The atmosphere in the dining room became heavy. Wen Rui shifted in his seat as Zhou Ye looked down at his bowl without saying anything. He wasn't sure why but he got the feeling that he'd upset Zhou Ye somehow by declining his assistance.
But wasn't that ridiculous? Why would Zhou Ye be angry? If Wen Rui were him, he'd be ecstatic that this freebie husband he didn't want wasn't trying to leech off his considerable, hard-earned wealth. But clearly, Zhou Ye thought otherwise.
Wrong-footed and uncertain of what to do about the awkward situation, Wen Rui bowed his head over his bowl too. But the food wasn't as tasty anymore, now that his appetite had been lost.
"Zhou Ye," he mumbled after the terse silence dragged for a moment too long. He didn't receive an immediate acknowledgement, Zhou Ye taking a sip from a glass of white wine that he had most uncharitably not thought to offer to Wen Rui.
Wen Rui could use a stiff drink right now.
Just as he thought Zhou Ye was going to spend the rest of dinner ignoring him, he heard a quiet, "What is it?"
Zhou Ye's voice had been deep ever since Wen Rui had met him at 17. His tone now was even, without any of the bite or sarcasm Wen Rui was so used to from their high school days together. It wasn't even apathetic in the way Zhou Ye usually reserved for other people who weren't dumb enough to provoke him like Wen Rui was. Even though Wen Rui could feel the bad mood radiating off him, he didn't vent his irritation like Wen Rui had thought he would, and he was suddenly struck by how much Zhou Ye had grown up.
He was a mature adult, who was already living out the bright future everyone had visualised for him. If he'd been one ranking ahead of Wen Rui when they were 18, he was a whole league above now.
Wen Rui pressed his lips tightly together to stop them from wobbling. That same feeling of inadequacy that had always chased him whenever it came to Zhou Ye was amplified.
"Why are we married?" he asked in a small voice.
Zhou Ye didn't give him a direct answer. "Why do you think?" he asked in return.
Wen Rui shrugged. What could he say? It was obvious that neither of them was in love. There was nothing in their apartment that suggested a shared life together. No photographs at amusement park dates, no wedding portrait, no little loving reminders pinned to the fridge door with magnets.
It might have been too idealistic of Wen Rui, or maybe it was because everyone had called him little prince, but he'd started hoping for some of that fairy tale magically secretly. Deep down inside, he'd always wanted a very romantic relationship, the kind that would make everyone complain about 'being fed dog food' whenever they were forced to see Wen Rui and his significant other acting lovey-dovey.
He'd even thought it all out, how he was going to treat the love of his life like she was his future queen. There would be grand things like fancy restaurants and luxurious holidays. But there would also be the cosy, sweet things, like candlelight dinners at home and fresh flower bouquets every week with a unique message each time telling her how much he loved her.
This cold, calculated business arrangement was the furthest thing from what he'd envisioned. But it was his reality.
"Your father," Zhou Ye said at last.
Wen Rui's grip around his chopsticks tightened so much that his knuckles turned white.
"What about him?" His words trembled.
"WD hasn't been doing well in the past couple of years," Zhou Ye explained, referring to Wen Rui's father's company, Wen Dian. Although WD had branched out into various other industries, it had started out as a specialist in household electronics. "Its supply chain had been bought over by an international company, Gem, who refused to trade with them after."
Wen Rui's brows furrowed. "Gem? That doesn't sound like a firm that deals with electronic parts."
"Who knows?" was Zhou Ye's dismissive reply. "Long story short, your father required a new supplier, I happened to be one, and he sold you to me as part of the contract to strengthen our working relationship."
Sold. Contract.
Zhou Ye was speaking to Wen Rui in their native language, but Wen Rui's brain refused to comprehend.
"What do you mean?" he croaked. "You said you're the supplier, so it wasn't Zhou Group…you knew about the marriage terms and you agreed?"
There was a soft chink as Zhou Ye set his utensils back down on top of his empty bowl. "Should I not have?" he asked, casual like they were speaking about the weather and not holy matrimony. "Because of this marriage, I'll have to think twice about reneging on the deal but so would WD. It's a win-win situation."
Wen Rui couldn't believe his ears. He stared in Zhou Ye in shock, unable to understand how someone could be so cold and unfeeling. A win-win situation? For the companies, maybe, but what about Wen Rui's happiness? What about Zhou Ye's? Did he not care about finding someone he actually loved?
Not wanting to spend a moment longer in Zhou Ye's company, Wen Rui stood up wordlessly and walked out.
He didn't glance back, which was why he didn't see the moment when the fight left Zhou Ye's body and he slumped back in his seat, covering his face tiredly with a hand.
——————————
If Wen Rui's mother had been a constant reassuring presence in his life, then Wen Rui's father was without a doubt an absentee parent. But until now, Wen Rui had never blamed Wen Guoyan even once despite the number of parent-teacher meetings or school plays his father had missed. He'd always assumed that it was because his father had had too much on his plate And his mother had always reassured him that his father loved him despite his constant absence.
So Wen Rui had tried being understanding. He hadn't bothered his father with incessant phone calls or whiny requests, and when he'd learnt that his father would pay attention to him whenever he'd scored outstanding results, he'd bucked up and studied even harder.
But now he knew. Wen Guoyan had been too busy for Wen Rui and his mother but he'd had all the time in the world for that other woman and her son, the only son that Wen Guoyan wanted.
The line cut off again, after ringing for 30 seconds. Wen Rui hit the redial button and waited patiently. He wanted to see if Wen Guoyan would pick up if Wen Rui irritated him enough. He felt like he was owed an explanation.
In the meantime, he opened up WeChat and scrolled through the messages in his different chat groups. Half of them were asking him about his scandal. Some acted like he'd committed a heroic deed and others brought it up with barely concealed glee. Only one group of friends, in a chat named 'D4', expressed genuine concern.
Handsome~Huang: Little Bro, what's going on? How come your company hasn't acted on the rumours?
XUNierA: ??? It's already been 2 days, what kind of shitty entertainment company is this?
Handsome~Huang: …only a geek like you, who spends every waking moment pretending to have transmigrated into your computer game, can call CE a shitty entertainment company.
XUNierA:? What's with the personal attack
Handsome~Huang: They're only like, one of the Big 3 in the country
Sun: Major 3
Handsome~Huang: …do you have nothing more valuable to add?
Sun: no
Handsome~Huang: Laoyaoooooo! Come back! Your brothers are worried, we saw the video on Weibo but you've ignored our worries for days, you petulant child
Sun: Rui, update us when you can
Ruiruirui: …
XUNierA: A wild Third Bro appears! Third Bro uses 'reluctant concern'! It's super effective! Little Bro is touched! Little Bro stops lurking to reveal himself in the chat!
All these weird forms of address, like 'Little Bro' and 'Third Bro' made Wen Rui's head spin. He had to use the chat group's message history to piece together who these people were. He gathered they were his roommates from his stint in the J University dorms. He was surprised that they were still in contact after he quit school.
…and from the context, he was the 'Little Bro' they kept referring to. Great. The oldest, his 'Big Bro', was the guy who shamelessly referred to himself as 'Handsome~Huang', and the one with the username he couldn't read was 'Second Bro'. 'Sun', the taciturn one, was the 'Third bro' simply because he was third in line.
Basically, they could all take advantage of Wen Rui, just because his birthday was in November.
Ruiruirui: Can't update
Handsome~Huang:? What's this? Someone's finally experiencing their teenage rebellious phase?
XUNierA: Quick, Third Bro, you're the early childhood education trainee, teach us how to fix this
Sun: …everything is cured with a good beating
Ruiruirui: …
Handsome~Huang: …
XUNierA: ...
Wen Rui couldn't help but chortle. To him, all the members of this D4 chat were absolute strangers, because he'd only met them after 18. But he could tell that they cared for him in a way a lot of the young masters in the other convos didn't. Perhaps he could befriend them again? He had to carry on with life somehow and going about it alone was not appealing.
His father still hadn't answered his phone but this time he didn't bother calling back. He felt like maybe he could find out a bit more from these friends.
Ruiruirui: I need to tell you all something
XUNierA: Go on, Second Bro is listening.
Handsome~Huang: Big Bro too!
Sun: …me too
Wen Rui took a deep breath and continued typing.
Ruiruirui: …I got injured in that fight and am suffering from amnesia
Handsome~Huang: ???wtf
Ruiruirui: I don't remember any of you
Ruiruirui: Sorry
XUNierA: what is this dog blood turn of events? Our precious Little Bro is a Gary Stu protagonist in a tragic romance novel!
Wen Rui pretended he didn't read that.
Ruiruirui: If you guys don't mind, could you update me instead?
He hesitated before sending that last message, wondering whether they would be offended that he no longer remembered them or not. Or maybe he'd guessed wrong and they weren't as close to him as they sounded?
But to his relief, their messages immediately came flooding back with reassurances.
Sun: Do you want us to meet you? Are you all right?
XUNierA: Second Bro can skip dungeon raids tonight if you need
Ruiruirui: …no it's fine, I just wanted to know what really happened at the party, do you guys know the girl in the video?
Handsome~Huang: Rui ah, we don't usually go to parties with you because we're not in that friend group…I don't think any of us know her
Handsome~Huang: But if you need us to do anything, we'll try to help
XUNierA and Sun, whatever their real names might be, quickly concurred. Wen Rui had to admit that he was touched. He must have befriended them right at the start of university, back when he'd still been charming enough to make friends with ease. The rest of Wen Rui's WeChat list seemed filled with insincere hangers-on or young masters that wanted to mock him for his fall from grace. More than once he'd seen sly references to a 'Lu Chenxi', whom he guessed was the son of his father's mistress.
Ruiruirui: Thanks guys
He put down the phone. There had to be other ways to find out who that girl was and how she was involved in the set-up.
Wen Rui wasn't going to let this go. He was going to take charge of his life, fix his regrets, and take revenge on those who had tried to bring him down.