Chapter 25 - Whos the Rival?

Chapter 25 - Who’s the Rival?

Sun Zinan didn’t understand. They were not on the same wavelength in sending and analyzing status updates. Maybe Tang Kai and Xie Zhuo could communicate through brain waves—otherwise, how could Xie Zhuo read 500 words of meaning when he couldn’t see anything?

“That’s ridiculous...” Sun Zinan spoke half in doubt but half in belief. “Maybe he’s just showing off the sun.”

Xie Zhuo sighed despondently. “Is my old uncle the type of person who always posts statuses on his moments?”

“Look at his photo album. The last time he posted a daily life update was during the barbecue, right? Believe me brother, if he’s not secretly trying to send you a message, I’ll take off my bra and give it to you.”

“Nonono, no need.” Sun Zinan hurriedly refused. “You should keep something that precious.”

Although they had not reached any definite conclusion, Sun Zinan’s mood had reached a better state than before.

Xie Zhuo’s anxious heart calmed down a bit. He thought to himself, shamelessly expressing himself was still not as good as one emoticon from Tang Kai. Sun Zinan was truly a pig trotter who took love more seriously than friendships.

The next morning.

The first thing Tang Kai did after waking up was to take his phone, open WeChat and glance at it, then let his raised arm fall back onto his quilt in disappointment.

It seemed like his status update yesterday hadn’t been effective. Maybe Sun Zinan hadn’t noticed it at all, or maybe his implication was too ambiguous?

The day was dreary, starting from having no new messages. He sullenly got up to wash and change into sportswear to run at the hotel gym.

The two-day forum was located at a large conference center not far from the hotel. Tang Kai was one of the earlier risers. After exercising, he changed his clothes and went downstairs, just in time for the first round of breakfast.

This hotel’s self-serve buffet breakfast was abundant. The food served was decent and varied, but as Tang Kai ate, he felt like there was something missing.

It was probably because the food didn’t have the taste of a dish that had just come steaming hot out of a pot, nor was it particularly to his taste.

Also, the scene of a man with a family and a house sitting by himself eating breakfast in a hotel as he glared across the table was a little dismal.

Tang Kai had to admit he had been spoiled by Sun Zinan, just like how some cats who were used to eating fresh canned food would never touch dry food again—he had been tamed from the stomach to the heart by Sun Zinan.

He was as hurt as a traveling frog that had been logged out from the game.

A faint scent of perfume wafted over and a gentle, clear voice asked him, “Hello, may I sit here?”

Tang Kai raised his head to see a young lady wearing neat makeup carrying a plate, looking at him with a slight smile.

“Please sit.” Tang Kai moved his cup back.

Li Ning said softly, “Thank you.”

She was pretty and well-dressed—a beauty pleasant to the eye.

But Tang Kai was more bent than the U shape and had no ability to appreciate women. Additionally, staring at others wasn’t very polite. He quickly withdrew his gaze and forced himself to look at his phone again.

Li Ning’s smile stiffened for a moment, but when he didn’t recognize her, she continued, “Professor Tang, do you remember me?”

“En?” Tang Kai didn’t expect to meet an acquaintance. He stared at her for a few seconds and felt like she seemed familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he had met her before so asked, “Sorry, you are&#k2026;?”

A hint of disappointment flashed through her eyes, but she quickly covered it up and went straight to the point. “I’m Li Ning, I was at Eighteenth High School and did my PhD at Prince’s College in the United States. You might not remember, but my lab was downstairs from yours.”

Tang Kai still didn’t remember, so could only pretend he did and said with a dry smile, “Oh, so it’s a classmate. What a pleasant coincidence.”

Li Ning leaned to the side and took out a small business card from her leather bag.

In the brief moment she turned around, her silhouette was displayed before Tang Kai’s eyes. It was a view he remembered, one that had appeared behind the window of a coffee shop, wet with rain.

It was like a small needle had stabbed him in a nerve. The truth had come to light. Tang Kai’s hands trembled, his pupils struck with an earthquake of 8.0 magnitude.

So!

It!

Was!

Her!

He didn’t recognize this face just now but he remembered the side profile very clearly—this was the cause of Sun Zinan’s grief in the heavy rain and his family’s disharmony!

She had the nerve to not only come to the main palace, but to even falsely call him “older brother!”

“Senior, this is my name card.” Li Ning handed him her card with both hands and smiled shyly. “Do you mind if I call you senior?”

Tang Kai’s face was about to turn green.

He received the card, glanced at it, and found out that Li Ning’s job was an assistant researcher at a state-owned biological research institute. She was in the same industry as him and this made him even angrier.

Did Sun Zinan have some special interest towards people who worked in the biology industry?

Was he also very particular about people who did scientific research?

When enemies come face to face, their eyes blaze with hatred.

Tang Kai was supposed to turn away with cold dignity, but his peacock heart took over and he thought, ‘I want to see how you’re better than me.’ He thought it was worth taking a look and began an unusual conversation with this imaginary enemy.

Li Ning rarely had the opportunity to speak with Tang Kai; this was supposed to be something to be happy about.

But for some reason, she felt like Tang Kai’s eyes were always full of scrutiny and criticism.

He didn’t seem like he was talking to a cute junior sister, but rather was like a mother-in-law looking in displeasure at her daughter-in-law.

Tang Kai felt even more depressed than she did.

In terms of educational background, he had graduated from a famous university, far better than Li Ning’s; in terms of professional ability, he was the youngest associate professor at Tianhai University, but Li Ning had just entered her job and had not yet obtained research results; in terms of family background, his father was half a grade higher than Li Ning’s father; in terms of beauty—this couldn’t be compared, but Sun Zinan liked men. He should have the advantage of gender.

So how was he not as good as Li Ning?

This woman even took the chance to take advantage of it.

Tang Kai was not very happy and got up to say, “It’s almost time to leave for the conference.”

Li Ning was about to go with the flow and ask if they should go together when Tang Kai said, “I need to go back and get some materials. Miss Li should head out first.”

Li Ning said hurriedly, “It’s okay, I can wait for you.”

Tang Kai waved his hand and said, “No need, I have other plans.”

His refusal was straightforward and indifferent, and Li Ning was startled.

This time, without waiting for her to say anything, Tang Kai turned around and walked in the direction of the elevator.

His calm facade was only maintained until the moment he turned around, and as soon as he entered the elevator, his expression fell.

The more Professor Tang thought, the angrier he became. He was eager to pull Sun Zinan over now and ask him whether this was a one-sided or mutual love.

He stared at the line of phone numbers with hatred; his fingers would fall on the screen again and again before rising again. This made him feel repeatedly depressed, and he finally gritted his teeth and made up his mind: if Sun Zinan did not take the initiative to contact him within today, he would—

But what could he do to Sun Zinan?

Break up?

Breaking up was impossible.

Professor Tang’s small inner flame was put out by a scoop of cold water before it had even begun burning. He pursed his lips and thought if there were no other options, he could pretend he was pitiful and that he had called the wrong number.

In a confrontation between two sides, one person had to take the first step to break the impasse.

The forum started at nine in the morning. They had a break at noon and lunch would be served at the hotel’s buffet.

Tang Kai finished his report in the morning and was pulled by several former colleagues into a chat at noon. He received a dozen business cards and didn’t even have the time to eat more than a few bites of his meal.

He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to last the afternoon, so he poured a cup of coffee at the end of lunch and found a corner seat to sit down and drink slowly. After drinking for a while, he became bored, and in order to relax his mind, he casually opened up a game of Fight the Landlord.

The game began, and the player whose turn was before him called the landlord, Tang Kai inadvertently looked at the opposing party’s WeChat name and spat out a mouthful of coffee.

Sun!

Zi!

Nan!

He covered his mouth with a paper towel, expression ferocious. The hand holding his phone trembled slightly, as if he was so excited at seeing his idol he had become a black fan.

The Sun Zinan on the other side was also stunned silly and did not tap on ‘steal the landlord.’

Tang Kai took a deep breath, thinking to himself, Sun Zinan ah Sun Zinan, I think day and night, tossing and turning, too worried to eat or sleep well. It’s fine if you fucking don’t send me WeChats, but secretly playing Fight the Landlord behind my back—there’s nothing good about men!

Since it was like this, what was the point in playing cards? No one should remain quiet.

His anger rose from his heart and evil thoughts began forming. He tapped on Sun Zinan’s profile and began frantically throwing rotten tomatoes at him.

The player after Tang Kai called the landlord, gearing themselves up for a big fight. However, after waiting for the other parties to play their cards to no avail, they looked up: Oh, there was infighting going on between the two peasants.

Rotten tomatoes exploded on the profile of ‘North’ one after another, almost frying the screen; not only did ‘DONKI“ not play a card, he even deliberately pressed ‘don’t want’ at the very last moment. He was racing against time to throw rotten tomatoes at ‘North.’

The landlord was stunned from watching this. They even thought they had accidentally opened up PUBG.

On the other side of the screen, Sun Zinan clutched his phone in horror, wanting to place it further away from himself. Tang Kai’s anger seemed to transcend the phone screen.

In fact, until he opened up Fight the Landlord a second ago, he had been uneasily worrying that Xie Zhuo was not reliable. He was worried he had thought too much, worried that Tang Kai was just simply sending a status update and nothing else.

But now all his uneasiness was gone in flying blood-red torrent. The fact that he was angry and throwing a tantrum showed that he still cared.

Sun Zinan was not afraid of Tang Kai’s anger, but he was terrified of engaging in a Cold War.

No matter how long Tang Kai dragged it on, the game had a time limit. The landlord won without fighting, and the results interface jumped out.

Sun Zinan did not continue and directly closed the game before putting his phone into airplane mode.

He glanced at the ticket in his hand, picked up his briefcase, and went to the VIP waiting lounge.

At 1:30 PM, the plane to B City departed on time.

6:30 PM, Blue Star Hotel.

The scholars participating in the forum took a break and were ready to go to the banquet hall for a welcome dinner held by the organizers.

Tang Kai returned to his room to change his tie, then walked out of the elevator and was about to pass through the lobby when he suddenly heard someone behind his back calling him. “Professor Tang!”

He stopped and looked back, but did not see the man calling him. He turned his face, but then his gaze met the lofty eyes of a man standing at the counter.

They were separated by a distance of four or five meters. The lower half of the man’s face was blocked by a mask, but he could still see his smile and the raised eyebrows.

Tang Kai, “...”