Although the Xia enterprise had declined, it was not yet completely dead, and the business community still afforded their family a shred of face. Consequently, this year’s business networking gala still came with an invitation addressed to them.
His father felt that with their family business in such dire straits, showing up would only invite cold stares from others, so he chose to stay home and avoid it.
It was a rare occasion for Xia Zexing and Xia Zeyu to sit side-by-side in the back row of a business car, yet each busied himself with his own affairs, remaining utterly silent the entire drive.
Xia Zeyu had trimmed his hair slightly, giving his entire demeanor a noticeable boost in vitality and spirit. Dressed in a sharp suit and leather shoes, he even carried a faint air of an elite professional.
Business networking galas were, in truth, simply gatherings for a crowd of people to boast and stroke their own egos. Anyone looking to genuinely negotiate partnerships or secure investments would still need to head behind closed doors in a private lounge. As for the main hall, to Xia Zeyu, it was nothing more than a venue to sample food.
“Is this the legendary tiramisu?” Xia Zeyu’s eyes lit up as he stared at the little green-grape pastry on the table. “And is that brown one chocolate mousse?”
[Host, you’ve never tasted these things before, so how do you remember their names so clearly?]
“There’s an old Chinese saying: ‘quenching thirst by thinking of plums.'”
[People on your side are truly pitiful, handing out superpowers but withholding food.]
“Sigh, yeah, absolutely.”
Xia Zeyu piled his plate high with small cakes and egg tarts, grabbed two glasses of fruit juice in one hand, and picked out a corner seat to settle down.
Just as he was about to pop a piece of cake into his mouth, a trio approaching from ahead blocked out the light in front of him.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Xia Zeyu? What brings you crawling to a place like this all of a sudden?” the leading man sneered. “Could it be that because Shen Congjin is showing up, you decided to shamelessly tag along, too?”
“This has nothing to do with him,” Xia Zeyu said, feeling entirely speechless.
“Don’t put up a stubborn front. Just wait until Shen Congjin arrives accompanied by Tang Tang let’s see if you can still smile then.”
“I’d still be smiling even if he brought ten Tang Tangs with him,” Xia Zeyu shot him a sidelong glance. “If I recall correctly, you’re from the Zhao family? Have you managed to sell off all your air conditioners yet? Your sales have completely tanked, yet you still have the nerve to laugh at me?”
The man instantly snapped, losing his temper completely: “Your Xia family is practically on the verge of bankruptcy, and you’re still acting this arrogant?!”
“Since we’re both in the same sinking boat, neither of us has any room to look down on the other. Besides, no matter how bad things get for us, what we sell is still real gold and silver, which can be liquidated for a massive sum. As for your family? Your inventory is probably nothing more than a pile of scrap metal by now.”
Before the man could formulate a retort, a sudden commotion at the entrance drew everyone’s attention. Almost simultaneously, every eye in the room turned toward that direction everyone except Xia Zeyu.
Stepping through the doorway were none other than Tang Tang and Shen Congjin. Both were clad in immaculate white suits with their hair styled to perfection. Tang Tang looped his arm through Shen Congjin’s, while Shen Congjin gazed down at him with an expression of utter doting indulgence. If someone laid out a red carpet bordered with fresh flowers, calling it a wedding ceremony wouldn’t even be an exaggeration.
From the moment they walked in until now, Xia Zeyu maintained a completely expressionless face right up until he forked a piece of small cake into his mouth, whereupon his eyes lit up brilliantly.
“This is insanely delicious!”
He couldn’t help letting out an exclamation of awe.
Several people nearby caught the exclamation and cast curious glances his way. Lowering his head, he quietly resumed eating his cake.
When people feel embarrassed, they genuinely resort to pretending they are frantically busy.
Awkward as it was, his mouth didn’t skip a beat; before long, the entire plate of cake was wiped clean.
Just as he finished his final sip of fruit juice, Xia Zexing marched over in a fury and brought a heavy palm down crashing against Xia Zeyu’s back.
“What are you standing around daydreaming for? Go offer President Shen a toast!”
“Not going.”
“Xia Zeyu, it’s still not too late for you to win Shen Congjin back.”
“Why would I want to win him back? If you like him that much, go marry him yourself.”
“Are you out of your mind? I’m straight!”
“Just turn off the lights, close your eyes, bear with it, and it’ll all be over in a flash,” Xia Zeyu said with a feigned tone of profound wisdom. “You’re the head of the Xia family now, aren’t you even willing to make this tiny sacrifice?”
Xia Zexing’s jaw flapped open and shut, desperate to hurl insults, yet finding none that fit.
Before they could hash out a conclusion, Shen Congjin and Tang Tang took the initiative to walk over.
Glowering at Xia Zeyu with icy disdain, Shen Congjin sneered, “Putting on an act like you don’t care about me, yet here you are running over tail wagging like a stray dog anyway?”
Xia Zeyu stood up, pulled a business card from his pocket, and extended it across.
“Good evening, President Shen. I am the newly appointed Marketing Manager of Xia Jewelry. This is my first time attending a networking gala of this caliber, so I hope you’ll offer me your guidance.”
Shen Congjin fell silent for a few seconds before accepting the card and slipping it into his pocket.
With Xia Zeyu projecting such polite and humble decorum, if Shen Congjin continued to heap sarcasm upon him, it would only make him look like the unreasonable party.
If it were the original owner, catching sight of Shen Congjin attending an event with Tang Tang hooked to his arm would have sent him lunging forward in a shrieking, unhinged tirade making himself the laughingstock of the room every single time.
Shen Congjin scrutinized the Xia Zeyu standing before him, utterly baffled as to how the person could undergo such a drastic personality metamorphosis overnight.
Instead, Xia Zeyu took the initiative to step closer. Flashing a polite smile at Tang Tang, he offered a compliment: “You look wonderful in that outfit today I almost didn’t recognize you for a second. It suits you very well.”
Tang Tang froze for a moment before instinctively retreating behind Shen Congjin, still harboring a deep-seated conviction that Xia Zeyu was out to harm him.
Shifting his gaze back to Shen Congjin, Xia Zeyu leaned in close to his ear and dropped his voice to a whisper: “President Shen, I happened to discover that my antidepressant medication has been laced with some rather unusual ingredients. Seems someone in your household has sticky fingers.”
Shen Congjin’s body stiffened, and his grip on the wine glass tightened involuntarily.
Xia Zeyu continued unhurriedly: “I’ve preserved all the evidence—the laboratory test results, the fingerprints left on the bottle, along with the estimated manufacturing timeline and batch numbers. Did you know that purchasing those specific medications requires registering your personal identification details? You can easily trace who bought them using those clues. As for when I plan to bring that evidence out into the open… I haven’t quite decided yet.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“You know the answer in your heart.”
Having read the original plot, Xia Zeyu knew the ins and outs far too well. Shen Congjin wanted to break off the engagement with the original owner without bearing the public backlash of infidelity, which was why he tampered with the original owner’s medication.
Prolonged consumption would trigger loss of appetite, fatigue, lethargy, nervous tension, and emotional volatility triggered by the slightest provocation. All Shen Congjin had to do was turn the original owner into a raving lunatic; whether he broke off the engagement or ended up with Tang Tang, public sympathy would naturally lean his way, since nobody in their right mind would want to spend their life sharing a roof with a maniac.
Besides, given the original owner’s naturally arrogant and domineering disposition, nobody would find it strange if he suddenly snapped and went crazy.
Oh, right, Shen Congjin’s established character tag was “unhinged paranoid Gong.” Swapping out the original owner’s medication wasn’t just a tactic to drive him mad; it was designed so that whenever the original owner suffered an episode and bullied Tang Tang, Shen Congjin could step in heroically to play the savior, cementing Tang Tang’s unwavering devotion.
Yet in Xia Zeyu’s eyes, Shen Congjin was nothing more than a cheap, low-brow scumbag relying on underhanded tricks.
“Xia Zeyu, stop spouting nonsense,” Shen Congjin put up a stubborn front. “You’re always throwing unhinged fits who on earth would dare harm you?”
“I’d love to find out who’s trying to harm me, too,” Xia Zeyu sighed. “If I ever track them down, I plan to use a hammer to smash their fingers to pieces one by one, carve them off, and shove them straight down their throat. You call me a crazy person, right? Well, if a madman commits murder, surely he won’t be sentenced to death, would he?”
Cold sweat was already beginning to bead on Shen Congjin’s forehead.
“President Shen, when a person truly resolves to change their life, they are capable of pulling off absolute miracles.”
Leaving those words hanging in the air, Xia Zeyu turned on his heel and sauntered away with effortless style.
In the original text, this networking gala served merely as a narrative device to prop up the protagonist halo of Shen Congjin and Tang Tang introducing Tang Tang to the elites of high society so Shen Congjin could officially declare him his partner, while everyone else functioned as mere NPCs whose partnerships yielded negligible gains. At the very least, stripping away half of Shen Congjin’s protagonist halo would stop these people from continuing to kiss up to him.
Seeking a breath of fresh air, Xia Zeyu strolled out onto the outdoor balcony. The moment he took a seat on the bench, the melodious strains of a piano drifted over from nearby.
Judging by the acoustics, it seemed to be originating right on this very floor. This piece… was Adagio di Molto, a soothing, gentle piano composition.
So this was what a genuine, acoustic piano actually sounded like; it carried a distinct, rich texture vastly different from the digitally synthesized piano tones of the future.
He wasn’t particularly curious about who was playing, choosing instead to simply close his eyes and indulge in the rare moment of relaxation.
Halfway through, the piano melody paused for a split second before executing a dramatic tonal shift, transforming abruptly into Chopin’s Revolutionary Étude. Xia Zeyu didn’t possess a deep grasp of classical music and couldn’t critique the technical execution, but he could vividly feel the intense, soaring passion coursing through the performer’s movements.
Xia Zeyu was forced to open his eyes. The music raged on for over two minutes before cutting off as abruptly as it began, plunging the world back into silence.
If this were a scheduled piano performance inside the banquet hall, it wouldn’t feature such a capricious, rebellious interpretation. Anyone casually tickling the ivories in a restricted access zone like this had to be a figure of formidable social standing.
Yet wasn’t the pinnacle of this world’s social hierarchy supposed to be Shen Congjin, the male protagonist?
Before Xia Zeyu could puzzle it out, approaching footsteps echoed from ahead, growing closer by the second the sharp click of leather shoes against stone. He fixed his gaze intently on the doorway. Moments later, the door swung open.
The figure stepping through was a tall, imposing man. Silhouetted against the bright interior lighting of the venue, his features were obscured in shadow, yet from his sheer silhouette alone, Xia Zeyu instantly recognized him the sunglasses-wearing man who had stared him down relentlessly at the shopping mall that day.
Unflustered, Xia Zeyu remained quietly seated right where he was.
As the man walked directly up to him, Xia Zeyu finally caught a clear view of his face. Even with his extensive breadth of experience, the man’s striking visage left him momentarily spellbound.
His facial features possessed the chiseled, sculptural symmetry of a Roman statue; his brow ridge radiated a sharp, striking masculinity; and his overall facial proportions hit the golden ratio with absolute precision. His eyes carried a lingering hint of melancholy, yet those deep lake-green irides stubbornly refused to betray a single ripple of emotion.
Mixed-race beauties were hardly a rarity in his original world, but finding one sculpted with such breathtaking perfection was a first for Xia Zeyu.
Looking down at Xia Zeyu while Xia Zeyu looked up at him, the two locked in a silent standoff for half a minute before the man suddenly let out a soft chuckle.
“I’ve long heard that the second young master of the Xia family was an idle good-for-nothing who specialized in fighting over romantic affections. Seeing you up close now, the rumors are entirely accurate.” The man’s tone remained flat, devoid of a single trace of mockery.
Xia Zeyu offered a dry chuckle in return, asking sharply, “We’ve only crossed paths twice, yet you’re already so certain of my character?”
“Twice?”
“Mister,” Xia Zeyu rose to his feet, locking his gaze directly into the man’s eyes, “those sunglasses of yours simply don’t hide as much as you think.”
“No, what I meant was…” The man leaned in close to Xia Zeyu’s ear, his voice dropping into a low, magnetic register that sent a pleasant tingle straight down the lobe, “more than twice.”
“Oh? And where else might we have crossed paths?”
“Your fighting style is rather peculiar.”
“Ah, so you were just another spectator,” Xia Zeyu finally smiled. “Did you place any bets on me?”
“I did. A lot.”
“Are you a fan of mine?”
“Not quite.”
“Fair enough, thanks for the support anyway,” Xia Zeyu shrugged. “Would you mind sharing your name? Next time you come out to watch my matches, I’ll reserve the best seat in the house for you.”
The man chuckled again, as though he had just heard something utterly preposterous.
“What? Not interested?” Xia Zeyu asked.
Without uttering a word, the man reached into his pocket, pulled out a business card, and extended it across.
Executive Chairman of the Shengjan Group Fu Dongyan.
Never heard of him. He wasn’t even a character in the original plot; clearly, he was nothing more than a minor NPC.
Xia Zeyu accepted the business card and planted a light, swift kiss directly onto its surface before sliding it into his pocket.
He had picked that trick up from television; it made for a rather amusing gesture.
A genuine smile finally surfaced in the depths of the man’s eyes. Extending a hand toward Xia Zeyu with his palm facing upward, he asked with gentle warmth: “Up until now, I’ve always been the one watching your performances. Might I have the honor of inviting you to enjoy mine tonight?”