Zong Cheng’s hurried breathing suddenly stalled.
Even the rise and fall of his chest froze for a moment.
The next second, he looked at Yin Chen with a somewhat aggrieved expression.
He knew it—Yin Chen always liked to bully him.
Yin Chen looked back with a half-smile.
They held each other’s gaze for three seconds, and Zong Cheng retreated in defeat.
Yin Chen nestled in his arms with a bright, leisurely smile, completely calm.
As long as his skin was thick enough, then the only one who would end up blushing was Zong Cheng!
After lying there for a while, Yin Chen propped himself up slightly against the chest beneath him and looked up at Zong Cheng.
“Earlier… were you angry with me?”
It had been several days since he had come to have dinner with him!
Zong Cheng’s stiff chest slowly began to turn to stone.
The burning heat in his ears gradually faded.
After quite a while, he spoke in a hoarse voice.
“I wasn’t angry with you. I was angry with myself.”
As he said it, there was a hint of gloom in his tone.
He really hadn’t been angry with Yin Chen. How could he possibly be angry at Yin Chen?
He was angry at himself. There had been so many signs before, but his mind had been filled only with Yin Chen, and he had never thought about Yin Chen’s situation.
Especially when that Dongfang Wan had appeared in front of Yin Chen again and again—he should have noticed then.
Thinking back on it now, he still found it a little unbelievable.
In the business world, he was hardly some inexperienced rookie, yet when things like this had appeared around his future partner, he had completely failed to notice!
Just thinking about it still made his chest feel stifled.
That was the reason?
Yin Chen paused slightly, looking at Zong Cheng’s serious expression.
…Tsk.
He slowly lay back down again.
Inside his heart, it felt as though boiling water were bubbling over, countless little bubbles of joy rolling and bursting.
Yin Chen’s cheeks grew slightly warm.
Tsk. This big guy—once in a while he really did say some nice things.
But…
His finger lightly poked twice as he spoke in a cheerful tone.
“So, dinner together tonight? I recently hired another cook. His late-night snacks are pretty good too.”
Moved. Very moved.
But the mess with the Dongfang family—he already had a pretty good grasp of it!
As for Zong Cheng… he still hadn’t figured out when to snatch him back and hide him away in his own den!
Zong Cheng: “?”
Wasn’t the direction of this conversation a little… off?
After changing into the new clothes Yin Chen had prepared for him, Zong Cheng still followed Yin Chen back to the villa somewhat dazed.
He kept feeling like he had forgotten something.
It wasn’t until Yin Chen went to take a shower and he finally had time to charge his dead phone that he discovered Miss Tang’s life-threatening chain of calls and countless messages.
At first they were concerned inquiries about how things were progressing.
Then, the anger became visibly explosive.
Finally, there was a particularly eye-catching line in huge characters—
[You brat! If you’ve got the guts, then don’t reply to me ever!!!]
Zong Cheng felt guilty.
Zong Cheng felt lost.
He stared at the phone for a long time before cautiously sending a single period.
The next second, his phone immediately started vibrating like crazy.
The three characters “Miss Tang” lay on the screen, somehow radiating pressure.
Zong Cheng stared at it for a long time before slowly pressing the answer button.
Miss Tang’s sarcastic voice immediately came from the other end.
“Oh, not bad. At least you didn’t wait until Valentine’s Day was over before replying to me.”
If the brat had the guts, he should just never reply!
Then she’d have a perfectly good excuse to lecture him properly!
Miss Tang was so angry her hair practically stood on end.
Zong Cheng fell silent.
Zong Cheng took a deep breath.
“My phone ran out of battery. I didn’t ignore you on purpose.”
“Hah, that’s a rare excuse. As if there’s anywhere these days where you can’t find a power bank.”
Miss Tang sneered.
Did she look like someone who had never gone out?
Everything was so advanced nowadays!
Besides, phones were needed for everything—who let their phone run out of battery so easily?
Seeing that explanations were useless, Zong Cheng decisively chose to apologize.
“My fault. I’ll buy you a gift later, don’t be angry.”
?
You’re admitting fault just like that?
You’re not going to argue a bit so I can vent?
Miss Tang stared at her phone. After a while, she took a deep breath and finally calmed down a little.
She needed to stay calm!
First figure out the situation of the battle! Everything else could wait!
She immediately asked,
“What’s your situation now? Where are you?”
Zong Cheng obediently explained.
As for a certain extremely blush-inducing part in the middle?
He opened his mouth but couldn’t say a single word.
He could only skip ahead in the timeline. “He’s in the shower right now, so I just came to charge my phone.”
Miss Tang slowly typed a question mark.
“It’s Valentine’s Day and you two are still showering separately?”
What kind of people are you?
You’re two grown men—aren’t you planning to do it and sleep together?
Or at least shower together!
Otherwise where are you going to find happiness in life?
Wouldn’t you break up sooner or later?
Zong Cheng also slowly typed a question mark.
“What’s wrong with Valentine’s Day? We’ve always been like this.”
Miss Tang: “?”
You’ve always been like this?
In other words, during all that time living together with Yin Chen, Zong Cheng had basically been cohabiting for nothing?
She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
“Let me ask you this. Don’t you want to shower with him?”
Could it be… Zong Cheng couldn’t?
Impossible!
“…”
Zong Cheng hesitated and didn’t answer.
Coward!
Just look at you!
Miss Tang had completely collapsed on the sofa and didn’t even want to talk anymore.
That couldn’t be right.
It shouldn’t be like this.
Although Zong Cheng wasn’t her biological child, she had practically raised him herself. From what she’d seen before, he hadn’t been this cowardly.
He was bold in everything else—so how did he end up like this here?
Miss Tang couldn’t figure it out no matter how she thought about it.
After several seconds of silence, she asked a soul-searching question.
“By the way, are you living at home now or at his place?”
Zong Cheng… didn’t answer.
Miss Tang: “? Weren’t you already living at his place before? Did you move out?”
That couldn’t be right.
He probably just hadn’t said anything yet.
No way.
How could anyone be this stupid…
“Because I had to start working again, so I…”
Zong Cheng spoke without much confidence, but before he could finish, Miss Tang cut him off.
Miss Tang laughed in anger.
“You are unbelievably bad at dating! Why did you move out? Even if you had to sleep at his doorstep, you should have stuck there and refused to leave! At this rate, you’ll be single your whole life! If you’re a man, just go for it. I’ve never seen someone as cowardly as you!”
She hung up with a loud smack.
Infuriating!
She couldn’t keep talking!
Let Zong Cheng fend for himself!
Zong Cheng froze.
Zong Cheng stared at his phone and sank into deep thought.
Is… is that how it works?
When Yin Chen came out of the bathroom, what he saw was a Zong Cheng who looked as if he were about to weather away.
What happened?
A little concerned, he stepped closer and quickly noticed the call record on Zong Cheng’s phone.
His expression immediately became somewhat subtle.
He more or less knew a bit about it.
For example, that Zong Cheng actually had a strategist behind the scenes.
And that strategist was the Miss Tang whose name was displayed at the top of the call log.
So, had Miss Tang given Zong Cheng some new advice again?
Yin Chen raised his eyebrows slightly.
Tsk. What a pity. If he had come out just a little earlier, it would have been perfect.
But it didn’t matter.
Yin Chen revealed a sly smile.
After all, he was here. No matter what tricks Zong Cheng had been given, he would have to use them on him, wouldn’t he?
Yin Chen immediately relaxed. He naturally lunged forward and wrapped his arms around him from behind.
“What are you looking at?”
Zong Cheng froze!
Zong Cheng hurriedly put his phone away!
Yin Chen shouldn’t have seen anything, right?
His heart jumped for a moment, but then the scent drifting toward him made his mind a little hazy.
Fortunately, he managed to think quickly and coughed lightly.
“It’s about the author conference I mentioned to you before. It’s coming up soon, and the editor was confirming the schedule with me.”
Right!
That’s it!
Zong Cheng instantly stopped feeling nervous.
He turned his head to glance at Yin Chen, and the beauty fresh out of the bath tempted him so much that he couldn’t help leaning over to steal a kiss.
After the kiss, he spoke a little awkwardly.
“You… you’re sure you’ll have time then?”
Yin Chen: “…”
Fine. For the sake of at least knowing to kiss first.
He stood up with a smile. “Of course. What day is it? I’ll have my assistant clear my schedule right away.”
Teasing was teasing, but going—he still had to go.
“What day?”
Zong Cheng quickly coughed twice.
“I just told him I’d ask you first and confirm once you’re free. I’ll call him now to ask the exact date.”
Yin Chen smiled without saying anything and even waved two fingers.
Relieved, Zong Cheng quickly took out his phone and called his editor.
On the other end, the editor—still working overtime—felt his scalp tighten when he saw the call.
His first instinct was to hang up, but then he looked again.
Holy—
Zong Cheng?
He immediately answered, thrilled.
“Ancestor, this is rare. Why are you calling me?”
Luckily he hadn’t put it on speaker!
Startled by the editor’s loud voice, Zong Cheng tried to look calm under Yin Chen’s gaze.
“It’s like this. I confirmed it—he’s free to attend. What day is the author conference? We’ll arrange the time.”
“Huh? Confirm what? What are you confirming?”
The editor froze for a few seconds, confused.
What was Zong Cheng talking about?
“Ahem, confirming whether family members can attend. Don’t you remember? Then I’ll hang up.”
Zong Cheng’s face grew slightly warm. He really wanted to hang up!
“Huh? Oh, oh! Right, right! There is!”
Who cared whether it was true or not! As long as Zong Cheng was coming, that was all that mattered!
If Zong Cheng came, whatever he said would become reality!
That’s how completely unprincipled he was!
The editor quickly gave him a date—this Saturday, chosen specifically to accommodate people who might need to fly in.
Zong Cheng pondered for a second and nodded.
“Alright, we’ll go then. That’s all—”
“Wait!”
The editor quickly stopped him.
“Something else?”
Zong Cheng wanted to hang up.
If the call lasted too long, he might get exposed!
Since the great ancestor had personally called, that meant he was probably in a good mood!
Shouldn’t he take the chance to ask about the rights?
The editor’s mind raced.
“It’s about what we mentioned before—several companies want to compete for the film and television rights to your work, and a few other things too. Are you interested this year?”
Please be interested!
If nothing else, publishing would also be fine!
Rights again?
Zong Cheng had just been about to say he wasn’t interested when he suddenly noticed a subtle change in Yin Chen’s expression.
He paused, then slowly asked,
“You… can hear that?”
Oh?
Was he exposed?
Yin Chen blinked and nodded slowly.
Mainly because the editor was too loud!
Zong Cheng turned to stone.
Zong Cheng weathered away until not even dust remained.
Life was too hard for him.