Ch. 9 – Seducing a Stranger

The autumn reception is the city’s most famous high-class party, held once a year, each time it was held at different times, but it was always in the fall.

Being invited to the autumn reception is a symbol of status, almost everyone who is invited will attend. Li Yihan has only in this city for two years as head of the household but has already lost interest in this ritual-like reception. This year, he reluctantly decided to attend in order to give Qi Yuan the chance to appear in public.

It was Qi Yuan’s first appearance in high society, and Li Yihan took it seriously, personally overseeing everything from etiquette training to appearance preparation.

After changing into his clothes and fixing his hair, Qi Yuan came out from his room. Li Yihan had been waiting for a period of time, so once he heard footsteps, he looked up.

Qi Yuan had traded his usual loose casual clothes for a high-class tailored suit. The fabric of the suit was pressed on his body to show his figure perfectly. In the past, Li Yihan always felt that Qi yuan was a bit short. In fact, his proportions were very pleasing to the eye.

Since he was not used to dressing in such clothes, Qi Yuan’s walking became a bit stiff. His originally soft hair was fixed in place with hairspray, which exposed his smooth forehead. Li Yihan suddenly found that his eyes are not jet black, but instead were a little more tawny, like polished tiger’s eye.

Li Yihan was silently lost in his thoughts when Qi Yuan walked over to him and said: “Mr. Li, I’m ready, we can go now.”

Li Yihan reacted to the young man’s voice instantly and stood up, he took one step before pausing, “What about your tie?”

Qi Yuan pulled a dark red tie out of his pocket. “It’s a little tight, ” he said, “I’ll put it on when we’re closer to the reception.”

Li Yihan stared at the tie for two seconds but said nothing more.

—————-

The venue was in the center of the city, not far from where they lived, and could be reached in about 20 minutes. When assistant Zhao turned back from the driver seat and told them that they were five minutes away, Chi Zhao took out his tie and began to tie it around his neck.

Chi Zhao never wears a tie. As a result, the once pristine tie was being worked into a knot.

While Chi Zhao seemed calm, the system was freaking out.

[No, it’s the other way around. The big one’s in the front, the little one’s in the back… it’s the other way around! The other other way around!!! … No, you can’t do it, can you? Quickly untie it, oh my gosh, you must be a genius, you can even mess up a tie to this extend.]

Chi Zhao: “…”

It’s not my fault. The tie started it… (╥﹏╥)

During the fight between Chi Zhao and his tie, the other people in the car were silently watching him strangle himself bit by bit. When there was only a minute to go, Li Yihan sighed silently and moved over to Chi Zhao’s side. He took the tie, which had become a tight knot, and began to untie it.

He slowly worked the tie off before tying it up again using the right method, Chi Zhao sat quietly and well behaved, not daring to move, Li Yihan’s hand touched on Chi Zhao’s chin from below. The two sat so close, it was like their breath was becoming intertwined.

When Assistant Zhao saw the two from the rear view mirror, he felt a bit wronged. It was just a tie, the boss was so slow, but also so gentle. Is he going blind, the boss is actually smiling?

This smile is too subtle, if you didn’t look carefully, you’d miss it all together, and this is definitely not mockery for the young boy, it is a bit like… Assistant Zhao searched his mind for a long time but couldn’t remember the adjective.

The word was on the tip of his tongue, but he just couldn’t remember it. The more he couldn’t remember, the more he obsessed about it, until finally he wanted to bite his own tongue in frustration.

——–

Finally the tie was knotted properly Li Yihan also conveniently fixed Chi Zhao’s collar, making sure that every detail is meticulously cared for. At last, he was satisfied enough to withdraw.

Chi Zhao raised his head and smiled gratefully at him.

This smile is like a small fat claw lightly scratching Li Yihan cold heart making it itch.

Subconsciously, Li Yihan moved his hand up two inches until it just barley grazed Chi Zhao’s chin.

Assistant Zhao, who was about to bite through his tongue, opened his eyes wide. He saw the smile on his boss’s lips deepen. His long fingers touched the soft flesh on the young man’s lower jaw before he lightly rubbed it twice. Qi Yuan looked surprised. the boss looked at him and suddenly felt a rare impulse. He raised his hand and patted Qi Yuan’s head.

Chi Zhao: “…” This is considered being treated as a pet, right?

Assistant Zhao: “…” I remember now, the word is spoiled!

System: “…” What is the situation? Forget taking two years to conquer Li Yihan, it’s only been two months! Is a person’s heart so cheap?!

Chi Zhao had no real sense of the change in Li Yihan’s attitude. He only thought that Li Yihan had simply developed some good feelings towards him, but he didn’t think that the good feelings might have been spoiled with something else. He had an important task today, so his attention has long been turned away from Li Yihan.

As soon as he arrived at the party, he began to look for Chang Qing.

As he looked, he said to himself, “Oh concubine, where is my concubine? “

[I can hear everything you think. Don’t say such things out loud!]

Chi Zhao felt a growing sense of self-pity. He is working hard and not only does the system not help, but it’s also picking at him.

Soon after Li Yihan brought Qi Yuan inside, someone immediately came over to chat with him. Once that person left, and the next one would come right away. The people present are all refined, so they wouldn’t swarm around him like flys. Instead, they all stared at Li Yihan, and at just the right time, pretend to casually pass by his side before coming up to talk to Li Yihan.

Nearly everyone asked who Qi Yuan was, and Li Yihan took the opportunity to introduce him. He introduced only five people to him before telling Qi Yuan that he could go grab some food from a buffet table and then play around some. Five people is enough, these five people will go back, and in less than 10 minutes, the whole audience will know Li Yihan’s successor is called Qi Yuan.

Qi Yuan is not the true heir, so he doesn’t have to listen to these hypocritical people’s flattery. Li Yihan didn’t want to him to feel bored, so he let him go over to the dining buffet tables to pick some food and play at will. Chi Zhao wasn’t really paying attention as he is still worried about how to find Chang Qing.

However, he was a little hungry. Before looking for Chang Qing, he should find something to fill his stomach first.

People come to these events to network or brag about what they’ve accomplished over the past year. They have a few drinks, and rarely do any of them eat a lot, but today is different.

All because of Chi Zhao.

When Chang Qing came over, Chi Zhao was eating a piece of cake with a small fork. Chang Qing spotted him and took two glasses of red wine from the waiter’s tray before slowly walking over to Chi Zhao. After seeing how the man was enjoying his food, for a second, he didn’t have the heart to interrupt him.

After standing silently for some time, he opened his mouth, “Qi Yuan, right? “

Chi Zhao had already heard about his arrival from the system. He finished eating the last bit of cake, took out the kerchief then from the pocket of his suit, wiped his mouth, and then tilted his head to look at Chang Qing, “Yes, and you are? “

Chang Qing smiled a little and gave the younger man his name while waiting for Chi Zhao to reveal a look of surprise and consternation.

But Chi Zhao simply stared at him without responding.

Chang Qing: “…”

Seeing Chang Qing’s face, Chi Zhao nodded disinterestedly, “Oh, it’s you. “

Chang Qing: “…”

For the past two years he has been the business world’s most powerful dark horse, even a three-year-old child off the streets would know his name, what is “Oh, it’s you”?!

After a while, Chi Zhao’s IQ logged back on, and he began speaking again, “Mr. Chang, I didn’t expect you to be so young. “

Chang Qing almost vomited blood at Chi Zhao’s reaction, fortunately he is not an ordinary person, even now his face didn’t change color. He smiled softly, “You are also very young, the Li family is bound to have another promising leader like Li Yihan in the future.”

This sentence was to test Chi Zhao. While he heard the unspoken intention, he didn’t take the bait. For one thing, he’s not someone who is particularly skilled at dealing with schemes, and he certainly can’t get around Chang Qing. Additionally, his task is not to fight with Chang Qing in the business field, but to fight with him in the bedroom.

Chi Zhao quietly looked at him, and then reached over to take the wine glass in his left hand, but his intention wasn’t to drink wine. Two people’s fingers gently grazed each other. Hanging his eyes to look at the place where their fingers touched, Chi Zhao chuckled: “No one is willing to be a second version of another person, I just want to be the first Qi Yuan. Mr. Chang and I, we have the same thoughts on this.”