Chapter 52
It was a cloudy day.
Shan Li added an extra item to his academic record, which was included in the discharge agreement, in order to better deceive the Bangkok hotel.
He also emailed the address and specifically ordered Xiang Mingqi to travel to the outer city. The destination was a polytechnic university. Attached were Yu Mingrui's information, the debt agreement, and a photo.
Zooming in on the photo: He wasn't particularly good-looking, with no facial features similar to his brother's. The only memorable thing about him was his asymmetrical eyelids.
"Is it okay to get rid of this guy?" he asked the secretary named Xie Jingzhou.
Xie Jingzhou pushed his glasses with his fingers and agreed, "From the company's perspective, it's best to get rid of this person in advance."
Tired of his "company first" opening remarks, Xiang Mingqi snorted as he looked at the photo in his hand. As long as he did well enough, as long as he could satisfy Shan Li and his younger brothers, number one and two, he would be able to join Pei Huai smoothly as planned.
You will be free.
Although the cost of leaving the nursing home was huge, he didn't care.
A verbal agreement could be easily reversed if the thought arose. Xiang Mingqi considered himself to have no conscience, and certainly not to feel guilty towards anyone.
Of course, except for the handsome guys.
"I hope you are worthy of our trust." This was what Xie Jingzhou said to him when they shook hands.
"Of course, the first rule of our mental hospital is honesty." He grabbed it with both hands and shook it vigorously. "I dream about the hospital rules every night. Honesty, honesty, honesty..."
Xie Jingzhou retracted his hand as if frightened.
Afterwards, a car took him directly to the Polytechnic School. The campus was small and slightly inferior to the standard.
After getting out of the car, Xiang Mingqi, bag slung over one shoulder, squatted in front of the identification probe, facing the lift, eagerly waiting for the door to open. About a quarter of an hour later, the guard came out, looked at the boy standing across the driveway with an insufferable look, and pointed to the sidewalk.
"Is there something wrong with you?"
"Wow, how did you know that? Were we in the same hospital? What's your bed number?"
"...You are sick."
Xiang Mingqi chased after him cheerfully. He had the air of a student, and after a few minutes of smooth talk with the guard, he quickly established himself as a student of the academy. After a few words of instruction, he was let into the campus.
He walked around the Central Garden with his hands in his pockets for a few laps. Coincidentally, since it was class time, there were few people outside the teaching building. His somewhat exaggerated behavior did not attract anyone's attention.
When he got tired of walking around, he found a relatively lush apricot tree, sat under it, and dialed a number on the first line of his address book.
Who would have thought that the call would be hung up as soon as the screen popped up.
Xiang Mingqi pouted and dialed again without hesitation. He was blocked, so he switched to another card and tried again. It was blocked again. When the other party finally answered, he suppressed his anger and asked, "Who the hell are you? I'm in class. Are you going to stop?"
"Hello, Mr. Four Million." Xiang Mingqi immediately sat up straight and raised his calves, not feeling the slightest bit of guilt for what he had just done. "I took a look at your account. Oh, you're a virtual currency expert who's been losing time and time again. Have you made any money investing with your senior?"
【Varied……】
"See, no, no? You'd actually spend your tuition and living expenses on something like this." He laughed. "Besides, it doesn't seem like it's your own money, right?"
[Who are you?] The person on the other end of the phone held their breath, their voice trembling. [Who gave you this number? Yeah, who told you all this? They're talking nonsense. Didn't I already pay off this installment? Didn't that company transfer the money to your account before?]
"Sorry—because the grudge between you and me is personal." Xiang Mingqi swung his legs back and forth, spreading his fingers as wide as possible. "Today is my first day on duty, please..."
The phone was hung up with a beep. Xiang Mingqi looked at the phone screen that was plunged into darkness and curled his lips.
"That hedgehog-head guy is so rude." He stood up and tossed the key into the air, then stopped it horizontally and walked towards the building whose coordinates were displayed. When the distance was shortened to fifty meters, he raised his eyelids and locked onto a window on the seventh floor.
Someone was watching the entrance and exit vigilantly from behind the curtain.
Xiang Mingqi waved his arms with a wicked and unconscionable smile, which frightened the other party so much that he quickly drew the curtains.
Seeing that he was avoiding her like the plague, Xiang Mingqi shielded the sunlight in front of him with the back of his hand, his lips drooping, and he glanced at the window with an expression of extreme disgust.
"It really doesn't look like it."
When I pushed open the restroom door on the fourteenth floor, Yu Mingrui was crouching by the window, rubbing his shoulders, his schoolbag slung in the corner. He shuddered helplessly at the noise.
Xiang Mingqi waved at him: "Hello, Mr. Four Million."
"Don't call me that! I have a way to pay you back, really..."
"You think I'm here for the money? Come on, I can't even count how many suitcases four million can fit into." He pursed his lips. "I'm not interested in the money. I'm here for your brother."
"ah."
"Do you have any recent photos of him?" He stroked his index finger from his jawbone to his chin. "My cousin is such a stingy guy, always hiding things. He even hides a photo from me before he's willing to look at it. If you don't know him, you'd think he's playing some kind of dirty game."
"There's no recent news, but my second uncle and I occasionally take pictures of him."
"What are you waiting for? Pay the tribute quickly."
"Then, come here."
"Hey, get this straight. I'm the one threatening you. If your brother wasn't so handsome, kind, and sweet-voiced, I'd throw you off the fourteenth floor right now."
The moment he heard his brother's name, the wrinkles on Yu Mingrui's face relaxed a little. He trembled and handed the phone to Xiang Mingqi: "Here..."
"He dyed his hair?"
"Ah, well, I dyed it recently."
"So handsome." Xiang Mingqi sighed subconsciously when he took the phone.
The photo's resolution was not high, but it happened to capture the moment when Pei Huai raised his hand to tie his hair.
His elbows were too far forward, and he was standing sideways, so it was difficult to see his face clearly. He stared at the man's beautiful shoulders and arms, from the straight shoulders to the narrow waist, his sturdy and well-proportioned figure was clearly visible.
The hairband was bitten between her lips, her eyelashes were nearly a finger long and slightly curled, and every inch of her skin exuded extremely sexually seductive hormones.
"Hair, are you planning on growing it out, brother?" He couldn't help but stroke it with his index finger, as if speaking to someone through a piece of data. "...So handsome."
Yu Mingrui stared at him tremblingly for a long time, then asked in a low voice, "Who are you to my brother? Ex-boyfriend?"
As soon as these words came out, Xiang Mingqi couldn't help but raise the corner of his mouth.
"Is the word 'boyfriend' fashionable these days?" He transferred the photo to his phone and returned it nonchalantly. "Well, yes, I am. I'm the ex-boyfriend I'm currently trying to get back with."
"You're so weird."
"My attending physician also said that." Xiang Mingqi grabbed his attention with a high-five. "I'm curious why you signed your brother's name at the end of the debt agreement."
"Because, he and Second Uncle are different from Mom and Dad. In the past, whenever I got into trouble, my brother would not only not blame me, but would also help me clean up the mess."
"—He's always like this, quiet and always trying to figure out what he's thinking. How do I know if he's willing? Besides, he's already working. He'll definitely find a way to handle the money issue."
"Oh, I see."
Yu Mingrui looked at him, his chest suddenly stretched back due to nervousness: "This has nothing to do with you. I found a way. Those people won't bother my brother. Just a week ago, a company contacted me and said that as long as I listen to them..."
A triple clap of applause interrupted him. "I see, you really care about him. But do you know what?"
"What."
"No word about you will reach his ears. I promise." Xiang Mingqi stepped closer to him, a perfunctory smile revealing a hint of triumph. "I've calculated that even if I take you away and dismantle you, I may not be able to pay back the money. So it seems..."
He first raised one index finger on each side, then spread out three fingers and drew a big circle in the air: "Goodbye to your life."
"Get out! - I told you to get out!" Yu Mingrui grabbed an iron bucket and smashed it at him.
"I want your place." He calmly turned his shoulder away. "I want to replace you and become his younger brother. Whether as a relative or a lover, I will do better than any of you."
The soap box and hand sanitizer were thrown at the door, but it was no use. Xiang Mingqi brushed off his clothes and left. Unable to bear the calmness on his face, Yu Mingrui gritted his teeth and pounced on him, trying to push him away from the door.
But Xiang Mingqi was not so easy to deal with. He moved to the side, raised his toes, knocked down the attacker, and then knelt on the attacker's back.
The latter's arms were supporting the ground in vain. "There's something wrong with you. There's definitely something wrong with your brain! ...How can a normal person say such a thing?!"
Xiang Mingqi put his hand next to his ear and snapped his fingers: "I never said I was normal. The doctor also praised me for having a personality disorder before. So, are you willing to give up your position as your younger brother to me?"
"Are you crazy?! Shan and San Xi"
"It doesn't matter if you don't want to now. I have plenty of time. Because next time I come..." His index finger slid steadily down Yu Mingrui's left waist, tapped a spot behind his ribs, and hummed, "I will take it from you, here."
Seeing the other person's neck suddenly covered in cold sweat, he stood up and put on his coat.
"Bye." Xiang Mingqi jumped over him, "I'm very happy to make a friend like you today." He pushed the door open a crack with light steps, walked into the corridor, humming a song, taking the most cheerful steps, but at the last moment he looked back at Yu Mingrui.
He watched the boy's shoulders slump, as if overcome by self-blame. He watched him open his schoolbag and write furiously in a hardcover notebook. He watched him wipe away his tears, tuck the page into the inner compartment, and stand by the window, his fingers trembling. He took a long moment, swallowing the sob that choked in his throat, and asked, "Will you hurt him?"
"On the contrary. I can solve this problem for him, but the premise is... you know."
"You want me to disappear." He bit his lip.
"It's you who's organs are targeted by the company, not me or your brother." He raised his eyebrows and said, "Brother-in-law, there's nothing I can do to help you." When he turned around with a look of regret on his face, he suddenly heard a scream from behind him as the leg of a stool was dragged.
"I didn't mean to do that. I really didn't mean to do that. I just felt that the money I invested could still be recovered. Really, I've won a lot! With that money, I stayed in high-end hotels, enjoyed all-night parties, and even bought a sports car outright."
Xiang Mingqi didn't move.
"I will never forget the way those people in the store looked at me. This is what I have always wanted. It is something my brother could never give me!"
"But everything you have now—"
"He never got close to me. Even though we hadn't even been in touch for over a decade, I still kept an eye on him. Ever since I was little, I've wanted to be closer to my brother. He doesn't look like me or my dad; his face, abilities, and talents are all innate."
"When he was at an age where he could switch between French and English fluently, I was only good at grammar. He was better than me in everything. When everyone felt sorry for him dropping out of school, I could feel that they hoped it was me who left school. It's just that no one said it out loud, but I knew everything."
"I can also feel that he doesn't like me. I stole his life. But I swear, I never thought of hurting him."
"—These were all given to you by that brother you thought was so unkind." Xiang Mingqi continued, as if he hadn't heard her excuses. "Do you realize you're squandering his life?"
The stool under his feet suddenly shook violently.
"Now, doing the best thing for him is your only value."
Xiang Mingqi watched and watched. In the backlight, amid the screams, he pinched the brim of his hat with two fingers for the last time and turned away calmly.
He felt nothing.
Death, passing away, withering, the fear of these words seems to be frozen in a rainy night many years ago.
That night, blood flowed at his feet for nearly a century.
-
"That's what you mean." In the cramped back seat, Pei Huai spread his legs and sat aloofly on the other man's muscular lower abdomen. He removed the cigarette butt between his fingers, allowing him to exhale a puff of smoke.
"Brother, I know you must be very angry after hearing this, but I..."
She pressed her hand firmly against his chest, pausing her words, her body slumping as the nicotine entered his lungs. Xiang Mingqi couldn't hold back, and immediately grasped that alluring waist with both hands, feeling the contours of his abdominal muscles.
"Don't move." Pei Huai slapped his dishonest hand away and placed the cigarette on the side of his head. He leaned forward, his voice low and sexy, "For the sake of telling the truth. Choose between the cigarette butt and your lips."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com