WRA CH54

Chapter 54: Three Yao Meet

Chu Ren was the first to break into a smile: “President Zhou, why aren’t you supporting my company’s business?”

Zhou Sicheng could not defend himself; he had been too narrow-minded.

His wife, stuck on the first episode, was too pitiful. Zhou Sicheng couldn’t care less about the gazes of the others and promised, “Zhenzhen, you will immediately have lifetime VIP memberships across all platforms. You can watch whatever you want.”

Xiang Zhen would rather watch the first episode countless times and resolutely refused to buy a membership, yet he had been perfectly willing to pay for a premium unzipping membership to read literature just to figure out what it meant for his husband to be an “S”.

Only now did Zhou Sicheng realize the true weight of that unzipping membership. He’d be doing Xiang Zhen a massive disservice if he wasn’t actually a Sadist.

Ever since their second meeting, Xiang Zhen had been a little fool who, if he had thirty thousand yuan, would be willing to spend all thirty thousand on him.

If Xiang Zhen spent 9.9 on him, he would return 990 million to his wife.

Bai Qi said, “No need to buy them. I’ll give Zhenzhen a lifetime membership to Changsheng Media. I have plenty of accounts. Manning, do you want one?”

Chu Ren glanced at Bai Qi. In truth, Bai Qi rarely bothered socializing with people outside. Making two friends in a single second today truly made him look at him in a new light.

At that moment, a commotion arose at the entrance. It turned out Zhou Qingyun had arrived.

The executives present stepped forward to greet him one after another. Zhou Qingyun had ruled the conglomerate for decades; though he no longer managed daily affairs, his prestige remained.

Leaning on his cane, Zhou Qingyun’s expression was naturally imposing without him having to show anger, looking as if he were there to crash the party.

Zhou Sicheng said to Xiang Zhen, “He is my grandfather.”

Xiang Zhen blinked. So this was the old man who had strictly controlled his husband since childhood. He recalled Professor Xu’s PowerPoint, which documented that when Zhou Qingyun was young and driving a heavy freight truck, he had flipped into a ditch, been robbed, and nearly lost his life.

Thank goodness his hubby had never encountered such a thing.

If Zhou Qingyun hadn’t worked so hard driving a freight truck to start the business, his hubby might really be just a truck driver.

“Grandpa.” Zhou Sicheng led Xiang Zhen forward to greet him. “Zhenzhen, my wife.”

Beaming with a bright smile, Xiang Zhen said, “Hello, Grandpa!”

Zhou Qingyun took a look at Xiang Zhen. In the photos, he merely seemed beautiful, but seeing him in person, one could sense the innate, warmly passionate, loving aura about him. No wonder his grandson was hopelessly captivated.

Xiang Zhen stepped forward to support his arm: “Grandpa, I heard you’re very good at driving big freight trucks. That’s so impressive.”

Zhou Qingyun: “Hmph, haven’t driven in decades.”

Xiang Zhen: “You were the one who crashed my hubby’s BYD, right? Did you drive the car to crash into it yourself?”

Last time he was playing with his husband’s phone, he had accidentally seen the chat history between him and Secretary Gao.

Zhou Qingyun frowned. Unable to tell for a moment if Xiang Zhen was being passive-aggressive, he insisted out of sheer pride, “I drove it myself.”

“Is that so.” Xiang Zhen’s eyes curved into crescents as he turned to Zhou Sicheng, “Hubby, I want to ride in your car until I’m eighty!”

Zhou Sicheng: “Alright.”

Zhou Qingyun was furious. What? His grandson was still going to be acting as his wife’s chauffeur at eighty?! Could they not afford to hire a driver?!

Being lovey-dovey right in front of him like this—Zhou Qingyun opted for “out of sight, out of mind” and went to sit at the executives’ table.

The banquet adopted a format of round-table served dishes combined with a buffet, allowing for free mingling. Zhou Sicheng took Xiang Zhen around to meet the executives, holding Xiang Zhen’s hand the entire time. His other hand didn’t hold a wine glass to put on airs either; it remained empty to take care of his wife.

The executives felt a strong sense of déjà vu, as if the school principal were leading his precious son around on the first day of school to meet the subject teachers one by one, with Fan Hao trailing behind like a supportive homeroom teacher. The executives were a bit nervous, but President Zhou’s unsparing smiles tonight, along with his wife’s amiable beauty, alleviated that.

No wonder that brat Fan Hao had dedicated himself so diligently to training an employee for a month; turns out it was the CEO’s wife.

After accompanying his husband to socialize for half an hour, Xiang Zhen said he needed to go to the restroom.

Zhou Sicheng was about to accompany him, but Xiang Zhen sternly refused. He could only pull out his phone, profoundly and cryptically monitoring Xiang Zhen’s movement trajectory, constantly checking if anyone was tailing him.

Fortunately, Dou Manning and Bai Qi were both eating, not heading to the restroom to rendezvous.

Zhou Sicheng picked up a bowl of seafood noodles and took a couple of bites. Noticing Chu Ren right beside him, he casually asked, “Pardon my presumption, but may I ask about your wife’s educational background?”

Chu Ren set down his iced drink, “Very presumptuous.”

He suspected Zhou Sicheng was deliberately retaliating against his earlier comment mocking him for being cheap, choosing to target him over Bai Qi’s lack of educational credentials.

Very few people knew of Bai Qi’s identity. Zhou Sicheng was actually petty enough to investigate his wife.

Seeing Chu Ren’s reaction to having a sore spot poked, Zhou Sicheng’s psychological expectations plummeted in a straight line.

Chu Ren: “What’s with that expression? Do you know what ‘equivalent educational level’ is? Strictly speaking, Bai Qi possesses the equivalent of a master’s degree in History. He could immediately pursue a Ph.D.”

Zhou Sicheng found it amusing. Well, Xiang Zhen possesses the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in Marxist Principles.

He recited a string of numbers. “Are these six digits the beginning of Bai Qi’s ID number?”

Chu Ren was just about to refute everything, but upon thinking about it, they really were.

“Why ask this?”

Zhou Sicheng: “Is there anything special about your wife’s family?”

Chu Ren: “No comment.”

Zhou Sicheng: “You don’t know? Didn’t you proclaim you had a wife at eighteen?”

While Zhou Sicheng was talking to Chu Ren, he watched as Xiang Zhen emerged from the restroom and drew closer and closer to the other two. The three exchanged knowing glances and were currently moving toward a secluded area.

A Level 1 alarm blared in Zhou Sicheng’s mind.

“Three” was a watershed line in many contexts.

Three people make a tiger, things do not happen more than three times, three humble shoemakers are equal to a mastermind… He absolutely could not let these three illiterates form a group.

“Engineer Shen!” Zhou Sicheng called his back-up.

Shen Ku had also been constantly monitoring. Hearing this, both men marched over with large strides. Each grabbed their respective wife by the back of the collar and shielded them behind their backs.

Zhou Sicheng stroked Xiang Zhen’s fair nape: “Wifey, let me introduce you to Wang Jianbin, the head of the Xiao Kui Bao project.”

“I also invested in a robotics company that makes the physical bodies for Xiao Kui Bao. The director is here today too. From now on, however you want to modify Xiao Kui Bao, just tell him.”

Shen Ku: “Manning, I saw an imported espresso machine over there. I feel like you’ll like it. Let’s go take a look.”

Hands in his pockets, Chu Ren walked up behind Bai Qi. What is going on? Not letting my wife play? Isolating my wife? Psychos!

Chu Ren: “Bai Qi, there’s still work at the company. Let’s head out first.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Take care.”

Chu Ren was furious.

Xiang Zhen said immediately, “Mr. Chu, if you have business, go ahead first. Bai Qi can stay a bit longer. My hubby will drive him back.”

Dou Manning: “Yes, Bai Qi just said he wanted to taste my coffee. There happens to be an imported espresso machine over there.”

Bai Qi: “Chu Ren, if you have business, just go first.”

The three men: “……”

Chu Ren looked at the grave expressions on the other two men’s faces and seemed to realize things were not simple. Being abandoned by his wife at a banquet for the first time, he said softly, “I’ll wait for you.”

Xiang Zhen hugged Zhou Sicheng’s arm: “Hubby, President Chu doesn’t seem very happy. You stay here and keep him company.”

Xiang Zhen discovered that whether Zhou Sicheng was a driver or a CEO, he needed a wife who understood customer after-sales service to help maintain his cooperative relationships with clients.

He would always stay by his hubby’s side.

Xiang Zhen led the two Yao over to the espresso machine, exercising his authority as the master of the villa for the first time: instructing the butler not to let anyone within five meters of the coffee machine.

Shen Ku didn’t say a word, blindly following.

Dou Manning turned to him and said, “With you here, I can’t make coffee well.”

Shen Ku: “…”

Another one eliminated.

Dou Manning conjured a handful of coffee beans in his palm and put them into the coffee machine. Xiang Zhen helped pour milk and sugar; he had learned the ratios too and remembered them all.

The two collaborated on a rather rough cup of coffee and handed it to Bai Qi.

Dou Manning: “Let’s chat while drinking.”

The three gathered around a single high-top coffee table, their differently colored heads almost touching.

Xiang Zhen: “Bai Qi, did you write the latest 2012 edition of the Guide to Adulthood?”

Bai Qi nodded: “I wrote it.”

Xiang Zhen looked at him with admiration: “You wrote so much and in such detail. I followed it all, and it’s been very useful.”

Bai Qi’s expression stiffened slightly: “Actually, it’s a bit outdated. Were there no other Yao in between?”

Dou Manning shook his head: “Just me, but I ran up into the mountains. I didn’t observe humans.”

Xiang Zhen asked for advice: “How did you write it back then? The scope it covers is so vast.”

Bai Qi took a sip of coffee and revealed in a low voice: “Actually, I summarized it by watching TV dramas.”

In 2012, he set out from Yao Spirit Village. Later, he found an empty, unoccupied villa that had water, electricity, internet, and a full set of home appliances.

Bai Qi hid inside the villa. Without eating or drinking, he watched TV straight for five years.

Occasionally, he would go out to earn some electricity money, leaving cash in the TV cabinet.

He watched many melodramatic Korean dramas and wrote down the maxim: “When you meet someone you like, don’t miss the chance. If humans miss out, they’ll get a terminal illness and die.”

He watched the folklore mythological drama The Legend of the White Snake, reminding the Yao who came after him absolutely never to reveal their true forms, as it would randomly scare their husbands to death.

That was until Chu Ren turned eighteen and moved into this property under his name. Bai Qi hadn’t finished chasing a certain drama, couldn’t bear to leave, and was caught.

In order for Bai Qi to have dramas to watch, Chu Ren poured his full efforts into the film and television industry.

Having watched dramas with single-minded devotion for so many years, Bai Qi’s ability to evaluate scripts was top-tier. For every project Changsheng Media invested in, he personally reviewed the script and the final cut.

If he didn’t nod his approval, Chu Ren wouldn’t invest a single penny.

Xiang Zhen: “Hmm, that’s just like me scrolling through short videos.”

Dou Manning: “By reading books, I can understand the human world too.”

The three little Yao exchanged a glance and reached a conclusion. Regarding tools for understanding humans, the ranking of usefulness was: TV Dramas > Short Videos > Books.

Bai Qi recommended: “If you have time, it’s still better to watch full-length long dramas. The details of life are much richer.”

Xiang Zhen: “Bai Qi, I want to tell my hubby my identity. Does Chu Ren know your species? What was his reaction?”

Because he hadn’t sunbathed in years, Bai Qi’s skin was a cold white. When he wasn’t smiling, his entire face looked exceptionally aloof. He said, “Chu Ren has never seen my true form.”

Television dramas had left him with a faint shadow of trauma.

Xiang Zhen pursed his lips and exchanged a glance with Dou Manning.

Both sides felt somewhat hesitant.

On the other side.

Three elegant men in sharp suits were currently engaging in the most despicable, low, and shameless act in the world.

Zhou Sicheng opened his phone, displaying the surveillance feed from his house.

Xiang Zhen hadn’t noticed that there was a camera right inside the light fixture above them.

Although their voices were very low, the camera was equipped with Xiao Kui Bao’s AI lip-reading decryption feature.

Zhou Sicheng asked for their opinions: “Should we watch?”

Second Young Master Shen responded with silence.

Chu Ren: “I object.”

The votes for support and opposition were fiercely contested.

Zhou Sicheng: “President Chu, do you know Li Guihua?”

Chu Ren: “My mother-in-law.”

Shen Ku’s stalwart frame shuddered: “…Also my mother-in-law.”

Chu Ren leaned both hands on the table, staring intensely at Shen Ku: “Bai Qi never said he had brothers or sisters, and I’ve never seen them either.”

Shen Ku: “Don’t look at me. His wife is on Li Guihua’s household register too.”

Chu Ren’s understanding of the world was completely shattered. How could brothers-in-law just pop out of nowhere?

The volume of information Zhou Sicheng held was clearly a bit more than these two; he also knew that Li Guihua wasn’t actually their mother-in-law at all.

Shen Ku dropped some knowledge: “Last time Xiang Zhen and Dou Manning talked in private, they reached the conclusion that they are irreconcilable with capitalists.”

President Chu, a capitalist, had caught wind of this.

Zhou Sicheng: “Should we watch? The illiterates with the destructive power equivalent to Ph.D.s are about to hold a meeting.”

Chu Ren: “…” It’s equivalent educational level!