Four-Faced Buddha [To My Shore] - Chap 11
Chapter 11 The Root of Evil
2024-10-13 07:10 Category: Four-Faced BuddhaTurn off the lights
When You Shulang received Lu Zhen’s call, he was in a standoff with someone.
Lu Zhen was a bit clingy on the phone tonight, pouring out his heart three times in less than two minutes.
“I love you so much, Uncle You.”
You Shulang smiled. Lu Zhen’s declaration of love eased the slight irritation in his heart. With his back to the wind, he said gently, “Yes, I know.”
After saying a few more words, You Shulang put down the phone, turned around the corner, and saw Fan Xiao leaning against the wall, still holding that cup of milk tea in his hand.
“I already told you I’m not drinking it.” He tried to suppress his impatience. “I don’t like sweet things.”
The man opposite clicked his tongue and complained, “I bought this under the stars and moon, and it’s being treated so poorly.”
You Shulang took a few steps closer and beckoned with his slender fingers: “Give me a rouge.”
Fan Xiao suddenly smiled, somewhat obsequiously: “Well, so you’re addicted to it?”
“Addicted? Not really. I didn’t bring my cigarettes with me.” Holding a cigarette in his mouth, You Shulang lit it with the flame Fan Xiao had flicked. He squinted slightly. The rouge tasted strange at first, but once you got used to it, it felt like a feather, light and soft, yet constantly teasing the flesh on your heart, strangely alluring.
“Mr. Fan, is there something you need so late?” You Shulang raised the hand holding the cigarette and rubbed his temples with his thumb. He had worked overtime all night and now had a headache, so he didn’t want to argue with Fan Xiao.
With a soft “plop,” a thick straw was inserted into the plastic seal of the milk tea. Fan Xiao buried his head and took a sip, inhaling a mouthful of overly sweet fruit pieces of unknown origin.
“I heard your company is working overtime to finish my project proposal, and I felt bad about it, so I brought some tea and snacks to check on you.”
He opened the back door of the car, revealing two large bags of drinks and snacks on the seat. The man shook the milk tea in his hand: “This is a grand slam for you, but your attempt to flatter backfired.”
With his head bowed and smoke billowing, You Shulang chuckled: “What merit do I have to deserve Mr. Fan’s flattery?”
“Because you’re my only friend in this city.” Fan Xiao leaned against the wall of the office building, took another sip of milk tea, and then turned to look at You Shulang beside him. “You’re also my only source of joy here.”
These words sounded awkward, and You Shulang frowned slightly: “Can I take this as a mistake in your expression?”
Fan Xiao’s milk tea was almost empty. He sipped it through the straw with loud slurping noises, then nodded while chewing the dry ingredients in his mouth: “This is how it can be understood from now on.”
“You are my only one, but I am not your only one.” The man casually tossed the empty glass into the trash can, then turned and said, “That seems a little unfair.”
You Shulang was so angry he laughed. He glanced at Fan Xiao out of the corner of his eye while smoking a cigarette: “If you can’t speak properly, then don’t fucking speak. Your words don’t make sense.”
Upon hearing the profanity, Fan Xiao’s eyes showed surprise and interest. He bowed slightly to meet You Shulang’s gaze, his words full of teasing: “Director You, am I hallucinating? What happened to your principles of conduct? What happened to your gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality, and humility?”
“You still know about gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality, and humility? Then why can’t you speak clearly?” Even when joking, You Shulang didn’t back down. “Did you hear that this time? It wasn’t a hallucination.”
The banter went back and forth, and You Shulang waited for Fan Xiao’s reply, but it never came. He lifted his eyes to look over and saw in the man’s deep eyes a mixture of burning heat and cold, pulling and converging yet resisting each other.
The smile on his lips slowly faded. You Shulang examined himself to see why he had “lost control.” Logically, he and Fan Xiao were not close, and Fan Xiao was not someone he could joke with like that.
He took a step back, threw away his cigarette, and said, “I thank Mr. Fan on behalf of the project team. I’ll take the things upstairs now.”
Fan Xiao straightened up, as if he had just come to his senses. Instead of opening the car door to get his things, he said, “I was very clear in my words. You are my only one, but I am not yours.” He pointed through his clothes to You Shulang’s phone, which he had already put away, “Someone is still chatting with you this late.”
You Shulang pursed his lips and seriously considered whether children raised in tropical countries have different minds than Chinese people, or whether the seemingly mature and steady Fan Xiao was actually a bit dim-witted in some way, which was why he said such a thing.
“They’re different, how can you compare them?”
Fan Xiao pressed forward: “Why can’t we compare?”
“The object of your affection,” You Shulang said coolly, looking at Fan Xiao. “How do we compare?”
The two were very close, one looking up and the other looking down, a tense standoff ensued. But after a moment, one of them withdrew his gaze and stepped back; it was Fan Xiao.
He reverted to his usual gentle and polite demeanor, smiling as he said, “Girlfriend? That’s definitely not comparable.” He tossed a cigarette into his mouth, and as he lit it, he jokingly mumbled, “Director You, aren’t you worried that your girlfriend will feel lonely and get scammed while you’re working overtime tonight?”
He took off his cigarette and exhaled white smoke: “Is Director You still so confident that no one can steal your man?”
Though the words were delivered with a smile, You Shulang could detect the other man’s displeasure and a barely concealed…sourness. He fixed his gaze on Fan Xiao’s face, reassessing the possibility that he was gay.
It doesn’t seem like it… um… not really.
You Shulang is naturally gay and has a knack for judging people, but now he’s a bit unsure.
Aside from Lu Zhen, You Shulang has never been the object of any other man’s affections. His outward behavior is very straight, unlike that of a gay man. Lu Zhen also stumbled upon him by chance, hoping to turn a straight man into a gay man.
“If the corner of the wall can be pried open, it means there’s something wrong with how the building was constructed. I still have work to do, so I should go back.” With that, You Shulang walked into the office building.
“Where are these things?” Fan Xiao opened the car door.
You Shulang turned around, his face bearing a formulaic expression: “Since President Fan is thanking everyone for their hard work, it would be more thoughtful of you to personally present it to them.”
Fan Xiao watched the retreating figure, curled his lips, and muttered, “Damn.”
The latest version of the project plan of Bohai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was placed on the desk of the general manager of Pinfeng Venture Capital.
Fan Xiao flipped through the list casually and, sure enough, saw You Shulang’s name in the introductions of the project team members.
Bachelor’s degree in Clinical Medicine, Changling Medical University.
Fan Xiao searched on the computer and found that the school was in the city, a second-rate institution, not a good university.
After closing the page, Fan Xiao tossed the business plan aside. He wanted to let the pharmaceutical company cool off so that You Shulang would come to him on his own initiative.
If he refuses to invest at that time, will the value that Yu Shulang has been promoted be completely worthless?
“แกงจืดจึงรู้คุณเกือ (The higher you hold it, the harder it will fall).”
The soft sounds of Thai filled the room. Fan Xiao stroked the four-faced Buddha on his chest, smiling extremely handsomely…
There’s something strange.
If Fan Xiao doesn’t see the man named You Shulang for a long time, it’s as if he’s never known him at all, and he never thinks about him. But if Fan Xiao receives even the slightest information about that person, he can never forget him, and he’ll think about him while eating, drinking, and going to bed.
For example, right now, Fan Xiao’s mind keeps replaying a young face in a photograph.
“Mr. Fan, that concludes our introduction to the honeysuckle beverage project. Is there anything else you’d like to know?” The young project presenter turned to the last page of the PPT, feeling a little uneasy. The person in charge from the investor had been listening intently, barely changing his posture from beginning to end. He wondered what tricky questions the person might ask.
The man sitting with his back to the light had an elegant demeanor, with a handsome smile playing on his lips: “I don’t understand matters in my professional field, but I know that to understand a product, you have to dig into its roots. You need to understand the development history of its manufacturing company and the entrepreneurial story of its founder. For example, that photo that looks very informative, Mr. Huang, could you tell me about it?”
The man, referred to as General Manager Huang, was obese and elderly. Even in the air-conditioned room, he wiped the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief and turned to look at the photos hanging on the wall behind him.
“That one? Oh, that was six or seven years ago. I was leading my research team to tackle a project. Mr. Fan, have you heard of Changling Liver Protecting Tablets? That’s what I and my team developed.” The white-haired man sighed. “But the research and development results weren’t good. Now it’s very difficult to find Changling brand liver protecting tablets in pharmacies.”
“Your students are in Mr. Huang’s research team, right? Some of them look very young.”
The obese old man stood up, walked to the photo, and said with a smile, “At that time, Changling University had not yet established a pharmaceutical research and development company, but only a research and development center. The research projects were all done by professors and students. The people in the photo are basically my students. They were the most outstanding people back then.”
Fan Xiao also stood up, walked around the oval conference table, and went to the photo.
The photo is quite ordinary. A slightly thinner and younger Mr. Huang stands in front of the lab table with a group of energetic young people. Perhaps they have completed some milestone task, as everyone looks relaxed. They look at the camera, some smiling, some making funny faces, and one of them even holds up two fingers on Mr. Huang’s chubby head.
Fan Xiao’s gaze was fixed on the upper right corner of the photo, where a young man was leaning against the control panel.
The window was on the left, and sunlight streamed through the glass, illuminating his profile and blurring half of his features. Although he stood in the corner, his height was still evident, his long legs elegantly crossed, one hand resting on the workbench, the other hanging at his side, looking relaxed and carefree. His skin was very fair, inexplicably reminding Fan Xiao of the coconut-flavored milk tea he had drunk that day. The young man was thin, the kind of thin that exudes hope, his back still somewhat slender, yet already showing the beginnings of a majestic silhouette. He smiled like everyone else, tilting his head slightly, his eyes filled with a clear joy—a smile Fan Xiao had never seen on the face of any man he knew.
Suddenly, Fan Xiao felt a little depressed. He did the math and realized that he had been ignoring Bohai Pharmaceutical for almost a month, and You Shulang had been ignoring him for a month as well.
“Mr. Fan… Mr. Fan, is there anything else you want to know?” the plump old man asked while wiping his sweat.
Fan Xiao snapped out of his reverie and put on a smile: “Mr. Huang, would you mind if I took a picture of this? Looking at it gives me more confidence in the project we’re working on now.”
The old man was pleasantly surprised and quickly said, “No problem at all, Mr. Fan, would you like me to print another sheet?”
The phone flashed twice, and the easy-going Mr. Fan said, “Thank you very much.”
He continued, “Let’s talk about the advantages of honeysuckle drinks compared to similar products. By leveraging distribution channels to amplify these advantages, we can first broaden the market before focusing on profit, thereby generating economic benefits.”
Two days later, in the trash can next to Fan Xiao’s desk, the torn photographs lay dead. The plump old man, the cheerful student, the sunlight that filled the room, and that scissor-hand gesture—none of them escaped their fate.
Only the young man with a faint smile in the upper right corner was tucked inside a thick Buddhist scripture.
“พลาดไปนิด ฉลาดขึ้นหน่อย.” (Many evils begin with a smile.)
