Chapter 8: Th… Thank You, Brother

When Shi Zhen got home, it was just around noon. The delivery food was already left at the door, and when she picked it up, it was still warm—clearly just delivered.

She entered the apartment and casually placed the takeout on the table, then collapsed onto the sofa, completely exhausted.

Life had become a tangled mess, and Shi Zhen no longer had the energy to think about anything else. Her mind was filled with the image of that group of people surrounding her just moments ago.

Recalling it felt like waking from a dream—it was so surreal that she even doubted whether it had truly happened.

Her life had always been smooth sailing until now. But at this moment, fear and dread crashed into her heart, and the sour sting at the tip of her nose betrayed the terror she felt.

Shi Zhen took out her phone. On it were a few photos and a video—footage from inside the milk tea shop.

She held onto these things, unsure whether they would be useful or not, clinging to the last shred of moral boundary she had left.

After hesitating for a while, Shi Zhen opened WeChat and deleted both Zhang Meiren and Chen Hong from her contacts.

She didn’t want the salary anymore—she just didn’t want to face these unpleasant things again. As long as Zhang Meiren and the others didn’t come after her again, she’d pretend as if none of it had ever happened.

Right now, she just wanted to be a coward.

Yes, she was a coward. What right did she have to be brave?

Being brave came at a price—and after taking just one step forward, she’d already tasted the bitterness of it.

Time slipped away with the setting sun, and soon it was dark. Shi Zhen still lay on the sofa, lost in thought.

Only when she could no longer make out the furnishings in the room did she slowly get up and mechanically open the takeout box. She placed the receipt into the small wooden box by the door.

She had a habit of collecting receipts. Since she’d been ordering too much takeout lately, she simply left the box by the door so she could drop them in every time she entered.

This time it was an omurice meal. Shi Zhen ate the whole thing, though it tasted like wax in her mouth.

Afterwards, as usual, she turned on her computer. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long time without moving.

The story was already more than halfway written. Cinderella had met the prince, gotten to know him, and fallen in love. They were currently in the sweetest phase of their romance—but a great storm lurked behind the peace.

It was almost time. They were about to be hit by overwhelming opposition—parental disapproval, the lover’s hesitation—all of it would tear their fragile love to pieces.

When writing, Shi Zhen always became a little mad. Her hands could strike out the coldest, sharpest sentences, and her usually gentle demeanor would vanish completely.

Very quickly, Shi Zhen entered the zone. At such a distressing time, only words could offer her the slightest comfort.

Time passed swiftly, and before bed, Shi Zhen still felt a lingering panic. Today’s ordeal had truly been a disaster.

The next morning, she woke up early. She didn’t leave the apartment and just stayed in her bedroom typing.

She was scared—felt like the whole thing wasn’t over yet. But she was too drained to face it head-on, so she chose to escape by letting herself fall into complete inertia.

Everything was peaceful until the afternoon, as the sun began to sink and the leftover rays filled the room with a dull golden glow.

Shi Zhen thought it was all finally over. She relaxed and sat in the living room watching a variety show—one of her few means of unwinding.

Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the door. The flimsy security door rattled violently, as if it might collapse at any second.

Startled, Shi Zhen immediately stood up. She held her breath and didn’t speak, just listened quietly to the noises outside.

“Shi Zhen, are you home? We came to talk about compensation.”

It was the voice of that man from the other day. How did he know her address?

Her mind whirled rapidly—then she remembered. When she applied for the job, she had filled out a form with her full address, even down to the apartment number, without a second thought.

Zhang Meiren had actually stooped so low as to leak her address.

In an instant, Shi Zhen’s heart thundered in her chest. Overwhelming fear wrapped around her like a thick blanket.

“Little girl, just open the door. We’re not gonna do anything to you.”

“Yeah, what’s the point of hiding in there? We could kick this crappy door down with one hit.”

Shi Zhen could no longer tell if they were bluffing or not. It just felt like the door would give way at any moment.

In a panic, she looked around the room, spotted the dining table, and dashed into the kitchen. She pushed the table to the front door to block it.

The sound of her movement alerted the group outside, confirming someone was indeed inside. The pounding grew more intense.

Shi Zhen pressed down on the table with all her might, her hands trembling from the impact. The sudden shock made her fall backward to the floor. In the motion, her hand knocked over the small wooden box by the door. Receipts fluttered through the air like snowflakes.

Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face. Shi Zhen ran to the sofa, grabbed her phone, and opened her contacts.

At that moment, she had completely forgotten she could call the police. The first person she thought to ask for help was Shi Daguo.

But in the next second, she dismissed the idea. If Shi Daguo came over, he would inevitably be protective of his daughter. If he got into a conflict with these people and got hurt…

Shi Zhen didn’t even dare to imagine it. That would only make things worse.

“If you’re home, why aren’t you opening the door? If you don’t open up, we’re going to force our way in!”

“Stop wasting time talking to her. I think she just doesn’t want to pay. Let’s just kick the door in!”

“Hey, hey, take it easy! Don’t scare the poor girl.”

“We tried to talk nicely, and you won’t open the door. You’re really going to make us get physical?”

Shi Zhen covered her mouth tightly to keep herself from making a sound. Muffled sobs escaped between her fingers, and a teardrop landed on the floor.

It happened to fall onto a receipt. Shi Zhen looked down and her breath caught in her throat.

On the note section of the receipt, it said: Today’s meal is spicy boiled pork slices. Been busy lately, call me if anything comes up: 186.

In that moment, Shi Zhen’s mind went completely blank. With trembling hands, she pulled out her phone and stiffly entered the number.

The dial tone was like a hymn from heaven. Shi Zhen sobbed as she waited for a god to descend and save her.

Soon, the call connected. Her voice shook as she said, “Xie… Xie-ge?”

---

That day, Xie Qian discovered he had been blocked. After a moment of mild annoyance, he decided to mess with her a bit.

So he got her address and ordered a bunch of takeout to her place, just to see how Shi Zhen would react.

But before she even responded, Xie Qian lost interest in the game and ended up blocking her himself.

Still, he continued to order takeout for her every day at the same time, like he was raising a virtual pet. Eventually, he started enjoying it.

There was someone a thousand miles away who eagerly looked forward to the food he sent her every day.

It almost felt like raising a child.

After taking over the Xie family business, Xie Qian got busier and basically started living in the office.

Mu Yi seemed like he was on steroids—he had snatched several deals right out from under Xie Qian.

But Xie Qian wasn’t someone to be messed with either. He set plenty of traps for Mu Yi in secret. Neither of them gained the upper hand, but they stirred up enough chaos to make the entire Shulin business district feel like a war zone.

For a while, everyone felt on edge, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire between the two families.

Recently, Xie Qian finally got a break and decided to relax by visiting another city.

The Xie family originally made their fortune in venture capital. Though they had expanded into other industries, investment was still their core business.

Xie Qian had his eyes on a piece of land in Jinhe. The old site in the southern part of the city had been vacated, and the government had just allocated funds to extend several subway lines nearby.

Li An from the Li family had leaked some information: many developers in Jinhe had their eyes on this juicy piece of real estate.

In this era where there were more wolves than meat, being a step late meant losing the deal. Whoever had inside information had the advantage in the bidding war.

Xie Qian had a secret informant in Li An, so no news in Jinhe escaped his ears. He was determined to win that land.

Before boarding the plane, Xie Qian messaged Li An and told him he’d arrive in Jinhe around the afternoon of the next day.

Li An was a junior from university and also Xie Qian’s hardcore fanboy.

Back in college, Xie Qian was a campus legend. Aside from his untouchable family background, his striking features and strong physique made him stand out even more.

Hualiang University was the number one school in the country, filled with elite students, each with their own brilliance.

But Xie Qian had become famous before even enrolling. The reason? His father, Xie Longhui, casually donated a golf course and a racetrack to the school.

At the time, Xie Qian was learning horseback riding and golf. To make things convenient for him, Xie Longhui spent a fortune without a second thought. He never expected it would make his son instantly famous.

As the school rushed to expand the area, students would walk by the construction and ask, “Hey, what are they building here?”

The workers would reply, “A golf course and a racetrack.”

The students’ eyes would light up. “Has the school gotten that rich? Doing such high-end stuff now?”

The workers would gossip, “Heard it’s a donation from a freshman’s parent. What was the name… Xie… Xie Qian. It was his family that donated it. Super rich. I heard it cost at least a hundred million.”

And so the rumor spread. Before the semester even began, Xie Qian’s name was already well-known.

When school started, everyone had their eyes on him, curious to see what kind of person this rich heir was.

He didn’t disappoint—he gave the freshman welcome speech as the student representative. Speaking fluently in Chinese, English, and Russian, he became an overnight sensation. His photo in a suit went viral on campus forums. Someone even took a close-up of his hand holding the speech.

The smooth lines of his hand, the long fingers, the way the knuckles stood out as he gripped the paper, the veins on the back of his hand—an elegant and captivating kind of strength.

Xie Qian hadn’t meant to show off. It was Lan Zezhong, who had studied in Country E, that had nurtured his Russian fluency.

Lan Zezhong once said he loved seeing Xie Qian in his prime. So, Xie Qian took the initiative to add Russian to his speech. It felt like fulfilling a mission, a way to honor Lan Zezhong’s spirit.

Li An, who was two years younger and also a freshman rep, became his fanboy after watching the speech video and started following him everywhere.

If Xie Qian played sports, Li An brought him water. If Xie Qian had a match, he cheered for him. He followed Xie Qian around like a little puppy.

At first, Xie Qian found him annoying. But after getting to know him, he learned that Li An was the youngest son of the Li family in Jinhe.

The kid wasn’t a bad person—just genuinely looked up to him. You could even call it a case of “chuunibyou,” finding a role model to idolize.

Later, Li An got into a relationship and totally ghosted him for a whole semester.

Their similar backgrounds and talents made friendship between them almost inevitable.

At 3:30 PM, Xie Qian arrived in Jinhe.

Li An had been waiting at the arrival gate. The moment he saw Xie Qian, he couldn’t contain his joy. He waved his arms and practically bounced in place.

“Senior, over here!”

Xie Qian strode over to him and patted his shoulder. “Haven’t seen you in a few months. Your muscles are looking good.”

Li An blushed and lowered his head shyly, fumbling with his hands. “Don’t tease me, Senior. These tiny muscles took me half a year, and I still haven’t dropped my body fat. How can I compare to you?”

Xie Qian laughed heartily. “Why’s a grown man being shy?”

Then, pulling his suitcase, the two of them walked side by side out of the airport.

A Rolls-Royce was parked at the entrance.

Xie Qian raised an eyebrow. “You changed cars again?”

Li An smiled as he opened the door. “My girlfriend likes this one, so I switched.”

Xie Qian followed him into the backseat. The driver hit the gas and they sped off.

“Senior, since you’re in a rush to lock down that southern plot, I’ve already scheduled meetings with a few CEOs. We’ll go to the restaurant first, talk business, and then head to the hotel,” Li An said.

Xie Qian stroked the green Submariner on his wrist, thought for a moment, then asked, “Someone else made a move first?”

Li An nodded. “I heard negotiations start tomorrow. Let’s strike first and catch them off guard.”

Xie Qian curved his lips with satisfaction. “Nicely done.”

Li An pressed his lips together, trying hard not to laugh.

His senior praised him!

That high-and-mighty, untouchable, always-out-of-reach senior… actually praised him!