Chapter – 08
Two-in-One
Early the next morning, Yu Wei received news about Shi Ciyan’s hospital ward. He went to the office first to finish up his work, grabbed a quick bite for lunch, and then rushed to the hospital to visit.
Carrying a fruit basket, he walked into the ward. Aside from Shi Ciyan lying on the hospital bed, there was no one else in the room. Seeing him come in, Shi Ciyan struggled to sit up and lean against the headboard, his voice tinged with weakness. “You’re here.”
Yu Wei set down the fruit basket and helped him adjust his position. The hospital gown was loose, leaving the collar gaping open. Yu Wei took the opportunity to glance inside; he didn’t see any scars or bruises on the skin, and Shi Ciyan’s face was completely clean.
Did Yu Song inflict internal injuries, or have the wounds on his body already healed?
Whichever it was, to beat him badly enough to put him in the hospital meant Yu Song had truly been ruthless.
After helping Shi Ciyan sit up, Yu Wei placed a pillow behind his lower back to make him more comfortable. He pulled over a chair for himself, sat down, and breathed a sigh of relief after asking briefly about the situation and learning that it was nothing serious.
As Yu Wei chatted with him about what had happened over the past few days, he glanced around the room, suddenly feeling that something was amiss. It was a private room, but the furnishings were sparse. There were almost none of Shi Ciyan’s personal belongings, and even the small nightstand next to the hospital bed was completely empty, showing no signs of anyone actually staying there.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that Shi Ciyan had already been hospitalized for seven days, Yu Wei would have thought this was an empty ward that Shi Ciyan had just moved into.
Furthermore, he had been sitting in the room for nearly fifteen to twenty minutes, and not a single soul had walked in. Logically speaking, someone who had been hospitalized for a week should have family members accompanying them, but up until now, there wasn’t a shadow of anyone else around Shi Ciyan.
He looked toward the door and asked in confusion, “Why hasn’t anyone else come back yet?” Even if they had gone out for lunch, they should be back by now.
“There is no one else,” Shi Ciyan said.
“How can that be? You’ve been in the hospital for seven days. Did no one from your family come to stay with you?” Yu Wei was somewhat shocked.
Shi Ciyan shook his head and gave a bitter smile. “They are too far away, so they didn’t come over.”
“Then how have you been handling your three meals a day?”
“Ordering takeout.”
Yu Wei: “…” A patient eating takeout for seven days straight—was this a distortion of human nature or a moral degradation?
No wonder the Yu family ended up ruined and dead. Right upon their very first meeting, Yu Song had beaten the guy into the hospital, and then completely ignored him for seven whole days, leaving him unable to eat or sleep well. Who wouldn’t harbor resentment after being treated like that?
A few days ago, his secretary had given him a detailed dossier on Lin Hao’s family members. It was pretty much exactly as he had guessed: Lin Hao was Lin Yuchi’s cousin-uncle. While he was at it, he had also searched online for Lin Yuchi’s father, Lin Liang. As the CEO of the Jinyu Group, Lin Liang owned countless hotel chains, making Lin Yuchi a certified wealthy second-generation heir. However, the most frequent search results that popped up were negative posts and interviews splashed across various websites regarding the death of Lin Liang’s wife, and how Lin Liang’s mistress had moved into the house with her son.
Yu Wei couldn’t help but lament that, as expected, protagonists never seemed to have happy, blissful families.
Later, he had also searched for Shi Ciyan’s name. Finding no relevant information whatsoever, he made a preliminary judgment that Shi Ciyan must be the poor one.
Thinking up to this point, Yu Wei looked at him with eyes full of pity. “Have you had lunch yet?”
Shi Ciyan gently shook his head.
Yu Wei quickly stood up. “I’ll go buy some for you. Lie down for a bit.”
Without waiting for Shi Ciyan to say anything, Yu Wei dashed out the door. There were quite a few restaurants around the hospital, and since peak lunchtime had passed, they weren’t very crowded. Yu Wei looked around, picked a relatively high-priced restaurant, and used the “power of money” to straight-up order practically the entire menu.
When he was done, he paid an extra delivery fee to have it sent to the hospital—Second Floor, General Ward No. 13.
When Yu Wei returned, Shi Ciyan was staring expectantly at the door.
Look at how starved this poor kid is.
“You must be starving. The food will be delivered shortly.” He sat back down on the chair, picked up an apple from the fruit basket, and said, “Let me peel an apple for you first to tide you over.”
Shi Ciyan said okay. Just as Yu Wei was about to finish peeling it, Shi Ciyan suddenly asked, “Do you like apples?”
“Apples are nice and crunchy, so yeah, I like them. When I’m craving a snack, having an apple does the trick.” Completely oblivious, Yu Wei tossed the peeled skin into the trash can and asked back, “Do you like them?”
“I prefer bananas. They’re sweet, soft, and much more alluring.”
Yu Wei paused for a moment. “Then I’ll peel a banana for you. I can smell the fragrance of these bananas from a mile away.”
Setting down the peeled apple, he picked out a banana from the fruit basket. He peeled back the vibrant yellow skin to reveal the tender, smooth fruit inside, and the fragrance in the air grew even stronger.
Yu Wei handed the banana to Shi Ciyan. “You eat the banana, I’ll eat the apple.”
Shi Ciyan took it and stared at him while taking a bite of the banana. Feeling a bit strange and uncomfortable, Yu Wei asked, “What’s wrong? Does it not taste good?”
“It tastes good. Very sweet.”
Yu Wei chuckled. “I picked them out myself, so of course they’re sweet.”
Once they finished the fruit, the restaurant staff began delivering the food one after another. At first, Shi Ciyan could handle it calmly, but by the end, he looked completely bewildered as he watched the stream of employees continuously bringing in meals.
“I didn’t know what you liked to eat, so I just ordered one of everything.”
Shi Ciyan was forced to pick out two portions. Since the rest would go to waste if left uneaten, they distributed them to the other wards on the same floor.
After keeping him company through lunch, Yu Wei went back to work, planning to return and bring him dinner after clocking out in the evening.
Shi Ciyan stayed in the hospital for another week, and Yu Wei accompanied him for that entire week, yet there was still no news of his discharge.
While Yu Wei didn’t know the exact details of Shi Ciyan’s family situation, he knew the guy had no money. Since he had been hospitalized for two weeks now, Yu Wei estimated that Shi Ciyan’s already meager wallet must be entirely drained. He wanted to offer to pay the medical expenses, but he didn’t know how to bring it up, fearing he might hurt the guy’s pride.
Yu Wei pondered over it for two days. When he was delivering lunch over the weekend, he finally gathered the courage to offer him money on the pretext that Yu Song had beaten him up and owed him medical compensation. However, Shi Ciyan rejected it without a second thought.
Yu Wei felt helpless, but there was nothing he could do if the other party refused. It was his day off, and he had originally intended to stay by Shi Ciyan’s side a bit longer, but then he received a call from an unfamiliar number. Yu Wei stepped outside to answer it, and a lazy, somewhat shady-sounding male voice came through from the other end: “Let’s meet up this afternoon.”
Yu Wei frowned and asked back, “Who are you?”
Silence ensued on the other end. After a long while, the voice rang out again, “You don’t know who I am?”
Yu Wei rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, Why on earth should I know who you are? You’re not my dad. But on the surface, his tone remained calm. “I don’t have this number saved.”
The man on the other end let out a cold, impatient snort. “Haven’t you memorized my number by heart? Are you trying to play the deeply devoted persona with me right now?”
Yu Wei lost his patience too. “If you’re not going to tell me, I’m hanging up.”
“Lin Zerui,” the other side said through gritted teeth. “Yu Wei, you’ve got guts. I’ll send the address to your WeChat.”
Looking at the already disconnected call, Yu Wei had a look of utter bewilderment. He was familiar with the name Lin Zerui—he was Lin Hao’s son—but weren’t they supposed to be friends? What was up with this atrocious attitude? On the day of the negotiation, Lin Hao had made it sound like he and Lin Zerui were incredibly close, but looking at it now, that didn’t seem to be the case at all.
Could it be that they were friends in front of their elders, but behind their backs, they were bitter rivals who couldn’t stand the sight of each other?
Before Yu Wei could figure it out, his WeChat chimed. He switched over to the app, and at the very top was the address sent by his pinned contact.
When he had first transmigrated into this body, he had checked everyone’s chat logs, but this specific pinned contact had no nickname saved and contained very little useful information, so he hadn’t taken it seriously.
Yu Wei unpinned the chat, thought about it for a moment, and added a contact name for him.
Whether they were enemies or friends, Yu Wei didn’t really want to go see him, so he replied: “Why are we meeting?”
Lin Zerui: “Why do you have so much nonsense to say? Don’t tell me you want me to say it’s because I wanted to see you?”
Yu Wei: “?” This guy is so incredibly bizarre.
Lin Zerui: “It’s because my dad insisted that I meet with you, alright? Stop talking so much crap and get over here.”
Lin Hao wanted them to meet?
Yu Wei: “Fine, I’ll go.”
The other side didn’t send any more messages, so Yu Wei put his phone away. Lin Hao was his client after all, and as for what kind of person Lin Zerui was, it would be best to go see for himself.
Yu Wei went back into the ward and told Shi Ciyan that he had things to take care of this afternoon and had to leave. Shi Ciyan looked incredibly reluctant, looking up at him expectantly like an abandoned puppy. “Okay, I’ll just order some takeout to get by tonight. Go ahead and do your work.”
Yu Wei originally thought leaving for a bit was no big deal, but hearing him say this made his heart ache for him. He patted his head and said, “I’ll finish up early and come back around dinner time.”
Uncle Wang had driven him there at noon. Since he had planned to stay at the hospital until evening, he had told Uncle Wang to go back first and pick him up later.
Today was a day off, and Yu Wei didn’t want to trouble him further, so he called a taxi on his phone.
The address Lin Zerui sent wasn’t far away; he arrived after a seven to eight-minute ride. Yu Wei paid the fare, got out of the car, and peered around the roadside in confusion.
There were all kinds of buildings around, including a bar to his left. People were coming and going on the street, but after standing by the roadside for several minutes, he didn’t see anyone coming toward him.
Yu Wei pulled out his phone and sent a WeChat message to Lin Zerui saying he had arrived and asking where he was.
Only after a long while did the other party reply: “Inside Yuese (Moonlight).”
Yuese?
Yu Wei turned around to look at the neon sign flashing in broad daylight, which vividly displayed the words “Yuese.”
Meeting at a bar?
Yu Wei shoved his phone back into his pocket, walked over to the entrance of the bar, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.
The interior was completely different from the outside. Despite it being daytime, it was dimly lit inside with flashing colored lights, and the air was filled with a mix of various scents, causing Yu Wei to frown slightly in discomfort. The only thing he could tolerate a little was the soft, slow music.
If this person hadn’t been Lin Hao’s son, Yu Wei would have turned around and left right then and there.
As Yu Wei walked further inside, he suddenly realized that there didn’t seem to be a single woman around. Instead, there were guys wearing heavy makeup, short shorts, and ultra-short crop tops that exposed their waists, walking like snakes with their hips swinging miles wide.
That’s right, the key point was that they were guys!
Yu Wei was profoundly shaken.
He froze on the spot, the expressions on his face shifting unpredictably. Two guys passed right by him, and despite how wide the walkway was, they insisted on brushing right against his body. Yu Wei flinched violently and wanted to turn around and bolt.
He had accidentally stumbled right into a gay den.
Yu Wei was trembling with sheer terror.
At this moment, Yu Wei couldn’t care less that he had an appointment here, nor could he care less that the other party was his big client Lin Hao’s son; his entire mind was fixated solely on the bar exit just two meters away from him.
He had to leave—now, immediately, this instant.
He had just turned around and before he could even take a step to run, a hand draped over his shoulder, and someone leaned in close to his ear, breathing warm breath against him: “Baby, are you alone?”
Yu Wei’s entire body went stiff, rendering him unable to move. But his mouth couldn’t help but snap back, “If I were half a person, wouldn’t I scare you to death?”
The person behind him seemed to find his response hilarious and burst into non-stop laughter, sending hot breath all over the side of his neck. Yu Wei’s eyes turned red with anger at the sound of this laughter. He brought his foot down hard, stamping brutally onto the toes of the person behind him. The loud laughter cut off instantly. However, the smile didn’t disappear; instead, it transferred to someone else’s face. This time, the laughter was even louder and more arrogant.
“Not seeing you for a few weeks, Yu Wei, you’ve actually become quite a bit more interesting.”
This person’s voice carried a hint of laziness, and his tone was haughty, as though speaking a few words to someone else was an act of charity.
Yu Wei curled his lip in disdain; even as a young master himself, he didn’t put on airs as much as this guy did.
Wait a minute.
Why did this voice sound so familiar?
Yu Wei thought about it for a second, and suddenly realized that the other party had just called him by his name.
Yu Wei turned his head toward the source of the sound. Not far from him, two curved sofas were pushed together. The person was sitting in a position that happened to have his back turned toward him, so Yu Wei could only see the back of his head.
He tentively called out, “Lin Zerui?”
Lin Zerui threw his head back and downed a glass of alcohol, saying casually, “Why are you still standing there? Come over here and let me look at you.”
This tone was like summoning a stray cat or dog, utterly devoid of respect. Yu Wei felt incredibly displeased, and he didn’t want to stay in this environment either. But since he was already here, he figured he would just see him and leave. Forcing himself forward, he walked up to the sofa, originally planning to sit opposite him. However, when he saw the scene in front of him, his footsteps froze on the spot.
The back of the sofa was very high. Earlier, when he was standing far away, his line of sight had been blocked, and he could only see the back of Lin Zerui’s head. But now that he was close, he discovered that Lin Zerui had his arms full—two delicate-looking but scantily clad young boys were resting in his embrace.
Lin Zerui’s hands were currently slipping unfaithfully beneath the pathetic scraps of fabric covering the boys’ bodies.
Yu Wei had been an upright, law-abiding person for most of his life. Having never witnessed such a scene before, he stood dazed on the spot for a moment, completely unsure of how to react.
Lin Zerui kept his eyes fixed on Yu Wei, enjoying his expression while his hands continued to grope the boy next to him. The young boy whimpered and leaned deeper into his chest, his eyes misting over as he twisted his body to press even closer. “Young Master Lin~”
Hearing this overly sweet, whiny “Young Master Lin” made Yu Wei shudder all over, goosebumps breaking out across his skin.
“What did you call me here for? If there’s nothing, I’m leaving,” Yu Wei said, barely suppressing his disgust.
Only then did Lin Zerui push away the boy next to him and give him a look. The boy reluctantly stood up to vacate the spot.
“Come sit down.” Lin Zerui patted the space the boy had just cleared and said to Yu Wei.
Yu Wei’s face was filled with resistance. His patience had reached its absolute limit. “If you have something to say, just say it.”
Suddenly, a soft, boneless hand appeared at his waist. Before Yu Wei could even react, the person pushed him toward Lin Zerui.
Caught completely off guard, Yu Wei stumbled forward two steps. Reacting with lightning speed, he caught himself by propping his hands on the coffee table in the center. But in the next second, a hand clamped tightly around his wrist, and a surge of brute force dragged him straight into a lap.
“Are you fucking insane?!” Yu Wei trembled with rage. Yet, as if completely blind to his struggles, Lin Zerui hooked an arm tightly around his waist to confine him, using his free hand to open WeChat and initiate a video call.
While waiting for the other side to pick up, Lin Zerui turned his head to look at Yu Wei, his face filled with mockery. “I know you’re mad, but don’t get angry just yet.”
“Lin Zerui, you went to a bar again!” Lin Hao’s furious voice erupted from Lin Zerui’s phone. “Didn’t I tell you to go ask Xiao Wei out? You went out to mess around again! I’m telling you, if you do anything to make Xiao Wei…”
Lin Zerui applied a bit of force, forcing Yu Wei to lean against his chest, and shoved the phone right in front of Yu Wei’s face. On the other end of the screen, Lin Hao saw Yu Wei sprawled against Lin Zerui’s chest, and his attitude instantly did a complete 360-degree turn. “Oh, so Xiao Wei is there too! That’s good, that’s good. You two have fun, I won’t disturb you then.”
The moment the call disconnected, the grip on his waist loosened. Yu Wei, who had still been struggling just a second ago, lost the force holding him back and tumbled onto the adjacent sofa due to inertia. Lin Zerui sat there watching the show with an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips. “I’m not even interested in you. I just made a video call to report back. It’s not like this is the first time, is it really necessary to react like this?”
Yu Wei scrambled up from the sofa, glaring at him so hard his eyes practically popped out of his skull.
“Your temper is seriously getting bigger and bigger,” Lin Zerui complained directly to his face, completely unbothered. “Change it.”
Yu Wei’s eyes flushed red with anger. “Change your mom.”
Lin Zerui didn’t get angry either. He was like a cat playing with a mouse; the angrier Yu Wei got, the more amusing he found it.
Lin Zerui beckoned the two boys he had just sent away back over, once again holding one in each arm.
Watching him feed green grapes to a boy mouth-to-mouth—practically putting on a live adult show right in front of him—the lunch Yu Wei had eaten began to churn violently in his stomach.
“Lin Zerui, you are truly disgusting. Aren’t you afraid of catching a disease?” With that, Yu Wei turned on his heel and walked away without the slightest hint of lingering.
Seeing the undisguised disgust on Yu Wei’s face, Lin Zerui pushed away the boys on either side of him and sat up, his eyes narrowing strictly in displeasure. In the past, similar things had happened countless times, and Yu Wei would always look at him with a hurt yet adoring gaze. Even if he was truly provoked, no matter how angry he got, he couldn’t hide the love flowing from the depths of his eyes.
No matter what kind of look it was, it was always accompanied by admiration. Today, however, there was none of that—there was only naked disgust and revulsion. It was a look reserved for a pile of garbage. What right did he have?
“Yu Wei, you’re just an adopted son, and you think you’re worthy of me? I don’t know what my dad is thinking either. The Yu family has a biological son; will the company really be given to an outsider like you? If it weren’t for my dad, do you think I would want you? What a joke.”
Yu Wei’s footsteps halted. He turned around and stared at him. “What did you say?”
Seeing the panic on Yu Wei’s face, Lin Zerui’s mood improved considerably.
See? As long as I say I don’t want him, Yu Wei will still be afraid—afraid that I truly won’t want him.
“Adopted son?” He wasn’t the biological son of Father and Mother Yu? He wasn’t Yu Song’s biological older brother?
“Why look so surprised? It’s not exactly a secret. What, did you get amnesia? Or have you really started treating yourself like a young master and forgot that you’re just an adopted son?”
Yu Wei couldn’t refute these words. He had truly believed he was a young master; he had never once considered the possibility that he was adopted.
Yu Wei walked out of the bar in a daze. Suddenly, his vision went dark as someone blocked his path. Looking up, he saw an unfamiliar face.
“Move,” Yu Wei said, his tone turning slightly cold. He was in no mood to deal with this person right now.
“Baby, why so fierce? Is your temper like this in bed too?” The man in front of him acted frivolously, and as he spoke, he glanced behind Yu Wei. “Does Young Master Lin know?”
Holding the boy he had just fed mouth-to-mouth in his arms, Lin Zerui brushed right past them, tossing out a line before opening the door to leave: “I haven’t tried it. Why don’t you try it and find out?”
“Young Master Lin makes a good point. I’ll find out once I try.” The man in front smiled lecherously, stepping closer to Yu Wei. He leaned down to sniff him, looking completely intoxicated. “Baby, how about we go across the street to try it out?”
Across the street was a hotel.
Yu Wei smiled faintly. “How about no.”
The man still wore a smile of absolute certainty. “You stepped on my foot just now, and it hurt a lot. But if Baby’s fair, tender foot steps on the right place, it’ll feel amazing. Does Baby really not want to try?”
Calling him “baby” over and over… Yu Wei had already been thoroughly disgusted by Lin Zerui, and now this guy was making dirty jokes at his expense.
“Where do you want me to step? Is it here?” Taking advantage of the man’s lack of attention, Yu Wei delivered a brutal kick straight to his crotch. The man doubled over, clutching himself with both hands, his face contorted in agony. “Fuck your mother! Don’t refuse a carrot only to get the stick…”
“I’m not taking any sticks. Don’t you like men? You’d be better off going back and fucking your own dad.”
After snapping back, Yu Wei sidestepped him and ran toward the bar exit. He pulled open the heavy main door, only to crash face-first into a wall of flesh.
Damn it, this gay den is terrifying. I’m only a few meters away from the door, yet how many people have I managed to bump into?
Yu Wei looked up in annoyance. The piercing sunlight outside poured over the person blocking the doorway, casting them in a silhouette that made it hard for Yu Wei to see clearly.
Yu Wei squinted for two seconds, his eyes suddenly widening. “Why are you here?”
Shouldn’t he be in the hospital?
Shi Ciyan cast a chilly glance at the man behind Yu Wei, who was currently frantically urging someone to call an ambulance. “I’ve been discharged. There was a hiring notice here, so I came to look for a part-time job.”
Without a second word, Yu Wei pulled Shi Ciyan outside. Sure enough, a board listing recruitment information was standing right by the entrance.
“How did you even know a sketchy place like this was hiring? Let’s go, let’s go. This place isn’t suitable for you.”
Thinking about the half hour he had just endured inside, a wave of revulsion washed over him.
Shi Ciyan’s looks were far too striking. Working part-time here would be like a little lamb wandering into a pack of wolves. In a place this chaotic and shady, he would be eaten alive within two days, leaving not even the bones behind.
He wanted to convince him further, but Shi Ciyan unexpectedly complied obediently, “Okay.”
Yu Wei gave him a surprised look. He listens to advice quite well, not bad.
However…
“Why were you discharged?” Yu Wei frowned. Although he had been in the hospital for two weeks and his illness should have been completely cured, he hadn’t heard a single piece of news regarding his discharge at noon today. How could the hospital just discharge him the moment his back was turned?
They didn’t even give an advance notice so the patient could pack their things?
“Not long after you left, the nurse came in and told me to prepare for discharge. I didn’t have many belongings to begin with, so I discharged myself. Today is the weekend, so I came out to look for a part-time job. I didn’t expect to run into you.”
Yu Wei nodded thoughtfully, accepting this explanation for the time being.
“But you didn’t even send me a message to let me know you were discharged. If I hadn’t run into you just now, I would already be in a car on my way to the hospital by this time.”
“I was too busy and forgot. I’m sorry.”
Yu Wei wasn’t truly blaming him, so he didn’t dwell on it further. “This place is too far from your university. It would be much more convenient for you to look for a milk tea shop near your campus.”
“Okay, I’ll consider it.” Shi Ciyan was incredibly well-behaved, making Yu Wei unable to help but feel even more protective affection for him.
Shi Ciyan suddenly asked, “Brother Yu Wei, what did you come here for? When you said you had something to do this afternoon, was it to come here…”
At the mention of this, Yu Wei grew angry and frustrated all over again.
“I met an absolute dumbass. It’s best not to mention it.”
Shi Ciyan gave a muted “oh” and stopped asking. Since Yu Wei had things on his mind, he didn’t speak much along the way either.
Yu Wei called a car to send him back to his university, then hailed another taxi to go home himself.
When he arrived home, both Father and Mother Yu were present. Yu Wei lowered his head and headed straight for his bedroom. He opened his laptop, typed in a few relevant keywords, and found several forum threads. Unsurprisingly, he really was an adopted son, and this apparently wasn’t a secret on the internet. Everyone knew it—except him.
He left early and returned late every day, so he didn’t spend much time with Father and Mother Yu, but he could clearly feel that they treated him quite well. While Yu Song had a bit of an arrogant temper outside, he was completely submissive to him at home; if Yu Wei said one, Yu Song wouldn’t say two.
But he was an adopted son.
Lin Zerui’s words actually held some truth. Right now, he was managing the company, but it would still be handed over to Yu Song in the future. This wealth and splendor didn’t belong to him at all. Ever since he transmigrated, he had worked hard to remedy things in order to keep his own ending from being too tragic, and while he was at it, to save Yu Song’s family.
But tracing it back to the source, his tragic ending was entirely because of Yu Song. If he left now, found a place to settle down, and stayed far away from this cannon-fodder family, his destiny would no longer be affected.
The more Yu Wei thought about it, the more his head ached. He stood up and went into the bathroom to take a soak in the tub.
——
In the living room.
Mother Yu clutched her phone, hesitating to speak. “Weiwei was too strange today. Did Lin Zerui bully him again?”
Father Yu’s expression grew heavy.
“I don’t care anymore, I’m calling to ask.” Mother Yu dialed Lin Hao’s number. The moment the call connected on the other end, Lin Hao immediately showered Yu Wei’s working capability with immense praise.
Father Yu took over the phone, ignoring his polite pleasantries and getting straight to the point. “Did Zerui have a falling out with Weiwei? Weiwei hasn’t been in the right state of mind since he came back today.”
“Zerui even made a video call to me at noon, and the two kids were having a perfectly good time together. I’ll go ask him about it.”
After comforting Father Yu with a few more words, Lin Hao hung up and immediately gave Lin Zerui a phone call to give him a severe tongue-lashing, demanding a detailed explanation of everything that happened before and after their meeting today.
It wasn’t just a once-or-twice occurrence that Lin Zerui bullied Yu Wei. But since Yu Wei liked him, Father and Mother Yu couldn’t stop their son from following his heart. Left with absolutely no choice, they only ever dared to secretly remind Lin Hao behind Yu Wei’s back to keep Lin Zerui in line.
“Maid, bring a cup of hot milk up to Weiwei,” Mother Yu, Bai Sijia, instructed the maid. “Weiwei likes to sleep whenever he’s in a bad mood. Let him have a cup of milk first.”
The maid nodded in response, warmed a cup of milk, and went upstairs to knock on his door. No one answered from inside, but the door wasn’t fully closed, and the sound of running water could be heard coming from the bathroom. Stepping inside quietly, the maid set the milk down on the desk. Just as she was about to leave, her eyes couldn’t help but glance at the still-glowing laptop screen.
Yuyao Group, adopted son.
Withdrawing her gaze, the maid quickly exited the room and headed downstairs.
“How is Weiwei?” Bai Sijia looked deeply worried.
The maid hesitated to speak. “The young master is taking a bath in the bathroom. The door wasn’t tightly shut, so I went in, set down the milk, and came back out. I saw that the young master was searching for terms related to ‘adopted son’ on his computer.”
Mother Yu’s expression stiffened as she turned to the man beside her. “Didn’t I tell you to completely block all information regarding the adoption? How many times have I said that I don’t want Weiwei to see it and ruin his mood? Furthermore, who brought this up right in front of him?”
Father Yu didn’t dare to speak up. He had indeed blocked the information, but there was no guaranteeing that a few fish wouldn’t slip through the net. Still, as long as it wasn’t flaunted directly in front of Weiwei, it shouldn’t have been a big deal.
Right at that moment, Lin Hao called back, his tone carrying an apologetic note. “Zerui has a loose tongue; it seems he might have mentioned something about the adoption.”
Hearing this, Mother Yu rolled her eyes in sheer anger. “Our Yu family’s business is hardly any of his place to gossip about.”
With that, she hung up the phone directly. Lin Zerui wasn’t worthy of Weiwei’s affection at all—he was an absolute scumbag. Gossip about Lin Zerui’s scandals was flying all over the place, yet Weiwei was somehow completely blind to it, loving him to death.
“I think we need to have a talk with Weiwei.”
The two exchanged a look and both agreed with the suggestion. Bai Sijia and Yu Cheng went upstairs and stood outside the door of Yu Wei’s bedroom, hesitating over what to do.
…Inside the room, Yu Wei felt a wave of warmth in his heart when he came out of the shower and saw the milk. However, because he had been lost in thought, his shower had taken twice as long as usual, and by the time he came out, the milk had already gone cold.
Carrying the milk, he stepped out of his room intending to heat it up again, but he froze slightly the moment he opened the door and saw the two figures pacing outside.
“What are you two doing?” Yu Wei stood at the doorway awkwardly, and the three of them looked at each other in silence.
Bai Sijia and Yu Cheng covertly nudged each other to speak first. Ultimately, Bai Sijia opened her mouth. “We want to have a talk with you.”
Yu Wei nodded and stepped aside to let them into his bedroom.
While taking a bath just now, Yu Wei had already made up his mind that he was going to leave this place—away from the cannon fodder, and away from the protagonist. He could just spend a few hundred yuan to get an accounting certificate and continue working to support himself.
Whether he could safeguard the wealth and splendor here was a separate matter entirely; even if he did, it didn’t truly belong to him. Yu Song could provoke the protagonist at any given moment, putting his own life in danger. Rather than anxiously guarding a luxury that didn’t belong to him, he would much rather earn three thousand yuan and live a free and unconstrained life.
After entering the room, Father and Mother Yu hesitated for a long while. Yu Wei didn’t rush them either, waiting quietly and peacefully.
“I heard that Lin Zerui brought up the matter of you being an adopted son. Weiwei, don’t be sad, and don’t take this matter to heart.
No matter what that scumbag… cough, what that man said, don’t listen to him. Even though this matter isn’t a secret, we never wanted you to feel sad because of it. Weiwei, you know that your mom and dad are both Betas, so it was inherently very difficult for us to conceive, which is why we adopted you. Back then, you had just turned one year old, and I knew you were the one at first sight.
Later, during your fourth year with the Yu family, on the day of your fifth birthday, you mentioned that a kid at your kindergarten had a younger brother, and you wanted one too. So, your birthday wish was for Mommy to give you a little brother. On your sixth birthday, I found out I was pregnant. That day was the happiest day of your mom’s life, because from then on, there would be one more person in this family to love you.
From the time you were little until now, we’ve never demanded anything of you; we only want you to be healthy and happy. We also hope you won’t feel sad over a couple of words from an outsider—he isn’t worthy, nor does he have the right. Whether you’re an adopted son or a biological son, you are the one I raised. Even if there’s no blood relation, you are still my son. Lin Zerui bringing this up is clearly driven by ill intentions. Weiwei, don’t let a few words from him drive a wedge between us.”
Mother Yu said all of this in one breath. Beside her, Father Yu looked at Bai Sijia with profound admiration, nodding along in agreement repeatedly.
They had always raised Yu Wei as their own biological son, and their bond was incredibly deep, without a shadow of a doubt. Because of this, they weren’t worried at all that someone else’s words would cause a rift in their relationship. If forced to choose, they believed Weiwei would choose his family.
Furthermore, they truly looked down on Lin Zerui, but Yu Wei liked him. They had been forced to agree to their engagement out of necessity. Before the engagement, things were still somewhat acceptable; Lin Zerui was kept in check by his father and showed some restraint. But once he realized that Yu Wei truly loved him, Lin Hao stopped interfering much, allowing Lin Zerui to bully Yu Wei as he pleased. Every time they called to remind him, Lin Hao would say all the right things and even scold Lin Zerui right in front of them, but in reality, it served absolutely zero purpose.
A word or two from Lin Zerui couldn’t cause a rift between them, but they wanted to turn Yu Wei against Lin Zerui. By putting him on the opposing side, they wanted Weiwei to realize that Lin Zerui was actively trying to sabotage their family dynamic and was by no means a good man.
