The real young master thought he was hated by everyone

“What do you mean ‘won’t’?” Mrs. Xie hadn’t heard the entire context and was puzzled.

She had just remembered that her friend liked gardenias and roses, so she went to the garden to cut some flowers to place in the living room vase. This way, when they went to pick up guests from the airport tomorrow, the fresh flowers would greet them as they entered the house, helping to diminish the strangeness of returning home after so many years.

To her surprise, her usually reluctant second son had already come down without anyone calling him.

“I remember you always used to quarrel with Xiaozhi and bully him because he was honest. Now that he hasn’t been back in years and is unfamiliar with everything, you can’t take advantage of him,” she said, recalling the relationship between the two children and feeling a bit uneasy.

“Aunt Luo treated you so well in the past, always making extra pastries for you.”

“Mom”

Xie Sizhi was interrupted and forgot what he wanted to say. He could only glare at her with a hint of complaint, which made her look confused. “Did I say something wrong? You were such a greedy child when you were little.”

He would finish his own food and then run to steal from his brother’s plate. The eldest would let him, but he would always gulp things down without savoring the taste, and before he knew it, all the cake and pastries would be gone.

After saying that, she didn’t pay attention to her second son anymore but turned to introduce the other two children to each other.

“By the way, this is Xie Duzhi; he is two years younger than you and Sizhi.” 

“Duzhi, this is Xiaozhi, your Aunt Luo’s son, who just returned to the country today.”

Xie Duzhi set aside his earlier confusion and nodded slightly to the unfamiliar young man sitting on the sofa as a greeting.

He knew that Mrs. Xie had a friend who had moved abroad, and they had kept in touch over the years. She had mentioned at the dinner table just yesterday that her friend was returning home.

However, he hadn’t connected “Aunt Luo” with “Luo Zhi” before.

He had heard of him, a renowned violinist who could effortlessly master various instruments, with tickets to his concerts being hard to come by. Even though he rarely performed domestically, his excellent looks and superb skills had earned him quite a fan base.

But more than that, he was concerned about the violin placed in Lin Feng Bay.

He was almost certain that the violin was a gift from him.

Luo Zhi was equally aware of him, having heard his name through the years.

He vaguely knew about the events that had unfolded in the Xie family over the years and understood that Mrs. Xie had adopted another child, often hearing his mother praise his excellence.

Thinking of this, the young man momentarily spaced out, lost in thought.

He snapped back to reality and politely smiled, saying, “I’ve heard so much about you; Aunt Bai often mentions you to my mom.”

However, Xie Duzhi only responded with a neutral “Hmm,” displaying a lukewarm reaction.

For some reason, there was a subtle sense of jealousy in his heart.

He hadn’t given much thought to the precious violin at the time, merely checking to see if the name on the gift list was a formal title or not. He had only considered that his younger brother might take an interest in music and wanted to learn a bit about it.

He felt that he should have double-checked the gift list—after years of not seeing each other, suddenly gifting such a significant violin as a birthday present inevitably led to assumptions.

The atmosphere was filled with an inexplicable heaviness and awkwardness.

Fortunately, Mrs. Xie, whose heart was solely focused on fostering a bond between the kids, didn’t notice the tension.

She thought that both Xie Duzhi and Luo Zhi were outstanding young people, and they shared a similar calm demeanor. While Xie Duzhi was quieter, Luo Zhi was more outgoing. Once they became familiar, they would surely become good friends.

Though the two families were now separate, before moving away, she and her friend had been as close as family.

It had been this way for their parents, and Mrs. Xie secretly hoped the children could share the same closeness.

She placed each flower she had cut into the vase and told them that Aunt Zhen had already prepared the dishes, and they would eat once the other person in the house returned.

“What a pity Xie Shenzhi isn’t here.”

She lamented for the umpteenth time, a bit worried. “You were closest to him; I wonder if you two will be able to catch up after so many years.”

It was precisely because Luo Zhi had once been so close with the eldest son, who could barely say a few words, that she believed he could also become a good friend to Xie Duzhi.

“Aunt Bai, we’ve kept in touch.”

The young man took the initiative to help her arrange the flowers that hadn’t yet been placed in the vase, carefully removing any bad leaves and uneven petals, his movements natural and practiced.

“He often messages me, and we talk about our past experiences learning the violin together.”

So, it seems he has a really good relationship with the eldest brother.

Li Heng thought to himself.

After all, Xie Shenzhi was the least active person in the family when it came to chat apps, barely participating in the group chat.

He preferred to directly call if he had something to discuss or send a text message. He often waited for Mrs. Xie to mention him directly, naming him explicitly to get a brief response of a few words.

He noticed that he didn’t know when Xie Sizhi had moved to stand beside Xie Duzhi.

“What I was talking about just now was how he used to trick Li Heng, so he should be careful not to fall for his tricks,” Xie Sizhi seemed to regain his confidence.

“… When did Luo Zhi ever trick him?” 

Mrs. Xie countered, completely unaware of such a thing.

All she remembered was how her second son had tricked the little one into thinking they would go out to play and then scared him with tales of wolves and bad people, making the little one worry during bedtime stories about whether the door at home was sturdy enough to keep wolves out.

“It was about that skirt incident.” Xie Sizhi couldn’t believe she had forgotten. “Didn’t you hear Aunt Luo encouraging him to wear a skirt and go play with Luo Zhi?”

They were playing house!

“But at that time, Luo Zhi was just a kid, too. He thought Li Heng was adorable, and just wanted to tease him by asking if he wanted to be a bride,” Mrs. Xie recalled the past.

Being reminded, she also remembered mentioning this event before—though she had already told the story while shopping.

“Has Xie Duzhi never seen those pictures of him back then? The ones where he wore a puffy dress?”

She smiled, radiating the kind of joy that emerges when talking about amusing anecdotes. “Those photos are still at the old house; it was so much fun back then.”

“Your Aunt Luo told him that if he became Luo Zhi’s bride, he could come to play at their house every day and have milk with biscuits. When he got home, he told me he wanted to marry him.”

“—Isn’t that just silly and cute?” 

Before the young man could speak, Xie Sizhi had already shouted in dissatisfaction, “Mom, how can you still be laughing?”

“Li Heng doesn’t know any better; doesn’t Luo Zhi know? He tricked him!” 

“Doesn’t that just show how cute your little brother is?” 

Mrs. Xie raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but reprimand him. “Fortunately, Li Hengis a boy. If he were a girl, I’d worry about how he would make friends with an older brother like you, who believes everything he hears.”

“Don’t be so protective.” 

As the one who had been traded for a bowl of milk and biscuits, Li Heng just wanted to quickly fill out a college application, receive his acceptance letter, and immediately pack his bags for school. 

Or wait for Gu Mingyue to return and go on an adventure with him.

It’s hard not to feel embarrassed when one’s past mishaps are brought up, especially when he realized that even Xie Duzhi knew about it now. His ears were burning with shame.

How embarrassing.

He thought to himself, stealing a glance at the young man next to him, unable to help but observe his reaction.

Mrs. Xie was laughing as she reminisced, and Luo Zhi was also smiling, but while smiling, he kept apologizing for his past self, telling him not to take it to heart.

His second brother wasn’t laughing, but he was nearly puffing up with anger like a blowfish.

But what about Xie Duzhi—? 

What would he think upon hearing about such a silly thing? Would he, like everyone else, kindly laugh at him and call him cute?

Thus, their gazes met for a brief moment before quickly turning away.

When he noticed that Xie Duzhi wasn’t laughing at him, the he inexplicably felt relieved.

Perhaps due to the tension and the awkwardness of their relationship, he hadn’t noticed that Xie Duzhi’s lips were pressed into a straighter line than usual, and his eyes looked deeper.

This was a reflection of his displeasure.

Although he couldn’t clearly articulate why he felt this subtle discomfort.

When Mr. Xie saw the guest at home, he was also surprised.

He asked Luo Zhi how he had been doing all these years and, upon learning that he planned to focus on domestic matters in the future, he rarely praised him.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was quite harmonious, likely because the Xie family was inherently warm and welcoming, and it might also be due to the young guest’s keen sense of maintaining a pleasant atmosphere, making others feel comfortable.

Xie Duzhi could tell that the warmth the young man conveyed wasn’t purely for ulterior motives; it was genuine and not like Bai Ruan’s superficiality.

Logically, he should feel reassured. So why did he have such thoughts?

He habitually analyzed himself and realized that, strictly speaking, his and Luo Zhi’s positions were nearly overlapping.

The relationships from the previous generation led him to consciously distinguish Luo Zhi from others from the beginning—strictly speaking, Luo Zhi was also Mrs. Xie’s son.

The concept of a godson is somewhat similar to that of an adopted son.

However, the intimacy of an adopted son is higher, and the time spent together is longer than with a godson, without the variable of “previous generation relationships.”

But this shouldn’t be the main reason.

The primary reason should be that, with Luo Zhi, he no longer felt special as an older brother.

To the young people present, Luo Zhi had no blood relation but cared for his older brother just the same, and there was no essential difference between them.

…Luo Zhi might even be a bit closer.

Because they had known each other since he was little and had spent time together.

Although he hadn’t fully participated in the youth’s upbringing, compared to Luo Zhi, he undoubtedly seemed to be missing a small but crucial piece of the puzzle.

Xie Duzhi subtly raised his gaze.

And collided with the young man sitting almost directly across from him.

Luo Zhi had also been observing him.