CH 37

Chapter 37: Friends with Benefits

Zhou Mushi is a bit confused, to be precise, he has been confused lately.

After returning to China, when his father wanted to introduce him to a potential boyfriend, he was confused. When the boyfriend turned out to be Jin Yang, he was confused. When a cow was forced to drink water and its head was pressed down, he was confused. When he and Jin Yang were trapped in a company during a power outage, he was confused. Now, he feels like he can’t help but be confused.

After all, when Jin Yang was kissing him just now, he responded!

Jin Yang’s eyes sparkled like a child craving candy as he stared straight at him, waiting for a response. He couldn’t help but raise his hand and rub Zhou Mushi’s head.

After some thought, Zhou Mushi couldn’t help but let out a small sigh, pouted and said, “Have you ever heard of the cliché saying ‘Am I the kind of girl who can be appeased with just a piece of candy, but also the girl whom even your money cannot win over’?”

Jin Yang was stunned, his finger froze, and slowly moved away from his head.

“Besides, you didn’t even mention anything about winning me over with your money.” Zhou Mushi got up from the ground and sat on a stool.

“Even when reconciling a broken relationship, there are still cracks. We were just lost in the moment earlier, but we are both adults. Don’t mistake physical reactions as something that we must take responsibility for in our lives. I am not that kind of girl, and even if I were, I wouldn’t get pregnant just from a kiss or two.”

Jin Yang shuddered as if he had been sentenced to death. His eyes regained clarity, and he got up from the ground. Perhaps due to the lighting, his face appeared devoid of color, and his hand hanging by his side suddenly tightened.

“I…” he opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything.

Zhou Mushi felt uncomfortable in his heart, stirred up by his own words, and he didn’t know what he was trying to achieve.

But the more uncomfortable he felt, the more sober he became, and the more he felt that what he did was right.

The cost of being in a relationship is too high. If things go wrong, you may end up losing everything, even your pants. He couldn’t afford to suffer through this kind of pain again.

With the taste of another person’s lips still lingering on his own, it was highly likely that there were only two living beings in this entire building, both of them catching their breath in this tiny pantry.

Jin Yang took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out, and held it to his lips. He had already retrieved his lighter, but he didn’t light it in the end.

He reached for the cigarette in his mouth and threw it in the trash can.

Zhou Mushi had an instinct to ask when he had started smoking, but the words were swallowed back down as soon as they reached his mouth. He had just rejected him, and now he was going to ask about his well-being? Was he insane?

Jin Yang suddenly chuckled softly, “Maybe you’re right.”

Zhou Mushi slowly lowered his head and met his gaze, feeling that the other person’s eyes had once again become a deep pool, seemingly bottomless and tinged with calculation, yet deep within, there was still a layer of tenderness, making it clear that the words spoken were just a way to brush off the situation.

He felt a little uneasy, even after all these years, he could still read the expression in Jin Yang’s eyes, which was really distressing.

“It’s getting late, go to bed,” Jin Yang said to him, then took his phone from the cupboard and shone a light as he walked away.

They didn’t speak a word along the way until they both lay down in bed, and then he turned off the light.

Some things are like a bitter pill that one can never tell others about.

Zhou Mushi didn’t know how Jin Yang had lived these years, and Jin Yang didn’t know what kind of life Zhou Mushi had after leaving him.

Moving from a spacious three-bedroom apartment to a cramped ten-square-meter rental room, and sharing the apartment with four other people, was really tough for him.

When at the end of his rope, he wouldn’t even finish a bowl of noodles and was reluctant to add any pickled cabbage or gravy to it.

Such a life was never meant to be associated with Zhou Mushi. Some people’s fate had nothing to do with poverty, even if one day the Zhou family fell, there would still be a way out. Zhou Mushi wouldn’t be left to live on the streets.

And as for Jin Yang…as someone who originally had nothing, he could easily be knocked back to square one, or even go from having nothing to being deep in debt. If he wanted to change his fate, he could only try his best to climb upwards.

To truly possess a large amount of wealth and absolute power is the only way to change the fate of people like him. Before he met Chairman Jin of Yu Cheng Group, he had spent a whole year struggling in that old, shabby, and chaotic little house.

Every day, he worked two jobs non-stop, so tired that even sleeping felt like a luxury, just to barely pay off the debts owed by his failed company. Then he joined Yucheng Group, starting from the grassroots and working his way up to his current position. No one knows how much effort he has put in to get here.

Zhou Mushi was destined to attend a prestigious university and after studying abroad for two years, he could easily sit at the leadership level. Jin Yang didn’t doubt Zhou Mushi’s abilities, but his innate conditions gave him a good stepping stone.

Children from families engaged in business in this era are indeed much more likely to succeed in business than children who have been working in the fields at home.

Jin Yang has now stabilized his income and can only go up, not down. Even if Yucheng were to go bankrupt one day, with his qualifications, he would naturally be sought after by similar companies, perhaps offering higher pay and better positions.

He can even predict his development in the next ten years, what kind of position he can reach, and to what extent his income can grow.

However, the gap between the wealthy and the super-wealthy is not just a matter of a little more money.

Moreover, Zhou Mushi should not be called a second-generation rich, but a third or fourth-generation rich. For families like theirs, once their taste and thoughts have been cultivated to a high level, it’s no longer just a matter of money.

Jin Yang suddenly felt very helpless, and this feeling of helplessness was even more uncomfortable than when he was in debt.

Being poor is not scary, because he knows that as long as he works hard enough, he can always repay the money he owes. But now the problem is, facing Zhou Mushi, he has no idea where to put in the effort.

He felt like a lone boat adrift on the vast sea, desperately trying to find a shore to dock. But the sea seemed endless and he had no idea which direction to take.

As he lay awake at 2:30 in the morning, lost in thought, Zhou Mushi let out a sigh as he watched Jin Yang get up to use the bathroom.

“Uh, how about we become friends with benefits?”

There was a loud “clang” sound as Jin Yang accidentally kicked a stool, echoing in the empty office.

His tongue seemed to be tied, and he felt dizzy after taking a nap. He began to doubt whether he was dreaming just now or if it was a real proposition. He stood there in a daze for a minute before asking, “Have you…have you slept?”