Chapter 20

Damn it…

The weather forecast didn’t lie, the weather really did turn!

However, Han Fu didn’t panic. He had long since kept a rechargeable heating pad handy in the car, and he’d secretly brought painkillers too.

Anyway, before getting back to the car, kiss first, talk later!

Rumble—splat—

“…” Han Fu genuinely felt that his liking Zhenzhen was akin to breaking some heavenly law.

Either his scumbag ex showed up, or Zhenzhen spotted some cuter boy. In short, there was always an obstacle!

Just like now. Just as the kiss was about to land, suddenly a clap of thunder and lightning. And on top of that, in such a secluded corner, people actually showed up!

Just a wall apart, only one turn away. Probably three to five voices.

One of them grunted, the sound of stumbling footsteps heard, as if someone had been shoved against a wall.

“Hey there, Yi Changkong~”

Someone spoke, rather aggressively. “Why don’t you just withdraw from the competition? Tell me, someone like you, what are you vying for the spot against us for, right?”

Han Fu went blank for a good second or two.

Yi Changkong?

[T/N]:

Yi Changkong (易长空): The given name Chángkōng means “The Vast Sky,” or “The Infinite Void.”

What kind of damn stupid name was that from some tactless idiot? So grating to the ear!

“Yeah! Just ask your big-shot perfumer brother at Belle to pull some strings for you, get you a backdoor entry? Or go take the open auditions! Anyway, Belle is a sponsor of the PA competition. How would the open auditions dare eliminate you, am I right?”

Rumble—another clap of thunder, driving him straight into a daze.

Yi Changqing’s… younger brother? That disaster had a younger brother?!

And he was also at Grasse studying fragrance?

“Please don’t touch me.”

That “Yi Changkong” was probably quite young; his voice still sounded somewhat immature: “Please stop doing these pointless things.”

“I simply didn’t want to rely on my older brother, which is why I’m openly and fairly competing for the recommendation qualification. If I can’t get the qualification, I’ll properly participate in the open auditions later. We’re all starting from the same point. Rather than spending your time picking on me, you’d be better off preparing yourselves properly and fighting with true skill on the competition field two weeks from now!”

“Skill?” The several people opposite burst into laughter. “You say skill? But do you even have that kind of thing?”

“Oh man, this is too hilarious. That so-called perfumer brother of yours, didn’t he rise up by selling his looks anyway?”

Here, one would normally expect a moment of awkwardness.

But this Yi Changkong didn’t pause for even half a second. His reply was loud, clear, and full of righteous confidence: “My older brother is simply someone who accepted sponsorship from a kind-hearted person! A completely clean and proper relationship! You people are way too dark-minded, aren’t you?”

“Yo-ho~” The others continued laughing arrogantly. “Hear that? Hear that? The little brother of the eternal white lotus perfumer is saying we’re dark-minded!”

“Kind-hearted person sponsoring him, hahaha, I’m impressed. I’m very poor too, how come the Good Samaritan doesn’t sponsor me?”

“…”

Drip. Drip. Raindrops fell onto the shoulder.

Normally, with bad weather, leg pain, his mood would inevitably follow suit, dipping low. It was easy to recall many unbearable past events and then sink into terrible emotions, unable to extricate himself.

But Pei Zhen today was diffe-rent!

…Because some of the words he’d just overheard were a tad too absurd, weren’t they?

Good Samaritan? Sponsorship? If his memory wasn’t faulty, there shouldn’t be anyone else who sponsored Yi Changqing. So the Good Samaritan they were talking about… was him?

Ten thousand what-the-hells stampeding through wouldn’t be enough to describe his current “what the dog doing” mood.

To sort things out, Yi Changqing indeed had a younger brother.

Though he hadn’t met the kid in person before, he had remotely cared about him quite a few times back in the day.

Love me, love my dog—all were foolish deeds done in the ignorance of youth.

…

Anyway, Han Fu was absolutely not about to let his Zhenzhen just stand in the cold wind getting rained on.

But what he hadn’t expected was that this “Yi Changqing’s younger brother” was none other than that very steady-handed, delicate youth who had just been competing against Uncle Fatty!

The reason he’d watched the match for so long and never considered the youth might be related to Yi Changqing was mainly because, although both brothers were reasonably good-looking, the youth didn’t have chestnut-colored hair, nor any silhouette resembling Yi Changqing.

If unmentioned, probably even a ghost wouldn’t recognize any blood connection.

Right now, the slender youth was surrounded by three to five adult males. Han Fu had absolutely zero intention of “saving a life being better than building a seven-story pagoda.”

“Sorry, just passing through. You guys carry on.”

But that Yi Changkong was clearly stunned, murmuring softly: “Brother Pei?”

Pei Zhen: “…”

Han Fu: “…”

Yi Changkong: “You… are Brother Pei, right?”

…

…

“Taking on five of them single-handedly, you… you’re so amazing!”

Han Fu really wanted to say, I really, really didn’t want to beat people up for my enemy’s little brother, much less bathe in the inexplicably worshipful gaze of said enemy’s little brother. Not to mention being followed all the way to the parking lot by this little tail that couldn’t be shaken off?!

“Brother Pei.”

Pei Zhen was also speechlessly asking the heavens.

Especially when… the youth put on an exceptionally well-behaved demeanor, trotting right up to him, and gave him a very polite, deep bow!

“The last time, I heard you had visited our school. Today I finally get to meet you! Hello!”

Pei Zhen: “…”

“Truly, thank you so much for your many years of sponsorship and care for my brother! To me, Brother Pei, you have always been like ‘Daddy-Long-Legs’ from the storybook, changing my brother’s and my destiny!”

Daddy-Long-Legs was a novel written by the American novelist Jean Webster. In it, the male lead, “Daddy-Long-Legs,” was a Good Samaritan who quietly sponsored the female lead, paying for her university education.

Later, the term essentially became synonymous with “kind benefactor.”

In that instant, Pei Zhen truly suspected this youth might be playing a rather nasty joke on him.

But he didn’t seem like it: “You… haven’t you got something wrong?”

Yi Changkong: “Huh?”

“Before speaking to me, you’d better call Yi Changqing first. I have a feeling he wouldn’t be too happy about you having any contact with me.”

Yi Changkong still looked baffled: “Uh, it’s fine, I talk to my older brother on the phone all the time.”

Up until this point, Pei Zhen merely found the world slightly absurd.

Facing the blank, innocent youth, it hadn’t yet escalated to a fit of malice. He was merely incredibly curious—

“When Yi Changqing mentioned me to you… what exactly did he say?”

Yi Changkong: “Oh, Older Brother always says you’re especially good, especially caring towards him. The year he was so seriously ill… it was you who stayed by his side, helping him find specialists for consults and treatment. If not for you, whether my brother could have survived is uncertain. Also, every year when school started and the winter coats, those were all chosen and sent by you too. I’ve still carefully kept all the receipts.”

Pei Zhen: “…Heh?”

“Really, Brother Pei, your immense kindness to my family… I don’t even know how we could ever repay it.”

“…”

“Repay, let’s not.”

Thinking back, after your brother’s “repayment,” I was left with only one eye and one good leg. If you come “repaying” too, do I still want my life or not?

Seriously… you and your brother, which one of you is messing with me?!

“What you just said, were you serious?”

“I am the ‘Good Samaritan,’ the ‘Daddy-Long-Legs’?”

“Since you’re exchanging calls all the time… has Yi Changqing really never told you about the true relationship between him and me?”

“Have you never suspected, why would anyone be so bored as to ‘sponsor’ an able-bodied adult? Has Yi Changqing really never shared with you his mental journey of faking smiles and selling his body for money?”

“You’ve grown up now too. Why not think it over carefully, then go back and ask your brother thoroughly. There will be a ‘surprise.’”

“Han Xiaohua, let’s go, we’re going home.”

The youth was clearly terrified by this explosive load of malicious information. He stood there dumbly, like an innocent little white rabbit leaning against the wall, not daring to move.

Logically, Pei Zhen knew perfectly well that the little white rabbit hadn’t actually provoked him.

But he just couldn’t control his loose tongue for that momentary satisfaction, and felt absolutely zero compassion.

…

In the rearview mirror, the youth still stood rooted to the spot for a long time. Pei Zhen closed his eyes.

Han Fu: “Zhenzhen…”

The car had driven for a short while before slowing down, gradually pulling over to the side of the road.

The windshield wipers on the front glass followed suit and stopped as well. The torrential rain cascaded down like a waterfall, isolating the world outside.

Was the soundproofing of this car a bit too good? How was it getting slightly hard to breathe… Just as Pei Zhen was thinking this, the little wolfdog in the driver’s seat had already unbuckled his seatbelt and fumbled over.

Warm breath nuzzled against his cheek and ear, tickling.

Pei Zhen: “What are you doing?”

“Zhenzhen.” The little wolfdog didn’t say much, just softly called his name, carefully kissing and nuzzling his ear, his cheek. Those dark eyes, bright and glistening, were full of gentle mist.

Pei Zhen wasn’t stupid. Clearly… he was being pitied by his own little wolfdog again.

Seriously, what was there to pity about this?

Last time, unexpectedly running into Yi Changqing had indeed broken his composure somewhat. His emotions exploded, and he talked a bunch of nonsense, even making the innocent little wolfdog feel so wronged. But just now, in that situation, he was obviously the one viciously bullying the little white rabbit. If anyone should be pitied, it should be the little white rabbit whose worldview just shattered?

And also, as a sugar daddy, being pitied by his kept little wolfdog every few days—what the hell kind of situation was this!

No way, he had to salvage his pride.

“Han Xiaohua, I just thought of a way for you to win that recommendation qualification.”

Decisively reining in his scattered thoughts, he adopted the calm composure of a mature man devising strategies. Han Fu indeed stopped, his dark pupils gazing at him, quietly listening.

“Think about it carefully. If the contest is best of three between Identification, Replication, and Creation… you simply won’t lose at ‘Identification,’ isn’t that right?”

With a sixth-tier fragrance recognition rate of 14,300, unless the two old gents, Merovech and Eugene, crawled out of their coffins, who could beat Han Xiaohua at Identification?

“So, of the remaining two events, you just need to win one more, right? ‘Creation’ is still too difficult for your current stage, so just ignore it for now. For the final two weeks, we focus on Replication special training. As long as you can beat your opponent in the Replication round, isn’t that winning the best of three?”

Han Fu was stunned for a moment.

Wait… doesn’t… that… actually make sense?!

Though arguably a bit of a clever trick, it could also be considered “effectively using the competition rules.” Maybe, just maybe, this way he actually had a shot at getting the recommendation qualification!

“Zhenzhen, you know what? My dream since childhood was to grow up and find a smart boyfriend!” He pounced, grabbing Pei Zhen’s hand eagerly: “You’re truly my ultimate ideal type, fulfilling my lifelong dream!”

Pfft… What was this silly kid saying.

Pei Zhen smiled, then suddenly his vision went dark.

“Zhenzhen? Zhenzhen!”

Actually, he could still hear, but… he couldn’t move.

Truth be told, in those final wisps of consciousness, there was a fair bit of heartache. Han Fu’s tone when calling him had completely changed. And in just one cry, his voice had turned utterly hoarse.

Actually, he wanted to tell his little wolfdog, no need for such distress.

First of all, I’m not dying.

Previously, even with more serious situations, I was fine. Really… definitely not dying!

Even if he did kick the bucket just like this, at least he’d be soaking in maximum hospice-level affection—kisses, nuzzles, sweet nothings. Worth it, no regrets.

…Mhm. But, obviously, it would be better to wake up quickly instead.

He still had to keep teaching the little wolfdog about fragrance, watch him win, and in the future, send him to the industry’s pinnacle, where all eyes would be on him.