Pei Qingjian: !!!
Pei Qingjian: ???
What did he just hear?
What do you mean I’m his man?!
Pei Qingjian trembled as he lifted his eyelids, his delicate brows and features full of confusion and surprise.
He Liangyu and He Haochu were also shocked.
Lan Xingchen watched the doubt leave Pei Qingjian’s eyes, his earlier insecurity gone, and felt that his approach had worked.
He nodded slightly. “Yes, that’s right.”
Pei Qingjian: ……
Pei Qingjian felt as if ten pounds had been lifted from his shoulders.
He Liangyu, enraged, raised his hand, ready to slap his disobedient son.
Before his hand could land, Lan Xingchen grabbed it and pinned him to the coffee table.
“Let go,” He Liangyu barked.
He struggled with all his strength, but couldn’t break free.
Lan Xingchen tightened his grip. He Liangyu yelped in pain and flinched.
“Behave,” Lan Xingchen said coldly.
Then he turned to Pei Qingjian, his voice gentle. “You wanted the key, right? Take it.”
“Oh,” Pei Qingjian nodded quickly and walked over to He Liangyu.
Seeing him approach, He Liangyu’s face turned red with shame and anger. “What are you doing? Tell him to let go!”
Pei Qingjian smiled. “What did you say? Not let go? Fine, I won’t let go.”
He Liangyu was about ready to explode.
“I knew it! I knew you’d never learn!”
“First you had some freeloader, and now another one!”
“Before, I was too soft, gave you too much money. Otherwise, how could you find these men? Now he’s your man—ugh!”
Lan Xingchen frowned. Wait, what did he mean “first a freeloader, now another one”?
Clearly, the current one is him… but who was the first?
Pei Qingjian had… had a freeloader before?
No, what did he mean by “freeloader”?
With his looks, his aura—did he look like someone living off others?!
Lan Xingchen kicked He Liangyu with a swift motion, almost sending him to his knees. “Shut up.”
Since rising to power, He Liangyu had never been humiliated like this. He wanted to leap up and beat Lan Xingchen to death.
But no matter how he struggled, he could not break free.
At the critical moment, he heard his younger son speak:
“Sir, this is our family matter. It’s probably not appropriate for you to act like this.”
Lan Xingchen turned his head toward He Haochu.
His features were too striking, yet his bone structure was sharp and noble, like a richly colored oil painting—untouched, perfectly merging handsomeness and beauty. His gaze was openly stunning, making anyone look twice.
He Haochu had noticed him from the moment he appeared, and now, being stared at like this, he froze, words stuck in his throat.
Lan Xingchen smiled. “What did your dad just call you? A freeloader? The key to being a freeloader is eating soft rice properly. So whatever you want to say, say it to the one who really calls the shots in our house.”
He Haochu froze for a moment, following Lan Xingchen’s gaze to look at Pei Qingjian.
Pei Qingjian was still rummaging through He Liangyu’s pockets for the key. He had gone through both front pockets without luck and was about to check the pants pockets when he heard He Haochu speak.
“Brother, what are you doing? Enough already! Do you really want Dad to get angry?”
Pei Qingjian looked up and asked He Liangyu, “Dad, are you mad?”
“You talk too much!” He Liangyu snapped.
Pei Qingjian nodded. “Then stay mad a little longer~ I love watching Dad get angry~”
He Liangyu: !!!
He Liangyu flailed again!
Lan Xingchen couldn’t help it—he laughed at Pei Qingjian’s words and the tone he used.
He Haochu, seeing this, couldn’t stand it anymore and reached out to grab Lan Xingchen’s arm.
By now, Pei Qingjian had finally found the key. He yanked He Haochu along and dragged him toward the door.
“What are you doing? What’s the meaning of this?!” He Haochu struggled.
Pei Qingjian didn’t answer. He simply dragged him to the doorway and threw him outside. “Stay away from my door! Don’t you know cleaning up trash is annoying, especially hazardous waste?”
He turned to Lan Xingchen, signaling that he could now deal with He Liangyu.
Lan Xingchen grabbed He Liangyu and dragged him toward the door.
He Haochu pressed against the door, trying to get back in. He Liangyu, outraged, tried to fight back, but Lan Xingchen’s grip was unyielding. He easily tossed him outside.
The father and son collided, nearly knocking He Haochu over.
Lan Xingchen grinned. “Jobs are hard to come by these days. Don’t let it affect my work.”
Then he shut the door with a loud “slam.”
He Liangyu stared at him, fuming at his shameless composure.
“You’re following him and think you get any money from it?! Without me, what could he have?! Just wait and see how much you actually earn!”
Angry, he turned and stormed toward the elevator, feeling humiliated that his son had just one-upped him.
He Haochu chased after him but couldn’t help glancing back at the now-closed door with a sense of lingering curiosity.
Who exactly was that? Could he really be the new freeloader his brother had found? So handsome, and he’s living off his brother… that’s just way too easy on him!
Lan Xingchen, hearing their footsteps fade, turned to look at Pei Qingjian.
Pei Qingjian: ……
Pei Qingjian’s mind still echoed with He Liangyu’s words, but under Lan Xingchen’s steady gaze, he couldn’t help but curl his lips into a small, obedient smile.
“My current savings, you know it already—just 3,000. That’s everything I have.”
Lan Xingchen nodded. “Then yeah, you won’t make much from that.”
Pei Qingjian, feeling guilty, said, “I’ll work hard! Once I get settled these next couple days, I’ll find a job.”
Lan Xingchen: ???
Watching him take himself seriously, Lan Xingchen raised a finger and pointed at himself. “Isn’t your job right now… me?”
He really planned to freeload off him.
Lan Xingchen chuckled softly. For some reason, he found this a little cute.
But…
Lan Xingchen leaned closer to him.
Pei Qingjian, noticing his sudden closeness, felt a little nervous. “Wh-what is it?”
“What about that freeloader before?” Lan Xingchen asked curiously. “Were you into that?”
Pei Qingjian: ……
Pei Qingjian felt his forehead starting to ache again.
To explain this, one had to start with the original owner’s love history.
It was called a love history because the original owner had quite a full romantic background.
In middle school, Pei Qingjian liked the top student in their class, but the top student only cared about studying. Hearing his confession, the student rejected him.
Pei Qingjian got his heart broken by the top student. In high school, he turned his attention to the school bully, but the bully just gave him a cold laugh and walked away.
By college, Pei Qingjian had fallen in love three times, including with a senior one year older than him. Unfortunately, the senior had a secret crush on someone else and gently made it clear that he only saw Pei Qingjian as a junior.
As everyone else in the dorm started dating, Pei Qingjian remained alone.
Feeling embarrassed, he found someone to pretend to be his boyfriend. To avoid the fake boyfriend looking worse than others, he spent all his luxury items on him.
He Liangyu’s money was almost entirely used to “equip” this fake boyfriend. The disguise worked too well. One of his friends even thought the fake boyfriend was a rich second-generation heir, and secretly went off to bed with him behind Pei Qingjian’s back.
Eventually, the fake boyfriend came to break up with him, claiming they were truly in love. Pei Qingjian was both angry and heartbroken, drowning himself in alcohol at the bar.
After just a few days, he met Lan Xingchen’s cousin, and once again, Pei Qingjian fell in love, pursuing Lan Xingchen’s cousin.
At first, the cousin ignored him. Later, realizing Pei Qingjian’s usefulness, he gave a few sweet words and placed him close to Lan Xingchen.
But the moment Pei Qingjian saw Lan Xingchen for the first time, realizing he was the target, he couldn’t help but feel his heart stir.
He couldn’t let go of the cousin and found Lan Xingchen attractive.
He clung to the cousin’s sweet words while fantasizing about Lan Xingchen’s tenderness.
This was why, in the story, he acted so wildly, wanting to have both without losing either.
In this sense, he was indeed very much like He Liangyu’s real son.
“I was vain at the time,” Pei Qingjian said helplessly. “Seeing everyone else in the dorm had a partner and I didn’t, so I found someone to pretend to be my boyfriend.”
Lan Xingchen was surprised. “You even had to compare yourself with others?”
“So that’s why I said I was vain back then,” Pei Qingjian murmured, bowing his head.
Lan Xingchen: ……
“So you two didn’t…?”
“No,” Pei Qingjian shook his head.
Although the original owner had developed some genuine feelings back then, it had only been because the fake relationship became a little real. His thoughts at the time were still innocent: date first, then take things further. Only after the relationship was stable would they progress to a more intimate stage.
But that relationship never got the chance to bloom. Before it could grow, the other person had already been taken away.
They hadn’t even kissed, let alone anything more—at most, they had hugged a few times.
Although, speaking of which, Pei Qingjian remembered that when they broke up, he had wanted to get back some luxury goods he had bought for the other person. The value of what he gave and what he got back didn’t match at all, which caused a bit of a quarrel. In the end, the other person wrote an IOU and slammed the door.
The original owner may have had some feelings, but he never actually made the person repay the debt.
Pei Qingjian, however, felt nothing for that freeloader, and now with only three thousand in savings, he had to treasure every IOU and make sure people repaid their debts!
The only question was… where had the original owner put that IOU?
Pei Qingjian racked his brain, trying to remember.
Lan Xingchen, watching him get lost in thought, teased sarcastically, “What, you regret it?”
“Huh?” Pei Qingjian blinked. Regret? The IOU?
“If you were thinking about him, why did you break up back then?”
“I wasn’t thinking about him,” Pei Qingjian said politely. “As for why we broke up, he was fake to begin with. Later, he got together with my friend. I caught them in the act, so naturally we broke up.”
Lan Xingchen: That’s more like it.
Seeing that Lan Xingchen didn’t have any further questions, Pei Qingjian returned to pondering the IOU’s location.
Wait—Lan Xingchen suddenly realized something. Pei Qingjian had just said he and the other person never had anything physical, yet he caught them in bed together when they broke up.
In bed!
That meant… they were going at it at full speed!
And Pei Qingjian had just said he wasn’t thinking about the other person, so the other person must have been thinking…
Lan Xingchen felt a wave of guilt.
Why was his curiosity always so dangerous?
Why did he have to ask these things?
Now look! Pei Qingjian spent money on a fake boyfriend, but the fake boyfriend ended up cheating, and Pei Qingjian caught him in the act. Seeing the other person so confident and unstoppable… how could his heart not be stirred?
Impossible!
The irony was unbearable!
It mocked the money he had spent and his own impotency at the time.
The pain and heartbreak he must have felt… and now, again, he was being dragged back into that sadness!
No wonder Pei Qingjian had fallen silent, lost in memory.
And Lan Xingchen… was being sarcastic on top of it all!
Lan Xingchen felt hopeless.
What had he even done?!
You open your mouth! You talk too much!
Lan Xingchen mentally slapped himself over and over. He deserved it!
Why was he always doing these shady, cruel things?
He was practically inhuman!