Rules of Civility - Chapter 14

After the heavy rain had washed everything clean, the fresh grass looked newborn, and the parasol tree leaves danced in the breeze, a sea of tender green stretching endlessly into the distance. Finding a tiny hole amidst all that lush verdure was no easy feat. He Siyang had settled into his posture for a long time before finally swinging the club amid everyone’s teasing jeers.

“Thud!”

The golf club swept through the air in a dashing arc, rolled along the fairway for a bit, and came to a stop at a spot that was far from satisfactory.

He Siyang cursed at the hole, “Damn it.”

He turned around, walked briskly toward the resting area, yanked off his sun hat, and tossed it onto the table. A golf course attendant hurriedly rushed over with a chilled beverage. He Siyang grabbed it and slumped back into his chair in utter frustration.

“You took eight shots on a four-hundred-yard hole and still didn’t make it in. Are you even capable? You’re killing me.” Xiao Songhe’s tongue was as venomous as ever. Not only did he seize every opportunity to mock He Siyang, but he hadn’t stopped running his mouth even while He Siyang was lining up his stance. That swing gave him plenty of fresh material to work with.

He Siyang gave as good as he got. “As if you fucking managed to get it in. I’ve never seen anyone need a tee right next to the hole.”

“Just tell me whether it went in or not.”

“A win without honor,” He Siyang retorted unceremoniously. “Trash.”

Xiao Songhe pointed a finger at He Siyang, who ignored him completely. Xiao Songhe only let up after tossing one final “consolation” remark his way.

He Siyang took a sip of his iced drink and looked back to see Sheng Tingzhou sitting to the side smoking, looking completely detached. Stirring up trouble, He Siyang provoked, “Aren’t you going to teach him how to behave?”

Xiao Songhe kicked the leg of his chair. “Fuck off.”

The cigarette in Sheng Tingzhou’s hand was almost burnt down to the filter. With his knees splayed apart, a sudden gust of wind blew the ashes right out of the ashtray. The attendant beside him scrambled in a flurry to clean it up. Gazing down the fairway, Sheng Tingzhou said, “The last bet you lost to me hasn’t been settled yet.”

Xiao Songhe frowned. “I’m a bit tight on cash these days. Once the Mohe project is wrapped up, I’ll pay you back.”

He Siyang ruthlessly exposed him. “Still waiting on you. Time to quit gambling, brother. Playing golf with our Boss Sheng here, you really are a clever little egg. I don’t even want to bother talking about you.”

Sensing another argument brewing between the two, Xiao Songhe let loose with a dirty mouth. “Son of a bitch, do I lose as badly as that moron Han Dai? He even gambled his old man into the ICU. What I’m doing is just small change compared to that.”

Sheng Tingzhou wasn’t particularly interested in their verbal sparring, but he managed to catch the crucial piece of information, lifting his gaze as he asked, “Uncle Han went to the hospital?”

“Yeah, you didn’t know? It was Han Dai’s doing,” Xiao Songhe said, his desire for gossip fully activated. “Everyone’s talking about his stunt lately. Aside from failing to gamble away his entire ancestral home, everything else that could be lost has been thrown in. His old man’s health was already poor to begin with, and Han Dai directly shaved off at least twenty years of his father’s life span.”

“Twenty years might not even be enough.” Sheng Tingzhou had caught wind of Han Dai’s gambling habits and was well aware that his father’s health was failing.

“He’s already addicted; he can’t stop himself,” Xiao Songhe said, a cold, sharp glint flashing in his eyes. “A gambling dog can’t be helped, you know. He was supposed to learn to behave, but because he was so desperate to prove something to someone, he smashed the rest of his family’s bottom line into it as well. That Omega father of his has been running around borrowing money everywhere, and he even hit up my stepmom.”

He Siyang chimed in with a cold sneer, “What a piece of work.”

Xiao Songhe let out a laugh, his eyes brimming with sarcasm.

Sheng Tingzhou followed up with perfunctory curiosity, “Prove what?”

He had no idea what kind of nonsense Han Dai was pulling.

Xiao Songhe adopted an earnest, preaching tone. “Ah, for an Omega, of course. What else could it be? He set his sights on an Omega, and to win him over, he even kicked out his original partner, abandoning his wife and child. Yet he can’t even get the guy to look at him straight. Tell me, isn’t he a total moron?”

“You can’t entirely blame him either. Shao Yiqing is an absolute demon,” He Siyang lowered his gaze, pinching his cup of iced beverage with a storytelling tone in his voice. “Who the hell can withstand that?”

Sheng Tingzhou exhaled a plume of white smoke. It was night, but the golf court was as bright as day, doing nothing to obstruct the distant view of the mountains.

“Who’s saying otherwise?” Xiao Songhe agreed. “The point is, the guy’s already getting up there in age, has a kid and everything, yet he can still wrap people completely around his finger. You really can’t even afford to look at a person like that. His ghost-like tricks are endless, and he’ll have you falling for him in a matter of minutes.”

Sheng Tingzhou remained silent, quietly rolling the cigarette holder between his fingers. There were many matters in Xiangjiang he hadn’t had the time to unravel yet. Better to stay silent on what he didn’t know, so he simply listened to Xiao Songhe and He Siyang chat away.

“He isn’t even that old, is he?” He Siyang said uncertainly. “Didn’t his son start high school? By estimation, he should be around thirty-five or thirty-six? Roughly around there. You can’t tell from his appearance, though. I just knew he married quite young. When I first saw him, I genuinely thought he was in his early twenties.”

“Great figure and a youthful face. Otherwise, how could he have spun Han Dai around until he lost his mind?” Xiao Songhe sighed. “He’s already like this now. What the hell would happen if he were actually in his early twenties?”

The wisps of tobacco smoke curled upward, veiling Sheng Tingzhou’s face in haze. The athletic wear he wore radiated youthful vigor, yet his aura was so overwhelmingly potent that even casual sportswear failed to mask his dense, masculine dominance.

“Got a lot of opinions about thirty-year-old people, do you?” He Siyang locked horns with Xiao Songhe again. “What, you’re never going to turn thirty? From where I’m standing, his age is just right, mature and full of charm. A weirdo like you who’s into pedophilia is the one with the real problem.”

“When the hell am I into pedophilia?” Xiao Songhe protested. “I just like fresh kids in their late teens.”

“Come on, do the math. Thirty minus eighteen equals what? A twelve-year gap. When you were eighteen, the other person was only six. By rounding things up, what is that if not pedophilia?”

“Who taught you to do math like that, what the fuck…”

The two of them bickered for a long time, neither drinks nor cigarettes enough to seal their mouths. Finding the noise grating, Sheng Tingzhou stubbed out his cigarette and stood up.

“Tingzhou?” Xiao Songhe looked up at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Heading back,” Sheng Tingzhou adjusted the brim of his hat and walked toward the indoor area. “That’s it for today.”

He Siyang stood up as well, gave Xiao Songhe a kick, and announced that he was calling it a night too because he was sleepy. Xiao Songhe didn’t hold it against him for the kick; instead, he hurled a curse at He Siyang’s retreating back and hurried after Sheng Tingzhou.

When Sheng Tingzhou returned to the single changing room, an attendant had been trailing behind him with attentive service all along. Now, lingering near the doorway of Sheng Tingzhou’s room looking shifty, the attendant caught Xiao Songhe’s eye. Xiao Songhe knew precisely what these attendants were plotting. A wealthy, powerful, and youthful Sheng Tingzhou had already become the target of numerous Omegas the very day he returned to the country.

He waved a hand to chase the attendant away.

Xiao Songhe pushed open the door and caught sight of Sheng Tingzhou pulling off his top. The inverted-triangle lines of his torso radiated pure testosterone, and the dense, high-tier Alpha pheromones filling the room made even Xiao Songhe pause for a second. Grasping the doorknob to step inside, he glanced again at Sheng Tingzhou’s top-tier physique before looking toward the discarded clothes and hat on the side. “How’s Jiayu doing?”

Sheng Tingzhou had a younger brother, a doctoral student and high-intellect intellectual who was stepping away from campus life this year, and rumors about it had been circulating for a while.

“Something up?” Sheng Tingzhou’s words were always sparse. Xiao Songhe and He Siyang were childhood friends, but after Sheng Tingzhou went abroad, contact and ties between them had thinned. Xiao Songhe no longer felt certain of his former friend’s temperament and was constantly probing, never fully grasping it, afraid to bring up most topics too casually.

“Nothing, just checking in,” Xiao Songhe offered a cheap smile. “I heard he’s going to work at the group?”

“Still looking into it.” Sheng Tingzhou slipped into casual wear. Around his neck hung a necklace, exuding a distinctly sensual vibe. As for its origin, Xiao Songhe had never asked, but from Sheng Tingzhou’s movements, he could tell how deeply he treasured it.

“Jiayu is a straight-arrow kind of guy, unlike us,” Xiao Songhe said. “Hope they find him a good Omega down the road, foreign or local, as long as he’s worthy of him.”

Sheng Tingzhou glanced sideways. Although Xiao Songhe had drifted away from Sheng Tingzhou over the years, he had heard whispers that Sheng Tingzhou was a formidable player abroad, leading a wild and frantic lifestyle. Combined with his top-tier genes, the oppressive weight in his eyes was all the more palpable. At times, when facing Sheng Tingzhou’s sharp gaze, Xiao Songhe couldn’t help a flutter of genuine apprehension.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Xiao Songhe forced a laugh. “It’s creepy.”

“Cut the beating around the bush. If you’ve got something to dig up, ask straight out.” Sheng Tingzhou fished the necklace out from under the collar of his shirt and threw on his outer jacket.

Hesitating and abandoning all pretense, Xiao Songhe gave in. “Fine. The person I was just talking about with Siyang, don’t you want to know more about him?”

Sheng Tingzhou raised a brow slightly. “Reason?”

Xiao Songhe said, “Aren’t you interested? He’s quite famous in our circle. Well, not just your circle or mine anymore. He’s storming through the entire upper-crust circle of our Xiangjiang.”

Sheng Tingzhou spared Xiao Songhe a look, remaining entirely unfazed. He retrieved his phone, keys, and watch from the overhead locker, and said with unruffled calm, “And then? Am I supposed to be interested in him? Am I Han Dai?”

Xiao Songhe leaned against the locker, entirely unhurried. “He’s really something else, otherwise Han Dai wouldn’t have fallen for him that hard.”

Sheng Tingzhou still didn’t budge.

Xiao Songhe’s pent-up intentions were pushed aside. If Sheng Tingzhou wasn’t going to ask, he wouldn’t get a chance to speak. Abandoning any further suspense, he let his hands drop. “Alright, fine. Actually, you’ve met him.”

Only then did Sheng Tingzhou grant Xiao Songhe a look that suggested he could continue.

“Over at Longjiang Pavilion,” Xiao Songhe said. “I heard he represented the Xu family to negotiate with you. Did that happen or not?”

Sheng Tingzhou’s movements lagged for a split second before returning to normal, his tone devoid of any discernible emotion. “It’s him.”

“So you really have met him?” Xiao Songhe gossiped. “Weird, you actually agreed to host him, a total stranger, and genuinely pushed back the signing ceremony.”

Xiao Songhe’s tone was heavy with probing towards Sheng Tingzhou. Sheng Tingzhou could smell the scent of him trying to test the waters and bind him, not because of any deep understanding left from their old friendship, but because Xiao Songhe wasn’t hiding his curiosity in the slightest.

A single glance was enough to tell what Xiao Songhe was thinking. He was cut from the same cloth as Xiao Songhe and the others, yet not entirely identical.

“The Xu Daoquan family deserves to die, but I’m not in the mood to deal with them right now,” Sheng Tingzhou said. “Let’s nibble them away piece by piece. Once they have zero capacity to fight back, they’ll be easy to finish off clean.”

Having heard about the duel between the two families and knowing Sheng Tingzhou’s resolve, Xiao Songhe felt a wave of palpitations despite not seeing him for years. Although it answered his question, it wasn’t the answer Xiao Songhe wanted to hear.

“Jiayu’s downstairs. I’m heading out.” Sheng Tingzhou took a step forward to leave, but Xiao Songhe didn’t dare to stop him, only watching him go.

Yet just as Sheng Tingzhou reached the door, Xiao Songhe still couldn’t hold it back. “Earlier, when Siyang was praising Shao Yiqing, do you understand what he meant?”

Sheng Tingzhou glanced back. The eyes beneath his dark, ink-black brows carried a heavy sense of invasion, yet remained unrevealing, hiding their true depth.

With a difficult, conflicted tone, Xiao Songhe said, “When I was talking in front of him earlier, I deliberately left out the part about you meeting Shao Yiqing at Longjiang Pavilion, because Siyang’s got an interest in him.”

Sheng Tingzhou remained silent for a moment, figuring out Xiao Songhe’s underlying thoughts. Suddenly, he raised a brow and ruthlessly exposed him, “Oh? Scared I’ll steal him from him?”

Actually, probing shouldn’t exist among friends, but Xiao Songhe lived in a world of pure realism. When people of his and Sheng Tingzhou’s status interacted as friends, things could never be completely pure. There were always moments when picking a side mattered deeply. Choosing right, choosing wrong, how to stand, every detail carried immense weight. Xiao Songhe acted playful on the surface, but he was always heavy-headed inside, turning every single action, sentence, and expression over in his mind for half a day.

Yet relying on past perceptions and sentiments to guess Sheng Tingzhou’s preferences and thoughts no longer worked accurately. Otherwise, today he wouldn’t have had to lay his cards so bare just to figure out Sheng Tingzhou’s stance.

Looking straight at Sheng Tingzhou, Xiao Songhe endured the pressure and said, “I don’t know whether your decision regarding Ruirui this time has anything to do with Shao Yiqing, though I feel it probably doesn’t, and you wouldn’t be that irrational. But Tingzhou, Shao Yiqing is your type. Do you dare admit it?”

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