A Broken Mirror Never Mends - Chapter 6
On July 6th, Danofe headquarters held a brand launch event, officially releasing the S260 series.
The S260 included three models: a sedan, an SUV, and a MINI. With prices ranging from 200,000 to 500,000 yuan, they were considered Danofe’s more affordable products.
The day before the launch, Danofe announced on its official social media that the spokesperson for the S260 series would be Cheng Xi.
Danofe appointed him as the brand ambassador for the entire Asia-Pacific region, showing how much they valued him.
At the media dinner on the day of the launch, Danofe’s CEO, Milton Zhou, and Cheng Xi appeared together. They even gave interviews to several major media outlets after the dinner.
Shi Tian didn’t know about this at first.
He had blocked Zhou Sifu’s name on all social media long ago to keep his mind at peace, but he couldn’t stop Danofe from buying trending topics everywhere.
In the morning, while driving to a meeting with distributors, the car screen connected to his phone’s Bluetooth made a “ding” sound. A notification popped up in front of him:
[Cheng Xi caught on a late-night date with Danofe’s CEO. Is their romance exposed? Click for more details—]
Shi Tian glanced at the screen and turned it off immediately. He asked the assistant in the passenger seat, “How long until the meeting starts?”
He didn’t care who that man named Zhou was dating.
When he didn’t hear a reply, Shi Tian looked over. He saw Assistant Chen, who was supposed to be organizing meeting materials, staring blankly at the car screen.
“…”
Realizing his boss was looking at him, Assistant Chen snapped out of it and shook his head quickly. “I—I wasn’t looking at anything.”
What is with this young model? Is he openly cheating on two people? Assistant Chen thought. Wait, no.
Technically, President Ji is the one cheating…
Pretending to know nothing, Assistant Chen looked back down at his documents. Suddenly, Shi Tian spoke up. “That news just now. Read it to me.”
“…Yes, President Shi.”
Assistant Chen swallowed and hurriedly opened his phone. “Recently, popular model Cheng Xi was photographed going home late at night with a top executive after a brand event. According to insiders, the executive is the current CEO of Danofe—”
After reading the gossip article filled with dramatic words, Assistant Chen noticed that Shi Tian didn’t seem to have much of a reaction.
It was the morning rush hour. Traffic was blocked up ahead. Shi Tian honked the horn, but the cars didn’t move at all.
The traffic jam happened to be at a crossroad in the city center, surrounded by large shopping malls that had just opened for the day.
He opened the window for some fresh air and saw a giant outdoor screen playing the latest Danofe car ad.
In the video, a boy in denim was driving an SUV through the wilderness. He leaned against the car window, took off his sunglasses, and smiled at the camera. He looked young and full of energy.
A line of text appeared on the right: [S260 Series Asia-Pacific Brand Ambassador: Cheng Xi].
The cars in front finally started moving. Assistant Chen heard Shi Tian say in a joking tone, “So that’s Zhou Sifu’s little lover, huh?”
Assistant Chen suddenly felt like crying.
What a mess…
How was he supposed to tell President Shi that this person isn’t just President Zhou’s lover, but President Ji’s too?
By the time Zhou Sifu left the party with Cheng Xi, it was already 10:00 PM.
The car was waiting at the hotel entrance. From the moment they appeared, the camera flashes across the street never stopped.
Despite being surrounded by reporters and paparazzi, Zhou Sifu didn’t try to hide. When they reached the black car, he like a gentleman opened the door for Cheng Xi, who was wearing Zhou’s jacket over his shoulders. Then he got into the front seat and they drove away.
Once they were away from the cameras, Cheng Xi quickly took off the suit jacket. He folded it carefully, placed it on the seat, and spoke softly to the man in the front. “Mr. Zhou, you can just drop me off at the next intersection. The company will send a van to pick me up.”
As soon as he finished, the man in the front seat asked, “Isn’t your work for today still unfinished, Mr. Cheng?”
Hearing this, Cheng Xi realized something and apologized quickly. “…Sorry, Mr. Zhou. I forgot.”
Since the launch three days ago, he had to accompany this big boss from Danofe to various social events every night to deal with the media.
In the beginning, the people taking photos and sharing them online were media outlets hired by Danofe’s own marketing team. Surprisingly, because of the popularity of Cheng Xi’s recent movie, the results were very good.
In the following days, the people waiting around the venues weren’t just reporters hired by Danofe anymore. Many other media outlets had come after hearing the news.
These people didn’t just wait at the hotel; they also watched Danofe’s office, Cheng Xi’s home, and Zhou Sifu’s home, just to get first-hand evidence of a scandal.
Knowing this, Zhou Sifu made sure to send him home every night.
After all, a headline like “Cheng Xi charms rich man, the two meet at a love nest at midnight” could create several news stories.
Because it felt risky, he hadn’t dared to message A-Lin these past few days, and A-Lin hadn’t reached out to him either.
But, of all nights, it had to be tonight…
Zhou Sifu saw the anxiety and unease on the face of the person in the back seat, but he remained calm.
After these few days of testing, he had confirmed some of his thoughts.
If Cheng Xi only cared about money and fame, sticking with him would give Cheng Xi much more than staying with Ji Yuanlin.
However, even though he had given hints and a chance to get close to him, Cheng Xi only followed the script and “acted” in public. He didn’t dare to do anything more.
If this was because he loved Ji Yuanlin deeply, it didn’t quite make sense.
If that were true, the boy wouldn’t keep claiming to be “single” in front of him.
There was definitely something fishy between Ji Yuanlin and Cheng Xi that no one had noticed yet.
Things were becoming more interesting.
It was late, and a light rain was falling.
The car drove through the dark night and entered a high-end villa neighborhood in the suburbs.
After getting out of the car, the first thing Zhou Sifu did was open his umbrella and walk to the back door to open it for Cheng Xi.
Perhaps because of the rain, there weren’t many media members waiting at the gate tonight. There were only one or two vans parked across the street.
As soon as Cheng Xi got out and stepped under Zhou Sifu’s large umbrella, his face turned pale.
He looked past Zhou Sifu’s shoulder toward the front of his own house.
A Maserati was parked on the grass not far from the villa. In the drizzling rain, a man in a suit stood outside the car with an umbrella. It looked like he had been waiting there for a long time.
Before that man could do anything, Zhou Sifu spoke to his driver. “Lao Zhao, go invite Mr. Ji over. I haven’t seen him in a long time either.”
Standing beside him under the umbrella, Cheng Xi’s back stiffened, but he remained still.
Lao Zhao walked to the Maserati and said a few words to Ji Yuanlin. Ji Yuanlin’s face immediately turned sour.
After hesitating for a moment, he finally turned off his car lights and walked toward Zhou Sifu.
When he reached them, Ji Yuanlin looked cold but still nodded at Zhou Sifu as a greeting. “President Zhou.”
He didn’t look at Cheng Xi at all, as if he didn’t know the person.
Zhou Sifu gave a kind smile. His tone was neither polite nor distant. “It’s late. Why is President Ji standing here alone in the rain?”
Ji Yuanlin’s eyelid twitched, and he spoke unnaturally. “I just left a party at a friend’s house. I didn’t expect to run into you here, President Zhou.”
Seeing that Ji Yuanlin had no intention of admitting he came to see him, Cheng Xi’s face grew even darker, though he managed to hide it.
“I see,” Zhou Sifu nodded. “President Ji is truly busy. You’re getting married tomorrow, yet you still have time to visit friends today.”
“It’s late, and you have a busy day tomorrow. You should go back and rest early.” Handing the umbrella to Cheng Xi, he opened the car door behind him. “By the way, I’ll make sure to send the wedding gift another day.”
As Zhou Sifu sat in the back and told Lao Zhao to drive, there was a knock on the window.
He lowered the window halfway and looked at the two men standing in the rain. “Does President Ji need something else?”
Outside the window, Ji Yuanlin leaned down in the rain, coming very close to the car door. He gritted his teeth and whispered, “…Zhou Sifu, listen carefully. I have no ill will toward you. If you have something to say, just say it.”
“Oh?”
Zhou Sifu raised an eyebrow and spoke slowly. “Ji Yuanlin, you are really overestimating yourself.”
The car drove back to the office. Zhou Sifu told Lao Zhao to go home and rest instead of waiting to drive him to his apartment.
Lao Zhao always thought this was strange.
A model like Cheng Xi could afford a house in an expensive villa area, but his own boss who was on the Forbes list and owned many properties chose to rent an apartment alone.
It was almost 11:30 PM. Zhou Sifu took the elevator to the top floor and scanned his card to enter his office.
At this hour, the company was empty except for the security guards. The office was dark, but the city streets below were still lit up, reflecting a bit of light on the large glass windows.
He didn’t seem to want to turn on the lights. He stood in the dark for a while, then went to the coffee machine to get a cup of black coffee. He sat back in his office chair by the window.
He took a sip, then, as if his perfectionism kicked in, he went back to the counter, took out two packets of sugar, and poured them both into the cup.
A searchlight from the harbor shone through the window, lighting up half of his face. He leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, as if falling into a light sleep.
Zhou Sifu had a dream.
He dreamed of a production workshop in a remote small town eight years ago.
Eight years ago, he had just graduated from college and joined the Danofe Group as a management trainee.
The training process for Danofe required him to work in a factory for two years. He could only move up after passing many tests.
His foster father had just passed away, and he had no home. He lived in the company dorm and survived on a 1,000-yuan monthly allowance for food and housing.
The workshop environment wasn’t great. He wore a worker’s uniform every day, starting work at 8:00 AM with the other workers to learn about car assembly. To learn more and get practical experience, he was always the last person to leave the workshop every night.
On the night of his 22nd birthday, he finished logging equipment information at 9:00 PM. As he crawled out from under a car chassis, he accidentally fell into a puddle of muddy water on the ground.
On his way to the public bathhouse to clean up, he got a call from the guard saying someone was looking for him at the gate.
Who would look for him so late?
He didn’t expect to see that person outside the factory gate.
Shi Tian was holding a bag of hot takeout food. He was wearing a new formal suit and was waving at him, out of breath.
He and Shi Tian found a step to sit on. He watched silently as Shi Tian took the food containers out one by one and lined them up in front of him. Shi Tian told him to eat while it was hot.
Seeing him eat quickly and finish everything, Shi Tian patted his back and told him to slow down.
While eating, he asked Shi Tian, “Why did you come to this town?”
Shi Tian wiped the sweat from his forehead and fanned himself with his hand. He said his department head brought them to the provincial capital to talk about business. He found out that the capital was only a few dozen kilometers away, so he hopped on a bus after work to come over.
Shi Tian had just started at a famous investment bank and was still in his probation period. He was busy from morning to night and sometimes didn’t even have time for a phone call.
Worried that the dirt on his clothes would ruin Shi Tian’s suit, Zhou Sifu sat a little further away.
When he finished eating and wiped his mouth, Shi Tian took out a pack of tissues and said seriously, “Master Zhou, close your eyes.”
He obeyed and closed his eyes. He felt the person in front of him lean in slowly. He thought Shi Tian was going to wipe the dirt off his face, but instead, he felt something cool on his lips.
Shi Tian pressed against his nose and kissed him.
After the brief kiss, Shi Tian pointed at a dusty spot on his own nose and smiled. “See? Now I’m dirty just like you.”
There were no stars that night. They kissed in the dark for a long time until the moon hid behind clouds and heavy rain began to fall.
He took Shi Tian’s hand and they ran through the rain to the shelter of an abandoned building. The rain didn’t stop. They stood together under the eaves, soaked like two drowned rats.
He took an MP3 player, a gift from Shi Tian a long time ago out of his pocket. He gave Shi Tian one earphone and asked if he wanted to listen to music while waiting for the rain to stop.
Shi Tian said since he was turning twenty-two today, they should listen to the 22nd song on the list.
He flipped through the MP3 and found that the 22nd song was very fitting. It was called “Happy Cloudy Day.”
– So, I walk calmly through the crowd
– Occasionally wanting to see clouds fly, but there is no wind
– Tell the cloudy day to stop messing around
– I’ve missed you for so long, so long
– As soon as I look up, I see the me from back then
The music alarm from his phone echoed in the large office. Zhou Sifu slowly opened his eyes and realized the sun was already rising. The light poured over his shoulders, making him frown.
He turned off the alarm and stood up. He picked up his suit jacket from the chair and left the office without looking back.
As the door closed, his computer woke up from sleep mode. The time on the screen jumped from July 9th to the 10th.
On the calendar next to the computer, July 10th was circled with a marker.
[His Wedding]
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