Page 5

But Chi Yang was different. No matter how wild First Young Master Chi was, he was still the heir Chi Baichuan had painstakingly groomed. If the Jiang Family wanted a foothold in the pharmaceutical industry, they had to establish ties with the Chi family.

Jiang Shijie's expression shifted several times, leaving him somewhat embarrassed.

Chi Yang stepped in at the right moment. "I'll teach my own brother. What are you butting in for?"

The tense atmosphere immediately eased.

The friends gathered around them breathed a sigh of relief and teased:

"Who knew Brother Yang was this protective?"

"Well, we're all only

children

. Even if we have brothers, they're illegitimate ones outside the family. How could they compare to real biological brothers?"

Someone hoping to curry favor with Jiang Shijie suggested, "Chi Ning probably hasn't played billiards before, right? Why not have your brother teach you, then play a round against Jiang Shijie?"

Before Chi Ning could answer, Jiang Shijie said, "Sure. I'd like to see Brother Yang's teaching skills too."

"Fine." Chi Ning nodded despite his elder brother's disapproving look. "Let's play."

He was here to have fun anyway. Besides, billiards did not require much physical strength, so his poor constitution should not matter much.

Chi Ning picked out a cue and returned to his brother's side. "Bro, teach me."

Chi Yang's head practically doubled in size.

Jiang Shijie was not good at billiards, but he was surely still far better than Chi Ning, who had never played before. Forget it. Even if Chi Ning lost, he could help him win back his dignity.

He sighed softly and began teaching Chi Ning how to hold the cue.

His little brother was smart and learned everything quickly. In just ten minutes, his stance was already as standard as one in a textbook. He was just too skinny. Old Oil Shrimp Cakes were so high in calories—how was he still this frail after eating one every day?

"All right, try it yourself."

Chi Ning took the cue his brother handed him, bent down, and struck. "Screech—"

His first shot missed entirely, and the cue tip hit the table with a dull thud.

Jiang Shijie sneered. "You really don't know how to play at all. Then how did you dare say you wanted to play with me? What exactly did you want to play with me?"

He was used to speaking without restraint. Only after saying it did he notice Chi Yang staring at him, so he smiled again. "Come on, Sir Yang, you can't take a joke? Aren't you a cop?"

Chi Yang ignored him and adjusted Chi Ning's stance. "Your right hand and right leg should form a ninety-degree angle. When drawing the cue back, use your elbow as the pivot. Don't move your wrist. Strike—"

"Thud."

Before Chi Yang could finish, Chi Ning suddenly drove the cue into the center of the white ball in front of him.

The white ball collided with the yellow ball, then stopped steadily at the center of the table. Amid everyone's shocked gazes, the other ball dropped into a pocket with a dull clunk.

Chi Yang: He was this good on his first try?

Jiang Shijie frowned. "Isn't this your first time playing? How do you know how to stop the cue ball?"

Chi Ning was confused too. "What's stopping the cue ball?"

Jiang Shijie said, "When the cue ball stops at the point of impact after hitting another ball, that's called stopping the cue ball."

"Oh." Chi Ning suddenly understood.

"This? Isn't this basic physics? When the cue strikes the center of the cue ball, the forward force sends the cue ball into the target ball. When the cue ball's point of force and the target point on the target ball are on the same horizontal line, the forward force and the backward force after the cue ball hits the target ball cancel each other out. Naturally, the cue ball stops."

Chi Ning looked at Jiang Shijie as though he were some lab slacker. "You didn't know that?"

Jiang Shijie choked.

Chi Ning ignored his reddened face. Billiards was, in the end, a game combining mathematics and physics. Once he learned the stance, he could play reasonably well. Did Jiang Shijie think he had dared provoke him purely out of arrogance?

Other than his weak arm strength, which made long shots difficult, he should be fine with everything else.

After learning the stance and rules, Chi Ning walked up to Jiang Shijie and held out his palm toward the table. "Mr. Jiang, I'm not strong enough to break. You go first."

"Fine." Jiang Shijie was annoyed and did not hold back at all.

Bang!

A crisp impact rang beside their ears.

The billiard balls scattered across the table beneath the overhead lights. Some struck the felt-covered rails along the sides with dull thumps, while several dropped into the pockets amid the collisions.

The player who potted a ball on the break had the right to continue shooting. Jiang Shijie said smugly, "Sorry, I'll choose first."

His gaze swept over Chi Ning's chest.

Second Young Master Chi had a slender figure. The hem of his shirt was tucked into his trousers, and his short suit pants cinched tightly around his waist, outlining a waist that could be encircled by two hands. The Chi family had raised him fair and delicate. A bright red cord was even tied around his ankle, making him look utterly delectable.

As Jiang Shijie played, he kept thinking about the red cord around Chi Ning's pale, slender ankle. Distracted, he sent one shot off course.

Under American pool rules, once a player missed, he had to surrender the turn to his opponent.

Jiang Shijie did not care in the slightest. Grinning, he asked, "Second Young Master Chi, want to add a little wager?"

"I don't gamble," Chi Ning said.

"Who said anything about money?" Jiang Shijie raised his brows, then exchanged looks with the friends nearby. "I won't make things difficult for you. If you lose, just call me big brother."

Was this revenge for his earlier remark about taking his surname?

Chi Ning knew the "big brother" Jiang Shijie meant was not brotherly at all.

That man's gaze disgusted him, and he had no desire to say more. "Whatever."

Chi Ning took the cue from his brother and said to the worried-looking Chi Yang, "Bro, don't worry. You'll be my only elder brother for the rest of my life."

Chi Yang: ...

Wake up, little lamb.

Did Jiang Shijie want to be your elder brother?

He wanted to strip you bare, skewer you over a fire, and roast you into lamb kebabs!

Everyone thought Chi Ning was definitely going to end up calling him big brother.

What use was knowing physics and mechanics theory? Watching more and playing more were what really mattered.

Chi Ning circled the table once, then used the cue as a ruler to measure the angles. Before long, he bent down and took his shot.

A muffled sound came from a ball dropping into a pocket.

One ball, two balls, three balls...

Jiang Shijie's expression gradually grew grave.

Could this little bastard's claim that he did not know how to play be an act?

He began to regret going easy on him when there had only been two balls left. If he had finished the game properly, he could have humiliated the ever-arrogant Chi Yang.

No, there was still one black ball left.

That black ball was pressed against the felt rail of the table, making it extremely difficult to hit. Even he was not confident he could pot it.

Chi Ning should fail.

But just as Jiang Shijie thought that, he saw Chi Ning bend down and thrust his waist forward as he shot, using the strength of his waist to drive the cue. The white ball immediately shot toward the point of impact, struck the side of the black ball, and sent it into the bottom pocket.

Chi Ning turned to Jiang Shijie. "Mr. Jiang. What's your wager?"

Jiang Shijie had never expected to lose. How could he have thought of a wager? "What do you want?"

"I won't make things difficult for you either." Chi Ning copied Jiang Shijie's earlier tone. "If you lose, just call me Daddy."

Chi Yang could not hold back a snort of laughter. His little brother was so impressive. He raised a hand and rubbed Chi Ning's soft, obedient hair. "Ningzai, don't copy everything."

Jiang Shijie angrily threw down his cue.

He had not actually called Second Young Master Chi Daddy, but it made little difference whether he had or not. From now on, he would always be beneath Chi Yang. Even if the Jiang Family and the Chi family truly cooperated in the future, it would still be the same.

Jiang Shijie could not do anything to Chi Ning or Chi Yang, so his gloomy gaze shot toward the person who had suggested Chi Ning compete with him.

Chi Yang understood. This dog-eat-dog spectacle was filthy, and Ningzai did not understand any of it. He should not have to watch it.

He picked up his coat and draped it over Chi Ning, then raised his hand to button it up. "Let's go. It's windy on the ride. Wear my clothes."

Chi Ning lifted his arms and waved the sleeves. His brother was only five years older than him, yet the coat could cover his entire body.

His eldest brother's six-foot-three height had not grown for nothing. The trench coat looked like a robe on him.

Chi Ning was pulled out through the doors of the activity area. Looking back at the brilliantly lit Gangnan Universal Entertainment Center, he could not understand why anyone would be such a sucker as to spend five hundred yuan playing billiards for over two hours in 2001.

Several times, he started to speak but stopped.

Only after Chi Yang brought out his motorcycle and put a helmet on his head did he ask, "You're not wearing protective gear?"

Chi Yang said, "What? Is that illegal?"

Chi Ning climbed onto the back seat, wrapped his arms around his brother's waist, and knocked his hard helmet against Chi Yang's back.

It was his first time riding his brother's bike across two lifetimes, but all he could think was: Wearing no helmet was not illegal now, but it would be against the law twenty years later.

The moment the throttle revved up, Chi Ning immediately muttered, "Bro, drive slower."

Chi Yang finally understood why that beast Jiang Shijie had wanted to hear Chi Ning call him big brother. Though the meaning was different, Chi Yang liked it too.

Chi Yang turned on the headlights and laughed flamboyantly. "Can't go slow. There are paparazzi nearby."

Paparazzi?

Why could they not go slow because there were paparazzi?

Wouldn't speeding up just give them something to report?

Vroom!

The motorcycle suddenly accelerated. Inertia threw Chi Ning backward, and he had to cling tightly to his eldest brother's waist to avoid being flung off.

He immediately lost all interest in figuring out what that comment had meant.

It was too thrilling.

Where had he ever seen anything like this in his previous life?

Chi Ning looked at the brightly lit Yangcheng, at the stream of traffic they left far behind, and at the long trail of red light stretching from the motorcycle's taillight.

He suddenly remembered something Qin Heng had said in his previous life. "There are too many speed limits in Yangcheng, so my car can't really show what it can do. When you're free, I'll take you for a drive in the suburbs."

In his previous life, he had always put experiments and business first. His first thought upon hearing that had been: What was so fun about driving around?

Now, though, he felt that driving around really was interesting.

When they got home, Chi Ning removed his helmet and handed it to Chi Yang, whose hair had been blown into a mess. Suddenly, he felt that he could not be so forceful about stopping his brother from riding a motorcycle.

To be fair, people needed to relieve stress.

As long as he followed traffic rules while speeding outside, it would be fine. He just should not go on mountain roads or anything like that.