Shen Yifeng’s meeting was quite long. After snapping out of his thoughts, Jiang Wu checked the time and saw it was past 8:00 PM. He decided to head back to his room. He walked quietly to Shen Yifeng’s side and gently tapped the finger of the man who was currently speaking.
Shen Yifeng did not stop talking, but he glanced at Jiang Wu, his expression asking what he needed. Jiang Wu gestured that he was leaving. Shen Yifeng gave a slight nod and immediately shifted his gaze back to his laptop. Seeing this, Jiang Wu left without another word.
As he reached the door, he looked back once more. Shen Yifeng was hunched over, his hands constantly flipping through files while the voice of a foreigner continued from the computer. Shen Yifeng’s brow was furrowed, and he radiated an inexplicably heavy, cold pressure. Surprisingly, instead of feeling afraid, Jiang Wu felt that Shen Yifeng looked strangely attractive while working so hard, as if he were glowing. Jiang Wu flashed him a grateful smile, but Shen Yifeng, still buried in his work, did not see it.
Back in his room, Jiang Wu washed up and lay in bed, staring at the exquisite crystal chandelier on the ceiling. As he gazed up, drowsiness washed over him, and he drifted into a deep sleep.
The next morning, Jiang Wu woke up early. He had gone to bed early the previous night and hoped to join Shen Yifeng and the others for breakfast. However, upon arriving at the dining room, Uncle Liu informed him that Lu Xin had left early to visit Shen Yifeng’s grandfather at the family estate. Shen Yifeng had also left for the office early, looking somber as if he had encountered some issues at work.
Hearing this, the memory of Shen Yifeng’s furrowed brow from the previous night surfaced in Jiang Wu’s mind. He thought that if he had to choose one word to describe Shen Yifeng, it would not be powerful, handsome, or excellent. It would be busy.
He felt that the word was tailored specifically for him. From morning till night, from Monday to Sunday, from the beginning of the month to the end, he had been there for nearly two months and had never once seen Shen Yifeng take a break. At times, he even felt that he was the true owner of this house, not Shen Yifeng, because besides using the gym and sleeping there at night, Shen Yifeng had no other presence in the home.
He understood that a boss had to be busy, especially managing such a vast family empire, but ever since Shen Yifeng woke up in the hospital, he had been running like a robot. Jiang Wu felt that Shen Yifeng was working too hard, and he could not quite understand it.
He poked at the fried egg on his plate, his eyes staring blankly at Shen Yifeng’s empty seat.
“Why is Shen Yifeng so busy?” Jiang Wu asked the question aloud.
Uncle Liu, who was wiping the table nearby, stopped and sighed. Jiang Wu expected a dramatic tale of corporate warfare, feuding brothers, or secret affairs. He listened with rapt attention, only for Uncle Liu to say, “It is the young master’s hobby.”
Jiang Wu was speechless. What kind of hobby is work? Especially day and night?
Perhaps noticing Jiang Wu’s skeptical expression, Uncle Liu adjusted his rag and continued, “Master Yifeng was different from others since he was a child.”
Seeing Uncle Liu in a storytelling mood, Jiang Wu was delighted. He took a bite of his misshapen fried egg and urged, “In what way?”
Uncle Liu pulled out the chair next to Jiang Wu and sat down, speaking in a slow, measured tone: “Yifeng was like a little adult from a young age. At three or four, he stopped clinging to his parents. By five or six, he was already reading independently. By eight or nine, he lost interest in fairy tales and became fascinated by books on finance.”
Jiang Wu sighed internally. No wonder he manages such a massive business at such a young age; it all makes sense.
“And then? What else?” Jiang Wu prompted.
Noticing Jiang Wu’s enthusiasm, Uncle Liu teased, “Is Little Jiang so interested in Yifeng’s affairs?”
Jiang Wu blushed to his earlobes and retorted, “No! I am just purely curious!”
Uncle Liu chuckled. “Later, when Yifeng was ten, his parents went on a business trip together, and their plane crashed. They never returned.” Uncle Liu said this flatly, maintaining his kindly, smiling demeanor.
Jiang Wu froze, his curiosity vanishing instantly. The thought of Shen Yifeng losing his parents at ten, while he himself had been spoiled in his parents’ arms at that age, filled him with a strange, heavy emotion.
Uncle Liu noticed Jiang Wu’s pained expression and chuckled. “Do you think Yifeng is pitiful?”
Jiang Wu did not understand how Uncle Liu, who doted on Shen Yifeng so much, could still smile, but he nodded. Uncle Liu patted Jiang Wu’s head. “We thought so too, but ten-year-old Yifeng told us: Do not pity me because I lost my parents. I am luckier than 90 percent of the world. My family is wealthy, I am good-looking and smart, and I still have my grandfather. So, do not look at me with pity.”
Jiang Wu imagined the impassive-faced Shen Yifeng saying such self-centered things and could not help but laugh.
“Shen Yifeng was truly different from others since he was a child.”
Time flew by, and it was noon. Jiang Wu went to deliver lunch as usual. But for some reason, every time he saw Shen Yifeng, he remembered the image of a young Shen Yifeng boasting about his wealth and intelligence. He would often laugh out loud, drawing puzzled looks from Shen Yifeng, to which Jiang Wu could only offer clumsy excuses about remembering a joke.
Lu Xin was also quite busy during this period. She had many friends in the country and was frequently out, so Jiang Wu only saw her occasionally.
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Wu had been delivering meals to Shen Yifeng for over two weeks.