KN | Chapter 6

Do Your Best, Keep an Even Mind

He arrived early. The client had not yet come. The appointed dealer took the key and led him into the card room.

This client was coming from Shenshi. Chen Wan had learned that the man enjoyed a few hands at the table, so he played host at the Puli Hotel and booked a private room.

The dealer was a tall young Ukrainian woman, fluent in English and Mandarin, and her Cantonese was also precise and natural. She led Chen Wan upstairs by a side elevator.

Chen Wan asked whether there was some event at the hotel tonight. Previously he had always taken the main elevator. The sightseeing lift offered a full view of the garden’s “water city” inside the hotel, and the scenery was excellent.

The dealer smiled and said that there was indeed an important guest in attendance tonight, but said nothing more.

Chen Wan did not press further. Instead, he gave her a few instructions about the preferences and habits of the client who would be arriving shortly.

The dealer was highly professional. That night, Chen Wan’s client enjoyed himself thoroughly. During a break, Chen Wan had a bottle from his own reserve opened and drank quite a bit with him. Fortunately, the project progressed more smoothly than expected.

After several rounds, the client returned to the table to gamble heavily. Chen Wan’s stomach began to feel unwell, so he went to the restroom to wash his face.

“Didn’t get him upstairs… left…”

Chen Wan’s hands paused under the running tap.

“…didn’t show… not sure… couldn’t see clearly…”

So the party that had booked out the third floor tonight was Minglong.

“Strange… Zhao… in the car… clearly…”

“Wine cellar… remote surveillance… next time…”

“I don’t believe it…”

Chen Wan lifted his head. In the mirror, his face was expressionless.

He dried his hands, walked to the stall where the voices were coming from, wedged the handle shut from the outside with a mop, then lifted a bucket of dirty mop water and poured it down over the top.

“Fuck!!!”

“Who did that!? Which bastard!?”

“Who’s outside! Open the door! Open the door!”

“Don’t let me catch you! I’ll kill you!”

Chen Wan set the bucket down, leaned against the door, and lit a cigarette. Expressionless, he listened as the man cursed and raged. When the shouting began to flag, he flicked the cigarette butt into the stall. A sharp yelp followed, as if the man had been burned.

Amid the deafening pounding on the door, Chen Wan returned to the sink. He pressed out a bit of hand wash, rubbed it carefully over each finger, one by one, rinsed, then dried his hands. Unhurried, he walked out of the restroom, leaving the torrent of curses behind him.

Before entering the private room, he adjusted the corners of his mouth.

When he faced the client, he wore a gentle smile, every inch the refined gentleman, without a trace of the fatigue and shadow seen in the restroom mirror.

The No. 8 typhoon signal was lowered on schedule, and Haishi finally saw clear weather again.

The young masters, long stifled indoors, began to stir restlessly. Chen Wan was always on call, accompanying them through every indulgence, every night of excess.

When he told Zhuo Zhixuan he did not feel like doing anything, that was true. That he wanted to catch a glimpse of that person was also true.

If a feeling can be perfectly contained, never spilling over even a little, that only proves it does not weigh very much.

The inner demon that had coiled within him for years bared its teeth and claws. Only with effort did reason keep it restrained, just enough to maintain the thin skin of a normal person.

So long as he did not disturb the other party, catching a distant glimpse was both a struggle with himself and the only outlet he allowed himself.

But things did not unfold as he had imagined.

Even if Chen Wan stayed on call at Tan Youming’s side twenty-four hours a day, it did not mean he would actually see Zhao Shengge.

If he saw him once out of ten occasions, that already counted as good fortune.

He had once heard that seeing Zhao Shengge was harder than reaching the heavens. Even members of the Zhao family had to pass through layers of secretaries and assistants. He had thought it an exaggeration. Now it seemed otherwise.

Still, Chen Wan was best at endurance and waiting. If there was a chance, he would seize it. If there was none, he would simply live his own life properly.

But if even the slightest possibility existed, he would seize it at any cost.

Chen Wan was not one of the young masters. He did not have much freedom.

When he heard Zhao Shengge might attend a rowing race, he stayed up all night finishing his work to free an entire day. Zhao Shengge did not appear in the end.

Zhuo Zhixuan said Shen Zongnian had invited Zhao Shengge to the races. Chen Wan was on a business trip in Ao Yu. After a brief silence, he went to the airport the next day, took the earliest flight, and after landing drove four hours alone to the estate. By the time he arrived, he heard Zhao Shengge had already left halfway through.

The Royal Yacht Team exhibition was held in Xiangjie. Chen Wan was finalizing a critical contract. The moment he left the negotiation table, without even changing out of his suit, he went straight there.

Unfortunately, he only brushed past Zhao Shengge’s departing car.

The black Maybach kicked up dust, covering him as he stepped out, leaving him disheveled.

Exhausted from severe lack of rest, his nerves stretched to their limit, Chen Wan leaned against the railing, watching the racehorse flash over the hurdles like lightning.

He thought perhaps his luck was simply poor.

But he did not feel much disappointment.

Do what you can. Keep an even mind.

After all, he lived in a world without Zhao Shengge.

If Zhao Shengge appeared, that was a bonus.

If not, that was the norm. He had to understand that.

Zhao Shengge did not actually enjoy going out or socializing. His appearances at certain events were only because he needed to reacclimate to the domestic social landscape.

He had few interests. While other young masters spent their time golfing, swimming, or working out, he preferred catching up on sleep. His nerves had been tightly strung since his student years.

He was also genuinely busy. So busy that he had no time to remember the unimportant people and trivial matters that appeared at the edges of his life.

At the airport, in the middle of a tight turnaround, a sudden change in schedule meant he had no time to arrange a private flight route or access the VIP lounge. Zhao Shengge had no choice but to rest in the public waiting area.

He had just dozed off when he was woken by noise from the luxury shop next door.

A curly-haired little boy was crying, begging his mother to buy him an expensive toy pistol model.

Zhao Shengge listened to the argument between the white mother and child for over ten minutes. The crying became unbearable.

He lifted his eyelids. His gaze was still not fully awake. After watching for a moment, he stood up, walked over, and directly bought the last pistol model in the store.

Carrying the gift box, Zhao Shengge walked away, leaving the boy stunned.

He even gave him a polite, apologetic smile.

At last, the world was quiet.

In June, Haishi held a business association conference.

In recent years, trade between the bay area regions had grown increasingly close. Several newly promoted mainland officials came to participate, making the event more formal and high-level than in previous years.

Chen Wan heard from Zhuo Zhixuan, who had heard it from Tan Youming, that Zhao Shengge would most likely attend.

He had only just returned to the country. He would give face to such an occasion.

Moreover, the conference would broadly address Haishi’s economic outlook and development plans for the coming years, as well as trade policies with the mainland.

None of it could avoid Minglong.

Or rather, none of it could avoid Zhao Shengge.