Chapter 21: The Prince and the Fox
He picked up the glass bottle in front of him. Without needing a tool, he twisted the metal cap off with his bare hand and pushed it toward Mu Jia Shu.
Mu Jia Shu accepted it with a habitual thanks. Wei Xun opened his own. The sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves overhead, casting green shimmering spots on the glass bottles, which looked very beautiful. He dazed out for a moment, then suddenly let out a laugh.
Mu Jia Shu asked, “What is it?”
His voice brought Wei Xun back to his senses. He wasn’t particularly willing to share his current mood with an outsider, so he answered vaguely, “Nothing, just thought of a little fox.”
“Oh?” Mu Jia Shu blinked, his voice carrying a hint of a smile. “You should come at the same time every day. For example, if you come at four in the afternoon, then from three o’clock on, I will begin to feel happy. As the time approaches, I will feel happier and happier. But if you come whenever you like, I will never know when to prepare my heart. Happiness should have a certain ritual. [1]”
He said with a smile, “I agree with its point of view.”
Wei Xun’s expression shifted slightly. The words Mu Jia Shu spoke were from the dialogue between the fox and the Little Prince in The Little Prince—exactly the passage he had just recalled in his heart. Yes, happiness should have a certain ritual.
He exhaled softly, suppressing the sudden tremor in his heart. “I heard from Liang Pingzhao that you studied French before. You must have read the original version of that book?”
Mu Jia Shu said, “I have.”
Wei Xun fell silent for a moment before changing the subject. “May I know why you used the name Nie Qi?”
Mu Jia Shu didn’t ask him why he was inquiring. “My family background isn’t good. I was in urgent need of money a while ago, so I took a bracelet my mother left before she passed away to a pawn shop for a loan. At that time, I used a relative’s ID card, so I didn’t leave my own name.”
Wei Xun recalled Mu Jia Shu’s behavior lately and hadn’t found anything unusual. He didn’t know what kind of trouble the kid had run into that would force him to pawn his mother’s memento, and he hadn’t even noticed.
Mu Yanrui had told him not to reveal the truth yet and to get to know the other’s character. Wei Xun felt that regarding Shen Shu, he didn’t need any more “getting to know.” Thus, he made up a random excuse: “I came today specifically to look for the owner of that jade bracelet. An uncle in my family likes that bracelet very much. After asking at the pawn shop, I found out it wasn’t for sale, so I wanted to ask if you’d be willing to part with it.”
Mu Jia Shu said, “Young Master Wei, that is a memento from my late mother. I’m sorry.”
Wei Xun said, “It’s fine. I didn’t know before, otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked.”
Mu Jia Shu tilted his head slightly and gave a small smile.
Wei Xun asked again, “Do you want to go to university?”
To his surprise, Mu Jia Shu shook his head. “I don’t.”
Wei Xun was quite taken aback. “Why?”
Mu Jia Shu asked in return, “Does Young Master Wei think I’m not living well right now?”
Wei Xun was left speechless. He paused, tilted his head back to finish the last of the drink, and stood up. “Fine. In that case, I’ll head back.”
Mu Jia Shu rose to see him off, but Wei Xun waved him off. “No need to walk me. Go back and accompany your elder. Come to work early tomorrow; accompany me to a place in the afternoon.”
“Alright.”
Mu Jia Shu still walked through the winding alleys to see Wei Xun to his car. Just as he turned around, the door of a nearby mahjong parlor opened, and a man walked out.
He looked to be in his thirties or forties, dressed impeccably and looking quite refined—a real “man in a suit, beast underneath” type. Mu Jia Shu initially found him familiar, but it wasn’t until the man walked toward him that he realized this was actually Shen Shu’s father, Song Quan.
Of course, it was now proven he wasn’t biological.
When Song Quan married Shen Shu’s mother, he was only twenty, a full seven years younger than his wife. It was said he came from a good background and had broken ties with his family just to marry her. He should only be in his early fortias now.
This was the first time Mu Jia Shu had seen the man in the flesh since his rebirth. He used to wonder why the rumored “rich woman” who kept Song Quan was so desperate that she’d pick an older married man over all the young hotties on the street. Now he understood that she might not be blind—at least Song Quan was good-looking.
Song Quan also saw him, his eyes narrowing as he walked straight over. “What are you doing here?”
This father-son relationship was terrible. Mu Jia Shu said flatly, “None of your business.”
Song Quan frowned irritably and pointed at him. “I’m warning you, don’t think that just because you follow me around like a dog, I’ll go sweep your whore mother’s grave. Get lost, you hear me?!”
Mu Jia Shu only remembered after hearing this that today was the Qingming Festival. Likely, the original Shen Shu had begged Song Quan to go sweep his mother’s grave, leading to such words.
He gave a soft sigh. Wei Xun had already walked back with a dark expression. “Who is this person?”
Song Quan froze. Seeing him walk over from a luxury car, he didn’t dare act tough. He hesitated. “And you are…”
Mu Jia Shu said, “Let me introduce you. Song Quan, this is my boss. Young Master Wei, this is… my dad.”
Song Quan was startled and immediately switched to a fawning smile, extending his hand to Wei Xun. “So it’s Young Master Wei! Truly a pleasure, hello, hello!”
Wei Xun didn’t reach out. Instead, he patted Song Quan’s shoulder and said tonelessly, “Hello to you too.”
Song Quan’s body gave a shudder, then he froze.
After Wei Xun finished speaking, he said to Mu Jia Shu, “Hurry home. Didn’t I say you don’t need to see me off?”
Mu Jia Shu looked at Song Quan and gave a small smile, then turned to Wei Xun. “Alright. See you tomorrow.”
Wei Xun nodded. It wasn’t until he got in the car and drove off that Song Quan dared to tremblingly lift his shirt to check his shoulder. He found a large bruise. “That kid… he’s got a brutal grip.”
Mu Jia Shu ignored what happened behind him and slowly turned back toward home, a slightly mocking smile on his face.
Before he had pawned the bracelet, he had already calculated that someone would come looking for him, but he didn’t expect it to be Wei Xun. However, thinking carefully, it did make sense.
At the time, he realized the object was unusual, but with his current resources, it was impossible to investigate it. Moreover, Li Zhiguo had almost tried to snatch it that day; it wasn’t safe to keep it with him.
Pawning the bracelet was a move that killed three birds with one stone: it won him a sum of operating capital, used someone else’s hands to check its origin, and avoided the trouble of “possessing a jade while being guilty of it.”
Mu Jia Shu knew his father very well. He had already guessed that this body might be Mu Yanrui’s illegitimate son. Although Wei Xun didn’t say it, his arrival confirmed it—after all, Shen Shu couldn’t possibly be Wei Shaocheng’s son, right? That man was a proper person.
Due to Mu Yanrui’s philandering nature, he had been disgusted since childhood by the various women who crowded in front of his father. For this, father and son had argued countless times. Who would have thought that the “wheel of karma” would turn, and that woman would become his biological mother this time around?
After confirming this, Mu Jia Shu felt a bit of a grudge toward the Shen family.
He returned home to find Wang Xiufang had already made dinner. Over the past few months, she had seen her grandson behaving himself, and her attitude toward him had improved significantly. Mu Jia Shu washed his hands, went to the kitchen to bring the dishes to the table one by one, and said nothing as he sat down to eat.
Suddenly, Wang Xiufang looked at the table and walked tremulously into the kitchen. Mu Jia Shu frowned, suppressing the impatience in his heart. He put down his chopsticks and stood up. “What do you need? I’ll get it.”
Wang Xiufang soon came out, holding a box of milk in her hand. She set it on the table in front of him. “Drink.”
Mu Jia Shu was stunned, finding the packaging familiar. Wang Xiufang said, “A young man came by earlier looking for someone. Oh, that outfit of his, you could tell at a glance he was rich. He just asked me if I knew a lad named Nie Qi. How would I have heard of such a person? I answered a few of his questions, and he gave me this. I put it on the pot lid to warm it up; hurry and drink. Let us taste what the rich people’s things are like.”
Mu Jia Shu gripped it with his hand and indeed felt the warmth on the box. He also understood what was going with Wei Xun’s half-open milk carton.
Wang Xiufang’s expression looked very happy. In the old lady’s mind, this box of milk was likely a very rare thing; she couldn’t bear to drink it herself and wanted to save it for her grandson.
The resentment that had just arisen from the word “illegitimate” gradually began to melt. He poked the straw in and took a sip. “Mm, it really does taste good. Grandma, next time you’re home alone, don’t just open the door for anyone.”
He originally wanted to say he had run into Song Quan nearby, but he thought better of it and swallowed the words.
The old lady watched with satisfaction as he drank the milk clean, feeling she had gotten a great bargain. “I know, I know. Being able to trade for a drink of milk for my grandson, it wasn’t a loss, wasn’t a loss at all.”
Mu Jia Shu said, “I heard that my company gave every employee a carton of milk for Labor Day last year. Maybe they’ll give them again this year. I’ll bring it back then, and you can taste it too.”
The old lady said warily, “Don’t you go spending money to buy it.”
Mu Jia Shu smiled. “If the company gives it out, it doesn’t cost money.”
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