“An arranged marriage?”
Inside the dimly lit and chaotic internet café, a handsome youth kept his eyes glued to the computer screen while his well-articulated fingers tapped rapidly across the keyboard.
Freeing up an ear to eavesdrop on the nagging of the man beside him, he asked in return, “Arrange what marriage?”
Looking somewhat angry and sporting a beer belly, the man stepped forward to yank at the youth, shouting loudly, “Get back with me right now, stop playing your lousy game! This arranged marriage is extremely important, don’t you dare screw this up in your hands.”
“Tch.” With a deft and agile movement, Wen Qi dodged the man’s greasy paws. Just as the computer screen displayed his game defeat, he stood up unhurriedly and countered, “Why on earth should I obediently listen to you and go back for an arranged marriage?”
“Wen Xunqi, don’t force me to use other methods,” the man threatened.
Glaring furiously, Wen Qi grew increasingly agitated as he spoke: “I told you not to call me Wen Xunqi, don’t fucking call me Wen Xunqi! Giving me such a shitty name, dammit!”
Wen Jiangwu was momentarily stunned. Suppressing his rising anger, he said, “Let’s go, come back with me, we’ll talk back home.”
“Bro Qi, are you really leaving? Our time hasn’t run out yet and our money will go to waste.” The companion beside him cast a sympathetic look toward Wen Qi.
After a brief moment of thought, Wen Qi tossed aside his headphones and gestured for his companion to keep playing, while he followed Wen Jiangwu out of the internet café.
An expensive car was parked outside the internet café, with a heavily coquettish-looking woman sitting in the passenger seat. Seeing Wen Jiangwu come out, the woman got out of the car and greeted Wen Qi with a sweet, coy smile: “Qiqi, you’re finally willing to come out.”
“Jiangwu, how did your talk go? Is Qiqi willing?” Covering her nose and mouth, she took two steps forward while pulling Wen Jiangwu along, appearing as though she utterly despised a place like an internet café.
The situation was simply as terrible as it could possibly get.
Rolling his eyes at the woman, Wen Qi shoved his hands into his pockets and stood motionless in place. Scanning the surrounding crowd, he spotted another much more expensive car parked amidst the clustered groups of people.
It was parked there plain as day.
“We’ll talk when we get back,” Wen Jiangwu said.
“Ah… can’t this be made clear right here? The car… isn’t big enough to fit everyone anymore; with Qiqi, there are six people in total. You surely can’t chase the driver away, right?”
Wen Qi said coldly, “I wish your whole family a smooth journey all the way. As for the arranged marriage business, hand it over to your younger son instead.”
“Your younger son is still so young, what can he use to participate in an arranged marriage? This arranged marriage…” Furious beyond measure, Wen Jiangwu didn’t understand why this particular arranged marriage had to involve Wen Qi.
If possible, even if Wen Jiangwu’s second son were even younger, he probably would still have been sent off for an arranged marriage.
Accustomed to being lazy and unruly, Wen Qi retorted, “Then I have all sorts of ways to screw up this arranged marriage, don’t pin your hopes on me.”
Suddenly, a resounding slap echoed down the entire street.
The palm with which Wen Jiangwu had struck Wen Qi burned with a fiery pain. Before he could pull his hand back, Wen Qi tilted his head, feeling dizzy and struggling to clearly see the man before him.
“Just you dare try screwing it up! Let’s see if I don’t f***ing destroy you!”
Biting his lower lip, Wen Qi fired back: “Then destroy me, and after I die, you’d better bury me right next to my mom.”
“You!!!” Pointing straight at the bridge of his nose, Wen Jiangwu cursed viciously, “You beast, how have you the nerve to bring up your mom again?!”
Before the man could continue speaking, a cool, detached voice rang out from behind him, cutting off his words: “President Wen”
Wen Qi turned his head to look. Surrounded like the moon by stars, a man clad in a black suit walked slowly over to stand beside Wen Qi. Wen Qi furrowed his brows slightly as a faint smile hung upon the man’s face, while his black eyes emanated an icy aura.
He didn’t look like a kind-hearted person at all.
“Ah… President Duan, why are you in this neighborhood?”
Duan Linrang chuckled softly. “Shouldn’t I be here? Or perhaps, you were hoping I’d witness a disfigured Wen Qi?”
Catching the drift of those words, Wen Qi raised his head to look at the man. He took half a step back, roughly guessing who the target of this arranged marriage was to think it was going to be marrying this man…
He had zero desire to get involved in any of this.
As for why he had agreed to Wen Jiangwu that he was willing to talk about the arranged marriage business, Wen Qi had already reached adulthood some time ago, and lacking any work experience, he basically lived inside internet cafés.
Initially, he had intended to use the arranged marriage matter to extort a colossal sum of money from Wen Jiangwu.
Money was important, but no matter how important it was, he could never sell himself out.
“President Duan, we and this child Wen… couldn’t reach an agreement.”
Duan Linrang acknowledged the statement with a hum. Speaking in a tone that brooked no contradiction and chilled one’s heart with disgust, he said, “It seems your Wen family has no choice but to face the disaster of imprisonment and the complete ruin of your household.”
“President Duan! President Duan… don’t be like this…” Wen Jiangwu grew frantic.
Standing behind Wen Jiangwu, the woman hurriedly stepped forward, let out a coquettish cry of “President Duan,” and then chimed in, “Qiqi is actually willing. His father was just a bit angry that this child never stays home, shows no care for his younger siblings, and just loves to hang around in this… dirty, messy, and chaotic place.”
“Right, Wen Xunqi is willing, President Duan, this business deal should still go forward.”
Duan Linrang remained silent for a short while. The prolonged silence made the members of the Wen family tremble with apprehension, while only Wen Qi leaned back against the entrance of the internet café to watch this Shura field unfold exclusively for him.
“Is that so?” With Duan Linrang’s presence, a sizable crowd had already gathered around.
Duan Linrang signaled his chief assistant with a glance. Quick to catch his meaning, the assistant stepped forward and, alongside several tall and mighty bodyguards, dispersed the onlookers.
Duan Linrang turned his body slightly, casting a gentle gaze toward Wen Qi, only to find that Wen Qi had also turned sideways, gripping the back of the nearest gaming chair with bent waist as he watched someone else play a game with great relish.
He called out Wen Qi’s name in a low voice.
Peeled away from the game by the sound, Wen Qi straightened his posture, though he remained silent.
His youthful cheeks flushed with a red tint, his thick eyelashes fluttered, and his messy hair cascaded down to the nape of his neck. His tall and slender figure stood out like a crane among a flock of chickens amidst the gathered crowd.
A surge of desire welled up within the depths of Duan Linrang’s eyes, hazy and bewitching.
An ache also faintly twitched within his heart that prominent palm print… was precisely the cause behind the redness of that beautiful face. His heart sank to the freezing bottom, and the surrounding chill grew even more piercing.
“Do you still wish to continue talking?” Duan Linrang asked Wen Qi.
Wen Qi let out a sigh. Actually, he could have just walked back into the internet café to finish playing through the game time he had already paid for; why on earth did he insist on lingering in this right-and-wrong place to invite more trouble onto himself?
“You’re President Duan, right?” Wen Qi’s voice was neither loud nor soft, only suffering from the fact that the scene around them was far too quiet.
“I’m not even familiar with you, I don’t even know what your name is, yet these two old fossils expect me to agree to an arranged marriage this is completely inappropriate.”
As soon as his words fell, the first person to fly into a rage was his father, Wen Jiangwu. Surpassing Duan Linrang, Wen Jiangwu grabbed Wen Qi by the hand. “You rebellious bastard, how can you be so impolite! Who taught you this?!”
Wen Qi shook him off.
Lifting his eyes to lock gazes with Duan Linrang, he sneered: “If you want to marry him, go ahead and marry the mistress’s son, go let your precious son or daughter marry him instead. Just because he looks handsome I have to marry him? The impolite, rebellious bastard here is me, a person like me has zero qualifications to participate in an arranged marriage.”
Duan Linrang raised an eyebrow. This fellow… managed to hurl insults and offer praise in the exact same breath?
He wasn’t very cute, but he had his moments.
Ultimately, this farce concluded with Duan Linrang uttering the words, “If you don’t want to marry, then forget it.” Any attempts by Wen Jiangwu to seize further opportunities proved completely futile.
Furthermore, Duan Linrang took Wen Qi away of his own accord.
Inside the spacious and brightly lit car, the atmosphere was exceptionally silent and heavy.
Resting his chin on one hand and crossing his legs, Duan Linrang focused his gaze on the vehicles coming and going outside the car window.
Moving his lips as if wanting to say something, Wen Qi found himself at a complete loss for words. He wanted to express his thanks, but what if this man was in cahoots with Wen Jiangwu?
Gazing through the car window at Wen Qi, Duan Linrang parted his thin lips: “Wen Qi, how old are you?”
Deeply bewildered, Wen Qi replied, “Just reached adulthood.”
It seemed he was nineteen years old, though Wen Qi himself had almost forgotten.
Sitting in the passenger seat, the chief assistant was shocked out of his wits. Turning his head around, his gaze swept across Wen Qi before shifting back to Duan Linrang: “The age on the documents… doesn’t seem to match.”
Lowering his gaze, Duan Linrang said, “Pull over, you two get out.”
Opening the car doors, the chief assistant and driver automatically distanced themselves a dozen meters away from the vehicle.
Only Duan Linrang and Wen Qi remained inside the car.
“Wen Qi,”
“Huh?” Wen Qi’s voice carried a gentle note as his body instinctively pressed tightly back against the backrest. The man before him possessed a sturdy and robust physique; among normal men, Wen Qi could claim to be an alpha dog, but when sharing a vehicle alone with this man, the disadvantaged party was undoubtedly Wen Qi.
“From the moment we left the internet café entrance, you knew what my intentions were. I don’t want to overextend this so-called arranged marriage as a gimmick to kidnap you, but I… I genuinely want to get to know you.”
Wen Qi visibly relaxed. “Oh, my name is Wen Qi.”
“My name is Duan Linrang,” Duan Linrang formally introduced himself.
He mentioned that he was older than Wen Qi by eight years, nearly a full twelve-year cycle.
He also said that he was an easy person to get along with.
Once Duan Linrang finished speaking, the car grew quiet again. Reacting with a sense of dull sluggishness, Wen Qi asked, “Do I need to introduce myself… as well?”
Following that, he blurted out, “I turned of age this past March, and I really am younger than you by eight years. I’m a Pisces, born in the early hours of March 14th. My height, my height should be around 180. As for hobbies, I just play some video games, I’m just a peasant farmer.”
He shared everything he could possibly say. After all, when interacting with a normal person, these kinds of background details would only slowly surface after deep mutual understanding, naturally accumulating through subtle, unconscious shifts.
This was the very first time Wen Qi had ever encountered a formal introduction like the one Duan Linrang had just given.
Lowering his voice, Duan Linrang spoke with an indescribable gentleness and helplessness:
“Wen Qi, I know that right now, an arranged marriage is something completely unacceptable to you. You’re young, full of youthful vigor and unbridled arrogance, and in the future you might encounter someone who truly captures your fancy. But I hope you can take a look at me.”
Biting his dry lips, Wen Qi asked, “Why?”
“No particular reason.”
“Why does it have to be me?” Wen Qi’s voice remained calm as still water. “Did my dad make some kind of deal with you, are they treating me like a commodity to sell to you? Or do I possess some earth-shattering benefits for you to reap?”
Duan Linrang replied, “Because I like you.”
Wen Qi froze abruptly, his words tumbling out incoherently: “Hey… what are you doing? Aren’t we discussing… discussing other matters? Saying things like that… don’t you think it’s a bit foul play? Are we even compatible?”
“That’s precisely why I only ask that you take a look at me. If we aren’t compatible, I will leave on my own accord. Using the method of an arranged marriage to win you over was indeed a poorly considered move on my part.”
This was brought up by Wen Jiangwu in the first place, right?” Wen Qi said.
“Mn.”
Wen Qi’s laughter echoed inside the car: “That smiling tiger of his, actually deep down he detests my preference for men the most. In order to scrape together a glimmer of a lifeline for his company, he’s capable of doing absolutely anything.”
Men who loved men were not supported by society, yet they were granted respect. However, setting society aside, the family was an even heavier-duty “prison.”
The childhood Wen Qi had endured was pitch-black beyond comparison.
Unwilling to look back upon the past, he lowered his head and recounted in a steady, flowing narrative:
“President Duan, you can look for someone of equal net worth to yourself. We are simply not compatible, whether in age or in life experience, worlds apart. Besides, I’m not even afraid of agreeing to the arranged marriage; what I fear is that once they secure that sum of money from you, the Wen family will probably rise back up on its feet.”
“I can help you destroy the Wen family.”