Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 36: Scumbags are Inherently Scum

There was a moment where Huo Ming Chen could not speak. He closed his eyes and leaned against Lu Qi’s chest. One of his hands grabbed his crutches, the other discreetly  held onto Lu Qi’s shirt collar while he listened closely to that heartbeat beneath him beating faster and faster.

The man was walking very fast, but Huo Ming Chen felt like not even a second had passed. When he opened his eyes again, they were already at the entrance of their home. He patted the keys out of Lu Qi’s pockets as he unhappily mumbled, 

“Why did you walk so fast? There wasn’t even a wolf chasing after you.”

Lu Qi lightly shook his head and shuffled him up, voice huffing a little, 

“No, there wasn’t but you’re a bit heavy. If I don’t walk any faster, I wouldn’t have been able to move at all.”

Huo Ming Chen: “……”

Huo Ming Chen was very displeased at how useless Lu Qi was and opened the door, 

“You useless fighting idiot. I’m so light, so thin that I’m only bones right now.”

The man did look quite thin, but Lu Qi did not want to admit that he was too useless. He randomly found an excuse, 

“Mhmm, you aren’t heavy. It’s the crutches that are too heavy.”

Quickly taking off his shoes in the entryway, he walked over to the sofa to place Huo Ming Chen down and then sat next to him, heaving from the exercise. Huo Ming Chen gave him a glance and purposefully dropped his leg on Lu Qi and pointed at his injury, 

“This is the victorious result of saving you. You have to be responsible for caring for me for the rest of my life.”

Lu Qi lightly laughed and glanced at him from the side, 

“Don’t look at me. I’m counting on you to provide for me for the rest of my life.”

Huo Ming Chen immediately had a smile on his face, one that made his eyes curve up into half moons and made it hard for others to see through his thoughts. He patted Lu Qi’s shoulder hard and elongated his words, 

“Alright~ Not just for the rest of your life, but for the rest of your next ten lives is fine as well.”

Lu Qi looked at him and thought that he was really like a child, sometimes mad, sometimes laughing, 

“Are you hungry? I can go make something for you?”

Huo Ming Chen shook his head, 

“No, I’m not hungry. Besides, you can’t even cook. Only your instant noodles are possibly ok to eat.”

Lu Qi flicked his forehead, 

“Going to starve you to death.”

After he said that he rose up, preparing to take a shower in the bathroom. Seeing this, Huo Ming Chen threw himself onto Lu Qi’s back, dragging the person back and moaning out, 

“I want to shower too.”

Hearing this, Lu Qi raised his eyebrows in surprise. He reached out to touch the cast on his leg, with his voice very uncertain, 

“I’m pretty sure the cast can’t touch water, and it takes at least one month before you can take it off. We also don’t know if your cast is fully dried or not. Why don’t we just use towels to wipe you off?”

“What are you afraid of? As long as it doesn’t touch water, it’s fine.” 

Huo Ming Chen was indeed stubborn. What kind of patient with a cast would have spent his entire day running around with crutches? But on the other hand, Lu Qi’s medical knowledge was very minimal, and he wasn’t able to persevere against Huo Ming Chen’s nagging. So after a moment’s hesitation, he could only agree.

The bathroom was quite big, so their movements were not restricted. He used some water resistant material to cover the cast and with his help, Huo Ming Chen quickly and clumsily showered.

Lu Qi wrapped the person in his embrace with a large bath towel and carried him in a princess hold all the way to the bed. Huo Ming Chen’s black inky hair was clinging onto his forehead, with hot puffs of steam from the shower still emitting from him. His skin was exceptionally pale and combined with the steam, it made him look too obedient and shy.

“Lie there and don’t move around.”

Lu Qi checked Huo Ming Chen’s leg, making sure that the cast had not touched any water and covered him with a blanket before heading back to the bathroom himself.

After the kidnapping, both their paranoia and sensitivity to their surroundings were at high levels. And now that the tension suddenly relaxed, sleepiness overcame them like crashing waves. Lu Qi dried his hair before getting in the bed and discovered Huo Ming Chen, who must have been very tired, already deep in sleep. He couldn’t help but chuckle and lifted his hand to close the lights and lay down beside him.

As if feeling that there was something warm by him, Huo Ming Chen half consciously moved closer to the warmth. Lu Qi lay sideways and hugged him from the back, securing his hold on Huo Ming Chen. Within this warm and cozy cocoon, the familiar smell kept Huo Ming Chen from moving around restlessly. 

For a long while after, the Huo family business was in a position where the slightest wind or rain could shake its foundations. The management in higher levels was like a deck of cards being shuffled, cleaning out a whole series of personnel. The media seemed to have some coverage, but it was forcefully squashed down for minimal impact. It made the employees look around in fear and even the general public started to speculate in secret. Thankfully, Huo Ming Cheng was good at what he did, and his actions were ruthlessly and aggressively accurate. So after a few waves of movement, he stabilized the situation at last.

After forcefully settling things down, he finally had the ability and time to focus on his useless little brother. Huo Ming Cheng could only feel his head aching in pain when he thought of his brother, feeling that this issue was even worse and more difficult than dealing with Huo Yuan Guang or those types of people. He did not immediately do anything, and instead let someone investigate Lu Qi from head to toe first.

From just his achievements, Lu Qi was indeed excellent on paper. No matter from his outer appearance or his grades, he had no visible faults. Even if he was working while studying, he did not shine any less than those around him. On one hand Huo Ming Cheng felt it was a bit pitiful, but on the other hand, he felt like this kind of person could hide things very deeply. His own dumb little brother probably wouldn’t be able to handle him which gave him another reason to add to his pile of disagreements towards this relationship.

The more he read, the worse his face became, especially when finding out that Lu Yuan was actually the little sister of Lu Qi. He finally couldn’t handle it and closed his computer.

The bone structure was easily visible on his hand as he gripped the edge of the desk and the veins looked like they could pop out from his increasing strength. Huo Ming Cheng lightly sighed and closed his eyes, displaying an expression so complicated that no one could understand. Perhaps it was understanding, perhaps it was clarity, or perhaps it was something else. Even he himself could not say what it was.

It was within Lu Qi’s calculations to receive an invitation from Huo Ming Cheng, even perfectly timed down to when. Huo Ming Chen was too headstrong and if you pushed him hard enough, he could do something extreme. The only thing to do in this kind of situation was to find a breakpoint through him.

The coffee shop was clean and quiet, and there was no one else except Huo Ming Cheng, which made it obvious that he had booked off the entire place. Huo Ming Cheng sat in a booth, quite near the inside of the shop, with his suit quite sleek and fitted, and his entire being was like the very definition of elegance. He looked quite alike to Huo Ming Chen, but there was something different.

“Hello Mr. Huo. I have long heard about your name, so much so that it feels like I have already met you.”

Thinking back to his past, it seemed that their first meeting last time was in a crematorium.

Lu Qi faintly smiled and nodded his head in greeting. Only after fulfilling the common courtesies did he pull the chair out and sit down. His gestures and etiquette were on point, and his eyes could not hide away its intelligence and clarity.

From the beginning, Huo Ming Cheng had not shown any emotion. You could even say that he did not even give a glance. In the span of a blink of his eyes, he already knew in his heart that Lu Qi, this kind of person was a little troublesome. There would be no easy way to send him off. He looked behind Lu Qi and asked,

“Ming Chen?”

“His leg is injured and he is currently still resting in bed. I randomly found an excuse to come out so do not worry, he does not know we are meeting.”

Half of his heart felt settled after hearing that, and he straightened up his body posture. Out of habit, Huo Ming Cheng pushed up his glasses and said as the conversational opener, 

“You are a smart man. The reason why I asked for a meeting with you today, I am sure you know better than me.”

Lu Qi did not like to put all his cards on the table and hearing this, folded his hands by his stomach. His gaze passed over the coffee that was still emitting steam and rested back on Huo Ming Cheng, 

“Mr. Huo is praising me too much. I cannot really be considered as a smart man, so I think if you explain it a bit clearer, that would be good for the both of us.”

“Then I will say it straight. No matter if you both are being real or if you have a purpose behind it all, I hope that you two will break up as soon as possible. In the future Huo Ming Chen will be given half of the Huo family. In these circles, he at least needs to have some face. He cannot afford to just fool around.”

Huo Ming Cheng took a sip of the coffee and concluded with deep implications, 

“Young man, no matter what you do, you cannot do things only thinking in the short term. He may be willing to be with you right now, but that is only because of his impulsiveness. In the future when he realizes what the consequences of these kinds of actions will bring, that impulsive choice would be grinded down by reality and the monotony of regular life. He can take a loss, but you, you cannot lose. The earlier you break up, the better it would actually be for you.”

Lu Qi waited in silence for a long while upon hearing this, but he still didn’t hear the words from the other that would be like those television dramas where they say “I give you X million, as long as you leave XXX”. His heart was a little disappointed, but he nodded and said to Huo Ming Cheng as if he was just struck with clarity, 

“What you said really makes sense. Actually, not to hide anything from you, I was also considering that.”

Hearing this, Huo Ming Cheng was very pleased and was prepared to hear the other half of the sentence. But when he lifted his eyes, he only saw the person across from him take out his phone from his pocket as if to call someone. He couldn’t help but furrow his eyebrows, 

“What are you doing?”

And at the same time, he began to feel displeased. Only this much and he’s already snitching? This one really can’t hold in his temper.

Lu Qi: “Calling him to break up.”

Huo Ming Cheng: “…???”

As if he didn’t plan for things to go this smoothly, Huo Ming Cheng was stunned. But when he snapped back to reality, the first thing he did was, with a “pat” sound, grab onto Lu Qi’s cellphone, 

“Wait a minute!”

Breaking up like this, Huo Ming Chen, that fucking idiot, would blow the roofs off their heads!!!

Lu Qi furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before seeming to realize something and said,  

“Right, we should not be so hasty with this. I should only call him to break up after I buy some plane tickets and settle down with my family in a safe location outside of the country.”

Hearing this, Huo Ming Cheng’s heart felt like it was being constricted and with a gaze full of contempt he stared into Lu Qi’s eyes, somehow feeling indignant on Huo Ming Chen’s behalf, 

“Do you really like my little brother, or are you faking your love?”

I say break up and he breaks up. Where is the passionate love to the point of life and death?

Lu Qi lifted his eyes up and placed his phone back on the table before saying with some composure in response, 

“Real or fake….. Is not that important. After all, sooner or later, we will have to break up. My philosophy is that love is not the entirety of my life, especially given that my family status is the complete opposite of yours. Would you not say so?”

Huo Ming Cheng wanted Lu Qi and Huo Ming Chen to break up, but by going along with his plans, Lu Qi made Huo Ming Cheng fumble in confusion, making him unable to follow the original script.

Huo Ming Cheng’s head had become a bit all over the place, and he forced himself to calm down and focus. He finally felt like he had gotten a hold of himself and he said, 

“Ming Chen, he has a strong stubborn temper. Your break up must be planned immaculately as it cannot be too straightforward.”

Hearing this, Lu Qi said, 

“Planned immaculately? Do you have any good ideas?” 

And then shook his head immediately after, 

“Sorry, I am a very straightforward person and I cannot come up with any good plans. Since he and I are not destined to be able to be together, then there is no need to spend any more of our precious time sacrificed on a relationship that has no foreseeable good ending. I think it is better to cut it fast, as a short pain is better than a long pain.”

Huo Ming Cheng was shocked, thinking to himself, what kind of stone hearted person is he?

He narrowed his eyes, trying to calm down that blazing fire ignited inside his chest and brought out a viciousness similar to Huo Ming Chen’s own, 

“My little brother is fighting with his family for you, not even caring that he will be giving up his right for the inheritance, and this is how you treat him?!”

Due to Huo Ming Cheng’s recent difficulties in the company making his head a little clouded and adding in his brother complex, the conversation was led away to somewhere under Lu Qi’s control.

“Well, there is nothing I can do. Just think of it as me doing something very unforgivable to him. If we break up now, for the rest of my life I can still remember this time as something good. Just have a sit down with him in the near future and advise him to stop thinking of me.” 

Lu Qi was a scumbag at heart, so without great difficulty, he acted on the personality that was etched into him. These kinds of words coming out of a scum like him no doubt made people mad and Huo Ming Cheng was using every ounce of patience in him to stay calm. Otherwise, if it was someone else, Lu Qi would probably have black eyes and be in great pain by now.

“Who do you think you are? On what basis should my little brother care about you remembering his good points? And on what grounds are you saying to not bother you?” 

Huo Ming Cheng’s body had unconsciously lurched forward, with his entire body stiff and tense, like a raging lion in its prime.

Lu Qi easily raised his scumbag level up a notch and continued to blindly say even more terrible things, 

“Mr. Huo, I can understand your protective feelings towards your family, but unfortunately, the reality is like this. The person who first chased me was him, the one crying, wailing, screaming for us to be together was him. Threatening that if we break up, we will die together was also him–“

Lu Qi leaned forward a little and faintly smiled, with his eyes carrying a bit of a challenge in them as his each and every word was spoken out loud and clear, 

“Right now, he cannot live without me, and I…… can live without him.”

A faint voice suddenly floated over behind him, 

“……Really?”

Lu Qi tilted up his eyebrows, 

“Of course.”

Once those words came out of his mouth, he realized something was not right. Huo Ming Cheng opposite of him did not even open his mouth and thinking back to that voice which sounded all too familiar, he couldn’t help but stiffen up his body and slowly turn his head around.

Huo Ming Chen was just standing near by, staying up with the support of his crutches, and he was smiling while looking at the two of them, and concluded, in a voice that was too casual and normal, for all of them,

“You two… are having quite a good time hmm.”

Lu Qi: “……”