Ren Yu was acting strange.
A coin rested in Zhou Ruo An’s palm as he leaned back in his black leather swivel chair, studying his assistant.
“Assistant Ren, repeat the last sentence I said three minutes ago.”
The motion of Ren Yu adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses paused for half a beat before he composed himself and replied in an unhurried tone, “Fourth Young Master just said that starting next week, we’ll establish three transparent laboratories open to all staff for defective wafer analysis. The Marketing Department will turn client chip failure cases into VR simulations so that quality awareness penetrates every stage of the manufacturing process.”
The coin traced an arc through the air before being caught again by those distinct knuckled fingers. Supporting his chin, Zhou Ruo An laughed lightly. “Assistant Ren can multitask?”
The smile was lazy and carried no hidden blade. Ren Yu’s tense back finally relaxed a little. He did not hide it and admitted openly, “Sorry, I was a little distracted just now.”
The coin knocked dully against the tabletop as Zhou Ruo An warned, “I’ve only just taken over Jinggui Electronics. There’s chaos everywhere right now. I need you to devote twelve parts focus to your work.”
Having spent years among the streets and alleys, Zhou Ruo An had his own methods for dealing with people. He understood that balancing pressure and leniency was the key to winning hearts. So afterward, he deliberately brought up something Ren Yu liked hearing. “Weren’t you always hoping to step on Fu Chun Shen? Now that you’ve finally gotten your wish, how does it feel?”
Ren Yu’s expression turned strange. He forced out the look of someone who had finally vented his frustrations, yet the corners of his mouth remained stiff, as though hooked upward by fishhooks. “…It’s alright.”
Zhou Ruo An asked again, “Do you know what he’s doing now? I don’t think Zhou Zhe would just abandon him. After all, he’s already used to having him around.”
“He’s currently…” Ren Yu’s expression became even stranger. His words halted abruptly, with nothing following after.
That expression? Zhou Ruo An immediately sensed there was something hidden underneath. He pushed Ren Yu’s teacup closer and urged, “This counts as enemy intelligence. You should share it with me.”
Ren Yu swallowed the tea sloshing in his mouth, a painful throbbing pulsing at his temples. “He’s washing dishes at a Japanese restaurant.”
The coin nearly slipped from Zhou Ruo An’s hand. He caught that flash of silver again and eagerly gossiped, “A top graduate from Columbia University, washing dishes? What happened?”
“He has no money. He ate without paying, so they kept him there to work off the debt.”
Zhou Ruo An thought about Fu Chun Shen’s usual bearing and still found it hard to believe. “Secretary Fu only lost his job, not his brain. Why would he dine and dash?”
“These past few days… he’s been following me around. Whenever I went to eat, he followed me into the restaurant. He assumed I’d pay for him, but I only paid my own bill. I ignored his.” Ren Yu recounted bluntly, “So he got left behind to work.”
Zhou Ruo An stared at the Guanyin tea leaves floating in the tea broth, recalling how Fu Chun Shen had brewed pre-Qingming Longjing in a Ru kiln cup last month, even arranging the tea stems as neatly as soldiers in formation. How could someone like that allow himself to sink into greasy dishwater and soap foam?
Something was still wrong.
“He’s been following you around? Ren Yu, are you two really that close?”
Ren Yu denied it immediately. “If we were close, Fu Chun Shen wouldn’t be speaking Japanese and carrying plates right now.”
Zhou Ruo An pondered for a while before leaning forward slightly and enthusiastically refilling Ren Yu’s tea. “What I mean is, if you interacted with Fu Chun Shen more, not only could you investigate Zhou Zhe’s movements behind the scenes, you could also pull Fu Chun Shen into our side and make him work for us.”
“…Huh?” Ren Yu looked dumbfounded.
⸻
When Zhou Ruo An entered the Japanese restaurant, Fu Chun Shen greeted him fluently in Japanese with, “Welcome.”
Only, his tone was far too flat and emotionless. The four words struck like rigid blocks, scraping painfully through the ears.
Back when Fu Chun Shen was still “Secretary Fu,” he at least spared Zhou Ruo An a token courtesy or two. Though smiles were rare, he could still be considered respectful. Unlike now, with that poker face of his that practically screamed: eat if you want, get lost if you don’t.
Zhou Ruo An requested a private room, removed his shoes, and sat cross-legged. He had no interest in cold dishes and instead ordered an entire table of steaming hot food. Pointing toward the empty seat across from him, he said, “Secretary Fu, stop working and come sit with me.”
Fu Chun Shen lit the solid alcohol fuel and set up the sukiyaki pot. “My daily wage is one hundred and fifty. Sitting with you costs an extra fifty service fee.”
Zhou Ruo An rubbed his face helplessly. “Speak Chinese.”
Fu Chun Shen lifted his eyes. “Pay first, then I’ll sit.”
“Fine, fine.” Zhou Ruo An simplified things. “Money. Sit.”
Crossing his legs casually, Fu Chun Shen sat on the cushion and picked up his chopsticks. “Can I eat?”
“You’ve already picked up the chopsticks. Why bother asking?” Zhou Ruo An took out a cigarette and rolled it between his fingers while carefully looking Fu Chun Shen up and down before finally asking, “What kind of tricks are you and Zhou Zhe playing now? Since you can’t beat me directly, you’re trying to start with my assistant instead?”
Fu Chun Shen removed the bones from the grilled eel, placing the tender fish meat into his mouth. Chew, swallow, set down the chopsticks, wipe his mouth with a napkin. “I’ve already resigned. I have nothing to do with Shengkai anymore.”
“Since you’ve left Shengkai, are you interested in working for me instead? Name your salary. I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”
Fu Chun Shen picked up a slice of beef from the sukiyaki pot using the serving chopsticks and dipped it into the golden egg mixture. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll secretly collude with Second Young Master?”
“If I use someone, I don’t doubt them. Wasn’t Ren Yu originally one of Zhou Bin’s people too?”
After eating the beef and going through another meticulous sequence of motions, Fu Chun Shen finally looked back at Zhou Ruo An. “You won’t win. Fake is fake. Although you’ve luckily survived several hurdles, can you guarantee you’ll escape danger every single time? With Second Young Master’s personality, he’ll never let go of this lead in his hands. Unless he exposes your true identity, he’ll never stop.”
Zhou Ruo An’s gaze darkened before a smile instantly resurfaced. “Secretary Fu talks a bit too much during meals. Aren’t you worried about indigestion? Oh right, Ren Yu asked me to pass along a message—stop clinging to him in the future. The two of you both hold important secrets while belonging to opposing sides. Being seen together invites gossip.”
Sure enough, Zhou Ruo An caught the faintest flicker across that usually expressionless face. Former classmates entangled ten years ago, coworkers who couldn’t stand each other ten years later, yet somehow unwilling to completely part ways—Zhou Ruo An mulled over their relationship but still couldn’t untangle its complexity.
“We’re dating now. It’s a private relationship. It has nothing to do with the schemes between you and Second Young Master.”
The moment those words left Fu Chun Shen’s mouth, Zhou Ruo An was grateful he hadn’t been eating anything. Even with nothing but air in his mouth, he still coughed lightly.
The statement felt as abrupt and mismatched as an ozone layer and a pork elbow. Zhou Ruo An genuinely couldn’t process it.
“You’re dating who?”
“Ren Yu.”
Zhou Ruo An had always thought Fu Chun Shen resembled a precision computer—strict, meticulous, unfathomable. Yet the Fu Chun Shen sitting across from him now looked as though he’d been infected by a virus, spewing nothing but corrupted code.
Slowly placing the cigarette between his lips, Zhou Ruo An lifted one knee and leaned back, his eyes flashing with uncertain contemplation.
“So you’re dating,” he said with a smile curling at the edge of his cigarette. “Then how can Ren Yu bear to let you get ordered around in a place like this?”
“Relationships need to be nurtured step by step.”
“Makes sense.” A sharp gleam flashed in Zhou Ruo An’s eyes. “Honestly, I never thought about it before, but now that I do, Secretary Fu and Ren Yu really are a good match.”
“It’s just that my future prospects are uncertain. Otherwise Ren Yu would naturally rise step by step alongside me. But if I truly fall into the mud one day, not only will all his efforts be wasted, he’ll probably suffer endless ridicule from the world as well.”
Fu Chun Shen spoke calmly. “Fourth Young Master is forcing me to work with you?”
“People have their own ambitions. Nothing can be forced.”
Fu Chun Shen nodded. He glanced at his watch. “I still have work to do, so I won’t accompany Fourth Young Master any longer.”
“Go ahead.” Zhou Ruo An responded with a smile. “Another day, I’ll advise Ren Yu that when it comes to his husband’s bills, he should still help pay them.”
Fu Chun Shen stood silently in the steam rising from the sukiyaki pot for a moment before bending down to pick up the metal lighter on the table, bringing the flame toward Zhou Ruo An’s lips.
Using that flame, Zhou Ruo An lit his cigarette. Narrowing his eyes through the smoke, he stared intently at Fu Chun Shen, waiting for what came next.
Yet Fu Chun Shen merely tightened his grip on the lighter, slowly straightened up, and opened the private room door. Even as he walked out, he never uttered another word.
…………
Half a year later.
Inside Jinggui Electronics’ circular conference room, Zhou Ruo An projected the quarterly financial report onto the curved giant screen. At the far end of the room, Zhou Ruo Ming slowly rubbed the inner edge of his teacup handle, his expression unreadably dark.
“This quarter’s yield rate exceeded eighty-eight percent, an increase of three percentage points from the previous quarter.” Zhou Ruo An’s fingers slid across the tablet, pulling up production monitoring footage.
The finance director suddenly coughed lightly. “But R&D expenses exceeded the budget by seventeen percent…”
“That’s exactly the second set of data I wanted to discuss.” Zhou Ruo An tapped the tablet, causing a 3D bar graph to rotate across the screen. “We achieved a 0.5 percent breakthrough in photovoltaic cell conversion efficiency. Last week, we secured a three-year contract…”
When the meeting ended, Zhou Ruo Ming stood and slowly walked toward the podium. “I’m heading to Munich on a business trip soon. When I return, I’ll bring you back a Glashütte.” He patted Zhou Ruo An’s shoulder. “Young men look steadier in business negotiations when wearing mechanical watches.”
“Really?” Zhou Ruo An still wore his humble and obedient demeanor. Even in the face of achievements everyone could see, he displayed no arrogance or pride. Immediately removing his own watch, his tone and actions carried the unique intimacy and playfulness of a younger generation. “Then Uncle, I’ll really be looking forward to it.”
This time, Zhou Ruo Ming’s smile held a bit more genuine sincerity. In front of everyone, he praised him generously. “Xiao An, you’ve done very well. This deserves a celebration banquet.”
“You flatter me, Uncle.” Zhou Ruo An slowly straightened his back. As he moved, the face that had originally been hidden within the shadows gradually became fully illuminated beneath the blazing light.
……
That evening’s celebration banquet was held at the Zhou family estate.
The Zhou family received an honored guest. After three years, Jin Hui stepped into the Zhou residence once again, this time to celebrate Zhou Ruo An’s achievements.
Throughout the entire evening, Zhou Ruo Ming kept his waist bent in humility, his face piled with ingratiating smiles. This obedient and deferential attitude was completely different from his usual imposing image, making it unsettling to witness.
Supporting Old Master Jin as they walked through the corridor, Zhou Ruo An heard the old man murmur beneath the warm glow spilling through the carved wooden windows. “Back when I was your age, I was just as spirited and ambitious.”
“I’m not. I only have today because you’ve been supporting me from behind.”
The wrinkled hand patted Zhou Ruo An’s arm. “Don’t belittle yourself. You’re very intelligent. You grasp anything the moment it’s taught to you, and you’re excellent at integrating resources. Without Shao Chen Feng’s help, Jinggui wouldn’t have stabilized so quickly.”
Inside the brilliantly lit hall, the man Old Master Jin referred to was currently raising a wineglass toward Zhou Ruo An from afar.
“He was Jinggui’s original chairman. Under normal circumstances, he should’ve been hoping to see you fail. Yet you managed to make him willingly help you through every obstacle during the company’s startup phase. Xiao An, that’s your capability.”
Zhou Ruo An brushed aside a drooping branch and said softly, “I grew up in the urban village. I’ve seen plenty of people kicking others while they’re down and mocking them when they fail. But what I hate most is self-righteous pity and charity. So when dealing with Shao Chen Feng, all you have to do is treat him like an ordinary friend. Don’t act cold, don’t get too enthusiastic, and definitely don’t fake sympathy for him. That’s how we gradually became close.”
Old Master Jin nodded. “That’s human nature. In business, you can’t rely solely on financial tactics. More importantly, you must understand the human heart.” His gaze sharpened as he lowered his voice. “I’ve never asked before—how exactly did you manage to acquire Jinggui Electronics? Does it have something to do with Lin Yi?”
“Lin Yi…”
Midsummer had already passed, and the night wind now carried faint traces of coolness. Only then did Zhou Ruo An realize he hadn’t seen Lin Yi in many days. The last time they met had been two months ago at Lin Yi’s bar. After the gathering ended, they brushed past each other in the narrow corridor. Lin Yi lightly hooked his finger around Zhou Ruo An’s. When Zhou Ruo An turned back, he was rewarded with a smile that wasn’t exactly gentle.
After that, there were no more phone calls. Zhou Ruo An sat in the car and smoked a cigarette before finally telling the driver, “Drive.”
Pulling himself back from his thoughts, Zhou Ruo An stepped beneath the eaves for some air. The newly promoted young marketing director was leading his team in flying drones around the courtyard. In the night sky, lights formed the Jinggui Electronics logo, while glowing dots like fireflies spelled out the words “Reach New Heights Again.” Zhou Ruo An took out his phone, rubbed it repeatedly, then slipped it back into his pocket.
From afar came Old Master Jin’s voice. “By the way, Xiao An, isn’t your birthday coming up soon?”
Turning around in the evening breeze, Zhou Ruo An smiled. “Soon. Next month.”
There will be more tomorrow.
Futile Devices Scans 
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