Chapter 2: Underwear Pulled Up

(Continuing the flashback)

Who would’ve thought, even being a fool has its standards.

Cha Kexing was dragged out from behind a trash can by two little brothers who urgently needed to pee, and was brought in front of Zheng Yao, who was eating spicy stir-fry.

“Boss, he was sneakily watching us and claimed to be your classmate!”

Zheng Yao looked him up and down, spitting out a clam shell from his lips.

Cha Kexing quickly said, “I sit in the second row in front of you, I even help you close the window when you sleep.”

“Oh…” Zheng Yao hadn’t mentioned his family background to any of his little brothers, so only a real classmate would know he slept every day. Besides, this guy did look familiar, so he asked, “What’s up?”

“I want to hang out with you… take me with you!”

Zheng Yao scrutinized him again.

At that time, Cha Kexing was still wearing a white tailcoat prepared for a banquet, his hair styled, and even a bit of makeup on his face. With red lips, white teeth, almond-shaped eyes, and fluttering long eyelashes, he was dressed by Ms. Zeng Mei to resemble her favorite BJD doll.

Zheng Yao asked, “Can you fight? Liangzi, spar with him a bit.”

Cha Kexing looked at Little Brother No. 1 rolling up his sleeves, didn’t move, just shook his head.

Zheng Yao asked again, “Can you steal? Go steal that boss’s wallet!”

The barbecue stall owner heard this and glared at them fiercely, angrily scolding the kids for not learning good things!

Of course, Cha Kexing couldn’t, so he shook his head again.

Zheng Yao was getting a bit impatient: “Can you at least curse? Go curse that skewer seller’s ancestors for me!”

This Cha Kexing could do, he cursed the heavens, the earth, and the air in his heart every day, but he couldn’t say it out loud. He had lived for sixteen years without saying a single curse word.

He hadn’t even said “I f*ck,” he only expressed surprise with “Oh my god.”

Zheng Yao stood up, at that time he was taller than Cha Kexing, looking down at him with a strong sense of oppression: “You can’t do anything, what are you hanging out for?! Get lost!”

With that, he kicked Cha Kexing in the stomach. It wasn’t very hard, just left a clear footprint on the snow-white suit. When he got home, he saw that his belly wasn’t bruised at all, but he still remembered the feeling, the leg that kicked him was so long, it couldn’t fit in a first-class luxury seat.

#

Cha Kexing thought he would part ways with Zheng Yao in New York, but unexpectedly, they took the same flight back to the country. Zheng Yao had a trading company in the country, and with the current international situation, sanctions today and tariffs tomorrow, he probably had to be a busy flying man.

Watching Zheng Yao’s long legs shifting uncomfortably, Cha Kexing suddenly remembered when those legs were on his waist…

When he urged, he would even kick his back with his heel…

“Kexing, you must not tell Grandpa about this!” As the plane was about to land, Cha Kexing leaned over again, worriedly saying, “Just the fact that I misappropriated company assets, he wouldn’t forgive me. If he knew I almost harmed Qingle… he would send me to jail!”

“Big brother, don’t worry, I know you’ve learned your lesson. Didn’t we agree that this is a secret between us three brothers?” Cha Kexing patted Cha Da Feiwu’s shoulder and ruffled the hair of the three-year-old child in his arms.

He thought, if you think you can hide your foolish deeds from Cha Yuzhou, you’re dreaming! Bringing back an illegitimate child thinking it would soften the old man’s heart? Too naive! Except for Cha Qingle, all the other Cha family kids are just stepping stones for his precious grandson.

However, the precious Cha Qingle just had to be gay, unable to have kids. As soon as they got off the plane, they received the latest news that his actor lover’s same-sex bed photos were exposed three hours ago, and hundreds of reporters and curious onlookers were waiting at the airport. They had to wait in the lounge for the airport to open the VIP channel.

Cha Kexing took out his phone, his wallpaper was a bird called a secretary bird, the bird with the longest legs among all raptors, so beautiful that every time he used his phone, he couldn’t help but admire it for a while.

He secretly searched, and the whole internet was filled with photos of Emperor Jiang hugging a fair-skinned young man with an indistinct face in bed, probably with Cha Qingle. He thought, Cha Third Sissy, truly a sissy, how to say, there’s only a wrong name, never a wrong nickname.

“Looking at scandalous photos?”

A low chuckle suddenly sounded behind him, Cha Kexing put away his phone and turned around, unexpectedly meeting Zheng Yao’s deep eyes.

He had been wearing sunglasses in New York and an eye mask on the plane, so this was the first time in years that Cha Kexing had looked him in the eye up close. Those familiar eyes, always smiling, affectionate yet rebellious, made Cha Kexing nervously clench his fists.

They were about the same height now, but Zheng Yao was standing on a step, enough to look down on him.

Zheng Yao had high brow bones, deep eye sockets, slightly long eyelashes at the corners of his eyes, and when he looked down at people, it was like a raptor staring at its prey.

Cha Kexing composed himself and said calmly, “Brother Zheng, thank you so much this time.”

“Hehe… how are you going to thank me?” Zheng Yao took out a cigarette, thought about being at the airport, and put it back in his pocket.

Cha Kexing said seriously, “What kind of thank you gift do you want?”

Zheng Yao raised an eyebrow: “How about giving it back?”

“…” Cha Kexing knew what Zheng Yao was talking about, but could only pretend not to understand.

Zheng Yao’s beautiful eyes narrowed: “Back then, to repay you, I bled…”

“……”

“Don’t worry, I’m not as lacking in virtue as you!” Zheng Yao jumped off the step, his bulging travel bag intentionally or unintentionally hitting his lower body hard: “You ungrateful thing, did me and ran, didn’t even pull up my pants!”

With that, he ran a hand through his slightly messy, slightly curly hair and strode away.

It wasn’t until Zheng Yao turned the corner out of the lounge that Cha Kexing let out a sigh of relief, muttering softly, “Nonsense!”

He clearly remembered, he did pull them up.

At least, the underwear was pulled up.

#

After leaving the airport, Cha Kexing headed straight for the group building. He couldn’t be bothered with how Cha Da Feiwu and Cha Third Sissy were going to argue with Cha Yuzhou at home, whether Cha Yuzhou would uphold justice and go through legal procedures or use Cha Kexing’s matter to negotiate with Cha Tianque, he didn’t care. There was a big pile of official business to handle at the company!

Cha Media Group was founded by Cha Yuzhou over forty years ago, currently involved in a wide range of industries, listed on the A-shares and Hong Kong stocks over a decade ago. Cha Kexing, responsible for overseas business, had attempted a NASDAQ listing two years ago, but was stopped by Chairman Cha Yuzhou at the last minute. In hindsight, Cha Kexing’s deficit might also be related to the failed listing.

Cha Kexing returned from studying in London four and a half years ago to work at Cha Media, having been in charge of many departments, and is now the group’s Chief Operating Officer. But the shareholders all know that for many strategic decisions, his opinion as COO is more important than CEO Cha Tianque’s.

Cha Kexing has a gentle and good-natured persona in the Cha family, but in the company, he appears gentle and elegant but acts decisively and is not a friendly leader. He called over the heads of the publishing, film and television, advertising, variety shows, and e-commerce departments to ask a few questions, then called the CFO to discuss the financial report. With the year-end approaching, he had to ensure Cha Media’s profit growth continued for five consecutive years.

The Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer are on the same level in terms of position, but with one internal call, he could summon the other because the CFO was personally poached by him from a multinational company.

Cha Kexing recently focused more on self-media influencer operations, like MCN, live streaming, and building influencer bases. Compared to the film department managed by Cha Qingle, these things might not seem as high-end, but their economic benefits are not low-end at all.

He thought somewhat mockingly, making money from movies is money, but making money from influencer videos and live streaming isn’t? Last year, Cha Qingle returned to the country, didn’t earn a penny, and started supporting celebrities, wasn’t it with the money Cha Kexing earned?

After a busy day, he returned home in the evening to an unexpectedly harmonious and warm atmosphere. Four generations sat around the dining table, helping each other with dishes, serving porridge, as if they were acting in a grand reunion drama broadcasted by CCTV.

Is this… reconciliation? Or have they kept it hidden? Could it be that the old man really got muddled? Such a rare opportunity to force Cha Tianque to back down, to protect the eldest son, sacrifice the second son, and hand the company over to Cha Qingle, just passed like that?

Cha Kexing felt a bit like he had prepared his troops for battle, only for the enemy to lay down their arms and return to farming. He had even called his confidants to arrange a day, waiting for Cha Yuzhou to make a move so he could counter it. Now it seemed, he was the one with a petty mind.

Cha Yuzhou was holding Cha Da Feiwu’s illegitimate child, unable to put it down, even naming him Cha Suifeng. Fatherly kindness, filial piety, brotherly love, family prosperity, harmony and prosperity… Cha Kexing thought, indeed, when people get old, they love to daydream.

A month passed smoothly, and on Christmas Eve, Cha’s chain cinema officially opened, with the opening ceremony inviting many business elites and entertainment stars to support.

The cinema project was spearheaded by Cha Qingle after joining the group, and Cha Yuzhou gave face by attending in person. Even Cha Qingle’s mother, who lived in RUS, flew over to witness her son’s moment of success.

Cha Kexing, on the other hand, kept a low profile, sipping champagne in a corner of the venue, occasionally taking out his phone to browse gossip news. Cha Third Sissy’s actor lover was also there, being questioned to transparency on the red carpet, but outsiders didn’t know about his relationship with Cha Qingle, only thinking he was an invited guest.

Scanning the venue casually, he spotted a familiar face, Zheng Yao was actually there too. He was in the import food trade, not much collaboration with the entertainment media industry, but the business circle in Beijing is only so big, with various dinners and banquets, if you want to make connections, you can always make them.

In fact, in the four years since returning to the country, Cha Kexing had seen Zheng Yao a few times, always fifty meters away, Zheng Yao with a beauty in his arms, talking and laughing, whether he saw him or not, he didn’t know, but he pretended not to see.

Times have changed, Zheng Yao recently saved his family, pretending not to see seems too unkind. Although Zheng Yao said he was an ungrateful thing, tonight Cha Kexing decided to be a person and go say hello.

However, he had just taken a few steps forward, reducing the distance between them to fifteen meters, when he saw a little beauty in a sequined dress throw herself into Zheng Yao’s arms.

Zheng Yao wrapped his arms around the little beauty’s waist, slightly lifting her up and down, letting out a low chuckle, so far away Cha Kexing could hear it, it echoed in his ears.

“Happy?”

“Happy, so happy, thank you, Brother Zheng!”

The lights from the banquet ceiling shone on the little beauty’s dress, emitting a colorful halo, dazzling Cha Kexing’s eyes. He took off his glasses and rubbed his brow, thinking it might be better not to ruin Zheng Yao’s good mood.

It’s just that before, Zheng Yao’s female companions were all mature women with charm, but this time it was a petite and delicate girl, did he change his taste?

Could it be that Zheng Yao “got old”?… Only “powerless” old men like naive little girls.

Zheng Yao now… is still over a month away from turning twenty-eight…

The opening cocktail party followed the process, Cha Qingle gave a spirited speech, and after stepping down, he actually held his lover’s hand, leading him to meet his mother. In full view, his lover had just been exposed for his sexual orientation, this move was clearly a coming-out rhythm together!

The whole venue was first pin-drop silent, then a burst of uproar, flashlights flashing wildly, not only reporters and media, but other stars, businessmen, and even staff were taking photos and videos.

Cha Kexing wore a tolerant smile belonging to the family of news subjects, but in his heart, he started a roast session, look at all these people here, all big names, watching the coming-out scene of a wealthy young master and a new emperor, aren’t they all excited with glowing eyes, flaring nostrils, and flushed cheeks?

Usually, they look down on short dramas, but this is a classic domineering short drama scene, don’t you all love watching it?

At this moment, Zheng Yao walked over, shaking the wine glass in his hand, and in a non-intentionally intimidating manner, Zheng Yao’s voice was always with a smile: “Your brother, is much braver than you.”

Cha Kexing also smiled.

Whether I have “guts” or not, in this world, only you know, Yao Yao.

Author’s Note:

Cha Kexing: “Oh my god”… is quite sissy too.