The Popular/Charismatic Beta Always Thinks They Are Universally Disliked - Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Opportunity

Since turning twenty, Wen Zhiyi had never suffered from insomnia.

He opened Wei Yuzhi’s cardboard box with ease and nonchalance. For him, this was merely the process of making a cat bed for Zhuang Zhuang, so there was naturally nothing to be excited or concerned about.

Upon opening the box, he found a frequently read children’s book resting atop all the documents. The edges of the pages, from the front to the back, were slightly curled, suggesting it had been placed by someone’s bedside and pillow, read day and night, as if the book’s owner had too much to learn and was making up for lost time day and night.

It was a fairy tale about love and parting. The porcelain rabbit, after years of wandering, finally returned to Abilene’s side, and by then, he had learned to cherish Abilene’s love and would never again tell Abilene that whether she loved him or not was unimportant.

Wen Zhiyi did not continue flipping through the pages.

He looked at the children’s book, thinking of the porcelain rabbit that had hung on his backpack for many years. In the past, he hadn’t answered Wei Yuzhi’s question, but the answer had always been there.

—For something so fragile, so precious, if I keep it by my side instead of setting it high on a shelf, how can I ensure it won’t break, won’t get lost, won’t leave?

—You can love and cherish him consistently, and he will do the same for you. If he breaks, repair him. If he’s lost, find him. If he leaves, hold on to him.

The answer had always been simple, but someone had never figured it out because they were too afraid of loss.

He didn’t want to take any risks, so he stubbornly followed his own ideas, and, fearful of being so emotionally invested, he pretended to be aloof, acting as if declaring indifference at the start could truly make him indifferent.

But Wei Yuzhi cared to death. He wanted Wen Zhiyi’s love to the point of madness, and even wanting it that badly, he still hadn’t considered whether Wen Zhiyi’s love was already within reach.

This was a truly peculiar thing to Wen Zhiyi. Such a seemingly humble psychological process could still manifest as extreme arrogance in Wei Yuzhi.

This Omega seemed inherently incapable of understanding what humility, showing weakness, or trust meant. Thus, he had to painstakingly learn and understand that his always-successful arrogance and power were useless in front of Wen Zhiyi.

Tonight, Wen Zhiyi found it a little hard to fall asleep.

He attributed it to the impending forum presentation. It was normal; who among college students liked presenting?

He sat up in bed, restlessly walked to the living room, and stared face-to-face with Fat Mi, who was also awake late at night.

Fat Mi scooted its rear end and quietly walked away from the automatic feeder.

Wen Zhiyi forcibly caught Mimi, patted Mimi’s solid butt, and naturally associated Wei Xingjiang with the automatic feeder when he saw it.

But only for a moment.

He knew Wei Xingjiang was likely already on the path he needed to be on.

He slowly walked over to the cardboard box, expressionlessly removed the children’s book, casually placed it on the nearby sofa, and continued to flip through the contents.

He was surprised to find a cell phone resting underneath the book.

He instinctively picked up the brand-new phone and found that it wasn’t password-protected; a simple swipe up on the screen would grant access. This phone was clearly custom-made, containing no applications whatsoever.

Curious about this, Wen Zhiyi took the phone back to the bedroom. Since he couldn’t sleep anytime soon anyway, he sat on the bed and began to investigate what was inside the phone.

There was only a single recording, about a minute long.

Hmm?

Little Wen raised an eyebrow, not thinking Wei Yuzhi could say anything in a minute that would change his mind.

He clicked on the recording.

The low voice flowing from the speaker was soothing and drawn out, carrying a clearly audible, steady breath. It was easy to imagine the expression on the face of the voice’s owner when recording this audio: it must have been gentle, composed, and intimate, just like on countless nights they fell asleep in each other’s arms, when Wei Yuzhi would tell him: Sleep soundly; I’ll still be here when you wake up.

Just like when Wen Zhiyi couldn’t sleep, Wei Yuzhi would hum very softly and gently next to his ear. The far-from-soft vocal line sounded like the wind occasionally sighing across a vast snowy plain: solemn, lonely, but as long as there was wind, there was direction.

—Wind blowing across the wilderness, move slowly. I tell you silently that I am drunk. The night of Ulaanbaatar, so quiet, so quiet, even the wind cannot be heard, cannot be heard.

—Clouds drifting to the horizon, move slowly. I tell you by running that I won’t look back. The night of Ulaanbaatar, so quiet, so quiet, even the clouds do not know, do not know.

“…”

In the faint, shimmering moonlight, Wen Zhiyi’s usually smiling face bore no smile. The quiet moonlight gathered like droplets in the small hollows of his nose bridge and eye sockets, like a bright, gentle lunar lake—clear, soft, and tired.

He fell into a deep sleep.

…

Wei Yuzhi finally set his “lure the snake out of its hole” operation for this week.

He wanted to quickly deal with everyone behind the old case, and then dedicate himself to a more important matter—thanks to Gu Yansheng’s deliberate bragging, he knew the Beta would be attending the Peking University forum with Wen Zhiyi next week.

This type of forum presentation, linked to graduate theses, was important for graduate students. Gu Yansheng, as an associate professor and one of the main judges for the forum, naturally had the right to attend. But what role would Wei Yuzhi assume?

Outstanding Alumnus.

He Xin called the secretary-general of the Peking University Alumni Association. About ten minutes later, a formal invitation letter from the Peking University Law School arrived in Wei Yuzhi’s public mailbox. Wei Yuzhi certainly wouldn’t check it himself; the operation of this mailbox had long been delegated to an intern in He Xin’s secretarial team.

Although Wei Yuzhi did not major in law, and his university was not Peking University in China, it took only a few minutes to acquire an honorary alumni title. As long as he offered substantial enough leverage, he would become an Outstanding Alumnus of this century-old prestigious institution the first time he set foot on campus.

So, Wei Yuzhi had to resolve the hidden danger this week and then appear before Wen Zhiyi next week.

A perfectly executed plan.

His travel route was intentionally leaked via Wu Cheng. Thanks to Wu Cheng’s carefully crafted image as a frivolous heir, information leaked from his mouth was highly credible. This Wednesday, Wei Yuzhi would head to his private shooting range located in the suburbs of Beijing. Therefore, precisely at ten o’clock on Wednesday evening, his car would appear at the intersection of Huanjing Avenue and Ping’an Road, which was the only way to the villa in the foothills.

The Feng family would confirm this information through Gu Yansheng, who had secretly partnered with Wei Yuzhi. They would trust the information validated by the Gu family heir, and thus act decisively, just as they had murdered Madam Wei ten years ago. Because Wei Yuzhi had started aggressively bringing up the old case, they regretted not taking Wei Yuzhi with them ten years ago, but also felt it wasn’t too late to act now.

The route revealed to the Feng family was a carefully designed path of death. He Xin would patiently await them with professional forensic personnel, while Wei Yuzhi himself would return to his apartment complex as usual, quietly waiting for the spoils of victory to fall into his hands.

Time quickly moved to the day before the plan.

Wei Yuzhi did not return to the group today. In fact, he almost never went to the Wei Corporation now. There was only one reason that could compel CEO Wei to commute every day regardless of the weather.

He “ran into” Wen Zhiyi at Zhongcheng under the guise of being a client. The other party was as focused as ever, greeting him indifferently when he saw him. He was not disheartened by this, but slowly asked in a low voice: “Have you been sleeping well lately?”

The question about sleep had spanned almost the entirety of Wen Zhiyi’s first half of life.

Wen Zhiyi slightly lowered his eyelashes, not answering his question, but from Wen Zhiyi’s complexion and expression, Wei Yuzhi knew he had not suffered from insomnia.

It seemed that in Wei Yuzhi’s eyes, whether Wen Zhiyi slept well was even more important than the fact that they were about to divorce.

Wen Zhiyi looked at those extremely mixed-race, blue-gray pupils and suddenly said calmly: “…Do you know? During the divorce cooling-off period, if either party regrets the decision, the divorce cannot be finalized.”

If they were destined to divorce, if Wen Zhiyi absolutely wouldn’t change his mind, then what would Wei Yuzhi do? Would he continue to stubbornly follow his own path? Would he ignore this sweet, tempting opportunity and grit his teeth and divorce Wen Zhiyi?

Wen Zhiyi couldn’t guess what answer Wei Yuzhi would give, nor could he say what answer he wanted.

Wei Yuzhi didn’t respond. One moment he felt that divorce didn’t mean he completely lost Wen Zhiyi, and the next he felt that he absolutely couldn’t let Wen Zhiyi divorce him. One moment he felt he had to respect Wen Zhiyi’s wishes, and the next he felt this was the one thing he couldn’t let go of.

Carrying these extremely complex and turbulent thoughts, he watched Wen Zhiyi leave, then returned to his car, and continued to ponder the question expressionlessly.

As the car was about to approach the complex, Wu Cheng, who had been driving silently in the front seat, glanced into the rearview mirror and said lazily: “Someone is following us. It’s a small black van. They’ve been tailing us for twenty minutes since we left the Yue Business Building. A vehicle like that can carry a maximum of nine people. If you factor in the space taken up by weapons, there should be about six people inside.”

He sneered lightly: “Boss, that guy surnamed Gu isn’t reliable. He leaked our movements in advance.”

Wei Yuzhi couldn’t be bothered to reply. He gave the instruction to drive away from the complex, sent his location to He Xin using the satellite phone under the back seat, and then stretched out his long arm, pulling out several handguns from the trunk. He tossed a heavy, black gun to the front seat and quickly loaded the one in his own hand.

He said calmly: “Head to the shooting range. Maintain a certain distance from them on the road.”

Wu Cheng gripped the steering wheel with one hand and caught the gun tossed from the back seat without turning his head. The five to six-pound M500 felt light as air in his hands, not even wavering once.

He looked at the vehicle behind them and slightly curled his lips: “Keeping our distance might not be up to me. They’ve started speeding up and are coming to hit us.”