Chapter 120

Showing Off

When someone has a guilty conscience, they tend to look unusually flustered.

Chao Musheng stood outside Xu Chenzhu's office. Inside, he was bent over his keyboard typing, the silver chain of his glasses catching the light.

"Xiao Chao?" Secretary Liu came down the hall with a thick stack of folders. "You're here to see the boss — why aren't you going in?"

"Oh." He turned back to the office with a smile and reached over to straighten a folder that had gone crooked in Liu's arms. "He's busy right now. There's a small issue with the entertainment division's office system — the person who usually maintains it is on honeymoon leave, so I said I'd go take a look. I'll come back after."

"Thank you." Liu watched him go, then carried the folders in and set them on Xu Chenzhu's desk. "Boss — Xiao Chao just left."

His typing stopped. "His expression — how did he look?"

"Normal." Secretary Liu studied him with faint suspicion. What exactly is the boss guilty about?

"Secretary Liu." He looked up. "If your partner had hidden part of your shared history — if they'd been watching you for a long time without you knowing, had even tried to get close to you and attract your attention while you were completely unaware — would you resent them for it?"

"Definitely not." He shook his head. "I'd probably feel sorry for her. Even regret all the moments I'd missed that I never knew about."

"You wouldn't feel intruded upon?"

"No." He closed a folder. "People who love each other don't get angry over things like that. Boss — you should trust Xiao Chao, and you should trust what you have together. I may not know him as well as you do, but he is absolutely someone who takes feelings very seriously. If he didn't genuinely like you, he wouldn't have chosen to be with you."

A brief silence. Then he stood. "You're right. That was a problem with my thinking. Leave the rest of the files on the desk — I'm going to find Zhaozhao."

Liu smiled and nodded.

To be able to examine yourself honestly in a relationship — and to have someone like Xiao Chao — boss, you've earned this.

"One more thing." He stopped at the door and looked back. "The secretarial team is growing. Someone needs to serve as chief secretary. Starting now, that's you — the work will probably be more demanding, but salary and year-end benefits will increase by fifteen percent. Can you accept that?"

"Yes!" Not one second of hesitation. "Thank you for your confidence in me, boss. I will do everything in my power to serve well as chief secretary!"

"Thank you for everything you do."

"It's nothing at all!" The hands holding the folders were trembling slightly. From this day forward — the most loyal secretary in all of Kunlun.

He set the files down, cleared his throat, and stepped out of the boss's office looking exactly as steady and reliable as ever.

Xiao Chao really does have good judgment. He knew at the very first meeting that I was the most trusted person on the secretarial team.

*

The moment Chao Musheng arrived at the entertainment division, the general manager materialized to receive him with a warmth that teetered on the edge of fawning.

Kunlun's many subsidiaries all ran separate office systems for information security. He checked the problem and found it was nothing serious — something an ordinary programmer could solve in minutes.

He fixed it in a few minutes and listened to the manager compliment him in several inventive variations. He nodded along pleasantly.

"Consultant Chao, please take care on your way out — the floors were just cleaned." The manager bowed him to the door — and came face to face with Song Xu in the corridor.

Song Xu had a small production crew behind him. The camera was already rolling, and had just caught the manager's conspicuously warm voice on tape.

"Thank you for the reminder." He had noticed the camera. He smiled at the manager. "I hear there's been a very well-received programme recently — congratulations."

The manager was sharp enough to realize that Consultant Chao had intentionally given him face on camera. His feelings were complicated.

The entertainment division's quarterly reports had been looking bad. He'd been hoping to use this chance to make a good impression on Chao Musheng. He'd assumed that someone this young and talented, in a relationship with the boss, would be difficult to please — but he'd been entirely wrong. No airs at all. Even on camera, he'd been generous.

Song Xu hadn't expected that his live variety shoot would capture Chao Musheng walking out of a door. His camera operator reacted fast and swung the lens — leaving only Song Xu's face in the frame.

"Good afternoon, Consultant Chao. Good afternoon, General Manager." He kept his smile looking natural.

"Ah, Xiao Song." The manager remembered: a variety production was indeed booked to follow Song Xu's workday here. He turned to Chao Musheng. "This is the Let's Go! production team — they're here to follow Xiao Song."

"Hello, everyone." He shook hands with the crew. "You've been working hard. Your show is very interesting — I saw a lot of people discussing it online last night."

The crew was a little startled by the warmth. The assistant director, bolder than the rest, said: "Consultant Chao — we're sorry for accidentally catching you on camera just now."

"It's fine." He checked his watch. "I'll leave you all to it."

"Of course, of course." The manager, worried about anything reaching viewers that might cause Consultant Chao trouble, spoke quickly. "Please, safe travels."

As he said it, he spotted the boss stepping out of the lift — and immediately launched into frantic eye signals at Song Xu.

Get the crew out of here. Do not let the big boss end up on camera.

The production team was quick. They sensed that whoever was approaching might be significant, and pivoted the camera before anyone asked.

"Zhaozhao." He came across the floor in a few strides. "I have something I'd like to say to you."

"Mm." He gave a quiet cough, gestured at the camera, and said to Song Xu: "Song Xu — keep at it. We'll be heading back upstairs."

Song Xu nodded vigorously. "Of course, Consultant Chao."

[The way Xiu Dog is nodding — it's exactly how I look when I'm trying to impress my boss.]

[Would the crew dare turn the lens toward my beautiful ordinary person and the man who just called him 'Zhaozhao'?]

The crew did not dare. The assistant director, who had been watching the comment stream carefully, also did not dare.

Inside, he was in anguish. This kind of traffic — impossible to touch, impossible to use. Worse than a cat scratching at his chest.

He held himself back, held himself back — then, seeing that Chao Musheng was about to walk away with the man who'd appeared from nowhere, he gathered his courage.

"Xiao Chao." The assistant director had never heard his own voice this small. "A lot of viewers online are saying hello to you — would you like to wave?"

He stepped over to the camera. "Will this cause any trouble for your programme?"

The assistant director shook his head rapidly. No trouble at all. In fact I would be absolutely delighted.

"Hello to everyone watching online." He waved at the lens. "Thank you all so much for your support of Kunlun. Lunchtime is coming up — don't forget to eat."

The monitor on the rig showed the viewer comments scrolling.

He glanced at the screen. Aside from people saying he was good-looking, there were several asking whether he was currently single.

"Is that what people online are wondering?" He looked briefly at Xu Chenzhu, who was outside the frame. "As it happens — no, I'm not."

The comments sped up. He could barely track them.

"Old? He's not old — he's young, and very good-looking." He smiled toward Xu Chenzhu. "He is, though, quite wealthy."

[He keeps glancing at something just outside the frame while talking about his partner — that means his partner is right there!]

[One conclusion: his partner is the one who just called him Zhaozhao.]

[Xiu Dog — you're my only connection inside Kunlun. Tell me right now: is his partner who we think it is?!]

The viewers were careful not to state the Kunlun CEO's name outright, preferring implications — not particularly subtle ones.

He smiled at the comments speculating about his boyfriend being the Kunlun boss. "I'll give the camera back to Song Xu now — goodbye, everyone."

Out of frame, he took Xu Chenzhu's hand directly. "Shall we?"

Song Xu's eyes went wide. The boss and Consultant Chao — not the slightest attempt to hide it?

The production crew, having watched the general manager and Song Xu practically hold their breath in this man's presence, had arrived at a wild conclusion.

Was that actually... Xu Chenzhu?

Walking hand in hand so openly, right in front of them — it was actually a little difficult to look at directly.

The viewers, getting no definitive answer from the live stream, migrated to Kunlun's official accounts and began leaving pointed suggestions.

[Big news at Kunlun — can the official account please give us some content to celebrate?]

[Friendly viewer here. I'm wishing your boss and his partner a long and happy life together — can I get a new Kunlun phone?]

People were joking around, not taking it seriously — until Kunlun's official account actually launched a giveaway, and then the room changed.

[It's still days until Mid-Autumn and National Day — why is Kunlun giving away this much stuff?]

[Hang on — that person who wished the boss and his partner a long and happy life? Kunlun's official account sent them a private message asking for their delivery address.]

[Kunlun — you're being so generous it's making me nervous.]

[When someone wants to show off, there's no hiding it. Kunlun hasn't said a word — just keeps sending gifts to viewers. But I see through the surface to the truth: the Kunlun boss is absolutely dying for everyone to know he's in a relationship.]

[With who? So hard to guess.]

[Industry insider with courage: the boss's partner is who everyone suspects. Apparently he's tall, handsome, very striking — and most importantly, a complete romantic. Since confirming the relationship with his boyfriend, this man who never used to post anything has been putting up couple content every few days.]

[I understand him completely — honestly, I want to be him. If I had a partner like that, I'd show off at least ten times a day.]

*

"Zhaozhao."

On the rooftop terrace, Xu Chenzhu looked at their joined hands. "I'm sorry — I—"

"If I'd known you were sitting in that car, I'd have ridden slower." He pressed his fingers. "How long has it been?"

"What?" He had expected Chao Musheng to be upset. The last thing he'd expected to find in his eyes was regret and tenderness.

"When did you start to like me?"

"I don't know." He shook his head. "In the beginning, I only wanted to watch you live well."

But love is not a reasonable thing.

He genuinely didn't know at what point it had become greed.

Perhaps it was the day Zhaozhao walked out of the examination hall after his final exams — and the light that fell on him then was simply too bright.