Chapter 34

Li Rongxiu and the others fell into thoughtful silence after hearing Li Jiuying's words.

After a while, Li Rongxiu nodded. "Brother Jiuying is right. This does remind us of something—anyway, the production team's upcoming filming plans won't need our help. We might as well use this time to think about what we should do next."

"Do we still have to write a proposal?" Xin Mengmeng asked with a raised brow, clearly loathing that part of the process.

Li Rongxiu pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Like I said, since we're doing this, we should strive to do our best. Besides, it's only this once. Go back and put together another proposal. After the launch press conference, we'll discuss it together."

Sitting nearby, Li Jiuying watched Li Rongxiu give orders in such a convincing manner and curled his lips with amusement.

Only want to do this once? It seemed these children had yet to understand the most wonderful thing about success—at any rate, it certainly wasn't wanting to do it only once.

Late at night.

After a night of revelry, Li Rongxiu walked out through the revolving doors of the Evening City Grand Hotel and saw a Bach parked across the street. Li Eleven, dressed in a black suit, stood quietly beside the car like a wooden post planted upright in the night breeze. Li Rongxiu could not help but smile faintly at the sight.

The friends crowding around him let out a series of good-natured laughs and urged Li Rongxiu to get in the car and go home. "Otherwise, your mom and Brother Li won't be able to sleep tonight either."

Li Rongxiu did not take it seriously. With his back to everyone, he waved casually in farewell. Then he bent down and got into the car, leaning back against the soft, comfortable rear sofa seat. He relaxed, closed his eyes, and rested. Naturally, he did not notice the stretched Lincoln passing the black Bach as his car drove out of the Evening City Grand Hotel's forecourt.

Behind the pitch-black bulletproof glass, Shen Yujun, who had just finished dealing with some troublesome matters, frowned at the black Bach's license plate. He had not expected Li Rongxiu to stay out playing with Li Jiuying so late. He also wondered whether it would affect Li Rongxiu's condition in class tomorrow. When Diwan High School selected its Top Students, it valued not only a student's ability and sense of social responsibility, but also their everyday academic performance.

However, Li Rongxiu knew nothing of Shen Yujun's concerns.

They did not speak for the rest of the drive. When he returned home, Mother Li was indeed lying on the sofa in her pajamas with a facial mask on. The television in the living room was on, playing a syrupy romance drama. Amid the weepy background audio, Zhuang Meiru breathed softly, seeming to have fallen asleep.

The family maid approached on tiptoe and took Li Rongxiu's coat. Li Rongxiu asked quietly, "Where are Grandma and Big Brother?"

The maid answered in the same low voice, "Madam has already gone upstairs to rest. Young Master is still in the study handling company documents."

Li Rongxiu nodded and asked again, "My dad and grandfather still aren't back from their business trip?"

The maid nodded as well.

Li Rongxiu waved his hand. The maid draped his coat over her arm and quietly withdrew. Zhuang Meiru had already woken up while the two of them were whispering. Pulling off the facial mask, she massaged her skin with her fingers and complained, "Your father and grandfather are away on business, so with no one keeping an eye on you, you've gone completely wild. You're coming home later and later every night. Who knows whether you're even eating properly outside."

Li Rongxiu chuckled as he walked over and sat beside the sofa. Reaching out to massage Zhuang Meiru's shoulders, he said cautiously, "Today, I stayed at the Evening City Grand Hotel with Alan and the others to discuss business... It counts as socializing, right? You know how men have to play along on social occasions—"

"Pah. How old are you? You dare call yourself a man? Do you even know what playing along on social occasions means?" Zhuang Meiru snorted softly, shooting Li Rongxiu a sidelong glance. Her slender finger poked his smooth, full forehead as she lectured, "If you wanted to have fun, then just say you wanted to have fun. Why make so many excuses? Your brother handles company business every day, but I've never seen him socializing until the middle of the night. You're only in your first year of high school, yet you already dare say you have social engagements and keep talking about playing along on social occasions. If you really envy adult life, then when you're on break, go intern at the company with your brother. All right?"

Seeing Zhuang Meiru's half-smiling expression, Li Rongxiu shuddered involuntarily. Images from his previous life surfaced in his mind: after he returned from studying abroad, Zhuang Meiru had ignored his objections and forcibly stuffed him under Li Rongyu as an assistant, leaving him to be "trained" by his workaholic older brother.

That had been a dark, blood-and-tears history of oppression, a memory Li Rongxiu had buried deep in his heart and never wanted to recall.

Seeing him shake his head harder than a rattle drum, Zhuang Meiru snorted and poked his forehead again, clearly exasperated. Pointing upstairs, she said, "Go find your brother in the study. He has something to tell you!"

At that, Li Rongxiu immediately slipped away upstairs. Watching his elegant yet remarkably swift retreating figure vanish, Zhuang Meiru could not help but smile.

Chapter 34

Li Rongxiu reached the study door and knocked symbolically. Then, without waiting for an answer from inside, he pushed the door open and entered. His older brother, Li Rongyu, sat behind a broad desk. The desk lamp cast dim light, while the laptop screen glowed with a ghostly blue hue, leaving Li Rongyu's face half-lit and half-shadowed.

Li Rongxiu frowned, turned, and pressed the switch for the chandelier on the wall. The entire study immediately brightened. Li Rongyu looked up, nodded at Li Rongxiu by the door, and said, "Sit down and wait for me a moment. I'll be done shortly."

Hearing that, Li Rongxiu obediently walked toward the desk and was just about to sit when Li Rongyu said, "Go sit by the floor-to-ceiling window."

Li Rongxiu knew Li Rongyu did not want to create the psychological implication of two opposing sides. The atmosphere of chatting in wicker chairs around a small table by the floor-to-ceiling window was obviously more relaxed than sitting face-to-face across a desk. In other words, what Li Rongyu was about to say might not be relaxed at all.

Li Rongxiu quietly drew a breath, walked over to the wicker chair by the window, and sat down. Turning sideways, he asked, "Mom said you had something to tell me. What is it?"

"It's not really anything major." Li Rongyu tapped a few keys on his laptop, sent several emails, and returned a few questionable reports to the department managers for revision. After dealing with that, Li Rongyu stood up. As he walked to the wine cabinet and selected and poured a drink, he pondered for a moment before finally deciding to get straight to the point. "Are you close with that boy from the Shen family?"

The moment those words left his mouth, Li Rongxiu vaguely understood what Li Rongyu wanted to talk about. It had been the same in his previous life. Restricted by his personality and abilities, the Li family had always thought he was a child who could not tell good people from bad. Put kindly, it meant he was innocent and weak. Put harshly, it meant he was somewhat muddleheaded.

Thus, even when Li Rongxiu was already twenty-seven or twenty-eight in his later years, his family would still discreetly inquire about the new friends he made. Li Rongxiu was very familiar with this seemingly subtle, careful probing. Of course, because he valued his family so deeply, he had never thought there was anything wrong with it—

He knew exactly what he was capable of. He had a powerful family background, shrewd father and brother, yet lacked matching ability or cunning himself. Growing up in such an environment, there would naturally be people who saw his status and family background and wanted to take shortcuts through him, gain benefits from him, or probe into the Li family's business secrets. There were even some who wanted to use him as a weakness to scheme against the entire Li family.

Li Rongxiu knew he was not exceptionally clever. In terms of schemes and tactics, he could not outplay those elites who had navigated the business world for years and found flattering people as easy as eating. So although he felt slightly uncomfortable about his family's questioning, he still honestly told them everything. Fortunately, while the Li family elders did not trust Li Rongxiu's judgment, they had never embarrassed him or his friends to his face. At most, they warned him privately not to speak carelessly or trust others too easily. Whenever Li Rongxiu wanted to help a friend, they would also weigh the matter before offering assistance.

As for those melodramatic scenes from trashy novels, where people waved checks around or arrogantly forced those near Li Rongxiu to stay away from him, they had never happened.

Still... what would it look like if his older brother wore that icy, stiff expression while striking the wild poses of a domineering CEO?

Thinking of that, Li Rongxiu could not help but smile.

The strange smile made Li Rongyu, who was walking over with a wineglass, frown in confusion.

A crisp knock sounded at that moment. Li Rongyu raised his voice slightly in reply, and a maid carrying a tray entered respectfully. She placed the milk from the tray onto the small table, nodded to the two brothers, and said, "Madam said it's already very late. The two young masters should rest early."

Li Rongyu nodded and waved for the maid to leave. Then he poured the milk on the table into an empty wineglass he had brought over, handed the wineglass filled one-third full of milk to Li Rongxiu, and raised a brow. "What were you laughing at just now?"

Li Rongxiu: "..."

He shook his head helplessly and said to his brother, "I'm not three years old anymore. Don't think I won't know there's milk inside just because you put it in a wineglass! Why didn't you give me a glass of red wine too? Aren't we here to talk about something?!"

Still, before the age of three, Li Rongyu's trick had worked... more than a hundred times ==!

Li Rongyu smiled at his proud, dissatisfied younger brother. Reaching out to stroke Li Rongxiu's soft, silky hair, he coaxed him absentmindedly, "Be good. Drink milk, and you'll sleep better tonight. If you drink red wine, your body won't be used to it. What if you have nightmares tonight?"

"..." Li Rongxiu was completely speechless at Li Rongyu, who could even deliver threats so perfunctorily. Since he could not win against him with logic or nonsense, Li Rongxiu simply shut his mouth.

Seeing that, Li Rongyu happily changed the subject and asked again, "You still haven't told me. What were you laughing at?"

Li Rongxiu shook his head. He certainly did not dare tell his brother that he had just imagined him as a domineering CEO. Watching Li Rongyu place his crystal wineglass full of red wine on the small table, then turn and return to the desk to search for something, Li Rongxiu silently sorted through his thoughts before answering Li Rongyu's first question. "Shen Yujun and I have only met a few times. But I think he's a decent person. At the very least, he's been quite sincere with me."

Li Rongyu returned with a stack of documents. Upon hearing Li Rongxiu's answer, he first nodded, affirming Li Rongxiu's judgment. Then he handed over the documents and said slowly, "It seems Shen Yujun knows the Shen family very well. He enjoys observing people, and he knows when to act and whose knife to borrow for the greatest effect. He is patient and decisive when he strikes. To a certain extent, I admire that kind of personality. If you had even one-tenth of his intelligence, Mom, Dad, and I wouldn't have to worry about you every day."

Li Rongxiu lowered his head and flipped through the documents Li Rongyu had given him. Most were records of Shen Zongming bullying others on and off campus, cheating on exams, and even going to bars to pick up women. None of the incidents recorded were particularly serious, but if brought out at the right time, they could deliver a fatal blow.