Chapter 36: CH 36

Xia Qinshu is kept by Mr. Chen Zhiyu

Xia Yubin felt that if he said one more word to Xia Qing Shu, he might get a cerebral infraction.

Xia Jing and Chen Zhiyu also seemed to be blind, praising Xia Qing Shu mindlessly and ignoring him, the real jewel.

Xia Qing Shu was so addicted to bossing him around that he asked him to dry the water on the urinal with paper after a while, on the grounds that he was afraid Chen Zhiyu would need it urgently.

In his last life, he knew Chen Zhiyu well enough to know that he had a little cleanliness problem, and that he would rather have his bladder distended and burst than use the urinal.

That urinal was in all probability. Nine times out of ten, one Xia Qing Shu used.

Xia Yubin was so angry that he looked at Chen Zhiyu for help.

However, Chen Zhiyu only gave him a faint look, did not contradict Xia Qing Shu, and even smiled and praised him for his thoughtfulness.

All three people in the room stopped and waited for him to dry the urinal.

Xia Yubin: “……”

In his previous life, he had been well-behaved and loved by all, and had never experienced such a stifling situation.

The urinal had been washed and he couldn’t give up halfway, let alone make Xia Qing Shu see a joke.

He held his breath, dried the pot with a tissue and then went into the bathroom and rinsed his hands no less than ten times. When he came, Xia Qing Shu kept staring at his hands in a dignified manner, occasionally covering his nose with his fingers, his eyes piercing with disgust.

Xia Yubin couldn’t stay a minute longer, not only would his understanding, hard-working persona crumble, but his face would split open.

Just when he was trying to find an excuse to leave, his phone rang. The call was from the record company’s president Wu. He didn’t answer it immediately, but showed his phone to Xia Qingshu to take a look, and then said apologetically, “The president of the company is calling, I’ll excuse myself for a moment.”

“Hello, Mr. Wu …. I’m flattered that you’re calling personally …… I’m fine, please speak if you have something to say…”

Xia Yubin answered the phone while walking towards the door, leaving with a faint smile on his face and a carelessly raised eyebrow as he glanced at Xia Qing Shu.

This kind of look, Xia Qing Shu was familiar with, naked provocation and flaunting. It was only a phone call from the boss, he had not even made a debut yet, but as if he has already become popular in the north and south of the country.

After Xia Yubin finished the phone call, with a blushing face, he said to Xia Qingshu when he entered the door, “Qingshu, Mr. Wu of Gaosheng Videos asked to interview me about the album release. I didn’t expect that the company paid so much attention to me. Those two songs are just something I wrote on a whim… Aren’t you going to be a producer, let’s go and check it out together.

Xia Qingshu calmly listened to the other party’s grandeur and refused, “That’s okay but ……”

“I told Mr. Wu that I have a brother who is very interested in this business and would like to come along and see what it’s all about, and Mr. Wu said you are very welcome. Don’t you want to be a producer, you can ask Mr. Wu anything you don’t know.”

Xia Jing also advised from the side, “Go on, Qing Shu, just go and have a look and see if you like it.”

Xia Yubin was as enthusiastic as an idle old mama, enthusiastically introducing Xia Qing Shu to how glorious the future of this business was.

Such words, doing something or the sake of others, did not sound like the words of someone who had just washed the urinal, and once Xia Qing Shu pinched his five fingers, he knew that the other party must not have good intentions.

“Yeah, it’s okay to go and have a look.” Xia Qingshu said sweetly, “Thank you Brother Yu Bin.”

Xia Yubin smiled comfortably, “Then let’s hope Mr. Wu definitely likes you.”

Mr. Wu was in his early thirties, single, a former hip-hop singer, and after he reached middle age, his looks became rounder, with a suave air.

The first time he and Mr Wu met, Mr Wu made small gestures at him. Rumour has it that Mr Wu likes to keep good-looking young boys the most, and one like Xia Qing Shu should fit his aesthetic.

In a world of fame and fortune like the entertainment industry, it’s very easy for people to fall.

Xia Yubin breathed a sigh of relief and felt his teeth didn’t itch as much.

It was almost dinner time when the three of them said goodbye and went home. When they walked to the door of the house, Xia Qing Shu saw a red carpet laid in front of the Xia house and Chen Qixi and Xia Shan greeting them at the door.

There were three aunties and the driver in the house, standing on either side of the red carpet, waving small coloured flags in their hands.

The family had a cat, a dog and a parrot. The cat, dog and the parrot were each carried by an auntie as they stood next to the red carpet.

Seeing Xia Qing Shu, the aunt fed the parrot a melon seed and the parrot’s high voice rang out, “Welcome, welcome, welcome to the house, welcome, welcome, warm welcome!!!”

What was even more exaggerated was that the second brother, Xia Ji, was on a business trip, and Chen Qixi was holding a tablet in his arms, which had a video call on, Xia Ji’s big face appeared on the tablet.

The whole family gave a warm and straightforward welcome to Xia Qingshu’s arrival.

The driver helped pull open the car door, and Xia Qingshu stepped onto the red carpet and took two steps back, being greeted by people in the middle of the road, a bit like a township, nobleman cutting the ribbon at an opening ceremony.

“Qing Shu, this is your second brother Xia Ji, he can’t come back for a while and can’t welcome you personally, but he’ll bring you back a gift.”

After the people exchanged pleasantries and greetings, Chen Qixi held the tablet, the face in it looked at him motionlessly.

Xia Ji, with a square face and dressed in a formal suit, appeared in the middle of the tablet, being held by Chen Qixi, a bit like carrying a posthumous portrait.

“Hello, second brother.” Xia Qing Shu subconsciously bowed to the tablet.

After bowing, he didn’t feel right and his big black and white eyes turned uncomfortably.

“Qing Shu, welcome home.” Xia Ji, unsure of what to do, also followed Xia Qing Shu’s example and bowed.

The two of them bowed to each other across the air.

Xia Qingshu found this second brother quite cute.

After the greeting, Chen Qixi pulled Xia Qingshu to ask him questions and showed him his room, while the aunt at the door put away the red carpet and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Xia Qingshu’s room was on the first floor of the villa, and in less than a day, the room was tidied up.

The partition between Xia Yubin’s piano room and Xia Jing’s study had been demolished to make a super-sized room. The room’s decoration had all been changed, the bed, desk and wardrobe were all new, the bed was covered with clean sheets and a bouquet of flowers was placed on the bedside table.

The room was airy and light, there was a small balcony, and outside the balcony was the city’s most famous Bu Xi River.

On the wall in the middle of the room, there was an art painting that Xia Yubin recognized at a glance. It was a painting by a very famous foreign painter, and he liked it so much that he hinted to Chen Qixi several times that he would like to receive a painting as a birthday present on his birthday.

When he found out that Chen Qixi had bought the painting at an auction house, he thought it was for him and was secretly happy for a long time, but he never expected that Chen Qixi would turn around and hang the painting in Xia Qingshu’s room.

Xia Qing Shu doesn’t understand art at all, so hanging this painting might as well be the same as hanging a picture of a pair of chickens pecking at rice.

When she saw Xia Yubin staring at the painting, Chen Qixi seemed to think of something, and patted Xia Yubin on the shoulder whispering, “I saw that Qing Shu’s room was bare, so I hung the painting on it, you know how to behave, you don’t compete with your brother, let your brother be.”

Xia Yubin bowed his head, his eyes slightly red and his body trembling.

Xia Qing Shu kept an eye on Xia Yubin, and hearing the familiar lines from Chen Qixi’s mouth, he felt particularly like one of those cannon fodder villains who specialise in suppressing the protagonist at that moment.

He was a little confused, wasn’t Chen Qi Xi supposed to protect Xia Yubin?

And Xia Jing and Xia Shan too. Shouldn’t these people have reasonably criticised him for being lazy and ignorant, advancing and retreating, not doing his job and not understanding manners, and then compare him to Xia Yubin, saying that Xia Yubin was a hundred times better than him, and then chase him away?

As soon as he arrived, he became the centre of the Xia family. There was also the illusion of being favoured.

It was just dreamy.

Xia Qing Shu secretly observed Xia Yubin and found that he was indeed very sensible and did not mention the painting again, and after rubbing his eyes twice he was back to normal.

Chen Qixi calmed Xia Yubin down and kept pulling Xia Qingshu to talk. Xia Jing and Xia Shan were unable to intervene and followed behind the two, like two old tails.

Xia Yubin stood next to him and chatted with Chen Qixi when he saw the need, “Mom, Mr. Wu called me today, can you accompany me to the interview?”

Although Chen Qixi was in a semi-retired state, her network of relationships in the circle has not been broken, and with her guiding the way, his debut journey will be a hundred times smoother.

The fact that Chen Qixi took away the painting that was originally intended for him, she should sacrifice a bit of human kindness to compensate him, it is also appropriate, right?

Chen Qixi  gently patted his hand, “Yubin, you say something later, I have to get acquainted with Qinshu, you know he is introverted and shy, you should care for him more.”

Xia Yubin took a deep breath and obediently responded, “Oh, got it.”

After visiting the Xia family villa, Xia Qing Shu sat down on the sofa and asked in a small voice, “When is Zhou Qian coming over?”

Xia Jing: “He’ll come over for dinner later, and we’ll talk about it afterwards.”

Xia Qing Shu’s eyes widened in surprise and he asked in a small voice, “He has bullied me, and you want to invite him over for dinner?”

His elder brother, Xia Shan, immediately said, “Yu Bin, call immediately and ask him to come over after dinner at his own home.”

Xia Yubin had some difficulty, “It was agreed that he would come over for dinner, not only Zhou Qian, but Brother Zhou Chuan and Uncle Zhou will also come over.”

The Zhou family elders would come out.

In the past, Xia Qingshu was a nobody and unknown, so if he was bullied and they lost some money, they would just forget about it. But now, Xia Qing Shu had transformed into the youngest son of the Xia family, so the Zhou family elders should also come and make a statement.

Xia Shan mused, “Uncle Zhou is also coming, so it’s really a bit difficult.”

Xia Yubin pulled Xia Qingshu to persuade him, “Qing Shu, Uncle Zhou is very nice, our cousin aunt is married to Uncle Zhou’s brother, so by calculation, Zhou Qian should be considered our cousin. Zhou Qian has done something wrong, he has been detained, and he has paid for his apology, so you should forgive him.”

“Don’t advise others to be kind without going through their suffering.” Xia Qing Shu glanced at him and sniffed his little nose, “You’re just in his gang, bullying me together. At this time, you are still speaking for Zhou Qian.”

“The credibility of what Zhou Qian said is probably not too high.” Xia Qing Shu thought about it and weakly put forward his own suggestion, “Dad, our family runs a hospital, do we have a lie detector, arrange for Zhou Qian to be on it when we question him later.”

Xia Yubin: “……”

Is this necessary?

Xia Jing, however, thought about it and accepted with a straight face, “Your Uncle Wang seems to have this thing, I’ll call and ask.”

“I’ll call Uncle Zhou.” Xia Shan finished speaking and gazed at Xia Yubin.

Xia Shan, as the oldest of the Xia family, had never been close to this younger brother, he used to think it was because of his own cold personality and he was friends with Chen Zhiyu, who was also cold and somewhat mean.

He did not expect that the first time he saw Xia Qing Shu, he had an inexplicable feeling of closeness. He wanted to be good to him without reason, and could not see him suffer.

It turned out that the reason why he couldn’t be close to Yu Bin for so many years was because of the blood relationship. And the son that the Xia family had raised for so many years was actually so morally flawed.

Although there is no blood relationship, but he still called him brother for so many years. Xia Shan pointedly said, “Zhou Qian is not of good character, you should not be deep friends, Yu Bin, after entering society, you need to keep your eyes wide open, careless friendships will affect your future development.”

Xia Yubin agreed in a muffled voice, his heart dripping blood.

The Zhou and Xia families were related by marriage, and they had frequent dealings. They knew Zhou Qian’s character and had never interfered before, but now they had to distance themselves from the Zhou family for the sake of Xia Qing Shu.

Just one Xia Qing Shu, is he that important?

Xia Qingshu, who was watching the drama from the side, added, “Mum, when is Brother Yubin leaving?”

He spoke in a thin voice, with a weak tone, and no matter what he said, he didn’t let people feel a trace of malice, but rather a it felt like a cautious, weak and delicate newcomer on his first day at the ramp.

People will be biased unconsciously.

Chen Qixi blinked at Xia Yubin, “Yubin is already packing up, and he will leave after a while.”

Chen Qiqi had told him before that he should go back to his biological parents’ house first, and then pick him up after that Zhou Qian matter was cleared up.

But looking at this, Xia Yubin felt that he wouldn’t be able to come back anytime soon.

Regret flashed through his heart, why did he take Xia Qing Shu’s saliva for a paternity test without permission at that time? If he hadn’t interfered, perhaps Xia Qing Shu would have been out cold by now.

He might as well have waited for Xia Qing Shu to die before revealing his origins, maybe the Xia family would have moved on to him.

What a way to lift a stone and hurt your own feet.

A trace of killing intent flashed under Xia Yubin’s eyes, and he gritted his teeth and said, “I’m going to pack.”

He went back to his room and packed two pieces of underwear, sent messages to Zhou Qian and Mr. Wu, and incidentally sent a picture of Xia Qing Shu to Mr. Wu.

After looking at it, Mr. Wu was really interested and asked him to bring Xia Qingshu to the next interview.

Only then did Xia Yubin feel a lot more at ease.

After replying to Mr Wu, he found Chen Qixi still talking to Xia Qingshu, while Xia Jing and Xia Shan were smoking in the parlour.

After thinking about it, Xia Yubin walked into the parlour, closed the door behind him and walked up to Xia Jing and Xia Shan.

Xia Shan let out a smoky breath idly and narrowed his eyes at him, “What are you doing?”

Xia Yubin turned back to make sure the door was closed and whispered, “Dad, big brother, someone at our school is talking about Qing Shu.”

Xia Shan didn’t say anything, just glanced out the door.

Outside the door, Chen Qixi was walking down the stairs with Xia Qingshu, the sound of the two talking becoming clearer and clearer.

Xia Yubin rubbed his fingers together as he looked down, “Those words aren’t very nice, I don’t think I should tell you guys, there’s no proof after all, but I’m afraid that the more rumours spread, the more unlikeable they will be, and that Qing Shu will be hurt.”

He frowned slightly, putting on an air of being very worried about the other side.

Xia Shan pressed out his cigarette, stood up and patted his clothes, narrowing his eyes, “Since you don’t think you should tell us, don’t say anything.”

As soon as Xia Jing heard it was about Xia Qing Shu, he pulled Xia Shan, “Don’t listen to your big brother, speak up.”

Xia Yubin lowered his head and hesitated for a long time before saying in an extremely small voice, “I heard, I heard that Qing Shu was being “kept” by Mr. Chen Zhiyu.”

Xia Shan kindly laughed, “How is that possible?!”

He often met with Chen Zhiyu, and he had never heard Chen Zhiyu mention such a big thing. And he would know whether there was anyone around Chen Zhiyu or not.

Xia Jing was bursting with anger, “Who did you hear that from?!”

“Schoolmates.”

Xia Jing slapped the table and rose, “I’ll go find your school leaders! A group of students don’t study properly, what’s with this rumour!”

Xia Yubin shrank his shoulders in fear and lowered his head, smiling secretly.

Xia Jing, who cared very much about propriety and morality, had a great deal of emotional ups and downs at this time. He slowed down after Xia Shan’s discouragement.

“Tell me clearly, what is going on?!”

“Some time ago, Mr. Chen came to the school to look for Qing Shu several times, when Xia Qing Shu was hospitalized, Mr. Chen made a special trip to visit, this time Mr. Chen was hospitalized, Xia Qing Shu was in the ward to accompany him, Mr. Chen is so rich, why didn’t he hire an escort, but wanted Xia Qing Shu ……”

Xia Jing sneered, “Because Chen Zhiyu saved Qing Shu.”

Xia Yubin stopped and did not speak.

Chen Zhiyu saved Qing Shu on the boat at Lantong, which he often went to, but he heard that it was reserved by Chen Zhiyu that night.

Chen Zhiyu had reserved the venue to have dinner with Qing Shu alone.

Xia Jing took a breath, “Go on.”

“Zhou Qian liked Qing Shu and came to me to pull the strings, I didn’t agree ……” Xia Yubin raised his eyes to look at Xia Jing and Xia Shan and continued against the anger of the two, “Brother Zhou Chuan told him to kill that love, saying that Qing Shu was Mr. Chen’s man.”

Xia Jing clenched his fist as he remembered the ambiguous actions he had seen Chen Zhiyu and Xia Qingshu make in the hospital room.

Xia Shan also suddenly remembered the time when Chen Zhiyu came to him for no reason and he saw the scratch marks on the other man’s neck and art the time, Chen Zhiyu asked him to help him pull up Qing Shu’s medical records file.

He didn’t think much of it at the time and thought Chen Zhiyu was joking, but now that he heard Xia Yubin mention it, the two incidents were connected together and it really looked like that.

Xia Qingshu and Chen Zhiyu, who were obviously from two different worlds, how come they often spent time together?

And how could Chen Zhiyu, with his sharp and cold personality, get so close to Xia Qingshu?

Qing Shu is so good looking….f there really was an unusual relationship, then it would make sense.

Xia Jing murmured, “Impossible, Qing Shu is so innocent, how could he do such a thing against public order and morality?”

Xia Shan did think that Chen Zhiyu could do such a thing. He was afraid that Qing Shu was young and not yet involved in the world and had been deceived.

Xia Jing and Xia Shan looked at each other and said in the same voice that, “Wouldn’t it be clear if we asked Qing Shu?”

~

Xia Qing Shu was in the dining room, drinking his soup, when he was suddenly called to the living room, where he saw Xia Jing with a sad face, Xia Shan with a stern face, and Xia Yubin cowering in the corner like a chicken that had been tormented by the cold wind.

It must have been Xia Yubin acting as a demon again.

He had obviously never provoked Xia Yubin, and for some reason, Xia Yubin was very hostile towards him.

Xia Qing Shu had an innocent face, “Dad, big brother, what is it?”

Xia Jing deliberated secretly for awhile before speaking slowly, “Qing Shu, dad wants to ask you a question.”

Xia Qing Shu: “You ask it.”

Xia Jing was afraid that the rumour would hurt the other party, so he did not say it directly, but took a roundabout way, “You and Zhiyu are still on good terms, ah.”

Xia Qing Shu thought for a moment and replied in a small voice, “He’s my benefactor.”

Xia Jing’s face looked slightly more normal, “Do you have any other relationship with him apart from that?”

Xia Qing Shu shook his head, indicating that he didn’t understand?

Xia Shan was silent, this little brother he had just recognized back home was too simple-minded.

“Any financial dealings?” Xia Jing explained, “What Dad means is, did he give you money?”

“No.” Xia Qingshu replied crisply.

Chen Zhiyu’s mother did try to give him money, but he didn’t have time to take it.

“Or buy you something expensive? You didn’t really want it and he had to give it to you?”

“There are expensive things.”

Xia Yubin’s eyes lit up just as Xia Qing Shu’s words came out.

As long as he received something from Chen Zhiyu, his relationship with Chen Zhiyu would not be clear.

It was highly likely that Xia Jing would personally step in and sever their relationship.

He had made the right move with this chess piece.

“But it’s not from brother Zhiyu, Auntie Chen gave me a piece of jade.” Xia Qing Shu took out a piece of sheep’s white jade from his pocket and shone it at the overhead chandelier, “Auntie Chen said that this can be exchanged for a suite, but I don’t know if it’s true.”

“There’s nothing else?” Xia Jing took the jade and turned it over and over to look at it.

The water colour of the jade was good, and although he didn’t study much about jade, this piece of jade in his hand couldn’t be exchanged for a suite, it was worth four figures at best.

He knew Chen Rao very well, she liked to brag when she was a student, and even a piece of silver could be blown up into a small family jade, and her words could only be believed a third of the time.

Qing Shu had been fooled by her. Qing Shu could be too simple.

Xia Jing gave Xia Shan a wink, and Xia Shirt instantly understood.

“No more.” Xia Qing Shu shook his head like a rattle.

Xia Jing: “I’m done asking, is the soup good, go out and ask Aunt Wang to serve you another bowl.”

Xia Qing Shu nodded and went out.

Xia Jing mulled it over, and the fog in his heart was slowly lifted – this might be because Chen Zhiyu had some thoughts about Qing Shu, otherwise, according to Chen Zhiyu’s kind of cold personality, he wouldn’t have taken the initiative to go to school several times to look for Qing Shu, let alone take the initiative to save Qing Shu.

He also invited Qing Shu to dinner in a private venue, and there was nothing new about the way he chased after his son.

He knew how charming Chen Zhiyu was, and among the best husband candidates in the mouths of those young doctors and young nurses at the hospital, Chen Zhiyu would always be in the top three.

The slander circulating in the school was pure jealousy.

Not to mention, whether he sees Chen Zhiyu or not, such words coming out of Xia Yubin’s mouth are really uncalled for.

He was brought up strictly, how could Xia Yubin say such jealous words. Xia Jing looked at Xia Yubin with .ore and more meaning.

Xia Shan also had his own thoughts. He had never heard of Chen Zhiyu caring that much about someone, and the person who had slept with Chen Zhiyu was nine times out of ten Qing Shu.

But Qing Shu was pure, ignorant and simple, so he guessed he had a sex with Chen Zhiyu but didn’t know what was going on.

Qing Shu had just turned 19, still a student and simple-minded, Chen Zhi Yu would soon be 26 and had been in society for so many years, anyone with eyes would think that Chen Zhi Yu had bullied Qing Shu.

Chen Zhiyu, that beast!

Xia Shan pounded his fist on the table, scaring Xia Jing.

“Son, what are you doing?” Xia Jing asked.

“I have something to do, I need to go out for a while.”

Xia Jing rushed to the garage, ready to go to Chen Zhiyu for a word, and had just gotten his car keys when he saw Qing Shu standing in front of him.

“Brother Shan, you’re going out? Dinner will be ready soon.”

The meal was ready and Chen Qi Xie had asked him to come and get the rest. He came out of the kitchen and saw Xia Shan running towards the garage in a breeze.

Xia Shan said in a warm voice, “Qing Shu, you eat first, brother is going out to do something and will be right back.”

“Is it because Brother Yu Bin said something bad about me?” Xia Qing Shu stood still, “What did he say?”

Xia Shan pondered for half a moment and felt that he shouldn’t hide it from him, “He said that you were adopted by Zhiyu.”

Xia Qing Shu was shocked, “How is that possible?!”

He hurriedly waved his hands, “No, no, I’m not in that kind of relationship with Zhiyu.”

He had not received a single penny from Chen Zhiyu, and Chen Zhiyu had never expressed any thoughts in this regard.

Xia Shan felt even more that it was Chen Zhiyu who had bullied Qing Shu, who knew nothing about it and was still speaking for him.

He said in a fierce voice, “I’m going to find Chen Zhiyu!”

“What’s that got to do with Brother Zhiyu? Brother Shan, you should eat first, and then go afterwards.” Xia Qing Shu stepped forward and stood in front of Xia Shan’s car, “Brother Shan, I have something to say, I don’t know if I should say it?”

Xia Shan: “Go ahead.”

It had been a good day, but because of Xia Yubin’s words, the world was turned upside down.

Xia Qing Shu pointed at Xia Yubin inside the door and said, “This brother should not stay for long!”