ADTCP Ch56part1

“Mr. Zhu Wensheng is very busy and didn’t attend the meeting today.”

“I’m General Manager Zhu Wensheng’s assistant.”

…

Those two lines kept echoing in his ears. Tao Zhen felt himself sink into a dizzy spell, as if his soul had been lifted out of his body to coolly observe everything from the outside.

Yes, his hunch had been right. Zhu Wensheng really had been hiding something from the start. He really was Z era’s boss, the fabled Crown Prince. It was a nailed-down fact that left not a shred of room to defend him.

“…Mr. ZhenzhiBang?” Seeing how off his expression looked, Xiao Sun rushed to ask, afraid something might happen to him. “Are you okay? Do you feel unwell? I can take you to rest for a bit.”

The elevator had stopped mid-building, doors open. The girl stood outside, watching him with concern.
Snapping back to himself, Tao Zhen stepped out and followed her. “Thank you.”

Xiao Sun quickly shook her head and led the way. The sixteenth floor was where Z era’s leadership and department staff had their offices, bright, orderly. Zhu’s office was at the very end, with the assistant’s office and a temporary reception room just one wall away.

Tao Zhen sat silently on the sofa, accepted the hot tea she handed over, then asked quietly, “Um… can I ask something? How did you recognize me?”

“Ah.”

Xiao Sun blinked, standing a bit awkwardly as guilt flickered across her face. After a moment’s inner struggle, she swallowed the part about glimpsing Zhu’s screen when he watched Tao Zhen’s streams and settled for a vague, polite answer: “Well, Mr. Zhu Wensheng often keeps up with your news at the office, and I also saw the trending topics from before…”

Tao Zhen seemed to freeze. He said nothing.

Xiao Sun grew uneasy, realizing belatedly that she’d let herself get carried away, overstepping a mere assistant’s role to meddle in the boss’s personal life.

Just as she was regretting it and wondering how to fix things, Tao Zhen looked up and gave her a small smile. “…Thank you, Ms. Sun. I’m Tao Zhen. I’ll sit here for a bit and then leave. Sorry for the trouble.”

Seeing he wasn’t angry, Xiao Sun exhaled in relief, said “no trouble” a few times, and hurried out of the room.

With a soft “click,” the door shut.

Silence settled in. Only Tao Zhen remained.

He set down the tea, leaned back against the sofa, and closed his eyes.

At last all the pent-up feelings found an outlet, erupting like a smothered volcano. A thousand tangled thoughts crammed his head, to the point of bursting.

Zhu Wensheng was the heir.

The bystander sees clearly where the one involved does not. While he’d been blind for so long, Qiqi and the others had already given him the answer.

Why had Zhu Wensheng kept stressing he wasn’t as poor as Tao Zhen imagined? Why could he so easily book out a top-floor restaurant? Why did he have a Maybach and a private estate, pure luxury?

Because he was never some penniless kid clawing his way up with his fists. His true identity was the Crown Prince.

Why had the so-called heir shown up right on time in Tao Zhen’s very first livestream? Why, when Sunflower was rude, did he immediately step in and throw 150,000 in gifts just to hear Tao Zhen sing “Undercurrent”?

Because that heir was his lover, Zhu Wensheng.

Why were there two bodies with that once-in-a-million physique? Why did Zhu Wensheng look so much like the heir at that banquet night…

All those “whys,” and the answer was simple: Zhu Wensheng and the heir, they were the same person.

Every detail he’d realized and hadn’t realized surged up, glaringly telling Tao Zhen,
This is where things stand. Now what are you going to do?

So… what should he do?

Tao Zhen pressed hard at his brow. It all felt absurd, collapsing, unimaginable, impossible to put into words.

Maybe he ought to be angry.

He hated being lied to, being made a clown of. Zhu Wensheng knew that, and still chose not to confess, hiding it for so long.

And it’s not like Zhu Wensheng lacked money, or cared about the petty cash Tao Zhen gave him. Yet he still stayed by his side… What was he trying to do? Toy with him? Like Jiang Shan toyed with Tong Xia?

But the instant that thought arose, it was denied just as quickly.

A voice in his heart told him clearly: he wasn’t like that.

Tao Zhen believed Zhu Wensheng.

He believed Zhu wasn’t that kind of person. The night of Z era’s banquet, he’d been muddled and dragged into a side room, and in panic slapped the rumored “Crown Prince.” When he came out and saw Zhu, he was still thinking about it, feeling guilty for “biting the good man who saved him,” and asked if the heir was angry. What had Zhu Wensheng said then?

“No.”

“He knows you didn’t mean it. He won’t be mad. He just dislikes those self-important higher-ups.”

“He might even be happy you protected yourself.”

“How is it impossible that he likes you?”

“If he didn’t like you, love at first sight, why would he take off his jacket to put on your shoulders?”

“…” Tao Zhen pressed his lips together, then suddenly stood. A hot, urgent impulse surged in his chest. If Zhu Wensheng had only wanted to toy with him, there wouldn’t even be bones left, Zhu Wensheng had a thousand ways to hurt him. But the facts showed he hadn’t.

The out-of-nowhere Black Gold membership at Silver Wander City, Wu Bin “mysteriously” offending the heir and getting punished, the far-better-than-average Z era contract… All of it Zhu Wensheng had done quietly for him while he knew nothing.

What did he have to be angry at Zhu Wensheng for? From the very start, Zhu Wensheng hadn’t been with him for money.

In an instant, the bright, tidy reception room felt like a hot griddle. Tao Zhen shot to his feet, almost knocking over the tea, unable to stay a second longer. He hurriedly said goodbye to Xiao Sun, rushed to the elevators, and stared anxiously at the changing numbers.

The building was too tall; the lift took ages up and down. After a while, seeing it still stuck at 42, he ran out of patience. Catching the fire stairs out of the corner of his eye, he brightened and bolted for them.

Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen… three, two, one.

The lower he went, the lighter his steps felt. He knew Zhu Wensheng had no class right now, so without hesitating he hopped in a cab for the club, his mood soaring like he’d caught the wind.

On the way, he wanted to call his dad Tao Zhen to explain where he and Zhu Wensheng stood now, but at the last moment he felt that’d be impolite, so he decided to wait until after seeing Zhu Wensheng.

Which left one serious problem, his allowance hadn’t been reinstated. The bank card holding his signing/livestream/video money was still frozen.

He had only a little over a thousand left in Alipay. Even if he wanted to buy Zhu Wensheng a gift, he didn’t know what he could afford.

Fidgeting with his hem, Tao Zhen fretted.

Just then the car slammed its brakes, horns blaring around them. The driver started cursing. In the back, Tao Zhen nearly banged his head, rubbed his forehead, and looked up, right at the culprits blocking the road.

A group of workers was pushing a massive backdrop wall and interlocking floorboards across the street, hard labor that left them red-faced and sweating. As they moved, the drape over the backdrop snagged a little, revealing the words beneath,

“Street Challenge.”

Looking closer, this street challenge was music-related! Contestants would get on stage to sing head-to-head with the current “defender.” The audience acted as judges. If you beat the defender, you won a 3,000 yuan prize.

Three thousand!

That used to be nothing to Tao Zhen, just the price of a carnival. But now it glittered. He couldn’t help being tempted, wanted to read the rules more carefully, but the taxi had already started moving, merging back into traffic.

He felt a twinge of regret, but soon let it go. Although it resembled online PK battles, it was different, live, on site, singing in front of a crowd.

The prize might be 3,000, or even 300,000, and he still wouldn’t be able to do it. Singing on that kind of street stage meant nothing to him.

Even so, as the car turned the corner and the backdrop shrank to a black dot, he couldn’t help glancing back, lips pressing together ever so slightly.

***
The taxi sped along and finally pulled up in front of the Light Club. Tao Zhen paid and got out, his eyes unintentionally landing on a Rolls-Royce parked by the curb, its plate number an impossibly neat, lucky sequence.

He couldn’t help looking again. Ever since learning his boyfriend was the rumored “Crown Prince,” even cars like this all felt familiar to him…

Eager to see Zhu Wensheng, Tao Zhen withdrew his gaze, hurried through the doors, and jogged inside, a bit excited, only to quickly sense something was off. It was a weekday that should’ve had a normal flow of customers, yet the general-membership floor was packed.

Inside weren’t just coaches and members, but a bunch of pro fighters too. This should’ve been their training time, but right now everyone had drifted outside to chat.

Spotting Da Hai in the crowd, Tao Zhen hurried over to say hi, glanced around, and asked the question weighing on him: “Da Hai, what’s going on? Did they start renovating inside and won’t let you in?”

Da Hai scratched his head and answered honestly, “No, only the second-floor dorms are under renovation. But Boss Lei told us to take it easy out here today. If we want to train, we can use the gear here.”
“You came to find S-Ge? He’s not with us. I… don’t know where he is right now.”

So Zhu wasn’t here?

The thrill Tao Zhen had felt after leaving Z era cooled a bit. He thanked Da Hai, then thought about calling Zhu, but it was way too noisy outside. After a beat, he walked farther toward the pro wing where it was quiet, then took out his phone.

“Beep… beep… beep…”

As the ringtone sounded, a faint, muffled “ding ding ding” rang from inside the room just one door away.