When Nie Yunshen said it was “tricky,” it truly was a bit tricky. After all, the issue wasn’t a delay in the return of project funds, but rather that the funds had been misappropriated for other purposes. Broadly speaking, this constituted a malicious breach of contract—every project loan has detailed agreements regarding the use of funds and sources of repayment, explicitly stating that the money can only be used for that specific project and nowhere else. Regardless of whether it was Fu Wenli or someone else who caused the default, the responsibility could only be borne by the Lans Group.
From a more forgiving perspective, the Lans Group had already admitted to the debt and possessed sufficient means to settle it; so long as the risk control officer deemed the risk acceptable, they could choose to overlook it and allow the matter to go through. An extension of a week, ten days, or even half a month wouldn’t be a major issue.
However, the current situation was that Director Nie, whose pettiness was smaller than the eye of a needle, was nursing a decade-old grudge from being the “perpetual runner-up.” He had no intention of letting his old classmate off easy, so he was deliberately hiding behind official jargon to make things difficult.
As the words fell from his lips, Shu An showed no reaction, but Sister Ning, the CFO who interacted with Nie Yunshen most frequently, couldn’t help stepping in to speak.
“Xiao Nie, the Lans Group has been cooperating with your bank for six or seven years now; you are very clear on the company’s situation and profitability. This incident was indeed due to poor oversight on my part; I failed to transfer the recovered funds back to the headquarters’ account immediately, which allowed Director Fu to exploit a loophole. The company is currently actively mobilizing funds. No matter how ‘tricky’ it is, you have to help me get this done, don’t you agree?”
“Sister Ning is right. Where I can help, I will certainly do my best.” As Nie Yunshen spoke, his eyes couldn’t help but drift toward Shu An again, and he shifted the tone by adding two words: “However…”
Anyone who frequently participates in business negotiations knows that as soon as the word “however” follows a statement, no matter how pleasant the preceding words were, they are rendered useless.
Sure enough, Nie Yunshen paused and continued, “A bank has its rules, and the contract explicitly states that funds cannot be misappropriated for other uses. Regarding this matter of yours, I’ll need to head back to the bank and weigh my options.”
At this point, Shu An, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke up.
“Lans Group has always prioritized its reputation. In our many years of cooperation with your bank, there has never been a single instance of default. This time, the responsibility indeed lies with Lans Group, and we are working hard to resolve it. We still ask that Director Nie help us as much as possible.”
Nie Yunshen found these words immensely satisfying, thinking to himself, So you finally have your day, yet his expression remained entirely unreadable as he continued to play tai chi[mfn]To push a task or responsibility to someone else[/mfn]. Every word he uttered made it clear that, since this was a case of fund misappropriation, the matter was gravely serious; even if he were willing to overlook it, there was no guarantee it would survive a random year-end inspection by the central bank, as the rationale for granting the extension was entirely untenable.
Finally, he lifted his wrist to check the time and remarked, “I have a meeting back at the bank.” With that, he rose to his feet, set a business card down in front of Shu An, leaned forward a fraction, and lightly tapped the card with his fingertip. Staring into the other party’s strikingly handsome eyes, he said, “Give me a call if anything comes up. We were classmates; after all, everything is negotiable.”
Shu An did not look at the card; instead, he looked back, staring directly into Nie Yunshen’s eyes. Their gazes met head-on in midair; if there were special effects, sparks would surely be hissing and crackling between them already.
After a long silence, Shu An finally smiled and said, “Alright.”
Nie Yunshen hadn’t actually overthought it; from the perspective of any risk control officer, Lans Group’s extension was grantable. He simply couldn’t swallow his pride over that grudge from ten years ago and wanted Shu An to beg him for a few more days.
Shu An did not disappoint him either; he called that very afternoon, saying he wanted to treat him to dinner.
Nie Yunshen rotated halfway in the swivel chair of his private office while squinting at the vast blue sky outside the floor-to-ceiling window as he deliberately played hard to get.
“What a shame ah, CEO Shu, but I already have an appointment this evening.”
Shu An wasn’t surprised by the rejection. However, the maturity date for Lans Group’s loan was next Monday, and today was already Wednesday. If the funds mobilized by the group didn’t arrive within the week and Nie Yunshen intentionally blocked the extension, the loan would inevitably go into default, which would have a significant impact on the company’s future credit rating.
So CEO Shu stopped beating around the bush and went straight to the point: “You certainly know I’m inviting you to dinner to discuss the extension. Since you said yourself that we were classmates, surely Director Nie wouldn’t refuse such a small favor, right?”
“Wow,” Nie Yunshen drawled, his voice rising in mock surprise. “Are you asking me to give you the green light and go through the back door, CEO Shu?”
Shu An pretended not to hear the smugness in his tone. Holding the phone, he replied unhurriedly, “I am. Will Director Nie do me this honor?”
Nie Yunshen let out a thoroughly satisfied laugh. “Since you’re asking me for a favor, shouldn’t you show a little sincerity?”
Shu An said, “I’ve just returned to the country and don’t quite understand the industry’s unspoken rules. If you have any requirements, Director Nie, why not just say them directly?”
His words were spoken with complete sincerity. Although the economic environments domestic and abroad differed, the twists and turns of the business world were ultimately much the same, hinging largely on networks and personal connections. When asking for a favor, it was only natural to offer some benefit. However, based on what he had learned about Nie Yunshen from Sister Ning, the man wasn’t that type of person. Throughout their years of cooperation, the most Nie Yunshen had done was accept a few dinner invitations and play a few rounds of golf with his father, Huo Qizheng; he hadn’t even accepted the shopping cards Sister Ning tried to hand over during the holidays.
Yet now, the subtext of his words was unmistakably a deliberate attempt to create obstacles, leaving Shu An genuinely unsure of what he was actually after.
As Nie Yunshen listened to his voice, it was unclear whether the sunlight slanting through the floor-to-ceiling window was too dazzling or the voice coming through the receiver was too pleasant, but he suddenly had a trance-like flashback to the sight of Shu An’s long legs clad in suit trousers. In a sudden moment of madness, he spoke into the phone: “How about you spend the night with me, and I’ll give you a three-day extension?”
There was silence on Shu An’s end.
A moment later, Nie Yunshen snapped back to his senses, nearly biting his own tongue. He couldn’t fathom what lapse in judgment had led him to make such a demand. He intended to laugh it off with a “just kidding” to sweep it under the rug, but Shu An’s silence sparked an inexplicable, restless itch in his heart.
During that single exchange of glances in the CEO’s office at Lans Group that afternoon, Nie Yunshen had already confirmed that this man was of the same kind.
But even with so many of their kind around, Nie Yunshen hadn’t actually thought about getting the future boss of Lans Group into bed before the words left his mouth. Setting aside the industry’s ethical guidelines regarding conflict of interest between risk control officers and clients, their unpleasant memories as classmates ten years ago alone made him want to avoid any entanglement with anyone with the surname Shu.
Yet Shu An hadn’t hung up the phone, nor had he offered a direct refusal; instead, there was only silence.
Did this mean he wasn’t repelled by the request? Or perhaps that he felt it was worth considering?
While Director Nie didn’t have a habit of “eating the grass near his own burrow[mfn]This comes from the idiom “A rabbit doesn’t eat the grass around its own nest”; in a social or professional context, it refers to avoiding romantic or sexual involvements with people in your immediate circle, such as colleagues, close neighbors, or long-term business partners.[/mfn]“, if it were a top-tier specimen like Shu An, he really wouldn’t mind letting his integrity fly out the window for a moment. Regardless, he had never been some kind of moral role model.
Sure enough, Shu An soon gave him an answer. He said, “I need to think about it.”
Listening to the dial tone coming from his phone, the curve of Nie Yunshen’s lips widened silently.
“Thinking about it” meant there was a real chance.
Shu An’s “consideration” lasted an entire day.
Watching the message Shu An sent popping up on his phone, Nie Yunshen’s grin practically split his face from ear to ear. Fortunately, he was the only one in the elevator; otherwise, between his sneezing and his uncontrollable, toothy smirk, someone likely would have sent him straight to a mental asylum already.
He couldn’t help it. Just the thought of the noble, elegant, and aloof Shu An lying naked in bed, at his beck and call, sent a surge of adrenaline and excitement through his veins that he couldn’t suppress.
What’s that saying? “A true gentleman can afford to wait, even ten years is not too late for revenge.”
But if pressed on whether there was genuinely any deep-rooted enmity between the two, Nie Yunshen found himself unable to clearly define it. He had once seriously contemplated why the mere mention of the name “Shu An” made his teeth itch with resentment. Was it because Shu An always had more fans? Or because the school beauty he liked had been snatched away by him? Or perhaps because he had once led a gang to pick a fight with Shu An, only to end up pinned to the ground, unable to get back up?
It didn’t seem to be any of those. What Nie Yunshen actually resented most was that no matter how hard he worked, he could never surpass Shu An to take first place in their grade.
Z High School was the best secondary school in Z City; it was said that as long as one got into this school, even the bottom-ranking slackers could easily clear the cutoff line for top-tier universities.
Nie Yunshen had been promoted directly from Z High’s junior high division to the senior high division as the top-ranked student in his year. Because he was already in the best school, he naturally assumed no one in the entire city had scored better than him, so he didn’t even bother to check the rankings. It wasn’t until school started that he learned the person ranked first in the city’s high school entrance examination was named Shu An. And he, Nie Yunshen, ranked second by a mere three-point margin.
Shu An had attended a very famous private middle school in Z City. That school was famous primarily for its astronomical tuition fees. To simply put, it was a so-called “aristocratic” school. Students at such schools generally went abroad immediately upon graduation; very few would actually sit for the National College Entrance Exam. However, Shu An didn’t want to leave so early, so, armed with his top-ranking citywide scores, he stepped through the gates of Z High amidst the fawning and thirsty gazes of the entire faculty and student body. In doing so, he also kicked off a three-year-long saga of overt and covert rivalry with Nie Yunshen.
Back in junior high, Nie Yunshen had been the most popular figure in the entire school. He was handsome, outgoing, wealthy, and academically gifted to boot. His father owned several high-end restaurants and seafood palatial diners throughout the city. From senior girls in the twelfth grade to junior girls in the seventh, two-thirds of them were his “true love” fans.
But ever since Shu An appeared, not only did he deliver a critical blow in terms of grades, but half of Nie Yunshen’s two-thirds fan base defected in an instant. Even the remaining third who had never been his fans turned into Shu An supporters, completely toppling the “Light of Z High” from its pedestal.
How could Nie Yunshen possibly swallow that? He threw all his effort into clawing back a round through his grades. However, in the first placement exam, he was behind by four points; in the first midterm, he was behind by two points; and in the first finals, he was actually behind by six points!
The second semester was the same, and the third semester was no different. How the hell was a guy supposed to live like this!
Nie Yunshen finally understood why Zhou Gongjin in Romance of the Three Kingdoms lamented, “Since the heavens brought forth Zhou Yu, why did they also produce Zhuge Liang[mfn]It metaphorically expresses frustration or envy when two equally talented or outstanding people exist in the same field, creating inevitable rivalry or comparison.[/mfn]?“. Some people are simply born to be your nemesis. No matter how angry or unwilling you felt, no matter how hard you chased, your exam scores always fell short by those two or three points; throughout three years of high school, there was never a single exception. On the one rare occasion he managed to score two points higher than Shu An, Nie Yunshen was jubilant and ready to throw a universal celebration—only for the teacher to tell him they had misread an answer, accidentally giving him three extra points, and that everyone would need to be re-ranked once those points were taken back.
After the three points were docked, Nie Yunshen watched in agony as his ranking slid right back behind Shu An’s once again. He was so livid he nearly killed the teacher who gave the wrong score; from then on, every time he saw Shu An, he felt like lunging forward to bite him and tear off a piece of flesh.
What made it even more unbearable was that while he was failing in the “examination hall,” he couldn’t find even a shred of success in the “hall of romance” either.
Because one day, a buddy of his suddenly told him that the school beauty he’d been chasing for half a semester had been snatched away by Shu An!
How on earth was he supposed to tolerate that?
He absolutely could not.
If he didn’t show this guy surnamed Shu who was the boss, surname Shu would never know who really called the shots at Z High.
And so, on a dark and windy night, Shu An, who was heading home after evening self-study, was cornered outside the school gates by Nie Yunshen and his crew.
T/N: I’m gonna update on Tuesday and Friday from now on. Happy reading guys~
