When the Villainous Boss Acts as the Protagonist (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 34

“…”

The office fell into a deathly silence.

A faint breeze brushed aside the sheer curtains behind Li Yanzhe, and golden sunlight spilled over him, but the man’s expression remained grim. The gaze he leveled at his phone grew colder by the second.

“Investigate!”

After a long pause, Li Yanzhe finally spoke, his voice sounding as if it were squeezed through gritted teeth. “I want to see exactly who in this city has the guts to snatch what is mine!”

Li Yanzhe’s fingers tightened and released several times. Finally, he picked up the phone again. His eyes flickered as he stared at the name on the screen and sneered.

“No wonder he has the nerve to speak to me like that. It turns out he found a new buyer!”

So all that talk about liking him, all that throwing tantrums over Zhou Luoluo’s appearance, even targeting and hurting Zhou Luoluo when he wasn’t around, it was all just fear that his ATM would disappear!

Ridiculous. Truly ridiculous.

To think he actually believed Song Le’an had fallen in love with him because of the meticulous care he received after the accident—the way the boy stayed by his side at night, watching his every move. As it turns out, after all that circling back, it was still about the money!

That must be why, the moment the Li Corporation faced a slight upheaval, the boy couldn’t wait to find his next benefactor and call him to kick him to the curb!

On what grounds?!

Li Yanzhe clenched his jaw. “On what grounds does he decide it’s over just because he says so?”

What right does a canary, who lives with its hands held out, have to open the cage and fly out on its own?! He would make Song Le’an realize that a cage built by Li Yanzhe is not so easily opened. Since the boy wanted to fly, he had better be prepared to fall and shatter into pieces!

With that thought, Li Yanzhe looked up at the assistant standing before his desk and ordered:

“I remember Song Le’an has an alcoholic, gambling father back in his hometown, right?”

The assistant nodded. “Yes, President Li.”

“Bring him to me,” Li Yanzhe said. “And contact those other burdens of his. Tell them if they don’t find Song Le’an within three days, they can forget about staying in this city.”

Li Yanzhe believed Song Le’an had lived the good life for too long and had forgotten how grey and desperate his life was before they met. But it didn’t matter; he would help the boy remember. By any means necessary…

When that time came, he would make Song Le’an recall just how rare and unattainable his redemption truly was!

Tapping his fingers on the desk, Li Yanzhe added as an afterthought, “Also, regarding the hospital, check the person who made the remittance. Pay close attention to whether their surname is Shen.”

After all, among this series of strange events, Li Yanzhe couldn’t help but suspect that the person who entered the room and stayed with Shen Ci that night wasn’t some waiter who looked like Song Le’an from behind, it was Song Le’an!

3601…

Pressing the tip of his tongue against his teeth and feeling the taste of blood spread in his mouth, Li Yanzhe said slowly:

“Keep watching that room. Find out if it’s currently booked. If it is, find out who booked it!”

“Understood, President Li.”

Having received a mountain of tasks, the assistant hurriedly backed out to start making arrangements.

The office grew quiet again. Li Yanzhe took a deep breath and tapped the screen. He wanted to call Song Le’an one more time. Even though he had just confirmed the boy’s betrayal, he still wanted to talk to him. Not because his love was humble, but because he didn’t want to let the boy off so easily!

He planned to be gentler in the next call, making Song Le’an think he had conceded in this war of betrayal so the boy would lower his guard and return to him. On one hand, he would never allow his things to be snatched away, especially by someone like Shen Ci, whom he viewed as a thorn in his side. On the other hand, Li Yanzhe wanted to toy with Song Le’an: show him tenderness, solve all his family troubles, and then, once the boy fell in love with him all over again, dump him ruthlessly!

He wanted the boy to experience the true meaning of despair!

Tapping the screen, Li Yanzhe adjusted his emotions in the second before the call went through, preparing to face his prey in the perfect state. He had even planned his lines. However, as the ringing began, he didn’t get a confused “hello” from the boy. Instead, he got the system’s cold voice:

“I’m sorry, the user you are calling is currently on another call.”

In less than ten minutes since hanging up on him, the boy was already in contact with another man.

Who was that man?

Shen Ci looked down at the phone his assistant had just patched through. His eyes flickered, and he picked up the receiver with total composure.

“Hello?”

“Did you send me a phone because you wanted me to call you?”

“No.”

Shen Ci answered bluntly. Then he heard the boy let out a low laugh on the other end.

“Alright, then maybe I was overthinking it. I heard a large sum of money appeared in the hospital account, which just happened to solve the problem of my family being forcibly discharged today. Li Yanzhe is nearly driven mad by me lately; he wouldn’t have sent money. So, who could it be?”

The boy spoke softly and slowly, his voice gentle, but Shen Ci still detected a hint of mischief in that flat tone. He wanted Shen Ci to guess, or perhaps to admit it himself. Shen Ci said nothing, listening in silence to the boy’s performance.

“I’m just a poor student with few acquaintances. Help me think, who could be the kind person generous enough to top up one million for me?”

The “kind person,” Shen Ci, moved his fingers and signed his name on a newly opened document. The black ink soaked into the white paper and spread slowly in the man’s gaze.

“You know for yourself,” Shen Ci said unhurriedly as he closed the folder, refusing to take the bait. “Who do you think it is?”

“Mostly, I don’t know if the person I’m thinking of actually wants this good deed attributed to him.” The boy’s voice sounded somewhat aggrieved. “After all, he has already rejected me once. Tell me, will he reject me a second time?”

The black pen rotated slowly between Shen Ci’s fingers. He instinctively licked his lips, feeling an indescribable sensation toward this tug-of-war where both sides knew exactly what was happening. In his twenty-odd years of life, no one had ever dared to speak to him like this. Others couldn’t wait to hand him the answers the moment he spoke.

He didn’t need to spend effort or even use his brain. No one around him would behave like this boy—being ambiguous with questions and even throwing the questions back at him—because in the business world, that was equivalent to sending oneself to the gallows.

But in matters of emotion… that was a different story.

Shen Ci lit another cigarette. Amidst the swirling smoke, he reached out and pulled the playful boy back from the gallows.

“I think he won’t,” he said.

“Is that so?” Chu Sicheng laughed. “I think so too. That’s why I hurried to call him and say thank you the moment I got the phone.”

“Ten minutes.” Shen Ci looked at the time in the bottom right corner of his computer. “The butler delivered the phone to you at 2:10. Adding the time for your shock and swapping the SIM card, it should have been around 2:20. The current time is 2:30.”

He could play along with the boy’s performance, but that didn’t mean he would accept the boy’s sweet lies.

Chu Sicheng laughed again, truly laughing until tears came. “Boss, do you have to be so pedantic?”

“…”

Shen Ci didn’t speak. Chu Sicheng knew he was waiting for an explanation for those ten missing minutes. Remembering the time so clearly, yet claiming he didn’t want a call? What a contradictory man.

However, considering the man had sent him a new phone, Chu Sicheng didn’t keep him in suspense and answered directly:

“In those ten minutes, I had two calls with Li Yanzhe. The first was from him. I thought it was you, so I picked up, but I hung up as soon as I realized it was him. The second was a call I made to him proactively.”

“…”

Shen Ci’s grip on his pen tightened. But then he heard the boy say:

“After all, I have a strong sense of contract. Before starting the next chapter, naturally, I have to clear out the previous trash. Don’t you agree, kind person?”

Shen Ci heard him ask: “So, do you think my answer is worth a million?”

Shen Ci leaned back in his office chair. Listening to the boy’s voice grow softer, he felt that slick sensation on his face return. He knew perfectly well the boy was fishing for him. Even though every question ended with an inquiry, making it seem like he cared deeply about Shen Ci’s opinion, Shen Ci knew the boy didn’t care about his answer at all.

Or rather, the boy was certain that his answer would be exactly as expected. Perhaps the boy was lying lazily on the bed right now, toying with something nearby while asking these questions.

The net had already been cast into that crystal-clear pond. No matter which way he swam, he couldn’t escape being caught. So, since there was no escape, he might as well stop running. He should have known that once the “out-of-control” switch was flipped, the door could never be closed again. Once there was a first time, there would surely be a second.

His Adam’s apple bobbed twice. The fish slowly opened its mouth.

“And if the kind person says it’s not worth it?”

“Then there’s no way around it. I’m just a poor student; there’s no way I can pay back that much money.”

Chu Sicheng sat cross-legged on the large bed, phone in one hand, while the other was non-chalantly lining up the tubes of ointment the hotel sent every day with the meals. The warm sunlight poured through the glass onto them, as if trying to melt them before they could even be used.

His fingertip touched the golden light. Chu Sicheng smiled, his voice falling slowly like the sunlight into Shen Ci’s ear.

“So, Boss, do you want to come over and discuss the ‘discount’ with me? Are you coming?”

The voice on the phone was low, like a poppy flower growing out of the darkness luring one in, enticing an addiction.

“This room has been renewed for another week, you know…”

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