Yu Zi forgot how long he had been standing outside the side door.

Ever since he heard Xiao Liu’s words, he had been feeling a faint pain in his temples.

Xie Dongcheng wanted to leave? He had bought a car early, giving himself a way out.

He was worrying about the future of this restaurant, but Xie Dongcheng wanted to leave. It turned out that from start to finish, there was no place for him in Xie Dongcheng’s plans.

Only this idiot, still here feeling sorry for himself, is simply too foolish.

Even when the family went bankrupt and he was forced to move out of the villa, he didn’t feel so pathetic.

March came quickly, and Yu Zi went to the boxing gym more and more frequently, even becoming familiar with the front desk there. In the past, he had to sign in with his name, but in recent days, as soon as he pushed the door, the front desk would immediately greet him: “Mr. Yu is here again.”

Yu Zi always came alone, so he paid for a sparring partner to accompany him.

However, in recent days, even the sparring partners at the boxing gym noticed that he wasn’t in the right state.

Yu Zi stood on the platform with a vacant look in his eyes, without any technique in his punches, let alone any proper defense. He took several hits forcefully, and then, without paying attention, he tripped and fell onto the ring.

In the moment he fell, Yu Zi even forgot to protect himself with his arms and slammed onto the mat with a bang.

“Why haven’t you scored at all? It’s unlike your style,” the sparring partner reached out to help him up.

Yu Zi was stunned, took a deep breath, and stood up from the ring.

Hiss—

After standing upright, he took a sharp intake of breath; this fall wasn’t light. He looked at his left arm and estimated that it would bruise.

“Let’s call it a day for today,” he waved to the sparring partner and walked out, opening the guardrail.

“Do you want to take a few days off? You look tired,” the sparring partner asked with concern from behind.

“No need,” Yu Zi shook his head, “I’ll continue tomorrow.”

When Yu Zi came out of the gym, he happened to see Xie Dongcheng’s car parked at the entrance. The air conditioning inside the car was on, and as soon as he got into the car, he took off his coat, revealing the short-sleeved shirt he wore for practice.

Xie Dongcheng noticed a deep red mark on his arm and asked, turning his head, “What happened to your arm?”

Yu Zi closed his eyes, “It’s none of your business.”

Xie Dongcheng’s eyelids drooped, then he shifted gears and started the car again.

Since the day Xie Dongcheng unilaterally moved back to the living room, Yu Zi hadn’t bothered him anymore, letting him sleep outside alone. But now, not only did the small bed in the bedroom have traces of their love, but even the sofa had gone through a game of chess. In this small house, it seemed that everywhere was filled with suggestive hints.

When he returned home, Yu Zi’s steps were somewhat floating. He stood by the side of the sofa, suddenly squatted down, and sat on the floor, hugging his thighs.

Seeing that he seemed to have a headache, Xie Dongcheng thought he was too tired from training at night and asked, “Do you want me to make some hot soup?”

Yu Zi shook his head, still not saying anything, his face still looking a bit pale.

Xie Dongcheng walked over, gently bent down, and covered his forehead with the back of his hand. Fortunately, he didn’t have a fever.

Just as his hand was about to leave, Yu Zi suddenly grabbed his wrist with such force that Xie Dongcheng was startled.

Yu Zi raised his head, looking at Xie Dongcheng, but there was no trace of the occasional tenderness in his eyes, replaced by a somewhat sharp scrutiny. This scrutiny made Xie Dongcheng feel a chill down his spine.

He even thought that Yu Zi was going to ask him to do something on the sofa again. Xie Dongcheng felt uncomfortable and touched his Adam’s apple.

Yu Zi stared at him for a long time, about a minute or so. His eyes were like a calm dark river, flowing in the silent night. The moonlight scattered on the water’s surface, but he seemed unwilling to let any strand of moonlight stay.

Halfway through the second lap of the second hand, Yu Zi suddenly let go of his hand.

“Forget it,” Yu Zi lowered his head and smiled, saying only these two words.

Xie Dongcheng lost his balance and fell backward, swaying a few times before finally steadying himself.

Before Xie Dongcheng could ask what he meant by “forget it,” Yu Zi’s phone on the coffee table lit up. The intense vibration interrupted the silence between them.

Yu Zi didn’t pay any more attention to the person in front of him. He struggled to sit up, picked up his phone and looked at it. The call was from Joanna Lin.

He had been in touch with Sister Lin all along, occasionally buying a few bottles of wine for her.

After the call connected, before Yu Zi could even say hello, Sister Lin spoke first, “Xiao You, there’s a big job.”

Xie Dongcheng, standing on the side, saw Yu Zi’s eyes light up after listening to a few words from the other end.

“Thirty bottles?!” Yu Zi asked incredulously.

After receiving confirmation from the other end, Yu Zi couldn’t help but stand up directly, his expression sweeping away the previous frustration.

Xie Dongcheng hurriedly asked, “What’s going on?”

Yu Zi hung up the phone only after two more responses and looked back at him, “There’s a big order.”

The job Sister Lin found for him was indeed quite big.

The company where Sister Lin worked was engaged in commercial real estate services. She had an acquaintance who was a senior executive on the client side, specifically requesting a collectible wine from a well-known winery, and he wanted thirty bottles at once. The crucial point was that the client demanded delivery within a month, and payment upon delivery.

Considering Yu Zi’s extensive knowledge of wine, Sister Lin referred the client to him. Yu Zi had previously only dealt with small-scale transactions, but this one was worth several hundred thousand yuan.

Yu Zi had been struggling with tight finances for some time now, often robbing Peter to pay Paul.

This big order was like a timely gift from heaven. If it could be completed successfully, it would be much faster than earning money through the daily hustle and bustle in the restaurant. Other businesses could also operate more efficiently.

This was simply a big fish that couldn’t be missed.

But the wine that Yu Zi knew about had limited availability in the domestic market. To get thirty bottles at once would be quite challenging for him.

The next morning, he didn’t go to the restaurant but instead searched around at home and found that the wine distributors in the northern city were scattered in various locations throughout the city. It would take quite some time to visit each one.

“I’ll take you there,” Xie Dongcheng said when he saw it, immediately putting on his coat and picking up the car keys.

With time running out, Yu Zi didn’t bother to think about it anymore. He followed Xie Dongcheng and got into his Toyota.

Yu Zi first looked for the distributors he knew from before, inquiring around, and managed to scrape together three bottles.

In recent years, the domestic wine market had not seen much expansion. Most distributors of collector’s wines were unwilling to stockpile them, as they tended to get stuck with excess inventory. Moreover, these wines had a high unit price and lacked the broad consumer base of domestic liquor brands, making it difficult to find someone to take them all at once.

After running around all morning, Yu Zi couldn’t help but feel a bit discouraged. Xie Dongcheng could only drive him back to the restaurant.

Upon returning to the restaurant, Yu Zi remained behind the counter. After some research, he found that the wine could be purchased overseas, but with shipping and customs clearance, a month’s time was definitely not enough.

Yu Zi used to have many friends who enjoyed wine, but after his family went bankrupt, he had lost contact with most of them.

Summoning up his courage, he contacted two of the friends with whom he had maintained a decent relationship. One of them didn’t reply at all.

It wasn’t until two or three in the afternoon that the other person replied with a valuable message. He said he knew a wine dealer named Wang Jing. He had a warehouse in the suburbs with a considerable stock of famous wines, and perhaps approaching this person could yield results.

This lifeline grasped by Yu Zi immediately gave him hope. He quickly obtained the address of this Wang Jing and found that the warehouse was located in the suburbs about twenty kilometers away. Yu Zi put on his coat and prepared to leave.

Xie Dongcheng happened to come out of the kitchen at that moment and saw Yu Zi heading towards the door. He immediately set down what he was holding, asking, “Where are you going?”

“Here.” Yu Zi instinctively handed him his phone to look at. After showing it to him, he regretted it, but it was too late to take it back.

Xie Dongcheng put on his coat and followed him out: “I’ll drive.”

At this point, any further explanation between the two seemed unnecessary. Maintaining a superficial peace seemed to be a tacit understanding that benefitted both of them.

Xie Dongcheng still kept the car’s air conditioning on high. Driving Yu Zi and taking him to his destination had become muscle memory for him over the years.

However, in the past, they would often chat about various topics in the car. But during these recent days, there was an unusual silence in the car.

After about half an hour, the car stopped in front of a deserted low-rise building.

Yu Zi got out of the car, patting his pants after stepping out.

Following behind him, Xie Dongcheng entered the building. Yu Zi found the door with the number on it, but it was tightly shut. He knocked on it, but there was no response at first. After knocking twice more, footsteps could be heard from inside.

Creak…

The wooden door was opened from the inside. A man wearing a disheveled shirt stood behind the door.

“Who are you looking for?”

“Hello, are you Wang Jing?” Yu Zi asked.

“Yes, what’s up?” He nodded towards Yu Zi.

“I heard you have this wine here. I’d like to take a look.” Yu Zi opened the picture of the wine on his phone and showed it to him.

He squinted at it for a few seconds, then smiled mysteriously: “Yes, I do.”

“Could you show me around? I might need thirty bottles.”

Wang Jing took a serious look at him before responding: “My warehouse isn’t open to just anyone.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay a deposit on the spot after seeing it. I’m sincere.” Yu Zi stated his position directly.

Wang Jing sized him up for a moment, then glanced at Xie Dongcheng standing behind him. Xie Dongcheng felt a bit uncomfortable under his gaze and cleared his throat.

“Wait for me for two minutes.” He lazily returned to the house, closing the door behind him.

Yu Zi and Xie Dongcheng stood outside the door for a while, waiting for him to come out. After a while, he put on his coat and walked out.

Then he led the two of them to a nearby low building. Instead of going upstairs, they turned a corner and went down the stairs.

The surrounding light gradually dimmed, and the corridor leading underground felt cold. Yu Zi quickly wrapped his coat tighter around himself.

After descending more than ten steps, they reached the basement.

Yu Zi looked around and felt a chill from the bottom of his feet. What kind of place was this?

There was only a cold white light at the entrance of the basement. Beyond it was a dark iron door, locked with a huge iron lock.

Seeing that Yu Zi seemed a little afraid, Xie Dongcheng lightly supported his waist with his right hand. However, Yu Zi quickly avoided him, leaving his hand hanging awkwardly in the cold air.

As Wang Jing took out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door after a few twists, the iron lock clicked open.

With a swish, soft lights illuminated the basement room. Inside were rows of wine cabinets, displaying various types of fine wines.

Yu Zi’s eyes lit up.

Wang Jing stood in front of one of the wine cabinets, surveyed it, then took out a bottle and handed it to Yu Zi.

“Is this what you’re looking for?”

Yu Zi took a look at it, and indeed, it was the wine he wanted. He couldn’t hide his excitement: “Exactly.”

Then he hurriedly asked, “I need thirty bottles. Do you have that many?”

Wang Jing remained calm and collected. With a swish, he opened a glass door behind him and smiled at Yu Zi: “Plenty.”

Yu Zi couldn’t contain his joy and asked eagerly, “Can I make a deposit today?”

But Wang Jing shook his head: “I don’t accept deposits.”

“What do you mean?”

“Thirty thousand in full payment, cash on delivery.”

Yu Zi’s smile faded instantly as he fell into thought.

It wasn’t because of anything else. The short-term operating loan he had applied for from the bank would be due next month, and he needed to repay the bank thirty thousand as principal. With the money he could access at the moment, he had just over three hundred thousand.

He had to calculate the timing carefully to avoid delaying either side. Over the years, he had learned that business was like a game of opening boxes—inside, there might be swords, or there might be honey.

He lifted his head from his thoughts and saw Wang Jing folding his arms, looking at him, waiting for his response.