Chapter 1.21

"Nan Cheng? That snake?" Wei Liqin's brows scrunched up, showing his utter distaste for the man in question.

He was casually leaning against Yang Lizhen's desk with his legs stretched out in front of him. His hands were in his pockets, giving off a 'cool guy' vibe. He brought one hand out of his pocket, using it to pick up Yang Lizhen's glasses and scrutinize them as if they were an impossible riddle.

Across from him, Ling Xia was comfortably seated cross-legged on Yang Lizhen's bed, his hands planted on either side of him, so he didn't fall over because of all the rocking he was doing.

The two of them were colonizing the room, taking it as their own, while the real owner was standing off to the side with his arms crossed. The corner of his mouth twitched while watching these two do whatever they wished.

"What did the text say?" he asked, returning to the serious matters.

Ling Xia confessed his crime easily. "I haven't checked it." He pulled his phone out, finding a lot of new messages in WeChat(1). Many of them were texts sent by friends in the business circle. He scrolled through them until he saw one from a certain Nan Cheng and pressed it.

"It's very short," Ling Xia noted upon catching his first glimpse of it. He glanced up and noticed Wei Liqin looking at him intently. When he shifted his gaze to Yang Lizhen, he found the same sight. So he decided to read it out loud.

Clearing his throat, he began:

"Mr. Li, please stop contacting Yang Lizhen."

Ling Xia finished the one sentence that Nan Cheng had sent him and looked up.

Wei Liqin was leaning forward, staring attentively at Ling Xia. When he realized that Ling Xia was done, his eyes widened. "No way, that's it?! Where's the threatening message that we can use to blackmail him? That's not even interesting!"

Ling Xia facepalmed. "Wait," Wei Liqin started, realizing something. Ling Xia observed him to see if his revelation was the one that was the point of the message. "Did you say Mr. Li? As in your host's surname?(2)"

Ling Xia nodded. He turned to Yang Lizhen. "Nan Cheng is probably trying to use this information to make me voluntarily stay away from you. He knows that I work under V, so that means you'll get protection from him as long as I stay friends with you."

A thoughtful look passed through Yang Lizhen's eyes as he contemplated. "I wonder what secrets Ling Yu's grandfather has that Nan Cheng wants so badly."

Wei Liqin gasped. "Imagine if he has some evil conspiracy to take over the world, and that old man has the key to the power he needs."

Ling Xia rolled his eyes with a slight smile growing on his face. Wei Liqin noticed, and he pouted. "I was just trying to cheer the atmosphere up! It got too serious in here for a moment. Being too serious means lots of mistakes!"

Yang Lizhen furrowed his eyebrows. "Really?" Then he muttered under his breath, "Maybe I should stop only talking about serious things."

"Yeah!" Wei Liqin confirmed. "It is in my belief that if we talked too much about that Nan Cheng guy, we would have made numerous mistakes in the near future!"

"Wei Liqin, please shut your crow's mouth(3). I'm actually scared for my future with all these things you're spouting," Ling Xia pleaded.

"Hehe." Wei Liqin just laughed a snarky laugh, not refusing or accepting Ling Xia's request.

Just then, Ling Xia felt the phone in his hand vibrate. He turned it on, and found out that V had messaged him. He read the text. It only said to call when he got the message.

"I'll be back," Ling Xia told them, slipping out of the room as soon as he finished his words. Anyway, they were done talking about the more pressing matters.

Walking to a private place, he called V.

Almost immediately, V's voice came over the phone. "Hello?" the high-pitched voice asked.

"Hi, you asked me to call?" Ling Xia responded with a question of his own.

"Oh, Ling Xia? It's you." V seemed genuinely surprised by this turn of events.

Actually, it wasn't a turn of events, it was just cause and effect, and Ling Xia made sure V knew it. "You literally just told me to call you when I see the message. Why are you surprised?" he asked in a deadpan voice.

"Mm," V simply replied as if realizing that it was a weird reaction.

Ling Xia should have expected this. When V didn't have quips to shoot back at Ling Xia, he always made that sound.

"Okay. Why weren't you at the party? Did something come up?" Ling Xia wondered.

V sensed the concern in Ling Xia's voice, so he responded seriously. "Yeah, sorry. Something happened last minute and I had to deal with it."

Worry passed over Ling Xia's face, but he pushed it away. "What happened?"

"Oh, the guy I was stalking disappeared."

Ling Xia was at a loss for words. Luckily, V's tone had turned joking while saying that. "V, please just tell me what actually happened."

"I told the truth. Make of it what you will."

After the first sentence, doubts actually started forming in Ling Xia's head, but the second sentence blew them away. Yeah, there was no way that was real. But since V refused to tell the truth, Ling Xia would just have to respect that and move on.

"Okay, I believe you. So why did you want me to call you?" he questioned.

"I need your help on a new project."

"Is it something small?" Ling Xia asked. It took V staying silent for a few seconds for Ling Xia to realize that his words implied that he had no time for the other. He rushed through his apology, so V wouldn't suddenly hang up or something out of anger. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean that! I meant…" He paused, trying to organize the thoughts in his head into coherent sentences. "Is the problem small enough to be talked over the phone or should we meet in person? Because usually you come to me for big problems."

"It's pretty big. It would be better to meet up," V agreed. "Then… let's meet at the cafe?"

"Mhm, is Saturday fine?"

"If it's not, then I'll have to wait another week," V retorted in a half-accusing tone. "You're only ever free on Saturdays."

"Yeah, sorry. I have obligations to fulfill on the other days." Ling Xia went to the ice rink and gym six days a week, so he truly only had Saturdays open. It wasn't his fault!

V sighed. "Whatever. See you then."

"'Kay." Then they both raced to hang up before the other, because, clearly, the one who won in this little traditional scuffle would be the one that ditched the other first.

After the call ended, Ling Xia grinned triumphantly. He definitely won this time!

…

Ling Xia tugged his mask away from his face a bit and placed his straw underneath it. He sipped the hot coffee he had bought, the burning liquid scalding his throat as it flowed down. Chills spread throughout his body followed by the warmth of the coffee, heating his body up on this frigid day. The signature taste of this particular cafe's coffee was nostalgic, sending him back.

Six years ago, he had stayed true to his word and remembered the name of this cafe because good luck seemed to emanate from it. That was why it was now V's and his default meeting spot.

The walls were still as yellow as ever, with blue stripes scattered around. The tables were a bright red, red enough to blind a person, and the floors purple. The owners clearly didn't have any sense of fashion, but the highlight of this place was always the food, so it didn't really matter.

He always sat at the same booth, the window next to him shining sunlight down onto him. Although, today, the sun was obscured by clouds, it's light barely peeked through. The weather was very gloomy, enhancing the quiet and calm feeling of the day. Everything felt slow today, even Ling Xia himself.

As he gazed around the cafe, he caught a certain car pulling into a parking spot through the window. V was here.

It didn't take long for the chimes to jingle with the opening of the door, and the tinkling sound to spread throughout the small building. Ling Xia leaned into the aisle, letting his head be visible from the door.

V instantly spotted him and slowly walked over to him. It seemed Ling Xia wasn't the only one feeling slow today. He sat down across from Ling Xia, both of them silent for some time. Neither of them wanted to talk.

Finally, Ling Xia opened his mouth and said his first word today. "Hello."

V seemed surprised that Ling Xia had talked. His surprise caused his hesitation, so he hastily replied after he got over it. "Hello."

"So… the project?" Ling Xia reminded him as if it was an actual question he was supposed to be curious about. He even cocked his head to the side.

"Of course," V replied, this time right after Ling Xia spoke. Their drowsiness was slowly being washed away by their conversation.

V took out a file he had been keeping in his coat and placed it on the table for Ling Xia to see. Ling Xia opened it, planning to read it until he found out that it was upside down. A small laugh left his mouth as flipped it upright.

He scanned the papers inside. They were about a few plots of land that were suitable for apartment complexes. Er Shi Er(3), V's company, owned three of the four plots, but the last one was owned by a rival company who was dead set on opposing Er Shi Er. They refused to sell it to Er Shi Er no matter what.

Of the people who knew who V was, most either venerated or feared him. But within any group of people, there were always rebels. Not many dared to oppose V except for these reckless rebels.

Of course, V would deal with that rival company, but right now, he wanted to open a few apartment buildings on his three plots of land. But the plot that the rival company owned was in the middle of the last two plots, so if V chose to open up anything there, he would also attract attention to that rival company, and they would also earn money.

But there was another place he could place a few apartment buildings without any of the interference from that rival company. It was just that those plots of land were not in the ideal location for apartment buildings. The area was dirty and a few crimes were committed there. V's target buyers would never buy an apartment there. Even if others bought apartments there, the profit would still be less than the profit from the other area.

He had a dilemma, so he came to Ling Xia for help. Ling Xia was his consultant after all.

"Hmm…" Ling Xia tapped his chin in deep thought. "Personally, I think going for the first one is better." He raised his head to look at V. "Because you're anyways going to deal with that rival company, right?"

"I was leaning toward that idea, but then I found out their backer has an important deal with us, and they'll definitely suspect if something happens to that company. We can't afford to lose that deal," V explained with a pained face.

Ling Xia blinked in surprise. There were only one a few deals that V cared about that much, but a foreboding hunch arose in his heart. "Is it the deal about the overseas branch?"

V nodded grimly, and Ling Xia's heart sank. "I don't think it's the rival company who's after you. It's probably Nan Cheng," Ling Xia told the other.

"Him? How so?" V was perplexed. Sure, Nan Cheng's company was the company Er Shi Er made the deal with, but that didn't mean that Nan Cheng had any reason to do this.

"He was trying to back you into a corner. And me too. Just a few days ago, he sent me a message asking me to stay away from Ling Yu or else he would reveal my identity. Which I don't care about terribly anymore, but it can't be a coincidence that he's involved with both incidents."

V's face turned darker and darker as Ling Xia explained. He hummed to show he understood, but Ling Xia continued.

"He probably wanted to pressure you into making a bad decision. Both choices that you laid out for me were horrible options, and no matter which you picked, Nan Cheng would benefit from it because both weaken you. One considerably more than another, but if you chose the good plots of land, it would also make him stronger. So, the best thing to do would be to do something unpredictable. Something Nan Cheng would never imagine, right?"

V chuckled. "Are you suggesting I buy a completely different set of plots. Because that's what it feels like."

Ling Xia shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt. It would just cost a lot of money, but you can also sell those plots of land that you bought, sell them to Nan Cheng's enemies. It'll completely overturn that snake's plans."

"I see you've taken to his nickname." They had a small but happy laugh together while Ling Xia closed the file and slid it back to V.

V picked up the file, putting it back into his coat. He was about to talk with Ling Xia about meaningless things, y'know, small talk, but the sleeve of Ling Xia's coat rode up his arm, and V caught a hint of purple on Ling Xia's forearm.

"What's that?" he asked, nodding to the suspicious looking bruise on Ling Xia's arm.

Ling Xia looked to where V was directing his gaze to and found his own arm. "Oh, this?" Ling Xia shifted his eyes back to V, skeptical of whether he should tell the truth.

"You got into a fight or something?" V supplied Ling Xia with an excuse, completely oblivious to that fact.

"Yeah…" Ling Xia sheepishly scratched his nose, acting very guilty. Well, he couldn't just tell V that he had hurt his arm during figure skating practice! V didn't even know he figure skated, and Ling Xia didn't want to reveal his identity until he absolutely had to.

He knew he said that he didn't care about the secret of his two identities, but he also thought it was a lot of work to reveal his identity, so he wasn't too keen on it. He had other work to do.

"I see. Who was trying to hurt you?" V inquired, with a sadistic smile on his face.

"Pfft." Ling Xia covered his mouth to prevent a laugh from coming out. "Sorry, I appreciate the sentiment, but you really don't have to kill him or anything. It was probably a one time thing. I had never seen the guy before, but as I was walking home, this guy showed up and started stalking me, so I got really freaked out. Let's just say I don't think he'll be coming around anymore."

Ling Xia had a cheshire grin on his face, somehow just as sadistic as V's. "Would you like to know a trick to drive away stalkers really easily?"

Ling Xia raised an eyebrow, hesitantly nodding. "Just make a fist, but you have to put a key between your fingers. They'll never expect it, but when you punch them, they're gonna get a brutal injury. It does a lot more damage than you would think," V explained, curling his hand into a fist and with his key in between his middle and ring fingers to demonstrate.

"Huh." Ling Xia had a contemplative expression on his face while examining this new trick. "That would actually work."

V smiled smugly. "I came up with it." He pushed his fist closer to Ling Xia's face, wanting to poke the other's face to prove his point. From Ling Xia's point of view, as the hand approached, it looked more and more as if the key was going to end up stabbed into Ling Xia's eye.

A frightened Ling Xia turned his face away, so V only had access to the side of his face. V's eyes slightly widened, but he poked Ling Xia's cheek nonetheless. The cold metal touched the warm cheek, making a little indent, and, as V had said, a tinge of pain also came with the shiver that ran down Ling Xia's back.

V pulled his hand back. "Relax, I just wanted to show you that it actually hurt."

Ling Xia responded with a breathy, unsure laugh. "Oh. I thought you were trying to pick my eye out or something."

V slipped his key back into his pocket. "So are you ready for your speech in a few days? What are you planning?"

Ling Xia turned his face back to V. "I'm ready. I'm just going to detail the game a bit. Not much."

"You're the person that came up with the entire storyline of the game. No hints dropped at all?" V asked with pleading eyes.

"Actually, the game is going to be updated very often with new storylines, so I don't think I will be the person to come up with the entire plot in the future," Ling Xia pointed out. "Also, I don't want to spoil it for anybody. We already put a lot of subtle foreshadowing in the game, so I think they'll be fine."

Ling Xia placed the straw in between his lips, taking a huge gulp. It had cooled down a bit, making the heat finally bearable. He took the straw out from under his mask and looked up to see V staring at the coffee cup. "Something wrong?"

"Coffee?" V raised an eyebrow, and Ling Xia nodded in response. "You must really like coffee. You order it every time we meet here."

Ling Xia shrugged. "I only drink it for the taste. You'd be surprised how well ginger goes with coffee. Plus, I've never heard of any other place that serves coffee that's as good as this, so I can't miss out on any chance to drink it."

"It really tastes that good?"

Ling Xia firmly nodded. "It really is." Skepticism crossed V's face, and Ling Xia offered to buy one for him, so he could taste it. "Why don't you taste one? I'll even pay for it."

"No, it's fine, I can do that." V stood and made his way to the line. The prime time for breakfast had come, so the line had lengthened fivefold. V got behind the ten other people in the line, waiting for his turn with no entertainment.

Pretty soon, Ling Xia finished his last drop of coffee. He turned to the line, waiting for V to come back, also with no entertainment.

'I'm bored,' he thought with absolutely no emotion. He pulled out his phone, wishing V would get through the long line faster. Opening Weibo, he immediately saw that Mu Ninghua had made a post.

"I met up with an old friend!"

Underneath the title was a picture of her and Chu Yan sitting at an outdoor restaurant and eating. The picture was captured at the perfect time. It showed Mu Ninghua with her head down, picking up some rice to eat while Chu Yan stared at her longingly. The perfect picture of unrequited love.

Her one hundred followers were going crazy. Her female fans supported Chu Yan, thinking that Mu Ninghua couldn't see that Chu Yan was in love with her and completely spilled the tea.

Her much bigger in quantity male fans, however, were completely against the relationship, angrily bashing the man in the photo. They wrote all kinds of comments, ranging from 'I don't think you're right for her' to blatant death threats.

It was clear that the male population of her fanbase was a group of perverts.

But that wasn't the important part. The important part was that that psycho was still obsessed with Mu Ninghua, and he would do anything, anything, for her, even if it meant covering for her lies to himself.

Ling Xia held his head. Even more issues were popping up. First, Bai Xian coming back from abroad, and now Chu Yan's still present infatuation with Mu Ninghua.

He'd have to get this whole court thing done fast. It was a good thing he took all the evidence he gained to the police yesterday. They should have leafed through it by now. The trial would come after only a few more days of… waiting. Ugh, even more waiting.

This reminded him of his current predicament, which was–you guessed it–waiting. Luckily, V had finally gotten to the front of the line and had ordered his drink. It would only take a few more minutes before he came back.

Ling Xia decided to make that most of this time, using it to, heroically, throw his coffee cup and straw away. He sat back down, just in time for V to get back. He made himself comfortable, taking a small sip of the coffee in his hand.

The hot liquid reached his tongue, instantly burning it. In panic, he swallowed the coffee hastily, the liquid then scalding his throat. "Hot," he coughed out.

"Is it good?" Ling Xia questioned, not quite sure if this was the right time.

"I couldn't taste it. I had to get it down really fast, so it would stop burning me," the other answered after he had calmed down.

Ling Xia nodded. "Yeah, I didn't really understand why you drank it so quickly," said Ling Xia, kicking the V while he was down jokingly.

V side-eyed him. "You're the one that has to drink every beverage with a straw because you have a mask that covers your mouth," he retorted, his squeaky voice deepening because of the coughs.

For once, his voice sounded like other people's. V's voice normally sounded like he was a geek going through puberty for the fifth time. It was a drastic change, bewildering Ling Xia for a moment because he was so used to V's high-pitched voice.

"Wow." Ling Xia blinked rapidly, showing his utter surprise.

"Oh," V stated, realizing that he had forgotten to fake his voice. He frowned because he noticed that he made the same mistake again. Clearing his throat, he retried that word in his usual voice. "Oh."

Ling Xia stared. "So," he started. They had awkwardly run out of conversation for the current topic, so he began a new one. "What are you planning to do after the release of the new game? Other than the real estate stuff, I mean."

V shrugged. "I want to try the tourism industry."

"Try?" Ling Xia laughed sardonically. "Sometimes I think you consider life a game."

A pondering expression crossed V's face. "I don't," he softly replied.

"Okay, no, let's not get into philosophy," Ling Xia shut it down before it began, knowing exactly where this was going. He had a friend who absolutely adored philosophy, and she loved debating with other people about hers.

"I was only joking," V replied with a hurt expression. "I know you don't like that."

"I hate that," Ling Xia corrected with a finger up.

V put his hands up in defense. "Okay. But I told the truth. I don't think life is a game. I take it extremely seriously," he said self-righteously with a firm nod.

"Do you, now?" Ling Xia asked unbelievingly. "Wait, no, don't answer that. You almost dragged me into your philosophy talk." He gasped with accusing eyes.

"I promise you that that was not my intention."

Ling Xia scrutinized V's face, trying to determine whether he was telling the truth. But he saw nothing that indicated the possibility of a lie.

"Okay… I believe you. Anyway…" Ling Xia started, not knowing how to finish. They had finished the conversation topic again. "Umm… would you like to try the coffee again? Maybe this time, blow on it before?"

V sighed with a smile on his face. Ling Xia was very persistent about this. "Alright."

Ling Xia's eyes lit up, waiting eagerly for his friend's evaluation of the taste. He leaned forward. V lifted his cup, a light laugh of indulgence leaving his mouth at this sight.

Notes:

1: WeChat is a messaging app in China. Email isn't the only way colleagues interact there.

2: Li and Ling sound similar in Chinese.