“A Powerful Alliance [The Joining of the Strong]”
The car drove on the avenue, the vehicle speed slow.
This was something Fu Yunting had specially instructed; as long as Jiang Zhi was in the car, this kind of speed must absolutely be maintained.
Sheng Yuan stole a glance at the Jiang family young master in the back, who had finally quieted down and begun to scroll through his phone with hua-la-la sounds, lamenting in his heart that this dominant CEO ultimately still found it hard to pass the gate of a beauty.
Recalling Fu Yunting’s rare choked-up expression just a moment ago, Sheng Yuan touched his nose, wanting to laugh yet not daring to laugh.
At this moment, Jiang Zhi was staring at the headlining topic on the entertainment charts, his head full of thread ends that he couldn’t straighten out no matter what. Growing up from childhood to adulthood, because of this face, he would be stared at by people wherever he went; he knitted his brows, still not quite liking this feeling of being excessively paid attention to by people.
It could be pressure, or it could be that he didn’t want too many people to be disappointed because of him.
However, he had never expected anyway that being pushed in front of the public eye this time was not because of the company’s plan, and inside the key terms with Ye Yanxi it was also completely peaceful, but rather because of a picture where four people gathered together.
Especially the marriage engagement with this person beside him—clearly there was a bright and prominent mosaic on his face, yet it directly pushed him to the headline of tonight’s entertainment edition.
Jiang Zhi remembered when he had just signed with the management company, the other party had once said:
Nowadays is already not the same era as the past; his life biography resume and his capabilities themselves were things that many people found hard to achieve in a lifetime. Returning to develop within the country was not difficult; as long as that brick meant to attract jade was cast, everyone’s gazes would look over toward him.
Only he hadn’t expected that this brick would be Fu Yunting.
Jiang Zhi’s heart was a bit complex. Right now, not only the wealthy family uncles and elders, but estimated across the entire nation, people probably already knew the news that he already had a marriage engagement.
He cast a glance at the comments underneath, and seeing the drooling emoji expressions one by one, his head ached.
Using his peripheral vision, Fu Yunting paid close attention to Jiang Zhi’s movements. The temperature on his clothing sleeve seemed to still be there, but the person seemed to have already begun going in a direction he didn’t hope for.
“What is it? Not satisfied?”
Jiang Zhi returned the phone to him. “Did you already anticipate these matters long ago?”
“In your eyes, I am that formidable?” Fu Yunting was smiling genially, as if the one who lost his composure at the banquet just a moment ago wasn’t him.
“Formidable or not, I don’t know, but you are the President of the Fu Corporation after all; it wouldn’t go as far as not having this bit of olfactory sense, right?” Jiang Zhi was suspicious.
“Rarely attend this kind of occasion, truly didn’t consider that much,” Fu Yunting said.
Jiang Zhi thought about it. This person’s usual whereabouts were quite mysterious; apart from necessary social engagements, most were being handled by the people below.
“Then what about today? If it ferments further down, even your ancestors of eight generations will be dug out by people.”
“Young Master Jiang, you don’t need to worry about this. President Fu’s identity is restricted only to your fiancé,” Sheng Yuan spoke out to explain. “The company side is already resolving it.”
“It can even be like this?” Jiang Zhi blinked his eyes.
“If you don’t want to make the matter of the marriage engagement public, I can have a lawyer draft a statement,” Fu Yunting said.
Jiang Zhi stole a glance at the man’s calm expression, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“I didn’t mean it that way, I just feel that private life being exposed is a bit…”
“I understand your meaning, but the matter has already fermented open, and what can be salvaged is limited,” Fu Yunting said. “However, I will have people keep an eye on the media; anything more than this will not exist.”
“…” Jiang Zhi hesitated for a brief moment. “Thank you.”
…
Sending Jiang Zhi home, Fu Yunting glanced over today’s public opinion report on the road. “Just these things—it’s enough.”
“I understand.” Sheng Yuan nodded. “Then today, shall I send you to…”
“Go to the hospital. See the old master.”
…
When Jiang Zhi arrived home, it had already passed one o’clock in the morning. The Jiang house was brightly lit, and three people were sitting in the living room in different postures.
Jiang Yan’s phone was scrolling with hua-la-la sounds, while Zhang Ru’an and Jiang Zheng—one was looking at entertainment news, and the other was wearing glasses while pawing through Weibo.
As soon as he stood at the living room entrance, the three people looked toward him in unison.
“Wh-what’s wrong?” Jiang Zhi asked.
“A match made in heaven, a powerful alliance of the strong?” Jiang Yan raised his eyebrows.
Zhang Ru’an put down the tablet, looking at her own son with a smile. “Genius pianist, a rising star of the business world?”
“The Civil Affairs Bureau has been moved over, suit yourselves?” The reading glasses on Jiang Zheng’s face suddenly slid down; for a moment, he didn’t understand what it meant.
Jiang Zhi pressed his hand to his forehead, understanding. “In the middle of the night, you guys are truly something.”
“Can we not be something? You go attend a banquet, and the way all paths of relatives at home come and go—that can be called lively.” Zhang Ru’an looked at Jiang Zhi. “How was it? Did you play happily?”
Jiang Zhi’s face suddenly felt a bit itchy, and he couldn’t resist scratching it.
Actually, discarding those unreliable book plot intervals, having a family like this, he was already very happy—especially right now, it was exceptionally heartwarming.
“Happy indeed…” He took a large round turn. “Um, it’s passable, I guess.”
Jiang Yan found it funny. “Can tell.”
“What did you tell just by telling.” Jiang Zhi took two steps to Zhang Ru’an’s side and sat down. “Mom, look at what happened to my face? It’s especially itchy.”
Zhang Ru’an took a careful look. “How come this has turned red in a large patch? What did you put on this face?”
“The powder applied is thicker than the facial skin itself, can it not turn red?” Jiang Yan went upstairs to find makeup remover and came over. “Here, Mom, help him remove it.”
“This is probably an allergy.” Zhang Ru’an helped him wipe the makeup off his face. “Next time tell that makeup artist of yours—our baby is beautiful even without wearing makeup, just tidying up a bit will do.”
“Are you a bit too confident in your own genes?” Jiang Zhi smiled lightly. “You didn’t see how many big beauties at that banquet were wearing thick makeup; where does this even rank for me.”
“We aren’t going to a beauty pageant anyway, and even with just this, didn’t it still charm Little Fu to the point of turning his seven souls and six spirits upside down? In order to accompany you, he actually gave Tianjing such a massive amount of face.” Zhang Ru’an was very satisfied. “Hey, do you really not have even a single bit of anything else toward the person?”
“Even if there isn’t, doesn’t there have to be anyway.” Jiang Zhi flattened his mouth.
“A dead duck with a stiff beak [stubborn].” Jiang Yan glanced at the time. “Mom, I’m going to sleep first, still have to go on a business trip tomorrow.”
“Mm, go on.” Zhang Ru’an didn’t even turn her head back, still wiping her younger son’s face.
…
Seeing his dad and older brother go to sleep one after another, Jiang Zhi asked Zhang Ru’an, “Mom, do you know about that son the Ye family brought back a while ago?” Jiang Zhi asked.
“The Ye family?” Zhang Ru’an thought about it. “Precisely that youngest one?”
“Yeah.”
“That kid is said to have grown up in a working-class family, quite lacking in family upbringing. It’s only been a few days since he returned, and the Ye family is already in a state of chaos like chickens flying and dogs jumping,” Zhang Ru’an said.
“Ah?” Jiang Zhi was not too comfortable. “Is it that exaggerated?”
“Can it not be? On the contrary, the one without a blood relation is a bit more sensible; after this one who was brought back angered his mother into the hospital, it has entirely been the adopted son accompanying her.”
“Truly something. I think these people are just spreading rumors from errors. I met Ye Yanxi today; his person is very good, and also very polite.” Jiang Zhi recalled for a moment. Moreover, the person was still the protagonist, possessing plenty of merits; these people’s mouths were simply too gossipy.
“Is that so? Precisely that kid in the picture, right?” Zhang Ru’an hadn’t done a single thing for the whole night today except scroll through the news; she was roughly clear about what kind of people Jiang Zhi contacted tonight and whom he spoke with.
“Yeah. Actually, I originally still felt he might be very hard to get along with, but didn’t expect it wasn’t like this at all.” The stone pressing on his heart was finally moved away tonight, and Jiang Zhi relaxed his entire mind and body thoroughly for a rare moment.
“As long as you feel he can be deeply associated with, Mom supports you,” Zhang Ru’an said. “This life is originally about repeating what others say; only when one has personally experienced it and truly understood it will one understand the essence of the matter.”
“Thank you, Mom,” Jiang Zhi said.
“Oh, your mouth is smeared with honey today?” Zhang Ru’an said crossly. “However, Mom sincerely advises you to open yourself up and get along with Little Fu. The company has already walked onto the right track now; the money and interest have already been prepared by your dad and older brother. You, ah, don’t need to have any worries about future consequences.”
The Jiang family was originally a family of scholars; to be able to have today’s development momentum was all fought out bit by bit by Zhang Ru’an and Jiang Zheng. They could still see through some of Fu Yunting’s character, which was why they agreed to this proposal back then.
“I understand your meaning,” Jiang Zhi said truthfully. As a family like this, marriage alliances were originally routine matters, but being born in the Jiang family, Jiang Zhi felt himself to be exceptionally lucky.
In a flash, he felt those things that happened in his dreams didn’t seem to count as a matter anymore.
…
Before sleeping at night, Jiang Zhi took allergy medicine, sleeping until he woke up naturally.
Waking up, there were many phone calls and messages on his phone. He rubbed his eyes; people he was familiar with and unfamiliar with had all suddenly sent messages.
Jiang Zhi simply replied two sentences to them, and reopened the social platform again. Starting from yesterday’s personal information uncovering, he had been hanging on the headlines continuously.
But today’s was noticeably much more friendly, all being some of his performance videos and personal achievements; it should be that the company intervened.
Jiang Zhi tapped the screen. Nowadays truly was the information age.
He was currently looking seriously when Xiao Lei suddenly sent a message, saying that in the future, apart from necessary interviews and music-related things, other official event assignments could slowly begin to be reduced.
Jiang Zhi rolled around within the blanket. Recalling his own mom’s words from last night—because he deeply knew the alignment of the main storyline in the book, getting married to Fu Yunting in this lifetime was not quite possible, but being a friend was still very suitable.
Thinking about it, he placed a phone call to Fu Yunting. What should be thanked still had to be thanked; for matters to develop up until now, a large half of the credit was indeed because of Fu Yunting’s appearance.
But dialing over, the other party’s phone was in a powered-off state. Knowing each other for such a long time, this was the first time he encountered this kind of situation—and moreover, today was still a working day, and right now was office working hours.
Jiang Zhi felt it wasn’t quite right; an abnormality in the emergence of a matter means there must be a demon at work.
So turning his hand, he dialed to Sheng Yuan again. Sheng Yuan answered the phone very quickly. “Assistant Sheng, how come your President Fu’s phone can’t be gotten through?”
“Young Master Jiang, President Fu and I are not together. After sending him to the hospital last night, the phone could not be gotten through. There are quite a few matters on the company side today; can you please help me make a trip to the hospital?”
Jiang Zhi sat up from the bed. “What’s the situation?”
“The old master’s body has not been too good recently,” Sheng Yuan was concise and to the point. “President Fu’s mood might…”
…
Zhang Ru’an had been calling for an entire morning without being able to wake the person up, and hearing the sound of Jiang Zhi placing a phone call, she was about to come up to pluck the person out.
Only, just reaching the stairs entrance, the person coiled down the stairs like a gust of wind.
“Hey? Didn’t you say you’re resting today? Where are you going?”
“Ai-ya, there’s a matter, I won’t come back to eat dinner tonight!” Jiang Zhi shouted.
Zhang Ru’an let out a light breath with her hands on her hips. “…As expected, he has grown up; can’t keep him, can’t keep him.”
The family auntie comforted her from the side. “I see Little Fu is quite good, you don’t be too worried either. Today my daughter even asked me whether Brother Jiang Zhi is going to get married to President Fu immediately.”
Hearing this, Zhang Ru’an was thoughtful.
Yesterday’s matters could not possibly be wind coming from an empty cave [without foundation]; there were almost no media outlets in the entire Yuncheng who dared to provoke Fu Yunting.
But… if Fu Yunting had personally made a move in order to achieve a certain purpose, how much longer could this dummy son of hers hold out?