Chapter 114 - 114 – Fang Loses His Temper

Fang followed Pax's instructions and quickly went to check his bank balance.

He froze when he saw the figure – how could there be so many zeroes?! Fang decided that he must be seeing things, so he rubbed his eyes vigorously until they watered, and then blinked the tears (caused by rubbing a bit too much) out of his eyes, and looked again.

The number of zeroes behind the initial figures remained the same.

Fang grit his teeth. How could this be? Ren must have transferred some money into his account, right? How else would he suddenly have money? While it was true that Fang hadn't spent a single penny since he had been taken in by Ren – but even if all his endorsements fees and the interest on those were added up, it would never be such a huge amount!

Could it be that Ren thought that Fang was feeling insecure because he didn't have as much money as Ren, and thus Ren had secretly been putting money in Fang's account?!

A tendril of anger unfurled in Fang's belly. He was an adult now! He could even earn money by taking a modelling job whenever he wanted! Why on earth was Ren still treating him like a dependant child?! How long would Ren treat him like this?!

Poor Ren, who was completely innocent in this matter and who was happily discussing a new research project with a newly gathered research team at SIMS, suddenly felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

Fang stormed back to Pax's cabin.

"Since when has Ren been depositing money in my account?!" he demanded angrily.

Pax raised an eyebrow. "What are you angry about?" he asked, clearly confused about what was going on.

"There is too much money in my account!" Fang shouted.

Pax stared at him as if he had lost his head, disbelief written all over his good looking face, and a hint of amusement in his blue-grey eyes.

Silence reigned in the cabin for several minutes.

Finally, Pax burst out laughing. "Let me get this straight," he said, after he finished laughing for a whole minute. "You are telling me that you are angry because there is too much money in your account?" he asked, trying to get back to keeping a straight face.

Fang grit his teeth angrily. "Yes!" he yelled.

"I don't understand," Pax said innocently. "Why are you angry about having too much money?"

"Because I haven't earned it!" Fang hissed. "Because it is Ren's money – and he's giving me his money like charity!"

Pax frowned. "What money has Ren given you?" he asked.

"I don't know," Fang said angrily. "I saw the balance in my bank account, and it is definitely many, many times more than what I have earned from my modelling gigs for Sirocco and in Dragon Nation and in Sand Country," he snapped. "Even if I haven't been using the money and the bank id giving me interest on it – there is no way there would be this much!"

Pax rolled his eyes. "Did you look at the dividends of this quarter?" he asked dryly.

Fang froze. Dividends? He remembered that Ren had gifted shares of Sirocco to him – and that he had accepted them. But even if there were dividends, there couldn't possibly be this much, right?

Pax sighed and sympathised with Ren for a moment.

"Fang," Pax said quietly. "Why don't you go through your account statement once? We can have this discussion after you have taken a look at where the money has come from."

Fang huffed. "I'll take a look," he said, the anger still simmering under this skin. He turned to leave, but then, the little piece of paper where Pax had written down the approximate price of a luxury car from Miccan43, fell to the floor.

Fang picked up the piece of paper and thought for a moment. Could it be that Ren put so much money in his account so that Fang could buy him what Ren would consider a proper present? After all, Ren's gifts were always extravagant. Perhaps he was expecting something similar in return…

Fang sighed. He would never be good enough for Ren, would he? But then, who asked him to fall foolishly in love with his benefactor?

And now Fang had enough money to buy Ren ten or even twenty luxury cars.

Fang suddenly remembered that time in Dragon Nation when he and Ren had fought over Ren buying the villa there. He remembered Ren's words from back then. Hadn't Ren said that he would give Fang things worth ten bucks if he had ten bucks, and he would give Fang things worth a billion if he had a billion?

And Fang had never really bought a proper gift for Ren before, had he?

"I want the best luxury car and two units of the best massage chairs from Miccan43," Fang told Pax.

Pax blinked. "Are you sure?" he asked quietly. "Do you want them to be customised?"

"No need for customisation," Fang said. "What could the plebian me possibly customise for the great imperial Ren?" he mocked.

Pax opened his mouth to argue but Fang held up his hand to silence him. Fang's aura was unusually cold and domineering at this moment, surprising Pax. Even Ren hardly ever radiated an aggressively powerful aura like this!

"Just make sure that they are ready before Ren's birthday," Fang said. "Also, please organise a grand party for Ren's birthday with all the important people – business acquaintances, old friends, distant relatives – everyone. The grandeur of Ren's twenty first birthday party should be the talk of Cosmopolis for at least a month after it is held!" Fang put down his bank card on Pax's table. "Use this for everything. It should be enough – and if it's not, I'm sure Ren will add some more to my account anyway."

And before Pax could utter another word, Fang turned around and stormed out of the room.

Pax rubbed his temples tiredly after Fang left.

"Poor Ren," he muttered to himself. After all, Pax was the one who knew best that Ren had never randomly put money in Fang's account – Ren was very mindful of Fang's pride and his sensitivity to monetary things. The huge amounts that Fang had found in his account were mostly because of the dividends earned from his shares in Sirocco, as well as the recurring royalty from the tourism campaigns Fang had done for Dragon Nation and Sand Country. Fang had probably not read the contracts before signing them – both countries had promised to pay him a share of the profits that were directly generated as a result of the advertising campaigns Fang had done for them.

Pax sighed and sent a text to Fang, asking him to check his bank account statement. That would make it clear that Ren was completely innocent here.

As a precautionary measure, Pax also called Dr. Gordon and updated him about the situation.

"That stubborn little idiot," Dr. Gordon hissed angrily. "You've sent someone to keep an eye on him, right?"

"Yes," Pax said simply.

"Then, let him stew for a while – I believe the boy will calm down by himself soon enough," Dr. Gordon said. "Whatever else he might do, Fang's love for Ren is true." He paused. "If Fang isn't heading back home by dinner time, you should have someone drag him back."

Pax frowned. "Wouldn't it be better to let him cool down first? Once he is a bit more rational, I believe he will check the account and learn the truth by himself," he murmured. "But if he is still unreasonably angry around Ren – I'm more worried about Ren than Fang here, Dr. Gordon."

Dr. Gordon sighed. Fang never meant to harm Ren – but nonetheless, he had done so in the past, mostly unknowingly. And Dr. Gordon was a bit worried about Ren himself. Despite all the multivitamins and nutritious food they were stuffing into him, the young man's weak body wasn't picking up too well. However, the reports were completely normal – medically, there was nothing wrong with Ren at all.

But Dr. Gordon's instincts were telling him otherwise, so he had asked Steward Paul to keep a closer eye on Ren these days. He just hoped that he would be proved wrong this time. These two children had already suffered enough, and Dr. Gordon simply wanted them to have a happy and carefree life in the future.

Fang didn't go home after leaving Sirocco's office. He was too irritated and angry with the whole thing. It felt like a slap on his face. He was supposed to pick up Ren from SIMS and go home together, but Fang didn't feel like going home today at all.. Part of him knew that he was being petty and childish and unreasonable, while part of him was raging at Ren for making him feel like this. All Fang wanted was to be at an equal footing with Ren, but that seemed to be as impossible even now as it had seemed on the day when he had been nothing more than a drenched beggar!