Seal his mouth with a kiss, and he won't be able to talk

As soon as Jiang Ze left the bar, he had Cheng Feng drive him to Meng Zhiyuan's company.

Seeing how anxious he was, Cheng Feng assumed something serious had happened and drove as fast as he could.

Jiang Ze stared at the unread messages on his phone, unable to keep his anxiety in check.

"System, can you check the status of Meng Zhiyuan's contract signing for this partnership?"

"Sorry, host. I can't track little plot changes like that~"

"Okay."

He lowered his eyes in disappointment, wondering how he could explain things later and get the man to believe him.

After all, this partnership was incredibly important to the Meng Group in the original novel. Otherwise, Meng Zhiyuan wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to negotiate it.

There were no problems with the partnership at first. The big shot's business judgment was impeccable. The trouble lay with Tan Ya, otherwise known as Daniel.

Later, Shen Yun won Daniel over. Daniel's father, Meng Zhiyuan's business partner, ran a vast business overseas, and Daniel eventually persuaded him to go along with their plans.

Together with Meng Zimu and the others, they created serious holes in the project, eventually causing losses of tens of billions.

Because they had prepared in advance, the Meng Group ended up shouldering most of the responsibility.

This was also a key reason behind the Meng Corporation's rapid decline later on.

"Young Master Jiang, we're here. Would you like me to..."

Jiang Ze shook his head, declining to have Cheng Feng follow him and only asking him to wait downstairs.

"I'm going to see Uncle Zhiyuan. You can head back first, Feng."

Seeing that he looked a little better, and knowing this was Master Meng's territory, Cheng Feng left without saying anything more.

"Sir, do you have an appointment?"

It was the same young receptionist in the same place, but this time, the person she stopped was Jiang Ze.

Jiang Ze had come prepared and showed her the message Meng Zhiyuan had sent him.

"I'm here to see Uncle Zhiyuan. You've seen me before, miss."

The receptionist, Xiao Yun, looked him over, then recognition dawned on her face.

"Oh, you're the CEO's..."

Xiao Yun grew a little excited but didn't dare finish her sentence.

"All right, just sign in, and you can go up."

Jiang Ze quickly finished signing in and headed straight for Meng Zhiyuan's office.

"Oh! Liu!"

Just as Jiang Ze reached Meng Zhiyuan's office, he saw his assistant, Xiao Liu, working on documents outside.

"Young Master Jiang, you're here to see the CEO, right? He's busy with a very important partnership right now."

That only made Jiang Ze more anxious, and he hurriedly asked.

"Is he in his office?"

"No, he's in the large conference room on the other side. There are overseas business partners in there. Why don't you wait a little, Young Master Jiang?"

Jiang Ze nodded as he looked toward the conference room Xiao Liu pointed out, planning what he should do next.

Forget it. Whatever happens, happens. Time to put my acting skills to the test!

Standing outside the conference room, he spent a good while psyching himself up, then gave himself a vicious pinch high on his thigh.

His eyes immediately reddened.

No, that's still not enough.

Steeling himself, he pinched himself hard again. This time, he really put some force into it, and two streams of tears immediately spilled down his cheeks.

His lips turned down, and he pushed the door straight open.

Apparently, none of the people inside had expected someone to burst in. The lively discussion abruptly fell silent.

There was no turning back now. Jiang Ze spotted that familiar, tall figure and threw himself at him.

"Boohoo... Uncle Zhiyuan..."

All Meng Zhiyuan saw was the boy suddenly appearing in the conference room doorway, his eyes brimming with tears and his little face looking terribly aggrieved.

His heart tightened. His first thought was that someone had wronged him.

The young man in his arms was warm and soft, clutching his clothes tightly as he sobbed.

"Boohoo... You... you promised yesterday that you'd spend today with me! How can you break your promise? I don't care. You have to spend time with me right now!"

Even Jiang Ze didn't know what he was saying. His entire strategy was to make an unreasonable fuss.

Good grief. The overseas business partners sitting across the table were dumbstruck, exchanging bewildered looks.

One man, who seemed to be their leader, asked in English, "Mr. Meng, what is going on?"

Meng Zhiyuan patted the aggrieved young man in his arms. There wasn't a trace of anger on his face over the interruption. He merely glanced at the man who had spoken and replied in English.

"My boy."

Nestled in the man's arms, Jiang Ze didn't dare lift his head. He had to admit he still wasn't thick-skinned enough for this. But to derail the big shot's partnership, he forced himself to speak anyway.

"Boohoo... Uncle Zhiyuan... You promised me! Stop working! Come out and play with me!"

Oh my god, what am I saying? Whatever. To ruin this partnership, I'm going to be unreasonable to the bitter end! Please don't sign, big shot. Once you sign this contract, tens of billions will go down the drain!

Something flickered in Meng Zhiyuan's eyes. He glanced at the bewildered people before him and spoke calmly.

"It seems we'll have to postpone today's proceedings. I promised my boy I'd spend the day with him. My apologies. We'll sign the contract another time. This will also give you a chance to reconsider the concessions."

The man leading the group immediately grew anxious. He couldn't understand how someone as shrewd as Meng Zhiyuan could postpone a project worth hundreds of billions over a boy.

"Mr. Meng, what do you mean by this?! We agreed to sign today, and you're postponing it over a boy?! This project is worth hundreds of billions!"

Meng Zhiyuan said nothing. After murmuring a few comforting words to the young man in his arms, he called his assistant, Xiao Liu, inside.

"Xiao Liu, see our guests out."

Xiao Liu was somewhat confused too, but seeing the person in the CEO's arms, he understood. With a complicated expression, he apologized to the overseas business partners and escorted them out of the office.

"All right, stop crying. They're gone."

By then, Jiang Ze's sobbing had already been more noise than tears. He'd barely managed to squeeze out a few drops in total. At those words, he immediately stopped making crying noises.

"What about the contract? Did you sign it?"

"No."

Only after hearing the man's definite answer did Jiang Ze relax.

But now that they were the only two people left in the office, he finally noticed the awkwardness hanging in the air.

"I... Maybe I should..." Leave?

Before he could finish, the man gave his tear-reddened cheek another familiar pinch.

"What's this? Didn't you want me to spend time with you?"

"I..."

Looking into the man's deep eyes, filled with complicated emotions, he opened his mouth but had no idea what to say.

How am I supposed to explain that there's something wrong with this partnership? Oh my god, I acted like that, and he still didn't throw me out!

He lowered his head and stole a glance at the man, only to find him staring at him with probing eyes.

Forget it. I'm doomed either way. I'll bluff my way through this first.

Hearing those thoughts, Meng Zhiyuan raised an eyebrow. He wanted to see exactly how Jiang Ze planned to bluff his way out of this.

He was just about to tease the boy when something warm and soft suddenly covered his lips.

A rare look of astonishment appeared on his usually composed face.

The young man seemed a little nervous, his hands tightly clutching the front of Meng Zhiyuan's shirt.

"Mmph..."

Jiang Ze squeezed his eyes shut and, as though throwing caution to the wind, used his mouth to stop the man's impending questions. Their lips pressed together, and that familiar tingling sensation surged through him again.

Having no idea what he was doing, he could only clumsily keep his lips pressed against the man's. Yet for some reason, the man seemed entirely unmoved.

Feeling a little sulky, Jiang Ze gave him an indignant bite and started to pull away.

"Hiss... How ruthless."

The man's low laughter sounded above him, his voice tinged with teasing.

Before Jiang Ze could react, the man held the back of his head firmly in place, and an intensely domineering kiss came crashing down.

Unlike Jiang Ze's earlier slow, gentle attempt, this kiss was urgent and fierce. Caught off guard, Jiang Ze could only struggle to withstand it.

"Meng Zhiyuan... You... mmph... Gently..."

The man's slightly cool lips caught his own, nibbling lightly and carefully tracing their contours as their lips and tongues entwined.

The man's distinctive sandalwood scent lingered around Jiang Ze's nose, leaving him unable to muster even the slightest desire to resist.