The real young master thought he was hated by everyone - Chapter 100

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“Hm.”

Xie Duzhi still wore that expression, pressing his lips together and nodding slightly.

Li Heng didn’t continue reading the next part of Luo Zhi’s message, but simply stared at him in silence.

It wasn’t until Xie Duzhi slightly turned his head, uncomfortably avoiding his gaze, that Li Heng quietly gave a “yes” sign in his mind and pretended he hadn’t seen anything.

“Why don’t you ask me why Luo Zhi suddenly wants to take me out for a meal?”

Li Heng, pretending to be casual, stretched out his hand to scratch the cat’s chin, “Mom used to joke about having me marry him. Duzhi, you’re not even going to be cautious about this?”

As he said this, the young man sneaked a glance at him, his eyes gleaming with a hint of mischief and pride.

Xie Duzhi sighed.

He hadn’t felt guilty, but when Li Heng looked at him like that, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. The warmth in his ears increased.

It hadn’t been like this before.

He couldn’t help but think that the responsibility probably lay with Gu Mingyue, far away in the capital, and with the romance tips that Li Heng somehow managed to learn from somewhere.

He didn’t think there was anything wrong with the current Li Heng. On the contrary, the boy seemed even more adorable than before.

He was well-behaved and sensible in front of everyone, but with Xie Duzhi, he would unconsciously show a sort of closeness that lacked boundaries.

No one could resist being treated as special, and of course, Xie Duzhi was no exception.

He felt like he had no resistance against this special treatment.

He thought he might need time to adapt or perhaps prepare himself mentally. Next time, when faced with something similar, he should try to handle it better.

“But you don’t like him.”

Feeling troubled, the young man seriously explained, “I do care. I also think I shouldn’t interfere with this invitation, to avoid making you feel constrained.”

Xie Duzhi still couldn’t precisely define the difference between liking and loving, and he couldn’t quite put this feeling into words. But that didn’t stop him from thinking that love should be free and not bring any pressure.

Li Heng had already organized his words, intending to tease him a little more.

But then, he suddenly forgot what he had planned to say, as if caught off guard.

He felt like Xie Duzhi was always somewhere between not knowing how to speak and making surprising, meaningful statements. He couldn’t help but feel awkward, but at the same time, there was a sense of guilt.

“I really don’t have any feelings for Luo Zhi beyond that of a playmate. I said that just… just to tease you a little,” Li Heng finally admitted.

As a result, Xie Duzhi’s serious explanation made Li Heng feel embarrassed and a bit guilty.

He hesitated before speaking, “… And I know you wouldn’t actually mind me going just because it’s his invitation. I know that.”

Xie Duzhi’s feelings for him were respectful and trusting.

“Can I be curious now?”

Xie Duzhi thought for a moment before asking, “Why did he invite you?”

“…”

Li Heng was briefly confused.

He felt that Xie Duzhi was deliberately asking this, and instinctively excused him, thinking there was no way Xie Duzhi would be scheming.

He must have simply felt that now was the right time to ask.

“He didn’t say. He just asked if I’m free. Maybe he wants to bring it up after we meet?” Li Heng said, holding his phone up to show Xie Duzhi. “I actually haven’t decided whether or not to accept his invitation.”

He noticed a fleeting smile in Xie Duzhi’s eyes and then realized that he had indeed been deliberate in his questioning.

He had even tilted his head slightly while asking.

Li Heng suddenly felt as though he had been unknowingly outmaneuvered, though he wasn’t entirely sure.

He decided to test the waters again.

“Duzhi, would you like to come with me?”

Li Heng blinked. “If you want to go with me, I’ll ask Luo Zhi if I can bring my boyfriend along.”

Xie Duzhi reacted quickly this time.

He didn’t say, “He might change the topic he planned to bring up,” or use the excuse that “Luo Zhi probably wanted to talk to you alone” to avoid the question.

Instead, he blinked and, taking a step back to move forward, asked, “Do you want me to come?”

“You’ve become sly!” Li Heng’s eyes widened in disbelief. “How did you learn so fast?”

Xie Duzhi shook his head, intentionally ignoring the latter part of his question.

“I haven’t become sly,” he denied.

He had always been sly, but never thought he could respond like this before.

Li Heng didn’t believe him. “Then I’ll go meet Luo Zhi alone tomorrow?”

“Okay.”

Xie Duzhi had no objections. “I’ll wait for you in the car.”

Li Heng became even more certain that Xie Duzhi had become sly.

He really liked Xie Duzhi.

After confirming the time and place with Luo Zhi, he forwarded the location to Xie Duzhi, suddenly remembering that he had forgotten something important.

“We need to raise a giant wheel.”

The boy’s face was serious.

“How big?” Xie Duzhi thought for a moment. “The one we rode on in the Mediterranean, would that work?”

“… Hm?”

Li Heng was just as confused, not understanding why Xie Duzhi suddenly mentioned the luxury cruise in the Mediterranean.

“I’m talking about the Friendship Giant Wheel.”

He clicked into his chat window with Gu Mingyue and showed Xie Duzhi the icon next to the name in the contacts, “… I’m not asking you to buy it for me.”

“Could be bought.” Xie Duzhi was still thinking about the cruise ship. “That way, it’ll be more convenient to go on sea trips. We could vacation on the sea.”

“Well, we can talk about it when the holidays come.”

Li Heng was swayed by the word “vacation,” and he wanted to go on vacation with him. “Let’s talk about the Friendship Giant Wheel first.”

Xie Duzhi wasn’t unfamiliar with the icon, so he also pulled out his phone and opened the chat app. “I have this one.”

He and Li Heng had a lot of sparks, and so did this giant wheel. But Li Heng only had sparks with him, and his giant wheel was with Gu Mingyue.

“You’re making me feel really embarrassed.” Li Heng pouted.

He also noticed that apart from him, Xie Duzhi barely had any recent chat windows. Scrolling down, it was all from months ago, or even years ago.

He thought that Xie Duzhi didn’t even need to specifically pin him to the top.

“Starting today, I’m going to move my giant wheel with Mingyue to you.”

Li Heng solemnly promised, and then moved Gu Mingyue’s pinned chat further down. “In a month, we’ll both have giant wheels!”

Xie Duzhi smiled and said a simple, “Okay.”

“How about we open a couple’s space?” Li Heng counted on his fingers. “And that couple’s diamond service… no, that won’t work yet, we’ll have to wait a bit.”

They hadn’t come out yet, so raising the giant wheel was fine, but if they opened a couple’s space or got the yellow diamond, Xie Sizhi would definitely notice while surfing the internet at night.

But for some reason, he really wanted to do something with no real purpose, and enjoy it. “It should be fine to change to a more subtle profile picture first.”

What profile picture should he change to?

His original profile picture was of a little hamster.

“Hold the little hamster.” After a moment of thought, he came up with a way that was sufficiently open and low-key.

Li Heng changed his profile picture to one of Xie Duzhi holding the little hamster and subtly included the cufflinks he had given him in the frame.

He was very satisfied with the result and tapped Xie Duzhi using the chat app’s “poke” feature.

Xie Duzhi, sitting right in front of him, seemed puzzled.

“Don’t mind me.”

Li Heng continued poking, occasionally sending a few emojis. “I sent so many messages to Mingyue this morning, I need to catch up with you.”

Apart from that, he thought the “poke” feature was also fun.

It felt like he was actually poking him.

Then, he saw Xie Duzhi poke him back. His profile picture refreshed, changing from a plain-colored image to a photo of him riding a horse and smiling at the camera.

Li Heng had no memory of this photo.

“I happened to be replying to messages when I looked up and saw you riding the horse,” Xie Duzhi explained.

After hearing this, Li Heng suddenly recalled, “Was it with that home retailer?”

During the summer when they were in Sweden, Xie Duzhi had indeed purchased some shares and invested in a few industries. Xie Sizhi had been rather surprised by it for a while — it felt like the contracts had fallen from the sky, as if Xie Duzhi wasn’t even working.

“Yes, it was with them.”

Xie Duzhi hesitated, and then, by some odd chance, revealed a fact to Li Heng. “They weren’t the business partners I mentioned before. The business partners were just an excuse.”

At least, that’s how it had been at the beginning.

“I didn’t trust the second one. I needed to go to Northern Europe with you.”

Li Heng was a little surprised.

Back then, he had thought it was really about business talks.

“So Mom says you and Dad looked very much alike when you were young, it’s not without reason.”

He mumbled, remembering how Mr. Xie had lied about signing up for a tutoring class just to travel conveniently.

If he remembered correctly, Mr. Xie had actually enrolled in a tutoring class after all, just to avoid arousing Mrs. Xie’s suspicions. He had even mentioned how effective the class was.

However, Mrs. Xie had never really paid attention to their shared journey. For a long time, she had assumed they were heading in roughly the same direction.

After reflecting on this, Li Heng suddenly realized, “…Did you already like me back then?”

“Even earlier.” Xie Duzhi said, narrowing down the time. “When you came to me at night and used rhinos and hornbills as metaphors.”

He wouldn’t have mentioned it if he hadn’t, but once he did, he felt an embarrassing sensation that made him curl his toes.

“You were really a little… awkward back then.”

Li Heng couldn’t help but speak, instinctively wanting to push the blame away. “Clearly, that metaphor could have been understood with some thought, but you had to point out that rhinos and hornbills have a symbiotic relationship.”

“…But.”

“No buts.” Li Heng interrupted him, growing more confident. “You need to admit your mistake.”

Xie Duzhi nodded reluctantly.

He had originally planned to explain that he hadn’t meant to do it, then apologize.

Li Heng was satisfied and began analyzing himself. “…I might have already liked you back then, but that kind of liking wasn’t very strong, not enough to become something different.”

At that time, he probably just had a subconscious favoritism for him.

“…Ah, I should have messaged you earlier.”

Li Heng slapped his forehead, realizing he had forgotten to count how many times he had poked Xie Duzhi.

He scrolled up the screen, estimating there were at least dozens of pokes, which made him feel a little more at ease.

He hadn’t chatted much with Gu Mingyue about all sorts of weird topics today, so the messages he had sent weren’t many.

Dozens of pokes, and then they would chat a little before bed. That would surely be more than the messages he had sent to Gu Mingyue today.

Li Heng was serious about raising the giant wheel between the two of them.

He picked up the cat, turned the phone’s camera, found a nice angle, and sent the photo to Xie Duzhi.

“Let’s change the profile picture first. The one before was too obvious.”

Xie Duzhi saved it and re-uploaded the profile picture, only then noticing that because of the way they were holding the cat, the little hamster icons in their pictures seemed to fit together, forming a chubby, imperfect little heart.

“Isn’t it very straightforward, but also especially subtle?” Li Heng stretched lazily, then lay down, looking up at him, waiting for a compliment.

“We should reward the little hamster with an extra can of food.” Xie Duzhi said.

“… Wasn’t the photo taken by me?” Li Heng was confused, then quickly realized that he might have been tricked again.

Xie Duzhi was clearly doing this on purpose.

“Even if you reward the little hamster with canned food, he won’t like you.”

Li Heng simply turned around, lying with the back of his head to Xie Duzhi, trying to make him realize that he was upset. “… The little hamster only likes me. No matter how many treats you give him, he will only like me.”

Although Xie Duzhi’s relationship with the cat had improved a lot, it was still only relative.

Li Heng was confident the little hamster wouldn’t be swayed by sweet gestures and become a little traitor.

Xie Duzhi silently swallowed the words, “But you like me, so the cat’s opinion doesn’t matter,” and instinctively decided he should act a little “weaker” now.

But unable to think of a better response, he figured that apologizing directly might not seem sincere, as if he hadn’t truly realized his mistake.

Li Heng, however, regretted turning around as soon as he did. He realized he had acted too immaturely.

He had never been like this when interacting with Xie Duzhi before—he was always obedient and steady.

Although Xie Duzhi didn’t think he was throwing a tantrum, he suddenly felt embarrassed once he realized it himself, and instinctively wanted to find a way out.

Maybe he should just tell Xie Duzhi, “Forget it, since the little hamster’s dad likes you, I won’t hold it against you?”

But why should he say it?

Thinking about it, Li Heng felt something was off.

The photo was taken by him, Xie Duzhi deliberately didn’t compliment him but instead praised the little hamster, which made him a bit upset. That was Xie Duzhi’s problem.

Why should he have to find a way out because of his problem?

If he did that, wouldn’t it make him seem too easy to push around? The next time something similar happened, wouldn’t Xie Duzhi just tease him even more?

Although his anger wasn’t really anger, if he kept being teased by Xie Duzhi and couldn’t tease him back, he would still feel frustrated.

He decided not to give a way out.

Not only would he not give Xie Duzhi a way out, but he would also climb up the ladder, making him realize the seriousness of the situation.

“Xie Duzhi, I need to formally notify you that you’re still in your probation period, and whether or not you get promoted doesn’t depend on the little hamster, but on me, the little hamster’s dad.”

“Trying to please him won’t work.” Li Heng spoke seriously, using the fact that Xie Duzhi couldn’t see his face to squeeze the little rolls of fat on the Siamese cat’s cheeks.

The cat meowed in confusion, instinctively trying to struggle, but was held even tighter by its owner.

“Considering that your attempt to please the little hamster is underhanded and will create a bad influence in this house, I have decided—”

— To ignore you for the next three days and only talk to you through text messages on the chat app?

That was too childish.

— Ignore you for three days.

What would happen to their giant wheel? The spark would be extinguished.

Also, he couldn’t even imagine ignoring Xie Duzhi for three days.

Li Heng was stuck at the final punishment measure, feeling a little uncomfortable.

He realized he couldn’t come up with anything that could truly be considered a “punishment,” except for ignoring Xie Duzhi.

However, ignoring Xie Duzhi wouldn’t just punish him, it would also torment Li Heng himself.

After struggling for a moment, he decided to make things more dramatic, giving Xie Duzhi a “major punishment” and extending his probation period by two months, as a way to have some deterrent effect.

Of course, the so-called probation period was completely based on his mood, and he didn’t actually want to have Xie Duzhi as a “probation boyfriend” for several months.

If the probation lasted months, when would they even get past holding hands and hugging, to more intimate kisses, and… ah.

Before he could announce his punishment for Xie Duzhi, he saw their chat window flooding with messages, one after another.

Most of them were just the expression stickers he had sent earlier, without much meaning besides cuteness—like a cat doing a heart gesture or a panda sending flowers.

There was even a big panda with a “QAQ.”

It seemed like Xie Duzhi had saved every sticker Li Heng had sent.

Just as Li Heng was about to type a reply, telling him that even cuteness wouldn’t work, the soft flesh at the back of his waist was gently poked.

Then, the same spot was poked again, this time more lightly.

“Xie Duzhi lightly poked you and said ‘sorry’ to you.”

He heard Xie Duzhi say this in a soft yet serious tone, as he started reading the text from the stickers aloud.

Li Heng covered his ears, feeling embarrassed and a little awkward.

He didn’t want to admit he had been won over, but he really did forget that he was upset earlier.

“… Where did you learn that from?”

After a moment, he poked him back, speaking quietly, “Come clean, and I’ll forgive you and revoke your punishment.”

“I follow some emotional treehole accounts, and I saw a post about how to make up after an argument.”

Xie Duzhi answered truthfully.