JOH CH33: Trust
Su Yiran said, “There are so many people in Weihua, it’s normal your friend doesn’t know Ting-ge. Plus, Ting-ge was recently sent abroad.”
Weihua Financial was a big company. With so many employees and different departments, it was common for people to not cross paths. Besides, Gu Yuanting had only officially joined recently and was sent abroad shortly after. So it made sense that Hang Zikun’s friend hadn’t noticed him yet.
What Su Yiran didn’t expect was that Hang Zikun would actually ask his friend to check the company roster.
Upon hearing Su Yiran’s explanation, Hang Zikun’s smile grew wider, his tone feigning curiosity: “Really? But my friend said that recently, Weihua Financial doesn’t have any overseas assignments.”
Watching Su Yiran’s departing back, Hang Zikun felt a rush of satisfaction.
Back in middle school, he was invisible, forever in the corner where no one noticed him. The complete opposites were Su Yiran and Gu Yuanting — both natural-born stars who shone brightly, taking all the spotlight.
Once, he’d tried to trip Su Yiran up with a petty scheme but hadn’t even succeeded before Gu Yuanting had people block him in an alley to teach him a lesson. Gu Yuanting had stood at the alley’s entrance, hands in his pockets, backlit by the sun, glancing at him with eyes that saw nothing more than garbage.
That feeling of being looked down on, having his dignity trampled — he remembered it every time he thought of them, and he hated them for it.
Later, when classes were reshuffled, Wu Lanlan transferred in. She was beautiful and quickly became the class flower. She once helped him by chance, and they gradually got to know each other. He started to like her and thought she liked him too.
When he confessed, she rejected him. Worse, she said she liked Su Yiran.
He had to watch as Wu Lanlan got closer to Su Yiran, until one day, she suddenly transferred schools.
Later, he pieced together from rumors that Gu Yuanting had orchestrated her transfer — ensuring he’d never see his first crush again.
But fine — she’d rejected him, so this was her comeuppance.
Still, his goddess had liked his rival, had been dismissed and exiled by Gu Yuanting’s casual manipulation, all of which humiliated him again.
But look now — he was a successful entrepreneur worth millions, while those two? One was pretending to work at a Fortune 500 company, the other just a small-time streamer and shop owner.
He had long foreseen this. From the day he became successful, he knew he’d eventually trample them underfoot — and now, it was time.
Hang Zikun smiled triumphantly.
Su Yiran didn’t bother with someone like Hang Zikun, whose bad intentions were obvious.
He headed backstage to thank his senior for all the help and for the surprise award.
His senior waved it off, saying that because she’d scouted such a promising talent like him, she was about to get promoted — a reward from higher-ups.
Su Yiran was genuinely happy for her. They chatted a bit before parting ways when she got busy.
Just then, Su Yiran noticed a flash out of the corner of his eye — like a camera flash — and glanced over. He saw a figure slip away in a corner, but thought little of it, assuming it was a media person or fan.
When he got home, his phone kept buzzing with notifications. Curious, he checked it — his store’s WeChat group, middle and university classmates’ groups, and countless friends were all tagging him:
“Boss Yiran, you’re trending number one on the hot search again!!!”
Hot search number one? Su Yiran was confused.
Opening Weibo, sure enough, the top trend was “Yiting”. Clicking in, the top post read: “I snagged myself a deity! #Yiting#”, accompanied by a nine-picture GIF grid.
Each GIF captured his little gestures and expressions during the anniversary livestream.
Su Yiran: “…” Seriously? The netizens were this fast? The event had just ended!
And how had he shot to number one so quickly…
Embarrassed by all the screaming comments below, he exited Weibo, deciding to ignore it for now.
His mind returned to what Hang Zikun had said: that Ting-ge wasn’t at Weihua, and that there hadn’t been any overseas assignments recently.
Instead of guessing, he decided to call Gu Yuanting directly.
In Country D.
After a meeting, Assistant Zhu stood before Gu Yuanting, giving his report while the man methodically brewed himself a cup of goji berry tea.
Assistant Zhu: …Why are all big bosses so serious about elderly health maintenance?
But Gu Yuanting had been pushing himself hard lately, chasing time itself, his eyes reddened from exhaustion. He really did need the nourishment.
Though Assistant Zhu was distracted, he still managed to finish his report. It concerned Gu Yuanting’s half-brother — the originally intended heir of the Gu family — who was now terminally ill with advanced lung cancer.
His brother’s health had rapidly deteriorated, pushing him into desperation, lashing out in irrational ways — ready to go down fighting with Gu Yuanting.
Though a cancer patient should evoke sympathy, the things his brother had done made Assistant Zhu shiver. He felt no pity.
Sometimes, Assistant Zhu wondered — if the brother hadn’t fallen ill, or had been cured early, would Gu Yuanting have ever been brought back to the family and made heir? If not, what kind of fate would’ve awaited him?
He didn’t dare speculate. The coldness of elite families — he’d seen it first-hand.
When Assistant Zhu finished, Gu Yuanting silently drank half his tea, eyes contemplative, then issued a string of commands for Assistant Zhu to carry out.
After Zhu left, Special Assistant No. 2 came in but was immediately waved away when Gu Yuanting’s phone rang. It was Su Yiran.
“Ranran.”
Seeing that Gu Yuanting was still at his office, Su Yiran asked, “Ting-ge, are you busy?”
“I’m free.”
“I have something to ask…” Su Yiran hesitated, but ultimately trusted his husband completely. He told him everything Hang Zikun had said.
Gu Yuanting gripped his phone tightly. “Do you believe him, Ranran?”
“Of course not. But I wanted to clarify it with you because I believe you.”
Upon hearing this, Gu Yuanting said, “I didn’t lie to you. I really am an employee of Weihua.”
Since he owned Weihua now, technically, he wasn’t lying.
Hearing this, Su Yiran was reassured. Between his husband and a petty person like Hang Zikun, he’d always choose to trust Ting-ge. He started venting about Hang Zikun: “He’s so weird…”
Gu Yuanting’s gaze darkened. “I’ll handle it.”
Su Yiran chuckled, eyes crinkling. “What can you do? Just ignore people like that.”
He dropped the subject and, recalling the upcoming cold snap, reminded Ting-ge to keep warm and asked if his leg had been hurting.
Gu Yuanting’s heart softened. “No, I’ll take care.”
They chatted a bit more before hanging up.
Special Assistant No. 2 re-entered and finished his report, then handed over two files. “Boss, here’s the intel you requested.”
Gu Yuanting flipped through them and dismissed the assistant before focusing on the documents.
It was the detailed investigation into Hang Zikun and Wu Lanlan — a follow-up from his earlier request.
Reading quickly, his grip on the papers unknowingly tightened until the pages crumpled.
A petty man who once bullied his Ranran dared to surface again — that could be easily dealt with.
But the other one…
He tossed aside Hang Zikun’s file and stared at the other document.
At the top was a youthful, sunny photo of a girl — Wu Lanlan. She’d liked Ranran in middle school, wrote him love letters, and had a vague, ambiguous closeness with him, though the original Su Yiran had later sent her away.
His knuckles whitened, crushing the fragile paper until it split.
Liked him? Love letters? Ambiguous? What ambiguity? What had happened?
At least the original body had done one good thing — sending her away.
Yet, Gu Yuanting felt a deeper fury simmer inside.
Why, back then, hadn’t he been the one protecting Ranran, claiming him completely for himself?
Author’s Note:
We’ll probably unmask the vest in the next chapter.