The next day, Xie Yu contacted Xu Qingshan.

He had funds on hand, but not much; it was a drop in the bucket for the entire Xie Group. Fortunately, Xu Qingshan still had some that could be put to use.

According to the original plot, in at most two months, a shocking scandal involving Xie Yuanhai would be exposed. He would face the risk of imprisonment, tightly pressured by public opinion. Shareholders would flee one after another, and the stock price would plummet repeatedly. This might be a good opportunity for a reshuffle.

The two met at the hotel as usual. Prior to this, the System used its excess computing power to simulate and analyze every possible outcome, outlining a practical and feasible plan.

When Xie Yu sat down opposite Xu Qingshan, stated his purpose, and genuinely started discussing its feasibility, Xu Qingshan looked suspicious, staring at him as if he had seen a ghost.

"No... Xiao Yu, are you serious?"

Xie Yu raised an eyebrow. "Of course I'm serious."

Xu Qingshan had watched this nephew grow up. He knew better than anyone how useless Xie Yu was, not to mention his previous anger management issues and tendency to hit people. Xu Qingshan only had three expectations for him: first, don't go to prison; second, don't go to a psychiatric hospital; third, don't get scammed to death by Xie Yuanhai.

But now, Xie Yu was sitting upright and respectfully, chatting with him about commercial investment?

Xu Qingshan picked up his coffee to cover his loss of composure. "Why the sudden interest? Weren't you completely uninterested in taking over the company?"

He was clearly still apathetic when he first returned to the country. It had only been two short months.

Xie Yu sighed. "There's no helping it, I still have to support my family."

Xu Qingshan sprayed a mouthful of coffee right onto the table.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough." He pulled out two tissues to wipe the table, his face full of disbelief. "What the hell?"

Xie Yu sighed and repeated, "I said, I have a family to support."

If the gap between him and Shen Ci was too big, he would feel embarrassed too.

Xu Qingshan: "..."

This renowned US-educated psychiatric doctor felt dizzy in waves, his brain seemingly lacking oxygen. His gaze rested on his nephew's youthful face, feeling deeply bewildered and surreal.

His irritable, irresponsible, failing nephew who hadn't graduated from university was actually considering supporting a family?

Xu Qingshan knew about Xie Yu and Shen Ci's relationship, and he also knew that Shen Ci was well-liked by Xie Yu. Otherwise, his nephew wouldn't have suddenly restrained his temper five years ago, nor would he have specially left a foundation behind and instructed him to take care of Shen Ci. A few months ago, when Xie Yu's bipolar disorder flared up and he was hospitalized, Shen Ci had even secretly come to visit. He had vaguely guessed it, but what he didn't know was that Shen Ci actually had such great magic that Xie Yu was planning to settle down and support a family.

Xu Qingshan was silent for a moment. "How far has your relationship progressed?"

Xie Yu looked away and coughed. "...The step where it has to be him."

Xie Yu was very conservative in his bones. He and Shen Ci had hugged, kissed, lived in the house left by his mother, and exchanged accessories bearing each other's names. In this life, it absolutely had to be Shen Ci.

Since he had put it like this, Xu Qingshan had nothing left to say. He flipped through his nephew's proposal and didn't see any issues. Moreover, he was indeed a layman when it came to funds and stocks, not nearly as proficient as Xie Yu and Shen Ci, so he nodded in agreement.

Before leaving, Xu Qingshan took out his laptop and asked Xie Yu to do another evaluation form.

Xie Yu readily agreed.

He had previously always exaggerated the severity of his condition. But in fact, that confused and painful experience in high school had long since passed. Given Xie Yu's open-mindedness, he wouldn't be deeply mired in it for so many years.

He quickly ticked all the options and clicked submit. Xu Qingshan reviewed them one by one and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Bipolar disorder is difficult to cure, especially the kind formed by a childhood shadow like Xie Yu's, where symptoms often accompany the patient for life. However, Xie Yu's evaluation showed that he had a good and optimistic mindset, no different from a normal person—perhaps even slightly better. Behaviors like self-abuse and self-harm would never happen again.

Xu Qingshan pushed up his glasses and revealed a sincere smile. "Congratulations. It looks like you won't need to come back to the Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital after this."

The tragic experience of his sister, Xu Qingping, was a thorn in Xu Qingshan's heart, and the child she left behind was another. Xu Qingshan didn't have children of his own; as Xie Yu's uncle and half-guardian, his decision back then to travel to a foreign country and pursue a Ph.D. in psychiatry was somewhat related to Xie Yu. And now, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He gazed into the distance at the horizon, looking towards the direction of Mount Qiong, feeling a bit melancholy for a moment. "This way, I can finally be considered to have fulfilled my duty."

Two months later, Xie Yuanhai indeed exposed a shocking scandal.

It was said that he had participated in certain parties involving minors. People in their circle might play wild, but no one ever crossed this kind of red line. Xie Yuanhai was considered the first, and it instantly caused an uproar.

With Xie Yuanshan dead, everyone pushed against the falling wall. The Xie family had already made countless enemies, not to mention Xie Yuanhai setting himself up as a living target for people to hit. Various families enthusiastically joined the fray. For a time, public opinion was in an uproar, and the authorities directly stepped in to investigate and open a case. With conclusive evidence, they directly detained and took him away during a company meeting.

Within a few months, two consecutive chairmen had stepped down under abnormal circumstances. The Xie Group inevitably suffered great damage to its vitality, and all sorts of rumors ran rampant.

Since Xie Yuanhai took power, the founding members left behind by Xie Yuanshan had long been purged. Now, due to the rushed timeframe, his own trusted aides hadn't yet been cultivated. Being leaderless, the leadership was riddled with holes, leaking air everywhere like a sieve. People in the company were panicking, retail investors were selling off, and shareholders were fleeing. The once infinitely glorious group almost instantly reached the brink of delisting.

Amidst the plunging stock prices, however, a certain account went against the trend and made large-scale purchases. After the situation stabilized, everyone looked around and discovered, by tracing its origins, that the account surprisingly belonged to Xie Yu.

This young master, who had returned from studying abroad and had never intervened in company affairs, surprisingly possessed thunderous methods. In just a few months, he led the equity restructuring and became another elusive, top-tier newly wealthy elite in Jiang City.

Xie Yu was so busy his feet barely touched the ground.

With his own methods, there was no way he could get the hang of the company in a short time. But he had a cheat artifact: the System.

Although the System usually seemed unreliable, almost like artificial idiocy, it came from an era after a technological explosion and possessed an incredibly massive and complex database. Moreover, the System's computing power could help it quickly locate relevant sections amidst redundant data and relay them to its host.

Xie Yu already possessed the relevant knowledge; with this, it was like adding wings to a tiger. In just a few short months, under the surprised or suspicious gazes of everyone, he firmly secured the top seat of the Xie Group.

The remaining shareholders happily accepted this decisive young man. After all, his methods were no inferior to those of Xie Yuanshan and Xie Yuanhai. To show their sincerity in submitting, they even held a cocktail party for Xie Yu, right in the same hall where Xie Yuanshan's memorial service was previously held.

Only this time, the solemn and respectful decorations were replaced with gold and red colors. And the young man who could only sit on the fringes at his father's memorial service now appeared at the center of the entire venue.

Xie Yu wore a pure black tailcoat with a row of gold buttons. His usually casual hairstyle had been meticulously styled. He politely humored the various shareholders, appearing witty and conversational, yet when no one was paying attention, he frequently checked his watch, looking rather absent-minded.

Relying on the fact that others couldn't see it, the System had been keeping a lookout at the door. Upon seeing a certain someone, it flew back, its tone brisk. "Hey Host, your wife has arrived."

Shen Ci was here to represent his company in discussing business.

In the eyes of others, Xie Yu and Shen Ci were piled with new grudges and old hatreds, like a needle pointing at a wheat awn. Their relationship was one where they wished they could bite each other to death. They had more or less heard about the sugar daddy situation. Given Young Master Xie's past actions, Shen Ci would certainly consider him an irreconcilable enemy.

Later, when Xie Yu returned to the country, there had always been rumors in Jiang City that Shen Ci had blocked his door and beaten Xie Yu up several times to vent his anger—the evidence being that Xie Yu lived in a dilapidated old apartment in a certain downtown area, and Shen Ci was seen bringing people in and out of the neighborhood multiple times, suspected of coming to provoke him, and the bright red plastic bag in his hand supposedly contained clubs and weapons.

There were also eyewitnesses claiming that when Xie Yu went out to throw away his trash, the garbage was shockingly bloody. It was suspected that he was violently beaten to the point of bleeding, and with no money for medical treatment, he had to treat it himself at home.

Regarding this, Xie Yu remained silently speechless.

He and Shen Ci reviewed the matter afterward and came to a conclusion: the clubs and weapons in the plastic bag were just fish heads and yams newly bought from the market. They had stewed fish head with tofu and yam with pork ribs that day.

As for the bloody trash, that was just the bloody water from defrosting beef.

Therefore, when Shen Ci appeared at the banquet, everyone held their breath.

They watched helplessly as Shen Ci crossed through the crowd and sat beside Xie Yu. The two exchanged official and polite nods of greeting, and then began to discuss business matters.

Xie Yu and Shen Ci were both new elites in Jiang City, each having a company under their name. The two went back and forth, crossing swords verbally without yielding an inch, occasionally raising their eyebrows and sneering. The shareholders watching from the side broke out in layers of cold sweat.

"From my personal perspective, this proposal may not align with the interests of both parties... Hiss—"

Someone immediately stepped forward to ask, "President Shen, what's wrong?"

Shen Ci frowned slightly, looking annoyed. "The tea was a bit hot. It burned my tongue."

Hidden by the tablecloth, he lightly kicked Xie Yu's leg.

Xie Yu's pointed leather shoes had, at some unknown point, slid straight up along his legs, stopping a hair's breadth away from a sensitive area.

Xie Yu smiled. "President Shen is right, but regarding certain matters, I have a different perspective, uh—"

Chaos erupted beside him. "President Xie?! Are you alright, President Xie?"

"I'm fine." Xie Yu squeezed out a smile. "The pastry was a bit cold, it chilled my teeth."

Shen Ci had made a move at some unknown point, his toes rubbing in along the seam of Xie Yu's suit pants.

The two went back and forth. Xie Yu's forehead twitched slightly, his veins bulging, while Shen Ci's brows were tightly knit, as cold as frost. After the meeting, Xie Yu's tie was crooked, and Shen Ci's glasses chain was askew. Both were dripping with cold sweat, their foreheads glistening with moisture.

Shen Ci pulled out his chair first with a thud, saying coldly, "Excuse me, I need to go tidy up my appearance."

He left accompanied by his assistant.

Xie Yu sat in place for a moment, then stood up as well, smiling. "Excuse me, I need to go change my clothes too."

He took a towel from his assistant's hands.

The two bosses left one after another, and the freezing atmosphere in the venue instantly vanished into thin air. Someone looked in the direction they left and couldn't help but sigh with emotion, "What a hearty and fierce debate!"

No one knew that the two who had just been fiercely glaring at each other had been intimately cuddling in a hotel suite upstairs just three hours ago. They hugged and kissed, and Xie Yu even pinned Shen Ci against the floor-to-ceiling window, facing the heavy traffic outside. Seeing the panicked look in the eyes of the person in his arms, Xie Yu kissed the top of his head and comforted him, "It's fine, the glass is one-way."

Shen Ci then relaxed.

So much so that when the banquet time arrived, Xie Yu was still unsatiated, and Shen Ci still felt discomfort.

The banquet hall had a few independent dressing rooms, and the backstage of the dressing rooms connected to a corridor that led all the way to the hotel's rooftop.

Neither Xie Yu nor Shen Ci had discussed it with each other, yet they coincidentally walked out from the backstage. Waiters occasionally passed by in the corridor, so they pretended not to know each other and went up to the rooftop one after the other.

Xie Yu undid the buttons of his suit. The rustling, fierce wind lifted his hemline. He reached his hand out to Shen Ci. "Come here."

As soon as Shen Ci came up, Xie Yu gripped his shoulders and pressed him into his arms. The winter sun was warm and comforting, and the person in front of him was also toasty warm. He let out a comfortable sigh and complained in a low voice, "What's going on recently? Why are you working so desperately hard?"

Xie Yu had been even busier than him lately, his feet not touching the ground, and he hardly came home. It was only before today's banquet that they managed to squeeze in four or five hours to meet, and once they met, they couldn't stop.

When Xie Yu first started working seriously, Shen Ci just felt that he had been staying at home for too long and that building a career would be good for him. At that time, Xie Yu's lazy image was too deeply rooted in people's minds, so Shen Ci didn't think he would put much effort into it. He let him toss about as he pleased; anyway, there was enough money to cover it.

Who knew that Xie Yu would become more and more intense with his efforts, and in the end, he actually firmly secured the top seat.

While Shen Ci was surprised, he was also happy for Xie Yu. He had seen Xie Yu's two degree certificates and knew he was never some useless young master. But later, when Xie Yu was running neck and neck with him, Shen Ci began to feel faintly worried.

If he no longer held the economic advantage, would Xie Yu still need him this much?

Shen Ci knew this mindset was bad, but he couldn't control it. He had received too little affection in his life, and this relationship was too precious, making it inevitable for him to worry about gains and losses.

It only took Xie Yu two days to notice something was wrong. He tricked Shen Ci into coming out, fed him a couple sips of wine, and Shen Ci dazedly spilled everything on his mind. Afterward, he was pressed by the back of his neck and kissed thoroughly.

Xie Yu's exact words were, "I have to find a way to make it impossible for your imagination to run wild."

...Well, he indeed stopped letting his imagination run wild; it's just that the method was a bit strange.

A year ago, they were like strangers in this hotel; a year later, they were hugging and kissing in this hotel.

The wind on the hotel rooftop was strong. The north wind whistled past, terribly cold. Shen Ci couldn't help but hug him tighter. "How much longer will you be busy?"

They were still in the honeymoon phase. Not being able to go grocery shopping with his lover in the morning, not being able to make soup together at noon, and not being able to take a stroll hand in hand in the evening—no matter how he thought about it, it was torture.

Xie Yu said, "I took leave next month. A whole month."

"...You?"

Shen Ci looked up at him, a bit dazed.

Xie Yu pulled a small kraft paper bag from behind his back and sighed. "What do you think I'm working so desperately hard for? It's all so I can stand by your side."

He handed the kraft paper bag to Shen Ci. "Open it and take a look?"

Although he looked wild and unrestrained, Xie Yu was extraordinarily traditional in certain matters, even conservative and stubborn. When he liked someone, he had to have everything prepared perfectly in all aspects, stand in the same position to look at the other as an equal, and then hold his lover's hand to continue the next stage of their journey.

Shen Ci held his breath and opened the paper bag.

Inside the velvet silk box lay a pair of rings.

Both were elegant and unostentatious styles, very simple, with their names engraved on the inner circle.

Xie Yu: "Try them on?"

They put the rings on each other, as if branding another mark on one another. From now on, you are part of me, and I am part of you.

Xie Yu asked, "Where do you want to go play next month?"

He had specially taken time off.

Shen Ci had almost never left Jiang City. There were so many fun places in the world, but after thinking about it, he said, "Let's go visit your school abroad."

He wanted to see the teachers he studied under, the corridors he walked through, and know what Xie Yu had been doing during the five years they were absent from each other's lives.

Xie Yu couldn't help laughing. "Alright, I'll book the plane tickets right after we get back."

They spent some quality, tender time on the rooftop for a while, and only reluctantly returned to the banquet when they had been gone for far too long.

They sat back down at the negotiation table.

Earlier, only their legs were hidden under the tablecloth, but now their hands had to be hidden in their sleeves too.

Neither Shen Ci nor Xie Yu would intentionally yield in their work. They were evenly matched opponents; this was a form of acknowledgment, as well as respect.

After all, Shen Ci had a few more years of experience. Even with the System, Xie Yu was occasionally left speechless. He looked at the radiant young man across the table and thought back to the novel's ending, where Shen Ci suffered from severe depression that couldn't be suppressed even with medication, leaving him like a walking corpse. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

—This beautiful and fragile porcelain was ultimately well protected in his arms, completely unharmed and shining brilliantly.

But while he was admiring and lamenting, he also gritted his teeth in exasperation.

Facing the other party's pressing questions, Xie Yu raised his eyebrow inwardly and thought, 'Good, this eloquence is really quite something.'

Shen Ci suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

Meeting Xie Yu's half-smile, he seemed to vaguely understand the meaning behind that expression.

—"However many sentences you argue now, is how many positions we'll try later, what do you say?"