PTBLSI chapter 21

When he heard “of course,” Fu Yanchuan seemed to turn into piles of money in Qi Xi’s eyes. The more he looked, the better Fu Yanchuan looked. Despite the fact that Fu Yanchuan had just pushed him away, Qi Xi hugged him again. His legs, which had been on the bed, naturally climbed onto Fu Yanchuan as well. He ended up sitting on Fu Yanchuan’s lap.

Fu Yanchuan’s movements stiffened. Completely unaware, Qi Xi wrapped his legs around Fu Yanchuan’s waist. It was an extremely ambiguous action, yet he said, “Brother Yan, how much money do you think Brother Zha scammed from me? Was it one hundred thousand? What should I buy after he gives it back to me? How about buying Dasheng a glowing cat bed? Should I buy you one too?”

Fu Yanchuan took a deep breath, grabbed Qi Xi by the waist, pushed him back onto the bed, and said seriously, “I don’t want it.”

“Then what do you want?”

Fu Yanchuan stared straight at this ignorant boy. He took a deep breath, calmed down, and said, “Change your clothes and go eat breakfast.”

Qi Xi immediately thought of Fu Yanchuan’s rules, but the next second, he made an excuse for himself. “This is my room. I can dress however I want. You’re in my room, so hugging you doesn’t count as breaking the rules.”

Fu Yanchuan stared at him for a long while and replied, “Yes.”

Qi Xi didn’t understand what that “yes” referred to. Fu Yanchuan didn’t want to explain, so he stood up and left.

Fu Yanchuan took away the contract that Qi Xi had signed with Brother Zha. He went to the living room, photographed the contract with his phone, and sent it to the lawyer. Then, he called to explain how Qi Xi had been PUAed by Brother Zha.

The lawyer was named Qiu Yizhou. For several generations, his family had worked almost exclusively in law. His father worked at Fu Zhenrong’s law firm. Fu Yanchuan was a year older than him. When they were young, Qiu Yizhou had gone to the Fu family with his father, so the two could be considered childhood acquaintances. They even attended the same high school for one year.

Back then, however, they were only acquaintances. They truly became close during the two years that Fu Yanchuan was an exchange student and they happened to be in the same city.

During that time, Fu Yanchuan raced cars and fought along with Qiao Ye. Compared to the Fu Yanchuan he knew, who followed countless rules, this Fu Yanchuan was wildly unruly, as if possessed.

Later, Qiao Ye left. After Fu Yanchuan returned to the country, he reverted to his old self, as if those two years had just been a brief obsession.

After reading the contract that Fu Yanchuan sent, Qiu Yizhou asked, “What result do you want?”

Fu Yanchuan looked at Qi Xi, who had changed clothes and just came out, and casually asked, “What’s the probability of a fraud conviction?”

“Understood. We’ll make sure he gets ten years of free, state-provided housing. You—”¹

Fu Yanchuan hung up the call. Qi Xi ran over, crashed onto the sofa, and sprawled out without any regard for proper sitting posture. He asked, “Brother Yan, what are you doing?”

“Go eat first. It’s getting cold.”

It was almost nine o’clock. Qi Xi tactlessly asked, “Have you eaten?”

“Do you want me to eat with you?”

Qi Xi didn’t care whether Fu Yanchuan had eaten or not. Since Fu Yanchuan had asked, he naturally answered, “Yes, looking at your face, I could eat two more bowls of rice.”

Fu Yanchuan accompanied Qi Xi for a second breakfast. It was the first time in his life he had eaten breakfast twice.

After eating, Qi Xi said that he was going to continue working on Bai Peiyong’s commission. Fu Yanchuan asked why. Qi Xi answered seriously, “Because I already accepted it, so I have to finish it. You have to keep your word as a person.”

As he watched Qi Xi go back to his room, Fu Yanchuan thought about how Qi Xi believed that, since he agreed to be his stand-in, he had to sleep with him. His brow twitched uncontrollably twice.

Then, in less than ten minutes, Qi Xi suddenly ran out, threw his phone at Fu Yanchuan as if it were a hot potato, and said, “Brother Yan, that scumbag sent me another commission. What should I do? Should I tell him to pay me back?”

Fu Yanchuan picked up Qi Xi’s phone and saw that the commission Brother Zha had sent was the same one that Qiu Yizhou had paid the deposit for last night. He replied on Qi Xi’s behalf.

[Got it. I’ll draw it properly. Thank you, scum!]

[Ah, typo.]

Brother Zha didn’t reply immediately. Fu Yanchuan handed the phone back to Qi Xi. “For the next few days, don’t talk to him about anything else. If you like drawing, keep drawing. Leave the rest to me.”

“I know.”

As he spoke, Qi Xi unconsciously leaned toward Fu Yanchuan again. He put his hands behind his back, rubbing his face against Fu Yanchuan’s chest. He said with a straight face, “I’m not hugging you. I’m just expressing my gratitude! Brother Yan, you’re the best person I’ve met—besides Xie Hui!”

Fu Yanchuan had never heard this name before. He asked, “Who is Xie Hui?”

“My best friend. He treats me really well. Even though he sometimes scolds me fiercely, he treats me even better afterward! But after starting university, he went abroad. He also said you—”

Qi Xi stopped himself from saying the bad things Xie Hui had said about Fu Yanchuan. He smiled at Fu Yanchuan and continued, “He said he wanted to come back and see me, but it’s difficult to leave during finals. It’s been many days, and he still hasn’t received approval.”

Fu Yanchuan didn’t ask any more questions. He told Qi Xi to go back and keep drawing. After Qi Xi left, however, he suddenly called him back. “When will you finish last night’s drawing?”

Qi Xi immediately blushed a little. After dinner, he had gone back to his room, closed the door, and continued drawing in secret. He didn’t want Fu Yanchuan to see it, especially the finished version.

Pretending not to understand, he answered, “What are you talking about? I don’t know. I’m leaving. Bye, Brother Yan!”

After that, Fu Yanchuan didn’t ask Qi Xi about the drawing again. Qiu Yizhou was very efficient. Within a day, he sent over the evidence he had gathered.

From the artwork Qi Xi displayed on YI, Qiu Yizhou found several commissioning clients and obtained their contracts and records.

He asked Fu Yanchuan, “What procedure would you like to take?”

After thinking for a moment, Fu Yanchuan replied, “Where is he? I’ll take Qi Xi to see him.”

“There’s no need to go through all that trouble. His fraudulent profits are already substantial. I already have contracts totaling over five hundred thousand.”

Fu Yanchuan replied, “That’s not the point. He belittled and suppressed Qi Xi for over two years. He may not seem to care much now, but it’s impossible that it had no effect at all. I want him to apologize to Qi Xi in person, admit his mistakes, and acknowledge that his words were malicious and intended to harm Qi Xi’s confidence.”

Qiu Yizhou was silent for a long time. He already knew Qi Xi’s name from the contracts, but he didn’t know who Qi Xi was. He asked curiously, “Who is he? Since when are you this considerate toward someone?”

Ignoring Qiu Yizhou’s question, Fu Yanchuan said, “Send me his current address within half an hour.”

Qiu Yizhou was hung up on again without mercy. Looking at the ended call screen on his phone, he felt as if he had seen a ghost.

Since childhood, Fu Yanchuan had been taught absolute self-interest. In his eyes, the concept of helping others for its own sake didn’t exist. He also pursued results and efficiency. Fu Yanchuan could not accept the existence of “idiots” around him.

Yet, Qi Xi was so naive that he was tricked by an obviously unequal contract. And Fu Yanchuan was actually thinking about his self-confidence?

The thing that shocked him the most back then was when the Fu family froze Fu Yanchuan’s cards. Fu Yanchuan went out to earn money, which he then squandered with Qiao Ye. He even learned how to cook in their cramped rental apartment.

But even then, Fu Yanchuan was never considerate enough to care about Qiao Ye’s self-esteem. Part of the reason Qiao Ye left was because Fu Yanchuan wanted to control everything, and Qiao Ye was too proud.

Do men become gentle and considerate of others when they reach a certain age? If so, then why wasn’t Fu Yanchuan a little gentler with him? A little more considerate? He had even heard the day before yesterday that Fu Yanchuan suppressed Fu Yuejiang without holding back. If Fu Yuejiang didn’t still have Rongchuan’s shares, he would have gone bankrupt and jumped into the sea long ago.

So, who exactly is Qi Xi?

Qiu Yizhou met Qi Xi the very next day. As Party A, he asked for Brother Zha’s address, saying he happened to be going there. He also mentioned that there would be more commissioning plans in the future and that he hoped to talk with Brother Zha face-to-face. Brother Zha agreed.

He sent the agreed-upon address and time for meeting Brother Zha to Fu Yanchuan. However, out of sheer curiosity, he decided to follow along anyway.

The city where Brother Zha lived was a small, third-tier city, but it was a tourist city with an airport.

Qiu Yizhou couldn’t book the same flight as Fu Yanchuan. Knowing that Fu Yanchuan definitely wouldn’t wait for him, he flew over half a day earlier.

However, the small city only had two flights. He arrived in the middle of the night and was asked by Fu Yanchuan to rent a car and book a hotel. Since there was no return flight that night, they had to spend the night there.

The next morning, Qiu Yizhou drove to the airport to pick up Fu Yanchuan and Qi Xi. While waiting at the exit, he spotted Fu Yanchuan standing out from the crowd. Then, he noticed Qi Xi circling around beside him and instantly understood something.

Qi Xi’s face looked exactly like Qiao Ye’s had at eighteen.

Why Qiao Ye at 18? Because the later Qiao Ye had drastically altered his appearance, making it seem like he’d had plastic surgery.

“Yo, hello there! Mr. Qi.”

Startled by the person who suddenly appeared, Qi Xi shrank back behind Fu Yanchuan and looked him over. The man looked very refined and was wearing a suit similar to Fu Yanchuan’s, but he gave off a much more relaxed and casual vibe.

Fu Yanchuan gave Qiu Yizhou a look. Qiu Yizhou stepped back and introduced himself to Qi Xi: “My name is Qiu Yizhou. You can call me Brother Qiu. I’m President Fu’s good friend.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he received another sideways glare from Fu Yanchuan, but he pretended not to notice. He continued to Qi Xi, “I’m a lawyer. I’m here to help you with the case involving Huang Yujian.”

“Hello, hello!”

When Qi Xi learned that Qiu Yizhou was a lawyer, his opinion of him instantly improved. He reached out with both hands, eager to shake Qiu Yizhou’s hand.

Suddenly, Fu Yanchuan walked between them, blocking them so they couldn’t shake hands. Then, he said to Qi Xi, “Let’s go.”

Qiu Yizhou watched as Fu Yanchuan led Qi Xi away, wondering what kind of person Fu Yanchuan thought Qi Xi was.

Both Fu Yanchuan and Qi Xi sat in the backseat, leaving Qiu Yizhou to drive. He had told Brother Zha that he wanted to see his studio, but apparently, it didn’t have a “physical form.” After making a lot of excuses, they made an appointment to meet at a bookstore.

To be precise, the bookstore was more like a book café, selling books on one side and providing milk tea and coffee in a reading area on the other side.

There weren’t that many people in the small city. Even on weekends, the bookstore wasn’t crowded. The shop wasn’t big, nor was it located in a commercial center. On the way there, however, they passed two schools located on two adjacent streets to the bookstore. The bookstore’s business was probably not too bad.

Qiu Yizhou went in first. After looking around, he called to Brother Tan at the counter. Unexpectedly, Brother Zha answered—and he was standing right behind the counter.

Qiu Yizhou had seen Brother Zha’s graduation certificate, but the photo on it was completely different from the person in front of him—he had gotten rounder by dozens of jin.

Brother Zha hurriedly hung up and said, “You’re President Lin, right? This is my friend’s shop. I’m just helping out.”

Qiu Yizhou slipped both hands into the pockets of his suit pants and said with a smile, “Nice to meet you. Where shall we talk?”

As he spoke, he glanced at the business license hanging on the wall. Brother Zha quickly pointed toward the seating area. There was an empty table in the corner.

“Over there.”

Brother Zha came out from behind the counter and led the way. Qiu Yizhou followed behind him, casually taking out his phone to check the shop’s business license. The legal representative was Huang Yujian, who had made a full investment.

He whistled lightly and sat down at the spot Brother Zha pointed to. Brother Zha sat down across from him and asked, “President Lin, what would you like to drink?”

“No need.”

Qiu Yizhou leaned back casually in the chair. “I’m not President Lin. The President Lin who contacted you before is also my friend. I came on his behalf because someone wants to see you.”

Brother Zha instantly became nervous and looked around subconsciously. “Who? What person?”

Qiu Yizhou pointed toward the drink ordering counter. Qi Xi was persuading Fu Yanchuan to try the milk tea.

“Brother Yan, how about this milk green tea? You don’t like it either? Then let’s buy them all. You can take a sip of each, and then you’ll know what you like.”

Fu Yanchuan really didn’t know what was good about any of it. He stared at Qi Xi and said, “Only order what you want to drink.”

“Okay.”

Qi Xi agreed decisively. Then he turned to the staff and said, “I want everything we talked about just now. I’m about to become a rich person!”

Brother Zha had only seen selfies of Qi Xi with some facial distortion before. Aside from someone like Bai Peiyong, who carefully counts the number of eyelash roots, it isn’t easy for an ordinary person to recognize him at a glance.

But he could tell that Fu Yanchuan was not ordinary. Confused, he asked Qiu Yizhou, “What do you mean? I don’t know them.”

After Qi Xi placed the order, he and Fu Yanchuan walked toward Qiu Yizhou. He hadn’t seen what Brother Zha looked like either. Fu Yanchuan hadn’t said that he was bringing him to meet someone. He thought that Fu Yanchuan was here for work and that he was just accompanying him. In comics, people always go on business trips with a stand-in and then do this.. and that… in the hotel.

Glancing at Brother Zha without paying much attention, he was then pushed by Fu Yanchuan to sit in the seat facing Brother Zha. Confused, he said, “Brother Yan, isn’t it bad luck for me to sit here? Aren’t you going to talk business?”

Brother Zha finally got a good look at Qi Xi, but he was still not very sure. His nervous gaze subconsciously drifted toward Fu Yanchuan. Among the three, it was obvious that Fu Yanchuan had the strongest presence.

He clasped his hands together and asked, “What exactly do you need me for?”

Fu Yanchuan’s legs were too long. He pulled the chair back, sat down, propped one elbow on his knee, looked at Brother Zha, and said in an ordinary tone, “This is Qi Xi. His online name is ‘Qiyueqi.’² Does that ring a bell?”

Brother Zha almost instantly understood. Or rather, he had long thought that this day would come. His nerves immediately tensed as he looked over at Qi Xi sitting across from him.

Qi Xi was waiting for his milk tea and didn’t understand why Fu Yanchuan suddenly started introducing him. He looked at Fu Yanchuan puzzledly.

Fu Yanchuan said, “This is Brother Zha.”

Upon hearing “Brother Zha,” Qi Xi’s eyes widened instantly. He carefully examined the person sitting across from him. He looked completely different from what Qi Xi had imagined. He said in disbelief, “Why are you so fat?!”

Qiu Yizhou laughed out loud. He hadn’t expected that, when Qi Xi met the person who had scammed his labor results for so long, the first thing he’d say would be that.

He quickly put on a serious expression and gestured for Qi Xi not to mind.

Qi Xi looked back at Brother Zha again, his expression turning fiercely angry. He slammed his palm on the table. “Pay the money back!”

The loud bang echoed through the entire bookstore, and everyone looked over at them. His palm stung from the slap, but he didn’t want to lose momentum. He forced his expression to remain the same, reached his hand toward Fu Yanchuan, and stuffed it into Fu Yanchuan’s palm.

Fu Yanchuan strangely understood what Qi Xi meant. He grabbed his reddened palm and gently rubbed it.

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