“Quite lively here, what are you all chatting about?”
The class reunion was indeed described as quite authentic, but back in the day, students who could attend No. 1 High School either came from well-off families or had exceptional academic achievements. After rolling through society for a few years, most of them were not short on money. They valued taste, so the place they chose was naturally not bad the reunion was held at the best hotel in Haijing.
However, Yan Chi couldn’t focus on the reunion just yet.
The matter of ending the collaboration with Haihui still needed to be wrapped up. Liang Yingwen, who was well-informed, had been subtly probing Yan Chi ever since he found out that Changying had gotten involved in this matter.
“Yan Chi, do me a favor and just tell me, what exactly is your relationship with Changying? How come I never heard about it before?” The omega rarely came down from the top floor, but today he made a trip to Yan Chi’s studio.
Before becoming Yan Chi’s business partner, Liang Yingwen had been an unabashed playboy for several years. Relying on the Liang family’s substantial wealth, he dabbled in investments across various fields. Back then, others watched him with amusement, waiting for the Liang family’s young master to lose everything. Who would have thought that halfway through, Yan Chi and RH would emerge, not only allowing Liang Yingwen to make a fortune but also getting him to take a proper job seriously.
While Liang Yingwen was undoubtedly a benefactor for RH in its early days, Yan Chi was no less important to him.
Yan Chi organized his thoughts, simplifying the explanation: “I’m old classmates with Changying’s CEO, Ji.”
“And then?”
Yan Chi, still holding a dropper in his hand, glanced at him distractedly. “What else is there?”
“It’s not that I’m saying anything, but CEO Ji is a normal person, right?” Liang Yingwen looked at him strangely.
What was this? Out of nowhere, why insult Ji Yueting?
Yan Chi was displeased. “What do you mean?”
“What I mean is, if he grew up and went to school normally, he’d have plenty of seniors, juniors, and classmates you could scoop them up all over Haijing, believe it or not.”
Yan Chi turned his head away, not particularly fond of hearing this.
Liang Yingwen continued on his own. “If he helped everyone, would he even have the time? I remember. Shen Xingfeng from Haihui is also his classmate, right? How come he could come down hard on him?” There must be more to the story.
“Do you live by the sea?” Yan Chi didn’t even turn around.
“Huh?”
“You’re meddling too much.”
Tsk. From Yan Chi’s few words, Liang Yingwen caught a whiff of a strange yet familiar tone. This kind of tone had appeared before, hadn’t it? Liang Yingwen pondered to himself. It seemed like every time Yan Chi stood up for someone close to him, he sounded like this.
Yan Chi’s relationship with Changying’s CEO Ji was definitely not simple, Liang Yingwen concluded in his heart, but he didn’t press further.
While he loved gossip, he still knew his limits. Since Yan Chi didn’t want to say more, he’d just play along and keep quiet.
“Aren’t you leaving yet? Planning to steal my techniques by staying here?” Yan Chi teased him. “Give up, you have no talent for it.”
Liang Yingwen chuckled, brushing off the previous topic. “Hey, don’t rush to kick me out. There’s still something we haven’t finalized. Even though we’ve ended our collaboration with Haihui, we still need to find someone to shoot the promotional photos for the autumn collection. I scoured the entertainment industry according to your requirements, but unfortunately, everyone I saw fell a bit short of the standard.”
This was serious business. Yan Chi’s radar went off, and he turned around to ask, “Do you have any other plans?”
“I do,” Liang Yingwen snapped his fingers. “Didn’t I mention to you before that hiring celebrities for promotion was Plan A? Well, now we have a Plan B.”
“What is it?”
“You handle the promotion yourself,” Liang Yingwen got straight to the point. “Don’t forget, back when RH’s first perfume broke through and became a hit, it was all thanks to your promotional video.”
Yan Chi was taken aback, a light breeze ruffling his hair.
Back then, he had just graduated from Grasse, full of ambition and unwilling to accept the glamorous offers from major fragrance companies. He was determined to start his own brand.
RH was born at the tail end of the rose season.
Breaking away from the unwritten rules of the industry, Yan Chi assembled his own team and boldly shot a perfume promotional video from his own perspective.
In just three minutes, from the budding of flowers to the blooming of fragrance, though he never showed his face, he stepped in front of the camera himself to narrate, bringing the profession of perfumer into the spotlight.
At one minute and forty-five seconds, the fingertips cradling petals in the corner of the frame, along with that clear, crisp voice, perfectly matched the perfume and atmosphere being promoted.
Those three minutes alone propelled RH into the market and established its foothold.
“So, Yan Chi, will you shoot it?” Liang Yingwen asked with a smile, clearly confident.
The liquid in the beaker swirled under the magnetic stirrer, forming a transparent vortex. Yan Chi stared intently, as if it were exactly what he wanted. “I’ll shoot it.”
The weekend arrived in the blink of an eye.
Yan Chi had a strong sense of time and was never late unless for special reasons. Liu Muqing, influenced by him, had also become punctual over time.
“Xiao Chi, I heard from the class monitor that this class reunion won’t just have people from our class there’ll be others too,” Liu Muqing said, still groggy from working overtime over the weekend.
Class reunions sounded nice, but for most people, they were just networking platforms. After a few drinks, it was hard to say how much of the old camaraderie would resurface, but a few business deals might just get sealed.
Yan Chi didn’t care much about these things. He only thought that since he had already completed next week’s tasks, he might treat himself to something more flavorful tonight.
“It doesn’t matter, whoever comes is fine,” Yan Chi thought at the time.
But when everyone had gathered, Yan Chi scanned the room, and the smile on his lips faltered slightly.
Perhaps he shouldn’t have come to this gathering. Staying home to eat steamed asparagus and shrimp wouldn’t have been so bad either.
On the other side of the banquet hall, there weren’t just his classmates and others from different classes there were also a few seniors who had been a year or two ahead of them. Among them was Shen Xingfeng.
It had only been a few days since they last met, but Shen Xingfeng looked haggard, clearly affected by the recent uproar.
The only difference today was that Yan Chi actually caught a flicker of wariness in the other’s gaze as he looked at him.
How strange.
“Senior Shen is here too oh wait, we should be calling you President Shen now, haha!”
Everyone present was sharp and savvy. Seeing Shen Xingfeng at the forefront, they raised their glasses in unison. Though they were all young and had achieved some success on their own, they still fell short compared to heirs like Shen Xingfeng, who had inherited family businesses outright.
Only Yan Chi stood out, neither standing up nor raising his glass. He simply took a slow sip of hot tea.
Shen Xingfeng didn’t take offense. Instead, he greeted Yan Chi with good grace. “Junior Yan, it’s been a few days. You look well.”
All eyes instantly turned to Yan Chi. He rarely showed up at such occasions, and his appearance today naturally piqued the curiosity of his old classmates.
“Yan Chi, you still have ties with Senior Shen? That’s great staying in touch even years after graduation.”
Yan Chi set down his cup, knowing these were just polite words. He couldn’t be bothered to dwell on it and simply lowered his eyes with a faint smile.
The hotel lights blazed brilliantly, their dazzling glow falling upon his face, making that smile even more radiant. It was merely a slight lift at the corner of his lips, with no other movement, yet it still captivated every nearby alpha, including the one who had just been trying to cozy up to Shen Xingfeng.
Yan Chi was truly beautiful. No matter at what age one encountered such a person, they were impossible to look away from.
Seeing Yan Chi’s disinterest in engaging with the other party, Liu Muqing quickly smoothed things over with a few diplomatic remarks. Once the person had left, he poked Yan Chi’s dimple and said, “Maybe I shouldn’t invite you next time. The way those alphas look at you what’s with that?”
Yan Chi paid it no mind; he was long accustomed to the attention of others.
Though the venue was crowded, everyone was an adult. A few jokes here and there were not out of line, and most knew when to stop.
Yan Chi approached eating with a kind of reverence one bite of boiled vegetables, one bite of braised shrimp, and finally, a couple of sips of tea to wash it down. The infrequency with which he moved his chopsticks made Liu Muqing frown, thinking to himself that Yan Chi was living some kind of ascetic life.
“By the way, Xiao Chi, I just heard from someone that when they sent out the invitations this time, they also invited Ji Yueting,” Liu Muqing lowered his voice.
Yan Chi paused briefly. “Then he.”
“Not sure. Probably not coming. He didn’t show up to the welcome party before either,” Liu Muqing shrugged. “Aren’t you pretty close with him now? Didn’t he mention it to you?”
Yan Chi bit the tip of his chopstick, lost in thought for a moment, then slowly shook his head. Ji Yueting really hadn’t mentioned it.
His gaze drifted elsewhere, and he caught sight of a small group of alphas and omegas huddled together at a diagonal table. They looked somewhat familiar.
A few seconds later, it suddenly dawned on him he remembered.
Those were Ji Yueting’s friends from high school.
The alpha on the left often played basketball with Ji Yueting; the omega on the right had once performed a duet with him at a school event; and the one in the middle had clinked glasses repeatedly with the guest of honor at Ji Yueting’s farewell party. Yan Chi couldn’t recall whether he had ever interacted with them, but he remembered these small, past details vividly.
A strange sense of satisfaction suddenly coursed through him with the warmth of the tea. Was it fate playing tricks? At this class reunion years later, he found himself in a position reversed with those he had once envied.
Some had pleaded endlessly without receiving a response, while others. Yan Chi recalled that Ji Yueting had last sent him a message about half an hour ago.
“So he really didn’t say anything?”
“Maybe he’s just busy with work,” Yan Chi offered, making excuses for the absent alpha.
After all, Ji Yueting had such a large company under his management. Finding time each day to snap a few photos of his cat and complain about wanting to leave work was already no small feat.
As dinner ended, a few scattered individuals began to leave. Yan Chi glanced over and noticed they were Ji Yueting’s friends.
The remaining guests moved upstairs for the next part of the gathering. Bottle after bottle of expensive liquor was opened, glasses clinked incessantly, and toasts were exchanged nonstop.
Out of courtesy, Yan Chi didn’t leave immediately. Holding the green tea a waiter had handed him with a look of surprise, he settled into an inconspicuous corner, planning to let his food digest a bit before heading out.
With so many people around, conversations ranged widely past experiences, promotions and raises, family gossip. Yan Chi quietly listened to others’ stories, finding it quite entertaining.
But at some point, the topic of conversation inexplicably shifted, landing on the absent Ji Yueting.
“Changying has really grown bigger and bigger over the years. Hey, I heard someone mention a few months ago that Ji Yueting also flew back. Is that true or not?”
“It’s true, how could it be false? It’s just that we’re not significant enough in front of Changying. Ji Yueting is now someone we can’t even get a meeting with.”
These words made Yan Chi uncomfortable. He couldn’t help but frown and tighten his grip on his teacup.
Shen Xingfeng had drunk quite a bit, his head buzzing with heat. He glanced around roughly, didn’t see Yan Chi, and assumed he had already left.
Stretching his arm across the sofa, he tilted his head back and laughed mockingly, “Yeah, the ‘CEO’ in his name is the real deal. How could he possibly look up to us old classmates? Even in business, he shows no mercy, leaving no room for negotiation.”
As soon as he said this, someone immediately asked, “What do you mean by that?”
When no one asked, Shen Xingfeng was deliberately mysterious. But when someone did ask, he suddenly clammed up, lowered his head, and let out a long sigh, as if he had suffered some great injustice.
Although Liu Muqing didn’t know the whole story, he was aware of part of it. He quickly turned to look at Yan Chi.
In just those few sentences, Yan Chi’s previously gentle expression had completely cooled.
“Actually, I’ve heard some rumors recently. Is there some misunderstanding between you and Haihui?”
Shen Xingfeng looked up, answering without really answering, “Maybe there is some misunderstanding. In the end, it’s just a minor conflict. It’s a shame he even has to worry about such things.”
“Brother Shen, don’t even mention it. This was already evident at the welcome party last time. I was thinking about discussing a collaboration with Changying recently, but they rejected it without even considering it. They really didn’t give any face at all,” someone chattered on.
Some remained silent, but more chimed in. The private room was filled with a mix of voices and music, creating a noisy clamor.
Until
Clang.
The teacup was slammed heavily onto the table, like a command. Everyone instantly fell silent.
Yan Chi stood up and said coldly, “Are you done?”
Shen Xingfeng’s eyes widened abruptly.
The person who had just spoken stammered, nearly tongue-tied, “Yan Chi, what do you mean by that?”
“In business, it’s about capability. It would be more beneficial for your company to understand your own worth before proposing a collaboration it would save you from becoming a laughingstock. If all the blame is going to be pinned on Changying, that’s truly unfair.”
The speaker was immediately left red-faced and speechless.
Yan Chi remained composed. After speaking, he turned to Shen Xingfeng, “As for you, CEO Shen, I never realized before how skilled you are at stirring up trouble. Have you finished cleaning up the mess at Haihui? Did it feel good to get those contracts terminated? You actually have the mood to come out drinking. If I were you, I’d be working overtime all night.
“But then again, if you can’t even choose a kept lover properly, letting them offend business partners, who can expect you to lead a company well?”
With just a few words, Yan Chi stripped Shen Xingfeng bare. Under the shocked gazes of everyone, Shen Xingfeng choked on a mouthful of alcohol and coughed uncontrollably.
“Anything else? Do you have more to say?”
Yan Chi refuted every point, shedding his gentle exterior, leaving only an intimidating sharpness.
What on earth was going on?
The old classmates only knew Yan Chi was stunningly beautiful, but they had no idea he could speak so incisively, hitting every weak spot.
But the most crucial thing was, why was he suddenly standing up for Ji Yueting? They had never seen the two interact before.
The music in the private room had ended, but no one dared to get up and select the next song.
Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events.
Liu Muqing was also stunned though in a slightly different way.
He widened his eyes in disbelief, then looked at Yan Chi, blinking frantically as if trying to signal something.
“?”
Yan Chi froze for a moment, as if realizing something, and his heart suddenly began to race.
He turned around, following the direction of the gaze.
“Thud.”
The private room door was pushed open, blocking the light and casting a long, tall shadow.
The alpha who had just been the center of the conversation walked in slowly. He glanced around, then stopped behind Yan Chi and asked with a smile:
“So lively in here. What are you all talking about?”