Chapter 39: Flawless but missing the warmth of flesh and blood.
The Bentley drove out of the city. The scenery grew increasingly remote, but it was indeed a legitimate destination. The driver eventually pulled up to a suburban winery estate.
They took the elevator up from the underground garage, bypassing the main entrance. The driver led Chen Wengang through a winding maze of staff service corridors before finally arriving at a private VIP room to meet the employer.
The person who had summoned him in such a paranoid, eccentric manner was indeed Huo Jingsheng.
Huo Jingsheng lacked Huo Niansheng’s captivating peach-blossom eyes. As half-brothers, only the contours of their nasal bridges and jawlines bore a passing resemblance.
He was by no means ugly. Yet, having grown accustomed to looking at Huo Niansheng, Chen Wengang couldn’t help but feel that the arrangement of Huo Jingsheng’s facial features gave off the somewhat crude, unpolished air of a cheap knockoff.
Unaware of how Chen Wengang was evaluating his looks in his head, Huo Jingsheng kept his hands in his pockets, leaned back against the sofa, and gestured across from him:
“Have a seat.”
Chen Wengang sat down opposite him. Huo Jingsheng cut straight to the chase: “Our family is well aware of the shady business going on between you and my Dage.”
Chen Wengang smiled faintly: “What shady business? How is it that I’m the one kept in the dark instead?”
Displeased that Chen Wengang hadn’t been intimidated in the slightest, Huo Jingsheng launched into a barrage: “In the past, my Dage was just playing around. No matter who he fooled around with, the family never bothered to rein him in. But things are different now. At his age, it’s long past time he considered taking a wife and having children. That’s why the elders sent me to talk to you—to lay down some ground rules. If you want to stay with him down the road, it’s not entirely out of the question, but you can’t go breaking the rules.”
Chen Wengang replied, “Allow me to hear what these rules of the Huo family are first.”
Huo Jingsheng said, “I am here on behalf of the elders to warn you: don’t get out of line, and don’t stir up trouble. Your relationship must be kept behind closed doors; you cannot make a grand public spectacle of it. In the future, whether he goes on blind dates, gets engaged, or gets married, you must not stand in his way. And another thing—once my Dage has a wife and children, you are not permitted to throw jealous tantrums. It would be best if you could get along well with the lady of the house. If she can tolerate your presence, then naturally everyone will be happy. If she can’t stomach it, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. But I advise you not to be so tactless.”
Chen Wengang found it comical: “Did you come up with this humiliation all by yourself, or did Second Uncle coach you?”
Caught off guard, Huo Jingsheng blurted, “How did you know—”
“It doesn’t matter who it was,” Chen Wengang said. “Unfortunately, my surname is Chen. As for your Huo family rules, go take them directly to your brother.”
Seeing him rise to leave, Huo Jingsheng snapped back to his senses and barked sharply, “You—stop right there!”
Raising his voice only betrayed his underlying panic. Today’s performance had indeed been orchestrated at Second Uncle’s behest, aiming to clear a path to plant their own people beside Huo Niansheng—primarily through a business marriage. Yet the elder had merely instructed him to handle Chen Wengang; how exactly to handle him was entirely Huo Jingsheng’s own bright idea.
Lacking real clout and means, and wary of Huo Niansheng, he dared neither kidnap nor threaten violence.
What else could he do? He could only resort to petty scare tactics.
Unfortunately, Huo Jingsheng was thoroughly inept at this line of work. Worse still, he had severely underestimated Chen Wengang, treating him like some penniless college student from a modest background.
In truth, Chen Wengang had sat at far more negotiating tables than he ever had. The person sitting across from him was a veteran who had already fought his wars, laid down his armor, and retired from the battlefield.
Having made all these preparations, however, Huo Jingsheng couldn’t back down now. He snatched a tablet from the coffee table and thrust it at him: “See for yourself.”
Chen Wengang took it in his hands. A pre-installed application opened directly upon unlocking, displaying a real-time surveillance feed.
From this angle, it was obviously a covertly installed camera; the winery’s official security cameras would never be placed where guests’ private conversations could be overheard.
Looking at him from across the space, Huo Jingsheng wore a sneer of arrogant contempt: “I know Huo Niansheng must be whispering sweet nothings and feeding you solemn vows of eternal love. If you want to see what kind of person he really is behind your back, I’m giving you a chance to find out today.”
Chen Wengang cast a sidelong glance at him: “And you know his true colors better than I do?”
Huo Jingsheng brushed it off: “He’s stayed here more than once. You can browse through the history logs to find your surprises. I’ll leave you to it, then.”
With that, he strode out toward the door.
The moment he pushed the door open, the burly driver was impressively still standing guard outside, on high alert in case Chen Wengang tried to bolt.
The driver let only Huo Jingsheng out, glared inside with a menacing scowl as a demonstration, and pulled the door shut once more.
Chen Wengang waited a moment, walked over, and tested the handle. Unsurprisingly, it was locked.
Not wanting Huo Jingsheng’s painstaking efforts of locking him in here to go to waste, Chen Wengang tapped into the software’s saved archive of historical footage.
Lest he lack the patience to scrub through the timeline, the specific video clips curated for him to see had already been trimmed out individually.
Chen Wengang sat back down on the sofa to admire the “surprises” Huo Jingsheng had prepared for him.
The hidden camera was tucked away in an active communal lounge area, almost certainly planted by bribing one of the staff members here.
In reality, there was nothing particularly shocking. It simply showed Huo Niansheng appearing here with various people—tasting wine, chatting idly, engaging in superficial social banter, speaking whatever people wanted to hear, along with clips of him playing indoor golf with girls who had clearly been deliberately arranged to cross his path.
The cool, fluorescent blue glare of the screen washed over Chen Wengang’s face. Having nothing better to do anyway, he watched through the clips one by one.
The software chimed with an alert: motion detected in the monitored area.
Switching back to the live feed, he saw Huo Niansheng and an innocent-looking Huo Jingsheng appear in front of the camera.
The two exchanged a few words, played a round of golf, and returned to sit down. Soon afterward, a group of men and women joined them—and among them was He Wanxin.
It truly was a small world where enemies were bound to cross paths.
Huo Niansheng and the He family’s young master, He Jiajun, could never stand each other; sparks flew whenever they met, making them well-known arch-rivals in the city. At the recent Zheng family charity auction, Huo Niansheng had deliberately stolen the spotlight from He Wanxin, an incident that remained a fresh joke among everyone present.
He Wanxin treated him like thin air, twirling a strand of her voluminous, vintage curls around her finger. In all fairness, when put together, she was quite a striking, glamorous beauty.
Taking advantage of the crowd today, Huo Jingsheng clearly intended to stir up trouble. He brought up the incident publicly once again under the guise of peacemaking, though he was actually fanning the flames:
“As the saying goes, friendship often begins with a clash. Miss He, why dwell on what happened that day? And Dage, show a bit more gentlemanly grace and apologize to the lady. At the end of the day, it was just an object; if you ask me, it’s not worth truly spoiling the harmony. Why don’t we clear the air today, what do you say?”
He Wanxin replied coldly, “Please don’t. Aren’t you just insulting your brother in a roundabout way by saying he lacks gentlemanly grace?”
Huo Niansheng offered a lazy smile: “Since I’ve already walked away with the prize, an apology doesn’t cost me anything. Miss He, what do you say?”
Under the watchful gaze of the crowd, everyone had appearances to maintain. She gave a stiff, insincere smile: “Let’s leave it at that, then. I suppose I wasn’t entirely in the right either.”
Someone quick to trim their sails to the wind chimed in to smooth things over, brushing the feud aside.
Gathering at a winery naturally meant wine-tasting and conversation.
As the alcohol flowed, spirits floated higher while thoughts and topics sank lower into vulgarity.
Whether intentionally or not, Huo Jingsheng brought up Huo Niansheng’s recent vacation again, teasing him about how he had even gifted away an entire yacht just to coax someone.
The gossip had already made the rounds in the papers, so naturally quite a few people present were aware of it. Wherever men gathered, things inevitably played out like this: a barrage of lewd questions erupted instantly, asking whom he was trying to pick up, whether he had scored yet, and whether the experience was worth the price tag.
Chen Wengang propped his chin on his hand, watching this tedious farce from behind the scenes.
Yet despite the rowdy clamor around him, Huo Niansheng never uttered a single word about Chen Wengang.
Having downed quite a bit of red wine herself, He Wanxin’s cheeks flushed crimson. Leaning on her intoxication, she mocked: “When Young Master Huo makes a move, it’s naturally extraordinary. Giving away something worth millions at the drop of a hat—even I feel envious hearing about it. At worst, if giving once isn’t enough, just give twice; if twice isn’t enough, try three times.”
She tapped her long nails against the glass: “Aren’t you afraid that in the end, you won’t even get the person, and all that money will just go down the drain?”
Huo Niansheng cast a sidelong glance her way: “I have nothing to be afraid of. I care about romance, not sunk costs. When it comes to throwing oneself at someone and chasing them, Miss He ought to have far more experience than I do.”
He Wanxin gave an unabashed laugh, though her words carried double meaning: “Don’t get touchy. Why are the two of us fighting amongst ourselves? What I said earlier was just feeling it’s not worth it for you—worrying you’d end up losing both the lady and the troops.”
She raised her glass: “Truth be told, since you managed to get that eyesore out of the way, I can’t thank you enough.”
Huo Niansheng clinked glasses with her, remarking with a playful smirk, “There’s no need for that. Why treat romantic entanglements like forming rival gangs? I’m simply a sucker for beauty. Don’t mind my bluntness, but you’re hardly the virtuous wife and loving mother type either. If you and Zheng Yucheng really end up together in the future, why not just talk him into an open marriage? Invite me along when the time comes—who knows, maybe we can all play together. Even a ménage à trois wouldn’t be out of the question to try, wouldn’t you say?”
The crowd burst into uproarious laughter, calling him filthy, yet no one paid any further attention to who that “Young Master Chen” gifted with the yacht actually was.
Before long, the wall clock approached midnight.
Chen Wengang grew tired of watching. Even the people drinking in front of the camera had dispersed one by one.
Huo Jingsheng had never returned to set him free. Guided by intuition, Chen Wengang glanced at the door of the private room.
Walking over to twist the handle once more, he found that the lock had been undone at some point.
It was as if to say the show was over, and he was now free to go wherever he pleased.
Chen Wengang switched off the light, stepped outside, and walked down the long corridor like a wandering phantom.
He found an escalator that was still running and rode it down floor by floor, not running into He Wanxin or any other guests along the way.
At this hour, the winery itself seemed to have fallen into a deep slumber. It was Chen Wengang’s first time here; after wandering around for a while, an exit was nowhere in sight. Most of the staff had already clocked out for the night, and after checking several floors, he couldn’t find a single staffed reception desk.
In the end, he unexpectedly stumbled upon the very spot covered by the surveillance camera earlier.
The main lights here had also been extinguished; the guests were gone, the tea was cold, and the area lay hollow and deserted.
Compared to the foul, smoke-filled air of the drunken gathering earlier, the place felt rather lovely now.
Stepping forward, he located the concealed pinhole camera behind a potted money plant. He nudged the pot slightly with his foot, letting the broad green leaves block its lens completely.
Chen Wengang picked the spot where Huo Niansheng had been sitting and sat down. Only after a long silence did he pull out his phone in the darkness.
Huo Niansheng had been absentmindedly skimming through the materials Dr. Yu Shanding had sent regarding anxiety disorders and panic attacks when he suddenly received a live location ping from Chen Wengang, indicating he was barely 200 meters away. Pausing in surprise, he immediately connected it to Huo Jingsheng’s unusual behavior earlier. Piecing it together almost instantly, his eyes narrowed as he dialed the number: “Wengang.”
Chen Wengang asked, “Would it be convenient for you to come pick me up?”
Huo Niansheng said, “Wait right there.”
After a beat, he added, “Don’t be afraid.”
Chen Wengang wasn’t afraid. Huo Jingsheng hadn’t even thought to confiscate his phone—or hadn’t dared to. It had been with him the entire time; had he been truly terrified, he would have called the police long ago. He had feared many things in his life, but darkness was never one of them. The dark was a sanctuary that concealed him, offering him a sense of security.
In less than five minutes, Huo Niansheng came back downstairs.
When he arrived, Chen Wengang was sitting there in utter silence, not making the slightest sound, looking like a sculpted thinker lost in quiet contemplation.
The surroundings were submerged in darkness, save for an overhead beam converging like a stage spotlight right onto Chen Wengang. In this light, his gentle features resembled a smooth texture of white porcelain or flawless jade—immaculate, yet lacking the warmth of living flesh and blood.
His hurried footsteps slowing, Huo Niansheng walked toward that beam of light.
For some reason, he felt as though he had often seen this silhouette of Chen Wengang before, sitting mute and still, cloaked in darkness.
White and black swallowed all colors; the inner world within him always kept its gates shut tight.
Even when a faint slit opened on occasion, allowing Huo Niansheng a fleeting glimpse inside, all he could ever see was a cage of black and white.
Glancing toward the direction where the camera was hidden, Huo Niansheng spoke first: “And here I was wondering what Huo Jingsheng was planning, sneaking around filming me lately.”
Sitting down beside Chen Wengang, he draped an arm over his shoulder and teased, “How did someone as clever as you end up falling into his trap?”
Propping his chin in his hand, Chen Wengang looked at him: “He wanted me to see the side of you behind closed doors. Opportunities like that don’t come around often.”
Huo Niansheng chuckled, his hand closing over Chen Wengang’s other hand resting on his knee: “Did you like what you saw?”
