“Dad! Everyone’s gossiping about me now! So many people in class won’t talk to me, and you don’t care at all!”
“Care about you?” Ye Xiangkai stared at Ye Yufan, speechless. “Who’s going to care about my money?”
“I’m already overwhelmed trying to figure out how to earn this money back. I don’t have time for anything else. And you go and cause this mess for me? Now I have to clean up your mess and pay compensation. You—I don’t even know what to say to you.”
Ye Yufan lay sprawled on the sofa, wiping his tears. “I’m sorry, but it’s Ye Mingxuan’s fault too. He just rubs me the wrong way.”
Ye Xiangkai: “Anyway, don’t cause any more trouble for me lately. We still need Mingxuan to liaise with Mr. Tan.”
Ye Yufan sat up straight. “Him?”
Zhao Dongxuan peeled an orange nearby: “Mr. Tan isn’t picking up our calls at all. Probably thinks we’re being overly dramatic.”
She spat angrily: “If only I’d listened to that brat Ye Mingxuan back then. We wouldn’t have lost so much money. If we’d made that profit, I’d have my jewelry by now.”
Zhao Dongxuan was filled with regret. Not only had she lost her money, but Tan Sizhe looked down on her, and that little brat Ye Mingxuan dared to walk all over her.
Yet she couldn’t vent her anger. With nowhere to direct her resentment, she turned her ire toward her son: “You! If you’d just married Tan Sizhe, none of this would have happened!”
Ye Yufan cried out, “You want me to marry Tan Sizhe?! You don’t love me at all! You don’t care about my happiness—all you see is money!”
“Fine, fine, fine. Mom was wrong. I was wrong.” Zhao Dongxuan immediately tried to placate him. After all, compared to her son’s happiness, jewelry could wait.
Ye Yufan sniffled again. “Brother Yu Sen is really angry with me. Will he stop liking me…?”
Zhao Dongxuan reassured her, “He won’t. Just act cute with Yu Sen, and he’ll forgive you. If not, I’ll talk to him myself.”
Ye Yufan wiped his tears, nodding with puffy eyes. “Okay.”
…
Ye Mingxuan, unaware of what Yu Sen had discovered, treated Lin Jiale and Zhang Shushu to KFC for lunch.
Due to pregnancy weight management, Ye Mingxuan only ate one piece of Original Recipe Chicken and a small cup of Coke—which Lin Jiale had poured for him using a smaller cup.
Truth be told, it was his first time trying the Original Recipe Chicken. True to its name, he found himself wanting to lick his fingers afterward. Ye Mingxuan vowed that once the baby was born, he’d eat KFC every day.
As evening approached, the driver picked him up to return home. Tan Cize had a dinner engagement and would be back late, so Ye Mingxuan ate alone.
Aunt Fu hummed a tune while wiping dishes. Ye Mingxuan asked what had her so cheerful.
“My son got promoted! His annual salary jumped significantly!”
“Wow, that’s amazing!”
“Oh, it’s nothing special. He only graduated from a vocational college. Getting to where he is today is already quite impressive.”
Aunt Fu set down the clean plate. “Mr. Mingxuan graduated from a prestigious university. He’ll definitely go far and earn a fortune.”
Ye Mingxuan froze, then forced a smile. Aunt Fu’s words didn’t lift his spirits.
He’d zoned out again during today’s specialized class, missing most of the material.
Ye Mingxuan was frustrated, but he simply couldn’t muster any focus for courses that held no interest for him.
When it came time to fill out his college application, he had no one around to offer advice. Liu Yan hadn’t attended university herself and knew nothing about these matters. As for Ye Xiangkai and Zhao Dongxuan—well, they were busy arranging Ye Yufan’s university admission and, seeing Ye Mingxuan enrolled in a non-elite institution, didn’t even bother acknowledging him.
Later, Liu Yan had to beg Ye Xiangkai for help. Ye Xiangkai told him to apply for civil engineering, promising he could work at his company after graduation—a way for Ye Mingxuan to repay their family.
So Ye Mingxuan applied without fully understanding. Little did he know civil engineering would be so tedious. Sitting in class made his ears buzz, and when he searched online for course reviews, all the comments urged him to switch majors.
Ye Mingxuan sighed, setting down his soup bowl. Aunt Fu asked, “Mr. Mingxuan, have you finished eating?”
Ye Mingxuan shook his head.
Aunt Fu offered, “There’s milk pudding in the fridge. Would you like some?”
Milk pudding… Ye Mingxuan nodded.
Three minutes later, Ye Mingxuan sat on the sofa holding his panna cotta. With no need to visit Le Le’s house today, he found himself with free time. He ate the panna cotta while waiting for Tan Sizhe.
Suddenly, his phone vibrated several times. Ye Mingxuan picked it up to see Lin Jiale bombarding him with calls: “Mingxuan! Check the campus forum! You and Yu Sen got caught on camera!”
Ye Mingxuan’s hair stood on end. He immediately rushed to the forum and discovered that someone had photographed him handing something to Yu Sen that afternoon. The angle was remarkably peculiar—it captured a beam of light slanting across both of them. As Ye Mingxuan and Yu Sen exchanged the paper bag, their hands touched, and they locked eyes.
The photo was as suggestive as it could possibly be.
Now that Ye Mingxuan was the most talked-about person at A University, comments flooded in like a swarm.
【Holy crap, handsome guy with handsome guy—so good for my eyes!】
【I remember him! He came backstage looking for Ye Mingxuan at that gala. When he found out what happened to Ye Mingxuan, he was so worried!】
【Now that you mention it, I remember! This guy also knows Ye Yufan. Back then, Ye Yufan was constantly pestering him.】
【I think I’ve uncovered some major gossip! Could there be some love-hate entanglement going on here?】
【Holy crap! No wonder Ye Yufan went after Ye Mingxuan! It all makes sense now!】
【Froggy, this is huge! I’m forwarding it to my girlfriends right now!】
“How could this happen?” Ye Mingxuan exclaimed. “Why did they film it?”
Lin Jiale: “It’s because you’re so famous. Everyone loves gossip about handsome guys—especially two of them!”
Ye Mingxuan watched the replies pile up below, his heart nearly stopping. “Who posted this? Can we get it taken down?”
Lin Jiale: “The poster has private messages turned off. Don’t worry, it’ll die down in a few days. So… Ye Yufan really went after you because of Yu Sen?”
Ye Mingxuan shook his head softly. “No. Even without Brother Yu Sen, he never liked me.”
Ye Yufan’s hostility toward him had been palpable from the very first day Ye Mingxuan arrived at the Ye household.
Even though he worked diligently for the Ye family, avoiding their presence whenever possible, Ye Yufan still found reasons to pick on him.
Recalling the past, Ye Mingxuan felt a dull ache in his chest. He said goodbye to Lin Jiale, hung up the phone, and stepped out onto the balcony for some air.
He shoved the last bits of pudding from the bottom of his bowl into his mouth, chewing and chewing, his gaze fixed on the community gate.
Tan Sizhe had drunk a little at the dinner gathering. Though not much, his driving felt unsteady today. The car jolted several times on the road, making him feel a bit dizzy.
He cracked the window to let the cold air rush in. The breeze blew his bangs to one side, clearing his head slightly. Tan Sizhe pressed his fingers to his tired temples.
Bai Yu sat bored in the passenger seat, scrolling through his phone, when he suddenly gasped. “!”
Tan Sizhe opened his eyes a crack, his voice hoarse. “What is it?”
“N-nothing…” Bai Yu scrolled rapidly through posts on the A University campus forum. “Who took these photos? That’s so unethical… Who is this guy?”
Tan Sizhe glanced at him indifferently, half his face briefly illuminated by the neon lights of a building. “What is it?”
“Honestly, nothing…”
“Let me see.”
Bai Yu handed over his phone, choosing his words carefully. “It’s nothing really, just some gossip about Mingxuan on the forum.”
“… ” Tan Sizhe took the phone with a skeptical look, his eyes immediately landing on the photo on the homepage.
Ye Mingxuan stood beneath a tree, locked in a gaze with another man. The man looked strangely familiar. Tan Sizhe’s brain, fogged by alcohol, couldn’t quite place him. All he wanted was to get home and sleep. His voice was as cold as a July icehouse: “Students these days spend all day obsessing over useless nonsense. Take it down.”
Bai Yu: “Oh, I’ll have someone handle it, but…”
He suddenly added meaningfully: “This photo is actually quite well-taken.”
Tan Sizhe leaned back into the leather seat, settling into a comfortable position with his long legs propped up. “With the right angle and a few filters, you can make nothing look like something.”
“Is that so?” Bai Yu stroked his chin. “But I can’t help feeling that the guy across from Ye Mingxuan… he genuinely has feelings for him.”
Tan Sizhe’s fingers paused where they pressed his temples.
