DASFAM_84

"……"

Shang Qishun caught the implication behind these words, his nerves immediately tensing, "What do you mean by that?"

Bai Xu tapped the iced champagne bucket, like striking a warning bell, "What do I mean? Surely young master Shang isn't unable to understand? Look at the time, it's just you and Mr. Hassan dining here?"

Shang Qishun's expression shifted slightly, a faint suspicion forming in his mind. Before he could react, the phone on the table, silent for so long, began to vibrate.

Bai Xu caught sight of the caller ID showing 'Chairman Chun', "Aren't you going to answer it?"

Shang Qishun knew Bai Xu had no intention of leaving anytime soon, so he held his breath and answered Sun Miaochun's call, "Hello, Chairman Chun, have you arrived? Do you need me to send a restaurant attendant to pick you up?"

His hurried opening words carried a faint trace of unsteadiness beneath the surface.

Sun Miaochun, hearing this on the other end of the line, spoke aloud the decision she'd carefully made, "Mr. Shang, I'm sorry, but I've decided to withdraw from the Zhongdi project."

A seemingly simple sentence, yet it cracked Shang Qishun's composed expression. He'd already guessed who was behind Sun Miaochun's change of heart, and couldn't help shooting a glare at Bai Xu beside him.

Bai Xu received that hostile gaze without the slightest fear.

Shang Qishun gritted his teeth and demanded, "Chairman Chun, how much effort did I put in, back and forth, to bring about this cooperation between Sun Group and Zhongdi? For you to back out on me at this exact juncture, isn't that a bit ungrateful?"

Had it been anyone else, perhaps there might have been a trace of guilt.

Unfortunately, Sun Miaochun on the other end of the line was already a seasoned veteran of the business world, caring only about interests from start to finish. This so-called 'decency' held no power over her.

"Mr. Shang, being too decent in business will only put you at a disadvantage."

Sun Miaochun easily countered Shang Qishun, "Besides, between the two of us, who's really been hiding behind the scenes taking all the advantages from this cooperation? You, the one running the numbers, should know that better than I do."

Shang Qishun still wanted to make one last attempt at 'persuasion'. He glanced at Bai Xu beside him, whose expression was growing increasingly hostile, and finally relented to Sun Miaochun on the phone.

"Chairman Chun, what benefits did Bai Xu and Shang Yanxiao offer you? I can adjust the profit split for our cooperation too!"

"……"

A faint glint flickered in the depths of Bai Xu's eyes, as if he'd already anticipated this move from Shang Qishun.

The other party had been planning this for a long time, believing victory was already secured. Now, faced with a chessboard suddenly thrown into disarray, even the calmest and most astute could easily be provoked into losing their composure.

Sun Miaochun likewise heard the impatience creeping into Shang Qishun's voice, and declined, "Mr. Shang, if you'd come to me even a day earlier about changing the cooperation terms, I might have hesitated a bit longer. But unfortunately, it's too late now."

"Why?"

"……"

Naturally, it was because Bai Xu had already had the Chu and Zhang family groups sign formal contracts with her early on, compared to Shang Qishun's verbal promises and a letter of intent with little legal effect—

Which mattered more was plain to see.

Sun Miaochun saw no need to explain it in such detail to Shang Qishun, and hung up the phone without mercy.

—Beep!

The click of the call hanging up reverberated against Shang Qishun's eardrum.

Shang Qishun forcefully pushed up his slipping glasses, the lenses reflecting a flash of malice from his eyes, "You really do keep ruining things for me, again and again."

Bai Xu seemed to deliberately provoke him further, "Did I? I had no idea."

Hassan sensed the charged hostility between the two men, but had no idea what exactly had happened during that phone call.

He could only ask, his face full of confusion, "Mr. Shang, what exactly happened? Is Ms. Sun unable to come for some reason?"

Shang Qishun used every ounce of self-control to suppress the urge to hit someone, turning back to Hassan, "Mr. Hassan, I'm sorry, something's come up on Chairman Chun's end."

"Give me three or four more days. Before Friday, I'll definitely find you a more suitable partner."

"……"

Hearing this, Hassan immediately frowned with displeasure, "Friday? Mr. Shang, how can something as important as a partnership just change on a whim like that! I can't wait until Friday!"

Zhongdi headquarters had sent him to China to find a partner, originally requiring a formal partnership to be signed within four months. For certain reasons that couldn't see the light of day, he'd already delayed it by nearly a month.

Just last week, the leadership at headquarters had specifically called a video conference, demanding he finalize the partnership by the twentieth of this month, in other words, by Wednesday at the latest.

How could he possibly wait until Friday?

"……"

If it weren't for this shameless old fox trying to play both sides and skim extra profits on the sly, delaying both parties' signing time again and again!

If they'd signed the formal contract early on, why would Bai Xu and his people have any business being here today?

Shang Qishun had a stomach full of rage with nowhere to release it, yet he wasn't willing to give up a partnership that was so close to being secured, "Mr. Hassan, please rest assured, I will definitely find a more suitable and more qualified business partner than Sun Group!"

Hassan rolled his eyes, considering for a moment, and was just about to nod reluctantly when he heard Bai Xu's voice drift over, light and casual—

"Unfortunately, too late."

"……"

Both men's eyes immediately locked onto Bai Xu's face.

Bai Xu met their scrutiny without the slightest fear, "Mr. Hassan, since your schedule has been so incredibly busy that you could never spare time to discuss cooperation matters with our company."

"My partner, who's also my business partner, made a special trip to your headquarters and met with your direct superior, Mr. Druna."

"I imagine that, barring any surprises, you should be seeing the cooperation announcement between your group and us this Friday."

Hassan jolted in shock, "Mr. Bai! How could you go directly over my head? This is incredibly disrespectful!"

"Respect? Mr. Hassan deliberately stalled us from before New Year's all the way to the end of the year, and from the start of this year until now, and that's supposed to count as respect!"

Bai Xu's words landed with weight as he countered, his tone cold with warning, "Mr. Hassan, you'd better start praying from now on that your headquarters doesn't uncover all the project profits and private cuts you've been skimming over the years."

"Otherwise, what you'll lose won't just be the right to oversee this project, it'll be your job security for life!"

As if his secrets had been exposed, Hassan's face flushed red rapidly, "You..."

A panic he'd never felt before left him unable to sit still. How could he possibly have any appetite to keep eating here?

"Mr. Shang, I'll head out first!" Hassan dropped this clearly angry remark and quickly strode out of the private room.

Shang Qishun knew this round was lost, and had no intention of chasing after him.

Bai Xu ignored his icy stare, instead waving over the attendant nearby, "Hello, I think this champagne is excellent. Could you please wrap up a bottle separately for me to take home—"

He looked at Shang Qishun, still frozen rigidly in place, his expression both teasing and mocking, "To~ celebrate~"

The attendant sensed something off in the atmosphere and quickly acknowledged before retreating.

A cold glint flashed in Shang Qishun's eyes, "You're all so determined to work against me? This project should have belonged to me from the start!"

"Work against you?"

The false curve at the corner of Bai Xu's mouth dropped away, his eyes carrying coldness, disdain, and even more so, disgust.

"Shang Qishun, you still have the nerve to ask that? You know full well whose handiwork that car accident was!"

The other party had caused the deaths of the third branch couple, left Shang Queyan facing lifelong disability in his early twenties, and forced Shang Yanxiao to carry so much pain that should never have been his to bear!

And now he had the audacity to ask: why work against him?

"You're clearly the perpetrator, yet now you want to position yourself as the victim? Don't you find your own shamelessness laughable?!"

"Without evidence, no matter how much you all speculate, it's nothing but baseless imagination."

Shang Qishun still refused to admit the car accident was his doing, only cautioning Bai Xu, "However much we argue, it's still our Shang family's internal matter. You're an outsider, best not to get involved."

Bai Xu countered indifferently, "You treat me as an outsider, but I never considered you one of us either."

He'd already aligned himself with Shang Yanxiao long ago, with no possibility left of stepping back from the Shang family conflict. Since that was the case, he was willing to stand by his lover's side and fight to the very end!

With that thought, Bai Xu declared, word by word, "Shang Qishun, when someone does wrong, they should pay the price. You'll lose even more in the future, so slowly suffer through it."

With that, he left the private room without looking back.

Bang!

The spring-loaded door of the private room closed, shutting out Shang Qishun's gaze, which burned with a hatred bordering on murderous intent.

Shang Qishun stared at the champagne on the table, only a third drunk, then suddenly swung his arm and knocked it to the floor, the ice bucket and champagne shattering into pieces on the ground.

Shang Qishun took two deep breaths, and with a sinister look, squeezed out a decision—

Fine. You're the ones who forced my hand.

Since that's how it is, then don't blame him for showing no mercy at all.

...

Shang Yanxiao's flight didn't land until eleven, and by the time he got back to the estate villa, it was already past midnight.

He carried his suitcase inside, moving lightly and quietly, when he suddenly heard a soft laugh from above the staircase. Looking up, he found Bai Xu leaning over the second-floor corridor railing.

The two exchanged smiling glances, and Shang Yanxiao couldn't help quickening his pace up the stairs.

"Why aren't you resting yet?"

"Waiting for you to get back."

Bai Xu's gaze swept down Shang Yanxiao's face, and he reached out, grabbing his tie and pulling him forward, "Third Young Master, well done. You worked hard."

With that, he leaned in and kissed him.

Shang Yanxiao cupped the back of his lover's head with one hand, exchanging a brief but tender kiss with him, "With a reward like this from Young Master Bai, even the hardest work is worth it."

Bai Xu noticed the faint redness in his eyes, "You're tired, aren't you? Why didn't you stay a couple more days before coming back?"

Shang Yanxiao carried the suitcase in one hand and led Bai Xu toward the master bedroom with the other, "Once things were settled, there was no need to stay longer, otherwise I'd keep worrying that Shang Qishun might pull something underhanded since the deal fell through."

The door of the master bedroom closed.

Bai Xu briefly recounted what had happened at the restaurant that evening to Shang Yanxiao, "Yanxiao, you should've seen the looks on Hassan and Shang Qishun's faces in that moment, it was something else."

Shang Yanxiao sighed, exasperated, "How are you so bold? You actually dared to go 'provoke' the two of them all by yourself?"

"You know my personality well enough."

Bai Xu leaned in close to Shang Yanxiao, hooking his arm, "I'm the only one who gets to make others eat their words. No one else gets to score even a single point against me here. Besides—"

Bai Xu raised his own fist, "I'm not exactly a pushover either."

Shang Yanxiao easily wrapped his palm around the fist, pulling it close to kiss it, "Young Master Bai, impressive."

Bai Xu laughed, amused by him, "Why don't you go take a shower first? I specially brought back a bottle of champagne, how about we have a little drink tonight?"

"Sure."

...

When Shang Yanxiao came back out of the bathroom, Bai Xu had already opened the chilled champagne and gotten it ready. Not only that, he was also holding a familiar small glass vial.

Bai Xu shook the small vial toward his lover, the little gold beans inside rattling softly.

Shang Yanxiao hurried closer, "You got them?"

"Of course. I'm a man of my word."

Bai Xu poured the little gold beans into Shang Yanxiao's hand, unable to help laughing, "Honestly, what's with you, always finding new ways to wheedle gold beans out of me and collecting so many of them? What for?"

A faint glimmer flickered in Shang Yanxiao's eyes, and he only said, "I'll naturally have a use for them later."

Bai Xu felt something stir at that, humming twice, "Alright, let's drink, shall we?"

He took the initiative, handing Shang Yanxiao a glass of champagne from the nightstand, saying with mock solemnity, "A toast to Zhouye Investment securing the Zhongdi project. You, as an employee, did well, quite the achievement."

Shang Yanxiao played along, clinking glasses, "Thank you for your guidance, Young Master Bai."

"You're welcome."

The two of them traded playful banter back and forth, and Shang Yanxiao casually asked, "Have the other employees been arranged a team-building dinner?"

Bai Xu replied, "Do I seem like that stingy a boss to you? Don't worry, I've already had Yan Cheng set up the celebration banquet for this Friday. You'll come along too."

"Sure."

"By the way, Queyan mentioned next Saturday is your birthday? Last year, because of what happened, it wasn't properly celebrated. Want to make it a bit livelier this year?"

Shang Yanxiao didn't have an immediate thought, "It's only just past midnight on Tuesday, how about we figure it out next week?"

"Sure, that works," Bai Xu said, raising an eyebrow slightly.

Shang Yanxiao drained the champagne in his glass in one go, "This is good wine."

Bai Xu asked, "Want more?"

Shang Yanxiao wasn't in a rush for another glass. Instead, he sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling his lover onto his lap and holding him close, "A' Xu."

A warm palm stroked his back through the pajamas, sending an unfamiliar tingling sensation through him.

Bai Xu's breath caught slightly, and along with it, the wine glass in his hand tilted, the cold liquid spilling out, sending a shiver through him.

He let out an unconscious hum, "Mm?"

Shang Yanxiao nuzzled the tip of his nose against the person in front of him, "Let's try a different way of drinking this."

...

In the blink of an eye, Friday arrived.

The office door knocked again, and Yan Cheng walked in once given the signal.

"Mr. Bai, Zhongdi's official website has already published the formal cooperation announcement, and the related supplementary documents are also going through the legal process. Everything should be fully confirmed by next Monday."

"Thanks for your hard work."

"It's no trouble, just doing what's expected of me."

Yan Cheng remembered something else and added, "By the way, I just saw another announcement on Zhongdi's official website. It said the department head in charge of negotiations, Hassan, is under serious suspicion of misappropriation of position, and has already been dismissed and is under investigation."

Bai Xu wasn't surprised to hear this, "Brought it on himself, nothing to feel sorry about. Oh, and pass the word along, let everyone leave half an hour early today to head to the restaurant for the celebration."

"Got it."

Yan Cheng agreed, then asked further, "Mr. Bai, will Mr. Shang and Xie Zhu and the others be coming? I've reserved a private room for you all."

Bai Xu nodded, "I've already told them, of course they're coming. Just send the specific address to Xie Qi."

Just as he finished speaking, Bai Xu's phone buzzed. It was a call from Shang Yanxiao.

Yan Cheng, ever perceptive, excused himself, "Mr. Bai, I'll head out then."

Bai Xu nodded, smiling as he answered the call, "Hey, what's up? I was just about to..."

"A' Xu!"

Shang Yanxiao, rarely interrupting him, spoke with urgency and seriousness in his tone.

Bai Xu caught the warning signs, his smile freezing, "What's wrong?"

Shang Yanxiao kept it brief, "Grandmother had someone call me, Grandfather's gone missing!"

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