Chapter 21: The Vicious Fake Young Master of a Wealthy Family · 21

Su Wenyu was laughing heartily at the hilarious plot of the TV drama he was watching. In the next second, 520 popped up, alerting him that his Villain Value had increased again.

Su Wenyu: “?”

He immediately retracted his smile.

What now?

Was he laughing too loudly and disturbing him?

Su Wenyu stole a glance at Zhou Xu and found him staring at his phone with a dark, brooding expression.

The increase in Villain Value had to be related to Su Wenyu. So, what was on the phone? Something about him?

Su Wenyu scratched his cheek, not quite understanding.

Fortunately, the Villain Value didn’t keep increasing this time. It just spiked briefly before gradually settling back down.

Su Wenyu saw Zhou Xu put his phone back in his pocket, looking like he was about to get up. He quickly averted his gaze, pretending to be absorbed in his drama.

Zhou Xu walked straight past him into the bathroom to wash his face. The cold water helped his heated brain cool down. After drying his face, he came out and asked, “What do you want for dinner? I’ll go to the cafeteria and bring something back for you.”

Su Wenyu thought for a moment: “Sausages, fried chicken, and spicy hot pot!”

Not a single healthy item in that list.

Zhou Xu glanced down at his injured foot, recalling the usage instructions for the bruise-reducing spray. It didn’t detail any strict dietary restrictions; he probably just needed to avoid foods that stimulated blood circulation.

Seeing Su Wenyu’s eager, longing expression, Zhou Xu also remembered that he’d been restricted to a bland diet for the past week to protect his stomach.

“Fine,” Zhou Xu nodded in agreement.

He then asked, “Any foods you don’t like to eat? If not, I’ll just add a random mix to the spicy hot pot.”

Su Wenyu immediately perked up: “None. I’ll eat anything.”

Zhou Xu looked at his small frame, completely unable to understand how Su Wenyu could eat so much and yet not put on any weight at all.

“If it’s convenient, could I also ask for a cup of milk tea?” Su Wenyu looked at him, eyes sparkling.

“Got it,” Zhou Xu said. As he was about to leave, he remembered something, pulled out his phone, and presented his QR code. “Scan this to add me as a contact. Message me if anything comes up. Stay put in the dorm and don’t cause trouble.”

Su Wenyu obediently found his phone and added him. Right in front of Zhou Xu, he changed the contact name to ‘Brother.’

Zhou Xu’s gaze inadvertently swept over it, but he pretended not to see. He changed Su Wenyu’s contact name to ‘Su Wenyu’ and then walked out the door.

Today was S University’s return day. Aside from the freshmen, all other students were returning to campus today.

When Zhou Xu first stepped out of the freshman dorm building, he didn’t attract much attention, as there were practically no people around that area.

But when he turned a corner and reached the main road, he encountered more students, and the number of gazes on him increased.

Zhou Xu himself was already a very outstandingly handsome type. Coupled with his superior height and physique, he normally drew a fair number of looks just walking down the street, let alone here at S University—Su Wenyu’s school and the prime gossip hotspot for the Su family’s real-and-fake young master incident.

Perhaps initially, most people only knew Su Wenyu, with their impression of Zhou Xu limited to “he’s the Su family’s real young master.”

But after that afternoon’s piggyback ride, Zhou Xu had also become famous on forums, Tieba, and various campus groups. Once he reached the main road, quite a few people recognized him.

Zhou Xu ignored all the gazes directed at him. Perhaps the phrase “gay” in the group chat had delivered a brutal psychological blow, preemptively desensitizing him to it. Such a level of staring meant nothing to him; his mental state was still relatively stable.

The cafeteria closest to the male dormitories was the Third Canteen. The first floor served various fast foods, breakfast items, noodles, and congee. The second floor was where you found snacks like spicy hot pot, malatang, and fried chicken.

Zhou Xu packed a fast-food meal for himself on the first floor, asking the serving lady for an extra portion of rice. Then he went up to the second floor to queue for what Su Wenyu wanted to eat.

It was dinnertime, and with all students returning to school today, the cafeteria was packed.

Some people with faster internet recognized Zhou Xu when they saw him. A few even secretly took photos of him with their phones—too stupid to even turn off the flash.

Earlier, when he was carrying the injured Su Wenyu, Zhou Xu could ignore those taking candid shots.

But now these flashes were getting right in his eyes. Zhou Xu could no longer pretend not to see. He strode directly over to a few male students and asked, “Taking pictures of me?”

The male students put away their phones and said nothing.

Zhou Xu laughed: “Daring to take them but not to admit it? Take out your phones. Delete them.”

Zhou Xu extended his hand toward them. With his absolute advantage in height and build, he looked down at them with an imposing air that screamed: If you don’t delete them for me, I’ll beat you all up.

The male students ultimately didn’t dare start a conflict with him here. Seeing more and more people looking their way, they had no choice but to pull out their phones, tap a few times, and show Zhou Xu the screen: “Deleted.”

Zhou Xu said, “Delete the ones in the recycle bin too.”

The faces of those male students stiffened. They seemingly hadn’t expected him to catch that loophole. Forced to, they deleted his photos from the recycle bin right in front of him, then quickly turned and left without looking back.

Using the same method, Zhou Xu made a few other people delete his photos in front of him. After that, people in the cafeteria realized Zhou Xu didn’t like being photographed and wisely kept their phones away.

Still, the gossip was unavoidable.

While Zhou Xu stood waiting by a pillar with his number ticket, he overheard people discussing him.

Some called him ill-tempered. Others said he was only acting this arrogantly because he’d returned to the Su family.

Many others commented that he’d turned into a rich man’s son overnight, a wild chicken transforming into a phoenix, perching on a phoenix branch, but still unable to shake off his rustic air.

When Zhou Xu heard this, he even looked down at what he was wearing.

Simple black T-shirt, black pants. How did this look rustic?

Although they were his old clothes, he’d only worn them a few times. The cut was still good. Where was the rusticity?

He’d even worked as a model during his part-time jobs. Many scouts had approached him, trying to persuade him to enter the entertainment industry to make a living with his face and body, saying his temperament was naturally suited to the fashion world.

But in these people’s mouths, he’d become a bumpkin rising to power.

Zhou Xu sneered inwardly, simply dismissing them as sour grapes claiming they weren’t sour. He treated it as a joke.

What he hadn’t expected was that someone would bring up Su Wenyu.

Saying that Su Wenyu, who used to look down on everyone with such arrogance, was now just a fake. And even with the real young master already home, he still had the nerve to shamelessly cling to the Su family and refuse to leave. So shameless.

Such comments weren’t rare at S University.

When Zhou Xu had browsed Tieba and the forums, not many people yet knew he’d transferred to S University. The posts floating on the front page at the time were mostly about Su Wenyu.

But these people, wanting to gossip yet fearing the subject of the gossip might cause them trouble, were sneaky about it, as if they couldn’t be seen. They even used the initials of Su Wenyu’s name when talking about him.

If the real-and-fake young master incident hadn’t been unique to the Su family, Zhou Xu at first glance genuinely wouldn’t have known who they were talking about.

But based on Zhou Xu’s interactions over the past half month at the Su household, first of all, putting aside whether Su Wenyu was trying to cling to the Su family, at least Shi Pei and Su Duanhong, the two decision-makers of the Su family, had never thought of sending Su Wenyu away.

Raising someone for nineteen years… even if he wasn’t their biological child, through nineteen years of meticulous care and heartfelt companionship, he had long become family.

Besides, after investigation, the mix-up at birth was truly an accident. Both children, both families, were victims. The Su family didn’t intend to project the resentment over their biological son being switched onto Su Wenyu.

It was just that the internet was full of wild speculation. Netizens, as if they’d personally witnessed the baby-switching scene, pointed fingers and commented self-righteously on the matter.

Zhou Xu felt that Su Wenyu must have seen these online remarks, maybe even read quite a few.

Because back at the Su household, Shi Pei had once sought him out for a private talk.

Shi Pei said Su Wenyu had a pure nature but a sensitive personality. Back when he first learned he wasn’t their biological child, she and Su Duanhong were in a state where their whole world seemed to collapse. Driven by the urgent need to find their biological son and clarify the mix-up, they failed to protect Su Wenyu properly during the incident, leading to endless online comments about Su Wenyu being a cuckoo in another bird’s nest.

Even back then, many of the household servants discussed it. Although those servants had already been dismissed, it had still severely impacted Su Wenyu’s sensitive heart.

Shi Pei said Su Wenyu used to just be a bit spoiled, but was actually very well-behaved and obedient. It was only after experiencing so many things that he became particularly unruly.

She hoped Zhou Xu could treat Su Wenyu like a real younger brother. To prevent Zhou Xu from having objections to Su Wenyu staying in the Su family, she even revealed that Su Wenyu’s household registration had long been transferred out of the Su family.

Zhou Xu didn’t know when the household registration was transferred, nor was he clear if Su Wenyu knew about this.

But he understood that Su Wenyu’s position in the Su family, even if he wasn’t on the family registry, wasn’t something that could be changed just by a few online comments.

Of course, regarding Shi Pei’s description of Su Wenyu as well-behaved, obedient, and affectionate… Zhou Xu felt that was debatable.

Thinking about Su Wenyu currently alone and lonely in the dorm, perhaps even browsing forums online, fuming and wiping away tears while reading, Zhou Xu’s heart softened a little again.

His foot was lamed, his arm was bruised, and he was being trash-talked online. Fine, he decided he wouldn’t hold those rumors about being “gay” against him.

The numbers for both the malatang and fried chicken were called. Zhou Xu went to pick up the food. As he passed by the people who had been badmouthing Su Wenyu behind his back, he made a point of casting a cold glare at them.

Those people were glared at for no apparent reason, but they didn’t dare say anything.

Finally, with their packed meals in his left hand and the sausages Su Wenyu wanted in his right, Zhou Xu returned to the dorm, loaded with spoils.

He had already imagined how pitiful Su Wenyu must be, all alone in the dorm room.

But when he went upstairs and just turned from the stairwell, before he even reached the dormitory door—

Zhou Xu heard the sound of Su Wenyu’s “Hahahahaha” laughter.

Carrying the food, Zhou Xu walked in and saw Su Wenyu still sitting in the exact same position as when he left, at his desk. He was laughing at the drama on his tablet until he was breathless, clutching his stomach, groaning that he’d laughed so hard his stomach hurt, then slumping over his desk, snorting and sniffling as he tried hard to suppress his giggles.

Zhou Xu: “…”

He calmly entered the room, shut the dormitory door properly, and with a deadpan expression, placed the food Su Wenyu had ordered in front of him one by one.

Only then did Su Wenyu notice he was back, his lingering smile too late to retract. He hurriedly called out, “Bro.”

Zhou Xu’s gaze swept over his face and then withdrew. Without a change in expression, he nodded, set the things down, and returned to his own seat, opening his fast-food box and preparing to eat.

Everything seemed perfectly normal on the surface.

But Su Wenyu heard 520 say: The Villain Value had just… slightly increased again.

Su Wenyu immediately covered his mouth and silently closed the laugh-inducing drama.

What was going on? Why did the Villain Value rise whenever he laughed? Was his wide, toothy grin too ugly? Or was his laugh too loud and annoying?

Su Wenyu secretly pulled out a small mirror and smiled at his reflection, baring his teeth.

Mm, very cute.

It seemed the noise must have bothered him.

Next time, he’d make an effort to cover his mouth and try to laugh as quietly as possible.