“There’s a younger relative in my family. You two are both workaholics, so you’re bound to have something in common. He’s abroad for now, but once he comes back I’ll definitely introduce you.”
“Old Qi, are you free now? Come by my shop. The younger relative I told you about before is back. Come meet him and have a meal together.”
“You’re on a business trip? You still have to work on the weekend, too. You might as well toss that lousy vice president title. No freedom at all. Come over here and be a living signboard for me instead, much more relaxed. At least you can sleep until you wake up naturally every day.”
“Oh, what a coincidence. You two just missed each other by a hair. You flew back, and he flew out this morning.”
The young man wore a white short-sleeved T-shirt. Both hands braced against the counter, the lean but explosive muscles in his arms tensed, veins clearly visible. Silver wireless headphones hung around his neck. Full of unruly youth and swagger, he looked at him with a bright, spirited grin.
Qi Xu pushed the door shut behind him and first denied being a junior. “I’m not a junior. I already graduated from senior year.”
Xie Huai asked with interest, “It’s summer vacation now, so why are you wearing a school uniform to an internet cafe? Want to experience the thrill of running and being chased with nowhere to escape?”
Qi Xu didn’t answer. He strolled leisurely around the antique shop instead.
Seeing that Qi Xu wasn’t speaking, Xie Huai walked over and carefully studied him again.
Qi Xu was very sensitive to gazes. Maybe it was because in his previous life he had dealt with all kinds of looks and developed the skill of having eyes all over his body.
Xie Huai’s gaze was too open and aboveboard. He didn’t seem to think he was sneaking a look, but looking at him right out in the open.
Qi Xu didn’t feel any unusual emotion in that stare. It was very clear, like pure water.
“Classmate, I don’t think we’ve met at school before.”
Xie Huai didn’t even know why he was fixating on this. Yesterday, after returning to the internet cafe, he had even asked Xu Yichen if he knew that junior from before.
He got back, “You gave him an umbrella and that still wasn’t enough. You want to share it with him, too?”
Qi Xu’s eyes brushed over a purple clay teapot on the shelf as he casually brushed Xie Huai off. “There are so many people at school. Do you know every single one of them?”
Xie Huai gave a light laugh. “Fair enough.”
No one born in this circle was stupid. Even if they were bastards, they were clever bastards who knew where the bottom line was.
Just enough and no more. Both sides understood each other without needing to say it.
“Are you going to do business or not?” Qi Xu glanced at Xie Huai.
The Xie Huai from his previous life didn’t seem like someone who talked this much.
Xie Huai smiled again, leaning against the wall as he asked, “This customer, our shop has antiques from all eras. May I ask what you need?”
Qi Xu’s goal was clear. “I want a modern incense burner.”
“An incense burner, right.” Xie Huai clearly wasn’t familiar with the shop. He looked around before finally finding a few incense burners in the back row. “You look around here first. I’ll go inside and see if there are any other styles.”
Qi Xu actually didn’t want too much contact with Xie Huai. He hadn’t before, and he didn’t want it now either.
He looked at the Qingchen Color-Changing Incense Burner. “No need. I want that one. How much?”
Xie Huai picked up the box underneath it and saw the price tag hanging on top. This lousy incense burner actually cost 20,000. His maternal uncle’s shop was really shady.
He tore off the price tag. “10,000.”
Then cut it in half again, and it would be five thousand in hand.
Qi Xu didn’t say anything. He directly handed Xie Huai a bank card. “Use the card.”
Xie Huai: “……”
Whose young master came out shopping like this.
“You don’t bargain?”
Qi Xu really wasn’t good at bargaining. In Qijia Village, he hadn’t bought much at all. He mostly picked up whatever others had left behind to use. After so many years, he had only saved two or three thousand, and he couldn’t bear to spend it.
At the Shen family, his food, clothes, housing, and transport were all arranged for him. The places he visited were all luxury shops, and bargaining would make him look cheap.
Qi Xu asked, “Didn’t you just say your shop never bargains?”
Xie Huai had already packed up the incense burner. “That was just what I said to first-time customers. You and I are bound by a life and death escape, so I can give you a discount.”
Qi Xu remembered that Old Qin had said the antique shop had suffered huge losses in its early days, and that he had used up half his life savings just to keep it running.
Later it grew bigger and bigger. This whole row of shops was all his antique city. Ten years later, live commerce became trendy, and Old Qin followed the trend and learned it too. He really did make a name for himself online.
This was Qi Xu’s first time bargaining in his life, and he couldn’t let Old Qin lose too much. He tested the waters. “9500?”
Xie Huai: “……”
“Fine.”
Xie Huai took the bank card and swiped it, then awkwardly wrapped the box and handed it to Qi Xu. “Welcome again.”
Qi Xu took it and said thank you before turning to leave.
Xie Huai watched Qi Xu’s departing figure. This person clearly knew him, but didn’t want to have much contact or conversation with him. There was even a bit of the feeling that a cat had seen a mouse and was avoiding him.
Was there such a person in the circle? Xie Huai was certain he had never seen him before.
Not long after, Qin Yue came in carrying two tanghulu skewers. He was familiar with every corner of the shop and immediately saw that the incense burner’s spot was empty.
“Not bad. You opened for business pretty quickly today.” He handed one serving of candied strawberries to Xie Huai. “How much did you knock off?”
Xie Huai said, “Flat price, 9500.”
Qin Yue beamed. “Nice, you made 4500.”
“……” Xie Huai looked at him in a hard-to-describe way. “Maternal uncle, this is a black shop, isn’t it? You’re selling something that cost 5000 at wholesale for 20,000.”
Qin Yue was 28 this year, the youngest child of the Qin family. He had all the cleverness and rebelliousness in the world. His family had originally thought that after graduating he would go into Qin Group, but he took the road less traveled and, just as his family wanted, went into business and opened his own antique shop.
“Stop yelling. If you don’t make money, you lose money. Besides, people bargain anyway. It’s just a matter of making more or less. Your maternal uncle here is determined to take over all the shops in this area and open an antique city.”
Xie Huai said faintly, “This place was originally Grandma’s property.”
Qin Yue spoke righteously, “Let me state this again. I’m not inheriting the family fortune. I’m going to use my own money to buy this place.”
Xie Huai put on his headphones. “Wishing you success.”
Qin Yue plopped down beside him, pulled one side of his earphones away, and asked, “Why do you suddenly have time to come over here? Your father didn’t send you to the company?”
Xie Huai picked a song on his phone and said carelessly, “I don’t want to go. I’ll stay here with you.”
Qin Yue looked conflicted. “They always say nephews take after their maternal uncles, but don’t learn from me. Your Xie family only has you as the only son. In the future you’ll have to hold up the whole family. When I’m old, I’m still counting on you to take care of me.”
“So you’re just leeching off me, huh? My wife and I still have to support your black shop?” Xie Huai bit into a strawberry. The juice burst in his mouth, so sour it made him frown. “Where did you buy these strawberries? They’re sour to death.”
Qin Yue took a bite. “Where are they sour? They’re pretty sweet. Your mouth really can’t handle anything even slightly sour.”
There was no such thing as a leak-proof wall in the world. The fact that the Shen family had switched children in error eventually spread, causing fluctuations in Shen Group’s stock and forcing Shen Zhuohai to step forward and handle it.
During the interview, he made the matter public, while glossing over everything Qi Xu had suffered in Qijia Village. The swap was mentioned lightly and passed over. The Shen family did not want to push Shen Zeyu onto the front lines, and then recast Qi Xu as a hardworking, studious child from the mountains who had good grades.
He also publicly declared that Shen Zeyu and Qi Xu were both children of the Shen family, to be treated equally.
The Shen couple had seen Qi Xu’s high school final exam results. He ranked among the top of the class in high school, and even if he failed the college entrance exam, they could still get him into university.
Right on cue, the college entrance exam results were about to come out.
On the day the results were released, the Shen family gathered together. Quite a few other branches came to watch the excitement, all eager to see Qi Xu’s true face.
Shen Zeyu had seen that news report, and it had fully given him confidence. There was also another important point, his parents still had not mentioned changing Qi Xu’s surname.
Relatives had come to the house. Shen Zeyu thoughtfully stayed by Zeng Yun’s side to help entertain guests, and the elders praised him for being so sensible as always.
Zeng Yun gently patted his hand. “Go play with your cousins.”
After Shen Zeyu left, that person said to Zeng Yun, “Why didn’t Qi Xu come down to keep you company? He’s hiding upstairs by himself and still won’t come down even though guests are here.”
Zeng Yun spoke up for Qi Xu. “The child just came back home and isn’t used to it yet. Being a little shy is normal. He’ll be fine after a few days.”
That person nodded in understanding. “True. After all, his living environment is different from Zeyu’s. Big Sis-in-law, you really taught Zeyu well. The one in my family has reached his rebellious stage, and I don’t even know how to teach him anymore. I’ll have to let him learn more from Zeyu, his cousin.”
Zeng Yun liked it when people praised her son, and she was quite proud. “Zeyu really never gave me any trouble.”
Shen Zeyu came to the group of children. He had always been generous with these cousins and cousins-in-law, obliging every request for figurines, models, and game top-ups.
A little cousin suddenly asked Shen Zeyu, “Cousin, my mom said Uncle now has another son, and we should call him cousin. Where is he?”
Shen Zeyu kept smiling as he replied, “Yes, he’s your cousin too. He came back very late last night and is sleeping upstairs.”
The little cousin was in third grade, young enough to say whatever came to mind. “Mom said you’re not Uncle’s biological son, the other cousin is.”
Shen Zeyu’s smile instantly stiffened, a strange look flashing in his eyes.
The eldest cousin in high school hurriedly covered his sister’s mouth. “What are you saying? We only recognize Cousin Zeyu and Big Cousin. We don’t recognize anyone else.”
The little cousin echoed him. “I looked that place up online, and it doesn’t even show up on the map. It’s so scary. How do people survive there? Could he have some strange illness?”
Hearing that, Shen Zeyu regained his composure. “Don’t say that. It’s just a poor mountainous area. On the first day he came back, Mom and Dad had someone take him to the hospital for a checkup. He doesn’t have any illness.”
Shen Zeyu was called away by Shen Zeyu, and the younger generation continued quietly discussing that cousin from the mountains.
“He should be really dark, right? I’ve seen on TV that people living in the mountains are all really dark.”
“Could he be really dirty? Eating with his hands instead of chopsticks, ew. I don’t want to sit and eat with him.”
“I heard his grades are really good. I wonder how many points he got on the college entrance exam, and whether he can get into university.”
“How good can the teaching staff there be? It’s different from here. With that score, getting into an undergraduate program would already count as luck.”
Qi Xu still hadn’t come downstairs. Shen Zhuohai, who was drinking tea, frowned and told the servants to call Qi Xu down.
When the servant knocked on the door, Qi Xu had just woken up and was burning incense on the balcony. He inserted the incense into the burner. “I was rushing out yesterday and didn’t light incense for you. I’ll make up for it today and light two sticks.”
Qi Xu knew today would be noisy, so last night he slept with earplugs in. He slept peacefully until he woke naturally, with his ears finally clear and quiet.
Qi Xu came downstairs and, without missing a beat, opened the refrigerator to take out a bottle of mineral water. He drank more than half of it in one go before looking toward the living room.
At the tea table, on the sofa, and in the game area, everyone was staring straight at him. Without exception, all of them had shocked, curious looks.
This Shen family child who had just been recognized was completely different from what they had imagined.
The young man stood tall and straight, like a stand of green bamboo. He carried himself calmly and naturally, with the poise of the household’s rightful young master. He didn’t look like a child from the mountains at all, timid and evasive.
He wasn’t dark. In fact, his skin was even fairer than that of these pampered young masters. Around his wrist was a string of sandalwood beads. His eyes were completely still, and the entire person was cold and sharp.
Qi Xu glanced at the so-called relatives from his previous life. There was the second maternal uncle who came to him because his small company had run into trouble. Qi Xu had refused him coldly and been called a heartless, ungrateful wolf.
There was the aunt who came to borrow money again and again because she couldn’t fill the hole in her debts. He knew her debts had been caused by gambling, so he had told the steward to throw her out, only to be cursed as a cold-blooded monster.
And then there were those cousins his own age, who had never once called him cousin. Every one of them worked together, united against outsiders.
“Everyone’s still healthy, I see.”
At that greeting, Shen Zhuohai’s expression changed sharply, Zeng Yun’s brows knitted, and Shen Fengkai was about to fly into a rage.
Qi Xu seemed to realize he had said something wrong. “No one taught me how to greet my elders. I have no manners. Did I say something wrong?”
That single line about having no manners blocked everyone’s mouths, and they silently swallowed the words of reproach.