Epilogue: Winner in Life

“Whatever happened, the past is in the past,” Chu Ge said firmly.

Yan Jin wasn’t surprised.

Chu Ge was right. The past was in the past.

Xiao Yu watched them speak in riddles, but he didn’t interfere.

“You rarely come visit us anymore. Let’s go out and grab lunch together for the occasion,” Yan Jin suggested.

“I can’t. I need to get back to the hospital. I was out for the last three days, so I’m really busy now.” Chu Ge sounded happier than ever before.

“Well, your loss,” Yan Jin replied.

After sending Chu Ge off, Xiao Yu came back and saw Yan Jin browsing the web on his computer.

Xiao Yu wrapped himself around Yan Jin and snuggled his head against Yan Jin’s neck. “What are you looking at?” Xiao Yu glanced at the screen. To his surprise, it was neither financial reports nor the stock market.

It was some entertainment tabloid.

“Woah!” Xiao Yu was surprised. “This isn’t like you.”

“What am I normally like then?” Yan Jin laughed.

“Uh… you’d do something like bankrupting SI.”

Yan Jin laughed again. “You’re quite correct.”

“What’s with this tabloid then…?” Xiao Yu narrowed his eyes.

“In order to maintain a happy union, I need to know what my love is doing.”

Xiao Yu gave him a blank look. Then, he realized what this was.

He suddenly understood why this webpage looked so familiar. He had been on it two days ago. A few days ago, he had sent his computer for repair. In the meantime, he had been using Yan Jin’s computer instead.

“Ahhhh, how did you find this in the browser history? I was even in incognito mode…”

He would have been okay if this had happened some other time, but he remembered that during that computer session, he had come across an a.n.a.lysis of which top-ranked chairman was the most powerful in bed. He had even registered an anonymous account to exaggerate Yan Jin’s apt.i.tude.

He definitely wouldn’t have jumped in if he thought he would get caught! Ahhhh!!

Xiao Yu started sweating bullets.

Yan Jin gleefully put Xiao Yu back onto the sofa.

“In the comments section, are you [Chairman’s Hamster]?” Yan Jin wriggled a hand into Xiao Yu’s s.h.i.+rt and began running it across his abdomen.

“No,” Xiao Yu insisted.

“Then why does the login name say…”

“It wasn’t me,” Xiao Yu persisted stubbornly.

He no longer remembered all the details of what he had written, but he was sure it was embarra.s.sing.

Ahh, how could he not remember?

Yan Jin contented himself with lightly nipping Xiao Yu’s pouting mouth with his own.

“Oi, are you a dog? If you want meat, there’s plenty in the fridge. Don’t bite me,” Xiao Yu spat through his twinging mouth. He tried to push Yan Jin away but to no avail.

“I only eat hamster,” Yan Jin retorted.

Then, Yan Jin pushed Xiao Yu down to begin his feast.

……

Toppling the Nan Family only existed in dreams.

Even if Yan Jin and Chu Ge joined hands, it was still impossible to take down the Nan Family in a single night with the Nan Family elders around.

That being said, the Nan Family’s decline was already clearly visible.

Without Chu Ge’s strategies, SI was no match for YL. In fact, SI was struggling against new jewelry design startups in City S. Purchasing SI ultimately turned out to be a costly decision for NN. In the end, NN gave up on the jewelry industry and retreated to their clothing empire. This marked the end of their bloodless war against Yan Jin.

Nevertheless, with the distraction of the jewelry industry venture, other clothing designers had gained ground on NN. New fas.h.i.+on trends emerged quickly, and NN’s throne in clothing design was no longer as secure.

When NN gave up on SI, naturally, SI was acquired by YL for an extremely cheap price.

Of course, the Nan Family hated to sell to Yan Jin. However, they had no choice. Despite SI’s struggles, they were still one of City S’s design giants. In City S, no one else could acquire them besides YL.

After acquiring SI, YL fired the entire SI design department. There were no exceptions.

With his wealth, Chairman Yan didn’t care about paying severance penalties. He waved his pen, and poof. He gave the employee lists of the other departments to Xiao Yu to handle and imposed a limit. No more than fifty percent could remain.

However, SI had hundreds of employees. Xiao Yu didn’t think he knew everyone in the design department, much less other departments. He didn’t recognize the majority of the names. He went through their pictures and removed a few people who had been laughing at him when he had been fired from SI. The remainder were randomly chosen.

Before, no one in SI would have imagined that their fate would be determined by that disgraced chief designer.

To many, it seemed that Xiao Yu had finally brought the hammer down on SI’s design department. Although the signature of termination was Yan Jin’s, most thought Xiao Yu was behind this.

Thus, after the acquisition was complete, Xiao Yu was surrounded by wors.h.i.+ppers every time he went to the former SI office.

Anyway, soon Xiao Yu didn’t have the time to care about such small things. With the acquisition of SI, YL increased preparations to venture onto the international market. Xiao Yu dove into the work wholeheartedly.

Towards the end of the year, Aunt Fang unexpectedly fainted on the street and was sent to the hospital by a pa.s.serby. The doctors found she had a brain tumor. Fortunately, it was benign. Despite this, due to its late discovery, they almost weren’t able to save her. After being transferred to Private Hospital No. 1, specialists finally managed to save her life, dispelling her longtime aversion to hospitals. At least, she was willing to cooperate to get treatment now. Xiao Yu visited her a few times and found her in good spirits.

At the hospital, Xiao Yu unexpectedly came across Xiao Zihao and learned that he had completed his studies overseas and returned home. Xiao Yu had always been concerned about his little brother, so he was happy that Xiao Zihao had found a job in manufacturing.

With the end of the war against the Nan Family, other lives also traveled a happy path.

Nan Wei and Liu Ye had always been like brothers. Now that Liu Ye didn’t have to hide overseas, he had moved in with Nan Wei without too many issues. They made up for lost time and happily spent it together, occasionally taking vacations.

After Qiao Yutang was discharged, she opened a flower shop. It didn’t have many customers, but its simplicity satisfied her. In fact, she seemed to give away more flowers than she sold. Every New Year, she would send Faye to deliver some flowers to Xiao Yu. Each time he received them, Xiao Yu worried that her shop was not far from bankruptcy. However, considering who her boyfriend was, he needn’t have worried.

Chu Ge was the same as ever. Aside from losing his bachelorhood and showing off his new wife whenever possible, he still dutifully attended to patients. He still willingly helped out Yan Jin on occasion despite the inevitable verbal abuse…

Other than these people, Xiao Yu didn’t know how the rest of the Nan Family was doing. Yan Jin didn’t tell him, and he didn’t ask. As for his colleagues, not much had changed with Qin Xi, Shao Yue, and He Xinjia. Hmm, was that actually true? Xiao Yu wondered if he would be attending another wedding soon.

Xiao Yu eagerly awaited the future.

……

M国L市

City L in Country M.

Xiao Yu left the sounds of the banquet behind him and came out to admire the illuminated nightscape.

He leaned against the railing and rested his head against it. Not too long after, he heard a pair of approaching footsteps.

“Do you like the view?” Yan Jin put his wine cup down on the railing and wrapped his arms around Xiao Yu’s waist.

“Yeah, it’s not bad. It was getting too stuffy inside so I came out for a walk,” Xiao Yu said.

“If you’re bored, you can head back first.”

“Don’t want to. I want to stay here with you.” Xiao Yu grabbed Yan Jin’s hands and leaned back into Yan Jin’s chest.

“I still need to go back to appease our business partners. I’m concerned about leaving you here alone in the cold.”

Xiao Yu curled his lip. “Actually, it doesn’t look that nice here. It’s pretty similar to City S. Let’s go back.”

Yan Jin scratched his head awkwardly. Then, he said softly, “After finalizing this contract, we’ll have a long period of free time. Just endure it for now, okay?”

“Doesn’t this contract start our presence in Country M? What free time? Won’t we become even busier?”

“Successful people know how to find free time amid chaos,” Yan Jin said seriously.

“Who came up with that? You?”

“Exactly.” Yan Jin adopted a confused look. “Can’t I be counted as successful?”

Xiao Yu began to list, “Yeahyeahyeah, you’re a winner in life. You’re powerful and handsome, you’re worth over a hundred million yuan, you have your own company, you have a strong background…”

“Most importantly, I have someone to share everything and spend my life together with.” Yan Jin rubbed his head against Xiao Yu’s and kissed him. “That is a critical requirement for a winner in life.”

Yan Jin normally seemed oppressive, but Xiao Yu never dared underestimate Yan Jin’s eloquence in romance. Every time he thought he was ready and immune to Yan Jin’s teasing, he was left with flaming cheeks.

Despite the cold night wind, Xiao Yu began to grow fl.u.s.tered from the heat.

To hide his red cheeks, Xiao Yu turned around, closed his eyes, and captured the lips that always left his heart racing. Yan Jin wasn’t surprised at all.

As they were returning to the banquet hall, Xiao Yu suddenly said, “I just realized… I’m probably also a winner in life.”

“You became one a long time ago.”

On their clasped fingers, their rings glimmered.

[The end.]