Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Elegance Group

After hanging up the phone, Chen Qi remained silent for a long time.

His feelings were complicated. Although he had already suspected that these matters were likely connected to his family background, now that it had been confirmed, he still felt a bit panicked and at a loss.

He didn’t even know what exactly he was anxious about. Was it his complete ignorance of himself? Or was it that he simply wasn’t prepared to be tangled up with his family background?

After a while, Chen Qi let out a self-deprecating laugh and looked up at Xu Bunian.

“Let’s go.” Xu Bunian, who had been waiting patiently by his side, smiled and signaled for him to follow, taking the lead to head outside.

Chen Qi hesitated for a moment, then followed along.

Though he felt uneasy and uncertain, ultimately, curiosity won out. He was too eager to know his own background.

Since this Shen Mowen was a friend of his father’s, he ought to be able to learn quite a bit from him. Even though he couldn’t recall anything about Shen Mowen, he thought it would be best to listen more and speak less when the time came—it shouldn’t be difficult to avoid arousing suspicion.

But to his surprise, Xu Bunian led him out of the company to the parking lot downstairs.

At Xu Bunian’s gesture, he got into a black sedan. Only after the car pulled out of the parking lot did he finally ask, “He’s not here?”

Xu Bunian shook his head as he drove. “This advertising company is just a side business of the chairman. He hardly ever comes here.”

Chen Qi was taken aback. He asked again, “Mr. Xu, what exactly is going on?”

“Haven’t you already figured it out?” Xu Bunian replied with a smile.

Chen Qi hesitated, words on the tip of his tongue. After some inner struggle, he braced himself and asked, “We haven’t met before, have we?”

“No, we haven’t,” Xu Bunian replied, assuming Chen Qi was asking how he’d recognized him during the interview. “A few days ago, when your family went bankrupt, I happened to overhear the chairman mention you. Later, I saw your résumé come in, and that’s how all of this happened.”

Chen Qi let out a sigh of relief, almost breaking out in a cold sweat. It was only now, looking back, that he realized just how fortunate it was he hadn’t known Xu Bunian before; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

“Then… do you know my father as well?” he asked.

“I know who he is, but he doesn’t know me,” Xu Bunian chuckled. “That kind of big boss isn’t someone at my current level would have the chance to meet.”

Chen Qi fell silent, trying to figure out how he might get some useful information from him.

At that moment, Xu Bunian glanced over, hesitating before finally asking, “I heard… you only found out your family was so wealthy after they went bankrupt?”

Boom!

A thunderclap seemed to explode in Chen Qi’s mind.

He stared at Xu Bunian, utterly shocked, eyes full of disbelief.

“What’s wrong? Did I say something I shouldn’t have?” Xu Bunian was surprised by his reaction. The chairman himself had told him this—surely it couldn’t be wrong?

“It’s not that…” Chen Qi snapped out of it, forcing himself to look away and, after a few quick thoughts, put on a bitter expression and asked, “…How did you know?”

“Oh, that.” Seeing Chen Qi was simply surprised he knew these things, Xu Bunian hurried to explain, “I heard about it when I was reporting your situation to the chairman the other day.”

Chen Qi was at a loss for words.

He had never expected to learn such an astonishing truth in such a strange and unexpected way.

It turned out he wasn’t even a fake rich kid—he had nothing to do with that world at all.

“Did he tell you everything?” After a brief silence, Chen Qi asked, a little moved.

“Not everything. He just mentioned that you didn’t know about your family’s wealth, and that your parents pretty much stopped caring for you once you were old enough to remember things.” As he spoke, Xu Bunian watched his expression closely, and, not seeing any dramatic change, asked in disbelief, “Is it all true?”

No wonder he was curious—it all sounded too unbelievable. Was this really how the world of the rich worked? Hiding everything even from their own son? Then why bother making so much money? For some kind of dream?

Chen Qi gave a somewhat awkward laugh, neither admitting nor denying it.

His emotions were even more turbulent than Xu Bunian’s.

Unbelievable!

This kind of melodramatic plot, which he’d only seen in TV dramas, actually existed in reality—and, as luck would have it, was happening right beside him, so close as to be inescapable.

Art truly is drawn from life, he thought. At this moment, that was all he could say.

Now that he had this information, he finally had a vague outline of his family background, and many things that had puzzled him before suddenly made sense.

Thinking back, he really had been a bit pitiful in the past. There was a fortune at home, and yet he had to work as a tutor just to cover living expenses.

Xu Bunian, still driving, kept surreptitiously observing Chen Qi. Seeing his emotions hadn’t fluctuated too much, he spoke up again: “The chairman also remarked that day that you must have felt very wronged.”

Chen Qi gave another bitter smile.

Wronged?

That word really did seem appropriate.

“But the chairman also said that for you to get into Capital University, one of the country’s top schools, despite being left to your own devices, is no small feat. Even he admires you.”

“I admire him as well,” Chen Qi thought to himself.

To achieve such discipline and success with no one to guide him—he couldn’t imagine doing the same.

“He must have guessed early on that I’d notice the special treatment, right?” Chen Qi didn’t want to talk any more about the things he had only just learned himself.

“More or less,” Xu Bunian replied. “After all, you’ve made quite a few requests lately. Trying to meet your needs without letting you sense anything unusual… that’s no easy task.”

Chen Qi wholeheartedly agreed. If it hadn’t been for Manager Zhao’s willingness to accommodate his every request, he wouldn’t have suspected a thing based solely on the interview.

Xu Bunian added, “But it was all worth it. That advertisement you created really blew me away, and even the chairman couldn’t stop praising it once he found out.”

Chen Qi smiled, just about to ask another question, when Xu Bunian said abruptly, “We’re here.”

Chen Qi looked up and saw Xu Bunian driving into a tall building.

At the top of the building, four large characters were displayed—Elegant Group.

…

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