The real young master thought he was hated by everyone

Here were some good news about the sports meet.

For instance, Wei signed up for events like the relay race and shot put, and since the competitions were evenly spread out over different time slots, he didn’t mind missing some events. Additionally, the class volunteers signed up voluntarily, not divided into groups with rotating shifts.

Moreover, the sports meet starts on Wednesday and runs for three days, including Saturday and Sunday, so it effectively gives everyone a small holiday.

Of course, there’s also some bad news.

For example, after the opening ceremony, when Li Heng planned to return to the dorm and change clothes before taking a taxi to Xie Duzhi’s company, he unfortunately encountered some club members carrying various equipment. He ended up being roped into helping and spent the whole day taking photos, providing numerous pictures for different student unions, and was even temporarily recruited as a part-time announcer for half an hour.

Oh, and while taking photos, he also had to cheer for Wei and fulfill his duties as a roommate by bringing him some saline or energy drinks.

By the time he managed to sneak out of school, it was already Thursday morning.

He had sent a message to Xie Duzhi beforehand, telling him he was coming to the company and asking if he was welcome, but he didn’t mention what time he would arrive.

Xie Duzhi later asked if he needed a driver, but he pretended not to see the message.

After sending an irrelevant emoji, Li Heng changed the topic and told him about a few funny things that happened at the sports meet yesterday.

As for the details—he would tell him during lunch at the company.

Xie Duzhi seemed busy, so after a while, he replied with a series of ellipses, as if unsure of what to say.

Li Heng could almost picture the expression on his face when he typed out those ellipses, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud in the taxi.

The driver saw him through the rearview mirror, holding his phone, looking serious one moment, then unexpectedly bursting out laughing. Unable to hold back, the driver started talking.

“You two seem like a good couple,” he commented.

There was no teasing in his tone; he simply recalled his past experience of being in a relationship. Back then, there were no mobile phones, and they both worked in different places, so it wasn’t convenient to make phone calls. When they missed each other, they’d secretly use the company fax machine.

He would always stare at the fax machine near his desk, waiting for paper to come out. When it did, his heart would leap into his throat, and he’d quickly snatch it up, pretending to be sneaky. After a while, he’d take it out to read. Even though it wasn’t a particularly funny thing, he couldn’t help but laugh, and sometimes, his boss would scold him for not being serious.

Eventually, they were transferred to the same unit, settled down, got married, and had kids, but after that, the little moments of excitement and joy when they thought of each other didn’t quite exist anymore.

“Being in a good relationship doesn’t mean rushing to get married. You’re still young; you can date a few more years,” the driver sighed. “Youth is precious; don’t waste it in the grave.”

What does that even mean?

Li Heng was taken aback at first, then couldn’t help but laugh at the misunderstanding. “Master, I’m not in a relationship. I’m sending messages to a friend.”

“It’s my brother.”

“…Oh, oh!” The driver quickly became embarrassed, stuttering a bit. “Well, you two brothers have a great relationship, supporting each other!”

“So you’re visiting your brother at work?”

“Yeah, visiting him,” Li Heng said, instinctively adjusting his bag strap. “I just want to see what his workplace is like, what he eats for lunch.”

That was something he came up with on the spot.

Before he left, he had planned to do some homework in Xie Duzhi’s office, wait until he got off work, then go back together to stay at his villa, either on Friday or Saturday morning, and head home together after.

“Well, lunch is still hours away. You’ll have to wait several hours once you arrive,” the driver glanced at the navigation screen. “We just need to turn two more corners and we’ll be there.”

It was only a little past 9 AM.

“Nowadays, many companies allow delivery, right? How about ordering him some coffee?” The driver, still somewhat awkward due to his misunderstanding, tried to make up for it. “I’ve heard that in internet companies, people work overtime a lot, so they don’t have much energy in the morning.”

Li Heng thought the driver made a good point, so he opened the map to check if there were any coffee shops nearby.

By this time, Xie Duzhi had probably already had breakfast, but Li Heng could bring him two cups of coffee when he went upstairs—one for the morning and one for noon. Otherwise, it was easy to feel sleepy during economics class.

The nearest coffee shop to Xie Duzhi’s company was on the first floor of the building, and he could place an order through a mini-program. Li Heng gave the driver a five-star rating on the ride-hailing app, thanked him as he got out of the car, and followed the directions to the north entrance to pick up the coffee before heading upstairs.

Following the navigation, he accidentally took a longer route, walking back to the company’s front desk with the coffee.

As a visitor, he knew he had to check in at the front desk, and he’d even spotted a comfy sofa in the waiting area. From the looks of it, he thought this sofa might be even softer than the ones at his own place. It would definitely be comfortable to sit on, though it didn’t seem like the style Xie Duzhi would choose.

“Hello, may I ask who you’re here to see? Have you made an appointment?” As soon as he stood in front of the front desk, a woman with her hair in a bun and delicate makeup greeted him with a smile and asked for his name if he had an appointment.

He froze for a moment, not quite catching on, but then he saw her expression briefly change to one of realization. She cleared her throat lightly.

“You must be Mr. Xie’s brother, right? You can go up directly. The elevator is to the left, and his office is on the 29th floor.”

Her tone softened considerably, full of genuine warmth.

“Hello,” Li Heng replied, still a little dazed, and then remembered to thank her. He double-checked, “So, left for the elevator, and the 29th floor?”

The receptionist nodded enthusiastically, her eyes turning into crescent shapes as she confirmed. “Yes, yes! Just go up directly, Mr. Xie should have finished his meeting by now.”

The 19th floor of the building was mostly occupied by the executive offices and conference rooms.

Li Heng turned left toward the elevator, but for some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the receptionist’s gaze lingered on him until he turned the corner.

It felt a bit strange.

He didn’t know whether it was because, in Xie Duzhi’s company, especially at the headquarters, he might be considered a somewhat legendary figure. Everyone has heard of him, but no one has ever seen him.

Although he has never appeared at the company, there are countless rumors about him within it.

From the cake vouchers and supermarket gift cards in April, to the inexplicably higher overtime bonuses in May, to the sudden increase in performance bonuses in June, and the boxes of pastries handed out to everyone… The atmosphere at work in July and August suddenly becoming livelier because the boss wasn’t around…

After private discussions, the employees at Xie Duzhi’s company unanimously believe that his happiness is closely tied to their working lives.

The reason is simple.

It’s true that the boss is responsible for paying the salaries, but his well-known “brother complex” is widely acknowledged.

Almost all the extra benefits they’ve received this year coincide with significant dates in his brother’s life—birthdays, high school exams, admissions…

To put it plainly, even though Xie Duzhi’s brother is technically his sibling, to the employees, he’s like a little god of fortune, not by blood, but definitely in terms of money.

Moreover, just a few minutes ago, the receptionist saw a message from the boss on the work software.

Xie Duzhi had specifically instructed her to let anyone coming to see him go directly to the 29th floor without needing an appointment.

So when she saw the young man with a backpack, she knew immediately who he was.

When Li Heng pushed the door open, he overheard a cold “Get out!” followed by the sound of a file being thrown on the desk.

He almost jumped in surprise and then realized Xie Duzhi was scolding someone. He felt a bit awkward, like he had arrived at the wrong time.

The awkwardness was mutual, as he noticed a brief moment of unease flash across Xie Duzhi’s face when he saw him, though it lasted less than half a second.

He instinctively looked at Xie Duzhi as soon as he entered and heard the voice, so he was sure of what he saw.

“…Go back and have your department head redo it,” Xie Duzhi said, lifting his wrist, but then hesitated and added, “Submit it again next week.”

He had originally planned to specify the deadline for the afternoon, but then changed his mind.

Li Heng noticed the young man who had been carrying the file quickly left the office, almost as if escaping from some kind of disaster, but his body language suggested he wanted to say something but held back.

He put his backpack down in a relatively comfortable spot that wouldn’t interfere with Xie Duzhi’s work. He almost spoke up to tease his older brother, but seeing how awkward Xie Duzhi looked, he decided not to.

Instead, he decided to change the subject.

“Third Brother, what time do you finish for lunch?”

“I’ve already ordered food,” Xie Duzhi assumed he hadn’t eaten breakfast. “I’ll have someone bring it over.”

“I’ve already had breakfast, not hungry. Just asking about you,” Li Heng replied as he pulled out his textbooks and a half-filled outline from his bag, lamenting, “I know chatting during work hours is distracting, but…”

“Strictly speaking, I don’t have any work left to do,” Xie Duzhi said, tilting his head, and suddenly smiled at him. “That was the last one.”

“Is it the one you just rejected? The one for next week?” Li Heng asked curiously. “What’s it about?”

“It’s the marketing department’s plan, just for me to review,” Xie Duzhi explained.

It was a brand-new plan, not something the marketing department couldn’t finish that afternoon, but he didn’t want to be disturbed by it later.

“So you’re just reviewing it? But didn’t you reject it just now?” Li Heng asked, flipping open his economics textbook and sipping his coffee to stay awake.

Xie Duzhi quickly changed his wording, almost laughing, “I decided.”

“Alright, decided,” Li Heng replied, not fully understanding, though he felt that the subject of their conversation wasn’t really important. He was still waiting for Xie Duzhi to tell him about the interesting events he had promised.

However, after a while, Xie Duzhi didn’t speak, and Li Heng’s eyelids were growing heavier.

They had already exchanged goodnight texts last night, so there was no reason to discuss anything further at that point.

Suddenly, Xie Duzhi stood up and went to the break room to grab a blanket.

The office’s air conditioning was on, and the temperature was perfect, but he still wasn’t reassured.

Plus, it would definitely be more comfortable with a blanket.

“There’s a bed in the break room,” Xie Duzhi said after retrieving the blanket, then seemed to change his mind. “I’ll call you when lunch arrives.”

Li Heng, startled by the sound of Xie Duzhi’s movement, immediately woke up.

Looking at his draft outline, he realized he had stopped writing and that his notes had turned into nonsense.

“I’m not sleepy, it’s just… um…” he struggled to explain, feeling embarrassed. “This class is kind of boring.”

He finally admitted quietly, “So it’s draining my energy.”

He suddenly remembered the coffee he had brought for Xie Duzhi and slapped his head. “I got coffee downstairs. Want some?”

It was clear that coffee wasn’t going to help with economics, but it was a nice gesture.

Xie Duzhi had already placed the blanket on the sofa armrest and noticed the equations on Li Heng’s paper. He frowned.

“Economics…?” he asked, recalling that Li Heng didn’t have this class listed on the original schedule.

“Yeah, economics. It was added later,” Li Heng replied, looking somewhat dissatisfied. “We now have a Wednesday afternoon class. They added microeconomics because of the new curriculum, which started with our year.”

Xie Duzhi sighed and sat down beside Li Heng, asking, “What don’t you understand?”

“…Everything makes sense, but at the same time, nothing really does,” Li Heng replied, unsure of how to answer. He secretly glanced up at Xie Duzhi to gauge his reaction.

He saw him frowning, seriously reading his textbook notes with more attention than when he was dealing with work earlier.

“…This is wrong,” hei said, pointing at a marked section. “It’s a misunderstanding.”

He then explained the concept in detail, using past examples from the files on his desk to make it clearer for Li Heng.

Li Heng’s eyes lit up as everything clicked, and he felt a renewed sense of admiration for his older brother.

“I get it now, thanks, Third Brother!” he said happily. “Let me finish this outline and then tell you about the funny stuff I encountered yesterday.”

“Really interesting,” he added.

Xie Duzhi didn’t really care how interesting the events were, as he just wanted to hear Li Heng talk about them.

“I’ll teach you,” he suddenly decided, not wanting to see their alone time wasted by Li Heng’s economics homework.

“…Won’t that be a bit awkward?” Li Heng hesitated, unsure of the arrangement.

“Well, the main content is your work,” Xie Duzhi said, somewhat mischievously. “I’m just helping with ideas.”

Li Heng felt that it made sense.

And given that the course would be open book during the final exam, he decided to push down his guilt and embrace Xie Duzhi’s help.

“Third Brother, did anyone ever ask you to be a temporary announcer at your school’s sports events?” Li Heng asked as he made himself more comfortable on the sofa, ready to leave the remaining work for Sunday night.

“You know, like those cheerleading words.”

He had this urge to demonstrate by mimicking the gestures. “Like, ‘The chilly autumn breeze carries your lively spirit, your lithe figure on the field, no matter the outcome, we’ll always support you’…”

He brought it up because he thought Xie Duzhi’s voice was so nice.

“No,” Xie Duzhi answered quickly.

“I did. I was an announcer yesterday,” Li Heng said proudly, not disappointed at all.

Though it was a bit regrettable that they couldn’t share this experience, at least he had done it while Xie Duzhi had never been asked.

“Temporary announcer,” he emphasized.

He quickly explained how the original announcer had suddenly gotten sick and left, and he had filled in for them.

“I didn’t know that all the speakers and broadcasting equipment in our school were linked to the library control station on the seventh floor,” Li Heng said, describing the process. “They usually write the cheerleading words in advance and submit them, and the announcers just read them during the event.”

Not everyone had cheerleading words, though. It depended on the class’s unity and personal relationships.

“Yesterday, Wei Zhuowei also competed, but his cheerleading words were far fewer than others. Just the ones he and Mo Mo wrote,” he said.

He mentioned the awkwardness he felt when reading the generic cheerleading words for himself, and how it made his skin crawl.

“But one of the cheerleading messages was like a confession,” he continued thoughtfully. “Well, I think it was. The leaders looked really uncomfortable when they heard it.”

Xie Duzhi didn’t quite understand. “Aren’t you allowed to date in college?”

“I mean, we are,” Li Heng nodded. “Our advisor even said getting a marriage certificate could earn you credits.”

Li Heng paused. “But I think the timing and content of the confession were just… wrong.