His Honey Chapter 22

Chapter 22

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The next night.

Nie Sangning returned from the office to the neighbourhood where he lived. Entering the residential building, he opened the mailbox where there was a kraft paper bag.

He took it out.

Back home, he opened the paper bag and took out a bunch of photos and a report.

Nie Sangning carefully looked at one photo after another, and the more he looked, the worse his complexion became. The photos were taken in the last week. In the pictures, either Xiao Yichi entered Yu Zhinian's neighbourhood alone at night, or he and Yu Zhinian left the house in the same car in the morning. They occasionally went to feed the cats together at night. The two of them also entered the neighbourhood where Xiao Yichi's house was located together, came out with tote bags, and then got in the car together to go back to Yu Zhinian's neighbourhood.

Nie Sangning put down the photos, loosened his tie, and went to the minibar to pour a glass of wine and take a sip.

So Yu Zhinian is now with Xiao Yichi? He remembered the scene in the parking lot of the high-speed railway station – Yu Zhinian suddenly got out of the car and looked in Xiao Yichi's direction. Nie Sangning's drinking movements suddenly froze. Yu Zhinian, who had always had a calm expression after their reunion, was so nervous that he should have sensed that his relationship with Xiao Yichi was not ordinary. But at that time, those two did not look like they were in a romantic relationship; moreover, the most important thing was that Xiao Yichi was not Yu Zhinian's type at all!

Right? Nie Sangning knew that Yu Zhinian's mother placed a very high value on appearance, and Yu Zhinian had been instilled with such thoughts by her since he was a child, so how could a deep-rooted notion be changed simply by saying so?! Even if Yu Zhinian has a new love now, he should still be in the category of super high face value. Nie Sangning put down his wine glass and grabbed the report to read. However, there was no more information about Xiao Yichi in the report, other than the fact that he had been a war correspondent and was now a university teacher. These two professions didn't appear to be that special. Nie Sangning took a few deep breaths to calm his surprised and incredulous emotions.

He reminded himself that Xiao Yichi was Tang Wancheng's good friend.

He could befriend Tang Wancheng, so maybe he had some sort of secret background.

Nie Sangning finished his drink and sat back to continue looking at the photos. When he got to last night, Yu Zhinian and Xiao Yichi were coming out of a gallery, and they were very close together. In the next picture, the two of them were standing in the night, kissing, with Yu Zhinian wrapping his arms around Xiao Yichi. Even if the photo was taken secretly with the camera zoomed in, it was obvious that the two were fully in love. Nie Sangning uncomfortably averted his eyes and threw the photo down.

Could it be that Yu Zhinian's tastes truly have changed? It was really hard for him to imagine that his love rival was someone of Xiao Yichi's type.

Nie Sangning suddenly noticed a detail about the gallery. Yesterday, during the day, he happened to hear Tang Wancheng mention that Yu Zhinian was going to meet the owner of one of Alfa's paintings later in the evening. So, Xiao Yichi was the owner of the painting?!

Did he really have some kind of shocking background? Then was it possible that Yu Zhinian was with him for another reason other than actually being in love with him? Nie Sangning's head became more and more confused. There was also Tang Wancheng, she knew that he was interested in Yu Zhinian, so did she know about the relationship between Xiao Yichi and Yu Zhinian? If she did know, why did she help him pursue him?

What kind of position was he in now? Has he become a passerby or a tool without realising it? Damn it!

Until the next morning, Nie Sangning was still depressed and confused. He had never experienced such a complicated feeling before.

Just as he was about to go out, his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller's number, which he didn't recognise, it was a strange string of numbers.

He hung up. As he went to the underground parking garage to get his car, the phone rang again, and it was the same string of numbers. He answered, his tone was not good, "Hello?"

This morning was different for Xiao Yichi. He walked into Yu Zhinian's closet, circled with his hands behind his back, and first went to the section where Yu Zhinian kept his suits. He pushed Yu Zhinian's suits to the sides to make room – this was where his clothes would hang from now on. He turned around and examined the watches in Yu Zhinian's watch cabinet, the styles were dignified and elegant, but they were too stuffy for his liking, so he'd rather leave them for Yu Zhinian to wear. He moved on to Yu Zhinian's casual wear section, picked a piece of clothing to take down, and brought it in front of the wardrobe mirror to compare. He was equipped with his own filter and felt that he should look good in it as well. Mhmm, I'll keep it.

"Like this outfit?" Yu Zhinian saw that the man wasn't on the bed, so he walked to the closet and happened to see the man in front of the wardrobe mirror. Xiao Yichi raised his chin, his attitude arrogant, "I think it's average, I don't particularly like it."

"Oh?" Yu Zhinian approached, pretending to be curious.

Xiao Yichi put one hand on his shoulder and shook his head, "Lawyer Yu, your taste is not very good."

"Really, so what should we do?"

"I'll make a sacrifice and bring my clothes here to neutralise the awful tones, and in the process, I'll let you learn and improve your taste."

Who made him so arrogant?

Lawyer Yu betrayed his conscience and played along with him, "You're too kind, thank you."

The soulless acting made Xiao Yichi unable to restrain his laughter and he gave Yu Zhinian's face a loud smooch.

An auction house's jewellery auction was being held soon, and at the SVIP preview, Ye Zhaolin was surprised when he met Yu Zhinian.

He asked, "Aren't you not a fan of jewellery?" When he asked him to accompany him in the past, he refused without a second thought.

Yu Zhinian's father was a jeweller, and as he hated him, he also hated everything around him. He merely shrugged, "There is a need for it, so I had to come and join in the fun."

Ye Zhaolin raised his eyebrows and asked softly, "For Mr. Xiao?"

Yu Zhinian nodded.

"Have you thought it through?"

"I've thought it through."

Ye Zhaolin did not talk nonsense, "Okay. If you have your eye on something here, remember to warn me, I will never compete with you."

Yu Zhinian already had a favourite in mind – a 10.63-carat D-colour/internally flawless Golconda diamond ring.

What will it be used for? Who knows.

One afternoon, Yu Zhinian had just finished replying to a client's email when he received a message from Xiao Yichi: "Lawyer Yu, when are you coming back?" It was accompanied by a GIF of a puppy eagerly looking out of the window.

"We agreed to have dinner at Auntie Pan's house tonight," Xiao Yichi added, "I asked for Auntie, she asked you to come back soon~" The wavy line was used in a very soulful way.

The corners of Yu Zhinian's mouth rose, and he deliberately replied with a single "Mhmm." Two seconds later, he replied again, "Right now."

On the other end, Xiao Yichi hurriedly replaced the "angry" he was about to send with "happy".

Yu Zhinian packed up and was about to leave the office when he received a phone call.

The call was from a familiar informant, "Lawyer Yu, I just received a reliable tip. Someone has been following you for a week, how do you think we should handle this?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Zhinian lifted his gaze and calmly asked, "Can you find out who is behind the follower?"

"It should be possible."

"Then I'll ask for your help." Ending the call, Yu Zhinian picked up his bag and left the office.

At night, the informant replied: Nie Sangning. Evidence has been emailed.

The next day, Yu Zhinian asked Nie Sangning to come to the law firm in the afternoon to "talk about something."

Nie Sangning came to Yu Zhinian's office with a cup of tea in his hand. He handed it over with a smile, "This is the hawthorn and tangerine peel black tea that I brewed, with a little bit of ice. It quenches thirst and appetises the stomach, it's perfect to drink it at this time of the day."

"Thanks." Yu Zhinian took it, but put it on the desktop. "Let's go to the confidential meeting room."

The confidential meeting room, as the name suggests, was fully soundproofed. Only senior partners had keys to it.

"Please take a seat." Once inside, Yu Zhinian spoke to Nie Sangning 

"Zhinian, what's going on?" Nie Sangning sat down suspiciously and looked at him.

Yu Zhinian sat opposite him, "You had someone follow me, didn't you?"

Nie Sangning understood. Regardless of the reason for having someone follow him, Yu Zhinian intended to deal with it in a business-like manner. Since he asked so directly, it meant that he had evidence in hand and there was no point in denying it.

"Yes. You rejected me at the last dinner party and I wanted to know why."

"Then have you found the reason?"

Nie Sangning hadn't wanted to show his hand so quickly, but since things had come to this, "Xiao Yichi, it's him, isn't it?"

In these more than ten years of separation, it seemed that Nie Sangning hadn't encountered any ups and downs in his relationships, so much so that he wouldn't consider reasons other than external factors when his relationship wasn't progressing well. But Yu Zhinian admitted that he was right. The only reason he could completely step out of the shadow created by a relationship and truly face his beloved ex openly and calmly was because he had fallen in love with a better person. Time may diminish the pain, but only the pure happiness of being loved and relied upon can dispel the ghosts and heal a wounded heart. 

Without Xiao Yichi, he and Nie Sangning might not get back together. But with Xiao Yichi, it was absolutely impossible for them.

"Sangning," Yu Zhinian felt it was time to say goodbye to him properly, as well as to the self that once loved him, "I'm not afraid to confess to you that there was a long period of time after separating from you where I lived off of my hatred and longing for you."

"I've rehearsed in my head countless times what kind of expression to put on and what to say if I see you again because I was afraid that I would get emotional at that time and mess up the important moment."

Nie Sangning's emotions were driven by Yu Zhinian's words and his expression shifted.

"But reuniting with you at the banquet in New York, although there was shock, my heart quickly calmed down. It was as if I was full of anticipation for a big drama to be staged, but when the curtain was lifted, all I could think in my heart was, ah, that's it. The ending was rather lacklustre. At that point, I should have realised that after all these years, 'you' had become a representative symbol of my bad past, rather than the living, breathing person in front of me that I wanted to love again after being reunited."

"You're right, Xiao Yichi is the reason. In the past, good looks were my hard and fast criteria for finding someone, but Xiao Yichi, he is so far beyond my requirements that there's no way I can't just throw up my hands and surrender."

"Enough, I don't want to hear this from you." Nie Sangning was stubborn and didn't admit defeat, "Is it because I've hurt you that you're looking for someone completely opposite to me as a form of revenge? You still have me in your heart right?" Otherwise, what was the point of him travelling thousands of miles all the way across the ocean?!

Yu Zhinian looked at him, "Even though our ending was rather embarrassing back then, there was once happiness between us. Those happy fragments of memories sustained me through many nights, please don't bury them like this. Learning to say goodbye with dignity is also a must for adults."

"Adults?" Nie Sangning laughed in exasperation, "Zhinian, I understand. You're with Xiao Yichi and have realistic adult considerations. There are valuable people behind him who can help you out, right?"

Yu Zhinian froze. If Nie Sangning hadn't mentioned it, he himself would have forgotten. He frowned, "Where did you hear that?"

Seeing this, Nie Sangning felt like he was holding a trump card in his hand, "He's not the only one who can help you, I can too. If you leave him and come back to me, I will definitely help you enter Fangda's global management committee, okay?"

There are always people like that, who have no noble character and can only pursue a noble status; who have no virtue and can only emphasise beauty. Yu Zhinian thought to himself, it wasn't that he didn't have expectations for promotion, but if he thought that he would do anything for fame and fortune, not to mention that it was a sign that he didn't understand him, it was also a great insult.

"I'm truly a failure," Yu Zhinian's gaze towards Nie Sangning grew colder and colder, "to actually make you think that I can even sell my feelings for the sake of a big promotion. Is Fangda's global management committee that important to me? Would I die without it? Nie Sangning, please use your brain when you speak."

Nie Sangning's expression turned ugly, "Haven't you ever thought of using him to take a shortcut?"

"That's something I have to explain to Xiao Yichi, it has nothing to do with you. From now on, we only have a working relationship. Please don't keep telling people that you're interested in me, I can't bear it."

Nie Sangning stood up in annoyance and took a deep breath, looking aggrieved and resentful, "Zhinian, I'm helping you... There might be someone who wants to break you up even more than I do." After saying that, he turned, opened the door and left.

Yu Zhinian looked at the wide open door, exhaled the breath he was holding and leaned back in his chair.

At this moment, Nan Jing cautiously poked his head in to remind him, "Boss, the next meeting on the agenda starts in ten minutes."

Yu Zhinian nodded, got up, and straightened his attire.

Nie Sangning's words gave Yu Zhinian two reminders. One was that he had to confess to Xiao Yichi about the truth of the so-called "taking shortcuts";

The second was that he had to find out who was trying to separate them.

Late at night, Yu Zhinian came out of the study, passed through the living room and arrived at the balcony. He stood, looking out over the night view of the city, letting the wind blow his hair.

He has been at Fangda for so many years and it was not always smooth sailing. Where there are people, there are grievances. Work was never all there was to life, not to mention that he now had a harbour for his soul.

After resting for a few moments, he returned to his study and continued to deal with the documents.

After he had roughly sorted and arranged the work in hand, he typed the words "resignation letter" on the computer screen.

Back in the bedroom, Xiao Yichi was sleeping soundly with Snoopy in his arms. Yu Zhinian was afraid that he would wake him up when he got out of bed, so he purposely placed Snoopy in his arms so that he would have something to hold on to. Yu Zhinian looked at him and was truly impressed by the quality of his sleep. He gently took Snoopy out and kissed the top of its head, thanking it for being a cuddler. Putting Snoopy back on the chair, Yu Zhinian laid down on the bed, took Xiao Yichi's hand and put it on his waist.

Xiao Yichi, if you treat me with sincerity, I will definitely respond with sincerity.

‿︵‿︵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: February 20, 2024