Is This The Right Way To Repay A Favor? Chapter 8
byINTEREST
It was nearly two in the morning when Shen Zhiyu arrived at the bar.
This was when the bar atmosphere was at its peak intensity.
Shen Zhiyu found Lu Shen in their usual spot.
He looked up at the dance floor. The DJ on stage was a girl with a high ponytail and heavy makeup.
Lu Shen said something.
The music in the bar was too loud, and Shen Zhiyu didn’t catch it.
Lu Shen pointed in a direction inside the bar.
Shen Zhiyu followed the direction of his finger.
Jiang Zhou was sitting in the middle of a booth there. He was wearing a black shirt today, with the buttons fastened low, and the hollow of his exposed collarbone occasionally flashed with red and yellow neon lights.
He seemed even thinner than a few days ago; the black shirt hung loosely on him, his shoulders slumping, like a shadow draped over a hanger.
Besides him, there were two others in the booth.
One was Yuan Chong, whom Shen Zhiyu had met before. The other was a girl, dressed provocatively, her curves barely contained.
They seemed to be chatting about something, and the girl laughed, leaning into Jiang Zhou’s embrace.
Shen Zhiyu retracted his gaze, lowering his head to sip his drink.
His friend Lu Shen watched the interaction at the booth and nudged Shen Zhiyu, “What’s up? Didn’t manage to reel him in last time?”
Shen Zhiyu irritably swatted his hand away.
Lu Shen sheepishly withdrew his hand.
“Lost interest again?”
“I thought this time would last a little longer.”
Shen Zhiyu didn’t reply.
The music in the bar changed; the deep bass vibrations made the amber liquid in the glass subtly tremble.
Shen Zhiyu raised the glass and downed the drink in one go.
The icy liquid slid down his throat, leaving a scorching trail. He let out a soft laugh, a flicker of light passing through his eyes.
“Not yet. I’m waiting.”
Hearing this, Lu Shen looked at him in shock.
Their families were generational friends, and Lu Shen and Shen Zhiyu had known each other since infancy, growing up together in the compound.
Since childhood, Shen Zhiyu had a deeply ingrained flaw: he rarely took an interest in people or things. Even if he did, any reason could instantly make that interest dissipate.
Sometimes it was a look, sometimes a sentence, sometimes there was no reason at all.
Later, whenever Lu Shen saw someone or something that might appeal to him, he would immediately send it to Shen Zhiyu.
Unfortunately, he was always met with failure.
Until he saw Jiang Zhou that day. With just one glance, Lu Shen was certain Shen Zhiyu would be interested in him.
Sure enough, Shen Zhiyu came right away after seeing the video. Lu Shen had thought Jiang Zhou might be the exception, but he hadn’t expected this exception to be so exceptional.
Exceptional enough to make Shen Zhiyu wait.
Lu Shen understood Shen Zhiyu.
He was never a docile prey waiting to be caught; the ‘waiting’ he spoke of surely meant he already had the upper hand.
Lu Shen couldn’t help but be filled with curiosity about Jiang Zhou.
He refilled his glass, stood up with it, and said with a smile, “Let’s go say hello.”
Shen Zhiyu rose with him, but his movement was toward the exit, “You go.” With that, he left the bar without looking back.
Lu Shen didn’t mind. He took his drink over to Jiang Zhou’s booth.
He casually glanced at Jiang Zhou, then looked at Yuan Chong, who was fiddling with his phone, “Mr. Yuan, we meet again.”
Yuan Chong looked up, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
“Mr. Lu.”
The newly opened bar enforced a strict membership system, and the number of membership cards was small and exclusive, mostly held by acquaintances.
After running into Shen Zhiyu at the bar entrance last time, Yuan Chong specifically had someone check the front desk surveillance and found that Shen Zhiyu was with this Mr. Lu that night.
Yuan Chong didn’t know Lu Shen. He later checked the card Lu Shen used and found it was a gift from Ye Fengxiang.
Yuan Chong inquired with Ye Fengxiang and learned that Lu Shen’s family roots were in Jing City, with three generations in politics, giving him a profound background.
When Ye Fengxiang was having dinner and chatting with Lu Shen, he mentioned his friend’s newly opened bar and casually gifted him a membership card.
In Jing City, a family named Lu, with three generations in politics and a profound background—there was only one.
Lu Shen’s identity was self-evident.
Later, Lu Shen came to the bar again with Ye Fengxiang.
Ye Fengxiang introduced the two, making it a formal acquaintance.
Jiang Zhou looked in the direction Lu Shen had come from.
The booth was empty, and an empty glass sat on the bar counter.
Did he come too?
After greeting Yuan Chong, Lu Shen’s gaze naturally fell on Jiang Zhou, his smile carrying a hint of playfulness.
“Mr. Jiang? What a coincidence, I just saw your trending topic online.”
“Spending a fortune just to win a smile—you’re a lucky man!”
His words were full of teasing.
Jiang Zhou’s heart subtly trembled.
He saw it. Then what about Shen Zhiyu? Did he see it too? What did he think?
Would he also assume he did it for Su Qian?
Yuan Chong reached out and touched his arm.
Jiang Zhou snapped back to reality.
Heh…
He really was overthinking things.
He and Shen Zhiyu had only met a few times, and they weren’t even friends, so what was he thinking?
Jiang Zhou smiled, but his eyes were dark.
“Mr. Lu, you jest.”
Lu Shen made himself comfortable and sat down nearby.
“By the way. On the bar’s soft opening day, if I’m not mistaken, that was you on stage, right, Mr. Jiang?”
“Your mixing style has a huge range. I have a friend who was also there, and he really liked it.”
A friend…
Was there…
Really liked it…
A string that had been taut in his mind suddenly snapped.
Jiang Zhou’s breathing instantly became chaotic and rapid.
On the other side, Yuan Rong laughed and threw herself into Jiang Zhou’s arms, gripping his arm tightly.
She looked up at Lu Shen, her smile seductive and clingy, carrying a woman’s unique petulance. “Of course. Who wouldn’t like our Zhouzhou?”
A scene of vibrant intimacy was right before his eyes.
Lu Shen politely looked away, speaking with double meaning, “Mr. Jiang is truly blessed.”
First, spending a fortune to acquire shares for a beauty, and now having a beauty in his arms.
This kind of person—Shen Zhiyu didn’t immediately lose interest, and even said he was waiting?
Lu Shen couldn’t help but take another look at Jiang Zhou.
He did look decent, but in the entertainment industry, where such looks were commonplace, he was nothing special. Moreover, he was far too thin.
“You guys chat. We have something to do, so we’ll be leaving first.” Yuan Rong got up, holding Jiang Zhou’s arm.
Jiang Zhou was pulled up and followed Yuan Rong out of the bar, step by step.
Yuan Chong stayed behind to deal with Lu Shen.
—
Yuan Rong took Jiang Zhou to a room upstairs.
After fainting at Huanjia Club last time, Jiang Zhou had been busy with the acquisition of Chengxing Entertainment and hadn’t eaten properly for two days.
It wasn’t until today, when the acquisition was finally settled, that he ate something under Yuan Chong’s supervision and came to the bar to relax.
Who knew, before he could relax, he was stimulated again.
Yuan Rong poured Jiang Zhou a cup of hot water, waited for him to finish it, and then spoke.
“Are you going to the hospital to see me tomorrow?”
Jiang Zhou shrank into the covers and shook his head, “No need, I’m fine.”
Jiang Zhou’s illness stemmed from Shen Zhiyu, recurring and unpredictable, sometimes good, sometimes bad.
His deep obsession with Shen Zhiyu led to self-cognitive dissonance, extreme self-negation, and the over-idealization of Shen Zhiyu.
Subsequently, his emotional regulation mechanism collapsed, often using physical pain to override mental suffering. The intense happiness he felt whenever he thought of Shen Zhiyu would trigger feelings of unworthiness, leading him to forcibly interrupt the pleasant experience with pain.
Two years ago, Jiang Zhou’s symptoms were greatly alleviated, almost cured.
By his count, Jiang Zhou hadn’t been to the hospital for a year.
He hadn’t expected that as soon as Shen Zhiyu returned to the country, Jiang Zhou’s condition would relapse.
And it was even worse than before.
Yuan Rong wanted to persuade him further, but Jiang Zhou had already closed his eyes, clearly unwilling to talk more.
Yuan Rong had no choice but to leave the room.
—
Su Qian acted quickly.
The next day, Jiang Zhou received good news. Xie Mingzhi agreed to the acquisition.
Both parties swiftly signed the contract and released the news immediately.
Netizens were just gossiping about Jiang Zhou and Su Qian’s relationship the day before, and the next day they saw the news of Languang Media acquiring Chengxing Entertainment.
Without any doubt, everyone defaulted that Jiang Zhou and Languang Media’s move was for Su Qian.
That evening, Su Qian attended an event and was pressed by reporters about the matter.
Su Qian didn’t directly deny it, answering vaguely, “I will tell everyone immediately if there is good news.”
After seeing these reports, Wang Lei called Shen Zhiyu immediately.
“Languang acquired Chengxing.”
Only four days.
The speed was faster than he had imagined.
Shen Zhiyu browsed the latest acquisition news and also saw the related dating rumors.
He asked, “Were the trending topics these past two days deliberately released by Languang Media?”
He wasn’t concerned about the company being acquired; instead, he cared about the trending topics. It seemed he already knew Chengxing would be acquired by Languang Media.
Wang Lei suddenly understood.
No wonder Shen Zhiyu signed the contract so quickly, selling himself and Wang Lei to Chengxing without even finalizing the specific contract terms.
At the time, he was puzzled. Chengxing Entertainment, a small company on the decline, wasn’t worth signing with.
He had even started to believe the dating rumors between Shen Zhiyu and Su Qian.
So there was this layer behind it all.
Wang Lei: “Let me ask around.”
A moment later, Wang Lei called back.
The trending topics over the past two days were indeed actively released by Languang Media, and even the photos were provided by them.
In addition, Wang Lei had a new discovery.
“There was another piece of news related to you that gained traction, but Languang Media suppressed it.”
“Me?”
“Yes. I don’t know if you remember. Thirteen years ago, when your group first debuted, you participated in a charity variety show. One of the impoverished households you were responsible for assisting was the family of Languang Media’s Chairman, Jiang Zhou.”
There was such a connection between them?
At the time, their group had just debuted. To gain more exposure and goodwill in front of the public, the company arranged for them to participate in a domestic charity variety show.
It was called a charity variety show, but their opportunities to genuinely meet and assist the impoverished households were few and far between. Most of the time, they were preparing for evening galas. The euphemism was to enrich the nightlife of impoverished areas.
Later, that charity variety show was reported for being too much of a performance and stopped filming, only airing one episode before being canceled.
Shen Zhiyu was assigned three impoverished households to assist at the time. All three families were struggling due to long-term severe illness of an elder, making their conditions extremely difficult. After the show stopped filming, Shen Zhiyu even asked his mother to privately assist these three families.
Later, he occasionally heard his mother mention that the children in the three families were all very promising, gradually going to college, and often sent local specialties from their village.
After that, Shen Zhiyu’s work became increasingly busy, and he gradually forgot about the matter.
After Wang Lei hung up, he sent a video of the first episode of the charity program.