The real young master thought he was hated by everyone

For a moment, Mrs. Xie didn’t know whether she should feel happy or sad.

He called her “Mom.”

But the tone was too cautious. It sounded more like a plea than a request.

Li Heng lowered his head, his eyelashes trembling anxiously, as if he was about to apologize at any moment.

…As if he was afraid of making her unhappy.

Mrs. Xie felt as if something had gripped her heart, her fingernails digging deep into her palms.

The fact that he didn’t want to move back home suddenly became a secondary concern.

“Then how about this? Tomorrow, I will come to pick you up, and we can send you back in the evening. Does that work?” Her voice softened even more.

Not moving back to the Xie family was something Li Heng had already decided the moment he stepped out of the car.

On the ride, he thought about staying away from “Xie Duzhi,” to avoid foolishly offering himself up for deception, getting kicked out of the house, or even losing his job.

Even though the events that followed proved that this Xie Duzhi was not like the one in his dreams, and the likelihood of him being framed was low, he had many other concerns.

“Xie Duzhi” was just one of the reasons he made this decision.

The Xie family members were all incredibly outstanding.

Mrs. Xie and Mr. Xie were both business legends, extraordinary in every way.

Their eldest son, Xie Shenzhi, had an MBA from a prestigious school, spoke several languages, and conducted business with foreign clients without needing an interpreter. He was already a trusted member of the company’s management at a young age.

Their second son, Xie Sizhi, also had a sharp business mind but no interest in managing the company. Halfway through studying finance, he switched to the neighboring arts program and was now a well-known painter whose works sold for millions.

And then there was Xie Duzhi.

In the dream, Xie Duzhi was a piano prodigy in the entertainment industry, with a profile adorned with a long list of accomplishments. He was always featured on giant shopping mall screens and in magazines.

No matter how he thought about it, the real-life Xie Duzhi he encountered must be even more exceptional than the one in the dream.

But Li Heng, who didn’t go to college and was just an unknown live-streamer, felt completely out of place in this family.

He feared that while they might like him now, once they found out he was worthless and incapable, they would end up hating him.

Once you experience what it’s like to be loved, you become greedy and find it hard to cope with the idea of losing it.

Since they didn’t know him well, they probably liked him more than they should.

Thinking like this, he suddenly felt a bit bad and selfish.

Even though he could tell that Mrs. Xie really wanted him to move back in with them, out of vanity and greed, wanting to be liked for a little longer, he still refused.

He turned down someone even better than in his dreams—such a kind and gentle mother.

“I can come on my own tomorrow. I promise I won’t be late,” he assured them, full of guilt, not wanting to trouble them to make an extra hour-long trip to pick him up from another district.

Mrs. Xie actually had a bit of motion sickness.

He found this out in his dream when he was once taken out to an event in the same car as her.

“Uncle Fu has already prepared your room,” Xie Duzhi, who had been silent for a while, suddenly spoke up. “You can stay for the night and head back tomorrow.”

To him, it seemed like an easy solution: “No need for two trips. That way, you can also spend more time together.”

Li Heng’s mind went blank for a second.

Perhaps it was because he had grown used to the coldness, even disdain, from his dreams. He hadn’t expected to be met with a compromise, rather than hearing something like “ungrateful.”

He found it hard to adjust to such kindness.

“But…” he found it difficult to speak. “I have other things to do tonight.”

“You can get someone else to handle that.” Xie Duzhi responded without hesitation.

“You can also stream from home. Uncle Fu has set up a new computer in your room.”

Li Heng opened his mouth, as if he were back in that Ferrari, when the other had casually offered to give him a black card because games were expensive.

Mrs. Xie lightly coughed, “Du is right… Why not just stay for the night?”

She discreetly gave him a look of approval.

She was too anxious, focused solely on soothing him, trying to make him feel comfortable, and hadn’t thought of persuading him to stay the night.

“What kind of streaming?” Xie Sizhi chimed in.

He was at an art gallery when he got the news, and Mrs. Xie hadn’t shared the information she had gathered with him.

So, aside from knowing that the once soft and pale little boy had been found, he knew nothing else.

As someone who was half-known as a playboy in the art circle, Xie Sizhi actually had some stereotypes about live streaming.

But that applied to other people.

Right now, he just wanted to know his younger brother’s streaming account and platform so he could send him money and become his number one supporter.

Being both a brother and his top fan, surely that would make him love him even more.

Xie Shenzhi was equally curious.

But he was more mature by nature, far more serious than his twin brother, and had already mentally ranked the priorities.

For now, the most important thing was to support their mom and Du in getting their little brother to stay.

Not probe into this streaming business.

He looked over at the head of the family, signaling for him to take charge.

Only to realize that the head of the family was also looking at him.

The two most soft-spoken members of the Xie family, who were often deprived of their right to speak, communicated silently for a long time before agreeing to stay quiet for now—so as not to end up like the second brother, getting an eye roll for saying the wrong thing.

“It’s not because of the streaming,” Li heng muttered in explanation, realizing that besides vanity and greed, he should probably also be labeled as ungrateful.

He took a deep breath, never before feeling that his words were so clumsy.

“Today was a bit sudden, and I haven’t packed everything yet. I also didn’t leave enough cat food and water…”

A faint trace of confusion appeared on Xie Duzhi’s face.

The place where Li Heng rented was a converted flat, similar to a hotel-style room with independent bathroom facilities, but a shared kitchen. Aside from him, there were two other tenants.

One tenant had a rude, violent child; the other was overly nitpicky, often knocking on doors to “discuss” trivial matters.

The rental contract clearly stated no pets were allowed.

The private investigator’s report hadn’t mentioned that the boy was keeping a cat.

Yet as he spoke, he looked both troubled and embarrassed, not the type to lie.

“There are professional pet care services,” he thought for a moment. “If you’re worried, you can also monitor them via video.”

Li Heng felt even more ungrateful, his head nearly buried in the table: “…It’s a stray cat in the neighborhood, and it’s really scared of strangers.”

“It only comes out when I’m there.”

For the first time in two lifetimes, Xie Duzhi found himself in a situation he didn’t know how to handle.

He was at a loss for words.

“A stray cat?” Mrs. Xie gently probed, “What does it look like?”

Xie Sizhi hesitated.

With so many rooms at home, keeping not just one, but several litters wouldn’t be a problem.

Couldn’t they just bring the cat back to raise it?

But before he could say anything, Mrs. Xie had already stealthily kicked him under the table, hard, with the tablecloth providing cover.

It meant, “Keep your mouth shut.”

Reluctantly, he joined his father and older brother in staying silent.

“It’s a Siamese.”

Talking about the cat, Li Heng’s eyes lit up, and his voice became more normal, “It’s very timid, but very well-behaved and understanding.”

It was obvious that he genuinely liked the cat.

“So, the reason you can’t move in yet is that you need to take care of it?” Mrs. Xie continued to ask.

That was, indeed, part of the reason.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Li Heng nodded. After all, if he said no, he couldn’t come up with any other excuse.

“Stray cats aren’t safe outside, and they’re more likely to get hurt. How about we bring it home to raise it?”

His eyes widened in surprise, belatedly realizing that he shouldn’t have followed along with her questions so easily.

“But, but…” He clearly remembered that someone in the family was allergic to cat fur.

Yet theoretically, that wasn’t something he should know about right now.

“But what?” Mrs. Xie asked, feigning confusion at just the right moment.

“…But its tail is broken, part of it is missing, and its leg is also crippled. It’s not very good-looking.”

He could only explain that it was an ugly, flawed, and unlikable stray cat.

He quickly made up an excuse, silently apologizing to the cat in his heart.

Thinking about the cat that waited for him every day in the apartment complex’s garage,

he suddenly felt a little sad.