Chapter 33

He held up eight fingers again. "Eight of them. Have the kitchen kill them and grill them up. Fresh."

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

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

"Old Sun, I heard your son did pretty well on his recent placement exam." Chi Baichuan pulled a bottle of beer from the crate by his feet and handed it over. "What do you think? Has he picked a university yet?"

Old Sun took the beer and waved his other hand casually. "Pretty well, my ass. He's nowhere near as good as we were back then. His mom says he's been 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 critical time in his senior year."

Old Sun sighed. "Exactly."

Chi Ning sat with his brother, ears perked as he listened to their dad sound Old Sun out.

He turned the chicken wings in his hand, brushing them with oil.

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 hand you love letters at school?"

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 couldn't be trusted."

Once he shed his deliberately flippant act, Chi Yang was particularly at ease in this kind of setting.

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

Then Chi Yang added, "As for my little brother..." He choked on his words.

His brother liked two people at once, and even spent money 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 got plenty of freedom now. I don't know what his love life is like either."

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

As soon as he said that, everything around Chi Ning went quiet.

Chi Yang's ears perked right up, and Chi Baichuan's gaze also settled on him without a trace.

Qin Heng stared absently at the grilled sausages on the charcoal brazier before him.

Chi Ning stared at the chicken wings without raising his head. "Someone who isn't too troublesome, I guess."

Old Sun laughed. "That's like saying nothing at all." 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 he hadn't figured it out. He had just figured it out and still didn't know what love was. He was still muddled.

A crush was always so hazy and uncertain, drifting this way and that.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chi Baichuan glanced at Qin Heng and saw him skillfully sprinkle chili powder over a batch of scored sausages, drizzle a little oil over them, then hand them out to the uncles beside him.

Xu Jiahao looked immensely proud, fanning himself with a little palm-leaf fan. "See? I knew I had a good eye for picking a son. What? Have one myself? Come on, someone like me shouldn't drag some poor girl into it. I'm lucky enough to have this one. Raise him well, and he's no different from a biological son."

Most men in Yangcheng were conservative. Plenty of families even kept concubines, all to have more children. Xu Jiahao stood out somewhat here.

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

Qin Heng handed Chi Ning the last grilled sausage, then forcefully rescued the chicken wings that still hadn't cooked despite being turned over and over. "I'll do it. Sit and eat."

Chi Ning took a bite of the sausage. It was crisp and fragrant, so delicious it felt like his tongue might fall off.

Strange. They were clearly using the same seasonings, so why were these sausages so good?

The uncles chatting nearby noticed it too.

"These sausages are tasty."

"Little Qin grilled them."

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

"You? It'd be enough if you knew how to eat."

"Why not 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, sizzling as a spark leaped up, like it had scorched his heart.

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

What a joke. Chi Baichuan's two sons were the apples of his eye. If he made the precious sons of Brother Chuan's family work, Brother Chuan would kick him right out of the yard.

Come to think of it, he had been muddleheaded. Qin Heng might only be an adopted son, but he still shouldn't have ordered him around like that.

"President Lu." Mrs. Lu spoke in a strange, mocking tone. "Used to throwing your weight around at home, are you?"

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. "Ah, I'll punish myself with three drinks."

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

Qin Heng lowered his eyes to watch Chi Ning eat while hissing from the heat. The sausage earlier seemed to have had too much chili powder; Chi Ning's eyes had even turned moist from it.

He hissed as he ate, yet kept staring straight at the chicken wings over the charcoal, his eyes practically saying: Why aren't they ready yet?

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

When he defended him... he was cutest of all.

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

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

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

"Boss Chi, what are you saying? It's what we should do."

"There's nothing we can do about slow research progress."

"Old Sun, say something."

"The new drug has made a breakthrough, but clinical trials will still take some time." Slightly tipsy, Old Sun could not help feeling a little pleased with himself. "Brother Chuan and I wanted to work on this project back in university. 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 began talking over one another, so moved that they started reminiscing about the old days.

They reminisced all the way from the university bathhouse to drifting overseas to study. A bunch of grown men had red eyes and red faces.

Chi Ning was stunned. He could not understand how his dad had brought the mood here in just a few moves.

As they talked, Shen Zongze came up.

"That bastard really is a piece of work. He doesn't do a single thing that's legal, compliant, or decent!" President Lu cursed.

"Exactly." Chi Baichuan gave President Lu an approving look. "I've been uneasy lately. I'm afraid Shen Zongze might jump the wall in desperation. After all, we made such a big move this time. We turned things around and won a battle."

Chi Ning's eyes darted from his dad to Old Sun.

He heard his father say, "How about this? Let's set him up and test him."

The most complicated business wars often used the simplest methods.

Chi Ning watched helplessly as his dad gave a string of instructions.

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

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

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

And—

"Old Sun." Chi Baichuan hooked an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Put this project on hold for now. Save the project data and leave it with me. Replace it with that old discarded plan. I can't shake this feeling that they'll definitely target you."

With just a little thought, Chi Ning understood what his dad 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 data, then Old Sun was innocent, and the Shen Family would stumble because of the false data.

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

Chi Yang sighed. "He's supposed to be teaching me, but Dad can't bear to do it either. He wants to test him. Real or fake, he's giving him one more chance."

Chi Ning hummed. "I hope Uncle Sun doesn't let him down."

Otherwise, it would be pretty sad.

After Chi Baichuan finished putting an arm around Old Sun, he turned and hooked an arm around Xu Jiahao too. "Old Xu... your son..."

He paused, then said in a sarcastic tone, "His cooking is very good."

"And thank him for taking care of my Ningzai at his birthday banquet." Chi Baichuan put on a somewhat artificial smile. "Did your son get recommended admission? If he did, he'll have it easy for a while. Our two families can make plans to get together more often and interact."

Xu Jiahao looked at Qin Heng.

All the pride he had built up earlier was gone now.

He thought, How rude of you.

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

Chi Baichuan's expression changed slightly.

How watertight. How could his son possibly outplay someone like that?

When Papa Chi lowered his head, he found Chi Ning staring blankly with a mouthful of glass noodles.

"..."

Damn it, he was here to break them apart!

Who would have thought Qin Heng could cook so well?!

Look at that—he had even stunned his son with food!

Papa Chi ground his molars, smiled kindly, and still held a sliver of hope in his heart. "What's wrong, Ningzai? Doesn't it taste good?"

Chapter 33

"It's delicious," Chi Ning said.

Papa Chi's heart thudded.

Chi Ning swallowed the mouthful, lowered his eyes, and praised the fragrant foil bowl in his hands. "The salt level 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 very fragrant too."

When he handed it over, Qin Heng had even deliberately placed a small heatproof wooden stand beneath it.

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

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

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