Chapter 5

He said, "Bro, teach me how to drive?"

"No." Chi Yang took off his gloves. "You're too short. It's dangerous to ride a motorcycle when you can't reach the ground."

Chi Ning:?

He looked at his eldest brother's uniquely long legs, made possible by his six-foot-three height, then at his own skinny five-foot-seven body and set himself a fitness goal.

Not that he wanted to grow taller. He mainly felt that this physique was unhealthy.

Chi Baichuan was busy with company matters today and had no time to come home.

With nothing to do after dinner, Chi Ning went upstairs early to sleep.

The next morning, after washing up, he stumbled downstairs still half-asleep and asked with a smile, "Granny, what are we having today?"

The housekeeper granny did not answer. Chi Ning focused his eyes, and after meeting his father's gaze, he could no longer smile.

He'd had too much fun...

He'd forgotten he would get scolded when he came back.

Chi Ning lowered his head, picked at his fingernails, and tried hard to summon the tears that would fall when his father scolded him later.

Seeing Chi Ning's expression practically scream, "I know I was wrong," Chi Baichuan pointed speechlessly at the breakfast on the table. "Come eat."

Chi Ning sat beside his eldest brother, tore off a piece of pineapple bun, dipped it in butter, and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing slowly and gently.

Chi Baichuan tossed a newspaper in front of Chi Yang with a loud smack.

Chi Ning, who was about to receive the first scolding of both his lives, startled at the sound. He did not even dare keep eating his pineapple bun, staring at the fresh milk tea before him as if flowers might bloom from it.

"Pfft..."

Chi Ning's ears twitched. He turned to look at Chi Yang, who had laughed aloud.

He did not understand what his brother was laughing about. Leaning over to look, he saw the headline in the newspaper: Eldest Young Master of the Chi Family and Gangnan KTV Boy Race Through the Streets at Midnight, Inseparable.

A KTV boy specifically referred to a male escort who sold alcohol at karaoke clubs. In any case, it was not a flattering term.

Chi Ning pulled the newspaper over and saw a photograph of himself sitting on the back seat of his eldest brother's motorcycle.

The paparazzo's wording was brazenly suggestive. Chi Ning's face reddened as he read it, and he wanted to laugh but did not dare.

Those tabloid paparazzi truly had no bottom line when it came to attracting attention.

Looking at his father's dark expression, he carefully pushed the newspaper back bit by bit. Lowering his head, he held back his laughter and thought of every sad thing from his previous life.

He had only meant to suppress a laugh, but his previous life had truly been too bitter.

His entire family had died, yet he had not even had time to kneel in the ancestral hall and burn paper offerings for them. In his previous life, he had only felt numb, but having been given another chance, that grievance was magnified countless times over.

The moment he deliberately thought about it, his eyes immediately reddened, tears gathering on his lashes.

Chi Baichuan's toast dropped into his plate with a plop. He had not been planning to scold Chi Ning...

"Ningzai, those paparazzi wrote nothing but nonsense." Thinking he was upset by the disgraceful words the paparazzi had used, Chi Yang comforted him. "I paid them to take it down."

Listening to him, Chi Ning blinked away a tear.

When no one cared about him, no hardship or exhaustion meant much. But when someone did care, Chi Ning felt as if he could not even carry a single brick.

Seeing his younger son's tears splash into the milk tea, Chi Baichuan felt as though they had struck straight into his heart.

He tossed the cup toward the corner of the table, then strode over, grabbed Chi Yang by the ear, and dragged him toward the front door. Once they reached it, he flung the door open and threw him outside, swearing as he did. "Who told you to take your little brother to that kind of shady place? Was I raising you for nothing? You can't even protect your own brother, and you let people write such garbage about him! Are you even a man?"

"Get as far away from me as you can! If you don't settle this matter, don't come back!"

Chi Ning stared in shock at his brother's ear, now red from being pulled, and hurried over to stop him. "Dad, it wasn't Brother's fault. I was just thinking of something sad."

"What could you possibly have to be sad about?" Chi Baichuan turned to look at him.

Chi Ning fell silent.

That was right. Before anything happened to his brother, he had lived a life of luxury. What could he possibly have been sad about?

"Don't speak up for that bastard. Just watch me beat him to death today!" Chi Baichuan grabbed a bamboo switch and raised his hand to strike Chi Yang.

Chi Ning hurriedly stepped in front of his eldest brother.

His dad was seriously playing favorites! He was not even scolding him?

Why had he started hitting his eldest brother instead?

Even if he wanted to hit him, couldn't he do it behind closed doors?

Why did he have to beat him with the door open...

"I was bored and begged Brother to take me out!" Chi Ning hurriedly shoved his eldest brother. "Go. Hurry."

Chi Yang glanced at Chi Ning, raised a hand to wipe away the tears from the corner of his eyes, then, just as before, turned around, got on his bike, and rode away from the Chi residence.

Chi Ning sighed in relief. Just as he prepared to bravely face his fate, Chi Baichuan pulled him back toward the dining table. "Ningzai, crying can't solve problems. Dad will teach you."

Chi Ning: Huh?

He thought his father would grab the bamboo switch and beat him, but instead, his father called the publishing house and said he wanted to sue?

Chi Ning looked at the bamboo switch tossed aside, thought of his eldest brother being driven out of the house, then looked at his father, who had put down the phone and was telling him that he needed to learn how to use legal means to protect himself.

In his heart, he slapped a huge label on his father: shameless favoritism.

But his father's favoritism was toward him, so Chi Ning could not really say anything. He could only criticize him quietly and tactfully. "Dad, aren't you being too strict with Brother?"

Chi Baichuan reached out and rubbed Chi Ning's head, his expression kind and loving. "There's no helping it. You'll understand when you grow up."

Chi Ning really wanted to say that even after dying in his previous life, he still had not understood. But Chi Baichuan had to go to work and could not stay home for long.

Alone in his room, Chi Ning grew more confused the more he thought about it.

Knock, knock.

There was a knock on the bedroom door, and the housekeeper granny said from outside, "Ning, today's milk has arrived. Would you like double-skin milk pudding or steamed egg custard?"

Chi Ning did not want either. He wanted bayberry juice.

He took some cash and tucked it into his pocket, got dressed, and stepped outside. To the housekeeper granny waiting outside the door, he said, "I'm not eating today. Put it in the refrigerator. I'm heading out."

"Alright."

Chi Ning slowly wandered to the entrance of the night market.

He knew the unlucky kid was injured and might not set up his stall, but he still wanted to see for himself.

As if possessed, Chi Ning walked to the west gate. He had thought he would not find anyone, but there he was, leaning against the wall. On the bicycle propped up in front of him sat a foam cooler filled with rows of bottled bayberry juice.

Chi Ning quickened his pace and walked up to him, looking at his injured right leg. "You came out to work before your injury healed?"

"When you saved me that day, you called an ambulance. I owe the hospital three hundred yuan."

Chi Ning opened his mouth. Looking at the scar by the other boy's temple, he felt that the resemblance grew stronger the longer he looked.

Qin Heng also had a scar at the end of his brow bone. It was white and short, in precisely the same spot where the unlucky kid had been injured.

Thinking carefully, Qin Heng had said that he worked while studying as a child and had lived a hard life.

The unlucky kid also worked while studying and lived a hard life.

Qin Heng had said he was an exemplary student and model youth.

The unlucky kid clearly still owed the hospital three hundred yuan, yet he had not pocketed the gold he found. He returned it despite being injured and limping. He repaid kindness. He was a good person.

Other than his still-youthful features, the different air between his brows, and his darker skin compared to the adult Qin Heng, every other characteristic was exactly the same.

The adult Qin Heng was like a wolf. The current one was more like a little stray dog in an alley.

But...

This was just too...

He looked as though he had rolled in mud, all dark and grimy.

Chi Ning felt as if he was smiling, yet his ears were ringing too, as though water were sloshing inside them. "What's your name?"

Chapter 5

"My name is Qin Heng."

Chi Ning was slightly dazed as the tide in his ears abruptly receded.

Qin Heng bent his injured right leg and leaned crookedly against the wall at the mouth of the alley. His hair, barely longer than a buzz cut, stuck up in every direction. His brows and eyes were sharply defined, his nose bridge straight and firm, and his expression carried a ruthlessness that did not suit his age.

"Want one?" He reached out and patted the edge of the foam cooler, his tone lazy. "I'll get you a fresh bottle."

"Yes." Seeing no sign that Qin Heng intended to take payment, Chi Ning took a five-yuan bill from his pocket and stuffed it into the little jar in the bicycle basket.

Qin Heng glanced at Chi Ning's porcelain-white knuckles. "It's on me. You don't need to pay."

"Of course I do." Chi Ning lifted his foot and shook the Evil-Repelling Needle Cuff around his ankle. "You've already thanked me for saving your life. One thing is one thing."

Qin Heng's gaze paused, and he looked somewhat surprised. The red string he had braided was cheap, nowhere near as good as the broken one woven with gold thread. Giving it to him was merely a gesture of thanks; he had never expected Chi Ning to actually wear it.

The noon sun was scorching enough to make people dizzy.

Chi Ning was unbearably hot. The moment he got the bayberry juice, he gulped it down in huge swallows.

He perked up like a sapling that had finally met sweet rain after a long drought.

He handed over the glass bottle, then took another five yuan from his pocket and stared eagerly at the ice bucket. "Another bottle."

Qin Heng found him cute. The image of him crying at the sight of blood a few days ago surfaced in his mind again. "You're a little different from the rumors."

"Rumors? What do the rumors say I'm like?" Chi Ning did not even raise his head, his eyes fixed on the bayberries submerged in the ice bucket. He prayed Qin Heng's hand would not shake and that he would scoop up more of the soft, soaked bayberries.

The iron spoon stirring inside paused, and two of the three bayberries in it slipped back down.

Chi Ning lifted his head in dissatisfaction and met a pair of eyes holding back amusement. Realization dawned on him. "You did that on purpose?"

Qin Heng feigned innocence. "The rumors say you ignore everything outside your window and focus only on studying the classics."

Chi Ning stared at Qin Heng. In his previous life, this man had been very generous. Whenever he delivered lunch, he would bring Chi Ning a bottle of bayberry juice, with exactly five bayberries settled at the bottom.

In this life, he was stingy.

Chi Ning snorted and said grudgingly, "How about this? I'll give you three hundred yuan, and you deliver bayberry juice for me for one month. Every bottle must have five bayberries."

Three hundred yuan was exactly enough for Qin Heng to repay his hospital debt. He needed money, while Chi Ning needed bayberry juice. Each got what he needed. It was a very good deal.

"One bottle costs five yuan. A month is one hundred fifty." Qin Heng lowered his wrist, caught the bayberries that had slipped away, then scooped up two more. "By your calculation, is one bayberry worth one yuan?"