CH 2.1

“Brother Shiming.”

Chen Shiming’s sudden appearance caused all the boys drinking in the booth to act like they had seen a tiger. They instantly put away their arrogant appearance, lowered the wine glass and stood up to greet him. Who was Chen Shiming? He was an important leader in the Chen Group. Despite his young age, he was very resolute and ruthless when it came to business and his reputation was far-reaching. Even their parents had to be polite when seeing Chen Shiming, let alone them?

They might secretly complain about Chen Shiming with Chen Qizhao, but once they really saw Chen Shiming, they all had to back down and act with integrity.

Chen Shiming opened his mouth. “It is very lively?”

“Brother Shiming, why are you here?”

The boys exchanged looks before finally looking at Chen Qizhao in the middle of the booth.

Chen Qizhao didn’t speak or move. He just stared at Chen Shiming with a very strange expression.

Chen Shiming didn’t look at them. His gaze moved from Chen Qizhao’s hand holding the cigarette to the bottles of wine on the table. Then he directly asked, “Smoking and drinking—Chen Qizhao, how old are you this year?”:

The table top was slightly messy and the ashtray was full of cigarette butts.

Chen Shiming’s eyes weren’t bad. In addition to the cigarettes and wine bottles, the floor in the surrounding area was still a bit messy and Chen Qizhao’s body was a bit colorful. The traces of iodine on his arms were very obvious.

Chen Qizhao sat in a relaxed manner in the booth with a cigarette in his hand. He faced Chen Qizhao without any timidity. He looked up at the other person generously and thought about it before replying, “…I don’t seem to be that old. 18, right?”

The others: “……”

Who here didn’t know he was 18?!

The Chen brothers faced each other, one standing and one sitting.

The moment Chen Qizhao finished speaking, the strange atmosphere tensed even more. It was as if an explosion would happen in the next second. What type of personality did Chen Qizhao, the little overlord of the Chen family, have? He was willful and arrogant. Forget about Chen Shiming. Even if his father Chen Jianhong personally came here, he would lose his temper as much as he wanted. He didn’t care about the other person’s expression at all.

Those around them didn’t dare make a sound and could only look at Chen Qizhao in the booth. The moment they heard Chen Qizhao’s words, they thought it was over. These two people were definitely going to argue.

The relationship between the two brothers originally wasn’t good. Now Chen Shiming personally came to the bar to capture his younger brother. If there was a fuss and the speculation about Chen Shiming that was mentioned behind his back was revealed, these people would probably end up on Chen Shiming’s blacklist.

Chen Shiming glanced at the beer on the table and saw several bottles of alcohol mixed in with the beer pile. “You are quite capable.”

Chen Qizhao said, “I don’t have much ability so I have to make up for it here.”

Chen Shiming stared at him coldly. “If you are so capable, why don’t you order a few more bottles and mix it with the white beer?”

A young body was healthy and was different from the body that had half collapsed due to the later drinking and smoking. It was just that this body hadn’t drunk alcohol before. He hadn’t felt it previously but now the alcohol was giving him a headache. He didn’t know if it was the drunkenness affecting him or the amount of information mixed in his brain but Chen Qizhao looked at Chen Shiming with a feeling of illusion meeting reality. This inexplicably raised a sense of irritation and he couldn’t clearly hear what Chen Shiming was saying.

Chen Shiming saw that Chen Qizhao didn’t speak and his voice became a bit tougher. “Chen Qizhao.”

Chen Qizhao suppressed his headache. “What did you just say? Mixed white beer?”

The boys around them saw that the smell of gunpowder between the two brothers was becoming heavier and came out to smooth things out. One of them stood up and said, “Brother Shiming, he had drunk too much.”

Chen Shiming in his suit and leather shoes was incompatible with this bar. Ever since this man was young, he would bring the sense of oppression from the negotiating field to his daily communications. He had an aloof and remote attitude of an older brother and would preach every time they met. Therefore, Chen Qizhao didn’t like his attitude at all.

Fortunately, at least the Chen Shiming in front of him was still healthy and alive. This stinky temper wasn’t unbearable.

Chen Qizhao thought about it. He planned to find a topic to ease the atmosphere and asked, “You are off work? You aren’t working overtime today?”

“Chen Qizhao.” Chen Shiming tried to control his tone as much as possible. “Should I go work overtime and then see you on the social news?”

Chen Qizhao felt strange. “That isn’t true.”

Chen Shiming wondered in a cold voice, “Have you drunk enough?”

“It is enough.”

Chen Shiming frowned slightly. “If you have finished drinking then come home with me.”

He calmed down his irritability because he didn’t want to argue with Chen Qizhao here. He left with this sentence, “The car is outside. I will give you two minutes to deal with it.”

The people in the area were worried as they watched Chen Shiming leave. Then they turned to look at Chen Qizhao who was sitting on the sofa. Chen Qizhao’s stubborn temper meant he couldn’t even bear Chen Shiming interfering in the matter of the college entrance examination’s desired major selection, let alone a small matter like drinking. Yet after Chen Shiming finished speaking, Chen Qizhao didn’t jump up and challenge the other person like he did in the past. He sat quietly in the booth and watched Chen Shiming leave.

“Xiao Zhao, your older brother is like this..”

“Don’t fight with him when you go back. You will just suffer a loss.”

“You should decide what you want to do. Let Brother Xingfeng give you an idea.”

The boys in the booth exchanged looks before glancing at Chen Qizhao from time to time, seemingly unsure about Chen Qizhao’s attitude.

Chen Qizhao stared at Chen Shiming until the other person left his field of view. Then he snuffed out the cigarette without hesitation. “I’m going.”

—

Outside the bar, the cold wind blew into his face.

Chen Qizhao’s mind cleared up a bit as he saw Chen Shiming standing at the car door not far away.

Chen Shiming saw Chen Qizhao coming out and got into the car without saying a word.

Neither of them spoke after getting in the car. Chen Shiming was handling some work on his tablet and the nonsensical act of coming to a bar to pick someone up didn’t seem very important. He didn’t even bother asking Chen Qizhao anything.

Chen Qizhao had long been accustomed to his attitude, but it was better this time. In his past life, Chen Shiming also came to pick him up tonight but the two of them had a very unpleasant quarrel in the bar.

He was stubborn and playful when he was young and caused trouble everywhere. He relied on his family background to do what he wanted and had clear likes and dislikes. He never considered right and wrong. His older brother was excellent and admired by everyone while he was mediocre and not interested in business matters.

In such a familiar environment, he was destined to be subjected to comparisons and misgivings by outsiders… gradually, it wasn’t known where it started but he was guided by others and driven to rebellion. His relationship with Chen Shiming deteriorated and he got further away from his family.

Tonight’s incident was caused by the college entrance examination’s desired major selection.

His older brother hoped he would choose a finance or management related major suitable for entering the Chen Group for the sake of his future.

However, he thought that his older brother didn’t respect his personal preferences and interfered with his choices, forcing him to choose the so-called future.

In the midst of the quarrel, they misinterpreted each other’s intentions and the outbreak occurred unexpectedly. The two of them ended up separating unhappily.

Both brothers were reluctant to admit their mistake. In his previous life, Chen Shiming actually came to the bar to pick him up and to take the initiative to ask for peace. Unexpectedly, a fiercer conflict broke out at the bar and their relationship became worse.

No matter whether it was arguing with his family member over professional matters or because he was indulging at bars at the age of 18, the 18 year old Chen Qizhao was naive, rebellious, arrogant and bold and fearless with the capital he had. He was a complete good-for-nothing.

On the other hand, Chen Shiming was paralyzed in a car accident at the best age.

At that time, Chen Shiming was in a car accident and the key projects that the Chen family was focused on developing had big problems. The capital chain was broken and the supply of goods cut off… Immediately after this, his father suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage and was sent to the hospital. His mother was hospitalized from excessive grief and then diagnosed with cancer. New problems occurred before the old ones were solved.

In the end, his father couldn’t be saved and his mother’s tumor deteriorated quickly and she passed away.

Chen Shiming watched as the foundation of the Chen family fell apart in his hands and he was finally unable to support it.

The Chen family fell.