Chapter 51

Translator: Abo Dammen

Regarding Fang Qizhi’s burst of laughter, Qin Guchuan wasn’t particularly annoyed. After all, he had a rough idea how others might react to hearing such things from him. But Qin Guchuan didn’t care about Fang Qizhi’s reaction. 

If he liked someone, he liked them. He wouldn’t proactively announce it, but if others asked, Qin Guchuan had no intention of hiding or concealing it either.

He was quite happy to show everyone his possessiveness towards Chen Lu.

“You should be saying these things to Chen Lu,” Fang Qizhi retorted, of course detecting the underlying warning in Qin Guchuan’s words. But what was the use of warning a love rival? What was the point if the person in question remained completely unaware?

Qin Guchuan fell silent for a moment, looking towards Chen Lu, who had just bounced out of the dining room again. He lowered his voice, muttering as if to himself, “He’s a bit young… he hasn’t even graduated yet…” 

Hearing this and glancing at the new clothes Qin Guchuan was wearing, Fang Qizhi let out a deeply sarcastic laugh.

He’s young, but that didn’t stop you, did it?

Chen Lu, who had just emerged from the dining area, hadn’t heard Qin Guchuan’s hushed words, but he heard Fang Qizhi’s laughter clearly. Instantly puzzled, he asked, “What are you two talking about?”

Hearing this question, Fang Qizhi opened his mouth, ready to spill the three deeply resentful sentences Qin Guchuan had just uttered, aiming to mock Qin Guchuan right in front of Chen Lu. But before the words could leave his mouth, Fang Qizhi suddenly realized something and slammed on the brakes. 

Dammit, if I tell Chen Lu, wouldn’t I just be playing wingman for Qin Guchuan?

Fang Qizhi realized the sinister cunning hidden beneath Qin Guchuan’s apparent honesty.

So, Fang Qizhi shot a look at Qin Guchuan, who had immediately adopted the demeanor of a proper, reliable big CEO the moment Chen Lu approached, with not a trace of his earlier resentment visible. Fang Qizhi felt like he was looking at a peacock frantically trying to flaunt its feathers.

Feeling like he was being force-fed dog food, Fang Qizhi turned and, without any courtesy, employed a character assassination technique against a certain someone for Chen Lu’s benefit, “He said you’re young, still a little brat.” 

Qin Guchuan: “…”

Looking at their expressions, Chen Lu knew Fang Qizhi was probably distorting Qin Guchuan’s words and spouting nonsense at him. Chen Lu mentally hehe-ed at this behavior and fired back with an age-based taunt aimed at both men in front of him, “Alright then, aren’t you two old fogies going to eat? Your good little boy is about to starve to death.”

Fang Qizhi was briefly shocked by Chen Lu’s shamelessness, which was just as potent offline as in his livestreams. Then he noticed that Qin Guchuan, sitting across from him, had already stood up with a resigned expression and was walking towards Chen Lu without any other reaction. Noticing Fang Qizhi hadn’t moved, Qin Guchuan even glanced back at him questioningly.

Fang Qizhi: “…..” There’s no need to be so at his beck and call. Shouldn’t you be firing back a taunt first at a time like this? 

Chen Lu completely ignored whatever silent communication was happening between the two. Having fulfilled his duty of calling them to eat, he didn’t wait a moment longer before bouncing right back to keep his delicious food company.

The two men have legs, don’t they? They’re nowhere near as important as good food.

Seeing Chen Lu leave without a second glance or a backward glance, Fang Qizhi laughed out loud again.

He felt thoroughly refreshed. 

Being a fictosexual is just too great, hahahahaha!!!

After seeing Fang Qizhi off, Chen Lu didn’t quite understand why the guy’s mood had suddenly improved.

But it was a good thing, so it also wasn’t important.

Chen Lu never sought out trouble for himself. 

It was just as Fang Qizhi had said. With his promise to cooperate, the difficulty of the plot Chen Lu had to follow next plummeted.

Under these circumstances, maybe Fang Qizhi could become his other ‘daddy’.

That night, Chen Lu did slightly satisfy the hopes of his career-fan Fang Qizhi by streaming for an extra hour, gaining another several tens of thousands of followers.

Only… while streaming, Chen Lu kept looking perplexedly at the fireworks war happening between his #1 and #2 top donors. 

He didn’t understand it, but… perhaps this was just how rich people were.

But Chen Lu’s diligence only lasted a few days. He had to run away from home according to the plot, didn’t he?

Chen Lu meticulously planned every step he should take for this plot point, only to fail unexpectedly, yet not entirely unexpectedly, at the very first step.

The note announcing his departure hadn’t even been in Qin Guchuan’s room for ten minutes before Chen Lu found himself looking at the old butler, who was smiling as he held the note, looking every bit like he was about to have a heart-to-heart talk: “…” 

‘Bet you didn’t expect this, Young Master Lu! Ever since you proved you could hide anywhere, their daily cleaning of the Qin residence has become absolutely thorough, leaving no blind spots!’

Chen Lu read all of this in the old butler’s demeanor.

In the original plot, this note was never seen by anyone other than Qin Guchuan.

But the original plot also clearly didn’t have the two incidents of Chen Lu going missing. 

The pit he had dug for himself before had come spinning back to hit him in another place he never expected.

Chen Lu raised his hands in surrender. While the plot hadn’t officially started yet and there was still time to salvage the situation, he quickly said, “Uncle Sun, I just need to go stay at my own home for a few days. I’ll be back very soon. How about you call Qin Guchuan to confirm it?”

“Is that so.” The old butler, recalling Chen Lu and Qin Guchuan’s antics at home, immediately believed Chen Lu. “Then shall I put this note back?”

“Please put it back,” Chen Lu said with great solemnity. 

Don’t underestimate this small note. It was a crucial note for saving the world!

Regarding the games the two young masters of the house played, the old butler had completed his transition from initial ‘Is this for real?’ to later ‘This seems a bit off,’ and finally arrived at the present stage of ‘I don’t understand it, but I respect it.’

Anyway, the old butler just needed to be sure there weren’t any real problems with the relationship between the two young masters.

But he didn’t completely trust Chen Lu’s words either. 

How much true feeling is buried within games, only daring to be revealed there?

“Young Master Lu, since you came to the Qin residence, the young master has become much more cheerful. About Miss Ling… that was just an old idea between the previous family head, it wasn’t anything formal,” the old butler said frankly to Chen Lu.

Chen Lu nodded with a distracted ‘mmm-hmm’, his eyes fixed eagerly on the note in the butler’s hand, clearly screaming put it back, put it back!

The old butler finally smiled and, following Chen Lu’s wishes, placed the seemingly grief-stricken note back in Qin Guchuan’s room. Then he promptly went and filled the car Chen Lu was scheduled to use for his ‘running away’ with all sorts of supplies. 

When Chen Lu carried his luggage to the garage, he stared, dumbfounded, at the luxury car whose back seat was so stuffed there was only room left in the passenger seat.

Don’t just use a luxury car as a truck willy-nilly! Have some consideration for the luxury car’s feelings!!!

“Young Master Lu, it seems your own home hasn’t been lived in for a long time. Perhaps I should take some people over first to clean it for you,” the old butler said to Chen Lu with great concern.

Chen Lu, who was actually quite serious about performing the ‘running away from home’ plot: “…..” 

It took a long time and a lot of persuasion before Chen Lu finally managed to make the old butler abandon the idea of going with him.

Wasn’t this ‘running away from home’ plot supposed to be his solo act?! Why were so many people trying to get involved!!!

Chen Lu wept inwardly, but in the end, relying on his own little tricks in sweet-talking someone, he managed to execute his pure ‘running away from home’ plot.

According to the plot, after the car drove out of the Qin residence, Chen Lu was supposed to look back, filled with melancholy, at the place where he had unknowingly created so many memories. 

And so, Chen Lu, his face full of melancholy, turned his head and saw the back seat crammed full of various supplies, and what he estimated to be over ten pounds of his favorite specialty dried rations.

Chen Lu: “…”

It was really hard to maintain the mood.

After about an hour’s drive, they finally arrived at Chen Lu’s doorstep. 

Theoretically, as a university student, Chen Lu should be living in a dorm. But presumably because living on campus wasn’t convenient for unfolding the plot or for Qin Guchuan’s forced acquisitions and domineering acts, Chen Lu’s family home was placed near his school, making him a glorious off-campus student.

Looking at the location of this school district apartment, Chen Lu: “…..”

Selling this apartment would definitely fetch more than five million—probably over ten million. Selling it would not only clear the previous debts but also cover ‘Chen Lu’s’ mother’s medical expenses without any problem.

What a commitment to the dogblood world spirit, choosing to sell one’s body instead of selling this house! 

Of course, the original plot’s description of this apartment only mentioned an ’empty, narrow, and small home,’ with no other details.

A 100-square-meter apartment might be ‘small and narrow’ compared to the Qin residence—after all, Chen Lu’s guest room there was probably that big. But for Chen Lu, this apartment was quite satisfactory.

Because this apartment had a computer.

As a homebody, his criteria for judging a place were just that simple and unadorned. 

Chen Lu had the bodyguards bring the things up from the car while he searched around the rooms. Before long, Chen Lu found the painting tools and various textbooks belonging to the original ‘Chen Lu’ in a secondary bedroom.

Chen Lu nodded.

Good, good. With these, my new life can begin!

Do your best, Fang Qizhi! 

The mental well-being of my dear classmates and teachers now rests entirely on you!