As soon as he returned to his room, he remembered something. Right! He had forgotten his homework again!
Xie Zhuzhou pulled a long face. He wanted to place an order online, but he couldn't bear to part with the money.
He really was someone who was both stingy and loved spending money.
He splurged on big purchases and pinched pennies on small ones.
While he was agonizing over what to do, he fell asleep without realizing it.
He returned to school the next day looking refreshed and ran into Li Yankai in the classroom, who gave him a thumbs-up.
"Bro, you're my big bro. You're amazing at gaming! How did you get a pentakill under their tower?"
Xie Zhuzhou thought it was pretty awesome too. "I don't know either. My hands have minds of their own. I admire them too."
Yes, ever since opening the door to a whole new world yesterday, Xie Zhuzhou had finally understood why the original owner could game for several nights straight.
Stomping noobs the whole way without even having to act-how could that not feel good? How could it not be addictive?
Xie Zhuzhou washed up, then went to bed.
Having always remained outside high-society circles, Xie Zhuzhou had no idea that an earthquake had just rocked the Ji Family. Master Elder Ji had just learned that Ji Wuqiu had another son outside the family, and it had been a rival family that informed him.
Ji Wuqiu stood in the study without a word. He seemed to have expected that the truth would eventually come out and said little, answering only with silence.
"Find some time to bring him back for me to meet."
"I won't let him enter a marriage alliance. Don't even think about it, Father."
The Ji Family had so many children. Master Elder Ji alone had three sons and a daughter. However many marriage alliances they needed, it would never fall to a grandson raised outside the family to contribute.
"Did I say I was sending him? He's my grandson who's been living apart from the family. What's wrong with you bringing him back for me to meet?"
"I've never given him anything, and I ask that you don't demand anything of him either. I can bring him back, but I absolutely won't allow anyone to try ordering him around."
Having made his position clear, Ji Wuqiu left with a grim expression.
He knew his father had always been selfish, willing to exploit his own descendants for the family, clinging to life and fearing death while still wanting to perpetuate the Ji Family's century-old legacy.
In earlier years, Ji Wuqiu's siblings had fought fiercely over the family assets. Later, their children had been dragged into it too. The underhanded methods they employed left some of the next generation abroad and others injured or disabled. Few had come out unscathed.
Only his own sons had fared reasonably well. Ji Wuqiu's ex-wife came from a powerful family, and their sons had all lived well under their maternal grandfather's protection.
Over the past few years, his eldest son had begun gradually swallowing up the Ji Family's businesses.
The old man guarded his little patch of territory, dreaming of making a comeback. After all, even a starving camel was bigger than a horse.
Someone like Xie Zhuzhou, with little support and a simple mind, could easily be exploited.
"Father." Ji Wangchen had also heard about the younger brother living outside the family.
He didn't mind his younger brother coming back to fight over the inheritance. If he had the guts, he was welcome to try.
But Father didn't seem to want his youngest son to return.
So even his cold, indifferent father had someone he wanted to protect. How unusual.
Ji Wangchen said nothing more. He followed Ji Wuqiu, acting as his assistant and opening the door for him, then drove away from the old residence.
On the road, Ji Wuqiu gazed out the window, a few strands of white at his temples and a scholarly air about him.
"I've never met your younger brother."
Ji Wangchen's hand jerked on the steering wheel, and he nearly slammed on the brakes. "No wonder he's only just been discovered."
"You've never even met your youngest son. That's taking protection a bit far."
"Actually, I gave him an address when he was five. I thought he would come looking for me, that he would want more. But more than a decade has passed, and he's never sought me out.
"So that was his choice. Your grandfather shouldn't drag him into this."
Ji Wangchen's feelings were complicated. He had thought he would be jealous of this well-protected younger brother, but he wasn't. The other boy didn't seem to have had it much better than the rest of them. He hadn't even met their father.
"What do you plan to do now, Father? Bring him back to live with us? I wonder if the second and third brothers will kick up a fuss."
After all these years, Ji Wangchen had finally gotten an illegitimate younger brother. Other families had one, so theirs ought to have one too, right?
But seeing how uneventful his father's life had been after divorcing his mother, he had stopped expecting his father to spring any unusual surprises on them.
Until today, when Ji Wangchen felt that this was exactly how things ought to be.
"For now, send some people over to keep watch. As for whether he comes back, we'll ask him first."
Ji Wuqiu hadn't treated his other three sons much better.
Only now that his youngest son had been discovered did he feel a little anxious.
Those ambitious people had taken all these years to find him. He had to say, they were pretty useless.
Few people in the Ji Family could sleep well because of Xie Zhuzhou.
To Xie Zhuzhou's paternal uncles, he was undoubtedly a highly coveted prize, but also someone coming to fight them for the inheritance. The old man didn't have much left in his hands to begin with. If someone even more scheming and ruthless than Ji Wangchen came back... wouldn't they suffer a huge loss?
It wasn't until the next day that Xie Zhuzhou received a call from his second brother. Ji Wangyun had cleverly switched phones. With a dark expression, Xie Zhuzhou refrained from venting his morning temper and quietly listened to him finish.
"Oh. So what?"
"Aren't you scared?"
"None of your business."
When Xie Zhuzhou put down his phone, his hand trembled slightly.
He had known wealthy families were murky waters. Otherwise, why had none of the original owner's siblings come looking for him all these years? He hadn't even met his father. It was all far too suspicious.
Besides, how could anyone sail smoothly through their entire life?
Now he finally understood. This was an unconventional form of protection from the father he had never met, commonly known as the newbie protection period. Yes, he'd been right all along.
Fine, it was impossible not to be afraid, but he couldn't show weakness.
In short, he would keep eating and drinking as usual.
A person's whole life would be over in the blink of an eye anyway.
Although that was what he said, when Xie Zhuzhou went to class early that morning, he started zoning out and shopping for lifesaving gear.
The concealed weapons his martial arts teacher had taught him to use for self-defense in his previous life had never come in handy. Through an odd twist of fate, he was picking those lessons up again in this life. If his body recovered well, he could try the things his martial arts teacher had taught him again. In short, being part of a wealthy family, he had no choice but to think about his own survival.
Fortunately, he still remembered how to use them.
Xie Zhuzhou felt bitter inside. He hadn't expected to still have to worry about his life after coming here!
Li Yankai had no idea what Xie Zhuzhou was doing. Holding a book up to hide his head, he whispered, "Bro, want to go to the internet café after class?"
"No."
Xie Zhuzhou shook his head. "I've got something to do."
"What is it? You look so miserable."
The other classmates nearby thought it was seriously impressive that Li Yankai could actually read emotion on Xie Zhuzhou's expressionless face.
"It's nothing major." Xie Zhuzhou stubbornly refused to admit anything. He had his pride, and he certainly wouldn't go around telling people his business.
Better to rely on himself than ask others for help. He decided not to go home for now. When he wasn't staying at the dating show, he would stay at school.
Otherwise, he could end up with a sack over his head, encased in concrete, or sunk into the sea in a metal barrel without even knowing what had happened!
Xie Zhuzhou was as despondent today as he had been happy yesterday. He even felt a little like writing a will.
Ninety percent would go to his father, five percent to Aolai, and the remaining five percent would buy a nicer burial plot, with the fees paid for a few hundred years.