Chapter 99: Will You Leave Me?

Cheng Ye had gone on a business trip. Coincidentally, some materials the company needed to purchase were at the location of his trip, so Liu Man went along.

Liu Man said over the phone, “It’s a good thing I went. You have no idea what the scene was like. If I hadn’t stopped him, Brother Cheng would have almost killed the guy.”

Jiang Shi’s mind was a little fuzzy. “Cheng Ye… has a younger brother?”

Liu Man said with difficulty, “Do you remember his mom? His mom ran away, taking his younger brother with her, leaving him alone in hell. That bastard is the younger brother his mom took away back then.”

Thinking of this made Liu Man’s stomach burn with anger.

“That bastard is a new intern at the company. His grades are decent, also from A University. His face doesn’t look much like Brother Cheng’s; he looks more like his mom. So no one thought they were related.”

“He applied for a technical position at the company. Because his professional skills were decent, the company intended to cultivate him, letting him rotate through different departments first to get used to the company, then move to the technical department after becoming a full-time employee.”

“This round, it was the secretary department’s turn.”

On the other end of the phone, Liu Man kicked the wall.

“That bastard did it on purpose. He usually pretends so well. This time, there was a banquet on the business trip. Assistant Chen couldn’t go because of something, so he went with Brother Cheng.”

“How can it be so coincidental? Of all places, it had to be at a banquet with so many people. Of all people, a woman had to bump into Brother Cheng. And of all things, she had to open her mouth and say that Brother Cheng and that bastard looked alike.”

“That bastard usually pretends so well, but when the woman asked, he started crying in front of so many people.”

Jiang Shi’s face was very ugly. “He admitted it?”

“Admitted it? He even said he had been looking for Cheng Ye all this time and knelt in front of him in front of so many people, begging for his forgiveness. Brother Cheng, he…”

Without having to think, Jiang Shi knew what would happen next.

He hung up the phone. Gao Xinhe had just come out of the bathroom when Jiang Shi grabbed him. “Let’s go, find Cheng Ye.”

Gao Xinhe was being dragged along, craning his neck. “Hey, wait… isn’t Brother Cheng on a business trip? What are we looking for him for?”

“Something happened to Cheng Ye. Hurry up and drive to the airport.”

When Gao Xinhe heard this, he slammed on the accelerator. “What happened?”

Jiang Shi didn’t have time to answer him. He was on his phone, calling Cheng Ye. He made several calls, but no one answered.

He then opened the trending topics. They were all about that banquet.

#Shocking! Why did the millionaire’s long-lost younger brother kneel and beg for forgiveness?#
#The things that happened to the president of Hengyuan Group in his youth#
The most explosive one was the first one:
#Hengyuan Group’s CEO hits someone in public#
He called again, but still no one answered.

No matter how fast they rushed, it was already eight or nine in the evening when they arrived at the hotel Liu Man had mentioned.

Liu Man and Chen Lang were waiting outside. When they saw him, it was like seeing a savior. “You’re finally here. After coming back from the banquet, President Cheng locked himself in his room and hasn’t seen anyone.”

Jiang Shi stood at the door and twisted the doorknob. “Did you ask the hotel front desk for a key card?”

“We did,” Liu Man said. “He locked it from the inside. We can’t open it.”

“Cheng Ye!” Jiang Shi stood outside and knocked on the door. “Cheng Ye, open the door for me!”

No one answered.

Jiang Shi said, “Get someone to break down the door.”

“But…”

“But what? If it’s broken, I’ll pay for it.”

Ten minutes later, Jiang Shi stepped on the broken wooden planks and said to the group behind him, “I’ll go in first. I’ll call you if I need anything.”

It was pitch black inside. The lights were off, and the curtains were drawn tightly. After walking a couple of steps in, Jiang Shi saw a blurry figure on the bed.

He didn’t turn on the lights. Instead, he went to the window and pulled back the curtains.

The city lights from outside shone in, and a few twinkling stars could be faintly seen in the sky.

Cheng Ye was sitting on the bed with his legs bent. His jacket was gone, and the white shirt underneath was disheveled. A pack of cigarettes was scattered on the bed. He wasn’t smoking them, but was crushing the tobacco and putting it into his mouth bit by bit.

Cheng Ye just chewed like that. The light in his eyes was unclear, and even his frantic aura couldn’t be felt. He was very calm.

Jiang Shi stood in front of him.

The man looked up at him, as if he wanted to smile, but the corner of his mouth lifted for less than a second before falling again.

“Sorry.”

Jiang Shi sat next to him. He didn’t ask about the banquet, nor did he ask why he didn’t open the door. He picked up the cigarette pack. “Want to smoke?”

Cheng Ye’s chewing paused. After a long while, he finally spoke. “I promised you I wouldn’t smoke anymore.”

But Jiang Shi said, “Smoke if you want to.”

He pulled open the bag Gao Xinhe had prepared for him, found a spare lighter inside, and after nearly half a year, this was the first time he had used it.

The beautiful young man lowered his head, pulled out a cigarette, and the flame of the lighter shot up, instantly illuminating his eyes. The flame burned the cigarette tip, and soon, smoke drifted up.

Jiang Shi took a drag, imitating how others did it. He coughed violently twice, then a very faint smile appeared. “I tried it. It’s indeed as satisfying as they say.”

He took the cigarette from his mouth and put it in Cheng Ye’s, then lit a new one for himself.

“Smoke. I’ll have one with you.”

The faint sound of car horns came from outside the window. The searchlights from above would occasionally sweep past, and the room would flicker between light and dark.

Cheng Ye, with the cigarette in his mouth, fell back heavily. The pungent taste choked his lungs, and memories drifted with the smoke.

“I learned to smoke from Cheng Jianbin. I was just starting junior high then. I had a growth spurt and was almost as tall as him. Maybe my height threatened him, because he beat me even more fiercely.”

“After beating me, he would sit on the doorstep and smoke. The stars were very bright when I was a child. The sky full of stars shone on his head, and I could only shrink in a filthy corner and watch him puff away.”

“When the cigarette was finished, he would be happy, as if all his troubles had drifted away with the smoke.”

“I was thinking then, is it really that happy?”

“So I stole his cigarettes…”

At this point, Cheng Ye laughed. The scarlet glow flickered at his fingertips.

“If he were really happy, he wouldn’t have beaten me like that.”

He lay back a little further.

“I don’t really have many memories of my younger brother. He was only five or six when my mom took him away. He was always delicate-looking, not like me, not like Cheng Jianbin, but like his mom, so she was very good to him…”

At this point, Cheng Ye didn’t want to recall anymore and turned his head away.

A cigarette burned out. The smell of smoke lingered on both of them. Jiang Shi took off his shoes and got on the bed. He asked Cheng Ye, “Do you want to have sex?”

Cheng Ye didn’t. He just kissed Jiang Shi, very forcefully, as if he wanted to squeeze himself into his body, to burn until not even ashes were left.

Jiang Shi’s bones almost creaked from the grip. He frowned slightly but said nothing, accepting it obediently. His palm rested on the man’s back, patting him gently like he was comforting a child.

Cheng Ye released his mouth, a thin silver thread connecting their tongues. He buried his face in Jiang Shi’s neck, wetly nuzzling the skin there.

“Will you leave me? Like them?”

“I won’t.”

Cheng Ye held him even tighter.

“Really?”

Jiang Shi tilted his head and said faintly, “Unless I die.”

Cheng Ye laughed, then fear followed.

“Forget it. Young Master can’t die.”

Jiang Shi didn’t speak, just stroked his head.

And just like that, Cheng Ye was lulled to sleep by him. A bright moon climbed up outside the window. He didn’t know if it was moonlight or the city lights, but the hotel room was dimly illuminated, and the glass shards on the floor shimmered.

Jiang Shi got off the bed and cleaned up the shards on the floor.

When he went out, Liu Man and Gao Xinhe were still squatting at the door. When they saw him, they scrambled to their feet. “How is he?”

“I put him to sleep.” He asked Liu Man, “Where is that person?”

Liu Man took him over. “I was afraid that bastard would go out and run his mouth, so I had him stay in his room with someone watching him.”

From beginning to end, Jiang Shi didn’t show any emotion. He stood at the door. “Alright, I know. I’ll go in and have a chat with him.”

Liu Man’s impression of Jiang Shi was still that of someone who had Cheng Ye to worry about everything for him. He was subconsciously worried. “Can you handle it? How about I go in with you?”

“No need.”

Jiang Shi pushed the door open and went in. The room was brightly lit. A young man was sitting on the small sofa to the side. Hearing the door open, he looked up.

It was a rather delicate face, with mostly refined features. His eyes were a little large, which made him look innocent when he looked at people.

Seeing Jiang Shi, he was stunned for a moment, then stood up. “You’re Jiang Shi? I… I’ve seen your dramas.”

Jiang Shi sat opposite him. He didn’t speak, just tilted his chin up slightly, scrutinizing the young man opposite him.

The young man rubbed his hands and stammered, “Hello… hello, my name is Li Zong. Why are you here? What is your relationship with my brother?”

He said “brother” quite fluently.

Jiang Shi said, “I’m friends with Cheng Ye.”

Li Zong was relieved after hearing this. He smiled, his eyes bright, and sat down cautiously opposite Jiang Shi. “How is my brother? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just didn’t expect him to react so strongly.”

The beautiful young man on the screen lowered his eyelashes. His face was as cold as it appeared on screen. He carried a very faint smell of smoke, which drifted to Li Zong’s nose with the wind from the window.

He had been sitting here for a long time, thinking the person who came would scold him, beat him, or even force him not to say anything. But Jiang Shi was very calm, so calm that he was almost cold.

He curled his lips, his eyes without a smile, and asked Li Zong an irrelevant question. “Cheng Ye’s surname is Cheng. Why is yours Li?”

Li Zong was stunned for a moment. “My mom remarried. My stepfather’s surname is Li. I used to be called Cheng Zong.”

Jiang Shi asked again, “I heard you graduated from A University?”

“Yes.”

“I see the clothes you’re wearing are a bit old. Is your stepfather’s family not good to you?”

This time, Li Zong was stunned for even longer.

“No… no, he’s okay to me. I’m just more frugal. I can’t bear to throw away clothes that aren’t worn out.”

Jiang Shi raised his eyebrows and looked at him.

Li Zong’s face flushed under his gaze, and he nervously wrung the pants at his side. “Maybe because I had a hard life when I was little, I can’t help it now…”

Jiang Shi interrupted him. “Then why did you come looking for Cheng Ye? The past is in the past. If you didn’t take him with you when you left, then he has nothing to do with you. You can’t just remember you were once a family because you see he’s successful now, right?”

He looked at Li Zong.

“Are you trying to find a long-lost relative, or… do you want money?”