Chapter 33

He held up eight fingers again. "Eight of them. Have the kitchen kill and grill them. They're fresh."

President Lu's wife rolled her eyes, clearly speechless.

The scent of charcoal mingled with laughter, and the atmosphere was lively and warm.

"Old Sun, I heard your son did pretty well on this mock exam." Chi Baichuan pulled a bottle from the beer crate by his feet and handed it over. "So? Has he picked a university yet?"

Old Sun took the beer and waved his other hand casually. "Pretty well? He's still far behind where we were back then. His mom says he's been really distracted these past few days. I'm starting to wonder if he's dating someone."

Chi Baichuan said, "Oh? What makes you say that? He can't be dating at such a stressful time in senior year."

Old Sun sighed. "Exactly."

Chi Ning sat beside his brother, listening closely as their father sounded Old Sun out.

He turned the chicken wings in his hand, brushing oil over them with a small brush.

Old Sun looked at Chi Ning and Chi Yang, clicking his tongue enviously. "Your two have been handsome since they were little. So? Do girls at school give you love letters?"

Chi Yang curled his lip. "Uncle Sun, you don't know the half of it. My dad specifically hired actors to teach me that love in the workplace can't be trusted."

With his deliberately carefree facade gone, Chi Yang was especially at ease in this kind of setting.

Chi Yang reached out and slung an arm around Chi Ning's shoulders.

Then he added, "As for my little brother..." He choked on the words.

His brother liked two people at once, and even spent money trying to make them happy.

One of them was sitting right beside them!

Chi Yang gritted his teeth. "Haha, my brother got recommended admission, so he's pretty free now. I don't know what his love life is like."

Old Sun looked at Chi Ning. "Hey, my kid is about the same age as your brother. Chi Ning, tell your uncle—what kind of people do kids your age like?"

The moment he said that, everything around Chi Ning fell silent.

Chi Yang's ears perked up, and Chi Baichuan also turned his gaze toward him without making it obvious.

Qin Heng stared blankly at the grilled sausages on the charcoal stove in front of him.

Chi Ning stared at the chicken wings without lifting his head. "Probably someone who isn't too much trouble."

Old Sun smiled. "That's as good as saying nothing." He clinked his beer against Chi Baichuan's. "Your younger son hasn't figured it out yet."

Chi Baichuan thought, Bullshit.

It wasn't that Chi Ning hadn't figured it out. He had just figured it out and didn't know what love was yet. He was still muddled.

A crush was always so hazy, so uncertain.

Chi Baichuan glanced at Qin Heng out of the corner of his eye and saw him expertly sprinkling chili powder over several scored sausages, then drizzling them with a little oil before handing them out to the uncles beside him.

Xu Jiahao looked immensely pleased with himself, fanning a small palm-leaf fan. "See? I think I've got a good eye for picking sons too. What? Have one myself? Come on, someone like me shouldn't go ruining some poor girl's life. Getting this one is good enough. Raise him well, and it's no different from having your own."

Most men in Yangcheng were conservative. Plenty of families even kept concubines just to have more children, so Xu Jiahao seemed rather out of place here.

But his status was what it was. Even if anyone present wanted to criticize him, they only dared to do so in their hearts.

Qin Heng handed the last sausage to Chi Ning, then forcefully rescued the chicken wings that Chi Ning had been flipping over and over without cooking through. "I'll do it. Just sit and eat."

Chi Ning took a bite of the sausage. It was crisp and fragrant, so delicious his tongue practically wanted to fall off.

Strange. It was obviously the same seasoning, so why did this sausage taste so good?

The uncles gathered around chatting noticed it too.

"This sausage is good."

"Little Qin grilled it."

"Why can't I make it taste like this?"

"You? You're doing well enough if you can eat it."

"Should we let Little Qin grill the fish too?" President Lu asked with a grin.

Chi Ning took his last bite of sausage, looked up at him, and said, "No, Uncle Lu. Wouldn't that leave him too busy to eat? We're all guests here. How can guests entertain other guests? Why don't I grill it for you?"

Qin Heng's hand paused as he turned the meat.

Oil from the chicken wings dripped into the charcoal with a sizzle, sending up a tongue of flame that seemed to scorch his heart.

President Lu hurriedly said, "Ah, no, no, I'll do it myself... I'll do it myself!"

What a joke. Chi Baichuan's two sons were the apples of his eye. If he made the precious boys of the house work for him, Brother Chuan would kick him straight out of the courtyard.

Come to think of it, he had been muddled. Even if Qin Heng was only an adopted son, he still shouldn't have ordered him around like that.

"President Lu." Mrs. Lu said sarcastically, "Are you too used to throwing your weight around at home?"

Mr. Lu feared nothing more than his wife calling him President Lu. Whenever those two words came out, he either had to kneel on a washboard or sleep on the floor.

He raised his glass at once. "Well then, I'll punish myself with three drinks."

He downed three small cups of beer in quick succession, and the atmosphere became lively again.

Qin Heng lowered his eyes to look at Chi Ning, who was eating while hissing through his teeth. It seemed he had put too much chili powder on the sausage earlier, because Chi Ning's eyes had turned moist from the heat.

Even as he hissed, he kept staring fixedly at the chicken wings over the charcoal, his eyes full of one thought: Why aren't they ready yet?

Cute. Chi Ning was cute when he hissed, and cute when he was greedy for food.

And when he defended him... he was cutest of all.

After several rounds of drinks, Chi Baichuan gradually got to the point.

"Everyone knows our current project has been progressing rather slowly. You've all worked hard." Chi Baichuan's face was a little flushed.

He stood with his drink in hand, and no one else dared remain seated.

"President Chi, what are you saying? It's all as it should be."

"There's nothing we can do if the research is progressing slowly."

"Old Sun, say something."

"The new drug has made a breakthrough, but the clinical trials will still take some time." Old Sun was pleasantly tipsy and could not help feeling a little buoyant. "Brother Chuan and I wanted to do this project back in college. After all these years, we've finally made some progress."

Chi Baichuan said, "A toast to everyone. Thank you for trusting Chongning all these years."

Everyone chimed in at once, so moved that they began reminiscing about the past.

They reminisced all the way from the university bathhouse to drifting overseas after studying abroad. A group of grown men had red eyes and red faces.

Chi Ning was stunned. He did not understand how his father had so swiftly steered the mood in this direction.

As they talked, they brought up Shen Zongze.

"That bastard is really no good. He won't do a single thing that's legal, compliant, and ethical!" President Lu cursed.

"Exactly." Chi Baichuan gave President Lu an approving look. "I've been feeling uneasy lately. I'm afraid Shen Zongze will lash out in desperation. After all, we made such a big move this time. We turned things around and won a major victory in one stroke."

Chi Ning's eyes shifted from his father to Old Sun.

He heard his father say, "How about this? Let's set a trap for him and see."

The most complicated business wars often used the simplest methods.

Chi Ning watched helplessly as his father issued a series of instructions.

Including, "Bribe the security guard downstairs at Shen Group and have him pull Jiuzhi Group's internet cable at regular intervals."

"Hang mirrors in the office building across from Jiuzhi Group's CEO's office."

"Send someone to swap out the koi outside Shen Zongze's door."

And—

"Old Sun." Chi Baichuan draped an arm around his friend's shoulders. "Put this project on hold for now. Save the project data and leave it with me. Replace it with that previous discarded proposal. I just don't feel at ease. I keep thinking they'll definitely target you."

With a little thought, Chi Ning understood what his father meant.

They had already warned him. If the data was still stolen, then Old Sun definitely had a problem. If the stolen data was the replaced version, then Old Sun was innocent, and the Shen Family would suffer a setback because of the fake data.

After all, Sun Boxing's father had been Chi Baichuan's friend for decades.

Chi Yang sighed. "He's always teaching me, but Dad can't bear to do it either. He wants to test him and give him one more chance, whether it's real or not."

Chi Ning gave a quiet hum. "I hope Uncle Sun doesn't let him down."

Otherwise, it would be rather sad.

After Chi Baichuan finished putting an arm around Old Sun, he turned and did the same to Xu Jiahao. "Old Xu... your son..."

He paused, then said in a pointed tone, "He cooks quite well."

"And we should thank him for taking care of our Ning at that birthday banquet." Chi Baichuan put on a slightly affected smile. "Has your son been recommended for admission? If he has, then he must be free around this time. Our two families can make plans together and get to know each other better."

Xu Jiahao looked at Qin Heng.

All the pride he had felt earlier was gone now.

He thought, How presumptuous of you.

Qin Heng handed the thoroughly cooked foil-wrapped glass noodles to Chi Ning, then rose and said solemnly, "I'm still preparing for the college entrance exam. Chi Ning helps me review. He takes better care of me."

Chi Baichuan's expression changed slightly.

How airtight. How could his son possibly compete with someone like that?

Lowering his head, Father Chi found Chi Ning staring blankly with a mouthful of glass noodles.

"..."

This was bad. He had come to break them up!

Who could have expected Qin Heng to be such a good cook?

Look at that. He had fed his son into a daze!

Father Chi ground his back teeth, smiling pleasantly as he still held onto a sliver of hope. "What's wrong, Ning? Does it not taste good?"

"It's delicious," Chi Ning said.

Father Chi's heart sank.

Chi Ning swallowed the mouthful, lowered his eyes, and praised the fragrant foil bowl in his hands. "The saltiness is just right. The glass noodles didn't lose their moisture from the charcoal grilling. The scallions and minced garlic taste perfect, and the slices of fatty beef underneath are fragrant too."

When Qin Heng handed it over, he had even deliberately placed a small heat-insulating wooden stand underneath it.

He had nearly forgotten how good Qin Heng had been in his previous life.

For a period after returning to when he was sixteen, whenever he recalled Qin Heng from his previous life, his mind was filled with all kinds of lies.

Back then, he had even felt that the food was fake. There had even been a moment when he suspected that Qin Heng had approached him only because he wanted what was in his hands.