Ren Yijun pretended to waver but ultimately reject Ren Anjing's plea for help. "Uncle, I don't have that much money on hand. Mom and my sisters might, but I'm sure you wouldn't dare let them know what you tried to do."
Ren Anjing stared disbelievingly, his head about to burst with questions. When had this brat discovered that he was the one behind everything? Had he underestimated him? No, if he had proof, he'd have revealed it at the shareholders meeting. For now, he might be recording this conversation, so the best course of action was to act as he would normally, which, in this case, was to scold this unfilial nephew.
Before he could begin to bluster, however, Ren Yijun continued, "Still, there is someone I've heard of who can lend you enough and keep it confidential. It's just that he charges a somewhat high interest rate."
The room was silent for a time as Ren Anjing considered. Actually, the main reason he'd looked for his nephew wasn't that he coveted the funds themselves. His biggest concern was instead that if he openly borrowed from a bank, intelligent people might connect it with Xi Heng's fees and thereby confirm his involvement in yesterday's disaster.
From how he'd stressed the importance of secrecy, Ren Yijun probably also understood that if Ren Jia's internal struggle was publicly known, Ren Development Group would become vulnerable to attacks from the outside.
On the one hand, this was a potential bargaining chip. Since Ren Yijun needed his collaboration to hide this issue, no matter how angry he was about how Ren Anjing had attempted to frame him, he wouldn't deceive him with an unreliable lender. On the other hand, if he provoked Ren Yijun too much by demanding that he provide the money in full, he might fail to cover up his betrayal. If that happened, when he took over the company as the new CEO, he'd have to deal with both his destroyed reputation and keen competitors. Having considered the benefits and advantages, he relented.
Thus, they picked up Ren Xiang and drove to a modern office on the edges of the downtown commercial area. A brawny man dressed all in black sat in the reception area, looking more like a bouncer than a secretary.
He stared at the three people, then boomed, "Names?"
Ren Yijun slid a black, embossed business card over. "Anonymous for now, an acquaintance referred me." Dear Uncle Kuo was coming in more useful than he'd expected. After all, if not for him, how could the noble young master have any connection to shady places like this? Although, Chen Yu glanced around, thinking that this wasn't as obviously linked with underground circles as he'd expected.
When the man glimpsed the legendary name imprinted on the thick card, he jumped up and bowed. "Sorry for the impoliteness, sir. Please come in."
Ren Yijun nodded and walked past, pocketing the business card so quickly that neither of the two people behind him could check who their opponent knew that commanded such respect.
Before they could brood about who was backing Ren Yijun, they entered a bright office, where a trim man in his thirties stood to greet them. With his square spectacles, classic suit, and staid expression, the man gave off an unshakably trustworthy impression, as did the clean and well-organized atmosphere.
Observing this, Chen Yu excused the original owner for making a deal with a loan shark—this was a man who disguised his background so well that even his supposedly shrewd uncle was currently relieved that he'd found a professional, dependable person to borrow from. Mm, it seemed the future would be quite interesting.
They soon got down to business.
Ren Anjing wasn't willing to put his shares at risk, so he first listed his house in S City as collateral. When that wasn't enough, he added in Ren Xiang's apartment in M Country, their luxury cars, and his wife's most expensive jewelry. Finally, under pressure, he was forced to add 2% of the company shares. Noticing his father's depression, Ren Xiang whispered a reminder that resolving this was urgent, but afterwards, they'd have plenty of time to recoup their losses and overthrow Ren Yijun. Despite recognizing his son's uselessness, Ren Anjing cheered up at the well-intentioned reassurances, envisioning the day when he became a majority shareowner.
In reality, the amount Xi Heng had to come up with wasn't originally that large. He might have been able to handle it by himself.
But Chen Yu had tampered a bit the evening prior to the shareholders meeting.
When he was done, it appeared that a few companies with close ties to Ren Anjing had one-sidedly terminated critical contracts, explicitly stating that it was because they couldn't trust CEO Ren based on the information they'd received from an anonymous source. The losses Ren Development Group suffered from these cancelled transactions directly increased the restitution Xi Heng needed to pay by hundreds of folds.
Ren Anjing's cronies, many of whom had been aware of his scheme against Ren Yijun, wanted to lighten the burden by claiming that they hadn't been the ones who'd revoked their commitments, but neither the public nor the courts would believe them with written evidence showing otherwise.
Thus, Ren Anjing recognized that getting the loan from this man, clearing the fines, and promptly paying the debt off was the best course of action, so he cooperated fully.
Having finalized everything, Ren Yijun tossed the two into a taxi and drove to an exclusive hotel. Feng Kuo had called while Ren Anjing and the loan shark were discussing terms, he wanted to meet up tonight. Chen Yu hadn't expected him to be so impatient. But then, he sneered, the businessman probably wanted to extract the maximum pleasure from his investment.
When he arrived in front of the VIP suite, Feng Kuo dragged him in before he could even knock. Only dressed in a loose bathrobe with his hair still dripping from his shower, he rushed to unzip Ren Yijun's pants and tossed the young man on the bed face-down.
A big hand pinned down the nape of his neck and the other hauled the exposed buttocks up, creating an incredibly seductive view. Covering the slight body, Feng Kuo nudged his already stiff length against the tender hips, circling his long fingers a few times around the red beans on the smooth chest. Chen Yu reacted easily, so that only a few caresses later, Feng Kuo slipped his palm between his legs and laughed, "Ready so soon? Maybe you should be paying me?" Chen Yu was prepared to give a fierce tongue-lashing, but it turned into a gasp as Feng Kuo abruptly thrust into him.
Feeling the tight, sticky heat around him, Feng Kuo groaned. It had been too good yesterday, and he'd tried to convince himself that it was just because Ren Yijun was fresh, but it felt even better today. Slamming into the round, shivering globes, Feng Kuo's eyes traced the deep valley along Ren Yijun's back all the way to the young man's hand that held onto his thigh as if wanting to pull him in deeper. This body...he just wanted to chain it down and swallow every bit of it.
For the next three weeks, Feng Kuo brought Chen Yu to the hotel at least every other day, unable to resist this addicting feeling. Initially, they stripped the moment they saw each other, and Ren Yijun left as soon as they finished. But Feng Kuo couldn't stand the sight of Jun rushing to escape him. After he failed numerous times to persuade him to stay, he eventually told Jun to meet him outside first at restaurants, clubs, theaters, where they talked about small details of their lives, then moved on to toss in the suite. Although Chen Yu still insisted on going home at night and they spent most of their time rolling in bed, somehow Feng Kuo rarely thought about how they'd gotten together.
His whole focus became on holding onto his pet and making sure no one else had a chance to touch him. Even when the young man wasn't with him, Feng Kuo kept an eye on him through the surveillance cameras and received information from the secretary he'd assigned to Jun.
Today, he was looking at some documents, the monitor in the background showing Ren Yijun's office, when that secretary suddenly called. In a slightly panicked voice, she reported, "Boss, CEO Ren has found out about that thing."
It took Feng Kuo a second to understand. When he did, his whole body froze. He had nearly forgotten about it, but when he'd first struck a deal with Jun, he'd impulsively ordered that the secretary use Ren Development Group to launder some dirty money. He hadn't actually needed Jun's company to take care of such a small amount. The purpose was rather to have a hold on Jun, so that he couldn't end their relationship until Feng Kuo agreed. It was merely supposed to be a leash on his pet, Jun never should have learned about it.
An ominous premonition filled his heart. Too nervous to look at the screen, he asked in a low voice, "What happened?"
"CEO Ren was reviewing some financial statements, and he noticed an anomaly. When he investigated, he traced it to you, Boss. Even I'm not sure who he used to get through our security."
Pacing furiously, Feng Kuo hesitated, but he had to hear it. "And then?"
"That..." the woman stuttered, "h-he told me I shouldn't come back."
Feng Kuo's face sank.
If the secretary was returned, Jun had no obligation to meet him again. Jun was telling him not to come back, Jun was saying he didn't want him, Jun was trying to get away from him. Unable to stand not knowing anymore, he clicked off the phone and turned toward the monitor, only to see static. He stared blankly at the empty space where Jun should be, a deep-seated fear emerging when he thought about his pet disappearing. He frantically rewound the recordings he'd saved, until he finally located Jun flipping through some pages with a confused look then browsing on his laptop. He appeared to have found something, he held his head in his hands and trembled for a long time. But when he looked back up, his face was clear and emotionless. Only one pearly tear slipped down from his long eyelashes and trickled down his cheek.
Then everything seemed to speed up. Jun summoned the secretary, calmly dismissed her, and then a team of people filed into his office and meticulously searched through the room, removing every camera. The screen turned blank again.
Sitting in front of the monitor, Feng Kuo couldn't decide what to do. He jerked toward his phone then to his car keys and back to his phone, wild with the desire to hold Jun and explain. But the image of that teardrop lingered along with his guilty conscience, so that he couldn't do anything.