The Domineering CEO's Vain Trophy Husband 20

Despite Third Young Master Cao saying so, Qiu Qingrong still refused to agree — he didn't want to get tangled up in this matter.

He had expected Cao San to press him further, but instead he watched as Cao San's gaze shifted to something behind him, his expression instantly becoming very well-behaved, even more serious than when he faced his own father.

Qiu Qingrong's heart gave an uneasy leap. He turned around and saw Ming Yao sitting in his wheelchair, watching them.

He felt a small wave of relief. Although he didn't know how much Ming Yao had heard, at least he hadn't said anything inappropriate, and he had turned down Cao San's request.

Ming Yao didn't say a word. He merely swept them with a glance and then left.

That gaze held not even a trace of anger — only an icy condescension that reminded them of the gulf between their respective stations.

Qiu Qingrong's heart churned with complicated feelings. In terms of age, he was even a bit older than Ming Yao, yet the gap between them left him deeply disgruntled.

The idle young playboy beside him clearly had no such complex inner journey. Once Ming Yao was gone, he let out a breath of relief and dramatically patted his chest.

"That was terrifying. He's clearly a... How is he still so intimidating?"

Cao San was usually completely loose-lipped, but even when he wanted to call Ming Yao a cripple, he didn't dare say it too loudly, and could only mutter it vaguely.

"If you want his contact information, go get it yourself. I'm not helping you with that."

Qiu Qingrong didn't just want to distance himself from the matter — he also wanted to sit back and observe.

Third Young Master Cao said helplessly: "Fine, then I'll just go myself."

Ming Yao wasn't entirely sure whether they had been talking about Lin Zhi, but regardless of whether they were or not, he had no desire to keep listening. It was disgusting.

Still, they had reminded him of something. Lin Zhi wore no ring on his hand — nothing to signify his married status.

Ming Yao looked down at his own fingers, equally bare of any adornment, and pressed his lips together.

He had never prepared wedding rings. Before the marriage registration, he had already signed the contract with Lin Zhi.

They were contractual husbands with no emotional attachment, and at the time, he had assumed they would never develop any feelings for each other.

Because it was a secret marriage, they had no wedding ceremony and no rings.

Should he take Lin Zhi to pick out rings?

But would something ready-made be special enough? If it were custom-designed, Lin Zhi would probably like it more.

Would it be better to arrange a surprise — wait until the finished piece was ready and then slip the ring onto Lin Zhi's finger?

Many ideas began to take shape in Ming Yao's mind — what quality of diamond, what kind of design... When someone came to speak with him, he answered on autopilot, and no one could tell that he was in the middle of thinking about wedding rings.

On the other side of the venue, Lin Zhi was chatting with Ji Shuangcheng.

Ji Shuangcheng was an out-of-town businessman, but he had already begun a collaboration with Qiming, and through his dealings with Qiming's owner, he had come to know quite a few local business people.

He had spotted Ming Yao long ago, and Lin Zhi standing beside him, but he hadn't rushed over to make small talk right away. Instead, he waited until Lin Zhi had a free moment before coming over to say hello.

Ji Shuangcheng took the initiative to bring up his collaboration with Qiming. Lin Zhi listened with genuine interest, responding here and there.

"That plot of land in the East City District — the distance is a bit far, but transportation is fairly convenient."

"That's right. The surroundings are a bit desolate, but I see a lot of development potential there."

Ji Shuangcheng very much enjoyed talking with Lin Zhi. Whether the subject was art or business, after chatting with Lin Zhi a few times he understood why Hu Tong liked this friend of his so much — and why he'd seemed so reluctant when making excuses to invite Lin Zhi out.

Talking with Lin Zhi yielded an excellent emotional response. No matter what you said, he seemed able to pinpoint precisely what you were trying to express. He was the kind of person who, even if you knew he might be going through the motions, you couldn't bring yourself to be annoyed at. Ji Shuangcheng wanted to count him as a friend too.

Just as they were getting along well, a voice cut in from the side.

"Sorry to interrupt — this is my card. I was wondering if we could exchange contact information."

Cao San strolled up to Lin Zhi's side, wine glass in hand, and held out his business card.

He had a nominal position in his father's company, but on the surface, it looked perfectly respectable.

Out of courtesy, Lin Zhi gave him one of his own cards.

His gaze swept across the name on the card, and he mentally struck this person from his social list. By any measure, there was no reason for him to have any further dealings with this individual.

Third Young Master Cao, thinking he had a chance, put on the charming smile he had specifically practiced and asked, "Are you free in a bit? Could I invite you for a drink?"

Ji Shuangcheng glanced sideways at the man, feeling a wordless exasperation.

He didn't recognize the person, but he could tell this was some young dandy from a wealthy family. The predatory manner was far too obvious.

Lin Zhi declined directly: "Sorry, I'm not free."

But Third Young Master Cao was not the type to retreat in the face of difficulty. When it came to beautiful people, he had always been thick-skinned, and even after being turned down he kept a full smile on his face.

"Then whenever you have time, call me. I'll be waiting anytime."

With that, he walked away with Lin Zhi's card, clearly in very good spirits.

Ji Shuangcheng held back for a moment, then couldn't help but say: "Who is that?"

"No one important."

Lin Zhi folded the card in half and casually dropped it into a nearby sculpture-shaped waste bin.

To Lin Zhi and Ji Shuangcheng, it was nothing more than a trivial little interruption, not worth remembering.

But the scene had been witnessed by Ming Yao, who at that moment was standing right in front of General Manager Cao, who was all smiles and ready to discuss further collaboration.

Ming Yao watched him and with great confidence and said: "I believe we no longer need to continue our cooperation."

The smile froze on General Manager Cao's face. He couldn't quite believe what he had just heard.

"The portion of the work that has already begun — I will have someone handle the termination tomorrow. Our company will pay the corresponding penalty fees, and that project will no longer proceed in partnership with yours."

Those nearby heard and were taken aback too, though some minds immediately began to turn. The pie was only so large — if one party had been kicked out, wouldn't that mean another partner could step in to fill the gap?

"I'm sorry, President Ming — could you explain the reason? Is there something wrong with our planning, or is there some other issue?"

General Manager Cao asked, suppressing his frustration. If this deal had gone through, how much would he have stood to earn? How could this cooked duck just fly away?

"There's no particular issue. It's just that if you could redirect some of that energy toward your children's upbringing, it might be for the better."

Ming Yao said nothing more and moved away from the area.

The news that Ming Yao had terminated his agreement with the Cao family on the spot quickly spread through a small circle within the venue. Most people didn't care about the reason — they only cared that their own opportunity might have just arrived.

Lin Zhi naturally heard the news as well. As the attending companion for the evening, he immediately went to Ming Yao's side to help him deal with the wave of inquiring businesspeople.

Lin Zhi thought it was something of a coincidence but didn't dwell on it. After all, there was no way Ming Yao would sever his collaboration with the Cao family — exposing them to financial losses — simply because General Manager Cao's third son had tried to chat him up.

After the banquet, General Manager Cao, in a frantic fury, summoned all his children before him and demanded to know what any of them had done recently.

After all, Ming Yao's words had been barely one step removed from stamping the words "failed as a parent" directly on his forehead. He had worked so hard to secure this collaboration, and now that Ming Yao had suddenly pulled out and cancelled it, even the penalty fees could not begin to offset the hidden losses — to say nothing of how many people would now follow the wind and shift their allegiances.

The children looked at each other blankly, each insisting they hadn't caused any trouble.

General Manager Cao slammed the table in fury and demanded they tell the truth.

Seeing that their father was getting serious, everyone began reporting what they had been up to lately.

As it turned out, none of their activities had any connection to the Ming Family. General Manager Cao frowned, and his gaze landed on his third son, who was sitting to the side jiggling his leg. Everyone else's eyes followed.

No one suspected him of anything at first. After all, they all knew Old Third was a carefree rich second-generation heir whose greatest passions were parties, eating, drinking, and having fun — he had no hand in the family's affairs whatsoever. How could he possibly have provoked the Ming Family?

But once everyone else had been ruled out, whatever remained, however improbable, had to be the answer.

Cao San stopped jiggling his leg under the collective stares and insisted he really hadn't done anything.

He said meekly: "If talking big and having someone overhear counts..."

General Manager Cao's eyes went wide: "What did you say, you irresponsible fool, that he overheard?"

"It was just that little secretary of his — really good-looking. Someone said he was married, so I said being married didn't matter, that's just my type, and then he overheard me. That shouldn't be related, right? It's not like he's his wife or anything."

Cao San looked at his father with an expression that seemed to seek confirmation, muttering under his breath.

General Manager Cao grabbed him by the ear without hesitation, ignoring his cries of protest:

"Related?! That's the understatement of the century! Are you out of your mind?! With all the people in the world, you had to go after someone in his inner circle? Do you think his secretary is some ordinary little secretary? What’s rattling around in your head all day?!"

General Manager Cao was nearly out of his mind with rage. He undid his belt and started after his son.

Cao San was chased around the room until he had handed over Lin Zhi's card to be destroyed, deleted the phone number he had saved, and swore he would never go around recklessly provoking people again — only then did his father stop.

It was much later, when news of Ming Yao and Lin Zhi's relationship finally got out, that Cao San finally understood exactly what he had done that day — and promptly received another beating from his father.

But of course, that was all a story for another time.

Lin Zhi had not given the person who'd tried to chat him up a second thought, and naturally had no idea what had transpired afterward.

What occupied his mind at the moment was Ming Yao's birthday — still eight days away.

Eight days were both long and short.

During that time, Lin Zhi went to visit Old Master Ming a few more times. He never brought up the birthday directly, but probed at other things through indirect questions.

The old man didn't tell him the details of the past, but he did take Lin Zhi to look at photographs of Ming Yao from before.

It was a very thick photo album, but less than a quarter of it was filled.

The last photograph in the album had been taken on the day of Ming Yao's accident. The seventeen-year-old boy wore the easy confidence of someone raised in comfort, smiling at the camera, his parents on either side of him — a picture of a warm and happy family.

From seventeen to twenty-eight now, Ming Yao's features had not changed drastically. Yet the feeling he gave off was entirely different from before.

On the twenty-third, the weather station issued a red rainstorm warning early in the morning.

The sky stayed overcast all day, with intermittent rumbles of muffled thunder rolling through the clouds. Although the rain had not yet fallen, the oppressive mass of dark clouds pressing down on the sky made one feel a heaviness in the chest.

Primary and middle schools immediately announced closures, and many companies let their employees leave early.

By noon, most of the staff at the Ming Group's office building had filtered out. Lin Zhi also headed home from the office. Ming Yao never came into work today.

Lin Zhi assumed he had gone to pay his respects to his mother, but System No. 01 told him that Ming Yao's coordinates had remained at home the whole time — he hadn't gone anywhere.

Lin Zhi called Old Master Ming and reminded him to mind the windows and doors and keep warm, and not to go out.

"I'll be careful. Don't go and disturb him today. On rainy days his mood tends to be worse, especially in a downpour like this. Let him have some quiet to himself."

Lin Zhi acknowledged this, and the old man hung up.

The light outside was very dim. It was only two in the afternoon, yet it looked no different from dusk.

Lightning flashed at the edge of the sky, illuminating Lin Zhi's profile from the side.

A second or two later, a burst of thunder like an explosion cracked across the horizon, and immediately after, the rain came down in torrents.

Lin Zhi didn't turn on the lights. He walked toward the bathroom.

Inside the box was a transparent solution that had come complimentary with a past purchase, along with two Durex.

Lin Zhi didn't use such things frequently — the small bottle of solution was still half full.

He was a person with a certain sense of ritual, and since he needed his plan to go smoothly, he decided to do the preparatory work himself.

Rain hammered the ground in a dense curtain, producing that particular sound.

It was the kind of sound that made one feel peaceful. Lin Zhi moved with an air of casualness, his pale pink knuckles gleaming softly.

Lin Zhi felt no nervousness. He thought perhaps he should be nervous — it might help keep his mind from drifting to the past at a moment like this.

After being driven out, his family had slunk back to their hometown in disgrace. The old house had long since fallen into disrepair, but they needed somewhere to stay.

His grandfather had three children, all sons. His father was the eldest — but not the most capable.

His second and third uncles were twins. The decision that had brought ruin upon the family had been made jointly by all of them, but as the eldest son, his father bore the entirety of the blame.

After the disaster, his second uncle had never recovered. He had also lost the use of one hand in the incident. His third uncle's wife had left, taking their newborn baby with her — a decision they had made together, not wanting the child to suffer hardship.

They were not starting from nothing. They were starting from debt.

As the eldest child of the eldest branch, all hope was poured into him.

Because of the talent he had shown from a young age, everyone had gone all in, staking everything on him.

The first time he was punished was when he was fourteen, after someone sent him a love letter.

In the cramped house, everyone watched him kneel in the center of the room. His second uncle's child, ten years old, stood behind his mother in a panic, watching him being beaten and scolded. But his second aunt had no attention to spare for him — the six-month-old baby in her arms had been frightened and was crying.

"How could you let yourself think about such things? Every bit of your energy must go toward your studies. You are the hope of all of us. You cannot like anyone right now — you cannot allow anyone to take away your focus. You have only one thing to do."

"Did you hold her hand?"

They were so afraid that romantic feelings might capture the heart of a young child. Any such contact was absolutely forbidden.

The pink love letter was torn to pieces, then burned to ash.

Lin Zhi felt no anger, no humiliation. He even managed a reassuring smile for the child hiding behind his second aunt.

He didn't like the girl who had sent him the love letter anyway, because he had realized he was drawn to boys.

That was certainly not something that could ever be known. His poor family had already been through more than they could bear.

From that day on, though, Lin Zhi had indeed begun to develop a certain physical fastidiousness.

Yet this was not a wound for Lin Zhi — it had never troubled him.

After roughly three fingers, Lin Zhi washed his hands.

There seemed to be a faint trace of strawberry scent lingering on his fingertips — the fragrance of the solution. Perhaps next time he could try a different flavor.

Lin Zhi stood before the wardrobe and selected an oversized T-shirt, long enough to fall halfway down his thighs.

Outside, the wind and rain showed no sign of letting up. Lin Zhi bypassed the elevator and walked to the stairwell, stepping upward.

System No. 01 didn't know his plan and asked with some alarm: [Host, are we going up?]

[Yes.]

Lin Zhi curved his eyes. They were about to embark on an interesting adventure.

If it succeeded, their mission progress should leap to ninety percent.

If it failed, there was only one way that could happen — 'mutually assured destruction.'

Unless Ming Yao was to die tonight, he was unlikely to fail.