Yan Chi did not go to school.
What a joke!
He, the dignified Second Young Master of the Yan family, going to school with two fresh palm prints on his face? Did he no longer want his pride?
Yan Chi went to an entertainment club to sing, drink, and vent his frustration. He thought everyone looked annoying and was like a powder keg, cursing at whoever crossed his path. Others who recognized him as the Second Young Master of the Yan family and saw that he was in a bad mood immediately fled far away, terrified of provoking this little tyrant.
Holding a wine glass, he bumped right into a man, spilling drinks all over the man’s suit in an instant.
“Are you blind when you walk, damn it! Didn’t you see me standing here!”
The man lowered his gaze, brushed the liquor off his suit jacket, and tilted his head to glance sideways at Yan Chi.
The man tapped his chin slightly, and several people behind him rushed forward immediately, pinning Yan Chi to the ground.
Yan Chi let out an “ow” and began to wail miserably.
After receiving a call from the club, the housekeeper skillfully dialed Yan Hang’s number to report the situation.
Yan Hang was in the middle of a meeting and said impatiently, “Fighting with people again? Not going to school in broad daylight and running off to a club to fight what kind of behavior is that. Go handle it properly; pay whatever compensation is needed and apologize where necessary. Don’t let this affect the Yan family’s reputation.”
The housekeeper asked, “Should I take Young Master Jiang along?”
Jiang Yun could now be considered half a master of the Yan family, and since the family’s Second Young Master had gotten into trouble, they couldn’t just keep him completely in the dark.
An image of Jiang Yun’s cold and disgusted gaze from that morning suddenly flashed through Yan Hang’s mind, and he couldn’t help clicking his tongue. “Ask him. If he wants to go, let him.”
Honestly, he was going to end up looking down on their Yan family for lacking upbringing anyway.
Jiang Yun couldn’t be bothered to deal with such matters, but upon hearing the housekeeper mention that the club was called Xianglanhai, he suddenly asked, “Xianglanhai? Which part of Dingjiang Building is it in?”
The housekeeper answered, “Yes, that’s the one.”
Dingjiang Building was an industry owned by the Jiang family a fifty-plus-story commercial skyscraper that brought together entertainment, fine dining, hotels, offices, and commercial apartments. Aside from covering management, maintenance, and security costs, it generated several million in net rental income for the Jiang family every month.
Xianglanhai occupied three entire floors and was a major tenant in Dingjiang Building.
He didn’t care that Yan Chi was getting beaten up at Xianglanhai; rather, he remembered that in the future, a very severe homicide case would take place at this club.
That murder case directly caused Dingjiang’s commercial value to plummet. Tenants and residents moved out one after another, and without rental income, the Jiang family struggled to maintain the building’s exorbitant property management and security fees, forcing them to list the building for sale.
As a result, even after being listed for two years, no one took it off their hands. The vacant Dingjiang Building in City A’s most prosperous commercial district was rumored to be a haunted building and turned into the Jiang family’s largest liability.
Since he had been reborn, he was determined to prevent the disasters he had suffered in his past life.
Jiang Yun found a person’s phone number and flipped through his contacts.
“Young Master Yun! What made you think of calling me? Oh, right, wishing Young Master Yun a happy wedding.”
Hearing this voice, a sharp pain involuntarily stabbed through Jiang Yun’s heart. “Brother Chen, are you over at Dingjiang? I have some matters to take care of and need to head over.”
Xu Chen: “I’m here! What’s wrong? Just give the order, Young Master Yun.”
Jiang Yun: “Yan Hang’s younger brother, Yan Chi, got into a fight with someone at Xianglanhai. I’m planning to go take a look.”
Xu Chen was astonished. “Who has the guts to beat up the Second Young Master of the Yan family? I’ll bring some brothers over right away and guarantee we back you and the Second Young Master up properly.”
Hearing Hong Lang’s no, Xu Chen’s familiar voice after so long, a deep sorrow crept into Jiang Yun’s eyes and settled across his features.
He paused, forced a lighthearted laugh, and said, “Brother Chen, see you later.”
Xu Chen used to be the Jiang family’s driver, picking him up and dropping him off at school, playing and messing around with him, and protecting him like an older brother.
In his past life, when he fell into the storm of public opinion over murdering Yan’s father, only Xu Chen believed in his innocence, defending him countless times in front of others and searching for evidence on his behalf.
Yet in a subsequent conflict with the Yan family, one of his legs was broken by the Yan family’s bodyguards, and he was even dragged off to prison.
He always remembered Xu Chen wearing a prisoner’s uniform, limping toward him, and flashing a reluctant smile as he said: Young Master Yun, I’m fine. You have to be careful…
Xianglanhai.
Xu Chen brought several tall, burly Dingjiang security guards to back Jiang Yun up.
As soon as he saw Jiang Yun appear, he rolled up his sleeves, ran over, and said, “Young Master Yun, who bullied the Second Young Master? Just watch me beat the stuffing out of them!”
“Brother Chen…”
Looking at Xu Chen, who was wholeheartedly ready to stand up for him, Jiang Yun felt a hot surge in his throat and said in a low voice, “…No need to rush, it’s not a big deal.”
Uncle Zhao anxiously asked the receptionist, “I’m from the Yan family. Where is our Second Young Master?”
With a troubled expression, a staff member of Xianglanhai said, “Second Young Master Yan had a conflict with President Sheng of Yisheng, and they’ve detained the Second Young Master and won’t let him go…”
Uncle Zhao was startled. “What? Which President Sheng?”
He had thought Yan Chi was merely fighting with the other scions hanging around the club that day, and that the people at Xianglanhai hadn’t dared call the police out of respect for the Yan family’s identity, but had instead notified him to settle it privately.
Who could have imagined that the Second Young Master had actually offended someone he shouldn’t have.
Xu Chen was also taken aback, his earlier aggressive momentum faltering: “President Sheng of Yisheng? Young Master Yun, this, this…”
The Yan family was a wealthy household built through generations of operation and capital accumulation.
However, Sheng Yan of Yisheng had appeared out of nowhere in China, forcefully and aggressively seizing the market. In a short period, he acquired the country’s top financial securities and bank credit companies one by one, merging them into the Yisheng Group.
No one knew what kind of backing he had. Once, a foreign financial firm tried to compete with Yisheng for market resources, only to permanently withdraw from the Chinese market a few months later. From then on, his identity became even more mysterious and unfathomable.
Yet Jiang Yun did not panic. The Jiang family and Sheng Yan had no direct business dealings. Furthermore, the one who offended Sheng Yan was Yan Chi, not him.
Jiang Yun reassured Xu Chen, saying, “It’s fine. Brother Chen, just call me Xiaoyun.”
“Xiao, Xiaoyun…”
Xu Chen felt a bit awkward calling him “Xiaoyun,” and hurriedly asked, “What should we do now? Should we notify President Yan to come over?”
Jiang Yun: “No need, let’s go inside and take a look first.”
Yan Chi had been beaten up quite badly.
Half of his head was split open, bleeding profusely, his face was bruised and swollen, and his arms were being pinned down against a glass table.
Grimacing in pain and having never suffered such humiliation before, he was so angry his lungs felt like they were going to explode.
Yet facing the man sitting opposite him whom everyone called “Brother Yan,” he felt an instinctive fear, sensing that this man might actually kill someone if he was in a bad mood.
When he saw Uncle Zhao appear, he practically cried out, “…Uncle Zhao, why did you only just get here?”
“Second Young Master!”
Uncle Zhao was terrified. He tried to go over and help Yan Chi up, but was blocked by Sheng Yan’s men, leaving him no choice but to look toward Jiang Yun for help.
Jiang Yun spotted the man sitting in the center of the private room’s sofa. His posture was unrestrained, his long legs casually crossed, and one hand leisurely swirling a wine glass. He remained entirely unfazed by the arrival of the Yan family members, continuing to let his subordinates pin Yan Chi down and block him and Uncle Zhao.
This was Sheng Yan.
Looking at the man’s sharply defined profile, Jiang Yun recalled his sole encounter with Sheng Yan in his past life.
At a banquet, he had proactively approached Sheng Yan in order to help Yan Chi build more connections.
The result was predictable: Sheng Yan not only didn’t take him seriously, but also spoke to him frivolously, treating him with extreme hostility and a complete lack of manners. The things he said had caught Jiang Yun off guard with shame and anger.
Yet back then, for Yan Chi’s sake, he had suppressed his anger, maintained a polite smile, and prepared to leave.
Instead, Sheng Yan had leaned close to his ear and teased, “That trash Yan Hang doesn’t deserve you. You might as well try your luck with me.”
Because of this memory, Jiang Yun deliberately avoided Sheng Yan’s gaze and said coolly, “Yan Chi, apologize to President Sheng.”
“On, on what grounds.”
Though terrified, the arrival of the Yan family members gave Yan Chi back some of his backbone. It was indeed true that he had bumped into Sheng Yan first, but having been beaten up like this, his adolescent pride absolutely refused to let him apologize.
“They beat me up like this, on what grounds should I still apologize!”
Jiang Yun replied, “Then ask President Sheng yourself. Ask him what it will take for him to be willing to let you go.”
With pain making his vision go dark, Yan Chi was almost driven to faint by Jiang Yun’s detached attitude. Feeling wronged and furious, he snapped, “Then what did you even come here for!”
Jiang Yun mocked coldly, “You can’t even handle the mess you started yourself, and you can only take your anger out on your family. You really are a useless idiot.”
Yan Chi: “You!”
Huh?
Only then did Sheng Yan raise his head to look at the newly arrived Yan family members. At a single glance, his gaze locked onto the speaking Jiang Yun and refused to move away.
The boy was very clean; even from a distance, a faint, refreshing fragrance seemed to waft from him. If one got closer, it would surely be even more pleasant. His gaze shifted downward, landing on the hands the boy kept hanging by his waist.
Beneath the cuffs of a well-tailored shirt were cold, white, slender hands. The five fingers naturally curved into a cool, white, and soft arc, their clean nails reflecting the light.
“Not bad.”
Sheng Yan let out an ambiguous chuckle and said, “Coming to wipe your brother-in-law’s butt on your second day of marriage you really are… quite something.”
It seemed Sheng Yan had seen yesterday’s wedding between him and Yan Hang and knew he was Jiang Yun.
Wanting to settle the matter quickly, Jiang Yun asked, “What will it take for President Sheng to be willing to let him go?”
Sheng Yan countered, “Anything works?”
Jiang Yun frowned. “What do you want?”
Sheng Yan gestured toward the empty seat beside him, his voice carrying a deep, slow undertone: “Come over here. Sit by my side and have a drink with me.”
Jiang Yun raised his eyes and accidentally crashed into the man’s deep, unfathomable gaze. That smiling look directed at him seemed to have tentacles, caressing his entire body over.
Recalling the frivolous remarks Sheng Yan had made in his past life, Jiang Yun felt his face heat up with shame and annoyance.
This man…
Gritting his teeth and no longer hiding his shame and anger, Jiang Yun scolded, “Are you sick in the head?”
“Daring to curse me?”
Sheng Yan wasn’t angry in the least. With an unrestrained smile, he propped his chin in his hand and looked down at the boy, asking, “What did you come here for, if not to beg for mercy on behalf of your brother-in-law?”
“If President Sheng isn’t willing to let him go, then forget it.”
Jiang Yun picked up his phone, preparing to dial the police, and said, “Detaining and kidnapping a minor if President Sheng wants to have a drink, shall we have one down at the police station?”
Sheng Yan was slightly taken aback before breaking into amusement. “Call the police?”
His bodyguards rushed forward, attempting to snatch Jiang Yun’s phone away.
But Xu Chen wasn’t a pushover either. Knowing Sheng Yan was someone not to be trifled with, he would never allow Jiang Yun to be bullied. With a wave of his hand, he led several security guards to shield Jiang Yun on both sides, taking on a posture of going all out in a fierce battle against Sheng Yan’s subordinates.
In an instant, swords were drawn and bows were strung, and the atmosphere in the private room grew tense.
Even Yan Chi forgot his anger and grievances, staring in astonishment at Jiang Yun.
He thought to himself that Jiang Yun had indeed come to rescue him, otherwise why would he have brought so many people along.
And he had just misunderstood him and yelled at him…
“Alright, alright, all of you step back.”
Sheng Yan lazily instructed his subordinates: “Everyone’s an adult, how can you go about bickering with a kid.”
With that, he stood up, walked over to Jiang Yun’s side, and said, “Right, little one?”
Only then did Jiang Yun realize that Sheng Yan was tall even taller and larger than Yan Hang and possessed an intense sense of oppression as he stood right in front of him.
“Since President Sheng isn’t pursuing the matter, then I’ll take my leave.”
Jiang Yun was about to lead his people away when Sheng Yan stepped into his path, blocking his exit. With a low, magnetic voice, he uttered a single sentence: “Call a truce with a handshake?”
As he spoke, he extended his hand toward him. Beneath a dark sleeve, a stretch of wrist looked powerful and vigorous.
Jiang Yun hesitated for a moment before finally raising his hand.
That hand was slender, cold, and pale, looking as beautiful as a flawless piece of art. The lines from the palm to every finger were smooth and bony, with protruding knuckles, faint blue veins spreading across the back of the hand, and pink fingertips…
Sheng Yan’s eyes darkened as he gripped that hand tightly. The perfect artwork wasn’t as cold as it looked; held in his palm, it felt warm, soft, and supple.
Unable to help himself, Sheng Yan exerted a bit of strength, exhaling a sound that resembled a silent, satisfied sigh.
Taking advantage of the moment, he pulled that hand closer, leaned in right beside Jiang Yun’s ear, and murmured in a low voice: “It really is a waste on that trash Yan Hang. You too… truly have terrible taste.”
Jiang Yun’s heart gave a violent leap.
Seeing Sheng Yan for the first time across both lives, this man had said the exact same words to him.