PTBLSI chapter 2

 

The streetlights on the highway weren’t very bright, and they were far apart. This caused long shadows to be cast.

The man frowned almost imperceptibly. He shifted his gaze from Qi Xi’s face to the orange cat in his arms and suddenly spoke.

“Where is your home?”

His voice was low but clear, striking the eardrums directly.

Qi Xi stared at the man and froze. He had asked to be sent home earlier, but he didn’t actually want to go back. Besides, he didn’t know where to go either.

When he didn’t receive an answer, the man asked again, “Didn’t you want me to take you home?”

Qi Xi hesitated and started to panic. If the man left, he might not find someone else willing to help him all night. As he racked his brain for a place to go, he was also afraid the man would lose patience and leave him. Subconsciously, he reached out to grab the man.

As a result, he forgot for a moment that his hand was injured. When he lifted it, his palm hung off his wrist in a bizarre sight that instantly activated his pain nerves. His entire face scrunched up in pain.

“What happened to your hand?”

The man asked, noticing Qi Xi’s hand. Qi Xi suddenly felt overwhelmed with grief. “I fell when your car drove over me just now. I don’t have a home to go back to. Could you take me to a hotel instead?”

To the man, it sounded as if the injury were his responsibility. He fell silent for a moment, then spoke decisively.

“Get in the car.”

Before Qi Xi could react, the man looked at his suitcase. Without a word, he lifted it easily with one hand and casually handed the phone on top to Qi Xi.

Qi Xi took the phone. The man carried the suitcase straight to the trunk. The driver hurried to take it, but the man didn’t hand it over. The driver quickly opened the trunk instead.

After placing the suitcase inside, the man looked at Qi Xi again. “I’ll take you to the hospital first.”

The driver reminded him, “President Fu, it’s almost eight o’clock. The chairman is waiting for you to come home for dinner.”

“I said we’re going to the hospital.”

The man’s voice suddenly turned cold. Qi Xi felt frightened and instinctively shrank back, hugging the orange cat tighter.

The driver didn’t dare say anything more and silently stepped aside.

The man got into the car and looked at Qi Xi through the open door. “Get in.”

Qi Xi suddenly felt regretful, thinking that the man wasn’t taking him to the hospital but rather was going to traffic him somewhere to commit a scam.

However, the man’s words allowed for no argument. He cautiously moved toward the rear car door. Just as he lifted his foot to step inside, he met the man’s gaze again. Startled, he quickly pulled his foot back and rushed to the front passenger seat. He opened the door and slipped inside.

After fastening his seatbelt, Qi Xi still didn’t dare turn his head. He said, “President Fu, I’m scared to sit with you. Is it okay if I sit here?”

The man didn’t answer. Not daring to look, Qi Xi grabbed the orange cat’s head, stretched it toward the back seat, pulled it back, and used his eyes to ask the cat what it had seen.

The cat let out a meow.

They soon arrived at the nearest hospital. Qi Xi thought the man would leave after dropping him off. Instead, the man silently accompanied him to register.

While waiting in line, Qi Xi gathered his courage and asked curiously, “President Fu, aren’t you going home for dinner?”

The man lowered his gaze to him. “Your phone is broken. Do you have cash?”

Qi Xi instantly felt that, despite his stern and unsmiling appearance, the man was actually a good person. Sure enough, good-looking people were good people.

He smiled happily. “If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would’ve forgotten. I don’t have enough money to see a doctor. Could you lend me some money?”

The man didn’t reply, but when it was time to pay, he stepped forward, paid the fee, took the registration slip, glanced at it, and looked back at Qi Xi.

“Qi Xi. Today… is your birthday?”

Qi Xi looked back at him in surprise and nodded. “Yeah.”

The man was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, “Happy birthday.”

Qi Xi froze abruptly. The people around them came and went, but they were like an unreal background to him as he stared straight at the man.

Not having anyone remember his birthday didn’t make him sad. Being kicked out by his father on his birthday didn’t make him sad either. Being homeless because his uncle sold the house didn’t make him that sad, either.

But at that moment, a stranger’s sudden “Happy birthday” made his nose turn sour.

Qi Xi tried to smile at the man, but his smile looked ugly. In the end, he pursed his lips and said, “You’re the first person today to wish me a happy birthday. Thank you. I hope you’re happy, too.”

The man scrutinized him again, still saying nothing. The phone in his pocket rang. He took it out, glanced at it, and handed the registration slip to Qi Xi. “You go first. I’ll take a call.”

Qi Xi took the slip. The man had already walked away with his phone. Since they were in a hospital, the orange cat had to stay in the car, so Qi Xi had no choice but to stand in line alone.

There weren’t many people in the emergency room at night. His turn came quickly. He rushed into the consultation room as if he had seen a fellow townsman. His eyes brimming with tears, he handed his hand to the doctor.

“My hand is broken, doctor.”

He had endured the pain all this time. The doctor calmly examined his hand and said, “Relax. It’s not broken. It’s just dislocated.”

“Really?”

As Qi Xi asked this, the doctor picked up his hand and asked, “What did you eat tonight? How did it taste?”

“What I ate has—”

Before he could finish, the doctor grabbed his hand and twisted it sharply. He instantly stiffened like a doll. Only after the doctor said he was done did he move his eyes and see that his hand was back in place. He then let out a cry.

“Ah!”

“Take this.”

The doctor handed Qi Xi his medical slip. Qi Xi took it instinctively and asked, “And then?”

“You can go.”

Qi Xi carefully touched his dislocated wrist and asked uncertainly, “Is it really fine? Is it really just like this? No more treatment needed?”

“No.”

“Will it hurt again later? What if it falls out again?”

The doctor answered helplessly, “Your hand isn’t a toy; it won’t just fall out. Go, go.”

“Oh.” Qi Xi sensed the doctor’s disapproval, turned around, and left. At the door, he saw the man who had finished his phone call. When the man saw Qi Xi come out, he looked him over again with the same scrutinizing gaze as before.

Excitedly, Qi Xi ran over, held out his wrist in front of the man, and praised the doctor’s miraculous skill from start to finish.

After listening, the man’s face remained expressionless. He asked, “Do you need anything else?”

“The doctor said I can go.”

“Let’s go.”

“Don’t we need to get medicine?”

The man immediately turned around. Qi Xi thought the man had received an unpleasant phone call and hurried after him.

The car was parked on the side of the road outside the hospital. The driver was waiting inside. The man finally stopped beside the car, and Qi Xi, who had been chasing him the whole time, finally caught up.

The man asked him again, “Where do you want to go?”

Qi Xi stood in front of him and hesitated for a long while before answering, “The hotel, I guess. I don’t have a home to go back to.”

The man didn’t say much. He opened the car door and got in.

The orange cat that had been left in the car jumped out and pounced on Qi Xi. Qi Xi held the cat for two seconds by the rear door, then sat back inside.

The door closed. At the right moment, the driver in front asked, “President Fu, which hotel?”

The man looked at Qi Xi. When Qi Xi said he didn’t know, the man said, “Find one nearby.”

Having never stayed at a hotel by himself, Qi Xi didn’t know which places were easier to find, so he agreed with the man.

Holding the cat, he looked at the man and cautiously said, “About the money, I’ll pay you back once my phone is fixed.”

The man glanced at him. Qi Xi organized his thoughts and continued, “But my phone is broken, and I don’t have the money to fix it. Could you lend me money to repair it?”

The man looked him over again, this time with a more scrutinizing look, as if he were doubting him.

Qi Xi shrank back toward the car door in embarrassment. Suddenly, the man agreed.

“Thank you, President Fu. You’re really a good person!”

The driver drove the car to the nearest five-star hotel and stopped at the entrance.

The hotel doorman came over to open the door. Qi Xi looked out and was immediately startled. Although he had never stayed at a hotel by himself before, he knew there was a big price difference between hotels. He didn’t have enough money to stay one night at this place.

The moment the door opened, he pulled it shut and turned to the man beside him. “This won’t do. I don’t have enough money!”.

The driver maintained his professional demeanor, only glancing back secretly, not understanding what was going on.

If it were anyone else looking at Qi Xi, they might think he was lusting after a rich person at first sight. However, Fu Yanchuan was so strict with himself that he was like a machine—even more restrained than a monk.

But if there was no ulterior motive, they had already left earlier—why suddenly tell him to turn the car back?

Fu Yanchuan, the only son of the Fu family, overpowered his uncles and became group president at 23. In just five years, he became a formidable figure known throughout the business world. His time was usually calculated by the minute, so why would he accompany a stranger to the hospital and then look for a hotel?

Outside, the doorman felt someone pulling on the car door and stood there confused. Qi Xi quickly rolled down the window and apologized, “Sorry, I’m not staying here. I’m sorry for the trouble.”

After saying that, he rolled the window back up. The driver looked at his boss for instructions.

“Let’s go.”

The man instructed the driver first, then asked Qi Xi, “Where would you like to stay?”

“Somewhere cheap. I heard from my classmates that there are hotels for one hundred a night.”

The man asked the driver, uncertainly, “Are there any?”

The driver quickly replied, “There are, but—”

“Find one.”

After receiving the order, the driver drove off and circled around for a while before finally finding a decent, cheap hotel.

There was no doorman. Qi Xi got out of the car and went to the trunk to get his suitcase. After lifting for a long time, he still couldn’t get it out.

Suddenly, a much bigger hand reached over, took the suitcase, and lifted it down easily. He said gratefully, “Thank you, President Fu.”

The man didn’t speak again. After putting the suitcase on the ground, he glanced at Qi Xi. Qi Xi hurriedly pulled the suitcase back. Uncertain what the man was thinking, he tentatively dragged the suitcase toward the hotel entrance. After walking two steps, he immediately turned back. Seeing that the man was following him, he finally felt relieved.

If the man didn’t come, he wouldn’t be able to stay because he had no money.

The hotel front desk clerk was scrolling on her phone, half-asleep. When she suddenly saw the two people come in, her eyes lit up.

Qi Xi slapped his ID on the counter and asked, “How much are your rooms?”

“What kind of room would you like?”

“The cheapest.”

The front desk clerk sized up Qi Xi, then shifted her gaze to the man standing half a meter away from him. Neither of them looked like they would stay in such a cheap hotel.

She looked at Qi Xi strangely and said, “The cheapest room is one hundred fifty-eight yuan per day.”

“So expensive! Is there nothing cheaper?”

“This is already the cheapest.”

Qi Xi pushed the ID over. “Then…okay.”

“How many days would you like to stay?”

“One day. Please wait a moment.”

After answering, Qi Xi looked at the man again. Holding the cat, he asked awkwardly, “President Fu, could you lend me money to stay at the hotel again?”

The front desk clerk glanced at the man, growing even more curious as she looked at the two of them. Seeing that the man had no intention of speaking, she took the initiative to say, “We require a three hundred yuan deposit. The total is four hundred fifty-eight.”

Qi Xi was still looking at the man pitifully. He didn’t know what he would do if the man didn’t lend him money: sleep on the street or continue relying on others.

After two minutes of awkward silence, the driver hurried in, approached the man, and handed him a stack of cash.

The man passed it to Qi Xi. “Is it enough?”

“Huh?” Qi Xi was startled when he caught the money. This stack was worth at least ten or twenty thousand. He quickly shook his head. “That’s too much. I can’t pay it back.”

He immediately started calculating. “We spent forty-five at the hospital just now, the hotel is four hundred fifty-eight, that’s… four hundred ninety—no, four hundred ninety…”

“five hundred three.”

The man calculated it for him. Qi Xi immediately praised him. “President Fu, you’re amazing!”

Before the amazing President Fu could respond, Qi Xi had already turned back to continue calculating. “Excluding the three hundred deposit, that’s two hundred three. Then borrow another two hundred to fix my phone, that’s four hundred three. So, let’s borrow five hundred total.”

In the end, Qi Xi carefully counted out five hundred yuan, returned the rest to the man, and handed the five hundred yuan to the front desk to pay for the room.

The front desk clerk took it and gave him forty two yuan in change. He suddenly froze. “What about the money for my phone repair?”

The front desk almost laughed. She couldn’t stand how clueless he was, but looking at Qi Xi’s face, she decided it was forgivable. She kindly reminded him, “The deposit is only returned when you check out.”

“Oh, right! I forgot!”

Qi Xi finally realized it and turned to the man again. “President Fu, could you lend me another two hundred?”

The man stared at him silently. After a long time, he handed him two bills. Qi Xi let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “Thank you, President Fu. You’re a really good person!”

After thanking him, Qi Xi asked the front desk for paper and a pen. He wrote an IOU and respectfully handed it to the man. “President Fu, thank you for today. My phone number is written below. Could you also leave your number for me? I’ll pay you back once my phone is fixed.”

The man took the IOU. When he saw the bold, flowing handwriting, he was slightly surprised. Qi Xi didn’t seem very intelligent, yet his handwriting was quite good. However, he had written his title as “President Fu” using the incorrect character.

He frowned slightly and picked up the pen that was still on the counter. “Give me your hand.”

Qi Xi handed it over obediently, like an elementary school student. The man grabbed his hand and started writing on it. Qi Xi couldn’t help but laugh and tried to pull his hand back. “It tickles!”

The man didn’t let go. He held his hand firmly and wrote a phone number on his palm. Then he paused and added a name.

“Fu Yanchuan? Is that your name?”

Qi Xi touched the strong, forceful characters on his palm. Fu Yanchuan didn’t respond and turned to leave the hotel. Qi Xi hurried after him, waving at the entrance.

“Fu Yanchuan, goodbye!”

Fu Yanchuan got back into the car and casually tossed the remaining stack of bills aside. The moment the driver closed the door, he picked up the IOU that Qi Xi had written. After looking at it for a while, he crumpled it into a ball and was about to throw it in the trash.

But at that moment, his hand stiffened. He pulled it back and casually stuffed it into the pocket of his coat. Then, he took a chocolate candy out of the car’s storage box, unwrapped it, and put it in his mouth.

If the Fu family were placed in ancient times, they would be the kind of powerful household with strict family rules. In modern times, they were probably just feudal remnants that hadn’t been fully eradicated.

The car stopped in the courtyard of a Chinese-style villa. The butler was already waiting at the entrance and came over to open the car door as soon as he saw it arrive.

Fu Yanchuan glanced outside, paused for a moment, and then got out of the car.

Inside the main gate were antique-style carvings. Passing through them led to a simple yet particular entry hall, and further inside was the reception living room.

At that moment, the entire first floor was empty. Fu Yanchuan’s gaze swept past the living room toward the dining room on the other side. No one was eating anymore.

The butler who had opened the door earlier walked over and spoke softly, “Sir, the chairman is in the study.”

“Got it.”

Fu Yanchuan took off his coat and handed it to the butler. Then he went upstairs.

The room to the left at the top of the stairs was his father’s study. He walked to the door, which was slightly ajar. He pushed it open and went in.

The study was full of heavy, oppressive rosewood furniture. Leaning back in the chair behind the desk, the man nearing sixty still looked quite young as he flipped through today’s evening paper.

“Dad.”

Fu Yanchuan called out once. Fu Zhenrong didn’t respond, only finally lifting his eyes after finishing the paper. He swept his gaze over the clock in the room. “It’s already past ten o’clock. Where did you go?”

“There was a traffic accident on the road. The traffic jam delayed me.”

“What kind of accident takes that long to clear?”

Fu Zhenrong could tell that Fu Yanchuan was lying. He lit a cigar, stood up, and walked in front of Fu Yanchuan. “Yanchuan, I taught you that if you’re going to lie, you should do so without leaving flaws.”

Fu Yanchuan lowered his eyes and didn’t reply. Fu Zhenrong patted his shoulder as if he didn’t mind, but his gaze darkened as he continued, “Your Uncle He and his daughter waited for you a long time today. What you did embarrassed him. How are we supposed to cooperate in the future?”

“I don’t need a blind date.”

Fu Zhenrong suddenly laughed. “Who told you it was a blind date? Miss He’s family background and education are similar to yours. She’s a good candidate to be your wife. You should meet first, get engaged after the New Year, and get married when you’re thirty. The second year, you can have your first child.”

Fu Yanchuan suddenly clenched his fists. “I don’t plan to get married.”

Fu Zhenrong calmly stubbed out his cigar and stared at his son, his face darkening. “You don’t plan to get married? Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about Qiao Ye!”

Fu Yanchuan took a deep breath. Fu Zhenrong sneered indifferently. “I shouldn’t have agreed to let you go abroad for two years. You picked up all kinds of bad habits from him. Forget that he’s a man—even if he were a woman, you two would still never work out!”

“I know. He doesn’t think much of me either.”

“What gives him the right?”

Compared to Fu Yanchuan’s defiance, Fu Zhenrong was even angrier that someone would look down on his son. He slapped the desk. After a moment, he calmed down and said in a normal tone, “Go eat first. Another day, I’ll have Uncle He bring Xiao Jie over.”

Fu Yanchuan glanced at Fu Zhenrong and silently turned to leave.

Downstairs, the dishes on the dining table had been laid out again. When he came downstairs, the butler served him rice. As he sat down, the butler quietly tried to persuade him. “Sir, Miss He is your elementary school classmate. Back then, you liked playing with her.”

“Is that so?”

There was no emotion in Fu Yanchuan’s tone, but the butler still shuddered instinctively. Despite having served the Fu family for over thirty years, he still instinctively feared this father and son.

Seeing that Fu Yanchuan was acting as if nothing had happened and picking up his chopsticks to eat, the butler thought it over for a long time before saying, “What the chairman chooses for you is always the best. You won’t lose out. Why insist on going against him?”

Fu Yanchuan didn’t answer. In his 28 years, he had almost never defied Fu Zhenrong. Almost—because when he was 18, he strongly persuaded Fu Zhenrong to let him and Qiao Ye go abroad as exchange students.

The butler didn’t dare say anything more. Seeing that Fu Yanchuan had only eaten a few bites before going upstairs, he silently sighed. As the saying goes, every family has its difficulties—no matter how wealthy, families still have conflicts.

The main building of the villa had three floors. The second floor was Fu Zhenrong’s domain. Fu Yanchuan’s room was on the third floor. His study and gym took up half of the entire floor.

His bedroom faced south and overlooked the garden. Fu Yanchuan walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked through the glass at the rippling reflections outside. The face of a rebellious, flamboyant young man appeared in his mind, six or seven parts similar to Qi Xi.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. He dismissed the image and said, “Come in.”

The butler stepped lightly into the room and handed him a crumpled piece of paper. “Sir, this was found in your clothes. I don’t know if it’s important.”

Fu Yanchuan immediately remembered Qi Xi’s appearance. Years ago, when he met Qiao Ye, Qiao Ye had held his hand and written his name and phone number in his palm.

He seemed to still feel Qi Xi’s touch in his palm. Unfolding the wrinkled IOU, he saw Qi Xi’s phone number and abruptly asked, “Uncle Quan, is two hundred enough to fix a phone?”

 

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