Chà Chà Novel

Su Ke asked, “Come on. Aren’t we the best of brothers in the Federation?”

“Depends on the occasion,” Ji Shileng said calmly. “You’re going on a blind date. I can’t go with you. That’s your battle to fight”

Su Ke was weeping rivers on the inside. “Can I just not go?”

“After what your dad said, you still think you can skip it?”

Ji Shileng knew Su Ke’s father pretty well. The two of them had been getting into trouble together since they were kids, and their parents had often teamed up to discipline them. The more trouble the boys caused, the closer the Ji and Su families grew.

“I don’t want to go”

Ji Shileng didn’t dare touch his face. He folded his hands in his lap. “Then ask Ji Shifeng to go with you. Tell them you already have a boyfriend”

Su Ke gave up and sank back against the rear seat, his hands behind his head. “That’ll just make Dad more likely to beat me”

“Why?”

“Do you have any idea how highly my dad thinks of Ji Shifeng?” Su Ke sounded positively aggrieved.

His father, a military man through and through, approved of everything about Ji Shifeng. By extension, he found even Ji Shileng easier to like than his own son.

“If I actually showed up with Ji Shifeng, Dad would be convinced I was the one who’d led him astray”

Ji Shileng: “…”

“It can’t be that bad.” Even he sounded a little unsure.

Su Ke didn’t let him get away with it. “Oh, it can… Thanks to your brother, Dad likes you a whole lot better than he likes me”

“Then accept your fate.” Ji Shileng was just as helpless when it came to blind dates arranged by his own family. “It’s only dinner”

“Easier said than done.” Su Ke suddenly sat bolt upright. “What if I stopped by Shuise and brought one of the girls along?”

Ji Shileng pictured the scene. It would be absolute chaos.

“Forget it. Just go and have dinner.” Hoping to spare Su Ke a beating, he added, “They’ve come a long way. The least you can do is show up”

Su Ke heaved a long sigh. “What a life…”

“I’ll make do at the office. I’m sure you’ll survive.” Ji Shileng patted Su Ke on the shoulder and stepped out in front of the Joker Studio building.

He left his mask off, afraid it would rub away the ointment.

The setting sun scattered flecks of gold across the ground. Ji Shileng seemed to glow in the evening light as he waved to Su Ke.

“Let’s hope I make it back alive.” Su Ke waved back listlessly, in no mood to appreciate the view. “Don’t think about Gaopei Laboratory tonight. We’ll talk it through tomorrow”

“Okay.” Ji Shileng was tired too. He had no desire to force himself to think things through when he was this worn out. “I’ll give Xiao Fang a call later”

Xiao Fang was the one in their crowd who ran a security company.

They owed him for this one. Without his help, they wouldn’t have shaken their tail so easily.

“All right.” Su Ke looked utterly miserable. “I’m off to battle. Remember to eat”

The communicator in Ji Shileng’s pocket vibrated. He glanced down and saw Qin Si’s name on the screen.

He stayed where he was and answered.

“What’s up?”

“Hmm? Sorry, I was distracted. Could you say that again?”

“Turn… around?” Ji Shileng blinked. With the communicator still at his ear, he turned and met Qin Si’s gaze.

Qin Si was holding his own communicator and smiling faintly at him.

“Good afternoon.” Qin Si took two steps toward him. As soon as he saw how red and swollen one side of Ji Shileng’s face was, his smile faded.

Ji Shileng was so taken aback that he forgot to hang up. All he managed was a dazed “Good afternoon”

Qin Si looked worried. “What happened to your face? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“It’s fine. My skin’s sensitive to some ingredients in makeup remover.” Ji Shileng waved it off out of habit, keeping his voice casual. “I’ve already put some ointment on it”

Back at Seaview One in Central Residence, Ji Shileng stepped out of the elevator with Qin Si holding him by the wrist.

As he waited for Qin Si to open the door, Ji Shileng folded his arms. “Aren’t you worried I’ll rob the place?”

The lock recognized Qin Si’s fingerprint, and he pushed open the heavy wooden door, playing along. “Just steal the owner. Wouldn’t everything inside be yours then?”

Ji Shileng instinctively looked away and touched his ear. “Who says you’d be that easy to steal?”

Qin Si smiled. He never held back his smiles around Ji Shileng.

“If you want me, you won’t even have to steal me.” He tucked a few stray strands of hair behind Ji Shileng’s ear. “I can walk right into the trap, young Mr. Ji”

“You’re the worst,” Ji Shileng muttered through his teeth, then sent Qin Si off to the kitchen. “Weren’t you going to cook for me? Hurry up. I’m hungry”

He’d planned to spend the night at the office. He could have ordered takeout and been perfectly fine.

Then Qin Si had tempted him with good food, and somehow he’d taken the bait.

Qin Si agreed with a smile. He turned on the living room TV and told Ji Shileng to make himself at home.

Ji Shileng murmured an acknowledgment and sat cross-legged on the sofa.

He’d wanted to sit cross-legged on the floor, but Qin Si didn’t have a rug. There was a throw on the sofa, though Ji Shileng couldn’t quite bring himself to spread someone else’s clean blanket on the floor.

Qin Si came out of the kitchen with a plate of peaches and found Ji Shileng on a call. Seeing the plate in his hands, Ji Shileng switched to speaker, set his communicator on the coffee table, and took the peaches.

The voice on the other end was lazy. All the young men in their crowd sounded more or less the same when they didn’t particularly care about something.

“You want Liangjian?”

“Yeah. Name your price?”

“You can just have him. What are friends for?”

Qin Si’s eyes darkened. He kept his irritation in check and reminded himself there was still plenty of time.

“Business is business.” Ji Shileng didn’t notice the change in Qin Si’s expression. He speared a piece of peach with his fork, unwilling to owe a favor for nothing.

His reason for wanting Liangjian was simple. The man had followed him inside and overheard quite a bit about the inner workings of Gaopei Laboratory.

Ji Shileng didn’t know whether he could trust Xiao Fang’s people. He’d feel more at ease with Liangjian where he could keep an eye on him.

“All right. A hundred thousand, friends’ rate. I’ll transfer Liangjian’s contract to you.” Xiao Fang understood that Ji Shileng didn’t want to owe him a favor.

Favors were easy to owe and hard to repay.

“Thanks.” Ji Shileng meant it. “You really came through for me this time”

“Anything for Young Master Ji”

They chatted a little longer. Ji Shileng agreed to go out for drinks in the next few days, then put down the glass dish with half the peaches still in it and headed for the kitchen.

Qin Si looked up, ladle in hand, surprised to see him wander in mid-yawn. “What brings you in here? Weren’t you talking to your friend?”

“We’re done.” Ji Shileng glanced around the kitchen. “I was bored, so I wanted to come see you”