Feng Chuxun

Xia Jingmo left, their conversation ending on a sour note.

Pei Yang stood forlornly in the doorway. The old apartment building had no elevator, and they were on the sixth floor, so Xia Jingmo could only carry his luggage down one step at a time.

Pei Yang felt awful. He had few friends and genuinely tried hard to maintain every relationship, to keep people from leaving, but things never seemed to turn out quite as he hoped.

After closing the door, he took out his phone, its screen still lit. Two notifications telling him that his transfers had expired and been refunded left him at a loss.

It was only a one-night stand. If he could let it go, it really wasn't such a big deal. They were young and hot-blooded, drawn to each other's beautiful bodies, and had indulged themselves for a night. One day, they could be tender and passionate, kissing each other's most vulnerable places; the next, they could say goodbye and never meet again. That was clearly the best way to end things.

But Pei Yang had never been lucky. The first time he acted on impulse, the first time he let his emotions take over, the first time he did something as sordid as having a one-night stand, he ended up with someone who wouldn't let go.

Still, it should have been easy to resolve. He could pay to make the trouble go away. All Feng Wanting had to do was accept the money, and neither of them would owe the other anything. After deleting and blocking each other, they could get on with their own lives. Feng Wanting could remain the chairman everyone watched and no one could hope to reach, while he went back to commuting between work and home, an utterly ordinary employee working in the field he knew best.

Pei Yang stared at his phone screen, sighed softly, and typed: [Director Feng, I don't quite understand what you mean.]

The message vanished into the void. No reply came.

For the umpteenth time, Lu Yu turned up uninvited in Feng Wanting's office.

Feng Wanting had actually grown somewhat used to it. He sat down at his desk with his usual expression and casually asked her, "Has your hospital run out of business?"

Lu Yu's expression stiffened. "You must be joking. All the patients in our hospital put together aren't as important as you."

"Your hospital ranks its patients by importance?" Feng Wanting looked up and asked coldly.

"I'm sorry." Lu Yu immediately caught herself. "That came out wrong. Of course every patient matters. I visit so often because you're the patient I'm primarily responsible for."

Feng Wanting propped his cheek lazily on one hand and opened a proposal, intending to split his attention between the two. "Get to the point."

"Here's the thing." Worried she might say something wrong again, Lu Yu chose her words carefully before speaking. "I came to ask about the message you sent, Director Feng: 'The medicinal catalyst won't cooperate.' What did you mean by that? Is it what I think it means?"

"Exactly what it says." Feng Wanting's gaze paused over the proposal. "The man you call a 'medicinal catalyst' is determined to stay away from me and forget me. I can't force him."

"You can force him!" Lu Yu said urgently. "Look at who you are-the Feng Family's second young master, the chairman of FK Group. You're young and capable, handsome and rich. I don't believe anyone would still want to stay away after learning everything you have to offer."

Her words cut Feng Wanting deeply. He shook his head slightly and asked, "And what if such a person does exist?"

"You can always use your super-buying power!"

Feng Wanting raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Hm?"

"As in, buy him over with money!"

Feng Wanting: "..."

"Come here." He beckoned to Lu Yu.

Lu Yu hurried over at once.

Feng Wanting switched back to his personal WeChat account and only then noticed the unread message.

[Director Feng, I don't quite understand what you mean.]

He opened his chat with Pei Yang and stared at the new message for a few seconds without replying, then scrolled up through their chat history to show Lu Yu.

"He earns less than twenty thousand a month. We booked the room together and slept in the same bed, but he transferred almost a month's salary to me just to get rid of me." Feng Wanting asked, "Do you think someone like that would become a 'medicinal catalyst' for money?"

Feng Wanting only let Lu Yu glance at the transfer records. She couldn't make out their conversation, but with her exceptional memory and sharp eyes, she managed to remember the contact name: "Pei Yang."

"So you've given up?"

"I have."

"..." Lu Yu heaved a deep sigh. "Director Feng, you've had this condition for so long without making any progress. Now that you've finally had a major breakthrough, are you sure you want to give up just like that? If you're having trouble communicating with the medicinal catalyst, please give me his contact information. As your psychologist, I can explain it to him professionally..."

"Lu Yu," Feng Wanting warned. "You're too eager for results. I don't want to disrupt a normal person's life because of my condition. If you approach him, all you'll do is threaten him or try to buy him off."

"I..."

"Enough." Feng Wanting held out his palm, signaling for her to stop. "If there's nothing else, please leave."

Lu Yu parted her lips but ultimately said nothing. She nodded and left, repeatedly glancing back.

For three minutes after Lu Yu left, Feng Wanting kept reading the proposal in his hands. Only when he reached the last page did he realize he hadn't taken in a single word.

"No one gets to sail through life without trouble! You have things other people could spend their entire lives chasing and never obtain, so you ought to bear this! Feng Wanting! This is your fate! The fate that comes with your surname!"

For a time, those words from Feng Gui had been the nightmare Feng Wanting least wanted to mention. But years had passed since that memory, and he hadn't thought of it in a long while. Now it suddenly forced its way into his mind, buzzing in his ears like a fly that refused to die.

He had still been young then. How had he answered?

"Then I'll show you just how smoothly I can sail through life."

The boomerang had struck him square between the eyes. At thirty-two, Feng Wanting smiled and finally understood the words he had once scoffed at.

Life really couldn't be smooth sailing all the way.

He opened his chat with Pei Yang again. The other man's messages, cold and distant and so eager to draw a line between them, made his chest feel as though tens of thousands of tightly packed needles were piercing it.

Feng Wanting tapped his profile picture, then the three dots in the upper right corner, then the red words "Delete contact." His movements were so smooth and natural, as though he felt not the slightest reluctance.

Only when a confirmation window popped up did Feng Wanting seem to wake from a dream. He locked his phone and returned to the proposal.

He had barely managed to focus on two words when his phone burst into an urgent ringtone. Feng Wanting quickly put down what he was holding and answered, his heart giving two hard beats in time with the ringing.

It was the special ringtone he had set for the nanny at home. She wouldn't call unless something important had happened.

"Auntie Tian, what is it?"

"Director Feng, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to come home." Behind Tian Yun's voice came the heart-wrenching cries of a little boy. "The young master hasn't seen you in too long. He's had nightmares two nights in a row. I was worried you were busy, so I didn't tell you, but today I really can't soothe him. He keeps demanding to see his daddy."

"Please give the phone to Xile." Hearing those cries broke Feng Wanting's heart, but he kept his voice steady.

"All right." On the other end, Tian Yun coaxed him, "Xile, be a good boy and stop crying. Listen. Who's this?"

Feng Chuxun was sobbing so hard he hiccupped. In his soft little child's voice, he asked, "Is... is that Daddy?"

Every cell in Feng Wanting's body tightened at the sound of that voice. He immediately took his car keys from the drawer and headed for the office door, speaking gently into the phone. "It's Daddy. Be good, Xile. Daddy's coming home right now."