He and Qi Du had both been running around like mad and only managed to add 3, yet as soon as Qi Lan showed up, it jumped straight to 5. That was blatant favoritism!
0617 was both exasperated and amused. He sent the message to Qi Du, and Qi Du was angry enough to laugh. “Is our Little Treasure a little too biased?”
“Is being a dad not good enough for me?”
0617 laughed and comforted him a couple of times. “Maybe we scared him by suddenly appearing. After all, we used the system to cheat our way into guardianship rights.”
“We had no prior connection with Little Treasure’s parents. Finding him and taking him away would leave a lot of things hard to explain. He might still be a little guarded around us, you know?”
Qi Du didn’t believe it. “What could he possibly be guarded about at his age? I think that kid Qi Lan seduced him.”
“A good-looking little brother is just too tempting. He doesn’t even have any peers to play with right now, so his numbers are definitely shooting up.”
0617 couldn’t help correcting him. “They’re still just two children. Watch your words. If you’re going to be a dad, at least act like one!”
Qi Du being lectured by his spouse didn’t mind at all. On the contrary, he looked delighted. “Yes, yes, yes, you’re right. In our house, we all listen to you.”
“Both kids depend on you to take care of them every day. You’ve worked hard.”
0617 didn’t want to bicker with him. He really didn’t want to deal with the wedding, but Qi Du insisted on holding one, and Little Treasure looked curious and eager too, so he couldn’t refuse.
While he was busy with that, he also had to keep an eye on Xu Yangxia’s school enrollment. Qi Du wasn’t any less busy. He still had a mountain of company matters to handle, and the Qi family was a prominent and influential family clan. Their wedding was basically top news in X City and spread quickly through the social circle.
A lot of partners from elsewhere also sent their congratulations, and for that whole stretch, Qi Du and 0617’s social engagements hardly stopped.
And then, at this exact juncture, Xu Yangxia ran into that brat Cheng Huan at school.
The little male lead’s life had just started to get back on track. With Cheng Huan as a variable, Qi Du and 0617 were already on edge. The moment the school called, Qi Du immediately couldn’t sit still.
The school said the clash had been between Qi Lan and Cheng Huan. The two of them had started it, and Xu Yangxia had joined in afterward.
Qi Lan’s parents were already busy with company matters, so they directly asked Qi Du to make the trip. As his little uncle, he truly couldn’t catch a break.
When he drove over, 0617 had also just arrived. They looked at each other without a word and went straight inside.
In the office, Cheng Huan’s special assistant was already there. Cheng Huan had insisted on transferring here, but his parents’ business was still over there. Since this was his maternal grandfather’s place, they had hired a professional to look after him.
The moment Qi Du arrived and saw the boy, his expression turned dark. Cheng Huan had seen him before and was rather afraid of his presence, so he immediately hid behind the teacher.
0617 didn’t have time for Cheng Huan. He hurried over first to check on Xu Yangxia and Qi Lan. “Are you hurt? Where were you hit? Where does it hurt? Tell Qiqi right away.”
Xu Yangxia’s eyes were brimming with tears. As soon as 0617 came over, he couldn’t help pouting and crying. The little milk ball looked soft and fragile, tears falling nonstop.
“Qiqi… wuwuwu…”
0617 quickly wiped away his tears. “What’s wrong, sweetheart? Don’t cry, don’t cry. Qiqi and Daddy are here. We’ll stand up for you, sweetheart.”
Compared with the little male lead’s grievance, Qi Lan was very calm. Still, he was only a child, and some emotions were hard to control. At that moment, there was still a clear trace of anger on his face.
When 0617 pulled him over for a careful check, Qi Lan only showed him his bruised elbow and didn’t cry or make a scene.
“Little Uncle, Little Aunt, does he know Xiaxia?”
0617 was stunned, and Qi Du looked over as well.
He said coldly, “What happened? Tell it exactly as it was. Little Uncle will handle it.”
Qi Lan was very calm and recounted the whole thing from start to finish. “Little brother got off after two classes in the afternoon. He came looking for me, planning to wait for me so we could go home together. This guy bullied Xiaxia while I wasn’t there and said a lot of nasty things.”
“I didn’t spoil him. I told him he had no manners and no upbringing. He was the first one to hit. Xiaxia saw him beating me and came over to push him. Then he yanked Xiaxia’s hair, so I swung a small stool at his head.”
Cheng Huan had a huge bump on his head. Before Qi Du arrived, he had been crying miserably in front of the teacher. But now that he was facing the grown-up’s icy gaze, he didn’t dare say a single word.
Xu Yangxia was crying in broken sobs, secretly wiping away his tears again and again, which broke 0617’s heart.
The nasty things Qi Lan mentioned were probably related to Xu Yangxia’s parents dying in a car accident and him becoming an orphan.
There were definitely even uglier things, like “you’re the child bride of the Cheng family”…
Qi Du and 0617 could both guess.
The special assistant from the Cheng family clearly knew exactly who Qi Du was. The instant he came over to assess the situation, his heart sank. He hadn’t expected things to get this bad.
Just as he was about to put on a smiling face and apologize, Qi Du said coldly, “Go back and tell his grandfather to take him away. I don’t want to see him in X City.”
“If the Cheng family won’t handle it, then I’ll take care of it. No one can say what will happen after that.”
Those words carried an unmistakable threat, and the Cheng family assistant’s smile froze at once.
For a long time he weighed his words, not knowing what to say. Cheng Huan still didn’t know how to hold back. He had been used to acting like a tyrant at home, and when he suffered a grievance outside, he always felt like someone would back him up.
Now, seeing that the assistant sent by his grandfather couldn’t solve the problem, his temper flared again. “What are you talking about? Make him apologize to me now!”
“He hit me! I want my grandfather to fire him!”
In this school, Cheng Huan’s grandfather seemed to be one of the board members. If this had happened to some other child, they might really have been expelled outright.
But the problem was, this was Xu Yangxia and Qi Lan.
Qi Lan didn’t even need to be mentioned. He was Qi Du’s biological nephew, and his parents were very famous entrepreneurs in their own right, people with status in both X City and across the country.
As for Xu Yangxia, he was no longer someone the small Cheng family could afford to provoke.
When the assistant heard Cheng Huan still spouting nonsense like that, his face went white with fear.
As the other male lead in this world, Cheng Huan was the peak of this entire angsty tragedy. He was the beneficiary of all the advantages, nurtured by the world’s rules into a stance of arrogance and superiority, looking down on everyone wherever he went.
Even now, he still hadn’t realized that the balance of the world had already tilted. He was no longer the favored one.
Still raging, he even lunged forward and tried to shove Xu Yangxia. “Xu Yangxia! You’re mine! My mom already said it. In the future, you’re going to be my wife. Come back with me!”
“Besides, your parents are…”
Smack…
Before he could finish, Qi Lan moved with lightning speed and decisive force, slapping him across the face. The blow was hard enough to send Cheng Huan’s face snapping to the side.