Chapter 35 – Cigarette

“How come you have time to come here today?”

Qiu Qian rarely stayed at the shipping company’s headquarters. But today there was an unexpected guest.

Wang Yun looked slightly surprised. He walked into Qiu Qian’s luxurious looking office.

It was a big building next to the harbour. The floor length windows showed panoramic ocean views and also made the very spacious office not look empty and instead added an extra feeling of luxury. Wang Yun couldn’t help but sigh. “Sometimes it seems that you haven’t changed at all these years but when I walk into a place like this, I can really feel that you’re now a big boss.”

Qiu Qian laughed. He waved Wang Yun over the guest couch. “Sit.”

At this time three polite knocks sounded on the office door. A very neat looking secretary came in holding a tray with a pot of aromatic tea. She placed it down then left quickly. Such a well-trained and orderly employee showed the high standards of the company.

Of course Qiu Qian was not included within this. Although his flower print shirt had already been changed by Bai Lang to a well-fitted shirt custom made by “The Regal Suit”, however this didn’t prevent Qiu Qian from unbuttoning the top buttons as well as rolling up his sleeves. His arrogant and untamed demeanour had not changed from before.

Qiu Qian lifted up the pot and poured tea for Wang Yun. “Right now when doing business it’s not just about the contents. Some western people really like looking at the surface appearance. So I use this place to intimidate them a bit first so that everything after becomes much more smooth.”

Wang Yun thanked him. “Looks like everyone’s work has changed a lot. So much time has passed, sometimes it feels like we’ve become strangers. Next time I’ll go to over to Ah Cheng’s and see what his office looks like now.”

“Ah Cheng has changed even more,” Qiu Qian laghed. “The entire building is like a fortress, even the windows have iron bars.”

“That shows how well he’s doing,” Wang Yun shook his head. “I’m so busy that I haven’t had time go around and didn’t even know about it.”

Qiu Qian smiled again. He pushed a few things aside and sat down on the couch. “So what’s the reason for you coming all this way today?”

“Asking it like that it seems like I’m not welcome?” Wang Yun teased him.

“We’re not like that, come on. What do you need?”

“Then I also won’t beat around the bush. It’s Ah Quan who asked me come here to apologize on his behalf. For Bai Lang.”

“On his behalf?” Qiu Qian smiled faintly.

“He thought right now you probably aren’t very happy with him,” Wang Yun drank a sip of tea. “He knows that the things he said at the party weren’t good to hear.”

Qiu Qian flicked away some non-existent dust on his pants. “If he knows that then why did he say it?”

“Because he admitted that he’s jealous.”

After Wang Yun spoke, Qiu Qian immediately glanced over.

Wang Yun met his gaze and sighed. “Of course, it’s jealousy over Bai Lang’s good fortune to meet someone like you. Because right now Boss Hong’s tactics are really making him very frustrated.”

After this sentence, Qiu Qian’s expression became more normal. “This is something he should already be clear about. Back then the choice between me and Boss Hong was already given to him. He was the one who chose and nobody forced him.”

Wang Yun paused a second then asked, “Then if something like that happened to Bai Lang, what would you do?”

Qiu Qian’s gaze once again swept over Wang Yun. The gaze was so piercing that Wang Yun was filled with embarrassment.

Qiu Qian suddenly smiled coldly. “Bai Lang won’t get a choice like that. I won’t let anyone have the chance to give him such a choice.”

Wang Yun twitched slightly. He cleared his throat then said, “Then will you help Ah Quan convey his apologies to Bai Lang?”

“Sure ah,” Qiu Qian said. At this time he took out a cigarette box from his pocket. He asked Wang Yun, “Do you mind?”

Wang Yun shook his head. He said, “Last time at the gathering I didn’t see you smoke. I thought you quit. I have to say from a professional perspective that it’s not good for you.”

“Xiao Hai was there. I only smoke in the office.” Qiu Qian dangled the cigarette in his mouth and lit it with a practiced motion. He took a deep puff.

“It’s true that second hand smoke is bad for kids.” Wang Yun smiled and agreed. “But there’s others too. Such as my patients, it’s not good for them to smell second hand smoke. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I’ve changed hospitals.”

At this time Wang Yun took out his business card and handed it to Qiu Qian. His pair of eyes were fixed on Qiu Qian, carefully observing his reaction.

Qiu Qian took it and only glanced at it once. “University Hospital? Not bad ah. It’s famous throughout the country. This can be a considered a promotion ba.”

Wang Yun met Qiu Qian’s eyes before slowly looking away. He smiled.

“You can consider it like that. There’s many interesting cases there.”

***

The beer commercial made Bai Lang consider a lot of things, for example that only people of a certain level could do certain things.

After his rebirth Bai Lang had decided to get together with Qiu Qian for the purpose of gratitude. In the same manner he had put a lot of thought into his road as an actor. He had decided to pursue his own feelings and interests. He wanted to be able to pick his own scripts and play the parts that he wanted. As for fame or influence, to the reborn Bai Lang they weren’t as important as being happy and comfortable. He felt in this way if he didn’t have too many ambitions then he also wouldn’t become a burden to Qiu Qian.

But now that he wanted to stand side by side with Qiu Qian, then based on Bai Lang’s personality, his own happiness couldn’t help but be tangled up with his concern for Qiu Qian. Just like in his previous life when Bai Lang had been good to Kang Jian, in this life Bai Lang couldn’t help but want to take care of Qiu Qian. Bai Lang couldn’t stand becoming the source of trouble for Qiu Qian, even if the root of those troubles started because of Qiu Qian himself. In this situation he definitely didn’t want to sit by helplessly and wait for someone else to rescue him.

So Bai Lang decided to take the risk and accept “Chaos Street”. This was the crime thriller that Fang Hua had recommended.

He needed to steadily accumulate connections and build his reputation. Other than money, this was the best way to strengthen his position in the world.

As for money, at the time of “Gold” finally finishing its cinema run, it was also the time for the second book in that series to be placed on the market. It followed the same trajectory of the first book which had already laid down the foundations, and within two weeks broke the record set by the first book, selling 4 million copies. This allowed Bai Lang to obtain his first windfall and he began to lay down the foundations of his business portfolio.

Bai Lang’s sights were set on the online shopping platforms that ten years later would become popular and mainstream.

Thinking about the political and business influence of this platform years later, Bai Lang decided to choose it and forgo the real estate investment that would only bring his money and not much else. He decided to put all his money into investing in online shopping platforms. Right now this type of online company was only in their infancy and currently happened to be in the stage of hard fundraising for investors.

Of course this kind of investment was not without risk. Even if in his previous life online shopping platforms became very popular, but once Bai Lang’s investment set off a chain of butterfly effect, who knows if things would be different? Perhaps it would be as the old saying went, that success was born out of desperation and necessity. Now that the money was handed over easily, would it in fact ruin their prospects?

Thus before making the final decision, Bai Lang sat Qiu Qian down one night to talk over things thoroughly. After all Qiu Qian was one of the major shareholders of his publishing company. This money had he earned from the sales of the books also belonged partly to him.

However even before Bai Lang had a chance to finish going through everything he prepared, Qiu Qian poured cold water on his head and said it was up to him to make the decision. If he didn’t have enough money then he could take it out of the card, however if he wanted to sell the apartment he would have to wait until Qiu Qian had found a more suitable one.

Bai Lang paused. He asked suspiciously, what apartment?

Qiu Qian stuck his feet into his slippers and rifled through the draws and took out a stack of paper. He admitted that, I used your documents to transfer this house to you.

These are the freshly prepared forged and stolen documents. {T/N: You can’t transfer a house to someone randomly without their permission. QQ forged and/or took Bai Lang’s documents to do it without him knowing.} Bai Lang stared.

This crook Qiu Qian grabbed him and began kissing him all over. He said should I get some handcuffs? I can go buy some tomorrow and we can play at home.

Thus the righteous hero Bai Lang was pressed down by the villain onto the bed.

The day after next a pair of handcuffs really materialized beside the bed. Bai Lang would rather die than admit he was actually quite curious…

***

The crime thriller “Chaos Street” was primarily about a young recruit freshly graduated from the police academy. He had a strong sense of justice and saw things in a black and white manner. He was full of passion for this career as a police officer. However afterwards when faced with the harsh reality of fulfilling his mission, he was forced to confront the greyness and ambiguities of human nature and relationships.

As the long-term undercover “Luo Zai”, Bai Lang’s role was the one which was the catalyst causing this young rookie’s conflict and journey of growth. When a murder case was traced back to Luo Zai, then just like in his final exam at the police academy, this young rookie’s sense of gratitude and responsibility, and the conflict between the justice and friendship, was harshly tested as he struggled to make a decision that he wouldn’t regret afterwards.

The drama had a lot of conflict and struggle but at the same time it was full of human warmth and positive energy. After Bai Lang roughly read the script he even had a few regrets that he had never thought about pursuing police work as a career.

Other than a passionate and fiery script, “Chaos Street” followed the format of some Western shows and arranged for some A-listers to come and make a short appearance as a guest actor in some episodes. There were short episodic stories but also an overarching long plotline that eventually built into a climactic finale. This would make the the drama more interesting and exciting.

And the guest stars even included among them the film emperor Su Quan whom in Bai Lang’s previous life, and never appeared in this TV show.

So as this just a coincidence or was it intentional? Was it Hong Yu’s doing or was it Su Quan’s own decision?

When Bai Lang received the list of cast members, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease.

***

But at the same time as “Chaos” began its scheduled activities, the full of misfortune “Emperor Feng” finally completed its filming.

Even though the filming process was filled with wind and rain, once it reached theatres it still caused a furore of excitement and popularity.

After all just based on the fame of the actors alone it was enough to suppress all other movies coming out at the same time.

However it was unfortunate that due to the intervention of various governmental bodies, the film was heavily edited and so the plot became somewhat inconsistent. This meant that Su Quan’s performance also suffered under this treatment and many critics said that his status as the film emperor might be affected.

It was really misfortunate. Who in the artistic and cultural community didn’t hate being ruthlessly edited by an outside source?

But no matter what Emperor Feng’s premiere was still very grand.

That night superstars and important people were everywhere, and it can be considered once-a-year type event for the movie industry.

Qiu Qian also received an invitation to go to the premiere of Emperor Feng. Bai Lang did too. In order to prevent the paparazzi once again making news of the discord between Bai Lang and Su Quan because of this nickname “Little Su Quan”, Fang Hua specifically reminded Bai Lang that he definitely had to go and show his support.

So since Bai Lang had to go, Qiu Qian naturally wanted to follow however this time Qiu XiaoHai rejected being left at home and threw a big tantrum.

Normally Bai Lang didn’t mind the three people going out together but it wasn’t good for Qiu XiaoHai to show his face under such exposed circumstances. After all right now there were a lot of laws protecting privacy and rights of children. So Qiu Qian was persuaded by Bai Lang to stay at home to accompany Qiu XiaoHai to watch it on TV. However Qiu XiaoHai wasn’t completely satisfied. He would much have rather gone out with Ah Bai to watch the movie.

Thus on the night of the premiere they saw Bai Lang appear on the screen. He was bathed in a glow of lights and smiled gently as he waved to the people around him, before walking inside slowly.

Outside the screen, Qiu Qian held Qiu XiaoHai to watch and could somewhat understand why his son had made a fuss today. The distance between what was happening in the screen and themselves seemed very long and lonely.

“Daddy, Ah Bai appeared!” Qiu XiaoHai declared loudly, his eyes lighting up.

“Yes, I see it.” Qiu Qian paused. “What are you doing?”

Qiu XiaoHai was madly waving at the TV. “I’m saying hello to Ah Bai.

Qiu Qian patted his son’s head. “He can’t see it.”

“He can oh.” Qiu XiaoHai insisted. “Ah Bai said that when he blinks on the screen that means he’s waving back.”

Qiu Qian raised his eyebrow. On the screen, Bai Lang found an angle and looked into the camera for a slightly extended moment. He smiled and blinked his eyes. It didn’t look purposeful but on his knees Qiu XiaoHai immediately became excited and waved even more vigorously.

Suddenly the distance between them really seemed to shorten.

Whether or it was an actual response, of course a child could not really tell.

Qiu Qian smiled and rubbed his son then gazed at the television screen again.

However his smile suddenly froze.

Because the last shot of Bai Lang as he walked into the venue showed Su Quan as well as another tall and large man walking towards him as if to greet him.

And Qiu Qian also recognized this man.

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