Chapter 27

Chi Ning heard a few envious gasps from downstairs. Chi Baichuan and Chen Mingxian's relationship was enough to make those wealthy couples who only kept up appearances envy them.

Leaning against Chi Baichuan, Chen Mingxian began announcing matters concerning inheritance rights.

Chi Ning did not understand much of it. Roughly eighty percent of the shares had been assigned to his older brother, fifteen percent remained marital property, and the remaining five percent would let him collect dividends.

Pretty good. Even one percent would be enough for him to coast through life; he definitely could not spend all of five percent.

Chi Ning lowered his eyes and glanced over. Sure enough, Shen Zongze looked furious.

The man stared wide-eyed, apparently unable to believe that the Chi family had so easily turned their disadvantage into an advantage. Shen Minyi's face had gone somewhat pale, and even the hand behind his back was trembling slightly.

He was panicking. He was afraid, too.

Chi Ning laughed, finding today's freshly squeezed orange juice especially sweet.

The most amusing one was Mrs. Shen.

The woman who had mocked him in the papers as a seductress wore exquisite makeup and a dignified, fitted gown, but no amount of lavish packaging could conceal her disarray.

She looked dazed, her earrings swaying slightly as she stood on unsteady feet.

"Ha." Chi Ning gave a short laugh. "You brought this on yourself."

The harsher Mrs. Shen cursed him, the more the Chi family benefited.

He was so grateful to Mrs. Shen for painting him as a smooth-talking, promiscuous male seductress.

Chi Ning tipped back his head and finished the orange juice. Just as he turned to head downstairs, he caught sight of Shen Minyi walking into a corner and waving in another direction.

Looking closely, he saw someone approaching from not far away.

The man wore a gray-blue sweater. He had peach blossom eyes, several tiny moles on his cheeks, black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, and skin that was neither dark nor fair. On his wrist was a blue-black Franck Muller watch.

He was fairly delicate-looking, though there was nothing particularly memorable about him.

Until he spoke. "Brother Minyi, what is it?"

Chi Ning immediately recalled the last words he had heard before being drugged and collapsing in the laboratory in his previous life. The speaker had possessed a cloying, naturally thin male voice.

He had said, "Brother Minyi, what is it? It's copying over already. Don't rush."

Chi Ning suddenly clenched the slender stem of his wineglass, and his vision went dark for a moment.

It was Sun Boxing.

The person who had stolen his data back then!

This person had known Shen Minyi as early as then? How long had they been planning this?

Before he could react, an extremely familiar scent drifted over from beside him.

Qin Heng walked to Chi Ning's side and whispered, "They have chilled grape egg tarts downstairs. Your favorite. Limited quantity."

Chi Ning snapped out of his daze. His palm sank as an exquisite little porcelain plate holding four egg tarts landed in his hand.

The fragrance of grapes immediately dominated his senses, washing away the PTSD-like panic.

Qin Heng tugged him a step to the side and whispered, "Don't stare so openly. Your eyes are about to bore straight through them."

"Come on. I'll take you to eavesdrop."

Chapter 27

Chi Ning had no idea how he ended up hiding behind a carved pillar on the second floor with Qin Heng, eavesdropping. All he knew was that by the time he came to his senses, a wired earbud had already been stuffed into his ear.

The earbud was connected to a little black box with an antenna. He and Qin Heng each wore one side, eavesdropping on others like college students sharing music.

The equipment was surprisingly advanced.

Where had it come from?

All the fury in Chi Ning's heart turned into confusion.

He adjusted the earbud in his ear and asked quietly, "Where did you get this equipment? Why is it as advanced as something from a spy movie?"

Qin Heng paused. He hesitated for a moment between the truth—"It's casino equipment"—and a lie—"It's a magician's card-house prop"—before ultimately choosing the latter.

"My godfather gave it to me."

It was the truth, but also a highly skillful non-answer.

Chi Ning lowered his head and took a bite of egg tart, forgiving Qin Heng's ambiguity.

After all, he had things he was hiding from Qin Heng too, and he had even used him as a shield. It evened out.

Downstairs.

Sun Boxing had already reached Shen Minyi's side, and the two stood extremely close together.

Listening to the sound of fabric rubbing through the earbud, Chi Ning casually plucked a grape from an egg tart and popped it into his mouth.

Eavesdropping with snacks included—nice! How relaxing.

Shen Minyi's deliberately lowered voice sounded. "Sun Boxing, what has your uncle been doing lately?"

Sun Boxing said softly, "I don't know. The Chi family's laboratory has been tightly guarded lately. My dad won't take me inside anymore. The study where they store data at home has a password lock, and they change the password once a week. I can't get in."

Shen Minyi clicked his tongue.

Sun Boxing hurriedly added, "Brother Minyi... the Chi family has reclaimed the shares. What are you planning to do? Didn't Uncle say that whoever could bring down the Chi family would—"

"Shut up." Shen Minyi cut him off sharply, but quickly softened his tone. "Do you have any way to find out Chongning Biotech's recent research projects? I don't need detailed data, just a general direction for their research."

Chi Ning frowned. Those words sounded a little like playing hard to get.

Had he been reading too much Thick Black Theory and Game Theory lately? Was that why everyone seemed secretly shady to him?

In the earbud, Sun Boxing gave a quiet hum. Then the sounds of clothing rubbing together seemed to become more frequent.

Chi Ning heard another muffled "Brother Minyi."

Before he could carefully figure out what those two had done again, his ear suddenly stung. He covered it with a hand and turned to Qin Heng. "Why did you yank the earbud?"

Qin Heng stiffened his neck. "It ran out of battery."

This Shen bastard was unbelievable. How had they started making out in the middle of talking?

Qin Heng thought this as he glanced at Chi Ning's lips.

Chi Ning's lips were a very pale cinnamon color, only becoming brighter when he ate spicy food. Right now, there was a bit of tart crust at the corner of his mouth, making them look... rather sweet.

Qin Heng's Adam's apple bobbed.

Facing Qin Heng's fixed stare, Chi Ning reluctantly handed him the last egg tart on the porcelain plate. "Here, eat it."

Look how badly he wanted it. His eyes had gone completely straight.

Qin Heng silently accepted it. Even as he ate, his mind did not stop. The little wolf cub in his head wailed, [\8 Look at how pathetic you are. If you have the guts to snatch an egg tart, then why not just snatch one from Chi Ning's mouth?]

The little lamb raised a hind hoof and kicked the wolf cub far away. [How rude of you.]

Chi Ning was still trying to remember Sun Boxing's father and did not notice that Qin Heng's mind was filled with little animal movies.

The banquet downstairs had already begun. Glasses clinked, voices mingled with teasing and polite greetings, making him feel a little dizzy.

He rubbed his fingers together, finding the icing sugar from the egg tart somewhat sticky. His steps paused, and instead of heading into the main hall, he turned and entered the restroom to the side.

As cool water ran over his hands, Chi Ning finally remembered who Sun Boxing's father was.

His name was Sun Bowen. He had a graduate degree and was one of his father's close friends—the kind who could drink, eat barbecue skewers, and shoot the breeze together whenever they felt like it. Later, he seemed to have left the research lab and traveled the world with his wife.

If that was the case, then things were troublesome.

He could not exactly run to his father without any evidence and say, "Hey, Dad! Your buddy's son is secretly up to no good! He wants to steal our research materials."

That was not happening.

After washing his hands, Chi Ning stared blankly as he held his fingertips beneath the hand dryer.

The machine buzzed to life, snapping him back to his senses.

When Chi Ning focused his eyes, he met Shen Minyi's gaze across the room. The lower half of Shen Minyi's face was covered in water.

Shen Minyi remained utterly unmoved under Chi Ning's gaze. He scooped up another handful of water to rinse his mouth, spat it out, and only then asked, "Did you know all along?"

Chi Ning thought for a moment before asking in return, "Know what?"

Did he mean that he had allowed the photos to be taken? Or that his parents had used the chaos to reclaim the shares? Or that Shen Minyi and his father had worked for nothing and lost more than they gained?

Heh, he really did know all of it.

Yet as Shen Minyi looked into those especially clear eyes beneath the lights, what came to mind was that "Brother Shen" from before they entered the banquet hall.

He thought, what a pity. If Chi Ning and Sun Boxing had switched places, if Chi Ning liked him the way Sun Boxing did, then he would not still be here rinsing his mouth.

Shen Minyi's gaze darkened slightly. He suddenly grew suspicious of Chi Ning.

He pressed, "The day I came to see you, did you know paparazzi were filming outside?"

Perhaps Chi Ning had deliberately allowed the entire thing to happen, just like he had.

Chi Ning understood.

He gave a cold laugh and turned the accusation back on him. "So that's why Young Master Shen gave me the gold medal. You already knew paparazzi were filming outside and were putting on an act? Then the paparazzi who cursed me were acting under your instructions too?"

He paused, his voice trembling slightly. "No wonder no one would take the article down no matter how many calls I made."

Quick! Shen Minyi, say something! Otherwise, he would not be able to stop himself from laughing! Those TVB actors were seriously incredible—no matter how melodramatic the plot became, they never broke character. Such professionalism.

Shen Minyi's heart tightened.

Listen to that trembling ending. How wronged he sounded.

Ever since Shen Minyi had known Chi Ning, Chi Ning had been a good student. The most outrageous thing he had ever done was skip evening self-study to play ball after receiving his recommendation for admission.

That article had been so explicit and disgusting. How awful must Chi Ning have felt after reading it?

"Don't take it to heart. Paparazzi are only trying to boost sales," Shen Minyi said evasively.

He was not stupid either. Chi Ning might not have understood what was happening because he was inexperienced, but Chi Baichuan and Chen Mingxian were both shrewd people. They would know what was going on at a glance.

After they swiftly reclaimed the shares, the reports had been withdrawn. Looking back, the Chi family's response had been very quick. But because it had been too quick, the Shen Family had missed their chance to seize the initiative.

In the end, they had turned from active players into passive ones.

Shen Minyi held back and held back before finally asking, "What is your relationship with Boss Xu's adopted son?"

Seeing the jealousy burning in his expression, Chi Ning felt sick enough to vomit.

He quickly recalled all the ways Qin Heng had treated him well in his previous life, as well as the moment he had rejected Qin Heng's first confession because he was too busy.

He blinked without speaking, but the tips of his ears turned red.