Chapter 103

Even as Xie Huai spoke, he noticed Qi Xu tilting his head slightly—his gaze fixed, not on him, but on the chain clipped to his suit.

No—more precisely, on the sapphire.

Xie Huai lowered his eyes, fiddling with the cuff chain for a while. Qi Xu stood quietly by his side, watching. By now, he could already tell he was tipsy—his head light, his thoughts fuzzy. He couldn’t explain why he hadn’t walked away yet. It definitely wasn’t because of the jewel; he wasn’t that shallow.

Then Xie Huai unfastened the sapphire, wrapped it neatly in a handkerchief, and handed it to him. Qi Xu froze for a second, then reflexively took it.

The sapphire glimmered in his palm—blue as the ocean, with a faint trace of starlight caught inside. It wasn’t large, but its deep, pure hue said enough about its worth.

It reminded Qi Xu of something—back when he’d just been recognized by the Shen family, Zeng Yun had gifted both him and Shen Zeyu a pair of sapphires at the dinner table. He hadn’t accepted his; and though he’d brushed it off, a tiny part of him had regretted it since.

Still, he’d made up for it later—after starting work, he’d bought himself a few gemstones and kept them locked in a home safe.

As Xie Huai watched Qi Xu’s focused expression, a faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He slipped a lighter from his pocket and invited, “Want to head to the smoking area—”

Before he could finish, Li Kaixing rushed in. Spotting Xie Huai, he froze for a split second, then switched to his best social smile. “President Xie! What a coincidence—you’re here, uh, for some air?”

“……”

Li Kaixing immediately realized he’d just used one of those awkward canned lines he normally reserved for the Shen executives. To a CEO. Great.

He laughed nervously and hurried over to Qi Xu. “Boss, President Yu’s looking for you to discuss something.”

By the time Li Kaixing entered, Qi Xu had already pocketed the sapphire—as if worried someone might take it. Alcohol had loosened his judgment; even he wasn’t sure why he’d done it.

He gave the lighter in Xie Huai’s hand a glance, then turned and followed Li Kaixing out.

The banquet was already over—there was no “President Yu” waiting anywhere. Li Kaixing, seeing Xie Huai in the room, had just made up an excuse to pull Qi Xu away.

“You were gone so long I thought something happened,” Li Kaixing chattered as they left. “And that line I said to President Xie—think it’ll ruin my image? Maybe we’ll have to work with him someday.”

Qi Xu stayed silent the entire walk, lost in thought—or maybe lost in the fog of wine.

The celebration banquet was a success for the Shen Group. For Qi Xu, though, it ended with one small regret—a cigarette left unsmoked.

The next morning, he woke to find a lighter clenched in his hand. He didn’t even smoke that much anymore—so what kind of craving made him fall asleep holding one?

He couldn’t make sense of it. After washing up, he passed through the walk-in closet and noticed his safe wasn’t properly shut. He didn’t bother checking inside—just closed it and left.

After all, him fiddling with gemstones while drunk wasn’t exactly new.

What he didn’t realize was that this time, he’d done something far worse—he’d pocketed someone else’s.

His memory of that night stopped right at the moment he’d wanted a smoke, realized he didn’t have a lighter, and gone to the restroom—where he ran into Xie Huai. Everything after that was a blank.

It wasn’t like they were close anyway. The two of them had barely exchanged words since years ago—any interaction now would’ve been strictly business.

He didn’t think much of it. Collaborations between Shen Group and Xie Corporation were under Shen Fengkai’s charge, not his.

But less than a week later, when another joint project between the two companies came up, Qi Xu was surprised to learn that Shen Fengkai had been assigned to lead it again.

“Is the person in charge at Xie Corp blind?” he muttered. “Why keep falling into the same pit?”

Li Kaixing—ever the gossip—was quick with updates. “I heard President Shen and Xie Huai’s team had a huge blow-up in the conference room the other day. Whole place looked like a war zone. The cleaning lady said she found a pile of shredded documents afterward.”

Clearly, Xie Huai wasn’t happy with Shen Group’s handling. He’d only taken over the deal mid-project after returning to the country.

So why agree to another one now? Was he just bored?

Li Kaixing snorted. “President Shen’s team only talks theory. The moment they hit the negotiation table, they get crushed. But what can we do—he’s got the old connection, so the project sticks with him.”

The Shen Group might look unified from the outside, but inside, its factions were sharp as knives. Qi Xu’s division and Shen Fengkai’s rarely interfered with each other—except when Qi Xu decided to. He had a bad habit of stealing projects right out from under Shen Fengkai’s nose.

Whenever that happened, Shen Fengkai would storm into his office fuming, and Qi Xu would just smile coolly. “If you could be outbid, maybe your proposal wasn’t good enough. I’ll give it back to you—if you can win it back.”

This time, though, despite the friction between Shen and Xie’s teams, Qi Xu hadn’t planned to interfere. He had no ties to Xie Huai, no leverage.

Still, word had it that Shen Fengkai’s access to Xie Corp came through Shen Zeyu—who’d been seen visiting Xie’s offices frequently.

Qi Xu had started to suspect Li Kaixing was moonlighting as a spy; the man’s intel was too detailed.

Then, after some kind of shady stunt involving a mysterious guest hidden in Xie Huai’s hotel suite, everything blew up.

Even before the teams clashed, Shen Zeyu had already stormed into Shen Fengkai’s office and caused a scene—a “dog-eat-dog” sort of mess.

And the real twist? The next day, the collaboration proposal landed on Qi Xu’s desk.

He was out on a business trip in S City when he heard. Booked the earliest flight back, went straight from the airport to the company.

Windblown and travel-worn, he was the complete opposite of Xie Huai, who looked immaculate as always. Li Kaixing, desperate to salvage his boss’s dignity, reached up to straighten his collar—only for Qi Xu to swat his hand away.

“It’s fine,” Qi Xu said flatly. “Can’t have you working overtime on the weekend anyway.”

Li Kaixing turned to greet Xie Huai with a bright grin—only to freeze when he caught the man’s cold, sharp gaze. A chill raced down his spine.

Did he just… step on a landmine?

By the time Qi Xu walked up, the look in Xie Huai’s eyes had softened again, polite as ever. Li Kaixing blinked, unsure if he’d imagined the earlier hostility.

Whatever it was, the meeting began.

Surprisingly, the first round of talks went smoothly. No sparks, no power plays. Xie Huai’s team even ordered afternoon tea for everyone.

When the raspberry cake was placed before Qi Xu, he pressed his lips together, hesitating.

“Boss, if you don’t like raspberry, I’ll trade you,” Li Kaixing offered. “I’ve got chocolate.”

Before Qi Xu could answer, Xie Huai spoke up. “Manager Li, let’s trade instead. I’m allergic to mango.”

Qi Xu looked up sharply. Only raspberry and mango were left. And the raspberry slice—was now in front of him.

Li Kaixing, startled, quickly made the switch. Allergies weren’t a joke, after all.

But Xie Huai never touched the chocolate cake either. He wasn’t fond of sweets.

When the meeting dragged on, Qi Xu leaned back, his tired gaze drifting across the table—to Xie Huai’s cuff chain again. Heavy, metallic, bold. Definitely his style.

Except… the sapphire was gone.

Li Kaixing came over with some documents and noticed his boss staring. “What are you looking at, Boss?”

Qi Xu, trying to be casual, asked, “That chain Xie Huai’s wearing—same one from the banquet, right?”

Li Kaixing’s hawk eyes flicked over. “Yep, same one. But huh, the sapphire’s missing.”

A flicker of memory jolted through Qi Xu’s mind—him holding the jewel in his hand.

He steadied himself and muttered, “Probably fell off.”

Li Kaixing immediately ducked under the table. “Really? Where? I’ll look for it.”

“…”

Fell into my safe, actually.

Of course, he couldn’t say that. It would sound like theft—hell, it was theft.

Xie Huai, oblivious as ever, finally seemed to notice their glances. “President Qi,” he asked mildly, “is there something you’d like to say to me?”

Qi Xu’s throat tightened. He averted his gaze. “No.”

When the first negotiation ended, Xie Huai didn’t mention signing dates or next steps. Apparently unsatisfied—but not rejecting them either.

At least one thing was clear: he intended to keep Shen Group on the hook.

Outside the Xie Corp building, Qi Xu paused and looked up at the glass tower’s top floor.

Why had Xie Huai given him the sapphire in the first place? They weren’t close enough for gifts that expensive.

And after all this, Xie Huai hadn’t said a word—no lawyer’s letter, no accusations, nothing. Maybe he didn’t have Qi Xu’s contact info.

But he could’ve gone through Shen Fengkai if he wanted to make trouble. That stone was worth a small fortune.

Yet when they’d met today, Xie Huai hadn’t even hinted at it. As if it meant nothing.

Qi Xu frowned. Something about it all felt… off.

What he didn’t know was that, high above, behind the tinted glass, Xie Huai was also looking down.

He couldn’t see the figure clearly, but his gaze was deep, unreadable.

At heart, he was a cruel man—and this was his way of drawing Qi Xu closer.

As long as something of his stayed with Qi Xu—a gem, a deal, a thread of connection—it was enough.

The line between them had been tied.

Under the fading sunlight, a strange, almost obsessive glint flickered across Xie Huai’s face.

His assistant stepped in, carrying a box. “President Xie, would you like to take this raspberry cake home?”

Xie Huai, who rarely touched sweets, said lightly, “Pack it up. I’ll bring it back.”

He intended to try it—just once.

Author’s Note:
Qi Xu: I don’t know what happened, okay? The sapphire just… rolled into my safe by itself.