Chapter 9: The Vicious Fake Young Master of a Wealthy Family – 9

When Su Wenyu jolted awake from his dream, his entire body was drenched in sweat.

His silk pajamas had bunched up during his tossing and turning, exposing a patch of his flat stomach, which rose and fell in rhythm with his ragged breathing.

At some point, a torrential rainstorm had begun outside his window. A fierce wind drove sheets of rain against his terrace with a loud clatter, and the French windows shuddered from the gale’s relentless barrage.

System 520 appeared, asking, [Did you have a nightmare?]

Su Wenyu didn’t answer.

His mind was still trapped in the moment when venomous snakes had coiled around his ankle and slithered upwards. The sensation—so slick, cold, and visceral—was so realistic that it still made his skin crawl now.

It took a long while for Su Wenyu to finally suppress his innate terror of snakes and level out his breathing. “It’s nothing,” he said to 520.

Just a nightmare, he comforted himself.

Sensing his inner thoughts, 520 tactfully stopped asking questions.

Su Wenyu pressed the button on his headboard, turning on every light in the room.

Only once the brilliant light had thoroughly banished the room’s darkness did his heartbeat finally settle down. He got up and went to the living room to pour himself a glass of warm water, soothing his parched throat.

The details of the dream were so vivid that, upon waking, Su Wenyu could hardly tell the difference between reality and the nightmare.

He ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair, pushing it back from his forehead.

He’d sweated so much during the nightmare that his pajamas were sticky and clinging to his skin, an unbearably uncomfortable sensation. He walked into his walk-in closet to grab a fresh set, intending to take a quick shower.

But just as he reached the bathroom and started to undress, his movement—lifting a leg to take off his pants—came to an abrupt halt. His gaze froze on the red mark circling his left ankle.

It was the bruise from where Zhou Xu had grabbed him that afternoon, eerily overlapping with the very spot where the snake had coiled around him in his dream.

That horrible feeling of a venomous snake winding up his leg returned in a phantom wave. A violent shudder ran through Su Wenyu, and he forced his eyes away.

As expected, a person really shouldn’t do bad things.

He’d only bullied Zhou Xu a little this afternoon, and already, retribution had come for him at night in the form of this nightmare.

Su Wenyu closed his eyes tightly, refusing to recall the dream any further. He took a quick, hot shower, dried off, and pulled on the clean pajamas before crawling into bed.

The soft blanket covered his ankle, hiding the mark. That gave his anxious mind a small measure of relief.

For the rest of the night, Su Wenyu kept the lights on. And so, the room on the western side of the second floor of the small villa remained brightly lit until dawn.

At five-thirty in the morning, the rain finally stopped.

Zhou Xu woke up early, glanced at the weather outside, and changed into a black tracksuit to go for his morning run.

As he passed beneath Su Wenyu’s building, he noticed the light still shining from the second-floor window. He didn’t dwell on it, merely steadying his breathing and quickening his pace as he ran past.

Su Wenyu, however, didn’t suffer any more nightmares in the latter half of the night. He finally got a good, solid sleep and didn’t wake up lazily until well past nine in the morning.

[Good morning, Host. The time is now 9:15 AM,] System 520 chirped enthusiastically, detecting his awakening.

Su Wenyu’s eyes were still unfocused. His long lashes cast a shadow over his lower eyelids as he mumbled in a daze, “It’s already 9:15?”

This was the first time he’d slept in this late without having an episode of his illness. Normally, his biological clock would wake him up by seven.

[Around seven-thirty this morning, your phone rang once, but you were sleeping so soundly I didn’t wake you,] 520 explained.

Squinting, Su Wenyu picked up his phone to check, discovering a message from Shi Pei, asking him if he was coming to the main residence for breakfast.

She’d likely realized the answer when he hadn’t responded and hadn’t pressed any further.

Su Wenyu sent her a reply, telling her he’d just woken up.

Then, he messaged the butler, instructing them to just send a portion of breakfast over directly; he couldn’t be bothered to make the trip himself.

After putting down his phone, Su Wenyu cuddled his blanket and lazed about in bed for a while longer. At nine-thirty, he finally stretched with a languid yawn and shuffled to the bathroom to wash up.

When he went to his walk-in closet to change afterward, Su Wenyu deliberately sought out a pair of long socks to cover the red mark on his ankle. Out of sight, out of mind.

He then spent a considerable effort rummaging through his closet before finally picking out a loose, light-colored casual outfit and a pair of sneakers.

The main issue was that his taste and the Original Host’s clashed. The Original Host had favored exquisite leather shoes, bespoke dress shirts and trousers, and all manner of luxury accessories. Thus, the entire wardrobe had been stocked according to those preferences.

Su Wenyu, however, much preferred to dress loosely and comfortably.

Now, staring at a whole closet of clothes that didn’t match his taste, Su Wenyu decided to simply go online shopping—same-city express delivery meant everything would arrive that very same day.

Once the servants from the main residence delivered his breakfast, Su Wenyu sat at the dining table on the ground floor, nibbling small bites of a crispy-on-the-outside, juicy-on-the-inside meat pie while browsing for clothes online.

After finishing his own shopping, it struck him that he’d ruined Zhou Xu’s clothes yesterday and ought to compensate him. So, he picked out a few items from his recent orders that he thought would look good on Zhou Xu too, selected the largest size, and placed the order.

His mood was considerably lifted after buying the clothes. He planned to find Zhou Xu and apologize again for yesterday’s incident once the delivery arrived.

But unexpectedly, Su Wenyu didn’t catch a single glimpse of Zhou Xu for the entire day. Even when he went to the main residence for dinner that evening, Zhou Xu was nowhere to be seen.

From what Shi Pei gathered, one of Zhou Xu’s friends happened to be in this city. The friend had just opened a shop and was a little short-staffed, so Zhou Xu had gone over to help out.

And just like that, for seven days straight, Su Wenyu failed to see Zhou Xu anywhere on the Su family property.

Even though they technically lived in the same villa complex.

When Su Wenyu tried to repeat his old trick—taking the newly bought clothes and planning to deliver them via the connecting terrace—he was shocked to discover that Zhou Xu, at some unknown time, had someone seal off the passage on his side.

A high fence had been erected, with nowhere even to gain a foothold. Given Su Wenyu’s physical prowess, it was completely insurmountable. He was forced to retreat in defeat.

It was then that Su Wenyu slowly began to realize: Zhou Xu wasn’t just going out every day to help at his friend’s shop. It was far more likely that he was actively avoiding him.

Probably because of what Su Wenyu had said that day about having “more opportunities to apologize to him later.”

From Zhou Xu’s perspective, he likely wanted absolutely nothing to do with this possibly-gay “little brother” who kept looking at him with those probing eyes. He probably couldn’t care less about any apology.

But what could Su Wenyu do? Even if it was just for the Villain Value, he couldn’t let Zhou Xu off so easily.

—

The next day was Monday. Before lunchtime, Su Wenyu subtly fished for information about Zhou Xu’s workplace from Shi Pei.

Judging by the completely unworried looks on Shi Pei and Su Duanhong’s faces, his parents definitely knew where Zhou Xu’s friend’s shop was.

Otherwise, with Zhou Xu away from home every single day, someone as prone to anxiety as Shi Pei would surely be feeling uneasy.

Having played the role of a flawlessly well-behaved angel for days, doing not a single bad deed, Su Wenyu now hooked his arm through Shi Pei’s. In a soft, coaxing voice, he pouted, “Mom, what good food could Brother possibly be eating for lunch out there? No matter what, our home-cooked meals are the best. I just want to take him some food and try to build a better relationship between us.”

“If he’s been home this long and I’ve barely even seen him, he might just forget what I look like. If other people notice, they’ll think we brothers aren’t getting along and start spreading all sorts of nasty rumors online again.”

Everything Su Wenyu said was framed as being entirely for his brother’s sake—worried that his brother didn’t like him, wanting to build a good rapport.

To Shi Pei, every single sentence hit right at her softest spot.

“Then I’ll call and let him know first…” Shi Pei’s reason clung on; she wanted to give Zhou Xu a heads-up.

Su Wenyu smiled and gently pushed down the hand holding her phone, saying, “Just give me his phone number. I’ll talk to him myself in a bit.”

A joke. If he let Shi Pei make that call, he probably wouldn’t even be able to find out what road the guy worked on.

Shi Pei’s ears were soft. Su Wenyu’s coos of “good mother” and “I love you most, Mom” completely turned her head, and she ended up sending him both Zhou Xu’s phone number and his workplace address.

Her last shred of reason prompted her to remind him, “Just come straight home after you deliver the lunch. Don’t you dare disturb your brother while he’s working.”

Su Wenyu looked down at the address on his phone screen, then raised his eyes to give Shi Pei a perfectly angelic smile. “Got it, Mom. I’ll have the kitchen prepare one meal and go deliver it right now!”

“Now? Aren’t you going to eat first?” Shi Pei asked.

“I’ll eat when I get back. If I’m late, I’m afraid Brother will have already finished his lunch,” Su Wenyu replied.

Hearing that natural “Brother” roll off his tongue, Shi Pei felt the stone of worry that had been pressing on her heart—the fear that her sons wouldn’t get along—finally lift.

Judging by Su Wenyu’s behavior today, he seemed to quite like Zhou Xu as an older brother.

To think that before, whenever Su Wenyu even heard them mention Zhou Xu’s name, he’d cover his ears, turn his head, and storm off.

Shi Pei was immensely gratified. She quickly instructed the kitchen to prepare a packed lunch.

An hour later, Su Wenyu stepped out of the car, clutching the luxurious boxed meal, and stood before the entrance of a dessert shop.

—

The shop’s glass windows were framed with festive flower arrangements, clearly marking it as a newly opened establishment.

Posters on the door advertised a new store promotion. Thanks to the shop’s decent location, business was brisk, and the small tables by the window-sides were all filled with customers.

Su Wenyu, carrying his food box, stood on his tiptoes and peeked inside. At a single glance, he spotted Zhou Xu standing behind the cashier counter, wearing a pink rabbit apron, processing a payment.

“…”

Su Wenyu blinked in astonishment.

The pink rabbit apron, likely the store’s standard uniform, was trimmed with white ruffled edges.

A tall, broad-shouldered man like Zhou Xu, decked out in a pink rabbit apron, looked utterly incongruous with the rest of the establishment.

But as Su Wenyu watched for a moment from outside, he somehow managed to discern a strange contradiction of cuteness within the ridiculousness.

Perhaps he wasn’t the only one who thought so. Su Wenyu overheard a small crowd of giggling girls approaching the shop’s entrance. One of them declared, “Today, I’m definitely going to work up the courage to ask for his contact info!”

Then, Su Wenyu watched as the girls entered, purposefully selected a few desserts from the display case, and, with nervous excitement written all over their faces, approached the counter.

If nothing went wrong, the target of their contact request was none other than Zhou Xu.

Just as Su Wenyu was debating whether to wait outside until they’d finished their chat with Zhou Xu, System 520 materialized.

A familiar system chime sounded in his head—

[Mission Issued: Host Su Wenyu is to immediately enter the shop and sabotage the romantic prospects of Male Lead ‘Zhou Xu’. Additionally, ruin ‘Zhou Xu’s’ image in the eyes of these women.]

Su Wenyu: “…Huh?”