After that heartfelt burp, Xu Yichen’s eyes roamed—first to Xie Huai, then to the phone in his hand.
“Still inseparable from your little device. I told you when we were kids you weren’t quite right in the head. Guess I was spot on.”
Qi Xu: “…”
“Wait. Don’t tell me he thinks I’m a phone.”
Xie Huai glanced at Xu Yichen, whose posture had slumped into a drunken mess, his gaze unfocused. “Probably. Man can’t even tell human from hardware now.”
Qi Xu turned over in bed. “It’s late. What are you gonna do with him?”
Xie Huai rubbed his temple, clearly exasperated but still answering seriously: “Toss him in the bathroom and let nature take its course.”
“Don’t. Let him sleep in your roo—wait, never mind. Your room’s flooded. Let him crash in the living room. Crank the heat so he doesn’t catch a cold.” Qi Xu half-opened his eyes to check the time. “It’s late. I have a meeting tomorrow.”
Xie Huai responded with a quiet “Mm.” Then added, “Don’t reschedule your flight. Take the 3 p.m.—noon’s too rushed.”
Qi Xu chuckled. “Didn’t you say you missed me? Now you don’t want me back earlier? Huai-ge, your longing for me really didn’t last long.”
Xie Huai replied in a low, meaningful tone: “Keep teasing, and you’ll find me in your bed when you open the door tomorrow.”
Qi Xu shut up instantly. “Good night.”
Xu Yichen watched the two flirting—one man, one phone—and sighed like his soul had left his body.
After Xie Huai ended the call, he finally turned to deal with his old friend. “You’ve got two options: get out or go to sleep.”
Sniffling, Xu Yichen whimpered, “I wanna sleep with you.”
Xie Huai gave him a single word: “Scram.”
To avoid sleeping on the streets, Xu Yichen obediently went to the couch and started prepping it for the night. After his shower, he peeked into Xie Huai’s room—no one there.
Could he have actually flown off to see Qi Xu?
Then, from Qi Xu’s room, he heard movement.
He turned and saw Xie Huai stepping out of Qi Xu’s room.
Xu Yichen narrowed his eyes. “Wait a damn second. Don’t tell me you’re sleeping in his room while he’s gone. That’s messed up, man.”
He wasn’t as drunk as he’d acted earlier—just used the alcohol as an excuse to vent. Which meant… he’d heard everything.
Xie Huai ignored him, went to his own room, grabbed his laptop, and headed right back into Qi Xu’s.
Xu Yichen stood there, stunned. “You traitor! You and Qi Xu—behind my back?! I knew something was off! You two schemed, plotted, and now my savings—my future marriage fund—is in your lovey-dovey little pockets!”
He suddenly recalled all the random things he’d joked about before—sneaking around, secret rendezvous, calling them a couple—and now realized: it had all been signs.
Xie Huai leaned lazily against the doorframe. “What are you whining for? I won that marriage fund fair and square from you at poker. It’s still a marriage fund—it just changed hands and stayed in the family.”
“You shameless bastard.” Xu Yichen sighed, envy creeping in. “Seriously though… how’d you get the guts to say it? Weren’t you afraid he wouldn’t like you back? That he’d cut you off for good?”
Xie Huai laid it out plainly: “I said it. Now I live in his house and sleep in his bed. You didn’t say it. So here you are—drunk over something trivial, homeless, and crashing on my couch.”
Xu Yichen: “…”
He chuckled bitterly. “The contrast’s pretty brutal. And hard to ignore. I really should learn from you—stop being such a coward.”
Xie Huai shook his head. “Don’t learn from me. Follow your own heart. What worked for me might not work for you.”
Xu Yichen never thought the day would come when Xie Huai of all people would be giving him relationship advice. Who’d believe it?
He used to worry that Xie Huai, who always seemed cold and indifferent, would end up alone. Now it was looking like he should be the one worried.
With unexpected humility, he asked, “Then what exactly was your method?”
Xie Huai took a step into Qi Xu’s bedroom, tilted his head, and raised an eyebrow in reply.
Xu Yichen got the message. “Right. Forget it. Can’t compete with your level of psycho.”
The “psycho” in question closed the door behind him, leaving the poor, single Xu Yichen clutching a still-damp blanket as he lay curled up on the couch.
His brother had found happiness.
And him? He’d found jack shit.
He gritted his teeth. God, I’m so jealous.
In his sleep, he actually shed tears of envy.
Qi Xu had no idea what was said between Xie Huai and Xu Yichen after he hung up the call. He didn’t change his flight—it was still scheduled for 3 p.m.—but he did have a meeting with someone at a tea house at 10 in the morning.
Li Kaixing, still half-drunk from the night before, started his day with a shot of black coffee.
The bitterness couldn’t hold a candle to how bitter life felt.
Qi Xu sat across from him, eyeing the dark circles under his eyes. “I remember you passed out the moment you hit the bed. How’d you end up looking like that?”
Li Kaixing spooned some rice porridge into his mouth and said, “Young Master Qi, you set the thermostat to 27 degrees before you left. It’s November in S City, man—we’re still in T-shirts. And then you tucked me in with this massive thick comforter. I tossed and turned all night like a teppanyaki steak.”
Qi Xu apologized casually, “I’ve gotten used to northern weather. Haven’t adapted to the south yet—changed it without thinking.”
Li Kaixing asked, “Did you set yours to 27° too last night?”
Qi Xu nodded. “Yeah. Felt fine to me.”
Li Kaixing reached out to touch Qi Xu’s hand, clearly skeptical—but Qi Xu quickly pulled back and shoved a red bean bun at him instead.
Biting into it, Li Kaixing muttered, “I just wanted to see if your blood runs cold. Who the hell sets it to 27° in this weather?”
Qi Xu thought it over seriously. He really did get cold easily, didn’t sweat much in the heat either. Probably some underlying weakness in his constitution.
“Warmth is good. Cold makes people stiff.”
Li Kaixing gave a dry laugh. “Man, that joke was ice cold.”
Then he remembered their task for the day and looked visibly conflicted. “Are we really trying to poach Aurora’s general manager? I’ve never been a headhunter before. Of course, with you there, I’m not too nervous. But still—that’s Aurora. You think someone from a big name like that would come to us?”
“You don’t have to be the headhunter—I’ll talk to him,” Qi Xu said, sipping his orange juice. “If he wasn’t open to leaving, he wouldn’t have agreed to meet us.”
“Aurora’s rumored to be getting bought out. Right now, aside from their current projects, all other development’s been frozen. After the deal goes through, they’ll likely replace the whole management team. He’s just a department head—this is the perfect time to offer him a lifeline.”
When Li Kaixing brought up S City, Qi Xu had looked up some news online. He vaguely remembered that in his last life, around this time, several long-standing tech firms in S City were acquired due to foreign capital flowing in.
Technically, he hadn’t even entered the industry yet at this point in his previous life. So why did he remember and care?
It was because of Shen Fengkai.
That man never bothered to avoid work talk in front of him—either out of arrogance or because he thought Qi Xu couldn’t understand it.
Back then, it was on the way to the old family house. He was in the car with Shen Fengkai, who was casually chatting on the phone, discussing work in detail.
Qi Xu had absorbed some of it, and during a period of market turbulence, he took his first shot at stocks—earning his first pot of gold through investments.
From then on, he started managing his money with his allowance and part-time income. By the time he graduated college, his personal account already had seven figures.
Li Kaixing had already graduated, yet here he was, sitting next to a freshman like Qi Xu, and feeling oddly like the less mature one. Especially after last night’s dinner—he’d gotten pretty decent at handling social events over the past few months, but in front of Qi Xu, he had to admit defeat.
This guy could adjust his tone to any audience—speaking smoothly to all kinds of people. Somehow, he was able to hold a conversation with an old-school, fifty-something manager without breaking a sweat. The man had even kept praising him as “young and promising.”
As Li Kaixing was just marveling at how mature Qi Xu was for a college student, the guy casually passed him a tablet:
“Help me finish this homework. I need to revise a contract.”
Li Kaixing: “…”
Okay, maybe not that mature.
Never thought he’d be ghostwriting homework after graduation, but hey—when your boss is still a student, you fight for his GPA.
They sat in the restaurant for an hour, each getting their respective tasks done, then headed to the tea house.
By the time they arrived, Su Kehao was already waiting inside. He was visibly surprised when he saw the two young men following the server in—he hadn’t expected the people behind Yunrui to be so young.
Qi Xu reached out his hand. “Mr. Su, I’m Qi Xu—the one who contacted you by phone. This is our Director at Yunrui.”
Li Kaixing, switching to his professional persona in an instant, didn’t drag the team down at all. He shook Su Kehao’s hand with confidence. “Nice to meet you. Li Kaixing.”
Su Kehao looked them both over and chuckled, “Didn’t expect you two to be so young. I thought you might’ve walked into the wrong private room—figured you were undergrads.”
Qi Xu smiled as he sat down and responded with ease, “We are college students, starting our own venture. I imagine you’ve looked into Yunrui a bit—though we’re newly established, the projects we’ve taken on are already aligned with major firms.”
The reason Su Kehao even agreed to meet was because he’d seen Yunrui’s name at the Internet Conference. A recently founded company making it onto the list? That meant serious growth potential.
With Aurora now getting acquired, his own position as a department head was basically done for. He’d been with the company for ten years and had nothing more to give it.
People usually job-hop to move up—with better pay and a better title. He’d already been approached by headhunters offering great salaries, but the roles were lower-tier, and promotions would take time.
If he could join a smaller company as a management-level hire with a decent salary, that would actually be more attractive. And if Yunrui had a solid financial foundation, he was ready to sign a letter of intent today.
After a good back-and-forth, Su Kehao asked about Yunrui’s recent projects.
Li Kaixing smoothly picked up the cue, taking a document out of his bag and handing it over.
“We’ll be attending the Huaxin development meeting soon. If Mr. Su decides to join us, we’ll be attending together.”
Su Kehao glanced through the materials and raised his eyebrows. He had clearly underestimated Yunrui. They actually got an invitation from Huaxin?
Qi Xu noticed the shift in his expression—his eyes lit up. That was all the signal he needed: today’s contract was as good as signed.
Realistically, Yunrui’s current scale wouldn’t earn them that invite on merit alone. The invitation had been handed to him by Zhong Aiming, at the request of Old Master Shen.
This was exactly what Qi Xu had hoped for. In return, he accepted the old man’s goodwill and used his own savings to buy his grandfather a fine cake of tea—something he could proudly show off to Old Man Xie.
In the end, Su Kehao signed the letter of intent. Tomorrow, he’d hand in his resignation to Aurora and head to the capital to officially join Yunrui.
Once they left the tea house, even Li Kaixing was shocked at how smoothly it had all gone. Two major achievements in one weekend business trip—no more endless flights back and forth. He was sick of flying.
Since they still had time before boarding, Qi Xu made a detour to buy a gift for Xie Huai.
The poor man had spent the weekend home alone, and if he wasn’t properly consoled, he might just flood the bed with tears again tonight. Qi Xu didn’t want to come home to another emotional tsunami.
So Li Kaixing trailed after him into a luxury brand store, once again playing the role of the young master’s bag-carrying assistant.
Qi Xu scanned past the watches and expensive main pieces, eyes locking on the accessories section. One item immediately caught his eye: a vintage tie clip inlaid with a round-cut blue tourmaline, designed in a heavy industrial style.
Earlier, in the car, he’d asked Xie Huai what Jiang Zimu liked. He’d also asked Xu Yichen and Fang Qian about their preferences.
But the one person he didn’t ask about… was Xie Huai.
That was deliberate.
He already knew Xie Huai liked robots—but what about everything else?
He wanted to see for himself.
At 28, Xie Huai always appeared in formal attire no matter the occasion—complete with wristwatch, cufflinks, shirt clips, and lapel chains. He was fully equipped, and his style was unwavering: cool, sharp, and tailored by his aura.
Even at 18, Xie Huai had already taken a liking to these accessories—likely because he often had to attend banquets.
But now, he was still youthful, a bit green around the edges. Qi Xu, who had grown used to seeing the older, commanding version of Xie Huai, made a slightly selfish decision—he chose a tie clip inlaid with blue tourmaline, elegant rather than stern.
Qi Xu asked the store clerk to take it out for a closer look.
Standing beside him, Li Kaixing asked, “Is that a gift for your big brother?”
Qi Xu placed the tie clip on the velvet mat. “Why? I can’t buy it for myself?”
Leaning casually on the counter, Li Kaixing raised a brow, amused. “It’s clearly not your style. Looks pretty mature—doesn’t suit your vibe.”
Qi Xu and Xie Huai were born just two months apart—January and March—so it wasn’t exactly fair to say who was more “mature.”
“It’s for Xie Huai.”
Li Kaixing wasn’t surprised. After all, he’d only ever seen one friend around Qi Xu: Xie Huai. And the style? It was obviously tailored for someone like him.
“Well then, yeah—suits him perfectly.”
Qi Xu nodded to the saleswoman. “Please wrap it up for me, thank you.”
While Qi Xu lowered his head to sign the receipt, a voice rang out—not unfamiliar.
“Qi Xu?”
He looked up. Qin Yue was walking toward him with a female companion. Slightly caught off guard, Qi Xu straightened up. “Mr. Qin.”
That title hit a nerve. Qin Yue felt a wave of annoyance rise in his chest. Still calling me Mr. Qin? Fine. He didn’t bother correcting him—sooner or later, he’d hear “uncle” out of this kid’s mouth.
His eyes briefly flicked toward Li Kaixing with subtle suspicion, then casually glanced at what Qi Xu had just bought.
“Here for fun with a friend?”
Li Kaixing and Qin Yue exchanged a quick glance—something about it felt familiar. Oh, right.
That look people give when they catch someone cheating.
Qi Xu handed the receipt to the clerk. “Just handling some business.”
Qin Yue chuckled. “You and everyone else. What kind of ‘business’ is there in S City that everyone’s coming here for it?”
The woman beside him, who had just finished looking at some jewelry, sneered lightly, “You’ve got so many complaints. I asked you to come with me just this once and you acted like it was life or death. You’re an antiques dealer—how busy can you possibly be?”
Then, noticing Qi Xu but not recognizing him, she turned to Qin Yue. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
Qin Yue thought for a moment, choosing his words. “Qi Xu—our nephew Xie Huai’s close friend.”
Lin Moya offered her hand with a knowing smile. “Hello, Lin Moya. Qin Yue’s cousin.”
Qi Xu gave a polite handshake. “Nice to meet you.”
He, of course, knew who Lin Moya was—youngest daughter of the Lin family, and future head of the household in ten years.
Qin Yue then turned his attention to Li Kaixing with a sly grin. “And this is…?”
Li Kaixing sensed the edge in his tone—smiling, but with a blade underneath. He swallowed nervously. “Qi Xu’s employee. Li Kaixing.”
“Oh? President Qi, is it?” Qin Yue chuckled, as if he’d stumbled on something amusing. “Everyone these days loves calling themselves ‘President’ something. No wonder you and Xie Huai get along so well… as close friends.”
Qi Xu didn’t linger. He had a flight to catch.
Qin Yue waved him off. “Let’s meet again once you’re back in the capital.”
Qi Xu left with Li Kaixing.
Lin Moya casually browsed around the store for a bit and spotted a pair of cufflinks she liked. “A friend of Xie Huai’s? Doesn’t he only hang out with a few people? How come I’ve never seen this one before?”
Qin Yue, busy messaging Xie Huai, threw out a key detail. “Xie Huai brought him back to Fanghua Garden.”
A flicker of surprise crossed Lin Moya’s eyes. When she didn’t respond, Qin Yue chuckled. “No need to be that dramatic.”
“Xie Huai brought someone onto Qin family turf. Even that kid from the Xu family never got that kind of treatment, right?” Lin Moya said. “If I’m not mistaken, Qi Xu’s from the Shen family. No matter how close they are, they’ve only known each other for how long? Aren’t you even a little shocked?”
The older generation knew Xie Huai well. He’d always kept the Xie and Qin families distinct—never mixing his friendships with Qin family affairs, likely due to the Qin family’s complicated background. Friends went to the Xie house, not the Qin one.
To be precise, Fanghua Garden was like a utopia for the younger members of the Qin family—a place where they’d all grown up playing together.
So bringing someone there… Did that mean Xie Huai already saw him as family?
That thought startled Lin Moya before she could even voice it—and she immediately dismissed it.
Qin Yue, well aware of what she was thinking, made no move to out his nephew. As an uncle, he didn’t see it as his job to “out” Xie Huai, so he helped deflect, hoping to keep the elders from hearing and stirring up trouble.
“Why overthink it? You know how he is. If he brought someone there, it means he trusts them. It’s rare enough to find someone on the same wavelength as your nephew.”
Lin Moya accepted the gift bag the saleswoman had wrapped up, and after thinking it over, she realized she was probably overreacting—and let it go.
After leaving the mall, Qi Xu returned to the hotel to pick up Li Kaixing’s assistant, and the three of them headed to the airport.
By the time they landed in the capital, it was already 6:30 PM. Qi Xu felt the temperature drop and immediately pulled a jacket from his luggage. He said goodbye to Li Kaixing at the airport and got into Chen Wei’s car.
Once they pulled out of the parking lot, Chen Wei said, “Young Master, the Old Master wants you to return to the old residence.”
Qi Xu asked, “Right now?”
Glancing at the time, he realized it’d be tight. He shot Xie Huai a quick message: Not heading home tonight—going back to the dorm instead.
The other person seemed busy with something and hadn’t replied to his message.
Not getting a response made Qi Xu uneasy—he was genuinely a little afraid that Xie Huai might have flooded the house. Hopefully not.
Was his house still intact?
Carrying that uneasy feeling, Qi Xu returned to the old residence. When he saw a row of cars parked at the entrance, he slowed his steps and spotted a familiar license plate—it was Shen Fengkai’s car.
But he didn’t see anyone else’s cars.
Uncle Li had been waiting at the door. Seeing Qi Xu come back, he went up to greet him: “Young master, everyone’s in the main hall.”
Qi Xu didn’t understand what kind of gathering it was tonight, so he asked Uncle Li, “A struggle session or what? The old man isn’t going to fake fainting again, is he?”
“You bought the old master that nice tea cake; he wouldn’t have the heart to criticize you.” Uncle Li thought about who had come tonight. “More like a showing-off party.”
A showing-off party? Show off how, exactly?
When Qi Xu stepped inside and saw who was there, it dawned on him—yes, this was definitely something to show off about.
There sat Old Master Xie, the Xie couple, Shen family’s eldest uncle and his family, and Shen Fengkai.
Seeing this scene made Qi Xu feel oddly complicated. The very person who hadn’t replied to his messages was now sitting among the elders, politely responding to their concerned chatter. On a side table lay an assortment of gifts—so many that they nearly buried the table.
At first glance, it almost looked like an engagement proposal visit.
