FLBCP: Chapter 6

The lights changed and there was a lot of traffic.

Zhao Changshuo was on the way home from the hospital when he answered a call. He learned that the time of his appointment with Zhao Yao was fixed but his frown remained for a long time. After his words at the meeting, Zhao Yao never intervened in Qichen-related matters again. He was even absent from work for a few days before asking his assistant Yao Bai to hand in a letter of resignation. This made Zhao Zhikai’s face turn red with anger.

He heard that Zhao Zhikai repeatedly wanted to ask Zhao Yao about things in detail but Zhao Yao avoided him, even refusing directly regardless of Zhao Zhikai’s feelings. Such a practice was simply unthinkable in Zhao Yao’s case. Yet in fact, Zhao Yao had publicly thrown away Zhao Yao by announcing that he would withdraw from the competition.

“Eldest Young Master, have you been too tired lately?” The driver noticed through the rearview mirror that Zhao Changshuo was frequently pinching his brow and thought he was just busy at work.

Zhao Changshuo was silent for a moment before asking, “Old Li, you used to pick up and drop off Zhao Yao for a while, right?”

“Yes, I picked up and dropped him off for a while in high school. The driver, Old Li wondered, “What’s the matter?”

Zhao Changshuo asked, “What type of person do you think Zhao Yao is?”

“The third young master sometimes looks silent but he is actually a man with ideas.” The driver answered. “Why are you suddenly asking about this?”

“I’m thinking about something,” Zhao Changshuo said. “I haven’t communicated with him much and I didn’t contact him often as a child.”

“It is said that you don’t get along with the third young master but I think he isn’t as strange as they say. I once heard from the company’s employees that the third young master worked overtime for three weeks on a project. He didn’t leave the company until the early morning every day. If it was any later then he would’ve slept directly at the company.”

Zhao Changshuo had also heard about this. However, it was because Zhao Yao once worked so hard that it was hard to understand why he would directly give up now.

***

Zhao Yao was watching TV with Yao Bai. Most of his recent interest was in a variety of dating shows. In addition to the blind dating show that he watched late at night, Yao Bai had given him several variety shows where young people fell in love, pairing them one by one and focusing on their daily lives.

The plot on TV was when the young couple went out shopping. The male celebrity left while the female celebrity was trying on clothes. Yao Bai immediately complained. “This man isn’t right. Leaving his girlfriend to run and buy something else? After a while, the woman must be angry with him.”

Zhao Yao held a book in his arms as he lazily leaned against the sofa, his serious eyes paying attention to the male guest who was getting further away. “This isn’t a real couple, right?”

“Ah, really? They didn’t have any scandals before coming to this variety show so I thought they were a couple.” Yao Bai reached for the chips on the table while explaining, “Some of these love variety shows have real lovers in the entertainment industry while some are pretending to be a couple. Brother, don’t worry. Most young couples have encountered this type of love plot in their daily life. If you just want to eat dog food, you don’t have to care about whether it is real or false.”

He added, “By the way Brother, how are you so sure they are fake?”

Zhao Yao might’ve never been in a relationship but he had the ability to look at people. He explained, “Their micro-expressions and actions. The moment the camera is close to them, they will act intimately. Then when the camera lens is far away, they will keep a distance. I can’t see the two people liking each other.”

Yao Bai was surprised when he heard this. “Brother, you are so good. Why are you still reading reference books?”

Zhao Yao frowned slightly. “These two areas are different. It is natural to know people’s faces and read them but a relationship isn’t a simple matter. My EQ isn’t low enough to just follow the reference books but I still need to know them.  I understand that my views aren’t the same as public views.”

Over the years, he subconsciously distrusted everyone. He said he wanted to be in a relationship but he was actually trying to understand where the trusting relationship of mutual dependence came from.

***

Zhao Changshuo came to visit with just one secretary.

In his eyes, Zhao Yao’s actions at the meeting really surprised him. Zhao Yao was still in university when he started entering the company and planning his future. In recent years, the friction between the two of them wasn’t small and the relationship was very alienated. Although Zhao Changshuo didn’t publicly have a falling out with Zhao Yao, he knew that their relationship wasn’t so close that Zhao Yao would put aside his future to stand on Zhao Changshuo’s side.

The person who opened the door was Uncle Wang, a friend of Zhao Yao’s mother and Zhao Yao’s current housekeeper. Zhao Yao had moved out of the old house very early and lived with the housekeeper in this apartment in the city center. Zhao Changshuo had been here several times. Later, Zhao Yao started working and he rarely came to this place.

“Eldest Young Master.” Uncle Wang opened the door. Zhao Yao had told him that Zhao Changshuo would come to visit today.

“Young Master is in the living wall.”

Zhao Yao walked through the hallways to the living room and saw a popular love variety show playing on the large screen in the living room. Zhao Yao was sitting on the sofa and talking to Yao Bai while his injured leg was propped out on an elevated cushion. This type of scene was very leisurely and too weird. Zhao Changshuo stopped and looked at Zhao Yao. The latter happened to glance over and asked, “Brother, you’re here?”

Yao Bai was explaining the true feelings between couples in the entertainment industry to Zhao Yao. He immediately stopped the topic when he saw Zhao Changshuo coming over.

Zhao Yao said, “Uncle Wang, there is a sealed file on the desk in my study. Go and bring it over.”

Uncle Wang nodded and Yao Bai said goodbye as well. 

Zhao Changshuo took a seat, his eyes unnaturally falling on the variety show in front of him. “Have you been very idle recently?”

Zhao Yao replied casually. “It’s okay. Since you’re here, let’s be straightforward.’

He took the remote control and pressed it. Then the lively sound from the TV stopped abruptly.

“I’m here to thank you.” Zhao Changshuo spoke bluntly. “Thank you for your help last time.”

Zhao Yao wasn’t surprised. “You don’t need to thank me. This project originally belonged to you. Since you are free enough to come over, is there no movement from Zhao Zhikai’s side?”

“The second meeting will be held in two days and the leader of the Qichen Project will be determined. Zhao Zhikai will preside over the meeting but he shouldn’t be able to make any other actions in a short time.” Zhao Changshuo answered. “This project is very important to me. I still want to thank you for letting go.”

The moment Zhao Changshuo mentioned this, Zhao Yao remembered something that happened in the past. There were a lot of disputes about the Qichen Project. Originally, Zhao Changshuo was supposed to be in charge. Later, Zhao Zhikai intervened along with Zhao Yao and it became the current situation. In his previous life, he also took over other projects after accepting the Qichen Project. It was only at this time that he discovered that when the Qichen Project was initiated, it was linked with several projects that Zhao Changshuo was responsible for.

Zhao Yao asked, “Do you think this project will fall into your hands?”

“Zhao Qizhen really can’t do it. Zhao Zhikai has no candidate.”

“You know that the person in charge can just be a title. As long as Zhao Zhikai wants it, he can also help Zhao Qizhen.”

Previously, Zhao Yao joined with Zhao Zhikai to push Zhao Changshuo down. At first, Zhao Zhikai said that Zhao Yao was more capable of taking over and vowed to join him. In fact, Zhao Zhikai was only using Zhao Yao as a shield. Finally, he tried to push Zhao Yao out of office to take power himself, but failed.

Zhao Yao had suffered a lot in Zhao Zhikai’s hands.

He knew that Zhao Zhikai was an ambitious person. Such a person wouldn’t so easily give in to Zhao Changshuo. He should have many things up his sleeve.

Zhao Changshuo told him, “Two days are too short. He can’t plan too much.”

At this time, Uncle Wang came back with the documents. Zhao Yao handed them to Zhao Changshuo. “The reason you aren’t the best candidate is because you have too many projects. You might be able to show that the various projects are working well but as long as Zhao Zhikai gets involved, he can find a few people from the project teams to splash dirty water and then get a few fake evidences that have been arranged in advance. Then he will push Zhao Qizhen to the top.”

Zhao Changshuo flipped through the files. They turned out to be some vulnerabilities in his projects.

“Some of these things were found out by myself and some were given to me by Zhao Zhikai in advance. If there was no accident, I would’ve taken it out at the meeting a few days ago. However, I abstained on the spot. Zhao Zhikai hadn’t discussed countermeasures with the others so he didn’t take it out for the time being.”

Zhao Yao saw Zhao Changshuo’s frown and continued, “If he takes out these things, it would be difficult for you to deal with it on the spot. Zhao Zhikai has no candidate. The moment the second meeting is held, he can use these things to embarrass you. Then it isn’t impossible for him to push behind the scenes and make Zhao Qizhen his puppet.”

Zhao Changshuo’s expression was solemn. “Why are you giving me these things?”

He carefully looked at Zhao Yao. The current Zhao Yao was too different from the previous one and he couldn’t understand what this younger brother was thinking. Moreover, Zhao Yao resigned without a word and gave up everything he accumulated in the past two years. It was completely different from what Zhao Yao would do.

Was it as others said and he had an epiphany in the car accident?

“Zhao Zhikai is more troublesome than you. Rather than let him succeed, it is better to help you.” Zhao Yao spoke bluntly. “You can believe it or not.”

“Why resign?”

“I think I said it very clearly. It is because I feel bored. Isn’t this reason enough?”

Zhao Changshuo was silent like he was thinking about something.

Zhao Yao also didn’t take the initiative to speak and stared at the reference book in his arms. This was an advanced reference book on love. The chapter he read was talking about the love psychology of contemporary young people. The detailed content was written in black and white on the paper and Zhao Yao’s gaze suddenly fell on a key part.

[The first and most important step is to become a rich man.]

Zhao Yao frowned slightly when he saw this. “Is it so simple?”

Zhao Changshuo looked at him when hearing the words. “What book are you reading?”

Zhao Yao simply answered, “A reference book.”

In fact, the concept of being rich was difficult to define. Different classes had different concepts of being rich. If it was changed to the public perspective, it wasn’t difficult to become a rich person. However, if he wanted to fall in love, people with different money concepts would have difficult opinions. His future partner should have the same money concept as him. It was actually more comfortable to get along with people of the same ideas than people with different ideas.

Right now, his assets were far less than they were in his previous life. If so, he wouldn’t be considered a rich person at present. Zhao Yao didn’t want to take care of these things because he currently had enough money for retirement. However, if he wanted to do more things then his current assets weren’t enough.

Zhao Yao thought about it. It seemed that some more investments needed to be made. The current amount alone wasn’t enough.

From Zhao Changshuo’s perspective, he could only see that the cover of this ‘reference book’ was a bit flowery. He thought about it before saying, “I will remember the favor this time. If you need help with anything, you can find me.”

Then he looked at Zhao Yao’s leg. “I know an orthopedic doctor. Once I go back, I will ask my secretary to call your assistant.”

Zhao Yao responded casually, “Thank you.”

Zhao Changshuo didn’t stay long and got up to go. Before leaving, he asked Uncle Wang, “Has he become fond of reading recently?”

Uncle Wang thought about it and euphemistically replied, “Young Master is studying a special set of theories recently.”

Zhao Changshuo gave his secretary’s phone number to Uncle Wang. “If you need some unpopular old books then you can find him.”

Uncle Wang received the business card with complicated eyes. “Yes.”

***

Yao Bai had been sent by Uncle Wang to buy something downstairs. By the time he came back, Zhao Changshuo was gone and Brother Yao was watching the variety show again. He gave Zhao Yao a glass of warm water and saw that the reference book originally in Zhao Yao’s hand was placed on the table.

He hadn’t paid attention before. Now that he saw the title of the book, he suddenly recalled something.

Wait a minute… wasn’t this the hotly discussed silly book on Weibo a while ago? How could his brother even read this?