I wanted to read Chapter 16 a couple of days ago, but he'd already been kicked out of the group. ...

Ever since Mu Chen'an went to see Cheng Sijie, he has been constantly bothered by Liang Momo. To be fair, Liang Momo is very beautiful, but he doesn't like that type of girl.

He wanted to ask Liang Momo for Cheng Sijie's contact information, but Liang Momo wouldn't give it to him.

He couldn't be bothered to talk to his childhood friend from kindergarten whom he hadn't seen in a long time. His older brother saw him spending his days in a slump and took him to the head office for an internship, saying, "You're about to graduate from university, you can't just waste your days like this."

He sat across from his older brother with a sullen expression, feeling resentful and thinking: Mind your own business.

His older brother: "Mu Chen'an, what are you thinking about?"

Mu Chen'an: "I wasn't thinking about anything."

His sister-in-law, who had watched him grow up, came over and said, "Alright, alright, eat something first, Xiao An. Your sister-in-law made your favorite stir-fried shrimp with scallions and fried chicken. You loved them when you were little, didn't you?"

When I was little...

fried chicken……

Mu Chen'an clenched his fists, feeling a surge of frustration. "I'm not eating."

Do you really think he's a three-year-old?

Mu Chenxing: "How dare you speak to your sister-in-law like that?"

Mu Chen'an: "Don't talk to me."

Li Helai said, "Alright, let's not talk about him anymore, he's in a bad mood."

Looking up at his sister-in-law's loving gaze, Mu Chen'an felt a little down. "I'm sorry, sister-in-law, I can't eat. I'll go out first."

His older brother and sister-in-law exchanged a glance, and Li Helai sighed softly, "Don't always scold him, he's not a child anymore."

Mu Chenxing: "What kind of behavior is this, all flustered and panicked! You're already twenty-three years old, do you still think you're a child?"

Mu Chen'an suddenly raised his head: "So you know I'm not young anymore?"

Mu Chenxing slammed his hand on the table: "What are you trying to say?"

Seeing Mu Chen'an storm out, his sister-in-law said anxiously, "Why did you say that to him?"

Mu Chenxing said, "Spoiling a child is like killing a child. If you spoil him like this, problems will arise sooner or later."

Li Helai laughed angrily: "You're the one who's talking to me! Look at yourself, would you really let him suffer like that?"

She rubbed her husband's shoulders. "Alright, Chen'an has a very strong character. He's been so well protected by us since he was little, yet he still received good feedback from others in the company during his internship. This shows that like father, like son, and like brother, like brother, right?"

Li Helai thought of his nephew, who chased girls, raced cars, and caused trouble because of his family background, practically wearing the label of a privileged class with "money and power" on his forehead.

Her face turned cold. "Putting everything else aside, children and grandchildren have their own blessings. Compared to Cong Yao, he is far superior. No, I shouldn't even compare him to that brat."

However, Mu Chen'an, who was inexplicably unhappy, was unaware that his sister-in-law was actually quite pleased with him.

He was speeding on the mountain road in his Rolls-Royce, going quite fast, but not recklessly. Wearing goggles and with the windows down, he thought angrily to himself:

fried chicken?

Please, sister-in-law, if you have a child who happens to be in elementary school, this should be his favorite food, right?!

A sense of tragic helplessness, as if his fate was being controlled, swept over him, making it hard for him to breathe. At that moment, he didn't care about anything else; all he wanted was to get some fresh air and a sense of freedom.

at least……

To be treated as an adult.

He has a few close friends who have arranged to meet at a bar for drinks. They are not lawless second-generation rich kids in this circle. Their families have relatively upright traditions and are quite strict in managing their heirs. At the very least, they would not allow their children to get other people pregnant and have several illegitimate children.

So the entertainment for the group wasn't anything extravagant. The venue was just a bar owned by one of the people, and there wasn't any smoky atmosphere in the small private room. Everyone kept urging him not to drink anymore.

"You're just getting old, it's all the same."

They remarked with considerable emotion, "Everyone has different opinions. What you think is good, your older brother is already over forty. Do you think he would agree with you? He could be your father!"

Mu Chen'an drank his wine sullenly: "What I can't stand most is that he has to control everything I do, and he can always find fault with me, as if I'm completely useless!"

He scratched his head in pain, his eyes red from the alcohol: "I know my older brother has taken a lot of responsibility for me. He's the boss in our family, and my sister-in-law is like my mother, you know? Even her nephew has some connections in our family business. And me? I'm about to graduate from university. Do you see my brother trying to get me close to my family?"

“Last year when I went for my internship, everyone treated me like a dog.”

One person exclaimed, "Then why don't you rebel! You're the heir to the family business, are you just going to sit there like a coward and start from the bottom doing odd jobs?"

Mu Chen'an laughed angrily: "Why would I resist? Wouldn't it be embarrassing for my brother if I resisted?"

"Tch, I think you two have a pretty good relationship."

Mu Chen'an said, "When did I say that I didn't get along with them? Our family isn't a palace. It's just the two of us. Why would we have a power struggle between the two sons? Please, he's twenty years older than me. There's a generation gap of seven inch between us, like the Mariana Trench."

His friend laughed heartily, "So you mean..."

Mu Chen'an rubbed his forehead. "My older brother doesn't trust me at all. He always thinks I'm still young. He and my sister-in-law have a good relationship. But, you know, even close brothers should keep clear accounts. My parents have high hopes for him, but I can't just not even fight for my own career and let him struggle all the time, can I?"

His friend said, "Yes."

"But don't worry, your brother definitely knows what's going on. Look at the age difference between you and him, he's watched you grow up. Believe it or not, he still doesn't have any children. He's just treating you as his heir. Do you think your sister-in-law has any objections?"

Mu Chen'an subconsciously said, "My sister-in-law's health isn't good... Sigh, that's what I'm worried about. When they have children in the future, they'll have to raise their own kids. By then, they'll be old, and I'll be just lazing around all day. What kind of person will I be?"

He really wanted to protect his older brother's child and be a reliable uncle.

His friend said with great distress, "These days, who really has health problems? With your family's financial resources, if you really wanted to treat them, you would have been seeking medical treatment all over the world. And if the other party is really obsessed with the child, let's not talk about other options, adoption, adoption is surely an option, right?"

Mu Chen'an was taken aback, then smiled wryly, "Never mind. Let's drink."

From a young age, Mu Chen'an was dissatisfied with his name—his two brothers were named "Chenxing" and "Chen'an," one inheriting the family business, the other living a peaceful and stable life. However, Mu Chen'an thought:

I'm a man, after all. How can I feel good about always hiding behind my parents and brother?

Let's not get into these sentimentalities. Sigh, people always want to find some meaning in life.

He suddenly remembered what the streamer Chengcheng said during a previous live stream: "People are just idle. Eighty percent of the time, they just make trouble out of nothing. If there's a problem, we should solve it, but people always want to avoid it. If you avoid problems, there's nothing real to do in life, so you just mess around aimlessly."

But what are his problems? What really needs to be addressed?

It seems not...

That night, Mu Chen'an got completely drunk. He subconsciously turned on his live stream, only to find his follower list empty. He suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable and went to the bathroom to vomit before his mind cleared up.

"Never mind," he thought, rubbing his forehead. "What am I doing?"

Do I really want to date "Chengcheng"?

He lay in bed, looking at the private messages between the two of them from before, flipping through them again and again. He had instructed the manager of Firefly Live to take good care of Chengcheng, but in the past few years, she had never asked the manager for any special treatment. Moreover, she had done everything in a respectable manner, even when she changed jobs.

At least, she was free, and he didn't want to interfere with her freedom. Actually, he didn't intentionally stop her from terminating the contract, but... what was he thinking at the time?

He rubbed his phone and gave a wry smile.

Never mind, never mind.

"Mu Chen'an, are you still really that immature? Why do you always do things like this?" he muttered to himself.

Perhaps it was fate, but his WeChat suddenly buzzed. He opened it and saw it was from his childhood friend, Liang Momo, whom he'd bumped into at C University a while back—

Liang Momo texted him: "Are you free this weekend? Sijie and I are going shopping together, you can come and carry our bags. [Cute jpg]"

Upon seeing this message, Mu Chen'an's heart stirred.

The image of the woman he had seen that day flashed through his mind; in Mu Chen'an's own words, she was even more beautiful than the woman in the live stream.

Compared to the flawless skin, exquisitely beautiful doll-like curled eyelashes, lips, and high-bridged nose under the lights of the live broadcast room...

In real life, skin with a slight texture, hair tousled by the wind, and furrowed brows appear more vibrant.

But we didn't have a chance to chat that day.

Just moments ago, Mu Chen'an thought he wasn't interested in Chengcheng at all, but then he sighed and thought: I must have fallen in love with her.

If you weren't in love with someone, why would you be so heartbroken?

This is perfectly normal. Coming from such a wealthy family, he must yearn for a pure and beautiful love.

He wanted to confide in someone. He used to be able to chat with his fans who watched his livestreams together; the fans had a small group, mostly comprised of those who spent a lot of money on in-game purchases. There was Strawberry Sister, him, and H who would occasionally appear…

I checked a couple of days ago, and he had already been kicked out of the group.

Why.

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Author's Note: I'm just having fun, don't worry everyone, there won't be any particularly upsetting plot points! I've been too busy these past few days to reply to comments right now!