Chapter 43

"Let this bystander say something—you ought to reflect on your attitude."

Chi Junrui stepped forward and supported Shen Manyao, who was trembling and swaying unsteadily. He said stiffly, "This has nothing to do with you."

Li Rongxiu shrugged innocently and said to Shen Manyao, "As your ex, I regret your taste in choosing a partner. But as you said before, we did grow up together and spent so many years by each other's side. I still hope you'll be happy in the future."

With that, Li Rongxiu leisurely walked away with his champagne glass under Chi Junrui's almost murderous gaze.

Xin Mengmeng slipped forward from behind the crowd, took Li Rongxiu's arm, and whispered, "I saw everything just now—from beginning to end, you really were awful."

Li Rongxiu blinked blankly and looked down at Xin Mengmeng. She secretly smiled and said, "No wonder you could never bring yourself to say anything harsh to Shen Manyao... You enjoy the feeling of her throwing herself at you, don't you?"

Li Rongxiu did not know how to answer Xin Mengmeng's question. After thinking it over, he said, "You're overthinking it. Would it really sound good if I publicly argued with a woman who cheated during her engagement and was pregnant with someone else's child?"

"Then why are you always so vague whenever you see Shen Manyao? And why did you deliberately avoid making things clear when you saw Chi Junrui just now?" Xin Mengmeng curled her lips in slight disdain and shot Li Rongxiu a sidelong glance. "I'm sick of men like you. Is it true that as long as a woman is pretty enough and has a good figure, any mistake she makes can be forgiven?"

Watching Xin Mengmeng fume, Li Rongxiu smiled. "Are all women this extreme?"

Xin Mengmeng snorted coldly. "I don't think that's extreme. It's a warning. If you keep being so indecisive, you'll be in danger. Be careful Shen Manyao, that woman who devours people whole, doesn't latch onto you."

Li Rongxiu nearly laughed out loud. He shook his head and smiled noncommittally. "That's why people say a woman's heart is the hardest thing to fathom. Look, I used to be completely devoted to Shen Manyao, and she discarded me like an old shoe. But now that we have nothing to do with each other, she keeps clinging to me every day—"

"So you feel quite accomplished, don't you?" Xin Mengmeng shook her head helplessly and sighed. "That really is one of men's worst instincts."

Li Rongxiu merely smiled without saying anything.

He had to admit that after the engagement between the Li and Shen families was called off, he had thought that he and Shen Manyao would finally go their separate ways and never again be associated with one another. That was why he had exposed Shen Manyao and Chi Junrui's affair before all the media, ruining both their reputations and avenging the ridicule he had endured in his previous life.

Li Rongxiu had always believed that from that day on, the three of them should have had no further entanglements. But ever since Shen Manyao had secretly come looking for him behind Chi Junrui's back, only to have her scheme to use him exposed by Eldest Brother Li, an idea had vaguely taken shape in Li Rongxiu's mind despite his disgust—

Since Shen Manyao was no longer as proud and aloof as she had been in her previous life, having become eager for quick success under the pressure of reality, and had even repeatedly put on acts before him in an attempt to stir up his old feelings, did that not also mean that the true love she and Chi Junrui had flaunted before the media in his previous life was not so solid after all?

So Li Rongxiu wanted to know: when Shen Manyao was hurt by Chi Junrui's pragmatism and self-interest, and when she noticed that her former fiancé was still gentle, indecisive, and easy to manipulate, would she still insist on growing old together with her "true love"? If she could not endure reality's harsh demands and chose another path, just how far would she go?

What Li Rongxiu had never been able to let go of was how, until her death in his previous life, Shen Manyao had never concealed her contempt and disgust for him. But what about this life? He was still the same person, yet after suffering one setback after another in reality, Shen Manyao had begun to regret her choice. Her complaints about Chi Junrui were clearly more frequent than in his previous life. And her attitude toward him was no longer as cold as before, as though she could not avoid him fast enough.

Li Rongxiu was no saint. Of course he could not forgive Shen Manyao for cheating during their engagement. But as his eldest brother Li Rongyu had said, there were many ways to defeat an enemy, and the quickest and most effective was to destroy them from within.

Staring at the transparent bubbles slowly rising in his champagne glass, Li Rongxiu's gaze grew increasingly amused.

The commotion in one corner of the balcony soon spread throughout the entire reception. Eldest Brother Li came over with a frown. Before he had exchanged more than a few words with Li Rongxiu, Shen Yingjie and Sun Minqiu also approached awkwardly. The two seemed to have noticed something suspicious in the interaction between Shen Manyao and Li Rongxiu, so they had come to probe the Li family's attitude.

But clearly, Li Rongyu had no interest in dealing with the Shen family. After casually saying a few words, he found an excuse to drag Li Rongxiu away.

When the reception ended and everyone headed home, Grandpa Li, Grandma Li, Father Li, and Mother Li left in two stretch limousines. Li Rongyu always attended events alone and had no responsibility to escort a female companion home. He instructed Zhao Qijun to take Li Rongxiu's companion, Yang Lin, home, then dragged Li Rongxiu into his Bach without further discussion.

In the car, Li Rongyu, who had held back for a long time, finally asked Li Rongxiu what exactly he was doing. After hearing Li Rongxiu's answer, Eldest Brother Li had only one response. "Do you have water in your brain from having too much free time? If you're really bored, I can arrange for you to intern at the company over the weekend—"

Before he could finish, Li Rongxiu's phone rang. It was a message from Shen Yujun, who had disappeared for a long time, asking Li Rongxiu to meet him on a yacht.

His unreliable friend had finally sent word. Greatly relieved, Li Rongxiu immediately told Li Ten to take him to South Bay Pier. Li Rongyu knew about Li Rongxiu's relationship with Shen Yujun and did not stop him, but he still instructed Li Ten to stay behind Li Rongxiu at all times. He himself got out and joined Grandpa Li's car.

They sped all the way to South Bay Pier. The night was deep, a bright moon hung high in the sky, and waves rolled across the sea, breaking against the shore. The atmosphere was quiet and pleasant.

Li Ten walked ahead of Li Rongxiu and entered the yacht first to inspect it. Unsurprisingly, he found Shen Yujun sitting on the sofa. Shen Yujun waved at Li Ten in greeting, but Li Ten ignored him with a straight face. Shen Yujun rubbed his nose in boredom.

Li Rongxiu laughed and patted Shen Yujun on the shoulder. "Where have you been these past two months? I almost thought you'd gone missing."

"You know I have a lot of business in the country, and it's all rather complicated. Since I decided to let go and leave, I had to clean up the loose ends first so there wouldn't be trouble later." As Shen Yujun spoke, he tossed Li Rongxiu a Palm Treasure the size of his hand.

Li Rongxiu caught it, fiddled with it curiously, and raised his brows at Shen Yujun.

"A gift for you." Shen Yujun reached out and ruffled Li Rongxiu's hair. "You're so foolish and so stupid that I'm worried you'll get taken advantage of when I'm not around. This Palm Treasure is linked to only one website. I've already registered the account and password for you, and they're in a Word document on the desktop. Take a look once you turn it on. From now on, if you want information or need to find someone, just post a task on the website and someone will naturally do it for you—but remember, you can only do this yourself. Your fingerprint has already been entered into this Palm Treasure, so it only accepts your commands. If anyone else enters a command while it's running, it'll go 'bang' and explode. Also, this account can only log in to the website through the Palm Treasure. If you try using another computer, the website will immediately erase the account. Make sure you remember that."

What an embarrassingly juvenile idea and gesture. Li Rongxiu stared at Shen Yujun with his face darkening.

Still, Shen Yujun's explanation had been concise and clear, and it successfully caught Li Rongxiu's attention. He waved the Palm Treasure in his hand and eagerly turned it on to try it out, saying, "You made this so flashy—it's like something out of a Hollywood blockbuster. But I heard from Brother Jiuying that your Pandora's Box has already completely scaled back, hasn't it?"

Shen Yujun smiled faintly and said unconcernedly, "Not to that extent. I just took a few precautions to keep it hidden. After all, I'll be spending less and less time in the country from now on. To keep anyone from wrecking the place after I leave, a certain amount of caution is necessary."

Li Rongxiu nodded. He opened Pandora's Box's website and logged in, only to find tens of thousands of messages instantly popping up in the backend, startling him. He had originally assumed that the account Shen Yujun had given him was merely an ordinary client account, but apparently that was not the case.

Noticing Li Rongxiu's surprise, Shen Yujun was extremely pleased. He grinned and scooted closer, resting an arm on the back of the sofa and leaning forward so that he half-enclosed Li Rongxiu. Then, rather proudly, he pointed at the information on the screen. "The account I gave you is a backend administrator account. Keep it safe, and don't you dare expose me."

The Palm Treasure in Li Rongxiu's hand suddenly felt scorching hot. He frowned, returned it to Shen Yujun, and asked, "Why are you giving me this?"

Li Rongxiu knew himself well. His relationship with Shen Yujun was good, but it was nowhere near the point where they trusted each other enough to entrust all their assets to one another.

Shen Yujun smiled even more happily at that, but he did not take back the Palm Treasure. He merely waved his hand and said, "Of course it's to curry favor with you—or perhaps with your uncle as well!"

Li Rongxiu's expression immediately turned serious. Shen Yujun, however, casually waved it off and laughed. "Just kidding. Don't be so nervous."

Chapter 43

Li Rongxiu gave Shen Yujun an insincere smile, lounged casually against the sofa, and ordered Shen Yujun to fetch two cans of chilled beer from the refrigerator. Seeing several bags of chicken feet, chicken necks, and braised eggs left over from their last gathering, Shen Yujun took those out as well. Smiling at Li Rongxiu, he said, "I didn't expect young masters like you to gnaw on this stuff too."

As far as he knew, the Shen family never ate such things. The older generation placed more value on food culture and were somewhat better, but the younger ones were especially ridiculous. They had to eat Western food and drink red wine at every meal. Even when they occasionally ate Chinese food, it was always expensive delicacies at five-star hotels. Perfectly good people of the Empire, yet they spent all day doing foreign things, as though that made them seem more refined.

Li Rongxiu snorted and swirled the beer in his hand. "Congratulations on escaping that living hell."

Shen Yujun raised his can with a smile. "And congratulations to you on getting what you wanted and successfully earning the title of Top Student. Oh, right—I saw your photos from the reception. You looked very handsome. Your female companion was beautiful too."

Li Rongxiu smugly raised his brows, and the two of them drained their beers in one go.

Fueled by the alcohol, Shen Yujun and Li Rongxiu chatted endlessly about old memories. Later, finding the cabin stuffy, they moved up onto the deck.

With the night sea breeze and the faintly fishy, salty waves around them, the two sat shoulder to shoulder and head to head. It felt as though the bright moon hung directly above them, within arm's reach. Slightly drunk, Shen Yujun shook the beer in his hand and shouted, "Farewell, moon of the Empire. Tomorrow night, when I look up, I'll be looking at a foreign moon."

"Pretty poetic." Li Rongxiu lay half-sprawled on the yacht, swaying his head as he spoke. His alcohol tolerance was not very good, and after two cans of beer, his head was already spinning and he was nearly drunk. Knowing Li Ten was still guarding him somewhere in the shadows, Li Rongxiu was not worried about what would happen after he got drunk. He simply curled up halfway, closed his eyes, and was about to sleep.

Shen Yujun came over and nudged Li Rongxiu twice. Seeing no response, he shook his head with a helpless laugh. Li Ten emerged from the pitch-black darkness and stepped onto the yacht. He picked Li Rongxiu up and turned to leave. Shen Yujun waved at Li Ten and said, "Leave him here. School starts its break tomorrow anyway, so he doesn't need to worry about not waking up in the morning."