Unforgettable Touch - Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – Trumpet vs. Trumpet

“You’re seriously switching careers to become a male model?” Hao Le asked in shock.

Shu Zhenshan kept up his dumbbell bench presses, turned his head slightly to glance at him, and gave a one-syllable answer: “Mm.”

Hao Le zigzagged around the gym equipment scattered on the floor and finally managed to hop over to Shu Zhenshan’s side. “No wonder the CEO’s office turned into a gym! Hey, watch it—don’t drop that on my foot! By the way, Ms. Patti…”

Shu Zhenshan put down the dumbbells. His tight-fitting shirt clung to his defined chest muscles. “Don’t bother asking—I already had Uncle Wu make you soy sauce chicken in advance.”

“Oh my god.” Hao Le was startled and overwhelmed. “Ah Zhen, you’re suddenly so thoughtful.”

Expressionless, Shu Zhenshan pulled up their WeChat chat history and shoved it in his face.

Just last week, Hao Le had sent the words “soy sauce chicken” 47 times, “Uncle Wu” 26 times, “When is Uncle Wu coming back from vacation?” 39 times, along with numerous “ahhh”s and “I want chicken” memes.

Hao Le: “It was my golden hamster using my phone.”

Patti came over with a plate of glistening, tender soy sauce chicken and smiled sweetly. “Mr. Hao, please enjoy.”

Hao Le immediately lit up with joy and dove in. In no time, he’d built a little tower of chicken bones.

Meanwhile, Shu Zhenshan switched to another weight and began doing bicep curls. Hao Le, cheeks puffed out with chicken, mumbled, “I don’t think you’re trying to be a model… chomp chomp… you’re going into the industry, aren’t you?”

“Some people just eat and don’t train. If they tried to jump into the sea, they couldn’t even pull off a wave-flip,” Shu Zhenshan replied flatly.

Hao Le’s slow reaction spared him the insult. Then he suddenly snapped out of it. “Oh! You’re preparing for your keynote at next month’s tech summit?”

Shu Zhenshan raised a brow. “Mm-hmm.”

“…Holy crap.” Hao Le took a step back in shock. “Shu Zhenshan, why are you in such a good mood? Did you take stimulants?”

Not exactly—but in his drawer lay a freshly signed lease contract for a space in the tech park, complete with eight personal signatures and stamps from Ran Buyue.

That meant two things: one, Ran Buyue would be opening his studio in Shu Zhenshan’s tech park; two, he had declined Li Yao’s job offer; and three, in the near future, their offices would be less than 200 meters apart.

Above that lease was another contract—the finalized cooperation proposal. The long-vacant “Party B” section now read “ROAM Industrial Design Co., Ltd.”

At next month’s Hong Kong Tech Summit, Shu Zhenshan would be attending as the Executive Director of Yanchuan Tech, publicly sharing their achievements and plans in the robotics field. This would also mark Yanchuan Group’s first public participation in a major tech event.

Thinking about how this invitation would soon land in Ran Buyue’s inbox made Shu Zhenshan unexpectedly nervous.

He wasn’t sure if Ran Buyue would accept—or more likely, he might reject it.

After all, it was Shu Zhenshan who had given up on their shared dream first. Ran Buyue had no reason to welcome back someone who had once abandoned the cause.

Compared to cooperating, maybe getting him into bed was more feasible.

After finishing his final set, Shu Zhenshan racked the dumbbells.

Hao Le, delicately gnawing on the last chicken leg, trying not to miss a single shred of meat, asked curiously, “So you’re gonna start building a team now? I know you’ve already snagged a few professors and PhDs—tech side’s covered. What about your lead designer?”

Shu Zhenshan: “Still undecided.”

Hao Le: “You’re not gonna like what I’m about to say, but Ah Ran Buyue is really damn good. Have you thought about bringing him in?”

Shu Zhenshan: “No.”

Hao Le: “…Petty! Stubborn! Unreasonable!”

Shu Zhenshan replied blandly, “Unless he wins me over with his talent.”

Hao Le: “The money he’ll make you could buy ten million of those tacky suits you wear!”

Shu Zhenshan: “I’ll hold a public recruitment for the design team. Hopefully, he applies.”

Hao Le growled, “Then I’ll stop him from applying! I’ll tell him Yanchuan’s CEO is a cold-blooded, heartless, absolutely vile villain!”

Shu Zhenshan called out, “Patti, take Mr. Hao’s dish away.”

Hao Le’s face turned to terror. He clutched the plate, with half a chicken leg left, and slid dramatically to his knees, begging for mercy. “No, no, no! I’ll praise you to Ah Ran! I’ll tell him you’re kind, gentle, virtuous, a one-of-a-kind treasure who could conquer heaven and earth—just let Uncle Wu keep cooking chicken for me!”

A vein pulsed in Shu Zhenshan’s forehead. “Get out.”

Hao Le scrambled out, hugging the bowl and waving his phone as he left. “When Uncle Wu’s free again, don’t forget to invite—me—ah—!”

Every time Shu Zhenshan saw their chat, it gave him a headache. Hao Le always hogged the most storage space, treating Shu’s inbox like a food diary, constantly sending photos and videos of meals from obscure places. One moment a chicken’s strutting around, and the next, it’s golden-brown and mouthwatering.

In contrast, not only did Shu Zhenshan not have Ran Buyue’s private WeChat—he didn’t even have his personal phone number.

If things continued this way, he wouldn’t achieve either of his two goals.

As always, Shu Zhenshan was swift and decisive. He’d never passively wait and miss his chance. If he wanted something, he’d take it—decisively, fiercely, and with style.

Ten minutes later, Tian Xiaozhe’s phone chimed.

“Boss, can you check that message for me? Is it the carpenter?” Tian Xiaozhe was slurping spicy noodles while striking a flamboyant pose, indicating for Ran Buyue to grab the phone from his pocket.

Ran Buyue pulled out the phone. It wasn’t a text—it was an email. The domain made his eyelid twitch. He opened it.

It was from Shu Zhenshan’s executive assistant, who introduced herself as Patti. The tone was extremely polite and formal: due to technical issues at the dry cleaner, it would take longer to determine a specific cleaning plan for the suit in question. They couldn’t provide a detailed invoice right away. For smoother communication, Patti asked if she could add Mr. Ran’s assistant on WeChat.

The humility of the language made it seem like they were the ones who owed money.

“…,” Ran Buyue was speechless. How could the private dry cleaner of a corporate CEO be this inefficient?

Tian Xiaozhe, like a hamster, asked, “Boss, is it the carpenter?”

“No. Your…”

Ran Buyue suddenly paused.

Once this payment was done, he and Shu Zhenshan would truly have no further ties. He would run his design studio; Shu Zhenshan would continue building his commercial empire. They’d have nothing to do with each other.

At that point, forget tasting—he might not even get a touch.

Tian Xiaozhe bit into a marinated egg. “My what?”

“Nothing,” Ran Buyue replied. “Wrong message. Just spam.”

Tian Xiaozhe sighed as he slurped noodles. These days, scam texts and spam emails were more numerous than cockroaches in a Guangdong summer…

Ran Buyue calmly registered a new, blank WeChat account. He included it in his reply to Patti.

He changed the nickname to “AAA-ROAM Assistant Xiao Jiji,” picked a stock image of a classy businessman as the profile picture, set moments visibility to last three days, and chose a poetic cover: “I miss you at ROAM.” For a bio, he googled “trendy WeChat bios” and picked one at random: “Love makes time worthwhile.” Done.

This was the culmination of all his years of WeChat etiquette training abroad.

Soon, Patti’s friend request came through.

As expected from a top executive’s assistant, her avatar was incredibly professional: a long-haired woman in a tailored suit, wearing rimless glasses—a classic elegant beauty. Her nickname was the minimalist “Patti_Chen,” her cover photo showed the Yanchuan Group headquarters, and her bio read, “I’ve fought myself for so long, I’d rather just be me.” Her Moments were empty, set to three-day visibility.

Hmm, cultured and stylish.

Patti initiated the chat: “Hi, Mr. Tian.”

Ran Buyue: “Hello, Sister Patti.”

Patti politely apologized, explaining that Mr. Shu had promised to send the invoice within three weeks, but due to unforeseen circumstances, they couldn’t deliver on time and were very sorry.

“……”

They were supposed to be the creditors—why did they sound so apologetic? Truly refined people. Even Ran Buyue felt awkward now.

He was always cold and snarky toward Shu Zhenshan, often poking at him with sharp words. But facing his subordinate, he unexpectedly wanted to speak from the heart… How strange.

“Assistant Xiao Jiji” replied: “No need to apologize, Sister Patti. It was actually my boss who was at fault.”

After hesitating for a long time, Ran Buyue typed another line: “When will Mr. Shu be free? Mr. Ran would like to treat him to a meal to apologize in person.”

The typing indicator showed up instantly. Patti paused midway, then finally replied: “Okay. I’ll check Mr. Shu’s schedule first.”

Ran Buyue: Okay.

On the other end, Shu Zhenshan was flipping through his calendar.

Emotionally, he wanted to meet sooner. But logically, now wasn’t the right time. There was only one chance.

He had to wait until after announcing his robotics project and recruiting officially—after his tech summit keynote. Only then could he send Ran Buyue an invitation. Ran Buyue might reject him.

If that happened, he could use this “apology dinner” as a second chance to convince him face-to-face. So the dinner had to be after the summit.

But that night, Shu Zhenshan already had a prior engagement in Hong Kong. The earliest possible time would be lunch the next day.

He typed: “Just confirmed with Mr. Shu Zhenshan—he’s available starting on the 20th of next month.”

Ran Buyue did the math. That was the day after the summit. Fine.

Twenty seconds later, he replied: “Just asked my boss. He said the 20th works.”

Patti: “Got it.”

Jiji: “Thanks, Sister Patti ^^”

A moment later, the chat lit up again.

Jiji: “By the way, Sister Patti, can I ask something secretly?”

Patti: “Go ahead.”

Jiji: “Was Mr. Shu Zhenshan very angry about his ruined suit?”

Patti: “…Why are you asking?”

Jiji: “My boss feels really sorry for staining such an important outfit.”

Jiji: “It was very important… so Mr. Shu must’ve been very angry.”

Patti was silent for a long while before replying: “No, it was just an ordinary suit.”

Patti: “I think… he was upset because someone drank too much and insisted on drinking until they puked.”