After work that day, Chu Zhi very seriously warned Lu Jiaheng: “Lu Jiaheng, you better be nice to me, I’m in high demand right now.”
Lu Jiaheng was driving and didn’t look at her, lazily responding with a “Mm” while watching the road: “How so?”
“Someone tried to flirt with me when I came to work this morning. They want to have an office romance with me.”
Lu Jiaheng glanced at her sideways and gave a bland “Oh,” without any other extreme reaction.
Chu Zhi waited for a while.
He still didn’t say anything.
Chu Zhi leaned closer: “Why aren’t you reacting?”
Lu Jiaheng: “What reaction should I have?”
Chu Zhi thought about it: “Like showing a sense of crisis.”
Lu Jiaheng calmly said: “It’s fine, my girlfriend doesn’t like those overly direct types.”
“…”
“Senior Lu,” Chu Zhi blinked, reminding him, “You were very direct back then too.”
Lu Jiaheng raised an eyebrow slightly: “Was I direct?”
“You even came to my house.”
He chuckled softly, drawling: “Junior, I was sick then, wasn’t that just some alumni love?”
Chu Zhi nodded: “Fever of forty degrees. If there’s a next time, I’ll definitely call the fire department for you.”
Lu Jiaheng: “…”
They hadn’t driven far from the company when Lu Jiaheng received a call from Cheng Yi.
Cheng Yi was someone who really disliked studying during school, but had a good personality and was much better at dealing with people than Lu Jiaheng and Lin Baiyang. He was clever, with an inherited business sense from his family, and had been doing quite well these past two years.
Young Master Cheng had been promoted to Deputy General Manager Cheng. He bought a club at the end of last year, renovated it, and had just officially opened it a few days ago.
The club advertised itself as high-end and private. On the phone, Cheng Yi was bragging to Lu Jiaheng about how all ingredients were air-shipped daily and even the chef was poached from some Bolivian royal kitchen.
Halfway through the bragging, Lu Jiaheng got tired of listening and directly handed the phone to Chu Zhi.
Chu Zhi took the phone and put it on speaker, so Cheng Yi’s loud voice echoed in the car.
Completely unaware on the other end, Cheng Yi continued rambling: “Your Highness, are you coming or not? Since you came back from America, how many times have we met? Eaten together? Had a proper gathering? Your Highness, you can’t be like this! I’m your brother who’d die for you! Even if I haven’t done great things, I’ve suffered for you! I know you have your precious baby now, have a wife, but you can’t prioritize love over friendship like this! Come on! Come on! Crown Prince! Your old servant has shared years of eating, pooping, and popping popcorn with farts under the covers with you!!!!!!”
Chu Zhi: “…”
Lu Jiaheng: “…”
Chu Zhi was shocked, mouth slightly open, turning to look at Lu Jiaheng in a daze: “You can pop popcorn that way too?”
Lu Jiaheng: “…”
Unable to resist Cheng Yi’s desperate pleading, Lu Jiaheng finally agreed to go over later.
He had originally wanted to bring Chu Zhi along, but she had just committed the grave error of staying out all night, so these days she had to lay low and be a good girl, going home on time every day to be her parents’ sweet darling. Lu Jiaheng dropped her off at her doorstep and drove away.
Cheng Yi wasn’t completely exaggerating – the club really was quite private, located in a standalone Western-style building next to a central garden in the city center. It was a U-shaped club building with huge statue fountains in the garden. When Lu Jiaheng drove up to the black iron gates at the garden entrance, he was stopped by security.
He sat back in his car and called Cheng Yi. Within two minutes, Cheng Yi came out to get him.
Lu Jiaheng got out of the car, casually tossed his keys to the valet, and followed Cheng Yi inside.
As soon as Cheng Yi saw him, he looked behind him, peering around for a while but not seeing anyone else get out of the car.
He was quite surprised: “Where’s my little sister Zhi? Didn’t come?”
Lu Jiaheng glanced at him.
Cheng Yi raised both hands: “Sorry, yours yours, your little sister Zhi.”
Lu Jiaheng looked away and gave a light snort.
Cheng Yi couldn’t take it and rolled his eyes, starting to curse, completely losing the gentleness from the phone call. As he led the way inside, he grumbled: “I’ve only seen you once since you’ve been back, and that was when I had to help you clean! Lu Jiaheng, you really have no conscience, where did your heart go?”
Lu Jiaheng walked behind him with his hands in his coat pockets, lazily smiling: “With my wife.”
Cheng Yi: “Pah! Show off! Young master isn’t jealous at all! What wife when you’re not even married? Lu Jiaheng, have some shame.”
Lu Jiaheng lowered his head, unbothered, and casually asked: “What event is this?”
“The ‘Criticize Lu Jiaheng for Prioritizing Love Over Friendship and Forgetting His Bros After Getting a Wife’ conference.”
Lu Jiaheng turned to leave.
Cheng Yi quickly went to bootlick: “Hey hey hey, Your Highness, where are you going? I was just joking with you.” By now they had taken the elevator to the third floor, where the plush carpeted hallway was silent, with large oil paintings in 16th-17th century style on dark wallpaper, the colors rich and deep.
Crystal chandeliers sparkled with slightly yellow light, the decoration style luxurious and extravagant.
With no one around, Cheng Yi walked alongside him to a room at the very end of the hallway and pushed open the door.
Compared to the decoration outside, this room could even be called “shabby” – simple furnishings, a huge desk outside, soft sofas, and nothing in the inner room except a large bed.
Ignoring the semi-transparent lace lingerie on the bed.
Lu Jiaheng only glanced once, raising an eyebrow as he turned his head: “What’s this for? Invited me to watch you pop popcorn under the covers with some lady?”
“New style, does Young Master Lu like it? I’ll get you a set tomorrow.” Cheng Yi said with a grin, walking to the desk to pull out a document to hand to him.
Lu Jiaheng raised his hand to take it, lowering his eyes.
It was the construction planning proposal for the neighboring city’s economic development zone.
He didn’t speak, just opened it to look.
Cheng Yi casually picked up the tea from the desk and took a couple sips: “The new economic focus is in Jiangbei, that piece of land your old man bought is worthless now. There’s actually a university town nearby, it could have worked, but after bidding so many times to get it, it’s a huge loss,” he raised his hand to point at Lu Jiaheng, “The news from the Housing and Construction Department – you had someone leak it to him, right? You’re really ruthless, that’s your family’s money! It hurts me just thinking about it.”
Lu Jiaheng kept his eyes lowered on the document, slowly turning page by page: “The more he spends the better, I’m only afraid he won’t spend enough. He’s lost plenty of money these past few years, what’s one more time.”
Cheng Yi gave an exaggerated shiver: “What’s your family’s old man thinking, giving you such a big position as soon as you came back? That doesn’t make sense, right? I’ve been rolling in the mud for two years and I’m still just a deputy.” He turned his head, “Is it a show of force?”
“If it was just my grandfather it would be much simpler, but the board of directors had to agree too,” Lu Jiaheng finished looking and put it back on the desk, leaning back against the edge with his hands supporting him, looking casual and relaxed, “How are things with him and that starlet?”
Jing Heng had involvement in the entertainment industry too, and these years Lu Hongsheng had never been short of starlets and models around him, though he always kept things quiet and low-key, making no waves. No one knew if the family either didn’t know or just turned a blind eye.
Cheng Yi went around behind the desk, pulled open a drawer and took out an envelope: “Which one are you talking about, bro? You’ve been gone for two years.”
Lu Jiaheng tore open the envelope, pulled out some photos and looked at a couple: “When is the auction for that piece of land in Jiangbei?”
“Next month.”
Lu Jiaheng looked up at him without saying anything.
Cheng Yi gave a cold laugh: “Young Master Lu, you’re so comfortable being lovey-dovey with your delicate little madam every day, making me run around doing all your errands?”
Lu Jiaheng’s eyes lifted slightly: “What little madam, she’s my precious ancestor.”
Cheng Yi: “…”
Because she knew Lu Jiaheng was out with friends tonight, Chu Zhi hadn’t sent him any messages.
It wasn’t until around ten at night, after she had finally finished dawdling through her shower and come out of the bathroom, that she received Lu Jiaheng’s call.
Chu Zhi took the phone to close her door properly before answering.
He seemed to still be in the car, his tone lazy: “Going to sleep?”
Chu Zhi kicked off her slippers and got into bed, lying on her stomach: “Not yet, just finished showering, will sleep in a bit.”
Lu Jiaheng was quiet for a moment, seeming to check the time: “It’s past ten, you’re usually asleep by now,” he chuckled softly, his voice lowered, “Were you waiting for me? Looks like our baby can’t sleep without my goodnight now.”
Chu Zhi buried her head in her pillow and nuzzled it, responding very quietly: “Mm.”
The other end went quiet again, with only the sound of his soft breathing.
After a few seconds, he spoke, his voice containing a smile: “I thought you would deny it, then get embarrassed and angry and scold me.”
Chu Zhi originally didn’t think it was a big deal, but after he said that, she actually felt a bit strange and quickly changed the subject: “You’re done already? So early.”
“It’ll be almost eleven by the time I get home.”
Chu Zhi said very seriously: “I’ve seen in movies and TV shows and novels, rich young masters like you usually have these group activities in several stages, and don’t go home until dawn.”
Lu Jiaheng seemed to find it amusing: “You have so many little thoughts in a day. Those rules don’t apply to someone who has a wife like me.”
This time, Chu Zhi really did blush.
She picked at the bedsheet, her voice small: “Don’t be vulgar, I’m not your wife yet.”
Lu Jiaheng didn’t speak. After a few seconds, he suddenly called out: “Chu Zhi.”
He rarely called her full name.
Chu Zhi raised her head from the pillow: “What is it?”
His voice was very soft, low and sandy: “I miss you.”
Chu Zhi counted on her fingers: “We’ve only been apart for five hours, and it’s so late now, am I supposed to sneak out again? Have you watched Hong Kong movies?” She was getting quite into it, “It feels like those affairs and secret loves.”
Lu Jiaheng chuckled softly: “Isn’t that exciting?”
Chu Zhi: “…”
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