IM Chapter 15

Chapter 15

He had just swallowed the food in his mouth when he heard his mother ask if Yu Xingqiao was seeing anyone. If these words were asked in the past, both the speaker and the listener would have felt heavy-hearted.

Yu Xingqiao laughed heartily twice, jokingly saying that no one would want someone with such a fiery temper like him. Zhou’s mother glanced at Zhou ChiRui, who had been silent the whole time, and Yu Xingqiao followed her gaze to look at the alpha, but it was only a fleeting glance.

“ChiRui, why aren’t you talking today? Speaking of which, today is your birthday, but your dad and I haven’t really celebrated it with you these past few years. Should I order a cake? It feels like something’s missing from a birthday that’s so quiet and uneventful.”

“No need to bother,” he said softly with a faint expression, “I’m already satisfied as long as I can eat the food Mom and Dad make.”

Zhou’s mother was clearly pleased by this, and happily smiled, saying, “This child of mine never used to talk much, but now his words are getting sweeter and sweeter. Your brother… he was clumsy with words, I don’t know what that silly child Xingqiao saw in him.” The woman seemed to realize she had said something wrong, and her voice trailed off.

Zhou ChiRui’s expression became much colder.

Zhou ShuYan had earned a spot at Tsinghua University with his excellent grades, he was undoubtedly the pride of the Zhou family. Every time they talked about this son, Zhou’s parents would be full of pride, as if they had instantly become several years younger.

But now, the name seemed to carry a heavy weight, no matter when it was mentioned.

The atmosphere at the dinner table instantly plummeted to freezing point.

Seeing this, Zhou’s father quickly and enthusiastically urged everyone to eat. Yu Xingqiao also forced a couple of laughs, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Zhou ChiRui glanced at the omega beside him, whose emotions were clearly fluctuating, and quietly placed a peeled shrimp in his bowl, softly saying, “Mom knows you love garlic-flavored crayfish, she made it especially for you.”

Yu Xingqiao lowered his head, staring blankly at the crayfish that had suddenly appeared in his bowl, his lips slightly twitching, his chest feeling sour. He smiled and said, “Thank you, Auntie.”

Because of this one sentence, the atmosphere, which had turned cold, quietly warmed up a bit.

After finishing dinner, Yu Xingqiao didn’t stay long and was about to leave, and Zhou’s mother specially asked Zhou ChiRui to see him off. Yu Xingqiao originally wanted to decline, but before he could open his mouth, the alpha had already walked out the door two steps ahead of him.

He reacted sluggishly for a few seconds, then said goodbye to Zhou’s mother and uncle in the living room, and turned to follow him.

Yu Xingqiao caught up with him and walked side by side, neither of them speaking.

Finally, he was the first to speak, “I didn’t hear you say it was your birthday today.”

Zhou ChiRui had one hand in his pocket, not stopping.

“It’s just a birthday, it doesn’t matter whether I celebrate it or not,” the alpha said quietly.

Yu Xingqiao walked next to him, and they were both silent for a while.

The omega looked at the intersection ahead and suddenly said with emotion, “You have indeed grown a lot since the first time I met you, but after so many years, you’re still so immature.” He paused, and then said, “I remember the first time I met you, you were only twelve years old. That was the first time your brother took me to your house, as a friend. In the blink of an eye, ten years have passed. You’ve grown up too, and you’ll soon be able to stand on your own and start a family.”

“Start a family?” Zhou ChiRui suddenly stopped, turning his head to look at him, “You’re just hoping to get rid of me, aren’t you?”

“You could see right through me.” The omega’s tone carried a hint of teasing, pretending to be relaxed as he said, “Zhou ChiRui, if you really like me, I advise you to give up on this idea.”

Zhou ChiRui frowned, a stubborn look in his eyes, “If you want me to give up, you better give up on that idea, I won’t let go.”

After he finished speaking, he walked straight ahead, leaving the omega behind.

Yu Xingqiao glanced at his back, his lips slightly moving, he was quite stubborn. He quickly caught up, “I don’t like you, why are you so persistent?”

Zhou ChiRui’s eyes flickered slightly where he couldn’t see, and he muttered softly, as if he were saying to himself, “Liking you is my own business, whether you like me or not is your business. In short, if you want me to give up, I advise you to dispel that idea.”

Yu Xingqiao walked two steps faster, leading him by half a step, and stopped in front of him when he heard this, blocking his way, “The men in your Zhou family, one is more clingy than the other.” He looked up slightly, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness, “Your brother was like that, unwilling to let me go even in death, and now you’re here again. Yu Xingqiao, am I here to pay off debts in this life? Just take me this far, I’ll go back myself.”

Before the alpha could open his mouth, Yu Xingqiao seemed to remember something, and after walking two steps, turned his head back, adding, “Oh, right, I forgot to tell you, I don’t like garlic-flavored crayfish.”

Zhou ChiRui was slightly stunned when he heard this.

“I like spicy crayfish, don’t get it wrong next time.”

Yu Xingqiao left these words behind, leaving the alpha where he was.

Zhou ChiRui came back to his senses and hurriedly chased after him, following closely behind him, “I’ll take you back anyway, it’s not far.”

“Whatever, it’s up to you,” the boy said without turning his head, not paying attention to the person who continued to chase after him.

The next day at ten o’clock in the morning, Shang Jue had class.

For university classes, if you want to, there are plenty of excuses to convince yourself not to go. He doesn’t go to easy classes, he doesn’t go to classes with bad teachers, he doesn’t go to exams that aren’t difficult, and he doesn’t go to any exam content that can be resolved within a week.

There were originally only a few classes, and this way, it was like studying for fun.

The few of them usually spent their free time playing basketball or going to the Clubhouse to play a few rounds, or doing something else, anything but reading.

He Yi asked the two of them to play basketball together after school, and he put his hand on Zhou ChiRui’s shoulder, slightly raising his toes, “Aren’t you allergic to ultraviolet rays? The sun is at its strongest at that time, are you sure you can handle it?”

“I definitely can’t, but as long as you guys have fun,” Zhou ChiRui said.

“You’re not planning to play?”

“You also said I’m allergic to ultraviolet rays. You guys play a couple of games first, and I’ll play later.”

“…” He Yi’s anger value was directly maxed out, “You’re not planning to take advantage of us when we’re most tired to completely crush us, are you? Do you really think the few of us are dogs?”

“I’m not going today,” Shang Jue also said from the side.

He Yi’s eyes narrowed, and he patted his shoulder in a cheap manner, leaning his body slightly. After all, he was his good brother, and everything was written all over his face, so it was hard not to see it.

“You’re going to pick up your brother again, aren’t you? Why don’t we go together. You bring me, I’ll bring Zhou ChiRui, and you two can go pick him up together.”

Zhou ChiRui: “I’m not going.”

As far as he knew, someone hadn’t set foot in the cat cafe recently.

“Don’t be like this,” He Yi put his left arm around him and his right arm around Shang Jue, “I say you should learn from our Brother Shang in this regard. Why don’t you ask him how brothers should get along friendly? Look how affectionate they are.”

Zhou ChiRui looked at the alpha with complicated eyes, and a cold mockery appeared on his lips, “I’m not a pervert, I wouldn’t even let go of my own brother.”

Shang Jue also cooled his face, “I’m a pervert, then what are you? Yu Xingqiao used to date your brother, and your brother even took him back to see your parents. Now you want to be with him again. Good, next time you meet, he should be more familiar with calling Mom and Dad than the first time.”

He Yi was stuck in the middle of the two, feeling stifled.

Zhou ChiRui’s face darkened, and he turned to leave with one hand in his pocket. He Yi quickly grabbed him and pulled him back, “Oh, right, I forgot to ask what the name of your home is, I’ll come find you when I have time, we can all have a drink or two.”

“Tupi graves.” The alpha was a little annoyed.

“Tupi graves? I’ve heard of unfinished houses, but I’ve never heard of graves having tupi.”

“Is it strange?” Zhou ChiRui half-closed his deep eyes.

“Isn’t it strange?” He Yi asked him back.

“It’s not my name, it’s none of my business.”

“Haha…” He Yi was stunned by his words, but fortunately his little head was clever and he quickly reacted, patting his shoulder forcefully, not forgetting to tease the other party in this shooting, “Eh, did you take gunpowder today? You’re so angry. Or did you and him have another fight? There’s no permanent grudges or hatreds between good brothers, you might as well take the initiative to show the other party your good intentions, it’s not a long-term solution to keep fighting.”

Zhou ChiRui’s expression softened a lot, which was rare. In the past, whenever he mentioned anything related to Yu Xingqiao, the man’s face was so ugly that it was unbearable to look at. As for what He Yi said, wasn’t it what he was thinking?

Shang Jue rarely skipped class, planning to take a walk around his brother’s shop first, and at lunchtime, he could find an excuse to have lunch with someone.

Xu Chen also sent two messages to Shen ChiTai, but the other side didn’t reply. He didn’t take it to heart and went straight to the cat cafe. The omega usually stayed in the cat cafe most of the time, but the cat cafe was unusually closed today.

Just as he was about to leave, he ran into Su Ning, who had just come out of the cake shop with her classmates.

Xu Chen ignored her and was about to drive away, but Su Ning saw him and took the initiative to run across the road towards him.

The omega stopped panting beside the car, the smile in her eyes extending to the corners of her lips, making her look beautiful and hard to look away from, “Brother Xu, are you here to wait for senior?”

Xu Chen reluctantly gave an “Mm” sound, his eyes looking at the students in front of him who were crossing the road and talking and laughing.

He had never liked Su Ning, and he had never given her a good look on weekdays, hoping that she would be sensible and leave him voluntarily, which would save him a lot of unnecessary trouble.

However, his father seemed to be very optimistic about this omega, after all, he was his good friend’s precious son, and the only child in the family, which was one of the reasons why he hated Xu RuZhou the most.

A man who used any means to achieve his goals and never asked for his opinion.

“I just saw senior, he probably hasn’t gone too far at this point, if you chase after him quickly, you should be able to catch up with him.” Su Ning smiled and pointed him in a direction.

“Thanks, I’m leaving first.” He was about to leave without hesitation.

“Brother Xu.” The omega clenched her hands tightly at her side, her eyes sparkling, and said slowly, word by word, “Let’s go home together, just this once, and it’ll be the last time. I know you don’t like me, and I know you hate me, but you’re only not driving me away because of Uncle Xu’s face. Just this last time, I’ll never pester you again.”

Xu Chen was a little annoyed. He thought that it might be too late to chase Shen ChiTai now, but it wouldn’t be bad to get rid of Su Ning.

Seeing that he didn’t object, the omega happily smiled, “Wait for me here, I’ll go buy two cups of milk tea.”

There were still a few people lined up in front of the milk tea shop. He waited in place for about ten minutes before the omega walked over from the milk tea shop with two cups of milk tea.

“Don’t you like passion fruit? This cup is for you.”

Xu Chen didn’t take it, only saying, “Don’t spend so much next time.”

Su Ning’s expression was a little stiff, but she still smiled obediently and said “Okay”.

Shang Jue had been absent-minded on the way from school to the shop, and his right eyelid had been twitching badly, but he had never believed in such things. The alpha made a special detour to the cat cafe, but his brother wasn’t there and the shop was closed.

On the way back, he also met Li Yuan, who had also gone to the cat cafe. The girl next to him said a few words to him, but he didn’t hear them.