The Pitiful Guy I Saved Is a Possessive Big Shot - Chapter 18

Seeing them talk more and more ridiculously, Kong Que rolled his eyes privately and called out to Pang Hui.

“I say, Pang Hui, are you really worried about a dance partner? If you post on social media right now saying you want a girlfriend, at least three people would show up to claim the spot. How many hands do you have that you’re trying to invite more partners?”

The crowd burst into laughter.

Pang Hui said crossly, “Fine, you’re just here to ruin my moment, aren’t you?” He turned to Shi Qingning and said, “Second Young Master, don’t listen to his nonsense.”

Faced with this boy, who was even more beautiful and stunning than expected, Pang Hui instinctively softened his voice. “I truly want to invite you. Please consider—”

He was in the middle of his sincere confession when he was suddenly interrupted by a cold voice.

“Xiao Ning.”

Everyone turned around and met that famous “iceberg” face: the eldest Shi brother.

Shi Yi lifted his chin slightly, his handsome face cold and expressionless. “Come over here for a moment.”

Everyone greeted Shi Yi. Even Pang Hui, who had been interrupted, didn’t dare to feel any resentment. In front of the eldest Shi brother, the group instinctively lowered their voices, not daring to be disrespectful.

Even though they were only six or seven years apart from him in age, to these rich second-generation students, there was a real difference in status and aura between them and a true successor who held actual power. Therefore, they were exceptionally well-behaved in front of Shi Yi.

Shi Yi nodded to them and led Shi Qingning to the other side of the hall.

Shi Qingning followed behind him, his eyes involuntarily drifting toward Bai Yexi.

“What are you looking at?” Shi Yi glanced at Bai Yexi and said coolly, “He won’t get lost.”

Shi Qingning followed obediently, but his heart was not calm. For some reason, he had a faint premonition—as if “Mint” really might get lost.

The lack of progress in investigating the An family kept Shi Qingning anxious. He worried that Bai Yexi might suddenly disappear without a trace. Fortunately, Bai Yexi had already entered the hall, and it seemed Kong Que had gone up to greet him. Shi Qingning took one last look to confirm before walking away with his brother.

This gathering was said to be a celebration for the younger Shi son’s education, but in reality, almost everyone important in Haicheng had been invited. While Shi Qingning was researching information earlier, he had looked up a lot of local news. In just a few steps, he saw many faces he had seen in the news before.

However, the first-person Shi Yi led him to meet was a white-haired old man wearing tortoiseshell glasses.

“Elder Pan.” Shi Yi’s tone was much more respectful. “This is my younger brother, Shi Qingning.”

The old man said with a smile, “Good, hello there.”

Shi Yi said to Shi Qingning, “This is Pan Liang, Elder Pan. He is the former Dean of the Physics Department at Yan University and a lifetime honorary professor at Hai University.”

“Academician Pan?” Shi Qingning was surprised. Anyone with a basic understanding of physics in the country knew the name Pan Liang. Who would have thought that the old man whose name always appeared in the “Editor” section of textbooks would be here in person?

“I… I just read the ‘Relativity Discussion’ series you edited seven years ago,” Shi Qingning said with a slight stutter. “I didn’t expect to meet you in person so soon.”

He was clearly nervous, appearing more like a lively child. His “surprised and at a loss” look made others want to smile along with him.

Elder Pan laughed. “That set was a supplementary textbook for university students. You read it this early?”

“I just skimmed through it,” Shi Qingning said shyly, scratching his hair. “I thought it looked interesting, so I read it.”

Elder Pan laughed loudly. “Good! Physics itself is a very interesting subject!”

Shi Yi listened quietly without interrupting. He saw Shi Xiao Lin, who had just arrived, running toward them, looking happy and wanting to greet Shi Qingning. However, when she heard those few sentences of dialogue from a distance, she looked like she had seen a ghost and stopped in shock. She stood still for two seconds, then turned and ran away.

Over here, the two were chatting happily. Finally, others came to find Elder Pan. Shi Qingning said a reluctant goodbye and followed Shi Yi to meet other elders.

Time passed quickly. Soon, Shi Qingning heard the sound of a microphone being tested from the stage.

“Hello? Testing. It’s ready, Auntie Shi. Here you go.”

Shi Qingning looked toward the sound and found that the person testing the mic wasn’t a staff member, but the tall, thin boy he had seen earlier—Pang Hui. He was helping Madam Shi adjust the wireless microphone on her collar. His movements were polite and well-bred.

Shi Qingning didn’t pay much attention to Pang Hui. As he looked away, he found a sturdy middle-aged man standing beside him.

“Xiao Hui just loves messing with these electronic gadgets,” the man said with a laugh. “The electronic equipment in this hall today was provided by Vico, and he’s usually the one in charge of them.”

“Many people tell me, ‘Oh, Vico is a major part of our Pang Group, you can’t let a kid run wild.’ I don’t think so. Young people need space to grow freely. We parents shouldn’t be old-fashioned.”

The middle-aged man said meaningfully, turning to Shi Qingning, “Has the second young master spoken with our Xiao Hui yet?”

“Mr. Pang,” Shi Yi spoke up calmly. “Do you have business with Xiao Ning?”

“No, no, just a casual chat.” Pang Dalong’s square face was full of smile lines. “If there’s real business, I should talk to the Eldest Young Master.”

He rubbed his palms together. “You see, the stock price of North China Deco is about to hit its lowest point. The ‘best timing’ I mentioned to you is coming. I wonder how the Eldest Young Master is considering our cooperative acquisition?”

Shi Qingning had heard of “North China Deco.” That was the name of the company where Jian Ren worked.

Shi Qingning usually paid attention to the news, and he had heard fragments of a phone call Madam Shi made a few days ago.

Jian Ren was completely finished.

This wasn’t a minor injury or a scandal. It was a massive debt that he could never recover from. After Jian Ren became the North China representative for the Deco Group, a gap in funding appeared due to a messy management handover. The newly appointed Jian Ren wasn’t skilled in the business; he only got the job because of his status as a member of the Jian family from Yancheng. To maintain the appearance of success, he chose to cover up the problems.

Since Jian Ren had no real talent and was completely unprepared, he was caught off guard. By the time he realized what was happening, the situation was irreversible.

North China Deco was originally a listed company. Suddenly, a large amount of liquid capital poured into the fund pool, and the equity held by management was heavily diluted. Jian Ren’s first reaction was to buy back stock to increase his equity share and reassure the management. He thought the Deco headquarters would back him up. Almost everyone thought this was just a short-term fluctuation that would stabilize once headquarters intervened.

However, before the headquarters’ funds could arrive, the North China capital chain completely broke. North China Deco’s stock price plummeted. In just a few days, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. They had just separated from headquarters to list independently, and before they could even establish a foundation, they were overturned.

The Deco Group originally wanted to save them, but they found that the millions they threw in didn’t even make a sound. Deco Group then decisively cut ties and left. North China Deco became an abandoned child.

As the executive owner and legal representative, Jian Ren was the first to suffer. He had worked hard for this position to stand out among the Jian family’s competition. However, Elder Jian was even sharper than the Deco Group. As soon as Jian Ren started buying stock as a response, the Jian family notarized a document proving that Jian Ren had separated from the family long ago.

They proved that Jian Ren had nothing to do with the Jian family. His debts could not affect them.

With no one to turn to, Jian Ren could only flee with his two injured legs. Now, forget about harassing the Shi family; he didn’t even dare to show his face in public. The massive debt meant that if he were discovered, his life might be in danger.

Such a big event attracted a lot of attention, and the entire Haicheng financial circle was buzzing. The process happened too fast—from Jian Ren taking office to the company nearing bankruptcy, it took less than a week. It was clearly a case of manual manipulation.

At first, some people guessed the Shi family did it. Given the history between Jian Ren and the Shi, it was normal to strike first. But people soon realized something was wrong. The Shi family didn’t have that much power. They were a real-industry company focused on medical equipment. Shi Yi was talented, but he was only an investment newcomer. He couldn’t compare to the “sharks” who had been in the industry for years.

This move against North China Deco looked like the work of a titan. The amount of capital required was not something an ordinary person could move. The number of industry titans is limited, and none of the big names seemed to be involved. Therefore, people speculated: was overseas capital involved?

However, the domestic stock market is very different from overseas. To move so much money and be so familiar with the domestic market, people naturally thought of Hong Kong or Macau. Such a bold, fast, and ruthless method was very much the style of a certain “genius” in Macau.

But no one understood. Why would a Macau titan target an unknown person like Jian Ren for no reason? It wasn’t necessary. Does an elephant go out of its way to step on a specific ant? Could the titan be using Jian Ren as a starting point to swallow the entire Jian family or Deco Group?

For a time, conspiracy theories involving the Jian family and Macau spread wildly. But for the people of Haicheng, the only thing that mattered was the “cake” of North China Deco left on the table.

Pang Dalong brought his son to the party mainly to discuss a joint acquisition of North China Deco with the Shi family. Since Mr. Shi was away on business, Shi Yi was in charge, so Pang Dalong approached him with a very proactive attitude.

“Our two families are old acquaintances. Joining forces would be a win-win.”

Compared to Pang Dalong’s enthusiasm, Shi Yi’s reaction was cold. He stopped Shi Qingning first. “This has nothing to do with you,” Shi Yi said coldly. “Go play elsewhere.”

Shi Qingning nodded and walked away obediently. After a few steps, he heard someone whispering nearby. “The Eldest Young Master is still guarding against the Second Young Master.”

Shi Qingning looked back. Everyone was laughing and talking; everything seemed normal. He looked away and walked faster. He knew his brother wasn’t “guarding” against him; he just didn’t want him to be dragged into messy business.

The people Shi Yi had introduced to him earlier were respected academicians, young lecturers, the head of a research institute, and even a researcher for radio telescopes. To others, these people were strangers, but to Shi Qingning, they were more attractive than any billionaire guest or star stockbroker. He had his own interests.

And his mother and brother were always wholehearted toward him.

People’s words are to be feared, Shi Qingning thought. Perhaps many things are like this—seen from different angles, there are completely different interpretations.

After leaving his brother, Shi Qingning was called by Madam Shi to go on stage for an opening ceremony. Though the process was formal, he didn’t stay long. He used his time on stage to look for Bai Yexi. Once he got down, he planned to find him immediately.

Bai Yexi had been staying in a corner all day. Shi Qingning had noted his position, but after walking halfway around the hall, he lost his sense of direction. Shi Qingning suddenly realized that even with his striking looks and long hair, when Bai Yexi truly wanted to hide, his lonely and gloomy aura was a great disguise that made others ignore or avoid him.

The faint anxiety from the past few days rose again. Shi Qingning quickened his pace, moving through the crowd toward Bai Yexi.

While Shi Qingning was looking for someone, someone was also looking for him. But because he moved so quickly, those looking for him returned empty-handed. The one helping find him was the first to give up.

“I say, Young Master Pang, why do you have to find him? Seriously, you’ve been staring at him for so long, but we just can’t find a chance to be alone with him!”

“Shh.” Pang Hui frowned. He hadn’t been able to find Shi Qingning either. “Keep it down.”

“No way. If you don’t tell me why, I won’t help you look,” the friend complained. “They just brought out more drinks. I want to go get some and have a good time. My family usually doesn’t let me touch them.”

“Keep drinking and you’ll get fat!” Pang Hui cursed under his breath. He had no choice but to pull the person aside. “Come with me.”

They passed the wall-mounted speakers in the hall and walked onto a nearby open balcony. Pang Hui carefully closed the sliding glass door and pulled the curtains tight to isolate them from the hall. This area was soundproofed; conversations on the balcony couldn’t be heard by people in the hall.

Seeing Pang Hui being so serious, the friend became even more curious. “Why so mysterious? Do you really have a crush on that Second Young Master Shi? Didn’t you only date girls before?”

“Oh—” The friend teased, nudging him. “Is it because he’s good-looking? Is your ‘beauty obsession’ acting up again?”

Pang Hui pushed his hand away and paused. “He is good-looking. But it’s not because of his face; it’s what my family ordered. My family wants to cooperate with the Shi. If I can win him over, things will progress much faster.”

“Wow,” the friend said. “So Young Master Pang is sacrificing his body this time?”

Pang Hui snorted. “Otherwise? You really think I want to be gay? That Second Young Master Shi only has a face. He was just tricked by a guy named Jian Ren, and now he’s keeping a ‘pretty boy’ for himself. With that kind of ‘love brain,’ what can he actually achieve?”

The friend was curious. “A pretty boy?”

“That guy with the long hair. Didn’t you see him? He just passed us.” Pang Hui sneered. “If you ask me, the Second Young Master is the one obsessed with beauty, and he only picks one type of look. Can’t you see? I’m mimicking Jian Ren’s style today. As long as I get a chance to be alone with him, it’ll be easy—”

Before Pang Hui could finish, a loud noise came from behind him.

CLANG!!

Pang Hui and his friend were startled. They turned and saw the curtains being yanked open violently.

“Who is it?!” Pang Hui shouted angrily. Who was bold enough to eavesdrop so openly?

But in the next second, his expression froze completely.

“Dad… Dad?!”

Behind the curtain stood a man with a pale, angry face—it was Pang Dalong.

“What nonsense are you talking about?!” Pang Dalong’s roar was much louder than his son’s. The friend beside him started shaking.

Pang Hui tried to soften his tone. “What’s wrong…”

As soon as he said those words, his face changed. Because he clearly heard that as he spoke, his voice was echoing throughout the hall in real-time.

“What’s wrong…”

Pang Hui’s face turned deathly pale. Through the open sliding door, he clearly saw everyone in the hall staring right at them.

Before he could react, he was kicked to the ground by his father. His arm was twisted back, and something was ripped off his back. Pang Hui didn’t want to think about it, but his body reacted instinctively. He looked back at what was in his father’s hand.

It was a wireless microphone that had just been taken off his body.

“You… you—!”

Pang Dalong’s hand was shaking with rage. He realized the speakers were still transmitting, so he quickly threw the mic on the ground and stomped on it.

SCREECH—!!

A distorted sound came from the speakers until the mic was completely crushed and the noise stopped. Pang Hui was no longer being held down, but he collapsed on the floor, unable to even stand.

He never imagined that although he carefully closed the curtains on a soundproof balcony, he would forget to take off the wireless mic he was wearing. When he passed the speakers earlier, it had accidentally connected via Bluetooth, causing his entire conversation to be broadcast to the whole hall.

A public announcement.

Pang Hui and his friend were too scared to speak. Only the sound of Pang Dalong’s heavy breathing remained on the balcony.

The hall was equally silent. Until the sound of footsteps approached and a cold young man walked over.

It was Shi Yi.

He looked down at the Pang father and son, his expression as cold as ice. Yet, his words were polite. “Thank you for the Pang family’s ‘appreciation’ of us.”

Many people present felt that when Shi Yi said “thank you for your appreciation,” he sounded like he was asking: Where do you want to be buried?

The news of Shi Yi throwing Jian Ren into a sea-view tank was still fresh. Pang Dalong didn’t dare act tough; he knew Shi Yi was capable of anything. He quickly dragged his limp son off the ground, forced a smile, and hurriedly left with him.

Pang Hui’s legs were so weak he couldn’t support himself. Halfway out, he tripped and fell flat on his face, nearly stepping on a lady’s dress. Under the gaze of everyone, the two left in disgrace.

This unexpected interlude happened so suddenly that even the experienced host took a while to warm up the room again. However, the guests were all sophisticated; they didn’t act too stiff and remained calm. As for what they truly thought of the Pang family, that was another story.

On one side of the hall, Shi Qingning, who had finally found Bai Yexi, also heard everything Pang Hui said. He lowered his eyelashes, his face slightly pale. His gaze remained on the boy in front of him.

The boy suddenly reached out toward his ear. Shi Qingning instinctively tilted his head. His ears were very sensitive and couldn’t handle being touched. During physical therapy, the doctor had tried to show him a massage point on his earlobe, and just pointing at it made Shi Qingning’s whole face turn red and his neck burn.

So even with Bai Yexi, he ducked instinctively. But Bai Yexi didn’t touch his ear. His long fingers landed gently behind Shi Qingning’s ear. The cool temperature made Shi Qingning shiver, but it didn’t cause an embarrassing reaction.

Although they weren’t in the center of the hall, many eyes were drifting toward Shi Qingning after the recent drama. Bai Yexi kept his fingers behind Shi Qingning’s ear for a moment before pulling back.

“Your heartbeat is a little fast,” Bai Yexi said in a low, cold voice, looking down at him. “Do you feel unwell?”

Shi Qingning blinked and took a second to shake his head. “No.”

Bai Yexi continued to look at him, his dark green eyes deep and cold. He whispered, “Don’t be unhappy.”

Shi Qingning realized late that the other boy thought he was upset about what Pang Hui said. He smiled. “I’m not unhappy.” Even if he felt anxious, it was only because he hadn’t been able to see Bai Yexi just now.

Bai Yexi was silent for a brief moment, then spoke. “I’ve considered it. I’m going to attend high school here in Haicheng.”

The topic was sudden. He saw the boy in front of him freeze for a moment, then his eyes brightened with joy. “Really?”

“Yes.” Bai Yexi gave his promise. He thought for a moment and lowered his voice. “But I might not be able to keep up with the schoolwork for a while…”

“It’s okay!” Shi Qingning couldn’t stand seeing him look like that. He immediately promised to comfort him. “I can tutor you!”

Their conversation wasn’t loud, but those nearby could hear it. A few teenagers standing not far away looked at each other. They didn’t expect that the way to make the Second Young Master Shi happy was to ask him to study together.

The ones who had seen the boy’s bright smile regretted not approaching sooner. Only Kong Que remained silent. His brow furrowed as he felt confused.

That microphone, didn’t he see Pang Hui take it off after the sound check?

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