DCISBS chapter 77

Lu Nanyang rarely saw Lu Hongzhen smoke.

He knew his foster father smoked — there were ashtrays in both the house and the car — but Lu Hongzhen almost never did so in front of the family. In Lu Nanyang’s memory, he always maintained the most respectable image.

With smoke swirling in the air and Lu Hongzhen’s expression obscured, Lu Nanyang had no choice but to speak.

“This has nothing to do with Xie Quan. It was my fault that things with Zhanlei got out of hand… Xie Quan doesn’t understand the Lu family’s situation. He just wanted to help me. That’s all.”

“Mhm, I believe you,” Lu Hongzhen said, flicking the ash off his cigarette and looking at Lu Nanyang. “But are you unaware of how others see it?”

Lu Nanyang pressed his lips together and stayed silent.

“In the days since this happened, I’m sure you’ve felt how the people around you are treating you both,” Lu Hongzhen continued, his gaze scanning Lu Nanyang. “I may trust that he has no ill intentions. Your friends might too. But what about everyone else? Your classmates, your teachers, those who saw the news — what do they think?”

“…What they think doesn’t matter,” Lu Nanyang replied quietly.

“Oh? It doesn’t matter?” Lu Hongzhen chuckled, extinguishing his cigarette in the ashtray and turning to look at him. “Tell me, have you thought about how the two of you plan to live in the future?”

If it were any other topic, Lu Nanyang might have fallen silent to avoid confrontation.
But not today. This topic was different.

He felt an unprecedented urge to resist Lu Hongzhen.

“I have thought about it,” Lu Nanyang said, lifting his head to look at his foster father. “He’ll graduate before me and will intern while pursuing graduate school. After I graduate, I’ll find a legal job at a nearby company. That way, if he runs into financial difficulties, I can support him.”

Lu Hongzhen laughed. “And how much do you think that job will pay you? Enough to support a full-time grad student?”

Lu Nanyang clenched his jaw, his eyes defiant. “I can work extra jobs. It might be hard, but we’ll manage.”

Lu Hongzhen nodded. “Alright, then let me tell you how people around you will interpret your relationship. No matter how many jobs you take or how hard you work, people will only see one thing: the Lu family’s young master is financially supporting a kept lover. Your boyfriend — Xie Quan, was it? — he used to be one of the top students at your school, a promising figure in medicine. But now? No matter how good his grades are or what he achieves, he’ll forever be labeled as your lover. All his efforts, all his accomplishments — people will say it was your money that bought them. Have you considered that?”

Lu Nanyang was stunned. His pinky finger twitched violently, and he quickly pressed it down with the other hand.

“I know you don’t want to stay in the Lu family, and you don’t want an old man like me dictating your future,” Lu Hongzhen said, picking up his tea and taking a sip. “But no matter how much you dislike this identity, even if you change your name back to Xie Nanyang, you can’t erase the fact that you’re a Lu. People won’t see you as an ordinary person — you’ll always be the Lu family’s young master. Or are you planning to never see me or Yunyao again for the rest of your life, to cut ties with us like enemies?”

“…No.” Lu Nanyang’s voice was hoarse.

He could feel his phone buzzing in his pocket again. For a moment, he truly wanted to grab it and walk away, ignoring everything.
But he restrained himself, keeping his posture and staying motionless in front of Lu Hongzhen.

Lu Hongzhen let out a long sigh. “Nanyang, you’re not an orphan anymore. You have a home now — you have parents. It’s my fault. I’ve been too busy with the company these past years and haven’t been there for you. But you need to know — the Lu family is your home. Others will always be outsiders. I’m not trying to break you two up. I just want you to seriously reconsider your future. Maybe I can accept you having a boyfriend, but can Yunyao? What about your grandparents, or the rest of the Lu family? Can they accept it? Are you really going to cut ties with all of us over one outsider, never to meet again?”

Having said that, Lu Hongzhen set his teacup down, brushed away the fallen ash from the table, handed the ashtray to the waiter, and sighed. It was clear he had simply delivered the message and didn’t expect any particular response from Lu Nanyang.

He picked up his chopsticks again, turned the glass lazy Susan, and brought a braised fish around to Lu Nanyang.
“Eat, eat. Let’s stop talking and eat first.”

Despite the full table of dishes, Lu Nanyang couldn’t taste a single bite.

It wasn’t until he watched the black business car drive away that he realized—only belatedly—that his palms were soaked in cold sweat.

Leaning against a stone pedestal, he slowly crouched down and took several deep breaths before finally pulling his phone out of his pocket.

The multiple vibrations earlier were all messages from Xie Quan.

Drowning: “Are you done shopping?”
Drowning: “We’re out of vinegar at home, can you grab a bottle on your way back? Get aromatic vinegar, not aged vinegar.”
Drowning: “? Where are you?”
Drowning: “Forget it. I’m heading out now. Wait there—I’ll meet you.”

Startled, Lu Nanyang quickly called him back.

The mall where he had bought the bedsheets was a fair distance from the restaurant—at least a ten-minute drive. Xie Quan had sent those messages twenty minutes ago… Had he been waiting at the mall for over ten minutes?

As soon as the call connected, Lu Nanyang heard a familiar ringtone ring out behind him. He turned around in surprise and saw Xie Quan standing not far away, looking toward him.

Lu Nanyang hung up and asked, stunned, “Why are you here?”

“On my way to the mall, I suddenly remembered I had a coupon for a milk tea shop near here, so I came by to use it,” Xie Quan said, showing him the two milk teas he was holding. His expression was calm. “Want one?”

…“On the way”?

This place was nowhere near the mall, and certainly not on the way. It would take at least half an hour on foot.

But Lu Nanyang couldn’t say a word. He didn’t even have the courage to call out Xie Quan’s lie. In the end, he just silently nodded and accepted the milk tea from his hand.

Xie Quan didn’t ask anything. He simply inserted a straw into his own cup, took a sip, then closed his eyes to savor the taste.

“When I was little, we didn’t have stuff like this,” he said.

“What?” Lu Nanyang didn’t catch on right away.

“When I was young—back when I still had a sense of taste—I never drank milk tea,” Xie Quan said. “Then when it became popular, I couldn’t taste anything anymore… This is the first time I’ve actually tasted what milk tea is like.”

Lu Nanyang was stunned, momentarily at a loss for words.

“It’s really pretty good,” Xie Quan smiled.

“If you like it, we can get it every day,” Lu Nanyang blurted out. “You can have whatever you want to eat or drink.”

Xie Quan laughed. “Are you trying to ruin my stomach? And where are you getting all that money from?”

The word money made Lu Nanyang’s heart flinch with sensitivity. Almost instinctively, he tried to clarify, “I didn’t mean it like that—not that you have to rely on me to pay for everything…”

“Shhh.” Xie Quan placed a hand over Lu Nanyang’s and interrupted him with a frown, his voice low.
“It doesn’t matter what you meant. I just wanted to share this happiness with you. Is that okay?”

Is that okay?

Lu Nanyang’s mind went a little blank. Xie Quan was suddenly so close—his gray eyes focused intently on him. Warm breath brushed his temple, distinct in the cooling autumn air. Before his brain could catch up, his body acted on its own and he nodded.

So Xie Quan took his hand, moved the milk tea away, leaned in, and kissed him.

Lu Nanyang’s mind short-circuited for a moment, and in that dazed state, his lips parted easily as Xie Quan’s tongue slipped inside, bringing with it a hint of milk tea’s sweet fragrance.

He couldn’t believe it—Xie Quan was actually standing outside a bustling shopping street, transferring a sip of milk tea to him through a kiss.

The sweetness danced on his tongue, spreading between their lips. Xie Quan’s tongue slid over the soft flesh inside his cheeks, even gently sucking on his tongue before reluctantly pulling away.

Lu Nanyang’s legs went weak from the unexpected intensity. He had to lean against the wall behind him to stay upright. His previously pale face was now completely flushed, his breathing fast and hot.

“In broad daylight… in a place like this, you…” He was at a loss for words, his expression a mix of embarrassment and disbelief.

“Well, it’s not like anyone doesn’t already know about us, right?” Xie Quan looked down at him, and because of their posture, his gaze carried a slight dominance. “So even if more people see us, it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

Lu Nanyang felt something deep inside him waver violently when he met Xie Quan’s eyes.

He grabbed Xie Quan’s collar and kissed him back.

The sweet milk tea flavor spread between their mouths. Lu Nanyang knew that, at this moment, Xie Quan was tasting the exact same sweetness he was.

Just as the kiss was growing more intense, Xie Quan used a bit of force to push Lu Nanyang away. The latter opened his tear-bright eyes slightly. “What’s wrong?”

“…Come on.” Xie Quan grabbed his wrist and headed toward the street.

“Hey, what are you doing all of a sudden?”

“Getting a cab. Going home,” Xie Quan said bluntly.
“Sex.”