Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 104: Concentration

When Xu Wang finally calmed down from his roller-coaster emotions, he couldn’t quite remember all the unfair demands he had made on Wu Sheng. He only remembered that Wu Sheng was unusually agreeable, responding with “Okay,” “Fine,” and “I’ll listen to you.”

“Don’t you have some principles…” Xu Wang was feeling bubbles of happiness inside, even as he criticized himself, feeling like a bad person.

Wu Sheng looked at him with tender eyes and responded with a gentle voice, “Principles? Sure. The 2nd, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 9th clauses you mentioned all have the potential of being overbearing.”

Xu Wang: “…You better not have any principles then.”

Wu Sheng, suppressing laughter in his voice, repeated his most familiar line of the night. “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

Xu Wang decided to quit while he was ahead, fearing that if he overstepped, it might invite a counterattack and lose the “initiative in love”—especially if Wu Sheng really started flirting with him, he might not be able to resist.

Checking the time, it was already almost nine o’clock.

“I wonder if Qian Ai and the others have finished dinner,” Xu Wang muttered to himself.

Wu Sheng asked, “Are you hungry?”

“No,” Xu Wang said. “It’s just that since it’s Chi Yingxue’s brother, if we can still make it, we should at least show our faces.”

“Then let’s call and ask.” When it came to social matters, Wu Sheng always followed the captain.

Xu Wang called, and after a while, Qian Ai answered.

Before Xu Wang could speak, Qian Ai asked first, “Have you guys finished your business?”

“……” What a way to phrase it! Xu Wang awkwardly cleared his throat and skipped the question. “Have you guys finished eating?”

“We just finished. It was a grand feast. Too bad you two missed it.” Qian Ai’s prolonged reminiscence was palpable even through the phone.

Xu Wang couldn’t laugh or cry. “Where are you now?”

“In the car,” Qian Ai said. “You missed dinner, but you can still join to book a room.”

“Book a room?!” Xu Wang’s voice suddenly rose. What kind of activities were Qian Ai, Chi Yingxue, Kuang Jinxin, and Chi Zhuolin that required such a thing?!

“You’re all romantic now, so I won’t blame you for having your head full of mosaics,” Qian Ai joked, rubbing his itchy ears generously. “President Chi gave us a luxurious presidential suite and said that as long as we’re in Beijing, we should stay there.”

“President Chi?” Xu Wang was unfamiliar with the title.

There seemed to be a pause on the other end before a more polite tone came through. “Chi Yingxue’s brother.”

Xu Wang understood. They were in the same car as Chi Zhuolin. Otherwise, Qian Ai would have casually referred to him as Chi Yingxue’s brother.

“You’re about to move out, right? Just pack up and come over. There are still three hours until midnight. I’ll send you the address.”

“……” A presidential suite falling from the sky left Xu Wang a bit dazed, feeling like his happiness quota was seriously exceeded for the night. But then he remembered Chi Yingxue preparing to pay a “transfer sponsorship fee” of 100,000 yuan in the castle basement and thought his brother securing a permanent presidential suite was quite in line with the sibling theme.

Thinking Xu Wang’s silence was hesitation, Qian Ai further persuaded. “Come over. An old classmate is waiting for you two to explain your youth.”

Xu Wang: “……”

After hanging up, Xu Wang looked at Wu Sheng.

Wu Sheng had heard the entire conversation on speaker.

“What should we do?” The heat of romance cooled, leading to shivering contemplation of life.

“Just tell the truth.” Wu Sheng shrugged, his lips curling up confidently. “They’ll figure it out even if we don’t say anything.”

Xu Wang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, finding Wu Sheng’s words painfully reasonable.

Besides their own situation, there was another person they couldn’t ignore…

“Chi Yingxue’s brother.” Xu Wang looked into his advisor’s eyes, emphasizing, “We need to catch him.”

“……” Wu Sheng wanted to travel to the other end of the phone and format Chi Zhuolin, who was showing off his wealth. “The more you want to catch something, the easier it is to lose it,” he advised Xu Wang. “You should choose something you don’t want to catch as much.”

Xu Wang smiled and tilted his head, asking teasingly, “Like a certain classmate surnamed Wu?”

Wu Sheng didn’t answer but instead reached into his pocket and took out a bank card, placing it in Xu Wang’s palm.

Xu Wang was stunned. “What’s this?”

“Four million,” Wu Sheng said. “Let’s put it in the public wallet.”

Xu Wang was shocked. “Did you rob a bank?”

Wu Sheng laughed. “I withdrew my shares from the company.”

“Wait a minute…” Xu Wang was struggling to keep up.

Wu Sheng shrugged. “I was planning to tell you when I got back, but then you brought up the letters.”

Xu Wang stared at him with wide eyes. It was his fault for bringing up the letters wrongly?!

“Of course, it was a good thing.” Wu Sheng, sensing trouble, quickly shifted gears without concern for smoothness. “So I put off telling you about the share withdrawal.”

“You were supposed to solve a client’s issue, right? Or did you solve the client?” Otherwise, Xu Wang couldn’t fathom why he’d withdraw shares when the company was thriving.

Wu Sheng held Xu Wang’s hand, pulling him closer and patiently explaining, “The small problem with the client became a big one because I held the project core, and everyone was waiting for me to return…”

“But what if the company called while I was in the Owl? What if I missed it? Maybe in one night, this unresolved situation could cause irreparable damage to the company.” Wu Sheng shook his head. “I can’t be running around everywhere, and the partners and employees shouldn’t have to accommodate me.”

Xu Wang then noticed the fatigue and dark circles under Wu Sheng’s eyes.

Two days in Hebei, plus the previous challenges and flying back to Beijing—had he not slept for three days?

“Did the partners ask you to withdraw?”

“No, I chose to.”

“But your dream is in IT. You worked hard to start this business…”

“My dream is you.”

Xu Wang was speechless and just stared at Wu Sheng. For the first time, he experienced what they call a “heart-stopping moment”.

After a long, silent stare, Xu Wang couldn’t find any flaws in Wu Sheng’s expression, but a mix of sweetness, sourness, and grievance surfaced in his initial feelings.

“Don’t just say what sounds nice,” he muttered, finally admitting a reality he didn’t want to acknowledge. “Without the ‘Owl’, we would never have met again.”

“We would have,” Wu Sheng said calmly, yet with certainty.

Xu Wang looked at him, puzzled.

Wu Sheng lowered his voice. “I came back to China to find you.”

Xu Wang was stunned, instinctively accusing, “You didn’t even try to find me!”

If Wu Sheng had tried, would they have had to reunite in the ‘Owl’?

Wu Sheng swallowed, slightly lacking confidence. “Because I didn’t have enough money to support you. I thought of earning some first, then looking for you. Besides, several classmates said you were in Beijing, so you wouldn’t be far…”

“……” Four hundred million in shares, but no money to support him? Was he trying for a multi-billion-dollar courtyard house on Chang’an Street?!

“Just keep the card,” Wu Sheng said, deciding not to beat around the bush. “A badge handbook alone costs two hundred thousand, and who knows how much more we’ll need later.”

Xu Wang knew he should be happy, being cared for and given everything by the person he liked—something he never dared dream of.

But he just couldn’t feel happy. Instead, he was angry, thinking Wu Sheng was foolishly naive!

“Didn’t you ever think I might take the money and run? Or go with someone else?”

Wu Sheng blinked blankly, obviously having never considered it.

But now that he was asked, he began to think seriously.

After a long pause.

“If you ran, then we wouldn’t be on the same team anymore.”

Xu Wang couldn’t keep up with this bizarre line of thinking. “So?”

Wu Sheng smiled. “Are you sure you want to become my competitor in the ‘Owl’?”

Xu Wang: “……”

A competing team with Wu Sheng as the advisor?

A tactic manual as thick as an English-Chinese dictionary, likely used against himself?

No, he didn’t want to think of such terrifying things…

“You won’t be able to escape,” Wu Sheng confidently declared. “Even if you are willing to leave me, you won’t be able to part with my wisdom.”

Xu Wang: “……”

Why can’t a lightning bolt strike this man’s confidence, leaving behind only his handsome body and brilliant mind?!

The conversation ended with Xu Wang slapping Wu Sheng on the forehead.

The four million never made it into the public wallet. Xu Wang asked Wu Sheng to keep it, to be asked for in a time of need.

Wu Sheng’s objection died under Xu Wang’s sharp gaze.

Forty minutes later, Xu Wang was ready to leave, heading straight for the address Qian Ai had sent.

He had lived in the rental for many years, but when packing up, he only needed one suitcase. He had arranged to move out with the landlord the next day, leaving the bedding, furniture, pots, and pans for the landlord to deal with.

……

CBD, presidential suite of a luxurious five-star hotel.

Xu Wang, accompanied by Wu Sheng, who was dragging the luggage, hadn’t yet had the chance to admire the luxury of the presidential suite before being surrounded by three pairs of gossip-hungry eyes.

Xu Wang swallowed, asking Chi Yingxue casually, “Where’s your brother? As the team captain, for such a generous invitation, I must thank him in person.”

“Just thank me,” Chi Yingxue said indifferently, then his gaze began to drift between Xu Wang and Wu Sheng, as if he could solve the case by just looking.

“Don’t wait for us to ask.” Qian Ai was already impatient. “Come on, we’ll be lenient if you confess.”

Xu Wang sighed, bracing himself, but Wu Sheng had already tightly grasped his hand and raised it.

“Starting today, I’m pursuing him,” Wu Sheng announced openly.

Chi Yingxue: “……”

Kuang Jinxin: “……”

Qian Ai: “……”

Is it really pursuing? This posture is almost like a marriage vow!

And—

Qian Ai’s gaze moved from Wu Sheng’s satisfied face to Xu Wang’s joyous face… With their team captain’s starry-eyed look, did Wu Sheng really need to chase?

“Ahem.” From behind the five people, at the far end of the suite, near the bedroom door, Chi Zhuolin spoke apologetically. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but there just wasn’t a chance to interrupt.”

Qian Ai and Kuang Jinxin looked in the direction of the voice, astonished.

Chi Yingxue turned to look at his own brother, equally puzzled. “You haven’t left yet?”

“…I was just looking for a room to make a phone call.” All the disdain Chi Zhuolin received in his life came from his younger brother.

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