Chapter 25
In summer, Xu Zhiruo, a classmate of Xia Tianshui, received a call from Xia Leyang, who bravely invited the police brother to dinner on Sunday. With Xia Tianshui’s prior arrangement and Xu Zhiruo not being on duty that day, he readily agreed.
Time quickly approached Saturday.
Xia Guohua’s sixtieth birthday celebration was a big event in Rui City. Xia Leyang, following Shang Tingzhi all day, was unaware of the magnitude of the celebration until they arrived at the cruise hotel. Xia Leyang was guided by his own company’s staff to a guest table near the main table, despite being one of the hosts.
“Shang Ge, you’re here.” Xia Tianshui happened to be navigating through the tables, greeted Shang Tingzhi, and then told Xia Leyang, “You should accompany Uncle Shang well.”
Xia Leyang frowned, looking at his relatives sitting at the neighboring table, and asked discontentedly, “Did you arrange my seat incorrectly?”
“What are you talking about?” Xia Tianshui patted Xia Leyang’s shoulder confidently. “The guests at this table are all important guests of our Xia family. As the host, you should take care of them properly.”
Xia Tianshui’s words were reasonable, and Xia Leyang couldn’t refute them. He could only sit next to Shang Tingzhi with a sulky expression.
The celebration was grand, with Xia Guohua inviting celebrities to perform for entertainment. As the banquet progressed, many people started moving between the tables. It was a rare opportunity to expand connections with so many business magnates gathered in one place.
During a previous visit to Rui City High School with Shang Tingzhi to check Feng Shui, Shang Tingzhi did not deliberately introduce his identity. Now, Liu Defa approached their table with a toast, praising Xia’s son for being extraordinary and having a different perspective.
“By the way,” Liu Defa began with some flattering remarks, then pushed his glasses and got down to business, “our new school has started construction. Master Zhang suggested building the Five Elements Pillars and Bagua diagram in the square in front of the dormitory building. Mr. Shang, what do you think?”
Whenever Shang Tingzhi attended gatherings, he always encountered people seeking favors.
Feng Shui was his profession, and he charged per consultation. However, many people felt that saying a few extra words wouldn’t hurt and always tried to get something for free.
Shang Tingzhi wanted to dismiss Liu Defa with a few casual words, but before he could speak, Xia Leyang curiously asked, “Is Master Zhang the one from the Astrology School, Zhang Wenlun?”
“Yes,” Liu Defa replied, “the city leaders still feel that this piece of land cannot be abandoned, so they had to invite them to transform the Feng Shui.”
“Since you’ve already invited them,” Xia Leyang paused, “why are you asking us for?”
Xia Leyang’s tone was not confrontational at all, just pure curiosity. He didn’t understand the twists and turns of these people, so he straightforwardly expressed his thoughts, making Liu Defa somewhat awkward.
Shang Tingzhi pursed his lips, suppressing a smile, and calmly said to Liu Defa, “I’ll stick to my suggestion: change the location.”
Unable to gain any advantage, Liu Defa changed the topic gracefully, chatted briefly, and found a reason to leave Shang Tingzhi’s table.
“Why don’t these people listen to advice?” Xia Leyang, having eaten his fill, leaned back in his chair with a full stomach, holding a drink and watching Liu Defa’s departing figure. “What if something really happens?”
“Don’t you not believe in this Feng Shui stuff?” Shang Tingzhi chatted with Xia Leyang.
“Well,” Xia Leyang took a sip of his drink, “I believe a little bit now.”
In fact, after experiencing the ghost incident, Xia Leyang completely believed in these metaphysical things. However, he didn’t want to openly admit it, so he expressed himself more conservatively.
Shang Tingzhi had long understood Xia Leyang’s temperament and didn’t expose it. He just subtly raised the corner of his mouth.
After the lunch banquet, guests gradually dispersed. Shang Tingzhi originally planned to call Tang Fengyi to pick him up, but coincidentally, they were on the same route as Xia Leyang’s parents, and Jizhengfang insisted on giving them a ride, which Shang Tingzhi couldn’t refuse.
Xia Guohua’s car was the only Maybach in Rui City, with a grand body and spacious seats. Xia Guohua was already drunk, and with the help of the driver and Shang Tingzhi, he was assisted onto the car, sitting in the back seat behind the driver.
Jizhengfang and Xia Leyang followed suit, sitting in the back row, while the front passenger seat was vacant. Shang Tingzhi voluntarily sat in the front.
Xia Guohua was usually a serious person, but after drinking, he became somewhat sentimental. He kept talking to Shang Tingzhi, from how he met Shang Tingzhi’s parents years ago to how the Xia family’s business grew with Shang Tingzhi’s guidance. He wanted to share every detail with Shang Tingzhi.
Shang Tingzhi listened quietly, occasionally responding. In fact, he already knew all these details, but he didn’t interrupt Xia Guohua.
When Xia Guohua talked about the future plans for the Xia family, his tone was very enthusiastic, as if the bright future was right in front of him. However, after a few sentences, he suddenly became emotional, patting Xia Leyang’s shoulder and saying, “Hey, you, why did you have to be a boy?”
A question mark appeared over Xia Leyang’s head. He had been listening to his father, thinking that with such a big family business, there must be a place for him. Unexpectedly, his father suddenly criticized his gender. For a moment, he couldn’t understand what his father meant.
“The success of our Xia family is due to the guidance of the Shang family,” Xia Guohua put on a serious expression. “The Shang family can stand firm in Rui City because of you.”
“What?” Xia Leyang pointed at his own nose with his index finger. “Me?”
“Of course, if it weren’t for you back then…”
When Xia Guohua said this, Jizhengfang on the other side suddenly interrupted him, saying, “Enough, you just shut up for a moment. You talk too much every time you’re drunk. Aren’t you annoying?”
“What’s wrong with me talking too much?” Xia Guohua slapped his thigh discontentedly. “You’re my wife, and you don’t even want to listen to me talking too much?”
“Whether I listen or not doesn’t matter,” Jizhengfang tilted her head, looked past Xia Leyang, and said to Xia Guohua, “Little Shang is here; why should he listen to your rambling?”
Shang Tingzhi neither agreed nor disagreed. In fact, he also didn’t want Xia Guohua to continue, but Xia Guohua was still an elder and Xia Leyang’s father, so he couldn’t say much.
“Little Shang is definitely willing to listen to me,” Xia Guohua looked at Shang Tingzhi with drunken eyes. “Right, Little Shang?”
“Well…” Shang Tingzhi tilted his head slightly, responding to the back.
“I really appreciate Little Shang,” Xia Guohua said with emotion, “I dream of Little Shang becoming my son-in-law for the Xia family.”
In Xia Leyang’s head, a thought popped up: Xia Tianshui and Shang Tingzhi?
“You,” Xia Guohua suddenly slapped Xia Leyang’s shoulder as if he hated his own child for not being successful, “why are you a boy?”
“What’s wrong with me being a boy?” Xia Leyang was utterly confused.
“Surnamed Xia, stop talking nonsense,” Jizhengfang said impatiently. “You’ve already accepted it. Both of them are excellent kids. What’s wrong with being a boy?”
A sudden realization flashed through Xia Leyang’s mind. He almost forgot the main point he wanted to clarify.
“Wait, wait,” Xia Leyang raised his hand to interrupt Xia Guohua, who was about to speak. “Let me reiterate, Shang Tingzhi and I really aren’t what you think.”
“What do you mean?” Xia Guohua asked.
“Couples,” Xia Leyang said, “Shang and I have a very pure friendship.”
—It’s just that there was a little accident.
“How can you be pure?” Xia Guohua took on a posture of lecturing a subordinate. “I want Little Shang to be my son-in-law. How can you be pure?”
Xia Leyang sighed silently, feeling a bit uncomfortable. One moment, his father couldn’t accept two men being together, and the next moment, he insisted on pairing him with Shang Tingzhi. What exactly did his father want?
“If he becomes your son-in-law, there’s still my sister,” Xia Leyang muttered quietly.
“Oh, right, I remember now,” Xia Guohua suddenly realized, clapping his hands on his chin. “Little Shang and Tianshui have a betrothal agreement.”
Hearing this, Xia Leyang was surprised. He had only casually mentioned it, not even thinking about it that way.
Afraid that his father might be a bit confused, Xia Leyang looked uncertainly at Shang Tingzhi in the front seat and asked, “Do you have a betrothal agreement with my sister?”
Shang Tingzhi responded expressionlessly, “Yes.”
“Oh.” Xia Leyang pursed his lips, feeling strangely uncomfortable.
What Xia Leyang didn’t know was that the betrothal agreement had long been annulled. Xia Tianshui, being a fiery character, was completely incompatible with Shang Tingzhi. Later events also proved that the forced engagement was meaningless. After her affair with a young man was exposed by the media, Xia’s family felt extremely sorry for the Shang family and tried to compensate in any way possible, even if it meant using their son as repayment.
Xia Guohua, being a traditionalist, was forcing himself to accept Shang Tingzhi and Xia Leyang’s “relationship” for this reason.
However, Shang Tingzhi was too lazy to explain these things, especially after Xia Leyang had just paired him with Xia Tianshui, making him somewhat displeased.
“Don’t mention the sesame-seed-sized affairs,” Jizhengfang, being an understanding person, immediately sensed that Xia Leyang’s emotions were not quite right. “Tianshui and Little Shang don’t have the husband and wife fate. The engagement has long been annulled.”
“Oh, okay.” Xia Leyang stole a glance at Shang Tingzhi, but Shang Tingzhi had his back to him, and his expression couldn’t be seen.
“Ah, looking back now, there were signs early on.” Xia Guohua sighed, “Every time Little Shang encountered bad luck, he relied on Yangyang to get through. It’s entirely fate.”
Xia Leyang immediately thought of Xia Guohua saying that the success of the Xia family was due to him, and curiously asked, “What did I do?”
However, at this moment, Jizhengfang suddenly spoke up, “Old Xia, don’t talk nonsense.”
At the same time, Shang Tingzhi in the front seat also coughed awkwardly, clearly wanting to deliberately change the topic.
Now Xia Leyang was even more curious. He recalled the photo he saw at Shang Tingzhi’s house and knew that he had known Shang Tingzhi since childhood. However, he had no memory of it.
Shang Tingzhi had mentioned that every time he encountered bad luck was at ages ending in 9, meaning when he was 9 and 19. When Shang Tingzhi was 9, Xia Leyang was 5, so it was normal not to remember.
But when Shang Tingzhi was 19, he was 15. He was studying abroad at that time, and he did not remember meeting Shang Tingzhi.
Xia Leyang estimated that Xia Guohua would not continue talking, and was still immersed in memories exploring the shadow of Shang Tingzhi. Unexpectedly, Xia Guohua ignored Ji Zhengfang at all and said directly: “When Xiao Shang committed an evil act when he was nine years old, I drank your baby urine!”
Xia Leyang suddenly leaned back in shock. He turned to look at Shang Tingzhi and asked in disbelief: “Have you drank my urine?!”
Shang Tingzhi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The biggest secret in his life, and also the memory he most wanted to forget, was told by a drunken elder.
He slowly opened his eyes, looked forward and said, “One drop.”
Every drop counts. Xia Leyang was so shocked by this old incident that he couldn’t close his mouth for a long time. He asked again in disbelief: “You actually drank my urine??”
Shang Tingzhi frowned and emphasized impatiently: “Only one drop, add it to the Chinese medicine!”
Xia Leyang finally accepted this shocking incident. This time he shook his head and said with a complicated expression: “Why are you so miserable…”
Shang Tingzhi stopped answering, feeling low pressure all over his body. Ji Zhengfang quickly smoothed things over and said, “I’m sorry, Xiao Shang, we originally agreed not to mention this matter, but look at this old Xia, he talks nonsense when he drinks too much.”
Xia Leyang was having fun on the sidelines. He always felt that he had been taken advantage of twice by Shang Tingzhi before and suffered a huge loss. Now he suddenly knew that Shang Tingzhi drank his boy urine, and his heart suddenly became more balanced.
Xia Leyang was still enjoying this matter until he went to bed at night. Shang Tingzhi was too lazy to talk to him, so he kept talking to Shang Tingzhi, giving full play to the professionalism of an annoying person.
“Hey, let me tell you, how did you spend that time when you were nineteen years old?” Tingzhi looked for a sense of presence, “I’m talking to you.”
Shang Tingzhi still didn’t answer. Xia Leyang put his head close to Shang Tingzhi’s ear and said softly, “I’m not afraid to tell you, I’m still a boy now.”
Shang Tingzhi raised his eyebrows with a dark face, and finally said: “So?”
“How about I go make you a pot of boy’s urine now?” Xia Leyang snickered, “I’ll make sure you spend your twenty-nine years safely.”
Shang Tingzhi’s forehead was covered with veins. He glanced at Xia Leyang, who was crowded beside him, expressionlessly, and said coldly: “Believe it or not, I will make you no longer a boy now.”
Xia Leyang thought for a moment and quickly understood the meaning of Shang Tingzhi’s words.
He obediently retracted his thigh across Shang Tingzhi, and then silently covered his butt tightly –
