Fang Chengyu did not leave the scene immediately.

His body was adorned with jewelry full of Fang Ji’s style, and as he walked through the venue, he couldn’t help but attract countless gazes.

Coupled with the fact that he was the Fang family’s newly acknowledged eldest brother and one of the heirs, many people in the circle who hadn’t had the chance to get to know him before took this opportunity to come forward and converse.

Perhaps because of Teacher Chengyu’s age and profession, the attention he received at the banquet was much greater than what Qi Wendong had received when he first attended a banquet back then.

But it was also because of this that Lin Chen was able to witness the moment of Fang Lian’s “enlightenment” firsthand.

He stopped in his tracks with great interest, watching the entire event from beginning to end, and also saw Fang Lian’s actions and smile, which had finally shed their AI-like robotic quality.

Graduating ahead of schedule, not bad at all.

Lin Chen was in a pleasant mood, so he showed an even gentler smile to the person he was talking to.

He politely communicated with everyone who took the initiative to come forward and talk.

Among them, a few individuals caught his attention slightly.

For example, the young master of the Cheng family.

The Cheng family’s financial strength was quite good, and the young master of the Cheng family was able to attend banquets every time.

But what was strange was that despite such standard and frequent attendance at banquets, the young master of the Cheng family had failed to leave any impression in the minds of people in the circle.

His presence was extremely faint. Lin Chen, since the time of Qi Wendong, had seen him every time and forgotten him every time.

A character with such a low presence was naturally not mentioned even once in the original novel.

So this time, when Lin Chen saw the young master of the Cheng family again, he took the initiative to pay some attention.

The young master of the Cheng family greeted him properly and seemed very normal, but when Lin Chen took a closer look and chatted with him for a few sentences, he discovered that this “propriety” was actually his greatest abnormality.

If one were to place this young master of the Cheng family together with the four business-minded members of the Fang family, the four Fangs would probably appear more interesting than him.

The four Fangs were just too focused on their careers, thus neglecting everything else.

But what about this young master of the Cheng family?

Lin Chen couldn’t see a single bit of his own “personality” in him.

Lin Chen found this strange and called for AC9999 to record his situation.

Besides him, the Wen family’s father and son also caught Lin Chen’s slight attention.

The head of the Wen family was clearly bringing his child up to get acquainted with people.

But the young master of the Wen family was too introverted. Even when his father led him in front of Fang Chengyu, he remained quiet, his head always bowed, unwilling to say a word.

It wasn’t until the head of the Wen family scolded him in a low voice that he, as if startled, weakly and softly said to Fang Chengyu, “Hello, brother.”

Looking at the way this father and son interacted, Lin Chen roughly knew what their family situation was like.

This was completely the kind of case that he wouldn’t be willing to take, no matter how much money the parents offered.

However, it didn’t seem like this head of the Wen family was the type to proactively become his client.

Lin Chen expressed his pity and apology to this child.

He took out a strawberry candy and handed it to this young master who was still in high school, then gently and tactfully praised him a couple of times to the head of the Wen family, so that he wouldn’t get too big a scolding after being led away by his father.

The young master of the Wen family was very astonished by his gift.

He looked up at him with a dazed expression, quickly and nervously gave him a tiny smile, and said, “Thank you, brother.”

Then he lowered his head again and was led away by his father.

…

Fang Ji’s birthday passed quickly.

During these days, everything in the Fang family home remained unchanged, yet it seemed everything had changed.

In the third week of August, Fang Lian’s score broke a new high, breaking through the 80s and pulling his original last-place position sharply upwards.

Then in the fourth week, Fang Lian’s score reached a new high again, with a score of nearly 90, leaving even Fang Mom far behind!

Fang Lian’s performance improved by leaps and bounds, and his monthly average score jumped from last place to almost on par with Fang Mom!

Thanks to Fang Mom’s huge score advantage from the first two weeks, in the end, Fang Lian was narrowly defeated by Fang Mom by a margin of 0.3 points, ranking second in the entire group.

This meteoric rise in performance caused panic among the other members of the work group.

Fang Mom, who was almost overtaken, was especially nervous and applied for a review of Fang Lian’s scores for two consecutive weeks.

But Fang Lian perfectly presented all the evidence for his scores, dealing with all of Fang Mom’s doubts without any trouble.

This tired Lin Chen out.

For the entire first half of September, messages from the three “students”—Fang Mom, Fang Sis, and Fang Dad—continuously bombarded his Green Letter, all to probe and learn Fang Bro’s score-raising strategy.

As for Fang Lian, his thinking had been basically unblocked, and he could almost be considered to have graduated. His message interactions with Lin Chen decreased at once, which somewhat balanced Lin Chen’s workload.

During this time, Fang Ji was also busier than ever.

His company was up and running, and he was recently planning to realize the set of jewelry he had designed for his big project in design class last semester, producing and selling it as the company’s first product line.

So for the entire month of September, besides his school courses, he was busy running around looking for gemstone and metal suppliers and jewelry manufacturers.

Li Yunhui had previously rejected Fang Ji’s request for help.

But he was, after all, Fang Ji’s best friend. Having just graduated and not being too busy with his own affairs, he was bored and decided to come and observe the operation of Fang Ji’s company.

Not two days after Li Yunhui arrived, Fang Ji sensed something was off.

He had a reasonable suspicion that Li Yunhui was actually here for his brother!

Listen to this statement: “Why isn’t Teacher Chengyu with you today? Oh, he’s busy at school? Doesn’t he have any classes this semester? What else does he need to be busy with? …Alright, well, I see it’s getting late. I’ll head back now.”

Fang Ji heard this and knew something was wrong.

He grabbed Li Yunhui and wouldn’t let him go. “Wait. What do you mean? So you were running here to wait for my brother!”

He warned him fiercely, the bells on his body jingling as much as his mood. “I’m warning you, don’t get any funny ideas. He’s my brother, and no one is allowed to lay a hand on him!”

Li Yunhui looked at him calmly. “What are you thinking? Look at you, so busy all day without any excitement or fun. It’s so boring for me to just sit here with no one to talk to. I might as well go home.”

Fang Ji glared at him, hands on his hips, jingling away. “Still trying to argue? Listen to the sound of your abacus, I can even hear it! No, no, I absolutely will not allow it!”

Fang Ji was about to angrily ban Li Yunhui’s face from the company’s facial recognition system.

But before he could do it, that evening, when his brother returned home, he was the first to call him over.

His brother said to him, “Xiao Ji, brother has to go on a business trip out of the province tomorrow, for three days.”

Fang Ji was instantly stunned.

Ever since his brother came home, he had been sticking to him almost every day and had never been separated from him.

Even when traveling, he always took his brother with him.

But now…

His brother was actually going on a business trip?

What kind of crappy job was this, that it required his brother to go on a business trip out of the province?!

A corner of Fang Ji’s sky quietly collapsed.

His rationality told him that a three-day business trip was very short. If he just endured it for a little while, his brother would be back.

But his emotions were surging, and he was furious at this job that didn’t pay much but still required his brother to go on business trips!

He clung to his brother’s arm, reluctant and aggrieved, whining pitifully for half a day. “Brother, what’s so good about this job of yours anyway? The salary isn’t even as high as my living expenses, and it takes up so much time. You might as well come to Xiao Ji’s company.”

He promised earnestly, “If you agree, brother, when this batch of jewelry is made, I’ll split the profits with you fifty-fifty!”

Fang Ji was very sincere.

But Fang Chengyu couldn’t help but laugh when he heard it. He gently stroked Xiao Ji’s head and said, “It’s only three days, not that long. Xiao Ji is already so grown up, why are you acting like a child who can’t leave his brother?”

Fang Ji puffed out his cheeks and refused to admit it. “I just think this job is too much of a loss for you!”

Fang Chengyu smiled. “But brother likes this job.”

Fang Ji rolled around on his brother’s bed in a huff for ten minutes. Failing to get his brother to change his mind, he let out a “wah” and left, “crying.”

The next morning, Fang Ji woke up early and looked out the window.

…Brother really had left with a small suitcase!

For the first time in half a year, Fang Ji felt the taste of loneliness at home again.

Every day after he finished his work and came home, he would sit by the large floor-to-ceiling window, hugging the rainbow-colored bell hat his brother had given him on New Year’s Eve, waiting expectantly for his brother to return.

He waited for a day, two days.

He waited so long that when the butler passed by, he couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Little Young Master, you’re about to turn into a brother-watching stone.”

Fang Ji sighed melancholically, “Why are three days so long!”

The time finally came to the third day. His brother’s plane was scheduled to land at eight in the evening.

Fang Ji had pushed aside all his affairs early at around four in the afternoon, went home, dressed himself up carefully, and then went to the airport, waiting for his brother to land from seven o’clock onwards.

While he was waiting, his brother’s plane was delayed.

At half-past eleven at night, the plane finally arrived.

Fang Ji mixed in the crowd, craning his neck to look for his brother.

His brother’s figure was easy to find—tall, with fluffy long hair, a gentle and special aura, and a few figures would inevitably be gathered around him…

Fang Ji happily found his brother!

He immediately went forward, greeted the accompanying teachers with a smile, handed out gifts to each of them to thank them for taking care of his brother, and then joyfully took his brother’s hand and left early.

On the way home, Fang Ji couldn’t help but cling to his brother, sharing all sorts of things that had happened to him in the past three days.

His brother was very accepting of his clinginess, gently receiving all his joy and longing.

Fang Ji reluctantly forgave the business trip.

He asked his brother brightly, “Brother, this is the only business trip, right? There won’t be any more business trips after this, right?”

His brother thought for a moment at the time and said, “Perhaps.”

And he took it as the truth.

Who would have thought that just a week later, his brother would tell him again, “Xiao Ji, brother has to go on a business trip again tomorrow. This time it will be for a week.”

Fang Ji’s sky collapsed with a loud crash.

He wailed in agony, “Why another business trip? Didn’t you just go on a business trip? Last time it was three days, why is it seven days this time?”

“How much is your business trip allowance? It’s not even ten thousand a day! I’ll give you three times, no, ten times the allowance, brother. Please don’t go on a business trip, okay—”

But it was obvious that if he could persuade his brother, he would have been able to keep him last time.

His brother didn’t argue with him either.

He just sat there quietly, watching him throw a tantrum, roll around, and wail, and then when he was finally tired of yelling and fussing and stopped to catch his breath, he personally poured a cup of warm tea and handed it to him.

His brother also took out some of those strawberry candies used to coax children from his pocket and coaxed him gently.

He said, “This time brother is going to G City. Isn’t there a dessert shop there that Xiao Ji really likes? What flavors does Xiao Ji like? Brother will bring some back for you when he returns.”

Fang Ji glared at his brother with puffed cheeks. “If I want to eat dessert, I can just find a personal shopper to buy it. I don’t need my brother to go on a business trip to bring it back!”

His brother was very helpless. “Then what should I do? Hmm… a hug for the sad Xiao Ji? Or, does Xiao Ji want to put jewelry on brother? Going on a business trip with Xiao Ji’s jewelry can also be considered taking Xiao Ji out together, right?”

Fang Ji: “…How can that be ‘considered’!”

Fang Ji protested vehemently. Fang Ji’s protest was ineffective. Fang Ji was forced to surrender.

He adorned his brother with a set of the most exquisite silent jewelry, watched him leave with longing eyes, and once again welcomed the pain of waiting.

Fang Ji waited eagerly every day.

He wished upon the stars, wished upon the moon, wishing so much that even the employees at his new company couldn’t help but gossip about their boss behind his back.

But he still couldn’t wish for his brother’s return.

However, Fang Chengyu’s absence did provide the Fang family’s parents, brother, and sister with a competitive space with a much broader upper limit.

Before, Xiao Ji was emotionally satisfied by Fang Chengyu every day. No matter how much they sought him out, all they got were plain and ordinary reactions.

Sometimes they even had to rack their brains to create topics to keep Xiao Ji on the phone just to meet the required call duration for scoring points.

But once Fang Chengyu left, the situation completely changed.

Xiao Ji’s replies became more patient.

The number of words in Xiao Ji’s replies also increased.

Xiao Ji started to proactively talk to them.

Xiao Ji…

Fang Mom, Fang Sis, Fang Dad: [@Liu Fang, take more business trips, no need to think of home [thumbs up]]

Fang Ji was oblivious to this.

Every day, he tried his best to find a time when his brother was free to have a video or voice call with him.

But his brother was very busy on business trips and often couldn’t reply to him in time. He could only go to his parents, brother, and sister to quench his thirst.

His communication experience with his parents, brother, and sister was already much better than before his brother came home, and recently it had experienced a “major upgrade.”

First it was his brother, then his mother, then his sister, and finally his father…

For a moment, Fang Ji actually felt that his parents, brother, and sister had evolved to the level of a normal family’s normal parents, brother, and sister!

Fang Ji was very shocked and overjoyed by this.

And he very curiously invested his energy into studying the normal version of his parents, brother, and sister.

In addition, Fang Ji also packed his schedule with jewelry music and jewelry company work even more tightly than usual.

After all, experiments had proven that when the concentration of enjoyable work increases, the passage of time also accelerates.

With his mind occupied, his waiting no longer seemed so painful.

However, this state lasted only until his brother came home.

As soon as his brother returned, Fang Ji immediately stuck to his side again, going all out on the “work” in the virtual space.

This was of no use.

His brother’s work became busier and busier, and his business trips more and more frequent.

The third time, the fourth time, the fifth time…

Fang Ji was forced to get used to his brother’s departures.

His grand undertakings of jewelry music, his company, and his research on the normalization of his parents, brother, and sister, all progressed with extreme efficiency during this period.