In the car, the conversation between Gu Xiyu and Ji Chen was roughly like this—
Ji Chen: “You had to go back to your house these past few days. I felt really uncomfortable not seeing you every day. Did you miss me too?”
I didn’t— “…Miss you”
Ji Chen: “Please come home with me after the party, okay?”
I don’t want to— “….go”
Ji Chen: “Come and kiss me.”
Gu Xiyu didn’t answer Ji Chen this time but clenched his fists. The sound of his knuckles rattling was particularly clear.
Ji Chen laughed silently and finished the play alone: “They are really soft.”
Gu Xiyu’s expression was fairly calm.
He was not angry.
Why get angry with a pig?
The venue of the party was the Four Seasons Hotel, the number one luxury hotel in China. It was said that the event venue and hotel rooms were exclusive to those with higher status or wealthy backgrounds. Without their special VIP ID card, they will refuse to serve you even if you have cash, which was very willful.
But it was also because of this special willfulness that it became one of the most internationally renowned hotels.
Ji Chen and Gu Xiyu arrived at the hotel and parked the car. Ji Chen got out of the car and called back the numbers whose calls he had missed during the drive. Gu Xiyu ignored him and lowered his head to look at his phone. After opening a certain interface, he stopped moving for a long time.
“He won’t attend? Okay, I see. Handle the rest as planned, especially the media.”
In fact, Ji Chen’s mood at the moment was not good.
Two days ago, he had made another private appointment with Mr. Andrei, one of the major shareholders of PAP. At that time, he had already arrived at the meeting place that Mr. Andrei had arranged abroad. Unexpectedly, the other party called in and said that his daughter was rushed to the hospital because of an asthma attack, so the contract was still not signed.
He has been planning the equity of PAP since a year ago. It was a part of Fengming’s future development plan, so he couldn’t easily let it go. Fortunately, Mr. Andrei will be absent from this party because of his daughter’s condition.
Ji Chen raised his head and glanced at Gu Xiyu, who was quietly waiting for him on the other side of the car and locked the door.
Fortunately, luck was on his side; otherwise, he would have had to “wrong” Gu Xiyu.
Several guests had already arrived at the venue. It might be because Ji Chen was a bit too dazzling in this circle, so they received a lot of attention when they first came in.
Gu Xiyu soon saw Lin Fangru and others near the door. Her eyes fell on him, and she was surprised for a moment, as if she didn’t expect Ji Chen to show up with him. He only glanced at them before withdrawing his gaze and freeing his hand from Ji Chen’s hold.
He wanted to confirm Cheng Qianqian and Lei Lina’s locations first.
Gu Xiyu quickly found them standing in two different corners. Lei Lina and her friends were happily chatting together, then his gaze drifted in a certain direction and he found Cheng Qianqian, who would later be called Lei Xixi.
She was wearing a long white dress with a simple and elegant design, which matched the makeup on her face very well. She was standing in an inconspicuous corner, holding a piece of cake, and eating it like a hamster. Maybe she was a little nervous because she looked a little uncomfortable.
It wasn’t until Fu Nian, who was nearby, found her and came to chat with her in a friendly way, that she was finally relieved.
Ji Chen realized that Gu Xiyu had been looking for something since entering the venue, he followed his line of sight and saw Fu Nian, who was talking to a girl.
Gu Xiyu opened his mouth before he could say anything: “You should have a lot of people to socialize with, right? Then I won’t bother you; just call me if you need me.”
Ji Chen paused and watched his legal partner leave him without looking back and walk towards his white moon—no, towards the table with food.
“President Ji, it’s really you. I didn’t expect you to appear…” As soon as Gu Xiyu left, someone swarmed to his side in greeting.
There was a blond foreigner next to that person, speaking in unskilled Chinese: “They said you hadn’t attended these banquets in the previous two years. I thought I wouldn’t see you tonight!”
Ji Chen nodded at them in greeting, and a waiter holding a plate full of wine glasses handed him a glass of wine.
He did not refuse, and he took it without looking back.
“Huh? Weren’t you that handsome…… umm cough cough, that gentleman I met in the cafe that day?” Lei Lina had just left her friend’s group and was picking up a cute snack at the table when she suddenly met Gu Xiyu.
Gu Xiyu smiled and said, “Miss Lei, hello.”
Lei Lina returned his smile with a sweet one. She picked up the wine glass on the table and gently rubbed her fingertips on the glass: “So you are also a businessman running a large business?”
Gu Xiyu pondered for a moment and replied: “I’m here as a family member.”
Lei Lina did not find it strange: “I understand; I also came with my dad today. Urgh, these adults always love to bring us juniors to their activities. Fortunately, I have other friends to accompany me, or I would have been bored to death.”
With that, she inadvertently glanced at a corner of the venue. Her expression seemed a little unhappy.
” I thought you were a cute girl when I saw you in the cafe.” Gu Xiyu suddenly said.
Lei Lina did not expect such a straightforward compliment, but before she had time to blush, she heard him continue saying: “Sometimes, unexpected accidents occur in life, and we do not know how to deal with them…”
“There are many ways to deal with things, but they shouldn’t be dealt with using the worst way, right?”
Lei Lina’s hand holding the glass suddenly turned white.
The look in Gu Xiyu’s eyes was as gentle as she first saw him, but it seemed to see through her.
“I…” Lei Lina was a little nervous. Gu Xiyu smiled at her and left.
She was still wondering whether to catch up with him and ask him what he meant, but her friends gathered around her and asked excitedly: “Lina, who is he?”
“You were friends with such a cute little brother and didn’t tell us!”
After leaving Lei Lina’s side, Gu Xiyu walked in Cheng Qianqian’s direction.
Fu Nian was still talking to her. The two had smiles on their faces, and they were chatting animatedly.
Behind Cheng Qianqian was a long table with desserts, and there was a glass of half-drunk orange juice placed near her. A waiter holding a tray of freshly baked small cakes suddenly walked there. His body blocked the glass of juice, and his actions looked like he was adding cakes to the small shelf that was several stories high, and he left shortly after.
The glass of orange juice stayed there intact.
Gu Xiyu was looking at the glass when another waiter with a serving plate happened to pass by. There was only a drink that looked very similar in color to Cheng Qianqian’s juice. He stopped the person and took the last glass on the tray.
“I’m pretty good now. I am a full-time employee of the Lei family’s LS Group. President Lei recognizes and appreciates my ability, so he made an exception today and allowed me to attend this party.” Cheng Qianqian’s voice sounded very energetic, a little different from the gentle aura she gave off.
Fu Nian smiled and wanted to say something to Cheng Qianqian when he saw that the person standing behind her was Gu Xiyu. He hesitated for a while but still called him.
“Good evening.” Gu Xiyu turned around, holding a glass of orange drink in one hand and a biscuit that looked like he had just gotten it from the table in the other.
Cheng Qianqian blinked curiously, and Fu Nian introduced Gu Xiyu to her.
“Wow, Fengming’s president’s… Wait, Fu Nian, President Ji hasn’t announced this matter yet? Is it really okay for you to tell me directly?” Cheng Qianqian asked in a low voice.
“It doesn’t matter; I believe in your character.” Fu Nian smiled. “Besides, President Ji should be planning the announcement.”
Fu Nian looked at Gu Xiyu with a somewhat apologetic look in his eyes: “Did I speak too directly that day? I didn’t have a chance to say it at that time, but I actually don’t care about it. I wouldn’t abandon you as a friend even if you were still single. The most important thing is treating each other with sincerity, just like before, and not having any grudges.”
Gu Xiyu breathed a sigh of relief. If Fu Nian thought this way, he would feel more at ease.
Seeing Cheng Qianqian pick up her drink, Fu Nian raised his glass and touched the glass in her and Gu Xiyu’s hands, saying, “I am very glad to meet my two old friends after returning to China. I toast you a drink to celebrate the longevity of our friendship.”
Gu Xiyu’s hand holding the wine glass paused for a few seconds before he drank the drink in the glass.
Having dealt with Cheng Qianqian’s affairs, he exchanged a few words with them and rushed off with an excuse.
As soon as Fu Nian took his gaze away from Gu Xiyu, he saw Cheng Qianqian frowning at her empty wine glass and asked, “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing, I’m just wondering whether wine would lose the alcoholic taste when left for a long time? I just left it for a while, and now it only tastes like juice.”
For convenience, the hotel had arranged resting rooms for everyone who had an invitation card tonight, and Gu Xiyu knew that Ji Chen also had one. He felt that he needed to rest, but when he swept his eyes around the venue, he couldn’t find Ji Chen.
In the hotel’s beautifully decorated, clean, and tidy toilet, Ji Chen stood by the sink with a grim expression on his face.
Water stains slowly dripped down his freshly wet. They slid over his neck and sneaked into the place covered by his clothes.
He noticed something was wrong as soon as he took a sip of the drink in the glass. It was a pity that the waiter who gave him the drink had already escaped his sight, so he couldn’t find him for the time being.
He looked at himself in the mirror and muttered in his heart: “Ji Chen, why were you so careless tonight?”
His phone suddenly rang, and he glanced at the caller’s name. He moved his finger from the reject button and connected the call.
His voice was a little hoarse: “What’s the matter?”
“Where are you?”
Ji Chen chuckled, “Aren’t you having your moment with your white moonlight? Wouldn’t it be inappropriate to find me?”
The other side was quiet for a few seconds before saying: “I feel uncomfortable and want to go back to the room to rest. I need the room card.”
Just as Ji Chen opened the door of the toilet and walked out, the voice on the phone suddenly overlapped with the voice of the person coming from outside.
He subconsciously grasped the other party to prevent him from crashing into him, but felt a trace of extreme warmth from the wrist he grabbed.
Ji Chen quickly realized what trouble Gu Xiyu might be having. Seeing the gradual blush on the person who was usually very cold and indifferent, a teasing malice suddenly appeared in his heart: “What if I don’t give it?”
Gu Xiyu looked up, the turbidity in his eyes struggling for sobriety. The calm in his eyes was gradually covered by a layer of coldness, and he raised his hand to grab Ji Chen’s collar, easily pulling him toward his face.
He leaned into Ji Chen’s ear and said in a deep voice: “Fengming and your reputation or your room card—which one do you choose?”
