Chapter - 44 You can think over again?

On the second day, Lu Bai arrived at the company and sneered at Mao Shiyuan when he mentioned about the design again. "You're quite competent, knowing who to ask for help now."

Mao Shiyuan was stunned momentarily and then understood. Zhan Yu didn't disappoint him. Zhan Yu mentioned it to Lu Bai?

He chuckled and explained, "I just didn't know what to do, so I had no choice but to ask sister-in-law. Therefore, A-Bai, please just agree to my suggestion."

Lu Bai tossed the annotated document he finished looking at in Mao Shiyuan's hands and said, "Hurry up. If you dare to ask Zhan Yu for help again regarding work, we'll settle old and new accounts together!"

Mao Shiyue chuckled and happily walked out of the office.

With Lu Bai, within three days, he could definitely hand over a refreshing piece of work. Regarding next time, whenever it was, he'd think about it when the time comes! What a pity that he couldn't use the resources to the best of his needs.

Mao Shiyuan thought about this and wondered if he should invite Zhan Yu out for lunch to thank him.

Mao Shiyuan called and thanked Zhan Yu, explaining why he wanted to invite him out for lunch. Zhan Yu directly said, "I'm quite busy recently. You can just owe me a meal and we can eat out whenever I have time."

Mao Shiyuan agreed quickly, "Sure!"

The morning after three days, Lu Bai had already gone to work when Zhan Yu woke up. Zhan Yu turned around to see papers by the bedside cabinet. Zhan Yu curious and grabbed it, becoming shocked after. It was an extremely detailed design of the different floors in the building as well as its arrangements.

Zhan Yu looked at this for a while and took this to his heart. In the end, he couldn't help but faintly smile.

Lu Bai was indeed awesome.

Since the project in Lu Bai's company was launched, he became even busier, having less time to come pick Zhan Yu up after work now.

Zhan Yu didn't mind anyway. Instead, he felt that Lu Bai was overly busy, so Zhan Yu decided to let Lu Bai sleep for some extra time in the morning, while Zhan Yu drove to work by himself.

But Zhan Yu got into an accident this day driving back home. While Zhan Yu stopped his car to wait for the red light, the car in front of him suddenly backed a few steps for some unknown reason. Therefore, the cars gloriously bumped one another.

Zhan Yu didn't pay attention to the brand of car, but noticed that the paint on the car bumper was scratched.

Zhan Yu didn't even have time to check on his car when the person got out of their car and knocked on his car window fiercely.

The moment Zhan Yu slid the car windows down, that person reached over and grabbed the collar of his shirt, yelling, "Do you know how to drive?! How much are you going to pay for crashing into my new car?!"

Zhan Yu had never been treated like this before, so his face turned gloomy and said sternly, "Let go! Believe me or not but I'll call the police!"

Seeing Zhan Yu unfriendly expression and his harsh gaze, the person loosened their grip but said proudly, "My car just came out of the warehouse. It costs a few million and you crashed into the car just like that. You better think carefully about how much you're going to pay me!"

Meeting this shameless person was enough!

Zhan Yu didn't even glance at him, raising the car window up and calling the police over to handle this matter.

When the man saw Zhan Yu's attitude, he smashed Zhan Yu's car window angrily and said, "What's that attitude?"

Zhan Yu sat in the car and purposefully looked in front, keeping his gaze there.

That man was infuriated and called someone over, kicking Zhan Yu's car after that. He slammed the car window and cursed at Zhan Yu fiercely and sinisterly.

Zhan Yu slid the car window down and coldly humphed. Zhan Yu said the truth, "Mr. do we need to get the security tape to see whose car crashed into the other one? You know very well who violated the rules. Regarding compensation, if you keep on causing a ruckus, you will definitely not get a single penny out of this."

"Man! Who do you think you're scaring?!"

"I'm not scaring you. I'm just saying the truth. If you actually dare to touch me, believe me that in less than half an hour, you'll definitely become famous in Sheng Jin City."

That man was stunned.

Zhan Yu raised his head to look at him. Despite not saying anything, one could feel the imposing manner.

There were many pedestrians forming a crowd and a young girl recognized Zhan Yu. She excitedly called out her name, "Zhan Yu! Zhan Yu!"

That man stared at Zhan Yu's clothes and appearance, thinking Zhan Yu was a celebrity. He said in disdain, "So what if you're a celebrity? You think that you don't need to pay for crashing my car?!"

"Mr. if you keep on making trouble without reason, I'll have my husband directly come over to handle this matter."

"Call him! You think I'm scared of you?!"

Towards unreasonable people, Zhan Yu felt like he was just wasting time.

Zhan Yu directly called Lu Bai and asked, "Are you busy?"

Lu Bai was in a meeting when Zhan Yu called. After picking up the call, he rarely let everyone in the meeting take 10 minutes break. He responded, "I'm not busy. What's the matter? Are you home?"

Zhan Yu felt helpless and said, "I met a scammer on my way home. He was the one who stopped his car, but he ended up driving backwards and crashing into my car. Right now, he is trying to make me compensate him and he has a very vile attitude."

Lu Bai hurriedly asked, "Where are you?"

Zhan Yu told Lu Bai his address.

Lj Bai said, "I'm coming over immediately. Be careful and don't let him hurt you."

"Besides you, who else can bully me?" Zhan Yu didn't think that man would touch him, besides the beginning when he pulled on his collar. Zhan Yu thought about it and remained angry. Why should he let him go so easily?

Police officers came before Lu Bai did. They enthusiastically said to Zhan Yu, "Our bureau chief said that Lady Bai got into an accident here and wanted us to come over."

Zhan Yu thought about it and immediately understood that they were Lu Bai's people. Therefore, Zhan Yu pointed at his car and truthfully said, "Crashed."

That person took a look and said, "Lady Bai, this..."

"I was waiting for the red light, but he suddenly drove backwards and crashed into my car."

"Oh, I understand. Lady Bai, then how much do you want the other party to pay?"

"I just want him to apologize to me."

"Stop dreaming!" The man directly hollered and said, "Don't try to take advantage of me just because you know some people!"

"Who was the one in my position just moments ago?" Zhan Yu chuckled and said, "Didn't you say this car is worth a few million? I really don't see how this car is worth the value. Maybe it's because there's nothing special about the driver."

"You!" That man was about to slap Zhan Yu, but Lu Bai came on time and stopped him.

"You...Lu Bai?" The moment the man saw Lu Bai's gloomy and dark face, he stopped being arrogant and rampant. He softened his tone and asked, "President Lu, why did you come here?"

Lu Bai glanced at him for a bit before realizing who he was. It was Lai Family's son who just returned to the country a while ago.

Lu Bai humphed and said, "I was wondering who was brazen enough to touch Lu Family's people within Sheng Jin City. As it turns out, it's Lai Family." It seems like the warning he had given was ineffective.

"Young master Lai, this isn't abroad where you can be arrogant and do whatever you want. You crashed into my Lady's car, so how do you want to pay? Please give me a clear answer."

"I'll pay! I'll pay! President Lu, name me a price and I'll pay!"

"Didn't you say your car is worth a few million? My Lady's car is worth a bit more than yours. How about you pay us a few million?"

secretly giggled. Good job, Lu Bai

"President Lu..." The man with surname Lai was in a difficult situation.

"Young master Lai can go back and think about it before telling me. If you can't make a decision, you can go back and ask President Lai how it feels to not be able to find a partner for his company." Once Lu Bai was done speaking to him, he turned around and asked , "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine."

"Let's go home. It's better if I have someone bring you home next time."

Zhan Yu didn't want to make it inconvenient for him, so she said, "It's just an accident today."

"Your husband, I, can't tolerate the shock of you being in an accident every day."

Zhan Yu laughed and followed Lu Bai, getting into his car. Regarding Zhan Yu's car, Assistant Wang naturally helped drive it back.

The colleagues from the police station gave young master Lai a ticket and advised, "It's rare to see someone who doesn't know how to respect and be polite to men. Pray for luck."

Young master Lai was infuriated and once he got in his car, he called his sister. "You spend so much money every day, yet you still can't win over Lu Bai's heart! Father's blind for spending so much money on you to arrange a blind date between you and Lu Bai!"

Miss Lai who had been depressed over this matter for a while couldn't help but tear up after her wounds were ripped apart again. She had finally remained calm after hearing the news of Lu Bai being married and this scolding made her retort, "Look at you! If you're powerful enough, why don't you go and fight him?! Why do you guys always blame me? If Lh Bai could easily be won over, why would all the young misses in Sheng Jin City fail? No matter how much you guys force me to, I've given up! I won't be your pawn! Never!" After yelling this, she immediately hung up.

They all have issues!

"By the way, what did you mean by what you said to that man earlier?"

Unlike the stifled feeling that was wrapped around Lu Bai's heart, Zhan Yu appeared to be unaffected by neither the man nor the disconcerting crash that had just occurred.

However, upon noticing Lu Bai's silence and the lack of expression on his face, Zhan Yu asked, "Are you angry?"

Lu Bai looked at Zhan Yu. "Are you not?"

"I was, but not anymore. After you came and I watched him get beaten up, I realized that a person like him is not worth getting angry over," Zhan Yu confessed.

Lu Bai's expression remained tense, so Zhan Yu added, "To me, he is a nobody. In my world, he counts for even less than a random passerby. Who knows if I'll ever see him again? And even if I do, I wouldn't acknowledge him. Therefore, an irrelevant person like him is not worth getting angry over."

Suddenly, Lu Bai cracked a smile. "I didn't know my wife was such a magnanimous person."

For a moment, Zhan Yu pondered over Lu Bai's words. "It's not about how magnanimous I am. I just don't think we should let ourselves be affected by someone so insignificant. Think about it. He made you feel unhappy just now, which in turn made me worry. It's not worth it. Who is more important to you, him or me?"

After listening to what Zhan Yu said, Lu Bai suddenly understood. While he was feeling angry at himself for not protecting Zhan Yu well, Zhan Yu was also taking great pains to placate his storming emotions. It was as though the one who had gotten implicated was not Zhan Yu, but someone else. It seemed like Zhan Yu would be calm even if the sky were falling, and as the thought crossed his mind, he was reminded of the past.

Turning to Zhan Yu, he asked, "When I first met you, I was very curious. The Zhan Yu then didn't seem to care about anything. Nothing could faze you. But were you really as indifferent as you seemed?"

Zhan Yu, on the other hand, couldn't remember a time when he was like that. "Was I?" he asked, then before Lu Bai could respond, "I guess I was just too good at pretending! I was actually afraid of many things back then, but most of all, I was afraid of death. Eventually, I realized that aside from death, everything else was insignificant and unworthy of my attention."

Probably because Zhan Yu's obsession was too deep, so nothing else mattered.

"Then was I also insignificant and unworthy of your attention?" Lu Bai asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.

The clever Zhan Yu responded immediately as he thought, This is a trap! If I answer wrong, Lu Bai'll definitely make me suffer tonight!

So Zhan Yu said with a smile, "Haha, the past is the past. Let's not bring it up anymore." And with that, he quickly changed the subject.

"What?"

"About being unable to find a partner company or something..." Zhan Yu was keen. "The Lai family offended you."

"More or less."

"And what is 'more or less' supposed to mean?"

The fact that Miss Lai had successfully tricked him into entering her house was a matter of absolute humiliation. She had even managed to force a hug on him. He mustn't let his wife find out!

Looking away, Lu Bai replied lazily, "The past is the past. Let's not bring it up anymore!"

This sly-!

Zhan Yu stared at Lu Bai. "Something is fishy."

Lu Bai pretended he didn't hear Zhan Yu.

***

When the two of them got home, Zhan Yu remained suspicious of Lu Bai's evasive behavior. As he cooked dinner in the kitchen, he tried to recall the plot of the original story. Was there anyone who had the surname of "Lai"?

After thinking about it for a while, he finally remembered. There was indeed a person like that in the original story: the young miss of the Lai family, Shi Shi's cousin, and also... a former marriage prospect of Lu Bai.

"Heheh..."

When Zhan Yu finished cooking, he swept up the dishes and carried them into the dining room. As he laid the dishes down, he looked at Lu Bai and harrumphed. "I've figured out how the Lai family offended you."

"Huh?" Lu Bai, who was just about to pick up his chopsticks, suddenly froze. He wondered why his wife was still on this topic.

"Lu Bai, it's because you were involved with their beautiful young miss, isn't it? And if I remember correctly, you and Miss Lai were even going to be marriage partners."

Smiling, Lu Bai went to Zhan Yu and wrapped his arms around his waist. "Wife, that was my mother's lousy idea, not me. Didn't I keep resisting until the end?"

"Heh, but I doubt it was that simple. Something else must have happened between the two of you, something so bad that you had no choice but to attack them. Otherwise, why would you go as far as to making a move against their entire family? Am I right?"

"Wife."

"Mhm, be good. Your wife is a little mad at you right now. Why did you have to go and provoke so many beauties?"

"Wife..."

"I am not in the mood, Lu Bai! You're sleeping in the guest room tonight!

"Hey, wife..."

"Eat your food and go sleep in guest room!."

Lu Bai: ...

After dinner, Zhan Yu waved his hand and sent Lu Bai to wash the dishes. Eager to please, Lu Bai immediately rolled up his sleeves and got to work. As he wiped away the grease from a bowl, he thought to himself: I need to find a way to coax my wife later. If it doesn't work, I can just pick him up and solve it in bed.

Were there any problems that couldn't be solved in bed? None!

Confident that he had come up with the perfect solution, Lu Bai happily finished washing the rest of the dishes. Zhan Yu, who was sitting in the living room eating fruit, glanced in the direction of the kitchen and smiled unkindly.

When Lu Bai came out of the kitchen, he saw his wife on the couch. Seemingly absorbed in a television show, it looked like Zhan Yu had no intention of talking to him.

"Wife, would you like to have some tea? I can brew it for you."

"No."

"What about fruit then? I can go wash some."

Zhan Yu gestured to the fruit plate on the glass table. "There is still plenty in there."

"Wife..." The rest of what Lu Bai wanted to say was abruptly interrupted by the ringing of his phone.

Zhan Yu glanced over and saw that the caller was Zhuang Zhu.

Lu Bai picked up his phone and wondered while looking at Zhan Yu, "What is this guy calling me for?"

Zhan Yu turned his gaze away and ignored him.

The moment Lu Bai picked up his phone and accepted the call, Lu Bai found his ear bombarded by a jaring tumult of party music. It took him a few moments to figure out what Zhuang Zhu was saying: "If you're a real brother, come out here and drink with me!"

"I'm with my wife." After getting married, Lu Bai seldom went out to play around with his friends. Though he didn't go out much to begin with, one could still occasionally bump into him in a club or a bar. Now, it was nearly impossible to catch even a glimpse of his shadow!

Zhuang Zhu was in no mood to tolerate the dog food. "Damn! What's so impressive about having a wife, huh? What do men count for anyway?!"

Lu Bai frowned. Zhuang Zhu must be really drunk for him to speak like this. After thinking for a bit, he turned to Zhan Yu and told him, "I think something's happened to Zhuang Zhu. I'll go check on him."

"Okay," Zhan Yu agreed immediately.

Seeing that Zhan Yu's previous attitude had softened a bit, Lu Bai smiled and leaned over to press a kiss against Zhan Yu's cheek. "Wait for me to come back."

"Stay safe."

"Okay."

Lu Bai went to the bar Zhuang Zhu was at and had to search for a while before finding him in a corner upstairs.

As soon as he sat down, Zhuang Zhu handed him a bottle. "Have a drink!"

"Then I won't be polite," Lu Bai said, taking a small swig. He still had to coax his wife later. If he got drunk, he would really have to sleep in the guest room.

Zhuang Zhu saw the smile on his friend's face and instantly flared up again, "Lu Bai, isn't it just a marriage? What's so great about that? Would it kill you to not look so happy every day? Just seeing your face makes me mad!"

"Oh, did I touch a nerve?"

"You sure did!"

"Great."

"Lu Bai! Karma will come back and bite you in your ass, you evil bastard!

"I already have a wife who loves me."

"Among all the rich men in this city, I bet you're the only one who can still be so delusional after marriage!" Zhuang Zhu sneered.

"You're not married, so what do you know?" By now, Lu Bai had figured out why his friend was in such a bad mood. "So which man or woman is it this time? A college student? A famous model? Or a little boy or girl from another family?"

Zhuang Zhu snorted. "You think I'm a pedophile like that Mo Bei?"

"If I'm remembering correctly, the Mo family arranged a 20-year-old girl for him, didn't they?"

"You haven't seen her. They say she looks so innocent that she might as well be a little girl!"

"Alright, alright. Are we going to talk about you or Mo Bei?"

Zhuang Zhu choked on his words. He took a swig of alcohol before continuing, "When I was at your wedding, your wife's best friend caught my eye. That Zhong Qin boy."

"Oh..." Lu Bai said knowingly.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

He took a sip of alcohol and said bluntly, "You should just give up already."

"Are you still a brother?"

"As a brother, I'm advising you to turn around."

"Lu Bai!"

"My wife's best friend is not someone you can catch up to. Don't waste your energy."

"Would a real brother look down on me like this?!" Zhuang Zhu raged.

"Didn't reality itself prove that you can't catch up?" Lu Bai pointed out ruthlessly. "Otherwise, would you still be here drinking yourself stupid?"

That instantly shut him up.

Right! He had been interested in Zhong Qin since they met at the wedding, yet even after a month of chasing him, he remained unmoved.

He couldn't resist forcing a kiss on him tonight, which resulted in him getting a slap across the face. He'd even hurled a series of insults at him, telling him to stay the hell away from him.

On the drive back, he also spewed an entire list of curses!

Zhong Qin, just you wait!

Lu Bai accompanied him for a few more drinks. Before leaving, he patted him on the shoulder and advised him again to quickly give up.

Later, when he arrived home, Lu Bai made a beeline for the bedroom. However, the door was locked. He frowned and knocked on the door. "Wife, I have something to tell you."

"You can tell me tomorrow."

"Are you sure you want to wait until tomorrow to hear about what's going on between Zhuang Zhu and your best friend?" he asked.

Sure enough, not a second later, the door swung open.

A flash of his triumphant smile was all Zhan Yu saw before Lu Bai pinned him against the door, their lips clashing in a heated kiss.

Zhan Yu reached out to smack Lu Bai. "Liar!"

"I'm not lying. Zhuang Zhu chased after your best friend, Zhong Qin, for an entire month and failed.

"When did this happen?"

"After the wedding."

"Then Zhuang Zhu..."

"Mhm, he's just drinking right now. Don't worry about him," Lu Bai said, kissing Zhan Yu's again.

While the two of them were rolling together in bed, Lu Bai thought complacently to himself: I will never sleep in the guest room.

While Zhan Yu was on his way to work the next day, he sent Zhong Qin a message, asking about the unexpected development between him and Zhuang Zhu.

Zhong Qin was in the middle of rushing to work, so his response was a simple "I'll explain later when I'm free."

Thus, the two arranged to meet for dinner in the evening. When Lu Bai called Zhan Yu and said that he was going to pick him up after work, Zhan Yu told Lu Bai to figure out dinner on his own because he had an appointment in the evening.

"A dinner appointment?" Lu Bai sounded unhappy.

"Yes, I'm going with Zhong Qin."

Immediately, Lu Bai understood the reason for their dinner appointment. For a moment, he regretted being a busybody the night before. He'd shot himself in the shot. "When will you be home?"

"It'll depend."

This was the worst type of answer.

Lu Bai replied: "Then I'll pick you up at 8:30 after I finish working overtime tonight."

"How come I didn't know that you were working overtime today?" Zhan Yu asked dubiously.

"How can I be home when my wife isn't? Do you want to force me to guard an empty house?" Lu Bai grumbled.

This made Zhan Yu happy. "Then how come I've never heard you complaining about guarding an empty house before we got married?"

"Are the days before marriage even worth being compared to the days after?"

"Hmm, that's true," Zhan Yu agreed with a smile.

After the call ended, Lu Bai called for Assistant Wang. The latter rushed into the office only to learn that his boss wanted him to inform every department head that they had to work overtime tonight. Furthermore, their quarterly conference would also be held in advance.

Assistant Wang silently gauged Lu Bsi's expression. Though his face wasn't particularly happy, it didn't look like he was in a bad mood either. It didn't seem like he had fought with the lady boss. Nonetheless, Assistant Wang still double-checked his boss's expression before answering, "Yes, President Lu."

As Assistant Wang closed the office door, he silently lit a candy for each of the department heads. At this rate, he was certain they would become too busy to even eat dinner.

***

When Zhan Yu saw Zhong Qin at their meeting place, Zhong Qin was absentmindedly stirring his coffee with a spoon.

"What happened to you?"

Zhong Qin immediately recognized his friend's voice and turned around, his expression somewhat dark. "Ha, let's not talk about that. I couldn't fall asleep until 3 o'clock last night, then I was almost late to work in the morning. I've been feeling out of sorts all day."

Zhan Yu looked at him and saw that indeed, he looked exhausted. "Because of Zhuang Zhu?" Zhan Yu asked probingly.

"More or less, I guess."

"So what are your thoughts on him?" Zhan Yu asked.

"What can I think? It's impossible," came the unhesitant response.

"You're that certain?"

"We're not compatible."

Drawing upon his understanding of Zhuang Zhu, Zhan Yu responded, "Though he is a bit muddle-headed, the main reason is because he hasn't met the right person for him. Who knows, maybe all of his bad habits will change once he finds them."

Zhong Qin's expression remained indifferent, so he added, "Lust and infidelity are common flaws of men."

Lifting an eyebrow, Zhong Qin smiled and asked, "I've never thought of myself as a particularly charming or handsome person. Besides, how come your Lu Bai doesn't share this 'common flaw'?"

At the mention of Lu Bai, Zhan Yu couldn't help but smile and refute, "He's a different kind."

Zhong Qin sighed. "To be honest, even without you saying it, I know that men can change after they've met the right person. But it's impossible for Zhuang Zhu and I. You said it's okay to just fall in love and get married, but that's not suitable for me. My parents are both humble public officials, and our family background is average. Zhuang Zhu is a rich second generation. The moment my parents learn about his family background, they will try to stop me from seeing him again. Last time I saw them, my cousin had gotten divorced within three months of marrying a rich man. They reminded me that it's always better to marry within one's own social class."

After listening to his friend's thoughts, Zhan Yu fell silent. Indeed, love was a matter between two people, but marriage was a matter between two families.

Then, Zhong Qin added one of his own concerns. "Besides, I'm not even interested in dating someone, let alone marrying them. It's fine if I can still retreat afterward, but if I really end up pouring my heart into a relationship that fails, I can't afford to start a whole new relationship. I don't have that luxury."

"But don't you think it'll be too late to talk about love when you find a man who meets all of the right conditions? Moreover, finding one like that will be hard."

"It's whatever, I'll go with the tide." He never thought much about love anyway.

Zhan Yu really couldn't continue trying to persuade his friend, so he just said, "You should think over it again."

To be continued...