Jiang Quyan was curious. “How do you know I’ve only been staying in Tokyo?”  

“Your LinkedIn posts are all from Tokyo.”  

“Wow, Boss, you actually use LinkedIn now?”  

“Why wouldn’t I?”  

“It’s not that you can’t, it’s just that I only just started using it myself. Anyway, I’ve been to all those places before. Since I’m on vacation, I just want to rest. Traveling is exhausting.” 

Guan Zhengying’s voice was slightly unsteady. “As long as you’re happy. Have you been out with friends? What did you do today?”  

Jiang Quyan couldn’t figure out what he was getting at. Did Guan Zhengying really make an expensive international call just to ask about his day?  

Puzzled, he replied, “I went to get my hair done with a friend today. I also got a facial. The beauty salons here in Japan are much better than the ones in Hong Kong…” As he spoke, he heard Guan Zhengying’s slightly heavy breathing on the other end, and he couldn’t hold back anymore. “Boss, what are you doing? You sound… weird.”  

Was he calling in the middle of a fight?  

That didn’t seem likely. If there was a fight, he wouldn’t be the only one breathing heavily—at the very least, there would be a second person, or the background noise would be chaotic. But the call was eerily quiet, so silent that he could even hear an echo of the breathing. Besides, Guan Zhengying hadn’t been in fights for years. He was a proper businessman now. Even if there were trouble to handle, there was no way he’d be personally involved.  

Guan Zhengying let out an unsteady chuckle, then suddenly coughed twice, making Jiang Quyan’s forehead twitch.  

“Boss, are you okay?” He was starting to get nervous, gripping his phone tighter. “What’s going on? Are you alright?”  

Guan Zhengying seemed to steady his breathing. “I’m fine. I’m… walking.”  

Before Jiang Quyan could ask another question, Guan Zhengying let out a long sigh. “I’ve arrived.”  

“Why are you walking? Why not have your driver pick you up?” Jiang Quyan found it increasingly strange.  

But he didn’t get an answer. Instead, his doorbell rang.  

Holding the phone between his shoulder and ear, he walked to the door. “Hold on, I need to open the door for someone.”  

It didn’t even cross his mind to question how someone had managed to reach his 31st-floor apartment when the delivery guy had just told him the elevators were broken. His brain simply didn’t make the connection.  

When he opened the door, he was met with the sight of Guan Zhengying, forehead damp with sweat, one hand holding a takeout bag, the other holding his phone—just like him.  

“I heard the delivery guy call you,” Guan Zhengying said with a small smile. “Since I was coming up anyway, I figured I’d bring it up for you.”  

Jiang Quyan was dumbstruck, wondering if he was hallucinating.  

Guan Zhengying was still smiling. “I got off work and had nothing to do this weekend, so I thought I’d drop by. Not welcomed?”  

Jiang Quyan accepted the bag of still-warm fried cutlets, “You…” His brain finally caught up, and he realized what that whole ‘walking’ thing had been about. “You… you took the stairs up?”  

Guan Zhengying nodded. “I was going to wait for the elevator to be fixed, but if I had, your food would’ve gone cold. So I walked.”  

“Vincent! Who is it?” A woman’s voice called from inside the apartment.  

Guan Zhengying narrowed his eyes as a stylishly dressed young woman appeared behind Jiang Quyan, a beer can in one hand and a crumb still at the corner of her lips.  

He didn’t recognize her, meaning she wasn’t a company employee or one of Jiang Quyan’s old friends.  

The moment she saw Guan Zhengying, she visibly tensed.  

But he reacted quickly, extending a hand in greeting. “Hello, I’m Ah Yan’s boss. The name’s Guan. And you are…?”  

Sussi’s expression was unreadable. After a moment’s hesitation, she reached out to shake his hand. “Hello, I’m Vincent’s friend. You can call me Sussi.” She quickly added, “I… I was just here for dinner. I was already getting ready to leave. Just waiting for the elevator to be fixed.”  

Guan Zhengying smiled. “Apologies, I seem to be intruding. I’ll leave you two to it.”  

“You’re not intruding!” They spoke in unison.  

Jiang Quyan felt awkward and guilty. He could sense that letting Guan Zhengying leave now would spell trouble, but asking Sussi to go immediately would be rude. He couldn’t just kick a woman out.  

But she didn’t need to be told. She was already grabbing her bag and putting on her shoes. “I really was about to leave. Don’t mind me, Boss Guan. You two talk, I’m heading home. Goodnight, Vincent.”  

Jiang Quyan barely had time to hug her. “Be careful. Take a cab, don’t take the subway.”  

Sussi practically fled. The moment she stepped out, the ‘Out of Service’ sign on the elevator display vanished, replaced by normal floor numbers. She pressed the button, and the elevator arrived smoothly, sparing her from having to walk down 31 flights of stairs in heels.  

That left just the employee and his boss standing at the door, staring at each other.  

Jiang Quyan was still holding the warm take out, his mind a chaotic mess. One moment, he was thinking about Guan Zhengying climbing the stairs to bring him food, then about Guan Zhengying seeing a woman in his apartment, then about Sussi witnessing his boss climb 31 floors to deliver takeout…  

He wanted to ask why Guan Zhengying had come, why he’d taken the stairs, but when he opened his mouth, what came out instead was: “Sussi is a partner at New Bridge Capital. She’s interested in the company, so…”  

“She’s interested in the company? Or in you?” Guan Zhengying walked past him into the apartment.  

Jiang Quyan knew he wasn’t happy. “She’s a senior partner. She wouldn’t be interested in me.”  

“She’s not interested, yet she’s here drinking at a single man’s apartment late at night?” Guan Zhengying countered.  

Jiang Quyan thought he had no right to be asking these kinds of questions. But looking at the bag of pork cutlet in his hand, he didn’t dare argue back. “…You want some tea? I’ll go boil some water.”  

By the time he returned with the tea, Guan Zhengying was still hung up on the earlier conversation. “Do you like her?”

Jiang Quyan didn’t want to talk about women right now. “I don’t like her, there’s no romantic feelings at all, OK? If I’m lying, let lightning strike me down!”  

He raised his hand dramatically, ready to swear an oath. Guan Zhengying took the teacup from him, his expression finally softening a little.  

At last, the two of them could sit down properly at the dining table and talk.  

“Eat. If you don’t, it’s going to get completely cold and won’t taste good anymore.” Guan Zhengying opened the paper bag and took out the pork cutlet.  

Jiang Quyan grabbed an extra set of utensils. “Let’s eat together.” The cutlet had already lost its crispiness, but as he ate, he felt a tight, aching sensation in his chest. “You… you really climbed all the way up from the first floor? How long did that take?”  

“Not too long,” Guan Zhengying replied nonchalantly. “It was just a bit boring climbing alone, so I called you halfway up.”  

Jiang Quyan imagined the scene—Guan Zhengying trudging up the stairwell, carrying a paper bag, panting into the phone—and his scalp tingled. His palms started to sweat. “Ugh, you’re going to shorten my lifespan at this rate, boss.”  

“Pfft. Don’t jinx yourself.” Guan Zhengying laughed. “Climbing a few floors, and you’re already acting like it’s a life-and-death situation? So spineless.”  

Jiang Quyan kept his head down, unable to meet his gaze. The sound of his own heartbeat echoed in his ears, making him feel lightheaded.  

Guan Zhengying realized he had startled him a bit. He hadn’t planned any of this—it had just been a sudden impulse. “Alright, alright, it was just a few flights of stairs, not walking through fire or crossing a battlefield. I don’t think it’s a big deal, so don’t make it sound like such a catastrophe.”  

Jiang Quyan lifted his gaze, eyes wide with both shock and frustration. “Am I the one making a big deal out of it? You were panting and coughing so much over the phone, you could barely talk properly! I thought something had happened to you!”  

Guan Zhengying chuckled. “What could possibly happen to me?”  

“How would I know?! You’re constantly around dangerous people, doing god knows what—what if something did happen?! I’m not inside your head! And tell me, what kind of normal person climbs 31 floors in this situation? Who does that?!” Jiang Quyan was getting more and more worked up.  

Guan Zhengying finally understood how much his call had worried him. His heart softened completely. “Alright, alright, it’s my fault. I was wrong, okay? I apologize. I didn’t mean to scare you—I didn’t realize you’d be so worried about me…”  

“Who’s worried about you?! I’m not worried at all.” Jiang Quyan’s tone was stiff. “I hope you actually get beaten up out there! I wouldn’t care one bit!”  

The poor old man had climbed the stairs, delivered the food, and now ended up making him mad. The situation was spiraling out of control.  

Guan Zhengying put down his chopsticks, cautiously walked around the table, and crouched down in front of Jiang Quyan, taking his hand.  

“Don’t touch me!” Jiang Quyan yanked his hand back. “You’re always bullying me!”  

Guan Zhengying smiled. “Yes, yes, I’m bullying you. If you’re mad, you can hit me.”  

“You have no right to be mad at me. I can’t even have dinner with a friend in my own home?”  

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have gotten mad. That was my fault. I should’ve controlled myself.”  

“You’re the one acting crazy! You chose to take the stairs—”  

“I’m insane. I must have dementia, okay?”  

The conversation was getting more ridiculous by the second. Jiang Quyan couldn’t stay mad, but he also refused to back down. He looked up, and there was the old man grinning at him, full of good-natured patience. The words that came out next sounded almost like a whine. “Why did you suddenly fly all the way here?”  

Guan Zhengying cupped his hands around Jiang Quyan’s. “Because I really missed you. I wanted to see you, so I came.”  

In the end, the pork cutlet went uneaten, and no one got kicked out.  

Guan Zhengying originally planned to stay at a hotel, but he had left in such a hurry that he hadn’t even brought a proper suitcase—just his passport and wallet. He didn’t even book a room. Jiang Quyan rummaged through his wardrobe, found a clean bathrobe, and threw it at him. His face, a soft sakura pink, avoided looking at him directly. He muttered, “You sleep on the couch,” before rushing into the bathroom.  

Inside, his face was still burning. He slid down against the door, legs weak and trembling. When his butt touched the cold tile floor, he shivered. Burying his face in his hands, he didn’t dare look in the mirror.  

How did it come to this?  

Guan Zhengying—what was he doing? Showing up unannounced in a foreign country, climbing 31 flights of stairs just to deliver him a bag of food, kneeling in front of him to make him laugh, telling him he missed him…  

Why was he saying these things? Why was he doing all this?  

He wasn’t like this before. They weren’t supposed to be like this.  

This wasn’t right.  

……

Jiang Quyan barely slept all night. Tossing and turning in bed until five in the morning, he finally gave up and got up.  

Outside, a light snow had started falling. The pale morning glow shimmered against the snowfall, signaling the arrival of dawn. He pushed open the window, stretching his hand out to catch the tiny flakes. They slipped between his fingers, falling, falling. The wind in his palm was cold and empty.  

But he didn’t feel cold. The breeze cleared his mind, and he sat by the window until the sky fully brightened.  

His phone had a couple of messages from Sussi, asking if Guan Zhengying had given him a hard time. She must have heard or figured out some rumors about the two of them, but she never pried or looked at him differently. She always treated him as a friend, which was probably one of the reasons why Jiang Quyan liked having her around.  

There was also a message from Guan Zhanhong, cursing him out as a “gold-digging fox spirit” and “greedy bastard,” accusing him of deceiving Guan Zhengying into handing over the family’s finances before Lin Zhifang’s mourning period was even over.  

Lastly, a shopping list from Guan Xuexin and a missed call.  

He replied to Guan Xuexin first. She immediately called him back.  

“You’re still in Japan, right? I’m almost out of my face cream. I forgot to buy an extra set in Hong Kong—can you bring me one back? I already sent you a list of some other things too.”  

Jiang Quyan, listening to her cheerful voice, felt his mood improve a little. “How was James’ birthday?”  

“He loved that guitar! He said he wanted to thank you properly.” Just mentioning it made Guan Xuexin excited.  

“Thank me for what?”  

“For buying it for him, obviously.”  

“That was your dad’s money. He should be thanking your dad.”

The little girl let out a quiet giggle. “Actually, it’s better for me that he lets you manage the money. It’s always easier to ask you for money than to ask him.”

Jiang Quyan was more indulgent with her, unlike Guan Zhengying, who was always so serious. Of course, she preferred Jiang Quyan.

“Don’t think I’m playing favorites,” Jiang Quyan put on a stern face. “Your dad audits the accounts. I won’t let you spend recklessly either.”

Guan Xuexin, used to his sharp tongue but soft heart, said, “Can you send my brother less money? Back when that old witch was around, he spent like there was no tomorrow, like water running down a drain. Now, he’s probably losing his mind. Though I guess his uncle might give him some extra, but it’s not the same as having his mom around. Just thinking about it makes me happy—he finally gets what he deserves.”

Jiang Quyan thought she was just being naive. “Ah Xue, what if I…” He hesitated. “What If I end up managing more than just the money in the future?”