After Crossing Over to the Republic of China, I've Become a Heartthrob Chapter 33

Meeting Song Duheng Again

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When the night came, Shi Yao went to work at Yujiang Pavilion.

The supervisor had been instructed by his superiors and knew that this was a man with a background, so he was extra attentive to him and gave him the biggest client of the night.

When Shi Yao looked at the information on the list of customers, his brain stopped thinking for a moment. 

Client's name: Song Liao

Client's room number: VIP302

Client Level: Black Diamond

Client status: President of the Yuandong Chamber of Commerce

Song Liao?

Is it really Song Liao?

Seeing that he was frozen in a trance, the supervisor patted him on the shoulder with concern: "Are you okay?"

Shi Yao asked, "Is this Song Liao, the Song Liao of the previous Song family?"

The supervisor said, "Yes, after he went south, he set up the Yuandong Chamber of Commerce, and only recently returned."

"What does this black diamond status mean? He comes here a lot?" It was unimaginable that the self-respecting Song Liao would ever venture into the red-light district.

"This is the rating we gave to Mr. Song for his asset evaluation, and he's here for the first time tonight, so behave yourself." The supervisor patted him on the shoulder meaningfully.

Shi Yao had never expected to meet Song Liao on such an occasion, in such a capacity, at all!

Luckily, he was wearing a mask.

With mixed feelings in his heart, Shi Yao went to Song Liao's room.

He knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

When he pushed the door open, it was a little dark inside. There was a lamp on the table, and Song Liao was reading a document.

Shi Yao stood in the doorway and stared at him blankly for a while.

It's really been a long time since I've seen him, he's not quite the same as I remember.

He was more calm, more resolute, and had a sharpness polished by the years.

Before Shi Yao could think of a way to greet him, he heard Song Liao say, "Get out."

Short, strong, pretentious and rude.

How familiar, it was really him, Song Liao.

Unable to resist smiling, Shi Yao said, "Young Master Liao is still as difficult to serve as ever."

Song Liao was surprised, the pen in his hand crashed to the ground and his gaze was like a hawk or a falcon, as if he was staring at his prey.

Shi Yao reminded him, "You dropped your pen."

Song Liao looked at him quietly, his voice low: "Come here."

"Oh." Shi Yao walked towards him, stepping on the soft carpet, it felt so surreal.

When he was about to get close, Song Liao suddenly stood up and put his arms around his shoulders, holding him tightly in his arms.

Shi Yao felt like he was suffocating, he wanted to push him away, but he didn't.

He and Song Liao had met now, and it was as if a lifetime had passed.

Song Liao took off his mask, and his eyes seemed to be filled with intense emotions, but he just said, "Shi Yao."

"Long time no see, Young Master Liao, can you let go of me, I feel like I can't breathe."

Song Liao let go of him and instantly seemed to realise that something was wrong: "What are you doing here?"

Shi Yao asked him in return, "Then what are you doing here?"

"This is a hotel."

"It's not a decent hotel."

Song Liao narrowed his eyes dangerously, "What are you implying?"

"I'm not, I was just curious, I didn't think Young Master Liao would also visit a brothel, ha ha."

"Shut up!" Song Liao interrupted him viciously, "I'm not interested in such things."

"Are you referring to visiting brothels, or?" Shi Yao deliberately teased him, "You're not unable to do that, are you?" 

"Shi Yao!!!!" Song Liao gritted his teeth, "Don't challenge my bottom line."

"I'm so scared, Master Duheng, what happens when I challenge your boundaries? Hmm?" Shi Yao especially missed the happy times when he and Song Liao were bickering.

Song Liao pressed him against the table and whispered in his ear, "I missed you so much."

Suddenly feeling very emotional, Shi Yao felt a soreness in his throat: "Mhmm mhmm mhmm, how have you been?"

"There's a lot going on, and I've been looking for you, there are a lot of rumours about you out there." At this point, Song Liao once again realised that something was wrong: "So, what are you doing here?"

Shi Yao said, "Working."

"Working??" Song Liao's anger flared up, "In a place like this, what kind of work are you doing?"

"Why are you getting worked up? You're not the one working here."

"Shi Yao! Are you this short of money???"

"Wait, I think you've misunderstood something."

When Song Liao looked like he was going to eat him up, Shi Yao changed the subject and said, "You still haven't answered me, what are you doing here?"

"A meeting."

"A meeting in a place like this?"

Song Liao explained, "The National Business Conference, the organiser this time is the Yingzhou Chamber of Commerce, and they have set the venue in this hotel."

"The National Business Conference, so all the chambers of commerce in the country will be here?"

"Mhmm." 

In that case, Song Yuan will be here too!

Shi Yao thought, don't let Song Yuan bump into me!

He had been feeling guilty about Song Yuan since he had stabbed him last time, and felt unable to face him, so it would be better if they did not meet again.

"So," Song Liao interrupted his mental mumbling, "what, kind, of, work, do, you, do, here?"

"Oh oh, I'm not, I'm just snooping around for information, keep it a secret for me." Shi Yao said, "I don't want anyone to know I'm here, you know, I've had some bad luck recently."

"I heard a rumour that you were Han Pu's lover and that you stabbed Song Yuan after he tried to assassinate him?" Song Liao said in a sour tone, as if he was interrogating a prisoner.

Hearing this outrageous rumour again, and from Song Liao's mouth, Shi Yao wanted to die on the spot: "It's all false! It's all lies and nonsense! Only the stabbing of Song Yuan is true."

Song Liao was in a good mood, and the corners of his mouth turned up unconsciously: "Very good, well done."

Shi Yao: ......

"What kind of information do you want to find?"

"The person who hurt Han Pu is said to be connected to the Yingzhou Chamber of Commerce."

Song Liao thought for a moment, "I've been away from here for so long, and my network hasn't been fully established. I went to college with Han Pu, so I'll help you."

"Okay, one last question," Shi Yao looked at the list of clients in his hand: "Young Master Duheng, did you order special services tonight?"

Song Liao immediately denied, "No."

Shi Yao asked, "Then what's this list about? It's not a special benefit for VIP customers, is it?"

"I don't know, and I'm not interested in knowing." Song Liao looked at him and asked, somewhat uncomfortably, "How... how have you been?"

"As you can see, very miserable." Shi Yao teased, "Is the Young Master concerned about me?"

Song Liao averted his gaze awkwardly, "No! I'm just..."

Shi Yao laughed in his heart, still arrogant and stubborn as ever, it was quite cute.

"Okay, I understand." Shi Yao said, changing the subject: "What about you? How have you been since you left?"

"What do you think?" Song Liao ruffled Shi Yao's hair and whispered in his ear, "I've learned to dress myself, make my own bed, and do my own laundry and cooking."

"You're so good." Shi Yao felt like he was praising a kindergartener: "From today onwards, you're an independent young man of the new era."

"Shi Yao," Song Liao said in a deep voice, "I failed you in the past, from today onwards, can you... give me another chance?"

Shi Yao looked at the man in front of him, at the former unreasonable, childish and arrogant young master of the Song family, who was begging for his forgiveness like a young boy who had made a mistake and was waiting to be judged.

Stroking his head like he was a large dog, Shi Yao said, "The past is behind us, Song Liao, in fact, between us, there is no question of who has failed whom, after all, I am not the same Shi Yao."

"It's all the same to me," Song Liao said: "I want the you that's right in front of me, the you right now."

His confession was sincere, passionate and direct.

Shi Yao was at a loss for words, not knowing how to answer.

"After leaving you, I realised that many things are not predestined." Song Liao said, "What you have right now doesn't mean you'll always have it, and what you've lost doesn't mean it's worthless."

"What?" Shi Yao teased, "Didn't you study business? Did you change your major to philosophy?"

"A lot of the things you said to me before, I couldn't accept them, just because I..." Song Liao paused for a moment and slowly said, "am narrow-minded, I didn't want to accept it."

Hearing that Song Liao could actually reflect on himself and actually admit his shortcomings so openly, Shi Yao couldn't help but feel amazed.

It seemed that he had really suffered a lot in the outside world.

With this in mind, Shi Yao stroked his hair again as a token of comfort.

"In the past, I always felt that if you were mine, you were destined to be mine; I was the first son of the Song family, so I was destined to be the only heir of the Song family; I was arrogant and haughty, but in the end, I found that without you, I am nothing."

"That night, when you begged Song Yuan for me, I thought to myself."

"I thought, I was wrong from the start, just plain wrong."

"It wasn't me protecting you, it was you protecting me; it wasn't me saving you, it was you saving me."

Song Liao's voice was low and his eyes were sincere. When he looked at Shi Yao, it seemed that he could go back in time and make up for his past regrets.

When Shi Yao looked at him, he felt that Young Master Liao had really changed a lot, yet it seemed that he had not changed at all.

Even though he had been defeated, now that he had returned, he was still as dazzling, as eye-catching, and as impossible to ignore.

Even the way he admits his mistakes reveals a hint of unreasonable and dazzling dominance.

Shi Yao laughed and patted him on the shoulder: "We are actually quite destined to be together, why don't we..."

Song Liao's eyes lit up with surprise.

"... become sworn brothers."

Song Liao: ......

Looking at Song Liao's dark face, Shi Yao couldn't help but laugh, "What? You don't want to be good brothers with me? Are you looking down on me!"

"Shi Yao!" Song Liao's forehead burst with veins.

"'If you want to be sworn brothers, I'll be your brother."

"Shi! Yao!"

"Good boy, call out to your brother."

"Shi Yao," Song Liao suddenly hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear, "stop messing around and let me hold you for a while longer."

Shi Yao was dumbfounded, but he hugged him gently and stroked his back.

I'm sorry, but I can't give you back the original Shi Yao, I can't give you a Shi Yao that is completely yours.

But, you will survive, you will grow, you will become more resilient and more complete.

The original Shi Yao would be very happy, wouldn't he?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: July 2, 2023