Chapter 65

Chapter 65

Pei Sheng’s face showed surprise.

He never imagined Qin You would invite him out to discuss this. Nor had he ever thought the person he'd rescued as a child would turn out to be Qin You.

"You..."

Qin You studied his reaction. "What, don’t believe it?"

Pei Sheng looked away again. "No... I just didn’t expect it to be you."

"Right."

Qin You also turned to look out the car window, his voice flat. "I was surprised too."

Only then did Pei Sheng glance at the man's profile.

It was equally unexpected that just recently, he had brought this up with Qi Yan. How strange—the person he met and lost in childhood had now been found today.

The realization made Pei Sheng suddenly frown.

Just last night, before Tingshen asked him to go to Cangyuan, he'd mentioned this very thing on the phone.

Afterward, seeing the two of them argue, he had forgotten about it. Now that Qin You mentioned it again, he couldn't stop his mind from racing.

The timing was suspicious.

Right after this, the two of them, who had always gotten along well, had fallen out and were still not speaking.

Could this be why they'd fought?

Pei Sheng shook himself from his reverie and couldn’t help but look at Qin You again.

There must be another reason.

After all, he couldn't understand how a mere childhood memory from when they were four could possibly cause such a serious falling-out between them.

"Qin You, I know we don’t have much of a relationship yet, but this might sound out of line, and there’s a question I want to ask you..."

Qin You went still. "Go ahead."

Pei Sheng came straight out with it. "Are you really going to walk away from what you have with Tingshen over a misunderstanding?"

Kissing Yan Tingshen at Shanyin Winery—Pei Sheng had seen it with his own eyes.

Having witnessed him manhandle Yan Tingshen twice, it wasn’t strange for Pei Sheng to have such an impression.

Pei Sheng continued, "Look, I know I'm just an outsider who doesn’t know the specifics. But your relationship with Tingshen is something even an outsider like me can see clearly—"

"Enough."

Qin You interrupted with a thin smile. "Tonight's supposed to be your dinner. Let’s not talk about him."

Pei Sheng compressed his lips.

In the car's dim light, expressions were hard to read, but he could tell Qin You’s tone hadn’t changed. His attitude toward him was even gentler than ever before.

He saw Qin You smiling, but those dark eyes were still hidden behind cold lenses, revealing no trace of emotion.

Yet Qin You and Tingshen shared similar temperaments—once a decision was spoken, it was just as final.

Fifteen minutes later.

The car arrived right on time at the restaurant.

Qin You and Pei Sheng went to their reserved booth, and by the time the meal ended, it was just past six-thirty.

Pei Sheng put down his wine glass and looked at Qin You across the table.

It was only because of a childhood accident where he helped someone that he had the chance to actually get to know Qin You.

Now that he was interacting with Qin You, he realized—as long as Qin You was willing, he could make anyone feel completely comfortable.

Before the meeting, he had expected things to be awkward.

Bringing up Tingshen deliberately in front of Qin You, he had also braced for awkwardness.

But there was none.

Not for a single second.

For nearly an hour, apart from Qin You—who, like Tingshen, was accustomed to steering the conversation—everything else unfolded so naturally that it surprised him.

They talked about being four years old, that snowy night, their childhood neighborhood, Qingning Road—all topics he never shared with outsiders—yet in this hour, they came easily between them.

Still, there was one thing he saw clearly.

Pei Sheng examined Qin You’s slight smile.

He had seen Qin You and Tingshen together countless times, so he could spot the difference.

Compared to the genuine warmth that naturally showed, Qin You never revealed his true feelings when facing others.

Thinking this over, Pei Sheng heard Qin You cough lightly, covering his mouth with a fist, and had to ask, "Are you really alright with your illness?"

Qin You smiled. "Don't worry about it."

Pei Sheng had more to say.

"Let’s go." Qin You had already risen from the table. "I’ll take you back."

Without a word, Pei Sheng followed him outside.

Qin You dropped him off at home.

Still in the car, the system jumped in to remind him: "Host, the promise—don’t forget the promise."

Then it began displaying the scripted dialogue.

"A Sheng, I apologize for last night, but it was all because I love you too much—so I lost control! I wanted you, to have you! Was that really so bad—"

Qin You said, "Cut to the chase."

"Oh, right!" The system replied. "Sorry, Host, I forgot you became the main character last night—let’s skip this part!"

With that, it quickly pulled up new material.

"A Sheng, wait! Listen to me! Promise me you'll leave Yan Tingshen. As long as you leave Yan Tingshen, I'll give you everything the Qin family owns. With the Qin family's resources, you can stage a comeback, even start Cehai Group anew if you want!

"You have to believe me. Whatever Yan Tingshen can give you, I can give too. Whatever Yan Tingshen can't give you, you can take from me!

"A Sheng, I'm crazy about you—"

"..." Qin You shut the system panel without hesitation.

"Hey!" the system hurriedly said. "Host, there’s more coming up. Why aren't you reading it all?"

Qin You replied, "That’s enough."

The system fretted, "Is it really enough? The scene and dialogue don’t line up anymore..."

The script called for fury, but...

Now, with a different person, the dialogue feels wrong now...

Qin You ignored it.

When the car came to a stop, he got out and escorted Pei Sheng to the door.

Seeing him pause, Pei Sheng stopped as well.

Qin You said, "There’s something I want you to remember."

Pei Sheng asked, "What is it?"

Qin You replied, "You once saved my life. So, if you ever face any problems in the future, reach out to me anytime—even to restart Cehai Group."

Pei Sheng was stunned.

He looked at Qin You and couldn't help saying, "...That childhood incident wasn’t as big a deal as you think."

Qin You only smiled. "That’s my word."

The system was still worried.

The host deviated completely from the script. Was the task even doable now?

But when it checked the mission list, it lit up with excitement.

Qin You also saw the page it opened.

Mission accomplished, he nodded at Pei Sheng. "Head on in."

Pei Sheng watched his retreating figure, his gaze dropping to the injury on Qin You's left hand. Instinctively, he said, "Qin, Tingshen’s hand is hurt pretty bad too. You..."

Qin You glanced at him.

The glare shut Pei Sheng up.

Qin You said, "Till next time."

Pei Sheng bit his lip. "...Till next time."

Qin You turned and returned to the car.

The car didn’t wait, pulling away quickly.

Returning to Zeshui Bay, the feared confrontation with Qin Hengzhong that the system had worried about never happened. The villa remained peaceful.

Xiang Haifeng, who had followed Qin You, also let out a sigh of relief.

He had gone against the chairman’s orders and, if discovered, wouldn’t get off easy.

Qin You noticed everyone’s lingering unease.

With the required outing completed, he was too exhausted to leave Zeshui Bay again.

The side effects of the medication, coupled with a slight fever, left him drained. After taking his medicine and washing up, he went straight to bed and slept until nearly noon the next day.

However, he had assumed that after their falling out with Qin Hengzhong, he would easily get out of his duties as general manager.

But shortly after waking up and finishing lunch, Cui Ling’s call came in.

"President Qin, I’ve sent all the reports requiring your personal confirmation to your email. Please check them soon."

Qin You frowned.

Cui Ling didn’t urge him to return to the office, clearly in the know. "What did the chairman say to you?"

Cui Ling replied matter-of-factly, "The chairman said you need to recover and will be working remotely for the time being."

This wasn’t the first or second time such a situation had occurred.

Whether the illness was real or not, it happened frequently.

Besides, with the Prodigal Heir at the company, working remotely didn’t change much.

"Oh, and there’s also an invitation."

Cui Ling added, "I’ve already arranged for someone to deliver it to Zeshui Bay."

Qin You asked, "An invitation?"

Cui Ling explained, "It’s a yearly event. This year’s date falls on January 1st. I’ve heard it’s attended by young entrepreneurs and many influential figures. The chairman probably wants you to build connections."

Build connections?

Qin You knew better. Qin Hengzhong had just learned of his "affection" for men and wouldn’t care about this.

"I looked into this year’s organizers," Cui Ling continued. "Runxi Group is one of them."

Qin You frowned again.

A gala hosted by Qi Yan?

Given Qi Yan’s relationship with Yan Tingshen, Yan Tingshen would undoubtedly be there to boost the event.

Cui Ling added hesitantly, "President Qin, the chairman insists that you attend this gala."

After the video incident, even after meeting the chairman again, Cui Ling couldn’t read him.

He had been explicitly instructed to support the Prodigal Heir properly, like business as usual. But when it came to this supposedly minor gala, the chairman’s tone had been sterner than with the previous summit.

‘Qin You must attend.’

This request, Cui Ling naturally relayed dutifully.

Qin You said, "Tell him I'm sick and can't attend this party."

Cui Ling hesitated: "But—"

Just then, the butler knocked and entered.

Behind him was a young assistant from the general office.

"Young Master Qin, this is the party invitation that Assistant Cui asked me to deliver to you."

Before Qin You could speak, the system prompt chimed in.

"Critical story point unlocked!"

"Host, please bring a female companion to the party and, in front of the target, help her out of a tight spot."

Cui Ling’s pleading tone still came through the receiver.

"Young Master Qin, the arrangements have already been made. If you don’t attend, the Chairman won't like it."

Cui Ling’s tone carried a desperate but cautious plea: "Please don’t make things difficult for me..."

The next second, he heard the PRODIGAL HEIR's voice.

"Come by at seven tomorrow."

Cui Ling was stunned.

What's gotten into him?

The Eldest Young Master was being so agreeable today?

"I—"

This sudden change was unbelievable. Before Cui Ling could react, the line went dead.

In the dining room, the assistant left the invitation and exited with the butler.

Qin You scanned the task list displayed on his panel, then examined the task details.

This was a critical story point?

"Host, starting from the aggressive approach, our mission will shift toward the main storyline. This critical story point task is definitely meant to tank the target’s opinion of you."

The system sighed, worried about something else. "You just promised him last night that you’d help him, and today you’re bringing a female companion. If the task goes smoothly and follows the original script, it’s total scumbag behavior... But the key is, he doesn’t seem to even be into you yet. Will this task really affect him?"

Qin You replied flatly, "Mm."

The target didn’t need to be into him to begin with.

The mission was already off the rails—completing it was enough.

"..." The system waited for a long time, only to hear this single word, and its anxiety grew.

It was seriously freaking out!

It strongly suspects that if there were enough energy to offset the penalty for failure, the host would have long checked out.

Thinking back on the host's actions over the past two days, it feels uneasy and worried.

No more villain act.

The bossy routine’s disappeared too.

Even completing tasks—the host isn’t the same as before.

Sure, the wrong person was targeted before, but at least when the host was wooing the lead, there were still messages, chats, flowers, and flirtation—

Now, with the right person as the target and back on track, where’s all that now?!

Flirting? Forget it—there isn’t a single romantic spark in sight!

The main task is to make the target fall for the host first, then get heartbroken by the host, and finally run into the lead's arms.

But without the prerequisite of falling for the host, how’s this supposed to work?!

The more the system thinks about it, the bigger its headache gets.

Most importantly, how did it never notice before how half-assed the host is with dialogue?

Those big dramatic monologues—chopped down to a couple lines by the host, yet the task still gets marked as complete?!

Thanks a lot, main system!

The system curses silently, then pulls itself together.

No.

It has to come up with a plan!