Chapter 56: Transmigrated as a Cheapskate Phoenix Man (56)
Pei Zhuo mysteriously felt that Yu Jinheng’s words carried a double meaning, yet when he looked over again, he found the man already looking down at the tablet in his hands, as if his earlier remark had merely been uttered in passing.
Guess I’m overthinking it, Pei Zhuo thought to himself, instantly feeling at ease once more.
From where Cen Yu was seated, he could see the top of Yu Jinheng’s head. When the two spoke earlier, they hadn’t deliberately lowered their voices, so he naturally overheard their conversation as well.
—That bodyguard actually got injured? There’s actually such a coincidence?
Unlike Pei Zhuo, Cen Yu had read the novel and naturally knew that Yu Jinheng possessed an exceptionally deep, calculating mind, almost never saying anything meaningless.
Besides, since when had he ever been interested in Pei Zhuo’s bodyguard? He’d bet the man didn’t even remember what Pei Zhuo’s bodyguard looked like in the first place.
Yet no matter how much he wracked his brain, he couldn’t figure out the reason why Yu Jinheng had gone out of his way to ask that question, so he could only temporarily categorize it under:
The lunatic is having another episode.
“…You met him before?” Noticing that Yu Jinheng and Pei Zhuo were seated directly in front of the two of them, Sang Qianshan lowered his voice to inquire.
He could naturally pick up on Yu Jinheng’s familiarity with Cen Yu, as well as Cen Yu’s subtle attitude of fear and resistance.
—If nothing had happened, given Cen Yu’s “afraid of nothing under heaven, completely full of himself” attitude (which Sang Qianshan considered a compliment), he shouldn’t be acting so cautious around Yu Jinheng.
“…Ah, yeah.”
Being asked this out of nowhere, Cen Yu responded a bit slowly. He cast a sympathetic glance at Sang Qianshan, thinking to himself:
My boy Zihan here got excluded and missed out on the small gathering!
After all, apart from him, all the other love-interest male leads had shown up at the scene for the romantic rivalry showdown!
He cast a meaningful glance at Sang Qianshan. “…Yeah, I met Little Yu’s elder brother.”
Sang Qianshan knit his brows. “Where did you guys go?”
There was no way he’d believe Yu Jinheng would go anywhere cheap, but Cen Yu was so stingy that it was utterly impossible for him to visit any high-end venue… At this moment, suddenly morphing into a Sherlock Holmes deducing an affair from a single photo, he practically arrived at the answer instantly.
“Yu Xinyu took you there?”
He frowned at Sang Qianshan. “Where did he take you?”
Cen Yu savored Sang Qianshan’s slightly annoyed attitude for a moment before telling him, “We went to soak in a hot spring.”
“Hot spring?!” Sang Qianshan almost failed to restrain himself, his voice raising a notch.
It instantly drew the attention of the others—for instance, Pei Zhuo turned his head to cast him a glance, while Yu Huaining and his friend over there were sneakily peeking at him too.
“…Jealous?” Cen Yu tested the waters, asking casually.
He wanted to see if a little spark had already ignited between Sang Qianshan and Yu Xinyu.
Of course, considering the degree to which Yu Xinyu and Sang Qianshan mutually wished to hack each other to death, calculating that as a spark wouldn’t be a little flame—it’d be a full-blown forest fire.
“Jealous?!” Sang Qianshan seemed caught off guard by Cen Yu’s shocking words.
He looked at Cen Yu stuttering awkwardly, his ears turning visibly red. “…Why would I be jealous… You and I aren’t even…”
Seeing that Sang Qianshan was already jumping to conclusions about the two of them, Cen Yu hurriedly cut off his train of thought—
“Heh, I meant jealous of your good friend.” He immediately washed his hands of it. “Angry that we didn’t bring you along when we went out to play, right?”
Hearing this, Sang Qianshan knit his brows slightly. He wanted to refute Cen Yu—he wasn’t angry because a friend went out to play without bringing him along, but because of who he chose as his partner.
Yet just as he was about to speak, he realized he didn’t even know the true reason behind his own anger, feeling somewhat bewildered instead. In the end, he refrained from saying anything, merely joking, “Then take me along next time.”
Yu Jinheng looked at the message Yu Xinyu had sent on his tablet. Since the plane hadn’t taken off yet, he glanced through it a few times before switching the screen.
Overhearing the conversation between the two behind him, he didn’t look up, merely staring at his screen—
“Silly dog.”
Pei Zhuo caught Yu Jinheng’s words and briefly suspected he had misheard.
When he turned his head to check, however, he found the man still staring at what appeared to be financial reports, so he quickly shifted his eyes away, not daring to look any longer.
Over on that end, Sang Qianshan was still inquiring about what kind of hot spring it was, wanting to visit next time as well.
Cen Yu simply gave him a general overview of what happened that day. When Sang Qianshan heard that aside from the Yu brothers and Qiang Yuanqing as the host, both Pei Zhuo and Lou Baichuan were present as well, his composure completely shattered.
“…I’m the only one who wasn’t there?” Sang Qianshan asked.
“It’s fine, Zihan my boy. Next time we won’t bring them along to play either,” Cen Yu said with a chuckle.
While chatting, Cen Yu suddenly noticed another person walking past in the cabin, sitting down in the single seat to his left.
…Cen Yu didn’t pay it much mind at first, but once he realized who it was, he immediately turned his head to look to his left.
The person beside him seemed to notice Cen Yu right at that moment as well. After taking off his coat post-seating, he raised his brows in mild surprise—
“What a coincidence.”
“…” Cen Yu looked at Lou Baichuan’s surprised expression. “…Yeah, what a coincidence.”
Lou Baichuan caught sight of Sang Qianshan beside Cen Yu, as if only just realizing they were filming a reality show, offering a restrained nod. “Then I won’t disrupt your work.”
Knowing that Sang Qianshan hadn’t planned on turning on the GoPro before takeoff, Cen Yu made a half-joking, half-serious remark while there was still some time left—
“Brother Chuan didn’t come to drag me back to work, right?”
“I asked for leave in advance.”
Lou Baichuan actually let out a light laugh. “I approved your leave myself, so of course I didn’t forget.” Perhaps for the sake of long-distance flight comfort, he hadn’t worn his usual three-piece suit today either, replacing it with a somewhat more casual outfit.
“I just happen to have an appointment.”
Resting his head on one hand, Yu Jinheng listened for a short while before lazily turning his head to look at Lou Baichuan.
Meeting his gaze, Lou Baichuan merely gave a nod.
“Brother Jinheng.”
“I didn’t expect us to meet again so soon,” Yu Jinheng said.
“I indeed didn’t expect Brother Jinheng to join a reality show either,” Lou Baichuan said with a smile. “When Little Yu told me back then, I thought he was joking. After all, Brother Jinheng is different from us—having already inherited the family business, I assumed you wouldn’t have time to play this kind of kids’ house game.”
Laying his tablet aside after turning off the screen, Yu Jinheng remarked, “After all, in this digital information era, utilizing various promotional means is a good thing.”
He looked at Lou Baichuan. “I just fear that some people might be restless, constantly wanting to stir up trouble.”
Listening from behind, Cen Yu was left with a head full of question marks.
—No, wait, Big Bro! When on earth did I ever tell you that Yu Jinheng was going to join a reality show?!
You were clearly the one who broke the news first back at the villa, okay!
