A check for ten million yuan was laid out right in front of him, and Jing Jiaxi could hardly conceal his shock.
“Mr. Fu? What do you mean by this?”
“Nutritional expenses for the child.” Fu Qianyu stood looking down at him with his arms crossed over his chest, seemingly trying to read something from the boy’s face.
Jing Jiaxi’s small face crumpled into a ball.
His hand slowly reached toward the check, and a look of satisfaction surfaced in Fu Qianyu’s eyes.
That’s more like it. Isn’t taking his money much better than taking his mother’s money?
“Mr. Fu, I really cannot accept this.”
Jing Jiaxi extended his hand and pushed the check back, his eyes completely filled with sincerity.
Fu Qianyu’s expression subtly shifted.
What? Is his ten million yuan not even comparable to his mother’s five million?
Jing Jiaxi followed up by saying: “One shouldn’t accept rewards without merit.”
“You are bearing a child for me.”
“That makes it even more out of the question. I wanted to have this child for myself.” Jing Jiaxi had never once thought about using the child to trade for money.
Fu Qianyu didn’t like wasting his breath on people: “Keep it. Don’t make me say it a second time.”
Seeing that it was already late, he picked up his suit jacket, stood up, and left. “Someone will take you to transfer the property deed under your name in a couple of days. Don’t forget.”
Jing Jiaxi opened his mouth toward Fu Qianyu’s retreating figure: “Fu…”
Holding the check, Jing Jiaxi felt as though he were holding a hot potato.
He was clearly still feeling guilty for damaging Mr. Fu’s trust; how could he possibly accept such a massive favor?
Jing Jiaxi thought long and hard for a good while, and finally couldn’t help but want to find someone to confide in.
He opened WeChat and found the profile picture of his dorm roommate: “Yushu, Yushu, I have a question I want to consult you about.”
“What is it? Shoot,” Mu Yushu replied instantly.
Jing Jiaxi sat on the sofa clutching a throw pillow while typing out his message.
With his chin pressed against the fluffy throw pillow, Jing Jiaxi’s heart felt heavy, his face filled with solemnity.
Jing Jiaxi: “Hypothetically, I have a friend. Someone gave him a check for ten million yuan, but he doesn’t want it. How can he return it?”
Mu Yushu: “Huh?! Ten million! Why on earth would anyone want to return such a stroke of good fortune?! Wait a minute! This isn’t a scam, is it?”
Jing Jiaxi: “It’s not a scam. Both parties are acquaintances.”
Mu Yushu: “Then tell me first, what’s the relationship between the two of them? Why did that person give the money?”
Jing Jiaxi: “…Consider it a form of compensation? But my friend doesn’t want the compensation; he feels it’s too much and inappropriate.”
Mu Yushu: “Compensation for what? Physical or emotional?”
Jing Jiaxi: “You could say it’s physical.”
Mu Yushu: “Then that’s easy. Since you were the one who suffered harm, just keep it.”
Jing Jiaxi: “But I don’t want it! I want to return it.”
Mu Yushu paused for a few seconds before replying: “You rich people! Please stop flexing on me!”
Ten million! That was a whole ten million! If someone gave him ten million, he would blindly succumb to greed and stuff it right into his own pockets, okay?!
Darn that Jing Jiaxi, darn those rich people!
“I don’t want to receive any more messages from you! You absolute fiend!”
Mu Yushu closed WeChat in a fit of rage, buried his head into his pillow, and for the very first time, fell asleep early before midnight.
The moment Jing Jiaxi sent those messages, he realized he had accidentally let the truth slip.
He slumped powerlessly against the backrest of the sofa, letting out a long sigh.
“What should I do…”
Jing Jiaxi puffed his cheeks back and forth before deciding to consult a lawyer.
The lawyer told him that as long as it was a gift from the other party, he could legally accept it.
However, what Jing Jiaxi was actually inquiring about was the method to return it.
Upholding professional integrity, the lawyer educated him on the fact that any gift can be rejected by the recipient.
Jing Jiaxi envisioned the kind of expression Fu Qianyu would make when he rejected it.
He shrunk his shoulders; it would probably look just as awful as the expression the man wore when he told him he hadn’t thought about marriage yet.
Jing Jiaxi had no choice but to take a roundabout approach, asking if he could transfer the asset to the child.
The lawyer helped him draft the contract and subsequently reported the matter to Fu Qianyu.
The lawyer belonged to Fu Qianyu, so any movements regarding Jing Jiaxi would naturally be reported back to him.
Upon receiving the lawyer’s message, Fu Qianyu’s expression remained unchanged as he replied: “Fine. Proceed according to his wishes.”
Giving it to the child or giving it to the child’s father made no difference.
They were in the palm of his hand anyway; they couldn’t run away.
Since Jing Jiaxi had accepted the money, Fu Qianyu was in a relatively good mood, which prompted him to finally respond to his mother’s continuous phone bombing.
He agreed to return to the Fu residence tonight to discuss things face-to-face with Lang Youyuan.
The moment Fu Qianyu arrived home, he cut straight to the chase: “Mom, don’t interfere in Jing Jiaxi’s affairs anymore. This is my own business, and I can handle it properly.”
“What do you mean handle it properly? Look at the kind of person you found!”
Lang Youyuan slammed those seductive photos right in front of Fu Qianyu.
Fu Qianyu twirled a photo between his fingers. After glancing at it, he paused for a brief moment, then let out a soft chuckle: “Mom, you’ve known about these kinds of tricks for a long time. How can you still believe them?”
Holding the photo, his peripheral vision caught the image of the scantily clad boy paired with a fiercely passionate expression.
The posture was flattering and enchanting—a sultry appearance he had never witnessed before. Yet paired with that pure face, it adapted together with a strange, fitting harmony.
Fu Qianyu’s gaze grew profound. Unbeknownst to anyone what he was thinking, he quietly gripped the photos, keeping them by his side as he slid them into his pocket.
Hearing his words, Lang Youyuan instantly felt a bit defensive.
Years ago, back when Fu Yingyi was still the most sought-after bachelor in wealthy societal circles, various media outlets scrambled to report on him, occasionally fabricating fake scandals and photoshopping various intimate photos with him.
Back then, Fu Yingyi had frequently been pinched black and blue by Lang Youyuan over those fake news stories.
Even though Lang Youyuan knew they were fake—because the person cropped out of those photos was none other than herself—she had still felt jealous over the fake pictures of Fu Yingyi with various beauties.
It had taken Fu Yingyi quite a lot of effort to suppress those media outlets until he eventually became the zero-scandal, ideal wealthy husband he was today.
Lang Youyuan had even topped the “List of Most Capable Wives in Taming Wealthy Husbands” published by the gossip media.
Reminiscing about the past, Lang Youyuan felt a sense of how things had changed.
Deep down, she knew these photos might be fake: “But what if it’s real?”
“You just hold a prejudice against him.”
Fu Qianyu voiced the raw truth in a single sentence.
“You should also be aware of that child’s background. Children who come out of that kind of family mostly possess twisted intentions. Even if you don’t look for someone of equal social standing, you still shouldn’t look for him.”
Lang Youyuan admitted she had a prejudice. She truly looked down on Jing Jiaxi’s burden of a family; out of four members, three of them weren’t decent people. She would absolutely never allow herself to become in-laws with that kind of person.
Fu Qianyu didn’t argue with her. Once the child was born, she would be the very first to welcome Jing Jiaxi through the front door.
“I will handle Jing Jiaxi’s family. As for everything else, it is my own business.”
Lang Youyuan saw right through his perfunctory attitude and smacked her thigh in frustration: “If you could manage yourself properly, I wouldn’t have to worry! In the past, you also claimed it was your own business! But look what happened back then!”
Remembering that person from the past filled Lang Youyuan with an uncontrollable anger.
Fu Qianyu lowered his eyes: “Mom, how many years has it been since then? I was young and headstrong back then; I apologize to you.”
Lang Youyuan let out a deep sigh: “I’m just afraid you’ll repeat the same mistake. Back then, you were just as impulsive as you are now. That boy was also eighteen when he got together with you, wasn’t he?”
Fu Qianyu remained silent.
Lang Youyuan suddenly recalled the face of that person, which seemed to somewhat overlap with the young boy’s pure face.
She casually picked up a photo to match it against the blurry image in her memory.
“This is…”
Lang Youyuan was astonished to discover that the young boy’s eyes and brows actually bore a fifty percent similarity to that person from years ago!