*Chapter 26: Threads of Ambition*
The penthouse felt different when Zhao Liang's friends arrived — less suffocating, more alive. That evening, the investor was pacing restlessly, phone glued to his ear, barking orders about collapsing markets.
"You'll lose everything if you pull out now!" he shouted, before hanging up and throwing the phone onto the couch. "God, these idiots. You try to make them rich, and they fight you like you're stealing from them."
The hotelier leaned back lazily, sipping wine. "Maybe because you gamble like a lunatic. Some of us build things people can actually touch."
Li Xue, sketching quietly at the corner, smiled faintly at their bickering. Mei Yan, on the other hand, chimed in with amusement. "If you both put that energy into cooking, maybe I wouldn't starve every time I visit."
The investor groaned, but his eyes softened as he looked at her. "I could order you the entire city, if that's what it takes."
The others laughed, but Mei Yan's cheeks warmed, and she looked away.
Zhao Liang watched it all, silent as usual, his eyes unreadable. But when they landed on Li Xue, bent over her sketchbook, his jaw tightened.
He never asked what she was drawing, but she felt his gaze linger like a weight she couldn't shake.