Chapter 3

[Ding, Malice Points +3!]

Secretary Sun, who had just spoken up, quietly took a step back.

Chapter 3

Zhou Jingcheng instantly doubted his hearing. "What did you say? Say that again?"

Shi Jihan looked at him with pity in his eyes.

The man was handsome, sure, but what a shame—he was already hard of hearing at such a young age.

He repeated loudly, "I said, this guy surnamed Zhou—"

Zero-Zero-Zero screamed, [Host, that's Zhou Jingcheng! Zhou Jingcheng, the one who made you go to Australia to box kangaroos and plant bananas in the desert!]

"Mr. Zhou, you have taste." Shi Jihan swallowed the words he had been chewing over and gave him a thumbs-up. "This flowerbed doesn't look like a self-portrait. It looks like art. Realist art."

Zhou Jingcheng gave him a long, deep look, then turned to the flowerbed. "It is rather realistic. Especially those two streetlamps stuck in there—they look like two lasers shooting from my eyes straight into the sky."

Shi Jihan's shoulders shook.

Secretary Sun explained softly, "Madam specifically had the gardeners trim it this way. She wanted to convey that your gaze is like a blazing torch."

Shi Jihan shook even harder.

"Who asked you?" Zhou Jingcheng said flatly, then looked at Shi Jihan. "Young Master Shi, long time no see. Where did you study popping? So I know what to avoid."

Shi Jihan blinked, looking exceptionally shy. "What popping? I'm trembling under the domineering laser aura Young Master Zhou gives off."

Zhou Jingcheng raised an eyebrow high.

His eyes flashed with fifty percent shock, thirty percent confusion, and twenty percent Oh, fuck off.

The emotional breakdown was practically a pie chart.

[Is he cursing me with his eyes?] Shi Jihan grumbled, [Qidian male lead, tiny little heart!]

[Ding, Malice Points +2]

Then again, the market needed people with tiny little hearts like that.

"So you're here." Shi Bochuan walked over with Shen Qinghuai. "President Zhou is here too. What are you talking about?"

Zhou Jingcheng put on a professional smile.

Oh, the whole family of middlemen legally robbing him of his money had assembled.

He said, "We were catching up. After all, I've only been back in the country for a few months and haven't had time to meet with Young Master Shi."

Shi Bochuan said, "You've had a lot to handle since returning. There's no rush for friends to get together."

Friends? With the relationship between those two?

Because their companies often worked together, Zhou Jingcheng had known Shi Jihan for a long time. After interacting with him, he had realized the other man was a selfish, contemptible nobody, so he kept his distance out of courtesy.

If that relationship counted as friendship, then during the time he had been abroad, Shi Bochuan must have moonlighted as an editor for a Chinese dictionary.

While the two of them spoke, Shi Jihan quietly faded into the background and slipped over to the buffet, lowering his head to eat the little cakes he had picked out.

He poked Zero-Zero-Zero and complained, [I just realized—why is Zhou Jingcheng so tall?]

He was a whole head taller than Shi Jihan, tall with long legs. When he had leaned close earlier, Shi Jihan had needed to tilt his head up just to meet his eyes. His entire body had fallen into the other man's shadow, wrapped in the faint scent of masculine cologne.

The guy really did have the capital to be narcissistic. Even from a death angle, there was nothing to criticize. His bone structure was excellent, his brow ridge was so deep it could shade his eyes, and his nose bridge was so high that Shi Jihan could probably slide down it with a whoosh.

Zero-Zero-Zero said, [His ancestors were from the Northwest. Maybe he carries some mixed Central Asian ancestry.]

[The Northwest?] Shi Jihan's eyes lit up. [Big temperature difference between day and night. He must be sweet.]

[...Host, are you from Guangdong?]

Shi Jihan twisted bashfully. [Hehe, after eating so many Fujianese, I should switch up the flavor once in a while.]

After saying that, he burped contentedly.

The little cakes were delicious, but he had eaten too many and felt a little choked up.

He took two wine glasses from a passing waiter and downed one glass at a time, soothing his throat.

A rainbow-haired guy led several people straight toward him. "Yo, isn't this Young Master Shi? Why are you drinking here alone? Why not go have some fun?"

One of the people who came with him casually slung an arm around his shoulders. "Is it your big brother again, forbidding this and forbidding that? We're adults already. He's way too controlling!"

Shi Jihan silently moved his gaze away from their rainbow streaks, off-the-shoulder shirts, and flirtatious lip piercings. He said nothing and pulled away from them.

He had a fear of trendy people. He needed to keep dry and wet separated.

Zero-Zero-Zero said, [Awooo, it's them! These little lackeys might help the host smear his big brother and complete the mission.]

"Hello, hello. Long time no see." Shi Jihan headed straight into the trend.

At worst, it was just humid weather. What was there to fear?

Zhou Jingcheng felt that he was not only from the Northwest—he was also the woolliest sheep on the Northwestern grasslands.

The Shi brothers had come to shear him.

Listening to Shi Bochuan talk about all these new projects, he felt as though the man had come to participate in a zero-dollar shopping spree at his expense.

Zhou Jingcheng changed the subject. "Your younger brother can drink? He has quite the tolerance. He's already downed several glasses."

He had not expected him to be such a malicious little drunkard.

Shi Bochuan followed his gaze and frowned.

He knew that rainbow-haired guy, a spoiled rich second-generation kid who smoked, drank, and permed his hair every day. These people spent all day stirring up trouble. They were practically leading his younger brother astray.

What bad intentions could his younger brother possibly have? How old was he? What did he know?

Shi Bochuan strode over.

Shi Jihan clutched Lurdan, who was struggling desperately and having trouble breathing, while holding up an index finger toward the rainbow-haired guy who kept urging him to drink. Squinting, he tried hard to keep his balance. That finger wobbled from side to side for ages before finally locking on target and poking the rainbow-haired guy.

"Stay away. Far away," he said with a pained expression. "I'm still so young. I can't get rheumatism."

The rainbow-haired guy was baffled. "Huh? What are you talking about? Forget it, never mind. Young Master Shi, try this Cuba Libre. It's good. Tastes like cola."

Shi Jihan could not resist the temptation and drank another glass.

Lip-Piercing Bro said, "I just opened a tennis club. Young Master Shi, come out and play tomorrow. It's settled, then. Don't mind your brother."

Off-the-Shoulder Bro chimed in, "Shi Bochuan really thinks he's somebody, huh? After your parents died, he didn't give you a single share. This project went wrong, and he pinned all the blame on you. He clearly wants to ruin you!"

When Shi Jihan heard that, what? The original owner had actually had shares withheld from him?

[Gentle reminder: only half an hour remains until the banquet ends. If the host fails to complete the remaining mission, 200 Malice Points will be deducted.]

Shi Jihan: --? 0.-? O0O!!!

A capitalist trap of installment payments!!!

"You're absolutely right!" He waved a hand grandly, his momentum shaking the heavens. "That little Shi Bochuan is going too far! What do you mean, I ruined the project? I was helping him. If the project is gone, the funding is gone. If the funding is gone, the company is gone. If the company is gone, there's no more eight a.m. class every week, no more socializing with classmates, and no more regularly producing piles of fresh academic garbage every six months. Then the world will be at peace."

Shi Jihan delivered his final verdict. "He doesn't know what's good for him. I'll have to show him some color and let him know who the real king is."

The entire venue fell silent.

Zhou Jingcheng said to Secretary Sun, "What a perfect equation. What a fresh brain. I feel like the day I acquire Shi Group isn't far off."

Secretary Sun raised an arm and shouted, "Boss is wise! Your gaze is like a blazing torch!"

Everyone's eager, drama-hungry eyes fell upon the loudly boasting Shi Jihan and the late-arriving Shi Bochuan as they whispered among themselves.

"Look, look! I told you the Shi Family was at odds internally. Now even their last shred of dignity has been ripped away."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Let's see how they clean this up."

"Quick, take pictures. If this gets out tomorrow, Shi Corporation's stock will definitely fluctuate!"

"Why are you so awful? Hey, hey, don't block my good angle."

A waiter also secretly pulled out his phone from his pocket. His listless expression abruptly turned excited as he quietly aimed the camera at the two parties involved.

He had actually stumbled onto juicy rich-family gossip! This shift did not feel quite so soul-crushing anymore.

He even opened a small window and furiously typed to a friend with live updates.

[First scene of a coup for power, get in now before it's too late!]

What kind of person was the Shi Family's young master? He and Shi Bochuan were as different as clouds and mud. Even a scarecrow was sturdier than that good-for-nothing fool. Now he was hopping around like a clown, unable to judge the severity of the situation. Maybe Shi Bochuan would get angry and kick him out of the Shi Family tomorrow morning, leaving him to fend for himself.

Shi Bochuan was indeed furious beyond measure. He had never imagined that, in this younger brother's eyes, he was a thorn in his side, someone Shi Jihan wanted gone as quickly as possible.

He had thought only that he had been a little too strict, making his younger brother a little rebellious, a little disobedient...

Shen Qinghuai arrived late and did not dare approach.

He had never seen Shi Bochuan this angry.

When Shi Bochuan spoke again, his face was frosty. He shoved aside the rainbow-haired group, who knew they had caused trouble, walked straight up to Shi Jihan, and demanded coldly, "The real king? Show me some color? Is that so? Then what exactly are you planning to do?"

Shi Jihan's eyes were hazy with drunkenness. He could not see the rainbow-haired group desperately signaling at him at all. Racking his brain, he came up with his most malicious scheme and declared forcefully, "I'll make him lower the plagiarism rate on all my final papers to ten percent!"

Tell him, wasn't that malicious?

Shi Bochuan slowly said, "...?"

No, that was not enough. "And make him run one thousand meters for me during my fitness test!"

"Have him clock in and sign attendance for me at eight every morning!"

"Make him grab discounted coupons for the braised-food stall outside the school gate every Wednesday!"

Shi Bochuan: ???

Shi Jihan was like someone making wishes to a turtle in a wishing pond, talking himself happier and happier with every demand. Amazed by how malicious he was, he puffed out his chest proudly. "That's all for now. I'll add more later."

Huh? You still had the nerve to add more?

The waiter silently lowered his phone, his face filled with the indignation of someone who had just bitten into rotten gossip.

No, if you brothers wanted to flirt and bicker, do it in your own home. Why were you publicly dumping this crap on everyone?

"Add my ass!"

Shi Bochuan's emotions had surged and crashed too violently in too short a time. Furious, he flicked Shi Jihan on the forehead. "Go sober up in the restroom!"

Ignoring Shi Jihan's struggles, he forcibly dragged him into the restroom.

Even as he was pushed inside, Shi Jihan did not forget to shout, "I remembered! You're not allowed to use AI to lower the plagiarism rate!"