The Flower Of The High Mountain Is Pregnant With The Son Of The Sand Sculpture Ceo Chapter 48
byChapter 48 Young Master Pei’s Beloved
Lu Shangyan moved backward, dodging the hand reaching out to touch him.
His stomach was currently protruding, though it wasn’t obvious under his loose clothing. However, if he lifted his shirt, it would be clear that his body was not normal right now.
But his evasion looked like guilt in the man’s eyes. The man was much bulkier than Lu Shangyan. Seeing Lu Shangyan refuse to obey, the anger on his face intensified: “Don’t move! If you didn’t steal it, why are you hiding!”
Lu Shangyan’s ears were ringing from the shout, and dissatisfaction surfaced on his face.
When he was young, because he was poor and parentless, if a classmate lost or misplaced something, their instinct was to look at him first. Elementary school students didn’t know how to hide their emotions or preferences; if they suspected him, the first thing they did was go to the teacher.
Coincidentally, in the third grade of elementary school, he had a very irresponsible homeroom teacher. As soon as a student complained, the teacher would rush over and search his backpack. He remembered one time he had a small, second-hand toy model in his bag—a birthday gift he had bought for himself after saving money for a long time. Lu Lin had a whole cardboard box of similar toys but wouldn’t let him play with any of them.
When the teacher pulled it out and saw the wear and tear, he immediately determined it was stolen, completely ignoring the fact that the complaining classmate had only lost a well-used eraser.
Lu Lin’s mother was home at the time. After being called to the office by the teacher, she immediately took the opportunity to slap him twice without a word. Afterward, she adamantly claimed she had never bought Lu Shangyan any toys, nor had any of the other aunts.
Lu Shangyan explained that he had bought it with his own money, but he was young then, and no one believed he could earn money himself. Furthermore, Lu Lin’s mother was very certain, saying he didn’t have any money at all.
This was because she regularly checked Lu Shangyan’s backpack, leaving him only a small amount of money, just enough to buy steamed buns so he wouldn’t starve.
Lu Shangyan was subjected to strange looks for three days. To punish him, his uncle and aunts forbade him from sleeping on the balcony at home, so the community hallway became his shelter from the wind and rain.
He was stubborn. Early on the fourth day, he skipped class and forced the man who sold him the toy to come to school. The man was supposed to be at work and kept dragging his feet. Unable to think of a better way, Lu Shangyan directly slammed his head into the corner of the man’s work desk. Blood instantly flowed out.
The man was terrified. Meeting Lu Shangyan’s eyes made his heart pound. He quickly bandaged him up and followed him to the school.
After the matter was clarified, the student who had complained came to apologize, but Lu Shangyan never spoke to him again. However, he always remembered the look of absolute certainty on that student’s face when he went to the teacher, convinced Lu Shangyan was a thief.
His consciousness returned, and Lu Shangyan’s breathing became rapid. Seeing the man in front of him still relentless, Lu Shangyan knew that based on his previous fighting style, he could easily use an over-the-shoulder throw to slam the man to the ground.
But as he moved to strike, the image of Pei Yumin smiling and telling him to be careful of his face suddenly flashed through his mind. So this time, after hoisting the man’s arm onto his shoulder, he didn’t exert force. Instead, he lifted his foot and delivered a fierce kick to the man’s lower body.
The opponent was completely caught off guard by this move. He had been prepared for Lu Shangyan to fail to lift him, so he had spread his legs wide to maintain his balance. He never expected Lu Shangyan’s attack to suddenly change direction.
Clutching his legs, he tumbled to the ground, his posture looking quite ridiculous. His face cycled through shades of green, red, and white. The hand he pointed at Lu Shangyan trembled: “You wait! If I don’t kill you today, my name isn’t Chen!”
The woman who had accompanied him upstairs was now fully dressed. She ran over, saw his state, and immediately helped him up from the ground.
Chen Hao struggled to stand, then shoved the woman away: “Where’s my phone? Get it!”
The woman nervously handed him the phone, while Li Xiaorui, hiding behind the counter, had already silently hung up the call.
Chen Hao took a few steps forward and swung his fist at Lu Shangyan’s face: “Do you know who my godfather is! Your boss’s own uncle! You dare hit me? Getting fired is the least of your worries. This time, I’m going to break one of your arms and one of your legs!”
“If you know what’s good for you, kneel down now and let me deal with you. Otherwise, when I call my godfather here, your life won’t be safe!”
Lu Shangyan dodged his fist and delivered another kick to his lower body. Chen Hao stumbled back several steps, knocking the woman down with him.
Chen Hao was completely enraged, but he knew he couldn’t beat Lu Shangyan. He stayed sitting on the ground and immediately dialed Tang Yi’s number. The person on the other end cursed him for being useless, but after a while, told him to wait, saying he would arrive soon.
After hanging up, he still didn’t get up, terrified that Lu Shangyan might seize the chance to kick him again. If that happened, he might truly be rendered infertile for the rest of his life.
Seeing that Chen Hao had calmed down, Lu Shangyan picked up his bag, intending to leave. Chen Hao panicked and pushed the woman: “Stop him!”
The woman looked troubled but didn’t dare disobey. She spread her arms out in front of him, putting on a fierce expression: “You can’t leave!”
Her voice was too loud, like a megaphone. The few scattered people passing on the road couldn’t help but stop and turn to look. Lu Shangyan had to lower the hand he had raised halfway.
The touch the woman expected didn’t come. After pausing for a moment, she slowly dared to open her eyes.
Lu Shangyan had already taken a step back and was standing a short distance away. He put his bag down because he knew that even if he left now, given Chen Hao’s shamelessness, the matter probably wouldn’t be easily resolved.
He sighed and took out his phone to send a message to Song Yuxin.
[S: I think I accidentally provoked your second uncle’s godson.]
[S: But he definitely accused me of stealing his things first.]
[S: He called your second uncle. I don’t know who to call. Can you call your uncle and explain? I didn’t take his things, and I will cover his medical expenses.]
Song Yuxin replied quickly.
[You don’t need to worry about him. I’ll be there right away.]
Lu Shangyan sighed. Song Yuxin was rushing over late at night, which meant the matter was indeed quite serious.
He turned to glance at Chen Hao, but he didn’t believe he had done anything wrong. He could tolerate other things, but being accused of stealing was unacceptable.
Chen Hao shivered. The standoff lasted for over ten minutes. Suddenly, the woman blocking him was violently shoved aside. She clearly hadn’t expected someone to attack her from behind, especially with such force and lack of pity. The impact was so great that she flew until she hit the transparent glass door frame and stopped.
She turned back with a face full of anger, only to meet Pei Yumin’s gaze. She shivered in fear, wondering why this person looked so menacing.
Lu Shangyan hadn’t expected them all to show up. Pei Yumin stood beside him. The woman had recovered and was fiercely hugging the door frame, glaring at them.
Chen Hao saw so many people arrive and immediately scrambled up from the floor: “What, you steal something and you think you’re justified, is that it!?”
“That watch was a gift my godfather personally gave me when I acknowledged him—it cost over 300,000 yuan!”
Lu Shangyan had been avoiding Pei Yumin for the past few days. Now that he saw him, he instinctively wanted to hide himself again. He lowered his head like an ostrich, but when he heard Chen Hao’s words, his eyes instantly turned red: “No!”
Pei Yumin rarely saw him so emotional. He took Lu Shangyan’s wrist and pulled him behind him: “300,000 yuan? He wouldn’t even look twice at that amount of money.”
“Wouldn’t look twice! Look at what he’s wearing? He probably can’t scrape together 300 yuan! He might not even earn 300,000 yuan in his entire life!” Chen Hao finished, then spat disdainfully: “Pah! A bunch of poor people, relying on sheer numbers to spout nonsense here. I think you’re all working together. He stole the thing and contacted you, and you were waiting outside to help him escape. Since he didn’t come out, you decided to force him out!”
“I’m telling you, no way! All of you stay here and wait for me. None of you are getting away!”
Lu Shangyan’s face darkened: “Do you have proof? If you have proof, call the police directly and let them investigate. Why waste each other’s time here?”
Chen Hao still pointed at his stomach: “Your stomach is the proof. It’s so obviously bulging. Anyone can see you stuffed something in there.”
“Just now, when I told you to lift your shirt for inspection, you immediately panicked. What is that if not a guilty conscience!”
Pei Yumin immediately looked down. Lu Shangyan’s clothes were wrinkled. His heart tightened, and he whispered to him: “You did the right thing.”
Hearing this, Chen Hao became even more agitated: “Right thing my ass! Of course, your accomplice is going to defend you! It would have been a simple matter to just lift your shirt and let me check. Now you’ve made it so embarrassing.”
Lu Shangyan said: “But what I saw in your eyes at the time was more than just wanting to check.”
Chen Hao’s expression at the time was malicious, his gaze naked and carrying a sense of aggression that made him extremely uncomfortable. Moreover, Chen Hao had been intentionally and unintentionally thrusting his hips toward him, which was why Lu Shangyan had precisely kicked his lower body twice!
Kicking him into submission was the only way he finally quieted down, which led to his current fury and embarrassment.
A flicker of panic crossed Chen Hao’s eyes, but he quickly regained his composure. He hadn’t said anything inappropriate or done anything overtly incriminating. Even if these people brought out surveillance footage, they couldn’t convict him.
Besides, he had strong backing. He just needed to hold out until Tang Yi arrived.
He lifted his chin and said, “What could I, a grown man, possibly do to another man!”
Money issues were easy to resolve, but Lu Shangyan being maliciously harassed was not. A sinister look flashed in Pei Yumin’s eyes. Without further hesitation, he strode forward, grabbed Chen Hao by the collar, slammed him onto the floor, and proceeded to beat him fiercely.
Chen Hao could only howl in pain, unable to retaliate at all.
Blood quickly appeared. Lu Shangyan was about to step forward to intervene when he suddenly remembered that Pei Yumin was the heir of Chengyu and didn’t need his help. Besides, those two kicks he delivered earlier hadn’t been satisfying enough.
Tang Suichen made a call, instructing someone to temporarily seal off all information regarding the incident at the hotel today. Then, he signaled for Pei Yumin to drag Chen Hao into an empty room nearby.
“Please, Young Master Pei, I still need to run a business. You’re injuring someone and drawing blood in my hotel lobby. Who will dare to walk through here afterward?”
Pei Yumin finally stopped, still gripping Chen Hao’s collar, and dragged him from the floor into the room.
Song Yuxin walked in last, closed the door, and then told Li Xiaorui to find someone to clean the floor.
Seeing Li Xiaorui’s pale, frightened face, he added: “You can leave early today, but you must not spread word of what happened today.” He glanced at the scattered bloodstains on the floor: “Otherwise, you will bear the consequences.”
He had helped Tang Suichen clean up many messes before. He was never a kind or easygoing person, nor did he understand the concept of pitying women.
Li Xiaorui didn’t dare speak, only nodded repeatedly, wishing for this unexpected disaster to pass quickly!
–
Chen Hao was heavily thrown onto the floor. He had lost a front tooth, and air whistled when he spoke. The woman who came with him was gone. He called out several times, but no one came to help.
Finally, he just lay on the ground, cursing internally: That bitch! I wasted so much money on her!
Pei Yumin nudged him with his toe: “Stop playing dead. What exactly happened with that watch? Explain everything clearly now, and you might suffer less.”
Lu Shangyan absolutely would not steal Chen Hao’s things. Coupled with Lu Shangyan’s statement that Chen Hao’s gaze was inappropriate, it was highly likely that Chen Hao had another motive for stopping him.
Thinking of this made him feel disgusted by Chen Hao. He raised his foot to kick again, but Tang Suichen wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him away: “Calm down. What if you actually kill him or cripple him? We’re here to solve a problem, not create new trouble.”
Pei Yumin said, “He tried to take advantage of Lu Shangyan!”
Lu Shangyan was startled: “He didn’t succeed.”
Pei Yumin’s anger slowly subsided, but his face remained grim, looking as if he was still waiting for a chance to continue beating Chen Hao.
Tang Suichen squatted down in front of Chen Hao with a smile: “Do you know me?”
Chen Hao lifted his swollen eyelids, glanced at him, but didn’t respond, clearly not recognizing him.
Tang Suichen pretended to be puzzled: “In that case, I’m very curious. How do you know my uncle?”
Chen Hao’s eyes widened now. Despite the swelling, he strained to open them and see Tang Suichen’s face clearly.
Tang Suichen pondered for a moment: “I don’t recall having a second uncle? I only have one biological uncle, who is a university professor. Besides, he only has one daughter, and I’ve never seen or heard of him having a godson.”
Chen Hao’s tooth hurt badly. To avoid further beating, he said, “My godfather is Tang Yi!”
In his view, Lu Shangyan was a pauper, and the people around him must also be putting on an act, just trying to extort more money from him.
Tang Suichen shook his head: “Never heard of him.”
“Originally, if this were anyone else, an apology might have sufficed. But unfortunately, do you know who you provoked today? Young Master Pei’s beloved. So, whatever happens next, you’ll just have to endure it.”
Lu Shangyan’s ears felt hot hearing that. Who introduces someone like that? It was both awkward and strange… but he didn’t reject it.
As the standoff continued, Chen Hao’s phone vibrated a few times. Seeing the caller ID was “Godfather,” he immediately perked up. He scrambled to his feet and pointed at the group: “All of you wait! My godfather has wide connections. He won’t let you off later!”
Song Yuxin opened the door: “I’ll call him in.”
Chen Hao swaggered: “You want me to apologize to you? Dream on! Later, I’ll make sure to break your arms and legs! I’ll make you crawl on the ground and call me grandpa! Crying and begging for my mercy!”
“You want to extort me?” He said, his gaze falling on Lu Shangyan: “Looking at your backpack, you must still be a student, right? I’ll carve ‘Watch Thief’ all over you later, and write ‘Accomplice’ on the rest of you, then parade you all around your school!”
Parading him at school?
Lu Shangyan bit his lower lip, his body swaying slightly. Pei Yumin knew what he was afraid of and immediately pressed his arm against Lu Shangyan’s.
Chen Hao straightened his back further and further as he spoke, eventually lifting his chin high. However, paired with his swollen face, covered in drool and bloodstains, he looked utterly ridiculous.
He continued to babble, fantasizing about what he would do to vent his anger once he got his revenge.
But when he turned around, he saw Tang Yi following Song Yuxin into the room, wearing a fawning expression: “I heard you’re going to marry Xiao Chen? When are you having the wedding? I’ll definitely give you a huge red envelope.”
Song Yuxin turned to look at him: “Xiao Chen?”
The man slapped himself and quickly corrected: “No, no, Second Young Master Tang.”
Chen Hao was stunned. Tang Yi had always been arrogant in front of him. If he hadn’t gotten incredibly lucky and caught Tang Yi’s eye, he would probably still be drifting aimlessly, or perhaps starved to death by now.
Tang Yi was the biggest figure he had ever been able to access in his life. Yet now, the most formidable person in his mind was bowing and scraping to Song Yuxin, repeatedly slapping himself and smiling ingratiatingly just because of a look or a word from the other man.
And in his estimation, Song Yuxin didn’t seem to be the highest-ranking person among this group; that honor belonged to Pei Yumin, the one who had just assaulted him.
His heart instantly pounded like a drum, and his breathing became rapid. Moments ago, when he thought he was about to get his “revenge,” none of his injuries hurt. But now, he felt pain so intense he was close to fainting.
After Tang Yi entered, he didn’t even spare a glance for Chen Hao. His attention was completely fixed on Tang Suichen: “Second Young Master Tang, what are you doing here?”
Tang Suichen avoided his hand: “If I hadn’t come, how would I have known that I have a ‘second uncle’ who uses the name of our family relative to bully people everywhere?”
Tang Yi’s expression froze: “We are all one family. Why speak as if we are strangers?”
Tang Suichen looked at him with displeasure: “Who is one family with you? I don’t even know how many degrees of separation there are between you, a local hoodlum, and me. How dare you call yourself my second uncle?”
Tang Yi said, “My mother and your grandmother are cousins.”
Tang Suichen had no patience to listen to him trace their distant, irrelevant family ties. He simply stepped aside, pointed at Chen Hao, and asked, “Him, do you know him?”
Chen Hao was so terrified his legs trembled. Remembering all the boasts he had just made, he wished he could rush back and slap himself a few more times, telling his past self to shut up!
But it was too late.
Tang Yi’s face wasn’t looking good either. He glared at Chen Hao, gritting his teeth. When he first received Chen Hao’s call, he intended to back him up and extort some money. His business hadn’t been doing well lately, and he was struggling to maintain his reputation.
But he never expected this idiot to provoke the wrong people!
Tang Yi immediately offered a conciliatory smile: “I will definitely teach him a good lesson when I get back!”
As he spoke, he slapped Chen Hao twice and kicked him behind the knee, forcing him to kneel on the ground and apologize.
Everything Chen Hao had just threatened to do was now being enacted upon himself.
Chen Hao didn’t dare say a word now, terrified that one wrong sentence would cost him his life.
Tang Yi didn’t dare offend Tang Suichen either, so he could only try his best to downplay the situation: “This must be a misunderstanding. He’s just a brainless brute. Although the watch isn’t expensive, it was a gift when he acknowledged me as his godfather. So, when he lost it, he might have panicked and done these stupid things.”
“I’ll have him apologize to all of you now. You’ve hit him, you’ve cursed him. Now that things are cleared up, it should be fine.”
Pei Yumin pointed at the grip marks on Lu Shangyan’s forearm, which now bore five fingerprints that had appeared at some point: “Cleared up is not enough!”
Lu Shangyan felt a bit guilty now. His minor marks were like an ant compared to the elephant of Chen Hao’s injuries.
He wanted to hide his arm and also wanted Pei Yumin to stop talking. He had originally thought that finding the watch would solve the problem, but who knew this matter would escalate so much! So many people had shown up! But then he reconsidered—that was 300,000 yuan… a sum he once thought he would never possess in his lifetime.
Tang Suichen narrowed his eyes, smiling dangerously: “What are you? You don’t know your own place. Do you think you’re qualified to say these things in front of me?”
Tang Yi hadn’t expected Tang Suichen to give him absolutely no face. Even if he wasn’t his biological uncle, he was at least an elder!
He felt humiliated but didn’t dare show any dissatisfaction in front of Tang Suichen. In the end, he could only force a smile: “Then, how do you suggest we handle this matter?”
Tang Suichen had said his piece, but he hadn’t actually decided on the best course of action. He opened his mouth, then turned to Pei Yumin: “How do you want to handle it?”
Tang Yi had been so focused on flattering Tang Suichen that he hadn’t paid attention to the two people beside him. Now, as his gaze shifted, he realized this person bore some resemblance to Pei Yicheng, whom he had seen from afar before.
Considering Tang Suichen’s family background, Tang Yi felt dizzy. He regretted everything. He shouldn’t have admitted knowing Chen Hao!
Although he was nearly fifty, childless, adopting a godson was easy. He could find another one if Chen Hao was gone. But now that he had provoked the wrong person, he might be ruined too!
Pei Yumin looked at Chen Hao and asked coldly, “Where exactly is your watch?”
“Lu Shangyan just went up to deliver something to you, and you immediately rushed down saying your watch was missing, demanding to strip his clothes. I suspect it wasn’t lost, but that you had ulterior motives!”
Chen Hao trembled a few times, afraid to speak. He looked pleadingly at Tang Yi, but Tang Yi was already struggling to save himself: “Speak! Tell us everything, clearly and truthfully!”
Chen Hao pursed his lips. He was smart enough now to know that if he told the truth, he would be completely finished!
But he hadn’t anticipated that the woman who had fled earlier would be dragged back in by her hair.
She knelt on the ground, breathing heavily, afraid to look at anyone: “I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! It was Chen Hao’s idea!”
“He told me to pretend to act with him, to bring the person upstairs and secretly drug him, to make him compliant. But I didn’t do anything! This has nothing to do with me. Please let me go!”