Brothers united

Ji Yanzhi looked at his expression and laughed in fury. "You have the nerve to be angry?"

"Why can't I be angry? Are you the only one in this family allowed to get upset?" Ji Ting shot back.

"You..."

Before he could finish, Ji Ting turned and walked away.

Ji Yanzhi's face was as dark as the sky outside. His jaw was still clenched when his phone vibrated again.

"Hello."

"How did it go?" The caller was Fu Cheng. "Did you ask that bargain-bin brother of yours?"

Ji Yanzhi closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. "Just finished asking."

Fu Cheng's curiosity shot through the roof. "What did he say? Is he..."

"What branching neurons? That little bastard is nothing but a useless idiot!"

Beep.

Fu Cheng blankly lowered the phone from his ear. Hadn't Ji Ting always been useless? They'd known that for ages. Why was Yanzhi so angry?

For the next few days, the brothers didn't exchange a single word. Ji Yanzhi stopped hiring tutors, too, apparently leaving Ji Ting to sink or swim.

Unexpectedly, this actually soothed Ji Ting's anger. After sorting out his financial accounts, he began working on his own affairs.

That day, Ji Ting left early in the morning and didn't return until nearly dark. Once home, he headed straight to the west building.

When the elevator doors opened, Ji Ting was bending down to pick up a box, and the butler happened to see him.

"Second Young Master, let me get that."

Ji Ting had intended to politely decline, but the butler had already come over, so he thanked him instead.

The boxes were heavy, and each of them could only carry one at a time. Noticing that the lettering on the boxes was foreign but wasn't English, the butler asked curiously, "Second Young Master, what are these?"

Ji Ting fell silent for a moment. "A gaming machine."

The butler exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, gaming machines are this complicated now? They need four separate boxes?"

"Yes. A new, large-scale gaming machine."

They made another trip. Ji Ting asked the butler to leave the boxes outside the door and said, "Uncle Yang, from now on, I'll be using this room just for gaming. You don't need to send anyone to clean it. I'll do it myself."

In truth, he was merely letting him know. The Ji Family Old Residence used centrally controlled electronic locks, but he had already deleted this room's access key from the system yesterday. No one else could get in even if they wanted to.

"All right. I'll let them know."

Ji Ting nodded to him. The butler suddenly added, "Oh, Second Young Master, the eldest young master called this afternoon and said he'd be hosting a guest at home tonight." He paused, then continued tactfully, "So, about your dinner..."

Ji Ting thought for a moment and understood what he meant. "I'll eat in the dining room over here, then."

The butler let out a great sigh of relief. "Of course. I'll arrange it right away."

After the butler had gone, Ji Ting opened the door. Twenty or thirty boxes were already piled on the floor inside.

Closing the door, he rolled up his sleeves and began assembling his large-scale "gaming machine."

At seven thirty, a dark blue Cullinan pulled into the garage.

The car had barely stopped before a rear door flew open. "Ji Ting-"

Five minutes earlier, Ji Ting had come down to retrieve a cable he'd left on the passenger seat. He hadn't expected to run into them.

"It's me, your Uncle Dai."

It was too late to leave now, so Ji Ting had no choice but to turn around. A middle-aged man in a suit was smiling and waving at him, while an expressionless Ji Yanzhi emerged from the other side of the car.

The brothers acted as though they hadn't seen each other. In the silence, Dai Xiangqiang walked toward Ji Ting.

"What a coincidence. Were you about to drive somewhere?"

The man spoke with easy familiarity, but after searching through the original owner's memories, Ji Ting found only a vague impression of him.

Ji Ting lifted the bag in his hand by way of explanation and said flatly, "I came down to get something. I'm heading back upstairs."

"Why go upstairs? I happen to have something to discuss with you. Let's have dinner together." Having made the decision on his own, Dai Xiangqiang finally turned to Ji Yanzhi. "You don't mind, do you, Mr. Ji?"

Ji Yanzhi's expression remained unchanged, but his eyes grew a little colder. "Join us, then."

The three entered the house and went to the dining room. Dai Xiangqiang had intended to pull Ji Ting into the seat beside him, but Ji Ting moved first and took a seat across the table.

Watching this, Ji Yanzhi's lips lifted almost imperceptibly.

Dai Xiangqiang was deliberately acting close to Ji Ting for no reason other than to remind him that he wasn't the Ji Family's only son in this generation. There was also this favored illegitimate son.

He was making his petty provocations right out in the open. Losing his composure like this-Dai Xiangqiang really must be getting old.

The three sat down. They had barely taken a couple of bites before Dai Xiangqiang requested red wine and asked Ji Ting to have a few glasses with him.

"I don't drink," Ji Ting said coolly.

Dai Xiangqiang glanced at Ji Yanzhi out of the corner of his eye and clicked his tongue. "Then you'd better start learning. You'll be joining the group soon. Once you have business engagements, how can you refuse to touch a drop?"

With that, he picked up the decanter himself and tipped it toward Ji Ting's glass.

Ji Ting covered the glass with his hand, his voice growing colder. "I'm not learning, and I won't be joining Shili."

Ji Yanzhi raised an eyebrow slightly. He hadn't heard any inner thoughts, so this was actually what Ji Ting wanted.

After being refused repeatedly, Dai Xiangqiang was beginning to lose face. "Ji Ting, I'll have to say a few words to you about that."

He sat back down and set the decanter heavily on the table. "How can you think like that? If you don't join Shili, who's going to be your elder brother's right-hand man? Your father is counting on you brothers to unite. Together, you can cut through anything."

Even with Asperger Syndrome, Ji Ting understood this time. This man named Dai is using me to provoke Ji Yanzhi.

Ji Yanzhi chuckled inwardly. Apparently, he wasn't a complete idiot.

"Director Dai, you're drunk before you've even had a drink." The moment he spoke, he shifted the battleground, continuing unhurriedly, "Ji Ting is still young. He has more schooling ahead of him."

Dai Xiangqiang opened his mouth to respond, but Ji Yanzhi's faint smile suddenly vanished. "Since you're finished eating, Director Dai, let's get down to business."

Looking awkward, Dai Xiangqiang cleared his throat with affected gravity. "You're a direct man, Mr. Ji, so I won't beat around the bush either. The board meeting is next week. What are your thoughts on next quarter's research and development budget?"

"The proportion will remain roughly the same as last quarter, with priority given to the AI laboratory's projects. However, I'll apply for a separate allocation for the project you oversee."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Ting, sitting beside them, suddenly frowned thoughtfully.

Dai Xiangqiang's expression visibly darkened, and even his voice dropped. "President Ji, stalling tactics stop working if you use them too often. If you leave us no room to maneuver like this, everyone under me will leave."

Ji Yanzhi's lips curved slightly. "I don't have sole authority over the group. You should also know that the board has always looked only at the project progress shown in the reports."

"In that case, I suppose I should step down as director and make way for someone more capable." Dai Xiangqiang stood as he spoke and threw down his napkin with a hollow smile. "I just wonder whether the board will hold you accountable, Mr. Ji, when they find out another company has gotten the L3 chip algorithm for free."

The L3 chip algorithm.

Like keywords, those words instantly lit up in Ji Ting's mind.

I remember now. This Dai Xiangqiang is the R&D director who falsified the data.