‘…I just left like that?’

By the time An Yang came back to his senses, he could no longer see his parents behind him. He could only vaguely hear the sound of their quarreling again.

But the noise disappeared after a while—it was probably Assistant Cui who called security to have them removed.

“What else? An Yang, I told you—your current position requires you to give up indecisiveness.”

Assistant Cui spoke rapidly as he responded to An Yang.

“I’m not saying you should cut off your family, but you need to learn not to let your family’s troubles affect your work.”

“If it were something like illness, weddings, or funerals, neither Director Qin nor President Ye would be the kind to mind. These situations come with paid leave, and it’s also normal for family to drop off food or gifts at the company.”

At this point, Assistant Cui gestured over his shoulder with his thumb.

“But your parents didn’t fall into the category of ‘normal situations.’”

He stated it plainly.

An Yang could only nod mechanically. He was still in a daze.

He had just been drowning in the verbal abuse from his parents, and now he couldn’t quite process what Assistant Cui was saying.

Until Assistant Cui added:

“…Although it’s a bit rude to say, honestly, An Yang—your parents are the only stain on your record.”

The moment An Yang heard that, he looked like he’d been struck by lightning. His expression froze as he slowly raised his head to look at Assistant Cui. His steps didn’t stop, but he looked like a puppet.

“My parents… are a stain… on me?”

Assistant Cui frowned as he watched An Yang’s reaction. Maybe he had gone too far. But he didn’t take back his words.

“What else could it be? With your abilities, you should’ve reached President Ye’s assistant position long ago. Both President Ye and Director Qin have said so. And you told me about your family background before. Let’s not even talk about that partner who vanished from your life—haven’t you realized how much your parents have held back your career?”

It might have seemed too personal for someone not very close, but An Yang was working directly under President Ye. With Director Qin’s impulsive nature, if President Ye hadn’t found An Yang first, Assistant Cui might have ended up being assigned as Ye’s assistant instead!

So when he rushed over and saw a couple yelling at An Yang with twisted faces, while An Yang stood frozen in place, he immediately stepped in.

He hadn’t caught everything they were yelling but had assumed An Yang must’ve offended them. It wasn’t until he saw their similar facial features that he figured it out—these must be the parents who had once sold An Yang off.

Director Qin had long since thoroughly investigated An Yang’s background.

Since he’d already spoken, Assistant Cui decided to try and fully wake An Yang up.

Thankfully, An Yang didn’t seem angry or resentful. He didn’t look like someone upset about insults to his family.

On the contrary, he looked as if he were hearing this for the first time—completely bewildered.

But before Assistant Cui could say more, An Yang collected himself.

“…Brother Cui, I’ll handle the situation with my family. Don’t worry. I’ve thought it through.”

Though An Yang’s face was pale, he forced a smile as he spoke to Assistant Cui.

If what Brother Cui said was true—if both President Ye and Director Qin acknowledged his ability—then maybe…

Maybe he wasn’t the failure his parents always said he was.

As for whether his parents really were a stain on his life—An Yang wasn’t ready to face that yet.

Just like he wasn’t ready to face his feelings for Brother Xu Feng.

He suddenly shut his eyes, forcing all those messy thoughts out of his head. When he opened them again, he had regained his composure. He turned to Assistant Cui and said:

“Brother Cui, the most important thing now is finding President Ye and Director Qin. If the staff calls you, have security escort my parents off the premises. I’ll handle the rest.”

An Yang’s tone returned to the efficiency he used in his professional life. While Assistant Cui felt relieved, the reminder of their current crisis made his head ache again.

From the moment they noticed that Director Qin had gone missing to now, plus the time spent finding An Yang—it had already been 15 full minutes.

Fifteen minutes!

Given the emotional mess between Director Qin and President Ye, in fifteen minutes?

That was enough time to commit a murder!

He didn’t even dare to imagine what they might have done in that time.

An Yang’s face also turned pale at the reminder. His carefully styled appearance from earlier in the evening now looked disheveled.

An Yang immediately followed Assistant Cui’s directions and began searching the second floor with the bodyguards.

Meanwhile, Assistant Cui went to find the staff—and also made sure to restrain An Yang’s parents.

The situation was chaotic enough—they didn’t need those two stirring up more trouble!

And just as An Yang stepped onto the second floor with the bodyguards, the two people he had pushed from his mind—Xu Feng and Yun Cheng—got into a fight.

The reason?

Naturally, Yun Cheng had finally lost patience with Xu Feng’s so-called love that only ever came in the form of flashy but meaningless luxury gifts.

And Yun Cheng had finally hit it off with a young heir before the auction began.

After hearing the gossip in the garden earlier, Yun Cheng gave up on Qin Qiu.

He had originally thought Qin Qiu had given up on President Ye, but it turned out he still had feelings for Ye’s current sister-in-law. With Ye as the golden standard and the added taboo of him being his sister-in-law, Yun Cheng figured unless he married Qin Shi right now, he’d never be able to compete with President Ye—even in status.

Of course, Qin Shi didn’t want him anyway. The way Qin Shi dressed today, he practically looked like his own father’s twin. His intentions couldn’t have been clearer.

So Yun Cheng let go of his obsession and chose the young heir. At least that guy wouldn’t only give him flashy gifts.

—Besides, he knew full well that gifts given during a relationship could legally be reclaimed after a breakup.

Yun Cheng made up his mind quickly. Though the heir wasn’t as gullible as Xu Feng and was just in it for fun, he was still willing to invest in Yun Cheng’s “project.”

Later, once the guy got bored, Yun Cheng could use the money to leave City A and start over—or polish up his resume and go somewhere new.

Maybe he could even spin a sob story about being naïve and heartbroken by a playboy and squeeze one last payout from Xu Feng.

So, with Yun Cheng pushing him deliberately, Xu Feng finally snapped.

Of course, Yun Cheng didn’t mention the real reason. He chose the angle of Xu Feng’s family—it made for a better emotional weapon.

“…Ah Feng! I know how you feel about me. Today I shamelessly took advantage of your feelings. I thought I could throw away my pride and principles just to help my family’s company recover!”

Yun Cheng’s eyes filled with tears. “But now I realize I was wrong. I can’t forgive myself. Ah Feng, this isn’t your fault—it’s me. I can’t accept this. Take back the watch. It’s too expensive. I can’t keep it.”

Xu Feng felt like nothing had gone right tonight. He hadn’t been all that happy bringing Yun Cheng here, but now that Yun Cheng wanted to leave him, he started to panic.

And why had An Yang shown up at the party out of nowhere? He even had a staff badge—was he working here? Did An Yang say something to Yun Cheng? But Yun Cheng didn’t even know An Yang was here tonight.

Or was it their parents again?

Xu Feng’s head was a mess. He looked at Yun Cheng and said: “Yun Cheng, stop this. I bought this watch for you. And weren’t you happy tonight? Nothing happened that crossed your boundaries. And besides, An Yang agreed to it himself.”

By the end, Xu Feng sounded anxious.

He truly didn’t understand what Yun Cheng was throwing a tantrum about this time.

Yun Cheng didn’t respond. He just pushed the watch back toward Xu Feng. When Xu Feng refused to take it, they started tugging back and forth. Their voices grew louder and sharper.

“…Yun Cheng, just take it!”

“I can’t!”

“Are you really throwing away our friendship?!”

“Ah Feng, how could you say that?! I just need some time to adjust!”

“Adjust what? You just look down on me!”

While they argued, they didn’t notice the soft commotion at the entrance behind them.

Focused on their fight, they gradually moved toward the floral wall on the open-air terrace. The terrace was one large platform, sectioned off with flower walls by the clubhouse owner.

Only the center of each terrace section had seating, and the sound didn’t usually travel between sections.

But if someone stood by the flower wall, others nearby could hear.

Right now, voices from the neighboring terrace came through the floral divider.

“…Brother, two years ago, did you really not recognize me and Father? I remember I had already taken off my mask the last time I saw you.”

That… sounded like the Qin family’s crown prince.

Xu Feng quieted down a bit.

“I’ve told you many times—I didn’t recognize you.” That was President Ye’s voice, though it sounded… guilty.

Yun Cheng also paused.

“Brother, don’t turn away. Look at me. Look at these eyes.”

Both of them froze.

“—When you look into these eyes, who do you want to call out to?”

Xu Feng and Yun Cheng exchanged glances, both seeing the gossip hunger in the other’s eyes.

Great. The fight was over.

They leaned against the flower wall of their terrace, straining to listen to the conversation next door.

At the same time, the other people who had been in the small garden earlier also arrived at the terrace.

But they were on the left terrace, while Xu Feng and Yun Cheng were on the right. President Ye and the others were in the middle section.

Sheng Hai stood there, devastated, watching Director Qin silently facing the floral wall.

Sheng Hai felt like he was one step away from being exiled to do aid work in Africa.

He had just wanted to relax a bit on the terrace and avoid the bosses at the party—he was sick of being used as a human shield.

But who would’ve thought that shortly after he sat down, Director Qin would show up too?

And he had gone straight to the flower wall with a clear purpose.

When Sheng Hai saw Chairman Qin like that, he immediately realized that something important must be happening next door. He felt uneasy, and just as he was about to leave, voices from next door traveled through the flower wall.

Sheng Hai stood there, wanting to cry but with no tears.

Damn it, now was definitely not the time for gossip!

However, as he turned to leave, he found that the doorway was tightly guarded by bodyguards.

They didn’t seem intent on sending him away, and he didn’t dare leave in front of everyone, so he obediently stayed put like a frightened quail.

Sheng Hai sighed again—despite his relatively high status in the entertainment industry, he now had to squat there, unable to even make a sound.

“Boss! You’ve really screwed me over. If you have any conscience, come save me now!”

He screamed inside his mind.

It seemed the gods had heard him because soon he heard his boss’s voice.

Though it was coming from next door.

“…Nephew, let go of his hand. Don’t make a scene like last time. This time, the treasure won’t go easy.”

With his boss’s signature voice, Sheng Hai looked at Chairman Qin, whose presence seemed even more imposing, and his whole body began to tremble.

‘What kind of deity is this? From Yonghe Palace? Why does he only know how to pour gasoline on the fire!’

Sheng Hai screamed silently.

But the situation on the neighboring terrace didn’t shift because of his thoughts, in fact, the conversation became increasingly terrifying.

“Uncle isn’t any better than me. Brother recognized me as a father—would he look for traces of father in you?”

After this, an eerie silence fell next door.

Sheng Hai grew even more terrified.

God, this scandal was escalating. He had initially thought President Ye was innocent, caught up by this group of lunatics, since at the wedding he had seemed reluctant.

But now it seemed President Ye wasn’t entirely innocent either.

As Sheng Hai pondered this, more voices came from next door.

His boss remained cheerful.

“Who knows, maybe you are, but I can assure you I’m not.”

Then it seemed the boss took President Ye from his nephew’s grasp. Amid President Ye’s startled exclamations, he laughed and said:

“After all, a year ago, sister-in-law liked this face of mine that resembled my brother, though my personality had nothing in common with him.”

“So greedy, sister-in-law.”

The boss’s voice laughed.

Sheng Hai: “…” Help me!

He screamed inwardly, his face contorted, and the bodyguards beside him looked like they were about to bite through their teeth to avoid losing composure.

Chairman Qin, however, remained expressionless, standing there listening to the terrifying words spoken by his own younger brother and son, seemingly unaffected.

But Sheng Hai noticed that the veins on Chairman Qin’s hand, gripping his cane, had bulged, looking ready to strike.

He just didn’t know who Chairman Qin’s anger was directed at.

By this point, Sheng Hai still felt that Qin wouldn’t actually make a move against President Ye.

‘Maybe that’s how much he loves him…’ Sheng Hai thought numbly.

Next door, the conversation didn’t stop. Perhaps the boss’s actions had provoked the young master, his voice finally lost its hesitation, turning cold.

“Unfortunately, little uncle, you seem to have missed your chance. The current winner is still father.”

Sheng Hai noticed those two words, but thought it was probably over now, and nothing more would happen.

Then his boss’s voice came again.

“But I didn’t have to pretend to be someone else, and besides…”

His boss lengthened the words with a hint of sarcasm.

“In bed, gem called out my real name.”

“Creak, creak…”

Sheng Hai watched as Chairman Qin’s cane groaned under his grip.

But it seemed people next door didn’t realize Sheng Hai was there, and perhaps they wanted more excitement. They continued: “Yet brother still broke up with you abruptly. After finding out about brother’s whereabouts, you showed up daily with male and female companions, little kids in kindergarten wouldn’t use others to provoke someone they like, little uncle.”

“At least it’s better than being caught in a prison room like you. Fortunately, Wangxing didn’t report it back then, or you’d probably have had to apply for medical parole.”

Sheng Hai… he was completely frozen.

Listening to his boss, he felt as if he had landed on another planet.

Not bro, are you even speaking Chinese?

What prison? What stalking? Was he even in China?

And President Ye—why didn’t he report it? If he had, he wouldn’t be in this dilemma now.

On the terrace’s right side, Yun Cheng and Xu Feng were also dumbfounded. They had expected only to hear some rich family secrets.

Who would have thought this scandal was so massive!

While thinking, ‘Am I even supposed to hear this?’ Xu Feng also wondered how their relationships had become so twisted and bizarre.

Yun Cheng, however, thought simply: ‘Good thing I gave up on targeting that Qin in time.’

Leaving aside whether the other party liked him, the personality of this lawless lunatic already made Yun Cheng uneasy.

An Yang’s romantic mindset combined with Xu Feng’s giant-baby personality immediately set off alarms for Yun Cheng, not to mention that someone had actually put this situation into practice.

‘This money isn’t something just anyone can earn. This is what President Ye deserves.’

Yun Cheng thought sincerely, having heard no hidden meaning.

Both sides fell silent, but the terrace in the middle grew louder and louder.

“Smack—”

“Smack—”

Only after two sharp slaps did the voices in between suddenly stop.

“That’s enough! Stop! Both of you, shut up!”

President Ye’s furious voice rang out.

“We’ve already broken up! I’m married, understand?”

As he spoke, President Ye’s voice grew choked with tears.

“If it weren’t for the company’s trouble, I really wouldn’t want to be entangled with you. No, maybe I shouldn’t even be tangled with you now. This arranged marriage might have been a mistake—I shouldn’t have brought it up to him…”

Before Sheng Hai could process who the “he” in President Ye’s words referred to, he saw Chairman Qin finally move his noble feet away from the flower wall and stride toward the door.

Sheng Hai glanced at the bodyguards at the door and didn’t dare to follow, but his curiosity to watch the drama grew extremely urgent.

By the time he realized, he had instinctively grabbed a stool and stood on it.

—Just enough to show his eyes.

The bodyguards at the door: “…”

Actually, they also wanted to see the scene.

On the right, Xu Feng and Yun Cheng didn’t know what was happening inside. They only heard a commotion, and by the time they realized, they had instinctively broken part of the flower wall and dug a small hole with their hands.

Just enough to see a little of the scene next door.

The two who had been arguing no longer minded each other, pressing their heads together, faces almost touching, peering inside.

Ye Wangxing, who had originally planned to let them just hear the voices: “…”

He really didn’t expect that for the sake of gossip, these people would go to such lengths.

But there was a benefit: they immediately witnessed Chairman Qin’s actions upon arriving.

The same striding steps, the same ignoring of the other two, the same pulling President Ye into his arms to comfort him.

Xu Feng felt a sense of déjà vu.

—Wasn’t this exactly the same as that day in the CEO’s office?

But he quickly stopped thinking about it.

President Ye was held in Chairman Qin’s arms, tears uncontrollably streaming down, his beautiful eyes red from crying.

The man who had looked so imposing at the banquet now seemed pitiful, making people want to hug him.

The tall man beside him indeed did just that.

He held the person tightly in his arms, without asking about anything the other two had said before he arrived.

His bodyguards firmly controlled the other two, leaving the two who had secretly tried to meet President Ye at a disadvantage.

President Ye cried, gasping for breath, while Chairman Qin stroked his back slowly, like comforting a wronged cat.

The man who had once been proud during the arranged marriage first set aside his pride and apologized to the man he had used.

“Qin Yi… I’m sorry.”

“I only wanted to help Ye Group through difficulties… I never intended to involve you… it was my selfishness…”

“I had already decided to sever everything cleanly, but for some reason hesitated… you clearly could have stayed untainted…”

“Perhaps our marriage was a mistake, it was my mistake…”

When President Ye said the last sentence, Chairman Qin paused, then placed both hands on President Ye’s shoulders, making him look directly into his eyes.

“…I never thought the arranged marriage was a mistake. In fact, I was really happy you proposed it back then.”

Chairman Qin spoke the first words of the evening.

His voice was steady and sincere, his expression gentle for the first time.

“I’m very glad. I can finally stand by your side and receive everyone’s blessings.”

The beautiful man stared at those eyes, stunned and unsure what to say.

After a long pause, he found his voice.

“But… my relationship with Qin Qiu and Qin Shi…”

“I said on the wedding day, I don’t care. I never cared.”

The tall man said this as he embraced President Ye again.

“I know. You never signaled them, you even tried to avoid them. You’ve done perfectly.”

He spoke with a calm, firm gaze toward the two restrained by the bodyguards, yet his words remained gentle.

“They shamelessly approached on their own.”

“Perhaps they don’t understand the principle of ‘a good ex should remain as silent as if dead.’”

“But as elder brother stands as father, if the sons misbehave, it’s the father’s fault. I should teach them this principle.”

Chairman Qin hugged the person in his arms again.

“Wangxing, don’t feel guilty, and don’t leave me. I’m willing.”

“I’m really happy. You care about me.”

Hearing his partner’s words, the beautiful man finally relaxed, leaning into Chairman Qin’s arms and hugging him tightly, saying nothing.

The atmosphere on the scene became warm again… like in the little garden.

Only now, the protagonist had changed.

This made Xu Feng, Yun Cheng, and Sheng Hai, who was watching from atop a stool, shift their attention to the formerly main blonde man.

They assumed the blonde man must be very emotional, and that the Qin family’s young master beside him would be as well.

Unexpectedly, from Sheng Hai’s perspective, both his boss and the Qin young master appeared calm. Even his boss’s lips had a faint smile.

Sheng Hai had a bad feeling—could there be another expert involved?

The next moment, his boss’s voice rang out.

“Treasure, don’t think the man in front of you is harmless. Do you really think he only looked at your chat history back then?”

“Are you sure he only monitored your phone?”

The beautiful man froze completely upon hearing this.

At this moment, the Qin family young master’s deep voice sounded.

“Brother, I’m father’s child. Whatever I can do…”

“Father can do even worse.”

 

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