I never wrote my thoughts on this but that's okay because I'm doing a re-read! Yay!

***

OMG YES! I remember now... I loved this book! character development and plot are 10/10 (To me who knows nothing about runing a company and stock market, to more knowledgeable ppl this might be dumb idk)
anyway, now I remember why this a 4star and not the five I really want to give. The middle part drags a little bit and the Xu Jing drama is a little annoying.
Like,dear author, you openly refer to Lin Huan as a tool man xD he has no fuckin lines! and that's very intentionally made by the author so, what the fuck is Xu Jing? He's a tool man with lines. No wonder he ends up on Lin Huan side.... they're the both sides of the tool man profile.

Anyway, I love Qi Yu (thanks god) I still hate Qi Feng and Ling Ke, I usually love when novels are connected and we get to see cameos but not here. I dnf'd Qi Feng's book because of how annoying and childish he is and his boyfriend is no better! Having to read about them being so childish here, with Qi Yu as a comparision was painful. Actually, when I read this the first time it was a fluke. I hated the "prequel" to this book so much that I didn't want to read about "Qi Feng's brother". I can0t remember why I started this book in the end, I think I left it cooking for so long that I forgot the context and ended up reading it and thanks god! because this is nothing like its predecessor.

About the characters I would say, Qi Yu was the weakest point and he's amazing. So not much critique on this front.
I call him the weak point because his deveolpment is a little clunky and inconsistent. Sometimes he's ridiculously dumb, which he aknowledges in restrospective but by then is already late! The mistakes have been made, you are a bussinessman my dear, you need to think deeply before acting! anyway, I won't be harsh on him he's in his early twenties so he's already doing amazing.

Fu Yansheng is goals xD peak boyfriend material... sometimes lol the way he stalked Qi Yu is a little creepy, but everything turned out for the best so I will forgive him his dark romance vibes lol
Qi Yuancheng is a deus-ex-machina. Whenever a plot point is hard or long to explain/develop, she would send Qi Yu back to the States and left all the mess to his father to fix behind the curtain and I approve of this move. Any more bussiness/stock explanation and I would've fallen as sleep. She found a good balance and we have Qi Yuancheng to thank for this.

The rest of the cast... I really like them. I really like Xu Jing too. Even as a tool man he had his highlights.
Ye Qinru is a precious little darling and we must protect him xD same as Su Jing. I loved this man from the first moment he step foot on that restaurant and called Ye Qinru on his bs xD Such a fresh air of sass lol

Anyway, the important thing about this book is that is a romance book and as such it stands. The strangers to "friends" to lovers is done wonderfully (if not a little creepily considering our darling Fu Yansheng started out as a stalker... kinda lol).
He was really patient and understanding of Qi Yu's times and need even though he was a first timer too lol
Is a sweet romance and as the title says, they both are black bellied lol always wanting to be top dog.
The mini theathers after each chapter were a good highlight too. Really funny to read :)

Re read value: top stars. I will read this again sometime in the future.

I still don’t understand business