CH 66

The next day, as the news of Shen Dehan’s stroke spread, along with the news that Shen Group investment in Anchor had failed, directly leading to Shen Group stock price dropping wildly, from a peak of 120 yuan per share to directly below 100 yuan, and still falling. This was the second time that Shen Group share price had plummeted since the Yunrou incident, and the two dives in a short period of time left Shen Group shareholders in a state of panic, with a large number of retail shares being sold off over time.

Shen Ji stared in silence at the monitor in front of him; the curve representing Shen Group stock price was going down, and Shen Ji could already imagine what Shen Group would be like at the end of the day.

The office door was knocked on gently; Shen Ji suppressed the irritation in his heart and closed the screen, gesturing to the person at the door to come in. A moment later Lu Gesen appeared in front of Shen Ji with a serious look.

“Gesen?” A trace of astonishment flashed in Shen Ji’s eyes.

Lu Gesen maintained his usual cold face, “Cheng Shao has not been coming to work. I have a few documents here that I need him to sign.”

When he heard Shen Cheng’s name, Shen Ji’s expression changed slightly, and after a moment of silence, he gestured for Lu Gesen to send over the documents that needed to be signed.

Lu Gesen nodded, but did not leave immediately; instead he stood there with an obvious desire to speak.

“What? Something else?”

Lu Gesen was silent for a moment; then, as if he had made up his mind, he said in a low voice, “Shen Group needs you back now, General Manager Shen.”

Shen Ji was taken aback by Lu Gesen’s words; he naturally understood what Lu Gesen meant. Just as the people on the board of directors called him after hearing the news about Anchor, Lu Gesen obviously thought from Shen Group’s point of view that Shen Ji was more suitable for Shen Group at this time than Shen Cheng. Shen Ji said nothing and smiled appeasingly at Lu Gesen, “Don’t worry, Shen Group will be fine. ”

Lu Gesen nodded and quietly retreated. After leaving the office, Lu Gesen pushed up his glasses to hide the glint in his eyes.

When the office door was gently closed by Lu Gesen, the smile on Shen Ji’s face faded. Although he was acting confidently in front of Lu Gesen, he understood in his heart that the situation of Shen Group was not good at the moment. His father was in hospital, the directors were dissident, the investment had failed. One bad move was going to bury Shen Group’s century-old business in his hands.

Shen Ji rubbed his temples with a headache. It was not that he hadn’t thought about Lu Gesen’s proposal. He didn’t look down on Ah Cheng, but he was indeed more familiar with Shen Group than Ah Cheng, and was indeed more suitable for Shen Group at this time than Ah Cheng. But every time this thought rose up, his mind would go back to what Shen Cheng had said yesterday. There was already a rift between him and Shen Cheng, so if he really did this, wouldn’t it prove Shen Cheng’s words even more? There was no telling what Shen Cheng would think.

Shen Ji’s heart surged with irritation; at this critical moment of Shen Group, reason told him not to worry about Shen Cheng’s thoughts and first hold the power of Shen Group in his hands to survive Shen Group’s current crisis before anything else. But emotionally, he really did not want to have a rift with Shen Cheng, and he could foresee that this would be a lifelong rift. Shen Ji did not know when Shen Cheng had become dissatisfied with him. Was he wrong to discipline him for so many years? Shen Ji wanted to grab Shen Cheng and ask for clarification, but since yesterday, Shen Cheng had not appeared.

The time slowly arrived at noon, and Shen Cheng still did not appear at the company. Shen Ji hung up the phone. As he thought, Shen Cheng had not been to the hospital either. The worry on Shen Ji’s face was mixed with gloom. Where the hell had Shen Cheng gone? Did he know what time it was?

Deep disappointment rose in his heart, and Shen Ji’s face turned cold as he intended to propose to his father that he would take over the post of general manager of Shen Group.

Opening his eyes in a daze, Shen Cheng only felt a splitting headache and his mouth was parched. Subconsciously, according to his habit, he touched his left side but what his hand touched was not a wooden bedside table but soft hair. Shen Cheng was startled for a moment, turned around, and an unfamiliar face came into view.

Shen Cheng had a momentary look of bewilderment, staring at the young man beside him. When he looked over, the layout around him was also very unfamiliar. Obviously this was not Shen’s house, it looked more like a hotel. Confused, he sat up and looked around wondering why he could not remember how he got here.

“Cheng Shao!” The young man’s sweet voice rang in his ears as an arm wrapped around him.

Shen Cheng frowned at the naked man at his side, only feeling that his mind was in a mess. Many vague memories flashed by but he could not recall anything.

The young man’s hand climbed onto Shen Cheng’s arm, and Shen Cheng impatiently swatted it away. A hint of embarrassment appeared on the young man’s face, but he quickly smiled ingratiatingly at Shen Cheng and obediently shrank to the side.

Shen Cheng scratched his head in annoyance, “Where is this place? Why am I here?”

Since the young man knew his name, he should obviously know him.

Sure enough the young man opened his mouth in surprise, “Don’t you remember, Cheng Shao? Yesterday, when Zhang Shao and the others were gathering at Shutu, didn’t you bring Rong Shao along with you, Cheng Shao?”

Shen Rong’s name reminded Shen Cheng of something. He was in a bad mood yesterday and felt too guilty to go to the hospital to see his father. He happened to run into Shen Rong, somehow he went to Shutu, and then he mixed up with Zhang Qiu who the young man was talking about.

Shen Cheng stared blankly ahead of him. He used to mess around but never dared to stay out overnight, and had to go home on time every night, otherwise he would be reprimanded by his elder brother. In particular, his elder brother had a very bad impression of Zhang Qiu, thinking that he played too much and often got together with a bunch of men and women without any bottom line. Because of Shen Ji’s dislike, Shen Cheng never dared to hang out with Zhang Qiu. Even though Tian Wenyao had mentioned it several times, She Cheng used to refuse. This time, if Big Brother found out that he was messing around with them, he would be reprimanded again, right?

This thought flashed through his mind and Shen Cheng suddenly felt irritated.

Realising that Shen Cheng’s expression was not right, the young man cautiously approached him, “Cheng Shao?”

Shen Cheng returned to his senses and once again waved the young man away in annoyance, haphazardly fished out his clothes and put them on. Without even looking at the young man, he pushed open the bedroom door.

In the dimly lit living room, there were many men and women lying around, and Shen Cheng saw a few familiar faces in there. It was obvious that everyone had had too much fun last night and was still asleep, with no sign of waking up.

Shen Cheng frowned and kicked the man who was closest to him. He needed to go to the hospital before returning to the company.

“You’re awake, Second Brother?”

An inconspicuous door at his side was pushed open, and Shen Rong walked out putting on his jacket. He was obviously taken aback when he saw Shen Cheng, and then walked over with a smile on his face.

“Are you hungry, Second Brother? I’ve made a reservation at the restaurant below and was planning to go find you.”

Shen Cheng originally intended to refuse, but nodded when he saw Shen Rong’s ingratiating face. Anyway, whether it was the company or the hospital, there was Big Brother there, and he was unnecessary. What’s more, when Shen Cheng thought of what had happened yesterday, he felt too guilty to appear in front of Shen Dehan and Shen Ji. After all, Shen Dehan had fainted because of his words, and Shen Cheng instinctively wanted to procrastinate for a while.

The two of them didn’t care about the people sleeping on the floor, and Shen Cheng didn’t bother to ask Shen Rong who he was with last night. They went down in the elevator and headed straight for the hotel restaurant.

Shen Cheng thought about what he should say when he met his father and what he should say when he met Shen Ji, but he couldn’t escape the reprimand of his father and elder brother anyway, and he was used to it. Shen Cheng was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice Shen Rong beside him suddenly stopping in his tracks and looking at the person in front of him.

“Ah Cheng!”

The familiar voice startled Shen Cheng and he jerked his head up, “Cousin.”

Li Mingxuan’s face was very unsightly. This place was not far from Li Group. Lin Yao had come here on business; he thought he still owed Lin Yao a meal and casually made an appointment here, but he did not expect to meet Shen Cheng who had not returned home all night. His eyes swept over Shen Cheng’s crumpled clothes and landed on the hickey exposed above his collar. Li Mingxuan frowned.

“Where did you go last night?”

Shen Cheng subconsciously tried to laugh and muddle through as he always did, but when he met Li Mingxuan’s gaze, he no longer dared to show a playful expression and only lowered his head and stammered, unable to speak.

Shen Rong wanted to add something politely, but Li Mingxuan gave him a cold look, and the coldness in his eyes immediately made Shen Rong swallow what he wanted to say. Li Mingxuan didn’t need to think to know what Shen Cheng had done last night. He said in a deep voice, “Uncle is in the hospital, don’t you know? You still have the heart to come out and fool around.”

Shen Cheng lowered his head and did not say anything. Li Mingxuan glanced at Shen Rong in disgust, intuitively guessing that Shen Cheng had been instigated by Shen Rong. He knew that even if Shen Cheng was fooling around, he wouldn’t dare to go too far unless someone was urging him on. Otherwise, how would he dare to stay out all night, especially when Shen Dehan was hospitalised.

Thinking that Shen Dehan was still lying in the hospital, Li Mingxuan did not say anything else but urged, “Uncle has had a stroke, so hurry up, change your clothes and go to the hospital.”

The word “stroke” caused Shen Cheng and Shen Rong to look over in shock at the same time.

“Father had a stroke? How could it be?” Shen Cheng repeated incredulously.

Li Mingxuan’s expression did not look like he was joking at all. Shen Cheng was about to leave at once, when Li Mingxuan frowned and whispered, “Cover up the marks on your neck before you go.” As Shen Cheng stood flabbergasted, Li Mingxuan swept a cold glance at Shen Rong, “Don’t bring irrelevant people with you, Uncle can’t stand the stimulation.”

Shen Rong instantly turned pale and looked at Li Mingxuan aggrieved.

Li Mingxuan ignored Shen Rong’s expression and directly walked up to Lin Yao who had been waiting ahead of him.

Lin Yao looked at the departing Shen Cheng and shook his head, “Shen Cheng is far worse than Shen Ji.”

Li Mingxuan sighed, “Ah Cheng has been spoiled by Ah Ji.”

Lin Yao laughed and the topic turned to Shen Rong, “But that Shen Rong is a bit interesting. Someone begged me to help him, what do you say?”

Both Zhou Xiaozhou and Shen Rong were unhappy that “Against the Current” could not be released, and the two of them had thought of many ways to remedy the situation during this period of time. Zhou Xiaozhou was fine, it was the investors’ money he had lost, but Shen Rong was losing his own money. Because of the video incident, Tian Wenyao, who had promised to help, had not contacted him, and the Tian family had even warned him directly that if he dared to get involved with Tian Wenyao again, even if his surname was Shen, the Tian family would have ways to make it impossible for him to stay in Zhongjing. With no other choice, Shen Rong had to bow down to find someone he used to know when he was following Shen Cheng, and managed to finally pass the word to Lin Yao.

If at first Lin Yao did not know why Li Mingxuan wanted to cut Shen Rong, he later vaguely guessed through working with Chen Zhiwei that Li Mingxuan was doing it for Shen Xi’s sake. Originally, he had already promised Li Mingxuan, but the other party also had a good relationship with him, so Lin Yao wanted to probe Li Mingxuan’s mood since he was in a difficult situation.

Li Mingxuan’s expression sank and his brow furrowed slightly. Every time he heard “Against the Current”, it always reminded him of Shen Xi being drugged.

Lin Yao understood Li Mingxuan’s meaning from his expression and wisely changed the subject.

When Shen Cheng hurriedly arrived at the hospital, Shen Ji was talking to Shen Dehan about Shen Group affairs.

“Father, you know, at this time I am more suitable for Shen Group than Ah Cheng.”

Shen Ji’s voice came out clearly, and Shen Cheng’s hand, which was about to push the door open, suddenly froze.