“Get off me,” Yu Zi said, pulling Xie Dongcheng’s hand with what little strength he had left.

Xie Dongcheng didn’t respond, then after a while, muttered, “Just a little longer.”

Yu Zi gritted his teeth, “I’ll kill you.”

The two struggled in the car until past one in the morning, even the stray cats fell silent and found a corner in the flower bed to sleep.

After some tug of war, they finally emerged from the car disheveled.

“You don’t have surveillance here, right?” Yu Zi limped to open the car door and looked outside.

“There’s not even property management,” Xie Dongcheng shook his head.

Yu Zi breathed a sigh of relief, but the embarrassing memory from last night still lingered in his mind. What’s worse, he didn’t feel entirely cleaned up yet, making it uncomfortable to walk.

Seeing his state, Xie Dongcheng stood in front of him and patted his back, “I’ll carry you.”

Two minutes later, Yu Zi was lying on Xie Dongcheng’s back. Just like a year ago when he accidentally sprained his foot.

“Walk slower,” Yu Zi tapped his thigh.

“What’s wrong?” Xie Dongcheng was puzzled.

“It hurts like hell!”

Xie Dongcheng’s ears turned red again, as if he himself hadn’t just done something shameful.

The next morning, the daylight outside the window was bright. The city, washed by the rain, finally rid itself of some of its heat.

Yu Zi sat on the sofa, while Xie Dongcheng brought a chair and sat in front of him, wearing a freshly changed T-shirt. They stared at each other for two minutes.

Yu Zi broke the silence first, “Do you know how to use chopsticks?”

“Yes,” Xie Dongcheng replied.

“Do you know how to use an umbrella when it rains?” Yu Zi asked.

“Yes,” Xie Dongcheng replied.

“Then why didn’t you wear it last night?!” Yu Zi finished, enduring the pain and shifted his sitting position, “Not wearing it is one thing, but you also…”

He couldn’t continue, getting up to leave.

“Cough,” Xie Dongcheng averted his gaze, “I won’t do it again.”

“You better not,” Yu Zi gave him a cold glance before leaving.

Despite the scorching weather, Yu Zi reluctantly put on long sleeves and pants.

Even though he had the upper hand in this relationship, he had been defeated in the narrow car last night. He even agreed to Xie Dongcheng’s shameful and unreasonable request. It was truly humiliating.

Love can really make people twisted. Yu Zi despised himself.

The two of them returned to the scene of yesterday’s incident. Yu Zi always felt a strange smell lingering, so he quickly opened the car window to ventilate and get rid of the smell.

Xie Dongcheng sat in the driver’s seat but didn’t start the car. After thinking it over, he finally asked, “Do you really not want his one million dollars?”

Yu Zi sneered, “You believe his nonsense? If he really had one million dollars in cash, his first move wouldn’t be coming to me.”

Yu Zi remembered what Yu Qing had said to him yesterday. Yu Qing boasted to him, saying he could set up an office for him, invest in him, but didn’t mention a reason for his return.

Yu Zi asked several times, but he avoided the topic. It didn’t make sense.

Yu Zi didn’t believe he came to fulfill his promise and take him abroad. And Yu Qing seemed to have returned alone; he didn’t mention his current wife and son throughout yesterday’s conversation.

It all seemed suspicious to Yu Zi.

With this in mind, Yu Zi opened his phone, found a person from his WeChat friends list, and gently clicked on his profile. It showed that there had been no activity in the past three months, just a light gray horizontal line.

This WeChat belonged to his half-brother from the same father, Yu Ziheng.

Although they were nominally brothers, they had never had a conversation. The chat page between them remained at the stage of verifying each other’s request.

He thought for a moment, then retrieved his stepmother’s WeChat from the list page. Similarly, upon opening it, there was only a light gray horizontal line, no new updates.

This whole thing seemed fishy, but he had little interaction with the people in that family. It would be too risky to inquire casually and risk alarming them.

He thought for a moment, deciding to wait for a suitable time to investigate.

He refused Yu Qing’s million-dollar offer. And with the financing still pending, the winery was burning through money day by day.

To secure some cash flow, Yu Zi had some temporary plans. He wanted to negotiate with some large companies first, to get Shandai into their procurement list. If they could secure one or two orders, their financial problems would be greatly relieved.

Juggling deals like this was something he was familiar with.

He first targeted several western restaurants in the downtown area, had Wei Yunli send over a batch of samples, and proposed to the owners to offer them as wine pairings for customers. If the repeat purchase rate was high, they could offer them an introductory discount for their first batch.

They didn’t know if it was a stroke of luck or not, but this time it went quite smoothly. Yu Zi and Xie Dongcheng only visited four or five restaurants and, after giving a few bottles for tasting, two of them agreed to make purchases.

Yu Zi found a seemingly easygoing boss and inquired about the reasons, only to find out that procurement difficulties have long plagued the industry.

Restaurants of their level didn’t have much demand for overseas fine wines; it was more about the atmosphere. However, domestically stable and good-quality wines were not abundant, and those that could guarantee stable supply were even fewer.

As a result, after Yu Zi took over, Shandai immediately shipped over a thousand bottles. Although considering discounts, the profits weren’t as high as expected, but it was still a decent start.

Originally, Wei Yunli had some reservations about the young Yu Zi, but after this deal, she started to take notice of him.

Soon, they established a stable partnership with a western restaurant in the Central Business District (CBD). The division of labor between the two became clearer. Yu Zi was responsible for developing customers citywide, while Xie Dongcheng was in charge of coordinating with Wei Yunli and maintaining logistics.

Today was the first time they were delivering goods to the boss of the other restaurant. To show their importance, Yu Zi went along with Xie Dongcheng.

The boss of the western restaurant seemed to be around thirty-five or six, and his accent indicated he was a local.

Yu Zi only found out when he asked if he originally lived in the wealthy western suburbs.

“There were some changes at home later, so I came out to start my own business,” he explained with a smile to the two.

Yu Zi paused for a moment, then smiled. This life experience sounded so familiar.

After Xie Dongcheng brought the wine shipped from Bai Cheng into the kitchen of the restaurant, he noticed a piece of paper under the bar counter in the front hall. The paper was already damp with sewage, but the words on it caught Xie Dongcheng’s attention.

“Boss, what’s this?” Xie Dongcheng raised the damp sheet and asked.

The boss of the western restaurant squinted and looked at it for a few seconds, then said, “Oh, my friend left it here.”

Yu Zi overheard their conversation and came over to take a look, “CWS Association Grand Prix?”

The boss of the western restaurant nodded, “Yes, don’t you guys in this industry know about it? They say it’s an association salon, but it’s actually a wine tasting competition. It seems like the first time the northern city is hosting this competition. They’ve invited quite a few wine merchants and investors to participate.”

Yu Zi quickly asked, “When does it start?”

The boss frowned and recalled for a moment, “It seems like in the autumn, September or October.”

Xie Dongcheng glanced at Yu Zi, evidently understanding his meaning.

“Boss, we’ll be going back now,” Yu Zi waved to him and left the western restaurant with the damp sheet in hand.

“Huh? So soon? I wanted to treat you to a meal.”

Xie Dongcheng quickly turned back, waving his hand, “No need, thank you. I’ll treat you to a feast next time.”

Yu Zi had heard of this CWS Association before but didn’t know much about it. He immediately searched it up. This grand prix was one of the rare wine tasting competitions in the country and also one of the rare opportunities for emerging brands to shine.

Different from other ostentatious tasting salons, this competition employed blind tasting, allowing hundreds of well-known buyers, retailers, and distributors to score.

Without connections, it was difficult to stand out in the massive market. However, this competition presented their most fair opportunity.

Once they could win a gold award in this competition, it would quickly attract attention in the industry.

If lucky, they might catch the eye of investors on the spot, making a fortune.

However, the next issue arose. They didn’t know how to sign up for this competition.

In these industry competitions, most participants either had endorsements from investors or renowned wineries, or they were nominated by experienced wine merchants with years of industry experience. They currently didn’t have access to such channels.

Thinking of this, Yu Zi suddenly remembered someone. Xie Dongcheng evidently did too.

After exchanging a glance, Yu Zi picked up his phone and dialed a number quickly.

Three seconds later, someone picked up on the other end.

The person on the phone sighed, “Boss, what orders do you have now?”

Yu Zi spoke softly, “Here comes your second task.”

Upon hearing this, the person on the other end suddenly became alert, “What is it?”

“Find a way to get Shandai to participate in the CWS Association Grand Prix.”