13. Encounter At The Asura Field

Luo Haoxuan could tell that the two kids, just like him, were being scapegoats. Feeling sympathy for them, Luo Haoxuan decided to save them.

“Since you two husbands happened to meet here, it must be fate. Mr. Yan, the surprise you prepared for Mr. Qiu can also be realized in a different way. I won’t be a third wheel. I’ll take care of these two kids and make sure they safely return to school, so you don’t need to worry,” Luo Haoxuan said as he pushed Ruan Sijia to the side.

Ruan Sijia didn’t move, waiting for Qiu Rong to speak.

Luo Haoxuan simply bypassed him and opened the side door.

Luo Haoxuan lowered his head and looked into Ruan Sijia’s eyes with a slight gaze, the proximity almost palpable. He urged, “Shall we go?”

Ruan Sijia’s cheeks flushed, and in a daze, he got out of the car.

Clearly, the clan leader had been forgotten in the face of attraction.

Qiu Rong: “…”

Out of self-discipline as an actor, even though the play had already fallen apart, Luo Haoxuan still insisted on finishing it.

He followed behind Ruan Sijia and got out of the car, turning around and swearing, “Mr. Yan, I promise I will never enter unauthorized places again. Pursuing art is not an excuse for breaking the law. I deeply understand my mistakes, so rest assured, there won’t be a next time.”

If there is a next time, please handle it yourself.

Yan Ling coldly glanced at Luo Haoxuan, not in the mood to deal with him for the moment.

“Oh, by the way,” Luo Haoxuan tried to mediate the situation, extending an olive branch to both Yan Ling and Qiu Rong. He patted the still-dazed Meng Baichuan next to the car and said, “I’ll give this young kid some legal education on the way, just like I returned to the right path tonight. Hopefully, he can do the same.”

Meng Baichuan snapped out of his daze. “…”

He truly wanted to express his gratitude.

Qiu Rong accepted Luo Haoxuan’s goodwill. “Thank you, Mr. Luo.”

Seeing the boss speak, Meng Baichuan and Ruan Sijia no longer hesitated and followed the popular star Luo, leaving the chaotic scene of the battleground behind.

The play ended hastily.

Silence returned to the car.

Qiu Rong turned his head and asked, “Shall we go home too?”

Yan Ling replied gently, “Okay.”

The journey was silent.

An unexpected accident that no one could have foreseen completely disrupted the sweet night that was supposed to be a farewell as newlyweds.

Intense affection was replaced by heavy doubts.

Because both had undisclosed reasons in their hearts, they silently chose to remain silent, neither of them probing into the poorly performed improvisation.

After entering the house, they pressed the switch in the hallway, and the bright and soft light dispersed the darkness inside.

The gentle glow that belonged to their little home blended into the millions of city lights.

“Have you eaten dinner?”

The rectangular digital clock on the shoe cabinet timely chimed, indicating it was just past nine o’clock.

Yan Ling had very poor eating habits, often forgetting to eat when he was busy. Additionally, the CEO was quite picky and didn’t easily enjoy regular airplane meals.

If Yan Ling rushed to Chunhe Road to meet someone as soon as he got off the plane, there was a high probability that he hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

“I have.” The unexpected answer made Qiu Rong give Yan Ling a deep look.

Yan Ling didn’t respond to Qiu Rong’s inquisitive gaze.

Unbuttoning the neatly fastened top button, Yan Ling went to the bedroom to change clothes, while Qiu Rong put their shoes back in the cabinet.

Entering the bedroom, Qiu Rong realized that something was missing.

“Where’s your suitcase?” Qiu Rong stood at the entrance of the walk-in closet, arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe.

Yan Ling’s hand, which was unbuckling his belt, paused for a moment.

Perhaps Qiu Rong’s tone carried a subtle hint of anger, causing Yan Ling to swiftly flick the end of the belt he had pulled out onto the edge of the wardrobe, emitting a dull sound.

Qiu Rong’s gaze swept over the innocent wooden cabinet and had an intuition that Yan Ling was also displeased.

Such emotions were particularly rare coming from the usually gentle CEO.

Just when Qiu Rong thought that a significant argument was about to erupt between them, Yan Ling turned around. He remained calm, perhaps overly calm.

“Vincent took the suitcase for me,” Yan Ling said as he took off his trousers but didn’t put on another pair. He stood there with his two long and straight legs, with loose home pants hanging halfway on his arm. “I’ll go take a shower first.”

With that, he opened a drawer, took out a pair of shorts, and sidestepped Qiu Rong, heading towards the bathroom.

The bathroom door closed with a sound that was neither light nor heavy.

The sound of running water filled the air.

Qiu Rong squinted his eyes, suppressing the urge to break through the closed door.

After finishing their respective grooming routines one after the other, the atmosphere in the room still didn’t improve.

Cold war was not a good sign, but fortunately, neither of them suggested sleeping in separate rooms, avoiding escalating the situation further.

After the heavy rain a few days ago, the temperature had risen again. Before going to bed, Qiu Rong turned on the air conditioner to maintain a comfortable room temperature.

Usually, on nights like this, he would hold Yan Ling in his arms to ensure that he wasn’t exposed to the cold air from the air conditioner.

But tonight, that condition didn’t exist.

Although they didn’t sleep in separate rooms, an invisible divide separated the spacious double bed into two distinct territories.

Sleeping separately wouldn’t be a problem for both of them.

This was the first time the two of them had faced such a serious crisis since they met each other.

The hum of the air conditioner gradually ceased, and Qiu Rong set aside the remote control.

He turned to look at Yan Ling’s back, reached out, and turned off the bedside lamp.

Time went back to two years ago, at noon.

Qiu Rong and Yan Ling stood at the entrance of Rongsheng Biotechnology, both for some reason frozen in place.

It was their first meeting, and the company’s leadership was present.

A colleague pulled Qiu Rong, signaling him not to stand there like an idiot and to quickly make way.

The department manager was about to criticize Qiu Rong, the inexperienced intern, for being unaware. However, following Yan Ling’s gaze, Luo Haoxuan, who was standing behind at an angle, noticed Qiu Rong. He showed appreciation in his eyes and asked, “Is this an employee of your company?”

The manager probably didn’t catch Luo Haoxuan’s gaze and thought it was a dissatisfied client expressing their displeasure. He hurriedly explained, “This is a new intern from the university.”

“Our company has cooperation and exchange programs with A University, providing internship opportunities for fourth-year pharmaceutical students.”

While demonstrating the company’s contribution to the field of education, the manager made it clear that Qiu Rong was just a student and had little relevance to the company.

Luo Haoxuan felt relieved upon hearing this.

CEO Yan, on the other hand, seemed interested in Qiu Rong, but he couldn’t possibly extend an olive branch to a student.

Luo Haoxuan thought Qiu Rong was decent, so he took out a business card and approached Yan Ling, who would never stoop so low in this lifetime, and said, “If you’re interested in developing in the entertainment industry, you can contact this person.”

If CEO Yan paid a little more attention to him, he would definitely become a big star if he joined their company.

Under the watchful eyes of the leaders, Qiu Rong inexplicably accepted the business card but kept his attention on Yan Ling, not far away.

He believed he didn’t misjudge it. That plush cat was subtly observing him.

It was just a typical entertainment company seeking talent, and Qiu Rong’s appearance was attractive enough to catch someone’s eye without it being strange.

Qiu Rong stepped aside, lowered his head to glance at the business card of the New Moon Media agent in his hand, and in that passing moment, he raised his head and once again caught the plush cat’s subtle scrutiny.

The cat realized it was caught peeking and pretended to calmly withdraw its gaze.

Unaware of the collaboration between an entertainment company and a pharmaceutical company, Qiu Rong didn’t have the curiosity to inquire further.

That encounter that day was like a small interlude in their ordinary lives, apart from Qiu Rong’s slight interest in the blood mole on someone’s fair wrist, there was nothing more.

Qiu Rong had always been clear about his future plans. Apart from finding the murderer from that year, his biggest goal was to work at the Biotechnology Research Institute.

His father had been a researcher there.

The tumultuous life of a fugitive at the age of eight made Qiu Rong’s memories of his childhood events blurry. But he still remembered his father often lamenting how the existence of the Supernatural Control Center had improved the chaotic order of the psychic world. It was a good place.

His father hoped that when he and his older brother grew up, they would also join the Supernatural Control Center and make their own contributions to the peaceful coexistence of psychics and ordinary people.

So his older brother went to the Department of Violation Handling after coming of age, and after careful consideration, Qiu Rong chose to strive towards the research institute.

Before interning at the company, he had already secured a spot for further studies, so there was no possibility of any involvement with the entertainment industry.

Luo Haoxuan’s business card was quickly forgotten by him.

Qiu Rong didn’t remember this incident, but the manager did.

As December approached its end, a heavy snowfall adorned City A with a new layer.

Interns sent by the university to the company usually didn’t have any important tasks. Qiu Rong was organizing the old data in his hands while counting down the days until the end of his internship.

This winter vacation, he would still be alone. Huo Zhixing had invited him to spend the Chinese New Year at his home, but Qiu Rong declined.

He wanted to spend two days alone in the villa.

Due to his father’s influence, Qiu Rong had a natural filter when it came to the Supernatural Control Center. When he was stranded in another city, it was with the help of other regional Psychic Control Centers that he was able to grow up safely.

But in the past two years, Qiu Rong noticed that the Supernatural Control Center in City A was different from the one his father had described from his memory.

Since becoming the new Alpha of the Werewolf Clan, Qiu Rong had applied to the center multiple times to reopen old cases, but all of them were rejected.

The reasons varied, but it was clear that the center simply didn’t want to deal with the matter.

The deaths of his family members were old scars in Qiu Rong’s heart that had yet to heal. He couldn’t stop seeking the truth of the old case from over a decade ago just because the center refused to accept it.

Qiu Rong understood that he had limited experience and little authority to speak. The chaos within the Werewolf Clan over the years caused by Meng Jiadong and Huo Huo was perhaps better addressed after he had organized the clan internally, making it more convenient to investigate the events of the past.

He was getting impatient.

The manager’s voice interrupted Qiu Rong’s daydreaming.

“Xiao Qiu, come with me to New Moon Media this afternoon.” The manager went straight to Qiu Rong, who was sitting at the temporary desk near the entrance of the R&D department, and quietly made the arrangement.

Visiting clients was not part of Qiu Rong’s internship schedule, but as an intern, he was assigned whatever tasks were given to him from above.

He remembered that New Moon Media was the company that invited him to join the entertainment industry at the elevator door last time, and naturally, he also thought of the beautiful plush cat.

If a group of people could send someone off, it meant that person held a high position. However, Qiu Rong still wanted to mentally refer to them as the plush cat.

The manager’s intention was clear. He mentioned that the plush cat was a difficult kitten to handle. Last time, it seemed interested in Qiu Rong, so on a whim, the manager decided to bring Qiu Rong along to show support.

Qiu Rong’s colleague overheard the conversation and laughed, “Are we going to sell our handsome guy from a prestigious university?”

Qiu Rong played along, saying, “That would require a different price.”

The manager reminded them to be mindful of their influence. “Don’t talk nonsense. This is a strategy.”

Author’s Note:

Let’s talk about romance for a few chapters first.

Manager: I didn’t expect him to become the boss lady of a collaborating company in the blink of an eye.

Manager: He should give me a big red envelope, shouldn’t he?