Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 83 (Part 1)
Translated by Pure
Chapter 83.1 Which wedding should he attend?
In the end, Lin Jingzhe was unable to persuade his father out. Lin Runsheng, who entered teaching mode, seemed to have split off a second personality. This personality was irritable and difficult to speak to, and took it as his mission to ‘kill’ students.
Zhou Haitang looked like he was going to be in for a long run. Even as Lin Jingzhe went out, he had not been able to correct his paper. However, Lin Runsheng had already turned his attention to other subjects and asserted that with his current grades, remedial activities would take at least a week to see significant results.
Of course, the elders were happy to see this happen. Father Zhou even got up enthusiastically and poured Lin Runsheng a cup of tea to soothe his throat.
Thinking of Gao Sheng hiding in the room and peeking into the living room through the crack of the ajar door, Lin Jingzhe felt a sense of guilt for his childhood buddies.
Xiao Chi was waiting outside the community gate, and Lin Jingzhe saw him before he even made his way out
In the midsummer weather, the other party was wearing a well-tailored short-sleeve button up. With his tall stature and long legs, curly hair half tied up, Xiao Chi leaned on his car while looking up at the community residence. He looked like an oil painting under the gorgeous summer evening sky of Yan City.
The surrounding residents walked past him and would look back secretly.
Lin Jingzhe stopped far away, and stood at the entrance of the community while watching this scene with interest. Xiao Chi’s expressionless face amidst the crowd made him look like a lone wolf, while the passers-by were like rabbits, curious in every possible way, but was repudiated by his cold temperament.
The tranquil gaze of the ‘lone wolf’ who was repelled others thousand miles distant would flutter and ripple the moment he saw him.
At such moments, Lin Jingzhe would once again be reminded that— he was special.
As if in a small corner in the world, he suddenly became an absolutely indispensable protagonist. Lin Jingzhe very much enjoyed this feeling.
"Whose family lives here? Your childhood friends?" Xiao Chi asked while opening the door for him.
"It’s Zhou Haitang and Gao Sheng. Do you remember them? We had dinner together with them last time. My dad said he wanted to meet them."
Lin Jingzhe originally wanted to take the opportunity of this meeting to report his upcoming marriage to Xiao Chi directly to the two families. Unfortunately, he could not find a suitable time; before he could say anything, he had to leave because of an alliance meeting.
However, before he could say any more, Xiao Chi, who was driving in the driver's seat, suddenly fell silent. He looked at the road quietly with a wooden face. Although there was no obvious expression, his whole body exuded an aura that read ‘I'm not happy’.
Baffled by his sudden change, Lin Jingzhe asked, "What's wrong?"
"That Gao Sheng and Zhou Haitang..." Xiao Chi pondered for a while, his brows furrowed slightly, "are they the two that were given the leather jackets that looked exactly like mine?"
"......" Lin Jingzhe took a moment before he came to himself, for a moment he had to suppress the strong desire to laugh. At times like these, he impulsively wanted to disclose Xiao Chi the truth, but rationality reasoned with him to keep this truth forever buried. If he really said it, Xiao Chi could overturn the car.
"Do you still remember that?" Lin Jingzhe raised his eyes to look at him, "No, the matter happened long ago. I’ve already given you their leather jackets, and even Deng Mai's, aren't they all in your possession now? It's just stacked up in our cloakroom, why are you pouting in jealousy? "
Xiao Chi awkwardly defended himself, "I’m not."
The string of prayer beads on his wrist seemed to be burning hot, as if reminding him to shed these fetters, Xiao Chi held back and tried not to pay attention to it. If asked to put into words, he also didn’t know how to describe this feeling; he felt a bit choked, and there was an astringent emotion rolling about. This emotion was born on the day he exchanged tokens with Lin Jingzhe. Whenever the latter moved out of his control, this subconscious sensation would emerge with threatening gestures.
He knew that before meeting him, Lin Jingzhe had a complete world of his own. There were family members and friends in his circle. Gao Sheng and Zhou Haitang were indispensable, but there was absolutely no ambiguous relationship between them.
But he just couldn't stand it.
Xiao Chi recalled that the first time he came into contact with Buddhism was when he was just a child. Back then, his grandma thrust a pen into his hand and told him at that time that Buddha was not omnipotent, nor did they even objectively exist. Therefore, everything must not be entrusted to faith and conviction. Buddha was only a restraint, restraining those who believe in it to restrain their desires when necessary.
…
The current Yan City Real Estate Alliance meeting was more like a get-together or party. There were quite a few non-alliance attendees who were newly rising parvenue. After the members of the alliance briefly exchanged their views on the existing tradable land in Yan City, they spread out in twos and threes to socialize.
Lin Jingzhe was dragged to speak in a group of cutting-edge real estate developers. He turned to look at Xiao Chi, who was surrounded by another group from a distance, and saw his depressed mood had shown no signs of recovering.
"What’s wrong with Mr. Xiao?" A neighboring man curiously commented, "He looks to be in a particularly bad mood today."
Lin Jingzhe took a sip of wine and looked back at the people currently gathered together. This was a group of rising talent in Yan City real estate who suddenly emerged from the wave of development trend in the north of the city. Lin Jingzhe and his New Beginnings Real Estate was one of their key members.
The social circles between businessmen were quite meticulous. Although everyone seemed to be friendly on the surface and may even cooperate occasionally, in fact, it was an open secret about who was on who’s side and which team they should be batting for.
This situation was better in the early years. After all, domestic commercial housing was only launched not too long ago. There were not many resources that could be developed at the beginning and there were only a few real estate developers who were adept in exploiting these lands. The relationship behind them was intricate, most of them were like Xiao Chi and Dai Gaofeng, these were people who could speak to their relatives and muddle through with their connections.
However, with the pace of rapid economic development, this type of situation and advantage was no more.
The group around Lin Jingzhe all emerged from the debris of the development in the north of the city. Their family backgrounds were far less illustrious than those of the older generation; most of them are like Lin Jingzhe, who were able to make something of themselves through the use of their discerning judgments and boldness.
Speaking of this, even Lin Jingzhe was a bit baffled by the current circumstances. Perhaps his rise to fortune with New Beginnings Real Estate possessed a great representativeness, this group of people seemed to naturally regard him as the bellwether. Since the papers had spoken of his first large-scale transaction of land in the northern district, this small circle that had always regarded him as the core had gradually expanded. The people who emerged from the north district development all conscientiously classified themselves as part of this group. This group of self-made, ‘first generation’ wealths with almost no background and relying solely on their own strength was a sharp contrast to the members in Xiao Chi's circle.
Without knowing, the daily rebuttal of the two factions headed by Lin Jingzhe and Xiao Ch began, where the members would mutually buttheads and compete with one another.
This matter could only be blamed on Dai Gaofeng’s yabber mouth.
Lin Jingzhe and Xiao Chi have obviously made great efforts to show their good relationship. From publicly cooperating in the Mixed-Use Building project to appearing at every alliance activity at the same time, but outsiders were inexplicably convinced that they are at odds.
After the news of Lin Jingzhe being the victim of Shi Nanxing's attempted assassination was exposed, the speculations became more and more outrageous. What didn’t help was when Xiao Chi and Shi Nanxing had feigned civility for a while in order to defraud the latter of his shares. It had been made into a big deal, and the combination of various information allowed the people to surmise in a terrifying direction.
Therefore, the trend of clear distinction between the two small circles had become increasingly obvious, and they paid close attention to each other's every move all the time.
"Isn't that normal?" With someone turning the first topic onto Xiao Chi, the others immediately joined in, "Didn't you hear? Qi Kai was finally arrested and detained some time ago, and now he is obviously about to be given a heavy sentence. Dominion Properties also looks to be on the brink of bankruptcy. Mr. Xiao and his company just acquired the land by Wubao Mountain a few months ago. At that time, they probably wanted to take advantage of the low price. Now that something like this has happened, it proves that Wubao Mountain is no longer cultivable. He wants to be happy, but is it possible now?"
Everyone sighed. The case between Qi Kai and Shi Nanxing was the biggest drama in Yan City so far this year. After all, they used to be lively people who were part of the game alliance group, now one was dead while the other was facing death. Although they had no interactions in the past, most people can't help but lament. Though some people were rueful, there were also people who rejoiced in their misfortune; there was no shortage of cynical characters in any circle. These people were overjoyed to see Flux Realty, which has been developing smoothly, capsize in the gutter.
A certain young uprising CEO, who had been particularly jubilant recently, did not care to contain his cheerful expression. "I bet Flux Realty will never be able to get back even a penny from their initial tens of millions of investment. Wubao Mountain is an ominous place, did they not see what happened to Dominion Properties after they acquired that plot of land? There’s a crematorium and a funeral parlor there, and now the former boss is in that kind of state. Not to mention his poor mood, I reckon Mr. Xiao probably hasn’t had a good sleep in several nights. Who would have taken in such a property? Haha!"
Lin Jingzhe looked at him quietly with squinted eyes, then put down the glass after a moment. "You can keep talking, I have other matters."
"Huh? Mr. Lin? Mr. Lin——"
The young CEO yelled his name several times but failed to stop him. Simultaneously bewildered and worried, he muttered, "Why did he get angry all of a sudden?"
