Just then, Jiang Gechen had another thought. Had Xia Shule deliberately gone over to Yan Zhiyi because he knew they were at odds?
All the signs suggested he had done all this because of Jiang Gechen.
"Go on. Let's hear how big this news is." Jiang Gechen looked positively gleeful.
Qin Dong had only managed to secure a partnership with Shengshi because his father knew Su Jin. Yan Zhiyi had stepped back from the company long ago. Shengshi was effectively independent now, and Su Jin was merely doing his father a favor.
"Don't freak out when I tell you. This really is huge news, so don't brush it off." Qin Dong's jaw had nearly hit the floor when he heard the bombshell.
Yet Jiang Gechen clearly looked amused and unconcerned.
"Go ahead. I'm ready."
"Shengshi has a new chairman." Qin Dong wore a mysterious expression, with a hint of pride.
He was proud to be the only one who knew. Just imagining how shocked Jiang Gechen would look when he heard made him happy.
Song Dimu, who had been zoning out on the nearby couch, heard the mention of Shengshi's chairman and couldn't help thinking, You guys are awfully late to the news.
Song Dimu secretly gloated.
Jiang Gechen laughed outright at the news. "Has the great President Yan fallen on hard times?"
"Hey! Not at all!" Qin Dong wagged a finger mysteriously, gesturing with his eyes toward the wedding invitation on the table. "You know your former lapdog Xia Shule is getting married, right? To that uncle you hate most, no less."
"Your uncle gave Shengshi to his new little husband as a wedding present!"
"What!" Jiang Gechen shot to his feet, sending his chair skidding backward.
Disbelief covered his face. He had only just begun to catch up with Shengshi, yet Yan Zhiyi had casually given it away?
And Xia Shule-how could Xia Shule...
There had to be some shady deal involved. "They must have made some sort of private deal. Why else would he give Shengshi to Xia Shule?"
"Oh, come on, President Yan doesn't care about one company..."
A person's emotional intelligence was never sharper than in the instant after something left their mouth, when they realized they had said the wrong thing...
Qin Dong hastily clamped his mouth shut. Damn it, how had he forgotten that Jiang Gechen was constantly competing with Yan Zhiyi and wanted to bring President Yan down within ten years?
This was precisely the year Jiang Gechen, the rising business star, had caught up with Shengshi... What the hell was Qin Dong saying?
Saying President Yan didn't care about Shengshi was basically saying that all Jiang Gechen's hard work meant nothing to him, wasn't it?
Watching Jiang Gechen's face grow darker, Qin Dong broke out in a cold sweat down his back. He admitted he was a coward. At a time like this, retreat was the best strategy!
"I think I've got something to take care of. I'll get going!" He glanced back at Song Dimu with sympathy. I'm so sorry. "Hang in there, bro-in-law!"
Song Dimu darted a glance at Jiang Gechen. You lunatic, please don't lose your mind again.
In a flash, Jiang Gechen cleared the already sparsely covered table yet again.
He swept everything off it in one swipe.
Song Dimu thought, All right, here we go again.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Gechen didn't continue his rampage. Instead, he hauled Song Dimu up from the couch and strode outside.
Song Dimu couldn't help asking, mostly because he was afraid Jiang Gechen would go make trouble for Xia Shule right now, "Where are we going?"
Jiang Gechen didn't look back. "To get you a custom suit. We need to make an impression at Xia Shule's wedding."
It probably wouldn't be as simple as making an impression.
Xia Shule hadn't paid much attention to celebrities before, but after taking over Shengshi, he had inexplicably wanted to take a look. He had been diligently swimming through a sea of gossip, from feuds between fandoms to the covert scheming between stars.
This was his first real glimpse of the turmoil in the entertainment industry.
Then again, even Du Jianhao had managed to get shoehorned into it. Apparently, nothing was impossible in the entertainment industry.
He just wondered how they were doing now.
After that day, he had put the word out. Anyone who dared hire Du Tong or Du Jianhao would be going against him, Xia Shule, and going against him was the same as going against the Xia Corporation.
Those companies wouldn't tell the two of them that Xia Shule was the reason they weren't being hired. They would generally find some random excuse to send them on their way.
And Xia Shule had no shortage of underhanded tricks, especially when working with Xiang Lin. The two were perfectly in sync.
Once the uncle and nephew from the Du Family reached the point of despair, Xiang Lin would take them in, and then...
The mere thought made him want to laugh, so Xia Shule chuckled aloud as he looked at his phone.
Yan Zhiyi was blowing on Xia Shule's hot tea. Hearing his laughter, he turned to look at him.
He was just about to ask what Xia Shule was laughing at when an outrageously loud voice interrupted him. It belonged to one person, but it sounded as though a dozen had arrived.
There was no need to look to know who that loudspeaker was...
"Ha!" Lai Jiangtian flung the door open and scanned the room. "Where's Yin Xian? Not here yet, right? Hahaha, I knew it! There's no way he'd beat me here."
The moment he saw Xia Shule, his face became wildly animated again. "Ohhh, it's you! I saw you that day. You two were already hooking up then, weren't you?"
"I knew it! That bartender wasn't one of the Yan Residence's staff, and then old Yan rushed off in a panic. So he was worried about you and went looking for you, huh?"
Xia Shule looked at Yan Zhiyi inquiringly, as though asking, Was that what happened?
He had always assumed the gardener had been assigned some other task, such as cleaning the rooms, and had accidentally walked into the room and found him.
Even after learning that he was President Yan, Xia Shule hadn't given the matter any further thought.
So he had actually come because he noticed something was wrong?
Yan Zhiyi frowned at Lai Jiangtian, then nodded to Xia Shule.
Unable to stop the corners of his mouth from lifting, Xia Shule picked up his phone and resumed scrolling to hide it.
A trending topic caught his attention, and he immersed himself in the gossip. This time, he could keep his smile under control without even trying to hide it.
[A rundown of the illicit relationships between a popular young actor and his boss.]
He tapped it and saw two familiar names: Xu Suidong, whom he had met today, and Shengshi's CEO, Su Jin.
Was this for real? There was actually something going on between them? Intrigued, Xia Shule tapped through, intending to take a look.
The door opened again, followed by the noisy voices of two people.
Xia Shule had to set his phone down beside his leg for the moment and watch Yin Xian and Lai Jiangtian trade jabs.
"Well, well, well! Didn't you say you were already driving over? How come you still took so long?"
Faced with Lai Jiangtian's obnoxiously provocative expression, Yin Xian really wanted to hit him. "Me? I wasn't in any hurry to begin with. Not everyone's like you."
Yin Xian looked over. One glance at the boy's face made it clear that he was very young, with delicate, youthful features. Just as Lai Jiangtian had said, he was seriously fucking gorgeous!
"Hello, I'm Yin Xian. Forgive me for asking, but how old are you?" Please don't be underage. That would make old Yan a criminal!
Xia Shule smiled brightly. "Hello, I'm Xia Shule. I'm twenty, or twenty-one by traditional age reckoning. Yin Xian, you don't have to talk to me like I'm a child."
"Oh, hahaha! I thought you were..." Underage.
Beside Xia Shule, out of his view, the trending list on his phone was wiped clean in an instant, leaving no trace of Xu Suidong or Su Jin.
Gone without a trace...