A month later, Zhou Ruo An successfully acquired Jinggui Electronics, and the final transaction price was even ten percent lower than Shengkai’s original acquisition budget.
At the signing ceremony, Zhou Ruo An sat beside Zhou Ran Ming as the project leader, while his father and brothers could only sit in the audience section and witness this victory that belonged solely to Zhou Ruo An.
Zhou Ruo An secretly took a photo and sent it to Zhang Jin’s WeChat. The man had been dead for half a year, but the account still existed. Zhou Ruo An typed: “I won a round for you. Your two useless brothers are so jealous their faces are twisting out of shape. They look even worse than you did before you died. That cheap father of yours is forcing a smile too. The sons he painstakingly groomed got outdone by an uneducated illegitimate son. One bite of shit for every bite of candy—can’t feel very good.”
Putting down his phone, Zhou Ruo An slowly lifted his head and gave the crowd below a perfectly proper smile.
＊
After the signing ceremony, Zhou Ruo An escorted Zhou Ran Ming to his car. He humbled himself, adopting the most deferential posture possible.
Zhou Ran Ming patted him on the shoulder and casually tossed out a few words of praise. “Xiao An did very well this time. Keep working hard. I think highly of you.”
Zhou Ruo An responded with respectful sincerity. “There’s still follow-up work on Jinggui that needs supervision. I’ll definitely continue working hard and won’t disappoint the Chairman’s expectations.”
A flicker passed through Zhou Ran Ming’s eyes. After pondering for a moment, he smiled. “You’ve worked hard recently. Leave the follow-up to someone else. Go take a vacation—anywhere you like. The expenses can come from my personal account. Consider it your uncle treating you.”
The smile at Zhou Ruo An’s lips stiffened slightly before instantly returning to normal. Still wagging his tail obediently, his tone didn’t change in the slightest. “Until the acquisition funds actually go through, anything can happen. Shao Chen Feng is difficult to deal with. It took me a tremendous amount of effort and plenty of twists and turns to help Shengkai secure Jinggui. If someone else takes over communication with him now, I’m afraid he might change his mind.”
A slow smile spread across Zhou Ran Ming’s face, imposing pressure radiating from him. “The contract has already been signed. If he backs out now, he’ll have to pay breach-of-contract penalties. Do you really think Shao Chen Feng would do something that foolish?”
Zhou Ruo An stood half a head taller than Zhou Ran Ming. All he had to do was straighten his back slightly and lower his eyelids halfway, and there was suddenly something almost condescending in the way he looked at him. He shrugged. “Who knows? After all, he already went against his own principle of ‘highest bidder wins’ when he chose Shengkai.”
That wasn’t even a veiled warning. It was an outright threat. Zhou Ruo An had played a decisive role in the acquisition, yet no matter how Zhou Ran Ming investigated, he had never discovered exactly what methods Zhou Ruo An had used to break through the competition.
The unknown was always frightening. After considering it for a moment, Zhou Ran Ming put the appreciative look back on his face. “Then Xiao An can work a little harder and supervise the follow-up. Uncle will remember your contribution. I won’t let your efforts go unrewarded.”
“But with my current status, it isn’t appropriate for me to discuss the follow-up with Shao Chen Feng. This concerns production, after all, and I’m only the acquisition project leader.” Zhou Ruo An looked troubled. “Without the proper title, I have neither standing nor authority. No one will truly accept it.”
The smile on Zhou Ran Ming’s face faded slightly. He raised a hand and summoned the secretary waiting nearby. “Draft an appointment notice immediately. In the name of the board of directors, appoint Mr. Zhou Ruo An as General Manager of Jinggui Electronics Factory, with full responsibility for the factory’s production and operations.”
Zhou Ruo An’s face filled with shock, unable to conceal his delight. He enthusiastically embraced the powerful helmsman of Shengkai Foreign Trade and said with warmth and respect, “Uncle, I won’t disappoint you.”
Zhou Ran Ming bent down and got into the car. In the rearview mirror, Zhou Ruo An remained slightly bowed as he watched him leave. The secretary finished typing the final character of the appointment notice and asked Zhou Ran Ming, “Chairman, are you really planning to hand Jinggui over to Zhou Ruo An?”
Zhou Ran Ming withdrew his gaze from the rearview mirror and slowly closed his eyes. “Fleas have their uses too. There are things lions and tigers can’t accomplish that a flea might. Let him jump around for a while. If he proves useless, we’ll crush him under one foot.”
The secretary tapped the screen and sent out the appointment notice.
＊
Only after Zhou Ran Ming’s car disappeared from sight did Zhou Ruo An straighten his slightly bowed back. The phone in his pocket vibrated. Along with the appointment notice, another message had entered his inbox—a WeChat message from Zhou Bin.
The message was short and rigid, only four characters in Chinese: “Return home immediately.”
When Zhou Ruo An had first returned to the Zhou family, Zhou Bin frequently dragged him along to drinking parties and banquets, mocking and ridiculing him and treating him like a clown for entertainment. Back then, Zhou Ruo An had been desperate to establish himself, obedient and eager to please, so the two of them had surprisingly hit it off and remained in frequent contact.
Later, Zhou Ruo An gradually revealed his sharpness. Zhou Bin became so jealous he probably wanted to stab little effigies of him to vent his fury, and their relationship fell off a cliff. Their last exchange had been three months ago.
The Third Branch had seized the greatest credit today. Zhou Jing Tao naturally had to keep up appearances, so a celebratory family banquet was inevitable. But Zhou Bin should not have been the one notifying Zhou Ruo An.
While he was still wondering about it, Zhou Ruo An’s phone rang loudly again. This time, it made sense. It was the butler.
The butler’s surname was Zhong. To his face, Zhou Ruo An called him Uncle Zhong. Behind his back, he called him Old Man Zhong.
Old Man Zhong was rigid, rule-abiding, and snobbish, and he wasn’t easy to get along with. Zhou Ruo An himself wasn’t exactly a good person either, so he couldn’t really say whether he liked the man. In person, though, he was always polite, just as he warmly answered the call now.
Sure enough, Uncle Zhong was calling to tell him to return home for dinner. But Old Man Zhong was acting strangely today. Beyond his usual strictness, he unexpectedly added a few extra words. “Madam likes Chinese toon shoots. Secretary Fu sends over two baskets every year around this time. We’ve added the dish to tonight’s menu. Fourth Young Master is in for a treat.”
Elio’s Notes: Chinese toon refers to the tender young shoots of Toona sinensis, which are eaten as a seasonal vegetable in Chinese cuisine.
There was nothing remarkable about the words themselves, merely ordinary household chatter. But coming from Butler Zhong, who was rigid, disciplined, and almost never wasted a word, they carried an inexplicably unusual undertone.
First Zhou Bin, then Butler Zhong. Something was clearly off, and Zhou Ruo An had no choice but to be on guard.
After hanging up, Zhou Ruo An found a corner of the underground parking garage and bit a cigarette between his lips. The coin in his pocket had grown faintly warm from being rubbed over and over. When the cigarette had burned down halfway, he dialed Ren Yu.
“What kind of work is Zhou Zhe’s former secretary, Fu Chun Shen, doing now that he’s been sent back to HR?”
Smoke gathered in the corner, half-concealing the darkness in Zhou Ruo An’s eyes. “No work at all? Seventeen late arrivals in one month, nine early departures, and five days absent without leave?”
Zhou Ruo An removed the cigarette and laughed softly. “Ren Yu, how do you know Fu Chun Shen’s situation so clearly?”
The person on the other end sounded indignant, but Zhou Ruo An cut him off. “I don’t want to hear about your love-hate drama. I’m only asking whether you know what he was doing during all those late arrivals, early departures, and absences.”
Ren Yu was usually well-mannered and rarely swore in front of his boss, but today he failed to hold back. His voice came through the receiver. “I’m not his fucking father. Why should I care how he dies out there?”
Then he added with surprising sincerity, “Sorry. I just can’t help wanting to curse him out.”
Zhou Ruo An dug at his ear, displeased. “I fucking rely on you to keep up appearances for me. From now on, speak more English and French. Keep this kind of street-cursing buried in your stomach.”
With that, he hung up. He silently finished the cigarette, then opened the car door and got inside.
＊
As the weather warmed, the landscaped lawns in the villa district had already begun to turn green. Gardeners were cultivating flower seedlings in the garden, yet when they saw Zhou Ruo An, they were far less attentive than usual. The wrinkles on their faces no longer piled up into layers of flattering smiles.
Inside the living room, everyone was unusually present. Zhou Jing Tao sat upright and formal. Zhou Bin and Zhou Zhe occupied the two single sofas nearby. Madam Zhou reclined on the chaise longue by the window, while Third Miss attended at her side, her slender jade-white fingers peeling longans. A plate was already piled with the glossy, translucent flesh.
Not a single person greeted Zhou Ruo An after he entered. Calculations churned in his mind, but he showed no irritation. He grabbed two longans, tossed them into his mouth, and grinned as he thanked Third Miss.
A dragon-patterned teacup crashed heavily onto the table, tea sloshing over the rim. Zhou Bin’s face was grim, looking as though someone had slept with his wife and dug up his ancestors’ graves.
Zhou Ruo An was especially good at becoming arrogant once he had favor to rely on. He had merit now, so he no longer bothered being overly polite. Besides, this wasn’t a situation he could escape merely by bowing and scraping.
Spitting out a fruit pit, he asked casually, “What’s wrong? Why is Big Brother so angry?”
Zhou Bin wasn’t even thirty, yet wine and sex had already hollowed out his body. Two heavy bags hung beneath his eyes as he demanded furiously, “Zhou Ruo An, are you actually Father’s biological son?”
Zhou Ruo An’s breathing caught. His heart sank as though it had been filled with cold lead. Forcing out a smile, he asked, “What kind of question is that?”
Zhou Zhe rolled the Bodhi beads in his hand and spoke gently. “People outside are saying you aren’t Father’s biological son—that you’re an impostor.”
The moment the word “impostor” was spoken, even the sweet longan flesh turned bitter in Zhou Ruo An’s mouth.
There was nowhere for him to sit, so he turned and walked to the window, leaning there. Only a few steps away, his dark gaze hid beneath lowered lashes, concealing the storm raging within.
When he turned around again, the young man’s face was icy cold. “It’s just a rumor. Are you all trying to convict me again?”
Zhou Jing Tao lowered his sparse eyelids and said nothing. Madam Zhou pretended to nap with one arm propping up her head, leaving her two biological sons to charge into battle for her.
Zhou Bin crossed his legs. “It’s not exactly a rumor. Someone says you’re the civet cat from the ‘Civet Cat Replaces the Crown Prince’ tale—the fake swapped in for the real one. They sounded very certain. Hard not to believe.”
Elio’s Notes: “Civet Cat Replaces the Crown Prince” is a famous Chinese folk tale involving an imperial heir being secretly replaced. Here, Zhou Bin is using the civet cat as a metaphor for an impostor substituted for the genuine son.
Zhou Ruo An swept a glance around the room and sneered. “You had my DNA tested twice and didn’t believe it, yet you insist on believing somebody else’s ‘very convincing story’? If you want to drive me out, just say it. There’s no need to take such a huge detour.”
Zhou Bin’s eyes widened. “Who knows whether DNA testing can make mistakes? If people outside weren’t spreading this so convincingly, we wouldn’t even have thought of testing you again.”
Imitating the actors in television dramas, he clapped twice. A side door opened, and two medical staff emerged from the adjoining room in white coats, carrying medical cases and standing shoulder to shoulder behind Zhou Bin.
“What is this supposed to mean?” Zhou Ruo An asked.
“True gold fears no fire.” Zhou Zhe’s voice had its usual soothing quality. “To silence the rumors, Fourth Brother, you’ll just have to suffer a little again. Let them draw a tube of blood now and take it back for testing so your innocence can be proven.”
Zhou Ruo An abruptly clenched his fists.