“Coaxing a Boyfriend to Sleep”
With a loud splash, Jiang Zhi stood up from the bathtub, and the overflowing water splattered everywhere.
“You, you, you, you—why didn’t you go home in the middle of the night instead of running to the entrance of our house?!”
Hearing the commotion on the other end, Fu Yunting’s tone softened. “Slow down and watch where you’re walking. Don’t slip.”
Jiang Zhi looked down at the floor full of water and carefully stepped out of the bathtub to walk outside. “Are you really outside my house?”
“Walk slowly. Dry your hair before sleeping,” Fu Yunting curled his lips. “I lied to you.”
Jiang Zhi was suspicious. “Really?”
“Really.” Hearing his footsteps, the man turned around to get into the car. “It’s late. Go to sleep.”
“Oh…”
Jiang Zhi didn’t believe him. Hanging up the phone, he wanted to run to the window, but halfway there he felt it would be too obvious. He changed direction midway and hurriedly went to the study next door.
Seeing the scene downstairs clearly, Jiang Zhi puffed out his cheeks.
Fu Yunting had lied to him.
He even said he didn’t come, yet here he was downstairs! He propped his head up and leaned against the window. Because the lights weren’t on, he didn’t worry about being discovered.
This person’s way of doing things was truly strange. He came, yet insisted he hadn’t; wasn’t this a classic case of doing useless work?
The man hung up the phone. After staring at that lit window for a few seconds, he let the designated driver return to Yuyuan.
It wasn’t that he liked doing useless work; rather, he felt that this matter itself had no meaning—he didn’t care, and even if Jiang Zhi knew, he wouldn’t take it to heart.
On the way there, the designated driver had driven very fast. He had worked as a designated driver at this bar for a long time and had seen all kinds of people; Fu Yunting looked like the type who was not to be messed with at first glance.
Dressed expensively, with a powerful aura—just looking at this car, there were very few of them in the entire city of Yuncheng.
He had subconsciously wanted to finish this order quickly to avoid any complications, but he hadn’t expected the other party to change routes midway to come here.
In the end, it was purely to coax his boyfriend to sleep?
The designated driver was instantly filled with emotional sighs, and quite a bit of goodwill arose in him. He was no longer so eager to finish work, but just felt that after returning, the other party always revealed a hint of loneliness, intentionally or unintentionally.
But clearly, the two of them seemed to have a very good relationship.
Jiang Zhi’s mouth was dry, and he had thrown enough of a tantrum; he spent a sleepless night.
But starting from this day, he would always think of the scene downstairs that night, intentionally or unintentionally. He felt this was not a good sign, so he quietly withdrew into himself, not proactively causing trouble for quite a while.
In the evening, Zhang Ru’an called to say she wanted to take him to a commercial cocktail party. Today, both Jiang Zheng and Jiang Yan had business entertainment, and only he was free.
Since returning to the country, apart from coming home on time, Jiang Zhi hadn’t spent much time accompanying Zhang Ru’an, so as soon as she spoke up, he agreed. Anyway, he couldn’t write anything, so it wasn’t a bad idea to go out for a walk.
Seeing her baby being so obedient, Mother Jiang personally picked out a formal suit for her son. “Our family’s little prince is truly good-looking.”
Jiang Zhi burst out laughing. “Mom, aren’t you just praising your own goods?”
“What? Our baby was originally the most beautiful one anyway, so I’m not allowed to say it?” Zhang Ru’an adjusted his bowtie for him. “We will probably meet a lot of uncles, aunts, and senior relatives today, so don’t you get impatient. Obediently serve as your mother’s storefront façade.”
“Got it,” Jiang Zhi answered crisply.
A commercial cocktail party like this was practically a massive social venue. People he knew and didn’t know all came over to say hello, and after an entire evening passed, Jiang Zhi felt his face had gone stiff from smiling.
However, in order to boost his mother’s face, he accepted almost all comers. There were even elders who, seeing how tender and white his face was, directly reached out to pinch it to feel his skin texture, making Jiang Zhi feel incredibly tired in his heart.
Halfway through, the two of them got tired, and Mother Jiang pulled him to the side to rest. “Son, how come I haven’t seen you going out with Little Fu recently?”
“Even if we go out, I can’t let you see us, lest you nag at me again.” Jiang Zhi tidied Zhang Ru’an’s hair. “Do you want to go to the restroom to touch up your makeup?”
“It’s fine,” Mother Jiang said, and then asked him again, “Then are you two getting along well lately?”
“Um…” Jiang Zhi’s eyes darted around. “It’s alright, developing normally.”
“Don’t you lie to Mom. That day after you finished drinking, you grabbed me and your dad to babble endlessly. Did you two actually have a fight?”
“Isn’t that just how it is after drinking? Dad always says I’m a little chatterbox,” Jiang Zhi said.
“Then how did I see Little Fu’s car downstairs at our house in the middle of the night?” Zhang Ru’an stared at his little eyes that darted around whenever he lied, not quite believing him.
Hearing this, Jiang Zhi’s expression looked unnatural for a brief moment, before he casually said as if nothing had happened: “…He insisted on saying that you can’t take a bath after drinking alcohol, but I just wanted to soak a bit longer. Who knew he would suddenly come over, and even said he was going to call you.”
Speaking a few bad words to prepare his mom psychologically, Jiang Zhi felt it was still necessary. “Don’t you think this guy is weird? How old is he, yet he still complains to parents.”
Hearing these words, Zhang Ru’an slapped Jiang Zhi’s shoulder in anger. “Taking a bath after drinking alcohol? You troublesome child, it’s a good thing Little Fu didn’t call me, otherwise I would definitely have your brother teach you a lesson.”
Jiang Zhi clutched his shoulder in pain, completely caught off guard. How come this was different from what he had thought?
“I’m telling you, you little rascal, wait until—”
“Oh, Mom, look over there, isn’t that Auntie Li? She’s calling you.” Jiang Zhi hastily interrupted her, signaling Zhang Ru’an to look to the right.
“It seems to be…” Zhang Ru’an squinted her eyes to look into the distance. “But it also seems not to be. Why does her nose look a bit unfamiliar to me?”
Jiang Zhi followed her gaze to look carefully, and suddenly rubbed his eyes.
“My goodness, Mom, you must never lose your mind and follow them to get medical cosmetology. Auntie Li’s chin and nose are way too terrifying. You should go talk to her, I’m going to hide over there.”
“Hey? You—” Zhang Ru’an just wanted to lecture him for being impolite, but her good friend had already arrived in front of them. “Li Xue, what time is it already that you’re just getting here?”
Jiang Zhi wandered around the snack area. There wasn’t anything very delicious, so he randomly found a seat and sat down; a social butterfly was truly not something just anyone could be.
This entire venue was filled with people walking back and forth, busy socializing. Very few people chose to sit down, so Jiang Zhi’s area was a rare spot of peace.
However, very soon he saw a person who felt the exact same way as him. The other party seemed to be in a bad mood and went directly to the terrace holding a wine glass.
Jiang Zhi subconsciously changed direction, his heart sinking. Every time his mood got even a little bit better, someone would always come out to remind him of certain cold realities.
He had an impulse to leave immediately, but would he not encounter it again after leaving?
Jiang Zhi had a headache; this made him think of Gan Shize, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. Fu Yunting was also there that day, and he didn’t know if they had met again since then.
Compared to a head-on clash, Jiang Zhi ultimately, out of cowardice, chose to escape.
Seeing Jiang Zhi leave, Fu Jiayue looked around the surroundings and entered the terrace as well.
Seeing Ye Yanxi sitting alone, she sat down beside him familiarly.
“Are you Ye Yanxi?”
The other party looked up. “You know me?”
“Of course, the popular young idol in the entertainment industry, Ye Yanxi. I reckon no girl present knows you,” Fu Jiayue said.
Ye Yanxi smiled faintly. His status as a young idol might create a small splash in the entertainment industry, but placed at tonight’s high-society cocktail party, so what if he was a celebrity? Any random person could completely ruin his future and make him disappear from public view from then on.
“Do you have business with me?”
“Of course,” Fu Jiayue said coldly. Facing an idol with an obscure background like Ye Yanxi, she was entirely covered in a sense of superiority at this moment.
Ye Yanxi knitted his brows and didn’t look at her again.
Whether a person held goodwill or malice could be detected just by their emotions and tone of voice.
“Aren’t you going to ask me what I came for?” Seeing that he hadn’t spoken for a long time, Fu Jiayue said, becoming somewhat unable to keep her composure.
Ye Yanxi smiled mockingly. “It’s you who has business with me, not me who has business with you.”
He had come from an ordinary family and climbed to where he was now, having seen all kinds of people. Now that he had been brought back to his biological parents’ home and continuously witnessed the intrigue and infighting of high society, Ye Yanxi thought with grim humor:
He might currently be inside the main storyline of leveling up and fighting monsters.
Defeat one, and another one would come, an endless stream, until he became completely indestructible.
Coming out of the terrace, Ye Yanxi recalled that familiar name from Fu Jiayue’s mouth. With just a glance across the venue, he easily spotted that person.
His name was Jiang Zhi.
Ever since middle school, the names of the two of them had constantly been placed together, with all kinds of strange comparisons and rumors of fierce rivalry emerging one after another.
Clearly, the two of them had never even spoken a single word to each other; how they became archenemies in the mouths of others was something Ye Yanxi couldn’t figure out.
But after hearing Fu Jiayue’s words, he felt some sympathy for him.
A family like the Fu family meant that his future road would not be very easy to walk.
Jiang Zhi stood beside his mother with a mind heavy with thoughts, his eyes uncontrollably drifting toward the terrace area.
Seeing that his face didn’t look good, Zhang Ru’an said, “Zhizhi, the driver just said there is an urgent matter at home, so I let him leave first. Go bring the car around now.”
“Is it about to end?” Jiang Zhi looked around blankly.
“Almost. Go ahead, otherwise there will be too many people later and we’ll have to exchange pleasantries for a long time.”
“Okay, then wait for me at the main lobby entrance, I’ll be right over,” Jiang Zhi said and walked out.
On the way to the parking lot, Jiang Zhi felt mysteriously lacking in confidence. Ever since experiencing two scrapes last time, he had never driven a car again.
Standing in front of the car, he let out several sighs in succession before pressing the central control and sitting into the driver’s seat.
At this time, everyone was leaving one after another. Fortunately, the hotel had opened up several lanes in advance, so Jiang Zhi didn’t waste much effort to drive the car into the lane in front of the main lobby.
However, as soon as he looked up, he saw Fu Yunting standing at the very front of the crowd, and right beside him was his own mother, whose face was blossoming like a flower from her smile.
Zhang Ru’an was exchanging farewells and pleasantries with a few close friends, her face full of smiles.
“Oh, Ru’an, this is that child from the Fu family, right?”
Fu Yunting met the gazes of several people and nodded politely in greeting.
“Yes, the driver took leave for an urgent matter today, so Yunting is sending us home on the way.”
“Oh my, that’s wonderful, he looks quite well-matched with Xiao Zhi too.” The other party praised with a chuckle.
Seeing Jiang Zhi’s car approach, Fu Yunting walked to the outside of the driver’s seat door. “Let me do it.”
Jiang Zhi was still a bit dazed, and only after the man opened the car door did he speak a beat late. “Oh, okay…”
Only when the two of them switched places did he say awkwardly, “Actually, I…”
Looking at his hesitation, Fu Yunting smiled. “Actually, your driving skills are very good, I know.”
Jiang Zhi was speechless and couldn’t help but glare at him. “I didn’t want to say that.”
“Then what did you want to say?” Fu Yunting cooperated.
“…Just felt it was a coincidence, wanted to ask when you arrived, since I clearly didn’t see you the entire evening.”
“Worked overtime, just arrived,” Fu Yunting said. “It happened to work out to send you and Auntie home.”
“Is it okay for you to leave right after arriving? Don’t you need to say hello to everyone?” Ever since the phone call last time, Jiang Zhi had always felt unnatural.
“Why wouldn’t it be okay? Can saying hello earn an extra twenty million?” After Fu Yunting finished speaking, he glanced out the window again. “Besides, Auntie must be speaking up for me right now.”
“It shouldn’t be put that way, these are all resources. My mom’s friends are just small-scale players, it’s definitely different from you showing your face yourself.” Jiang Zhi looked at his mother who was still talking, forcing himself to remain calm. “I heard that on average, you can bring ten million in revenue to the Fu Corporation in one minute? Is that true or false?”
Hearing this, Fu Yunting truly smiled this time. “Then do you know how many minutes a person can work in a day?”
Jiang Zhi frowned, and before he could calculate, the man beside him already spoke up.
“Statutory working hours cannot exceed eight hours a day. Let’s calculate based on eight hours; eight hours is 480 minutes. At ten million per minute, I could earn 48 billion a day?”
Jiang Zhi’s eyes widened into round circles, suddenly feeling that this man’s entire body was emitting a glittering golden light.
“Mr. Jiang, last year, the top multinational enterprise in the country had an annual reported revenue of only 800 billion. You want me to earn 500 billion in a single day?”
Jiang Zhi’s face instantly collapsed. “Alright, I was naive.”
“However, with some hard work, there is still hope,” Fu Yunting said.
“Really?” Jiang Zhi now felt that there wasn’t a single word of truth coming out of this man’s mouth.
Zhang Ru’an, who had just gotten into the car, heard their conversation word for word without missing a beat, and couldn’t help but laughingly chide Jiang Zhi, “Go find some time to look over the Fu Corporation’s annual reports from the past two years, you dummy!”
Jiang Zhi snapped his head around. “Mom! I am your biological son!”
Zhang Ru’an rolled her eyes at him. “If you had read just a bit more books, I wouldn’t even think of scolding you like this.”
Jiang Zhi: “.”