Two percent of the shares was no small sum. Given the company’s growth in recent years, the annual dividends alone would be more than enough for Zhou Zhuoyuan to live lavishly.
After signing the transfer agreement, he diligently worked through a full set of practice questions before calling his boyfriend out to celebrate.
Zhou Zhuoyuan, ever the unromantic sort, chose a Western restaurant near XX Mountain for their date. He planned for them to go hiking afterward to get some exercise.
He told He Qinglan, “Staying cooped up in the room all the time seems to make me more prone to getting sick.”
He Qinglan cut off a piece of steak and brought it to his mouth, immediately latching onto the key detail. “Sick again?”
Zhou Zhuoyuan had been glancing around surreptitiously with a touch of embarrassment, checking if anyone was watching them. At the question, he suddenly felt a pang of guilt. The last time, he had promised to seek He Qinglan’s help with any difficulties, but he hadn’t followed through.
He opened his mouth, unsure if it was he or He Qinglan who was trembling. A bit of sauce smeared outside his lips.
Zhou Zhuoyuan wiped it clean, then cut off a piece of steak and fed it to He Qinglan in return. “Nothing like that. You’re just hungry. Eat more.”
He Qinglan was indeed starving. He swallowed the rather large chunk whole, then covered his mouth with his hand.
The ever-refined He Qinglan rarely looked so disheveled. Zhou Zhuoyuan watched him and grinned. “Little Lan, you’re so cute.”
This only made He Qinglan more flustered. He nearly spat out his food, his ears turning bright red.
Zhou Zhuoyuan could be so unguarded with his words sometimes. If He Qinglan weren’t such a proper gentleman, he might have been tempted to drag him to the hotel next door and do things that weren’t exactly allowed.
Once he finished laughing, Zhou Zhuoyuan lowered his head and focused on cutting his steak again. His long, upturned lashes veiled his eyes, making him look no different from when he was studying.
He Qinglan watched him quietly for a moment before pulling a small box from his pocket and gently sliding it over to Zhou Zhuoyuan’s hand.
Zhou Zhuoyuan looked puzzled. “Didn’t you already give me a gift last time?”
Then he grew a bit tense. “Is today some kind of anniversary? Or one of those colorful Valentine’s Days?”
He Qinglan opened the box. Nestled in the center was a Worry-Free Jade about half the size of a palm.
He smiled and said, “Neither. I just wanted to give it to you sooner. My parents bought it for me when I was one month old. Before they passed away, they told me I could give it to my partner someday.”
Even someone like Zhou Zhuoyuan, who didn’t know much about jade, could tell this piece was extremely valuable. And from He Qinglan’s description, it clearly held extraordinary significance.
Now, he was giving it to him.
But aside from the little trinket he’d brought back from North City last time, Zhou Zhuoyuan hadn’t given He Qinglan anything substantial in return.
Just as he was fretting over how unbalanced their gifts were, He Qinglan stood up. He took out the Worry-Free Jade and bent down to tie it around Zhou Zhuoyuan’s neck.
Zhou Zhuoyuan: “!”
He grabbed He Qinglan’s retreating hand. “Aren’t you afraid it’ll break?”
He Qinglan replied, “As long as you don’t bump it, it won’t.”
Following the line of his own raised hand, Zhou Zhuoyuan noticed the Buddhist Prayer Beads on He Qinglan’s wrist—the ones worth two percent of XX Company.
His eyes lit up in an instant. “I have something for you too! The Longevity Buddha Beads that Master Wen Zhi gave me!”
~~~
Ever careful not to bump the Worry-Free Jade, Zhou Zhuoyuan finally felt his strength giving out halfway up the mountain. “Little Lan, let’s rest for a bit…”
He Qinglan, following behind him, found a rock, wiped it clean, and the two sat down back-to-back.
Two girls climbed past them on the steps. The shorter one looped her arm around the other’s, saying intimately, “Baby, you’re so cute!”
The other girl naturally returned the compliment. “Baby, you’re cute too!”
He Qinglan glanced down at the Buddhist Prayer Beads on his wrist. It turned out it wasn’t Zhou Zhuoyuan who spoke without restraint—it was that he himself wasn’t a proper gentleman.
