Chapter 15
Ding Qizhen got out of the car to retrieve his phone. As he passed Lin Xingcan, he steadied the situation between both sides. “Don’t be scared, okay? We’re Xia Fengsheng’s friends.”
Looking at Shi Ye’s car, Lin Xingcan swallowed.
Since when did Xia Fengsheng have such outrageously wealthy friends?
Shi Ye got out of the car and came to stand in front of Xia Fengsheng, separating the two of them. He asked Lin Xingcan, “You and him are coworkers?”
A smile appeared on Lin Xingcan’s face. “That’s right.”
Shi Ye muttered unhappily, “Who hugs and drapes themselves all over their coworkers? Liu Bei and Zhang Fei didn’t act like that anyway.”
Lin Xingcan: ?
What kind of gibberish was he mumbling?
Ding Qizhen was practically Bolt’s equal, dashing inside to get the phone and dashing back out just as fast.
It had been a long time since he had run this quickly.
The last time was probably in kindergarten, participating in Baby Big Steps Charge Forward.
“Let’s go.” This time Ding Qizhen did not forget to bring Xia Fengsheng along. “Come with us. It’s rush hour right now—getting a taxi won’t be easy.”
Looking at the queue on his phone, Xia Fengsheng did not refuse this time.
After Xia Fengsheng got into the car, Lin Xingcan struggled internally for a while, then still stepped forward and knocked on the window.
The window rolled down.
Shi Ye spoke first: “What.”
Like a dog guarding a bone.
Ding Qizhen stuffed his dog head back in. “The man just wants to say two words.”
Xia Fengsheng looked at Lin Xingcan. “What is it?”
Resting one hand against the car window, Lin Xingcan asked, “Are you coming to Friday’s gathering?”
Xia Fengsheng was his strongest competitor. Now that the other man had lost his memory and forgotten all the tricks of the vanity fair, logically speaking, he should no longer be his opponent.
But everything was afraid of that one just in case.
Xia Fengsheng asked him, “What gathering?”
He really did not know the time of the next business discussion. Because of his amnesia and his persistence in harassing his advisor, Yang Liwan had not contacted him proactively at all.
And since he had not been informed, that meant there had been no intention of bringing him in the first place.
“Nothing.” Lin Xingcan did not say more.
It would be best if Xia Fengsheng did not come. If he were brought along to show his face, Lin Xingcan had plenty of ways to make sure the business on their side would never get done.
Night had fallen. Inside the car, the lighting was dim and quiet, filled only with the sound of the vehicle in motion.
Xia Fengsheng’s vision blurred, black mist gradually covering his sight. He pulled out his phone, and when the screen lit up, his eyes felt a little better.
The drive back to school would take twenty minutes. Bored, he started scrolling through media apps to pass the time.
The app was still in standby mode, so the moment he opened it, it went straight to Shi Ye’s account page.
Account: S
Before turning back earlier, Shi Ye had followed himself using Xia Fengsheng’s phone right before leaving.
WB, Instagram, short-video apps—everywhere it was Shi Ye’s page. As Xia Fengsheng scrolled, he discovered Shi Ye had quite a lot of followers.
Altogether, nearly ten million.
His posting frequency was once a month, or even longer than that. Usually he just shared photos.
Locations from all over the world.
He knew how to take pictures, and he photographed himself especially well too. Clean, crisp compositions. Efficient angles. Even his style of clothing changed according to the setting.
The difference in family background between the two of them was heaven and earth. While Xia Fengsheng had once been holed up in a cheap rental room with leaking water and no heating, grinding away at graduate entrance exam prep, Shi Ye had blown across the world like a free wind.
In one photo, he stood inside a hot-air balloon, with vast, boundless scenery spreading out behind him. The bright, vigorous, flourishing force of life on him was dazzling to the point it could not be looked at directly.
A face that drew adoration. A naturally gifted body. A carefree environment. More money than he could ever spend. And above all, he lacked no love. The amount of love he received was beyond imagination. Almost everyone loved him.
Admire him, envy him, want to become him.
Little by little, Xia Fengsheng scrolled through Shi Ye’s photos, looking through them at all the corners of the world he himself had never been to.
*
The whole ride, Shi Ye had been in a foul mood. Back in high school, when the two of them were dating, Xia Fengsheng never slung his arms around other people like that.
Out of sheer anger, Shi Ye ignored him the entire way while driving him back to school.
After dropping Xia Fengsheng off, Shi Ye drove over to the hotel where Ding Qizhen was staying. Since Ding Qizhen was flying abroad the next day, the two of them chatted in the car for a while.
As they chatted, Shi Ye also looked at his phone.
Account 1111222 visited your homepage.
Ding Qizhen was rambling beside him nonstop. “You have no idea how awful the food is over there.”
“If a Chinese restaurant could open right under my apartment building, I’d kneel down and kowtow in all four directions with loud bangs.”
“Sigh, who knows when I’ll be back next time. Probably New Year. Brother, don’t miss me too much.”
“Alright then, it’s getting late. Drive slowly. I’m heading up first.”
Ding Qizhen unfastened his seatbelt and twisted around to open the car door, only for his shoulder to be suddenly caught.
“Wait.”
Ding Qizhen turned back. “What now?”
Shi Ye handed his phone over to him. “Take a few pictures of me before you go.”
Ding Qizhen took the phone. “Oh.”
There was a pure kind of stupidity shining in Ding Qizhen’s eyes.
He had no idea this was the beginning of a nightmare.
By the time he finally got out of the car again, a whole hour had passed.
Twisted up in the passenger seat like a braided dough stick, he had spent an entire hour taking pictures of Shi Ye.
How was this peacock still not satisfied no matter how he was photographed?
He thought it was over after taking the coat-on shots. Who knew that after taking off the coat, Shi Ye still wanted more shots in the black turtleneck underneath.
With arms exposed, without arms exposed, side profile, not side profile.
Three hundred photos in total.
After taking the phone back to inspect them, Shi Ye asked Ding Qizhen, “Do you think they have tension?”
The interior of the car was lit by a dim yellow lamp. Shi Ye knew very well how to pose and how to show off his own charm. The light fell from above, making the muscles across his chest stand out in clear lines. His sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, the veins faintly visible beneath the lighting. A luxury watch sat on his strong wrist, and below that were firm thighs wrapped in suit pants.
Compared with his body, overflowing with raw hormones, it was his eyes that were even more arresting.
As if he were looking right through the lens at you, and the next second you would hear his whisper beside your ear.
Looking at Shi Ye’s thirst-trap photos, Ding Qizhen commented, “You look like you work in that kind of business.”
Having received a satisfactory answer, Ding Qizhen was finally released.
After sitting there that long, his butt was about to die!
If Shi Ye did not use these photos, then even if he were overseas, Ding Qizhen would deliberately fly back just to make him post them.
Best if he uploaded them tomorrow.
After returning to the hotel, Ding Qizhen washed up, set an alarm, and collapsed into bed for a good night’s sleep.
The next day, he packed his luggage and took a private car to the airport, refreshing Shi Ye’s Instagram and short-video account nonstop the whole way.
Why hadn’t he posted yet? Why hadn’t he posted yet?
He went through security and sat down in the VIP lounge, and still there was no movement. Only when boarding was about to begin did Shi Ye’s social media finally show an update.
It was the single best, most sexually charged photo that Ding Qizhen had contorted himself into knots to capture for him in the car the night before.
Ding Qizhen felt very satisfied—until he saw the caption Shi Ye had paired with it.
“Just a casual shot.”
“……”
Moonlit night, a little after ten. More than three hundred photos.
And you call it just a casual shot—I practically snapped my wrist off for you.
The moment Shi Ye’s social media updated, likes and comments poured in.
“S was born, and someone asked the nurse if it was a boy or a girl. The nurse smiled shyly: It’s a husband.”
“Some people are just born husband material.”
“S, open the door, I’m M.”
“S finally updated, missed you.”
“God, god, those pecs and thighs are so sexy!”
“The missing person has returned. Please keep updating from now on too.”
“Don’t look at me like that, you’re making me think we’re in a relationship.”
Compared to the praise flooding international social apps, the comments from people in his own country were far more grounded.
“So you posted photos to seduce me, got it, take my VX.”
“S, maybe delete them. I’m scared the anti-porn sweep will take you away.”
“These are the kinds of photos that give humans the strength to keep earning a living.”
“S, when you took these photos, did your family know?”
“These photos are making people’s hearts all yellow.”
“Why are you suddenly this hot? Did your crush visit your homepage?”
*
Xia Fengsheng woke up early in the morning at seven. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he sat at the computer and began analyzing and organizing stock-market trends.
Knock knock knock—
Someone knocked on the door. Xia Fengsheng got up and walked over, but did not open it immediately.
“Who is it?”
“Classmate Xia, it’s Li Ziji.”
Xia Fengsheng searched his memory. There was indeed a classmate named Li Ziji, so he opened the door.
But once it was open, he found that outside was not only Li Ziji, but several other classmates too—four or five in total.
Li Ziji, who stood in front, was carrying a fruit basket. “Classmate Xia, we heard you lost your memory, so we all came together to visit you.”
The advisor had said so.
And when visiting Xia Fengsheng, they absolutely, absolutely had to bring a fruit basket.
