23 2.10

Having regained his privacy in such a long time, Chen Yu stretched out on his office couch. A smirk rose on his thin lips as he imagined that snake's frightened face right now.

Well, he would certainly miss Feng Kuo's technique in bed, but who told that man to be so annoying?

Just as he was wondering how long Feng Kuo would wait to contact him, his phone rang. Perfectly aware of who it was, Chen Yu didn't even glance up. He ignored the numerous calls and decided to get some rest.

Thus, when Feng Kuo bypassed Ren Development Group's security and walked into the CEO's office, he came upon the sight of the young man curled up, his usually defined features softened in sleep with a small, dissatisfied pout which was especially cute. Gazing at the vulnerable looking youth, the frustration that had filled him when he was driving over melted away, turning into guilt and tenderness.

Although the room was tidy without any traces of Jun venting his anger, Feng Kuo could sense that the usually spoiled child must have dropped down from exhaustion after holding in his emotions. His heart felt as if it was breaking at the sight.

Lightly stepping towards his Jun, he covered the frail body with his jacket, smoothed the tousled hair and pressed a kiss on the slight wrinkle between his eyebrows.

Half hoping that Jun would wake up so that he could explain, he whispered, "Jun, don't be sad, Uncle Kuo's here for you."

Chen Yu laughed inside. Of course he saw through what Feng Kuo wanted, but he'd oblige. Mumbling a bit, he slowly fluttered his eyes open and stared blankly into the air before exposing a moment of despair when he remembered what had happened to make him so tired.

Feng Kuo had noticed as soon as Jun moved, so he caught the brief flash of misery that was quickly buried by an apathetic facade. He stilled, the words he'd prepared to appease him stuck in his throat.

Before he could say anything, Ren Yijun apparently recognized who was beside him and instinctively flinched away, driving the dagger deeper into Feng Kuo's heart.

"Pet, no, Jun, listen to me," he pleaded. Carefully observing the expressionless face, he struggled to keep calm. He knew Jun, he was rarely so cold even to those he considered strangers.

"Mr. Kuo." Chen Yu sat up, glimpsed the suit jacket draped over him, and handed it back without commenting. He was idly anticipating how Feng Kuo would continue when he refused to play along by offering any conversational openings.

Feng Kuo helplessly took the coat and stood up to pace. His mood was extremely tangled, the almost uncontrollable urge to soothe Jun conflicting with his disdain for a mere plaything. He couldn't settle on either side, he only knew he didn't want to lose Jun yet. After a long silence, he suddenly asked, "Jun, are you really not willing to stay with me because I made use of your company a bit?"

Ren Yijun didn't look at Feng Kuo, but his countenance stiffened further at this question.

Frenzied at his implicit confirmation, Feng Kuo seized the delicate jaw and pinched his mouth open for a forceful kiss. Only when the two were both panting did he separate to snarl, "Ren Yijun, you dare try to leave me? Your Uncle Kuo isn't someone to toy with!"

He moved in to push the young man down, but the salty taste on his lips made him pause. Tearing his gaze away from the swollen lips, he was shocked to find that Jun's face was covered in tears and his whole body shuddering with silent sobs. His pupils shrank. Was he that repulsive to him now? Making out Jun's broken words, however, he froze. "Y-you're not my uncle, I'll never call anyone uncle again, never!"

Uncle...Why would the term "uncle" trigger such a violent response? It seemed Jun's anger had something to do with this? Worried that he couldn't handle any more stress, Feng Kuo no longer made any vigorous moves, instead gently holding the weakly struggling boy on his lap and comforting him by patting his back. Once Jun gave up trying to escape, Feng Kuo meticulously took his time to go through his memories.

He'd always felt it odd that Jun only asked for a secretary, but he'd put it out of his mind because he didn't want to remember that there'd been a deal at all. Additionally, after some consideration, Jun's current repudiation of their relationship shouldn't simply be because of the money laundering itself, since he wasn't someone who couldn't tolerate illegality. Then...the most likely cause was probably that he felt deceived and used.

Combined with his absolute renunciation of the word "uncle" and the fact that they'd begun their relationship on the day that Ren Anjing betrayed his nephew, perhaps...Feng Kuo's heart trembled. Had he misunderstood all along?

Hesitantly, he murmured under his breath, "Jun, did you come to me because you needed someone you could trust instead of Ren Anjing?" Ren Yijun didn't respond, having fallen asleep again from crying too much, but Feng Kuo intuitively knew he was right.

Jun had purely been looking for solace, but Feng Kuo had treated him so contemptuously that Jun must have felt that there would be no point trying to clarify that he was innocent. Jun had been so desperate that he'd accepted what little affection Feng Kuo had shown him.

At this moment, Feng Kuo finally acknowledged that Jun had long become his obsession, his addiction, his love, but doing so only pushed him closer to insanity.

Recalling every demeaning word he'd said, every rough move he'd made, he almost couldn't hold back his frustration and regret. Still, he pressed his lips against Jun's temple reverently and vowed, he would get Jun to forgive him, he had to.

Where Feng Kuo couldn't see, Chen Yu's eyes turned complex. This familiar feeling of being kissed on the temple, on top of the other similarities with his lover, could it be possible...his thoughts wandered, but he refused to raise his hopes. He'd treat Feng Kuo as he wanted to and not think about what might come after.

---

Chen Yu had successfully diverted Feng Kuo into wracking his brains and working hard to beg for forgiveness for the next couple of months, so he turned his attention to the company.

It'd been some time since he had actively invested, but he worked decisively as always. Armed with a thorough understanding of human behavior and sharp instincts, in short order he bought up land that government initiatives soon made extremely attractive, sold properties before they revealed their declining value, and cut off partners who were later found to be cheating on their contracts. Ren Development Group rapidly became known for its almost prophetic success and soared to the top in S City's business circles.

In reality, however, Chen Yu was merely raising the Group's reputation while secretly funneling the profits into a lesser-known subsidiary that specialized in urban development. Although the small text in his contracts specified that the earnings would go not to Ren Development Group but to Ren City Development, no one realized what he was planning. The few partners who noticed the peculiarity were each working on separate deals with CEO Ren, and they assumed that he was distributing assets to every subsidiary, since they didn't discuss such details among themselves.

All this trouble, Chen Yu sighed, so that he could grant Ren Anjing's wish to take control of the company.

This wasn't, however, the hardest part of Chen Yu's life these days. As Ren Jia gained reputation, Yang Shu and her daughters not only did not rejoice but even repeatedly attempted to hold their baby boy back from overexerting himself.

Every morning, Ren Qiu sent her daughter into his room to turn off his alarm clock. Du Guang would tiptoe in furtively and reach out toward the phone...then Ren Yijun would snap his eyes open, glare at the girl weakly mumbling, "Hehe, Uncle," and shoo her out.

Once that team was taken care of, he had to face his mother. Yang Shu tried to slow him down by insisting that she pick out his clothes then sluggishly going back and forth between pieces. But when her darling son praised her arrangements to the skies, she would be flattered into settling on one and dressing him up. Circling the well-proportioned youth, she'd boast, "Darling, you're so handsome, anything looks good on you!" Initially, Chen Yu had grasped this chance to ask, "Oh, then I can wear whatever I choose tomorrow, right?" In the end, old ginger is spicier–Yang Shu always slyly rebutted with "Silly boy, it's because you fit everything that it takes longer to create the perfect outfit!" Chen Yu...had nothing he could say to this.

Having finally gotten downstairs, he'd be dragged to a full breakfast prepared by Ren Qiu. If he made a move to leave after eating a bowl of rice and some soup, Ren Qiu would wail, "Didi, you don't like my cooking anymore? You used to eat three bowls of rice at every meal!" and Ren Chun would rattle off some facts about the risks of nutritional deficiencies. In this way, Ren Yijun was delayed by more than an hour each morning, while he was hustled home every evening.

Chen Yu indicated he was tired, but humans were creatures of habit, after all. He eventually adapted to his daily routine.

On Ren Anjing's side, he basked in the reflected glory of his nephew, but in reality, he was having a rather difficult time of things. Although his conspiracy with Xi Heng hadn't been revealed, the interest payments on his debt were harder to meet than he'd expected. With most of his assets secured as collateral, he couldn't even raise funds by selling them.

In that sense, Xi Heng may have been better off. He had been convicted of his crimes and sentenced to several decades in prison, but with the funds Ren Anjing had borrowed, at least he didn't have to worry about paying for restitution.

Ren Anjing, however, did need to find a way to come up with an ever-increasing amount of money. Just when he was about to ask Ren Yijun for help again, he was actually summoned into the CEO office first.