When Cheng Xi’s father started crying, it shocked everyone else. He had always been the stoic and silent member of the family, always cool, calm, and collected. Cheng Xi had expected her mother to cry, but not her father.

Even Cheng Xi’s mother was a little dazed. She looked at her husband and said, “Gosh, your father actually started crying before me.”

He grumbled back, “You’re going to cry sooner or later!”

And Cheng Xi’s mother did; as she watched the boarding line grow shorter and shorter, she started sniffling. Before long, tears were streaming down her face even as her husband continued to silently cry beside her. Cheng Xi herself was teary-eyed, and Cheng Yang was about to pull out his hair in frustration from watching the three of them cry at each other. “Why do you all have to cry so much? It’s not like she’s never going to come back! What’s more, even if she doesn’t return, you guys can still visit her, right?”

His mother indignantly yelled, “If you can’t cry, then shut your mouth! You’re a heartless brother.”

Cheng Yang was left without a response.

Cheng Xi couldn’t help but smile at her family’s antics. She turned around and hugged everybody again, including Cheng Yang. “Alright, take care, everyone. I’ll be back soon enough. Mom, dad, remember to take care of yourselves. Brother, listen to our parents. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to meet your wife by the time I return.”

Her words scared Cheng Yang so much that he hurriedly said, “Then you’d better not come back that quickly.

 Sayonara

!”

Their mother and father’s palms immediately landed on the back of his head, finally dissipating the sorrowful atmosphere.

After Cheng Xi boarded the plane, she kept looking out the window at the familiar city and the familiar sky. All of these familiar scenes would soon only be seen in her memories.

At that moment, she deeply desired to be the female lead of some romance movie, who would turn around and see the person she loved standing at the corner, sending her off.

But Lu Chenzhou wouldn’t do something like that. If he were to show up, he wouldn’t hide in a corner, and if he didn’t show up, then that was that.

She still hoped that he’d betray her expectations.

As the airplane accelerated down the tarmac and soared into the sky, Cheng Xi’s parents stood inside the airport, looking at it soar into the sky. Cheng Xi’s mother couldn’t help herself from bursting out into tears again. “That little brat—she’s really flown out of the nest now.”

Cheng Yang’s scalp went numb as he looked at his mother crying. “Now that I’m the only one left, I’ll be your favorite child!”

But his mother just scolded him again. “The favorite? What’s the point of keeping you around? You still haven’t gotten married and you already make me angry every day. If you left right now, I’d even set off fireworks in celebration!”

Cheng Yang was dumbfounded by his mother’s response. “......I’m not an adopted child, am I?”

“Yes, you are. The only thing you’re good for now is for helping your sister take care of her apartment.” Before her tears dried up, she had already started to nag him again. “If it stays uninhabited for too long, it’ll start getting moldy. In the future, you should go over to her apartment regularly, and remember to clean it for her once every two days. Don’t bring anyone strange over, take care of everything that she didn’t take with her, don’t needlessly touch her books—they’re precious to her, and if the weather’s good outside, remember to air the blankets……”

I really am an adopted child, aren’t I?!

Amidst his mother’s nagging, Cheng Yang sent his parents home. The smoke trails of the now faraway plane dissipated into the atmosphere as their car drove further and further away.

Cheng Xi’s departure was like a pebble being thrown into a pond. In the beginning, it had caused many disruptive ripples, but as the pebble slowly sunk to the bottom, not a trace of it was left on the surface.

Everyone’s days passed as usual. After Cheng Yang beat Lu Chenzhou up, he thought that he would be immediately dropped from the engineering project he was working on with Donglai. But unexpectedly, someone from Donglai actually contacted him with positive news. “Mr. Cheng, we’ve inspected your work at Hainan, and we’re happy to settle the accounts now.”

Of course, Cheng Yang would go over to settle the accounts; wouldn’t he be crazy not to be properly reimbursed for his work?

Although his company was small, it did good work, and when Cheng Yang got serious about something, he scared even himself. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared to aim for a project from Donglai with just his meager qualifications.

As they were going over the details, one of the engineering directors at Donglai even commented, “Your engineering firm’s very detail-oriented and not bad at all. Next time, we’ll make sure to contact you if we need anything.” If not for the matter between Lu Chenzhou and Cheng Xi, this outcome would have been worth all the effort that Cheng Yang had spent on Lu Chenming. However, Cheng Xi’s treatment at the hands of Lu Chenzhou had left Cheng Yang with a sour taste in his mouth whenever Donglai was mentioned. So, he sneered disrespectfully and disdainfully said, “I’m sorry, but there’s bad blood between me and your Director Lu. I actually don’t plan on taking any projects from Donglai in the future.”

There were quite a few people in the office when he said this, and they all glanced over at him as if he were a fool.

Cheng Yang was left speechless. “……”

Was Donglai really that impressive? Was it foolish to reject working with Donglai?

Cheng Yang felt particularly annoyed, and he rolled up his sleeves. He’d climb to the top of the industry, and he’d do so while avoiding Donglai at all costs!

After Cheng Xi left, Cheng Yang started focusing on his business in a steady and serious manner; he no longer tried to employ unusual tactics or take shortcuts to expand his business. Instead, he focused on diligently managing his business and networking. He still remembered to occasionally take Lu Chenming out for some fun, and through him, he got updates on how Lu Chenzhou was doing.

He was happy whenever Lu Chenzhou suffered from bad luck, and he was very unhappy when Lu Chenzhou didn’t.

But ever since Cheng Xi left, it seemed that Lu Chenzhou’s performance was decreasing with each passing day. Lu Chenming frequently mentioned that his brother wasn’t very well. He seemed to have lost interest in everything, and his grandparents were very worried about him.

One day, Cheng Yang decided to accompany Lu Chenming on his sales errands out of boredom. Lu Chenming had actually been criticized by upper management because he’d met none of his sales quota for the month.

From the moment they met up, Lu Chenming was acting worried and anxious. Cheng Yang thought that it was because of his poor sales performance, but it turned out to be something else. “Ah, my dad and brother had a fight again, a pretty fierce one this time.”

Fun, fun, fun. A wealthy family’s fights over their inheritance are bloody affairs! 

Cheng Yang became very excited, and he sleazily asked, “What’s the matter?”

“My dad said that my brother wasn’t performing up to standard, and that the board was very upset with him. Apparently, if he keeps on doing nothing, they’ll fire him.”

“Oh! Your dad’s quite wise, isn’t he?”

Lu Chenming opened his eyes wide and stared at him curiously. “What do you mean?” His face then turned red as he tried to speak up for his brother. “My brother’s really amazing. It’s my dad who’s the one messing around.”

“Alright, alright.” Cheng Yang patted Lu Chenming’s shoulder half-heartedly, his mood suddenly much better than before. Later that night, he was so happy that he drank a bit more than he should have. When he went home, he was intoxicated, and he accidentally entered the wrong apartment—Cheng Yang had intended to go to the “fake Dr. Cheng’s home,” but he drunkenly entered Cheng Xi’s actual apartment instead.

And perhaps it was because he was drunk, but he didn’t even bother to turn on the lights or wash up. Cheng Yang went straight to bed, curling up in the blankets. However, he felt a strange and somewhat cold…… body?

Oh, this is really nice to the touch, It’s really comfortable! 

In his alcohol-fueled haze, Cheng Yang reached out with his hands-

“Dong!” Before he could even react, he’d been kicked out of the bed. At the same time, the room lit up, and Lu Chenzhou slowly emerged from the bed, coolly staring at him.

“Screw you! You, you, you…… How’d you get in? And why’re you sleeping in my sister’s bed? Lu Chenzhou, where’s your pride?!”

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