Xie Zhiyan, that unlucky kid

2

Xie Zhiyan looked him up and down and scoffed. "What, you don't call me your third brother anymore?"

Fine.

Hua Jian called softly, "Third brother."

With that, he got into the car.

Xie Zhiyan couldn't be bothered with this bookworm and asked casually, "Where are your glasses?"

"I accidentally broke them yesterday."

"Tsk."

The moment he had said Xie Zhiyan's name earlier, information about the Xie Family had flooded his mind.

Hua Jian slowly sorted through their relationships. Once he finally had them straight, he sighed inwardly.

[This sweet, clueless idiot Xie Zhiyan sure was dedicated to being Shu Yao's lapdog. Pitiful and desperate-the harder he chased, the worse he suffered. Tsk, tsk.]

Startled, Xie Zhiyan immediately turned to Hua Jian. "Have you lost your fucking mind? What the hell are you saying?"

Hua Jian froze. "What? I didn't say anything."

The man in black in the passenger seat turned around. "Third young master, what can I do for you?"

Xie Zhiyan pointed at Hua Jian and demanded loudly, "Didn't you hear him insulting me? He just insulted me!"

[He's nuts.]

"Third brother, I didn't say anything."

The Xie Family's third young master had always treated the extra baggage his stepmother brought along badly. Used to it, the man in black tried to smooth things over. "Third young master, perhaps you're too tired."

[Shu Yao loved someone else. This lapdog put in all that money and effort, only to get cheated on. Poor thing.]

As for who Shu Yao was, Hua Jian didn't know either. When he'd read the novel, readers had still been betting on who would end up together.

Xie Zhiyan's face turned livid. He knew the bodyguard wasn't lying, because Hua Jian's lips hadn't moved at all when he'd heard that last remark.

Was he really so tired that he was hallucinating?

Besides, nobody knew he liked Shu Yao. How did Hua Jian know?

And more importantly, what bothered him most was-who exactly did Shu Yao love?

Leaving things half-said, damn it! He was going to find a chance to beat the shit out of that bastard Hua Jian!

Even in the Imperial Capital, where wealthy families were everywhere, the Xie Family had a name for itself.

The eldest, Xie Zhiwei, was a rising star in business. After graduating from university, he had taken over as chairman of the Xie Family's company, and under his leadership, its market value had risen by tens of billions.

The Xie Family’s second son, Xie Zhitan, was exceptionally intelligent and academically gifted. He had earned his doctorate at a young age and was already a professor at Imperial University.

Only the Third Brother, Xie Zhiyan, who was the same age as the original Hua Jian, was an utterly reckless punk.

He wouldn't study properly, and he insisted he couldn't learn foreign languages, refusing to study abroad no matter what.

His two older brothers spoiled him, too. They had donated a building so he could attend a film academy in the Imperial Capital.

After enrolling, he had declared that he liked music and formed a band with his "friends," spending tens of millions every year to support them.

The original Hua Jian's mother, Madam Hua, had married into the Xie Family when Xie Zhiyan was six, right at the age when even dogs found him annoying.

The body's original owner had suffered plenty at his hands, but Xie Zhiyan wasn't bad by nature. His torment of Hua Jian had only amounted to childish pranks.

In fact, when the quiet Hua Jian, who disliked explaining himself, had been bullied by other children, Xie Zhiyan had been the one to beat them up for him.

With Xie Zhiwei diligently earning money to support the whole household, life in the Xie Family had been reasonably good.

Until Xie Zhiyan fell in love with Shu Yao.

Every last member of the Xie Family had been dragged into the most horrific run of bad luck imaginable.

[Xie Zhiyan, that unlucky kid.]

Xie Zhiyan's temple gave a sharp twitch. Pressing his lips together, he glanced at the front seats. Neither the driver nor the bodyguard reacted. It had to be another hallucination.

He took a deep breath and quietly moved a little farther away from Hua Jian.

Fortunately, Xie Zhiyan didn't hear any more of that nonsense for the rest of the journey.

The moment the car stopped at the Xie Family's residence, Xie Zhiyan hurried inside.

Without his glasses, everything Hua Jian saw was blurry.

He walked slowly. After laboriously making his way to the second floor, he heard a cold laugh behind him. "So you remembered to come back? Didn't you declare so proudly last time that you'd never return to this house?"

The woman's voice was alluring, but icy.

This was the original Hua Jian's mother, Madam Hua.

"Mom."

The boy's obedient tone brought the anger in Madam Hua's chest up short.

His hair wasn't completely dry yet and lay limply against his head. Without glasses hiding them, his eyes were slightly narrowed, and on closer inspection, they bore some resemblance to Madam Hua's.

Madam Hua pursed her lips. "How many times have I told you to wear your glasses properly? You're a man. Who are you putting on that look for?"

"Oh."

[In the original novel, Madam Hua went mad after Hua Jian died. Tsk, tsk!]

Madam Hua froze. "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Hua Jian died? Why was he saying that about himself?

Hua Jian looked at her in confusion.

[She loved her son, but went about it the wrong way. What a shame.]

Madam Hua's expression shifted, and she involuntarily stepped backward.

Hua Jian's lips hadn't moved. Was she hearing his thoughts?

If she hadn't grabbed the banister beside her, she might have fallen.

All Hua Jian could make out was that Madam Hua had moved. He said politely, "Mom, I'll go back to my bedroom to get my glasses first."

He turned and left without noticing Madam Hua’s strange expression.

Only after putting on the original owner's spare glasses in the bedroom did Hua Jian let out a long sigh of relief.

Being blind was absolutely miserable!

With his vision restored, he turned to inspect the bedroom.

There was a two-meter-wide bed, a large bookcase, and a large clothes rack.

Half the bookcase held books, while the other half held figurines, some of them rare collector's editions.

The clothes on the rack were all designer brands, too. Some coats cost tens of thousands apiece.

From the looks of it, Hua Jian's life with the Xie Family had been pretty good.

He just didn't know why the boy had moved out.

"Young Master Hua, Madam would like you to come downstairs."

Hua Jian turned his head. "All right. I'll be right down."

Madam Hua sat in the living room in complete silence, holding a cup of coffee she hadn't touched in a long time.

"Mom!"

Hua Jian's voice made Madam Hua jump, nearly spilling coffee on herself.

She instinctively scolded him. "Why are you so loud? What happened to all the manners your etiquette teacher taught you?"

Hua Jian raised an eyebrow at her. Under his gaze, Madam Hua lowered her eyes, looking somewhat embarrassed.

She had borne a child out of wedlock when she was young and spent several years struggling.

She had finally met her current husband, who hadn't minded that she had a son and had let her bring Hua Jian into the Xie Family so they could care for him together.

She had spent years treading carefully, terrified that Hua Jian would incur the displeasure of the Xie Family’s father and sons.

"Sorry. I was too loud just now."

Hua Jian apologized first, surprising Madam Hua again.

She studied Hua Jian in puzzlement. "What's gotten into you?"

[I'm tired.]

The corner of Madam Hua's mouth twitched. "Sit down and talk."

"Okay."

Mother and son sat facing each other in utter awkwardness.

"Did you come home this time because you've come to your senses? How can a man be with another man? Men should like women. If you promise me you won't get involved with men anymore, I'll give your card back."

Hua Jian recalled some of the plot. In the original novel, Hua Jian had been a background character, but there had been a few lines about him.

To pursue Feng Qian, this background character had come out to his mother, only to be thrown out of the house in her fury.

Later, the incident had become a joke to plenty of people.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes, Mom. I don't like men."

Before Madam Hua could smile, she heard Hua Jian's thoughts: [Hua Jian was gay, but...]

Bang!

Hua Jian was startled before he could finish the thought.

He looked up to see Madam Hua pointing a trembling hand at him. "Of all the things you could learn, you learned to lie? Hua Jian, have you gone insane? Have you? You're lying to your own mother over a man! After all these years raising you, I'd have been better off raising a dog! Get out! Don't call yourself my son!"

And just like that, a completely bewildered Hua Jian was thrown out of the Xie Family's home again.

"When did I lie? I'm straight. There's no way I'd ever like men. Why won't she even believe her own son?"

Hua Jian sighed, his shoulders slumping.

In the bedroom, he'd checked the original owner's banking apps. Until two months ago, one account had received a regular monthly allowance of one hundred thousand.

That must have been the card Madam Hua had mentioned.

"I really missed out on a fortune!" Hua Jian felt rather regretful.

The original owner had spent his long-saved allowance on a birthday present for Feng Qian.

Now there wasn't a single cent left in his account.

Ding.

He lowered his eyes to check again. It was a text message.

H Brand sales associate, Baoning Street: [Mr. Hua, your custom watch has arrived. Would you like to pick it up now?]

A watch? An idea struck Hua Jian, and he immediately replied: [I'll be right over.]

At this hour, the various brand stores on Baoning Street were just opening for business.

When Hua Jian arrived, soft music was already playing inside the H Brand store. He paused at the entrance to look around and heard a gentle voice call to him.

"Mr. Hua, you're here." A radiant, poised young woman came over to greet him.

As she approached, Hua Jian glanced at the name tag on her chest. It read Ella.

"Hello, Ella. Where's my watch?"

Ella remembered this generous customer vividly. When he'd come in last month, he hadn't worn a single designer item, and his styling had been downright unfashionable.

His slightly overgrown hair had covered his black-framed glasses, obscuring his features, and his hunched shoulders and stooped back had made him look timid.

Ella had worked as a sales associate for several years and always told herself not to judge by appearances, yet when she'd seen him then, she'd still felt sure he couldn't afford anything.

To her surprise, however, Mr. Hua had looked at a few watches, then pulled out a card and paid one million to order a men's watch.

"Ella?"

Ella snapped out of her thoughts and immediately said, "This way, please."

As she walked, she wondered whether Mr. Hua had been this tall last time.

This watch was the birthday gift the original Hua Jian had prepared for Feng Qian. To show how much he cared, he'd had the initials [FQ] engraved on the back.

Hua Jian brushed his fingertip over the engraving, inwardly lamenting the waste.

It was a shame that the engraving would make the watch difficult to resell, and a shame that the original Hua Jian's innocent devotion had been wasted on the wrong person.

"Mr. Hua?"

"Mm, it's nothing."

Hua Jian put the watch back and asked casually, "By the way, if I wanted to sell this watch back to you, would you buy it?"

Ella asked in confusion, "Are you unhappy with the watch? Didn't you say it was for someone very important and that you needed it urgently? You even paid over a hundred thousand extra to have it transferred here."

Hua Jian sounded resigned. "It was meant for someone I liked, but he turned me down outright. I shouldn't keep bothering him. Under the circumstances, keeping it would only remind me of him..."

Bo Lin had just entered when he heard that remark. He slowly raised his head and looked over.

[With my allowance cut off, am I supposed to sell my body?]

[This body is so weak. What rich woman would want it?]

Bo Lin's expression turned cold. That familiar, flippant voice belonged to the man from last night.