Chapter Twenty-One
The Cheng family has a guest. The head of the Long family, known as the richest family in the small town, has come to visit.
Cheng's father greeted the guests with a smile, with Cheng Xiangdong accompanying him. The Cheng family didn't have close ties with people in the small town's business circle. Because of the Cheng family's deliberate concealment, not many people in the town knew their background. However, anyone who had dealt with them could guess a thing or two, so the Long family, who had cooperated with them several times, took advantage of the New Year to do some public relations. Of course, the main focus was on the new project the Cheng family was going to launch next year, and the Long family was one of the bidding companies.
Although the Long family was known as the richest family in the small town, they were far inferior to the Cheng family. Long Tiangang, the head of the Long family, had put in a lot of effort to get closer to the Cheng family, but it wasn't easy to meet Chairman Cheng. Having no other choice, he decided to visit before the New Year, and even brought his favorite youngest son, Long Jiumo, with him.
Long Jiu Mo followed behind his father, a standard smile on his face. He carefully observed his surroundings as they walked in. Considering Cheng Jia's wealth, their home could only be described as simple. The furnishings in the yard were basic, even the flowers and plants were common varieties. Entering the living room, the design was warm and comfortable, with nothing particularly valuable in sight. Long Jiu Mo sat down on the sofa and sighed. This was the kind of home he dreamed of. It was nothing like his own "home," adorned with gold and jade, glittering everywhere.
His father had mentioned the Cheng family to him more than once. The Cheng family's local branch alone was enough to rival the Long family, not to mention their businesses scattered across various regions. It's just that the Cheng family never flaunted their activities, so they weren't widely known. Long Tiangang often lamented that only those with businesses like the Cheng family could be considered truly successful! Looking at his father's bloated and obese appearance, Long Jiu Mo thought to himself, "With your indulgent and flamboyant personality, you can forget about ever achieving that in this lifetime."
Because he greatly admired the Cheng family, Long Tiangang constantly instilled in his son how successful the Cheng family was and how adept they were at turning ordinary people into gold. The eldest son of the Cheng family attended one of the best universities in the country, and the youngest son attended the best junior high school in the city. Moreover, Long Tiangang never missed an opportunity to compare the Cheng family's youngest son with his own, praising how sunny and cheerful the Cheng family's son was, how excellent his grades were, how friendly he was to his classmates, and how caring he was to his friends! In short, the Cheng family's youngest son could only be described in two words: perfect.
Long Jiu Mo had heard these words countless times; the more his father praised Cheng Xiang Bei, the more his anger surged. The Long family was different from the Cheng family. The head of the Cheng family kept a strict private life, and no scandals ever surfaced. The Long family, however, kept four mistresses in addition to their legal wife. With many wives came many children. After the legal wife gave birth to their eldest son, she was bedridden and passed away four years ago. Suddenly, the fourth mistress, Long Jiu Mo's mother, was promoted, and Long Jiu Mo officially became the young master of the Long family, the second son.
However, the order of the Long family children's birth order is evident from their names: Yichuan, Sanjiang, Sihai... to Jiu Mo, nine in total, indeed echoing the legend of the dragon having nine sons. Therefore, Long Jiu Mo was trapped in an endless cycle of competition from birth. Competing with his brothers, competing with his sisters—nine children, four boys and five girls—how could he attract the attention of the head of the Long family without showing off and vying for power? What difference was there between a child not being noticed by their father and being exiled?
Even if he didn't fight for it, his mother wouldn't agree. When women are young, they always place their hopes on men, and when their first illusion is shattered, they bet everything on their children. Long Jiu Mo was his mother's only support, so he received the strictest education from a young age. When to cry, when to laugh, what to say to whom. One wrong step and he would be beaten. His young heart was filled with repression and grievance, with nowhere to vent.
His good days only began after Daenerys Targaryen successfully ascended to the throne. On the surface, he was a gentle and refined young master of the Targaryen family with excellent grades; in private, however, he was a tyrannical man with a dark heart, who enjoyed bullying the weak. Money talks, and he didn't need to show his face; he had plenty of lackeys to serve him. For the sake of privacy, he never revealed his true information to anyone, since those people were only after money and pleasure, and they didn't care who the person paying them was.
The year he got into the provincial high school, he fully expected to be praised by his father. Instead, while he received the praise, Long Tiangang also took the opportunity to lavish praise on Cheng's youngest son's excellence. Watching his father's endless chatter, Long Jiu Mo felt like chopping Cheng Xiang Bei to pieces! He had worked himself to the bone and only received a perfunctory compliment, while that Cheng kid hadn't done anything, yet his father was so concerned about him! Why?!
Therefore, he went to stake out the junior high school section of No. 1 Middle School. He spotted Cheng Xiangbei and his follower, Lu Nan, from afar. Although the two were quite good-looking, he didn't think they were anything special. However, he didn't expect that when he went to find Huang Mao to attack Cheng Xiangbei, the latter backed down.
"Cheng Xiangbei is too powerful; I can't beat him," the blond-haired man said, shrinking back in fear.
Long Jiu Mo was furious. What could a junior high school student possibly be unable to beat? As he was frowning, he heard the blond-haired man cautiously ask: Do you have any grudges against Cheng Xiang Bei?
He was taken aback. A holiday? Did he think that disliking Xiang Bei count? However, he certainly couldn't say such an embarrassing reason, so he could only vaguely say: He stole the woman I had my eye on!
Huang Mao nodded, saying that they really couldn't swallow this insult. Since Cheng Xiangbei was unapproachable, they'd pick on the weaker target!
Thus, Lu Nan, who was powerless to even kill a chicken, became the scapegoat.
As Long Jiu Mo sat on the sofa lost in thought, Cheng Xiang Bei frowned at the photos scattered on his desk.
The photo was a bit blurry, and you could only barely make out the person's features: slender eyebrows, thin lips, and a somewhat effeminate handsome young man. This person was named "Mo Ran," and it was said that he was the leader of the blond-haired gang, but no matter how much he investigated, he couldn't find out who this Mo Ran was.
It seems as if it appeared out of nowhere.
Cheng Xiangbei continued to ponder the clues provided by the informant planted at Huang Mao's school, but he had no further information about this "Mo Ran." He leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.
"Tiger, come down here for a moment," Cheng Xiangdong's voice came through the intercom.
"Okay." Cheng Xiangbei snapped out of his daze, packed his things, and went downstairs.
Upon seeing Long Jiu Mo, Cheng Xiang Bei's eyes narrowed. He felt the man looked familiar, but couldn't quite place where he had seen him before. However, Cheng's father always taught them that harmony brings wealth, so he naturally smiled, and the other man nodded in return. After introducing them, Cheng Xiang Dong instructed, "Tiger, take Young Master Long to your room to play. We'll discuss some matters in the study."
Cheng Xiangbei nodded and led Long Jiu Mo upstairs. As they went up, he politely guided Long Jiu Mo, but when he turned back, he saw a hint of melancholy in the other's slender eyes. He was secretly startled, suddenly remembering where that sense of familiarity came from. To confirm his suspicion, he continued chatting with the other without changing his expression.
"Please come in." He opened the door and smiled, "Please make yourself at home."
Long Jiu Mo sat down in the chair opposite the desk. He looked around with interest and smiled, "Your room is designed with a very modern feel."
Cheng Xiangbei smiled and walked to the water dispenser to make tea for Long Jiu Mo. "It's so-so."
The two men sat facing each other across the steaming teacups. Cheng Xiangbei began, "Young Master Long..."
Long Jiu Mo hurriedly called a halt, saying, "This isn't a TV drama, so don't call me 'young master' or anything like that. Just call me Long Jiu."
Cheng Xiangbei readily agreed. The two began chatting, and when they talked about their respective schools, they inevitably touched upon Lu Nan. Long Jiu Mo seemed very interested in Lu Nan, talking at length about how unique and eye-catching Lu Nan was at school. When he mentioned that he admired Lu Nan, Cheng Xiangbei's eyebrows twitched involuntarily.
Long Jiu carefully observed his reaction, secretly sneering. Cheng Xiangbei got up to pour tea as a cover, secretly taking a picture of Long Jiu with his phone. The two continued chatting idly, each with their own ulterior motives, creating a harmonious scene.
As soon as Lu Nan pushed open Cheng Xiangbei's door, she saw Cheng Xiangbei and Long Jiu Mo chatting in a harmonious atmosphere.
He froze, stunned. It had been a long time since their last falling out—so long that Lu's mother felt he would lose Cheng Xiangbei, his best friend since childhood, if they continued arguing. So, ignoring her son's protests, Lu's mother kicked him into the Cheng family's house. "Go! Make up with Hu Zi! Bring Hu Zi home for dinner tonight, or don't come back!" Children shouldn't be spoiled. Over the years, no one had ever been better to her son than Hu Zi! And her son didn't even appreciate it!
Lu Nan awkwardly entered the Cheng family home, where he received a warm welcome from everyone. Grandma Cheng took his hand and said, "Nan Nan, you haven't visited in so long! No matter how busy you are with your studies, you can't forget to come see Grandma!" Aunt Li quickly brought out his favorite snacks and smilingly stuffed them into his hand. Even Cheng Xiangdong, who came out of the study to get something, smiled when he saw him, reminding him that there was a box of chocolates upstairs and he shouldn't forget to take it when he left.
Lu Nan lowered her head in embarrassment and carried the snack box up to the third floor. Unexpectedly, the scoundrel who had just bullied her was actually Cheng Xiangbei's honored guest! "What are you doing here?!" Lu Nan shouted angrily.
Long Jiu turned around and saw that it was Lu Nan. He smiled and said, "I've come to visit."
Cheng Xiangbei was so excited to see Lu Nan that he almost jumped up. However, the interaction between Long and Lu made him hesitate. He didn't get up, but simply invited Lu Nan to sit down.
Lu Nan's initial trepidation was instantly replaced by a surge of anger the moment he saw Long Jiu Mo. He had expected Cheng Xiang Bei to stand by him as before, but Cheng Xiang Bei remained seated, not moving an inch. A wave of bitterness washed over him, and he sat down next to Cheng Xiang Bei, declaring with a strong sense of possessiveness, "You're not welcome here!"
"Oh?" Long Jiu raised an eyebrow and smiled, "This is the Cheng family's place, right? Hu Zi didn't say I couldn't stay here." He heard the Cheng family members call Cheng Xiangbei Hu Zi, guessing that it was Cheng Xiangbei's nickname.
Hearing him address Cheng Xiangbei so intimately, Lu Nan clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, saying, "Who gave you permission to call him Tiger?"
"What? Only you are allowed to use this name?" Long Jiu Mo shrugged.
"How come you're so familiar with this big bad guy?!" Lu Nan couldn't contain his anger, staring straight at Cheng Xiangbei. He was both angry and afraid—angry because he couldn't do anything about Long Jiu Mo, this scheming guy, and afraid because…why had Cheng Xiangbei not reacted at all? Before, he would always be on his side, whether he was in the right or being unreasonable, as long as it was Lu Nan's business, it was Cheng Xiangbei's business. But now, with Cheng Xiangbei sitting so quietly, Lu Nan could no longer hide the throbbing pain in his heart. "Tiger, say something!"
Cheng Xiangbei glanced at Long Jiu, who was gloating, and then at Lu Nan, who was looking at him hopefully. He suddenly remembered what his brother had once said: "Lu Nan cares about you much more than you can feel." He suppressed the urge to comfort Lu Nan, cleared his throat, and said, "Long Jiu is a guest."
Lu Nan's face fell instantly. Cheng Xiangbei stared at him intently, carefully observing his expression. After seeing Lu Nan's disappointment and sadness, the corners of his mouth curved slightly.
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