Chapter 2#

Zhao Rong felt that it wasn’t a good idea to keep troubling Fang Zhuoqun like this.

He was nostalgic, even keeping the notebooks he had used and the pens that had run out of ink. In the past, he couldn’t bear to part with them, but now he felt that they were just things.

He sent a message to Fang Zhuoqun, saying that he would take care of these little things and that there was no need to trouble him to check on them in the future.

Subsequently, Zhao Rong called a professional responsible for such matters to handle the funeral affairs of that old fat cat.

He found the nearest pet shop and directly bought memberships for the remaining few kittens and another elderly cat, giving enough money for the pet shop staff to come feed and look after them daily.

“Don’t you want to deworm them, vaccinate them, and take them home? Daily care like this isn’t cheap, and if any get sick later, it’ll be another big expense.”

At the counter was a young girl around twenty years old. While Zhao Rong was paying, she processed the paperwork while glancing up at his face.

Finally, she also glanced at the black card Zhao Rong took out—the young man in front of her was young, handsome, and rich, dressed simply in a hoodie and jeans. Even without visible logos, one could tell they were expensive. Except for those eyes that looked a bit like they attracted peach blossoms, everything else was simply the ideal type for a young girl like her.

Zhao Rong thought for a moment, paid for ten years of membership fees at once, and said: “They’re used to living here. The territory at home is too small; they might as well continue living here. I won’t come to see them often in the future. If they get sick or have any extra expenses, contact me then. Sorry to trouble you.”

He sensed the girl’s gaze and immediately guessed what she was thinking, finding it both funny and exasperating.

Don’t look at him spending money like water now; in a few days, he’ll be a former rich second generation whose family went bankrupt.

Maybe he won’t even be able to keep that bit of shares he has in Qiao Nanqi’s company.

However, no one knows about this right now, only Qiao Nanqi, the instigator, and Zhao Rong, the original cannon fodder who cheated by reading the plot, know.

Finally, seeing that the girl was about to ask for his phone number, Zhao Rong wanted to use his married status to politely refuse. But when he touched his empty ring finger, he realized he had left in a hurry today and hadn’t worn his ring.

When he showered last night, he seemed to have taken off the ring and placed it somewhere casually.

As for where he threw it, he actually had no impression.

He paused for a moment, his knuckles slightly bent, the tip of his right index finger pressing directly on the base of his left ring finger—there was only the warmth of skin there, not the usual coldness of metal.

Zhao Rong couldn’t be bothered to look for it.

If it’s gone, it’s gone. It was going to be thrown away anyway.

The girl at the front desk was still looking at him.

Before the girl could speak, he put his phone to his ear, pretending to be on a call.

“…Ah Li Ge, I really have no money. I don’t even have enough for myself…”

“Sue me? Then sue, I didn’t write an IOU anyway.”

“Don’t be angry, if I win the lottery someday I’ll definitely pay you back!”

“…”

His tone was hooligan-like, his expression frivolous, and with that air of a rich playboy honed over years in places of debauchery, at first glance, he really looked the part.

Zhao Rong finished his self-directed and self-acted improvised lines. When he put down the phone, the girl’s face had turned green. The pick-up line stuck in her throat never came out.

When walking out of the pet shop, Zhao Rong happened to brush past a pet shop employee carrying a cat cage.

Several stray cats squeezed into the cage, looking out defensively and cautiously, unaware that a different life awaited them.

Zhao Rong stood at the door, gazing at the old house in the distance and the now empty cat litter diagonally opposite the old house.

This old house carried the memories of Qiao Nanqi’s youth. Zhao Rong had passed by here countless times but had never gone in.

It was already autumn. The weeds on the ground and the leaves on the trees were dyed with a fading yellow, blending harmoniously with the sunlight coming from the east, spilling out desolation and newness.

The houses on both sides of Changxi Road still retained the architectural style of more than a decade ago, with the exposed tiles somewhat pitted. Several houses, looked into through the windows, were already devoid of any human presence.

The paint on the door of the old house where Qiao Nanqi lived as a teenager had peeled off in several places, and accumulated dust could be seen on the handle, clearly indicating that no one had lived there for many years.

People left, cats gone.

A coin dropped into water can splash a little, but more than ten years thrown into the water doesn’t make a sound.

He still lived like a passerby in Qiao Nanqi’s life.

“I might as well listen to Liu’er and the others, keep a little beauty or a handsome guy,” Zhao Rong kicked a stone at his feet, his gaze indifferent, muttering to himself, “Spend a few years, maybe I can nurture true love.”

It was already afternoon by the time the cat matters were settled.

Zhao Rong went to the company to cancel his leave and sat back at his workstation.

There were no new work documents on his desk.

He was an idler in the company. Qiao Nanqi’s assistant had once asked him if he wanted to do anything else, but he refused.

Before transmigrating, he grew up in an orphanage and relied entirely on his own studies to get into a prestigious university and have a stable life. If he really buckled down to learn these things, it wasn’t impossible. But he had read the plot and knew what kind of goods those people in the Chen family were; each one was afraid of him achieving something. Even if he could do these things, he couldn’t do them well.

Qiao Nanqi was right.

He had no elegant substance, nor was he an interesting soul. Before transmigrating, he only knew how to study rigidly and work hard. After transmigrating, in order to numb his blood relatives, he instead learned how to be a rich playboy.

Indeed, accomplished nothing.

He yawned, bored.

Zhao Rong was really sleepy. Thinking and thinking, he involuntarily lay on the table and fell asleep in a daze.

In his half-asleep state, he thought of the day he signed the marriage agreement with Qiao Nanqi.

From the first time he met Qiao Nanqi to the moment he finally obtained a marriage agreement, it took about ten years in total.

At that time, he still thought that since he could take a step forward, he could take more steps.

More than a year ago.

Qiao Nanqi was wearing a crisp, slim-fitting white shirt, sitting with a straight back on the sofa opposite Zhao Rong. The top two buttons of his collar were loosely undone, mixing nobility with a bit of laziness.

This person was born with a sharply defined face, a high nose bridge, deep eyes, and eyebrows that had a good-looking and sharp arc without needing trimming. His eyes were brownish, and slightly below the corner of his left eye, there was a very light, very small mole, neutralizing the heaviness of his features, making him just the right amount of good-looking to make people unable to look away.

Qiao Nanqi’s expression was so serious that it didn’t look like he was signing this kind of thing at all—not happy, nor unhappy, just like handling official business.

But at that time, Zhao Rong lowered his head and wrote his name stroke by stroke very seriously.

Looking up, he happened to see Qiao Nanqi’s lower lash line and met his gaze directly.

He had chased Qiao Nanqi for so long, and at this moment, he felt he had finally gained a chance. He felt the air was sweet.

He couldn’t help but smile.

Those peach blossom eyes smiled like a crescent moon. His eyes were a light black, carrying a smile, exceptionally bright.

Qiao Nanqi seemed stunned for a moment.

“What are you smiling at?”

Zhao Rong felt a little embarrassed and changed the subject: “Nothing, just think… you look pretty good in a white shirt. Let’s make a deal, wear it more often? I’ll package all the different styles of white shirts in the world for you…”

The memory came to an abrupt end.

“—Xiao Zhao? Xiao Zhao?”

Zhao Rong was woken up.

Sitting next to his workstation was a woman who had worked here for several years, named Song Xinxin.

After waking Zhao Rong up, she said: “I didn’t notice just now, how did you fall asleep? This morning, President Qiao came down for some reason, saw your desk was empty, and asked the team leader why you weren’t there. He just came to find the team leader again and saw you sleeping… I didn’t even have time to wake you up…”

Zhao Rong was still rubbing his eyes, listening to Song Xinxin tell him somewhat awkwardly: “Then he said, let you go to his office once you wake up. I saw you didn’t wake up for a long time, any longer and President Qiao might have left…”

Song Xinxin looked very nervous.

She still remembered that a few months ago, Zhao Rong went out to make a phone call and happened to be seen by the passing President Qiao. As a result, President Qiao called him away directly, saying it was to take meeting minutes. Song Xinxin didn’t attend the meeting that day, but she heard that Zhao Rong, who was temporarily called away, didn’t even have a chair and stood next to President Qiao for a whole day of meetings.

Today, caught skipping work and dozing off consecutively, doesn’t this mean he can pack up and leave tomorrow?

Thinking of the low pressure when Qiao Nanqi passed by just now, Song Xinxin was a little worried—if Zhao Rong really got fired, where would she find another handsome guy who is pleasing to the eye and sits nearby?

Zhao Rong, however, wasn’t very afraid.

He just felt a bit unlucky. Every time there was a slight accident, he would always be caught by Qiao Nanqi.

This further proved Qiao Nanqi’s view of him—gold and jade on the outside, rotten cotton on the inside.

“It’s okay,” Zhao Rong smiled at Song Xinxin, indeed not feeling much pressure, “I’m going now.”

The entire company was a whole commercial district directly bought by Qiao Nanqi back then, including the tallest office building and five or six buildings for experiments, factories, warehouses, etc. The two farthest points even required crossing two streets.

Zhao Rong’s office was in the same place as Qiao Nanqi’s, but his workstation was on the second floor, while Qiao Nanqi’s office was on the top floor.

He was born with no sense of direction. Every time he went, he had an assistant to guide him. He really hadn’t been to Qiao Nanqi’s office by himself.

There were too many elevators in the company, and the up and down were separate. Zhao Rong almost lost himself. Fortunately, he met Qiao Nanqi’s assistant and learned that Qiao Nanqi was not in the office at the moment, but in the experiment area related to materials.

The assistant took Zhao Rong to the experiment area.

Such experiment areas were a few floors below Qiao Nanqi’s office. Without those separate cement walls and the European-style decoration commonly used in offices, almost every room’s walls were glass walls, visible from inside and out, bright and clear.

Zhao Rong followed the assistant and finally stopped in front of the largest laboratory.

The entrance was closed tightly. Through the transparent glass, one could see the sharp-edged cold instruments inside at a glance, as well as people coming and going in white coats or white isolation suits.

Despite this, Zhao Rong still saw Qiao Nanqi at a glance.

He was wearing a white coat indistinguishable from the others, but the extremely long hem of the clothes still couldn’t hide the length of this person’s legs. Inside, he was still wearing the white shirt Zhao Rong was familiar with. The shirt had no patterns; not only did it not feel old-fashioned, but it actually had a bit of elegance. If not for his overly conspicuous appearance, he really would have had a bit of a scholarly air.

Even if he was about to have nothing to do with Qiao Nanqi, he had to admit—Qiao Nanqi’s appearance, in every aspect, grew on his preferences.

Good-looking is truly good-looking.

Looking like a dog but dressed like a human.

Zhao Rong watched from the side for a few minutes. Qiao Nanqi remained motionless in front of an instrument screen, staring at the fluctuations of the numbers on it.

His gaze didn’t deviate in the slightest, completely missing Zhao Rong’s arrival.

The one who asked Zhao Rong to go to the office was Qiao Nanqi, and now the one who had completely thrown this matter to the nine heavens and was staring at data in the laboratory was also Qiao Nanqi. Zhao Rong had come, but couldn’t enter, awkwardly standing at the door like this.

From time to time, people entering and exiting glanced at him, more or less with confusion and inquiry.

After a while, Qiao Nanqi walked out with a person with gray hair, also wearing a white coat.

The moment he went out, his gaze swept over Zhao Rong, but it was just a glance, and his line of sight didn’t stay.

“…Actually, these technical matters can be left to us. We didn’t expect you to come in person, the experiment preparation wasn’t very sufficient. Sorry for making you wait inside for us to operate for so long.”

“Understanding these is also my responsibility.”

“This time the result is the best one…”

“…”

The two had already walked past Zhao Rong.

Zhao Rong didn’t move, just turned his head, watching Qiao Nanqi’s back walk into the elevator.

After a few minutes, Qiao Nanqi’s assistant said slightly embarrassedly from the side: “Maybe Sir didn’t see. Mr. Zhao, look…?”

“Does he have any other arrangements next?”

“Sir? No no, coming to the experiment area today was also a spur-of-the-moment decision.”

“Can I trouble you to take me to the office? I don’t remember the way very well.”

The other party naturally agreed.

The fact was indeed as the assistant said; Qiao Nanqi had no other arrangements next.

But when Zhao Rong arrived at the office, the door was half-open, and the busy Mr. Qiao was already sitting at the desk, seemingly dealing with some important work.

Zhao Rong knocked on the door three times.

The man sitting inside didn’t even lift his head.

After an unknown amount of time, Qiao Nanqi seemed to have finished dealing with things and looked up in his direction.

Seeing Zhao Rong still standing in place, his gaze seemed to move, and he said: “Why didn’t you come in?”

Zhao Rong thought to himself, Mr. Qiao’s ability to make false countercharges has grown.

He pushed the door open and walked in, walking slowly to Qiao Nanqi’s desk, leaning against the edge of the table, looking at the other party across a desk, not speaking.

“You should have been standing here three hours ago.” Qiao Nanqi looked up at him.

His eyes carried scrutiny, as if looking at a dispensable possession, a small gadget.

Clearly, the one looking up was Qiao Nanqi, but the one being sized up was Zhao Rong.

He avoided Qiao Nanqi’s gaze, looking at the man’s chin with light stubble, and told the truth: “Fell asleep.”

“If you don’t want to come to the company, just play at home.”

Zhao Rong lowered his eyes.

“I showered last night.” He said.

Qiao Nanqi lowered his eyes, slowly removing the cufflinks from his sleeves, smoothing out the shirt cuffs. As if he hadn’t heard Zhao Rong’s rebuttal at all, he continued: “Don’t run out drinking every day.”

“Idle and loafing.” Mr. Qiao gave his verdict.

Zhao Rong pursed his lips. Young Master Qiao’s prejudice against him wasn’t just a day or two thing.

Forget it.

Cannon fodder and male leads have no common language.

“Oh.”

Qiao Nanqi frowned slightly but didn’t say much more to him. This person neatly put the documents in front of him into a drawer on the side and waved to Zhao Rong, signaling him to walk to the other side of the desk.

Zhao Rong didn’t move.

Qiao Nanqi’s gaze darkened. He raised his hand and suddenly grabbed the collar of his hoodie.

This person stood up slightly, pulling Zhao Rong directly in front of him. Warm lips instantly approached Zhao Rong’s earlobe, bringing a light itch and heat.

“The smell on you today is very clean.”

Zhao Rong was startled, and Qiao Nanqi’s hand had already unbuttoned his collar.