The following morning, a brief notice appeared on the official website of the rarely seen PineBridge Group.
Within two minutes of its release, major entertainment media outlets with over ten million followers reposted it, and it quickly topped the trending searches on various social media platforms, causing the system to crash.
The most eye-catching of these was the reposting of this post by Chengxian Media Group, the largest social media platform that focuses on current affairs news and is known as the voice of the state.
The announcement is as follows:
Mr. Tan Yuchen, a shareholder of the Pine Group, will soon be engaged to Ms. Shen Yuan of Cheng Xian Media.
The comment section exploded!
Is this the wealthy young master who recently trended on social media?
[Wow! Fairy tales really are just for poor people like me. In the end, it's still a marriage between two powerful people?]
[Otherwise, what do you think? A conglomerate that controls oil, telecommunications, electricity, finance, shipping, and infrastructure, with total revenue exceeding 20% of the country's GDP, could marry a Cinderella?]
[Those who were previously clamoring that their young models would eventually rise to fame should just go to sleep.]
[Am I the only one still thinking about his impotence? Isn't Cheng Xian Media going to build a hospital to treat his erectile dysfunction?]
...
Within just two hours, hashtags such as #PineBridgeAnnouncement#, #TanYuchenShenYuan#, and #ChildhoodSweethearts# exploded on the trending topics list.
Some people have discovered that the third young master of the Tan family and the eldest daughter of the Shen family studied in the UK together since junior high school. They were childhood sweethearts and inseparable, truly living up to their childhood bond from school to wedding.
Print media had been declining in the past two years, but the editor-in-chief decisively cut the previous headline and replaced it with the news of the marriage between the two companies, pushing this season's sales to a new peak.
Inside the Maybach.
The man put down his newspaper, his glasses revealing a composure and elegance far beyond his fifties, and asked in a calm tone.
Why are you suddenly worrying about your marriage?
Tan Yuchen leaned back in his chair, his long legs casually spread, and said lazily, "Your son is almost thirty and a bachelor, isn't it normal for him to be thinking about marriage?"
"Drunken promiscuity is not like you."
“What kind of style do I have? The newspaper reported that you took a liking to your son because he was a girl, and I don’t think you said anything about it.”
Zhou Congjin chuckled and asked, "Do you really like Miss Shen?"
Tan Yuchen didn't care and said, "It's alright."
It's alright, but there's one thing it doesn't do.
No one knows his son better than his father. With his carefree and irreverent attitude, he shows no sign of being in love at all.
Zhou Congjin said, "Marriage is a serious matter and should not be taken lightly. If you don't like the other person—"
"Your ideas are outdated, Lao Zhou. The slogans above say that liking something can be cultivated."
Tan Yuchen said leisurely, "Every time you go away for meetings, it's for half a year or more. When you come back, you and Grandma attack me from both sides. Now I'm skipping two levels. Wouldn't it be better to bring you a grandson back tomorrow?"
He cracked a joke, leaving Zhou Congjin speechless; the boy never listened to him.
"Let's put the wedding aside for now and talk about what happened with Jing a month ago."
Tan Yuchen lazily lifted his eyelids and said, "Yeah, I'm listening."
The Tan family is not involved in politics, but that's all that matters, including their surname.
When Zhou Congjin wasn't smiling, he exuded an air of authority honed over many years in politics.
"I heard you even jumped into the river because of this?"
Tan Yuchen glanced up from the rearview mirror with such nonchalance, but Jiang Zhou in the passenger seat didn't dare to look.
"What, you want to come and interrogate me?"
Zhou Congjin said coldly, "Jiang Zhou deserves to be punished. He can't even keep an eye on one person. I told you before I went abroad not to act rashly. If you continue like this, you'll get burned sooner or later!"
Tan Yuchen frowned and clicked his tongue.
“Those three brothers are yelling in my ear all day long, they’re all plotting to blind your son. If I don’t do something, you’ll have to collect my body next time I come back.”
Zhou Congjin wanted to slap him; he was so unrestrained in his speech.
But judging from the barely perceptible melancholy in his eyes, ever since the cruise ship incident, the old lady had kicked him out of the orange grove, preferring to keep him out of sight.
Zhou Congjin didn't say anything more to him, but Jiang Zhou did not escape punishment.
The car was parked at the villa by the bay, and the driver drove around to the side and bent down to open the door for them.
Zhou Congjin asked, "Would you like to come with me to see your mother?"
Tan Yuchen lowered his eyes and shook his head.
"Go ahead, I have other things to do."
They didn't drive up the mountain. Tan Yuchen, with his hands in his pockets, watched his father walk uphill with flowers in his hands, filled with longing and remembrance.
A corner of the villa's blue-and-white porcelain tiles was faintly visible from the mountaintop, and her mother had once planted two sycamore trees in the courtyard.
He was born on a tree, and his sister on a tree.
Tan Yuchen's tree is now tall and shady, but the other small sycamore tree did not survive.
Trees are like people.
The sea breeze ruffled the stray hairs on his forehead, but the desolation in his eyes could not be filled by light.
He didn't stay long and went down the mountain to the training ground.
Jiang Zhou was flipping a tire weighing over 100 kilograms by hand, while two soldiers were supervising and timing him; if he ran out of time, he would have to start over.
He was covered in sweat. "Third Young Master, I don't understand. Why is it that you're the one who makes mistakes, but I'm always the one who gets punished?"
Tan Yuchen, with a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, said casually.
"You didn't understand Lao Zhou's intention, did you? He wants you to train until you are incredibly strong, so that when I'm about to commit a crime, you can hold me down with one finger."
Jiang Zhou: "..."
How long will this training last? Tan Yuchen has been training with special forces since he was a child.
"Last night you asked me to check the surveillance footage, but the cruise ship's system was undergoing an upgrade when the banquet was held, so the Shen family didn't even have a banquet. As for Tan Yue..."
Jiang Zhou wiped his sweat. "They weren't originally on the Shen family's guest list, but it's said that Miss Shen added them when she was reviewing the guest list."
Tan Yuchen grunted in response, his eyelids drooping without uttering a word.
"Third Young Master, what do you plan to do?"
"Marry me."
He curled his lips into a forced smile, an expression that always seemed to foreshadow bad luck for any man, and Jiang Zhou was immediately terrified.
"And you asked me to check Miss Meng's flight information."
Tan Yuchen slowly raised his eyelids, waiting for the second half of his sentence.
"She returned to Kyushu this morning."
**
It was the same bamboo path leading into the courtyard in the mountains, but this time Meng Jiuyi walked with extreme trepidation, almost taking one step at a time.
Jiang Zhou said he needed to talk to her. Could Tan Yuchen be suspicious of something?
The thought of seeing her soon made Meng Jiuyi's heart clench. He pushed open the wooden door and walked straight to the terrace near the cliff edge.
Tan Yuchen was sitting on a small table drinking coffee, one leg propped up, looking calm and composed.
It was as if what happened last night had no effect on him whatsoever.
Hearing footsteps, the man looked at her, and the moment their eyes met, Meng Jiuyi looked away as if she had been electrocuted.
The memories she had desperately suppressed last night returned to her mind—
He turned her over and over, even picked her up.
The cold, hard wall did not provide her with any support; instead, it emboldened him to act with even greater arrogance.
Her voice was hoarse from crying.
Meng Jiuyi's legs inexplicably went weak after walking such a short distance.
A cup of sweet grapefruit was placed across from her on a small table, but Meng Jiuyi sat on a high stool some distance away.
"What does my cousin want with me?"
Why sit so far away?
Tan Yuchen said with a half-smile, "Do you think I could eat you?"
He gestured to the prayer mat opposite him, his eyes unyielding, so Meng Jiuyi had no choice but to bite the bullet and sit down opposite him.
"Did you get a haircut?" he asked.
Meng Jiuyi lowered his eyebrows and hummed in agreement.
"I noticed a lot of people had this style when I went to the UK, so I thought I'd follow the trend. I think it looks pretty good."
Tan Yuchen sipped his coffee, his dark eyes fixed on her.
Her long, straight black hair was cut into a short bob that reached her ears. Her already delicate and petite features made it easy to notice her bright, sparkling eyes. Further down, her lips were coated with a pink lip gloss.
The man stared at her for so long, it was shocking; his gaze was almost identical to the one he had given her the night before.
He was above her, looking down at her, the backlight making his eyes appear deep black.
Even though it's invisible, it's so sharp, carrying a possessiveness unique to men.
Her eyelashes trembled, and Tan Yuchen's Adam's apple bobbed before he slowly looked away, his tone casual.
"I haven't asked you yet, what made you decide to go to England?"
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