Chapter 4
“I have a younger relative at home. You two are both workaholics, so you must have something in common. But he’s abroad right now. When he’s back, I’ll definitely introduce you.”
“Old Qi, you free now? Come by my shop. That younger relative I mentioned before just got back. Come meet him, and we’ll have a meal together.”
“You’re on a business trip? Working weekends too? Drop that lousy vice president title of yours—it’s no fun with no freedom. Come work with me; being a living billboard here is way more relaxed. At least you can sleep in every day.”
“Oh, what a coincidence—you two are back-to-back. You just flew back, and he just flew out this morning.”
The young man wore a white short-sleeved T-shirt. His hands rested on the table, revealing lean but powerful muscles, with veins clearly visible on his arms. Silver wireless headphones hung around his neck. He looked rebellious, full of youthful vigor, grinning confidently at him.
Qi Xu shut the door behind him and first denied the junior’s claim: “I’m not a junior. I graduated from senior year.”
Xie Huai asked with interest, “It’s vacation, so why are you wearing a school uniform to the internet café? Trying to experience the fun of skipping class and dodging him?”
Qi Xu didn’t answer but leisurely started browsing the antique shop.
Xie Huai saw Qi Xu staying silent and walked over, taking a closer look at him again.
Qi Xu was sensitive to gazes. Perhaps from his past life’s exposure to all kinds of looks, he had developed a skill of “having eyes all over his body.”
Xie Huai’s gaze was unusually straightforward. He didn’t seem to think he was sneaking a look—he was openly staring.
Qi Xu didn’t detect any strange emotions in those eyes; they were clear, like pure water.
“Classmate, I don’t think we’ve met at school.”
Xie Huai didn’t know why he was so hung up on this question. When he returned to the internet café yesterday, he had even asked Xu Yichen if he recognized the junior just now.
He got this answer: “You bring him an umbrella and still want to share it?”
Qi Xu’s gaze swept over the purple clay teapot on the shelf, and he replied casually, “There are so many people at school. Do you know every single one?”
Xie Huai chuckled lightly, “Not really.”
Anyone born into this circle wasn’t stupid. Even the scoundrels were clever enough to know their limits.
That was that. Both understood the unspoken rule.
“So, still in business or not?” Qi Xu glanced at Xie Huai.
The Xie Huai from his past life didn’t seem like someone who talked this much.
Xie Huai laughed again and leaned against the wall, asking, “Sir, this shop has antiques from various eras. What are you looking for?”
Qi Xu was clear: “I want a modern incense burner.”
“Incense burner, huh?” Xie Huai, unfamiliar with the shop layout, scanned the shelves and found a few at the back. “You check these out here. I’ll look inside for more styles.”
Qi Xu didn’t really want much contact with Xie Huai—not before, and not now.
He looked at a discoloring green agarwood incense burner: “No need. I want that one. How much?”
Xie Huai picked up the box below it and saw the price tag—20,000 yuan for that crappy burner. His uncle’s shop really ripped people off.
He tore off the price tag: “10,000.”
Half that again, and it came to 5,000 yuan.
Qi Xu didn’t say anything and directly handed Xie Huai a bank card: “Swipe.”
Xie Huai was speechless.
What kind of young master pays like this?
“You’re not going to bargain?”
Qi Xu really wasn’t good at bargaining. Back in Qi family village, he rarely bought anything; he usually picked up what others left behind. Over all those years, he’d only saved up two or three thousand yuan and was reluctant to spend it.
At the Shen family, all his basic needs—food, clothing, shelter, and transportation—were arranged for him. The places he visited were all luxury stores, and bargaining would only make him seem cheap.
Qi Xu asked, “Didn’t you just say your store never bargains?”
Xie Huai had already packed up the incense burner. “That’s what we say to first-time customers. You and I? We share a bond of life and death, so I can give you a better price.”
Qi Xu remembered that Old Qin had said this antique shop initially suffered heavy losses. Qin had invested half his life savings just to keep it going.
But the business gradually grew. This whole row of shops was now part of his antique market. Ten years later, with the rise of livestream sales, Old Qin followed the trend and learned the ropes, even managing to make a name for himself online.
This was Qi Xu’s first time bargaining ever, but he didn’t want to let Old Qin lose too much. Tentatively, he said, “Nine thousand five hundred?”
Xie Huai was silent for a moment.
“Alright.”
Xie Huai swiped the card, clumsily wrapped the box, and handed it to Qi Xu. “Welcome back anytime.”
Qi Xu took it and said thanks before turning to leave.
Xie Huai watched Qi Xu’s retreating figure. It was obvious this guy knew him but didn’t want much contact—almost like a cat avoiding a mouse.
Were there people like this in their circle? Xie Huai was sure he had never seen him before.
Soon after, Qin Yue came in holding two candied hawthorns. He knew every corner of the shop and immediately noticed the incense burner was gone.
“Wow, business is booming today.” He handed one candied strawberry to Xie Huai. “What price did you say?”
Xie Huai said, “A flat price of 9,500.”
Qin Yue smiled brightly. “Not bad, made four thousand five hundred.”
Xie Huai looked at him with a complicated expression. “Uncle, this is a rip-off store. You buy for 5,000 and sell for 20,000.”
Qin Yue, 28 years old, was the youngest in the Qin family—smart and rebellious. His family expected him to join Qin Corporation after graduation, but he took a different path and opened this antique shop instead.
“Don’t complain. No profit means a loss. Everyone bargains. How much you make or lose doesn’t matter. Your uncle here plans to buy up all the shops around here and turn this into an antique market.”
Xie Huai said calmly, “This already belongs to grandma’s estate.”
Qin Yue said firmly, “I’ve said it a dozen times—I’m not inheriting family property. I’m buying it with my own money.”
Xie Huai put on his headphones. “Good luck with that dream.”
Qin Yue plopped down beside him and pulled off one side of his headphones. “Why have you been hanging out here lately? Didn’t your dad make you go to the company?”
Xie Huai picked songs on his phone, indifferent. “Don’t want to. I like it here better.”
Qin Yue’s expression grew complicated. “They say nephews resemble uncles. Don’t be like me. You’re the only son in the Xie family. You’ll have to carry the whole family someday. When I’m old, I’m counting on you to take care of me.”
“You’re clinging to me, huh? Me and my wife still gotta support your shady store?” Xie Huai bit into a strawberry, juice bursting in his mouth. The sourness made him frown. “Where did you buy these? They’re way too sour.”
Qin Yue took a bite. “Where’s the sour? This is pretty sweet. You just can’t handle a little sour.”
There’s no wall without cracks—news about the Shen family having swapped children eventually leaked, causing fluctuations in Shen Corporation’s stock. Shen Zhuohai had no choice but to step forward and handle the situation.
During the interview, the Shen family made the situation public but glossed over everything Qi Xu had endured back in Qi family village. The child swap incident was briefly mentioned and then quickly passed over. The Shens didn’t want to put Shen Zeyu in the spotlight or make Qi Xu a figure of sympathy from a poor mountain area who was hardworking and studious.
They publicly announced that both Shen Zeyu and Qi Xu were Shen family children and would be treated equally.
The Shen couple had already seen Qi Xu’s high school semester grades — he ranked near the top of his class. Even if he failed the college entrance exam, they could still arrange for him to attend university.
Coincidentally, the college entrance exam results were about to be released.
On the day the scores came out, the Shen family gathered together, and many relatives from other branches came to watch, eager to see Qi Xu for themselves.
Shen Zeyu had seen the news and felt completely confident. An important detail was that his parents had never mentioned changing Qi Xu’s surname.
When relatives arrived, Shen Zeyu stayed close to Zeng Yun, helping to entertain guests, and was praised by the elders for still being so well-behaved.
Zeng Yun gently patted his hand. “Go play with your cousins.”
After Shen Zeyu left, someone said to Zeng Yun, “Why hasn’t Qi Xu come down to keep you company? He’s been hiding upstairs, didn’t even come down when the guests arrived.”
Zeng Yun defended Qi Xu, “The kid just came home and isn’t used to it yet. It’s normal to be a little shy. Give him some time.”
The person nodded in understanding. “True, his living environment’s different from Zeyu’s. Sister-in-law, you’ve really raised Zeyu well. When my kid hit the rebellious phase, I didn’t know what to do. He needs to learn a lot from cousin Zeyu.”
Zeng Yun felt proud when others praised her son. “Zeyu really hasn’t given me a moment’s worry.”
Shen Zeyu joined the kids. He was always generous with his younger cousins—action figures, models, game top-ups, whatever they wanted.
Suddenly, a little cousin asked, “Cousin, my mom said that uncle has another son and told us to call him cousin. Where is he?”
Zeyu smiled and replied, “Yeah, he’s your cousin too. He came back late last night and is sleeping upstairs.”
A little cousin, in third grade, spoke freely, “Mom said you’re not uncle’s biological son, and the other cousin is.”
Zeyu’s smile stiffened for a moment, and a flicker of something strange passed through his eyes.
An older cousin quickly covered the little girl’s mouth. “What are you saying? We only recognize cousin Zeyu and the eldest cousin. The rest we don’t.”
Another little cousin added, “I looked up that place online. It’s not even on the map. So scary. How does he survive there? Does he have some weird disease?”
Hearing this, Shen Zeyu regained his composure. “Don’t say that. It’s just a poor mountain area. On his first day back, mom and dad took him to the hospital for a checkup. There’s nothing wrong with him.”
Shen Zeyu was called away by Shen Zefeng. The younger relatives were still quietly talking about the cousin from the mountain area.
“He must be really dark-skinned. I saw on TV that people living in the mountains are very dark.”
“Do you think he’s dirty? Like eating with his hands instead of chopsticks? Ew, I don’t want to sit next to him for dinner.”
“I heard he’s got good grades. I wonder what he scored on the college exam. Can he get into university?”
“The teachers there can’t be as good as ours. If he gets a score that lets him into undergrad, that’d be a steal.”
Qi Xu still hadn’t come down. Shen Zhuohai frowned and asked a servant to call him.
When the servant knocked, Qi Xu had just woken up. He was on the balcony lighting incense and carefully placed two sticks into the incense burner. “I was rushing out yesterday and didn’t light incense for you. Today I’m making up for it.”
Qi Xu knew today would be noisy. He’d worn earplugs to sleep soundly until he woke naturally.
He came downstairs and, as usual, went straight to the fridge to grab a bottle of water and drank more than half of it before looking toward the living room.
At the tea table, on the sofa, and in the gaming area, everyone was staring directly at him—every gaze full of shock and curiosity.
This newly recognized Shen family kid was completely different from what they had imagined.
The teenager stood tall and straight like a slender bamboo stalk, calm and poised with the bearing of a family head. He didn’t look like a kid from the mountains—no shrinking or dodging eyes.
He wasn’t dark-skinned; his complexion was even fairer than these pampered young masters. A sandalwood bead bracelet adorned his wrist. His gaze was steady and unshaken, giving off a cold, sharp aura.
Qi Xu glanced over at those so-called relatives from his past life. The second uncle, who once came begging him for help after his small company ran into trouble, was flatly refused with no mercy and called an ungrateful freeloader.
His young aunt kept borrowing money repeatedly because she was drowning in gambling debts. Qi Xu ordered the housekeeper to throw her out and was called a cold-hearted monster.
Then there were those cousins his own age who never once called him “cousin” and stood united in opposition against him.
“Is everyone still doing well?” Qi Xu greeted casually.
The moment he spoke, Shen Zhuohai’s expression changed drastically. Zeng Yun frowned deeply, and Shen Fengkai was about to lose his temper.
Qi Xu seemed to realize he had said the wrong thing. “No one taught me how to greet elders properly. I have no manners. Did I say something wrong?”
The phrase “no manners” shut everyone up, forcing them to swallow their scolding silently.
