CH 154

The change in Devore Yves’ attitude was too abrupt. The rest of them were completely unable to recover, and the one who looked the most lost among them was Joe.

He stood rooted to the spot with his mouth agape for ages, yet was never able to find the appropriate words. 

By the time Joe finally came back to his senses, Devore Yves was already out of the terrace, instructing his assistant on some matters.

“Wait!” He took a step after him.

Devore Yves paused at the top of the stairs, glancing over his shoulder at him, then continued to instruct his assistant, “Cut the office monitoring and decline all meetings for the next two hours. There’s no need to initiate any contingency plans, but take care of the details and report back to me later. Also, have someone prepare light refreshments for these guests and send two sets to my office.”

The assistant nodded. Completely unwilling to be caught in this father-son drama, after receiving his assignment, he turned heel and left. 

Only then did Devore Yves turn to Joe. His grey-blue eyes were so pale that his attention inexplicably made people nervous, feeling as though they were being scrutinised.

His gaze swept Joe’s face, and he said, “Aren’t you going to slam the door behind you? Do you have more to say?”

Joe inhaled deeply, trying his best to restrain the complicated emotions surging in his chest. “You misspoke a sentence just now.”

“Which one?”

“You said that you wouldn’t get any benefit from telling me, that you have everything that I do, and that I’m unable to fill you in on anything new,” said Joe. “Listening to this made me very uncomfortable. I couldn’t understand why earlier, but now I do… You’re discussing business. You’ve been treating my words as a deal, weighing my words, considering my request, then using business logic to make a decision.”

Devore Yves gazed at him. “That is indeed true. But what’s wrong with that? I’m a businessman.”

“But I’m your son.”

Joe clenched and unclenched his teeth, then said, “I’m your son, not your business partner. Nor am I your adversary in negotiation.” 

This time, Devore Yves didn’t immediately answer.

He only gazed quietly at Joe, and after a pause, said, “Is that so? But ever since you entered the door, you spoke with the bearing and tone of someone who had come to the negotiation table with a bid for investment.”

“I didn’t!” Joe instinctively rebutted.

Yet after he did, he found that he couldn’t find any evidence against this. 

Everything he said from the moment he entered to sitting down at the terrace, and then later when he officially made his case… did, in retrospect, appear more like a man who had come to seek cooperation than a son.

Joe turned rigid for a long time, and his gaze slowly drooped. “I didn’t. I didn’t mean to. I told Eunice, I didn’t plan to piss you off. I… I’m just used to this and couldn’t switch back just now.”

He spread his hands and scratched the hair at the back of his head—clearly, stifling words inside yet flustering, unsure how to pour them out.

“Qtfc… Qtfc P rjk atf tjcvkglalcu mbwqjglrbc gfreiar lc Qlcf Jlas, P kjr jmaejiis fmrajalm. Nfgs wemt rb.” Abf rjlv, “Dea atf tjqqlfg P uba atf wbgf jqqgftfcrlnf P yfmjwf, ofjglcu atja rbwfktfgf lc atf wlvvif, P’v wjvf j wlrrafq. Cmaejiis, atf gfji gfjrbc P mjwf abvjs kjr atja P kjcafv ab tfjg sbe rjs pera bcf rfcafcmf…” 

Just one sentence of confirmation, of that “Those affairs that have taken lives have nothing to do with me; I am on your side.”…and that would do.

But Joe’s throat was tight. He went on and on and he suddenly stopped, not knowing how to continue. He could only hang his head in silence and look at Devore Yves, the father who he had always called Old Fox.

He was so smart that, even if the words weren’t spelled out in full, Joe trusted that he’d surely be able to read them.

Devore Yves looked at Joe for a long while, and he suddenly nodded. “Okay. I’ll give you a sentence.” 

Joe’s eyes brightened, unblinkingly waiting for that sentence.

And so he watched Devore Yves’ lips move, with eight parts disgust and two parts exasperation, saying, “Why did I give birth to a fool like you?”

Then, Mr Yves walked away without a single turn of his head back.

Joe, “…” 

“What are you still standing here for?” When walking by him, Gu Yan patted his shoulder. “He has already given you your sentence.”

“I know,” Joe said. Of course he did.

He knew, of course, that Old Fox saying so was implicitly the most affirmative answer.

Devore Yves was already standing in front of his office door, using his fingerprint to unlock the door. 

From across the hallway, Joe watched him, suddenly feeling that he was standing afresh at a point more than twenty years ago, where all the misunderstandings had started, and spoke across the time that blinked past. “…Dad, I’m sorry.”

Devore Yves’ hand, pushing the door open, paused. He looked back over.

“I’m sorry,” said Joe.

This fleeting moment was probably when Old Fox’s emotions were most discernible. He looked like he wanted to say something, but simply averted his gaze in the end, inviting Gu Yan and Yan Suizhi into his office. Then, holding the door, he calmly said to Joe, “I only plan to talk at length to these two young children. Calling me dad any number of times will not change my mind.” 

With that, he expressionlessly shut the door.

Joe, “…”

A few minutes later, the butler the assistant had arranged for knocked on the door to Eunice’s suite and opened it. At first glance, it was a cup of coffee with a pastry for each person, as well as a glass of mixed fresh juice for Ke Jin.

The butler handed Joe a cup. He took a gulp, unguarded, and his face suddenly turned green. 

Grimacing, he glared at the cup in his hands. “What the hell is this?!”

The butler politely said, “Bitter gourd and bitter celery mix, Mr Yves.”

Having had little past contact with Joe, this butler was still unaware that Joe didn’t like being associated with his family name, and had unconsciously addressed him by such.

However, Joe only gave a start, then continued to ask with a green face, “I fear these two things the most. What grievance do you have against me?” 

The butler, “It was under the instructions of your father through the intercom, sir.”

Joe, “???”

“Pfft,” Eunice snickered, folding her arms and whipping her face away.

Lil’ Young Master Joe looked woodenly at the butler, then at her, and couldn’t resist saying, “He wouldn’t have specifically memorised food I hate, biding his time for this day, would he?” 

After that, he turned to Ke Jin for help, wanting a bit of his juice to wash out his throat.

As a result, Ke Jin looked slowly at him and, possibly thinking that Joe was urging him not to waste his drink, held his cup and gulped it all down, not even leaving him a single drop.

Joe, “…”

Eunice and Laura collapsed onto the sofas in laughter. 

To the public, this should have been the worst day for Yves family.

In truth, they were actually in a very good mood.

Perhaps better than ever before.

— 

The aroma of freshly brewed coffee dispersed in Devore Yves’ office. Yves sipped from the cup before him, then said to Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan, “It’s truly worrying to have such a silly son, but it’s a blessing that he has good luck in making friends.”

“Thank you,” Gu Yan said.

“However, I’m still rather curious…” Yves didn’t immediately lay out what he knew but gazed, somewhat humoured, at the two young men seated across from him, asking, “Why did you think that I wanted you to stay behind?”

“Because of what you said, before.” Yan Suizhi’s arms rested on the armrests, relaxedly holding his cup of coffee. 

“Is that so? Which part?”

“You know everything that we’ve uncovered and have all that we have. The fact that you weren’t concerned by the Mansons expanding so aggressively into the medical field shows that you’re holding on to a lot of information.” Yan Suizhi smiled and said, “This isn’t information that can be gained overnight, however, you have made few actual movements in all these years, so I think… you aren’t just waiting for an opportune moment.”

Devore Yves looked at the steaming cup of coffee and blew gently. “Interesting. Then what am I waiting for?”

“Key evidence.” Yan Suizhi said, then added, “Though granted, my expertise is in law, so my understanding might be somewhat limited.” 

“Still very interesting. Then, how do you think I should go about looking for this key evidence?” Devore Yves pressed.

“From what I can presently tell, you believe this key evidence lies with me,” Yan Suizhi said smilingly, “so I’ve cooperatively stayed behind.”

Devore Yves finally lifted his gaze, staring at Yan Suizhi’s face for a while. He said, “Actually, now that I look closely, I can see the shadows of my old friends in your features… Of course, it might just be wishful thinking, after all, you should have undergone genetic modification surgery more than once.”

He turned his head to look at Gu Yan, extending an arm towards Yan Suizhi. “Why don’t you reintroduce him to me, Gu Yan?” 

Gu Yan glanced at Yan Suizhi, then said solemnly to Devore Yves. “The address intern is indeed slightly improper. This is my teacher, Maze University’s former dean, Yan Suizhi.”

With raised eyebrows, Yan Suizhi slid him a sidelong glance.

In the past, the address intern smoothly rolled off his tongue with nary a flicker in his expression—and suddenly now it was ‘improper’. God knows where this ability to bullshit came from.

“Yan Suizhi…” Devore Yves repeated the name, then said, “You didn’t take your parents’ surnames.” 

“I took my late maternal grandmother’s,” said Yan Suizhi.

Devore Yves uttered a soft note of understanding. He shook his head and said, “My two friends had kept their family information too tightly guarded, or I might have met you sooner.”

He seemed suddenly caught in a recollection. After a silence, he suddenly chuckled again. “You might not be aware, but I was gravely ill once, and for years after that I wasn’t in good health. I told your parents that if one day I reached my time, or if my body were to fail and I departed, I hoped that your parents could help me take care of Eunice and Joe then, who were not yet strong enough to carry heavy burdens. Similarly, if they…”

Devore Yves didn’t finish his hypothetical but stopped there briefly, then said, “However, I’m ashamed to say that my care is not timely enough.” 

Yan Suizhi turned the cup in his hands, considered it, and said, “Was it you who… arranged for Mr Mervyn White to save me?”

“You can take it as that,” Devore Yves said.

“Then it’s very timely,” said Yan Suizhi. “After all, I’m alive. And I’m alive and well.”

The gaze that Devore Yves cast on him deepened again. A moment passed and he shook his head, chuckling. “You’re indeed of their blood. In the future when I reunite with my two dear friends, I must remember to tell them that their son has grown up well and doesn’t fail to meet expectations at all.”