Chapter 7

By the way...

He should go take a look at Brother Xu's pool hall.

See what else Qin Heng had lied to him about in his previous life besides "going to school."

Chapter 7

It happened to be dinner time for the household staff, so Chi Ning did not disturb the driver. He called a taxi himself and found the storefront at No. 26 Yongning Road.

The pool hall had quite a large frontage, with a conspicuous price list at the entrance. Twenty yuan an hour was already considered expensive.

Chi Ning lifted the drooping PVC soundproof curtain hanging inside the glass entrance and pushed the door open. Cool air rushed over him, dispelling the summer heat.

The pool hall was quiet. Conversations were kept low, and even the occasional laughter was subdued. The collision of billiard balls was exceptionally distinct.

The owner, sitting behind the counter polishing walnuts, said, "Handsome boy, first time here? Why are you standing around?"

Chi Ning turned to look at him.

The owner froze.

Business was all about keeping things pleasant. Calling someone "handsome boy" was just polite small talk, but he had not expected to encounter a real one today.

The teenager before him clearly had been pampered since childhood. Though a little thin, the air about him could not be faked.

His innocence and the steadiness unique to adults had somehow found a delicate balance within him.

More importantly, the eyes beneath those long lashes were pure and bright. Standing near the relatively well-lit entrance, he looked like a little spirit that had run out of the mountains.

He stopped polishing the walnuts. "My surname is Xu. Just call me Brother Xu."

Xu Jiahao, dressed in a floral shirt with a gold chain around his neck, instinctively lowered his voice. "Looking for someone, or opening a table?"

"Opening a table." Chi Ning absentmindedly took out money. Catching sight of the VIP card application process on the counter, he put down the twenty yuan he had already pulled out, then took out three hundred and handed it over. "I want a card."

"You need an ID card to get one. You're not an adult yet, are you?"

"I have an ID card." Chi Ning pulled his resident ID from the inner compartment of his wallet.

He had been traveling all over for various competitions since middle school. Going abroad or out of the province was commonplace, so he had gotten his ID years ago.

As Xu Jiahao processed the card, he secretly glanced at the ID photo.

He had never seen anyone who could look this good in an ID photo, and it was even a boy. He was so good-looking that he was more eye-catching than the young singers on TV.

Fuck, was he gay?

Was that why he was thirty-five and still had no girlfriend?

With a weathered expression, Xu Jiahao handed Chi Ning a blue-and-black membership card. "The three hundred has been loaded onto it. How many hours do you want? Chinese eight-ball, American pool, or snooker?"

There had only been experiments in Chi Ning's previous life. He had never imagined billiards was merely an umbrella term. "What's the difference?"

Xu Jiahao stared at the clueless Chi Ning in shock. He rummaged through the counter, found a brochure, and tossed it in front of him. "It's all in there. Go sit over there and read it yourself."

Chi Ning picked it up and sat by the bar, reading the more than twenty-page brochure.

When he flipped to the tournament introduction, two unexpected people walked in through the entrance.

It was Zhang Qiuwen and Qin Heng. Both wore brand-new suits and looked fairly presentable.

Chi Ning absentmindedly turned a page, his ears pricking up.

Zhang Qiuwen stood properly before the counter, stripped of his daytime flippancy. Somewhat nervous, he said, "Brother Xu, we're here."

"Mm." Xu Jiahao swept a glance over their clothes. "Now that looks more like it. If you're coming to work, at least dress decently. Otherwise people will think I'm terribly shabby. If the clothes are too small, tell me and I'll reimburse you for a larger set."

Zhang Qiuwen did not know how to respond and looked helplessly toward Qin Heng.

Qin Heng's voice carried just the right hint of a smile as he said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Thank you, Boss Xu."

Boss Xu said, "Come over. I'll teach you how to open tables today."

The two walked around Chi Ning, who was seated before the bar. Without giving him a second glance, they obediently stood beside the owner to learn the operation.

Their positions had changed, and now they were facing each other.

Chi Ning's gaze quietly crept over the top of the brochure and settled on Qin Heng.

The suit was not made of good material, nowhere close to the custom-tailored clothes President Qin often wore in his previous life. On the teenager's still not fully grown frame, it made him look somewhat thin. Even the hostility between his brows had become restrained beneath the outfit.

Chi Ning watched him and thought.

If Qin Heng had only lied about the school he attended, then he could still be forgiven.

After all, Class 18 of No. 1 High School had a truly terrible reputation.

As the worst Blue Sky Class in a key high school, it was mostly filled with publicly funded students from impoverished families, some even with intellectual or physical disabilities.

The government subsidized each school with fifty thousand yuan, assigning children who genuinely could not afford school to different schools to ensure they finished high school. Once they had padded their political achievements a little, they washed their hands of the matter.

It was understandable for President Qin to tell a lie for the sake of an impressive résumé.

As long as he was still a model young man.

The moment that thought surfaced, Xu Jiahao said, "I hired you because you're good at fighting. Do you know why I need people who are good at fighting?"

Qin Heng said nothing, while Zhang Qiuwen shook his head.

"A good environment has to be maintained." Xu Jiahao's expression was unreadable. "Gangnan is a mixed bag. There are often little punks around, and plenty of people involved in shady business. If you're working out here, you need to know how to fight."

He pointed at the rules hanging behind him.

There were fifteen in total, including a ban on smoking.

"Keep these rules in mind. If a customer violates one, go over and politely advise them once. If they won't listen, ask them to leave. I don't care who you used to run with. Now that you're with me, behave yourselves and learn some rules."

Boss Xu paused, then added, "If you see customers who come alone, be sharp about it. Ask if they want someone to play with them. Ten yuan an hour, and you can keep the money yourselves. If the customer says they don't need it, don't cling to them trying to sell it either. You're adults now..."

Chi Ning's head buzzed, and he could not take in another word.

It was not as though he could not understand Xu Jiahao's tactic of offering a carrot before swinging the stick, nor was it as though he could not hear all the implications in his words.

He had even used words like "who you used to run with"...

Chi Ning thought of the gold chain around Boss Xu's neck, and even the words in the brochure seemed to blur into double images.

Qin Heng had not merely been a little punk as a child.

He had gotten involved in the real thing.

Fortunately, Xu Jiahao seemed like a decent enough person. He would not go as far as murder and robbery. At most, he was probably involved in smuggling. Judging by his appearance, all his businesses might have already been cleaned up, and he was nearing retirement.

Chi Ning was so angry he went blank.

Boss Xu had said Qin Heng and Zhang Qiuwen were adults.

Qin Heng was actually an adult?

In his previous life, the man had told him they were only a year apart. Chi Ning was sixteen now, so Qin Heng should have been seventeen.

Nothing but lies!

The only real thing about him was that handsome face.

All that model youth and outstanding student nonsense was fake!

That man had repeatedly claimed the meals he brought Chi Ning were made by himself, but thinking about it now, that might not have been true either.

After all, he and Qin Heng had always met near the laboratory. Who knew whether Qin Heng had made the food himself or hired a chef to prepare it, then packed it into lunch boxes and brought it over to fool him?

Ha!

Chi Ning gave a short, cold laugh in his heart.

A CEO was busy with countless matters every day. How could he possibly have the time to cook for him personally? Yet Chi Ning had believed him completely! He had even seriously considered trying to be with Qin Heng.

He had truly been blind!

No.

That was not quite right either.

Thinking it over carefully, perhaps he had simply been too moved by all that "fake food," and too lonely in life, wanting someone to keep him company. It did not necessarily mean he had fallen for him. He had probably only felt that Qin Heng at the time was suitable.

But it was fine now.

His entire family was alive now. He was not lonely at all.

Chi Ning soothed himself and gradually calmed down. Once his eyes refocused, the words in the brochure no longer doubled. They were smooth and clear to read.

"...The Huaguo Nine-Ball Open champion prize is forty thousand US dollars, the Huaguo American Pool Open champion prize is fifty thousand US dollars, and the Huaguo Snooker Open prize is eighty-five thousand British pounds, equivalent to one hundred and five thousand US dollars.

Other private tournaments are settled according to sponsor funding and have no fixed amount."

Chi Ning looked at the prize amounts in the brochure and quickly calculated how much he would need to set up a personal laboratory. The last traces of anger in his heart disappeared.

On the condition that he won, he would need to compete in the Huaguo Snooker Open twice to fully equip the laboratory.

Romance?

Nothing but an obstacle.

Chi Ning calmly put down the brochure and said to Boss Xu, "A snooker table. Two hours."

Xu Jiahao stood up, grabbed Zhang Qiuwen by the shoulder, and pushed him before the computer. "Come on. I just taught you. Show me how you do it."

Only then did Zhang Qiuwen realize who had spoken. He immediately forgot to be afraid of the boss and said happily, "Wow, Second Young Master Chi, you really came?"

Chi Ning frowned slightly. "Just call me by my name."

Xu Jiahao gave Chi Ning another look.

He had not paid attention earlier, but thinking about it now, Chi was not a common surname. There was only one wealthy Chi family in Yangcheng. He did not pay much attention to wealthy families, so he had not recognized him right away.

He had not expected the two young men he had casually hired to have connections like this.

Xu Jiahao casually asked, "You're friends?"

Qin Heng had just opened his mouth when Chi Ning answered first, "No. We met once."

Qin Heng raised a brow and closed his mouth again.

During the day, Chi Ning had walked up to him and smiled before even speaking. He had been obedient and friendly, but after learning Qin Heng was not a student at Gangnan International High School, he had become cold and distant.

Qin Heng lowered his eyes and recalled the customer who had later approached him holding two hundred yuan.

That person had not been anyone who had bought bayberry juice from him. He remembered every customer who had paid him, and that one had been completely unfamiliar.

It was strange for someone who had never drunk a single bottle of bayberry juice to buy an entire case.

He had grown suspicious and followed the man for a stretch. He saw him get into a silver-gray business van, and he also saw Chi Ning in the back seat.