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Chapter 19 – Naked Male Rivalry

Chen Songxian, who had been exiled to Africa for a month, was utterly miserable.

Born into a wealthy family with every luxury imaginable, the most hardship Chen Songxian had ever endured was during a week-long boat escape from the mainland to Hong Kong at the age of ten. But after arriving in Hong Kong with ample silver and assets, the Chen family prospered through the cotton business, becoming one of the city’s most prominent wealthy clans. From then on, Chen Songxian never knew hardship again.

This time, however, it was a full month — an entire month! — that he was sent to some godforsaken place in Africa to “develop market opportunities.” Every day he faced barren land and Black locals chattering in unintelligible languages. It was torture.

He missed Hong Kong — missed the city’s flashing lights, dazzling nightlife, beautiful women, gourmet food, luxury mansions, and high-end cars. And most of all, he missed his girlfriend, whom he was madly in love with.

Yet, though filled with anger, he dared not voice a complaint. He knew full well it was his older cousin who had suggested this Africa trip to his father, but he didn’t have the guts to confront him.

When he finally made it back to Hong Kong, he assumed that troublesome matter with the child bride must have already been handled by his cousin. Everything seemed perfect!

After a passionate reunion with his girlfriend, he took her out on a date to watch a movie.

At the theater entrance, he spotted Yang Minghui and his cousin’s luxury car. Surprised that his cousin would appear at a movie theater, he also felt a hint of delight and invited him to watch a movie together.

That one sentence utterly frightened Yang Minghui.

The seasoned secretary waved his hands hastily. “Young Master Chen… Young Master, the eldest young master is here for an important matter. No time for personal leisure — we wouldn’t want to delay your date.”

Chen Songxian was puzzled. His cousin, who usually only cared about work and business, suddenly had important matters at a movie theater? Was he planning to invest in the cinema?

Unable to figure it out, he dropped the thought and waved goodbye to Secretary Yang. He wrapped an arm around his girlfriend and stepped into the screening hall, determined to enjoy the glamour of Hong Kong he had missed so dearly.

Yang Minghui let out a sigh of relief as he watched Chen Songxian walk away.

That was close!

If Young Master Chen had discovered that his cousin was personally handling the child bride situation… and ended up dating her — what a mess that would’ve been!

Meanwhile, the contrast inside the two theaters was striking. Chen Songxian and his girlfriend sat in a bustling auditorium filled with laughter and cheers.

But in the exclusive screening room booked entirely for two people, silence reigned. Though no one else was present, not a word was spoken.

Lin Keying’s palm was slightly sweaty. Her soft, boneless hand was tightly clasped in the man’s. Their skin touching felt overwhelmingly intimate — almost exposed.

Despite the large, empty room cloaked in darkness, it felt even more suffocating than a kiss.

Thankfully, when the movie ended, Secretary Yang rushed in. With just one look, he was about to report urgent matters.

Taking the opportunity, Lin Keying freed herself and flicked her hair. “I’m going to get milk tea.”

Watching her graceful retreat, Cheng Wanting turned and asked, “What’s the urgent matter?”

“Young Master, Young Master Chen just returned from Africa!” Yang Minghui spoke with urgency. “He was just outside the theater. He even said he wanted to watch the movie with you.”

Finally spilling the secret that had weighed on him, Yang took a deep breath and continued, “But don’t worry — I brushed him off. If we leave right away, we should avoid running into him.”

Frankly, it was the Young Master who was in the wrong here, and it made even Yang Minghui feel a bit guilty.

What was supposed to be a date had somehow turned into a clandestine affair!

What a disaster.

Yet Cheng Wanting showed not a hint of panic when told his cousin had returned. Calmly, he instructed to leave. Yang Minghui couldn’t help but admire his master’s nerves of steel.

What a strong psychological profile!

……

After the movie, it was almost dinnertime. Lin Keying assumed her wealthy fiancé would take her to a high-end restaurant. To her surprise, he suggested visiting the dessert shop he had invested in.

The dessert shop was bustling. Sister He and her husband were busy, along with their two kids off from school on a Sunday.

“Keying-jie!” A ponytailed girl in a striped school uniform from St. Paul’s waved excitedly at Lin Keying.

When she saw the tall man in a crisp suit standing beside Keying-jie, her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

She didn’t know who he was, but he looked scary.

Lin Keying, knowing her fiancé had a powerful presence, greeted the others and teased the girl. “This is…”

She hesitated — unsure what title would be appropriate.

“I’m your Keying-jie’s fiancé,” Cheng Wanting said coolly, his sharp gaze sweeping over the high school girl.

Lin Keying: “…!”

Was that introduction really necessary?

The girl nearly jumped in shock and leaned in close to whisper, “Keying-jie, so you do have a fiancé? Then poor Brother Xiao Huo is going to be heartbroken~”

As soon as she heard “Brother Xiao Huo,” Lin Keying felt a chill shoot up her spine from a glare behind her. She quickly covered the girl’s mouth. “Shh~”

The poor girl didn’t understand that among powerful elites, even a fake fiancée couldn’t be allowed to have rumors with other men.

++++

Since her fiancé’s face had been revealed to Tingting on Sunday, the girl no longer doubted Keying-jie’s love life. Instead, she persistently asked when they were getting married.

Lin Keying, in the middle of eating red bean soup, almost choked on the word “married.”

Though her fiancé acted like he was reluctantly indulging her feelings, he didn’t resemble a man in love — always aloof and restrained. Lin Keying, similarly not blinded by love, resisted the charms of this rich and handsome man.

Even if they never made it to marriage, she’d be a savvy little landlady with solid investments by the end of it.

“Focus on your studies and stop gossiping,” Lin Keying said, brushing Tingting off. Then she received an accounting ledger from Sister He.

The dessert shop had been open for over two weeks. As predicted, traffic had stabilized after an explosive first week.

Sister He and her husband had never seen so much money. In just half a month, their income had exceeded their usual monthly total.

“I haven’t been able to sleep these past few nights,” Sister He said. They often got home close to 10:30 p.m., and even after washing up, she’d lie awake excitedly replaying the day’s earnings in her head.

Rolling over in bed, she’d see her husband grinning ear to ear.

Ah Sheng laughed, “We’re just poor people suddenly getting rich — no composure at all.”

Lin Keying reassured them, “Once business gets even better and we open more branches, you’ll need to stay grounded.”

Her plan was to expand once the flagship store stabilized, using TV and print media to promote the brand throughout Hong Kong.

On one side, the dessert business was thriving. On the other, her real estate properties were being handed over.

The 3-million-dollar villa in Mid-Levels (Phase II) and two 500 sq ft apartments in the Hongji residence were now all officially hers.

She planned to renovate the villa for her own use and rent out the two smaller apartments.

The apartments were already basically finished — with plumbing, electricity, and clean walls in place. What remained was interior design and installing appliances.

Cheng Wanting’s villa followed a minimalist, cold aesthetic — clean and sparse, but fully equipped with modern conveniences like TV, fridge, washing machine, flush toilet, bathtub, and shower — indistinguishable from future standards.

When Lin Keying looked over the renovation proposals brought by Yang Minghui from a local design company, she was stunned.

Though Hong Kong’s vintage style remained popular in the future, the current designs looked outdated to her eyes.

Back in her original life, Lin Keying had finally saved enough to buy her own place. She had meticulously studied design for months — collecting gigabytes of ideas, comparing materials across dozens of vendors, selecting everything from paint color to tile grout herself. After three grueling months of renovation, she died before ever living in it.

Now, she planned to design it herself — a way to fulfill that past regret.

Opting for a light-colored, modern style with a clean aesthetic, she sketched out ideas, especially for the 500 sq ft apartments intended for rental. She figured those would house entire families.

With housing scarce in Hong Kong, only the ultra-rich owned villas. Ordinary people crammed into tiny units with large families — like Sister He’s.

For such limited spaces, light colors and compact furniture made the place feel more spacious.

Lin Keying worked hard communicating her vision to the designers — to their surprise.

Ever since real estate took off in Hong Kong, renovation companies had boomed — but most just copied each other. As a result, almost every apartment in town looked the same, following the same outdated “luxury” style from 7–8 years ago.

Dark tones were seen as upscale — fine for large villas, but in small apartments, they made everything feel cramped.

Following Lin Keying’s instructions, the designers got to work on the two apartments, while she took on the villa renovation herself.

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Two 500-square-foot small apartments were successfully rented out after soft furnishing and airing for a while, bringing in a monthly rental income of 1,000 HKD each.

After receiving three months’ rent plus one month’s deposit, Lin Keying held eighty red banknotes in her hand and finally felt a sense of reality—she could now be considered a mini landlady!

As for being a real landlady, that would require owning an entire street or building.

Every beginning is hard, but Lin Keying had taken another step closer to her goal.

She deposited 8,000 HKD into her personal account, then turned her attention to managing the renovation of her 3-million-dollar villa.

The basic renovation of the villa had already been completed. The overall color scheme, layout, and soft furnishing were all designed according to her preferences.

Lately, the dessert shop business had been stable. The revenue from the past two months was impressive. After paying Aunt He and Brother Ah Sheng a monthly wage of 5,000 HKD each, plus utilities and raw material costs, they had a net monthly profit of around 15,000 HKD. With a 50-50 split, both Lin Keying and Aunt He’s side earned 15,000 over two months.

Every month, 5,000 HKD was set aside for ingredient procurement, leaving each side with 10,000 HKD.

Lin Keying gained another round of income, while Aunt He’s family—who had never earned so much in their life—had already started dreaming about saving for a down payment on their own home.

Lin Keying had quite a few properties and frequently visited the villa community, enthusiastically supervising the renovations and watching her dream home gradually take shape.

The villa renovation was progressing smoothly, and Lin Keying was happily busy. On the other side, her fiancé Cheng Wanting was also extremely occupied and rarely returned to the Mid-Levels villa lately.

Lin Keying had once heard from Secretary Yang that the land Cheng Wanting wanted had run into issues, keeping him tied up for days.

Aunt Hua, worried that Lin Keying might feel lonely, consoled her: “Miss Lin, the young master is just busy with work, please be understanding.”

But Lin Keying didn’t feel lonely at all. In fact, she was enjoying her time alone so much that she’d nearly forgotten she had a fiancé.

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“Young master, the shares with Jardine Matheson are stuck in a deadlock. We’re just one step short,” Secretary Yang spoke through gritted teeth in the General Manager’s office of Huanyu Group.

Back then, Liu Zhigao boldly spent 800 million trying to acquire 18 million shares of Wharf Holdings, intending to challenge its largest shareholder, Jardine Matheson. This caused market turmoil and a business war that was eventually mediated by HSBC.

After the truce, Cheng Wanting, who had been lying in wait, struck an agreement with Liu Zhigao: he bought the 18 million Wharf shares in exchange for giving up New Moon Bay shares, then helped Liu take over more than half of HSBC’s holdings in New Moon Bay.

As a result, Cheng Wanting now held 18 million Wharf shares. With additional scattered stock purchases and leveraging his relationship with HSBC, he was about to seize control of Wharf Holdings from Jardine Matheson.

But at the critical moment, Cheng Wanting’s holdings only reached 30%, while Jardine Matheson still had 31%. A third shareholder, Guo Changda, held 13%, with the remaining 26% scattered among minor shareholders. Despite both Huanyu and Jardine rapidly acquiring more shares, Huanyu was narrowly trailing, unable to become the majority shareholder.

Wharf, located in a prime spot in Hong Kong, had immense commercial and strategic value. But under Jardine’s control for years, it never reached its full potential.

That’s why Cheng Wanting was determined to take it.

To reverse the shareholding situation, he had recently been too busy to think about anything else. He carefully scanned the Jardine shareholder list for potential swing votes and locked onto three key targets for persuasion.

Countless dinners and drinking sessions ensued, as business negotiations often happened between toasts and rounds of wine.

When Secretary Yang finally helped the tipsy Cheng Wanting back to the Mid-Levels villa, it had been seven days since he last visited.

The villa was pitch dark, except for a faint light glowing in the guest room on the first floor, drawing Cheng Wanting’s steps.

But just as he reached the door, the light inside went out.

At ten that night, Lin Keying had just put away her gossip magazines and was preparing for a sweet night’s sleep.

Just as she was about to drift off, someone knocked on her door.

Outside stood a tall man with a faint smell of alcohol, yet he looked completely composed.

“Young master, are you drunk?” Lin Keying sniffed the air. The alcohol smell wasn’t strong—he seemed sober.

“No,” Cheng Wanting replied in a low voice, even deeper than usual. “We haven’t seen each other for days. Why haven’t you called me even once?”

That day, he’d had drinks with the second target board member but failed to sway him. Only one remained—Guo Changda, a mysterious and neutral billionaire.

On the way home, while resting with his eyes closed in the car, he overheard Yang Minghui chatting with the driver about how his wife called every day to remind him to eat on time and not drink too much.

Cheng Wanting realized he hadn’t received any such calls.

“I… I didn’t want to disturb your work.” Lin Keying was dumbfounded. Who would’ve thought a drunk man would come in the middle of the night to scold her for not calling?

Was he drunk or just crazy?

“Hmm. I’ll forgive you this time.” The man leaned against the doorframe. His tall figure, dressed in a black shirt, loomed large in the dark, practically enveloping Lin Keying. He lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers, passing along a faint trace of wine. “Don’t let it happen again.”

Lin Keying, caught in his embrace, could only wonder how he could still be so domineering while drunk.

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Cheng Wanting, pressed for time, left the villa early the next morning.

Had it not been for the lingering tingle on her lips, Lin Keying might have thought the whole thing was a dream.

“Miss Lin, the young master said he won’t be back for dinner tonight either,” Aunt Hua said sadly. The young master was too busy—even to eat her cooking.

“Okay,” Lin Keying replied, not bothered. She had her own plans and left right away.

Having not visited the dessert shop in days, Lin Keying sat down for a bowl of peanut and wheat congee. The soft, fragrant peanuts and tender wheat made for a rich, sweet dish that left her completely satisfied.

Also visiting the shop that morning was the elderly man she had once saved from some thugs.

Grateful, he had come on the shop’s opening day and later became a regular customer with his wife.

Though simply dressed like any ordinary elderly couple, they were incredibly knowledgeable and could join any conversation. When Lin Keying discussed her renovation progress with Aunt He, they even recommended some good building materials suppliers.

This made for pleasant conversation.

“Uncle Da, Auntie Feng, the tile store you recommended was great—good quality and affordable!”

“You’ve got a good eye, young lady,” Uncle Da chuckled, sipping green bean soup. “I told you, Xiao Lin is a smart one.”

Auntie Feng smiled warmly, sipping red bean soup. “Xiao Lin, come fishing with us next time. Uncle Da is great at it. If he catches a big one, I’ll cook it for you.”

Lin Keying happily agreed, imagining the delicious meal.

Back at the Mid-Levels villa, she was surprised to find her fiancé had returned.

Exhausted from the Wharf stock battle, Cheng Wanting still insisted on dragging her into the study to “study.”

Lin Keying grumbled inwardly.

During breaks from language study, she now openly doodled design sketches for how she wanted to decorate her villa.

“Where did you learn this?”

His sudden voice startled her.

“Oh,” she said, used to lying since transmigrating into this world. “TV dramas. I picked up some ideas and added my own.”

“You learn fast. Your ideas are quite thoughtful,” Cheng Wanting commented neutrally.

Though he wasn’t in the renovation industry, even he could see her talent.

Encouraged, Lin Keying showed him her sketches and asked for his thoughts. They had several productive discussions, and she made detailed notes.

“You really love houses, don’t you?” Cheng Wanting asked, noticing her passion.

“Of course.” Her eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky. “I’ve always wanted a place of my own since I was a child.”

“Didn’t your family give you a house when you were young?” he asked casually.

Alarm bells rang in her mind. She’d let too much slip! Quickly correcting herself: “Of course not—it’s just that everyone dreams of having a place they can call home.”

Worried he’d see through her disguise, she changed the topic. Drawing from the original novel, she added details to make her identity more convincing.

“Your family was always good to me—especially you.” She wrapped her arm around his. “Xongxian, I remember how kind you were when we were kids. When some boys bullied me, you stood in front of me with open arms. I started liking you from that moment.”

Her “heartfelt” confession was met with a blank expression.

“Songxian, what’s wrong?” she asked, concerned.

“Don’t you remember our childhood—mmph—”

He suddenly leaned down and kissed her, sealing her lips.

“Isn’t the man I am now better than the fiancé you remember from childhood?”

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