Chapter 13

When Song Ling left Zhou Qingluo’s house and returned to the Song family mansion, it was already dinnertime. The family gathered around the dining table neatly.

The people that were originally talking and laughing immediately fell silent upon seeing him, as if he was an unexpected guest.

Song Ling walked forward without hesitation.

A gentle male voice sounded, “Song Ling, come and eat together.”

Song Ling stopped and looked at the table. Jiang Shiyan was actually there too, looking at him with a smile.

For a long time, only Jiang Shiyan would invite him to these occasions where he was excluded.

He came to the Song family when he was five and was pushed into the swimming pool by everyone. It was Jiang Shiyan who asked someone to rescue him.

He had always been greedy for Jiang Shiyan’s warmth, so he promised him to get along with the Song family.

The so-called getting along well was to keep being Song Jinyi’s blood bag and to cooperate with his treatment.

Because Song Jinyi was talented and intelligent since he was a child, taking over as chairman once he grew up, creating business myth after myth. Many jobs were created and he had made great contributions to society.

While he… he was just a by-product of the time the son-in-law Song Zhaoguang went crazy. If he didn’t happen to have the same blood type as Song Jinyi, he would’ve never stepped half a step into the Song family.

Jiang Shiyan was his light. He originally wanted to wait for Jiang Shiyan to graduate and then move abroad together to live a good life. He didn’t care what the Song family did to him, just think of it as compensation for raising him.

It was just a pity that Jiang Shiyan lied to him. He didn’t want to dive deep into why he lied to him, after all, he didn’t want to destroy the only light in his bleak life—even if it was just an illusion.

The two looked at each other in silence before Song Ling took his gaze back first and walked upstairs.

When Jiang Shiyan saw him, he was stunned for a moment.

He said that Song Ling looked good in a white shirt (collared shirt), so Song Ling wore a white t-shirt for all these years, never changing a bit.

But today, he wore a white roundneck t-shirt and casual shorts that seemed a bit short and didn’t fit well.

Jiang Shiyan got up and followed him upstairs.

Song Ling was about to close the door when Jiang Shiyan called out to him, “Song Ling.”

Song Ling paused, but didn’t close the door in the end, letting go and walking in.

Jiang Shiyan pushed the door open and walked in, gently closing it behind him.

Song Ling didn’t look up, packing his things as if nothing happened.

Jiang Shiyan walked over, pulled the corner of his clothes and said in a soft voice, “Brother Jinyi said you haven’t eaten well recently. Let me take a look at you.”

Song Ling took his clothes back from him, “Don’t touch.”

Jiang Shiyan smiled. He knew Song Ling well. If he lost his temper, all he needed to do was act coquettish and Song Ling would back down.

He liked the way Song Ling compromised for him, and he liked the way he was full of desire for him but would restrain himself if he said no.

Who didn’t like someone that would revolve themselves around them?

Jiang Shiyan familiarly took out a white shirt and trousers for him, “Where did you get these clothes from? It’s so shabby and looks strange on you.

Song Ling paused, recalling Zhou Qingluo’s face as he fussed about the money for a pair of underpants. The corners of his mouth bent up uncontrollably.

Seeing him smile, Jiang Shiyan breathed a sigh of relief and brought the shirt in front of him, “Hurry up and change. Your clothes look really old, careful of getting an allergic reaction.”

Song Ling stopped what he was doing and looked up at him.

Jiang Shiyan pursed his lips, bowed his head and smiled. Like usual, he blamed in a soft voice, “What are you looking at me for?”

“Get out.”

“Ah¹Putting ‘Ah’ in front of someone’s name is like a nickname or endearing way of calling someone. Can also be A’Ling. Ling, I have something…”

“Scram.”

In order to make lunch for Song Ling, Zhou Shoulin went to buy disposable lunch boxes and chose ingredients carefully early at the market. There was a reasonable amount of meat and vegetables as well as milk and fruit. The degree of care was self-evident.

Zhou Qingluo said sourly, “Dad, so it turns out you were just casually cooking for us before.”

Zhou Shoulin cheerfully laughed, “Don’t be silly, this is a customer.”

“Yes, a paying customer.”

“Speaking of which, hurry up and return some of the money to Xiao Song. How can it cost so much to eat for a month?”

“That’s because it includes my delivery fee. Labor is expensive now.”

“Aren’t you friends? Friends shouldn’t be so stingy.”

“Brothers must calculate clearly between themselves.”

“I can’t outtalk you, send this to Xiao Song quickly.”

Zhou Qingluo didn’t realize what he had said until afterwards.

Since when was Song Ling his friend?

Song Ling asked Zhou Qingluo to deliver his meal to Oath Café.

(TN: Oath is ‘Shiyan’ in Chinese.)

Oath Café, Zhou Qingluo knew that it was the favorite spot for art and literature lovers to hang out. The lounge was big and the upper and lower floors were designed very romantically, so the store soon blew up.

A while back, there was a rumor that the shop was opened by Oath himself, but Oath came out and clarified that this was his friend’s café. Some of the elements used were designed by him so he used it to name the shop.

Zhou Qingluo had been studying Oath’s comics recently, and the style inside the café certainly seemed like Oath’s.

Business was good even though it was a weekday.

Zhou Qingluo really admired the owner of the café. They really knew how to make money.

When he entered the store, he didn’t see Song Ling but he did see the cake shop’s Sister Cui and Lou Yang.

The café seemed to be about to celebrate its fourth anniversary so everyone was busy.

Lou Yang saw him and grinned at him, “Qingluo.”

“What a coincidence, why are you here?”

“There’s something wrong with the computer in Ms. Cui’s store. Sister Cui said that I know some stuff and had me come take a look.”

“How is it? Fixed yet?”

“Fixed.”

When Sister Cui saw him, she also stopped her work and her eyes lit up: “Oh, it’s Qingluo. What a coincidence!”

Zhou Qingluo smiled back, “Sister Cui.”

“Cui Zi, come here, this is the guy I wanted to introduce you to.”

Everyone: “?”

A hot lady with short hair frowned while staring at the computer. Hearing this, she didn’t even raise an eye and snorted disdainfully, “Mom, I’m busy.”

Sister Cui: “Come here.”

Cui Zi raised her head lazily, “I said that I want a…” handsome. Very handsome.

When Cui Zi’s eyes fell on Zhou Qingluo, she seemed to have lost her soul. Her eyes widened and she swallowed back the latter half of her sentence.

Was it so difficult to deliver takeout now? Such a handsome person went to go deliver food? You could choose a man from the deliverymen pool now?

No wonder why the store wasn’t able to recruit any handsome guys!

It was said that mother and daughter were connected telepathically. Of course Sister Cui knew that Cui Zi was very satisfied with Zhou Qingluo’s appearance and smoothed things over: “It’s the young man I recommended to work at your shop.”

Cui Zi put down the work at hand and walked over with a twist of her waist. She smoothly handed over a business card and smiled coquettishly, “Hello, I’m the owner of this coffee shop. We’re currently lacking manpower, would you be interested in joining us?”

Zhou Qingluo originally wanted to refuse, but she was Sister Cui’s daughter so he politely took her business card with both hands: “Thank you, but I need to deliver this first.”

It turned out that the boss with a particularly good head at making money was actually Sister Cui’s daughter.

After Zhou Qingluo finished speaking, he gave a call to Song Ling, “I’m here, where are you?”

“On the third floor.”

Zhou Qingluo was puzzled. He only knew that the Oath Café had two floors. What the heck was the third floor?

He held up the phone and asked Cui Zi, “How do you go to the third floor?”

Cui Zi was also surprised, “You need to send it to the third floor?”

Seeing Cui Zi’s expression, Zhou Qingluo was a bit confused: “Does the third floor not belong to your coffee shop?”

Cui Zi looked at the phone that was still connected and the familiar phone number. Wasn’t that the boss’ number?!

The boss ordered takeout?!

She hurriedly said, “No, the third floor also belongs to us. Isn’t our coffee shop big?”

Zhou Qingluo caught a hint of flattery towards a boss on Cui Zi’s face and immediately started up ‘rainbow farts’ mode.

“The whole building belongs to you? Awesome!”

Cui Zi glanced at the phone and raised her voice slightly, “Yes, it’s mainly thanks to our management.”

Song Ling’s voice came from the other end, “The elevator is on the east side, password 0707.”

Zhou Qingluo hung up and Cui Zi released a sigh of relief.

He was confused, “Where’s the east?”

Cui Zi: “…”

Zhou Qingluo finally got up to the third floor. Song Ling was sitting on a sofa by the window in a white roundneck t-shirt and gray slacks. The computer on the table was lit up with a bunch of code running on a black background.

He stared at the computer with deep eyes and a gloomy expression, a signature villainous smile on his face. He was like a beast from the abyss, beginning to reveal his sharp claws and ambition.

Zhou Qingluo breathed in and thought to himself, ‘He deserves to be called a villain! Even the King of Hell isn’t as terrifying when silent.’

He brought over the lunch box and Song Ling retracted his gloomy smile, closed the computer, and looked up at him with a nonchalant expression.

This face-changing skill was too OP.

Zhou Qingluo: “Your food’s here.”

Song Ling moved the computer aside, opened the packaging, and took out a lunch box. A piece of paper fluttered out along with the container.

He picked it up and saw that it was something drawn by Zhou Qingluo.

It was a cartoon styled picture of an old house and sunflowers, a boy in a roundneck t-shirt sitting on the steps.

The drawing wasn’t completed yet, just the first draft. The boy’s hand was raised, reaching out for some unknown thing.

Zhou Qingluo was collecting the bags to use for next time.

Dad really put in a lot of money and effort this time. The bags he used for Song Ling were all insulated.

Song Ling: “Zhou Qingluo, what’s this?”

Zhou Qingluo looked up: “?”

The corners of Song Ling’s mouth curled up, “Is it me?”

Before Zhou Qingluo could figure out why his first draft was here, he heard Song Ling’s narcissistic words.

Song Ling raised an eyebrow, “Were you going to gift it to me?”

Zhou Qingluo: “…”

It was supposed to just be an ordinary thing, but Zhou Qingluo could see a ‘so you really are trying to get my attention’ expression on his face.

Maybe it’s because a substitute’s identity was special.

Zhou Qingluo would never allow such an ambiguous misunderstanding to occur.

It was impossible for him to be a substitute.

Any thoughts must be cut in the roots.

Zhou Qingluo tried to take away the drawing in Song Ling’s hand, but Song Ling pinched it tightly like he expected it.

Zhou Qingluo let go and poked the drawing with his finger, saying with a straight face: “It’s obviously not you; you wear dress shirts.”

After he spoke, he looked down and suddenly realized that Song Ling was wearing a white roundneck t-shirt today.

He was a little surprised, “Why aren’t you wearing a white dress shirt today?”

Song Ling gave a wry smile, “You sure observe me carefully.”

“…As a creator, you always need an eye for discovering new things.”

“You’re missing the word ‘good’.”

“…”

Zhou Qingluo didn’t want to get into a conversation with Song Ling about whether roundneck t-shirts or dress shirts were better-looking and patiently repeated, “I was drawing myself. See? This guy’s holding up his hands, but it’s actually a basin to catch gold coins with. Who does that remind you of?”

Despite his earnest persuading, Song Ling didn’t even think of returning the drawing to him.

Zhou Qingluo sighed and gave up, “Just take it if you want it. After all, the source of the inspiration was you.”

Song Ling took back the drawing and smiled, “It’s an honor to be the source of your inspiration.”

Zhou Qingluo: “…”

He really didn’t want to talk to him anymore. During this period of time, he studied countless ‘substitute’ literature works and the villains were generally extremely dark, denying themselves without a bottom line, very tragic.

He’d never seen one that was so in love with himself.

Those that were this narcissistic were usually sand sculpture²Sand sculpture sounds like ‘stupid’ in Chinese. supporting roles.

As a villain, he should feel inferior and weary. What right did he have to be so conceited?!

Song Ling: “Done?”

Zhou Qingluo laughed twice, “Eat quickly. Once you’re full, your brain can function normally.”

Song Ling pursed his lips and suppressed the curling of his mouth. He didn’t know why, but he found it quite interesting when Zhou Qingluo tried to get rid of him.

Time was money, and Zhou Qingluo didn’t want to waste money here, “You can have the drawing, but don’t repost it. If it’s for commercial use…”

Song Ling interrupted him, “Give you money.”

Zhou Qingluo fell silent, then opened his mouth again: “Okay, the usual rules, I understand.”

Zhou Qingluo left and Cui Zi went to the third floor.

As she walked up to Song Ling, she didn’t dare reveal a trace of charm, saying politely: “Boss Song, were you looking for me?”

Song Ling tapped the table with his fingers, “The store’s lacking personnel recently.”