Qiao Hailou felt that Shen Yuan was like a little trumpet vine—once he started complaining, it was ba-ba-ba, nonstop, sharp-tongued and slick, leaving Qiao Hailou both amused and with a headache.
After hearing everything, Qiao Hailou even sounded a little smug. “What did I say last time? Didn’t I tell you not to give him money? Once you give it, he’ll definitely come back for more. See? You wouldn’t listen to me.”
Shen Yuan exploded. “I told you this so you could help me, not so you could lecture me! What’s the point of stepping on me just to show how smart you are? You’re so annoying! Aren’t you supposed to be amazing? If you’re that capable, then deal with him! Why can’t you even be useful for this? You useless old bastard.”
Qiao Hailou was dumbfounded. He let out a dry laugh. “If you were saying that to my face, I’d strip you naked right now and show you exactly how useless I am. You’ve got some nerve for a newlywed little husband.”
Since they were only talking on the phone and Qiao Hailou couldn’t come over anyway, Shen Yuan was especially bold. “Did I marry you so you could bully me?”
From Qiao Hailou’s end came voices urging him on. “Alright, no more bickering. I’m in a meeting—they’re all waiting for me. When have I ever bullied you? I’ll take care of Shen Xuanwen’s matter. You don’t need to worry, okay? Be careful these next few days. When I’m not by your side, watch your surroundings and protect yourself.”
Shen Yuan hadn’t realized Qiao Hailou had stepped out of a meeting just to take his call. He suddenly felt extremely embarrassed. Why was Qiao Hailou like this? He could’ve just hung up and sent a text saying he was in a meeting—Shen Yuan would’ve called back later for sure. Now it felt like he was some unreasonable, troublemaking concubine who made the emperor neglect court.
Shen Yuan’s face flushed. “Why didn’t you say you were in a meeting? Hurry back in! If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bothered you. Go, go to your meeting.”
With that, Shen Yuan hung up.
Qiao Hailou instructed his people to keep even closer watch on Shen Xuanwen—to follow him step for step.
That evening, once things were mostly arranged, Qiao Hailou told Shen Yuan honestly, “You really don’t need to worry. The last time your dad got sent to rehab, it was because I had someone report him. His addiction isn’t going to get better. Once he relapses, I’ll report him again.”
Shen Yuan finally relaxed, looking at him with half-belief. “My uncle said you’re involved with both the underworld and legitimate circles. I was worried you might do something scary… Turns out it’s just reporting him.”
Qiao Hailou smiled. “What were you expecting? Tie him up, strap rocks to him, and dump him in the ocean?”
Shen Yuan shook his head hard. “No, no. Reporting him is fine. Don’t break the law for someone like that—it’s not worth it.”
With righteous fury, Shen Yuan declared, “Every time he gets out, we report him again! Lock him up!”
Qiao Hailou laughed. “You’re vicious. Hahaha.”
Truth be told, he wasn’t without darker, more brutal methods. Killing Shen Xuanwen wouldn’t be difficult. But Shen Yuan was soft-hearted by nature. He might hate his biological father, but if someone actually died, it would terrify him. If anything happened to Shen Xuanwen in the future, Shen Yuan would definitely suspect him. Qiao Hailou didn’t want Shen Yuan to be afraid of him. So gentler methods it was—let the man quietly grow old, fall ill, and die in prison, harming no one.
That way, Shen Yuan wouldn’t feel any guilt and could live a clean, unburdened life.
After finishing the call with Qiao Hailou, there was a knock at the door.
“Brother, it’s me. Are you there?”
Shen Yuan went to open the door. Xiao Lin stood outside. “What’s up?”
“N-nothing really…” Li Lin said. “I just wanted to check on you. I thought you might not be feeling great today—you didn’t eat much at dinner…”
His little brother was really too sweet and considerate. Shen Yuan said, “It’s okay. I just didn’t have much of an appetite. I’m not upset.”
He had been in a bad mood because of Shen Xuanwen, but after talking to Qiao Hailou, he felt better. Qiao Hailou would handle everything properly—Shen Yuan just had to wait. Once Qiao Hailou promised to do something, it always got done. On that point, Shen Yuan trusted him completely.
Li Lin asked, “Wanna play games together?”
With nothing else to do, Shen Yuan agreed readily. “Sure.”
They played games in Li Lin’s room. Li Lin had even prepared juice and snacks for them to eat while playing, and water in case their throats got tired from talking.
As soon as Shen Yuan logged in, he was enthusiastically welcomed:
“Whoa, is that ego’s handsome brother? Hi hi hi—”
“Add me as a friend! Do you play often, bro?”
Li Lin’s face darkened as he put on his headset and snapped, “I told you guys not to gay my brother.”
If his brother were straight, whatever. But his brother was gay—what if these people actually won him over? His brother had only just broken up with Qiao Hailou.
Shen Yuan smiled. “It’s fine. They’re just joking.”
Li Lin’s friend said, “You’re so gentle, brother.”
Before, only Li Lin had protected him. This time, all three teammates were healing him nonstop.
Shen Yuan didn’t want to drag the team down, but he hadn’t played in ages. He’d practically forgotten the key bindings. He waddled around like a little duck, stopping and starting, taking several seconds just to remember which key picked up ammo. When a fight broke out, he’d hurry to hide somewhere and wait until they were done, then come out to loot. They piled level-three helmets and armor onto him. The moment he was in danger, everyone rushed over shouting, “Protect the emperor!”
But as the game went on, Shen Yuan started feeling worse and worse—dizzy, nauseous. He forced himself to finish the round, took off his headset, and went straight to the bathroom.
Li Lin didn’t react right away. “Bro? What’s wrong?”
Shen Yuan bent over the toilet and threw up. He hadn’t eaten much for dinner, so there wasn’t much—just sour bile. Li Lin panicked, gently patting his back. Once Shen Yuan was done, he hurried to get bottled water for him to rinse his mouth.
After recovering a bit, Shen Yuan said, “Maybe I haven’t played in too long. Motion sickness—3D sickness.”
Li Lin said guiltily, “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have dragged you into playing. You’re really throwing up? This is the first time I’ve seen someone get actual motion sickness from a game.”
“I already felt a bit off in my stomach today,” Shen Yuan said.
In fact, it hadn’t been just today—he’d felt like this occasionally lately.
Li Lin hesitated for a long time, clearly wanting to say something. “Bro…”
“Just say it,” Shen Yuan told him. “What do you want to say?”
Li Lin gave a warning first. “I’m afraid you’ll be sad if I say it… but I think you’ll find out sooner or later anyway, and you’ll be sad then too. I’ve been wondering whether I should tell you…”
Shen Yuan didn’t understand. Why was he being so serious? What could possibly make him sad?
Curious but cautious, Shen Yuan said, “Go ahead. If I’m going to find out eventually, you might as well tell me now.”
Li Lin said sadly, “There’s a classmate of mine—his dad does business with Qiao Hailou… I heard… I heard that Qiao Hailou got married.”
Shen Yuan froze. “…”
Seeing him go completely blank, Li Lin felt terrible for his brother and tried to comfort him. “He just broke up with you and then married some other woman—what a piece of trash. Don’t be sad over someone like that.”
Shen Yuan held it in. And held it in. And held it in again. Finally, with a grave expression, he said, “Yeah… he really is a piece of trash.”
After Shen Xuanwen went back, he waited two days and made two trips to the bank, only to find that Shen Yuan hadn’t transferred the money like he promised. When he tried to contact Shen Yuan again, he couldn’t get through. He couldn’t even get into the residential complex, and he didn’t see Li Chen either.
Shen Xuanwen finally realized that little bastard had played him. Shen Yuan had really grown wings—he even dared to mess with him! Shen Xuanwen was furious, but since the police were watching him, he teamed up with a few desperate men who were also short on cash. They came up with a plan: he’d provide information, they’d kidnap Shen Yuan first, then extort money and split it among themselves. They’d squeeze out every cent Shen Yuan had, and if possible, extort Li Chen for a huge sum too. Didn’t Li Chen claim to treat Shen Yuan like his own son? Now they’d see if that was true.
They deliberately chose the twenty-ninth day of the lunar New Year. The police would surely be on holiday, with reduced manpower. Even if they wanted to catch them, it’d be too late to mobilize.
Because he had people watching him, Shen Xuanwen stayed home. He received a call—his accomplice said Shen Yuan had finally gone out. They were following him by car, waiting to grab him the moment he got out.
In a few hours, he’d have millions, right? Hahaha. Ye Xueyao wasn’t some unknown designer—how could the inheritance she left be less than a few million?
Lost in his beautiful fantasy, he heard a knock at the door.
“Anyone home?”
Shen Xuanwen went over and looked through the peephole. It was the landlord.
“What is it?” Shen Xuanwen asked.
“You said last time the AC still wasn’t fixed, right? I brought someone to take another look.”
Suspicious but not fully on guard, Shen Xuanwen opened the door. The moment it cracked open, a violent shove came from outside. Three or four police officers rushed in and pinned him to the ground.
“What are you doing? What are you doing? I’m a law-abiding citizen! This is an illegal home entry!” Shen Xuanwen shouted.
The police tore through his apartment. Within minutes, they pulled out a bag of cloudy white crystals. “What’s this?”
Shen Xuanwen was stunned. He—he had no idea! Where did it come from?! Could those bastards have framed him? Set him up and planned to keep all the extortion money for themselves?!
Meanwhile, Shen Yuan, shortly after getting on the road, noticed a car following him. Lately he’d been paying close attention to his surroundings. He deliberately took several turns and confirmed he really was being tailed.
Was it Shen Xuanwen? What the hell was Qiao Hailou doing?
Annoyed, Shen Yuan kept driving at a steady pace, circling the city without stopping, while calling Qiao Hailou. “Uncle Qiao, someone’s following me.”
Qiao Hailou said immediately, “Where are you right now? Share your live location with me. Don’t stop. I’m coming to you right away.”