“I did it on purpose.”
The action of flipping the cards is paired with these five words, which are full of deep meaning.
From shallow to deep, there are three levels of interpretation:
- I pushed the cards at a uniform speed and suddenly accelerated so you could touch my hand. It was intentional.
- I knew your hole cards were better than mine, but I still raised the bet and forced you to fold, letting me win. It was intentional.
- You took the wrong hole cards because I placed my cards next to you. I did it on purpose.
These three levels of interpretation, whichever one is chosen, are filled with ambiguous hints — especially since Lu Zhuonian just stated that he rejects physical contact.
But our contestant Chen Zemian never disappoints.
He jumped out of all the ambiguity and took a fourth path among many uncertain directions.
“So… it’s okay for you to take the initiative to touch others, but it’s not okay for others to touch you.”
Chen Zemian interpreted and summarized with his extraordinary insight. “You exclude physical contact, and your rejection is quite subjective.”
He is truly worthy of being the male protagonist. Even idealism can be so perfect; it is the will that shapes the world.
Chen Zemian suddenly realized and slapped his thigh. “You’re studying philosophy again!”
It’s clear! Everything is clear!
“…”
Anyone would fall silent after hearing these words from Chen Zemian.
Lu Zhuonian, who has always been quick-witted, was no exception.
He was slightly startled, even feeling as if his vision had darkened.
Although this attempt ended in failure, it was not completely fruitless. At least one thing was revealed — Chen Zemian is a straight man.
And a very slow straight man.
Due to his own illness, Lu Zhuonian restrains his emotions and rarely allows himself distracting thoughts about anyone. This was the first time he took the initiative to approach and test someone.
If he hadn’t moved, it would have been fine. But once he moved, he ran into a straight man.
What bad luck.
Lu Zhuonian smiled and shook his head, gathering the two cards back into the deck, just like gathering all the distracting thoughts that had confused his mind.
The final winner of the card game that day was Ye Chen.
Thanks to Ye Chen’s help, Chen Zemian and Xiao Kesong both enjoyed the wine-fermented shrimp at the Lu family’s private residence, which truly lived up to its reputation.
After the three losers took turns delivering two rounds of midnight snacks to Ye Chen, Ye Chen sold the remaining midnight snack rights to Xiao Kesong at a high price.
Xiao Kesong made full use of everything and served each person their preferred snacks. When it was Lu Zhuonian’s turn to deliver midnight snacks, he ate whatever was expensive. When it was Chen Zemian’s turn, he only ordered popular internet-famous snacks. The food wasn’t expensive, but most of them required waiting in line.
Chen Zemian didn’t mind the trouble because Liu Yuebo would do the work anyway.
People really are very adaptable creatures. Liu Yuebo is now used to being managed by Chen Zemian, and has learned how to take kickbacks and falsify accounts for travel and meal expenses.
For example, if a certain internet-famous fruit tea that Xiao Kesong wanted was priced at 98 yuan per cup and the second cup was half price, Liu Yuebo would buy four cups for 98 yuan with no effort, and even sent the other three cups to Lu Zhuonian, Ye Chen, and Chen Zhe, making him look especially good at handling things.
It’s much faster than refunding a bus card.
Liu Yuebo also noticed that Chen Zhe wasn’t good at calculating money. Although his methods were tough, he was actually very soft-hearted. No matter the matter, as long as it didn’t involve principles, Chen Zhe would mostly agree if asked a few times. If tempted with gold coins, the success rate would jump to 99.9999%.
His elder brother used this method to throw himself at Chen Zhe.
It was a pity Liu Yuebo’s card was suspended now; otherwise Chen Zhe would probably ignore him even if he gave him more money.
But in that case, Chen Zhe would have earned two shares of money from their Liu family.
After a month of suspension and transformation, Liu Yuebo was no longer the young master of the Liu family who spent money like water. He deeply realized that money was not easy to come by, so he didn’t want Chen Zhe to make money so easily, and flatly rejected his friends’ proposal to raise money to redeem him.
Chen Zemian held Liu Yuebo as a hostage, and the other young masters couldn’t order him around. Otherwise, the job would be transferred to Liu Yuebo, and not only would things get messed up, but they would also have to listen to Liu Yuebo’s complaints.
These aren’t the most frustrating things.
The most frustrating part is that with Liu Hao’s authorization, Liu Yuebo must go through Chen Zemian if he wants to go out and play.
“My friend’s bar is opening tonight, and I want to go out,” Liu Yuebo asked Chen Zemian, “Xue Duo and the others are going, just to drink and chat, nothing else.”
Chen Zemian opened WeChat and suddenly realized. “I was wondering why Xue Duo sent me a red envelope today.”
It turned out to be a ransom.
“Xue Duo also sent you a red envelope?” Liu Yuebo leaned over to see. “How much did he send?”
Chen Zemian turned the phone screen upside down. “Why do you care how much he sent? I just let you go.”
Liu Yuebo said, “Let me see how much I’m worth in Xue Duo’s heart.”
“Not much,” Chen Zemian said regretfully, “The highest is no more than 200. Do you need to know the exact amount?”
Liu Yuebo uttered an “ow,” and repeated in disbelief, “How much?! 200?!”
Chen Zemian covered his ears and said, “Is it necessary to be so surprised? Don’t you know the maximum amount of a WeChat red envelope is 200?”
Liu Yuebo said hatefully, “I’m surprised my brother gave you 600,000 to watch me, but you let me go for 200!”
Chen Zemian said speechlessly, “I gave you a holiday. If you still don’t want to go, then don’t.”
Liu Yuebo said, “I want to go! But I can’t go for so cheap.”
Chen Zemian glanced at Liu Yuebo: “Xue Duo is very kind to pay 200 yuan to redeem you. How much more do you want?”
Liu Yuebo said, “It depends on his sincerity. You can reply to him on WeChat and say, ‘200 yuan is not enough; you need to pay more.’”
Chen Zemian was too lazy to pay attention to the crazy young master and said, “You can go or not; I’m leaving.”
I don’t know how Liu Yuebo communicated with Xue Duo, but Chen Zemian soon received another red envelope from Xue Duo, this time with 50 yuan inside.
Xue Duo sent a WeChat message saying that this amount was more appropriate because Liu Yuebo was worth 250 yuan.
Chen Zemian couldn’t help but smile and put his work card into the cabinet.
When walking out of the shooting range gate, Yan Luo was just entering with a book in his arms. Passing Chen Zemian, he called out, “Brother Chen.”
Chen Zemian turned around: “Huh?”
Yan Luo raised the book in his hand. “The supplementary books you ordered for me have arrived. I’ll read them carefully.”
Chen Zemian nodded. “Ask Liu Yuebo if you don’t understand.”
Yan Luo recently started studying high school courses on his own to prepare for the college entrance examination next year. He chose all liberal arts subjects for his electives. He had some clues while studying independently, but really couldn’t understand math.
After Chen Zemian learned this, he took the test paper and stared at the big function question for five minutes, his mind going blank.
It had been too long since he graduated high school, and those math formulas had long been forgotten.
“Don’t panic,” Chen Zemian said, taking a picture of the math problem. “Mr. Xiao is a top student at B University. I’ll send it to him, and he’ll definitely be able to solve it.”
Xiao Kesong quickly replied, saying, “I have some ideas, but what is monotonicity?”
Chen Zemian & Yan Luo: “…”
Xiao Kesong added a message to save face. “We don’t study mathematics in our major; you can ask Zhuonian — he studies finance.”
Yan Luo, afraid of bothering others, took back the test paper and said, “Forget it, Brother Chen, don’t bother Young Master Lu.” Chen Zemian didn’t really want to disturb him either.
Hearing this, Liu Yuebo, who was playing games nearby, sneered and put down his phone. “It’s just a big function question. Why are you asking Young Master Xiao and Young Master Lu? Can’t you see Young Master Liu here?”
Chen Zemian suddenly remembered Liu Yuebo was also a college student and a freshman. He must not have forgotten all the high school knowledge. He immediately looked over with expectation.
Liu Yuebo was waiting for Chen Zhe’s eyes. Seeing this, he swaggered over and sat down next to the desk with a domineering air. “Bring the test paper here. Young Master Liu will show you.”
Chen Zemian quickly pushed the test paper over.
Liu Yuebo glanced at the question. “Isn’t this the separation of variables method?”
He really was an expert who could tell at a glance. The separation of variables method sounded interesting.
Chen Zemian handed over the pen with both hands and said respectfully, “Please ask Mr. Liu to solve the problem.”
Liu Yuebo was good at high school mathematics. He solved the function in a few lines and explained it clearly. He was very good at teaching Yan Luo.
Chen Zemian praised Liu Yuebo and coaxed him to tutor Yan Luo.
Liu Yuebo was very arrogant at first, but when Chen Zemian offered him a tutoring fee of fifty yuan per hour, he agreed.
He wasn’t a very valuable young master.
In short, under Liu Yuebo’s guidance, Yan Luo made rapid progress.
Yan Luo transferred the tutoring money to Chen Zemian. Chen Zemian accepted it but also bought him teaching supplements, lots of snacks, and milk.
In the past two days, Yan Luo had also noticed that the guns in the exhibition hall were all cleaned by Chen Zemian.
Yan Luo said to Chen Zemian, “Brother Chen, you’ve helped me a lot. I’ll do these chores in the future.”
Chen Zemian smiled and said, “What do you mean by helping you? I work here and Young Master Lu pays me a salary. Besides, I like playing with guns. I clean and take them apart to see their internal structure. It’s fun.”
“But…”
Yan Luo was tongue-tied, wanting to refute but unsure how. He stared blankly at Chen Zemian and couldn’t say a word after a long pause.
Chen Zemian raised his hand and rubbed Yan Luo’s hair. “You’re just a little kid, but you’re very thoughtful. Don’t overthink it. When you become rich, just don’t forget your brother Chen.”
Yan Luo hurriedly said, “Of course not.”
Chen Zemian said, “Go inside quickly, I’m leaving first. Today Young Master Xiao wants to eat donkey rolls from Baiji in Niujie. I’ll buy more and bring some over tomorrow morning for us to share.”
Watching Chen Zemian’s back, Yan Luo lowered his head and unconsciously twisted the corner of the book with his thumb.
He really liked Baiji’s donkey rolls but had never told anyone.
It must be a coincidence; after all, Chen Zemian always brought him delicious food.
Yan Luo had a rough life. He had experienced too much in his short life of just over ten years. He was used to facing malice and harsh treatment from others. When shown kindness and help, he felt at a loss.
He didn’t know how to start saying thank you.
After parting with Yan Luo, Chen Zemian waved to hail a taxi and got in.
Once in the car, he sighed softly.
He was no great philanthropist overflowing with sympathy, but every time he thought of Yan Luo — who, in the original story, was destined to die young — he couldn’t help feeling a little regretful.
Niujie is a street rich with ethnic culture and history. Its snacks are famous. Besides Baiji’s donkey rolls, there are fried cakes, loose meat, sesame cakes, rice cakes, Zhengao, and fragrant beef and mutton skewers.
Chen Zemian had no resistance to grilled skewers. Following the principle of “since I’m here,” he didn’t rush to leave after buying the midnight snack Xiao Kesong ordered. Instead, he strolled slowly around Guang’anmen.
Halfway through, he suddenly heard someone calling him.
“Chen Zhe!”
Chen Zemian looked toward the voice and saw a tall girl standing across the road.
It was Shen Qingwan.
When Shen Qingwan saw Chen Zhe look back, she knew she had recognized the right person. Afraid he might leave, she jogged across the road and ran over, panting.
“Watch out for the cars,” Chen Zemian took two steps forward, approached Shen Qingwan, and asked, “Why are you in such a hurry? Do you need to talk to me?”
Shen Qingwan shook her head, then nodded, and before she could catch her breath, she said between gasps, “Thank you for that day. Thank you for helping me.”
Chen Zemian laughed awkwardly. “Is that so?”
Shen Qingwan nodded. “I kept wanting to thank you, but you didn’t seem to come to our school again.”
Chen Zemian said, “It was just a small matter. Don’t take it to heart.”
Shen Qingwan shook her head again. “It might be small to you, but it means a lot to me. If I hadn’t met you and Young Master Xiao that day, I really wouldn’t know what to do.”
Chen Zemian told the truth. “Young Master Lu was there that night. If he’d seen you, he would have helped.”
“Have you ever learned martial arts?” Shen Qingwan looked at Chen Zemian’s shoulders and arms and exclaimed, “You’re amazing! You flipped and flew over — way more exaggerated than the dancers in our art club.”
Chen Zemian laughed. “You’re exaggerating. I didn’t really fly over.”
Shen Qingwan patted her head. “Hey, I drank a little that day and was dizzy. I forgot to ask for your contact info.”
She and Lu Zhuonian both worked in the student union. She thought it wouldn’t be hard to get Chen Zhe’s phone number, but Lu Zhuonian said he didn’t have it.
Fortunately, she was lucky today; otherwise, she didn’t know when she’d be able to thank Chen Zhe in person.
Shen Qingwan exchanged WeChat contacts with Chen Zhe, pretending to be casual. “Hey, I added President Lu’s WeChat last time, but I can’t see his Moments. Do you think he blocked me?”
Chen Zemian wasn’t suspicious at all. “No way. Maybe he just doesn’t share, so I can’t see them either.”
Shen Qingwan: “…”
She knew Lu Zhuonian couldn’t have Chen Zhe’s contact info!
But why wouldn’t he give it to her?
Shen Qingwan couldn’t understand why Lu Zhuonian kept Chen Zhe’s contact info from her — just like Chen Zemian couldn’t understand why Xiao Kesong, a young master, had a special liking for Niujie snacks.
That day, it was Chen Zemian’s turn to bring midnight snacks to Xiao Kesong.
Xiao Kesong still wanted Niujie snacks, so he called Chen Zemian and said, “I want vegetarian meatballs, pea yellow, mutton cubes from Man Hengji, fried tripe noodles from Jubaoyuan, and dessert from the internet-famous double skin milk from Luoguxiang. For drinks, just buy a cup of Coke — McDonald’s machine-made or KFC is fine — I don’t drink bottled ones.”
“Xiao Kesong, are you crazy?”
Lu Zhuonian’s voice came calmly from the phone receiver, neither light nor heavy. “To buy all that, I’d have to go all over Beijing.”
Why was it Lu Zhuonian?
Xiao Kesong’s hands trembled. Thinking he had dialed the wrong number, he quickly pulled the phone away from his ear to check.
It was Chen Zhe’s number — but why was Lu Zhuonian answering?
Was there a cross-line?
Xiao Kesong’s tone was full of doubt. “I wanted to call Chen Zhe. How did it get to you?”
Lu Zhuonian said lightly, “This is his number.”
Xiao Kesong was shocked by Lu Zhuonian’s matter-of-fact tone. “Then why did you answer it?”
Lu Zhuonian had a reason. “I’m his boss; he’s working. Why can’t I answer?”
Xiao Kesong said speechlessly, “You’re his boss, not his wife. Why do you take his phone? Where’s Chen Zhe? Let him answer.”
Lu Zhuonian sat at the desk, gently propped up his long legs, turned his office chair halfway around, and faced Chen Zemian. “Xiao Kesong insisted on letting you answer.”
Xiao Kesong on the other end was even more shocked.
?????
What do you mean I insisted on letting Chen Zhe answer? This was originally Chen Zhe’s phone!
Chen Zemian was disassembling a gun and couldn’t spare a hand to answer, so he said, “Turn on the speakerphone.”
Lu Zhuonian pressed the speakerphone button, put the phone on the desk, and pushed it toward Chen Zemian.
Chen Zemian: “Xiao Shao, what’s up?”
Xiao Kesong, not realizing it was speakerphone, thought Chen Zhe finally answered. He complained, “Why does your phone have Zhuonian on it? I was enjoying my midnight snack when I suddenly heard his voice. It scared me. Now I have no appetite. How will you make it up to me?”
Chen Zemian put down the half-disassembled barrel mount and used a brush to sweep dust from between the barrel and shaft groove. “I’m cleaning the gun, Xiao Shao. I don’t have free hands. What do you want to eat tonight?”
Xiao Kesong repeated what he wanted to eat.
Chen Zemian readily agreed and said, “Okay, I’ll ask Liu Yuebo to go to Man Heng Ji to queue up, and I’ll buy you fried tripe rice noodles and double skin milk after work.”
Xiao Kesong was satisfied: “Hehe, you’re the best. You have no objection to what I want to eat, unlike Lu Zhuonian who only says I’m crazy.”
Chen Zemian chuckled: “It’s just a few snacks. I’ll buy them for you. You’re not asking for stars in the sky.”
Lu Zhuonian said, “Xiao Kesong is getting greedier and greedier. If you indulge him like this, he’ll soon be asking for stars.”
Xiao Kesong was startled by Lu Zhuonian’s sudden voice and said frantically, “Why are you everywhere? You appear and disappear like a ghost, and you even eavesdrop on my conversation with Chen Zhe!”
Lu Zhuonian replied, “You called my employee during work hours. Do I need to eavesdrop?”
Chen Zemian said, “Mr. Lu has been listening openly.”
Xiao Kesong stood up for Chen Zemian: “You just work for him, you didn’t sell him out. Why should he listen to your phone calls? The right to privacy of communication is protected by law!”
Lu Zhuonian said coldly, “Anything else? If not, hang up.”
“Of course I — ”
Xiao Kesong’s voice stopped abruptly.
Lu Zhuonian hung up the phone and said in a cold tone, “He’s fine.”
Chen Zemian: “…Okay.”
Lu Zhuonian turned back to the computer to continue typing his final paper. As soon as his hand was on the keyboard, Xiao Kesong called him again.
This time, the call was directly on Lu Zhuonian’s mobile phone.
Lu Zhuonian frowned and swiped his thumb across the screen.
“I asked Chen Zhe to buy food for me. What’s wrong with you?” Xiao Kesong said quickly, worried Lu Zhuonian would hang up. “Didn’t you dislike recruiting younger brothers before? Now you’re competing with me for it. I regret introducing Chen Zhe to you. You’re too domineering.”
Lu Zhuonian hung up expressionlessly.
Chen Zemian poked his head in and asked, “Is that Mr. Xiao? What did he say this time?”
Lu Zhuonian threw Xiao Kesong into the blacklist and answered nonchalantly, “Some nonsense.”
Chen Zemian didn’t think so, but as an excellent younger brother and employee, he didn’t question his boss. He just shrugged and said, “Okay,” then lowered his head to continue cleaning the gun. He looked very obedient.
The gun he was cleaning was an H&K416 automatic rifle, produced by H&K in Germany, weighing 3.49 kg with a total length of 893 mm. It was equipped with a foldable mechanical sight and night vision aiming equipment, and the workmanship was very fine. Cleaning the gun was a delicate job, and Chen Zemian did it very seriously.
He sat cross-legged on the carpet, the sofa filled with dismantled gun parts. Lu Zhuonian was not very close to him, so he had the advantage of looking down from above. From this angle, he could see Chen Zemian’s slender white neck and cold, three-dimensional profile.
Chen Zemian’s eyelashes were long and thick, and when he lowered his eyes slightly, they cast a clear shadow on his lower eyelids, like a delicate brush sweeping people’s throats dry and itchy. His body began to feel a little uncomfortable, but not yet to the point where he needed medicine to relieve it.
The temperature seemed to be rising, but Lu Zhuonian knew very well it was just an illusion. The constant temperature system in the office was running stably. Regardless of winter or summer, the temperature was kept at 20 degrees Celsius all year round, 2–4 degrees lower than other rooms.
A too warm environment would make him easily irritable.
For example, now, Lu Zhuonian felt a burst of irritability, which had nothing to do with the temperature but because of Chen Zemian.
Because Chen Zemian was too obedient.
He would listen to him, but also listen to Xiao Kesong, and was willing to run across most of Beijing to buy all those snacks as a midnight snack for Xiao Kesong.
Lu Zhuonian began to regret not taking the card game that night seriously, and also regretted not competing with Xiao Kesong to the end when Ye Chen gave up the “midnight snack right.”
At that time, he thought these were all very boring things, but he didn’t expect that no matter how boring they were, as long as they involved Chen Zemian, they could easily capture his attention.
On the day Chen Zemian threw Xu Shaoyang over his shoulder and broke three of Xu Shaoyang’s ribs, Lu Zhuonian was still curious about how much trouble Chen Zemian could cause and how much influence this person could have.
Now both questions had answers.
This was not something to be happy about. What was more unpleasant was that Lu Zhuonian gradually realized that Chen Zemian and Xiao Kesong had a close relationship. Even if Xiao Kesong didn’t get the “midnight snack right,” Chen Zemian would still buy snacks for him.
Lu Zhuonian felt a little depressed.
Once a person is depressed, he will easily lose his mind, and once he loses his mind, he may say anything.
Lu Zhuonian suddenly said, “I also want to eat Jubaoyuan’s fried tripe rice noodles.”
Chen Zemian’s hand wiping the butt of the gun paused slightly and he turned to look at Lu Zhuonian: “Don’t you avoid eating snacks outside?”
“…”
Lu Zhuonian was calm and covered up his mistake with a rhetorical question: “Who said that?”
Chen Zemian couldn’t say it was written in the original book, and he vaguely remembered that Xiao Kesong seemed to have said something similar.
Between selling himself and selling Xiao Kesong, he chose to sell Xiao Kesong without hesitation.
“Mr. Xiao said so,” Chen Zemian said firmly.
Lu Zhuonian had a blank expression: “Do you believe what he said?”
Chen Zemian hesitated for a rare moment: “Uh…”
Lu Zhuonian clicked the mouse and saved the paper with only two lines of words: “Let’s go.”
Chen Zemian said “Hmm” in surprise, and the cat tilted its head: “Where to?”
Lu Zhuonian was very mobile. He turned off the computer and stood up: “Jubaoyuan.”
Chen Zemian glanced at the clock on the wall of the office: “It’s only three o’clock in the afternoon, and the gun hasn’t been cleaned yet.”
Lu Zhuonian took the butt of the gun from Chen Zemian’s hand, and his ten fingers flew. With incredible speed, he restored the HK416 that was disassembled into a pile of parts into a complete rifle in a few seconds: “It’s clean.”
Chen Zemian was silent for a few seconds. Between questioning whether this was “fighting” or “wiping” and being shocked by Lu Zhuonian’s overly skilled fighting skills, he chose the relatively flattering one: “Young Master Lu, you’re so fast.”
“I know these firearms,” Lu Zhuonian turned his head to look at Chen Zemian. “Xiao Kesong said you want weapon parameters to make games, but you never asked me.”
Chen Zemian said, “Boss, you’re so busy, I’m embarrassed to disturb you, and my first game is still in the process of being developed. I don’t know when the shooting project can be launched.”
“It’s good to be well prepared,” Lu Zhuonian put the rifle in Chen Zemian’s hand. “What is Yan Luo doing recently? Why are you the one doing all the work?”
Chen Zemian took the rifle and locked it back in the safe: “He is preparing for the college entrance examination and studying very hard. Liu Yuebo is tutoring him in mathematics.”
Lu Zhuonian raised his eyebrows slightly: “Will Liu Yuebo be willing?”
Chen Zemian smiled and said, “His credit card has been suspended. His living expenses are paid by me, and the tutoring fees are calculated separately. Yan Luo is very smart and feels a sense of accomplishment helping him review. What’s there to be unwilling about?”
Lu Zhuonian said, “You also have your own little brother, and you can teach Yan Luo to study. That’s very good.”
Chen Zemian said, “This little brother is too difficult to manage. If Liu Hao hadn’t given me so much, I wouldn’t take this job.”
Lu Zhuonian paused and glanced at Chen Zemian: “You’re also difficult to manage.”
“How can I be difficult to manage?” Chen Zemian turned to look at Lu Zhuonian and boasted fluently, “I am obedient and loyal, serving Master Lu at his beck and call, doing whatever he says. Is there any younger brother in the world less troublesome than me?”
Lu Zhuonian didn’t comment on the phrase “less troublesome,” but only said, “You’re not honest.”
Chen Zemian said aggrievedly, “How am I not honest?”
“How are you honest?”
Lu Zhuonian stared at Chen Zemian and read out his name very clearly.
It was like reading out an answer.
“Chen Zemian.”
*****
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Author: LazyHermitGal
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