DLWAV CH84

And arriving at just the right moment was that insufferable old fossil, Ao Ruize: “……”

“Ahem, ahem.”

Ao Ruize covered his mouth and coughed twice.

Qin Xiuyan: “……”

Elder Qin: “……”

Elder Qin abruptly straightened up, and even his previously ragged breathing instantly smoothed out.

Clearly trying to establish dominance over Ao Ruize through sheer bearing alone.

How could Ao Ruize not play along? He immediately lowered his head and said: “So father-in-law is here too. How do you do, father-in-law.”

Qin Xiuyan: “……”

This guy, this guy hadn’t even properly settled into the role of a kept canary yet, and already he wanted to flip the script and be the one in charge. What breathtaking audacity.

Qin Xiuyan tried to press his lips together and stop them from curving upward… it was completely useless.

Elder Qin: “……”

Elder Qin’s composure shattered instantly.

“Who is your father-in-law?”

Your real age is probably old enough to be MY father!

But Ao Ruize remained completely unfazed: “Understood.”

“How do you do, father-in-law-in-law.”

Qin Xiuyan: “……”

Elder Qin: “……”

Shameless! Absolutely shameless!!!

Yet Ao Ruize continued: “Please set your mind at ease. My feelings for Xiuyan are genuine. I promise I will treat Xiuyan well from here on out. Wherever Xiuyan points, I will go. And if my mother and Xiuyan both fell into the water at the same time, I would without question save Xiuyan first.”

Elder Qin: “……”

Is this supposed to be some kind of multiple choice question?

Given the relationship between you and your mother right now, if she actually fell into the water and you refrained from pushing her toward the middle of the river, that would already be repaying cruelty with kindness.

Wait, no. He had almost been led astray by Ao Ruize.

The trouble was, he genuinely had no way to deal with Ao Ruize right now.

After all, if Ao Ruize were an ordinary person, his cane would have already introduced itself to the man long ago.

But Ao Ruize was someone even the government was going out of its way to protect. Never mind driving him out. If so much as a single hair on his head was disturbed, the people at the National Security Bureau would probably have words with him.

But if he couldn’t deal with Ao Ruize, could he not at least deal with Qin Xiuyan?

He turned his head, only to find Qin Xiuyan standing ramrod straight, both ears flushed red, breathing just slightly uneven, with eyes that were practically glued to Ao Ruize.

Elder Qin: “……”

Fine. He would leave. Was it really so wrong for this wicked old queen mother to stop trying to separate these two lovebirds and just leave?

Elder Qin turned and walked out.

And Qin Xiuyan truly did not come after him, let alone soften his stance.

In fact, Qin Xiuyan actually turned and wrapped his arms around Ao Ruize.

Elder Qin: “……”

He was done. He was simply done.

Qin Xiuyan had absolutely no mental bandwidth left for Elder Qin right now. Before throwing himself into Ao Ruize’s arms, his head had been completely full of what Ao Ruize had just said. After throwing himself into Ao Ruize’s arms, his head was completely full of Ao Ruize’s eyebrows, eyes, nose, and lips.

Because sweet words, the more you hear them, the more addictive they become.

And most critically, in the very next second, those thin lips that he couldn’t tear his eyes from pressed directly against his, capturing his own.

Qin Xiuyan couldn’t help but grip Ao Ruize’s jacket tightly.

It was only after several minutes that Ao Ruize finally released him.

And Qin Xiuyan at last returned to his senses.

“Ahem, ahem.”

He straightened up again, attempting to salvage his image as a domineering sugar daddy: “I was just a little happy, just a little……”

“Mm.”

With the person still right there in his arms, how could Ao Ruize not know exactly what was going on in Qin Xiuyan’s head?

So he couldn’t resist pressing one more kiss to the corner of Qin Xiuyan’s mouth.

“You must be hungry. I brought you lunch.”

A homemade lunch made with love?

That was rather nice.

Qin Xiuyan nodded.

And barely managed to bump the old man wheelbarrow to the back of the queue.

And while Qin Xiuyan and Ao Ruize were busy enjoying their little moment, and while Elder Qin was busy charging around trying to drive a wedge between Qin Xiuyan and Ao Ruize and inadvertently bringing them closer together instead… Xia Ruize’s fans suddenly noticed that ever since their idol had fallen out with the Xia family, apart from the occasional appearance on the trending charts whenever he invented yet another world-leading technology, they had heard absolutely nothing from him.

“What’s going on, where has our Ruize disappeared to?”

“@XiaRuize, have you forgotten that your main profession is being a celebrity?”

The netizens who clicked on this trending topic:

“………”

“Oh right, Xia Ruize’s main job is being a celebrity.”

“Xia Ruize’s main job is actually being a celebrity?”

“Celebrities heard this and wept. Scientists heard this and felt deeply ashamed.”

“It’s obvious Xia Ruize has completely shifted his focus to inventing things now. He’s not actually planning to leave the industry, is he?”

“@XiaRuize @XiaRuize @XiaRuize @XiaRuize @XiaRuize @XiaRuize, hey top, say something!”

Qin Xiuyan, who happened to scroll past this comment: “……”

He immediately turned his head and looked at Ao Ruize, who was sitting behind him with both arms wrapped around him watching TV.

Ao Ruize, watching the vinegar jar about to tip over at any second: “……”

He immediately picked up his phone and posted a reply under that comment: “Retired but not entirely retired, because I successfully pursued my boss. Going to get our marriage certificate tomorrow. So please stop calling me ‘top’ — I’m a family man now.”

Qin Xiuyan was satisfied.

The internet exploded.

“What do you mean ‘retired but not entirely retired because you successfully pursued your boss’?”

“Who is Ruize’s boss?”

“Found him. #image# #photo# #photo#”

“…… Twenty-seven years old…… Founder of Shensu Technology, Executive Director of Chaoming Technology, Director and General Manager of Wanhe Entertainment……”

“Hold on, Ruize is gay?”

“Wait, doesn’t this person look a little familiar?”

“I remember now. When Ruize was being interviewed by that livestreamer Mu Xia at the snack street, the person he was holding hands with looked just like him. Wait wait wait, they were already holding hands back then?”

“Have you lot finally noticed?”

“While you were all busy watching the drama unfold, we shipper fans have already lost our minds!!!”

“What??”

And right at this moment, Haishi Institute of Electronic Technology posted on Weibo: “Congratulations to our distinguished alumnus Mr. Xia Ruize and Mr. Qin Xiuyan on their upcoming marriage. We wish you both a lifetime of happiness together.”

“Wait?”

“They’re already sending blessings?”

“Hold on. Haishi Institute of Electronic Technology?”

“Isn’t the word ‘Vocational’ missing from that name?”

“Oh my god, it really does just say Haishi Institute of Electronic Technology.”

“What’s going on? Weren’t they a junior college?”

“Or is there actually another university in Haishi with ‘Electronic Technology’ in its name?”

As everyone knew, junior colleges and vocational schools were required to include the word “Vocational” in their official names. Only degree-granting universities and four-year institutions could be named simply “[City/Region] Institute of Something” or “[City/Region] University of Something.”

“Oh wow, quick, look at their Weibo feed!”

“…… Warmly celebrating our institution’s successful approval by the Ministry of Education to upgrade to full undergraduate university status!”

The president of Haishi Institute of Electronic Technology was so overjoyed he still hadn’t managed to close his mouth. He couldn’t help but reply in the comments: “We extend our deepest gratitude to our distinguished alumnus Mr. Xia Ruize. Thanks to his selfless assistance, our institution recruited twenty-five full professors and fifty-three associate professors during last winter’s hiring season, and as a result successfully upgraded to undergraduate university status as of yesterday.”

He had known the moment it happened that their opportunity had come, so they had submitted their institution’s application to the Ministry of Education on the very last day before this year’s deadline, and sure enough, they had sailed through the review process.

“……”

“I had imagined that with that much money poured in, Haishi Vocational Institute of Electronic Technology would take off sooner or later. But I never imagined they’d take off this fast.”

“Wait, someone needs to tag Xia Lewen’s fans on this. So what if our Ruize went to a junior college? Our Ruize helped his alma mater upgrade to a full university.”

“Your Lele went to a prestigious university. Let’s see whether his alma mater still wants to claim him now.”

“Oh wait, you lot haven’t forgotten, have you? Xia Lewen has already flopped into obscurity, and the Xia family is almost done for too.”

“Oh, in that case, never mind.”

“But is that even the main point here? Isn’t the main point that Xia Ruize is actually retiring from the industry?”

“Yes!!!”

“@XiaRuize, I only became your fan less than a month ago, and you’re already retiring?”

“Please don’t go, Ruize.”

……

In an instant, everyone’s attention shifted completely away from the Xia family.

Because they had clearly all concluded that the Xia family’s fate was sealed, and bankruptcy was the only road left for them.

One could only imagine how twisted Xia Yuanzheng’s expression must have been upon seeing all this.

But soon enough, a cold smile crept back onto his face.

Because just yesterday, he had obtained a licensing agreement for the new lithium battery technology developed by the National Academy of Sciences.

With the government’s backing, was there really any reason to fear the Xia family couldn’t claw its way back to the top?

Even if the price was having that little wretch Xia Lewen riding over his head from this point forward.

But he had no time to worry about that now.

As it turned out, however, the middle-aged man had been right.

In the very month after Xia Yuanzheng had persuaded Xia Feng Group’s board of directors, suppressed the collateral branches of the Xia family, and invested 4.5 billion to build a large-scale lithium battery manufacturing plant. The day after Xia Feng Group’s stock price doubled and climbed back to half its former value, Xia Ruize’s Laboratory at Haishi Institute of Electronic Technology announced the development of a new recyclable lithium battery.

One month later, Xia Feng Group’s market capitalization had fallen to just twenty percent of what it once was, and Xia Yuanzheng came within a hair’s breadth of being removed from the chairmanship of Xia Feng Group again.

The reason it was only within a hair’s breadth was that Xia Lewen had moved swiftly to obtain the carbon fiber preparation technology that the National Academy of Sciences had just developed, sourcing it directly from the middle-aged man.

But what none of them could have anticipated was that just half a year after Xia Feng Group’s carbon fiber factory went into production, Xia Ruize’s Laboratory at Haishi Institute of Electronic Technology announced once again that it had developed what was at that moment the most advanced carbon fiber production technology in the world.

This same pattern played out two more times after that. Eventually, in order to maintain the government’s support, Xia Lewen completely reversed his previous habit of dragging his feet and raising objections whenever it came to the experiments after receiving each new technology. Instead, he actually began actively urging the government to run more experiments on him.

But no matter how many times they tried, the outcome was always the same: Ao Ruize crushed them without the slightest effort.

Of course, Xia Lewen had not been without his suspicions that the government was colluding with Ao Ruize and deliberately feeding the Xia family inferior technology.

But then, on multiple occasions when Xia Feng Group’s liabilities had exceeded its assets, it had been the government that stepped in to cover the losses. All told, the government had poured over sixty billion into them across the years, and it was only after that Xia Lewen finally let his guard down.

In truth, had he stopped to think a little harder, he would have realized that in those same years, the various taxes paid by Magellan Corporation alone had amounted to far more than sixty billion.

But it was precisely because of all this that in the sixth year after Ao Ruize left the entertainment industry, Xia Lewen went mad.

Truly, genuinely, driven-to-insanity mad.

Because that year, Xia Yuanzheng had finally been broken. No longer willing to keep fighting Ao Ruize, he chose to cast Su Yiyue aside, and left the country with what remained of the Xia family’s assets, only to meet with a plane crash from which not even his remains could be recovered.

The Xia family was finished.

Xia Lewen knew that in this lifetime, he would never have his revenge.

Not long afterward, he took his own life.

But fortunately, over those six years, the National Academy of Sciences had made enormous strides in its research into temporal regression and spatial transference.

Though none of this would ever be made public, Xia Lewen had nonetheless left a deep impression on many people.

The academicians of the National Academy of Sciences, for instance.

They were human too. They had their vanity. They wanted to leave their names in history.

Yet every painstaking achievement they had spent a year, or even more than a decade, working to produce, the moment Xia Lewen set his sights on it, would be surpassed by Ao Ruize within half a year without fail.

So how could they not have carved Xia Lewen’s name into the deepest recesses of their hearts, even flashing back to curse him out one last time with their dying breath?

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