Chapter 17: It was... Xi Mubai

"Xia Zhi," Junting called.

Xia Zhi turned his head to the source of the voice.

"Senior..." He said with a smile that stopped short on his face when he saw the man who accompanied Junting.

The man had a domineering presence that was hard to ignore. Even though Xia Zhi hadn’t met him for a few years, he recognized him immediately.

It was... Xi Mubai.

Trailing behind him was his assistant, Chang An whom he just met a few days ago.

Mubai gave the gangly teen a once-over. He felt the teen look fairly familiar.

Their path only crossed once, which was during his wedding to Xinghe.

Xia Zhi had grown in the past few years so it was natural Mubai couldn’t identify him instantly. Chang An, however, recognized him with just one glance.

Junting approached Xia Zhi, laughing as he said, "Your timing is as impeccable as always."

Xia Zhi ignored Mubai and focused on Junting. "Senior, thank you so much for your help. I couldn’t find anything better out there so I have to borrow from your private library."

Junting replied, "I would have lent you some sooner if you’d just asked, but I have to say, I don’t think you’ll be needing these reading materials any time soon."

The books were indeed far too advanced for Xia Zhi’s current level.

Xia Zhi knew he had to come clean so he said, "It’s not for me but my friend. She’s so good that she has no eyes for anything less than the best."

A shocked Junting replied, "Who is this friend of yours? Is it the same person who wrote the mini-game?"

"Yes, that’s the one..."

"Who is this person? You have to introduce her to me one day," Junting said. He was interested in this friend’s mysterious identity.

Xia Zhi nodded and said, "She’s a bit caught up with life at the moment. I’ll be sure to make the introduction when the opportunity presents itself."

"Alright, I’ll hold you to your promise. Here’s the books you wanted. Return them to me when she’s done with them," Junting said as he passed the bag he held in his hand to Xia Zhi.

"Thank you, senior. I’ll be leaving now..." Xia Zhi accepted the bag and left in a hurry.

"Xia Zhi, wait..." Junting called after him but he was already gone. Junting wanted to introduce him to Mubai.

Junting said rather indignantly, "Youngsters these days are always rushing somewhere. Can’t he recognize the famous CEO Xi?"

Mubai asked insouciantly, "Who is that guy?"

"That’s my junior from school, a good person and is quite a talent. I intend to let him join our company because I can see he’ll be a valuable asset after some training."

"He looks awfully familiar."

Chang An took the break in their conversation to cough lightly and whisper to Mubai, "CEO Xi, that’s Xia Zhi."

"Xia Zhi?" Mubai mulled over the name that he heard once before.

"He’s Miss Xia’s cousin."

Everything clicked instantly. It was truly an incredible coincidence.

Junting overheard their conversation so he asked, "Who’s Miss Xia? And how do you know Xia Zhi?"

"I suppose you can say that we are somewhat related but I didn’t expect the two of you to know each other as well."

Junting knew where to draw the line so he concluded, "It is indeed a small world. Those books happened to be chosen by you as well."

"What I did was merely pull a few titles off your shelf," Mubai said with a shrug but he was indeed curious who the books were for.

Those were some of the more difficult books in Junting’s collection.

One could say he was a bit miffed when he did the selection. He originally went looking for Junting but the latter said he needed some time to wrap up a project so he left him with a request while Junting went to finish his work. "Since CEO Xi is so well-read, I’m sure my inquisitive junior could benefit a lot from CEO Xi’s careful selection," were his exact words.