01
At the FOX Club in downtown Shanghai, just after midnight, the revelry was already reaching its climax. Deafening electronic dance music blasted from the massive speakers, and multicolored laser beams blared wildly through the smoke-filled space.
Shen Qingyu leaned against the far corner of the bar, a glass of amber whiskey between her fingers, the ice making a crisp sound as it hit the glass's walls. She was wearing a black, fitted halter top, adorned with tiny pearls at the collar. Over it lay a loose, short, lavender mink coat, its furry edges rubbing against her shoulders, adding a touch of softness to her otherwise expressionless face.
She lowered her head and scrolled through her phone screen, her waist-length black hair drooping, covering half her face. On the screen was a snarky message from her bestie, Qu Shengsheng, about a man she'd just met asking her if she'd be willing to be a full-time wife. Shen Qingyu curled her lips and was about to reply when a man in a black shirt approached, holding a wine glass.
"Beauty, add me on WeChat?" The man smiled greasyly, his eyes scanning her figure without any concealment.
Shen Qingyu raised her eyelids, said nothing, and simply handed over the phone. She was used to this kind of scene. In places like the FOX Club, beautiful women were always approached by people. The man happily scanned the code and wanted to say something else, but Shen Qingyu had already put the phone away and lowered her head to continue typing. Her "don't bother me" look made the man feel bored, and he walked away angrily.
Less than two minutes later, another person came over. This time it was a young man in a white suit, looking more refined, holding a bouquet of roses. "My name is Lin Hao. Can I buy you a drink?"
Shen Qingyu glanced at the bouquet of wilted roses and scoffed, "No need."
"Don't be so cold," Lin Hao didn't give up and moved forward, "I'm at the next table. My friends all say you're the most beautiful girl tonight..."
Shen Qingyu finally raised her eyes to look at him, her gaze as cold as ice: "Get lost."
Lin Hao's face flushed instantly, but he didn't dare to lose his temper, so he could only grit his teeth and turn away. Zhu Pan could see clearly from the bar, and smiled as he shook the cocktail shaker: "Sister Yu, with your temper, no one will dare to pursue you if you continue like this."
Shen Qingyu pushed the empty wine glass over: "Refill." She paused and asked, "Where's Qi Yan?"
"Brother Yan just sent a message saying he's in the studio revising songs and he'll probably be late," Zhu Pan said, lowering his voice as he poured his wine. "He's practically living in the studio lately, working on his new album. Yesterday, when I went to deliver some documents, his eyes were red as a rabbit's."
Shen Qingyu uttered an "Oh," but she wasn't surprised. Qi Yan was always like this: one day he'd promise to treat everyone, then forget it completely over a trivial matter. She picked up the freshly blended whiskey and sipped it. The pungent taste of the liquor slid down her throat, but it didn't dispel the inexplicable irritation in her heart.
She was bored and scrolling through her social media when her phone suddenly vibrated. The words "Chen Changshen" flashed across the screen, making her stunned. Why would her father call at this hour?
"Hello, Dad." Shen Qingyu walked to a quiet corner beside the bar and lowered his voice.
The roar of an airplane engine came from the other end of the phone, but Shen Changshen's tone remained calm: "Playing outside?"
"Yeah, at the bar."
"Is there enough money?"
Shen Qingyu suddenly remembered that when the girl sitting next to her answered the phone just now, her father yelled at the other end, "You dare to go to a bar and try it?", and then compared it with her own father's light-hearted question, she couldn't help laughing out loud: "Dad, your concern is too perfunctory, isn't it?"
There was a pause on the other end of the phone, and Shen Changshen's voice was a little more helpless: "If it's not enough, just tell me, and I'll ask Jackson to transfer it to you."
"You called me out of the blue, you're definitely not just asking me if I have enough money, right?"
Shen Zhangshen cleared his throat and finally got to the point: "Your brother is going back to China. I handed over the head office of the Chinese branch to him. He has a new project. You can go and give him a hand."
"What?" Shen Qingyu almost dropped the wine glass in his hand. "Shen Zichen is going back to China?!"
"He's your biological brother." Shen Changshen corrected.
Shen Qingyu's fingers tightened around her phone, their knuckles turning white. Shen Zichen, her "devilish" brother. When she was a child living in the United States, Shen Zichen always found ways to bully her—hiding her dolls in the doghouse, adding mustard to her milk, and even deliberately hiding her textbooks before exams. The infuriating thing was that while he was bullying her, he would also pin her down and beat up other kids when she was being bullied, then drag her out for ice cream.
Later, Shen Zichen went to study at a university in the UK, and the two of them rarely contacted each other. Shen Qingyu originally thought that she would never have to deal with this "living fossil" again in her life, but she didn't expect her father to ask her to be Shen Zichen's assistant!
"Dad, you promised me that I could have fun after returning home," Shen Qingyu said angrily, "I don't want to work for Shen Zichen!"
"Then I'll have the driver drive your Maserati back." Shen Changshen's voice remained calm.
"No, no, no!" Shen Qingyu immediately gave in. "Isn't it okay for me to go?"
Shen Changshen chuckled from the other end of the phone: "That's right. Zichen is already on the plane and will probably land in Shanghai tomorrow."
Shen Qingyu almost laughed out of anger: "Dad, you have arranged this a long time ago, right?"
"Guess." Shen Changshen finished speaking, and then added, "Work hard, and you can use the card at will after the task is completed."
“…” Shen Qingyu hung up the phone, looked at the project information sent by Shen Changshen on the mobile phone screen, looked at it for a while, and sighed heavily.
"Why are you sighing?" A teasing voice suddenly sounded behind him.
Shen Qingyu turned around and saw Qi Yan wearing a black hoodie, with messy hair and a tired look in his eyes, but he still had a cheeky smile. He was holding a burger in his hand and sat down next to her while chewing on it. "I just heard from Zhu Pan that your dad asked you to work for Shen Zichen?"
"How do you know?" Shen Qingyu raised his eyebrows.
"I wish Pan can't keep his secrets," Qi Yan said vaguely after taking a bite of his hamburger, "but it's good that Shen Zichen has returned. When we were little, he always got us into trouble. Now that he's back, we can play together again."
Shen Qingyu rolled her eyes at him and said, "Who wants to play with him? I haven't even settled accounts with him for throwing my toys into the water when we were kids."
Qi Yan smiled and shook his head, then turned to Zhu Pan and shouted, "Zhu Pan, make Sister Yu a sweet drink. She's in a bad mood."
Zhu Pan immediately responded, "Okay! Sister Yu, try my new 'Sakura Bubbles', it's very sweet!"
Shen Qingyu took the wine glass. A few cherry blossoms floated in the pink wine, and it tasted lightly fruity and refreshing with bubbles. She took a few sips, and her mood improved. Just as she was about to complain to Qi Yan about Shen Zichen, her phone vibrated again. It was a photo sent by Shen Changshen. The man in the photo was wearing a white shirt and gold-rimmed glasses, and when he smiled, he had a pair of shallow dimples. It was Shen Zichen.
"Brother Zichen, I haven't seen him for a few years. He seems like a different person." Qi Yan came over to take a look and said with a smile.
Shen Qingyu didn't say anything, just staring at Shen Zichen in the photo, feeling a mixture of emotions. She hadn't seen Shen Zichen in many years, and she wondered if he was still the same bullying devil he was when he was little.
Just as he was thinking about it, a cheer suddenly broke out in the bar. It turned out that the DJ had changed to a more exciting dance music, and everyone in the dance floor danced even crazier. Qi Yan took Shen Qingyu's hand and said, "Let's go dance!"
Shen Qingyu hesitated for a moment, but was finally pulled into the dance floor. The colorful lights swept across her face, and her long black hair fluttered in the air. At that moment, all her worries were thrown behind her, and she just wanted to immerse herself in this midnight revelry.
The next afternoon, Shen Qingyu was woken up by the ringing of her cell phone. She answered the phone in a daze, her voice hoarse from just waking up: "Hello?"
"Chen Qingyu, are you up?"
This voice... Shen Qingyu suddenly opened her eyes. The three words "Shen Zichen" on the screen hurt her eyes. How could she have forgotten this! Shen Zichen arrived in Shanghai today!
"Brother?" Shen Qingyu's irritability instantly dissipated. "Have you arrived at the airport?"
"I'm here, waiting for you at the exit," Shen Zichen said with a smile, "You haven't gotten up yet, have you?"
"Who said that! I'll be there soon!" Shen Qingyu hung up the phone and washed and changed clothes as quickly as possible. She picked a white dress, put on a beige windbreaker, put on some light makeup, and hurried downstairs.
On the way to the airport, Shen Qingyu bought a sandwich and a cup of hot milk and ate them hurriedly in the car. She looked at the street scene passing by quickly outside the window, feeling a little nervous - she didn't know what to say when she saw Shen Zichen.
Arriving at the airport exit, Shen Qingyu spotted Shen Zichen immediately. He was wearing a gray suitcase, dragging a black suitcase, his hair neatly combed, and a smile behind his gold-rimmed glasses. He looked more handsome and mature than in his photos, completely devoid of the mischievous miscreant he had been as a child. Instead, he looked like a gentle and refined elite.
"So slow?" Shen Zichen raised his eyebrows, his tone teasing.
Shen Qingyu snorted softly: "It takes time for a girl to go out."
"Just got up?" Shen Zichen looked at her, "Your dark circles are almost falling to the ground."
"We played too late last night," Shen Qingyu said, reaching for his suitcase, "I'll help you."
Shen Zichen dodged: "No, I can do it myself. Let's go have dinner first, I'm hungry."
Shen Qingyu nodded and took him to a famous hot pot restaurant nearby. It was already dark when they arrived. The neon lights at the door of the hot pot restaurant were on, and the inside was bustling with people and steaming hot.
The two found a seat by the window and sat down. Shen Qingyu skillfully ordered a bunch of dishes - tripe, duck intestines, fatty beef, shrimp balls, all of which she loved to eat as a child. Shen Zichen looked at the densely packed checkboxes on the menu and shook his head helplessly: "Aren't you afraid of getting fat after eating so much?"
"Don't meddle in the affairs of beautiful women." Shen Qingyu rolled his eyes at him.
While waiting for the food, Shen Zichen took out a document from his bag: "This is the information for the new project. We have acquired the WIN e-sports club. You will be the manager of the League of Legends division. Go to the team tomorrow to inspect it."
Shen Qingyu took the document and flipped through it casually: "WIN Esports Club? Is that the team that won the runner-up last year?"
"Yes," Shen Zichen nodded, "Their AD player CAT has great potential. You should keep an eye on him in the future."
Shen Qingyu said "Oh", but her heart was calm. She knew nothing about esports, but since it was a job, she had to do it well.
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a commotion at the next table, as if someone had a conflict.
Shen Qingyu immediately turned around to watch the fun, and just as her eyes swept over, she bumped into a pair of familiar eyes.
The man was strikingly handsome, with thin lips pursed beneath a high nose bridge. His captivating peach blossom eyes, slightly tilted upwards, stared at her. He was tall, with thick eyebrows and deep eyes, and his dark hair curled slightly across his forehead. He exuded both aloofness and a rebellious air.
It turned out to be him...
Shen Qingyu quickly looked away and looked at the man's side - a slightly fat young boy was covering his mouth with bruises at the corners of his eyes, obviously he had just been beaten.
"You bastard! I'm going to beat you to death today!" The boy was so angry that the flesh on his face was shaking. He struggled to pounce on him, but was held back by the person next to him.
The perpetrator was a thin boy who stood opposite with a look of disdain: "Without me, you will fall sooner or later."
Seeing that the two were about to fight again, the hot pot restaurant owner hurried over to mediate, and both sides sat down reluctantly. The thin boy left angrily not long after.
After watching the excitement, the dishes in the pot were served.
Just as Shen Qingyu was about to turn around, she saw the man looking at her again, so she quickly turned her head back.
Looking up at Shen Zichen's probing gaze, Shen Qingyu felt a little guilty: "Why are you looking at me? Eat, eat."
As soon as she picked up the chopsticks, Shen Zichen opposite her said calmly: "What is your relationship with that man?"
Following Shen Zichen's gaze, she knew who he was referring to and replied nonchalantly, "A college classmate."
"Did your college classmates look at you like that? They're still glaring at me now. Tell me the truth, did you dump them?"
"…………roll."
Shen Zichen looked skeptical, but ultimately didn't ask any further questions. He just said, "I hope there's nothing wrong with it. He's our 'gold brick'."
Shen Qingyu picked up a piece of tripe and raised an eyebrow: "Gold brick?"
"Yes," Shen Zichen nodded, "The people at that table are all members of the WIN League of Legends team. The one you just saw is WIN's AD carry, CAT."
Shen Qingyu's hand holding the fat beef trembled violently, and the meat slice fell onto the table with a "clack". "WIN? Is that the team our company acquired?"
"Yes, that's them." Shen Zichen raised his eyes and looked at her. "You will be their manager and immediate superior in the future."
"..." Shen Qingyu's face turned pale, "Is it too late to resign now?"
Feeling the death gaze from his brother, Shen Qingyu immediately shut up.
Why is this world so small... She wanted to cry but had no tears.
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