CH 26

In an old mansion far from City A, an elegantly dressed woman turned off the TV and crossed her fingers over her stomach, seemingly in thought.

A handsome man who appeared rather young called out cautiously, “Mum….why don’t we bring him back? He’s Hui Hui’s son after all.”“Has she seen the news?” the woman asked expressionlessly.The man replied, “She probably hasn’t. She has locked herself up for a month now.”The woman sneered, “If it wasn’t for the fact that her face resembled mine, I would’ve suspected that she wasn’t my child. Hurting her own body just because Bojun keeps playing around with other women, does she have a brain?”The man lowered his head, not daring to speak.The woman waved her hand, tired, “Don’t let her know about this. If she knows, she’s going to make a fuss and Bojun would dislike her more.”The man couldn’t hold back anymore. His tone however was still weak, “Mum, that Qi Bojun plays around too much and even has an illegitimate child. Those evil women even deliberately show off in front of Hui Hui, yet Qi Bojun doesn’t care. He doesn’t treat Hui Hui as a human being, he treats her as a dog! No matter how much our family has fallen, it shouldn’t have fallen to this state. Mum, why don’t we let them divorce?”The woman’s expression changed, “Be quiet! What do you know?! If not for Bojun, would our family be living this comfortably? You expect your father to be able to support this family? Or you? Your younger brother? You rely on your younger sister marrying Bojun in order to be able to live lavishly. If you really cared about your sister, why didn’t you stop it in the first place? Now that you have enjoyed the benefits of it, you want to be a good person again?”The man’s face turned red at her words and his head lowered even further, so much so that he could hardly lift it.The woman said, “No matter how many women Bojun has outside and how many illegitimate children he has, Yaoming is his son and the Qi family’s family business will only belong to Yaoming. She is Yaoming’s mother. Instead of getting on Bojun’s good side, she is going against him, dragging Yaoming down!”The man’s eyes were red, “Mum, you……..!”The woman glared at him and continued, “If it wasn’t for the fact that she got in bed with that penniless brat and gave birth to a child, Bojun wouldn’t have become like this. A man like Bojun feeling wronged inside is normal. He however treats Yaoming well and likes Yaoming. That is enough. If you want to continue being able to buy luxury cars, mansions and live comfortably, just keep your mouth shut. Your younger sister doesn’t know how fortunate she is. Don’t learn from her.”The man no longer spoke. After a while, he asked quietly, “Then what about her son? We gave Xie Qinghe three hundred thousand, but Xie Qinghe left this world and the child fell into his younger brother’s hands….”The woman thought for a moment and said, “There is evidence of the transfer from back then. Find that and get the lawyer to give it to the brat. He can sue if he wants to sue. If he doesn’t sue, I don’t care. Just don’t let him appear before me.”The man didn’t say anything else. No matter how well-maintained a woman was, once they reach this age, crow’s feet would still appear at the corners of their eyes. The woman was a little tired, “Leave. I’m going to sleep.”The man responded quietly and left the room with his head hung low.*Xie Zhongxing didn’t go back this weekend ----That wasn’t his home anymore.

He continued his home tutor job.He had also become quite famous now. As long as someone has a TV, they would basically see him on the news every day. The family of the child he tutored was also a wealthy family and the parents were a very kindhearted couple. After class was over for the day, the mother came over and said that he would be given an hourly wage increase.But because his current hourly wage was already very high, Xie Zhongxing declined.The mother didn’t insist and proceeded to give him this month’s pay. The junior high school boy he taught was soft and delicate and shorter than him by about a head. Because he liked candy, his teeth weren’t great. When Xie Zhongxing was about to leave, he ran over to his room and returned with a bag of wine centred chocolates, “Big brother, I can’t eat anymore candy so you can have this.”Xie Zhongxing received it and thanked him, “Thank you, Ran Ran.”The little boy whispered, “Do your best, big brother. You must get into Tsinghua or Peking university and amaze everyone.”Xie Zhongxing smiled, “I will. You should also do your best.”After leaving the boy’s house, he opened the envelope from the mother. With a cursory glance, he could see that she had given him a few hundred more than she needed to.Xie Zhongxing stood in place for a while. His eyes felt a little wet.Back at the dormitory, he asked to borrow Zhong Yiming’s phone and used it to contact Qin Zhongyue.Qin Zhongyue’s voice was still very lively, “Hello, Xing Xing? Why are you suddenly calling me?”Xie Zhongxing said, “I received my pay for my tuition job. I wanted to treat you to dinner.”Qin Zhongyue, “Sure! When should we go?”Xie Zhongxing answered, “Whenever it is convenient for you.”Qin Zhongyue, “It’s always convenient for me if it’s you. How about tonight?”Xie Zhongxing said softly, “Okay.”

Qin Zhongyue laughed foolishly, “This is your second time calling me. If only you have a phone. That way I would be able to talk to you on the phone every day.”Before Xie Zhongxing could speak, Qin Zhongyue on the other end added, “Your voice on the phone is so nice. I really like it.”Xie Zhongxing, “Are you a flattering machine?”Qin Zhongyue whispered secretively, “I’m a flattering machine who only belongs to you!”Xie Zhongxing couldn’t help but smile. He lowered his voice and said softly, “Alright, let’s stop here. This phone is borrowed. I’ll see you tonight.”Qin Zhongyue, “See you tonight, Xing Xing!”Before Xie Zhongxing could react to this nickname of his, Qin Zhongyue on the other end had already hung up. He looked at the phone, his lips still containing a faint smile, and then proceeded to return the phone to Zhong Yiming, “Thanks.”Zhong Yiming’s heart couldn’t help but skip a beat when he saw him like this, “You called Qin Zhongyue?”Xie Zhongxing nodded, “Treating him to dinner tonight.”Zhong Yiming felt complicated inside. The two of them had been getting closer and closer these days and by the time he realised, he found that he couldn’t get in between them anymore.But if he had to hate Qin Zhongyue, for some reason, Zhong Yiming found that he couldn’t do it.Zhong Yiming fell silent for a moment before saying, “You two get along very well now.”Xie Zhongxing recalled Qin Zhongyue’s handsome but silly face and the corners of his lips rose slightly, “En.”Zhong Yiming’s heart couldn’t help but race faster when he saw him smile like that.He rarely saw Xie Zhongxing smile but he seemed to be smiling more and more frequently lately. These changes were all because of Qin Zhongyue.It was Qin Zhongyue who could make him smile, not him.Zhong Yiming felt a touch of sadness surge inside him but his smile remained unchanged, “Come back early in the evening. If you do return late, that’s fine as well. I can help you on the dormitory’s end.”Xie Zhongxing looked at him strangely, “I won’t be late. I’ll be back after eating.”

Zhong Yiming raised a suggestion, “Maybe you two could go watch a movie.”Xie Zhongxing gently shook his head. He didn’t have the time for that.Zhong Yiming didn’t speak anymore.At six o’clock in the evening, Xie Zhongxing met up with Qin Zhongyue.Qin Zhongyue had specially dressed up for this. His hair had been styled loosely and he wore a simple black t-shirt paired with a set of white sneakers. It overall made him look very youthful and energetic.He was leaning against his car looking at his phone. When he heard Xie Zhongxing call out to him, he immediately raised his head and looked in Xie Zhongxing’s direction with bright eyes, “Xing Xing!”The voice used to call Xie Zhongxing’s name contained undisguised enthusiasm.Almost no one called Xie Zhongxing Xing Xing, and even Xie Guoxu and Liu Xiu only called him that a few times, so XIe Zhongxing didn’t have much of a chance to get used to that way of referral. Qin Zhongyue was the only one who would call him by this name.Xie Zhongxing didn’t know why but he felt a little embarrassed by his enthusiasm. His ears were a little hot. He went over and pretended to be calm as he looked at Qin Zhongyue up and down., “You’re very handsome today.”Qin Zhongyue also replied, “You too! You also look very good today! The brightest star in the night sky!” (KKnotes: The Xing in Xie Zhongxing’s name means star)Xie Zhongxing looked up at the sky that had already darkened, “There are no stars tonight.”Qin Zhongyue answered, “That’s why you’re the brightest! By the way, where are we going to eat?”Xie Zhongxing glanced at the luxury car behind him and said, “There is a restaurant in the city centre that’s pretty good.”Qin Zhongyue courteously opened the door of the car for him, “Let’s go then. Let’s go eat.”After Xie Zhongxing got into the car, Qin Zhongyue also got in and closed the door behind him.This time, without needing Qin Zhongyue to remind him, Xie Zhongxing fastened his seat belt himself. As he watched him fasten his seat belt without much trouble, Qin Zhongyue pouted a little, feeling somewhat disappointed.

But soon, his attention shifted elsewhere.He felt under the seat and pulled out a small projector and asked the driver to lower the barrier and turn off the lights. After doing all that, he turned to look at Xie Zhongxing and spoke mysteriously, “Let me show you something nice.”After he said that, he connected the projector to his phone and soon, a sea of stars appeared on the roof of the car.Xie Zhongxing’s breathing stopped. Qin Zhongyue’s clear and pleasant voice sounded next to him “How is it? Looks great, right?”Xie Zhongxing only replied softly after some time, “Looks good.”Qin Zhongyue gently turned the screen and the starry projection similarly moved. Every star shone brightly, and it made it seem like they were in the middle of a sea of stars.Qin Zhongyue lowered his voice and said, “There are no stars tonight so I will give you a sea of stars. Xing Xing, you must be happy in the future. I will always be by your side, and I will give you anything you want and not let anyone bully you. If anyone dares to do that, I’ll beat them up!” When he said the last line, he even raised his fist and waved it in the air.Xie Zhongxing felt that he himself had become weaker. In the past, no matter how difficult life was for him, he never shed tears, but now, his eyes always felt hot. He however didn’t hate this feeling.This is normal, he thought this to himself. After taking some time to recover and after ensuring that his voice wasn’t choked up, he slowly said, “Thank you.”Qin Zhongyue, “No need for the thanks. There’s no need to be so polite. Next time you thank me, I’ll get angry!”Xie Zhongxing turned to look at him and his lips curved to form a smile, “Okay, I won’t be polite with you then.”Qin Zhongyue stared dazedly at his smile and murmured, “The best kind of thanks for me is you smiling at me.”Xie Zhongxing didn’t know why he was so obsessed with his smile and he couldn’t help but feel strange when he heard him say something like that so straightforwardly.He pretended to be calm and withdrew his gaze from Qin Zhongyue to look at the vast sea of stars on the roof of the car.Qin Zhongyue also withdrew his gaze from Xie Zhongxing. He replaced the scene with an aurora. The projector was able to display a particularly clear scene of the aurora on the roof of the car. Although the roof of the car wasn’t as vast as the sky, it was still a dazzling and brilliant sight.Qin Zhongyue whispered, “I’ll take you to see the aurora in the future, okay?”Xie Zhongxing stared at the aurora and replied softly, “En, let’s go together in the future.”