Chapter 30#

Fang Zhuoqun, who was helping Zhao Rong process the transfer of assets, suddenly turned his head: “You said your old man is a psycho?”

“…” Zhao Rong raised his foot and gave him a light kick, “Go away, I wasn’t talking about you.”

“Hold on a second,” Zhao Rong said to the person on the other end of the line.

He didn’t want to affect others’ work, so he stepped out into an empty corridor.

“Everyone must sign?”

“Yes, it was just decided this morning. Everyone has to go to the President’s office. Several people have already arrived in the blink of an eye. I know you weren’t planning to come today, but the President’s decision was made hastily, and I also…”

“It’s fine, I understand.”

Zhao Rong was well aware of Qiao Nanqi’s autocratic personality. Xiao Wu was just an assistant running errands and delivering messages, naturally having no choice.

But Fang Zhuoqun had specifically taken a day off from work today to accompany him in handling the property transfer, and it was impossible for Zhao Rong to suddenly break his promise and run off. Besides, he was nothing in Qiao Nanqi’s company except for that small amount of shares; there was really no need for him to stop his more urgent tasks for that.

He didn’t care what kind of madness Qiao Nanqi was going through.

As long as Young Master Qiao didn’t suddenly want to involve him in the Chen family’s mess or insist on “settling old scores” with him, whatever Qiao Nanqi did was ultimately none of his business.

He had initially returned to the company because he wanted to find an opportunity to get close to Lu Xingping through Lu Xiaoyue. Now that he had long since used that opportunity, it didn’t really matter whether he went or not.

During this period, Zhao Rong and Lu Xingping had become much more familiar than before.

As for Lu Xiaoyue… at worst, he would specifically time it to “happen to be going the same way” and pick up Lu Xiaoyue after work in the future. Wasn’t it just being a driver? He had done it plenty of times for that dog Qiao Nanqi before.

So he said, “Sorry, I’m still not coming back.”

“But…”

“Doesn’t he want all the shareholders to look it over? My shareholding isn’t exactly small, and it’s not good to affect your work. In a couple of days, I’ll find time to transfer all the shares I hold back to your President. Don’t count me as a shareholder. That way it’ll be easier for you, and he should be happy too.”

“As for the money… you transferred a sum of money to me before, you should remember, right?”

That was “pocket money” Qiao Nanqi had Xiao Wu transfer to him before Zhao Rong moved out of Qiao Nanqi’s house.

“Consider that money as payment for the settlement. I’ll complete the transfer formalities when I’m free.”

On the other end of the phone, Xiao Wu was stunned.

He had initially thought Zhao Rong would rush to the company.

He had felt how easy-going Zhao Rong was before, and after more contact lately, he felt it even more deeply.

He never expected that when Zhao Rong refused someone, he would do it in such a way that left them speechless—actually directly blocking all his reasons for persuasion.

After a long while, he couldn’t think of anything to say, so he could only say, “Alright, I’ll relay that to the President.”

Zhao Rong seemed very busy and didn’t bother with pleasantries, hanging up after a moment.

Xiao Wu walked toward Qiao Nanqi’s office with a dejected face.

The door was open.

Qiao Nanqi seemed to be working, but he wasn’t as focused as usual. As soon as he heard footsteps, he glanced at the door.

Seeing it was Xiao Wu, his eyes flickered, and he withdrew his gaze. He slowly twirled the pen in his hand, head lowered, and it was unclear what he was looking at—at any rate, it wasn’t the document in front of him.

After Xiao Wu finished his meticulous report, his fingers stopped, and the twirling pen immediately got stuck between his fingers. The pen point pressed firmly onto the white paper, leaving a blot of ink.

“Give them back to me?” Qiao Nanqi said word by word, “Did he ask for my opinion? He—”

His words faltered.

When Zhao Rong moved out, he hadn’t said a single word to him. He hadn’t asked for his opinion.

When Zhao Rong was obedient, it was as if he had no opinion on anything he did, and there was never a “no.” But once he shed that “obedient” label, even when Zhao Rong said “no,” he only said it silently in his heart, as if it were unchangeable.

He seemed to be recognizing a different Zhao Rong once again.

In the twelve years they had known each other, he had recognized Zhao Rong three times.

Qiao Nanqi was speechless.

The room was silent for a moment. He just lowered his head slightly, his expression growing deeper.

Xiao Wu didn’t dare to speak and stood at the door tremulously.

After a long time.

The pen point was almost about to poke through the paper and leave a mark on the desk when Qiao Nanqi finally said slowly, “The others don’t need to come anymore.”

Xiao Wu nodded, his mind full of questions.

Just as he was about to turn around, Qiao Nanqi called out to him again and asked in a low voice, “Zhao Rong…”

“Sir, what did you say?” Xiao Wu stood at the door, too far away, and didn’t hear clearly for a moment.

Qiao Nanqi paused again, as if the words he was about to say were exceptionally foreign and difficult for him.

But he still asked, word for word, “When you called, what was he doing?”

Because of Qiao Nanqi’s sudden decision this morning, Xiao Wu had made countless calls. He thought for a moment, recalling Qiao Nanqi’s extremely short and low-pitched pronunciation just now, and realized that “he” referred to Zhao Rong.

He said, “It seemed he was with a friend? I didn’t pay attention. If you need to know, Sir, should I call and ask again?”

What answered him was Qiao Nanqi’s sudden inquiry about other work.

It was as if Young Master Qiao’s sudden “madness” this morning hadn’t happened; except for Xiao Wu, who had been busy for half a day for nothing, no one else mentioned it.

Qiao Nanqi hadn’t come to the company for a few days, so many people’s matters had piled up. As soon as he arrived today, the stream of people coming and going never stopped.

Everything seemed to be functioning normally, except for the fact that Zhao Rong’s office was empty today, and everyone who came to see Qiao Nanqi entered tremulously and left with a sigh of relief.

In the afternoon, Xia Yuantu also arrived.

After coming out, he pulled Xiao Wu, who must be in the know, and said, “What’s wrong with Old Qiao today? Does he know that ‘Zhao Rong’ is written all over his face today?”

Xiao Wu had a hard time speaking; he felt he knew something but didn’t dare be certain, let alone gossip behind someone’s back.

Xia Yuantu just complained and didn’t expect an answer from him. Instead, he patted his shoulder and said, “I know even without you saying anything. Sigh, these two, I felt it would be a mess sooner or later over a year ago.”

After saying that, he left in a grand manner.

Qiao Nanqi was still working.

He had always been someone with extremely strict working hours, and today even more so than usual. He had clearly been awake all night last night, but he actually didn’t rest at all and stayed at the company until late at night.

Bright lights as clear as day spilled down. Qiao Nanqi sat at his desk, which was now empty. His computer had also automatically gone black due to being unused for too long. The fluorescent light made the stubble by his lips even more prominent. He sat there with his eyes lowered, hands folded in his lap, leaning slightly against the back of the chair, motionless.

The work was finished.

Without anything to distract him, he looked down at his hands and thought of Zhao Rong again.

Zhao Rong liked his hands very much.

Sometimes when he was playing the piano in the music room, if Zhao Rong was at home, he would always knock on the door, stand cautiously by it, and ask softly, “Can I come in?”

Whenever Qiao Nanqi turned back to look at Zhao Rong, Zhao Rong would give a gentle smile, his eyes slightly curved, his black eyes seemingly containing the entire Milky Way, very, very bright. This kind of smile was completely different from Zhao Rong’s smiles during various social engagements and fun before they were together. The smile seemed to sprout from the depths of his heart and break through the soil, rather than the common smile wrapped in countless layers of sophistication.

Except for times when his emotions were uncontrollable while recalling Qiao Anqing, Qiao Nanqi had basically never refused Zhao Rong watching him play the piano.

Once Zhao Rong sat down beside him, he would sit and listen quietly, his beautiful eyes fixed on Qiao Nanqi’s hands. Wherever his hands landed on the keys, Zhao Rong’s gaze would follow.

He didn’t come for the undulating music, but simply for him.

Besides that, when they first got together, Zhao Rong also bought a pair of wedding rings.

The design of the wedding ring was very simple, just a simple circle with a square pattern, very low-key. The day he bought them home, Zhao Rong held the ring and measured it against Qiao Nanqi’s finger, murmuring to himself, “With these hands of yours, it will surely look great once worn.”

Qiao Nanqi didn’t like wedding rings.

He had known about the existence of such things since childhood because Qiao Anqing and He Nan always wore a pair. Qiao Anqing used to wear hers everywhere, but in the end, she was also the one who threw the ring away casually.

He had taken the wedding ring Zhao Rong bought at the time and put it away somewhere.

Memories flooded back, and Qiao Nanqi frowned.

His hands moved slightly, the fingers of his right hand rubbing against his empty left ring finger.

—Where did he put it?

“…Sir?” There was a knock at the door.

“Speak.”

Xiao Wu said with some difficulty, “Why don’t you go home and rest? You stayed up all night last night, and it’s already ten o’clock…”

Qiao Nanqi didn’t say anything.

Xiao Wu added, “No one downstairs dares to leave. You see…?”

Qiao Nanqi had arrived in the middle of last night. Aside from those already working overtime, there weren’t many people in the company.

But he had stayed from morning to night today. Others saw it, and since he hadn’t left, many people, although they didn’t know what exactly he was busy with, didn’t dare to leave either.

Xiao Wu naturally wouldn’t say this aloud, and Qiao Nanqi wasn’t so obtuse as to not understand.

He stood up, picked up his coat, and walked out.

His movements were too hasty, almost knocking over a nearby chair.

He walked so fast, as if hurried steps could also allow him to shake off some things.

“It will still take time for the driver to arrive,” Xiao Wu ran over to steady the chair, then turned and quickly caught up with Qiao Nanqi, saying, “I’ll give you a lift. Are you going home?”

Qiao Nanqi, who was already walking fast, suddenly came to a halt.

Going home.

Going home made it too easy to think of Zhao Rong.

How could that be?

Maybe… it’s because the house makes it too easy to trigger memories related to Zhao Rong.

It’s impossible that he truly can’t let go of Zhao Rong.

“Not going home,” he said, “To a hotel.”

Zhao Rong had been busy all day.

The assets he had under Fang Zhuoqun’s name were not a small amount, and clearing them back into his own hands was not a simple matter. Let alone today, he would probably be busy tomorrow as well.

“I’ll drive you back first. It’s late, and it’s hard to get a taxi,” Zhao Rong said to Fang Zhuoqun.

“Give it a rest, cold sweat is breaking out all over your forehead. Think I didn’t see that?”

“I’m really fine. I just ate irregularly today, and I had a bit of a stomach ache just now. I’ve already taken some medicine.”

If Fang Zhuoqun had a hammer in his hand, he would have swung it by now to knock Zhao Rong unconscious and make him rest.

He was originally joking around, but now he suddenly became serious.

“Don’t you drive me. I’m a man in my twenties or thirties; what could happen if I just walk home?” He pulled Zhao Rong and sat him down on a roadside bench. “I’ve held it in all day, but I still want to ask you. Back in middle and high school, your grades were exceptionally good. No one could beat you even while you were taking care of your mom and going to school. After the college entrance exam, my mom would nag me every day about you being the ‘child from another family,’ saying you could get into one of the two best universities in Yang City, and why couldn’t I learn from you.”

“And back in high school, the girls who asked me for help in delivering love letters to you could form a separate class.”

“I thought you’d soar high once you went back and had a family background. But after the Chen family went into trouble these past few days, I’ve heard plenty of rumors, and not many of them were good—what’s going on?”

The smile was still playing on Zhao Rong’s lips just now, but his expression paused, knowing he couldn’t escape this.

He didn’t know if it was because the person before him didn’t belong to any part of the original The Return Journey, or because Fang Zhuoqun was a childhood friend he had known for over a decade. He could have continued to be vague, but he didn’t.

He said, “Actually, it’s not that complicated. It’s just that everyone was afraid I’d amount to something.”

Fang Zhuoqun was stunned.

At this moment, the late autumn night wind swept past the streetlight emitting yellow light, bringing with it gently swaying shadows.

Zhao Rong lowered his head, his chin buried in his scarf, and said again, “The Chen family is rotten to the core. Otherwise, my eldest cousin wouldn’t have had to go to jail after going bankrupt. I’m fine on my own, but given my mom’s situation, what would I do if someone stabbed me in the back?”

In all these years, he hadn’t told anyone.

He never spoke of useless matters.

Fang Zhuoqun, sitting beside him, opened his mouth as if to say something.

He hesitated for a long while and only asked, “…Does Qiao Nanqi not know?”

Zhao Rong just shook his head calmly.

“Him…”

“It’s better if he doesn’t know.”

There was no need to discuss the past anymore.

At least for now, many, many things Qiao Nanqi didn’t know could completely become memories sealed in his mind, making their break more thorough and clean.

Zhao Rong yawned and said, “I’m tired. Finished asking?”

Qiao Nanqi stayed at a hotel for one night.

He had been awake for a day and a night, so he wasn’t as prone to difficulty falling asleep as before, but this sleep was certainly not peaceful.

Everything was in his dreams.

Whether it was Qiao Anqing or He Nan, they were people he often saw in his dreams. Now Zhao Rong was added to them.

He slept for a long time, yet the moment Qiao Nanqi woke up in the unfamiliar hotel room, he felt even more exhausted than before he fell asleep.

There was no one beside him.

The room was large but very quiet.

Sunlight squeezed through the gap in the curtains. Qiao Nanqi took a look at his phone—it was past eight in the morning.

The screen showed a message Xiao Wu had sent him several dozen minutes earlier, asking if he wanted to extend his stay today.

Qiao Nanqi didn’t want to go home, nor did he want to return to that place where he once lived with Qiao Anqing and He Nan. Staying in a hotel forever wasn’t an option either—this kind of place, after all, wasn’t home.

He went through all his properties in Yang City in his mind and finally thought of a place that wasn’t exactly the best.

He called Xiao Wu.

“Don’t extend. Find some housekeepers to go and tidy up my old place.”

“Yes, the one on Changxi Road.”

[1] Grand manner (洋洋洒洒): This idiom usually describes writing or speech that is rich, fluent, and continuous. Here, it is used more flexibly to describe his departure. (Note: The author mentions that some idioms or grammar might be used flexibly for atmosphere and shouldn’t mislead students.)