Although they said they would meet again, more than a month passed without them having the chance to meet.

Ning Zhiyuan was too busy. After completing the registration and capital arrangements, he immediately immersed himself in work with his team. There were endless project meetings, decision-making sessions, countless business proposals to read, numerous people to meet, and he had to scout for projects, seek investment opportunities, meet entrepreneurs, maintain relationships with colleagues, and even deal with government officials. He was on business trips almost half of the month, and he was so busy that his feet hardly touched the ground.

Compared to his time in Cen An, where he only needed to make decisions and delegate other tasks to subordinates, now he was practically hands-on in everything. It was indeed tiring, but this kind of effort was worth it. He enjoyed this state, feeling even more motivated than before.

It wasn’t until the end of March at the AIGC Innovation Summit that Cen Zhisen finally saw his elusive “treasure” brother again.

By then, the summit was nearing its conclusion. As the last special forum came to an end, Cen Zhisen was preparing to leave. Walking out of the venue, in a quiet corner of the lounge area, he saw Ning Zhiyuan engaged in a discussion with someone.

Cen Zhisen didn’t approach; he stopped not far away and quietly observed.

Ning Zhiyuan leaned against a table, in a relaxed posture, examining a project proposal in his hands. Not having seen each other for over a month, his hair had grown a bit longer. He casually ran his fingers through it, and the strands danced with the faint sunlight coming in from the window. The slightly lowered eyebrows and eyes softened his overall look.

Standing in front of him was a man around thirty, wearing glasses, lean, but with sharp and spirited eyes. He was introducing his company’s project to Ning Zhiyuan. The man spoke confidently but not extravagantly, and Ning Zhiyuan listened attentively.

“Why choose to focus on the model layer?” Ning Zhiyuan asked, “In terms of resources and accumulation, your startup can’t compete with big corporations. Most startups choose to work on the application layer, as the training time and cost for models are unpredictable, and the business model isn’t clear.”

“Large companies do have advantages, but from computing power, models to applications, the complete industry chain they create is inevitably closed…”

The man eloquently explained, and Ning Zhiyuan threw out questions from business to technical perspectives. While the answers might not have been perfect, there weren’t major flaws either. In the end, Ning Zhiyuan closed the business proposal in his hands and said, “Come to my office next week, and we can discuss it in more detail.”

The man seemed surprised by how readily Ning Zhiyuan agreed, first hesitating, then showing joy. “Thank you!”

After the person left, Ning Zhiyuan turned his head, raised his chin in the direction of Cen Zhisen, and said, “Is it appropriate for you to eavesdrop here?”

“If you don’t want people to eavesdrop, don’t choose such places for business discussions,” Cen Zhisen walked over. “Is it settled? Have you made a decision without considering it further?”

“What do you think?” Ning Zhiyuan asked him.

The entrepreneur had mentioned Cen An earlier, seemingly unaware that Ning Zhiyuan had come from there. He analyzed the disadvantages of Cen An’s closed ecosystem in this AIGC sector, somewhat presumptuous but not entirely without reason.

After thinking for a moment, Cen Zhisen said, “It’s a bit risky. He probably tried others and got rejected before coming to you.”

“Well,” Ning Zhiyuan didn’t deny it. “But besides the project, I’m more interested in the person. Let’s have a closer look during the due diligence. If there are no major issues, trying won’t hurt much anyway.”

When he said, “I’m more interested in the person,” he had a faint smile on his lips, and his voice slightly rose. Cen Zhisen looked at him and found it hard to shift his gaze away.

“Is that so?” Cen Zhisen swallowed and spoke.

“Yeah,” Ning Zhiyuan affirmed with a smile.

So Cen Zhisen also smiled, “Alright, it’s up to you. Was it just you today?”

“Liu Lu and the others left a moment ago,” Ning Zhiyuan said.

“How about having dinner together?” Cen Zhisen suggested.

Ning Zhiyuan said, “I need to go back to the office for a while and pick up some things.”

“Then let’s go together,” Cen Zhisen said, instructing his assistant nearby, “You go with the car; I’ll go with him.”

The assistant finally had the opportunity to greet Ning Zhiyuan. Jokingly, Ning Zhiyuan said, “You’ve really changed after the promotion. You walk with a swagger now.”

“Mr. Xiao Cen, please don’t tease me,” the assistant pleaded. He had just been promoted to Cen Zhisen’s special assistant last week, a position slightly higher than when he was Ning Zhiyuan’s assistant, but ultimately, it was thanks to Ning Zhiyuan’s influence.

If there was any special gain, it was probably discovering that the relationship between his two former bosses was not as he had imagined.

Watching Ning Zhiyuan and Cen Zhisen leave side by side, the assistant confirmed once again that it was not an illusion.

Before getting into the car, Cen Zhisen suddenly reached out, covering the back of Ning Zhiyuan’s hand and smoothly taking the car keys from him. “Let me drive. You look tired.”

Ning Zhiyuan didn’t argue; he just walked around to the passenger seat.

As the car left the parking lot, Ning Zhiyuan casually said, “I came over this morning and ran into Cen Zhe. He came with his mentor.”

“I know,” Cen Zhisen said. “They left before noon. Why didn’t you come join us for lunch since you came over in the morning?”

“Not suitable,” Ning Zhiyuan shook his head slightly. “You have so many people around you; you don’t lack me.”

Cen Zhisen glanced at him. Ning Zhiyuan was leaning back in the seat, smiling as he looked at him.

“I also listened to your speech,” Ning Zhiyuan continued.

“How was it?” Cen Zhisen asked.

“You looked quite handsome,” Ning Zhiyuan replied.

The car stopped at a traffic light, and Cen Zhisen’s gaze lingered on his face for a moment.

Ning Zhiyuan affirmed, “Indeed, very handsome when you were giving a speech on the stage.”

At that time, Ning Zhiyuan was sitting towards the back, unable to remember the content of the speech. However, he vividly recalled the person standing at the front, speaking with a calm and confident demeanor, full of assurance.

If he had to describe it, the only word that came to mind was “handsome.”

The red light had turned green, and Cen Zhisen’s gaze returned to the front as he pressed the accelerator. “Thanks for the compliment.”

Ning Zhiyuan hooked a smile. “You’re welcome.”

“I heard you invested in several projects in just over a month?” Cen Zhisen casually asked.

“Yeah,” Ning Zhiyuan remained relaxed, leaning against the seat. “Pre-A round for an AR optical hardware, A round for a GPU chip, and an A+ round for a brain-computer interface. Also, there are a few more projects in consideration. When my old classmate comes in two months, I’ll let him handle the medical and health sector; that should speed things up.”

Cen Zhisen chuckled at his words. This was indeed Ning Zhiyuan’s style of doing things, always decisive and swift.

“What time do you work until every day?” he inquired.

“It’s hard to say,” Ning Zhiyuan replied lazily. “It depends on when I finish the work. But not last night. I went back around the same time as you.”

Cen Zhisen asked, “How did you know what time I went back?”

“Maybe I have telepathy,” Ning Zhiyuan said somewhat proudly.

Listening to his tone, Cen Zhisen felt a bit itchy, tapping his fingers lightly on the steering wheel but didn’t press further.

The car entered the underground parking lot of the office building, and Ning Zhiyuan unfastened his seatbelt and got out of the car first.

Cen Zhisen deliberately slowed down his movements. By the time he pushed the door open and stepped out, Ning Zhiyuan had just rounded to the driver’s side. Cen Zhisen reached out, grabbed his arm, and pressed him against the car door.

His hands circled around Ning Zhiyuan’s body, he leaned in, looking into Ning Zhiyuan’s eyes. “Why didn’t you reply to my messages?”

Ning Zhiyuan, with his hands in his pockets, leaning against the car door, maintained the lazy posture from before, looking back at him. “Last night? I was indeed a bit tired last night, and I had to attend this summit in the morning. If there wasn’t anything urgent, I didn’t reply. I went to sleep as soon as I got back.”

It was unclear how much of this was true or false, and Cen Zhisen tried to see through him. However, Ning Zhiyuan’s eyes were calm, even in this restrained position, and they were already beyond a safe distance.

Indeed, Ning Zhiyuan had been busy for the past month, but the intermittent closeness and distance were also genuine.

Several times, Cen Zhisen wanted to come directly to find him or just go to his place, but he restrained himself each time.

“Little rascal,” Cen Zhisen muttered, both helpless and amused.

Breathing closely, as if intimately entwined, Ning Zhiyuan’s gaze slowly wandered on his face. “There were two companies before that wanted us to invest. They were working on the same thing, progress was similar, and the companies were comparable in size. Even the two founders had their own strengths. When I was hesitating between choosing one of them, Zhang Zhao suggested that we look at physiognomy. In the end, he picked one, saying that the founder had a good face, and his destiny carried wealth.”

“Oh? So what happened?” Cen Zhisen asked, following his words.

“Physiognomy can reveal the nature of a person,” Ning Zhiyuan explained.

Cen Zhisen understood when he saw Ning Zhiyuan’s eyes reflecting his own face. “So, in your eyes, what kind of person am I?”

Ning Zhiyuan didn’t answer, his gaze repeatedly scanning the eyes and lips of the person in front of him.

He and Cen Zhisen, one flirtatious and the other carefree, similar yet different.

Did Cen Zhisen pay special attention to anyone and care deeply about them?

Ning Zhiyuan thought about this question and inexplicably recalled Cen Zhisen’s first love from years ago. His expression faded slightly.

“You, too, are a rascal.”

In Ning Zhiyuan’s eyes, there was a hint of mockery when he said this. He spoke in a slightly hoarse tone, and his tone carried some ambiguous meaning.

Cen Zhisen raised his hand and pressed at the corner of his eye, sighing as if in exasperation. “Then let’s both be rascals.”

As they drew closer, breaths entangled even more tightly. Suddenly, Ning Zhiyuan raised his eyes, looked ahead, paused for a moment, and smilingly reminded Cen Zhisen, “Ge, there are surveillance cameras everywhere. There’s one right in front.”

Cen Zhisen, seemingly unfazed, allowed the tip of his nose to brush against Ning Zhiyuan’s jaw, then down to the side of his neck, lightly touching. Only then did he nonchalantly step back, releasing him.

“Let’s go up and get your things,” he said.