Chapter 33: Mercenary Fake Rich Young Master 33 Part 3

Zhou Xu irritably pressed the napkin against his mouth, roughly wiping those puckered lips. Seeing the lips he’d rubbed red, he avoided looking and tossed the napkin into a nearby trash can, coldly saying, “Done. If you get it dirty again, wipe it yourself.”

Su Wenyu blinked, stealing a glance at Zhou Xu’s expression. He asked 520 in his mind if the Villain Value had just increased.

Getting an affirmative answer, Su Wenyu felt satisfied.

He then did it again, smearing food on his mouth, and said with exaggerated affectation, “Oh dear, Bro, look, did I get it dirty again? Wipe it for me one more time, please.”

So saying, he puckered his lips at Zhou Xu again.

Zhou Xu looked expressionlessly at the bread crumbs smeared on his lips and asked, “Su Wenyu, do you think I’m an idiot?”

Su Wenyu blinked innocently: “Huh?”

“Even a pig eats cleaner than you. Wipe it yourself.” Zhou Xu stuffed the remaining napkins into Su Wenyu’s pocket, turned, and walked away.

Su Wenyu asked 520: [Is my acting really that bad?]

520, now Su Wenyu’s unconditional hype-man, immediately said: [Not at all! I think your acting was fantastic! The Villain Value went up a ton!]

Su Wenyu nodded. If it wasn’t his problem, then it must be Zhou Xu’s.

It was so troublesome, never being able to figure out what Zhou Xu was thinking.

Su Wenyu wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, not minding, and turned the corner, heading towards his academic building.

While the upperclassmen sat in their classrooms, the freshmen assembled at their assigned class spots, ready to divide into training squads.

–

S University’s campus was vast, containing eight sports fields. Three were large fields with full soccer pitches and spectator stands. Five were slightly smaller fields used by students for casual nighttime runs.

Xia Yehang’s School of Physical Education and Shen Yi’s Law School lucked out, both assigned to the large field near the Administration Building. It was a bit far from the male dorms, but quite close to Su Wenyu’s school.

During a morning training break, Xia Yehang had planned to take the time to wander near Su Wenyu’s school. But just as he stood up, he was stopped by a tall girl.

“Xia Yehang, is this you?” The girl sneaked a glance at the drill instructor. Seeing he hadn’t noticed her, she immediately took out her phone and showed it to Xia Yehang. “I think that’s you in the photo.”

The sun was strong that day. Xia Yehang squinted before he could see the photo on the phone clearly. It was a candid group shot of him, Su Wenyu, and the other two roommates walking together. The angle and slightly blurry figures told him it was a stolen shot.

Xia Yehang raised an eyebrow: “Where’d this come from?”

The girl put her phone away: “Saw it on the forum. I just wanted to ask… does the prettiest guy there have a girlfriend?”

Xia Yehang’s eyes instantly filled with wariness. A love rival!

“What, you want me to give you his contact info?” Xia Yehang’s voice immediately turned hostile.

The girl didn’t pick up on his change in tone and naively nodded: “He’s such a pretty guy. I heard he’s an upperclassman, a year above us? But he looks so squishable. Clean-cut and well-behaved. I quite like him.”

Xia Yehang agreed with her assessment of Su Wenyu’s looks. He liked him too.

At the same time, Xia Yehang was a bit confused by her description: “What do you mean, ‘squishable’?”

The girl elaborated: “Like a lamb or a kitten—soft and huggable.”

Xia Yehang got it. His mind inexplicably flashed to Su Wenyu’s light blue boxer briefs dotted with little stars, rounded curves in all the right places. He’d never touched, but Xia Yehang silently pressed a hand to his nose and nodded in agreement: “Yeah. That’s accurate.”

“So help me ask if I can get his contact info. If he doesn’t want to, that’s fine. Just ask for me, okay? I’ll buy you a drink!” the girl said.

Xia Yehang crossed his arms over his chest defensively: “I’m not short on money for drinks. If you want his contact info, go ask him yourself. Don’t ask me.”

Before the girl could say anything else, Xia Yehang zipped past her and bolted.

The girl called out “Hey!” and put her phone away regretfully.

Her roommate had also asked her to try and get the contact info of the other two, and she hadn’t gotten any of them.

After shaking off the girl, Xia Yehang ran straight to a small supermarket, randomly grabbed a bottle of water, and queued up to pay. In the meantime, he pulled out his phone and logged onto the forum, ready to search and see who had uploaded their photo.

Xia Yehang had thought the post would be hard to find. Unexpectedly, the moment he opened the leisure gossip section, pinned on the forum’s front page with a HOT tag was their post.

Apart from that, there were many other posts on the forum unrelated to him but related to Su Wenyu.

The “Real vs. Fake Young Master” post completely floored Xia Yehang. Although he had long suspected Su Wenyu and Zhou Xu weren’t biological brothers, he never imagined their relationship involved such a wealthy-family baby-switch situation.

He even had heard a bit about this matter. He just never paid much attention to gossip in their social circles before. He only now learned that Su Wenyu was one of the people involved.

So Su Wenyu and Zhou Xu weren’t biological brothers. Then Su Wenyu climbing into Zhou Xu’s bed last night…

Did Su Wenyu genuinely like Zhou Xu?

Xia Yehang felt his heart was going to shatter.

Before he could figure this out, Xia Yehang saw another post. It was filled with malice towards Su Wenyu, attacking his identity as the fake young master, disparaging his character, cursing his personhood. Veins throbbed on Xia Yehang’s forehead as he read.

“Hello, paying?”

The person ahead had just paid, and it was Xia Yehang’s turn. The cashier auntie politely reached her hand out for his water bottle.

Before she could take it, she saw the tall boy before her staring at his phone with a furious expression, roaring, “What a load of FART!”

The cashier jumped in fright. Everyone else in the supermarket looked over as well.

The freshman queued behind Xia Yehang was also startled, but anxious to get back to his formation, he asked, “Are you buying it or not? If not, move.”

Xia Yehang, face dark, handed the bottle to the cashier, swiped his IC card to pay, and strode out gripping the water.

He was furious. He felt that the people on the forum were practically defaming Su Wenyu with fabricated accusations!

He shared a dorm with Su Wenyu. Was Su Wenyu well-behaved or not, did he have a good personality—didn’t he know better than anyone?

Those people on the forum probably hadn’t exchanged a single word with Su Wenyu in their lives, yet here they were slandering him!

Xia Yehang indignantly forwarded the post to Shen Yi and asked: [Doesn’t this kind of post count as defamation?]

Shen Yi, coincidentally on break, glanced at his phone: […]

Xia Yehang: [Can you sue them?]

Shen Yi: [?]

Xia Yehang: [Aren’t you studying law? Can’t you sue them? Can you make them go to jail?]

Shen Yi put his phone away, unwilling to reply anymore.

The reason he hadn’t shown Xia Yehang these posts earlier was precisely because he knew Xia Yehang’s temper. He would absolutely make a huge fuss once he saw them.

He had intended to find someone to deal with the posts before telling him, but Xia Yehang ended up seeing them far too early.

Xia Yehang continued to bombard him with messages: [Sue them. I have money. Have all these rumor-mongers arrested!]

[They even photoshopped black pics of Su Wenyu. Are they jealous of his good looks?]

[There’s even someone saying Su Wenyu bullied him. But I searched this person’s ID and related posts and comments. One moment he says Su Wenyu bullied him. Next moment he bullied his roommate. Next moment he bullied his classmates. This is absolutely slander, right?]

[This person’s post has tons of likes and views. If we sue him for slander, can he be sentenced?]

Xia Yehang typed furiously until the instructor blew the whistle to assemble. Only then did he angrily put his phone away.

After morning training ended, Xia Yehang stood at the field entrance waiting for Shen Yi to come out. The moment he saw Shen Yi, he immediately rushed up and asked, “Why didn’t you reply to my messages?”

Shen Yi’s tone was flat: “Didn’t want to.”

Xia Yehang choked, instantly speechless.

“Also, I’m already handling the posts. The ones spreading rumors can also be identified. When we eat later, get that expression off your face. Don’t let Su Wenyu know about this.” Shen Yi reminded him.

Xia Yehang rubbed his face, which looked fierce with anger, and asked, puzzled: “When did you start handling it? So fast?”

Shen Yi: “Yesterday.”

Xia Yehang froze mid-face-rub. A question mark popped up over his head: “?”

“Shen Yi, something’s not right with you.” Xia Yehang finally realized belatedly that Shen Yi seemed a bit too invested in Su Wenyu’s matters.

And not only that. Shen Yi’s attitude toward Su Wenyu also seemed off.

Xia Yehang and Shen Yi were familiar with each other from childhood, their families acquainted. Xia Yehang knew exactly what Shen Yi’s reputation in school had been. Back in middle school and high school, the girls all called Shen Yi the “Aloof Genius.”

Aloof.

When facing Su Wenyu, only the “Tall” was left.

Where was the “Aloof”???

Similarly aware of Shen Yi’s sexual orientation, Xia Yehang’s eyes instantly widened. He pointed at Shen Yi, his hand trembling with fury: “Shen Yi!”

“I treated you like a brother and told you I liked him. What do you take me for?”

Shen Yi gave him an odd look. What else could he take him for?

“A love rival.” Shen Yi said.

A breath caught in Xia Yehang’s throat. He nearly choked to death on his rage towards Shen Yi.

“Are you sick? There are so many guys out there. Do you have to like the one I like?” If not for their years of friendship, Xia Yehang genuinely wanted to fight Shen Yi.

Shen Yi also thought Xia Yehang was the sick one. He asked coldly: “Have you gotten together with Su Wenyu?”

Xia Yehang froze: “No.”

Let alone gotten together, he hadn’t even dared to confess yet. Elementary schooler-style secret crush. Sneaky.

Shen Yi asked again: “Then is he your boyfriend?”

Xia Yehang shook his head: “No. But just because he’s not now doesn’t mean he won’t be in the future…”

Before Xia Yehang could finish, Shen Yi cut him off: “Since he’s not, what right do you have to stop me from liking him?”

Xia Yehang’s words caught. For a moment, he couldn’t find a rebuttal.

“But… but I already told you I liked him…” Xia Yehang’s eyes reddened with anger.

Shouldn’t a normal friend back off from the person their friend likes?

“Mm. And now I’m telling you: I like him. Are you going to give up pursuing him?” Shen Yi asked.

“How could I possibly give up.” Xia Yehang glared at him.

“Good,” Shen Yi nodded. “In that case, let’s each pursue him with our own abilities. Of course, besides me, you also have another love rival, far more threatening than I am.”

Xia Yehang instantly knew who he was talking about, his voice full of sour jealousy: “Zhou Xu.”

The one Su Wenyu liked so much he climbed into his bed in the middle of the night. Su Wenyu’s non-blood-related older brother.

Not only did Su Wenyu like him, they were family now!

When Su Wenyu went home for break, he lived with Zhou Xu!

Xia Yehang was dying of jealousy.

“Right. Rather than focusing on me, focus more on Zhou Xu. After all, it’s him that Su Wenyu likes.” Shen Yi lightly deflected Xia Yehang’s hostility away from himself, conveniently lowering his head to send Su Wenyu a message.

“Alright. I told Su Wenyu we’ll wait for them at the Second Cafeteria. Let’s line up for food first. Su Wenyu sent a string of things he wants to eat. You line up for half, I’ll line up for half.”

And so, Xia Yehang’s feelings of being betrayed by a friend were snuffed out before they could even fully rise, extinguished at the bud by Shen Yi.

By the time Xia Yehang realized what was happening, he was already standing in the cafeteria, Shen Yi’s forwarded message from Su Wenyu in his hands.

Su Wenyu said he wanted char siu rice, fried chicken legs, and sweet and sour spare ribs.

Such a big appetite. So cute.

Then looking at Su Wenyu’s forward of what Zhou Xu needed—two servings of rice and a three-meat-two-veggie combo meal—Xia Yehang’s grin disappeared from his face. Expression blank.

Eat, eat, eat. All he knows is eating.

Is he a pig?

When Su Wenyu arrived at the cafeteria after class, what greeted him were Xia Yehang’s and Shen Yi’s smiles… which instantly vanished the moment they saw Zhou Xu.