When the words “robbed of more than just money” came out of Cen Zhisen’s mouth, Ning Zhiyuan burst into laughter. By the end of his laughter, even the corners of his eyes were tinged with a hint of red, and it seemed like he was genuinely getting tipsy.

Cen Zhisen watched him intently. Ning Zhiyuan rarely revealed such a genuine smile in front of him. It resonated from the depths of his chest, sincere and heartfelt. The laughter gathered in his eyes, making his gaze unusually bright.

“Alright then, I’ll stay overnight here.” Ning Zhiyuan didn’t insist any longer.

Cen Zhisen nodded, “The guest room is at the end of the left corridor. Feel free to use it. If you need anything, let me know.”

“Thanks.” Ning Zhiyuan replied.

He took a final look at the still sparkling night outside the glass wall before feeling truly at ease.

That night, Ning Zhiyuan slept soundly, dreamless, until past nine in the morning. During this period of not working, his biological clock had adapted to waking up at this time.

Cen Zhisen had left for the company half an hour ago and sent him a text message when he left, informing him that there was breakfast prepared in the kitchen. He reminded him to eat it whenever he wanted, and someone would come later to clean up.

Ning Zhiyuan got up, took a shower, and walked into the open-plan western kitchen. Breakfast was laid out on the central island, a simple western-style spread, looking quite abundant.

As he ate, he casually surveyed the surroundings. He hadn’t taken a close look the previous night, but the house was indeed spacious, especially the living room. It didn’t feel cold or empty, perhaps because the large glass wall allowed plenty of warm sunlight to pour in, making anyone standing there feel uplifted.

Finally, he stopped at the refrigerator cabinet beside the central island and saw a note stuck to the refrigerator door.

It was a simple version of instructions for using kitchen appliances, handwritten by Cen Zhisen.

Ning Zhiyuan found it somewhat amusing, but since Cen Zhisen had put in the effort, he decided to show appreciation. So, he went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee using the coffee machine.

Before leaving, he found a pen and wrote below the note, “The coffee was good.”

He added a casually drawn smiling face as a bonus.

They didn’t contact each other again for more than half a month.

On the evening of New Year’s Eve, while Ning Zhiyuan was in his study reading materials, he received a call from Cen Zhisen. Seeing his name on the screen, Ning Zhiyuan put on his Bluetooth earphones and casually answered the call.

“Sorry for the delay in what I promised you. I’ve been on a business trip all this time and just returned this afternoon,” Cen Zhisen apologized as he started the conversation.

“It’s not a problem; I’ve been busy these days too. Besides preparing relevant documents for the early stages, I also met some people and visited a few institutions. I managed to raise some money, not a lot, though,” Ning Zhiyuan said.

He had decided to establish a venture capital fund. To do that, he needed to raise funds, and although Cen Zhisen had offered to help, he couldn’t just sit back and wait. Over the past two weeks, along with his own money, he had managed to gather around seventy to eighty million.

Ning Zhiyuan wasn’t disappointed; the result was better than he had initially expected.

“No worries; I’ll figure out the next steps,” Cen Zhisen reassured.

“I also invited three partners to join me. They all agreed, and one of them is the former classmate I mentioned before, the one with an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in biology. After graduating, he worked on Wall Street. Since he expressed interest in developing in China, I thought of him,” Ning Zhiyuan continued.

“As for the other two, you should know who they are, right?”

Cen Zhisen sounded a bit helpless on the other end of the phone, “You’re not being polite at all, directly poaching people from Cen An. Is it that irresistible being under Xiao Cen’s command? Those are great positions with excellent pay and benefits in Cen An, yet they decided to leave and follow you.”

Ning Zhiyuan openly admitted, “Because I told them you would also be investing, and they probably trust your judgment.”

“Zhiyuan,” Cen Zhisen suddenly called his name.

“Yes?” Ning Zhiyuan’s voice was hesitant, tinged with laughter.

“You’re not holding back, using my name to poach from Cen An,” Cen Zhisen also laughed, “Do you have the nerve for that?”

“I’m sorry,” Ning Zhiyuan’s apology lacked sincerity, “but considering Cen An is such a large company, they won’t have trouble finding replacements. You just need to put in a bit more effort, General Manager Cen.”

“Alright, I’ll let you off easily,” they exchanged a few more jokes, and then Cen Zhisen asked him seriously, “Are you free for lunch tomorrow? I’ve arranged to have a meal with a university classmate of mine who studied abroad. He’s from Huai Cheng and is the chairman of the Ye family. He happens to be on a business trip here these days. Will you join me? He might be interested in investing some money.”

“Tomorrow at noon?” Ning Zhiyuan’s voice sounded a bit hesitant.

“Do you have plans tomorrow?” Cen Zhisen asked.

“I promised to have dinner at the Ning family. Well, I’ll tell them we’ll reschedule,” Ning Zhiyuan said.

“Did I put you in a difficult position?” Cen Zhisen asked.

“There’s no choice,” Ning Zhiyuan leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed, “Official matters are more important. I can go home for dinner anytime.”

Of course not. Tomorrow was his birthday, and for the first time, someone—his biological parents, had actively expressed the intention to celebrate it for him.

But he didn’t want to talk about these things too much.

He changed the subject first, “Mr. Cen, don’t you plan to take a break during the New Year?”

“What about you?” Cen Zhisen asked in return, “Today is New Year’s Eve. Don’t you have plans to go out with someone?”

“Who can I invite?” Ning Zhiyuan laughed and asked. While speaking, he opened the first drawer beside him, took out the secretly taken photo of Cen Zhisen, and placed it on the scanner.

Cen Zhisen said, “Don’t you have many friends?”

“What kind of friends are you talking about?” Ning Zhiyuan stared at the photos being scanned bit by bit on the computer screen, curled his lips, “I don’t have many genuine friends. Most of them are past work connections, and there’s a part of them that recently made me experience the warmth and coldness of human relationships. If we’re talking about not-so-genuine friends, then yes, I have quite a few of those.”

Cen Zhisen was driving, and upon hearing this, he lightly tapped the steering wheel with his fingers. Ning Zhiyuan seemed to intentionally emphasize the phrase “not-so-genuine friends,” and his voice carried a taste that was hard to describe.

“Do you want to go out?” Cen Zhisen asked.

“Now?” Ning Zhiyuan questioned.

“Yes, now,” Cen Zhisen affirmed, “Want to take a ride together?”

The scanning of the photos was complete. Ning Zhiyuan stared at the people in the pictures, listened to the voice close to his ears, fell silent for a moment, and then said, “Sure.”

“I’ll drive to your building in ten minutes. Come down when you’re ready,” Cen Zhisen instructed.

After hanging up the phone, Ning Zhiyuan looked at the photo for a while, then threw it into a folder in a corner of the hard drive with added encryption.

When he went downstairs, Cen Zhisen’s car was already parked outside the community gate.

Ning Zhiyuan opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat, glancing at him, “Didn’t you just return from a business trip? Aren’t you tired?”

“It’s okay,” Cen Zhisen started the car, “I am a bit tired, but it’s too early to sleep.”

On New Year’s Eve, the streets were bustling with crowds, and Cen Zhisen drove the car towards the outer ring road.

The speakers played a song from that night’s evening concert, the one they had listened to together.

Ning Zhiyuan opened half of the car window, feeling the night breeze on his face, the ethereal and distant song, the floating car lights nearby and far away, and the people driving alongside. All of this made him feel a sense of unreality.

On a cold winter night, he felt a wave of inexplicable heat, like a certain kind of restlessness deep in his heart, indescribable.

He casually lit a cigarette and held it between his lips, looking ahead at the lights that seemed to go on and on, sinking continuously into his eyes.

“Now that I saw you.”

The repeated lyrics of the song played, reaching its climax.

Cen Zhisen turned around casually, catching a glimpse of the taillights of a passing car on the opposite side, and then glanced at Ning Zhiyuan’s eyes, then his lips.

In the interplay of light and shadow, there was a surge of emotions.

“Last New Year’s Eve, I was working overtime at the company,” Ning Zhiyuan shook off the ash of the cigarette out the window, saying softly, “Letting everyone else leave, only my office lights were on in that row of offices. I was working on a business plan for dad. I didn’t delegate it to anyone. I did it myself. When I left the office, it was almost one in the morning.”

“I know,” Cen Zhisen said.

Ning Zhiyuan looked at him, “You knew?”

Cen Zhisen replied, “I knew.”

That night, after attending an event, Cen Zhisen returned to the company to pick up something and saw Ning Zhiyuan’s office lights still on. For some inexplicable reason, he stayed, and it turned out they were both the last ones there.

“The lights in the office stayed on until one in the morning, and it wasn’t just your office,” Cen Zhisen explained. “I happened to see it and stayed as well. I left only after you did.”

“I see,” Ning Zhiyuan smiled. “Cen Zhisen, sometimes the things you do are quite unexpected.”

Like these past little things he didn’t know, like now.

Ning Zhiyuan had always felt that Cen Zhisen probably found him annoying, perhaps even wished he would stay far away, just as he often found Cen Zhisen displeasing.

But the person who uncovered his background and helped him when he was in a difficult and embarrassing situation was also Cen Zhisen.

In fact, from start to finish, he couldn’t escape the influence of this person on him, whether it was negative or positive.

“Do you find it surprising?” Cen Zhisen asked him.

“It’s quite surprising,” Ning Zhiyuan laughed and sighed as if reflecting, “I didn’t expect it.”

Cen Zhisen made a sound of agreement. Even he couldn’t remember his own feelings at that moment, perhaps it was just a momentary touch and a whim.

When the car stopped by a wild lake, Ning Zhiyuan had the last bit of his cigarette in hand.

Cen Zhisen gestured to him, “Can I borrow a cigarette?”

Ning Zhiyuan shook the remaining short stub of the cigarette in his hand, “This one?”

“Yes,” Cen Zhisen said.

Ning Zhiyuan handed the cigarette over, and their fingertips lightly touched before separating.

The cigarette end had already been moistened by Ning Zhiyuan’s bite, with the clear imprint of his teeth. Cen Zhisen seemed entirely unconcerned as he directly bit into it with his own mouth.

Ning Zhiyuan stared at his actions, and the way Cen Zhisen casually bit the cigarette reminded him repeatedly of that photo.

Cen Zhisen was also watching him.

The eyes behind the smoke seemed to have absorbed some different emotions, lingering on Ning Zhiyuan’s face almost explicitly.

His eyes, his lips.

At that moment, Ning Zhiyuan truly realized that the feeling of being stared at by Cen Zhisen was not his imagination.

“What are you looking at?” he asked, locking eyes with him.

In a silent confrontation, when the atmosphere seemed to become denser, Cen Zhisen suddenly smiled, “Have you ever lent a cigarette like this to anyone else?”

Ning Zhiyuan looked at him and repeated the same words he had said before, “You are the first.”

Cen Zhisen lowered his eyes and slowly extinguished the nearly finished cigarette in the ashtray. A pleased smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

He glanced at his wristwatch, just one minute before twelve.

“Don’t work overtime at this time in the future, whether it’s for yourself or for someone else. Take it easy, especially today,” Cen Zhisen said, lifting his eyes again. “And Happy New Year.”

Ning Zhiyuan was slightly stunned, hearing the distant cheers and laughter.

Then, in front of him, Cen Zhisen smiled and said, “Happy New Year and, Zhiyuan, happy birthday.”