Chapter 26: My old enemy moved next door to me

Lin Huaixu settled into the car and instructed, “Lower the temperature.”

The driver quickly complied, but thoughtfully didn’t lower it too much, to prevent Lin Huaixu from catching a cold.

“Wasn’t the air conditioning on inside? You’re sweating a lot.”

Lin Huaixu replied without much emotion, “I had someone turn it off.”

The person who had been laughing and chatting animatedly at the symposium a moment ago was now completely subdued and cold, starkly out of place with the bright early spring.

On him, there was no trace of the youthful exuberance of a successful young man; it was as if he had prematurely entered a stage where happiness was difficult to find.

The driver, being tactful, didn’t ask further. As he drove out of the roundabout, he caught a glimpse in his rearview mirror, noticing Lin Huaixu was still looking back through the car window.

The driver also glanced back.

He saw the young Miss Tong from that day, her arms as bright and white as lotus roots. She raised a hand to shield her forehead from the sun, which shone on her, making her understated dress glow. She stood there, lost in thought.

A very simple daze, her gaze fixed on the flowers and plants in the center of the roundabout, as if all the surrounding emotions had nothing to do with her.

It was truly an enviable state.

The driver, with keen perception, slowed the car down because his boss was staring at her with almost obsessive intensity, as if she held something he had lost.

But she was getting further and further away.

The Brabus continued to drive on Jinbao Avenue. Along this dazzlingly wealthy road in Jing City stood countless top luxury brands. Finally, the car stopped in front of an antique-looking building.

At the entrance stood a bronze statue of a horse galloping, and below it, carved into a deep black stone platform, were the bright yellow characters ‘Jing City Bay Port Equestrian Club’.

By now, Lin Huaixu had already re-entered work mode; a dedicated attendant led him inside.

General Manager Fang of Tianqing Quantization was waiting for him in the Spring Garden.

The door was lightly ajar, and the scent of tea wafted out. A woman in a qipao was demonstrating the tea ceremony: scalding hot water streamed into a cup, which she then covered and expertly maneuvered between her fingers, before pouring it all over a golden toad tea pet, washing it once, then re-brewing the tea. The cups and saucers clinked crisply.

As the appropriately colored tea was poured into the cups, the woman’s five fingers were already slightly reddened.

Fang Qing waved his hand, waiting for the person to leave, then asked Lin Huaixu with a smile, “How do you find the circle in Jing City?”

“More subtle than Shengang,” Lin Huaixu replied, sitting beside him. The sweat on his shirt had completely dried.

“Indeed, it’s subtle. People here have a keener political sense and are cautious in their actions.” Fang Qing, in his fifties, thought highly of Lin Huaixu. Lin Huaixu’s several rounds of financing had seen Fang Qing’s presence, and through their interactions, the two became well acquainted. Fang Qing had also given Lin Huaixu the annual recommendation slot for the Bay Port Equestrian Club.

Naturally, Lin Huaixu hadn’t disappointed him these past few years.

Beside the teacup lay a rolled, sterilized towel. Fang Qing motioned for him to drink tea while talking. Lin Huaixu took the towel to clean his hands, but avoided wiping his right palm.

“What’s wrong?” Fang Qing was very sharp and noticed a slightly bloody, blurry wound on Lin Huaixu’s palm, shallow and fingernail-sized. Looking closely, beneath the burn mark, there was also an old scar that severed his love line.

“A burn,” Lin Huaixu said indifferently, putting down the towel and drinking the hot tea in one gulp.

“What could burn you there?”

“A cigarette burn.” A lit cigarette, which he folded entirely into his palm.

Fang Qing looked at him deeply: “You won’t be staying in Jing City for long this time, will you?”

“Two days, back to Shengang tomorrow night.”

“You’re truly putting yourself through a lot. You asked me to help you join this symposium. Was it to network with people in Jing City, or to see someone in particular?”

“I hadn’t expected to see them.” But he got lucky and ran into them as soon as he got off the plane yesterday.

“For an uncertain encounter, don’t you get tired?” Fang Qing sounded tired just listening, but Lin Huaixu had always been so opinionated; he was used to it. “You’re leaving tomorrow night. Tonight, I’ll show you the nightlife of the capital.”

Lin Huaixu leaned back in the nanmu chair, pinching his brow, showing his fatigue: “Just let me get some more sleep.”

He had barely slept last night because of those taps.

Fang Qing looked at him and sighed: “Now, those with houses halfway up the mountain, yachts moored in Victoria Harbour, and luxury cars in the garage, who among them isn’t surrounded by female confidantes? Is your moral standard too high?”

Hearing this, Lin Huaixu opened his palm and stared at the cigarette burn on his palm, his gaze deep and intense, scoffing, “Not particularly high.”

Right at the symposium, he received a reply from a friend.

The International Union of Applied Physics had only one Chinese person named Yuming Ji, a T University graduate who did advanced studies at Princeton and was a visiting scholar at Cambridge. He was now hired as a visiting professor at a certain university in California and had made significant achievements in applied physics.

His mother was a national first-class actress with a first-tier film and television company under her name, and his father was a world-renowned physicist.

The Ji family and the Si family had close ties and strong relations. Although Ji Yuming was ten years older than Tong An’yu, they could be considered childhood sweethearts and a perfectly matched pair.

It’s worth mentioning that Ji Yuming’s father, Ji Ruocheng, was also Lin Huaixu’s university dean.

The matter of the freshman scholarship that year was only resolved because he stepped forward in time.

A small act of kindness.

Therefore, his principles…

Fang Qing tossed off the thin blanket on his lap and, unusually for him, said in Cantonese, “Brother, you don’t even need to hold hands?”

Lin Huaixu had learned Cantonese later, and didn’t speak it well, but he went along with it.

“Very good.”

After leaving the Huihai Grand Building, Tong An’yu didn’t rush back to the office. Instead, she went to the Western restaurant downstairs from her company and ordered an energy bowl.

She poured green curry sauce over black rice, mixed it with pan-fried salmon and steamed vegetables, and pondered as she ate.

She found that whenever she saw Lin Huaixu, her emotions went on a roller coaster.

She would analyze every word Lin Huaixu said for its deep meaning, and every smile and frown for what he wanted to convey.

This was not good.

It was better when she was oblivious; at least then she could be blissfully happy without any burdens.

Halfway through her meal, Zhu Yan called again and asked, “I’ve seen all the press releases. Did you run into him?”

The symposium had just ended not long ago, and the organizer’s official account immediately posted an article. Lin Huaixu’s remark, “Si Corporation taught me a lesson,” was regarded as a sign of great vision and quickly trended.

Tong An’yu wore a troubled expression: “What kind of fate is this for me? When meeting a former crush, if not a dazzling entrance, at least I should look dignified.”

But the first time she met him, she got a huge bump on her head, bothered him to pull her out of the car, and couldn’t control herself from throwing up all over him.

At that time, Lin Huaixu’s eyebrow had twitched, his impassive face almost unable to hold.

It was also fortunate that Lin Huaixu’s character was as high as a mountain and as deep as a sea, that he could still wring out a bottle of water for her to rinse her mouth.

Being so embarrassed was bad enough, but the second time they met, Lin Huaixu was speaking eloquently on stage, and she was freezing like a quail below.

If it weren’t for a kind soul turning off the air conditioning, her sneezes would have astonished everyone in the room.

Zhu Yan: “It’s fine. I think he’s used to it. You were pretty unlucky when you saw him before too.”

Like when she was overflowing with a sense of justice and got coffee spilled all over her because of it.

“Is that a good habit?!” Tong An’yu lamented.

Zhu Yan: “Don’t worry, I’ve thought it through carefully. Anyway, his profession and yours aren’t related. You two have no intersection in your work, so he won’t easily be able to get revenge on your family.”

Tong An’yu: “That’s true.”

After finishing the last bite of her meal, Tong An’yu couldn’t help but complain that this healthy meal felt like she hadn’t eaten at all.

For the past six months, she had been under immense pressure from her projects, and her weight had soared to nearly 120 pounds. She had originally given up on losing weight and just accepted it, but for some reason, today she suddenly felt invigorated, as if injected with chicken blood, and decided to get back to 100 pounds.

‘Her college self.’

Wiping her mouth, she walked back to the Jingjin Building through the underground passage. She swiped her card, pressed the elevator button, went up, and as she opened the door, she saw renovation workers tinkering with their tools.

It seemed they were about to install the signboard for the neighboring unit.

She must have been too full and her mouth was idle, because she casually asked, “Master, what company is next door?”

She wanted to ask about the company type and whether it overlapped with Hexin’s business. If it was a competitor, the atmosphere would be quite tense.

The worker turned his head to look at her and said calmly, “It’s called some ‘paipaipai’… Patpet.”

Another person said, “Look at your terrible English, it’s Petparty.”

Tong An’yu froze, saying incredulously, “PetParty?”

The worker: “Yes, yes, yes, your English is good.”

Tong An’yu nearly fell back into the elevator.

‘Huh? Ah!’

‘Didn’t they say their jobs wouldn’t intersect at all?’

‘Was she being hunted down by her arch-nemesis?!’

As soon as the signboard next door was installed, the news spread like wildfire throughout the entire building.

Hexin Technology immediately erupted into a frenzy—

“Team Leader Tong! Is that true about next door?”

“Team Leader, are we going to face dangerous business wars in the future?”

“I suggest we hire two more security guards. This move from the other side is truly unexpected; ‘the moon is caught first by the tower closest to the water.'”

“Pah! Is that what ‘the moon is caught first by the tower closest to the water’ means?!”

“Team Leader Tong, the old saying goes, it’s understandable for them to hold a grudge, but we cannot sit idly by. We should prepare early.”

“You mean they’ve been renovating for three months, and the news was kept so tight? Was there a conspiracy all along?”

Tong An’yu took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and said with great resolve, “Don’t panic. I have my own plan.”

‘…What a plan.’

She was terrified, wanting nothing more than to grab Lin Huaixu by the collar and shake him, asking him what his intentions were.

It had to be said, her arch-nemesis certainly led a colorful life.

That year, he came here for an interview, was mocked by other interviewees for not being able to afford a suit and being poor, yet barely eight years later, he had leased the entire place as a boss.

If those two from that year knew, they’d probably die of vexation.

“Team Leader is mighty!”

“As expected of General Manager Si’s daughter.”

“We Hexin pledge our loyalty to the Team Leader until death.”

“Team Leader… you’re walking with your arms and legs stiff.”

Clang!

Tong An’yu closed her office door.

Alone again, she immediately deflated. She didn’t even bother to change out of her dress, sinking into her office chair to brainstorm.

‘Does he really not want to let her go?’

‘Actually, that year, she didn’t even know they had a feud, which was why she bothered him.’

‘And she didn’t bother him in a terribly annoying way. She didn’t even dare to disturb him when he was studying; she just quietly accompanied him, only for the sake of walking that short few hundred meters with him every evening.’

‘She also didn’t frequently send him WeChat messages to harass him; most of the time, she restrained herself, only sending one more cat picture, trying not to annoy him.’

‘Later, because she needed him to pick her up at the subway station, she felt too embarrassed to go to his rented apartment again, nor did she throw herself into his arms under the pretense of cockroaches.’

‘Aside from a couple of arguments during the modeling competition, she never made him angry at any other time.’

As she thought, Tong An’yu’s eyes reddened.

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, smudging her makeup.