Chapter 46

Jing Ming pushed open the glass doors and headed outside.
The sea breeze swept over him, ballooning his T-shirt, chasing away the heat.
Just now, he’d been sweating for no reason, jittery in a way he never felt before. Like someone put a curse on him.
He scanned the gathering and quickly spotted Du Ruo, back at the long table, munching watermelon.
Jing Ming: “…”
At a loss for words, he turned to Li Wei. “What did you want?”
“Pengcheng. Dong Cheng wants a word with you.”
Jing Ming paused on the stairs. “What’s there to talk about with him?”
“Beats me.”
He lowered his eyes to think. “Where is he?”
“Over there, in the usual western restaurant.” Li Wei pointed to their usual dinner spot.
Jing Ming turned and headed that way.
Li Wei called after him, “Want me to come?”
“No need.” Jing Ming took the steps two at a time, and Li Wei called out, “Jing Ming!”
“What?” Jing Ming looked back.
Li Wei grinned, “You’re Prime’s boss. Whatever you decide, I’m behind you, no matter what.”
Jing Ming met his gaze for a moment, smiled faintly, and walked off.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled into the restaurant, glancing around. At this hour, most guests were out on the beach partying; the place was nearly empty. Only two men in suits sat by the window, a candle flickering on their table beside a pot of coffee.
Outside, the trees crowded close, with the distant beach and revelers framed in the glass.
Jing Ming walked over. Dong Cheng stood to shake his hand. Jing Ming gave it a quick shake, pulled out a chair, sat down, and eyed the two men with casual indifference.
Dong Cheng seemed to have completely forgotten the unpleasantness at the last expo. Smiling, he said, "Mr. Jing, congratulations on winning the championship at the competition today."
Jing Ming replied, "Thank you. You guys did well too."
"Us? Not even close." Dong Cheng waved him off.
Jing Ming glanced at the lights and sandy beach outside the window and cut straight to the chase: "Mr. Dong, if you've got something to say, just say it. No need to beat around the bush."
"As far as I know, Prime still hasn’t found a suitable partner or investor. But with your project at this stage, that’s becoming urgent, isn’t it?"
Jing Ming’s lips curved up. "We’ve got too many to choose from. We’ll take our time, no rush."
"True enough." Dong Cheng smiled, letting the point slide. This team had the air of a princess who never worries about marriage, too lofty to stoop, but also, there really weren’t many worthy matches around anyway.
"Mr. Jing, I’m here to talk about a partnership. Our parent company has the richest resources in the country, both for car manufacturing and channel marketing. Teaming up with us is all gain, no loss." As he spoke, he slid over a blank check. "Name your price."
Jing Ming barely looked before letting himself relax in his chair, idly toying with his fingers. "Far as I know, you’re already working with Yi Kun."
"That’s true, but, "
Jing Ming lifted a hand, not interested in circles: "First, yes, we’re competitors, but we went to the same school, he’s my senior. I don’t steal my own alumnus’s partners."
Dong Cheng hadn’t expected this at all. Most people would kill for a chance to steal a rival's investor or partner.
"Second, Prime is our team. We keep the name, we decide what happens. We don’t take orders, we’re not shackled by any capital. We stay independent, always. We’ll never be acquired or assimilated, no matter what anyone calls it. I promised my teammates."
Dong Cheng pressed, "That your teammates’ idea, or just yours?"
Jing Ming smiled. "You can assume it’s mine."
Dong Cheng shook his head. "I’ve seen plenty of guys like you. You’ve got skills, you think you can make it alone. But you just don’t get the market. Without a heavyweight company and strong capital, new teams hardly stand a chance, they get squeezed out, even targeted by the industry."
Jing Ming heard the warning and gave a half-smirk. "Good point. But honestly, that describes the low-end market. In the high-end sphere, it’s still tech that leads. No technique, no matter how much funding, you’re just pouring money into someone else’s pocket. Am I wrong?" He shoved the blank check back across the table.
Dong Cheng fell silent, his expression clouded and hard to read.
Jing Ming stood. "If that’s all, I’ll be going."
Just as he got up, Dong Cheng called after him, "You really just shoot down all that instant cash? You don’t think your team will have a problem with it? That’s a huge chunk of money for every one of them."
Jing Ming didn’t look back. "Mr. Dong, like I said, this was never just my call."
With that, he strode away.
The western restaurant fell quiet.
Dong Cheng’s face darkened. His assistant whispered, "President Cheng, maybe another round of talks?"
"If he’d wavered even a little in that conversation, we still had a shot. He didn’t."
Not with the check. Not for his project. Not for his team.
"These young guys..." Dong Cheng sneered, bitterly amused but somehow unable to laugh at all. "Little Zhang, I don’t believe they can succeed flying solo."
"Huh?" The assistant looked confused.
"But if they actually do… watch out."
…
Beach, on the sand.
The banquet was still going strong. Du Ruo hunched over the table attacking slices of watermelon, every bite riddled with regret.
Just now in the stairwell, thank god Li Wei arrived in time. If not, the consequences would’ve been a disaster.
She’d never meant to mess up the delicate balance between the two of them, so how did everything spiral out of control so fast?
She felt like crying but couldn’t even manage real tears.
Admiration? Idol worship? Comrades-in-arms? Liking him? She never really tried to sort the labels out, all she’d wanted was to keep things natural. Why complicate it? Why cross the line?
What lay beyond that line was dangerous.
The sea breeze cooled her skin, drying the sweat until even the storm in her head started unraveling, thread by thread.
She shook herself off, determined not to dwell on it.
Suddenly, a shadow fell across her. Jing Ming sat down across from her and stole a slice of watermelon directly from her plate, taking a bite.
Du Ruo: "…"
She dropped her gaze, refusing to make eye contact.
Jing Ming chewed the watermelon, hesitating, starting to speak and thinking better of it over and over.
Du Ruo noticed, her guard immediately up. All she wanted was for him to shut up, please don’t say a word.
Maybe what happened in the dark earlier was just some hallucination.
Jing Ming had his own complications. He stayed silent for so long he even bored himself, finally tossing the watermelon back onto the plate and slumping into the chair, letting out a sigh of stifled frustration.
Du Ruo raised her eyes for a second. He noticed, their gazes locking, and in those dark eyes she saw a thousand words, none of them spoken.
Right then, the chair next to Jing Ming scraped back and a pretty girl dropped into the seat, gazing at him with shining eyes. "Jing Ming? I’ve been searching for you everywhere, finally found you!"
Jing Ming: "...Hmm?"
"Your match today was incredible, "
Du Ruo bit into a lychee.
The girl flirted and gushed for a solid three minutes before finally leaving, only for the next one to sidle up.
Like a whole queue trying to meet the team mascot.
But Jing Ming was no cuddly mascot, that was for sure.
Autograph? Nope. Selfies? Nope. WeChat? Also nope.
It didn’t matter, people kept coming, one after the other.
Jing Ming was clearly getting irritated. He looked at Du Ruo. "Let’s get out of here."
Du Ruo glanced up, cheeks packed with lychee, mumbling, "Where to?"
"Somewhere quiet."
...And every inner alarm bell in her head started blaring, "No way."
"Tch, " He clicked his tongue, annoyed, and got up as if to grab her.
She didn’t want a scene, so she rushed out, "I’ll walk myself, okay!"
The two walked along a winding pebble path beneath the shade of trees.
The air was humid and thick with the scent of leaves, tinged with salt from the ocean.
They walked in single file, lost in their own worlds, the tension high and unsaid things swirling between them.
Du Ruo squirmed, fanning herself occasionally by tugging at her collar.
Jing Ming noticed the sound ahead. "Hot?"
"Mmm... muggy."
"This damn weather..." He gave his T-shirt a few impatient flaps too.
Trees stretched tall overhead, their dense canopies locking out the stars.
It was late; now and then, little animals darted about, rustling the undergrowth.
Jing Ming teased, "Scared?"
Du Ruo: "Not at all."
Jing Ming: "Really?"
Du Ruo, deadpan: "I used to catch snakes out in the mountains."
Jing Ming: "…"
They walked a bit further, and he glanced up at the trees and starry sky. "Can you climb trees?"
"Yeah."
"Go climb and get me a coconut then."
"…" What does he think she is, a monkey? "You sure you want that? I might drop it right on your head."
He laughed out loud.
She went on, "But there’s tons of lychee trees here, every lychee I ate, I picked myself from up there."
"…" Jing Ming turned, openly doubting her.
"Swear. I asked the hotel staff if I could. They said, ‘Go ahead, if you manage to get one, it’s yours.’ So up I went. Looked like they were ready to faint when I climbed back down."
Jing Ming snorted, "If I’d known those were your lychees, I should’ve tried one earlier."
"Nothing special, tastes the same as the ones from street stalls."
After this meandering chat, the tension between them seemed to ease a little.
The path ended at an outdoor swimming pool beside the sea.
Jing Ming asked, "Feel like swimming?"
Du Ruo, quietly: "I can’t."
He scoffed, "Didn’t you just brag about growing veggies, raising chickens, climbing trees, can’t swim?"
"Mountains only had creeks, barely up to my knees. Where was I supposed to swim?"
She crouched by the pool and swirled the water with her hand, it was cool and soothing. She sat down, dipped her legs in. Ah, bliss.
Jing Ming dragged over a giant inflatable white swan and plopped it into the water. "Come on."
Du Ruo blinked in surprise. "Where’d you even find that?"
"Behind the beach chairs." Standing poolside, he steadied the swan’s head. Du Ruo clambered aboard and hugged its neck, feet dangling and swaying in the water.
Jing Ming gave it a push, and the swan drifted away with her toward the center of the pool.
"Are you going to swim?" Du Ruo called, just as she looked back and saw Jing Ming by the pool peeling off his shirt, a lineup of abs flexing with every move.
She whipped her head away.
He dove in headfirst, water swirling as he vanished beneath the surface. Du Ruo clung to her swan for dear life, uncertain where he’d gone.
She stretched her neck to look, spotting a long, lithe shadow dart beneath the water, moving like a fish, it was only seconds before he surfaced several meters away, arms sweeping broad wingspans that sent waves cresting across the water.
He churned up half the pool, making Du Ruo’s inflatable ride bob and rock, was this butterfly stroke?
He reached the far end, kicked off the wall, and shot back, coasting past Du Ruo just as he went for another wide-armed sweep, splash! An ocean’s worth of water hit her square on.
"Augh, !"
He swam another lap and came up again near her, wiping water from his face and hair, grinning. "Wanna get in? It’s shallow."
She shook her head. "I’m wearing a dress."
He gave her a quick once-over, gaze finally landing on her calves dangling in the water. With an exaggerated shove, he sent the giant white goose float drifting far away.
Du Ruo: "..."
Could he be any more childish…
The ocean breeze ruffled her hair as she bobbed on the water. Suddenly, his shadow swept beneath her, then a hand tickled her right on the sole of her foot.
She jerked back with a yelp, nearly shooting out of the pool.
"Could you NOT?!"
He was already swimming away.
She sat cross-legged on the oversized goose, massaging her itchy foot, brow scrunched into a knot.
Just then, wild laughter spilled from the woods, Wan Zi’ang, He Wang, and a pack of guys barreled over.
"God, this is the spot and you didn't invite us?!"
The boys wasted no time, shirts flung off, they dove in like a squad of slippery eels.
Splashes! Splashes!
Waves rocked the pool as the giant goose bobbed wildly. Two guys dove straight for the float, tipping it hard. Caught off guard, Du Ruo slid right off, thudding into the water below.
The pool wasn't deep, but if you couldn't swim, you'd never find your footing.
Cold water rushed up her nose and throat. Panic clawed at her as she flailed, unable to touch the bottom, unable to break the surface. In her wild scramble, someone swam over and wrapped an arm firmly around her waist.
She clung on for dear life, arms locked tight around his neck like it was a lifeline.
Next thing she knew, strong arms boosted her up through the water. She sprawled across his shoulder, gasping, half-drowned, her heart still thundering in her chest.
His bare back was smooth and slick beneath her fingers. Their chests pressed close, separated only by a thin layer of soaked fabric.
That scent, she stiffened, instantly recognizing it.
He said nothing, strangely quiet as he guided her to the pool’s edge. Gripping her waist, he lifted her right out of the water and set her gently on the side.
"Thanks," she whispered, water dripping from her hair.
He kept it together, barely said a word. About to leave, he accidentally glanced back at her.
She was soaked through, white dress clinging to every curve, the pale pink of her bra and panties clearly visible underneath.
Behind them, the boys were still splashing and horsing around.
He returned to the pool’s edge, gave a push, and hoisted himself out, waterfalls cascading from his skin.
He strode over to a beach chair, grabbed a towel, flicked it open, and chucked it over her head, wrapping her up snugly.
"Wrap up. You’ll catch a cold."
"I’m not cold…"
"Just do it," he snapped, scowling.
"…" Du Ruo fell silent. That guy and his hair-trigger temper, seriously…
The boy dove back into the pool. The water was cool, but every cell in his body felt like it was burning up.
The soft, shivering feel of her pressed to his chest, no washing that away.