TIL - 57

Wen Huo handed the company she inherited from Ruan Lihong to Chen Cheng to manage. Chen Cheng immediately cut off his “left arm” and assigned one of his most trusted people to work for her. To keep the person from feeling slighted, he helped him get into the Lakeside University, gave him 36% of the company shares, and paved the way for him to go public. Chen Cheng had a great vision for developing and utilizing talent. Under his direction, a few key people helped Wen Huo’s company’s market value soar, and her net worth kept rising. But Wen Huo had no idea; she had no business sense and no interest in it.

At her company’s annual dinner, Wen Huo was just a prop, tasked with receiving toasts from people from all walks of life and listening to their pleasantries. Chen Cheng was still on a plane back from Japan and couldn’t be there, so he had called Tang Jun’en to help Wen Huo handle the event. Tang Jun’en saw that Wen Huo was distracted. After finishing a conversation with two acquaintances, he walked over and clinked his glass against hers. “What are you thinking about?”

Wen Huo was thinking about Chen Cheng’s proposal to her the night before he left for Japan, but she didn’t say. She just shook her head. “Nothing.”

Tang Jun’en suddenly smiled. “Honestly, to this day, I can’t believe you became Chen Cheng’s exception. I’ve known him for over thirty years, and he has no exceptions, none. Do you understand?”

Wen Huo thought about her and Chen Cheng’s unconventional relationship from the beginning. “I was his mistress, and a mistress who became his official girlfriend. You can’t apply the norms of a regular relationship to us.”

Tang Jun’en nodded. “That’s true.”

Wen Huo recalled the many times her relationship with Chen Cheng had been on the rocks. “My approach to him was unethical. I won’t try to justify myself. Of course, he’s not much better than I am. Strictly speaking, our meeting was a conspiracy, a mistake. For his well-calculated life, that was already an exception. There’s nothing to be surprised about with what he does after that.”

Tang Jun’en had rarely talked with Wen Huo, but he knew she was a force to be reckoned with, considering she was the one who made Chen Cheng break his own rules. After talking with her more deeply today, he suddenly felt he understood Chen Cheng a little better. Every step Wen Huo took was an unexpected one for Chen Cheng. Of course, she would become his exception. Chen Cheng always thought he could control Wen Huo, but she would always slip from his grasp at the most crucial moments. She was like a variable, jumping around his world. A man like him, who could calculate his next ten years without a single mistake, suddenly made a mistake one day. It was a given that he would lose.

And for Wen Huo, her mentality was probably the same as Chen Cheng’s. They both thought they were the ones in control of the relationship, or at least not the passive one. But she was the one who became passive. She thought she was playing Chen Cheng, but in the end, she was the one who got played. She had probably never lost before, and the only time she lost was to Chen Cheng. Women admire strength, so if a man can’t beat her, why should she look up to him? Naturally, Chen Cheng walked right into her heart.

Tang Jun’en thought to himself, sighing, “They really had to have each other. No one else could conquer them.” What was a perfect match? This was a perfect match.

Tang Jun’en no longer considered her an outsider and wanted to show her Chen Cheng’s wild past. “Did you ask him about the silver hair and the full-sleeve tattoos? What did he say?”

Wen Huo had asked him, but Chen Cheng denied it. “He said you were lying to me.”

“Nonsense. Does he think people have amnesia just because he changed his appearance? Did he really become ‘clean’ just by starting over?” Tang Jun’en looked at her. “He said I was lying to you. Do you believe him?”

Wen Huo wasn’t interested in Chen Cheng’s past. She figured he was a wild one, so if she knew about his past relationships, she would just get angry. She decided it wasn’t worth it.

Tang Jun’en was still bitter about Chen Cheng messing up his projects, so he decided to be a little mischievous and cause a fight between the two of them, which would bring him some small comfort. He found some old photos of Chen Cheng and showed them to Wen Huo. “Swipe. They’re all in here. Your Chen Cheng used to be a high-ranking member of the largest mafia in Canada, second only to the ‘Boss.’ He didn’t take a single penny when he left home, but he was a kingpin in Toronto. Do you know how he did it? He did it by lending money, money laundering, and selling arms. He might seem cold, but he has a very sharp eye and is a great people-person. He was a welcome guest to many ‘bosses’.”

Wen Huo scrolled through Tang Jun’en’s photos, looking at each one. He really did have silver hair with black roots. He had black diamond earrings on his earlobes and helix. The photos weren’t very clear, but she could count at least seven or eight piercings. He also had a black eyebrow piercing. Both of his arms had full-sleeve tattoos in an old-school patchwork style. His eyes were completely different then. If now he showed no emotions and kept his cards close to his chest, back then he didn’t mind showing his hand. He didn’t care. He would show people his hand, yet he still exuded a kind of confidence that commanded fear, as if he had never lost.

Wen Huo could understand people being reckless when they were young, but as she stared at the eyes in the photo for a long time, she felt a tingling sensation on her scalp. This feeling seemed to be telling her that it wasn’t Chen Cheng who was being reckless, but herself.

Tang Jun’en continued, “You can look up old news or search for ‘Cheng’ on foreign websites. You’ll enter a new world.”

Wen Huo looked through many photos of Chen Cheng. They were almost all candid shots, either in a bar, a boxing gym, a cafe, a car dealership, a basketball court, or a train station. He was always with people of all different races, but he was always in the position of a leader.

Tang Jun’en said, “When he bought you that custom Harley-Davidson Fat Boy for your birthday, weren’t you curious how a teacher who taught at a university knew so much about custom modifications?”

For Wen Huo’s birthday, Chen Cheng had bought her a custom Harley-Davidson Fat Boy. It was inspired by the motorcycle in the game PUBG. The game developer Bluehole had a game called PUBG, or “eating chicken” as it was commonly known. Wen Huo got hooked on it after her junior colleague introduced her to it. She had quick reflexes and good skills, so she would spend a few hours on it almost every day for a while. This was one of the reasons Chen Cheng had such a big grudge against the junior colleague.

Before, Wen Huo would go home to watch movies with him, or work on physics problems, or talk about capital. Although she wasn’t interested, she was eager to learn and never refused to absorb knowledge. But ever since she started playing the game with the junior colleague, the two of them would play together every day, using voice chat. When she talked to Chen Cheng, it was all about cannons, 98Ks, and cheek pads. When he was young, he used to play CS, so he was familiar with these kinds of tactical shooting games. Besides, he was a crack shot with a real gun, so a fake one was a piece of cake. He spent half a day getting familiar with PUBG.

He was a real scoundrel. He had set the password for the computer at home, and Wen Huo’s Steam account was also his. He directly logged into her account and added his smurf account. That night, Wen Huo and her junior colleague were playing doubles. Chen Cheng went to his study, logged on, and kept trying to invite Wen Huo. She kept declining, but he kept inviting. Wen Huo saw how persistent he was and finally accepted. She didn’t have many friends and thought she had added this person by accident, so she didn’t suspect anything.

They played a small map, and Chen Cheng was like a hacker, giving no quarter to Wen Huo and her junior colleague. He was very good with the sniper rifle and would always let Wen Huo get the assist, which made her feel very safe. The junior colleague’s thunder was completely stolen. When they got to the final circle, he was playing a little erratically and missed every shot. He got knocked down and couldn’t be revived. Chen Cheng, playing as a “lone wolf,” carried them the entire time without using a mic and gave all the equipment to Wen Huo first. There were three of them, but he insisted on riding the motorcycle, only taking Wen Huo. Wen Huo initially thought he was a gentleman, but then he started being overly flattering to her, so she clearly told him, “Don’t be like this. I have a husband.”

Chen Cheng was secretly pleased, but he still pretended not to care and continued to treat her like a princess. In the second circle, he started to get creative, doing all kinds of ridiculous stunts, like doing aerial flips with Wen Huo on the motorcycle. Wen Huo thought he was probably crazy, but it would be rude to say so. When he clearly hinted that he wanted her to compliment his driving skills, she just kept complimenting the motorcycle and mentioned Harley-Davidson and custom modifications to change the subject.

Just as they were about to win, he turned on his mic and asked Wen Huo, “Do you want to eat chicken?” Wen Huo felt a chill down her spine. She turned her head to look at Chen Cheng’s study. That voice... that voice... ‘Oh my god?’ She didn’t dare to speak. Chen Cheng didn’t say anything either because he had been flagged for killing too many people. With Chen Cheng out, Wen Huo, who was now alone, couldn’t win against three opponents. She got second place. The game ended. She took off her headphones and went to the study to find Chen Cheng, who had also just taken off his headphones. She was still barefoot. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Was that you?”

Chen Cheng put his hands on the desk in front of him and asked the same question. “Do you want to eat chicken?” It was him. She walked over and naturally sat on his lap. “Why didn’t you tell me you play games? What other surprises do you have that I don’t know about, Teacher Chen?”

Chen Cheng placed his hand on her waist. “You call that playing games? Weren’t you two just ‘fishing’? Did your combined KDA even go over 2.5?”

Wen Huo glanced at him. “Yes, yes, we were just ‘fishing,’ we were ‘noobs.’ You’re a ‘gun god,’ a ‘dirty camper’.”

Chen Cheng frowned. “I’m what?”

Wen Huo quickly corrected herself. “You’re handsome. I’ve never seen a man as handsome as you.”

“Will you still play with that trash in the future?”

Wen Huo knew his character as a petty, jealous man would never change. She wanted to mock him, but she was in his arms, so she held it in. “No, I won’t. He’s too much of a ‘trash.’ He can’t compare to my husband.”

Chen Cheng was satisfied. He held her waist. “Did you eat chicken?”

“Do you think I can win against three people alone? I can play, but I’m not that good. If I had won, I would have been flagged, too.”

Chen Cheng held her hand. “So, do you want to eat chicken?”

Wen Huo’s heart started to pound. She knew the word “chicken” had a different meaning in this context. Chen Cheng was always like this. He wouldn’t say anything lewd. He would say things so seriously, but it would make her heart race. She would be uncontrollably horny for him, and then he would pin her to the ground and “punish” her. She couldn’t control herself anymore and asked softly, “Which chicken?”

Chen Cheng moved her legs, making her straddle him. Her private part pressed against his “thing” through her underwear, answering her question with action. He was so hard. Wen Huo was wet. “Can we do it on the bed today? The floor is a bit cold.”

Chen Cheng picked her up in a bridal carry. “Today, we’re going to the sky.”

Then Chen Cheng took Wen Huo to ride the night Ferris wheel. He shamelessly used his privileges to get them on in the middle of the night, but Wen Huo loved it. A man who could do anything was so damn hot! Later, Wen Huo successfully “ate chicken,” with both of her mouths, over and over again, making up for the disappointment of not winning in PUBG.

From then on, Wen Huo stopped playing with her junior colleague, and he was too embarrassed to ask her to play again. He didn’t know that Wen Huo’s boyfriend was Chen Cheng at the time, but he just felt that her boyfriend was too strong and didn’t want to humiliate himself again. Wen Huo gradually lost interest in games and started to work on physics problems with Chen Cheng again every night.

Chen Cheng might have known that his method of killing Wen Huo’s new interest was a bit low, so he bought her a custom Harley-Davidson Fat Boy for her birthday. Of course, the gifts also included the company’s amazing market share and considerable net profit after non-recurring items.

Wen Huo’s thoughts were spiraling, and Tang Jun’en pulled her back to reality. “Why did Gumball 3000 include Chen Cheng in their fun? Was it because one of his employees who was an extreme sports athlete died, and they compensated him? Was it because he had a lot of cars? Was he rich? Did he have connections with illegal car dealerships? Did he have a wide network? Yes, and no. The biggest reason was that the leader knew about Chen Cheng’s influence in Toronto.”

As Wen Huo listened to him, she remembered her previous question: What other surprises does Chen Cheng have that she doesn’t know about? How could he have accomplished in thirty years what others couldn’t in fifty?

This was when Chen Cheng returned. Tang Jun’en saw him and quickly put away his phone, making an excuse to leave. He had to get away before Chen Cheng found out he had sold him out, in case he got petty again. He didn’t have any projects left for him to ruin.

Chen Cheng held Wen Huo’s hand as if no one else was there and asked her, “Did you eat yet?” He loved her so much. Every move he made showed that she was the most important thing to him. Wen Huo couldn’t imagine what kind of gun he held when he was in the dangerous parts of Toronto. But she could imagine that he was even more attractive back then. He was so young and fresh. Just looking at the photos made her mouth water.

She shook her head. “My tooth hurts. I don’t want to eat anything.” Chen Cheng frowned slightly. “Open your mouth.” Wen Huo opened her mouth. “Ah—” There were no cavities or gum inflammation. Chen Cheng asked her, “How long has it been hurting?”

“It started hurting just after you came in.” Chen Cheng looked at her. Wen Huo leaned in and whispered, “Maybe it’s because you’re too sweet, Teacher Chen.”

Chen Cheng gave a helpless smile. They didn’t participate in the rest of the event and went to Jin Ge’s house to pick up Yi Yi. Chen Cheng didn’t want to treat Wen Huo unfairly, so he had Yi Yi adopted by his aunt, Jin Ge’s younger sister. She was about ten years older than Chen Cheng and had been unable to have children after she got married. Now that she was older, she couldn’t have children anymore but still wanted one. Of course, Chen Cheng still loved Yi Yi very much. For Yi Yi, she just gained two more people who loved her, and for Wen Huo, she had a complete and unburdened husband.

Many men, when faced with a conflict between their woman and something else, subconsciously choose to compromise their woman’s feelings. In their eyes, since she has chosen to be with him and become his woman, she should be understanding, yielding, and compromising. Chen Cheng was different. In his eyes, everyone and everything had to compromise and yield to his woman, with no exceptions. That was just who he was. Whether you called him unreasonable or lacking in common social morals, that’s just how he was, and it couldn’t be changed. Making everything yield to Wen Huo was very twisted, but there was nothing he could do. He had a mental illness; he was already twisted.

When Jin Ge saw Wen Huo, she brought out two jade bracelets for her, made from the stone Ruan Lihong had bought at the auction. Ruan Lihong had returned to Canada after buying the stone, and Wen Huo had given it directly to Chen Cheng, who in turn gave it to Chen Huaiyu. Chen Huaiyu had the stone carved into a pair of exquisite bracelets. The best jade at the auction had been the one Ruan Lihong bought, and by a strange turn of events, it ended up in Chen Huaiyu’s hands, and he cherished it. Wen Huo had gained Chen Huaiyu’s favor because of that stone.

Tang Jun’en had spent half a year trying to heal Chen Huaiyu’s grief over his wife’s death, but Wen Huo had managed to do it so unintentionally. Chen Huaiyu felt that Wen Huo was a lucky girl, and she also bore a slight resemblance to his deceased wife in her eyes. So he gave all the love he had wanted to give to his late wife to Chen Cheng and Wen Huo. The bracelets carved from the stone were given to Wen Huo, who often wore them and would bring them to Chen Huaiyu for maintenance every so often. This time, Chen Huaiyu had finished the maintenance and asked Jin Ge to give them back to Wen Huo.

Jin Ge came down from upstairs and saw Wen Huo resting her chin on her hand, staring intently at Chen Cheng as he shaved agarwood powder. She smiled. “Do you like him that much?” Wen Huo came back to her senses and didn’t deny it. “Mmm.”

Jin Ge knew Chen Cheng was very likable, but she was still a little surprised by Wen Huo’s frankness. “So when will you marry him? If you marry him, he’ll be all yours.” Wen Huo was reminded of Chen Cheng’s question, “Will you marry Teacher Chen?”

She said, “I’m Teacher Chen’s student. If I marry him, it will affect his reputation. I’m thinking of waiting a couple of years, until I can stand on my own. Then we’ll announce that we got together after our teacher-student relationship ended.”

“He’s already a few years older than you. Do you really want him to wait that long?” Oh, Wen Huo had almost forgotten that Chen Cheng was an “old man.” Jin Ge held her hand. “Huohuo, even though he will wait if you ask him to, don’t make him wait too long, okay?” Wen Huo lowered her head and didn’t say anything.

On the way home, Wen Huo was still thinking about Jin Ge’s words. In truth, she didn’t want to make Chen Cheng wait too long. But Chen Cheng had only brought up marriage once, as if in passing, and had never mentioned it again. Was she supposed to be the one to bring it up? Wouldn’t that make the old man too proud?

Chen Cheng saw that she was spacing out and held her hand. “Does your tooth still hurt?” Wen Huo put her chaotic thoughts away and wrapped both of her hands around his. “Mmm, it needs a kiss from you to feel better.”

Chen Cheng was driving, so he couldn’t. He said seriously, “Then it will have to hurt for a while.”

“It will have to hurt for a while?” Wen Huo grabbed his hand and bit it. Chen Cheng frowned. “Are you a dog?”

Wen Huo didn’t answer. She looked at his hand; it was so beautiful. Suddenly, the photos of him with full-sleeve tattoos came to mind. She unbuttoned his cuff and rolled up his sleeve. His arm was clean, without a single mark. She asked him, “Teacher Chen, did you really wash your hands of the past and leave that life behind?”

Chen Cheng heard the implied meaning in her words. “What did Tang Jun’en tell you this time?”

Wen Huo shook her head. “I saw the photos myself. I’m just curious how you maintained such a fashionable style for over a decade during the ‘emo’ era that everyone went through. The way you looked then is just now becoming popular.”

Chen Cheng didn’t admit it. “That wasn’t me.”

Wen Huo wasn’t blind. Back then, the “Korean Wave” had just started, and everyone from celebrities to the general public was getting that choppy, dyed hairstyle. Wen Huo looked at Chen Cheng’s photos; his hair was simple, classy, and just dyed. The looks of those idols now were almost a copy of his back then. Was it because he hadn’t been in China during his youth? Or was fashion just cyclical? Was his simple, clean look fashion itself?

She did as Tang Jun’en had said, bypassing the internet filters and searching for the name “Cheng” on foreign websites, but she found nothing. It wasn’t surprising, though. Chen Cheng had become so “clean” that he wouldn’t allow any traces of his past to be found online.

Chen Cheng said again, “He’s lying to you. Don’t believe him.” Wen Huo had been willing to drop the subject, but his stubborn denial sparked her fighting spirit. This time, she didn’t go to Tang Jun’en. She called Su He directly. If Chen Cheng was really that wild, then Su He, who grew up in Canada, would definitely know. Su He heard her asking about Chen Cheng’s time in Canada and thought she had found out about his and Su Di’s past. He was silent for a long time before saying, “I was afraid this day would come.”

Wen Huo didn’t understand. “What?”

“He didn’t mean to harm Su Di, but Su Di did die because of him.”