The Real Young Master is Entangled by the Paranoid Fake Young Master - Chapter 55

In the days following the banquet, Song Yuening seemed to vanish. There was no word from him for quite some time.

Four companies were vying for the Old District bid: the Song Group, Yuening’s subsidiary “Jinhui” (co-managed with Fu Lansheng), a medium-sized local firm, and finally, Qingyang Company the entity founded by Zhaoqing and managed by Fang Yang and Lawyer Wu.

Because of his status, Zhaoqing remained in S-City to command from the shadows while the others traveled to C-City for the proceedings. During this time, Zhaoqing wasn’t idle. He packed his belongings, realizing he had arrived at the Song house with only a suitcase and a backpack, and would leave with the same. He simply didn’t belong here.

He had already filed a housing application with his homeroom teacher; with winter break classes starting, he had a perfect excuse to move into the school dormitory. But before he could leave, he had to settle Lili. He had a premonition that Yuening would return soon.

Fang Yang had informed him that the second round of bidding was imminent. Once Qingyang won, both the Songs and Yuening would stop at nothing to investigate this mysterious company whose bid matched the floor price so perfectly. Zhaoqing didn’t dare gamble on whether Yuening and Fu Lansheng men with eyes and ears everywhere, would trace it back to him.

To ensure victory, Fang Yang’s team had exploited every loophole in the project plan Zhaoqing had photographed. It was a strategy Yuening himself had taught him in his past life: In war, there is no such thing as too much deception.

After sending Lili back to stay with Zhen Xue, Zhaoqing prepared for his own exit. He knew that when the results were announced, the Song house would become a battlefield. Shicheng would realize his “obedient” son had betrayed him, only for both of them to be outmaneuvered by a third party.

Even Butler Qu tried to stop him from taking Lili, but Nanny Zhang, the trusted aide sent by the Jiang family shut him down with a single icy look. “The Old Madame is incapacitated, the Eldest Young Master is mentally unstable, and Mr. Song is away. Do you, a mere servant, think you have the authority to override Young Master Zhaoqing?”

Zhaoqing successfully got Lili away, though he noted with suspicion how Nanny Zhang had become increasingly deferential to Yuening’s orders lately. It was as if Yuening had enchanted even the Jiang family’s most loyal staff.

That night, knowing Qingyang had secured the bid, Zhaoqing decided to scale the wall and disappear into the night. He locked his door and lay down to sleep, planning to leave at dawn.

In the middle of the night, a cold draft woke him. Zhaoqing’s eyes snapped open. I didn’t open the window.

He looked toward the balcony; the door was wide open, and the sky was just beginning to turn grey. Before he could reach for his phone, a cool, familiar voice cut through the dark.

“Zhaoqing, my representatives are ready, first round contact: Fang Yang.”

The voice was devoid of emotion, as if reading a manual.

“Zhaoqing, we won! But it was close, if not for that project plan, our proposal might not have beaten them. Contact: Fang Yang.”

“Zhaoqing, we used the minimum cost to achieve the maximum profit. Contact: Xie Chengxuan.”

Yuening was reading Zhaoqing’s own messages back to him.

“Zhaozhao, would you like to explain? What ‘project plan’? And whose ‘cost’ was the minimum?”

The coldness in Yuening’s voice deepened with every syllable. As he spoke the word “cost,” he lunged forward, pinning Zhaoqing onto the bed.

“Zhaozhao, you’re such a little liar. You played along with me for so long did it feel good? Did you find me pathetic?” Yuening’s hand traced Zhaoqing’s face, cold as a snake’s tongue. Zhaoqing flinched away, which only made Yuening laugh.

“What are you hiding for, baby? You must have known I’d be angry. Having the courage to do it but not to face the consequences? That’s a bad habit.”

Without another word, Yuening gripped Zhaoqing’s chin and kissed him a brutal, punishing collision. He bit down on Zhaoqing’s lip until it bled. “Beautiful,” Yuening whispered, staring at the crimson stain. “But this little liar doesn’t belong to me. Even if I give him my heart, he chooses others to destroy me.”

Yuening didn’t care about the billions lost. He cared about the betrayal. He had spent days investigating the “mysterious” Qingyang Company, only to find Xie Chengxuan and Fang Yang behind it.

“Qing-Yang,” Fu Lansheng had sneered at him in C-City. “If ‘Yang’ is Fang Yang, who do you think ‘Qing’ is? Ningning, you’ve been blinded. Your little brother is the mole.”

Fu Lansheng had threatened to kill Zhaoqing, and Yuening had responded by breaking Assistant Lin Qi’s leg in a fit of rage and then punching Fu Lansheng when he called Zhaoqing his “little lover.”

“He is NOT my lover!” Yuening had shouted. He is the one I love.

But the malice of Fu Lansheng’s parting words haunted him: “He’d rather plot with Xie Chengxuan than be with you. I wonder, Ningning have they slept together yet?”

Yuening had flown back to S-City on the first available flight. He entered Zhaoqing’s room through the balcony, having bribed the staff to know every detail of Zhaoqing’s routine.

“I don’t hate you, and I don’t loathe you,” Zhaoqing said, trying to regain his composure. “Love and hate are too intense for someone like you.”

Yuening’s smile was tragic. “Zhaozhao, did you ever trust me?”

“Trust you?” Zhaoqing snapped, his own rage boiling over. “What is there to trust? You drugged my milk with sedatives. You put a pinhole camera in my mirror. You were going to hand the Old District to a monster like Fu Lansheng!”

“I wasn’t going to give it to him!” Yuening roared. “I was going to—”

“I don’t care what you were going to do! You’re a hypocrite, Yuening. You expect trust but offer none.”

“So, you were leaving?” Yuening’s voice trembled. “To Fang Yang? To Xie Chengxuan? Anywhere, as long as I’m not there?”

“Yes,” Zhaoqing defied him. “Everything you said is right.”

Yuening’s grip tightened, then suddenly softened, realizing he was being too rough. Zhaoqing took the chance to pull a hidden dagger from beneath his pillow, holding it to his chest.

“Don’t come any closer!”

Yuening didn’t flinch. He stepped closer, grabbing Zhaoqing’s arm and forcing the blade into his own shoulder. “Are you going to kill me, Zhaozhao?”

“Madman! Get away!” Zhaoqing cried, horrified as Yuening drove the blade into himself over and over as if he couldn’t feel pain.

“I have one more secret for you,” Yuening whispered with a terrifying joy. “You can’t leave. If you do, that little tech company of yours and Fang Yang’s will go bankrupt instantly. You want to know who the ‘mysterious angel investor’ was? It was me.”

Zhaoqing’s blood ran cold. “You, you were the investor?”

“Yes. I own the majority of your company. I won’t sell it to Xie Chengxuan, and I can easily hand it over to Fang Yang’s rivals. If you leave, I destroy him.”

Infuriated, Zhaoqing grabbed a red camellia from the nightstand and threw it in Yuening’s face. “Get out! I wish I’d let you die on that island! You’re disgusting!”

Yuening looked at the crushed flower on the floor. “Disgusting? My flowers disgust you? Fine. Then they have no value.”

He scooped Zhaoqing up, ignoring his struggles. When Zhaoqing refused to wrap his arms around Yuening’s neck, Yuening feigned dropping him, forcing Zhaoqing to cling to him for survival.

Yuening carried him into his own room and locked a metal collar with a long chain around Zhaoqing’s neck. “From today on, you sleep with me. We’ll foster our… ‘feelings’.”

He ignored Zhaoqing’s screams and walked out. Moments later, a thick smell of smoke wafted through the window. Zhaoqing scrambled to the glass.

The beautiful greenhouse, the “glass jewel” filled with the world’s rarest flowers, was engulfed in a sea of fire.

“Since you don’t like them,” Yuening’s voice echoed from the yard, “they have no reason to exist.”