Shen Chi Yan studied himself in the surveillance footage, struck by the contrast. Instead of his current crisp suits, his younger self wore a simple white T-shirt, his hair casually styled and his eyes alive with spirit. That version of himself wore an expression he barely recognized - a brilliant, almost cocky grin that radiated youthful confidence.
Though the face in the footage was unmistakably his own, Shen Chi Yan felt like he was watching a stranger. He couldn't remember ever smiling like that, so open and unguarded.
His childhood had never allowed for such lightness. With Shen Zhenghao perpetually absent at work and Gu Zhiyan always away filming, his parents were little more than occasional visitors in his life. His grandmother, determined to mold him into the perfect heir to the Shen family, had ruled his youth with an iron discipline. While other children enjoyed their holidays, he was shipped off to military-style training camps. When his peers were discovering video games and first crushes, he was learning the family business from the ground up, working entry-level positions at his grandmother's insistence.
The result was a young man who kept everyone at arm's length, who couldn't imagine showing such warmth to a stranger in a store. So what had changed during that time?
The surveillance system offered no audio, leaving him to guess at what his past self was saying.
When he pulled out a phone in the footage, the poor quality and aged system rendered the screen a blur. Yet his recorded self kept staring at that screen with an expression of pure joy, looking utterly lovestruck.
Shen Chi Yan replayed that moment repeatedly, trying to make out the girl's image, but the pixels remained stubbornly unclear. Then he remembered - that phone. He'd seen it at the old house, in his bedroom.
The realization sent him rushing to his childhood home. He found the obsidian black phone exactly where he remembered it, tucked away in his bedside drawer. The screen was shattered, damaged in the same accident that had taken his memories. After hunting down a charger for the long-dead device, he plugged it in and waited.
When the screen finally flickered to life, his breath caught. The wallpaper showed a pink starry sky - identical to the one the girl from his dreams had drawn.
Shen Chi Yan took a deep breath and typed in the password.
"Wrong password, you have two attempts remaining." The robotic female voice made him grimace. This didn't make sense - he used the same password for everything: his grandmother's birthday. How could it be wrong?
He considered trying his own birthday, then immediately dismissed the idea. Even back then, he wouldn't have been that predictable. After a moment's thought, he tried Lin Qiu Tong's birthday.
"Wrong password, you have one attempt remaining."
If he remembered correctly, this was a custom phone Yu Sinian had given him for his eighteenth birthday. Without hesitation, he called Yu Sinian.
When the call connected, he heard a cat's soft meow before his friend's voice.
"Little Black, daddy needs to take this call." Yu Sinian's pet was actually a white Angora - he'd named it Little Black because he thought calling a white cat Little White was too obvious.
"What's got you calling so late?"
"That phone you gave me for my eighteenth birthday - remember it?"
"Of course I do. Unlike some people, my memory works just fine!"
Shen Chi Yan let the jab slide. "I can't remember the unlock password. Any way to retrieve it?"
"How many tries you got left?"
"Two down already."
"Then for heaven's sake, don't try a third time unless you're absolutely sure!"
"What are you talking about?"
"That phone was custom-made - enter the wrong password three times and everything inside gets wiped clean."
Shen Chi Yan felt a wave of relief wash over him. Thank god he hadn't tried that third password on a hunch. If he'd been wrong…
"There has to be some way to unlock it if you forget the password."
"Nope."
"That's impossible."
Yu Sinian let out a derisive laugh. "When we were setting it up, I asked if you wanted a password recovery feature. You said no - insisted you'd never forget your password."
Shen Chi Yan wanted to curse at his past self. What had possessed him to change the password in the first place?
"You're sure there's no other way?"
"If there was, don't you think I'd tell you? Your only option is to remember that password yourself. And you'd better be damn sure before you try it."
Shen Chi Yan ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Hey, what would make someone change their phone password?"
"Ask Ke Qin about that - she's always changing passwords and forgetting them."
Yu Sinian had a point. Shen Chi Yan sent Ke Qin a quick message on WeChat.
Her reply came almost immediately:
[People change passwords all the time! Usually it's something meaningful - an anniversary, their crush's birthday, stuff like that. Why are you asking, brother?]
[No reason. Get some sleep.]
Ke Qin: "..."
Staring at the phone in his hands, Shen Chi Yan's mind raced. If it was a crush's birthday, why hadn't Lin Qiu Tong's worked? Maybe they'd had some special anniversary date?
Shen Chi Yan racked his brain until his temples throbbed, but the memories remained stubbornly out of reach.
A wave of frustration washed over him - what had he been doing during that blank period of time?
After a restless night, Shen Chi Yan arrived at the office looking haggard. He radiated such a dark, irritable energy that colleagues instinctively steered clear of him.
The challenges at work only added to his strain.
Dingsheng Group had already saturated the domestic market. To drive further growth, Shen Chi Yan needed to break into foreign markets - and that meant finding the right partners.
The Smiths was his ideal collaborator, but there was a problem. The man was completely under his wife's thumb, and Daphne had taken an apparent dislike to Shen Chi Yan. As a result, their potential partnership remained in limbo.
"What have you found out?"
"The couple is inseparable - no obvious weak points to exploit. But there's something else... Zhou Mingsheng from Hongsheng Group recently introduced his wife to the Smiths. They hit it off immediately. The Smiths are now considering a partnership with Hongsheng."
Shen Chi Yan's brow furrowed deeply. After a long pause, he turned to Li Nanxun and said evenly, "Get Song Qi Nian up here."
Li Nanxun could guess what Shen Chi Yan had in mind. He gave a slight nod. "Right away."
When Song Qi Nian received the summons, anxiety crept in. She had no idea what Shen Chi Yan wanted, especially after their unpleasant encounter the night before.
Reaching the eighteenth floor, she quickly typed a message to show Li Nanxun:
[Secretary Li, any idea why Shen Chi Yan wants to see me?]
"You'll find out when you go in."
Song Qinian: "..."
A sense of foreboding settled over her.
But she was already here - might as well face whatever was coming. At least Shen Chi Yan wouldn't kill her.
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