Yu Binbin got out of bed and went onto the balcony for a cigarette.
After sending his message, Lu Congzhi followed him, casually took Yu Binbin’s cigarette pack, pulled one out, put it between his lips, and asked, “Where’s your lighter?”
Yu Binbin stared for a moment. Had this guy taken the wrong medicine? He was acting unusually familiar today, first borrowing his phone and now stealing his cigarettes. He was never like this.
When Yu Binbin didn’t respond, Lu Congzhi simply felt through his jacket and trouser pockets. In their previous lives, the two had been brothers in misfortune, bound together by the same troubles. Their friendship had grown closer and closer until they shared everything good with each other.
Lu Congzhi’s hand brushed Yu Binbin’s thigh and tickled him so badly that he squirmed and laughed. “Ha ha, stop, stop! Fuck, you’re touching my dick!”
“That’s your dick? I thought it was a toothpick.” Lu Congzhi groped around a few more times before pulling out the lighter and lighting his cigarette.
Yu Binbin was furious and wrapped an arm tightly around Lu Congzhi’s neck.
Wen Rui came into the dormitory to fetch his laptop. Hearing the two laughing and horsing around, he couldn’t help looking over. So this was how two straight men behaved together. They could say anything, do anything, without the slightest need to be careful.
That was why he’d been so certain Song Xiuzhu, who blushed and grew shy around him at every opportunity, was gay like him.
He saw his spare phone on the desk, picked it up, and discovered an unread message. After reading it, he frowned.
Lin Yuan’s voice sounded nearby. “Lu Congzhi, how much hardship aid did you get yesterday?”
Lu Congzhi exhaled a cloud of smoke and answered coolly, “Fifteen hundred.”
Lin Yuan pressed on. “Didn’t you get a six-thousand-yuan top scholarship too?”
Lu Congzhi grew impatient. “What exactly are you trying to say?”
“If you get that much in scholarships every year, why do you still apply for hardship aid? There are lots of students here who need it more than you. Why can’t you give your place to one of them? And you’re always so frugal you won’t even buy yourself enough food, but every time someone asks to borrow money you claim it’s all gone. I don’t understand where your money goes.”
Lu Congzhi gave a little laugh. “If you’re jealous, just say so. No need to beat around the bush and pry into my finances.”
Naturally, Lin Yuan wasn’t about to admit he was jealous. His face went scarlet, and he shut his mouth.
He’d already received seven thousand five hundred yuan. Why was he asking to borrow another three thousand? Wen Rui frowned, his fingers flying over the keypad. [What do you need the money for? Would you mind telling me?]
Out on the balcony, Lu Congzhi leaned against the railing, a cigarette between the fingers of one hand and his phone in the other. His long, narrow eyes were half-closed, like a snake coiled in the sunlight.
Yu Binbin couldn’t help stealing a few glances at him. He kept feeling that something about his buddy had changed. It was the same face, but the entire air around him was different.
[Travel expenses for my internship.] The four Chinese characters were terse, as if he couldn’t be bothered to explain further.
Wen Rui wasn’t convinced. He transferred eight hundred yuan into Lu Congzhi’s bank account every month. Given how thrifty Lu Congzhi was, what he’d saved over the past two years should have been more than enough. Something about his finances was wrong.
Could he have some serious illness?
Glancing at the other man’s face, unusually pale even in the blood-red sunset, Wen Rui replied: [I’ll transfer the money within an hour. Internships can be demanding. Take care of yourself.]
In his final year of high school, he’d sponsored a group of the highest-achieving orphans from Sunshine Welfare Institute. Lu Congzhi was one of them. So was Song Xiuzhu. Naturally, neither knew who was paying their expenses.
Wen Rui put the spare phone back in the drawer, lifted his laptop slightly, and said blandly, “I’m going to the computer room.”
Everyone except Lu Congzhi responded.
Wen Rui glanced at Song Xiuzhu but didn’t suggest that he come along again. He found a bank near campus, transferred three thousand yuan to Lu Congzhi, then went to the computer room and sat down before a computer to think.
Song Xiuzhu plainly disliked homosexuality, even feared it, yet he’d pretended to be gay to get close to him. The fact that he’d gone to such lengths suggested he knew how much he stood to gain by attaching himself to Wen Rui.
In that case, Song Xiuzhu probably knew about his family background. Who had told him? The director of Sunshine Welfare Institute? That seemingly intimate relationship had been false from the beginning.
After a while, Wen Rui shook his head and sighed. He could accept rejection with equanimity. Being used was something he couldn’t tolerate.
He’d watch a little longer. Hopefully, he was reading too much into it.
At the same time, Lu Congzhi leaned close to Yu Binbin’s ear. “The company that was supposed to take me for my internship just called to say they’ve got no places left. Think I could spend three weeks at your dad’s factory instead?”
Yu Binbin was loyal to his friends, so he agreed immediately. “Of course.” Then he gave a melancholy sigh. “My dad’s factory might not be around much longer. Hua Nation is joining the WTO next year, and the government’s starting to crack down hard on counterfeiting. In another few years, you might see me begging on the street.”
Looking toward the distant sunset, Lu Congzhi drawled, “Remember that story you told me? Your dad wouldn’t let you smoke and would whip you with his belt whenever he caught you. But on your eighteenth birthday, he lit a cigarette for you himself and said, ‘Son, you’re grown up now, and your dad’s getting old. This family’s counting on you from here on out.’ You bawled your eyes out, and nobody could calm you down.”
Yu Binbin’s eyes immediately filled with tears. The realization that your father was growing old was a fear every child had to face.
“Your dad was right. It’s your turn to support the family now.” Lu Congzhi exhaled a puff of smoke and sighed softly.
“How am I supposed to do that? I’m a useless good-for-nothing.” Yu Binbin gave a bitter smile.
“Maybe I can help.”
A week later, Yu Binbin stood beside Lu Congzhi, who was dressed in a smart business suit, and gazed up at the towering five-star hotel across the street.
“Let’s wait over there.” Lu Congzhi straightened his tie.
“Security won’t let us in. It’s full of foreign businesspeople invited to Bei City on an official visit. I heard it’s a really high-level event.” Yu Binbin was nervous.
“We’ll wait by the fountain. Do you want to save your dad or not? Selling counterfeits can land him in prison.”
“Let’s go!” Yu Binbin immediately rushed over.
They stood beside the fountain enduring the brutal September sunshine. Their suit fabric was thick, and Yu Binbin was thoroughly miserable, repeatedly wiping sweat away with wet tissues. He glanced sideways at Lu Congzhi, filled with envy.
Skinny people feared the cold more than the heat, and despite the temperature, Lu Congzhi hadn’t shed a single drop of sweat. His expensive Armani suit was on loan from Yu Binbin, but on Lu Congzhi it looked made to measure.
Over the course of a week he’d stuffed himself with food, put on a considerable amount of weight, and become almost unrecognizable.
His proportions were perfect. The jacket’s closely fitted, nipped-in waist showed off his long, straight legs. The substantial shoulder pads and crisp fabric concealed his thinness just enough. His pallor and hollow cheeks should have looked sickly, but on him they lent a strange, decadent beauty.
Yu Binbin had only recently discovered just how good-looking Lu Congzhi was. Everyone called Wen Rui the campus heartthrob, but Yu Binbin thought their judgment was terrible.
He’d filled out only a little, yet Lu Congzhi already had the potential to become a breathtaking beauty. His individual features were not especially striking, but together they left an impression that lingered. There was something in the space between them, in the obscure glints that passed through his dangerously snake-like eyes, that made his allure feel poisoned.
His face openly displayed calculation and shrewdness. Everyone who saw him instinctively grew wary. But so what? The more they tried to suppress their desire to learn his secrets, the stronger that desire became.
“Did your soul get swapped out?” Yu Binbin asked, sounding a little frightened.
“Yep. I was a wandering ghost. I took one look at Lu Congzhi’s magnificent body and started floating around him. I followed him for forty-nine days before I finally managed to take possession of it. I know exactly what you do under your covers every night. You’d better pay me to keep my mouth shut.”
Yu Binbin jabbed him with an elbow. “Oh, get lost.”
“Davis is here.” Lu Congzhi picked up his briefcase and strode toward him.
A middle-aged American with blond hair and blue eyes was slowly emerging through the revolving doors. At the sight of the blazing sunlight spread across the forecourt, irritation covered his face. As president of Hua Nation operations for Naike, the world’s best-known sportswear brand, he had reason to be arrogant.
“Mr. Davis, could I have a word with you?” A very young, handsome Hua man walked quickly toward him.
Davis gave his bodyguards a look.
The young man was stopped.
The afternoon temperature soared, and when his car still hadn’t appeared after a long wait, Davis cursed inwardly: *Damn Hua drivers. Damn Hua weather! Everything here was backward. F**K!*
If he hadn’t been pushed out by his rivals, Davis would never have been exiled here like a beaten dog. From the moment his plane landed in Bei City, he’d been thinking of how to fight his way back.
The young man’s English was impeccable, with an indefinable elegance to its cadence. “Mr. Davis, if you take the right path, within ten years the scale of your regional operation could rival that of your American headquarters. I’ve mapped out a career path for you. Would you like to hear it?”
Interesting. A wet-behind-the-ears young man from Hua Nation had the audacity to offer him career advice. Davis waved his guards away, tipped up his chin, and said mockingly, “Go ahead. But if you’re just blowing hot air, I’ll have my guards throw you into the fountain.”
Lu Congzhi approached him slowly. “Your path upward has four stages. First, you’ll develop not merely a market, but an entire supply chain. Your work will be resource allocation, not marketing. Second, the Hua division’s performance will surpass that of every other regional division worldwide. Third, when headquarters realizes how indispensable you’ve become, they’ll invite you into the heart of global operations. You’ll return home in triumph. Fourth, you’ll become the corporation’s executive president and chief operating officer, reaching the pinnacle of your career. Once you come here, your life will change completely.”
Those predictions were bound to come true, because that was exactly how Davis had climbed the ladder in Lu Congzhi’s previous life.
Davis was moved. All those words sounded too empty and grandiose to mean anything, yet somewhere deep inside, he sensed something.
He grew a little more patient. “Do you have an actual proposal for building a complete supply chain?”
Lu Congzhi handed him a thick packet he’d prepared in advance. “Take a look, and you’ll understand. Control the supply chain, and you control the company’s lifeblood.”
A Mercedes rolled slowly up, but Davis jerked his head toward the hotel lobby instead. “Come on. Let’s talk inside.”
Three weeks later, an exhilarated Yu Binbin accompanied Lu Congzhi back to Bei City. They’d taken Davis on a tour of Dongguang Province and shown him Yu’s father’s counterfeit-goods factory. Comparing the knockoffs with the genuine articles had completely overturned Davis’s assumptions. Such good quality at such low costs. Did the people of Hua Nation know magic? And so he’d finalized an enormous investment agreement.
With the dormitory door just ahead, loudmouthed Yu Binbin could barely contain his urge to boast. Fuck, he was about to become the son of a billionaire!
Remembering his “Aronson plan,” Lu Congzhi warned him at once, “A secret is what makes a plan succeed. Don’t go telling people before the contract’s signed. If your dad’s competitors hear about this and come to sabotage things, you’ll have nowhere to go to cry.”
Yu Binbin immediately mimed zipping his mouth shut.
They pushed open the door. The other four occupants were all inside.
The first thing Lin Yuan noticed was that Lu Congzhi was dressed head to toe in designer brands. His white shirt with a subtle monogram pattern was Louis Vuitton, his checked belt Gucci. He couldn’t tell what brand the black suit trousers were, but the fabric was excellent, and his polished Oxford shoes were elegant and distinctive.
Only then did he notice Lu Congzhi had put on weight. His hollow cheeks had filled out, but his brow bones remained prominent, his eyes narrow and sharp, and every line of his face uncompromisingly hard. His hair was carefully arranged and held in place with mousse.
He casually shoved his suitcase toward the balcony, sat on the bed with one leg crossed over the other, and placed a cigarette between his pale, thin lips. Long fingers flicked open a lighter while his other pale hand rested on his knee, several blue veins showing at the wrist.
His gestures, his bearing, his face: it was impossible to look away.
How had the gloomy, insecure Lu Congzhi turned into an elegant, splendid young gentleman in only three weeks? Where had he gotten the money for all those clothes?
Lin Yuan stared at him, and so did Zhou Ming.
Song Xiuzhu looked over with a frown, his gaze assessing.
Even Wen Rui stared at Lu Congzhi for a long time without blinking.
Lin Yuan suddenly spoke. “Lu Congzhi, doesn’t that hardship grant you received feel a little hard to justify now?”
Wen Rui remembered the three thousand yuan he’d transferred to Lu Congzhi and frowned.
Yu Binbin was about to explain when Lu Congzhi shot him a glance. He immediately changed his tune. “It’s his money. He can spend it however he likes. What’s it to you?”
His father had hired Lu Congzhi as a consultant on an annual salary of two hundred thousand yuan. Lu Congzhi had already escaped poverty.
Lin Yuan was furious. “The school gave him that money to improve his living conditions, not to buy designer labels!”
Yu Binbin slapped the table hard. “Lin Yuan, I’ve fucking known for ages! You’re jealous of Lu Congzhi!”
“I’m standing up for fairness and justice! There are students worse off than him who can’t even afford to eat, and he spends the money on these flashy things. Isn’t he ashamed of himself?” Lin Yuan stormed out and slammed the door.
Watching Lin Yuan leave, a sharp glint flashed through Lu Congzhi’s eyes. The man would certainly report him to their counselor. The bigger the fuss, the better.
Wen Rui took out his spare phone and messaged the real Li Yan. [The student I’m sponsoring, Lu Congzhi, seems to have gone astray after his internship. He’s spent tens of thousands on designer clothes. If material desires corrupt him too early, they’ll erode his character and talent. Arrange to meet him and talk some sense into him. If he spends tomorrow’s money today, he’ll eventually end up trapped in debt. I don’t want to see him ruin himself.]
Li Yan immediately replied: [Understood, President Wen.]