An ill-fated connection

The barbecue restaurant was doing good business. Of course, few shops in the venue had been doing badly these past few days. When Shi Yuan and the others arrived, not everyone from A Thousand Voices, a Hundred Turns was there yet.

"Isn't Gu Chengwang coming?" a girl asked Lin Yunan. Both Gu Chengwang and Lin Yunan were from S City, and apparently they were even distantly related.

"Brother Gu has some work to take care of," Lin Yunan said. "He'll be here later. He said we should start without him."

"Gu Chengwang's a lawyer, right?"

Lin Yunan spoke with reflected pride. "He even opened his own law firm this year."

In a place like S City, where every inch of land cost a fortune and wealthy people were everywhere, opening a law firm took both connections and ability.

"That's amazing! Brother Gu's only twenty-nine, right?"

Gu Chengwang had a good career and refined looks. It was only natural that these girls felt a little tempted.

Something stirred in Shi Yuan's mind at that. What a coincidence. Wei Zelin's twenty-nine too.

With so many customers, the restaurant replenished its food frequently, keeping everything fresher. Shi Yuan was very pleased. Lin Yunan seemed interested in Xiao Wen and kept hovering between her and Xiao Ying, eager to be helpful.

The restaurant had tables for eight, six, and four. With Xiao Ying included, the group from A Thousand Voices, a Hundred Turns numbered exactly ten, so they took a six-person table and a four-person table. The diners at another four-person table beside them happened to finish their meal, so Shi Yuan and You Gui simply sat there.

"Xiao Ying's brother, come sit with us! We can add a chair," someone called warmly.

"We're all right next to each other," Shi Yuan said with a smile. "It makes no difference where we sit."

On reflection, that person agreed. They were already sitting at separate tables anyway.

Shi Yuan and You Gui went to the display counters to choose what they liked. Each table had a small grill for diners to cook their own food, and every ten minutes, freshly cooked meat from a large barbecue was brought around to each table. They could take it or pass.

Shi Yuan wasn't picky. He took equal amounts of meat and vegetables. The pastries at the dessert counter looked quite respectable, so he picked several kinds cut into small pieces, intending to try them all.

You Gui took only half as much food as Shi Yuan, though she also chose two kinds of fruit.

Shi Yuan picked up a strawberry and tasted it. It was bland and barely sweet, nowhere near as good as the ones Wei Zelin bought. Perhaps Wei Zelin had spoiled his palate; whenever he bought fruit elsewhere himself, it never seemed to taste good.

With a click, he snapped a photo of the table and sent it to Wei Zelin, then started grilling.

"Can I share your table?"

You Gui's pretty brows drew together. Shi Yuan turned around and felt equally annoyed. "No."

"Why? This is clearly a table for four, and it isn't full. Why can't I sit here?" The smile on Meng Zhenzhen's face faltered, and a hint of hurt crept into his voice.

Shi Yuan was thoroughly fed up. All three of their encounters had been unpleasant. He really couldn't figure out what Meng Zhenzhen wanted by coming over now.

He set both hands on the table and said coldly, "First, I barely know you. Second, You Gui and I already sat down, chose our food, and started waiting to eat. There's only one grill per table. You can see that, can't you?"

You're not blind, are you?

Those things in the two holes in your face are eyeballs, aren't they?

What's the point of forcing your way onto someone else's table?

"Zhenzhen, why don't you sit at our table instead?" Gu Chengwang spoke from behind Meng Zhenzhen, looking rather embarrassed.

Only then did Shi Yuan realize Gu Chengwang had returned at some point. Judging by appearances, he also knew Meng Zhenzhen.

Biting his lower lip, Meng Zhenzhen stubbornly told Shi Yuan, "I'll just sit here and eat. I won't bother either of you. Are you picking on me just because I said your clothes didn't look good yesterday? You're putting Brother Gu in an awkward position too."

Meng Zhenzhen still thought Shi Yuan and You Gui were members of the group.

After hearing that, Gu Chengwang understood. Apparently, the two had already had a disagreement. No wonder Shi Yuan, who seemed quite mild-mannered, treated Meng Zhenzhen so poorly.

He and Meng Zhenzhen weren't particularly close. A while back, they had worked on an audio drama together, voicing its first and second leads respectively. Gu Chengwang had heard that Meng Zhenzhen was a livestreamer who was supposedly doing fairly well on Magic Sound, and had invited him to join A Thousand Voices, a Hundred Turns. But deep down, Meng Zhenzhen looked down on audio dramas. He mostly voiced anime and sang insert songs. He had only taken this audio drama because the original novel was wildly popular. He had no chance of getting a role in its animated adaptation, so he accepted the audio drama to ride its popularity. Unfortunately, after it was finished and uploaded to Magic Sound, it barely made a splash.

Meng Zhenzhen had complained to Lu Hao that Gu Chengwang's voice acting was too amateurish and had dragged down the drama's rating. Afterward, he had kept little contact with him.

Gu Chengwang had been in the community for years and valued his privacy. Meng Zhenzhen had never seen him and assumed he was a middle-aged shut-in. Gu Chengwang, however, had watched Meng Zhenzhen's streams. He was petite and cute, with dimples beside his mouth when he smiled.

Gu Chengwang had had several lovers when he was younger. Now that he was approaching thirty, he had spent the past couple of years wanting to find someone he liked and settle down. Meng Zhenzhen's looks were exactly his type, and he had originally intended to try pursuing him.

But he was shrewd. Once he noticed Meng Zhenzhen's attitude, his interest cooled. He was a good catch, after all, and had no shortage of people throwing themselves at him. Why chase after someone so eagerly?

In the end, Meng Zhenzhen went over to share Gu Chengwang's table. He had no choice. Whatever he said, Shi Yuan treated him like thin air. If he kept up the performance, he would be overdoing it.

Running into Gu Chengwang was an unexpected bonus. Meng Zhenzhen had never imagined that the owner of a little Online Dubbing Community group would be such a catch. He couldn't lose something big over something trivial and leave Gu Chengwang with a bad impression. Apart from Lu Hao, having more options meant having more ways out.

When he went to the main table, Xiao Ying and Xiao Wen moved over to sit with Shi Yuan. Their rejection could hardly have been more obvious, and the others at Meng Zhenzhen's table began giving him strange looks.

Meng Zhenzhen secretly gritted his teeth and addressed Shi Yuan in a voice neither loud nor soft. "I was only joking about your outfit yesterday. I didn't expect you to buy new clothes today!"

He was insinuating that Shi Yuan was vain, but to his surprise, Xiao Ying took the conversation in another direction.

"I wanted to say this this morning. Your outfit looks so good!"

You Gui nodded in agreement. Even Gu Chengwang said appreciatively, "It really does suit you better than yesterday's outfit."

Gu Chengwang was a potential prospect for Meng Zhenzhen, whose expression instantly stiffened. He silently cursed himself for saying the wrong thing and drawing Gu Chengwang's attention to Shi Yuan.

Another girl asked, "Which mall did you buy it at? Do they have women's clothes? Give us a recommendation!"

Shi Yuan thought back. "It was a mall near Times Square. There was an eagle logo on it, but no mall name or signboard. I think it only had three floors."

"Is there a mall like that at Times Square? I don't think I've seen it." Everyone looked puzzled.

"Heh."

Feigning confusion, Meng Zhenzhen said, "I went shopping around Times Square yesterday too, but I didn't see any mall like that."

After speaking, he rolled up his sleeve to pick up some meat. A green jade bangle swung on his wrist, and everyone at the table was inevitably drawn to its translucence.

The girls in particular had almost no resistance to jewelry of such fine quality. Even Xiao Wen couldn't help taking a couple of extra looks.

Someone couldn't resist asking, "Zhenzhen, your bracelet's so pretty. It must have been expensive, right?"

"Yes, I just bought it downstairs. It cost over eighty thousand. It hurt after I bought it, but then I thought, isn't spending it on ourselves the whole point of earning money?" Many people agreed with him. Though they couldn't bear to spend that much on jewelry, spending money they had earned themselves felt wonderful. If Meng Zhenzhen earned that much, he was probably career-minded too. Some had actually watched his streams, and their impression of him improved considerably.

Xiao Ying rolled her eyes dramatically. "What's he showing off for? That rich, stupid trust-fund kid from yesterday probably bought it for him." Her casual remark happened to be the truth. After Lu Hao had left Meng Zhenzhen behind, Meng Zhenzhen had called him and cried. Lu Hao had softened and transferred a hundred thousand to him to buy jewelry.

Xiao Ying didn't believe him, but others did. One girl said, "There are so many luxury shops downstairs. If I hadn't come here for barbecue, I'd normally be too embarrassed to even look around."

Xiao Wen agreed and nodded repeatedly.

Meng Zhenzhen glanced toward their table and asked Xiao Wen curiously, "My friend spent two hundred thousand buying your ticket yesterday. That's so much money. Didn't you buy yourself anything? Even Shi Yuan bought new clothes." Apparently, he couldn't get through a sentence without bringing up Shi Yuan. Even Shi Yuan's own mother, when she was alive, hadn't paid him this much attention.

Two hundred thousand was no small sum, and everyone wanted to know whether it was true.

"Xiao Wen, really? What kind of ticket was worth that much?"

Xiao Wen had practically traded her dignity for that money. Her face paled at his words, and her lips moved without producing a sound.

"Even scalpers couldn't get tickets for last night," Shi Yuan said evenly. "Your rich boyfriend bought it willingly. The money belongs to Xiao Wen. She can spend it however she wants."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Meng Zhenzhen snapped. "Brother Lu is a good friend. Our relationship is purely platonic." After speaking, he glanced at Gu Chengwang out of the corner of his eye. Only when he saw no particular reaction did he relax.

Xiao Ying had disliked him for a while and shot back, "Who cares whether he's your friend? Just because you have money and like buying jewelry doesn't mean everyone else does. Our Xiao Wen is just modest and down-to-earth. What's wrong with that?"

"Modest and down-to-earth is good. I like quiet girls," Lin Yunan hurriedly declared.

Everyone caught on and immediately began teasing them, making both Lin Yunan and Xiao Wen blush.

Meng Zhenzhen secretly gritted his teeth. But without anyone beside him to help today, he was outnumbered and couldn't win an argument against Shi Yuan and Xiao Ying. He could only rein himself in and fall silent.

Wei Zelin came out of the private-dining Clubhouse alone, leaving the Wei Corporation staff in the private room to handle the others. Kuang Yuebin appeared from who knew where and followed him furtively.

"Brother Lin, since you're finally back for once, should we gather the shareholders for a meeting?"

Wei Zelin took out his phone to reply to Shi Yuan and said casually, "We certainly need to reassure them, but not now."

"I was getting ahead of myself. But with you so rarely showing up at the company, someone's getting close to losing patience," Kuang Yuebin said meaningfully.

Wei Zelin gave a faint smile. "That's exactly what I want. For him to show himself."

Kuang Yuebin froze, then understood.

Seeing Wei Zelin take out his car keys and head outside, Kuang Yuebin teased, "Brother Lin, are you going to see young Shi?"

Wei Zelin adjusted his new gold-rimmed glasses. At the mention of Shi Yuan, his eyes filled with tenderness. "I saw him this morning. I'm going to pick him up now. Don't pay too much attention to him. I'm dealing with trouble both inside and out right now, and I don't want him dragged into it."

Wei Zelin was an exceptionally patient man. He could have used some other excuse to keep Shi Yuan beside him, then confessed once everything was over. But what had happened between Shen Duo and You Gui had put him on his guard. Feelings were unpredictable. He couldn't allow even the slightest mishap between himself and Shi Yuan.

He understood one thing with absolute clarity: power, money, and schemes were merely tools for accomplishing his goals. But when Shi Yuan's importance outweighed the goal he had originally set, his first priority was to cast aside every distraction and wholeheartedly hold on to what mattered most to him.

Kuang Yuebin was stunned by the earnestness in his eyes. Hearing it from Wei Zelin himself made Shi Yuan's place in his heart much clearer.

His expression grew more serious, and his words lost their flippancy. "I understand, Brother Lin."

Before getting into the car, Wei Zelin patted Kuang Yuebin's shoulder. "Yuebin, thank you and Sister Pan for all your hard work over the years. Just wait a little longer. The Wei Family's affairs will be settled soon..."