Chapter 29 Part 2

Lu Aotian knew this model. Perhaps because the designer also felt this color scheme was bold and the design exceptional, wanting to use this model to create an insurmountable classic, only fifty pairs were released globally. Over a decade later, he had only managed to acquire one brand-new pair at a super high price, and he couldn’t bear to wear it at all.

Now, seeing the man indifferently putting on his White Moonlight, Lu Aotian couldn’t honestly say he wasn’t envious. Rebirth couldn’t be a waste. The first thing he’d do after returning to the Lu Family this time was hoard ten pairs in advance!

Han Cheng was usually aloof by nature. Unless there were special circumstances, his face was cold, his gaze cool. Now, putting on his battle shoes, an unusual hint of emotion graced his features. He twisted his ankle very slowly, as if warming up, but actually displaying his limited-edition running shoes to those around him.

However, since no one took the initiative to ask, he couldn’t very well say this pair was limited to fifty worldwide. Because they were so stunning, he directly bought forty-nine pairs. It wasn’t a round number because the brand needed to leave one pair for the designer.

Actually, as an actor, besides honing his acting skills, he needed to put in a bit more effort than others, which was concealing his unique, high-end taste.

His image design team only provided him with black, white, gray, and some low-saturation colors. Although he felt these colors were far less breathtaking than the fluorescent color family, his stylists had told him more than once that these were what best suited his Movie Emperor status.

He was a mature actor, so he was willing to respect the professional advice offered by his styling team. Even in private, to maintain the quality standards of “Han Cheng,” he still wore the clothes his styling team put together.

Only when work came to a temporary halt and he went abroad for a complete vacation could he wear the colors he liked. One could say it was a small sacrifice he made for the profession he loved.

Han Cheng genuinely hadn’t anticipated the child being so discerning. His brow arched slightly, a different color surfacing in his eyes. “You recognize these?”

Ji Nuo really couldn’t watch any longer. He bent down and pulled up the cub, whose face was practically plastered to the shoes, once again marveling that these two were truly not biological father and son, but better than biological father and son.

After Ji Nuo pulled him upright, Lu Aotian’s pair of beautiful grayish-blue eyes were still glued to the fluorescent yellow shoes. He felt the shoes were like glowing gems, bling bling, leaving the cub utterly defenseless.

“Of course!” the little dumpling said without hesitation.

A hint of profound darkness quickly slid through Han Cheng’s eyes, and his brow furrowed slightly. A four-year-old orphan recognizing this brand could be barely explained away by seeing advertisements. But these shoes, due to their high-end, niche color, weren’t known to many…

Ji Nuo truly couldn’t listen anymore. These two were ravingly singing praises to a pair of fluorescent sneakers resembling a firefly’s backside. He felt his aesthetic sense had been stomped on the floor and ground to dust.

He took a deep breath and stopped them. “Okay, go run first. Finish early and come back to sleep. Ao’ao, you need to do proper warm-up exercises with Uncle Han Cheng before running, understand?”

Rarely, Lu Aotian didn’t even glance at Ji Nuo. Instead, he looked at Han Cheng like a long-lost kindred spirit. “How many did you buy?” He even forgot to hide his little baby voice in his excitement.

Ji Nuo: “…”

Han Cheng’s lips curved up slightly. His noble brows and eyes were completely unfathomable, reminding Ji Nuo of Han Cheng’s role in “Chasing the Deer”—a royal scion raised outside the palace, brilliant beyond measure, with deep, scheming thoughts…

But why was he using that expression of “discussing grand strategy while enemies crumble to dust” to talk about fluorescent sneakers?!

When Han Cheng, a sly glint in his eyes, smugly told the cub, “Guess?”, Ji Nuo felt a shallow crack form on his heart’s White Moonlight Prince.

~

The adult and child went out for their evening run. Ji Nuo first took a quick shower. After blow-drying his hair to about seventy or eighty percent dry, he hugged his pillow and flopped onto the bed.

Discovering that the Oranges Care Worker still hadn’t replied, Ji Nuo opened the Orange App and tapped the customer service chat.

Then he discovered the shop had actually vanished…

Checking online, he learned this new shop was run by scammers. They used free trial packages to attract massive traffic, then screened for customers more easily deceived and tempted them with discounts. Top-tier services costing hundreds of thousands a year on the market were offered here not only in short-term plans of three or six months, but a half-year package calculated to only fifty thousand.

Because the fraud model was too novel, and it was linked to a trendy, emerging profession—with customers mostly being older patient groups—in less than two months, there were thousands of victims. Ji Nuo, completely occupied with filming the live variety show, hadn’t paid attention to this at all, thus missing the other scripts the customer service had sent him later.

After reading the explanatory post, Ji Nuo felt entirely numb. Before, when he couldn’t afford it, he certainly wouldn’t have considered it much. But if it was fifty thousand… He couldn’t say for sure he wouldn’t have been tempted… Being forced onto the kid variety show—was it a blessing in disguise?

The explanatory post was ghostwritten by volunteers. It not only described the scammers’ tactics but also mentioned the real situations of some victims.

Most patients needing hospice care were elderly, with little mobility and suffering from terminal illnesses. Thus, many victims only had this few tens of thousands as emergency money. Once the money was gone, their last hope was completely extinguished. The devastating impact of being scammed was self-evident. Many elderly people in worse conditions even considered ending their lives.

Ji Nuo, also with not much time left, could empathize even more. And being so young, he was ultimately much better off than the elderly. It was unimaginable how desperate these people must be.

So, seeing the volunteers assisting them in gathering all related evidence, hoping to recover the money quickly and bring the scammers to justice promptly, Ji Nuo immediately added the group chat number. He uploaded screenshots of his chat history with the scammer customer service and the Oranges Care Worker’s WeChat ID in a package to the group files.

The volunteer quickly organized the content he provided, said some words thanking him for his cooperation, and simultaneously asked if they could contact him via this QQ number if needed for follow-ups.

Perhaps fearing Ji Nuo might find it troublesome, the volunteer mentioned one elderly person who was scammed out of two hundred thousand. Because one hundred and fifty thousand of that was borrowed by their children, upon learning of the scam, they directly drank pesticide. Fortunately, timely rescue prevented a greater tragedy.

Ji Nuo felt both sad and furious hearing this. He agreed without hesitation. After logging out of QQ, the more he thought, the angrier he got.

After mulling it over, he clicked into the chat box with the scammer Oranges and began angrily pounding his phone screen, much like a foot-stomping little friend Lu Ao’ao.

~

An hour later, the adult and child returned.

Seeing Lu Ao’ao storming into the children’s room, face puffed up in anger, stomping his feet in a competitive stride, Ji Nuo was extremely surprised. Weren’t the two chatting enthusiastically before leaving?

“What happened?” Ji Nuo couldn’t help asking.

Han Cheng tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Unclear. After he found out I bought forty-nine pairs of the limited-edition sneakers, he became like this.”

Ji Nuo: “…………”

Alright, he truly didn’t understand at all.

He didn’t understand why Han Cheng bought forty-nine pairs, nor why little friend Lu Ao’ao was angry because of it. But the child still needed to wash up before bed.

Worried the child might fall straight asleep after exercising, Ji Nuo prepared to take him to wash up and shower first.

Knocking on the door, he found the little one still in his sportswear. The whole cub was hugging his pillow and blanket, lying on the bed. His short four limbs were propped up, pounding and kicking the bed. Coming closer, one could even hear the cub occasionally emitting angry, snorting sounds like a charging little wild boar.

This was the first time he’d seen the child this angry. The scales in his heart immediately tilted toward Ao’ao. Could Han Cheng have secretly bullied Ao’ao?

Knowing Han Cheng’s character, he wasn’t the type for actual bullying or humiliation. It was just that sometimes, the adult and child would enter that needle-against-wheat-awn atmosphere. And the little one was someone who couldn’t tolerate the slightest grievance.

Ji Nuo stepped forward and patted Ao’ao’s back, which was quivering slightly with rage. “Ao’ao, what’s wrong?”

Lu Aotian was truly furious to death!

He had searched so hard for so many years, finally buying a pair from the designer’s descendants for nearly the price of a house… The price was no longer his concern. It was because he only had the one pair and didn’t dare wear it. Before he died, he hadn’t managed to find a second pair to wear—shoes he’d never worn until death! Ah!

And then!

And then!!!

Han Cheng told him he had bought out all the other forty-nine pairs! Aaaaaah, he was so furious!

Furious to death, furious to death! How could there be someone so hateful? Seeing something good and monopolizing it all? Furious to death, furious to death, furious to death!!

If Ji Nuo hadn’t comforted him, it would have been fine. But hearing Ji Nuo’s gentle, soft voice, Lu Aotian felt even more aggrieved.

Han Cheng! Big meanie! The number one biggest meanie under heaven! The super invincible, most meanie meanie in all of history!

It wasn’t until Ji Nuo exclaimed in surprise, “Ao’ao, are you crying?”

Lu Aotian’s anger suddenly stopped. “Impossible!”

Even his baby voice carried a hint of a nasal tone. Lu Aotian reached up in disbelief to touch his face. Indeed, the corners of his eyes were slightly moist. He didn’t want to cry. He was just angry. But why was this little kid’s body so useless!

Lu Aotian instantly couldn’t bother staying angry anymore. Nothing under heaven was more serious than crying in front of his little brother. Lu Aotian roughly wiped the moisture from his eyes, sat bolt upright with a whoosh, and glared at Ji Nuo with red-rimmed eyes, shouting: “I not crying! You see wrong!”

At a time like this, Ji Nuo could only nod cooperatively. “Yes, Uncle saw wrong. It’s okay, good boy.” As he spoke, he pulled a tissue from the bedside and handed it to the child.

Lu Aotian choked, his eyeballs nearly popping out of his head in fury.

He pushed Ji Nuo away and jumped to the floor, stomping off to find Han Cheng. Spotting the man, he whipped up the tissue in his hand, glaring viciously at Han Cheng. He absolutely could not let Han Cheng think they could get along friendly just because of similar preferences.

Han Cheng looked at the little dumpling, who was even more pufferfish-like than a pufferfish, the corner of his eye lifting slightly. “?”

In ancient times, there was cutting the robe to sever friendship. Today, he, Lu Aotian, would emulate this. Thinking thus, Lu Aotian extended his small hand, pinched the edge of the tissue, exerted all his strength to tear it downward fiercely, and simultaneously bellowed: “You and me! Irreconcilable!”

But as his words fell, the tissue only tore off a tiny piece the size of a fingernail.

It wasn’t that the tissue quality was too good. It was that tearing tissue required attention to direction. Generally speaking, the direction perpendicular to the center fold is along the paper fibers, making it easy to tear straight through. The opposite direction makes tearing difficult.

Lu Aotian suffered from a lack of life experience. The entire scene instantly became awkward.

Han Cheng arched a brow, his eyes full of interest, subtly carrying the delight of teasing a child. He reached out and helped the little dumpling rotate the tissue in his hand, giving bland guidance: “It’s easier to tear this way.”

Successfully producing a huffing, bristling, about-to-explode little pufferfish.

The cub stomped away all the way. The force was great… producing no negative impact on the floor whatsoever, but making the child’s feet numb and sore from stomping.

Lu Aotian, determined to succeed in life, how could he let it end here? He had to make Han Cheng feel the towering flames of his fury. So he entered the bathroom again and violently slammed the door shut.

He violently slammed the door shut with a loud “BANG!!!” and shouted so loudly he nearly split his throat.

Han Cheng could no longer hold back his amusement. A chuckle escaped him.

But when he took out his phone and saw the latest message, the amusement in his eyes froze.

jn: [I’ve already reported your scammer account! Go turn yourself in quickly! Surrender early and confess early to get leniency!]