Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 18: Evening

Huo Ming Chen noticed that he hasn’t said anything in a while, and knocked his knuckle on his phone,

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Lu Qi returned back to earth and he stuck his fingers into his hair, tugging, as if that would clear out his thoughts,

“What did you want me to say? You dared to call me in front of your family. You are much bolder than most.”

Huo Ming Chen snorted, and raised his eyebrows slightly, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards, feeling a bit pleased.

“It’s bold of me if I call you in front of my family? Would you believe it if I can dare to do even more bold things?”

Hearing that, Lu Qi’s eyebrows twitched, getting a gut feeling that it was not a good thing. And without a doubt, the next second he could hear over the phone Huo Ming Chen’s voice pitched higher and slower, sounding like a prince fooling around with a female commoner,

“Baby, don’t feel bad, I know you are thinking of me, and I am thinking of you. Once New Year passes, we can see each other hmm, be good.”

Lu Qi: “……”

His grandfather was just talking to their uncle, and Huo Ming Cheng was on the side, paying attention to their words of wisdom. When Huo Ming Chen started talking this way, it drew the attention of the three men.

As Huo Ming Chen carried on his charade, his grandfather became so angry at his useless grandson that his mustache puffed up from the anger, and he glared at Huo Ming Chen. His uncle had a patronizing smile on his face, a smile that was condoning a younger family member for fooling around. His elder brother was the most honest of them all as he just gave him a kick under the table,

“No discipline!”

Huo Ming Chen smiled outwardly, but looking at his uncle opposite of him, didn’t feel the same inside. He dusted off his pants, and continued to talk to Lu Qi, this time much quieter,

“There’s a wolf sitting across from me, it’s hateful.”

Across from him? Wasn’t that Huo Yuan Guang? But at this time, Huo Ming Chen should still be alright with his uncle, at least until Huo Ming Cheng’s death, they were still pretending to be on good terms on the surface.

Lu Qi suddenly had a thought, and he unconsciously rubbed his fingertips, and lowered his eyes as he tentatively asked,

“What wolf?”

Huo Ming Chen was smiling with his eyes curved into a half moon. He softly said through the phone,

“Of course, the same kind as you, a white-eyed wolf……”

It was almost instantaneous. Lu Qi’s eyes froze, and he rose up from the bed. Then once he realized that he was acting little over emotional, he slowly sat back down, holding himself by the edge of the bed. His breath was a little stuttered, but his voice was as per usual,

“How am I a white eyed wolf?”

“Look at yourself. When you arrived home, I knew to give you a call. You didn’t even ask about me in return. If you aren’t a white eyed wolf, what are you?”

Hearing that, Lu Qi began to feel assured, and continued to probe,

“What about the one across from you? How is he a wolf?”

He did not realize that Huo Ming Chen had already hooked him into a trap, and took the initiative to start talking to Huo Ming Chen. As if the more he talked, the safer he would feel.

Huo Ming Chen did not want to answer him,

“Nothing. I’ll tell you in a bit. I’m a bit busy.”

Lu Qi could only nod his head,

“Alright, then I’ll call you again at night.”

After their call ended, the phone display did not light up again. This was the first time Huo Ming Chen had intentionally hung up on him. Lu Qi was in deep thought as he walked to his window, and with one hand in his pocket, he felt a guess surface up inside him, but thought it was not quite possible.

If Huo Ming Chen had really reincarnated, the first thing he would do would be to kill him. How could he still be smiling and talking to him. But when the other had died in his past life, his mind was not quite there, and so it can’t be completely ruled out.

Not knowing if it was because he felt guilty, or because smart people like to overthink, Huo Ming Chen’s weird wording made Lu Qi anxious, making it so that he couldn’t even eat in peace.

“Ah, Lu Qi, you’re not even going to eat at least one of the dumplings that I painstakingly wrapped? Isn’t that not giving me any respect?”

Lu Yuan was not satisfied that someone could just ignore her hard work, and lightly kicked Lu Qi’s feet under the table,

“Eat quickly! It’s all cold now.”

Lu Qi snapped back to reality, and poured himself a bowl of rib bone soup. He concluded that he was overthinking things, and like the old saying, if you don’t do things that make you guilty, you won’t be scared of a ghost knocking at midnight. He did so many terrible things, that any knock on their door could make him feel like he’s going to be caught.

Lu Yuan pouted unhappily, “Why are you not eating the dumplings?!”

Lu Qi said,

“You yourself don’t want to eat your own handmade dumplings, mom’s also not eating them and honestly, they’re disgusting. So I’m not eating them.”

Lu Yuan has never been able to win a round over Lu Qi, always and forever on the losing side. Trying to win against him is like trying to reach the sky, and that made her so mad that she pulled on her hair. Mama Lu calmly said,

“You guessed correctly. I take my eyes off for one second, and she adds another spoon of salt to the meat. Now it’s even saltier than pickled radish. Just like this, an entire plate of dumplings has been ruined.”

“Don’t worry, just take off the dumpling skin and boil the rest into a soup.”

Underneath it all, Lu Qi still cared for his sister, and this made Lu Yuan tear up in heartfelt gratitude, and eyes full of hope,

“Brother, will you drink it then?”

Lu Qi shook his head,

“No, you will.”

He truly believed that the dumplings made by Lu Yuan, even without the added salt, could not have been any better.

Night time approached, and Mama Lu has already gone to bed. Lu Qi took Lu Yuan aside into his room and said,

“After the new year, come with me to the capital. The job I told you about earlier has been arranged for you.”

Lu Yuan widened her eyes, and with her mind swirling with many thoughts, said,

“Lu Qi Qi, wow, you can even find connections within such big companies. Don’t worry, all the information I need to know, I’ll make sure to check up on. I won’t embarrass you.”

Hearing this, Lu Qi paused and then smiled fakely,

“What can a girl like you find out?”

“This you don’t understand. There is a lot of news from the families with big backgrounds that the paparazzi have. As long as you have the money, you can find out anything. Although you can only trust about 5 to 6 out of 10 news articles, that’s still a pretty good track record.”

Lu Yuan sat on the side of the bed, and waved her phone with her long thin fingers. The screen had a photo of Huo Yuan Guang,

“The Huo family business has just introduced a new director on the board, and his position in the company is not low. Someone said that he is the chairman’s relative, as his family name is also Huo.”

Lu Qi nodded his head,

“He is the chairman’s uncle. Just came back into the country. When you enter the company, make sure to keep an eye on him. If there is any news, let me know at any time.”

Lu Yuan was surprised when she heard this, with a face full of suspicion,

“Hey hey hey, I’m going for work, not as a spy. What’s the point of staring at an old man?”

Lu Qi thought in his heart that it was about being a spy.

“I could explain it, but I’m too lazy to do it right now. You’ll know later.”

He said as he pointed his chin towards the door,

“Go away now. I want to sleep.”

Lu Yuan snorted coldly, and stood up in anger,

“Every day you have more schemes than the holes on a sifter. Ghosts are going to be coming after you in your sleep.”