The real young master thought he was hated by everyone - Chapter 115

Epilogue.

Li Heng was absent-minded while making dumplings for himself and adding water.

It was very dark outside, and he could hardly see the city lights, but he could imagine the lively atmosphere.

The Xie family’s reunion dinner was held early, more like lunch, and after it, the rest of the family packed up and left for Europe to spend the New Year with the elderly.

He was home alone during this period, and if he behaved well, he might get to join the family when they returned for a visit to the Bai family.

However, he still couldn’t understand.

The vase was broken because Xie Duzhi had nudged him, not because he argued with Bai Ruan. He hadn’t lied, so why, no matter how much he explained, did no one believe him?

He wandered for a while and, when he came to his senses, he realized the water had boiled again.

Since the dumplings had been cooked for too long, the filling of a few had separated from the skin.

He quickly turned off the heat and scrambled to serve the dumplings, then added some soup to the bowl and returned to the table.

The TV was showing the Spring Festival Gala, just in time for a skit about family joy.

For some reason, even though he already had a family, while eating dumplings, he was thinking about the director aunt and the other younger siblings at the orphanage.

The orphanage must be very lively right now, with fireworks constantly bursting outside, and everyone gathered in one room with several tables full of steaming stew.

What kind of New Year is it when you’re alone?

He dozed off while staying up late, and when he woke up, his head was foggy and his nose slightly blocked, likely from catching a cold.

The house was empty, and he hadn’t turned on the central air conditioning yesterday.

He had more dumplings for lunch. He made a lot yesterday, enough to last several days.

There were also many other ingredients in the fridge, some of which he didn’t know how to handle, and others he didn’t dare touch without knowing how.

… He needed to behave well during these days at home; after all, his parents would be back soon, and there might be guests to entertain.

He wished he could visit the Bai family for the New Year, but he didn’t want to be left alone.

He hadn’t minded being alone before.

He felt like giving the director a call, but she would ask him how his New Year had been, how his relatives were.

He didn’t want to lie to her, but if he told the truth, she would worry about him and blame his parents for neglecting him.

He felt more responsible for not doing well than for their neglect.

He actually regretted not apologizing earlier and instead stubbornly claiming that the vase had broken because of Xie Duzhi.

If he had been more clever, maybe he wouldn’t have been left behind at the villa.

He didn’t know how many more days it would be before his parents returned. He wanted to send a message, but he was afraid it would disturb them and be seen as suspicious.

… What if Xie Duzhi had said something about him?

He already didn’t have a good reputation with others.

After lunch, Li Heng turned on the TV to replay last night’s gala, picking up where he had left off. He had fallen asleep during the latter part yesterday and hadn’t finished watching some segments.

He didn’t know what else to do besides watching TV.

The study was off-limits to him, and he felt like he had lost the ambitious spirit he had at the beginning of the year to start a new life. He couldn’t muster much enthusiasm for studying either.

He felt too stupid.

As for live streaming, the reason was pretty much the same.

Since the last time when Xie Duzhi wanted to play games with him, viewers in his stream kept asking about the “brother” from before, when they would play together again. It was hard to pretend not to see those comments, and sometimes they even affected his gameplay.

Whether or not he liked Xie Duzhi didn’t really matter. He had to admit, he was really envious of him.

— If only they could share just a little of their love with me. I wouldn’t be as greedy as Xie Duzhi. I just want a tiny bit.

While watching a musical, he thought this and figured that after the new year, he might need to extend his streaming hours.

He had become more distracted when not working, and kept thinking about the past.

His life should be better now, compared to before. He didn’t need to count every penny, never lacked new clothes, and had a bigger room than his previous rental.

He had also experienced many things he couldn’t have imagined before.

From every angle, he should be satisfied.

He sent a New Year’s greeting to the super moderator and asked about last month’s attendance. He grabbed a few red envelopes in the streamer group, but suddenly didn’t know what to do next.

The gala replay was still playing, but he had already seen that skit yesterday and wasn’t particularly interested.

Dinner was still a long way off. He was thinking about going to the city center or the nearby tourist spots, as it would be livelier there during the New Year. He had bought some local specialties last year, and this year he could buy some more to send back.

But he couldn’t get a ride.

It was too far, and even offering extra pay didn’t get any response from the drivers.

He gave up, set an alarm, and planned to take a short nap before going upstairs to stream again.

There were still several new games he hadn’t opened, let alone the strategies he promised to his viewers. He should be more diligent.

This time, he remembered to get himself a thin blanket and set the central air conditioning to turn off at a specific time.

When he woke up groggily, it was already dark outside.

It got dark earlier in winter, and he fumbled around until he found his phone behind the cushion.

It was just past six o’clock, so he hadn’t missed his streaming time.

He got up from the couch, planning to go upstairs directly.

He didn’t plan on having dinner, preferring to eat some snacks later, and he intended to ask his viewers for some good movie recommendations during the stream.

As he was heading upstairs, he suddenly heard a rapid knocking on the door.

It was a bit strange.

The security guard was off-duty, so it couldn’t be him. Maybe it was a neighbor, but their neighbors lived far away, and Li Heng had hardly seen them.

Even if a neighbor needed his help, he probably couldn’t do much.

Thinking this, he opened the door.

Before he could speak, when he saw who was standing outside, he froze.

It had started snowing outside, and it was so dark that he hadn’t noticed.

Mrs. Xie, who should have been in Europe, was standing in front of him, with snowflakes still sticking to her hair.

Maybe because of the position of the snowflakes, she seemed a little more worn than the day before.

Before he could say anything, she hugged him tightly.

This was the first time she had hugged him like this since he had been recognized and brought home.

Maybe when he was very young, she had hugged him like this too?

But why was she hugging him and crying?

“… Duzhi!” Li Heng opened his eyes, “I think I just had a dream!”

He belatedly realized he was still resting on Xie Duzhi’s arm and felt a bit embarrassed.

They had stayed up late together yesterday and ended up sleeping on the same bed—after all, it wasn’t their first time.

“What?” Xie Duzhi half-closed his eyes.

He had woken up in the middle of the night for a shower and was now sleeping deeply.

“I said, I had a dream,” Li Heng said, staring at his lips, suddenly feeling like kissing him.

Kisses could also express happiness.

Xie Duzhi helplessly stopped him, kissed his forehead, and sighed, “… Don’t mess around.”

“I was just a little excited,” Li Heng defended himself, “I dreamt of him.”

“I dreamt that on the first day of the New Year, Mom suddenly rushed home, hugged him, wished him a Happy New Year, and apologized.”

“The others also rushed back the next day, and there was no Bai Ruan.”

This dream was much blurrier than the last one, and he wasn’t the “Li Heng” in it.

He tried to recall and finally pieced together some details, “… They talked to him for a long time, brought out a lot of photos from his childhood, and explained a lot of things.”

“I think he probably won’t be so sad later.”

“So I’m happy,” he buried his head into Xie Duzhi’s chest.

Although some past hurts couldn’t be undone, they had done their best, and that made him truly happy.

He heard Xie Duzhi mumble, “Mmm.”

“I’m happy too.”

Because you’re happy.