidst the dead silence, Yan Chong suddenly smirked. Immediately following a loud thud, he tossed the documents Tang Chao had compiled onto the table.
“President Su, as far as I know, the relocation and demolition sector is handled by your company, right? Months have passed, has there been any progress?” Yan Chong’s voice sounded clear and steady within the conference room. “This is the situation my assistant investigated. A large number of the original residents have currently been forcibly evicted yet left homeless, wandering around the cage homes all day long, and even…”
Yan Chong paused, a mocking smile spreading across his lips. “Even preparing big character posters, getting ready to expose us in front of the media.” Yan Chong tapped his index finger lightly against the table, turning his head to look at Su Xingyan with a scoff. “If your company operates with this level of competence, I believe I must reconsider our partnership.”
Was this a threat? Su Xingyan looked toward him. Yet a brief moment later, Su Xingyan exhaled a soft breath, turning his gaze toward Zheng Zhibei. “Director Zheng, I remember I already approved the relocation compensation funds for you, three hundred million, a full three hundred million. Where is the money?”
“The money… the money…” Zheng Zhibei had absolutely never expected this matter to be exposed so quickly. He originally thought these people would be like those in the past, meekly accepting the money (though it wasn’t much, it was better than nothing, right?) and would quiet down from then on. Who could have known they would be this difficult to deal with!
“The money… I really gave the money to them! But A-Yan… oh no, President Su, President Su, you know how it is. A greedy person is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. I couldn’t possibly give them all the money all at once. What if they refuse to move and hold out for higher prices? I did it… I did it for the good of the company too!”
Yan Chong let out a light sneer, as if he truly had no time to spare for such a clumsy performance. He lifted his gaze to look at Su Xingyan. “Your company is indeed full of such talented individuals. I wonder if you can still gain anyone’s trust when collaborating with others in the future?”
“What do you mean by that! …A-Yan, I’ve worked in this company for over half my life. Even if I haven’t achieved great merits, I’ve given my hard work! I truly didn’t handle this matter well. How about this, give me one week, no, three days! Just three days! In three days, I will definitely…”
“Enough.”
Su Xingyan closed his eyes. Who else besides Yan Chong was sick and tired of this farce? Su Xingyan took a gentle breath, and when he opened his eyes again, his gaze was completely clear. “Director Zheng, you are an old timer in the company. We have all witnessed your hard work over the years… Let’s do this, I will approve your annual leave. Go back and rest for a while first.”
“As for that relocation fund, I will have someone audit it to see how much was actually spent. The remainder. I will trouble Director Zheng to make up the difference before your leave starts.”
Su Xingyan’s voice was calm, settling the matter conclusively.
Zheng Zhibei’s old face turned deathly pale in an instant. His lips trembled, and for a moment, he didn’t even know where to begin his defense.
Yan Chong looked on coldly at all of this. When Su Xingyan’s gaze drifted toward him, he raised his brows with great interest, then lifted his hands to applaud him. “Our President Su is truly wise, just, and fair in rewards and punishments.”