I really want to be a full-time little brother

Hua Jian cooked two bowls of noodles in clear broth, and the two grown men ate one each.

"There's 5,000 yuan on the table. Take it to buy a phone and replace your SIM card. We'll talk when we meet at one this afternoon."

Xue Pan looked at the stack of crisp new bills on the table and said quietly, "Thanks."

"No need to thank me. There's a sheet of paper beside it. Write me an IOU."

Xue Pan looked up at him.

Hua Jian glanced at him. "What are you looking at? My money doesn't grow on trees. You made at least 20,000 off me on that bottle of stuff, didn't you?"

Xue Pan lowered his head and ate his noodles.

"Don't play dumb. Still, I promised you that 30,000 beforehand, so I'll chalk it up to bad luck. But you've seen it yourself. I fucking work part-time every day, at night, and during the day on weekends too."

If I get any more broke, I'll have to sell my body.

Xue Pan nearly bit his tongue. "Why are you so short on money? I heard from people in your department that your family's loaded."

Hua Jian took a mouthful of noodles and said casually, "My mom kicked me out and cut off my allowance. Do you know how much studying painting costs?"

Something flickered in Xue Pan's eyes. "Because of you liking Feng Qian?"

In his little circle, Feng Qian told the story as a joke, calling Hua Jian a toad who didn't know his place.

Hua Jian looked as though he had swallowed a fly. He put down his chopsticks and said seriously, "I'm straight, got it? I don't like men."

Xue Pan remained noncommittal. How could someone's sexual orientation change?

Seeing his expression, Hua Jian took a deep breath. "Believe whatever you want."

"By the way, are you close to Shu Yao from the humanities department?"

This was the opening Xue Pan had settled on after thinking it over for a long time.

Of all the baffling things Hua Jian had said last night, Shu Yao was the only person they both knew.

Hua Jian's eyelid twitched, and he looked at him. "You know Shu Yao?"

"No, but I've heard a bit about his background from other people. Besides, Feng Qian doesn't get along with him, so I know a little."

As he spoke, he watched Hua Jian closely and saw his brows draw together.

Good. Xue Pan hasn't fallen in love with Shu Yao yet. There's still time to save his life.

Sure enough, hearing Hua Jian's thoughts again left Xue Pan greatly relieved.

"You can barely look after yourself, and you still have time to worry about other people? Finish eating, take the money, and get out."

Hua Jian swallowed his last mouthful of noodles and impatiently got up to clear the bowls.

Xue Pan took the 5,000 yuan, left an IOU, and was kicked out by Hua Jian.

A dark glint crossed Xue Pan's eyes as he thought of the bastards who had ambushed him last night.

Hua Jian showered, changed, and came out to find Xue Pan still standing at the entrance to the stairwell.

Not only was his face bruised and swollen, he seemed to be pulling some sort of expression too.

Tsk. Ugly bastard.

Shu Yao hadn't expected to run into Professor Xie again so soon.

Although he was only a second-year journalism student, he was very interested in real-world media and journalism work.

Qin Ci's attempt to approach Xie Zhitan yesterday had failed. Feeling embarrassed, Qin Ci had specially arranged for Shu Yao to tour the television station's backstage area today.

He heard from the other staff that the professors inside were the most respected finance professors from the capital's universities.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Shu Yao craned his neck to look and spotted Xie Zhitan at once.

Professor Xie seemed to glow inside the studio. The youngest professor at Capital University, he spoke confidently among a group of old men. Those old professors, whose students could be found everywhere, smiled at him with warmth and appreciation, making him stand out all the more.

Shu Yao stared intently at Xie Zhitan for a long time.

When the recording ended, Xie Zhitan helped a trembling elderly man out of the studio.

His undergraduate mentor's wife had suddenly fainted, so his mentor had sent Xie Zhitan here to fill in.

Xie Zhitan was looking down and saying something to the elderly gentleman when he suddenly heard someone call him.

"Professor Xie, please wait."

He straightened and looked back. When he saw who it was, the smile on his face suddenly faded.

"Xie, if you have something to do, go ahead. I'll be off. When I invite old Zhou out for tea, you must come along!"

Old Zhou was Xie Zhitan's mentor.

Xie Zhitan smiled. "As long as you don't find me a nuisance. Take care."

By the time the man entered the elevator, Shu Yao had reached him too. He had jogged over from the other end of the corridor, his breathing quick and his face flushed.

"Professor Xie, it really is you. What a coincidence."

The young man before him was respectful and admiring, his handsome, delicate features making him look very well-behaved.

As a child, Xie Zhitan had dreamed of having a little brother like this.

Unfortunately, of his two younger brothers, one was an unruly troublemaker who never sat still, and the other was taciturn and awkward.

Neither had the well-behaved, considerate nature Xie Zhitan liked.

If not for yesterday's incident, Xie Zhitan might have formed a favorable impression of Shu Yao.

"Shu Yao." Xie Zhitan lowered his eyes indifferently. "Did you need something?"

Shu Yao didn't know how to begin. He stammered, "I'm really sorry about yesterday. Please don't take it to heart. Qin Ci was just too eager to help me."

The same sort of thing again.

"What happened yesterday is over. You don't need to take it to heart either. If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

The elevator arrived just then, and Xie Zhitan turned to leave.

Shu Yao didn't dare stop him. He felt terrible, and even began to deeply resent Qin Ci.

He really did more harm than good. Failing to get things done was bad enough, but now Xie Zhitan had a prejudice against him too.

Once he got into the car, Xie Zhitan loosened his tie and let out an almost imperceptible breath.

He didn't believe in supernatural phenomena, but Hua Jian's words had already been proven true yesterday.

He had better verify them again today.

The black Cayenne left the underground parking garage of Capital Television and soon merged into traffic.

At one in the afternoon, Hua Jian received a call from Xie Zhitan on the subway.

"Zhitan."

"I remember you said yesterday which subway exit you'd be coming out of. Which was it? I happen to be downtown, so I'll pick you up and we can go together."

Hua Jian looked up at the map and gave him a location.

Fifteen minutes later, the two brothers met up.

The original owner of this body had greatly admired his second brother. Xie Zhitan was kind and even-tempered. He had never made things difficult for Mrs. Hua, and had taken especially good care of "Hua Jian."

So Hua Jian also behaved with much more restraint around him.

"I asked our eldest brother. Thank you for going with him to look for Zhi Yan that day."

"Oh, it was nothing. He gave me lots of spending money afterward."

Xie Zhitan raised an eyebrow and turned to glance at the reserved Hua Jian while they waited at a traffic light.

His car was quite roomy, yet Hua Jian still seemed to have nowhere to put his legs.

Xie Zhitan looked away and said casually, "I went to the television station to record a program today and ran into that student we had dinner with yesterday again. The one called Shu Yao."

"Shu Yao?"

Hua Jian abruptly looked up at him.

What kind of bullshit fate keeps bringing Zhitan and Shu Yao together?

Xie Zhitan watched the road ahead, a faint smile unconsciously curving his lips.

"Mm. The Shu Yao that Zhi Yan and the Tan Family's boy fought over should be the one I met, right? What do you think of him, Jian?"

Hua Jian studied his expression and asked cautiously, "What about you, Zhitan? What do you think of him?"

Surely he hasn't developed a liking for him after I already warned him? These gay guys in the book are really something. Even if they like men, they can't all fall for Shu Yao alone, can they?

The corner of Xie Zhitan's eye twitched. He said quietly, "I heard from your mother that you like men. When did that happen?"

Hua Jian: ????

Hua Jian rubbed his nose and accepted responsibility for the original owner's mess. "I was just curious back then. These past few days, I've realized I don't actually like men, but my mom doesn't believe me. She even cut off my allowance."

"So that's what happened."

A teenage boy's adolescent troubles.

They came to another traffic light just then. The red light lasted ninety seconds.

Ding.

Hua Jian looked down at his phone, then abruptly sat up straight.

"Zhitan, did you send me money?"

"Mm. Didn't your mother cut off your allowance? I'll make up for it."

Hua Jian said delightedly, "Thank you, Zhitan."

Ah! He's even more generous than our eldest brother! Haha, he gave me 200,000! Oh my god, I really want to be a full-time little brother! No, I need to stay in touch with him more often. I absolutely can't let Shu Yao bewitch him.

Bewitch him? Xie Zhitan didn't believe he could be bewitched by a man.

As he started the car again, Hua Jian's thoughts continued.

It's good that Zhitan is wary of Shu Yao, but what about the danger facing our eldest brother?

That bastard Shen Ling has been trying to screw over the Xie Family for ages. Ugh!

Didn't the book say Zhitan was an investment genius? If he worked at the Xie Family's company too, he'd definitely notice Shen Ling's shady little moves.

But how can I subtly warn him that the money Shen Ling is using to work with the Xie Family isn't clean?

Xie Zhitan's grip on the steering wheel tightened.