Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Misunderstanding

‘C’ University was the capital’s top university. Graduating from here meant that you were an elite. Not to over exaggerate, but as long as you have a diploma or degree from ‘C’ University, 9 out of 10 companies would be fighting to hire you.

If Lu Qi did not hook up with Huo Ming Chen, and safely graduated from this university, his future would not have been bad. It would have at least kept him fed and warm without worries.

But humans are born with an inherent laziness. This kind of tendency to go with the flow makes humans look for shortcuts. Lu Qi has never denied that he had a sense of laziness in him. Instead, he was more willing to claim that he has “ambition”. To go to a company and become a hard working little employee was not what he wanted. Compared to that, wouldn’t having Huo Ming Chen help him reach even further and higher?

Being reborn into the past has its price. The system took away the help given to him by Huo Ming Chen, as if you came across a mountain full of treasure but could only return home empty handed.

It did not matter whether it was because he was forced to or for any other reason, Lu Qi had finally picked up his sense of responsibility and found some part time jobs, relying on his own efforts to clear out most of his debt.

Although he got to this point with a lot of help from Huo Ming Chen and his family, apart from that money, the rest of it was very dependent on him.

Lu Qi looked at his hands, and there was a hidden struggle in his eyes. Eventually, it slowly faded away, and in that moment, he felt like he grasped something, but also like he had grasped nothing.

Time passed by without him realizing. After a long time, he returned home, and when he opened the door, he saw Huo Ming Chen silently sitting on the living room sofa, half his body obscured by shadow.

“Why are you back so early?”

Lu Qi blindly reached to turn on the lights, and the living room shone brightly, flashing in their eyes for a second. After his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he discovered that the floor was littered with cigarette butts, and quickly sensed that something was not right.

Huo Ming Chen did not immediately answer him, and used his phone to send a text to someone. He threw it aside and then lifted his head to look at Lu Qi,

“Dinner ended early, so I came back early.”

His voice was very normal, but his face was shrouded with darkness. It was hard to tell what he was feeling.

Lu Qi could see right there and then that Huo Ming Chen was in a bad mood, and not just a normal bad mood. He carefully thought about it, but he didn’t have the impression that he did anything bad, so the anger should not because of him.

Huo Ming Chen stood up and poured himself a glass of cold water. His back was facing Lu Qi as he calmly asked,

“What did you do today? Why are you back so late?”

Lu Qi was silent, as if he could say that he had been contemplating his life for a few hours, right? If he said that, even he wouldn’t believe himself.

“I went out for my part time job, tutoring. I was a little busy.”

Huo Ming Chen hummed out an “Oh”, and then casually asked,

“That’s all? You didn’t do anything else?”

They were still keeping the relationship between the two of them a secret, especially from their families. To be honest, Lu Qi did not really want to talk about anything related to his family. He was just debating if he should say it or not, when out of nowhere a cup shattered near his feet, the glass pieces scattering everywhere on the floor.

Lu Qi reflexively turned his head around, and saw Huo Ming Chen’s darkened face staring at him,

“Say it. And what else did you do. Go on, say it.”

He did not wait for Lu Qi to reply, and exploded with anger. “Bam” the sound of a chair being forcefully kicked. Huo Ming Chen’s mind was filled with the images of Lu Qi and that girl embracing each other, and he could only conjure up thoughts of them having sex.

“If you have the damn courage to do it, why don’t you have the fucking courage to say it!? Lu Qi I told you before. I warned you before right? If you dare go fucking around behind my back, having your leg broken would be tame!”

Huo Ming Chen has a strong sense of possessiveness and a controlling personality. This much you could tell from Lu Qi’s behavior. Whatever Huo Ming Chen says, Lu Qi will always act on his orders before thinking about it. Lu Qi had a suspicion in his heart, but then in a moment, it was gone. He could only feel his shirt collar tighten around him, and then he was pushed up against the wall by Huo Ming Chen who squeezed his neck.

“What, only having me was not enough? You can only be satisfied by having a few others? Huh?”

Huo Ming Chen was breathing heavily, both eyes bright red. His anger poured out with every breath as he said one word at a time,

“You’re the kind of person, that is, unchangeable–“

Lu Qi originally planned to explain, but he didn’t know why, a nameless fire began to burn inside his heart, and it twisted the words inside his mouth. He asked seriously,

“What kind of person am I? I can’t change?”

“Oh, I’m the kind of person that only sees money. But that doesn’t matter, Mr. Huo, you have money, you can just find another person. After all, anyone who can sleep with you–“

“MMM–!”

Before Lu Qi could finish, he was punched in the stomach. His entire body curled up with a shout. Huo Ming Chen pulled him up by his shirt collar, forcing him to straighten up. Eyes burning with liquid anger,

“What did you just say, say it again?”

Lu Qi was at a loss for words, and zipped his mouth. Someone who is usually too clever was suddenly overcome with stubborness, he couldn’t control it if he wanted to. He laughed coldly and snapped back,

“I won’t repeat good words twice. You have money, you are the boss. If you can, beat me to death.”

“You!”

Huo Ming Chen raised his fist almost subconsciously. He was about to strike and then stopped and dropped it. Then raised it again. Then stopped. In the end, he couldn’t throw a punch.

He brutally pressed down on Lu Qi’s shoulder,

“Your heart knows better than I do what kind of person you are. The reason why you first came to me, your heart should know clearly.”

Lu Qi pursed his lips tightly,

“I’ll just end it.”

“It’s not up to you.”

Huo Ming Chen sneered, and mockingly patted his face,

“This game started because you wanted it. But it’s not up to you when it ends. You think you can just end it with me and then go find that girl? I’m telling you right now, there’s no escape.”

“As long as I’m alive, that won’t be a reality. Even if I’m dead, it’s even more impossible!”

He brutally released him and then turned around to head out the door. The door frame almost shattered from the force he slammed the door with.

Lu Qi rested against the wall, looking at the millions of glass pieces shattered on the floor. He was a little dazed and confused. He rarely made Huo Ming Chen this angry, because once his temper rises, it’s really hard to control. It was not impossible to be beaten to death. For him to have escaped that, it felt unreal.

Lu Yuan, that blasted woman. It’s rare to see her face in a year, and when they first meet up, Huo Ming Chen is there to witness it. She was born to be a curse on him.

He lightly tidied up the house with a broomstick. Lu Qi sat by himself on the sofa for a while, and considered that Huo Ming Chen probably won’t calm down for a while. However, most importantly, his own anger hasn’t dissipated yet. He decided he will just go back to his dorms, and the two of them can calm down, calm down.

“Stupid…..”

Lu Qi patted his head, feeling unnecessarily down. He thought he was really childish, not being able to hold back his temper. What use was it to break up with Huo Ming Chen?

He reasoned that was why he was sad, and never went to think why he was so angry.

Lu Qi laid on his bed for a while, but couldn’t sleep. To be honest, he was still a bit afraid that Huo Ming Chen was going crazy from anger. There was a possibility that Huo Ming Chen would come and chop him up at night while he was sleeping.

He took a look at the time, and it wasn’t that late. If he went back to the dorms right now, he could still make it before the gates closed. And he did just that, packed up some clothes and went straight back to school.

His dorm mates were a little weirded out when they saw him come back so late at night. As Lu Qi was normally personable, everyone came to ask if he was alright,

“Ah, weren’t you granted a few days off? Why are you back so early? Have you fully healed?”

Lu Qi smiled,

“It was not that serious. These past days I was just procrastinating. There’s still a lot of things to do, and missing so many classes isn’t that good.”

He was publicly recognized as a model student. His grades were excellent, and he was knowledgeable, a gentleman and could joke around. You couldn’t find a single negative thing about him.

The school forums had a poll for the most attractive male, and with one picture from the military training, Lu Qi was in first place and still hasn’t been overtaken since the beginning of the school term.

There are a lot of females who want to pursue him, as many as there are fish in the sea, but no one really dared do so. Li Zhi Yan was an unusual exception, an outlier. The reason why Lu Qi was injured had been spread like wildfire, and everyone said it was a misfortune born from his attractiveness.

Every night, the lights shut off at 10:30pm, and after a bit of settling in, everyone went to bed. Perhaps because it had been a long time since he slept in the dorms, no matter how Lu Qi adjusted himself, he was uncomfortable. He felt strangely empty with nothing to hold. As if there was supposed to be someone like an octopus, squeezing him with its tentacles……

He realized something then, and forced himself to close his eyes and remember how to be alone at night.