Let's talk

Pei Yang's pupils contracted slightly. Someone had taken a liking to him? Who?

Feng Wanting's handsome face immediately sprang to mind.

Who else among the higher-ups at FK headquarters could it be but Feng Wanting?

"You should have some idea." Lan Shuang stared at Pei Yang. "I don't know how you managed to meet a higher-up at headquarters and win his favor."

"But Yangyang, since we've known each other this long, I have to remind you that rich people's affections never last. He might like you today, but tomorrow he could like someone else."

"I know you're aloof and proud, and you might consider asking for favors beneath you." Lan Shuang stopped in front of Pei Yang again and looked him in the eye. "But you still need to plan for your future. Why not make good use of him while he still likes you and get something out of it?"

Pei Yang said, "..."

Feng Wanting liked him? How had a rumor like that started?

He and Feng Wanting had only... only slept together twice. With Feng Wanting's family background, living in a three-story mansion where an ordinary guest room was bigger than Pei Yang's entire rented apartment, the people and things Feng Wanting had been exposed to all his life were beyond anything Pei Yang could aspire to. Why would Feng Wanting like him? What was there to like?

His shabby appearance, his unsmiling face, or... this body?

"Boss Lan, you must have gotten it wrong. It's just gossip from headquarters."

Feng Wanting couldn't possibly like him.

"We'll know whether I'm wrong once you try," Lan Shuang said. "I want you to mention to him that you'd like FK Exhibitions to relocate its office, right next door to the group's headquarters. Tell him it would make seeing him easier."

Pei Yang frowned. "Why should I do that?"

"For the company's future. We're severely limited right now. Working out in the middle of nowhere like this, when will we ever get ahead?"

"But I'm just an ordinary employee." Pei Yang turned to leave. "Something as grand as the company's future shouldn't fall on my shoulders."

"Yangyang." Lan Shuang stopped him. "I'm not asking you to make it happen. I'm just asking you to mention it to 'him.' Whether he takes it to heart or actually does anything about it, I know that's beyond your control. But as long as you bring it up, I'll make you the lead planner for this project."

Pei Yang turned back indignantly. "You already announced Yin Sufang as the lead planner in front of all those people. If you replace him with me now, whose face are you slapping-his or mine?"

"I'll find a reason to call another meeting. You do have the ability. I'll just say you have an edge over Yin Sufang. Who would dare gossip?"

"I lost my chance to lead this project when I was late to the meeting. I'm not going to fight Yin Sufang for it now. You don't need to give me this opportunity."

Lan Shuang narrowed her eyes in surprise. "I thought you and Yin Sufang never got along. I assumed you'd enjoy humiliating him like this."

"I can't agree with your thinking, Boss Lan." Raising someone up, only to pull strings behind their back and knock them down, was utterly pointless. Pei Yang disliked it, especially when he imagined being treated that way himself. The thought alone left him struggling to breathe.

"I still have work to do. If there's nothing else, I'll head out." He left without hesitation.

When he returned to the main office, the people around his desk had dispersed, though he still heard whispers along the way.

Pei Yang sat down at his workstation with his expression unchanged and got on with his work.

"How did it go?" Holding his insulated flask, Yin Sufang spoke slowly. "Did Lan give you another chance to present your proposal?"

"Huh?" Pei Yang glanced around. "How did you know Boss Lan would give me another chance to present it?"

"Isn't that normal?" Yin Sufang said casually. "You and I have always been evenly matched at work. We just specialize in different areas. If anyone else had shown up late to such an important meeting, forget another chance-they might not even keep their job. But you're Pei Yang. Lan values talent. Of course she'd still want to hear your proposal."

"But I was late in the first place," Pei Yang asked. "If Boss Lan really gave me that chance and snatched the prize away when it was practically yours, could you accept that?"

"Pei Yang, don't get so fucking cocky. It's just a chance to explain your proposal, not handing you the project on a platter." Yin Sufang lifted his chin smugly. "I'm very confident in my proposal this time. You can't beat me."

"..."

For some reason, Pei Yang hadn't disliked Yin Sufang quite so much lately.

He had even begun to see him in a different light.

He had always thought Yin Sufang loved showing off and gloating, always opposing him at every turn, competitive and unwilling to back down. But compared with Song Yixiao and Xia Jingmo, Yin Sufang actually had principles and boundaries. He seemed to be someone with a sharp tongue but a soft heart.

No, that wasn't right. Song Yixiao and Xia Jingmo didn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Yin Sufang.

Pei Yang's lips curved into a genuine smile.

The strange smile on Pei Yang's face gave Yin Sufang goosebumps. "Have you lost your mind? What's with all the stupid smiling lately?"

"Nothing." Pei Yang rubbed his ear. "Late is late. I don't need Boss Lan to give me this chance. This project is yours, but the next one might not be. Yin Sufang, we've got plenty of time."

Yin Sufang gave a disdainful snort. "I'll get to headquarters first and wait for you there."

After avoiding the issue all day, Pei Yang had no choice but to open WeChat after work and figure out how to deal with Feng Wanting.

His chat history with Feng Wanting still ended with a five-minute, seventeen-second voice call in the early hours of the morning and a bar location he hadn't sent himself.

Feng Wanting had said this was the second time, his technique had improved, and Pei Yang needed to pay more.

Pei Yang wanted to protest the injustice, but there was nowhere to appeal. At least he had been conscious the first time. Though the beginning had been less than ideal, and his back and waist had ached for a week afterward... it had felt good during the act. The second time was a different story. He had drunk so much that he remembered nothing and hadn't felt a thing. All he'd gotten upon waking was an aching back and waist.

Yet he had to pay even more for the second time.

What kind of world was this...?

Pei Yang heaved a long inward sigh. In all his life, he had never encountered anything like this, leaving him at a complete loss, with nothing he could do.

Pei Yang did a quick calculation. The suite last time had cost 6,800. He had paid 800, leaving 6,000. They had opened a box of condoms, so that was another fifty. The prostitution fee... Why did "prostitution fee" sound so strange? Whatever. Two thousand for that. This time they had done it at Feng Wanting's home, saving the room charge, but he had to pay more for the sex. With two thousand as the baseline, how much more should he add? A thousand...?

That meant he now owed Feng Wanting a total of 11,050.

Pei Yang actually pulled out two strands of his own hair, steeled himself, and tapped the transfer button.

Two nights of pleasure in a moment of foolishness had cost him an entire month's salary.

Pei Yang had just entered the amount when a new message popped up at the top of the screen.

Feng Wanting: [You're off work now, right? Want to talk?]

Pei Yang's heart immediately began to race.

Ding- The elevator reached the ground floor.

Phone in hand, Pei Yang walked out of the office building. As he was considering how to reply to Feng Wanting, he spotted an unwelcome visitor at the foot of the curved steps.

"Yangyang." Song Yixiao's eyes were red, and he looked much more haggard. Tilting his head up, he said, "Let's talk."