Chapter 78
Since Xie Changshi was so proactive, Rong Jing was not shy. She snuggled into his arms, rubbed her nose against Xie Changshi's collarbone and chest under his open collar, took a breath of satisfaction, and closed her eyes.
Urge: "Sleep."
The man's arm was pressed against the back of Rong Jing's neck. At this moment, his arm was slightly bent, and his fingertips brushed the skin on the back of her neck and gently pinched it. But he said unexpectedly: "Wait a while before going to sleep. I have something to tell you."
Rong Jing, who had just closed his eyes, opened one eye again and asked curiously, "What's the matter?"
"It's related to the adopted son of the Lin family."
As soon as these words were spoken, Rong Jing's other closed eye opened. He climbed up from Xie Changshi's arms, and a strong curiosity appeared in his round eyes.
"What happened to Lin Qi?"
When I asked this question in confusion, Xie Changshi said, "You really don't remember him."
Rong Jing blinked: "Huh?"
When did he and Lin Qi have contact?
Rong Jing was easily intrigued by Xie Changshi's words, and she almost couldn't wait to hear from him about a past event he had seemingly forgotten. Poking the man's chest, he said, "Stop being so secretive. Tell me, do I know him?"
"I wouldn't say I know you, but when I found you twelve years ago, he was lying next to you."
“!”
Rong Jing's thoughts were suddenly pulled back to that afternoon twelve years ago.
Old Master Xie had long known that one of his grandsons was living away from home, but since the Xie family already had an heir, he didn't take the child in the remote town seriously. It wasn't until Xie Changshi was sixteen that the family's designated heir fell ill. Despite the Xie family's wealth and connections, the heir's condition took a turn for the worse.
In this case, Mr. Xie should start making second-hand preparations even for the sake of his family.
This second-hand preparation is Xie Changshi.
As his focus shifted away from the original heir, the rest of the Xie family also learned of Xie Changshi's existence. With some unspeakable motives, they turned their malicious gazes on Xie Changshi.
Since the original heir can get sick, then Xie Changshi, the alternative heir, can also get into trouble.
Now that the two heirs who carried the blood of Mr. Xie’s biological son are dead, the Xie family should fall into the hands of someone else.
As a result, that year, Xie Changshi often encountered various thugs on the road. Sometimes they would block him in alleys and hit him with bricks and sticks. Sometimes they would deliberately cause car accidents, but Xie Changshi was lucky enough that the cars would often pass by him, at most scraping off a few pieces of skin.
One afternoon under such circumstances, he was walking towards the tube-shaped building carrying a bottle of soy sauce from a nearby grocery store when he was blocked in an alley by a group of thugs armed with machetes.
This scene was too familiar. Xie Changshi looked at the malicious faces without any emotion in his heart.
It was deadly calm.
After his mother passed away, he was alone.
Perhaps, compared to that group of thugs, he is the one who is fearless and not afraid of death at all.
So he put down the soy sauce in his hand and took the machete that was coming towards him with his bare hands.
Xie Changshi's martial arts skills were average, and as he lived in a small county town, he naturally had no chance to practice. When the machete stabbed at him from behind, he used all his strength to barely dodge it, but even so, a deep scar was left on his arm.
Rong Jing can still clearly recall the scene at that moment.
He was a bit lost, and as he walked past that path, he first spotted some soy sauce sitting in a corner. It was placed in a red plastic bag, and the wind whipped the bag around, revealing the intact packaging of the soy sauce bottle inside. It looked like it had just been bought. Then, he heard intermittent groans, and then the smell of blood, carried by the wind, penetrated his nostrils.
The little zombie immediately realized that something was wrong in the alley. As a member of Xuantian Temple, he had been instilled with the idea of helping others since childhood, so he rushed in without saying a word.
Although he is young, he is strong and good at fighting.
As soon as Rong Jing rushed into the alley, he saw Xie Changshi covered in blood.
Although he didn't understand what was going on, he should know who to help by looking at Xie Changshi's handsome face and the thugs around him who were staring at him with ferocious looks on their faces.
His sudden appearance obviously startled the thugs, but when they saw Rong Jing's short stature, they immediately burst into laughter.
"Come on, kid, you're trying to be a hero before you even have all your teeth grown in?"
Unfortunately, the laughter of the previous second came to an abrupt end the next moment when he saw Rong Jing kicking a thug away. Rong Jing, who had been called a "dwarf," had a sullen face, and his fists, white as snow, struck the men with each blow more fiercely than the last. Before long, before Xie Changshi's astonished gaze, all the thugs were lying on the ground, clutching their stomachs and chests and wailing.
The short melon Rong Jing stepped on a thug, shook his fist, and scolded him fiercely: "Next time I see you, I will send you to see the ancestors!"
The thugs looked at Rong Jing as if he were a monster. Their bodies were in excruciating pain, so they could only beg for mercy in a low voice, saying repeatedly, "I won't dare to do it again, I won't dare to do it again."
After getting Rong Jing's consent, they quickly got up from the ground and ran away.
That hurried figure looked as if there were ten thousand evil spirits chasing him.
Rong Jing watched them run away before turning to look at Xie Changshi, a young man with slightly disheveled hair, clutching his arms like a pitiful little boy. He tried to comfort him seriously, "Don't be afraid. They won't bully you again."
Xie Changshi looked at him.
The way a child pretends to be mature is like a child secretly wearing adult clothes, which is funny but cute.
He opened his mouth to say thank you, but Rong Jing was still thinking about looking for Taoist Taixu and had already turned and left the alley.
Xie Changshi couldn't explain the feeling at that moment. He lowered his eyes and was about to leave, but suddenly he heard a bang, followed by a child's cry.
When he reached the entrance of the alley, he found that the kid who had been punching and kicking the thugs with great momentum just now, as if he was the best in the world, was now crying heart-wrenchingly because he tripped over a person lying on the ground and knocked out his teeth.
"So—" Rong Jing came back to his senses from his memories, his eyes wide open, and he was furious. "The person who tripped me and knocked out my teeth was Lin Qi?!"
He subconsciously licked the pointed little canine tooth with the tip of his tongue.
Twelve years later, he still remembers how sad he was when his tooth fell out.
He was so angry!
If Xie Changshi hadn't taken him to get his teeth fixed, he would have been a zombie, ridiculed by everyone!
Although he usually doesn't like to bite people or drink human blood (except Xie Changshi), his little fangs are the dignity of a zombie!
Feeling that Rong Jing was about to burst into flames, Xie Changshi poked his cheek and laughed: "Don't be angry, haven't I installed the teeth for you?"
Rong Jing snorted coldly: "Even if I install it, it won't be my mother's teeth."
but……
He frowned, looking a little suspicious: "Why did Lin Qi appear there at that time?"
And I'm still dizzy.
When Xie Changshi heard this question, a deep meaning flashed in his eyes as he lowered his brows.
Perhaps this has something to do with the so-called system.
That day, he stood at the entrance of the alley, with the unconscious Lin Qi on his left and the crying little zombie on his right. Suddenly, a strange voice appeared in his mind, telling him that he was the villain of a BL novel and that if he saved Lin Qi, he would become rich in this life. However, Xie Changshi scoffed at this.
He looked at Rong Jing, whose eyes were red from crying, walked up to him, bent down, pulled him up, and whispered to comfort him: "Don't cry, you are young, and your teeth will grow back if they fall out."
Rong Jing cried even louder after hearing this. He choked up and said, "It's already grown. This is the second one! There won't be a third one!"
Xie Changshi: “…”
Thinking of the child fighting the thugs in the alley, he hesitated for a few seconds before asking, "Then I'll take you to get a new one?"
These words were like the switch of a faucet, closing Rong Jing's tear glands and coaxing the child who was crying loudly.
Rong Jing raised his face and asked softly, "Can I pretend?"
Xie Changshi nodded: "Yes."
Rong Jing added, "But I don't have any money."
Xie Changshi touched his pocket, a little uncertain: "I should have money."
I don't know if the money is enough though.
So, for the sake of this tooth, Rong Jing followed Xie Changshi back to the tube-shaped building, and considerately bent down to pick up the soy sauce that was almost forgotten on the side of the alley.
Afterward, the voice claiming to be the system appeared twice, but each time it scolded Xie Changshi for being stupid and for missing out on such a great opportunity. Xie Changshi was extremely annoyed, but fortunately, Taoist Taixu came over shortly afterwards.
After Taoist Taixu appeared, the voice suddenly disappeared.
After so many years, Xie Changshi almost forgot this little episode until today when he heard the name Lin Qi from someone else.
…
the next day.
Xie Building.
Lu Yunji took a document to Xie Changshi's office, knocked on the door, and placed the document in front of Xie Changshi. He was slightly curious and couldn't help asking, "Why are you suddenly investigating the Lin family?"
Xie Changshi: "A Jing has a connection with the biological son that the Lin family found."
Lu Yunji showed an understanding expression.
No wonder.
He pulled up a chair and sat down across from Xie Changshi, casually reciting the important details from the information: "Lin Chen has been well-trained and is a qualified businessman. Most of the Lin family's orders now come from him. I heard that he wanted to expand his business territory a while ago, and his target was the port area. Unfortunately, he didn't succeed."
"Where's Lin Qi?"
"Lin Qi? Are you talking about the adopted son of the Lin family?" Lu Yunji recalled for a moment, a look of disgust on his face, "He's just a piece of straw. Anyway, whenever I'm at a drinking party, I'll bring him along as long as Lin Chen is there. But a waste is still a waste."
He paused and added, "He's still a piece of trash with high aspirations and a knack for trickery."
There were many people who were chased and scolded by Lu Yunji, but logically speaking, the Xie family and the Lin family had nothing to do with each other. After all, the two families had little cooperation, so naturally there would not be many opportunities for contact. At most, they would just say hello when they met at a drinking party.
But Lu Yunji's attitude clearly showed that he had a lot of opinions about Lin Qi.
Xie Changshi's eyebrows slightly raised, and a flash of understanding flashed through his mind. He asked: "Did Lin Qi look for you?"
Lu Yunji exclaimed, "You figured this out."
He briefly talked about his previous contact with Lin Qi.
The incident also occurred at a drinking party, which was actually a charity dinner. Xie Changshi was absent, so Lu Yunji attended on behalf of the Xie Group, naturally attracting a lot of attention. Everyone knew that at the Xie Group, Lu Yunji, as the vice president, was a favorite of Xie Changshi, someone to whom Xie Changshi was willing to share power. Therefore, whenever they ran into Lu Yunji, everyone would go up to say hello.
Although it won’t make Lu Yunji remember me, it’s good to show my face.
Lin Qi is one of them, but his methods are a little special.
It was in the corner of the banquet. Two young men who looked to be in their twenties gathered together to say bad things about Lin Qi, but Lu Yunji happened to hear them clearly. When Lu Yunji turned around, he found that the person they were talking about, Lin Qi, was standing not far away. He stood there silently, with his short hair covering his eyebrows, but after noticing Lu Yunji's gaze, he raised his eyes, showed a forced smile, turned around and left.
Lu Yunji looked at his back and touched his chin.
My first reaction was that the two people who said bad things were actually not wrong.
People say that Lin Qi has usurped the throne.
That's the fact, but I don't know why Lin Qi looks like "I'm injured but I'm going to try hard to pretend that no one can see it."
He shrugged his shoulders, didn't take it seriously, and turned away.
Later, he saw Lin Qi behind Lin Chen. Although Lin Chen and Lu Yunji were not particularly familiar with each other, the younger generation always had topics to talk about. Especially since Lin Chen was actually quite good at business, many of the topics he raised were of interest to Lu Yunji. The two chatted for a while, and then Lin Chen introduced Lin Qi to Lu Yunji and said bluntly: "Qi has been involved in related projects recently."
Lu Yunji was a seasoned expert after all, so he understood the underlying meaning immediately. He smiled and asked casually, "Really? Young Master Lin has a pretty good eye."
Then he started asking some questions about the related projects.
As Lu Yunji asked one question after another, Lin Qi's originally calm expression also changed. In the end, cold sweat oozed from his forehead and he looked embarrassed.
"You didn't hear his answer. It was just like a child playing house." Lu Yunji still found it funny when he thought about that scene. "The funniest thing is, he said to me at the end, 'I was upset today and I'm not in a good mood. I hope I can forgive me.'"
What stimulates you?
Is it the thrill of having the truth told to you?
Besides, Lu Yunji is not stupid. He knows the two people who said bad things about him. They are the sons of Lin family’s partners.
Upon hearing this, Xie Changshi asked with a half-smile, "He wants to hook you?"
Lu Yunji quickly made a big 'X' with his hands, took a sip of water and replied, "Although men shouldn't be too trusting, my sixth sense has never been wrong. It's hard to say whether it's a good bait or not, but it's certain that he has bad intentions."
When Lu Yunji said this, he suddenly thought of what Xie Changshi had said just now, that Rong Jing had a connection with the biological child of the Lin family. He asked, "Hasn't Rong Jing heard the true description of the adopted son from the biological child of the Lin family?"
"I've heard of it, that's why I asked you a few more questions." Xie Changshi put down the information in his hand. He was absolutely sure that the Lin family would not be able to achieve much.
Naturally, he doesn't have to worry about anything.
After the topic of the Lin family ended, Lu Yunji did not leave. He was not in the company yesterday, but came today and met Xie Changshi. Naturally, he wanted to ask all the questions that were curious in his mind.
He pulled his chair forward, resting his hands on the table, his eyes full of gossip: "Are you and Rong Jing really together? Did you confess or was he the one who confessed? I thought it would take a long time to succeed based on Rong Jing's attitude towards you."
Xie Changshi felt something was wrong when he heard this. He sneered and asked, "What is Rong Jing's attitude towards me? What attitude towards me? His attitude towards me is not a hundred times better than his attitude towards you."
Lu Yunji: "You're like a firecracker, igniting at the slightest touch. Sooner or later, everyone in the company will see what kind of person their CEO Xie is in private."
He rolled his eyes in annoyance and continued the previous topic, explaining: "After all, it takes some time for the attitude towards your family to change from a brother to a boyfriend."
"I gave him a long time," Xie Changshi said, "so do you understand the job of a good best man?"
Lu Yunji: "..."
It's really killing me.
He rolled his eyes again, took out his phone, opened his memo, and placed it in front of Xie Changshi: "Did you see it? Three thousand words of preparation, are you satisfied, Mr. Xie?"
Xie Changshi glanced at it casually.
It clearly states the procedures and precautions for being a best man.
Reading further, it is clear that Lu Yunji has really put his heart into it. Every precaution is clearly written down, including matters such as picking up the bride, welcoming guests, and toasting.
Xie Changshi nodded: "Vice President Lu did a good job."
Lu Yunji couldn't help but laugh: "Virtue."
…
A week later.
Rong Jing received a message from Huai Wenmin, who told Rong Jing that the jade cufflinks and other accessories he needed had been processed.
Rong Jing originally wanted to ask Huai Wenmin to express it to Yancheng, but unexpectedly the other party said that he would deliver it personally.
Huai Wenmin said, "I've checked for you. There's only one large auction in the country in the near future, and it's going to be held in Yancheng. I've contacted the auction house, and I'll put the remaining jadeite raw materials up for auction then."
I see.
Rong Jing did not refuse and was very interested in the so-called auction.
He had just mentioned this matter in the car when Song Qing said, "Just then, an invitation letter was sent over there."
The auction house Huai Wenmin mentioned is called Shangqing Auction House, named after its first owner, Guo Shangqing. Guo was a collector of antiques and paintings, and possessed a wealth of valuable items. Over a century of development, Shangqing Auction House has become a nationally renowned institution, reportedly generating billions in sales at each auction.
Very exaggerated.
But except for some charity auctions, Xie Changshi generally would not attend. Therefore, every time he received an auction invitation, he would give it to Song Qing to deal with.
Song Qing was interested in watching Rong Jing today, and thought that their boss would definitely go to join in the fun.
Sure enough, after he finished saying this, Xie Changshi said, "Then let's go together then."
"Okay, okay."
The auction was held in eight days, and during these eight days, Rong Jing still went to the studio to work every day.
It's worth mentioning that more and more people are coming to his studio to join in the fun. After Yan Yingyao and Nie Feng, there's also Lin Ciyan. When Lin Ciyan came to visit, Rong Jing was startled, but Lin Ciyan smiled and said, "I don't have anything to do today, and I thought I'd be bored alone, so I came to see you. I'll help you entertain the guests."
Nie Liu bit into the apple that Lin Ciyan had brought over, exclaiming "So sweet" while muttering to Yan Yingyao with a complicated expression, "Is this fellow Lin Ciyan going to steal our job?"
"Heh." Yan Yingyao snorted softly, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Nie Liu: "...Brother, what are you talking about?"
Yan Yingyao: "Didn't you snatch this job from me?"
Nie Liu: “…”
Okay, it seems so.
Nie Liu showed an awkward smile on his face. He touched the tip of his nose, chuckled twice, and said, "If Lin Ciyan really wants to take the job, I don't think I have the right to refuse."
Yan Yingyao: "He won't come."
Nie Liu: "How do you know?"
Yan Yingyao: "Because I'm smart."
Nie Liu: “…”
He didn't want to talk to Yan Yingyao anymore, so he leaned over and asked Lin Ciyan, "Lin Ciyan, we're going to the Shangqing Auction House auction in a few days. Will you come with us?"
Shangqing Auction House?
When Lin Ciyan heard this familiar name, his brows couldn't help but frown slightly.
He had originally stopped living at the Lin family, but a few days ago, Lin Qi, through Lin Chen, called him back home, saying it was the old man's request. Of course, Lin Qi had said to Lin Chen, "Although Ah Yan and we don't have a good relationship, we are still family. Let's keep in touch. Maybe Ah Yan will come to his senses someday." Lin Chen probably thought that made sense, so he called him, using the excuse that the old man of the Lin family was coming over for a reunion dinner.
Lin Ciyan found it funny.
After he came to his senses and decided to let go of the Lin family, he looked at Lin Qi like a monkey.
He was curious about what kind of show the monkey Lin Qi wanted to perform next.
So he said to Lin Chen: "I know, I will come back."
As a result, at the dinner table, Lin Qi casually mentioned Shangqing Auction House, saying that he had heard that there would be good things at the latest auction of Shangqing Auction House, and he wanted to see if there was anything suitable for the elders in his family.
When Lin's parents heard this, they smiled widely and immediately asked Lin Chen to bring Lin Qi along.
As for him, who remained silent, he was completely ignored.
However, for some unknown reason, Lin Qi looked at him and said, "Ayan, do you want to go? How about we go together? It's a good opportunity for us to see the world together."
When saying the words "see the world", Lin Qi seemed to inadvertently emphasize the tone.
He put down his chopsticks, his expression still calm, and said calmly: "No, I don't have anything I want to take pictures of, you can just go."
Lin Ciyan could still remember the complicated expression on Lin's mother's face after he said that.
What that expression meant was - how could he not even say something nice like "I'll go see if there's anything suitable for Mom and Dad."
Lin Ciyan didn't take it seriously.
But I didn't expect to hear the words Shangqing Auction again here at Rong Jing today.
He asked Nie Liu, "Is there anything you want to shoot? I heard the collections there are quite expensive."
Nie Liu smiled and said, "I won't spend that kind of money, but the master has something to sell. I heard it's super awesome jade. Brother Yan and I are going to take a look at it. Let's go together."
When Rong Jing heard this, he also looked at Lin Ciyan: "Together? If you have nothing else to do."
Lin Ciyan thought for a moment and said, "Lin Qi will go too."
"Lin Qi?" Nie Liu curled his lips. "Let him go. We don't interfere with each other's business. If he insists on coming over, I'll help you drown him."
Yan Yingyao: “…”
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