Ye Qingyang shook his head silently. There was no one else.
Lu Jingcheng finally felt a little relieved and reassured him, “Just be my personal Tony. Don’t worry about anyone else’s hair.”
Ye Qingyang nodded. The boss had spoken—what could he say?
If this road is blocked, he’d find another way to make money!
“Yes, young master.”
Seeing Ye Qingyang agree, Lu Jingcheng was satisfied. “I’ll pay you a wage.”
Ye Qingyang waved his hand. “No need. I said it’s free.”
Asking for money is too vulgar. How could he expect to win over a pure-hearted boy like Lu Jingcheng by charging him?
It had to be free. Only free would make Lu Jingcheng see him as different from all those flashy, selfish people, see him as a pure little white lotus, and maybe treat him better in the future.
Seeing Ye Qingyang insist on taking no money, Lu Jingcheng felt a little touched that this poor kid was so sincere toward him.
“Then I’ll lend you a little first. You can pay me back when you have money.”
Ye Qingyang thought for a moment. That worked—he needed some seed money to make money. Otherwise, trying to profit with empty hands was useless. Sure, he had hands, but where was the “wolf” he needed to catch?
So he gratefully accepted Lu Jingcheng’s first transfer and promised, “I’ll pay you back as soon as possible.”
Lu Jingcheng didn’t care at all. “No rush. This money isn’t even enough for me to have a proper meal.”
Ye Qingyang: … What a solid, dependable leg to lean on!
After finishing their meal and haircut, they were ready to head home.
They reached the taxi stand. Lu Jingcheng flagged one down and gestured for Ye Qingyang to join him.
“Where do you live?” Lu Jingcheng asked.
Ye Qingyang gave the address based on the memories he had from the original owner. Lu Jingcheng told the driver, “Go here.”
Ye Qingyang was surprised to get such treatment and quickly praised him: “Lu Ge, you’re amazing.”
Lu Jingcheng didn’t reply, leaning back and staring out the window.
Ye Qingyang noticed he seemed a little awkward—but awkward in a cute way—so he teased him a bit until Lu Jingcheng showed signs of irritation, then gradually quieted down.
When the taxi arrived at the apartment complex where the original owner lived, Ye Qingyang waved at Lu Jingcheng and got out.
“Be careful on the way. See you tomorrow,” Ye Qingyang said with a smile.
Lu Jingcheng, still uneasy, muttered a small “Mm,” and after watching Ye Qingyang close the door and leave, he gave the driver his own address.
The driver glanced at him through the rearview mirror. Wow, completely opposite directions. One’s in the north, one’s in the south—not convenient at all!
But the paying customer is always right, so the driver didn’t say anything and turned south.
Ye Qingyang went up to the original owner’s apartment, pressed the elevator button, and entered.
The apartment itself wasn’t bad. The original owner’s parents had some assets; the apartment had been bought in full, with no mortgage. After that purchase, their assets were mostly gone, but their jobs had been decent, so it wasn’t a huge problem.
So where was the issue?
The problem came after the parents passed away.
The original owner was only thirteen, in eighth grade, a minor. Naturally, a guardian was appointed: his aunt, Ye Hong.
Ye Hong hadn’t gone to college, having left school after middle school to work.
When the parents were alive, they treated her well, always saving the best things for her. She was grateful, always declaring that her closest relative was her brother, and her favorite person was her nephew, Ye Qingyang.
So before passing, the father entrusted Ye Qingyang’s guardianship to Ye Hong.
But as soon as the parents were gone, Ye Hong stopped being decent.
She moved in with her family, using the newly bought house as her own, grabbing the bank cards, taking Ye Qingyang’s mother’s cosmetics and jewelry, and constantly scolding Ye Qingyang:
“You can only rely on me now. So behave, work hard, got it?”
At first, Ye Qingyang tried to resist, but after several rounds of being suppressed, he gradually became silent, dark, and withdrawn.
Unable to stand up to his aunt and feeling disdain for privileged people like Lu Jingcheng, he hid in the shadows, occasionally throwing little jabs at Lu Jingcheng for fleeting satisfaction.
Silent suffering turned into silent perversion.
Ye Qingyang thought the original owner had it rough, but Lu Jingcheng was even more innocent. He hadn’t done anything wrong, just born a winner in life.
Ye Qingyang walked through the elevator to the apartment door.
Before he came here, the family had been harmonious; there weren’t relatives like this.
He had never encountered pigs like this before, but he’d seen them online.
Now that he had, he figured: why not have a little fun? Idle time is entertainment, after all.
He smiled and opened the door.
Ye Hong was home, sitting on the sofa in the living room watching TV.
She looked thin, her face long, her hair permed into wavy curls and dyed red—a favorite color of middle-aged women.
Seeing Ye Qingyang enter, she glanced at the wall clock and scolded:
“All you do is run around. Look at the time! You don’t even want to cook for the house? Your studying is bad, your chores are bad. What use are you?”
Ye Qingyang: “Oh.”
“Oh? Go cook, quick! Your sister will be back soon. You planning to starve everyone?”
His sister, Wang Hui, Ye Hong’s daughter, had moved back in because her husband was away on a business trip and she was pregnant.
Ye Qingyang went to the enclosed balcony, put his backpack on the steel-framed bed, then calmly returned to the living room.
“Cook, huh?” he asked.
Ye Hong snapped, “Of course! How many days have I told you? Cook! You don’t listen. You can’t even do basic chores. How did your mother give birth to someone like you?”
Ye Qingyang internally sighed. I’m beginning to wonder how her mom gave birth to Ye Hong. How could someone become so shameless and insolent?
He didn’t reply, heading to the kitchen.
Ye Hong, used to his silence, didn’t say anything.
Ye Qingyang turned on the stove, grabbed the oil from the cabinet, and started pouring it into the pan.
Cooking, huh? He dared to cook… but would they dare eat it?
As he poured, Ye Hong walked in. Seeing the oil bucket nearly empty, she nearly lost her balance.
Then she saw half the pan filled with oil and shrieked, “What are you doing?! You’re crazy! Why pour so much oil?!”
Ye Qingyang calmly replied, “Cooking.”
“Why so much oil? Are you trying to make us sick? Why are you still pouring?”
She rushed over, trying to grab the oil, and Ye Qingyang didn’t resist, handing it to her.
With a completely innocent expression, he said, “Aunt, you don’t know. I’ve been watching cooking videos online to learn how to make meals for our family.”
“The videos teach you to waste oil!”
Ye Qingyang’s tone was sincere: “No, you don’t understand. This is called ‘generous oil.’ The teacher said generous oil isn’t waste; it’s love.”
Ye Hong nearly spat blood. “Love my foot!”
Looking at the pan, she felt faint. “You’re just trying to annoy me, aren’t you?!”
Ye Qingyang immediately changed expression, looking tragic and incredulous:
“How can you think that? I don’t even know how to cook. If it weren’t for you, for this family, I wouldn’t have watched the videos. I finally learned how to cook, and you say that to me? What’s the point of learning then?!”
Tears glistened in his eyes.
Ye Hong: …
She was momentarily intimidated, unsure if he was serious or just pretending. She could only snap, “Those videos are unreliable. Terrible teachers, all teaching nonsense. You can’t even tell a good teacher from a bad one?”
Ye Qingyang argued pitifully, “But the chef is the head of the kitchen, with millions of followers.”
Ye Hong: “…That impressive?”
Ye Qingyang nodded obediently. “Otherwise, how could I learn from him?”
Ye Hong, feeling a mix of frustration and heartache, began ladling out the “generous oil” into another bowl.
Each scoop made her wince. By the last scoop, she was nearly in tears.
Her brand-new oil! A whole bucket! All being ruined by this hopeless kid!
Ye Hong’s eyes shone with unshed tears.
Ye Qingyang, seeing the tears, silently chuckled behind her.
He knew women like Ye Hong: petty, greedy for every little thing, convinced the world owed them. Any small inconvenience, and their hearts would ache.
Completely harmless to him.