Taking advantage of the time gap while that group of people entered the door, Fu Chi brought him running out of the hotel, but they were quickly discovered, leading to a game of you chase and I flee.
Ji Chen had originally thought about calling the hotel front desk, but all the way through, not a single hotel staff member was in sight, which made Ji Chen realize that things were not as simple as they seemed.
After the footsteps in the alley faded away into the distance, Ji Chen began to struggle.
Fu Chi clamped a single hand around Ji Chen’s neck, offering no room for refusal, and only let go after he had indulged enough: “Being unfamiliar with the place in the Golden Triangle and with me as your only bodyguard left, the little young master had better behave.”
Ji Chen said coldly, “You’re never going back to the capital?”
Fu Chi paused for a moment before replying, “We’ll cross that bridge when we return to the capital. We shouldn’t miss out on the present just because of the future. Am I right, little young master?”
To this, Ji Chen didn’t offer a single word of rebuttal, letting out only a cold “ha” that made his intentions of settling accounts later abundantly clear.
Fu Chi wasn’t flustered either, holding his hand to pick a direction in the night and strolling leisurely away.
Ji Chen asked with some perplexity, “Whose people were those? Could targeting you and me be related?”
In the night, Fu Chi’s voice carried a chill: “They are Lin Si’s people. Coming after you is, on one hand, because Lin Si knows I intend to broker a cooperation between you and the Dark Society, which threatens the Lin family’s position in the Golden Triangle.”
“On the other hand, my mother wants to use this opportunity to give you a bit of a scare, so that I, the one who brought you here, will become the target of the Ji family’s wrath.”
“As for Fu Xi, he might play the role of the little young master’s savior. To give the Ji family an explanation, I won’t be able to hold onto my position as general manager.”
Ji Chen remained silent.
Fu Chi, on the other hand, asked with an air of amused curiosity, “You didn’t even ask about my mother treating me like this. Are you that well-versed in the Fu family’s situation?”
Ji Chen thought for a moment before speaking, “What do you feel toward your mother?”
“I don’t feel much. When I was little, I had a hard time. Whatever my younger brother wanted, I always had to offer up with both hands; whatever my younger brother had, I wasn’t allowed to have; whenever my younger brother made a mistake, it was always pushed onto me.”
“I didn’t know why she had to treat me that way, only assuming that I was just unlikable, so I wanted to become exceptional to make her change her view of me. The result is that the more exceptional I became, the more she loathed me, and she would even fabricate all sorts of things I never did in front of my dad.”
“Over time, my dad came to believe that I was an older brother who constantly tried to frame his younger brother, and his view of me worsened day by day. Getting beaten was a regular occurrence. As I gradually grew up, I understood that dislike is simply dislike, and I stopped trying to salvage anything.”
“I climbed to the position of general manager by rallying the board members and relying on my actual performance, not because my dad appointed me. Because of that, this entire family completely cast me aside. In their eyes, I’m just an outsider trying to seize the Fu family’s property.”
Ji Chen mentally sneered. That was way too miserable. He was clearly an eldest young master born right at the peak, yet he had to suffer this much.
Yet he needed to sort out the cosmic fortune, and the identity of the Ji family’s heir was a strict necessity. Plus, for what this guy did to his clone in the previous life, he simply couldn’t swallow that anger either.
Damn it, he shouldn’t have asked out of nosiness. Some things being a blurry mess are far more gratifying than knowing too much.
Ji Chen didn’t speak again, and Fu Chi didn’t have the hobby of ripping open his own vulnerabilities over and over, so the two of them stopped discussing the matter.
Not long after they walked, a car arrived to pick them up, proving that everything was completely under this guy’s control.
They came to a standalone villa. When they arrived, it was pitch black and impossible to see much, but the indoor environment was nice. Ji Chen had long since run himself to exhaustion, so he picked a room, washed up, and passed out the moment his head hit the pillow, completely unconcerned about how anyone else at the hotel was faring.
After Ji Chen fell soundly asleep, the bedroom door opened once more, and a figure sat by the bedside, just staring down at the little young master on the bed.
Ordinarily, Ji Chen was exhausted and should have slept deeply.
Yet, whether it was because the person’s gaze carried too much presence or not, the little young master began to murmur “Fu Chi” in his sleep once again!
Gritting his teeth as he chewed on the syllables, to the listener’s ears it sounded entirely full of lingering affection. In the dead of night, it was no different from an invitation, so Fu Chi took off his coat, slipped under the covers, and breathed in the sweet fragrance of the little young master.
How sweetly he slept at night was matched only by how much pain he woke up to!
His airway was being continuously tightened, and the suffocating sensation made the newly awakened Fu Chi feel somewhat dizzy.
The ink-black phoenix eyes flew open to meet Ji Chen’s puppy eyes, which were brimming with murderous intent. Fu Chi didn’t struggle, and instead reached out with good cheer to stroke the little young master’s long eyelashes.
If he weren’t weighed down by a different duty, Ji Chen really would have gone for the kill given how a mere paper character kept repeatedly transgressing against him.
The killing intent right now wasn’t fake in the least either. He was already contemplating whether to kill Fu Chi just to vent his frustration, and if worst came to worst, he could just reset and start a new run.
The ringing of a phone saved Fu Chi’s life.
Ji Chen got off of Fu Chi, picked up his phone, and answered it.
“Sis, what made you remember to call your neglected younger brother? Tch, I knew it was all for Zhou Qing. Did she manage to get in touch with Brother Yunzhou?”
“You want me to take care of her? What reason do I have to take care of her? Tsk tsk, getting mad is useless, I’m currently in the Golden Triangle. Can you just sprout wings and fly over here, or what?”
The siblings were clearly bickering. After catching his breath, Fu Chi, whose face had been choked a bruised red, slowly got up and left the room.
Ji Chen glanced at the closing door, continued talking with his sister, and hung up a moment later.
Immediately after, he dialed a different number, his eyes turning ice-cold: “Find some reliable people, I’ll need them when I get back to Beijing. Yeah, don’t let my dad know. You know what to do.”
After hanging up the phone once more, Ji Chen headed into the bathroom to freshen up.
Fu Chi, this young master won’t kill you, but a lesson is definitely in order.
Did he really think his title of little crown prince was just for show?
New clothes had been delivered to the room. After changing, Ji Chen went downstairs, only to find that Beishan and the others from the hotel had all arrived, along with an exceptionally unrestrained-looking man.
He was sporting stubble and curly hair, sitting with his legs crossed while smoking a cigarette, and was currently talking with Fu Chi. The moment he saw Ji Chen come downstairs, he greeted him heartily.
“This must be the crown prince of the Ji family. I’m Bai Lie; I set up the Dark Society. Even though I’m a businessman, I’ve never liked beating around the bush. Being able to cooperate with the Ji family is the key for the Dark Society to plant its feet firmly here. The price of the raw stones is open for negotiation, so what kind of price is Young Master Ji looking for?”
Accepting the cigarette Bai Lie handed over, Ji Chen toyed with it in his hand and refused the light: “I don’t smoke.”
Bai Lie was momentarily stunned before laughing: “Not smoking is great, smoking has no benefits anyway.”
Ji Chen cast a glance at the purplish handprints still lingering on Fu Chi’s neck, feeling his mood lighten and grow slightly more gratified.
Ignoring the man entirely, he looked at Bai Lie and said, “I’ve just taken over Liuguang and I’m a complete novice in the jade industry. Asking me to name a price right off the bat would just be a joke.”
“However, I’m certain you’ve done business with Fu Chi before, so it’s simple: whatever price you gave Fu Chi, you need to knock fifty percent off for me.”
The smile froze on Bai Lie’s face: “Young Master Ji, old friend Fu Chi and I go back, and the prices I gave already scraped the bottom. If you drop it by another fifty percent, we’ll be taking a blood bath. Why even bother doing this business at all?”
Ji Chen shook his head: “You can’t look at it that way. Some businesses might look like they’re running at a loss, but they’re actually profitable in the end. I am the heir to the Qingsheng Group, and right now the only thing I’ve taken over is Liuguang, but what about the future?”
“Just how many jewelry brands fall under the Qingsheng umbrella is something I can’t even count myself. If the volume of raw stones I demand ends up being dozens of times greater than Fu Chi’s, do you still think you’ll be losing your shirt?”