Chapter 526

Chapter 526 Li Yongheng!

Hearing the two waiters’ words, Lin Aoxue raised an eyebrow.

Su Rui, however, said meaningfully: “It seems you matter a great deal to them.”

The logic was simple — if Lin Aoxue’s status weren’t important, these two waiters would never have risked getting fired to bend the rules for her.

“But they don’t matter to me.” Lin Aoxue said, her expression still blank.

She was wearing a form-fitting sapphire blue evening gown that left nothing of her figure to the imagination, her smooth curves enough to make international top models feel ashamed of themselves.

Inside the banquet hall of Huaning Club, a man in a white suit was surrounded by a flock of beautiful women, who gazed at the tall, handsome man in their midst without the slightest attempt to hide their adoring eyes.

If looks could carry actual heat, this man would have been melted on the spot.

“Yongheng, now that you’re back from abroad, are you staying for good?”

“Yongheng, it’s been years — you’re more dazzling than ever.”

“Yongheng, do you have time after the banquet tonight? I’d love to buy you a drink…”

The man was clearly the star of the evening, with the women constantly calling out “Yongheng, Yongheng,” prompting some of the male guests to quietly curl their lips in disdain.

The man looked to be only around thirty, exceptionally well-maintained, with smooth skin, a tall frame, and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose that gave him a refined, well-educated air.

His name was Li Yongheng, the younger brother of Li Yongxing, Ninghai’s newly crowned richest man — though the age gap between the two brothers was quite something… a full twenty years.

The Li family’s elderly couple had welcomed this youngest son late in life and doted on him endlessly, yet Li Yongheng never let it go to his head, always maintaining a humble and careful demeanor.

Thanks to Li Yongxing’s meteoric rise in the financial markets, riding a surging stock market all the way to the top of the wealth rankings, the taller, more handsome, and considerably younger Li Yongheng had also become enormously sought-after, turning into the golden bachelor every woman in Ninghai dreamed of marrying.

Word had it that Li Yongheng had returned to the country this time to join forces with his older brother and lead the Li family to even greater glory.

Now that the title of Ninghai’s richest man was already in hand, the title of China’s richest man couldn’t be far off.

If they could overtake the few mega-families at the top of the country, the Li family of Ninghai would become, without question, China’s number one family.

Li Yongxing’s son, Li Chen, stood off to the side with a glass of red wine, sipping slowly while watching the direction where his young uncle stood, his eyes radiating envy.

In truth, his uncle was only a few years older than him, yet had outshone him since childhood by a wide margin, and Li Yongxing had poured even more energy into this younger brother than he ever had into Li Chen.

Of course, that was how Li Chen saw it — whether others felt the same was another matter entirely.

From a young age, Li Yongheng had been well-behaved and sensible, with a remarkable gift for business. He had started his own company at fifteen, and while studying at a university in the United States, he led the development of a mobile social app that secured tens of millions of dollars in venture capital and successfully went public two years later. That said, the app later became notorious as a hookup tool — but that’s a story for another time.

Li Chen, on the other hand, had been a troublemaker from childhood and hadn’t improved much as an adult. Although he had founded Chenhua Entertainment, it was largely built on his father’s reputation, and he had slept with nearly every actress the company had signed. Even though his image had gradually improved of late, and after bringing in several professional managers, Chenhua Entertainment had quietly grown strong enough to rival Mo Bofen’s Borui Entertainment — the Tian Xixi concert incident had wiped out all of Li Chen’s previous efforts in one fell swoop.

Recently, Li Yongheng had returned home draped in glory and was immediately appointed vice president of the family business. Li Yongxing, to celebrate his brother’s return, had specially hosted this banquet at Huaning Club — open only to Ninghai’s top-tier elite — with the express purpose of paving the way for Li Yongheng and transferring a portion of his own network to him.

This was something Li Chen resented with every fiber of his being, his dissatisfaction with Li Yongheng growing ever deeper. Why did his father treat him so well? Why did he only have mockery and impatience for his own flesh-and-blood son? In Li Chen’s eyes, he was destined to amount to nothing.

Li Yongheng was the protagonist, while he was a useless supporting character, left to sulk in a corner with his drink.

At that moment, a waiter squeezed through the crowd and whispered something in Li Yongheng’s ear.

Li Yongheng smiled faintly, with an air of easy grace: “It’s fine, go ahead and get back to work.”

Then he lifted his head and looked toward the entrance of the hall.

The beauties around him turned to follow his gaze, and saw a young man and woman walking in slowly.

The woman’s makeup was flawless, her face as lovely as a celestial being, her entire presence radiating a cool, otherworldly elegance.

The moment she appeared, she outshone every woman surrounding Li Yongheng.

A true ice goddess was simply not in the same league as these ordinary beauties.

“It’s Lin Aoxue.”

Someone murmured under their breath. The title of Ninghai’s most beautiful woman in business circles was far too well-known — countless people had longed to get close to this flower, and failed.

Many women shot envious glances her way. Their wealth might not be any less than hers, but they were all women — so why did she have such a figure, and why was she so beautiful?

Compared to Lin Aoxue’s radiant presence, Su Rui standing beside her seemed considerably less striking.

In the eyes of the crowd, Su Rui looked like a fairly ordinary man at first glance — decent-looking and reasonably built, but the kind of nobody who made people wonder how he had ever caught Lin Aoxue’s eye.

Most of the people present had heard a bit of gossip about the Lin family’s eldest daughter. It was at an industry banquet for pharmaceutical companies that the man now standing beside Lin Aoxue had publicly beaten Bai Wangchuan, the second young master of the Bai family, right then and there.

No one knew exactly how the Bai family had retaliated afterward, but the fact that this man called Su Rui was still walking around perfectly fine perhaps said something about his capabilities.

Many men stared with envy and resentment at the hand Lin Aoxue had hooked through Su Rui’s arm — such flawless, jade-like skin, and yet it was not theirs to enjoy.

“Nothing but a kept man.” A contemptuous voice drifted out from a corner.

Lin Aoxue’s steps faltered, her expression growing a shade colder, while Su Rui showed no reaction whatsoever, the faint smile never leaving his face.

“Ignore them.” Lin Aoxue’s gaze was like ice as she swept a glance toward the direction the voice had come from.

Her reaction was exactly like a mother protecting her cub — a little mother… leopard, unwilling to see Su Rui suffer even the slightest grievance.

Su Rui naturally didn’t care. Other people’s opinions had almost zero effect on him. Never mind that he wasn’t a kept man — even if he were, so what? Having such a stunning woman by his side, with everything provided for him, was something he’d actually welcome with open arms.

Su Rui was just that unambitious. Compared to some great hero saving the world, he’d rather be a homebody, living a quiet and uneventful life.

Unfortunately, ideals are full and round, while reality is lean and bony.

The more a person wants to avoid trouble, the more easily trouble finds them.

At least, Su Rui could feel two rather sharp gazes locking onto him from different directions at that very moment.

One gaze was direct, even laced with venom.

The other was subtle, sizing him up quietly.

Su Rui turned his head and caught sight of Li Chen in the corner — this once high-flying young master of the Li family was now wearing a dark expression, glaring at Su Rui with murderous intensity, as if he wanted to swallow him whole.

If it weren’t for this guy illegally detaining him for several days, how could Tian Xixi have missed the concert? And how would Chenhua Entertainment have suffered such a crushing defeat because of it?

Li Chen wanted nothing more than to tear Su Rui apart piece by piece.

What he couldn’t figure out, though, was why the man who had stood up for Tang Nilanduo was now appearing at Lin Aoxue’s side.

Su Rui gave a cold smile and turned to meet the other, more subtle gaze.

He spotted Li Yongheng standing behind the cluster of pretty women.

Li Chen, watching from his corner as Su Rui dismissed him so completely, grew even more furious, his fingers around the stem of his wine glass turning white.

Su Rui didn’t know Li Yongheng, but he could easily tell that the man surrounded by the crowd was without a doubt the star of tonight’s event.

Li Yongheng smiled faintly, parted through the group of women, and walked up to Su Rui and Lin Aoxue, saying: “Aoxue, it’s been a long time since we last met in Ninghai.”

A flicker of mild surprise crossed Lin Aoxue’s eyes: “I didn’t expect you to be back.”

“I’ll be shifting my focus entirely back home from now on. I hope we’ll have more contact and opportunities to work together going forward.” Li Yongheng didn’t say much more. He glanced at Lin Aoxue, gave Su Rui a slight nod, then turned and walked away.

Su Rui curled his lip. The little trick of playing hard to get didn’t escape his notice — he could tell that this Li Yongheng seemed somewhat displeased.

It must have been him who had instructed the waiters to give Lin Aoxue special attention earlier.

As it turned out, Li Yongheng was indeed displeased. He had been Lin Aoxue’s senior in middle school, and had harbored a secret crush on this ice-cold girl since their student days, even hinting at his feelings at one point — only for her to remain entirely focused on her studies, with zero interest in anything between a man and a woman. Li Yongheng had no choice but to retreat in defeat, and after graduation he went abroad.

He stayed away for over ten years.

During those ten years, Li Yongheng hadn’t gone without relationships, but Lin Aoxue’s eyes — pure and clear as ice water — had never stopped drifting through his mind, impossible to shake, etched deep in his heart.

He knew this was an obstacle in his life that he had to overcome.

In other words, he had to conquer Lin Aoxue. Apart from this ice-cold woman, he truly could not think of anyone else worthy of becoming his wife.

The flock of ordinary beauties around him? Were they even in the running?

This time, his older brother Li Yongxing had invited all of Ninghai’s top business figures to welcome him home — in Li Yongheng’s eyes, this was an enormously face-giving occasion. Every man cares about face, every man has a desire to possess, and he wanted Lin Aoxue to see him at his most brilliant.

What a pity, then, that Lin Aoxue had actually come with a man this time.

Watching the two of them walk in arm in arm, so clearly an intimate couple, sent a wave of aching pain through Li Yongheng’s heart.