“Mockery.”
Zhao Yicheng said indifferently, not even bothering to spare Li Yuan a single glance.
At this moment, Zhao Tianfu took a bottle of pills out from his jacket pocket and placed it on the large green stone.
“How long has it been since you last took your medicine?”
“I’m already cured.”
“As you wish.”
He didn’t take the pills back, just left them there.
Zhao Tianfu withdrew his hand.
“Keep them. I don’t want to see you on the trending list of internet entertainment.”
“Public opinion is fiercer than a tiger. Not long ago, there was someone selling goods who ruined his own reputation.”
“And yet, sales didn’t drop but actually went up.”
Zhao Yicheng replied blandly.
The atmosphere between the two was like a stagnant pool of water.
No matter who spoke, it was as if a stone had been tossed into the ocean, sinking without a trace, unable to stir up even the slightest ripple.
After a while.
“How old are you this year?”
Zhao Tianfu paused, seeming to be pondering something.
Soon, he spoke.
“I’ve found a few candidates for marriage alliances for you. When you have time, go meet them.”
“I already have someone I like.”
“No matter. Marriage is just an exchange of interests.”
Zhao Tianfu didn’t seem surprised by Zhao Yicheng’s reply, merely explaining, “Just keep up appearances. After marriage, have a child to serve as the bond tying our two families together.”
“As for that little lover of yours, as long as she doesn’t show up in public, you can do as you please in private.”
“No, you misunderstand.”
For once, Zhao Yicheng actually used an honorific, but his gaze was as sarcastic as ever, impossible to conceal.
“I have someone I love. I won’t be like all of you. I will walk with her into the sacred halls of marriage…”
As he spoke, his eyes unconsciously softened, even the corners of his mouth lifting in happiness.
“With that little pet of yours whose origins are unknown?”
Zhao Tianfu frowned.
“Play if you must, but don’t get yourself caught up in it.”
“Love—this kind of thing, you can fool others, but don’t fool yourself.”
“None of the means to obtain it are clean. Where would you get love from?”
“My blood runs in your veins. Do I not know you? My son, people like us are not suited for, nor can we have, love.”
“Power is the pinnacle we crave.”
“Are you, like you, offering yourself to that monster named ‘career’?”
Zhao Yicheng retorted.
He didn’t want to talk about ‘power and strength.’
It was just too childish.
“I’ve found my lifelong partner. I love her as she loves me. For the rest of my life, I only want to spend it with her.”
“I know you have an illegitimate child out there. If you want, you can let him inherit your family assets.”
“I’ll take my lover anywhere we want to go.”
As he said this, Zhao Yicheng was clearly smiling, showing he’d already started to understand something.
In the end, this father and son—Zhao Tianfu and Zhao Yicheng—connected only by blood, parted unhappily over the issue of marriage.
It wasn’t that they each stuck to their own views, but rather, their words were so mismatched it was like talking to a wall.
It wasn’t that they couldn’t reach an agreement, but that neither could understand the other’s language at all.
Zhao Tianfu was cultivating Zhao Yicheng as the perfect heir.
He had his own unique understanding of “perfection”: perfect knowledge, perfect vision, a perfect social circle—he wanted Zhao Yicheng to become a replica of himself, a man perfectly poised for the road to success.
But Zhao Yicheng had his own path in life.
He didn’t outright reject a career, he had ambition, but that didn’t mean he would let his work become the only thing in his life.
There are many choices in life. For example, making Xu Yinsheng obedient.
And there are joys in life too—like watching Xu Yinsheng slowly begin to listen.
***
Zhao Tianrong left.
When he left, he handed his fishing rod to Zhao Yicheng and also told Li Yuan to stay behind and assist Zhao Yicheng in managing the company.
Zhao Yicheng didn’t plan to linger here any longer either.
He turned to leave, but before he could take a few steps, his long-dormant brain illness flared up again, causing his face to turn pale and cold sweat to break out on his forehead…
Li Yun hurriedly supported Zhao Yicheng to sit down, then picked up the medicine the Chairman had left and handed it to Zhao Yicheng.
At first, Zhao Yicheng refused to take the pills, but after swallowing the first one, the effect was quick. The swelling pain in his head gradually eased.
Zhao Yicheng struggled to open his eyes.
He sat up with effort, and a thought he’d never had before surfaced in his mind.
Maybe… he really was sick?
“Youth… Chairman, Chairman.”
The repeated calls in his ear brought Zhao Yicheng back to himself.
He noticed his assistant, Li Yun, by his side.
Turning his head, he nodded calmly at him.
“I’m fine.”
With that, he cast the fishing hook out, drawing a graceful arc through the air before it landed on the water, sending ripples across the surface.
“Chairman.”
Li Yuan quickly switched to the proper form of address and respectfully asked, “Do you need me to call for a medical vehicle?”
“No need,” Zhao Yicheng waved his hand.
Just then, the fishing float bobbed, sending ripples across the water—the fish had bitten.
Zhao Yicheng gently exerted his strength.
His strengthened body could easily lift a small car, let alone a grass carp.
However, just as land is the domain of humans, underwater is the realm of fish.
The grass carp didn’t leap out as expected.
Instead, it struggled in its own way.
It wasn’t matching Zhao Yicheng’s car-lifting strength, but rather testing the limits of the fishing rod’s endurance—if he pulled any harder—
Crack.
The fishing line at the tip of the rod snapped!!
Li Yuan, who had been ready to flatter him, was stunned.
Breaking the rod while fishing—if this were an experienced angler, they’d definitely laugh at him.
Zhao Yicheng’s expression didn’t change.
Unhurriedly, he reeled in the rod and asked, “So, how do you fish?”
Li Yuan felt a bit nervous.
Fishing had been one of the previous Chairman’s few hobbies, but now, looking at this young Chairman in front of him… could he really be his biological son?
A rebellious thought popped into his mind.
In the end, at Zhao Yicheng’s request, Li Yuan explained the fishing techniques.
After receiving the answer, Zhao Yicheng lowered his head as if he had realized something, murmuring to himself, “Relax and pull tight.”
Thinking this, he cast the hook out again.
It landed on the water, sending up gentle ripples.
Not long after, the float bobbed up and down.
The fish had bitten again.
This time, Zhao Yicheng didn’t choose to wrestle with it.
Instead, he alternated between applying and relaxing his strength, pulling in intervals, until the grass carp was completely exhausted.
With a slight tug, Zhao Yicheng lifted the fish out of the water and into the bucket.
Li Yuan was just about to offer some flattery when he saw Zhao Yicheng turn his head and look at him, asking,
“Tell me, do you think you can fish for people?”
“What kind of question is that? A fishing rod? For people?!”
He’d long heard rumors that the Chairman’s son had some minor mental issues, but judging by the situation now… could there be some hobby like Hannibal’s?
Like those spider girls among the Ten Deadly Sins…
A cold sweat broke out on Li Yuan’s back.
“You can.”
He bent down, licking his lips to ease his slightly parched throat.
Zhao Yicheng nodded.
He looked at Li Yuan and patted him on the shoulder.
“You’re not bad.”