Chapter 5

He said, "Bro, teach me how to ride a motorcycle?"

"That won't work." Chi Yang took off his gloves. "You're too short. It's dangerous if you can't reach the ground while riding."

Chi Ning: ?

He looked at his eldest brother's long legs, unique to someone one meter ninety tall, then glanced at his own thin one-meter-seventy frame and set a fitness goal.

It wasn't to grow taller, though. He mainly felt this body wasn't healthy.

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

After dinner, Chi Ning had nothing to do, so he went upstairs early to sleep.

The next morning, after washing up, he stumbled downstairs in a daze and asked with a smile, "Granny, what are we having today?"

The housekeeper granny did not answer. Chi Ning focused his eyes, and when he met his father's gaze, his smile vanished.

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 to work up the tears he would shed when his father scolded him.

Chi Baichuan looked at Chi Ning's face, which clearly said, "I know I was wrong," then 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 put it into his mouth, chewing gently and slowly.

Chi Baichuan threw a newspaper in front of Chi Yang with a smack.

About to receive his first scolding across two lifetimes, Chi Ning shuddered at the sound. He did not dare eat the pineapple bun anymore and stared at the fresh milk tea in front of him as if flowers might bloom from it.

"Pfft..."

Chi Ning's ears twitched. He turned his head toward Chi Yang, who had laughed aloud.

He did not understand what his brother was laughing at, so he leaned over to look. The newspaper read: Chi Family's Eldest Young Master and Gangnan KTV's Young Master Race Through the Night, Inseparable.

"KTV young master" specifically referred to male escorts who sold alcohol in karaoke halls. In any case, it was not a flattering term.

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

The paparazzi's language was crude and 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 grabbing attention.

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

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

His whole 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 now that he had been given another chance, that grievance was magnified many times over.

Once he deliberately dwelled on 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, the paparazzi wrote nonsense." Thinking Chi Ning was upset by those indecent words, Chi Yang comforted him. "I paid them to take it down."

Hearing that, Chi Ning blinked away a tear.

When nobody cared, no amount of hardship or exhaustion mattered. But once someone cared, Chi Ning felt like he could not even carry a single brick.

Seeing his younger son's tears fall into the milk tea, Chi Baichuan felt as though they were drilling into his heart.

He tossed his cup toward the corner of the table, strode over, grabbed Chi Yang by the ear, and dragged him toward the front door. Once they reached it, he immediately opened it and threw him outside, cursing as he did so. "Who told you to take your little brother to a place like that? Did I raise you for nothing? You can't even protect your own brother, and you let people write nonsense about him! Are you even a man?!"

"Get the hell 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, which had been yanked red, and hurried over to stop him. "Dad, it's not Brother's fault. I was just thinking about something sad."

"What could you possibly 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 pampered life. What could he have been sad about?

"Don't speak up for this bastard. 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.

Dad was seriously playing favorites! He wasn't even scolding him?

Why had he started beating his eldest brother instead?

Fine, if he wanted to beat him, couldn't he at least do it behind closed doors?

Why did he have to do it with the door open...

"I was bored, so I begged Brother to take me out!" Chi Ning hurriedly gave his brother a push. "Go first."

Chi Yang glanced at Chi Ning, lifted a hand to wipe away the tears at the corner of his eyes, then, just like last time, turned, got on his bike, and rode away from the Chi Residence.

Chi Ning breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he prepared to bravely sacrifice himself, Chi Baichuan pulled him toward the dining table. "Ningzai, crying can't solve problems. Dad will teach you."

Chi Ning: Huh?

He had thought his father would pick up the bamboo switch and beat him, but instead, his father called the publishing house and said he was going 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 already hung up and was telling him to learn to use legal means to protect himself.

In his heart, he slapped a huge "plays favorites" label onto his father.

But since his father was favoring him, Chi Ning could not really say much. He could only criticize him tactfully and softly, "Dad, aren't you being too harsh on Brother?"

Chi Baichuan reached out and rubbed Chi Ning's head, his expression kind. "It can't be helped. 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 needed to go to work and could not stay home long.

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

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the bedroom door. The granny outside said, "Ningzai, today's milk has arrived. Would you like double-skin milk pudding or egg custard?"

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

He took some cash and stuffed it into his pocket, got dressed, and came out. He said to the housekeeper granny outside, "I'm not eating today. Put it in the fridge. I'm going out."

"Alright."

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

He knew that the little unlucky guy 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 assumed he would not find anyone there, but instead saw the other boy leaning against the wall. A foam cooler sat on the bicycle propped up in front of him, holding a row of bottled bayberry juice.

Chi Ning quickened his pace and walked over, looking at his injured right leg. "You're setting up a stall before your injury has even healed?"

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

Chi Ning opened his mouth, staring at the scar at the corner of the other boy's forehead. The more he looked, the more familiar it seemed.

Qin Heng also had a scar at the end of his brow bone. It was white and short, in exactly the same place where the little unlucky guy had been injured.

Come to think of it, Qin Heng had said that he worked while studying when he was young and had lived a hard life.

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

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

The little unlucky guy clearly still owed the hospital three hundred yuan, yet he did not keep the gold Chi Ning had lost. He returned what he found, and despite being injured, he limped all the way over to bring it back. He repaid kindness. He was a good person.

Other than his still-youthful features, the different aura between his brows compared with later on, and skin darker than adult Qin Heng's, every other feature was exactly the same.

Adult Qin Heng was like a wolf. Right now, he was like a little stray dog in an alley.

But...

This was just too...

He looked as though he had rolled around in mud, dark all over.

Chi Ning felt like he was smiling, but his ears also rang, as though water were sloshing inside them. "What's your name?"

Chapter 5

"My name is Qin Heng."

Chi Ning was a little dazed as the tide in his ears suddenly receded.

Qin Heng bent his injured right leg and leaned crookedly against the wall at the alley entrance. 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 strong, and his expression carried a ruthlessness that did not match his age.

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

"Yes." Seeing that Qin Heng did not intend to take money, Chi Ning pulled out a five-yuan note from his pocket and stuffed it into the small jar in the bike 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, a little surprised. The red string he had braided was dirt cheap, nowhere near as good as the broken one threaded with gold. Giving it to Chi Ning had merely been a social gesture; he had not expected Chi Ning to actually wear it.

The midday sun was scorching, making people dizzy from the heat.

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

Like a sapling finally receiving rain after a long drought, his whole body perked right up.

He handed the glass bottle back, then pulled another five yuan from his pocket and looked eagerly at the ice bucket. "Another bottle."

Qin Heng found him adorable, and the image of him crying after being frightened by blood a few days ago surfaced in his mind again. "You're a little different from the rumors."

"Rumors? What am I like in the rumors?" Chi Ning did not even look up. His eyes were glued to the bayberries submerged in the ice bucket, praying Qin Heng's hand would not shake and that he would scoop up more of the soft, soaked bayberries.

The iron spoon stirring in the bucket paused, and two of the three bayberries inside slipped out.

Chi Ning looked up in dissatisfaction and met a pair of eyes hiding amusement. He suddenly understood. "You did that on purpose?"

Qin Heng played dumb. "The rumors say you shut out all matters beyond your window and devote yourself wholeheartedly to studying the sages."

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

In this life, though, he was stingy.

Chi Ning huffed and said resentfully, "How about this? I'll give you three hundred yuan, and you deliver bayberry juice to me for a month. Every bottle needs five bayberries."

Three hundred yuan was just enough for Qin Heng to repay what he owed the hospital. Qin Heng needed money, and Chi Ning needed bayberry juice. Each got what he needed. It was a great deal.

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