Chapter 39: Five Million

Before Chen Youxuan could struggle, Lu Shi reached out and clamped a hand on the back of his neck, giving him no chance to react.

The whole cake was pressed firmly into his face. The soft top collapsed instantly, cream smearing all over his nose and mouth, even his hair was coated in frosting.

Chen Youxuan couldn’t open his eyes. Cream clogged his nostrils and made him choke.

Lu Shi tossed the paper plate aside, narrowed his eyes, and tightened his grip on Chen Youxuan’s collar.

“You brought them back. I don’t care what you usually say about me, but don’t drag others into it.”

Everyone knew who “others” meant. They had only talked about Lu Shi and Shen Zheming.

Chen Youxuan wiped at his face blindly, waving his arms in the air trying to grab someone.

Lu Shi dodged his claws and added with a hint of a smile, “How’s the cake? Want another piece?”

Just then, a boy about Lu Shi’s height with a square face jumped up. He had just wiped the cream off his own face with a paper towel, his face flushed red. “Let him go!”

This boy was Sun Sirui, known by everyone for his crush on Chen Youxuan.

Sun Sirui had heard long ago that Lu Shi couldn’t stand Chen Youxuan, but he had never had a chance to meet Lu Shi. Now, on their first meeting, Lu Shi was bullying Chen Youxuan right in front of him. How could he tolerate that?

“We were the ones talking! Why are you making things hard for Youxuan? He even said good things about you before. Even if you’re the Chen family’s biological son, you can’t act like this. What has Youxuan ever done to wrong you?

“Hey, I’m talking to you, did you hear…”

His voice cut off abruptly.

Lu Shi looked up. His eyes churned with hostility, barely suppressed impatience weighing them down.

Sun Sirui was startled.

What the hell? He was an Alpha. Getting scared by an Omega’s stare was too embarrassing. If this got out, it would be shameful, and Chen Youxuan was watching.

Sun Sirui clenched his fists, forced himself to puff up his chest and hold his head high.

This was a perfect chance to show off in front of Chen Youxuan. Worst case, he would go head-to-head with Lu Shi.

Lu Shi raised an eyebrow and said lightly, “Sorry, I just like collective punishment.”

Hearing this, the few people who had also been invited by Chen Youxuan but hadn’t gossiped behind his back couldn’t help scooting farther away.

Sun Sirui’s intention to stand up for Chen Youxuan was written all over his face, but Lu Shi refused to give him the chance.

Lu Shi said listlessly, “Worry about yourself. If you keep shouting, get out.”

Everyone watched as Lu Shi naturally took the towel Steward Liu handed him and lazily wiped the cream off his hands. Only then did they realize that this boy was also the master of this villa, no, the true master.

Lu Shi glanced at Steward Liu.

He hadn’t paid much attention to him before. In his previous life, Steward Liu resigned later. Lu Shi didn’t have a strong impression of him, but he turned out to be quite perceptive.

“Xiao Shi, how can you do this!”

Zhu Wanqing’s shocked voice came from upstairs. Seeing the chaotic scene in the living room, she quickly ordered the servants to bring water and towels.

“These are Youxuan’s classmates, all guests.”

Chen Youxuan looked like he had seen a savior. His chest heaved violently. “Mom…”

Chen Qiming was home today too. Hearing Zhu Wanqing’s voice, he came out of his study on the second floor.

That night at Bihai Chenwan, facing the closed door and the thick pheromones inside, only he knew what he had been planning.

At that time, he had already given up on Lu Shi. So when he met Lu Shi’s gaze from downstairs, his heart skipped a beat, and his eyes involuntarily darted.

Lu Shi’s eyes held a maturity and calmness beyond his age, as if he had long expected Chen Qiming’s choice, so he was neither surprised nor disappointed.

“Dad.”

Lu Shi’s voice rang out in the empty villa.

Clear. Resounding.

Chen Qiming and Zhu Wanqing were both stunned.

Lu Shi rarely called them that. The address stirred memories of when they first reunited with Lu Shi, looking at their son who was wary yet cautiously probing. Their emotions were complicated, mixed with excitement and doubt, joy and sorrow.

But later, many things happened, and those feelings were quickly buried under other emotions, so much so that they forgot the ripples that had stirred in their hearts the first time Lu Shi called them Mom and Dad.

Now, that address carried no emotion at all.

Lu Shi picked up the last piece of cake from the table, went upstairs, and personally placed it in Chen Qiming’s hand.

The jam on the cake was a deep red, reflecting the villa’s lights. Against the pure white cream, it didn’t look pretty, it was more unsettling, like blood.

Lu Shi had later watched the surveillance footage from Bihai Chenwan himself. He clearly saw Chen Qiming standing in front of the restroom door, stopping others from opening it.

Chen Qiming’s expression tightened.

In some traits, Lu Shi was actually quite similar to him.

For example, holding grudges, being decisive and ruthless, showing no mercy to those who had wronged him.

Chen Qiming thought he was sick, but he had to admit that from this moment on, he suddenly felt that Lu Shi was indeed his own flesh and blood.

That expression of certain revenge was exactly the same as his younger self.

In contrast, Chen Youxuan, having spent more time with Zhu Wanqing, resembled her more in personality.

Lu Shi’s sarcastic remark about Chen Qiming eating blood-soaked cake hit exactly where he felt guilty.

Chen Qiming needed to save face in front of outsiders, so he patted Lu Shi’s shoulder. “You’ve been wronged. To find out who leaked the news, I’ve been cooperating fully with the Investigation Bureau’s inquiry.”

Downstairs, Chen Youxuan, leaning on Zhu Wanqing, had finally cleaned the cream off his face. Hearing this, he abruptly looked up at the second floor.

Did he hear that right? He had just been publicly humiliated by Lu Shi, and Dad didn’t even scold or reprimand him?

Chen Qiming knew that Lu Shi had never liked Chen Youxuan, and Lu Shi surely thought Chen Youxuan was behind the Bihai Chenwan incident.

To maintain a stable facade, Chen Qiming said, “I can compensate you within my means for whatever you want. But don’t keep making things difficult for your brother. Let bygones be bygones.”

Let bygones be bygones? Easy to say.

But Lu Shi didn’t argue this time. He directly named his price. “Fine. Five million. Transfer it to my account, and I’ll consider it.”

Chen Qiming was taken aback but didn’t refuse outright. “Are you buying a car or a house? Do you have a driver’s license?”

Lu Shi said, “That’s not your concern. Once the money is in, Chen Youxuan can stay at home as long as he wants, and be your son for as many years as he likes.”

Before Chen Qiming could respond, Chen Youxuan couldn’t hold back.

“Lu Shi, don’t go too far! Don’t use this as leverage to negotiate with Dad. Dad works hard enough making money. If you hate me, I’ll just stay out of your way!”

His annual living expenses were only a little over a million. Lu Shi was asking for that much in one go, a blatant robbery.

Lu Shi lowered his eyelids. “When we, father and son, talk, what business is it of yours? Who gave you permission to speak?”

If before Lu Shi had merely been too lazy to bother with Chen Youxuan’s little schemes in front of their parents, too lazy to waste time on him, now he was even more unrestrained, saying whatever he wanted.

The words “father and son” somehow touched a sensitive nerve in Chen Qiming.

Because ever since Lu Shi came from the small county to the big city, knowing nothing, Chen Qiming had been very strict about controlling his allowance, mostly just tossing him scraps, like giving a blanket to someone freezing to death, or a meaty bone to a starving dog.

Out of recent guilt and a trace of remorse,

Chen Qiming weighed his options. Thinking that if Lu Shi stopped making trouble from now on, it would be one less major headache, he spoke, to Chen Youxuan’s shock.

“Fine, I agree.”

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