Cheng Rong poured Chen Qizhao another glass of wine while the people around him shouted and played dice.
The lively bar was very similar to the scene when he was reborn and the people around him were almost the same.
“Xiao Zhao, don’t play with your phone.” Cheng Rong told him. “Come here. Let us toast Xiao Zhao today. Quickly. Liu Kai, bring a bottle of wine here.”
Liu Kai replied, “I’m coming.”
Cheng Rong asked again, “Do you plan to continue working in Feihong after the new year? I heard my old man say that you did so well this time. You will definitely be able to go to headquarters to develop.”
“Yes, they did ask me about it.” Chen Qizhao thought of Chen Jianhong’s words at the dinner table tonight. He really needed to go to headquarters to find out but that was based on when he was alone. Now Chen Shiming had noticed the problems within the group and Chen Qizhao would easily attract the attention of others if he went to headquarters.
The more he did, the more he would be exposed.
Based on Lin Shizong’s suspicious personality, he had probably noticed Chen Qizhao’s side.
Cheng Rong asked, “What do you plan to do?”
“It depends on Chen Shiming.” Chen Qizhao continued to act with a smile on his face. “Do you think my brother won’t be nervous if I go to the group? If I want to fight for the family properly in the future, what do you think he will think of me?”
Cheng Rong looked at him in surprise. “I thought your relationship has improved recently.”
“How is it good? I argued with him a lot because of Feihong.” Chen Qizhao finished drinking the wine in one breath and had a bit of disdain in his tone. “He lectured me again at dinner tonight. Don’t forget, Feihong was his project and I asked for it from my father.”
Liu Kai was a bit nervous when he heard this. “Then you really have to pay attention. Qin Xingfeng isn’t a person but his words before have some truth.”
Chen Qizhao looked at the ice in the glass. The color of the beer reflected the light. His eyes stayed on Cheng Rong for a while before he sent out the edited email.
At the same time, in a corner of S City, there were several computers in a slightly dim office. People were sitting in front of the computers with dull faces and there were instant noodle takeout boxes everywhere.
A man in the floral shirt sat on the slightly shabby office chair. Then he suddenly received a certain email and his entire body sat up straight. “It has come, Brother.”
“This is crazy enough. Fu Yanyu has offended some crazy person.” The man scrolled down on the computer and downloaded the email. The instructions in it were concise and to the point, showing how determined the other person was. “I have been in the business for so many years and it is the first time I’ve been asked to check this type of thing… it is interesting.”
“Boss, is this the boss you said before that has a lot of money?”
The man in the flower shirt replied, “It is.”
It wasn’t known how their dilapidated workshop suddenly met a wealthy backer. This wealthy backer was hidden every time he wanted to check things and he liked to check the affairs of those with money. This time, he was rarely interested in a big star and investigated the capital relationship behind a big star.
The email address that their wealthy backer used to contact them was different every time but the tone of the order was so similar that he recognized the wealthy backer at first glance. However, studios like theirs had always kept the privacy of the bosses. Even so, the boss was vigilant every time he contacted and changed the email every time, so the identity of this person hadn’t been found.
Nevertheless, the fact that the contact email of their studio was able to be found showed that this person wasn’t simple.
“It is boring to check little stars. I still like to pick up the materials of rich people.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. We take money to do things so talk less. How much will the boss give this time?”
“This number.” The man in the flower shirt blew out the cigarette smoke. “The boss said things must be done in a week.”
He stopped after speaking. “Isn’t that the new year? Not bad, this year’s New Year’s Day will be lively.”
—
The Shen house in S City. It was very lively at night.
In the living room, the people of the Shen and Yan families were drinking tea and talking about business affairs. Yan Kaiqi had returned to China to develop and for some matters, he needed to rely on the elders of S City. In addition, the Shen and Yan families had been friends for many years and they had a lot of business contacts. The Shen family welcomed the Yan family’s desire to return to China for development.
Yan Kailin felt that his brother was enough of a workaholic but once they started chatting, Uncle Shen and Shen Xuelan didn’t fall behind. The three workaholics chatted about things for three hours endlessly.
Aunt Shen added tea on the side and occasionally joined in the discussion.
Yan Kailin quietly glanced at Shen Yuhuai, who was on the single seat sofa next to him. The man was wearing casual lounge clothes and had a book as thick as a brick on his lap. He quietly read the book without paying attention to the surrounding environment.
Shen Yuhuai seemingly noticed his gaze and looked over with a trace of doubt in his eyes.
Yan Kailin moved to the side. “Brother Huai, can you read a book when it is so noisy?”
Shen Yuhuai’s gaze stayed on him for a short time before moving back to the book. “It’s okay.”
Yan Kailin: “……”
He suddenly understood why Shen Yuhuai could become someone who couldn’t be surpassed. He relied on this ability to hold onto himself in the middle of the noise.
Shen Yuhuai noticed Yan Kailin’s many tentative gazes and asked, “Are you bored?”
“Yes.” Yan Kailin sat near him and whispered, “How long are they going to talk like this? It is almost 10:30. I feel embarrassed to disturb your family. Doesn’t Sister Xuelan need her beauty sleep?”
Shen Yuhuai looked at the people on the other side and saw Father Shen and Shen Xuelan’s faces that were full of interest. “It will take another half an hour.”
Half an hour…
“That is too long… I won’t make it in time.” Yan Kailin’s face was full of worry. It would take at least 40 minutes to get to the bar from this place. By that time, everyone would’ve finished drinking and changed the venue. What should he do? It wasn’t difficult to catch a taxi here but he didn’t dare go out to get a taxi in front of his brother. In the end, Yan Kaiqi would definitely say that he wasn’t sensible.
Shen Yuhuai heard the sound of the screen being tapped in a hurry and raised his head slightly. “Are you in a hurry?”
“A little…” Yan Kailin’s eyes lit up. “Brother Huai, are you free now? I’m in a bit of a hurry and want to go out. Can you help me?”
Shen Yuhuai asked, “What’s the matter?”
Yan Kailin smiled in a flattering manner and moved closer to Shen Yuhuai. “It is really urgent. I can’t tell my brother.”
Shen Yuhuai glanced at Yan Kaiqi, who was still talking, and put the bookmark in the spot where he was reading. “Let’s go.”
Yan Kaiqi really didn’t say anything when Shen Yuhuai took him out. Yan Kailin escaped from the sea of suffering and walked briskly.
Shen Yuhuai’s gaze paused slightly. “Are you very happy?”
“Of course. I thought it would’ve dispersed at 9 o’clock. Who knew that my brother could talk so much?” Yan Kailin saw Shen Yuhuai walking in the direction of the garage. He was embarrassed to trouble this person to drive him so he said, “Brother Huai, I can take a taxi by myself. If my brother asks, can you help me handle it? Don’t worry, I definitely won’t go to those weird places! I’ll treat you to dinner another day!”
Shen Yuhuai’s footsteps didn’t stop. He could see Yan Kailin’s careful thinking on his face and wasn’t fooled. “What is the address?”
Yan Kailin answered vaguely, “Just… Kaixuan Road in the downtown area.”
Shen Yuhuai looked at him.
Yan Kailin added, “Starlight Bar.”
He hurriedly explained, “I’m not going to drink indiscriminately. Didn’t Brother Zhao make a lot of money from investing recently? We thought of holding a celebration party for him and originally agreed to surprise him tonight. Who knew that my brother would temporarily pull me to go out? Everyone is there. I have to go over, right?”
Yan Kailin looked at Shen Yuhuai’s face while explaining. He saw that the other person hesitated for a moment when he heard about the celebration party. Just as he thought that Shen Yuhuai regretted it, Shen Yuhuai opened the car door and sat directly in the driver’s seat.
Shen Yuhuai wondered, “Are you still stunned?”
“I’m coming!” Yan Kailin got into the car and didn’t forget to praise him with one or two words. “Brother Huai, you are a really good person. You are much better than my brother!”
Shen Yuhuai didn’t speak. He started the vehicle and quickly drove away from the Shen house.
The car wasn’t quiet. After Yan Kailin got into the car, he had been sending messages to the people in the bar. In other words, the other people sent messages and Yan Kailin kept replying.
“Huh? Brother Zhao is waiting for me?”
“I’ll be there soon. It will be half an hour.”
“Cheng Rong has opened a good wine?! Leave me some…”
Yan Kailin finished dealing with the people. It wasn’t good for him to urge Shen Yuhuai to hurry up so he was looking down at his phone when he heard an inquiry next to him.
“Do you often go out for drinks with Chen Qizhao?” Shen Yuhuai asked.
Yan Kailin naturally didn’t dare to honestly explain. “It is just occasionally, occasionally.”
He was afraid that Shen Yuhuai wouldn’t believe him and added, “You should know that my brother strictly controls me. How can he let me go out to drink?”
Shen Yuhuai finished asking and didn’t speak again. The vehicle drove onto the main road and encountered a red light for 70 seconds.
Yan Kailin was a bit bored. He glanced at Shen Yuhuai cautiously and saw that the other person seemed to no longer care about him. He lowered his head and played with his phone. His Moments were full of videos posted by that group of people. All of them were playing around and only he was forgotten here. He scrolled and scrolled and accidentally saw Chen Qizhao’s Moments. The cheerful music of the bar suddenly filled the entire car.
The noisy background sound was faintly mixed with the voices of others.
Yan Kailin hurriedly shut off the video. He looked up and noticed Shen Yuhuai’s gaze. Then he hurriedly explained, “I accidentally clicked on a video in my Moments.”
“Yes…” Yan Kailin smiled with embarrassment. How did you know it was my brother’s Moments?”
The green light turned on. Shen Yuhuai stared straight ahead and responded briefly, “I heard his voice.”
—
The liveliness in the bar continued and many wine bottles on the table were poured. The people who played dice and made bets took another sip of wine.
After a few rounds, the young people around him were a bit drunk. Chen Qizhao shook the dice and looked down. He was thinking about things when a heavy hand was placed on his shoulders.
Liu Kai was a bit dizzy from drinking and he reached out to hook an arm around Chen Qizhao’s shoulder. “Xiao Zhao, come again. You’ve only had a few drinks.”
“Who said that?” Chen Qizhao clinked glasses with him and drank the wine in front of him. Then he wondered, “You aren’t doing it?”
“Cheers!” Liu Kai was completely drunk and dizzy. He didn’t speak for a long time.
Drinking with these people was much simpler. He had many old foxes in the mall. They weren’t like these young brats who fought over the amount of alcohol like heroes and drank obediently after a few words. Chen Qizhao cocked his head slightly and the light above him flickered in a dazzling manner. He put down the wine glass and found that someone next to him had already filled it up for him.
Chen Qizhao suddenly remembered when he drank until his stomach was bleeding in his previous life.
He had drunk a lot with his scoundrel friends when he was young and always thought that his alcohol tolerance was superior. Yet in fact, such capital only became a tool used by some people when it came to business. The old foxes would smile and say kind things, praise him and support him, making him fall involuntarily into their traps and then finally deceiving more promises or a handle on him while he was drunk.
Chen Qizhao had been deceived many times. He was self-righteous, young and conceited. He always thought he could do well, but in reality, he was nothing.
The biggest loss was that he released a secret while drunk. This caused one of the more important projects at the time to almost collapse. He remembered returning home dejected and Chen Shiming was watching him from the living room in a wheelchair.
It was a slightly cramped apartment and a brother whose face was covered in stubble.
He was very drunk and had a big quarrel with Chen Shiming. Finally, he returned to his room.
Ever since then, he became more cautious and swallowed the losses he had suffered. Later, he repaid them a hundredfold.
Indeed, he had no advantages and was useless.
He went looking for trouble every day when his family was alive.
He confidently thought that when he achieved something, he could make Chen Shiming look at him differently, but Chen Shiming died.
After that, he drank more and changed.
It wasn’t until he drank until his stomach bled and he lay in the hospital alone that he knew what loneliness was.