Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Su He froze for a second. He had clearly encountered Sheng Jinyu in the hallway—so how did Sheng Jinyu know they had been in a room together earlier?

Moreover, he felt this question was beyond what he could answer.

"That's my private matter. Do I have to talk about it?" Su He lowered his head.

But this seemed to hit a nerve. Sheng Jinyu's expression darkened instantly. "Private... matter?"

Su He kept his gaze downcast, so Sheng Jinyu couldn’t see his expression. But the way he stood there, completely shut him out, was like an invisible wall pushing Sheng Jinyu away.

Sheng Jinyu suddenly found it absurd. He had been running around like crazy last night, only for this person to dismiss him with a single "private matter," refusing to offer even a brief explanation. It was as if an intangible barrier had been erected between them.

"You think I’m butting in?" Sheng Jinyu stared at him coldly, his voice sharp.

Su He hastily waved his hands. "That’s not it."

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a medical patch on Sheng Jinyu’s forearm, and bits of memory came back.

That was all his fault!

"Is your arm okay? I’m sorry I grabbed you like that. I won’t drink like that again. Let me help you treat it properly?"

Every word he spoke was polite yet distant, just making Sheng Jinyu angrier.

"No need." Sheng Jinyu stepped back, avoiding Su He’s attempt to touch his arm. "Sort out your personal relationships. Don’t get me mixed up in your drama."

Fair enough. Su He nodded apologetically. "I understand. I’m sorry."

Yet another apology. They stood face to face, yet it felt like there was an invisible barrier between them. The truth was, Su He currently had no good way to shake off that jerk ex, yet he never once thought to seek help from the man in front of him—someone way more powerful than he had.

Was it distrust? Or did he simply see no need?

Sheng Jinyu narrowed his eyes, his displeasure written plainly across his face. Without another glance at Su He, he turned and walked away, leaving things hanging.

As he entered the living room, Yan Yichen called, asking about the arrangements for Grandfather Sheng’s birthday banquet that week. The Yan family, as longtime friends of the Sheng family, would naturally attend.

Even through the phone, Yan Yichen could sense Sheng Jinyu’s bad mood. "Why so pissed off? Who pissed you off this time? Don’t tell me it’s that Assistant Su of yours?"

Touching a nerve, Sheng Jinyu remained silent.

Yan Yichen raised an eyebrow, amused. "So it is. Didn’t he propose collaborating with you to deceive your father? Did you two fight, or did the deal fall through?"

When Sheng Jinyu still didn’t respond, Yan Yichen kept talking anyway. "Yesterday, Gu Ming mentioned someone at your place had food poisoning. Was it him?"

Sheng Jinyu finally let out a grudging "Hmm" before shifting to business. "When I went to see Sister Manfeng last time, he didn’t leak anything to Sheng Zonglan. Sheng Zonglan’s been trying to dig up dirt on my connection with the Red Cherry Society for a while now."

"So, he’s at least somewhat sincere?" Yan Yichen mused.

"Doesn’t look that way. He’s guarding against me tightly." Sheng Jinyu let out a cold laugh, his tone full of frustration.

Though their so-called "partnership" didn’t require full transparency, Su He’s outright refusal to share anything personal—even implying that Sheng Jinyu was overstepping—felt like a kick in the teeth.

Wasn’t this the typical case of no good deed going unpunished?

Those old fables might as well add a new entry—

The Farmer and the Snake, Master Dongguo and the Wolf... Eldest Young Master Sheng and Assistant Su!

Yan Yichen remarked, "Still, it’s hard to tell if he’s genuinely changed after some trauma or if he’s just good at pretending. He comes off as surprisingly... innocent."

After a pause, Sheng Jinyu suddenly asked, "You once said he had a wild past. What did you mean?"

Yan Yichen was caught off guard by the abrupt shift. He raised an eyebrow, amused. "Since when do you care about gossip? Last time I brought it up, you brushed me off. What’s changed?"

"Just spit it out," Sheng Jinyu pressed.

"Fine, the short version—from what I know, Su He was quite the party animal in college, always organizing parties and hitting bars to network. He’s apparently 100% gay and had a long-term boyfriend back then, someone he met during that time."

"Tell me something I don’t know."

"I don’t have much on him, but rumor has it he used to be pretty wild. He was even a member of our club. You know what kind of place that is. I checked his records—he was a regular."

Visibly, Sheng Jinyu’s expression darkened.

"Why the sudden interest in his love life? Did he make a move on you?" Yan Yichen teased.

"I’m hanging up. See you at the estate." Sheng Jinyu ended the call, his mood worsening rather than improving.

The next morning, the outside was foggy, soon giving way to rain. Even the last day of August didn't see the sun.

When Su He woke up early and didn’t see Sheng Jinyu, he learned the man had returned to the ancestral home and wouldn’t be back at Xiaoxie Garden for days.

He had left without a word, as if still angry.

S037 informed him that the true head of the Sheng family, Grandfather Sheng, was celebrating his eightieth birthday.

Having narrowly escaped death once again, the old man had been recuperating, and this year’s celebration was even grander than usual.

All direct and collateral descendants of the Sheng family were required to return early for ancestral rites. Each year, a different generation would take turns guarding the family shrine, and this year, it was Sheng Jinyu’s turn.

His stay would last at least a week, and outsiders weren’t permitted to follow—not even Executive Assistant Fang got to tag along, granting Su He an unexpected break.

According to the original timeline, the protagonist had spent nearly half a year by Sheng Jinyu’s side, gradually earning his trust before making any moves.

Now, with only a few months left, time was running out...

The thought alone made Su He anxious. What was he supposed to do once those months passed?

Over the following days, Su He kept S037 company.

When he got stuck while writing, S037 would connect to the built-in speakers and play symphonies for him. When he cooked in the kitchen, S037 projected tutorials onto the white walls...

Su He had S037 send Sheng Jinyu three updates daily—reporting on the pool’s cleaning progress, the workers’ scheduled maintenance of the floor-to-ceiling aquarium, and S037’s latest self-upgrades—like a dutiful little assistant.

But Sheng Jinyu had no time to respond.

During his days at the ancestral shrine, the constant stream of visitors never ceased—aunts, uncles, cousins—all demanding his attention for incense offerings.

Sheng Jinyu went through the motions like a robot, utterly disinterested, his entire being soaked in the smell of burning incense.

Yan Yichen arrived on the day of the banquet itself. The Sheng family had invited all kinds of guests, and as a junior, Yan Yichen naturally went separate ways from the elders upon entering the estate.

The moment he stepped inside, he began searching for Sheng Jinyu.

But his calls kept going to voicemail, and the man couldn't be found anywhere. When he asked the family butler, he learned Sheng Jinyu had had another blow-up with his father and left the main house alone.

Nobody knew where he'd gone. The old butler was reviewing the security cameras to locate him.

The moment he remembered what day it was, Yan Yichen knew his friend was justified in running off. After all, nobody would feel like celebrating on this day after experiencing something like that.

In the end, the manager of the ranch at the back of the mountain finally cracked under pressure and secretly called the old butler, revealing that Sheng Jinyu had holed up there refusing all visitors.

But with the banquet about to begin, the family head had ordered him to be found, and Sheng Jinyu was still refusing to show himself. The servants were stuck between following orders and not daring to offend anyone.

The old butler grabbed Yan Yichen’s hand as if grasping at straws: "Young Master Yan, please help us out. Normally, we wouldn’t trouble you, but today… You and the young master grew up together—he surely wouldn’t take his anger out on you."

Yan Yichen let out a wry laugh.

"Do I look like a fool to you? Years ago, I fell for your tricks and climbed through the window to reason with A Yu. And what happened? He took a swing at me too!"

Yan Yichen tsk'd, eyeing the old butler. "He wouldn’t lay a hand on an elder like you, but he’s got no mercy for me. I’m not going."

The old butler’s face was creased with worry, sighing nonstop.

"If he doesn’t want to come out, then let him be. You know better than I do why he’s so upset, don’t you?" Yan Yichen, uncharacteristically serious, advised.

"But… Ah, we’re just servants. What we say doesn't matter," the old butler continued sighing.

After a lengthy stalemate, Yan Yichen surrendered, waving his hands. "Alright, alright, quit sighing like that—it makes me feel like a villain."

He paused, then suddenly had an idea. "Actually, I do have someone in mind. Do you know that A Yu keeps someone around?"

The old butler shook his head.

"Send a car to fetch him right now. Let him go in and talk. It might actually work," Yan Yichen said decisively.

Truthfully, he wasn’t entirely confident, but based on his observations lately, sending Su He in to fight fire with fire might just be a brilliant idea.

The old butler took him at his word. From Yan Yichen’s tone, he assumed it was Sheng Jinyu’s lover and immediately dispatched someone to pick them up.

When the eagerly awaited person arrived, it turned out to be a man!

And a strikingly beautiful one at that. The old butler nearly had a stroke, muttering about how scandalous this was, but with no other options, he had no choice but to proceed.

By then, the sun was already setting, and there wasn’t much time left before the evening banquet.

Su He was led into the ranch, where he saw Yan Yichen, Sheng Jinyu’s good friend, smiling at him.

He had been hauled here clueless, with no one telling him why. He assumed Sheng Jinyu needed him for something.

But Yan Yichen explained that Eldest Young Master Sheng had quarreled with his family, refusing to see anyone or eat, and they hoped Su He could persuade him.

Hearing this, Su He didn’t think he had nearly enough influence to talk Sheng Jinyu down from his bad mood.

They must have been truly desperate to rope him into this mess.

Just like the first time he entered Xiaoxie Garden, when everyone pushed him forward to wake Sheng Jinyu.

After all, Sheng Jinyu was only 22 this year—still young and hot-headed. Pulling this stunt was something he’d absolutely do.

"Why is he in such a bad mood?" Su He suddenly asked Yan Yichen before entering.

"Assistant Su's nosy?" Yan Yichen raised an eyebrow, dodging the question.

Su He shook his head. "I’m going in to persuade him. I need to know why he doesn’t want to come out."

"Fine. It's his mother. Eight years ago today, A Yu’s mother left him behind and disappeared. To this day, no one knows if she’s alive or dead. It’s just the textbook tragic backstory you’d find in literature—family issues," Yan Yichen said, shrugging.

His words suddenly reminded Su He of a passage from the original novel.

Like most male leads in business revenge stories, Sheng Jinyu had a tragic past—unloved by his father, abandoned by his mother, and raised in a cold, strict household. It's a wonder he hadn’t turned into a villain.

Yan Yichen’s use of the word "left" was way too polite. In the original book, the event was described bluntly as "fled" and "abandoned."

Sheng Jinyu was the one who had been left behind.

Well, this was going to be a tall order.

Su He rode the shuttle into the ranch, where a vast stretch of grassland came into view. The pasture neighbored the equestrian field he had visited before, making for quite the sight.

Under a nearby awning sat a figure in a grayish-white short-sleeved athletic shirt, his hair hanging limp over his eyes.

Su He squinted—it was Sheng Jinyu.

No one else would be here on a day like this.

"Sh-Sheng—" Su He took two steps forward before freezing in place.

He noticed a large black-and-white animal draped over Sheng Jinyu. From a distance, it looked like an oversized cat, but as Su He approached, the "cat" turned its head and emitted a warning rumble.

That was no cat—it was a white tiger!

"Ah!"

Su He shrieked and, moving faster than he ever had, vaulted onto a nearby table!

His voice trembled as he stammered, "I-Is th-that… a t-tiger?!"

He couldn’t be blamed for his shock. The creature was the size of a full-grown Bernese Mountain Dog, with razor-sharp fangs. Though its gaze was lazy, it looked plenty menacing.

It mirrored Sheng Jinyu’s brooding energy uncannily well.

Hearing the noise, Sheng Jinyu frowned and turned his head, looking equal parts surprised and annoyed by Su He’s presence. "The hell are you doing here?"