Chapter 30: A Visit
Yu An could instantly forget others’ provocations, but he brooded over his family not replying to his messages. He tossed and turned in bed, wondering what Lin Huaichen and Wen Xun were doing at this very moment.
Were they that busy? So busy they couldn’t even reply to his message. Yu An curled into a small ball in grievance, using Klold as a pillow and tugging at His small tentacles.
Klold tapped his forehead and urged: [Go to sleep early.]
Yu An let out an “Oh.” After a moment of silence, he suddenly bumped his head against Klold. [If I send you a message next time, will you ignore me?]
In Yu An’s heart, “Soland” was just as important as his papas. He just wanted to ask under what circumstances “Soland” would ignore him.
Klold pressed his head back onto the pillow. [I don’t have a human communication tool. You don’t need to make hypotheses about me. Go to sleep quickly.]
Yu An grumbled in refusal, but Xiao Bai automatically entered sleep mode at eleven, and Klold wouldn’t talk to him anymore. Yu An had nothing to do and soon closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Boya’s morning self-study started at seven. At six-thirty, Fu Yunshu woke up on time. After washing up, he woke the other three.
Yu An had never woken up at this time before. He was still half-asleep after waking, staring blankly with a yawn, sitting on the edge of the bed as if his soul had left his body, the stray hair on his head standing up listlessly.
Fu Yunshu watched Yu An’s adorable half-awake state, a smile appearing in his eyes and the corners of his mouth curving upward. He opened his arms to Yu An. “An-an, do you want me to carry you down?”
Huggie?
Yu An’s eyes brightened. He bent over and dove straight into Fu Yunshu’s arms. He liked post-sleep hugs the most. He leaned dependently against Fu Yunshu’s neck, his voice thick with sleep. “So sleepy… want to sleep-sleep.”
Usually, the first hug of the morning was given to him by Lin Huaichen or Wen Xun. In Fu Yunshu’s arms, Yu An instinctively acted spoiled with him as well.
Fu Yunshu’s voice was exceptionally gentle. “If An-an doesn’t want to go to morning self-study, I’ll go help you ask for leave. How about it?”
Gu Yixing, who was also a “waking-up-difficulty” case, was currently throwing a pillow at Gu Ersheng. “Can’t you learn from Big Brother Yunshu? Can’t you help me ask for leave too?”
Gu Ersheng shoved him with all his might. “Why should I? I have to go to school and you get to sleep in the dorm? Not a chance.”
Yu An watched the twins bickering from Fu Yunshu’s arms. He saw Gu Ersheng forcibly trying to strip Gu Yixing’s pajamas to change his clothes, and the two were fighting a fierce battle on the bed.
His sleepiness vanished as he watched the commotion. Yu An got down from Fu Yunshu’s arms and ran to the sink to brush his teeth and wash his face. His towel and cup were of the same style as the ones at home. The little guy seriously dampened his towel in warm water and wiped his face carefully in front of the mirror, then applied moisturizer, nodding in satisfaction only after he was cleaned up and tidy.
Yu An glanced at the changed Gu Yixing and climbed onto the bed. “Soland, Xiao Bai, it’s time for school.”
Xiao Bai’s sleep mode automatically turned off. It hopped to Yu An’s side and climbed onto his shoulder using his small hand, waving a wing. “School.”
Klold was sleeping soundly on Yu An’s small pillow. Yu An picked Him up light-footedly and carefully stuffed Him into his pocket.
The sleep he didn’t get, “Soland” got for him. It’s worth it.
The morning sun was not as harsh as the midday sun, shining warmly on the body. A cool breeze blew, sweeping away the irritability students felt from waking up early.
Yu An and the three older boys separated at the Primary School building. He walked into the classroom with his backpack and sat down. Not many students had arrived yet; he was among the first batch.
Yu An had nothing to do, so he lay on the desk to catch up on sleep.
After napping for who knows how long, he felt someone gently poking his arm. He turned his head in confusion and looked at Wan Cen, who was holding a pen. “What are you doing?”
Wan Cen was filled with interest. “I heard you had a fight with Liu Haoen in the cafeteria yesterday? What happened? Tell me about it.”
Yu An furrowed his small brows. “…Who is Liu Haoen?”
There was no such person in his memory.
Wan Cen choked. He gave a detailed description of the rumors he had heard from others.
“Oh~ I know who you’re talking about now.” Yu An realized. “So that lackey is called Liu Haoen. But our fight happened yesterday at lunch; you only found out today?”
Wan Cen couldn’t resist and gave Yu An’s soft face a pinch. The hand-feel was indeed good. “Then why didn’t you tell me yesterday? I’m your desk mate. Such big news, and you actually didn’t tell me?!”
Yu An tilted his head back, dodging Wan Cen’s hand, and covered his face, looking at him with wary eyes. “It’s not big news, and I didn’t remember it either.”
He never held grudges against strangers.
“That’s Liu Haoen, though. You’ve got quite the guts.” Wan Cen lowered his voice. “The Liu family is very rich to begin with, and this Liu Haoen is a playmate of Fu Yu from the Fu family. My father specifically told me at home not to offend them. Didn’t your papas tell you that?”
“They didn’t…”
Yu An suddenly lowered his head in silence, staring blankly at the desk. He remembered again that his papas hadn’t replied to his message last night. This made him feel worse than any Liu Haoen or Fu Yu.
Wan Cen took his sadness for regret and patted Yu An’s shoulder, advising: “You can go apologize to Liu Haoen, or have your papa go apologize to the Liu family. They probably won’t make things too hard for you.”
The second-generation rich kids in Boya were countless, and the relationships between them were intricate. Each of them also represented the power behind them, and making friends or enemies had far-reaching impacts.
Yu An didn’t respond with his head lowered. Wan Cen sighed and didn’t want to say more at this point, saying earnestly: “My father often tells me not to mind other people’s business.”
He knew Yu An had clashed with Liu Haoen because of a senior named Zhou Xia. He only hoped Yu An could learn from this experience and not meddle in others’ business next time to avoid bringing trouble on himself.
But clearly, Wan Cen and Yu An were on different wavelengths. What Yu An truly cared about was why his papas still hadn’t replied to his message.
During the second period of the morning, Yu An finally received messages from Wen Xun and Lin Huaichen. The messages from the two were very similar.
Lin/Wen: [Sorry, An-an. Papa was too busy last night and didn’t see your message. A hug for my baby, and a kiss.]
Yu An stole a glance at the teacher and secretly typed: [Then what were you doing last night, Papa?]
Lin Huaichen: [We went to a bar for drinks; the music was too loud.]
Wen Xun: [We were working overtime in the lab; the phone was on silent.]
Clearly, the two weren’t together right now and hadn’t had time to align their stories.
Yu An: “…”
If I believed that, I’d be a little fool.
Perhaps Yu An hadn’t replied for too long, or perhaps the two had finally remembered to notify each other to use the same excuse; the family of three fell into a simultaneous silence.
Finally, a message from Wen Xun arrived: […Once you’re home, I’ll have Dr. Rong give you a sex education class. You’ll understand then.]
Mysterious. Yu An muttered. Would Dr. Rong tell him what his papas had done last night? Did the things his papas did require a teacher to teach?
Yu An grew more confused the more he thought about it, and he became increasingly curious about this mysterious class.
With his only worry resolved, Yu An’s mood improved greatly. He hummed a tuneless song happily. Wan Cen was amazed; had he offended Liu Haoen and the others, he would surely be worried all day.
Not like Yu An—wilted for a few hours and then acting like nothing happened.
He’s got a big heart.
Contrary to Wan Cen’s imagination that Yu An would be afraid of Liu Haoen, it was Liu Haoen who dodged Yu An. Even if they accidentally bumped into Yu An’s group in the cafeteria, Liu Haoen would immediately pick up his tray and move to a further spot, avoiding them like the plague.
Wan Cen was in the cafeteria at the time and watched this scene with his jaw dropped. Weren’t they saying Liu Haoen was going to retaliate against Yu An? Why does it look like Liu Haoen is afraid of Yu An retaliating against him now?!
He turned and saw Xu Mingyao nearby. He felt he had found a sense of belonging in a group and wanted to talk to him about this ridiculous thing, but he suddenly saw Xu Mingyao’s cold expression and didn’t dare speak, silently retreating.
Xu Mingyao’s mood seemed to have been very bad lately; better not provoke him.
Yu An didn’t care about the undercurrents nearby. He had recently fallen in love with the cafeteria’s steamed pork with rice flour and ordered a bowl every day for lunch, eating happily.
Gu Yixing was openly looking at messages on his phone. “Wu Yao and Ji Yunyan plan to come see us tonight. Should we set a meeting place?”
Fu Yunshu and Gu Ersheng had no objections.
Yu An’s cheeks were puffed out with food. Only after swallowing everything did he start to speak, his eyes worried. “Will the guard uncles let them in? What if they can’t get in?”
“They should be able to.” Fu Yunshu explained for Yu An. “The Ji family is the biggest investor in Boya School; the school leaders all know Ji Yunyan. It won’t be hard for him to enter the school.”
Yu An opened his eyes wide in surprise. “This school belongs to Brother Ji’s family?”
“You could say that.”
Yu An made a “no-knowledge” little expression. “So impressive.”
It turned out Brother Ji’s family was that rich.
“Hahahaha…” Gu Yixing laughed out loud and pinched Yu An’s cheek. “What’s the big deal? Actually, the biggest investor in the Base is your Lin family. The money the Base needs to spend is much more than this school.”
Whether it was the operation of instruments or the salaries of researchers, the Base’s cash flow was hundreds of times more than this aristocratic school. The true little tycoon should be Yu An.
Yu An knew nothing of the Lin family industries. Only now that Gu Yixing had pointed it out did he know the Base’s money mostly came from his family.
…It turned out his family was also very rich.
Yu An, who had as little knowledge as ever, was shocked once again.
After Yu An had eaten and drunk his fill, he returned to the classroom with a cup of lemonade. He was met with Wan Cen staring at him intently, his eyes looking at him as if he were a rare treasure. Wan Cen even beckoned him eagerly, telling him to come over quickly.
Yu An could hardly believe the gaze was directed at him, because in Wan Cen’s eyes, he had always been a “reckless little fool.”
Yu An looked back, and after confirming there was no one else, he pointed to himself in confusion. Me?
Wan Cen nodded.
Yu An took his seat, and Wan Cen immediately leaned over. “What exactly is your relationship with Liu Haoen? He’s actually dodging you!”
Yu An spent another few seconds in silence, thinking about who this Liu Haoen was. Wan Cen saw his blank expression and knew he had surely forgotten the other person again, so he hurriedly reminded him.
“No relationship.” Yu An shook his head. “But my brother knows that Liu… that senior surnamed Liu. And that person called Fu… Fu Yu is my brother’s younger brother.”
Yu An had a hard time remembering those names and explained to Wan Cen haltingly.
Wan Cen opened his eyes wide in surprise. “Wait, your brother has a younger brother named Fu Yu… Kyoto Fu family… Fu Yunshu? Your brother is Fu Yunshu?! You’re from the Fu family?”
One of the three seniors hanging out with Yu An was actually Fu Yunshu?! Wan Cen’s heart pounded. Fu Yunshu was very mysterious in Kyoto; many powerful people couldn’t even see his face. So Fu Yunshu had come to this school too?!
Yu An’s look toward him turned strange. “No. My surname is Yu, not Fu.”
They had been desk mates for so long; Wan Cen didn’t even know his surname?
Wan Cen’s brow furrowed tightly as he started brainstorming to figure out the relationship between them. He suddenly thought of the simplest possibility. “…You have no blood relation to the Eldest Young Master of the Fu family, right?”
“Right.”
Wan Cen: “…”
I almost guessed Yu An was an illegitimate child of the Fu family.
If Yu An knew the Eldest Young Master of the Fu family, it made sense why Liu Haoen would be afraid of him. After all, even Fu Yu didn’t dare raise his head before Fu Yunshu, let alone a small Liu Haoen.
Wan Cen’s tone turned envious as he looked at Yu An. “You’ve got quite good connections.”
Even knowing Fu Yunshu.
Yu An took it as a compliment and smiled shyly. “It’s okay, I guess.”
In all these years, he only had those few friends.
After evening self-study, Yu An followed Fu Yunshu and the others to an on-campus coffee shop. Wu Yao and Ji Yunyan were sitting in the shop, with large and small bags on the table.
Wu Yao was resting his head on his hand, bored. Before Ji Yunyan was a Buddhist scripture, and he was clutching a cross in his hand, mumbling for a bit before flipping the scripture to take a look whenever he got stuck.
Wu Yao rolled his eyes at him. “Clutching a cross and reciting Buddhist scriptures—your God will probably give you a beating.”
Ji Yunyan’s tone was indifferent. “That just means His heart isn’t at peace. Amitabha.”
Wu Yao: “…”
Too lazy to talk to Ji Yunyan, Wu Yao looked around and was the first to notice Yu An and the others arriving. His eyes brightened, and he waved his hand. “An-an, over here!”
Yu An called out with a smile, “Brother Wu Yao, Brother Ji~”
Ji Yunyan opened his eyes and tapped Yu An’s brow. “Buddha bless you.”
Yu An froze. “Don’t you believe in Christ?”
“My grandmother said my heart isn’t pure and told me to switch my faith for a bit—to believe in Buddha first.”
Yu An: “…”
So faith can be switched just like that?
Wu Yao and Ji Yunyan had brought many gifts this time, mostly delicious food. They brought Yu An’s favorite mashed taro mochi, cream puffs, and “meat floss little treats”—all from that old-established shop Yu An loved most.
Yu An loved these the most. He held the bags happily. “Thank you, Brothers.”
Wu Yao distributed things to Fu Yunshu and the Gu twins, saying loyally: “Just tell me whenever you want to eat something next time; I’ll bring it to you. The things in this lousy school are no good.”
Ji Yunyan was about to refute, but he suddenly remembered he needed to keep his heart at peace and silently shut his mouth, only muttering to himself: Which school sells cakes for tens of thousands of yuan a piece?!
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