15 2.2 (1/2)

After the funeral, attendees from the business circle felt they'd given enough face and politely said goodbye. The rest of the crowd drove over to Ren Jia's large, comfortable house and warmed up from the rain.

Feng Kuo had intended to leave as soon as the service was over, but he changed his mind when he recalled how Ren Daquan had taken care of him for several years.

Although Feng Kuo was now the undisputed boss of the sex trade around the world, he was born from a prostitute and grew up alone on the streets after she'd died.

He met Ren Daquan when he was ten years old. Rushing to shake off a man he'd stolen from, he'd run into the street without looking and been knocked over by Ren Daquan's car. Feng Kuo, who had simply gotten some scrapes and bruises, jumped into the car and asked to hide.

At that time, Ren Daquan was in his mid-thirties. His business was stable, but the Ren family was only relatively well off. It would take almost another decade before Ren Jia rose to today's heights.

Nevertheless, once Ren Daquan learned about Feng Kuo's circumstances, he spent a great deal of money and effort to take care of him. Yang Shu naturally was informed as well and wanted to raise him in their home, but Feng Kuo was skittish of strangers and refused. All the couple could do was to give him money and make sure he was eating.

This continued for six years.

When Feng Kuo was fifteen, he'd set up several bordellos, and through his keen understanding of the industry, he had rapidly gained distinction within a year, his fame even reaching Ren Daquan's ears.

The sex trade wasn't illegal in B Country, but it was inextricably linked to the black market. Ren Daquan and Yang Shu viewed the youth as family and hoped that he would lead a wholesome life, so when they found out about his business, they were greatly disappointed. They attempted numerous times to persuade him to change. Inevitably, however, the relationship eventually became estranged, with twenty years passing since their last encounter.

Coming back from his memories, Feng Kuo took a shot of whiskey from the circulating waiters and watched the Ren family greeting their guests.

Yang Shu remained elegantly beautiful as he remembered, but her pallid complexion and the fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes revealed her grief. Next to her were two women who resembled her very much. The one wearing professional black pantsuits was probably the younger daughter, Ren Chun, making the other Ren Qiu.

In the past, Ren Daquan had often spoken about his children, fondly complaining about the eldest's puppy love and the second child's fixation on her allowance money. Then, when Feng Kuo was fifteen, Ren Daquan had suddenly hugged him and joyously announced that his wife gave birth to a baby boy. Feng Kuo had barely seen a few photographs of the ball-like newborn before he became distant from the Ren family.

Shifting his attention to the young man standing on the other side of Yang Shu, Feng Kuo scanned through the background report on Ren Yijun that he'd ignored before. He seemed to be an unexceptional, coddled boy. His grades were average, his personality soft, and his friends exclusively from rich families.

The single slightly intriguing element was the few cases where several peers from poor backgrounds had tried to get closer to him and he had mercilessly snubbed them, even outright bullying them. But that, too, could be disregarded as typical of a young master.

On paper, Feng Kuo's assessment of Ren Yijun was a talentless brat who only knew to act snobbish.

He would have believed it if he hadn't caught the brilliant and faintly evil flash in the young man's eyes earlier.

Feng Kuo's gaze roamed over Ren Yijun's sharp features, which were softened by the kind smile hung on his thin lips and the endearing tear-shaped mole below his right eye. The youth's figure wasn't short, about 175 centimetres, but the delicate waist, long slim legs, and upturned buttocks combined to form an elfin impression.

Well, his looks alone made him worth a meeting.

Satisfied with his inspection, Feng Kuo headed over to Yang Shu with a few of his bodyguards. She greeted him warmly, asking after how he'd been and sharing a few memories, all without introducing him to her children. Ultimately, she'd accepted that Feng Kuo had his own life, but that was an different issue entirely from letting her babies get mixed up in such circles.

Chen Yu had felt the male lead appraising him with hot eyes and noticed him approaching, but he didn't pay much attention. Yang Shu hadn't presented them to each other, and Feng Kuo wasn't a target of interest to him. He simply considered up to the point of whether Du Guang would meet her fated partner earlier than in the original plot then lost interest.

Feng Kuo was a businessman, he certainly knew how to read the atmosphere. Yang Shu was unwilling for her family to meet him, and Ren Yijun had taken the cue, turning away to make small talk with other guests.