Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Eight: It’s Not a Confession
In the large room, there was not a soul in sight. However, there was a strange bulge at the foot of the bed. Upon closer inspection, one could see it was a rolled-up blanket looking like a snow-covered hillside.
This was what Yan Jin saw.
He sat on the bedside and the bed sagged a considerable amount from the suddenly added weight.
The blanket roll contracted imperceptibly.
“Are you crying?” Yan Jin asked.
“No.”
“What? You’re really crying?”
“I already said I’m not! Are you deaf?”
Xiao Yu stuck his head out from the blankets. Like a predator waiting outside a rabbit burrow, Yan Jin immediately snatched Xiao Yu and swept him into an embrace.
The “rabbit” struggled for a few moments before finding it was completely imprisoned. Xiao Yu surrendered and stuck his head into the embrace as if he were dead.
Yan Jin didn’t pressure him. He calmly held Xiao Yu without saying a word.
Before long, a muffled voice came out. “Was I embarrassing?”
“No, “ Yan Jin replied almost instantly.
“…Hmph. Liar.” Xiao Yu wriggled from Yan Jin’s collar to snuggle a little closer to Yan Jin.
Yan Jin held Xiao Yu’s wriggling head steady and clearly said next to Xiao Yu’s ear, “No matter your eccentricities, people will always be understanding for a master designer of your caliber.”
This exaggerated praise comforted Xiao Yu a lot more than honest consolation.
“There’s no way I’m that amazing; otherwise, I wouldn’t need to work for super-evil businessmen like you.”
The “super-evil” businessman laughed and quietly promised, “It only turned out this way because SI didn’t utilize you properly. Believe me, it won’t ever happen again.”
Xiao Yu raised his head and said in a dissatisfied tone, “What do you mean ‘utilize’? You’re speaking as if I’m a tool.”
“Sorry, my mistake,” Yan Jin magnanimously conceded.
“Also, it probably doesn’t count as an eccentricity.” After being cheered up by Yan Jin from the wallowing depths, he decided not to hide any of his thoughts. “Ever since I was a child, I have never had many friends. I didn’t have many strong interpersonal relationships at SI either. It’s a problem I have no matter how you look at it.”
“That shouldn’t be considered strange. No matter which domain, as you rise up there are less people of the same level. It’s lonely at the top.” Indulgently pampering Xiao Yu, Yan Jin massaged Xiao Yu’s head. “The people at SI avoided you because they were jealous of your natural talents, so it’s not your fault.”
Xiao Yu happily said, “Your rose-colored glasses are too tinted. How about earlier with Nan Wei when I conducted myself so poorly? Even disregarding the awkward atmosphere, I wasn’t able to talk about the things I wanted to say.”
“Rather than ‘rose-colored glasses’, I prefer ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder.’” Yan Jin teased Xiao Yu a little before quickly saying, “But I’m actually quite impartial. Nan Wei isn’t a fitting conversation partner. Speaking of that, he doesn’t consider the other’s feelings at all. Although, possibly to make up for his lack of business sense, even as a child he was very quick-witted. His intuition is really sharp and he gets by a lot better than his brother.”
On this note, Yan Jin sighed in regret. Back in those days, no one viewed Nan Wei optimistically. But now, he lived the most relaxed and carefree life. He didn’t need to do anything; he was always attended to by a convoy of people that would take care of any tricky situations for him. Compared to him, the rest of the “prodigies” were each busier than the next and needed to work very hard for any progress at all.
“Right, I still haven’t gotten you back for what you’ve done!” Xiao Yu was reminded by Yan Jin and immediately exploded, “How much did you hide from me? What’s with Nannan or Nan Wei? And Chu Ge? What’s with him? Why didn’t you tell me any of this? When did you find out that Nan Wei is Nannan? Why…”
“Alright alright, calm down a little. I’ll address each of the issues one at a time.” Yan Jin ran a hand down Xiao Yu’s back to placate him. Once he felt Xiao Yu’s anger subsided somewhat, he slowly continued, “About Nannan, who is also Nan Wei. Let’s start from the beginning. He’s my little cousin, the youngest of the Nan Family. He had a falling-out with his family and thereafter made a living from his internet store. When business was poor, I personally went to go help him with sales. I didn’t keep in touch with him after business picked up again. Only a year ago did I hear about him again from you.”
Xiao Yu added, “I thought he was a normal taobao store owner. When I became a hamster, I found out through your QQ that Lin Zhou stole my designs. In order to prevent his evil plans from succeeding, I could only become Mr. Mystery. Because I couldn’t draw as a hamster, I went to find Nannan whom I previously had some friendly conversations with and had him plagiarize my own work.”
“You already met him before that time?” Yan Jin was a little surprised.
“The counterfeit jewelry in his store most probably plagiarized from my designs. I also found him by accident. At first I thought he was some fanatic fan of mine.”
Yan Jin understood now. “But it turned out that he copied your designs because cheap materials could be substituted in and it would still closely approximate the original, right?”
“Shh, that’s a secret.” Xiao Yu pouted unhappily and wagged his pinky. “There’s very few people that know that I like to use cheap materials in my designs.”
Yan Jin played along and extended his own pinky to complete the pinky promise.
“And then? Then what happened?” Xiao Yu was very interested.
“Then Nan Wei traced your login and discovered it was from my house. Then he confirmed the ID was Chu Ge’s.”
Xiao Yu was shocked. He didn’t think he had been exposed so early. Then why…
“It’s just as you’re thinking. Nan Wei didn’t immediately confront me.” Even Yan Jin himself found the situation puzzling. “He thought you were my secret lover that I hid at home and didn’t say anything to avoid embarrassing me.”
“Wow, what the heck?” Xiao Yu was amused. “No wonder he spoke so strangely back then. Also, that time at the Four Seasons Manor. Did he come to see me? Does he really think like that? His thinking is like one of those Chinese knots…”
“No matter though, I’m eternally grateful to Nan Wei for our relationship,” Yan Jin said tenderly. “I’m thankful that he helped me understand you at the most critical time, recognize you, and fall in love with you.”
Xiao Yu pushed Yan Jin aside with a flaming red face. Despite his shyness, he didn’t forget to return to important matters. “So when did you find out?”
“Around the same time as your college reunion, Nan Wei’s long-time childhood friend confessed to him. Nan Wei couldn’t figure out his own feelings to he came to take shelter here, which is when he told me.”
“Wow, so that’s how you found out about me.”
After this, Xiao Yu didn’t know what to say.
The difficult times had already passed. Since it was all in the past, it was probably better not to bring it up.
Moreover, Xiao Yu’s memories of the desolate loneliness and of the chilling wind under the night sky were now tinged with some fondness.
It was unclear whether Xiao Yu unconsciously forgot the details of his suffering because of his current comfortable position or because Xiao Yu had a big heart and consciously was quick to forgive. Xiao Yu didn’t care either way; he felt he was already the most blessed in the world.
Xiao Yu daydreamed about his blessings for half a day before Xiao Yu remembered something else he’d forgotten. “What about Chu Ge? How is he the eldest son of the Nan Family? Hurry up and confess!”
Yan Jin guffawed and brought the snarling Xiao Yu intimately onto his leg while saying, “There’s not really anything to confess. I had already planned to tell you this.”
“Hmph. Whatever, I already had doubts about your morals.” Xiao Yu discontentedly shifted around. “You hid this for so long just so you could wait to laugh at my reaction today, didn’t you?”
“Of course not.” Yan Jin blinked innocently. “It was never really necessary to tell you about Chu Ge. Compared to Chu Ge, shouldn’t you be more concerned about Nan Wei?”
“Save your breath. You didn’t tell me about Nan Wei either. It’s all your fault that I didn’t even know how to respond to him today.” Xiao Yu forcefully pushed all the blame onto Yan Jin.
“Mhmm, it’s all my fault. So you don’t want to talk about Nan Wei after all?”
“There’s not really anything specific I wanted to ask about aside from his marriage. He doesn’t seem like he wants to get married at all. I’m really worried for him.”
Yan Jin’s lips arched up mockingly before he said with an expression full of schadenfreude, “Relax, he’ll be extremely happy after he marries.”
“It would be nice if that happens,” Xiao Yu sighed. “I’d always thought that these business marriages only happened in novels. I really didn’t think they still happened.”
“At least novels still follow some basic logic. That’s not always so for reality,” Yan Jin said somewhat mournfully.
Nan Wei had passed them the wedding invitation card earlier. It was obvious that the Nan Family had forced Nan Wei into it. As for the motive, anybody could easily tell.
Setting aside the matter of Liu Ye’s interference, the Nan Family’s main purpose wasn’t to gain another bargaining chip. Rather, the Nan Family wanted to observe how Yan Jin would respond.
That’s right. It was for such a senseless reason that the Nan Family sold off Nan Wei.
Nan Wei had simply been a pawn from beginning to end. He was bound by invisible threads and silently followed set orders, just as he’d always done, just like a lamb to its slaughter.
Except after being repressed for so long, the sheepskin could no longer contain the heaven-defying anger. This matter was the last straw.
Even in their wildest dreams, the Nan Family would never have imagined that the talentless Nan Wei would defect and become the sharpest knife against them.
“Alright, no more about Nan Wei. Now satisfy my curiosity and tell me about Chu Ge.”
“There’s not much to say about him. Other than him being the Nan Family’s eldest son, there’s not much else special about him.”
Xiao Yu coldly said, “Other than you being worth more than a hundred million, there’s not much else special about you either.”
“But you clearly said before that you fancied my looks. How could you betray me like this?” Yan Jin said as if he’d been dreadfully wronged and wanted compensation and comfort.
“Stop bullshitting. Hurry up and confess.”
“I already told you that it’s not a confession – I’d already planned to tell you.” Yan Jin pulled Xiao Yu closer. “When Chu Ge was eighteen, he ran away from home. He changed his family name and disappeared for many years. To this day, the Nan Family is still fruitlessly searching for him.” Yan Jin paused for a moment and then continued, “The only reason he’s escaped from them for so long is in large part due to the financial aid I provided him back then. Since he still owes me so much money, feel free to order him around as you please.”
Xiao Yu wasn’t sure if he had misheard. He asked without much confidence, “Why would he want to owe you money? Can’t he easily get money if he returns?”
“If it were so easy to return, they wouldn’t have fallen-out to such an extent back then.”
Xiao Yu thought of something and scratched his head. “I’m not sure if it’s just my perception, so don’t get mad at me.”
“What?”
“This Nan Family. Don’t they sound like some villain from a drama? Or have I misunderstood?”
