On the first day after the breakup, Zhou Chaosheng flew to Country M to attend a social event. This event concerned the new energy and artificial intelligence projects he had long been investing in. Originally, he could have pushed this event onto someone else, but due to a certain avoidance mentality, he chose to accept the invitation and go.
Generally speaking, upper-class social events are divided into two types.
One is where people from various circles use social activities to achieve resource exchange; the other is sitting in a villa or some venue, watching a show while discussing cooperation.
The former is still considered normal, but the latter belongs to a dark side that ordinary people can hardly glimpse — using some disgraceful means to get hold of the other party’s secrets, and thereby establish a stable relationship of mutual interest.
In fact, it is also a ticket into certain major projects.
When Zhou Chaosheng first ventured into Wall Street, he actually attended quite a few of these kinds of social events. Compared to others' madness and distortion, Zhou Chaosheng had always appeared very calm, as if those blonde beauties twisting in front of him and the shapely handsome boys were nothing more than common cabbages.
Originally, this kind of cooperative attitude was not favored by certain tycoons in Country M, but Zhou Chaosheng had both the technology and the background. Even if he did not go with the flow, there were still plenty of people scrambling to cooperate with him.
But even so, Zhou Chaosheng could not refuse these types of social events, because they symbolized power and interests, as well as the capital that could divide a slice of the cake in this world.
Born into a powerful and wealthy family, Zhou Chaosheng had known since childhood that their circle was not clean, and there was not a single person who was innocent. After he came into contact with finance, this idea became even more obvious. Even if he disciplined himself strictly, it was still hard to hold his bottom line after being immersed long-term in this world of extravagance built on money.
Of course, he didn’t break the law.
He just chose to turn a blind eye when witnessing others' pain.
Perhaps it was numbness, or perhaps it was just getting used to it. He simply thought it was a matter of mutual consent, so he never truly empathized with others' helplessness and bitterness.
But when such a scene played out in front of him again, Zhou Chaosheng found himself, at some unknown point, unable to bear it anymore.
"Richard."
This middle-aged man named Richard was a well-maintained billionaire. At this moment, he was pulling a handsome server, intending to take the person upstairs against his will. The server’s face was filled with fear as he kept shouting “help” to those around him, but everyone else acted like they didn’t see it and continued doing their own thing.
When Richard heard Zhou Chaosheng call him, he was a bit surprised: "what's up?"
According to Zhou Chaosheng’s understanding, Richard had quite a few vices. People who went to his bed generally ended up in the hospital the next day. Not to mention, each room in this villa was fully equipped according to every client's specific needs. If Zhou Chaosheng didn’t stop it now, it was hard to imagine what would happen to this server tomorrow.
Although Zhou Chaosheng never thought of himself as any nobler than other businessmen, he didn’t know why the sight of this server’s miserable cries for help made him think of Jiang Yuanye.
At that moment, he couldn’t help but wonder — when Jiang Yuanye worked part-time as a server, had he also encountered such situations? If he had, did he feel just as helpless and deeply despairing as this boy in front of him?
Even though he knew, none of the people who came to this villa were innocent.
Zhou Chaosheng gave Richard a flawless smile, his eyes lingering ambiguously on the frightened boy for a moment, then he slowly met Richard’s surprised gaze: "The boy is beautiful...."
His unfinished sentence left Richard with endless room for imagination.
Not only Richard, but the other spectators were also surprised by Zhou Chaosheng’s actions.
Richard was stunned at first, then gave a suggestive smile: "What a surprise! I didn't expect you to like this type."
Zhou Chaosheng only smiled without replying.
Richard glanced at the server he was holding, and a look of pity seemed to flash through his eyes. But in front of Zhou Chaosheng, he chose interest without hesitation, and then very generously gave the server to Zhou Chaosheng.
The server was suddenly pushed from behind, his steps a little unsteady. Just as he was about to fall, Zhou Chaosheng reached out and helped him. When he looked back up at Richard, his eyes revealed just the right amount of satisfaction: "It's early. You want to talk?"
Hearing this, Richard immediately put away his teasing smile and showed a delighted expression: "Sure."
Before heading to the lounge with Richard, Zhou Chaosheng quietly said to the server: "Meet me at 2"
His voice wasn’t too loud, but it was loud enough for Richard to hear clearly.
Upon hearing this, Richard’s smile toward him became even more sincere, perhaps thinking that their cooperation was already a done deal.
Zhou Chaosheng took in the fear and panic in the server’s eyes, and where Richard couldn’t see, he gave the server a reassuring look.
The server froze for a moment, then immediately understood the goodwill from this guest who was even more handsome than him. He instantly lowered his head and obediently responded, then, under Richard’s urging voice, turned and quickly walked upstairs.
At the same time the server turned, Zhou Chaosheng heard Richard impatiently inviting him to the lounge.
Zhou Chaosheng withdrew his gaze and nodded in response.
The lounge was located in a room on the first floor of the villa near the backyard. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows allowed a view of the sunken pool outside. In the pool, a wild party was underway — all kinds of handsome men and beautiful women were dancing and kissing in the yard. The swimwear on everyone was either bikinis or men's underwear, blatantly and ambiguously displaying themselves to all the guests inside the villa.
Without a doubt, the show was the party happening in the pool. Those handsome men and beautiful women were like “exhibits” raised in the villa, providing all the guests with entertainment and pleasure alongside the cooperation.
And there were over a hundred such lounges in the villa that could view the pool.
In this environment, Zhou Chaosheng and Richard talked for over an hour about projects related to nanorobots and semiconductor applications.
When parting, Richard shook Zhou Chaosheng’s hand with satisfaction: “Cho, it was nice talking to you today.”
Zhou Chaosheng only held it for one or two seconds before naturally withdrawing his hand: “Same here.”
After the person left the lounge with his bodyguards, Zhou Chaosheng’s face instantly darkened.
He let out a light, ambiguous smile.
With someone like Richard, how could he possibly cooperate.
It was nothing more than an act to deal with him.
---
Second floor, Room 206.
Henry sat timidly and uneasily on the leather sofa, his eyes glancing now and then toward the tightly shut door. He had already been waiting here for an hour and a half. Though he was burning with anxiety inside, he didn’t dare to leave without permission.
Henry had actually long heard of that handsome businessman.
It was said that not only did the man have a deep background, but his ability and tactics were also not to be underestimated in the circle. So young, yet already able to stand shoulder to shoulder with business tycoons in their fifties — it showed how extraordinary his courage and intelligence were.
More importantly, his private life was clean, never involved in messy affairs.
Compared to being toyed with by that pervert Richard, Henry would much rather offer himself to Zhou Chaosheng.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when he finally heard footsteps outside the door, followed by the pleasant, rich voice of that handsome young man saying to the bodyguards who had come with him: “Wait for me outside the door.”
Not long after, Henry heard the sound of the door handle being turned from the outside.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of shiny leather shoes stepping on the floor appeared unhurriedly in front of Henry. The young man’s stunning face also entered his view.
“M-Mr....”
Henry timidly called out to him.
Zhou Chaosheng had one hand in his pocket, the other holding a phone, his eyes lowered, looking at something.
From Henry’s perspective, Zhou Chaosheng hadn’t looked at him even once from the moment he entered the room.
Zhou Chaosheng was looking at the “bombardment” of messages Jiang Yuanye had sent him.
Not long ago, probably when he saw Henry and thought of Jiang Yuanye, he removed Jiang Yuanye from the blacklist and approved the friend requests the other had been sending since yesterday.
Upon hearing Henry’s voice, he slightly lifted his eyelids: “Richard has left.”
Henry froze for a moment, and then from Zhou Chaosheng’s calm and emotionless eyes, he belatedly understood the hidden meaning — you can go now.
“…Thank you,” Henry stammered his thanks.
Zhou Chaosheng gave a faint “mm,” and Henry bowed again to express his deep gratitude before turning and leaving.
Once the door closed, Zhou Chaosheng leaned against the wall and started reading Jiang Yuanye’s reconciliation messages one by one.
— Chaosheng, where are you?
— Can we talk? I know I was wrong, I shouldn't have treated you that way. Are you hurting now? I'm sorry...
— Can you give me a chance to make up for it?
— Chaosheng...
— [No reply]
— [No reply]
— Baby, I really know I was wrong (crying)... Let’s not break up, okay?
In addition to these, Jiang Yuanye had also sent him several long paragraphs. Zhou Chaosheng read through every word — the general meaning was to express guilt and affection toward him, the desire to talk in person and properly resolve their issues, and finally, Jiang Yuanye spoke of the future and expressed his wish to continue walking forward with him.
Jiang Yuanye had sent him a total of 135 messages, and he hadn’t replied to a single one.
Now, the chat window showed “The other party is typing…” It seemed Jiang Yuanye still hadn’t given up trying to reach him.
Seeing the white screen filled with message bubbles and lines of bold text, Zhou Chaosheng’s foul mood from wasting over an hour dealing with a scumbag instantly vanished.
He absentmindedly tapped the phone case with his fingertips. Not long after, another sincere “long message” from Jiang Yuanye arrived. He read it word by word, and quickly summarized the long paragraph into one sentence in his head: I really, really know I was wrong, baby. Let’s meet, I miss you.
After seeing the phrase “I miss you” appear more than four times, Zhou Chaosheng’s slightly stiff mouth finally relaxed a little, then gently curved upward.
Feeling faintly pleased, Zhou Chaosheng thought — See? Jiang Yuanye can’t live without him either.
After rereading the 136 messages three more times, Zhou Chaosheng finally turned off the screen, put the phone back in his pocket, turned around, and as he opened the door, put back on the perfect social mask.
When he returned downstairs to the banquet hall, people swarmed around him like bees drawn to flowers. Zhou Chaosheng, with the perfect smile on his face, handled the various guests with different agendas with ease.
Before long, he spotted today’s target on a leather sofa. With just a few words, he had the other party grinning ear to ear. Then, they talked about how medical nanotechnology could kill cancer cells and moved on to the development of nanorobots. Finally, they confirmed their intention to cooperate. In just half an hour, two people who weren’t very familiar had already started calling each other by nicknames.
American nicknames were usually formed by shortening their full names. Zhou Chaosheng’s target was affectionately called “Bill” by dropping the vowels.
And this “Bill” was none other than William Kaysen, the founder of the world’s current new energy vehicle industry. He was fifty-five years old, yet during the conversation, he didn’t show a trace of arrogance — at least not in front of Zhou Chaosheng.
Their conversation was very pleasant. William grew increasingly appreciative of the young man before him who wasn’t even thirty. As they talked, William couldn’t help but feel an illusion — as if they were long-time friends who were compatible in every way.
After chatting for more than half an hour, William invited Zhou Chaosheng to have dessert with him at the Western restaurant.
After dessert, the collaboration was considered officially set.
Having achieved his goal, Zhou Chaosheng was in no hurry to leave. He had another round of conversations in the banquet hall and finalized a few more projects before leaving satisfied.
The bodyguard’s car was parked outside the villa. Before leaving, Zhou Chaosheng took one last look at the decadent villa steeped in drunken indulgence, then turned, without a shred of attachment, and got into the car to leave the place.
As the trees outside the window retreated backward, Zhou Chaosheng couldn’t help but think of the time he spent with Jiang Yuanye in Iceland.
He remembered on the second day of their road trip, it rained endlessly in Iceland. The fine drizzle blurred everything outside the window.
Jiang Yuanye’s long hand was pressed against the glass. His knuckles were tense and slightly bent, veins standing out. A thin sheen of sweat seeped from his palm, and soon, the fogged-up window bore the marks of where the other had clawed.
He had been too rough that time, and Jiang Yuanye ended up sitting on him, crying uncontrollably — silently, pitifully, in a way that only made one want to bully him more...
Back then, he had asked a question that wasn’t romantic at all
“Do you like kids?”
Breathless, Jiang Yuanye replied,
“...Yeah.”
“So would you ever have one with someone else?”
Jiang Yuanye lifted his head from his chest and glared at him,
“What the hell are you saying? Why would I have one with anyone else?”
He thought for a moment, still stubborn,
“Haven’t you ever thought about leaving behind your bloodline?”
Jiang Yuanye looked even more speechless,
“Zhou Chaoshen, is your brain broken? I like men now. how could I possibly end up with a woman?”
“You turned from straight to gay. Who’s to say you won’t go straight again one day?”
In response, Jiang Yuanye bit down hard on his shoulder.
“I won’t,” he heard Jiang Yuanye say.
“Why not?” he asked.
“No reason. I just won’t. Liking kids doesn’t mean I have to pass down my genes.”
He looked confused and tilted his head,
“Then all that money you’re working so hard for , who’s gonna inherit it?”
Jiang Yuanye seemed to smile faintly.
“Money is nice, sure. But you can’t take it with you when you die. The day I’m gone, it’ll only have one meaning left in this world.”
At first, he was annoyed Jiang Yuanye spoke of death so casually. Then, with some curiosity, he asked:
“What meaning?”
Supreme status? Untouchable power?
That’s what he thought.
But it wasn’t that...
Jiang Yuanye looked at him with a beautiful smile, voice gentle:
“The meaning is — so that this world can have a little less poverty, and a little more warmth.”