Chapter 10: CH 10

The car door was pulled open, and Ou Renjin extended his hand towards Ou Shaowen. The countless flashes were much more blinding than the day of the magazine photo shoot. Ou Shaowen took the offered hand and subconsciously tilted his head slightly, frowning.

“Just follow me forward.” Ou Renjin only helped him for a moment and withdrew his hand once he was out of the car.

Both sides of the red carpet were full of reporters carrying cameras, and a little further away behind the cordon, the front line of fans was densely packed, their equipment no worse than that of professional reporters.

Ou Shaowen pursed his lips, feeling a little nervous. He followed as Ou Renjin instructed; as soon as his gaze focused on Ou Renjin, the man turned his head, smiled and leaned close to his ear, “Don’t always stare at me. If you don’t know where to look, just stare at the camera in front of you.”

The clear scent of Ou Renjin’s perfume reached him, and Ou Shaowen instantly calmed down, nodding obediently and averting his eyes.

Because it was a completely unfamiliar occasion, that little bit of wariness and resistance in his heart still couldn’t be eliminated, so presented to the camera, Ou Shaowen’s whole aura seemed somewhat cold and aloof.

“Oh my god, this pair is simply killing me!” The fan of some celebrity couldn’t help but shout out. The cameras had already moved in their direction unconsciously, and the shutters kept pressing.

“This body, this look, these long legs, the two standing together is simply a double impact.” Immediately, someone echoed.

The two men quickly walked down the red carpet and reached the live interview area at the end. The hostess was wearing a red tube dress in the middle of winter and her hands were slightly shaking as she handed over the microphone. She briefly asked Ou Renjin a few questions about his views on charity and how he felt about attending the event today. Ou Renjin was used to dealing with such things, replying in a structured and dignified manner.

The prearranged process was almost over when the hostess finally handed the microphone to Ou Shaowen, who was standing quietly aside. With a happy mood that she was only about to serve the main course now, she smiled and asked, “Does Shaowen feel a little nervous when he comes to participate in this kind of occasion with President Ou?”

Ou Shaowen was a little unhappy with the host’s overly intimate address. His name was like a treasure that belonged to him alone, and now it was casually held in the palm of someone else’s hand and played with. But he showed nothing and answered seriously, “A little, when I got out of the car, but Ou Renjin told me before that he was just taking me to a place with many people for dinner and told me not to worry about others and to just eat my meal with peace of mind.”

Ou Renjin interfered before the hostess could say something, smiling helplessly, with a little doting in his eyes, “Silly, you can’t say such things directly in front of outsiders!”

Ou Shaowen tilted his head in confusion, as if waiting for an explanation and clarification.

Ou Renjin then reached out and half-rubbed, half-stroked his hair, “You’re not allowed to answer any more questions today, got it?”

In the eyes of the crowd he was joking, but Ou Shaowen nodded solemnly, indicating that he understood.

This time even the hostess couldn’t help but smile, thinking that the two of them were getting along in a somewhat cute way.

After a few simple words, they entered the venue. Ou Renjin took Ou Shaowen to the seat arranged for him, lowered his head and urged: “You stay here obediently, I will be back soon.”

On this occasion, some hypocritical socialising and pleasantries were inevitable. He subconsciously felt that Ou Shaowen couldn’t cope with this kind of too subtle interpersonal interaction, and he didn’t have the patience to deal with his always puzzled gaze, so he relied on him to be well-behaved and obedient, and set him aside as if dealing with a problem.

But Ou Shaowen was oblivious. He didn’t feel aggrieved, nor did he see anything wrong with Ou Renjin’s handling of the situation, and nodded quietly.

“Feel free to eat what’s next to you, and just politely say a few words if someone comes over to talk to you.” Ou Renjin gave a final instruction and quickly disappeared into the sea of people.

Ou Shaowen hadn’t noticed the perfunctory treatment, but the people next to him didn’t miss it.

As soon as Ou Renjin had left, a young man came up to Ou Shaowen, pressed his glass against the back of Ou Shaowen’s hand and sat down next to him with a big grin.

“It’s not good to be left alone here. You’re still a newcomer and you’re being treated so badly, it seems that President Ou really doesn’t care much about you!”

Ou Shaowen frowned and looked at the young man so coldly that he didn’t dare to say the next words casually.

As if feeling a little embarrassed by being intimidated by such a little newcomer, the young man sat upright again and snorted contemptuously, “You’d better be mentally prepared. I think this time President Ou will break up with you in less than half a year. Oh no, that’s not a break-up, it’s unilateral rejection.”

Ou Shaowen was ignorant of the world, but he was not a fool. He could feel the young man’s not so friendly attitude; after all, his sarcasm was unconcealed. But he replied politely, as Ou Renjin had instructed, “What is it you want?”

The young man snorted out a laugh, this time less unkindly, “It’s nothing, and you don’t need to be nervous, I’m not here to bully you. I just want to remind you that it’s better not to unpack. In less than six months, I guarantee you’ll have to move out again.”

Ou Shaowen thought for a moment and said, “He signed a five-year contract with me.”

“The contract with Qimeng?” The young man laughed even more, “Business is business, private is private. Just because he doesn’t like you anymore, hates you, and asks you to move out of the villa doesn’t mean he doesn’t need you to earn money for him.”

After hearing the young man’s words, Ou Shaowen’s heart that had unconsciously tightened just now instantly settled down. He raised his eyes and looked at the young man gently, even with a little bit of expectation, “Can I earn a lot of money?”

The young man gave a “tsk” at his peculiar focus, “It depends on qualifications, on luck, I can’t say.”

He looked Ou Shaowen up and down, “But if it is you, maybe you can make a lot of money.”

“How much is a lot of money?”

The young man was impatient now and raised an eyebrow, “A few hundred million is no problem anyway.”

“So little.” Ou Shaowen’s eyes dimmed.

Hundreds of millions seemed like a scary amount to say, but he knew that the few maintenance machines he was used to using after surgery cost more than that.

How much could you make from selling his heart once? Ou Shaowen did not know the exact amount, but he had once heard a certain researcher proudly bragging that for one operation, the bottom researchers who had participated in his project would get a share of two thousandths of a percent each, and that figure would be equal to a monthly salary for them, which was nearly 100,000 a month.

In other words, the heart with the slowest recovery rate and the longest transplant cycle would earn at least 50 million a piece.

But even if it recovered more slowly, during the quiet period when the waiting list was small, it could still be done three or four times a year, not to mention those completely irrelevant kidneys and the like, which also added up to a significant amount.

If you think about it, there was no way that the money he could make for Ou Renjin would cover the cost of taking him out of the lab for five years, if he was really going to buy him for five years.

What’s more, Ou Renjin was prepared to share half of his earnings with him.

Thinking about it, Ou Shaowen felt a rare frustration, tinged with a deep, unbearable self-loathing that made his whole mood plummet.

The young man’s eyes widened in surprise, “If that’s too little, you’ve got a big appetite.”

He stared at Ou Shaowen again and looked him over carefully, tsk’ing and marvelling, “It seems you have long-term plans, that’s good too. It’s only when you have a clear purpose that you won’t lose your way. The best thing about President Ou is that he is generous, you just don’t need to engage in the true love thing. Seek resources openly and honestly, and you won’t have to worry about your future.

“Right, I haven’t had a chance to introduce myself yet.” The young man seemed to be in a good mood, his eyebrows raised and his tone smug, “My name is Qin Yining, you should know me, one of President Ou’s exes. I was the one who put him in the hospital after he broke up with me. So yeah, President Ou can hold a grudge, causing me to not receive a single decent job for more than half a year…”

Before he finished talking, he saw Ou Shaowen jerk his head up, his gaze cold, the air pressure terribly low around him, “You put him in the hospital?”

“What’s up with you?” Qin Yining shrank back, “You little puppy, so quick to get worked up, so ready to protect your master and be a good boy? He has retaliated against me, I have apologised and paid for the medical expenses, so you don’t have to take up his grievances.”

As Ou Shaowen listened to him casually saying that Ou Renjin had been admitted to the hospital, he felt angry and sad for some reason, and his emotions were so confused that he was at a loss for words.

“Alright, I’ve got to go, I’ll find you later to play when I have time.” Qin Yining, who had done the job of setting fire in the backyard (stirring up trouble in the family), was keen enough to notice that Ou Renjin was walking in this direction, so he hastily said goodbye to Ou Shaowen, got up and disappeared.

Ou Renjin vaguely saw Ou Shaowen talking to someone from afar, and when he sat down beside Ou Shaowen, he couldn’t help but ask, “Who were you talking to? Look at how long you’ve been chatting.”

“He said his name was Qin Yining.”

Ou Renjin immediately frowned, “What did he say to you?”