Su Ke shook his head, giving him a look that said he understood nothing.
“No, Shi,” he said solemnly. “I’m afraid you don’t quite appreciate what your family is like”
“What am I supposed to appreciate?” Ji Shileng asked as he replied to a message.
“All three of you are the model children our parents are always comparing us to”
“They probably mean my sister and brother. I was far too headstrong back then to qualify”
Ji Shileng was never stingy with praise for his older siblings.
He tossed his empty yogurt pouch into the bin, his fingers flying across his communicator screen.
“With the way you and I were always getting into trouble…”
“Stop, stop, stop,” Su Ke interrupted. “Even if we caused trouble every day, we were still better than those people”
Thinking of the wealthy heirs in their circle, Ji Shileng chuckled with undisguised disdain.
“Why compare ourselves to them? There’s no point”
Those spoiled heirs were cut from the same cloth as Shang Jianli’s useless nephew.
The sight of them alone was irritating.
“All right” Seeing that Ji Shileng could not even be bothered to look up from his messages, Su Ke stood. “Who are you texting, Shi?”
Ji Shileng put away his communicator without showing him the conversation.
“No one. Let’s go. My brother’s already waiting downstairs”
“You’re acting suspicious” Su Ke lunged at him, trying to grab the communicator. “Shi, after everything we’ve been through, you’re keeping secrets from me?”
Ji Shileng knew how persistent Su Ke could be. If he refused, he would probably hear about it for days.
He offered no resistance and let Su Ke take the device. His new communicator still used the password he had originally chosen: 1212.
Su Ke unlocked it and complained, “Shi, why don’t you change your password? This one’s ridiculously simple”
Ji Shileng smoothed his suit, trying to flatten the creases Su Ke had made by throwing himself at him.
Lowering his eyes with a smile, he nodded.
“I’ll change it later”
[Qin Si]: Good morning. Did you sleep well last night?
[AAA Little Ji’s Wholesale Happiness Shop]: Good morning. Your good wishes worked—I slept wonderfully.
[Qin Si]: I’m glad. If you don’t mind, Xiao Shi, I could say it to you every day.
After reading only a few lines, Su Ke tossed the communicator back.
“That’s disgustingly mushy. Your～ good～ wishes～ worked～”
“You’re the one who insisted on looking”
“I was curious who could possibly catch your eye” Su Ke snorted as something occurred to him. “This time, I’m vetting him properly. I’m not letting another bastard get lucky”
He never mentioned Shang Jianli by name, but every word was aimed at him.
Ji Shileng patted Su Ke’s shoulder, his manner thoroughly unserious.
“The organization can rest assured. I currently have no desire to date”
“The organization is not particularly reassured,” Su Ke replied with a cold snort.
After some more banter, they reached the hotel lobby.
The assistant greeted them from a distance. “Mr. Ji, Mr. Su”
“Has my brother gone to the conference venue already?” Ji Shileng asked as he got into the car and checked his watch. “Doesn’t it start in another hour?”
The watch showed nine o’clock. The military technology conference would not officially begin until ten.
The assistant started the car and joined the long stream of traffic.
“Engineer Ji said he had something to attend to, so he went ahead. He specifically asked me to pick you both up”
“Tsk” Su Ke leaned close to Ji Shileng’s ear and whispered, “What did I tell you? Your brother’s true love, his lover—it’s always going to be work”
Ji Shileng nodded in wholehearted agreement. Rather than shipping his brother with Su Ke, he might as well ship him with his job.
These workaholics were something else.
He was the boss of his own company, and even he disliked going to work. He spent his days slacking off in the office.
He simply could not understand people who lived for their jobs.
He pressed his lips together, then stopped whispering. His next remark instantly had the assistant in the driver’s seat listening with rapt attention.
“Su Ke, I must have been out of my mind when I decided to pursue Shang Jianli”
Su Ke raised an eyebrow, his expression saying, You’ve only just realized?
“I should have followed those girls’ example and stuck to shipping people,” Ji Shileng said, as though he had finally made peace with it. He tilted his head, his eyes curving into a smile.
“Think about it. In high school, I could have shipped Shang Jianli with his studies. At university, I could have shipped him with his work”
“I really was asking for trouble, going after him”
“Shi…” Su Ke opened his mouth, but the comforting words would not come. His heart ached.
In truth, everything that could be said—and plenty that should not have been—had already been said back then.
“But,” Ji Shileng added abruptly, looking away with perfect composure, “as long as I was happy, that’s enough. If I hadn’t pursued him, I definitely would have regretted it”
Life was too short not to be with the person you liked.
Ji Shileng willingly accepted the consequences of following his heart. Even if he lived his life hundreds of times over, he believed his choice would remain the same.
After all, Shang Jianli’s face was exactly his type.
He seriously suspected that heaven had looked at how smoothly his life had gone, from birth until his arrival at Imperial First High School, and decided it had been too easy.
So it had created Shang Jianli to put him through an ordeal.
Su Ke’s aching sympathy caught in his throat. His face went blank again.
“Oh”
Then he said acidly, “Sure. Just keep being happy. So happy you had to nearly lose your life before you finally faced reality”
Ji Shileng fell silent.
Eventually, he replied mildly, “You should apply to become the ancient Greek god of sarcasm”
In the driver’s seat, the assistant remained diligently at his post, struggling desperately not to laugh.
After checking their invitation codes, volunteers at the military technology conference began leading Ji Shileng and Su Ke in opposite directions.
Realizing they were being separated, Su Ke stopped and frowned.
“What’s going on? Aren’t we together?”
The volunteer checked the invitation codes on their communicators again. Under Su Ke’s murderous stare, they explained timidly, “I’m sorry, Mr. Su. Your invitation lists you as a representative of the Federation’s Ji family”
“That’s right” Su Ke saw nothing wrong with that.
Ji Shileng raised an eyebrow. “Unless I’m mistaken, I was also invited as a member of the Ji family”
The volunteer scratched their head.
“Your invitation lists you as the owner of Joker Studio”
Just then, the assistant hurried over after parking the car.
“Engineer Ji changed the invitation details last night,” he quickly explained.
Catching his breath, he continued, “Since the military competition involves Joker Studio, your capacity as a guest was changed, Mr. Ji”
Su Ke looked puzzled. “Then why wasn’t mine changed?”
He was an owner of Joker Studio too!
As though he had anticipated that exact question, the assistant answered immediately.
“Engineer Ji said the Ji family had already registered a representative. If no one attended on their behalf, there was no telling what people might say”
Social niceties still had to be observed.
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