For the team dinner that evening, Ji Yang chose a Japanese restaurant where the average cost per person was in the four-digit range.
The atmosphere was comfortable, and the food was delicious.
Thick-cut foie gras, salmon, enormous spiny lobster sashimi, mushroom-scented truffles, grilled mackerel, and more—every dish had its own distinctive flavor. Rather than a company team-building dinner, it felt more like a straightforward indulgence in the pleasures of food.
“Isn’t this a little too expensive?” Peng Jiaying asked midway through the meal. After checking the prices, he felt his wallet ache.
Ji Yang popped a mushroom into his mouth and replied casually, “Isn’t the whole point of being alive to eat and sleep? If you can’t even enjoy the most basic pleasure of good food, what’s the point of living?”
Peng Jiaying retorted, “That’s complete nonsense. If someone can’t even control their basic appetite, how are they supposed to accomplish anything great?”
Ji Yang nodded. “Fair enough. You focus on accomplishing great things, and I’ll gladly bear the cost of this so-called nonsense all by myself. I’m more than happy to do it.”
Peng Jiaying: “…”
He remembered the first time he had invited this young master out. He had taken him to a bar, and ended up spending the rest of the night enjoying a complimentary tour of the police station.
Back then, he had thought Ji Yang was completely unreliable.
Impulsive, acting without thinking things through.
But Yiyuan had been established so quickly, and without Ji Yang, they absolutely would never have made it this far.
Looking at him now, Peng Jiaying felt that the reckless determination he had once carried—the sort that made it seem as though he wanted to flip the entire Ji family’s table over—had gradually faded as one problem after another struck the Ji family.
He had become more settled. Yet this wasn’t the kind of maturity people liked to call “growing up overnight” after a family crisis.
It was more like he had simply slowed down, carrying a sense of ease that he himself didn’t even seem to notice.
He seemed more inclined to enjoy the life in front of him, regardless of what he had been through, what he still had to face, or how much upheaval was happening around him.
It was as though he had always been an optimistic person who naturally focused more on his own feelings.
Ji Yang had a pretty good time at dinner.
The atmosphere at Yiyuan was far better than he had imagined. The employees were young, many of them fresh graduates. In their own words, if they hadn’t followed Mr. Peng, they would probably be unemployed by now. But by working under him, they could become veterans of the company in just a few years.
A bright future indeed!
Everyone burst out laughing as they said this.
Ji Yang liked people who were on the same wavelength as him. At that moment, he became even more certain that he had chosen the right path.
They were still eating at seven o’clock, with the main lobster dish yet to be served. Qiao Qiao took a detour to the kitchen to hurry things along.
But she came rushing back halfway there.
“The… the…”
Ji Yang was puzzled. He picked up a cup of plain tea and handed it to her. “The what?”
“Behind us!” Qiao Qiao finally managed to get the words out.
Ji Yang instinctively looked behind him.
They were seated on the left side of the Japanese restaurant, having taken over several tables in a row. It wasn’t just Ji Yang; quite a few people who heard Qiao Qiao’s words turned around at the same time.
Then they all made the kind of expression familiar to anyone in the workplace.
After all, nobody wanted to run into their boss while having dinner—especially a former boss.
Ji Yang hadn’t expected to run into them here, of all places.
Although Ji Chengyi hadn’t previously been in charge of the new media department, he had briefly served as its direct project supervisor for the most recent Lan Hai Bay project.
Ji Chengyi was walking in front, with Nie Xu behind him, followed by a group of people dressed in suits.
Judging by the lineup, it looked like a business dinner.
With Ji Yang here, there was no way the two groups could pretend not to know each other when they met.
Ji Chengyi paused in surprise. Putting on the air of a proper older brother, he walked over and glanced around.
“Dinner with your former colleagues?”
“Current colleagues,” Ji Yang replied.
That answer seemed to fall outside Ji Chengyi’s expectations. He frowned but said nothing more. He appeared ready to leave; after all, taking the initiative to greet Ji Yang had already been enough to fulfill the basic courtesy expected of someone from his family.
Unfortunately, a middle-aged man behind him leaned forward and spoke with a smile.
“Isn’t that Fourth Young Master? Since we’ve run into each other, why not join us?”
“Mr. Huang,” Ji Chengyi said, “the Xianshi Cultural Tourism project has always had its own designated point of contact. Ji Yang wasn’t responsible for this area, so there’s no point in asking him.”
Mr. Huang replied, “I heard Fourth Young Master had resigned, but his influence has been considerable lately. I was wondering whether he might be interested in sitting down and having a chat.”
At that moment, Peng Jiaying leaned close to Ji Yang’s ear.
“I heard Haicheng invested in their amusement-themed cultural tourism project in two phases, along with the commercial facilities planned for Lan Hai Bay. Now Haicheng can barely look after itself, so the second phase of investment is unlikely to happen. Mr. Huang must be running around in a panic. He’s treating you like a last-ditch remedy, hoping a hopeless situation might somehow turn around. But Mr. Huang also has another project, and as it happens, when I was working on the planning…”
Ji Yang raised an eyebrow and looked at Mr. Huang.
That was when he noticed the person standing beside him.
Their eyes met.
Ji Yang raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Brother Xu,” he called deliberately.
Mr. Huang looked surprised. “Fourth Young Master, are you very close to Assistant Nie?”
Ji Yang drawled, “Close doesn’t even begin to describe it…”
“Ji Yang!” Ji Chengyi interrupted him forcefully. “If you want to join us, then join us. This is a serious business occasion.”
“Third Brother, you make it sound as though I’m some kind of troublemaker.”
Ji Yang stood up readily and looked at Nie Xu.
“I was just going to say that when I worked at Haicheng, Assistant Nie was my assistant. I suppose he still counts as my assistant now, doesn’t he? Is that right, Assistant Nie?”
Nie Xu glanced at him and nodded. “That’s right.”
Mr. Huang looked enlightened. “I see.”
Ji Chengyi clearly suspected that Ji Yang intended to sabotage the dinner. His gaze remained wary.
Unfortunately for him, Ji Yang had no such intention.
Ji Yang told Peng Jiaying and the others to finish their meal and leave first, then followed the group to their private dining room.
The large private room designed for Japanese dining wasn’t particularly wide. With everyone seated opposite one another at a long table, nobody was very far from anyone else.
Ji Yang took the seat at the far end, right beside Mr. Huang.
Across from him sat Nie Xu, who made no attempt to dominate the conversation.
From the moment Ji Yang sat down, he listened as the others exchanged polite pleasantries before moving into a back-and-forth of carefully veiled barbs.
Facing these seasoned veterans of the business world, Ji Chengyi was finding it somewhat difficult to keep up. At moments like this, he would deliberately pass the conversation to Nie Xu, giving the impression that the two men were working together behind the scenes with perfect understanding.
Ji Yang had already eaten his fill, so when the dishes began arriving here, he barely touched them.
Mr. Huang was quite an amusing fellow.
He was in his early forties, yet his thinking was still remarkably modern. After inviting Ji Yang over, he seemed to have lost all interest in sparring with the others. Instead, he kept talking to Ji Yang about his social media account.
Mr. Huang said, “I’ve been keeping an eye on your account, Fourth Young Master. So far, you’ve only done one livestream, but your peak concurrent viewership exceeded 280,000, and even your lowest concurrent viewership was 86,000. That airport interview alone has accumulated more than 47 million views across the entire internet. The related topics have surpassed 200 million views, with more than 120,000 discussions. Most importantly, your account has consistently been gaining over 5,000 followers a day. With numbers like these, monetizing your account would be a piece of cake!”
And those daily increases had continued even after the scandals surrounding the Ji family broke out.
That meant this young master had a very real ability to turn online attention into money.
Ji Yang listened without the slightest change in expression.
It was simply that this sort of data analysis had been a regular topic at every company meeting in his previous life. Hearing it now didn’t particularly impress him.
The only thing that surprised him was that someone had studied his account more diligently than he himself had.
Turning slightly toward Mr. Huang, Ji Yang lowered his voice.
“Mr. Huang, to be honest, most of that attention comes from the boost provided by my identity as a wealthy young master. If you’re hoping to attract new investment through me, I’m afraid that’ll be difficult.”
Mr. Huang immediately began, “But how will we know unless we…”
“We can give it a try.” Ji Yang cut him off directly.
Before Mr. Huang could even react, he smiled and continued, “But not in the way you suggested. I heard you have a marketing project for a cultural tourism town. Would you consider working with Yiyuan?”
Mr. Huang froze. “Yiyuan?”
Ji Yang nodded. “Yes. Yiyuan mainly handles brand promotion, content creation, and related services. Those are exactly the kinds of things you’re looking for with…”
Mr. Huang’s initial displeasure at realizing that he had been the one getting maneuvered gradually gave way to genuine interest.
It was as though the corner where they sat had become an entirely separate world from the rest of the business dinner. Right there at the table, Ji Yang was openly drumming up business for his own company.
When Mr. Huang became excited about the possibilities, he insisted on pouring Ji Yang a cup of sake and clinking glasses with him.
Since the collaboration seemed promising, Ji Yang didn’t refuse. He picked up his cup and let Mr. Huang fill it.
The sake had a rich, smooth flavor with a fragrant fruitiness. It was actually quite good.
Ji Yang downed half a cup in one go and couldn’t help burping.
Only after setting down his cup did he notice that the atmosphere at the table had shifted several times and now felt subtly tense.
Ji Chengyi’s expression was rather unpleasant. The other middle-aged men in suits weren’t looking much better, especially the one surnamed Pan, who seemed particularly furious.
The man across from him, on the other hand…
Ji Yang noticed that Nie Xu was turning a small ceramic cup upside down in his hand. His expression gave nothing away, but Ji Yang had the feeling that although he had appeared to cooperate with Ji Chengyi throughout the evening, he didn’t seem genuinely interested in resolving the matter.
Ji Yang didn’t understand.
It was true that Nie Xu was making use of Ji Chengyi, but when the latter was being so obviously given a hard time, surely Nie Xu shouldn’t be reacting like this?
Ji Yang looked at Nie Xu.
At the same moment, Nie Xu raised his eyes and looked back at him.
Ji Yang noticed his gaze fall on the cup of sake in his hand. He paused, then silently mouthed, Do you want some?
As he did so, he picked up the sake bottle beside him and pushed it toward Nie Xu.
Nie Xu glanced at his gesture, then expressionlessly looked away.
Ji Yang: “…”
What was that about?
Fine, don’t drink it, then.
I’ll drink it myself.
Ji Yang pulled the bottle back.
Just then, Nie Xu apparently decided that the atmosphere had reached the right point and finally spoke.
“You’re all aware of the group’s current situation. The funds won’t be available anytime soon.”
The man surnamed Pan could no longer sit still. He snapped angrily, “You’re just an assistant! Why are you talking in circles with me?”
“Mr. Pan!” Ji Chengyi said displeasedly. “Nie Xu is…”
“Mr. Pan.” Nie Xu was clearly unaffected by the outburst. He pulled a document from the briefcase beside him and slid it across the table. His tone remained calm. “This is an attachment to the supplementary agreement your company signed with the group in March this year, specifically the clause concerning the upper limit on liquidated damages. You should all remember that the group included a formula for delay compensation in the agreement to ensure the construction schedule was maintained. Under that formula, the liquidated damages you can currently claim would be thirty to forty percentage points higher than the compensation you could recover for losses caused by a suspension of supply.”
The entire table fell silent.
Mr. Pan picked up the document and looked it over. His expression shifted from impatience to suspicion, then from suspicion to uncertainty.
He was probably calculating the figures in his head. The anger that had been about to erupt seemed to be doused with a bucket of cold water.
Nie Xu didn’t look at Mr. Pan again. Instead, he turned his attention to the others, his tone still mild.
“The group’s current problem is simply that we’re temporarily unable to free up the necessary cash flow. You’re all businesspeople, so you understand what ‘temporary liquidity difficulties’ means. When these projects resume in a year, the losses you’re facing now will be more than made up for.”
With a mixture of pressure and persuasion, they managed to silence every last complaint.
The business partners had probably taken Nie Xu’s words to heart. They had been making a fuss for days, but ultimately, they were just afraid there would be no profit to be made—that their earnings wouldn’t keep up with the rate of their losses.
But Ji Yang knew that Nie Xu’s speech had been only half true.
The truth was that the projects really had been planned out. The lie was that there would be no “one year later” at all. How could the projects possibly resume?
Moreover, Ji Yang couldn’t shake the feeling that this dinner had been about more than simply helping Haicheng Group “resolve its problems.”
The atmosphere at the table gradually warmed up again.
As Ji Yang wondered what exactly Nie Xu was plotting, he unconsciously downed several more cups of sake.
By the time the dinner ended, it was already past nine.
Ji Yang was still reasonably sober. He got up and walked out alongside Mr. Huang, chatting with him as they arranged a time to discuss the details of their potential collaboration.
“When did you start a company?” Ji Chengyi asked.
Ji Yang turned around and realized that the two people following behind him were indeed Ji Chengyi and Nie Xu. They walked a step apart, both carrying themselves with the polished air of elite professionals.
Compared with them, Ji Yang looked completely out of place in his white T-shirt and shirt jacket. Now that he was feeling hot, he had even let the jacket hang carelessly off his shoulders.
He really didn’t fit in with this crowd.
“I don’t think I need to explain myself to you, do I?” Ji Yang replied.
Nie Xu continued walking without slowing down, passing between the two of them.
“Excuse me.”
He went straight to the front desk and took out his wallet to pay the bill.
Ji Chengyi withdrew his gaze from Nie Xu and continued, “That Mr. Huang from tonight, Huang Kai, has connections to the Xilemen in Fanzhou. You’d better not offend him and cause serious trouble for the family.”
Xilemen?
Wasn’t that the largest local underworld organization in Fanzhou in the original novel?
And if Ji Yang remembered correctly, it had been members of Xilemen who kidnapped Ji Chengyi back then.
When Ji Chengyi mentioned Xilemen, he should have felt pain, fear, and helplessness. Yet now he was warning Ji Yang instead. It almost seemed as though he was more worried about Ji Yang reaching an agreement with Mr. Huang.
Ji Yang looked at him with an expression of innocent confusion.
“But Mr. Huang can bring in money.”
“Money?” Ji Chengyi frowned. “Does that mean you can disregard everything else just for money?”
Ji Yang burst out laughing.
“Third Brother, you’ve clearly been living too comfortably. A lofty, self-righteous statement like that only sounds tolerable coming from someone like you.”
After all, you’re the protagonist.
Of course you’re different from someone like me, a slave to money.
The sarcasm in Ji Yang’s heart spilled into his expression. Ignoring Ji Chengyi’s darkening face, he followed Nie Xu to the front desk to pay.
As he took out his phone, he happened to see Nie Xu receiving his bank card and receipt from the server.
Ji Yang reached out and casually hooked his hand around Nie Xu’s forearm.
Nie Xu glanced at him sidelong.
Ji Yang said, “I’m out of money.”
Nie Xu: “And?”
“So you pay,” Ji Yang replied immediately.
The man who technically held the title of his assistant had gone off to work as someone else’s assistant. Surely it was only right for Ji Yang to spend a little of his money.
Nie Xu stared at him for a couple of seconds before taking out his bank card again and handing it back to the server.
Ji Yang leaned against the counter beside him, watching from the side.
A faint flush from the sake tinted his brows and the area around his eyes. It was subtle, but it gave him an air of uninhibited recklessness.
The server handling the payment kept glancing at his face.
Nie Xu tapped the counter, reminding him, “You’re blocking the way.”
Ji Yang came back to his senses and straightened up to let the next person in line approach. The server also seemed to snap out of a daze and hurried to finish the transaction.
When Ji Yang received the receipt and saw the amount printed on it, his eyes curved into a smile.
“Thank you, boss,” he said without thinking.
Nie Xu started walking out and commented, “You’re pretty drunk.”
“I’m perfectly sober, okay?” Ji Yang protested.
Five minutes later, he was sitting in the back seat of the car Nie Xu had arranged a designated driver for. He waited for Nie Xu and Ji Chengyi, who were still exchanging pleasantries and saying goodbye to the other bosses, until he was nearly falling asleep against the car window.
The sound of a car door opening made Ji Yang’s sluggish brain stir.
“Can we go now?” He shifted position and leaned his head back against the seat.
No one answered for a long time.
Ji Yang opened his eyes and saw that only Nie Xu had gotten into the car.
He looked around. “Where’s Ji Chengyi?”
Nie Xu glanced at the rearview mirror. “Your eldest brother has come out. He went to pick him up.”
Ji Yang used what little mental clarity he had left to think about that.
He almost felt exhausted on Ji Chengyi’s behalf.
“He’s so busy. Second Madam doesn’t even like him, so why is he always rushing over to please her? He’s just asking to be treated badly.”
“You’ve still got the energy to worry about him?” Nie Xu asked as he loosened his tie and signaled the designated driver to start the car.
Ji Yang noticed the movement and felt that Nie Xu was letting his emotions show much more openly than he had during dinner. It was as though he had finally released all the dissatisfaction he had suppressed throughout the evening—the reluctance to deal with people, the irritation at having to play along, and his distaste for such occasions.
Was it because of Ji Chengyi?
Ji Yang nodded. “I get it. You’re in a bad mood.”
“What makes you think I’m in a bad mood?” Nie Xu asked.
Ji Yang replied, “You’re already asking me questions like that. If you were in a good mood, would you even bother responding to me?”
However, there was something undeniably appealing about the way Nie Xu undid his collar with one hand, his index finger hooked into the neckline while his thumb pressed down.
The movement was slow and casual. More importantly, his hands were beautiful.
Lean and rough, with faint blue veins running across the back of his hand. In the dim light inside the car, they looked like little rivers buried beneath his skin, carrying a quiet sense of strength.
“Why are you looking at me?” Nie Xu suddenly asked, turning his head.
Ji Yang experienced a secret, unsettling illusion.
He had seen through him.
He had realized that Ji Yang was being consumed by lust, daring to covet a man who was currently his bodyguard and who would eventually be capable of killing him.
Ji Yang’s survival instincts immediately kicked in.
He argued sophistically, “If you weren’t looking at me, how would you know I was looking at you?”
At that moment, the headlights swept across the car’s interior, casting shifting light and shadow over Nie Xu’s profile.
Nie Xu gave a faint, derisive chuckle.
“You sure back down quickly.”