Chapter 139: Who was the one who dragged Shen Jixing down back then?

After what happened, Shen Jixing could no longer bring himself to attend the concert.

The next morning, he rejected Zhou Yili’s request for a morning tryst, successfully escaping only after offering a few kisses as consolation and promising to arrive at the concert on time that evening.

Zhou Yili savored the kisses initiated by his beauty, then lowered his gaze and said, "I never said this was the condition for tonight."

"..."

Shen Jixing, calm and accustomed to this, replied, "One hour."

Zhou Yili blurted out something outrageous, "The whole night."

"..."

Shen Jixing raised his eyes coldly. "Do you always go for the jugular when you bargain?"

Zhou Yili loved that icy, arrogant face and the chilly, sideways glance he gave when angry. He couldn't help but laugh, causing the skin on Shen Jixing's face to flush a translucent pink.

"I don't bargain. I just flip the table."

His philosophy was essentially: if I can't have it, nobody can.

Shen Jixing, exhausted by his antics, turned his head slightly to avoid his lips. "We’ll talk about it tonight. Alright, stop nuzzling, it tickles..."

Zhou Yili rubbed his nose against the back of Shen Jixing’s ear, letting out a muffled laugh as he continued to shower him with kisses.

"Shen Jixing."

"Hm?"

"What should I do? I don't want to go to rehearsal..."

Zhou Yili lingered in the scent of him, finding every strand of his hair beautiful. He wished he could leave pink marks all over his body.

Shen Jixing glanced at him indifferently. "Then prepare to be mocked by the entire internet tonight."

Zhou Yili pulled him by the waist, pressing him against the door. "What did you say?"

Shen Jixing let out a soft huff, pushing him away with pink-tinged knuckles. "...We’re running out of time, stop messing around."

A long, lean arm reached over his lower back, casually hooking the car keys. His palm slid down, giving him a playful pat.

"Planning to go to Fu Chen’s company? I’ll drive you."

Shen Jixing stomped hard on his foot, snatched the keys from his palm, and left with reddening ears.

"Who needs your ride?"

Zhou Yili had no choice but to grab another set of keys, swinging his long legs as he followed behind. "Oh, come on, it was just a pat~ Are you really that angry?"

By the time Zhou Yili reached the garage, he only saw the sea-blue McLaren whizzing past, the window reflecting half of Shen Jixing’s cold, sharp profile.

Zhou Yili whistled leisurely.

Inside the car, Shen Jixing glanced at the rearview mirror and coldly spat out a single word: "Degenerate."

Half an hour later.

Shen Jixing sat in a high-rise office with various documents spread before him. He lowered his eyes, reading through them with feigned nonchalance, effectively familiarizing himself with the company’s management operations.

"Just practicing."

Fu Chen paused as he set down a cup of coffee. "You’re really taking advantage of my good nature."

Shen Jixing offered a noncommittal smile.

However, watching his focused and earnest expression, Fu Chen couldn't help but feel that he was being used as a tool by Zhou Hengyang—essentially, child labor. Fu Chen always felt that Shen Jixing was too soft-hearted and kind, which was why others always loved to bully him.

It was a classic case of beauty being in the eye of a doting brother.

Fu Chen sat opposite him, his long legs loosely crossed. "How did Zhou Hengyang convince you to give up the entertainment industry to act as his acting CEO? You wouldn't even agree when I tried to poach you."

Shen Jixing’s answer was plain and simple.

"He offered a condition I couldn't refuse."

Having struggled in the entertainment industry for eight years, experiencing both the peak and the trough, Shen Jixing saw this as a new kind of challenge.

Fu Chen asked casually, "How much?"

The offer he had made to Shen Jixing back then hadn't been low either, but at the time, Shen Jixing’s contract hadn't expired, and he had refused him cleanly and decisively.

Shen Jixing didn't even lift his brow as he quoted a figure.

The man opposite him nearly spat out his tea. "How much??? Is this an agency fee or a dowry for you?"

Shen Jixing raised his long eyes slightly. Although it was well known that he was the "star" of Yiyi Xingguang, his tongue could still be sharp.

"A dowry, I suppose."

Fu Chen looked at him, amused. "..."

Shen Jixing felt his earlobes grow inexplicably hot and raised the files to cover his face. "If you don't believe me, go ask Zhou Yili."

The little lion was very accommodating in this regard.

He was always careful of their reputation in front of others.

Just then, the office door was pushed open. Sheng Quelie burst in with chestnut hair flying. "Brother Jixing, Brother Jixing! I heard your leg hurt yesterday and you acted spoiled at the concert backstage, making Zhou Yili carry you? Is it true that the entire backstage crew is swooning over you two???"

The fountain pen in Shen Jixing’s hand left a dark ink blot on the document. He raised his eyes coldly. "Who did you hear that from?"

Sheng Que was startled by that look.

He circled behind the sofa and draped himself over Fu Chen’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around his neck to sneakily snitch: "The guy surnamed Zhou, the guy surnamed Zhou."

"Don't tell him I told you, Brother Jixing."

Shen Jixing: "..."

So.

When he was around, Zhou Yili exercised restraint.

When he wasn't around, Zhou Yili was completely unbridled, was he?

His phone rang—it was Xiongxiong calling. Shen Jixing stood up to go outside and answer.

Fu Chen shook his head, thinking that only Shen Jixing could find that little brat Zhou Yili obedient and cute.

"Get up, my arm is going numb." Fu Chen said to the person on his shoulder.

Sheng Que, still clinging to him, was busy flipping through the documents. "You’re so boring, so cold."

Just as Sheng Que was about to get up, he was suddenly pressed back down.

Fu Chen closed his eyes and kissed him in silence.

Fu Chen was usually cold and reserved, but every time they kissed, he seemed like a different person—burning and fierce. Sheng Que found it hard to handle every time.

His limbs turned to jelly in the wake of Fu Chen’s presence.

He hung half-off the back of the sofa, terrified that Shen Jixing might walk in at any moment. He tugged at Fu Chen’s stiff collar. "Fu Chen... have some decorum."

Fu Chen sobered up instantly.

The tables had turned; no one escapes fate.

He opened his eyes, releasing the young Sheng Que, his eyes calm and cold as he looked at him. "Still think I'm cold?"

He had never been an immovable mountain.

Everything Sheng Que saw was merely his self-restraint.

...

"A tie?"

Shen Jixing roughly understood; it was a tie that Zhou Yili had wanted him to wear, but he had been so dizzy and dazed this morning that he had forgotten it.

"You go," Shen Jixing said. "I’m not at the apartment now; you take it and deliver it to him."

Xiongxiong hesitated on the other end. "Me? Me?"

But he couldn't do that!

He had been trying every possible way to avoid Zhou Yili lately.

Shen Jixing replied calmly, "I don't trust anyone else. What’s wrong? Can’t you do it?"

When Xiongxiong heard that, how could he possibly refuse?

"I can! I definitely can!"

Shen Jixing chuckled and was about to hang up when he suddenly heard Xiongxiong ask, sounding as if he were facing death:

"Brother, if Xiongxiong does something wrong, will you silence me?"

Shen Jixing: "???"

Shen Jixing: "No. Go ahead."