Chapter 113: Truth Spoken Without a Game (1)

After quickly wrapping up the meeting with Country M, Ling Ziheng rushed back to the studio with Pei Xi.

The first floor was lit but empty, while laughter and cheer echoed from the rooftop.

Following the sounds, the two climbed up and found a lively scene: Nan Yu, Mei Ning, and Liang Qisheng, bottles in hand, disheveled and wildly dancing in a chaotic, drunken frenzy.

Mei Ning's face was flushed red as she dragged Liang Qisheng along, refusing to let him rest.

At the dining table, Xiao Yu, Zhao Lei, Lin Zhiwei, and Yin Mier chatted casually, eating and laughing in a carefree manner.

With this girl around, even his staff seemed much happier. Such an atmosphere was unlike anything Ling Ziheng had ever witnessed.

Ling Ziheng took off his coat and handed it to Pei Xi, rolled up his sleeves, and strode over. He gently pulled the girl resting her head on the table upright and grabbed a bottle of wine. “Thanks for all your hard work. Tonight, Weiwei and I are treating everyone.”

“You’re here!” Lin Zhiwei was startled when suddenly embraced, then jumped up excitedly upon seeing the man beside her.

“Ling Ge arrived too late, so he owes us three drinks,” Mei Ning slurred, still intent on teasing their boss.

“Alright,” Ling Ziheng smiled, pouring three glasses without missing a beat.

“Hey, hey, hey, the boss worked hard—I'll drink his penalty for him!” Lin Zhiwei quickly grabbed the glass, glaring fiercely at Mei Ning, as if to say, “Don’t bully my man.”

Startled by Lin Zhiwei's sharp look, Mei Ning immediately quieted down.

Ling Ziheng looked on helplessly at the little girl who always took the lead. How weak must he be for his own wife to distrust him so?

“I’m just worried about your health, not looking down on you,” Lin Zhiwei teased, winking playfully at the man whose brow furrowed in mild displeasure.

“Alright, I get it,” he replied.

“Come on, come on, let’s dance together! No one sleeps tonight! Let’s go, let’s go!” Mei Ning called out to the others from a distance, eager to pull them into his wild dance troupe.

“Hey, hurry up! Stop dawdling!” Nan Yu also shouted out.

Xiao Yu, Zhao Lei, and Yin Mier, seeing the fun, didn’t want to dampen the mood and got up to join, though they still wanted to give the boss and boss lady some private time.

“Have you eaten?” Lin Zhiwei, slightly tipsy, asked the man beside her. In the dark night, his cold, handsome features looked utterly captivating.

“According to the lady’s orders, Pei Xi arranged it,” Ling Ziheng said, brushing her nose gently.

“Good, he knows his place,” Lin Zhiwei replied proudly.

“You are the boss lady, so naturally he listens to you more,” Ling Ziheng raised an eyebrow, holding the slightly tipsy girl close.

“Consider you smart,” Lin Zhiwei maintained her pride.

Ling Ziheng rested his chin against her hair. With the night breeze gently caressing them, the scene was exceptionally pleasant. The distant revelers had long forgotten about them, lost in their own playful chaos.

Ling Ziheng’s gaze followed them but lingered particularly on Liang Qisheng, who was standing beside, grinning foolishly. Softly, he said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen A Sheng this happy.”

Lin Zhiwei steadied herself, hesitantly asking, “Really? Liang Shao usually seems carefree. Does he have a bit of hidden loneliness inside?”

“When I first met him, the eldest brother of the Liang family had driven him out with nothing. He was squatting on the roadside, penniless,” Ling Ziheng said with a bitter smile, recalling the timid, destitute boy back then—yet step by step, he had risen to a position no one dared challenge today.

Lin Zhiwei couldn’t help but feel moved. Liang Shao’s heart was pure and kind. He was ill-suited for such chaotic and ruthless political games but had no choice but to rally his spirit and maneuver through them. It was truly difficult.

“What about you?” Lin Zhiwei looked deeply into Ling Ziheng’s eyes, gentle on the surface but burning in her heart with pain. She feared that Ling Ziheng’s trials were far more brutal than Liang Shao’s, that only through such hardship in youth could he have the strength to help his friend turn the tide.

“Don’t worry about me,” Ling Ziheng said, gently stroking her rosy cheeks. With her by his side, there was nothing he couldn’t overcome. If fate required him to endure endless suffering just to meet her, then twice or thrice over, it would all be worth it.

Yin Mier and Xiao Yu curled up on a loveseat nearby, quietly watching the loving couple from afar. “Mier, don’t you think they really, really, really suit each other? I’ve never seen the boss so gentle before,” Xiao Yu said, pressing a cold bottle to her flushed face, sincerely happy for their boss and Lin Ge.

“Yeah, maybe this is what they call a perfect match,” Yin Mier agreed wholeheartedly. As an actress and singer, she had performed in several romance dramas and written a few love songs, but none could compare to the depth of feeling between the two before her.

“Mier, honestly, before you knew Lin Ge was a girl, did you like her?” Xiao Yu suddenly asked.

Yin Mier lowered her head, momentarily lost in thought. “You… you noticed?”

“Haha, my eyes see through everything,” Xiao Yu tapped her glass reassuringly. “It’s nothing. I’m falling for Lin Ge too. There’s no reason not to love her. Look at our boss—he’s a perfect example of someone caught in the snare of love.”

“Hmm,” Yin Mier blushed deeply. Although she sometimes wished Lin Zhi were a man, having such a loyal girlfriend, such a powerful ally, was a gift from heaven in itself.

Liang Qisheng nudged a nearly unconscious Nan Yu and whispered, “Hey, want to hear some truths?”

Nan Yu’s drooping eyelids snapped open. “What are you going to say? You’re not confessing, right? I already have my little Xi Xi.”

“Get out of here,” Liang Qisheng blushed. How did this guy never take anything seriously? He was left speechless, wondering how he could ever share his true feelings with someone like this.

“Burp, stop the dramatics and just say it. I’m listening,” Nan Yu gulped down some wine and hiccupped.

Liang Qisheng lowered his head and smiled, “You probably don’t know—I was really dug out of a living dead pile by that damn schemer Ling Ziheng. Without him, I might have died on some street corner, probably without even a proper burial.”

“So, you’re grateful to him and had to suffer letting go?” Nan Yu, a little drunk and dazed, tried hard to follow Liang Qisheng’s train of thought.

“Not exactly,” Liang Qisheng lifted his gaze, looking solemnly at the star-studded sky. “Anyway, you wouldn’t understand. Just accept it, like that schemer understood me back then. Everyone has their own world. Hey, do you have any secrets?”

“Secrets? Burp,” Nan Yu’s eyes widened. A breeze swept past, and a familiar voice floated in his ear: “Nan Yu, run!”

Blood and flesh torn, gunfire all around…

“Hey, what’re you spacing out for? Drunk already?” Liang Qisheng asked, noticing Nan Yu’s serious expression.

“Cough, what secrets could I have? Just a tech geek, killing time,” Nan Yu snapped back to reality, trying not to reveal any cracks.

“Heh, just keep it hidden, better to take it to the grave,” Liang Qisheng shook his head. He knew well that since Nan Yu was the lord’s appointed bodyguard, he wasn’t just some party-loving techie. Everyone harbors memories they cannot forget or face, even if they rot inside.