Chapter 107

Go

The moment those words left Chao Musheng's mouth, Xu Chenzhu found he could not move his gaze away. A rush of wanting welled up in him — he longed to ask, and feared it was wishful thinking, and even as he tried to press it down, the thought refused to go.

He was like a timid and greedy moth: afraid the flame ahead of him was only a dream, and afraid that if he didn't draw close in time, he'd miss the only light he'd ever been offered.

"Mr. Xu — have you rested well?" The reception staff surged forward. Xu Chenzhu had half-expected Chao Musheng to step aside and make room — instead he watched Zhaozhao hold his ground steadily at his side, as if this was simply where he had always belonged.

If this was a dream, it was a very good one.

More — he'd rather be with Mr. Xu?!

Whether anyone else was shocked, Yang couldn't say — but he certainly was. He looked sideways at Secretary Liu, who wore his usual unruffled expression.

Was the problem with him?

When he saw Chao Musheng and the boss walking side by side, genuinely indistinguishable from the outside as to who was the executive and who was the assistant, he couldn't help murmuring to Liu: "Secretary Liu — is Consultant Chao all right? Did something happen to him?"

Back at the company, Consultant Chao's every word and move had been so measured — more so than Yang himself, a veteran employee. How was he now walking beside the boss shoulder to shoulder in front of all these reception staff? What gave him the nerve? Had he lost his mind?

"Isn't this fine?" Secretary Liu stopped walking. Yang stopped too.

He looked ahead at the two figures surrounded by the reception crowd, and raised his chin slightly. "Very fitting. Nothing could be more fitting than this."

Yang: ...

Secretary Liu had stopped making sense too. This county was poisonous.

The reception staff noticed that Xu Chenzhu's mood seemed particularly good today — even his eyes had more warmth in them than usual.

Must have gotten proper rest. Good rest, good mood.

*

"Xiao Chao." When Curly Hair hurried back to the hotel, she found Xu Chenzhu's group just setting out. Local media and security personnel were at the entrance; she was stopped at the perimeter, and could only wave to Chao Musheng from across it.

Fortunately his eyesight was sharp — he spotted her through the crowd and raised a hand to have security let her through.

"Well, well." Secretary Liu, seeing her approach, smiled. "Didn't expect to see you again — Xiao Juan, what are you working as this time?"

Curly Hair: ...

What was the point of stabbing someone in the heart unprompted like that?

"Not working. Holiday." She stretched a smile and greeted Xu Chenzhu and Secretary Liu.

Secretary Liu was quietly surprised. Ms. Wang, not working? Going on holiday to a county that felt like a steamer basket — quite a distinctive choice. He glanced at Xiao Chao, saw that he was warm and easy toward Wang Xiaojuan, laughing and exchanging a few words, and brought her along into the car to the ceremony.

Since running into Xiao Juan in various places more than once, he'd intended to pull her internship file. One thing or another had made him forget — he'd only managed it a few days ago.

A clean file, consistent from childhood: an ordinary family, parents and younger brother lost in an accident, no one left but herself.

*

It was a short drive from the hotel to the ceremony site — only minutes. The sun was already high and it wasn't yet ten. Below the platform stood many workers, skin darkened from the sun. They didn't know who the arrivals were; they saw the crew leaders clapping and clapped along.

"Mr. Xu — would you say a few words?" Someone handed him a microphone with a bow.

Xu Chenzhu took it and looked toward Chao Musheng. His gaze had already found the workers standing below, sweat soaking through their shirts.

"It's hot. The workers are standing in this." He said quietly to the person who'd passed the microphone. "Keep the speeches short. Move to the ribbon-cutting as quickly as possible."

"Yes, Mr. Xu." The staff member nodded blankly — then, watching Xu Chenzhu step up to the platform, speak for under two minutes in total, and step straight back down, understood. He was sparing the workers standing in the sun.

He passed the word along. Down below, the workers noticed something: every speaker today had been unusually brief. On and off, clean and efficient.

The strangest part was that someone had actually distributed heatstroke prevention kits and cash red envelopes. When had Hanyue County gotten this flush?

The crew leader handed out the packets and envelopes. The day laborers who received them were bewildered. "For us too?"

The crew leader's face held a complicated emotion. "Not only for you — your red envelopes are fifty percent more than the regular construction workers got."

Day laborers were local workforce. Even when construction companies offered benefits, those never filtered down to temporaries. Nobody had expected Kunlun to specifically stipulate that every benefit must reach the day laborers.

Perhaps this was what a great enterprise looked like — keeping even the lowest-tier workers in mind.

*

The ribbon-cutting ceremony began. Xu Chenzhu stood at the center. His appearance put him in a different frame from everyone else around him.

On the platform below, Chao Musheng moved back and forth with his phone, taking photographs. His fair complexion had been turned thoroughly pink by the sun.

"Xiao Chao..." Curly Hair watched him dart around with his camera. That wasn't how an employee photographed a boss. It was exactly how a boyfriend photographed his girlfriend.

She looked up at the stage. When Chao Musheng moved left, Xu Chenzhu's eyes tracked left. When Chao Musheng crouched, Xu Chenzhu's head dipped with him — and at the moment of cutting the red ribbon, Xu Chenzhu had held his pose for an extra two seconds to give Chao Musheng a clearer shot.

*

When the ceremony concluded, Xu Chenzhu was invited to the construction site. A shovel with a red cord was placed in his hands. "May it go smoothly. Thank you, Mr. Xu, for laying the foundation for Hanyue's future."

Having a person of standing break the first ground was a ritual of the occasion.

Not only Xu Chenzhu — Professor Zhang and the technical support team, Chao Musheng among them, were each given a small spade.

"Zhaozhao." Xu Chenzhu, holding the iron shovel, looked back toward him in the crowd. "Consultant Chao is my right hand — on an occasion this significant, let him be here beside me."

Professor Zhang and the students stared at Chao Musheng in collective shock. Two months in and you're already this well embedded at Kunlun?

In an occasion like this, beside the boss in front of the media, participating in the groundbreaking — the significance of that was not small.

Under every eye present, Chao Musheng passed his own spade to a worker, without a moment's hesitation, and walked directly to Xu Chenzhu's side. He placed his hand over Xu Chenzhu's on the shovel handle, and said quietly, close to his ear: "This is what together means."

"May the work go smoothly, safely, and well."

In the frame of the cameras, a young man of striking appearance and a man of composed elegance broke the first ground together, one shovel, one motion.

"May it go well!"

Firecrackers rang out across the site. Sulphurous blue smoke rose into the air and blurred Chao Musheng's smiling features.

Xu Chenzhu didn't know how he eventually released the shovel and handed it back. The crowd was dense, the firecrackers deafening — but there was no sound reaching his ears and nothing his eyes found except Zhaozhao.

This couldn't be a dream. In all the dreams he'd ever had, nothing this good had occurred.

"The smoke is strong over here." Chao Musheng raised his hand and fanned the air in front of Xu Chenzhu, then pulled him clear of the smoke. Noticing a local media reporter approaching, he released Xu Chenzhu's arm and stepped to stand beside him.

"Mr. Xu — could we have a few minutes of your time?" The reporter was a little nervous. She'd done her research beforehand — there wasn't a single interview with Xu Chenzhu to be found anywhere online.

Secretary Liu and Assistant Yang saw the cameras turn to the boss and immediately moved toward them.

"I'm sorry — Mr. Xu doesn't particularly enjoy media interviews." Chao Musheng was there first, stepping smoothly between the reporter and Xu Chenzhu. "If you have questions about Kunlun, you're welcome to interview our accompanying staff."

"Really? Thank you!" The reporter's face lit up. "Could I ask you a few things?"

She held the microphone toward Chao Musheng, and let her eyes drift sideways to Xu Chenzhu's legs. Those legs — so long. That pair from the livestream, it had to be him.

"Of course." He'd expected her to hesitate. She didn't; she pivoted immediately. He moved a few steps away to keep Xu Chenzhu out of the camera frame.

"Mr. Chao — I'm from the provincial television station." She worked through several substantive questions about the project and Kunlun's investment, all of them professional. When Chao Musheng had answered each one, she smiled. "The next part won't air on television — it's for online entertainment coverage. Is that all right with you?"

"Go ahead — as long as you don't ask for my bank card PIN. Everything else is fair."

"There's been some online discussion recently about you and Mr. Xu. Would you find that offensive?"

She felt bold even asking it.

Maybe his approachable manner had given her the nerve.

Online discussion. Standing nearby, Yang knew what she meant — people online shipping the boss and Consultant Chao as a couple. No one had taken it seriously.

"As long as it isn't malicious defamation of Mr. Xu, I don't take offense." He smiled toward the camera. "Kunlun deeply respects our young consumer base. If they choose to make affectionate jokes at our expense, that means they hold Kunlun in their hearts. Having consumers think of us — that's Kunlun's good fortune."

"The more attention we receive, the greater our responsibility." He looked into the lens, still smiling. "We'll continue holding every product to the highest standards, providing the best we can for consumers — because that's the only way we deserve the goodwill they give us."

Even a reporter with no stake in the online conversation felt a fresh warmth toward Kunlun after that answer.

Young people had no patience for arrogance, and no patience for being talked down to.

No wonder someone this young had become the boss's closest confidant. Uploaded online, this interview was going to move product.

She forwarded the clip to the station's entertainment desk the moment the interview ended, and they pushed it out through their online platform.

Her instinct had been right. The video went viral. The entertainment desk head sent her three cash bonuses within the hour.

She accepted them peacefully and said over the phone: "Your team has healthy budgets — buying trending slots for this."

"We didn't buy it." He said. "That was enthusiastic viewers."

They were a provincial entertainment desk — they usually covered local oddities and curiosities. The local audience might tune in when bored. They had no money for trend promotion.

Enthusiastic viewers?

She hung up and believed not one syllable.

What kind of person voluntarily spends money to boost someone else's content for free?

You'd have to be more money than sense.

*

[The only thing that could offend him is defamation of the boss — not of himself — if that's not real, what is?]

[A company as powerful as Kunlun, and they don't talk down to their audience. Certain brands that spend all their time lecturing consumers might come and take notes. Learn who the customer actually is.]

[Did anyone catch the photos on the news desk? Very... convincing.]

The news desk, seeing the entertainment desk's numbers soar, couldn't permit themselves to say anything too direct — but at the very end of their news coverage, they quietly included a photo: Chao Musheng and Xu Chenzhu, both bent over the shovel, taken from Chao Musheng's side. It captured his fine profile and the crown of Xu Chenzhu's head, and the four hands overlapped on the handle.

[Soft and slightly blurred — camera person, are you sure you had no agenda with this shot?]

[I used to think shipping the civilian and the boss was just fans going too far. After this news piece — I might be starting to believe it.]

The digital content team, watching the video's likes and comments multiply, exhaled with something like awe.

Someone bought trend promotion for this clip?

You really couldn't predict what modern internet users would find interesting. Why would anyone buy promotion for a news interview?

*

Hanyue had arranged a lunch reception. They drove to a dining hotel.

In the car, Chao Musheng noticed Xu Chenzhu had opened a video several times. He leaned forward with curiosity, his chin resting lightly on his shoulder: "Mr. Xu — what are you watching?"

"Nothing." Xu Chenzhu's hand jerked. The phone fell between the seats.

Chao Musheng reached down and retrieved it, the screen briefly showing a bank debit notification. He placed it back in Xu Chenzhu's palm. "Careful."

Xu Chenzhu could barely meet his eyes. If Zhaozhao ever found out he'd paid to promote a video because internet commenters had said kind things about them as a pair — would he think it was disgraceful?

He knew it was inappropriate.

But the scenes the commenters described were so beautiful — beautiful enough that in the quiet of the night, scrolling through the comments and the fan art, he couldn't stop himself from imagining: what if it was exactly as they said.

Maybe the world had gotten to him. Maybe he'd grown this ugly, greedy desire too.

*

At lunch, Curly Hair had the benefit of Chao Musheng's company and was seated at the same table as Assistant Yang. The others at the table were warm and attentive toward her.

She managed the conversation while covertly watching Chao Musheng and Xu Chenzhu at their table.

After not seeing him for a little while, Xiao Chao seemed much closer to Xu Chenzhu than before. She couldn't quite describe the feeling — only that the way Xiao Chao looked at him now was softer than she'd ever seen.

During the interval she went to the bathroom. Coming out, she found Chao Musheng standing alone in the corridor.

"Xiao Chao — why are you out here alone? Why aren't you with Xu Chenzhu?"

"People from other counties wanted to talk investment with him. I'm here as Hanyue's support staff — it's not my place to sit in on those conversations." He saw her hands dripping and offered a napkin. "You were sneaking looks at me all through lunch. What's on your mind?"

"You noticed that?" She crumpled the paper, kneading it between her fingers, uncertain whether to say this at all.

"Just say it." He smiled at her fidgeting. "This isn't like you."

"You and Xu Chenzhu..." The napkin shredded. "Do you — maybe a little bit — like him?"

Also?

Chao Musheng laughed. "Even you can see it, and somehow he still hasn't caught on."

The great CEO of Kunlun — how could he be this slow in a moment like this?

"You — him — you two..." She hadn't expected him to acknowledge it so cleanly. Her fingers worked the hem of her shirt. Looking at the soft warmth on his face, she couldn't find words.

Xiao Chao probably doesn't know yet that Xu Chenzhu is not an ordinary person.

She didn't know why Xu Chenzhu was living in this world in a human form. But she still remembered the first time she'd seen him — the thing that radiated from him.

Something that couldn't be imagined and couldn't be put into words.

"He's someone who gets embarrassed easily inside." Speaking of Xu Chenzhu, the warmth in Chao Musheng's eyes extended all the way to the corners. "When he looks at me, his eyes are very bright."

Curly Hair opened her mouth. Nothing came out.

He didn't say the word once. But everything on his face was full of it.

In the end — what does it matter what kind of existence he is?

Having been in and out of countless instances, Curly Hair's thinking had been opened in ways most people's hadn't. She reasoned herself through it quickly: as long as they're alive and well and able to feel something for each other — nothing else is the issue.

"Xiao Chao — if you decide to be with Xu Chenzhu, treat him well." She'd held it in for a while and still couldn't find a way to tell him anything real about Xu Chenzhu's nature, so she settled for oblique: "Whatever you do — don't do anything to wrong him."

Because I'm afraid you couldn't bear the consequences.

"Don't worry yourself over nothing." He laughed. "I don't play games with feelings."

Grandma had told him from childhood — genuine feeling was rare. Those who toyed with it had to swallow ten thousand needles.

"Go eat." He saw her grave expression and smiled. "I'm going after something I want to treasure. I'm not walking into an execution."

Curly Hair said nothing — only kept sighing, quietly, in her chest.

An execution would be simpler than the thing you're about to accept.

*

The table's conversations had wound down. No one dared linger too long over the meal with Xu Chenzhu present. Seeing him glance at his phone, the table had the coordinated instinct to look down and attend to their food.

By now the comments online had gone fully untethered, and someone had even opened a shopping link.

[Brain has conjured a full scenario: ordinary person happens to glance at a beautiful stranger, powerful boss drinks vinegar in enormous quantities, locks said ordinary person away and proceeds to...*]

[Audacious. Where is the fic. Where are the illustrations. Let me adjudicate.]

Xu Chenzhu, lips pressed flat, locked his phone screen.

He could understand the appeal. If Zhaozhao happened to look at someone, that was fine.

He touched his own face. Was this face not reasonably attractive?

"What are you thinking about?" Chao Musheng came in from outside, noticed the subdued mood, and served him from the communal dishes. "You've barely eaten anything. Have some more."

Xu Chenzhu ate what Chao Musheng put in his bowl without comment. "What's the plan for this afternoon?"

"This afternoon I'm going into the project group with Professor Zhang." He added two more servings. "Not sure how late it will run — but I'll get back as soon as I can."

Xu Chenzhu looked up at him.

"Don't go back to the county this afternoon — rest in my room." He held his gaze, smiling. "The forecast says rain tomorrow and the day after. Temperature is dropping soon."

"I'm worried that after tonight, the fireflies won't come out again." He set down his chopsticks. "Mr. Xu — come with me to find the fireflies tonight."

"All right."

He never seemed to find a way to refuse him.

At Professor Zhang's table, several students had been stealing glances at Chao Musheng and Xu Chenzhu throughout the meal.

Xu Chenzhu's name was known to everyone at Jinghua — the university had several major research collaborations running with Kunlun. Watching the relationship between Chao Musheng and Xu Chenzhu, they felt both envious and proud.

A company this formidable, and the boss thought this highly of a Jinghua student — what did that say?

It said Jinghua students were exactly this capable.

The class secretary rested her chin in her hand. Watching the two of them, she thought back to what she and her classmates had seen when they visited the hospital not long ago.

The boss personally watching over a sick assistant. Wasn't that the world turned upside down?

In front of everyone, calling the assistant to his side just to break ground on the same piece of earth?

How was that different from saying aloud, to all assembled: this person beside me matters to me?

If that wasn't love — what was?

*

The afternoon in the project group was more involved than Chao Musheng had expected — every process needed to be built from scratch. Professor Zhang was the thorough, no-shortcuts type, determined to work efficiently for the county's sake; they ate dinner without leaving the work site.

When the last of today's foundation work was done and they stepped outside, it was nearly one in the morning. Before the car had fully stopped, Chao Musheng had jumped out and was moving at a near-run toward the hotel entrance.

"Zhaozhao."

A man in a pale shirt stood where the entrance light went dim. He couldn't have known how long he'd been there. The milk tea in his hand was beaded all over with condensation, and he had nearly dissolved into the darkness.

"Mr. Xu." Chao Musheng reached him. "I'm sorry — no phones allowed in the work site. Have you been waiting long?"

"Not long." Xu Chenzhu placed the cup in his hands. "I came down when I got your message that you were on your way. Drink something first."

"Young man — your person finally came back." A passing old man walking his dog slowed down. "Out here in all this heat, standing for two or three hours without even sweating? How do you do that?"

A rare handsome face in this small town. Everyone had been wondering who he was waiting for — they'd guessed a sweetheart, didn't expect it to be another young man.

And a rather good-looking young man at that.

The old man's curiosity was satisfied. He walked his tired dog home, content.

Tomorrow morning he had plenty to share with the neighbours.

What a good story.

"It's late. You should probably rest." Xu Chenzhu deflected the old man's observation and addressed the others climbing out of the car, all of them visibly exhausted.

"I'm not tired yet. The river will be quiet now — no one to interrupt us." Chao Musheng pushed the straw into the milk tea and held it back out to Xu Chenzhu. "First sip is for you."

Xu Chenzhu did not particularly like sweet milk tea. He drank a sip obediently anyway.

"It's good." Chao Musheng took it back, lowered his head and drank a long pull straight through the same straw, and smiled with satisfaction. "My favorite flavor. Thank you for the careful preparation, Mr. Xu."

He pulled lightly at Xu Chenzhu's sleeve. "Let's go now."

He couldn't let two or three hours of waiting go to waste.

The classmates who'd been climbing out of the car at that precise moment: they had just seen — WHAT?

Chao Musheng and Xu Chenzhu — drinking — the SAME CUP of milk tea?!

Students who'd been about to fall asleep on their feet discovered their eyes had opened completely and all fatigue had simply ceased to exist. There was no sleeping through this. They could go wrestle a tiger right now.

This — they got to see this — for free?