Chapter 115 – Zhong Jingyi’s Gloomy Day
Wenren Yi went downstairs, leaving only a phone with an active call behind.
In the living room, Zhong Jingyi wore a suit that had just been express-delivered from abroad. His eyes were fixed nervously on Wenren Er, the young master of the Wenren family, who sat opposite him. Compared to Luan Yuanzhou’s gentle and refined appearance, his features were more aggressive. His sharp eyebrows and high-bridged nose always gave him a strange sense of familiarity. However, this young master hadn’t given him a proper look since they met, his face clearly written with the word “perfunctory.”
But for today’s meeting, the Zhong family had pulled countless strings to finally connect with this young master of the Wenren family. No matter how dissatisfied Zhong Jingyi was, he had to endure it.
“Mr. Wenren, you’ve seen the position of Zhong’s Chips in the country. Our new generation of chips is about to be successfully developed. If you are willing to cooperate with us, it will definitely be a win-win situation,” Zhong Jingyi said with a smile. The secretary beside him placed a thick contract on the table.
“Didn’t you say this was just a simple meal? Isn’t President Zhong making things a bit too serious?” Wenren Er slowly pushed the contract back.
Zhong Jingyi’s expression changed, and he managed to squeeze out another smile. “Mr. Wenren is right. I was too hasty. I mainly just wanted to have a simple meal with you.”
In truth, he couldn’t afford not to be hasty. The clients of Zhong’s Chips were being snatched away like crazy by a technology company called Zhuoshi Technology. In just a few short months, their orders had dropped by two-thirds. The key was that Zhuoshi was a company he had never heard of before, yet it had seized the market initiative with unstoppable momentum. Because of this, Zhong Jingyi hadn’t slept for several nights, trying to find out who the mastermind behind Zhuoshi was. Not only did he find nothing, but Zhuoshi had once again swallowed up another one of their major clients within a week.
Wenren Er gave a cold laugh and picked up the tea on the table, taking a slow sip.
“You’re back and you didn’t even say a word, my dear brother,” Wenren Yi said as she walked down the stairs.
Hearing the words “dear brother,” Wenren Er almost spat out the tea in his mouth. He looked back in surprise. Wenren Yi was sitting next to him with a smile, one hand resting on his shoulder, her eyes coldly staring at Zhong Jingyi.
Zhong Jingyi’s hand, which had just picked up a teacup, suddenly trembled, and the scalding tea spilled onto the back of his hand, leaving an angry red mark.
“Oh my, how careless. Did meeting a colleague make our great star Zhong this excited?” Wenren Yi said sarcastically.
If Zhong Jingyi was just a little flustered before, he was now completely panicked. Wenren Yi, how could she be part of the Wenren family?
He had clearly done his research before coming, even going so far as to look through the Wenren family’s genealogy. There was never a child named Wenren Yi in the Wenren family!
Of course, Wenren Yi knew what Zhong Jingyi was thinking. After the kidnapping incident when she was a child, her family had never made her appearance public in order to protect her. Except for a few particularly close families, most people didn’t know that the Wenren family had a daughter. Wenren Yi had also learned various self-defense techniques since she was young, so that she could protect herself in case anything happened when she grew up.
“Colleague? Since when did you get involved in the chip industry? With all this effort, how come I haven’t seen you come back to inherit the family business?” Wenren Er retorted sarcastically.
Wenren Yi automatically ignored this sentence. If she were to argue with her sarcastic brother, she would lose.
Zhong Jingyi finally understood why he felt a sense of familiarity when looking at Wenren Er. When the siblings sat together, even their auras were the same.
Zhong Jingyi endured for a long time before he could resist the urge to get up and leave. He had been spoiled since he was a child, and almost no one had ever humiliated him to this extent. Even before, when his family’s business wasn’t as big, some elders would always be more patient with him because of his well-behaved and lovable nature. If it weren’t for the fact that Zhong’s Chips was in real danger now…
“Wenren, perhaps there have been some misunderstandings between us before. You know, I couldn’t digest what my brother and Ganzhi did to me all at once, and it might have affected you. If I’ve caused you any trouble, I apologize. But today, I came with sincerity to cooperate. Our Zhong’s Chips currently has an advantage in the country, and I hope this cooperation can bring us a win-win situation. I may have been a bit immature before, but I can talk to my brother about it later.”
Wenren Yi listened with indifference, but Wenren Er became a little interested. It had been a long time since he had met someone so stupid and unaware. Before meeting Zhong Jingyi, he had done some research on Zhong’s Chips. It was a big enterprise, so how could the boss be so stupid? Was he the academic type?
“We don’t need this kind of win-win. Zhong Jingyi, I’ll be direct. As long as I’m in the Wenren family, the Wenren family will never cooperate with you!” Wenren Yi said decisively.
This made Lin Ganzhi, who was listening to the voice chat in the room, incredibly moved. So this was what it felt like to have a friend stand up for you! He was so excited right now that he wanted to rush down and give Wenren Yi a passionate hug.
In the end, Zhong Jingyi left the Wenren Residence in a daze with his secretary. Lin Ganzhi deliberately took a picture from the second-floor window and sent it to Yan Shengping to vent his anger.
Yan Shengping didn’t comment much on it, only asking when he would be back. Lin Ganzhi found that although Yan Shengping didn’t usually show it much, whenever he was out playing for a whole day, he would be especially clingy at night, loving to hold him. Sometimes when he messaged him, the most frequent questions were “Are you coming back for dinner?” or “When are you coming back?”
In short, Yan Shengping was just a tsundere who secretly loved to be clingy.
Forget it. As a man with a family, I should understand this, Lin Ganzhi thought. With just one sentence from Yan Shengping, he forgave him for his wanton behavior last night.
Lin Ganzhi: [Coming back right now!] Back to cuddle with my old man~
Just as he stepped out of the Wenren Residence’s main gate, a clap of thunder suddenly echoed in the sky. The weather, which had been clear and sunny just a moment ago, was suddenly flooded with a thick layer of dark clouds, so gloomy that they almost seemed to shave off the distant mountain peaks. Purple lightning flashed three times before a downpour began. The early spring rain was bone-chillingly cold. Lin Ganzhi shivered outside, his mood inexplicably heavy, and he had a bad premonition.
As it turned out, Lin Ganzhi’s premonition was correct this time. Dinner with Yan Shengping went well, but after Yan Shengping took a call, his expression changed. They had originally planned to watch a movie together that night, but Yan Shengping could only apologize to Lin Ganzhi and then plunged headfirst into his study.
Lin Ganzhi expressed his complete understanding, so that night he watched a movie with Uncle Yan for more than two hours. But after returning to his room, he waited until midnight and Yan Shengping still hadn’t come back. Worried, he went downstairs, made a late-night snack for Yan Shengping, and brought it up.
Pushing open the door, he heard the voices of several people coming from Yan Shengping’s computer. Usually, Yan Shengping’s video conferences were held during the day so as not to affect the employees’ time off. But Yan Shengping, sitting behind the desk, looked extremely unwell. He rubbed his brow several times, listening to his subordinates’ various reports in the meeting.
Lin Ganzhi’s heart ached for a moment. He didn’t make a sound, just placed the late-night snack on Yan Shengping’s desk and mouthed for him to remember to eat something after the meeting.
Yan Shengping forced himself to stay alert and squeezed Lin Ganzhi’s hand, the fatigue in his eyes hard to conceal. Finally, Yan Shengping temporarily muted the video conference’s microphone and told Lin Ganzhi to go rest first.
Lin Ganzhi obediently nodded, but by the next morning, Yan Shengping still hadn’t returned.
At first, Lin Ganzhi thought Yan Shengping was just temporarily busy, but this busyness lasted for a whole week. Fortunately, except for the first night, Yan Shengping managed to get to bed before three in the morning. Lin Ganzhi couldn’t help with work, so he could only take more meticulous care of Yan Shengping in his daily life.
Worried that he wouldn’t be able to last the night alone, Lin Ganzhi simply moved a sofa bed into Yan Shengping’s study. He would make something for Yan Shengping to eat at set times and keep him company until three in the morning before they went back to sleep together. Yan Shengping tried to persuade Lin Ganzhi, but it was no use. Even if he didn’t sleep on the sofa bed, Lin Ganzhi would try his best to minimize his presence, sitting in his designated spot and doing his own thing, quietly accompanying Yan Shengping.
In the end, Yan Shengping was pushed to his wit’s end by Lin Ganzhi’s stubbornness and could only agree to let Lin Ganzhi accompany him in the study for the first half of the night, and then carry him back to the bedroom at three in the morning.
During this time, Lin Ganzhi couldn’t help but ask Yan Shengping if there was a big problem with the company.
Yan Shengping, who was eating, looked up and reached out to rub Lin Ganzhi’s head, coaxing, “Don’t overthink it. It’s just that the project has been moved up.”
Lin Ganzhi lowered his eyes, not looking very happy. He was a person who was easily satisfied. Seeing Yan Shengping so tired every day, he really wanted to tell him that at worst, he could go back to filming. The salary he had saved up before was enough for the two of them to live on for the rest of their lives. But every time he saw Yan Shengping not being content with the status quo and striving to move forward, those words were swallowed back down by Lin Ganzhi.
But this feeling of watching a loved one suffer and being powerless to help made him feel very miserable.
“Is that all?” Lin Ganzhi asked, unwilling to give up, completely unaware that his voice was already tinged with a sob. Could it be that Yan Shengping chose not to tell him because he was too useless?
Yan Shengping keenly sensed Lin Ganzhi’s disappointment and then pulled him onto his lap, his hands firmly supporting Lin Ganzhi’s lower back.
Perhaps protecting Lin Ganzhi too well would instead make him feel insecure.
“If I tell you, will you stop letting your imagination run wild?” Yan Shengping asked, his sharp brows and eyes always softening several degrees when he looked at Lin Ganzhi.
His thoughts exposed, Lin Ganzhi stubbornly denied it. “I’m not letting my imagination run wild!”
“Mm, you’re not letting your imagination run wild. It’s me who insists on telling Zhizhi,” Yan Shengping said. He was clearly exhausted, yet he was still willing to coax Lin Ganzhi. Lin Ganzhi wrapped his arms around Yan Shengping’s neck, feeling a sense of being indulged that he had never experienced before.
Lin Ganzhi swung his dangling feet and threatened in a muffled voice, “Then hurry up and say it.” The words sounded fierce, but his tone couldn’t harden. Hurry up and finish, so Yan Shengping can get some more sleep.