In the lobby on the first floor of Shengshi. Facing the request from the teenager, the receptionist politely asked, "Do you have an appointment?"
"No." Luo Yang's face under the sunglasses was anxious, and his tone was a little aggressive, "I know your Mr. Cheng and have a good relationship with him."
He used their relationship very well, and was aggravated by that fact.
However, the receptionist only looked at him suspiciously. Unfortunately, the company had a system. They did their duty and acted according to the rules, making a friendly suggestion that he may wish to call.
Luo Yang gritted his teeth, Cheng Tianqin had changed his number long ago, he had no way to get in touch at all.
Walking back and forth in the hall anxiously, Luo Yang regretted his actions for the first time and began to realize that Cheng Tianqin might not just be in a bad mood.
He could spoil him and indulge him time and time again, why did it change this time?
As night fell, the lights came on, and the bustling city center was full of brilliance.
In the underground parking lot, Lu Shenxing stepped out of the elevator, the car key circled his fingers, when he suddenly stopped, "Come out."
There was a sound in the corner, and Luo Yang whispered, "Tianqin-ge."
Lu Shenxing raised his eyebrows, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be busy handling the media with your agent?"
Luo Yang's face paled, he shouldn't have thought he'd be lucky enough for this man to not have seen those photos. There was a son in his voice, "I didn't know what was happening, Tianqin-ge, you have to believe me, I don't know what to do."
Lu Shenxing lowered his head, his eyes flashed coldly. If the original Cheng Tianqin was standing here, he would have definitely chosen to forgive him. Even if nothing happened between them, he would deal with the trouble for him and ask that he lived well.
Unfortunately he wasn't here.
When Luo Yang saw that the man in front of him didn't speak, he was overjoyed. He raised his head, put his lips against him and kissed him, "Tianqin-ge..."
Feeling his saliva on his chin, Lu Shenxing lifted Luo Yang by his collar in disgust and pulled him out of his arms, "What makes you think that Cheng Tianqin will be soiled by others?"
Disappointment, anger, humiliation, panic, and helplessness swept through his heart. Luo Yang grumbled and shouted, "Cheng Tianqin, don't force me!"
Lu Shenxing looked at him impatiently.
"I was with you for two years, but you're so cruel, so don't blame me." Luo Yang laughed, "If people know the boss of Shengshi has been touching minors, do you think you won't suffer?"
Lu Shenxing's gaze was instantly full of mirth. There was indeed such a plot in the original novel. The original Cheng Tianqin didn't even know the truth of it until he died. What happened that night didn't happen at all. Luo Yang thought that Cheng Tianqin was old and ugly, but a drug made him hallucinate, take off his clothes and lie down next to him.
His last glimmer of hope became smaller and smaller as time passed, Luo Yang's heart fell cold. It was just a bluff, an attempt to stop this man by forcing him to compromise for his reputation, but he did not expect the result would be, "Just do it, I don't care."
Lu Shenxing drove away, he instructed his secretary to deal with any video evidence, not wanting to have any extra troubles.
The cold air lingered and Luo Yang stood for a while before he left to find Jack. Even if he had nothing, he still had Jack.
Forty minutes later, Luo Yang stood at a door and rang the doorbell. There was no movement inside. He took out his phone and made a call. There was a busy tone. While he was debating whether to leave or continue to wait, the door opened from inside. A man wrapped in a long black down jacket grabbing his fluffy hair came out and cursed, "What the hell? Who the hell is knocking?"
Luo Yang saw the stranger coming out of Jack's house and his expression turned, "Who are you? Where's Jack?" As he spoke, he looked past the door, "Jack?"
"Jack?" The man's breath smelled of alcohol. "No one here is called Jack."
"Impossible, he's a mixed race, has blue eyes, and is very tall." Luo Yang was emotional and even a little incoherent.
"Oh, are you talking about Ari?" The man said, "He left with his stuff last night."
Ari? Luo Yang desperately grabbed the man's arm, "Where did he go?"
The man shook him off, "How would I know?"
"Then why are you at his house?" Luo Yang obviously didn't believe it. "Jack said he was writing a script and couldn't travel far."
"Are you mistaken? He's just an mb. What script is he writing?" The man said impatiently, "Also, this house is not his, it's mine, it's just that when I was abroad, he helped take care of it. That's it."
As if a bucket of ice water fell on his head, Luo Yang was chilly, "Impossible!" He shouted inside, "Jack, you come the fuck out!"
"Psycho!" The man pushed Luo Yang away and slammed the door shut.
Luo Yang wiped his face, his hands shaking badly and the expression on his face distorted. He was lied to from beginning to end. Someone must have instructed him to ruin him.
After New Year's Day, the new year came in.
Some people start crying, some start smiling, and some didn't make it at all. Life was fickle and unsatisfactory.
The photos on the Internet gradually disappeared but their presence across all major forums was an unchangeable fact. Luo Yang came forward to face the media. That day, he looked the part of a vampire, the White Impermanence or even Death. His face like a corpse appeared in front of the camera, dressed in an overly loose coat, he looked abnormally thin.
His compassion inducing aura was maxed out.
His acting career continued and within a few days, he surpassed his predecessors on the entertainment headlines for the second time. There were a few more photos, the largest of which was him being close with a rich man going in and out of a high-end club.
Lu Shenxing closed the newspapers in his hands. Luo Yang was the main character in this world. All the plots revolved around him and moved with him. He hoped that changing his situation would not have any unknown consequences.
"Mr. Cheng, Jinxiu Jiayuan's opening ceremony is almost ready. What else do you think needs to be added?"
Lu Shenxing took the speech and scanned it from beginning to end, then looked at the names and positions of those invited. His eyes stopped on the line with Mayor Cheng Tianxuan, then moved away.
"It's enough."
The secretary took the documents and went out. Lu Shenxing walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the prosperous city. Real estate was a piece of fat, and it was fatty in his early years. Cheng Tianqin had the best opportunity and luck.
He established a foundation in the name of Cheng Tianqin to do charity, and he became famous. The image of a nouveau riche and big money changed little by little, and he successfully separated Luo Yang from the world of the original owner.
Have done all this, the task should have been completed, right? Lu Shenxing asked in his heart.
"Ding, Mr. Lu, please keep working hard."
Lu Shenxing's eyelid twitched, "Was I working in the wrong direction?"
"Ding, it's hard to say."
Lu Shenxing looked at the air below his feet, and felt an urge to jump down, he asked with a dark face, "How much is the task progress?"
"Ding, forty-five."
Not even halfway, Lu Shenxing was deeply depressed. The tragedy was not that the task was difficult, but that he did not know what the task was. He felt that there was nothing to do.
The opening ceremony was scheduled for January 11, and the planning department was exhausted. The media reporters present at the reception had professional ethics and had prepared questions in advance. No one was there to cause trouble.
Lu Shenxing stood on the stage, dressed in a tailored silver-gray suit, tall, upright, and calm.
"Guests, leaders, ladies and gentlemen, good evening everyone."
Lu Shenxing changed his breath, curled his lips and smiled, "I welcome you all to come and participate in the first and second phases of the park's first project "Splendid Garden", the opening ceremony..."
Among the crowd, Cheng Tianyuan looked at the man who had attracted everyone's eyes. Da Ge was right, Lao Qi was really different.
He walked out, feeling the wind and reminiscing.
Lu Shenxing put one hand in the pocket of his suit trousers, holding a wine glass in the other. He met Cheng Tianyuan's eyes and he approached without any haste.
"You came."
Cheng Tianyuan watched Lu Shenxing, "I did."
Lu Shenxing raised his eyebrows, "I thought you wouldn't make it."
"This is the first time I have been invited by you." What Cheng Tianyuan said was unclear. He hadn't settled down yet and was being watched by many, at the time, his brother had encountered difficulties but he didn't allow any of his proposals through.
People tend to be more vulnerable when they are at their lowest. Since then, Lao Qi was hated and the division between brothers became deeper and deeper. Gradually, even if they were at the same table, they were like strangers.
"Live goes on." Lu Shenxing raised his glass, "Don't mention the past. You're always my Liu Ge."
The sound of Liu Ge in his ears was very clear in the softly undulating music, Cheng Tianyuan's body shook, the wine glass in his hand trembled, and the knot he'd kept for so many years finally opened.
He stepped forward, shortening the two-step distance to zero, and stretched out his free arm to embrace his younger brother who was a head taller than him, squeezing his arm.
Lu Shenxing patted Cheng Tianyuan's shoulder in response. He was startled as he heard the task completion increase by 10%. It seemed he'd discovered something.
Everything was in the news that night, and the outside world looked at the boss of Shengshi Real Estate with admiration.
On New Year's Day, Lu Shenxing received a call from Cheng Tiandao. The two had an appointment to meet in a teahouse.
"Study abroad?" He said surprised.
Cheng Tiandao nodded, "Yes, he proposed it himself."
Blowing the floating tea leaves, Lu Shenxing took a sip of the tea, "In such a hurry?"
"I'm also surprised." Cheng Tiandao sighed, "Xiao Zi said that he has already contacted his friends over there, the flight is on the sixth."
Lu Shenxing frowned, "Da Ge, did you just ask me out to say this?"
"Xiao Zi has been distracted recently." Cheng Tiandao said, "Your sister-in-law and I thought he was in love at first."
Lu Shenxing looked at him, and?
Cheng Tiandao shook his head, it didn't seem to be so.
After a while, Cheng Tiandao coughed, "Lao Qi, I won't beat around the bush, can you help persuade Xiao Zi, it's too far away to go abroad, and I'm not comfortable with him staying with people I've never heard of."
Lu Shenxing looked at him weirdly, "If you can't persuade him, then it's impossible for me."
"I'm not lying to you." Cheng Tiandao looked at Lu Shenxing's eyes even more weirdly, "He may listen if it's you."
In Starbucks, Cheng Zi sat in the corner, supporting his chin and watching people go by. Wei Ni opposite him was complaining that her boss was too harsh, don't mention giving her a raise, he could barely hand out a red envelope of a hundred yuan.
"Cheng Zi?"
Wei Ni followed his gaze, and saw a couple sitting on a bench close by, shoulder to shoulder, beside a chubby old cat.
The couple were both men. The older man held the hands of the other and put them in his coat pockets. He looked down slightly. In the warm winter sunshine, his eyes were filled with tenderness.
"How enviable." Wei Ni couldn't help but sigh, she didn't know when her true love would appear.
"They have a big age difference." Cheng Zi said faintly, the thoughts in his gaze were unclear. Although the older one was well maintained, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were still visible.
"Who cares?" Wei Ni pouted, "Why are you still so pedantic?"
"As one grows up, the other is old." Cheng Zi looked away and lowered his eyes. "And the younger one is destined to watch the other grow old."
Wei Ni's mouth twitched, "Don't be so pessimistic, time means nothing to love."
What if the two parties are relatives of each other? Cheng Zi didn't ask, his phone rang. He heard Fang Wen's panicked voice, and the cry of a child.
"Xiao Zi, your uncle has had an accident, and your dad is on his way to the hospital..."
In the next moment, Wei Ni watched as Cheng Zi spilt his coffee all over the table. She was frightened by the expression on his face, and took a moment to calm down.
"Cheng Zi, what happened?"
Cheng Zi hurriedly got up and ran out. Wei Ni had never seen him so flustered and startled.
The hospital was filled with a peculiar smell all year round. It was a smell that blended birth, old age, sickness and death. Cheng Zi ran to the nurse's station with an anxious expression, "Was there a patient named Cheng Tianqin brought in just now?"
"Yes." As soon as the nurse finished speaking, the figure in front of her had gone. She said to herself, "I didn't tell you what the number is..."
The door of the emergency room was pushed open from the inside and Cheng Zi saw a bed being pushed out. The person on it was covered with white cloth, his eyes widened.
"My condolences." The passing doctor said aloud.
Cheng Zi's Adam's apple rolled, he slowly stretched out his hand to grab a corner of the white cloth and clenched it firmly, his knuckles turned white, and his eyes were red.
"I never dared to say that I liked you."
The doctors and nurses had seen too many such regrets caused by worry, cowardice, misunderstanding, etc. They always came too late. It was no wonder that when the next two words popped out, the solemn atmosphere of the scene became awkward.
Xiao Shu? The doctors and nurses immediately looked dumbfounded, as if they had seen something extraordinary.
A woman with tears on her face suddenly rushed up madly and shouted at Cheng Zi, "What are you doing touching my son? Go away!"
The white cloth was pulled away by the woman's movements, revealing the face of an unfamiliar teenager. Cheng Zi was stunned. He retracted his hand in embarrassment and took two steps back. His face then filled with happiness.
At that moment, he realised he was being watched. He turned around and saw Lu Shenxing, who was standing not far away with his arm bandaged, and...a very shocked Cheng Tiandao.