Yang Huaijin didn’t respond to Ryan, as if automatically filtering out all his ambiguous whispers, wearing a formulaic smile, he conducted business and led people to the conference hall.
Yang Huaijin was a very attractive man, and he had never been short of pursuers from childhood to adulthood. His skill in rejecting advances was also very proficient. In recent years, as his status and influence grew, fewer people dared to openly show him favor. This Western-style approach from Ryan really caught him off guard. Moreover… he didn’t want people to know that he was an Omega.
However, once they entered the Qingyan Gang’s conference hall and started discussing real business, Ryan quickly changed his demeanor. Handsome, cold, and disdainful of everything, he exuded the aura of the leader of the Anelli family.
Ryan’s Chinese was excellent, but during the negotiations, he only spoke English, with a professional translator by his side, showing no hint of emotion.
Ryan was Italian, but the Anelli family’s real ‘business’ extended worldwide. Where there is light, there is darkness, and the Anelli family had built its vast empire in the dark world. This time, Ryan came to negotiate arms deals with the Qingyan Gang. However, according to Yang Huaijin’s investigation, the arms trade only constituted a small part of the Anelli family’s dark empire. It was unclear what Ryan’s true purpose was in coming to the country this time.
Therefore, Ryan’s lofty attitude was not criticized by anyone present. After all, the fact that the head of the family personally came to negotiate this small arms deal had already given Qingyan Gang a great deal of face.
However, amidst the business-like proceedings, Yang Huaijin still noticed some differences. Each time Ryan’s attitude shifted towards him, there was a softening, and his words revealed his trust in Yang Huaijin, the ‘Master Jin’ of the Qingyan Gang, almost to the extent of saying, ‘I only do business with Master Jin.’ Others present only thought that Yang Huaijin had previously known Ryan, or perhaps because of Yang Huaijin’s proficiency in English, which earned the other’s trust. Only Yang Huaijin knew clearly what Ryan’s attitude was aimed at.
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.
When the person in power comes to negotiate business, everything is settled quickly. Moreover, as long as it was proposed by Yang Huaijin, Ryan would readily make the greatest concessions, and the outcome of the meeting left everyone in the Qingyan Gang satisfied. In the end, Yang Huaijin, on behalf of the Qingyan Gang, presented an expensive Song dynasty painting of flowers and birds as a gift. Ryan showed great interest and invited Yang Huaijin to dinner, completely ignoring Yang Huaijin’s remark, “This is a gift from the Qingyan Gang.”
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…
As dusk fell, the crimson sun descended below the horizon, isolating the hustle and bustle of the city outside the restaurant’s huge floor-to-ceiling windows, turning it into a continuous silent light.
Yang Huaijin and Ryan sat facing each other by the window, chatting and laughing. On the table were exquisite dishes. They didn’t talk about work, only chatted casually. The two strikingly handsome men didn’t look like business partners from afar; they looked more like a couple on a date.
Clearly, someone did take this as a date.
Ryan always maintained a poised demeanor, gentle and probing yet never crossing any boundaries.
“Noah, can I call you by your Chinese name?”
“Of course, but won’t you find it difficult to pronounce?” Yang Huaijin was leisurely cutting a piece of food, shrugging his shoulders, not thinking much of it.
“I won’t, your name sounds very pleasant,” Ryan stared at him with a smile. “A-jin.”
Yang Huaijin froze.
“What’s wrong? Is my pronunciation off?”
“No,” Yang Huaijin shook his head, continuing his previous actions. “It’s just been a long time since someone called me by that name. Just call me Noah!”
Yang Huaijin set down his knife and fork, leaning back in his chair. His calm gaze met Ryan’s eyes. “Ryan, let’s be direct. We’ve met before, haven’t we? And I’m not talking about the dance party a few days ago.”
“A-jin,” Ryan chuckled, “you’re very smart.”
“But there’s one thing you got wrong. It’s not that we’ve met, it’s that I’ve seen you. Ten years ago, at U University in the UK. And every time I saw you, without exception, I was deeply attracted to you.”
Yang Huaijin widened his eyes, he was surprised. It wasn’t ten years ago, it was thirteen years ago when he went to study abroad in the UK as an exchange student during his sophomore year. But he had no recollection of Ryan at all.
“At that time, I was also studying at U University, I was your senior. I heard your Chinese friends calling you A-jin, and the pronunciation was so beautiful that I started learning Chinese just to know these two characters.”
No one had mentioned Yang Huaijin’s time at university for ten years. It felt like a memory from a past life. After entering the underworld, he had basically cut off contact with his old friends, after all, it was awkward. Was he supposed to tell others, ‘My job is to collect protection fees in the underworld’?
Ryan leaned slightly forward, resting his elbows on the table, and said earnestly, “Noah, if you don’t like me calling you by your Chinese name, I’ll stick with Noah. I know you’re still single, and I’ve never felt drawn to the same person every time we meet. Our connection feels like it’s arranged by fate.”
“So, can I pursue you?”
Author's Note
Well..he sounds like gentleman but is he for real? Susp 🤔
I’m little bit sus about him
Thanks for the chapter
thanks for the chapter!
Yeah, who knows if he’s also the one who caused the blackout in the masquerade party 💀