When the plane landed in Huizhou, it was around five in the afternoon.
People often said that every city had its own distinctive atmosphere. Compared with Fanzhou, Huizhou actually felt more familiar to Ji Yang. Its hot, humid climate reminded him strongly of Jinzhou, where he had lived in his previous life.
After leaving the terminal, they found a black business van waiting to receive them.
The driver was a local.
The car followed the airport road toward the city center. The farther they went, the more Ji Yang felt that something was off. That familiar feeling grew increasingly real.
Then he saw the familiar International Trade Building in the city center, and his mind completely froze.
“Is this Huizhou?” Ji Yang asked.
The question left Deng Jiao and Qian Yitian, who were riding in the same car, utterly confused.
Qian Yitian, who was still holding his backpack against his chest, turned around silently.
“It should be, right? Fourth Young Master, is this your first time here too?”
“I suppose it is?” Ji Yang replied.
Since transmigrating into a book was already possible, it wasn’t particularly strange for the book to reproduce the appearance of a real-world city.
Deng Jiao folded her arms. “What do you mean, ‘suppose’? If you’ve been here, you’ve been here. If you haven’t, you haven’t.”
Ji Yang raised an eyebrow. “Who knows? Maybe I was from here in my previous life. Not Huizhou, though. Jinzhou.”
The driver, who had been silent throughout the journey, suddenly laughed.
“Young man, supernatural jokes about past lives might have worked in the old days, but they won’t scare anyone now. You know Huizhou used to be called Jinzhou, right? It hasn’t even been that many years. It’s just that fewer young people know about it nowadays.”
Ji Yang thought to himself: Jinzhou was still Jinzhou when I died. Don’t tell me I only transmigrated into this book many years after my death? But this place doesn’t look as though technology has regressed by more than a decade.
Deng Jiao noticed that he had zoned out.
“What are you thinking about?”
Ji Yang replied silently, “I’m wondering how likely it is that I’m actually your ancestor from an earlier generation.”
Deng Jiao’s face turned green. She gritted her teeth.
“Who are you trying to take advantage of?!”
Qian Yitian burst out laughing.
“Exactly!” He was highly curious about the new city. After looking away from the dazzling array of shops outside, he stated the obvious. “Fourth Young Master, you’re the youngest person in this car.”
Ji Yang also felt that the idea was unrealistic. In his previous life, he had at least been somewhat famous. Now, Fourth Young Master Ji was making such a name for himself. If both lives had taken place in the same reality, his past would have been dug up in its entirety by now.
Still, if the two cities overlapped, there had to be things that remained unchanged.
Ji Yang asked the driver, “Uncle, is Huizhou famous for its salt-baked chicken and clay-pot congee?”
“Of course!” The driver enthusiastically recommended the local cuisine. “If you want to try them, I can recommend a few authentic places.”
Ji Yang said, “Sure. Since we’re here, we should at least look around and try the local food.”
Deng Jiao reminded him as she checked the itinerary. “We have research visits scheduled for both the morning and afternoon tomorrow. The visits will be conducted at two companies, Hengyuan and Shengji. There’s no extra time.”
Ji Yang looked at her. “Isn’t this all your boss’s job? Shouldn’t I just be here to eat, drink, and enjoy myself?”
“Boss and the others won’t arrive until ten tomorrow morning.” Deng Jiao gave him a somewhat sympathetic look. “The people coordinating with us at Hengyuan changed the schedule at the last minute. They said tomorrow morning was the only time they had available.”
Clearly, they knew that this Fourth Young Master was the one coming and didn’t take him seriously.
Deng Jiao continued, “Boss’s instructions were for you to handle the morning visit as best you can.”
Ji Yang understood the unspoken meaning. In other words, the research visit itself wasn’t the main objective.
Qian Yitian was different. He didn’t know the inside story and had come here intending to work hard.
Upon learning that the schedule had been moved up, he immediately pulled out his notebook and began reviewing his notes in the car, afraid he might fail to handle even one part of the job properly the next day.
Ji Yang tapped the seat.
“Stop reading.”
“Why?” Qian Yitian turned around in confusion.
Ji Yang said, “Don’t you have Nie Xu’s contact information? Ask him for advice. He’ll tell you exactly what to do, and that’ll be more useful than memorizing your notes.”
Qian Yitian shrank his neck and lowered his voice. “I only dare say this because Assistant Nie isn’t here right now. His presence is so intimidating that I get nervous just talking to him. Besides, I don’t know what’s going on with the company, but they arranged for Assistant Nie and me to share a room. Good thing he isn’t arriving tonight. Otherwise, I’d be afraid I wouldn’t be able to sleep.”
Ji Yang asked, “Who booked the hotel?”
Qian Yitian replied, “Probably the administration department. But anything related to the Lanhai Bay project should go through Little President Ji, right?”
The Little President Ji he meant could only be Ji Chengyi.
However, Ji Chengyi shouldn’t have been involved in something as trivial as arranging hotel rooms.
The Ji Chengyi Ji Yang knew wasn’t quite as noble and upright as the character in the book, but he was still very good at maintaining appearances. If he had interfered in something like this, wouldn’t that be completely out of character?
By the time they arrived at the hotel, the sky was already getting dark.
The hotel wasn’t particularly luxurious, but the surroundings were decent enough.
Ji Yang’s room was between Deng Jiao’s and Qian Yitian’s. Before bedtime, Deng Jiao tried to stand guard outside his room for the night.
Ji Yang told her that they weren’t in Fanzhou and that he couldn’t accept having a woman stand outside his door while he slept. Using that as his reason, he sent her back to her own room.
Since she was right next door and could respond immediately if anything happened, Deng Jiao didn’t insist.
Early the next morning, Deng Jiao arrived an hour ahead of time to knock on his door and remind him that it was time to get ready.
Ji Yang crouched in front of his suitcase, looking for clothes while rubbing his still somewhat uncomfortable knee.
His everyday style leaned toward casual wear, and he barely owned any formal outfits. Since this trip had been arranged in a hurry, he had brought the clothes Aunt Mo had previously stuffed into his wardrobe, telling him that now he was working at the corporation, he needed to have some appropriate clothes.
A classic black-and-white shirt paired with a double-breasted vest. The moment he stepped out of his room, Deng Jiao, who was leaning against the doorframe, remarked, “Your waist is really slim.”
“Doesn’t it look good?” Ji Yang asked.
Deng Jiao shook her head. “It’s not that it looks bad. It’s just…”
Even Deng Jiao didn’t know how to describe it properly.
The young master had a slim waist and long legs. The formal outfit fitted snugly around his neck, while the vest cinched in at his waist, outlining an exquisite, almost ethereal fragility that seemed to be there and yet not quite there.
“I’m afraid you won’t be able to command the room,” Deng Jiao finally said.
Ji Yang stepped forward. “I’m not here to beg anyone for anything.”
He had said he wasn’t there to beg, but the people from Hengyuan clearly treated him as though he were.
The person Hengyuan had sent to receive them was a marketing vice president surnamed Ma. His side had brought a total of five people. They started by saying that Hengyuan and Haicheng had worked closely together in the past and that Ji Yang should feel free to make any requests. In the blink of an eye, however, they had dragged the group into a drinking session.
They were putting workplace pleasantries and superficial courtesy on full display.
Since it wasn’t yet mealtime, the other party had specifically chosen a venue that offered karaoke and dining all in one.
Ji Yang was bored throughout the entire affair. He listened to their insincere flattery without comment, and whenever they tried to fish for information about Haicheng’s investment projects, he simply said he didn’t know.
Halfway through, he went to the restroom.
When he came out, he heard Vice President Ma making a phone call outside.
“President Liu, don’t worry. The rumors that the young master has been cast aside by the Ji Corporation are probably true… As for the news over the past two days… he probably just happened to catch a trending topic. He doesn’t seem to be here to cause trouble… It’s not hard to fool some rich young master.”
At this point, he let out a lecherous laugh.
“Isn’t there a rumor that he likes men? I’ll prepare a few more for him… His legs? I didn’t notice. But he really is quite good-looking…”
When Ji Yang returned to the private room, Qian Yitian was still sitting there awkwardly.
Seeing Ji Yang come in, he immediately lowered his voice and asked, “What exactly is going on here? They haven’t even shown us the site.” Qian Yitian pointed at the remaining people in the room. “I even questioned those so-called research subjects they specifically invited. They don’t know a single thing.”
“They’re treating us like monkeys,” Ji Yang said, picking up the glass of water in front of him and taking a sip.
Before he could put it down, Vice President Ma returned.
“Why are you drinking water, Fourth Young Master? Come on, let’s drink alcohol! Waiter! Bring us some liquor, the best you’ve got!”
“Sure.” Ji Yang readily agreed.
Under Qian Yitian’s somewhat worried gaze, he was the first to pour himself a glass of clear liquor. Without anyone noticing, however, he had actually switched it for water. He clinked glasses with the other man.
“A toast to Vice President Ma.”
By twelve-thirty in the afternoon, Ji Yang was holding down the thoroughly drunk man and pushing him into the private room.
As he closed the door, he asked, “Sister Jiao, have you dealt with the others? This is going to be fun.”
He turned around and walked straight into a wall.
He pressed a hand to his forehead and hissed in pain.
“Who is it?” He lowered his hand to look, then froze. “Brother Xu?”
Nie Xu was still carrying his suit jacket, looking as though he had come straight here after getting off the plane.
He looked at Ji Yang.
“Fun?”
“N-no… fun.” Ji Yang turned his head to look.
Behind Nie Xu stood Deng Jiao, staring up at the ceiling, Qian Yitian, looking down at the floor, and Qiao Qiao, the female colleague who had arrived on the same flight as Nie Xu, smiling at him with an innocent expression.
Ji Yang tried to laugh it off. “It’s just drinking culture. Everyone got drunk, and we were joking around.”
At the exact moment he finished speaking, a somewhat shrill scream came from the private room behind him.
Then came an angry roar.
“Who the hell are you people?! Are you all blind? The person you’re supposed to be serving isn’t me… I told you this isn’t some fucking role-playing game! Don’t come near me!”
Ji Yang awkwardly rubbed his nose.
Looking at Nie Xu, he explained, “You told me to humor them, but that still meant having a proper discussion. They were the ones who broke the rules first. I had no choice.”
Deng Jiao added from behind him, “I can vouch for that.”
Nie Xu glanced back at her.
Deng Jiao shut her mouth and continued staring at the ceiling.
Nie Xu turned back and glanced at the door to the private room, but made no move to enter.
He simply shifted his suit jacket to his other arm and said, “If anyone from Hengyuan asks about this, Deng Jiao, have someone handle it.”
“Understood,” Deng Jiao replied.
Nie Xu looked at Ji Yang again.
“No choice? You seem pretty experienced at this sort of thing.”
“It’s just an illusion,” Ji Yang said.
In reality, he had worked part-time at places like this for quite a while.
It wouldn’t exactly be unfair to say he was very familiar with the routine.
That afternoon, Nie Xu led everyone through a proper discussion, one completely different from the morning’s farce.
Although Shengji wasn’t as blatantly disrespectful as Hengyuan, at least they weren’t pretending to conduct research while doing nothing of the sort.
Ji Yang watched as Nie Xu effortlessly deflected every challenge and steered the conversation from project details to promotional and marketing strategies, then to survey questionnaires. Eventually, the person in charge on the other side was left speechless.
Nie Xu genuinely seemed to have come to conduct promotional research. He understood every detail and had a clear purpose behind every question.
In the end, not only did the other party promise to personally introduce them at the seminar the following day, but the dinner itself also proceeded in a remarkably harmonious atmosphere.
The assistant handled all the detailed discussions, while Ji Yang was responsible for eating beside him.
Although this evening’s gathering was also a boring business dinner, the food was authentic enough to make up for it.
Ji Yang had already eaten his fill, yet the two people beside him were still talking.
He noticed that Nie Xu was exceptionally good at switching his demeanor to suit different environments and social situations. Right now, with the top buttons of his shirt undone, only a little red wine remaining at the bottom of his glass, he was leaning back in his chair and listening to the other person speak.
Ji Yang stood up from his seat.
The man who hadn’t looked at him once from beginning to end suddenly turned his head.
Ji Yang froze too, thinking the other man suspected he was about to repeat his earlier stunt. He immediately explained, “I’m just going to the restroom.”
Nie Xu’s gaze swept over the table in front of him.
Ji Yang followed his gaze.
There was a large soup bowl in front of him, completely emptied by his own spoon.
Fine. He admitted that while listening to their conversation, he had unconsciously finished the entire thing.
Ji Yang pushed back his chair and left.
Behind him, the person in charge from the other side was still laughing as he remarked, “I never would’ve guessed. Even when Fourth Young Master goes to the restroom, he actually reports to someone first.”
Nie Xu replied, “He was probably bursting.”
Ji Yang: “…”
Nie Xu, you bastard!