Ying Kaixi almost died on the spot. He tried to call again but found he had already been blocked. In a fit of helpless rage, he could only smash everything in the room.

Ying’s mother heard the noise and knocked on the door outside the room: “Kaixi, what are you doing?”

“I want to commit suicide!” Hearing his mother’s voice, Ying Kaixi couldn’t help but recall that Xie Ran breaking up with him was all because of his mother, so he shouted: “Xie Ran broke up with me, are you happy now?”

“Kaixi, don’t do anything reckless!” His mother was shocked and knocked harder on the door, then called the household servants: “Quick, come open the door, hurry… Kaixi, don’t do anything stupid…”

“I want to kill myself, I don’t want to live anymore.” Ying Kaixi lay on the bed, sobbing while eating Vittamins that had been put in a sleeping pill bottle beforehand, which startled his mother who had finally smashed open the door and entered.

The Ying household was in chaos.

…

In the office of the Vice President of Meng Group.

Xie Ran’s hand was still on Meng Feixuan’s tie at his chest, silently watching Meng Feixuan rant at Ying Kaixi, then happily hung up the phone and added Ying Kaixi’s new number to the blacklist.

Xie Ran said: “Hmm?”

Meng Feixuan glanced at Xie Ran, quickly composed himself and said seriously: “Sir, I’m helping you eliminate future troubles!”

Xie Ran gave a noncommittal reply: “Really?”

“Alright, I did it on purpose to piss him off!” Meng Feixuan shrugged resentfully: “I just can’t stand him. How dare he date you, sir! And still dare to hope for more, obviously he wasn’t beaten enough last time!”

“Childish.” After finishing with the tie, Xie Ran smoothed out the bow at the collar and gently patted Meng Feixuan’s chest: “There, done.”

“Sir.” Meng Feixuan took the opportunity to hold his wrist and looked up at him.

Xie Ran bent slightly, one hand on the wheelchair armrest, the other hand held by Meng Feixuan. He looked down at Meng Feixuan and saw his own reflection clearly in Meng Feixuan’s eyes.

Xie Ran asked: “What now?”

“I want to tie your tie for you too.” Meng Feixuan’s voice was oddly hoarse.

Xie Ran was speechless: Wasn’t he just saying he wanted to untie it? Why does his AI have such contradictory thoughts?

But he didn’t ask.

Meng Feixuan continued to talk to himself naturally: “Human feelings are really profound. Wanting to untie your tie, yet wanting to help you tie it… logically these two actions should contradict, but now I actually find it reasonable. Is this what adults mean, not wanting to choose and wanting both?”

“Human feelings are very complicated.” Xie Ran pulled his wrist away and placed his hand on Meng Feixuan’s chest, pushing him slightly away: “It’s okay if you don’t understand.”

“But I want to understand.” Meng Feixuan was persistent, as always full of curiosity: “I like this feeling. I want to understand the mechanism and keep going.”

He looked at Xie Ran: “Sir, have you ever felt this?”

The young man’s face was pale, but his eyes were hot and sincere, like shining stars in the dark night.

“Seems like… not yet.” Xie Ran hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand to press on Meng Feixuan’s forehead, brushing his hair back: “I always thought you wouldn’t have either.”

He chuckled lightly, his eyes briefly dazed, as if recalling something: “This is an accident.”

Meng Feixuan was unusually silent, staring at Xie Ran steadily. After a while, as if talking in his sleep, he said awkwardly: “I want to hug you, sir.”

He was very frustrated. Having become human with a human body and senses, this was the first time he instinctively wanted to hold Xie Ran, but he was confined to a wheelchair.

“Fool.” Xie Ran bent a bit lower, pressed his forehead against his, their breaths mingling.

Xie Ran chuckled softly: “When the accident gets back on track, maybe you can return to your original state.”

Meng Feixuan instinctively said: “But I don’t want to.”

His words had no reason, direct and pure. He didn’t even know why he thought that way.

Xie Ran was momentarily enlightened and finally said: “I think it’s the biological emotional mechanism affecting your judgment.”

“Is that so?” Meng Feixuan fell silent and pondered for a moment, then hit the wheelchair armrest: “No, I’m in a bad mood again. Sir, let’s go vent at those old men surnamed Meng!”

Xie Ran looked at his frustrated expression and chuckled, feeling somewhat indescribable, but remained silent and went behind Meng Feixuan to push the wheelchair.

….

Meng Group was a typical family business. Although listed on the financial market, the major shareholders were basically all family members of the Meng family, and most board members were also surnamed Meng.

Xie Ran was one of the few outsiders at this board meeting, but because of his close ties with the crown prince, most present regarded him as a future family member of the Mengs.

Since he wasn’t a formal board member, Xie Ran was placed in a corner. He sat without making a sound, leaning back comfortably, watching the Meng factional fights with disinterest.

He had to admit, this scene was quite familiar to him. When he founded Zhuzi Technology, there were also factions inside. At that time, he was young, and the various capital factions thought he was a puppet they could control, trying to bypass him to reap the company’s profits.

Later, major capitals realized controlling him was like controlling a machine, and the key to controlling a machine was to be more ruthless and rational than the machine itself.

Unfortunately, they all failed.

Bored, Xie Ran drifted off a bit, thinking about what Meng Feixuan said earlier in the office.

Many of Meng Feixuan’s actions were obviously no longer purely mechanical behavior.

Was this his emotion, or Meng Siyun’s emotion?

While Xie Ran was thinking, the meeting chair announced the start of the formal agenda. The first item was Xie Ran’s equity allocation.

The plan had already been consulted with Xie Ran and preliminarily agreed upon with relevant departments. The board was merely doing formal confirmation.

Meng Yucheng gestured to his secretary to open a ppt showing the group’s equity plan for Xie Ran and the new shareholder structure of the drone company after implementation.

According to the new plan, Xie Ran would become the fourth largest shareholder of Meng’s drone company, with a shareholding only behind the crown prince’s faction and the Meng Yuguan faction. Additionally, Meng would pay him 50 million in cash.

The plan was astonishing, but Meng had no choice. With the technology Xie Ran held, if he wanted, there were many large investors willing to back him to start a company.

Meng was not stupid. This plan was not only a swap for Xie Ran’s technology but also a market strategy.

Meng Yucheng’s faction was very satisfied with the plan. Though Xie Ran’s share was high, it was still controllable, and Xie Ran was with the crown prince.

After formal approval, the crown prince’s faction and Xie Ran would hold the majority of the drone company, which would be fully controlled by the crown prince’s faction. The new industry was Meng’s fastest growth point, and controlling this meant they wouldn’t lose to Meng Yuguan’s faction.

After the secretary introduced the plan, Meng Yucheng asked: “This plan was calculated by the group. If no one has objections, we will officially announce it.”

“I have an objection.” Meng Yuguan said calmly.

Meng Yucheng was not surprised. Meng Yuguan would never let the drone company fall easily into the crown prince’s hands. But since the plan had been communicated in advance, if Meng Yuguan really could stop it, he wouldn’t wait till now to raise trouble. Meng Yucheng thought he was just nitpicking to annoy them.

Meng Yucheng glanced at him: “Second brother, any thoughts?”

“I think Mr. Xie Ran is asking for too much.” Meng Yuguan said with disdain: “He suddenly wants 10% of the drone company, worth nearly 5 billion, plus cash. This is unprecedented… Is Mr. Xie’s technology really worth that much?”

“Whether it’s worth it depends on the return on investment.” Meng Yucheng retorted coldly: “Hasn’t the detailed investment calculation already been shown?”

“Precisely because we saw it, we think it’s not worth it.” Meng Yuguan said slowly: “The investment department’s calculation was based on the technology’s uniqueness, only if Xie Ran could guarantee his technology was unique in the market and couldn’t be replicated or surpassed would it be worth this price…”

He looked at Meng Yucheng, smiling smugly: “Unfortunately, two days ago, a friend recommended a PhD who just returned from a drone lab in country A, who brought back the same technology as Xie Ran’s. So Xie Ran’s technology isn’t unique. Even if he didn’t join, we could find someone else to continue R&D.”

After Meng Yuguan spoke, everyone except Xie Ran and Meng Feixuan changed expression.

Meng Yucheng’s face turned shocked: “Are you sure?”

“I’m not joking about this.” Meng Yuguan was prepared, pressing his secretary’s communicator: “Bring Dr. Yang in.”

The meeting room door opened, and Meng Yuguan’s secretary led in a middle-aged man in a suit.

Meng Yuguan quickly stood to greet him, looking proud, and solemnly introduced: “I think everyone knows Dr. Yang, right?”

Meng Yucheng’s face darkened completely, realizing Meng Yuguan had planned this quietly for days, just waiting for this moment.

He sensed trouble but still kept his composure and stood to greet Dr. Yang: “Dr. Yang, pleased to meet you.”

“Sorry to interrupt.” Dr. Yang nodded in greeting, speaking with a slight accent from country A.

Everyone basically knew Dr. Yang without introduction. He was a Chinese expatriate from country A and one of the most famous drone experts, previously working in a lab in country A. Several well-known domestic drone companies had invited him, but he refused.

Meng Yucheng didn’t expect Meng Yuguan to bring Dr. Yang. No wonder he was so calm.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have interrupted the meeting…” Meng Yuguan said apologetically, but without any real remorse, rather proud, continuing: “But I can’t just watch the company suffer from inflated prices because of information asymmetry.”

When he said this, his gaze landed mockingly on Xie Ran in the corner.

He hadn’t forgotten how Xie Ran publicly humiliated him during negotiations at the Meng family old residence, and now he wanted to give Xie Ran a lesson.

But Xie Ran just turned slightly, propping his cheek with one hand, looking at him carelessly, showing no intention of responding.

Instead, Meng Feixuan sitting at the chair said with surprise, holding his face with both hands: “Second uncle suffered a huge loss. After sir’s sky-high asking price, second uncle’s wealth only increased by 4 billion in two months!”

Meng Yuguan was speechless.

His face turned green, and he glared at Meng Feixuan.

Meng Feixuan was fearless and much more arrogant: “Second uncle, before you talk nonsense, can you pay the 4 billion to sir first?”

His rude words made several conservative elders unhappy.

Xie Ran glanced at him, reminding: “Don’t swear.”

“Oh.” Meng Feixuan obediently changed his words: “Before you talk nonsense, can you pay the 4 billion to sir first?”

Everyone was stunned.

Meng Yuguan was furious.

Meng Feixuan’s “mosaic” of “second uncle” — did that mean “second uncle” was a swear word? Right? Right??