The real young master thought he was hated by everyone - Chapter 103

Xie Sizhi casually tossed the paintbrush aside and rubbed his brow, still feeling uneasy.

Even when his inspiration was completely drained, he had never felt like this before—not for an entire week. Despite already having a draft and knowing exactly how to proceed, he couldn’t even bring himself to pick up the pen.

The draft depicted Li Heng, with inspiration coming from the months they spent together in Europe—his younger brother walking out every day with little Alexander, which gave him an unusually subtle sense of cuteness.

His younger brother was obedient, occasionally playful, and little Alexander was a gentle and friendly pony.

Then there were those two shepherd dogs, who weren’t exactly the sweetest.

In any case, when Xie Sizhi thought about this scene and began sketching it, he felt an unexplainable joy, an urgent desire to finish it in one night.

He had originally planned to finish the painting as a Christmas gift—if that didn’t work, then New Year’s—but it would be a gift nonetheless.

Despite paying less attention to Li Heng recently due to his own issues, and not being as focused on academics as his older brother or third brother, he still thought about him.

Once winter break came, he would definitely take his younger brother out and let him experience all sorts of fun things.

He didn’t know how he had ended up in this state where he couldn’t even paint properly. Frowning, he stared out the window for a while, letting out a sigh.

It wasn’t just painting; his sleep quality had also been poor these days. Whenever he closed his eyes, nightmares followed. If this continued, he’d probably need to see a doctor for sleeping pills.

But taking sleeping pills was something for later. For now, he decided to go out for a drink.

He fumbled through a pile of paint and crumpled paper to find his phone, plugged it in to charge, and once it powered up, he expertly ignored all the missed calls and private messages, clearing out the unread ones with a single tap. Then, he yawned and began scrolling through the messages.

That’s when he noticed that Xie Duzhi had changed his profile picture. If it weren’t for the note in his contact info, he might have confused him with his younger brother. He clicked into the Moments feed.

What was there to see on his Moments?

Thinking about it, he remembered that over a week ago, Xie Duzhi had pointed at him and called him a fool, and he promptly kicked him out of his message list.

After all, Xie Duzhi hadn’t replied to the question he asked last time.

He couldn’t believe Xie Duzhi didn’t want to put Bai Ruan behind bars already. After all, the Bai family had him locked up, and the Bai family was on the brink of collapse. It still irked him.

Tch, that third brother liked to put on airs.

He couldn’t help but curse under his breath, then tapped into his friends’ group chat.

The chat was in full swing.

Since the group was created, Xie Sizhi had led the way, and everyone had brought their own friends in. The group had never had a quiet moment; there was always something going on.

Even at 3 AM, someone was asking if anyone wanted to go out for barbecue.

He scrolled up through the messages and saw a few familiar faces discussing which bar to hit tonight. There were also some weak suggestions for a car race, but they were drowned out by the names of various bars and clubs.

Xie Duzhi responded to a few messages he liked with a “+1,” ignoring the overly eager greetings from some people, and simply set the time.

Someone offered to treat, and the messages in the group became even more lively. Many people who had planned to stay home and relax now chimed in, saying they wouldn’t stop until they were drunk, and whoever bailed halfway through would have to act like the group’s puppy.

The messages came in too quickly, so Xie Sizhi didn’t bother reading them all. He shut his phone, squinted his eyes, and lazily soaked up some sunlight, realizing his mind was too restless to calm down. He grabbed his car keys and decided to head out.

On a typical day, for such casual gatherings, he would either drive his favorite sports car or the latest model he had just bought. He would never have been so indifferent as he was now.

He realized his emotions weren’t quite right.

He attributed this to the frequent nightmares he’d been having recently—dreams about a conversation with his father when he decided to pursue painting, dreams where he didn’t get the support he wanted.

Oh, and there was the dream about his first time being recommended to participate in a prestigious international competition, only to fail miserably, not even passing the preliminary round, with a certain unimpressive judge labeling him as someone who “probably doesn’t understand our art because he’s Asian.”

Even though this wasn’t reality, just thinking about it, even if it was a dream, made him feel inexplicably frustrated. The thought of being suppressed, even when he was clearly talented, and the fact that he couldn’t hold his head high in front of his family.

His frustration only deepened.

Especially when he thought about how he had already surpassed that judge in fame, and that person wasn’t even qualified to shine his shoes anymore.

What a messed-up dream.

It made him unable to paint, unable to sleep, and even unable to enjoy the simple pleasure of going out for drinks.

He stopped the car, thinking about how he had almost rear-ended someone because he was driving too fast. He had barely managed to accumulate some points back on his license, only to almost lose them again. His irritation only grew.

The second young master of the Xie family, with a face full of frustration, walked into the bar. After only a few steps, he heard several loud whistles.

“It’s clear, Brother Xie didn’t catch up.”

A friend sitting next to Xu Zhiyuan, who also had a good relationship with him, joked.

Xie Sizhi shot a sharp glance at him, and the friend immediately shut up.

But soon, others began to chime in.

“Maybe not. It could be something else. Maybe our brother’s precious little brother is going through a rebellious phase, and he’s working hard as a father figure.”

Of course, they had to bring up his brother. Thinking about all the signs that showed his brother was definitely in love, Xie Sizhi’s mood became even more complex.

He narrowed his eyes and quickly spotted the person who had dared to speak up in the corner. He muttered the person’s name under his breath.

“Zhang Wenqi? You’re paying your own bill later.”

“Come on, Brother Xie, I was just joking,” the baby-faced Zhang Wenqi immediately raised his hands, “I just thought you might feel better if I mentioned our little brother, since I can tell you’re in a bad mood.”

His parents had just split up recently, and the mistress had brought her illegitimate child to the house. A few days ago, Zhang Wenqi had been scolded by his father for picking a fight with the mistress, and his father had even frozen his card—he couldn’t even access the small savings he’d earned.

“Who’s ‘our little brother’? He’s my brother,” Xie Sizhi shot him a look, knowing that Zhang Wenqi had been having a rough time lately, so he didn’t hold a grudge.

He casually picked a seat and raised an eyebrow. “If you want to find my brother, go ask your own parents, got it?”

“Got it, got it—” Xu Zhiyuan rolled his eyes, raised his glass from across several tables, and clinked it with Xie Sizhi’s. “So, why didn’t you bring your little brother out tonight?”

“He took too many days off before, so he didn’t come home this week. He’s at the library catching up on homework and notes, and finals are coming up.”

Xie Sizhi said it all casually, “No choice, my little brother is the studious type, and he’s well-behaved.”

Before he finished speaking, a chorus of “tsk” and “shush” sounded around him.

He was quite pleased with the effect. A lot of the frustration that had been weighing on him in recent days seemed to dissipate.

He ordered a bottle of liquor from the bartender, slowly filled his glass, and swirled it a few times. “What, did I say something wrong?”

“You’ve all seen him before,” he added with a smirk.

Xu Zhiyuan, who usually had a good temper, couldn’t help but “tsk” as well.

Their group wasn’t short of beautiful or supposedly smart kids, but there was a real shortage of those who were obedient, earnest, and well-behaved.

Moreover, his well-behaved little brother was also quite handsome.

“Are you here to drink with us, or are you here to show off your brother?” Xu Zhiyuan said with a touch of bitterness. “You talk about him, but you won’t even bring him out to play. Isn’t that a bit lacking in brotherly loyalty?”

A few people in the group had never even seen Xie Sizhi’s precious younger brother, so they were growing tired of hearing about how obedient, well-behaved, and cute he was.

Naturally, when one person brought it up, others chimed in, asking him to bring his brother out to play.

“It’s only this late, even the best students need to relax, right?”

The person speaking was the one who had skipped classes every day in college, got on the dormitory’s blacklist for sneaking back in after hours, and once even climbed over the wall to sneak in.

“If you bring him over, we can have some fun, right? It’s a weekend anyway.”

If the dorm supervisor checks, he could just say he went home for the weekend. So convenient.

“What fun? Drinking or playing cards? — You don’t plan on teaching him how to smoke, do you?”

Someone deliberately disagreed.

“Then let’s go to a karaoke or something, or take him to see a boxing match… There’s some auction tonight too, just call it a welcome gift for your little brother.”

“My little brother.” Xie Sizhi emphasized for what felt like the hundredth time.

“…Alright, a welcome gift for your little brother, fine?” The person looked at him as if he couldn’t bear to look at him.

Back when he had held a small concert, he happened to be away, so he missed it.

He had only seen photos of the younger brother on his phone, and was curious about him.

“…Wait, Old Su, I just remembered something.”

Xie Sizhi finished his drink, feeling a bit lethargic, so he took a swig straight from the bottle. “Does your family know anyone in G Province?”

“What’s this, trying to pin the ‘official-business collusion’ label on me?” Su Xingchi raised an eyebrow when he noticed Xie Sizhi was drinking vodka, a little speechless.

He did have an uncle who worked in the provincial capital of G Province.

Seeing how it was, Xie Sizhi still wouldn’t admit he was heartbroken, huh? — He hadn’t told anyone about the nightmares he’d been having lately.

Mostly because he felt embarrassed.

“No, I’m planning to ask you for help later, get someone in.”

He took another gulp of alcohol. “I’m mainly worried that if the evidence isn’t solid enough, someone might try to use a mental illness defense and get off scot-free.”

“Who?” Su Xingchi asked, surprised.

“My aunt’s son,” Xie Sizhi replied indifferently. “If you have connections, I won’t look for anyone else. I’d rather keep it in the family.”

Su Xingchi had heard about the conflict between their two families.

He didn’t press any further but shrugged and agreed. “I’ll give my uncle a heads-up… When are you free?”

After waiting for a while, he didn’t hear Xie Sizhi respond.

“…No way, you’ve already passed out?”

“I told you, he’s heartbroken.”

Amidst the laughter, Zhang Wenqi mumbled, “Shall we keep drinking?”

Xie Sizhi was drunk but not asleep. He continued to drink, just not paying attention to anyone else’s comments.

“This teaches us not to fall in love or be love-struck,” someone joked with a sigh, and then added, “Drinking alone is boring, how about another bet? What time do you think Brother Xie will wake up tomorrow?”

The betting topic ignited the atmosphere once again, with various opinions, and some even guessed as far as the day after tomorrow.

Xie Sizhi, in the midst of this lively atmosphere, drank until he was drowsy and fell into a deep sleep.

This dream was even longer and more elaborate than all the others combined.

He dreamed that his parents had adopted Bai Ruan.