Brother, Why Do You Have To Make Me Cry?

The heart palpitations ceased after Xi Chen had entered the dormitory suite. He stepped over the sleeping, partially drunk and wasted bodies of Fang Man and Tie Shitou and stepped into his personal room. Having closed the door and manipulated the horribly designed locking mechanism, he slapped his empty suitcase and backpack onto the ground and hurled himself onto the creaky bed.

This night, he didn't dare take any notes or record his thoughts. Several things, he didn't want to remember, and others, there was no point as there wasn't any concrete development.

Giving the police a hand on Liu Hong's soon-to-be-discovered tragic death was hardly helpful to his own situation, and the deal with Mu Yun could go south at any instance.

"Two million RMB… how will he give it to me?" Xi Chen rubbed at the bridge of his nose, and yawned.

"Forget it. It'll probably be in a disposable debit card. Many businesspeople rely on it, ah…"

The youth dipped into sleep without bothering to change his clothes, and failed to notice that the shard of sand assigned with the characters of "Strength" and "Devil" had returned to its original state as "Saint". When he finally arose early the next morning, Xi Chen quietly and suavely swaggered out of the dorm suite under the jealous gazes of his suitemates.

Unlike them, as someone who had made the atrocious and stupid decision to change his major at the beginning of the semester, Xi Chen had an additional two days to prepare. Instructors wouldn't permit him to enter their lecture halls until the two-day period was over, and the youth had much better plans than moping around in his room and playing games all day – however tempting it was.

His Platinum III rank in League of Legends was at dire risk as he hadn't touched the game since the beginning of summer, and the company had probably wiped it off the surface of the earth already…

"Sir, how would you like your coffee?"

A young part-time worker addressed Xi Chen with a sheepish smile, and waved the paper slip detailing his order. Xi Chen glanced at the boyish face that belonged to someone who had just begun senior high school, and airily waved his hand without much thought.

"Make it hot, but don't add any sugar or creamer."

"Alright!"

The youth sat down at an adjacent booth and retrieved a laptop from his bag. Xi Chen glanced at the time as he searched for details about Mu Yun's Tianming Corporation. His eyes partly remained locked onto the time as he assessed the investor's reports and public financial data, and soon, more than thirty minutes had passed.

Earlier this morning, Mu Yun had sent him a message that his granddaughter would be sending him the elements of their exchange, along with the information he would require to make himself presentable as a financial consultant of the company. The cheery and revitalized elder had mentioned this coffee shop in Jiangbei for him to wait at, and hinted that she would arrive near 11 AM.

It was now thirty minutes past. The coffee had long since cooled to the dull temperature of lukewarm, detestable liquid, and Mu Yu – or affectionately called Mu Yu-er by her grandfather, was nowhere to be found.

"Where did this girl go?"

Xi Chen twitched his lips and hunkered down to seat himself for another thirty minutes without additional complaint, but his brows began to quiver with anger as time continued to pass. Alas, though he wasn't aware, the young girl who had her pride relatively tarnished last night had little intention of going to meet him in a cordial environment, but surprise him by barging into his dormitory.

Ding!

The half-functioning doorbell gave a mighty chirp before exhausting itself for the day. Tie Shitou, the only one remaining in the suite, bolted to his feet and rushed towards the door.

"I'm coming!"

Nobody rang their doorbell these days, especially given that his and Brother Fang's habits of not cleaning the suite without Xi Chen directing them around was notorious amongst the dormitory. Tie Shitou gave one final glance at his reflection to make certain that he didn't appear too shabby, and opened the door, only for his eyes to widen in shock.

"You… you are?"

What… what was such a beautiful young girl doing here by standing before their suite door?

"Hmph, you haven't seen a beautiful woman before?"

Mu Yu-er curled her lips in distaste at the prolonged stare, and crossed her arms. The young girl took a step back to avoid the putrid stench that attempted to flee from its confines, and her expression took a turn for the worse.

"Where is the student by the name of Xi Chen? Third year, global economics major?"

"You're looking for Brother Xi?" Tie Shitou's eyes spun in surprise.

"Brother Xi… he left an hour ago, saying that he had something to do. You… who are you again?"

Xi Chen had a girlfriend that neither he nor Fang Man knew of? Since when?

Mu Yu-er ignored every thought that swirled around in Tie Shitou's mind, and quickly retreated for a second time to avoid the clinging lunges of the odor reeking from the room. Her small cheeks and lips crinkled in disgust, and suddenly, she found the young man from last night entirely confusing and baffling.

He didn't have any of the horrible stench that threatened to emaciate her nose, so how come his suite smelled so terrible!? Ah –!

"Urgh – enough! You take this for him, then!" Mu Yu-er quickly capitulated, and hurled a manilla envelope into Tie Shitou's arms.

"I've had enough of this place! How can you be so disgusting!?"

The young girl bolted from the suite with her hands rubbed at the base of her throat, leaving behind an utterly baffled Tie Shitou. The brawny youth rubbed the back of his head and closed the door, and winced when he recalled the complaint about the bad odor of the room.

"It can't be helped, we crude brothers don't know how to take care of ourselves, ah," Tie Shitou kicked aside an emptied beer can across the wooden floor.

"But that young girl came all the way here to give Brother Xi something… what could it be? It's not sealed – taking a look is harmless, no?"

Mu Yu-er hadn't bothered to seal the envelope as she wanted to lambast Xi Chen with its extravagant contents, hence it took hardly any effort for Tie Shitou to undo the string clasp and open the yellow cover. The contents caused his heart to jerk, and his eyes flipped into unpalatable saucers.

"Diamond-Exclusive Prepaid Debit cards from Jiangnian Financial Corporation!? And four of them as well!?"

Jiangnian Financial was the major private banking institution of Suzhou, and held grand influence all throughout the province, even in a somewhat remote city such as Jiangbei. Tie Shitou clearly remembered the several stages of membership that was offered by the corporation, and the magnitude of the envelope's contents caused his heart to deeply shake.

Common, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Diamond-Exclusive.

Each stage of membership allowed a customer to deposit an additional 100,000 RMB into Jiangnian Financial's prepaid debit cards. Not only that, the person who owned the associated online banking account would receive 5% annual interest of vested savings per stage, and Diamond-Exclusive membership would permit a 25% return.

The benefits of possessing such membership were immense, even when they were nobody but students with little sustainable income, but the costs were steep as well. Tie Shitou had heard a rumor on Weibo that to open a single Diamond-Exclusive prepaid card, they first needed to have an accumulated deposit of three million RMB in their savings accounts…

"Four of these cards… two million RMB in total…" Tie Shitou hastily gasped for breath.

"Brother Xi, how… how did you get that girl to give you such money and benefit? No, what's this?"

Besides the four sparkling, cards laminated with a dark metallic bloom, was a booklet sheathed within a leather cover. Out of simple curiosity, Tie Shitou extracted the booklet and opened on the countertop, only for his heart to leap from his chest in desperation.

"Tianming Corporation Financial Resources – Internal Use Only. Holy f*ck, Brother Xi!!! Why do you have to make me cry!?"

Curses couldn't refrain from spitting themselves from his mouth as he realized the magnitude and sheer power of the booklet that innocently sat before his eyes. Tie Shitou eagerly wiped at the drool that threatened to seep from the corner of his mouth, but eventually closed the booklet without reading beyond the cover page.

He knew his boundaries. Peering into a company's documents – especially those shelved for internal use – was going to constitute a major breach of privacy, and he might face a dangerous lawsuit if anyone realized, or even suspected that he had dug through the booklet. Hence, Tie Shitou slipped the booklet into the manilla envelope, and closed his eyes to catch a much-needed breath.

Tianming Corporation.

All men in a relationship hated and revered its name. The infamous jade accessories and ornaments that the corporation produced were much desired and lusted over by the young female population, and many news companies had pronounced it as the king of the jewelry market of Suzhou. It was a corporation that could only be seen from afar, but now Xi Chen – someone who had experienced a childhood not that different from his – was now an employee important enough within that corporation to receive internal documents.

Tie Shitou was jealous. How could he not – when he was constantly hounded after his girlfriend for the next Chanel or Fendi bag, or iPhone that cost more than what he could afford?

"No, no, no – Brother Xi, brothers must share their sufferings and blessings! That is why we signed a pact to become brothers!" Tie Shitou gnawed his teeth, and made up his mind.

"Brother Xi, one day, you will become an eagle that soars through the skies, while Brother Fang and I will likely remain as ants that crawl along the earth. So, please, forgive me!"

The brawny youth thought of his stress and family hardship, as well as his constantly nagging girlfriend's demands and academic obligations. With gritted teeth, Tie Shitou retrieved one of the four diamond-plated cards, and placed the manila envelope on Xi Chen's desk with a guilty heart.

His circumstances didn't allow him to make a single mistake, and academics, relationship, and familial demands made him constantly walk on tightropes. However, with this Diamond-Exclusive card from Jiangnian Financial, he could…

He could…