HR Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Running Away

Being in such a violent environment, one always needs to find some spiritual comfort. Lu Qinyuan loved books, Shu Xiu loved to sleep, Cheng Ruoyu loved to lie, Zhu Yan loved to travel, and Ye Xing loved tea. Whether it was true elegance or affected elegance, it was still a kind of interest. It’s just that Ye Xing played this interest into a sentiment, with profound attainments in tea ceremony, so wanting to drink a cup of tea brewed by Ye Xing depended on whether your face was big enough.

Lu Qinyuan flipped through the book in his hand, showing the title to Ye Xing, which was Zhao Ji’s “Daguan Tea Treatise.” Knowing that Ye Xing came specifically to see it, he said, “Mr. Ye has excellent tea brewing skills. If you don’t show your hand today, it won’t do. If you brew it well, I’ll give you this book.” He directly ordered someone to bring the tea set.

“Mr. Lu, keep it for yourself. I memorized this book when I was five years old.” Ye Xing knew he couldn’t get away with it today. He took off his suit jacket, wearing only a white shirt underneath, unfastened his silver cufflinks, rolled up his sleeves, and casually removed the simple watch on his left wrist and placed it on the table.

Taking off his suit seemed like shedding a layer of sharp skin. At this moment, Ye Xing had a few traces of the calm and refined manner of a tea master, and the detached demeanor of a recluse. The servant placed the tea set in front of Ye Xing. Ye Xing skillfully cleaned the tea set, boiled water, brewed tea, and performed the tea ceremony, his movements elegant and unhurried, like an unparalleled display of skill.

Ye Xing handed the first cup of tea to Shu Xiu, who quickly stood up and reached out to take it. Ye Xing held the teacup tightly, not letting go, and only sighed in a low voice, “This brother of yours is still somewhat decent.” Shu Xiu smiled, the fingers reaching for the teacup trembling slightly.

The second cup of tea was for Lu Qinyuan, and the third was for himself. Ye Xing held the teacup, smelled it under his nose, took a shallow sip, tasted it for a while, and said with dissatisfaction, “This tea is wasting my skills.”

Lu Qinyuan had no research on tea and couldn’t tell good from bad. He didn’t argue whether his tea was good or bad, and glanced at the restrained Shu Xiu: “Tell your brother Bai Ze to come down for tea.”

Shu Xiu agreed and put down his teacup and ran. He never came down again, but sent a messenger instead. Bai Ze sat down, holding a Chihuahua, picked up a cup of tea, waved it under his nose, took a sip, remained silent for a moment, slowly drank the tea in the cup, put down the teacup, smoothed the Chihuahua’s fur with one hand, and slowly said, “I’m here for tea.”

Ye Xing asked with a smile, “How’s the taste?”

Bai Ze smiled and said, “The taste is sweeter than nectar; drinking it immediately soothes chronic illnesses.”

Ye Xing extended a hand to Bai Ze: “Ye Xing, courtesy name Weimian.”

Bai Ze reached out and gently shook it: “Bai Ze, nickname Wawa.”

The two smiled at each other. Ye Xing re-poured boiling water and poured a cup of the third brew of tea and handed it to Bai Ze: “Try it.”

Bai Ze drank it carefully and said, “It has a unique flavor.”

Lu Qinyuan, after drinking a cup, lowered his head to read, ignoring the friendship between the two as they exchanged cups. Seeing that their friendship was settled, he closed the book and put it aside, crossed his legs, leaned forward slightly, and stared at Ye Xing: “I want to go out for a walk. I’ll leave the company’s affairs to Mr. Ye.”

Ye Xing said, “What does it matter to me whether you’re here or not?”

Lu Qinyuan just nominally held the title of president; all the work was done by Ye Xing, the vice president. Even if Lu Qinyuan didn’t go to the company for half a year, the company would still operate as it should.

Lu Qinyuan assumed that Ye Xing agreed, pulled out a sticky note, took a pen, and quickly wrote a message: I’m going out for a walk. He slapped it in the center of the table, got up and said, “Let’s go. You give me a ride.”

Ye Xing slowly raised his eyelids to look at Lu Qinyuan, so willful! But he indulged him. He picked up his watch and put it on his wrist, took his suit and put it on, and invited Bai Ze before leaving: “Together?”

Bai Ze patted the Chihuahua’s head and said, “You guys go, it’s inconvenient for me to bring Wawa.”

Ye Xing didn’t force it and left with Lu Qinyuan.

Not long after Lu Qinyuan left, Bai Ze found the note slapped on the table and showed it to Shu Xiu. Shu Xiu kicked the sofa at a 45-degree angle. Bai Ze, sitting on it, remained expressionless and said seriously, “It’s too late to chase him now.”

Shu Xiu regretted it so much that his intestines turned green: “I knew I shouldn’t have hidden.” The note in his hand was crumpled into a ball, comparable to his twisted eyebrows.

Ye Xing didn’t come alone; his driver and assistant were waiting in the car. As soon as he got in the car, the driver asked, “Mr. Ye, are we going back to the company?”

Ye Xing fastened his seat belt and gestured with his chin towards Lu Qinyuan, who had gotten into the car: “First take this master to where he needs to go.”

The driver obeyed and started the car. The assistant in the passenger seat unfolded the materials he was holding in his arms and found a document to hand to Ye Xing: “Mr. Ye, please take a look at this proposal first. If there are no problems, please sign it.”

Ye Xing took the proposal and quickly read it, ten lines at a glance. He took out an ordinary black fountain pen from his suit jacket pocket, unscrewed the cap, signed his name on the document, closed it, and returned it to the assistant. The assistant then handed over another document. Ye Xing took it, glanced at it, and signed his name. This was repeated. Ye Xing finished signing the last document and returned it to the assistant. He put the pen back in his jacket pocket and asked, “Did you take care of the matter I asked you to handle?”

“It’s been arranged, but…” The assistant gauged Ye Xing’s expression and carefully weighed his words: “That person is not very obedient, and there are people obstructing…”

Ye Xing raised his hand to stop the assistant from continuing, and asked Lu Qinyuan, “Mr. Lu, where do you want to get off?”

Lu Qinyuan had been dozing with his eyes closed, not looking at where they were, and said directly, “Here.”

Ye Xing told the driver to stop, dropped off Lu Qinyuan, and drove away.

The car stopped near the red-light district, a chaotic area. Behind him was a doll shop. Whether the shop owner was too lazy or it was just a coincidence, the doll shop was also named Doll House, but unlike Cheng Ruoyu’s Doll House that dealt in human lives, this shop was filled with all kinds of plush dolls; it was a genuine doll shop.

Lu Qinyuan stepped inside, and a clerk greeted him with a smile. The moment he entered, he was met with a dazzling array of colorful dolls, but Lu Qinyuan didn’t recognize any of them. He only recognized one type but didn’t see it at first glance. He waved away the following clerk and began searching for it himself.

Before long, Lu Qinyuan found a Totoro stuffed animal with a row of big white teeth, wide eyes, and outstretched arms among a pile of dolls. Lu Qinyuan walked over and touched the Totoro’s head.

Holding the Totoro doll, Lu Qinyuan walked aimlessly along the road. The phone in his hand showed that it was still in a call, but no one answered for a long time, until the call automatically ended. This was repeated twice, and finally connected on the fourth try. As soon as it connected, a roar erupted on the other end: “Who the hell are you, calling, calling, what are you calling for! If you call again, I’ll…”

Lan Se was teaming up with his brothers to play a game. The phone next to him kept ringing. He was planning to turn it off but remembered his master’s instructions: their phones had to be kept on at all times. He endured it, but he didn’t know which idiot was calling his phone repeatedly, making it impossible to play the game in peace.

Lan Se was extremely patient in everything, except for one thing: being disturbed while playing games. It was like someone with a morning mood being shaken awake while dozing. Lan Se especially wanted to clear the health bar of the person who kept calling his phone, but when he saw the caller ID, Lan Se’s subsequent words immediately took a turn, his tone changing from angry roar to respectful: “Mr. Lu, what can I do for you? Want to ask about someone? Is it Jian Qilu?” His mind raced, directly pulling it onto Xiao Qi.

“Do you know where he is?” Just listening to Lu Qinyuan’s voice, one couldn’t tell his mood. The stone in Lan Se’s heart dropped slightly. He cautiously replied: “Jian Qilu is like a scented bait, several families are looking for him. They don’t distinguish between friend and foe and fight on sight. A few days ago, several groups had a fierce fight, and Jian Qilu took the opportunity to escape into the red-light district.”

The red-light district was a mix of dragons and snakes. There were not many bad people and not many good people; they were all people who lived for profit, both righteous and evil. Lu Qinyuan smiled when he heard this: “Lan Se, do you know what Mo Qiu’s situation is now?”

Although he couldn’t see it, Lan Se shook his head subconsciously: “I only know that he was caught by Master Yan, but I don’t know the specific situation.”

Lu Qinyuan hummed and asked: “Then you definitely know what Lu Qingshuang is like now, right?”

Lan Se couldn’t help but swallow. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to describe Lu Qingshuang’s current life as worse than death. Lu Qinyuan continued: “Since I can cure his drug addiction, I can also cure your internet addiction. Lan Se, don’t let this happen again.”

Lan Se didn’t have time to respond before the phone hung up. He wiped the cold sweat that had been scared out of his forehead and muttered in his heart. Gosh, if he was given the same fierce addiction treatment as Lu Qingshuang, he would rather just die. He turned to greet his brothers: “Team up and play again. No one can rest until we take down this book!”

Therefore, Lan Se believed that seizing the moment was the wise choice.

Knowing that he was in the red-light district made it easy.

Although Lu Qinyuan had never delved deep into the red-light district back then, he remembered the map of the red-light district very well. He could draw the map of the red-light district with his eyes closed.

There were few pedestrians on both sides of the street. The red-light district was always like this. During the day, it was like a proper teahouse and shop; at night, it became a den of debauchery and a wolf’s lair. The red-light district was like a two-faced woman; when the sun rose, she was a virtuous lady; when the sun set, she was a goblin and monster.

But even so, it was still frenzied and relentless under the night, with revelry never ceasing.

The law of life here was: profit, only seeking profit, only seeking benefits.

The rule of survival here was: fists; as long as you were strong enough, wealth and power would come naturally.

Lu Qinyuan looked expressionlessly at a nightclub across the street, Black Rose, the place where Lu Qingshuang used to work, together with his mother.

Black Rose had just been renovated, showing no traces of time. Its appearance and the young men and women working there were always in their best form. It was a pity that the mother-son duo from back then no longer existed, leaving only an aging and faded beggar woman.

A beggar was sitting in front of Black Rose, leaning against the wall in dirty clothes, basking in the sun. Hearing footsteps, the woman slowly raised her eyelids, and with just one glance, her eyes, which were originally squinted, instantly widened to the maximum, her eyeballs almost bursting out of their sockets. She staggered to her feet, gritting her teeth and spitting out only one word: “You!…” It was an extremely hateful tone, with a gurgling sound in her throat, like an angry beast.

Lu Qinyuan, holding the Totoro doll, stood gracefully in front of the woman, blocking her sunlight, bent slightly, looked directly into the woman’s eyes, and said with a smile, “Madam Lu, long time no see. How are you?”

The author has something to say:

Apart from apologies, there are still apologies, but I can’t double-update arbitrarily to express my apology. The manuscript is almost gone, and I’m about to embark on the road of bare (eggplant) update. I will try my best to maintain one update every two days. Thank you friends for reading, I will work hard to code words

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