Chapter 10

But who would have thought the sun would rise in the west today? Shen Huaiyu had actually brought them breakfast.

Shen Huaiyu was, after all, a top-tier campus heartthrob. Since he had taken the initiative to make peace, no one was going to keep harping on those trivial past grievances. His roommates eagerly jumped out of bed. Before even brushing his teeth, one of them peeled a tea egg and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth. Munching indistinctly, he exclaimed, "So good. Hot tea eggs really do taste better than cold ones."

Then he added, "Can we discuss something? You get up so early every day. If you have time, could you bring us food more often?"

Shen Huaiyu nodded. "Sure."

The roommate had only said it casually. Hearing Shen Huaiyu agree so readily, he was instantly dumbfounded.

Cheng Lang took out his phone and asked in front of everyone, "How much was it? I'll transfer it to you."

Shen Huaiyu froze, then immediately said, "No need. It's just breakfast. My treat."

"Everyone knows about your family situation," Cheng Lang said. "Helping bring food already makes you a good person. But money should be kept clear. Otherwise, I'd be too embarrassed to ask you to bring me food in the future."

Hearing Cheng Lang's words, the other two roommates immediately caught on. As they looked for their phones to transfer money to Shen Huaiyu, they said, "Cheng Lang's right. Money is money, bringing food is bringing food—those are two separate things. Even brothers settle accounts clearly. Besides, your family is having a hard time, and your younger brother is still lying in the hospital. Don't stand on ceremony with us."

Shen Huaiyu seemed at a loss. "But I wanted to treat you to breakfast today."

"Then... you can treat us this time. If you bring us food again in the future, we'll pay you then?" Though the roommate was speaking to Shen Huaiyu, his eyes remained fixed on Cheng Lang.

Cheng Lang said with a smile, "That works. Thanks for breakfast today."

Shen Huaiyu smiled. "You're welcome."

After breakfast, everyone went to class. Shen Huaiyu deliberately dawdled for a while, letting the other two roommates leave first.

Cheng Lang had long noticed that something seemed off about Shen Huaiyu's mood. He asked, "What is it? Is there something you want to tell me?"

"I didn't come back to school last night..." Shen Huaiyu hesitated, unsure how to say it.

Looking at Shen Huaiyu, Cheng Lang continued, "I know. I heard from a coworker that President Lu called you away."

Shen Huaiyu lowered his eyes. "He found me last night and told me... he bought my family's house from my uncle."

Cheng Lang let out a whistle inwardly and asked the system, I remember that in the original novel, the official male lead didn't buy the house until much later, right?

The system said nothing.

Cheng Lang clicked his tongue. He had not expected the official male lead to be so impatient. His efficiency was impressive enough not to disappoint his domineering CEO persona.

Seeing Cheng Lang remain silent, Shen Huaiyu added, "...He used the house and helping treat my brother as bargaining chips, asking me to stay with him."

"I didn't agree. But I asked President Lu how much he spent buying that house from my uncle. It was 7.8 million." Shen Huaiyu looked at Cheng Lang. "Didn't you say before that you would find my uncle and help me get that money back?"

Shen Huaiyu lowered his gaze. "When my uncle helped our family sell the house, he kept saying no one could possibly come up with several million at once. Back then, my parents' funeral needed to be arranged urgently, my brother was still unconscious, and I desperately needed money. That was why I sold him the house for less than three million." But Shen Huaiyu had never imagined that his uncle would turn around and sell the house for 7.8 million.

Cheng Lang was quite pleased. He had not expected Shen Huaiyu's uncle to do something so stupid—this was an obvious handle to use against him.

Shen Huaiyu looked at Cheng Lang and forced out a smile that seemed on the verge of tears. "He's my biological uncle."

So the blood ties his parents had always valued were only worth this much.

Cheng Lang patted Shen Huaiyu's shoulder. Just as he was about to comfort him, Shen Huaiyu said, "...I'm going to find my uncle and get that money back."

Shen Huaiyu stared straight at Cheng Lang with dark eyes like black obsidian, now veiled in mist. "That was my parents' hard-earned money. It's my brother's life-saving money."

Shen Huaiyu clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "How could he do this?"

Cheng Lang let out a soft sigh.

Shen Huaiyu was deeply hurt. Since childhood, he had always lived in a harmonious family where brothers respected and cared for one another. His parents had always taught him to be kind. They had even told him to use his uncle as an example, to become a highly learned, indifferent-to-fame-and-fortune archaeology expert in the future. Shen Huaiyu had never imagined that one day... he would fall out with the uncle he respected most over money.

Shen Huaiyu blinked. Cheng Lang before him looked somewhat blurry, just like every day after the disaster, when he had been unable to see any hope. But this time, Shen Huaiyu could not retreat. He had nowhere left to go.

"My parents are gone. Our house is gone too. I only have Wojin left. He has to live. I have to get this money back."

Shen Huaiyu looked at Cheng Lang with reddened eyes, like a drowning man who had spotted a piece of driftwood. "You'll help me, right?"

Cheng Lang looked at Shen Huaiyu. After a long while, he nodded gently. "I'll help you."

As he spoke, Cheng Lang could not help remarking to the system inwardly, I never thought one impulsive sentence from me would bring out Shen Huaiyu's fighting spirit.

In the original novel, Shen Huaiyu had maintained the same character setting from beginning to end: submissive and resigned, never fighting back no matter how much harm he suffered, only enduring it silently. He had never cared about worldly possessions; his sole obsession had been saving his younger brother, Shen Wojin. That was why Shen Wojin's furious tirade after waking up became the final straw that broke Shen Huaiyu.

Thinking of Shen Huaiyu's ending in the original novel, Cheng Lang felt somewhat downcast. Setting aside the so-called protagonist status, Shen Huaiyu was now only a boy who had just started university. Not long after his eighteenth birthday, he had suffered the devastating loss of his family and home. During his most difficult and hopeless time, no one had been willing to step forward and help him, nor had anyone taught him how to face cruel reality. The only person willing to help him, Lu Chengxuan, had merely wanted to sleep with him, constantly manipulating him with PUA.