While WeChat is having an uproar over what Liu Yuxi and Shao Yanxi said, everyone present at the studio is also in deep shock.
“Liu Yu’an, and Liu Yuxi? Jesus Christ!!!”
“I felt it in the past, but… He is actually from a well-off family!!!”
“Fuck me, I kept thinking back to any of my interactions with him. I don’t think I was ever disrespectful to him, thank goodness.”
“I wonder what those people who said he had sex with fans and was a kept boy are feeling. Does their face hurt?”
Shao Yanxi and Liu Yu’an are also currently pretty excited. The kind that befalls couples after a short separation.
During the excitement Liu Yu’an even knocks the briefcase on the table over, falling down onto him. It makes him gasp in pain and he has to stop his excitedly planting kisses and lets Shao Yanxi go, picking the case up. It’s really heavy.
“What’s inside?” Liu Yu’an asks.
“Files.”
“That heavy?”
He opens it after Shao Yanxi lets him. It’s filled top to bottom with papers.
“Why did you take so many files along?” Then he has an idea and chuckles, pinching Shao Yanxi’s cheeks and asks, “you miss me that much?”
And don’t want to separate for even a second?
Ignoring his flirtatious teases, Shao Yanxi replies, “I remember you don’t have any scenes this afternoon and tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah,” that’s why he took the files along so that he could be with him when he worked…
Suddenly, his heart jumps and he asks, tentatively, “you don’t mean for me to deal with the files for you…?”
“I promised to go to Egypt with you.”
Liu Yu’an “…”
He asked if he wanted to vacation in Egypt next Saturday, but Shao Yanxi said he is busy with work… So, if he dealt with it for him, he’d have time to go to Egypt?
Ho.
“Egypt is not the point here,” Liu Yu’an says.
“…” Shao Yanxi looks up at him, looking stubborn, “then what do you want?”
Liu Yu’an raises his brow in an ‘oh?’ expression, but cautions him, “you’re not worried I’d learn all about the more sensitive information of your company?”
“Not at all.”
Liu Yu’an is a bit moved by that answer. Shao Yanxi trusted him that much, huh? But then, Shao Yanxi says, “I’ve already dealt with whatever sensitive information there was myself.”
Liu Yu’an “…”
Seeing him choking on his words makes Shao Yanxi smile. He hugs him and puts his own head onto Liu Yu’an’s shoulder, “these are not that much less sensitive though. I haven’t shown them to anyone besides you and the supervisors responsible.”
“I haven’t read them yet either, thank you very much.”
“You don’t want to help me?” Shao Yanxi looks up at Liu Yu’an, looking somewhat surprised.
“I’ll help,” Liu Yu’an says, “but not for free. I’ll have my reward later, when I think of something to ask.”
“Can’t tell me right now?” He reflexively doesn’t want to owe him anything; it feels like losing the important initiative, and he’d be swallowed whole by Liu Yu’an.
“Can’t think of anything right now, so?”
“Then start thinking right now.”
“But I can’t think of anything.”
“Then just…”
“Do you still want me to deal with the files for you?”
“… It can’t be anything too over the top.”
“Sure,” Liu Yu’an finally relents.
Though he steals a few kisses from Shao Yanxi first before letting him go, “let’s go back to the hotel first? I’ll get changed so wait for me for a bit in the car..”
“Sure.”
When Liu Yu’an leaves the van, though, he sees the assistant walking over quickly.
The assistant asks him, “are you heading out? There’s something I have to report to you and Mr. Shao both.”
“What is it?” He goes back into the van.
The assistant also heads in, and after greeting Shao Yanxi, reports, “the young lady said Ding Mingyao told her to do so. She’s a fan of his, and so she’s happy he’s here. She asked him for a signature and then they had a friendly chat. He said a lot about how Mr. Shao fired him, and it was also him who told her Mr. Shao would be coming over this morning.”
“He told her I was coming?” Shao Yanxi furrows his brows.
It isn’t a secret per se, but not many actually know about this.
“Yes,” the assistant replies, “would you like me to head back to the company right now?”
To resolve this – given it is definitely someone in the company who has let slip the schedule of Shao Yanxi.
“It’s fine. Call Xue Zhi instead.”
He’s the person supervising the bodyguards and in charge of his personal safety.
“Understood,” the assistant then leaves.
Liu Yu’an then takes a seat opposite Shao Yanxi, “you should also investigate Jiang He.”
Ding Mingyao himself is unlikely to even have contacts close enough to get Shao Yanxi’s personal schedule. If he had outside help, the only person Liu Yu’an could think of is Jiang He.
It looks like this event is not just aimed at him; or rather, it is merely a secondary, optional objective. It is mainly going after Shao Yanxi.
Liu Yu’an thinks this may be related to the original plot of the novel. It seems like the most plausible explanation is that Jiang He has to become the wealthiest man himself by the original plotline, but now that Shao Yanxi is not ‘moving out of the way’ like he is supposed to, the hands of fate might have intervened and had Jiang He subconsciously take action.
That is why there is this event going after him, who would, theoretically, be a weakness of Shao Yanxi.
With both of them affected, and Shao Yanxi distracted, Jiang He could certainly pull strings behind the scenes more easily.
Of course, Liu Yu’an also considered the possibility that the young lady still isn’t telling the truth. While it is highly unlikely, perhaps it is still worth a little more investigation.
“Jiang He?” Shao Yanxi looks at Liu Yu’an.
Besides Liu Yu’an and Yue Zhun, Shao Yanxi is practically unrelated to Jiang He at all.
“You should still look into it,” Liu Yu’an doesn’t explain, nor could he, as he continues, “and also those siblings of yours, especially the ones in psychiatric institutes.”
Shao Yanxi can still clearly remember it was them and the past ‘Liu Yu’an’ that schemed behind the scenes. He doesn’t reply, looking fixedly at Liu Yu’an. It is clear he wants an explanation.
Liu Yu’an hesitates for a bit before saying, “I don’t really have any reason. Just listen to me. I would never work against you.”
Shao Yanxi only replies after a while, “alright.”
The assistant also returns now with Xue Zhi in tow, and Liu Yu’an says, “I’ll get changed.”
Shao Yanxi wanted to have Xue Zhi work through people in the company first, but he has changed his mind now, and tells him to look into Jiang He and his siblings. He decides to hand the matter of the company to another person instead.
Half an hour later, Liu Yu’an is finally back, as he was stopped on the way by the director. Apparently, some online platforms wanted to buy rights to Evernight and CEO Ning is also inclined to agree. He wanted to ask what Liu Yu’an and CEO Shao thought.
Liu Yu’an thought the director wanted to show this on TV, but the director said that it would take who-knows-how-long to get approved. Inside, the director was actually won over by the amount of money the platforms offered – a few times that of the TV stations.
Liu Yu’an thought about it then told him that Shao Yanxi didn’t exactly care about such things so he could do with them whatever he liked.
And finally, the director left with a spring in his steps.
When Liu Yu’an is back at the van, both the assistant and Xue Zhi has left already.
Then Liu Yu’an calls Xiao-Zhang, telling him and Xu Qingqing to come and get ready to go back.
After hanging up, he asks Shao Yanxi, who is touching about his eyes, “what is it?”
Shao Yanxi doesn’t speak, but shows him his index finger.
Seeing the eye shadow there, Liu Yu’an smiles, and grabs Shao Yanxi’s hand, saying, “this is eye shadow from make-up. It is washed off easily.”
Shao Yanxi almost seems like he’s smiling when he says, “it’s beautiful.”
“Who do you think I am…” Just as Liu Yu’an finishes Shao Yanxi says, “beautiful like a fair maiden.”
“Fair maiden?” Liu Yu’an chuckles, “a fair maiden who can immobilise you with a kiss…”
Though before he can finish, Xiao-Zhang and Xu Qingqing are here. Liu Yu’an stops himself short as Shao Yanxi also removes his hand from Liu Yu’an’s hold and sits down straight.
Liu Yu’an “…”
He shakes his head with a smile as he lets the two inside.
Xiao-Zhang is able to hold it together with his expressionless form and sits down at the driver’s seat all straight and proper.
Xu Qingqing looked about curiously before quickly retracting her gaze seeing Shao Yanxi there and takes a seat at the passenger seat all obedient-like. Though she still can’t hold back from stealing glances at Shao Yanxi in the meantime.
She sees Shao Yanxi looking files over while Liu Yu’an, with lips perked, watches him with his head on his arm.
What a sweet scene. She can’t help but feel swooned.
If it were any other couple she might have taken a photo and put it online.
For the security of her high-paying job though, she refrains from doing so. Instead, she decides to distract herself with her phone.
So she doesn’t know that Shao Yanxi is not actually looking at documents, nor is Liu Yu’an looking at him with a loving gaze, but is actually derisively smiling at Shao Yanxi for pretending to look at documents.
So, as soon as Xu Qingqing is distracted with her phone, Shao Yanxi gives Liu Yu’an a side-eye before stuffing the documents in his hand.
Liu Yu’an is smiling while pointing at his own face.
Shao Yanxi doesn’t move.
Liu Yu’an whispers, “kiss me and I’ll look at them for you.”
“…” Shao Yanxi is still looking straight at him, unmoving.
After a short while, Shao Yanxi finally gives in. He glances over at Xiao-Zhang and Xu Qingqing, and seeing that they aren’t looking at them he quickly plants a kiss on Liu Yu’an’s face.
Xu Qingqing “…”
She actually saw it through the rearview mirror.
Umm… How should she put it?
She used to think Shao Yanxi is up there, cold, stern, and something like her Master’s degree is but pittance compared to someone like him…
Her idealised form of him is shattering.
Though, to be honest, this Shao Yanxi feels more real, more ‘connected,’ more relatable. Just another person like them, with his tempers, his emotions, with happiness and sadness…
Not just a collection of labels like ‘up there’ and ‘wealthy.’
In fact, Xu Qingqing thinks that such a Shao Yanxi can even be described as ‘lovable.’
And thus the latest member of the CP fans of the two of them is born, her standing – Liu Yu’an top x Shao Yanxi bottom.
Meanwhile, Shao Yanxi has no idea his surreptitious kiss has been busted already.
After kissing Liu Yu’an, he lifts his chin slightly, indicating that Liu Yu’an can get to work now.
Liu Yu’an makes an ‘ok’ gesture and starts looking the files over.