It has to be said, Wei Qing has not led a meeting since his college’s student council. Even those few months when he’d been trying to be a real businessman, he’d been on a collectivist kick. (He blames watching too many documentaries on startups for wanting to be a ‘cool, new, innovative boss’ instead of just leading meetings).
He is considerably out of practice, speaking at a conference table instead of a bar filled with drinks, discussing work instead of who has had work done, and who might taste the sweetest. Wei Qing is no longer used to making eye contact in such brightly-lit spaces.
He regrets it, he really does!
But, part of growth is vulnerability, right?
If he ever wants to overturn Yue Fei’s bad impression of him, he’ll have to grow back up. And if he can’t even be an adult before these seven subordinates, how can he possibly get through any of the rest of it?
Of course, good intentions don’t necessarily create good actions.
Even if Wei Qing knows what a mature person would do, maturity isn’t one of those things that appears just because you want it to. The mature thing would be to have a frank discussion, about why he left, and what had happened in the interim, and how they could grow into a more effective department in the future.
But Wei Qing can’t apologize. Even if he really should.
Call it a character flaw and add it to the pile, alongside those meaningless hookups and dreadful crushes.
So he controls his breathing and forces out a false casualness, acting like this is the first day of work, instead of a return after an unplanned three-year vacation. Completely bypasses anything that might require an accounting of his own actions. You know. Like an adult.
Ahem.
“I’ve gone over the accounts to get a lay of the land; but there are some new faces here,” New faces because you disappeared despite pulling a paycheck for three years! “-so how about some introductions?”
Of course, no one calls him on it. He very naturally takes the lead in these delayed introductions and re-introductions of faces that have been purged by his alcohol-soaked brain. A couple of faces look familiar, and according to payroll, he should know at least a few of them…
“I am Wei Qing, this is my fourth year at Wei Securities, though I interned for all of college and the last two years of high school as well.” And at least in high school in college, I actually showed up and tried, so don’t write me off just yet. “Research has always been my passion, so I would like to see this department live up to its name.”
If any of the seven want to express incredulity at this belated introduction, Yue Fei at Wei Qing’s back changes their minds. They all clap politely. Even the anarchist is being cute and well-behaved.
(Yue Fei approves).
Sacrificial old goat Wang Peihong is the first to go– he’s also one of three employees that Wei Qing knows already, a holdover from pre-tantrum. He’s in his sixties, a dedicated cat dad, and enjoys morning tai chi on the weekends. He’s also the department lead and the project lead– they’ve never done anything exciting enough to need to differentiate, or hire on more workers. He likes novelty ties and short-sleeved button-down shirts, which is probably how he ended up in this hollowed-out R&D group instead of a more customer-facing role.
Another member of the old guard is Xiao Meiling, the world’s least busy receptionist, who has a side-line as a coffee runner and copy-machine fixer for other departments because of a deep-seated need to be a good girl and not take advantage. She is also apparently the one that has kept his poor neglected cactus alive, despite him leaving it three years ago and totally forgetting its existence. Based on the social media posts he checked as ‘research’, she dresses it up in little felt hats for birthdays and holiday celebrations.
Wei Qing decides he likes her.
The gloomy, freshly de-pierced sysadmin is a recent college graduate who probably dreams of marrying a 2D waifu as soon as the world is ready for their love. Zhou Zitan doesn’t talk much– the stutter throughout his halting self-introduction explains it. But even if he’s not very good at expressing himself or holding eye contact, Wei Qing doesn’t hold it against him. While there hasn’t been much for him to tweak on the R&D front, their servers are airtight and their internal security is lovingly specialized. It speaks well of the kid.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Things… take a turn for the worse from there.
Ktf afjw tjr akb gfrfjgmtfgr– Itjb Itjcugbcu lr atf yfra qea-abufatfg bo jcs bo atfw, j atlgas-rbwfatlcu klat atf gbif bo wjgxfa gfrfjgmt jcv qgbqbrjir obg vfnfibqwfca. Ciatbeut tf ibbxr qfgofmais mbwqfafca jcv lcagbvemfr tlwrfio kfii, Qfl Hlcu mjc’a tfiq yea kbcvfg kts tf’r ygbeuta rb ilaaif ab atf ajyif lc tlr jyrfcmf. Cirb, Qfl Hlcu lr rilutais mbcmfgcfv atja atf wjc klii ags ab rfii tlw j alwfrtjgf.
He makes a note not to share any elevators with him in the near future; Wei Qing’s always been a tragically easy mark. He has a whole shelf of cutco knives and cookies he doesn’t like and diet shakes he doesn’t need to prove it. Saying no really isn’t in his wheelhouse… So no elevator-pitch opportunities!
Anyway. He shouldn’t be too judgemental. After all, Yue Fei had been signing off on all this inaction in his stead, so maybe this Zhao person was just doing what was expected. Wei Qing has to reserve judgment, for now.
The other researcher is the anarchist from before. Li Daiyu, another thirty-something, but casual and eccentric, where Zhao Zhangrong is blandly cookie-cutter professional. Ms. Li can afford it– she’s the least public-facing of all of them, after fellow alt-cultured employee Zhou Zitan. He plays with the servers, she plays with all the little robotics and data packets that they never end up turning into anything meaningful.
She’s also the most openly evaluative of Wei Qing– probably, she resents having her inventions kneecapped by him. He can’t blame her, but he also doesn’t love the feel of it.
And then there’s the problem child.
Xiao Lirong, the world’s very worst research assistant.
Wei Qing’s bad opinion drops lower, as the young man fawningly introduces himself. Evidently, not for the first time. He’s overly familiar and oddly confident for someone that is very clearly incompetent, and based on the chill radiating from Yue Fei, Wei Qing just knows that somehow, this is his fault.
Which is why, instead of calling the kid out on his total lack of qualifications, Wei Qing decides to pass out binders and flee after another forty-five minutes of talking shop with the rest of them. Even great generals make tactical retreats, right? Right?
“I reserved a table at Wan Li, if you wish to dine out.” Yue Fei’s voice pulls him back.
“Wan Li? Right, great, I haven’t had it in so long!” Part of him wants to go home to eat, to let Yue Fei cook for him again, but he thinks this might be a test. He used to be very good at those! He can do a full day of work! A long lunch is better than leaving early!
As always, Yue Fei acts as his driver as well as his assistant.
Unlike normal, when they reach the restaurant, he pulls Yue Fei along and gets another place setting.
“You’re not going to make me eat alone, are you? That’s too depressing-!” He barely bites off the flirtatious call of Yue-ge, which comes unexpectedly and automatically. Habit is really a dreadful thing, and even after years of soulless ambiguity, his instinct is to act coquettish in front of the person he likes.
Even if that person has changed from scum to moonlight.
Probably, he needs treatment. He wonders what kind of insurance he has? Good, probably, as an executive, right?
—
Yue Fei orders the cheapest thing on the significantly over-priced menu.
Eats silently, and with a level of care that rubs off on Wei Qing. Makes the indolent young master straighten his spine and cut his meat into daintier slices. He’s just so elegant, and Wie Qing doesn’t want to sully that. Though it’s harder than it should be, to remember to eat when all he wants to do is bask instead. Even with all his faulty brain waves, it’s… Nice.
Yue Fei is also having a surprisingly good time. It should be awkward, yet somehow isn’t. Perhaps this is the freedom that comes from being willing to fall out with someone. Of no longer trying to protect their feelings, because you’ve learned the hard way that you can’t protect them at all, so there’s no need for trying.
Or perhaps Wei Qing is more to his liking than he thinks, when not clouding his mind with drink and drugs and casual fucks. After all, his care had not come from nowhere. His dedication in his last life had been borne of more than obligation, or a paycheck.
For the first five years of their relationship, he’d been sure he was following a brilliant, shining star. Had deeply cared about, and felt protective towards that dazzling junior. Had been excited and quietly proud, to see what he’d bring into the world. Had wanted to protect and nurture his brilliance above all else. That person…
Maybe that still was the real him, once all the grime was washed off.
Yue Fei is willing to find out. For another ten months.
Maybe longer.
—
Only after the meal is finished and coffee is served, does Yue Fei speak. Very proper. More proper than Wei Qing, who was raised with such decorum, and thus finds it oddly easy to ignore.
“Opinions on your team?”
“Better than I expected. Bored out of their minds.” He answers carefully; he’s afraid of getting it wrong. “It’ll be easier to tell, once there’s something to actually get done.” I was worried they were incompetent, but now I think they’re just tired of trying with no results. That, at least, we can work with. And I promise I will, so don’t leave again, okay? I can be just as good a businessman as my brother. You don’t have to go to him, to serve someone you respect. I promise I promise I promise.
Yue Fei nods, and Wei Qing is emboldened. He wants to make this more of a conversion and less of a report, to lay the foundation of equality. Close that distance, just a little bit, just like they had with lunch. He blows on his cup of coffee and takes a small sip.
“But what the fuck is up with that assistant? Xiao Lirong? How the hell did he get hired, and what’s his damage?” The dude had damn-near baby-talked! It was– there weren’t words for it! Wei Qing feels like he needs a shower, just remembering it.
Yue Fei sets down the creamer and looks across to him, eyes frosting over. It makes him look cruel, and handsome, and Wei Qing knows that there is something very wrong with him, that he wants to impress him more, when he looks so aloof and arrogant.
Is it still appropriate to call them daddy issues, when they actually stem from your elder brother?
“True. You usually call him Rong’er. At least in what I hear through the doors.” Xue Fei’s tone is bitingly sardonic. “As to who hired him… Technically, I did. On your order. After Rong’er impressed you so very much when you met him on a yacht. And in the week after.”
…Of course it’s a fuck-buddy. When is it not?!
Wei Qing swears that he remembers fucking none of this. It is very on-brand though. Even he can admit that.
In his last life, he was absolutely the kind of person that would bring home a yacht boy and give him a job that he was in no way qualified for just because he made him feel important and loved, even if it was only for a few days. He was the kind of person that would messily roll around with someone for a few weeks, then break it off (before they could hurt him) but let them keep the job he’d created. After all, he was a nice fuckboy. Always very generous with his money and body and time, just… not his heart. That made him nice?
Or something?
Wei Qing really can’t speak to his past self’s logic or level of self-delusion. After all, he’s the kind of idiot that thought Yang Wushe might love him, and there’s no coming back from that. Probably, he was as wrong about his conduct as he was about his heart.
He just knows that he spent longer than he should, dropping rocks on his own feet and then complaining that it hurt. (While picking up another rock). And now, one of those probably perfectly-nice but not-at-all-qualified rocks was his division’s research assistant.
Fan-fucking-tastic, is what it is.
They finish the rest of their coffee in silence, and it’s only with the desperate boldness that comes with the check, that Wei Qing finally gets up his courage again:
“Well… I won’t do it again! At all! Ever!”
Yue Fei snorts and pays the bill using his card.
—
They do not go back to the office; Wei Qing’s intentions for a full workday crumble under the awkwardness of his newly remembered connection with Xiao Lirong. He’s not that brave, okay?
Yue Fei doesn’t seem to judge him for it, much.
He just follows him up the private elevator, hangs up his coat, organizes his life in a million ways that the original Wei Qing never noticed until he was gone. He collects his barely-worn work clothes for cleaning and places his watch back in its auto-winder and, in the end, even tosses a video game over to him. Something new and shiny and immersive and, most importantly, from him.
Wei Qing gratefully plays.
(and plays)
(and plays)
(and-)
Yue Fei plucks the controller from his hands.
“Dinner, bathing, bed.” There is a current of soft amusement, hidden under that task-master recitation.
Wei Qing stretches out, finally taking in the darkness that’s fallen outside and the stiffness in his hips and shoulders. Yep. Really immersive game alright!
He smiles disarmingly up at Yue Fei, head thrown back.
Yue Fei’s response is to shut off the lights while he’s still lounging, but Wei Qing will take it.
After all, being willing to act so imperiously around him– eh, couldn’t this be seen as the boundaries between them softening? Wei Qing thinks yes!
(Yue Fei would like to submit that his master’s brain is most definitely broken).
AN:
Wei Qing: Hi, if random bedmates could stop showing up every few chapters, I would take it as a personal favor.
Yue Fei with a spray bottle: Admit your wrongs. And rest your eyes.
Wei Qing: …Yes sir.
Wei qing just doing his best to show to yue fei he’s good enough and hope he’ll stay with him insted of going to his brother… 🥲🥲
The more I read the more the title make sense hahahahaha. Thanks for the chapter !
Cringe! It’s a little funny that Yue Fei is as offended by the Yacht boy as Wei Qing is embarrassed about it. He’s right about the boundary softening, that last scene nailed it.
Yep, the lines are slowly blurring and the time left before YF leaves the big baby WQ is getting longer – from the 3 mo left in the contract to 11 mo 😍 yey~
Spend a little more time together and you’ll be beside him for eternity~
I’m not one for slowburn but this is extremely entertaining ~
Wow I can’t belive I have passed on this story all this time, the level of psychological analysis of the minds of the characters is just amazing. I LOVE IT! I will probably read it in one go jajajajajajja thanks!
The more I read the more I relate to WQ. Attempting to find the attention that he was craving from the wrong people, sleeping around wanting to be loved but not wanting to hurt so cutting off things before they became serious; I was the same so this hits home for me. It’s good he’s figuring it out though and I can’t wait to see him grow up more through the story
Qingqing has got me feeling so many feelings aaaaaaa you’ve got this!