Husky’s Side Chapter 34

---

Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side
Making plans

---

Zhou Li was surprised, not because of the flowers gifted, but the quantity that he was gifted. 

In the past few days, he had given two flowers from the chests he opened. He gave one to Yan Yunhui and the other to Zhou-er. Ji Shaoyan was even worse off, with only one rose in his possession, yet Zhou Luwen had managed to get five. He curiously asked, “How do you have so many roses?”

Zhou Luwen doubted, “So many?”

Zhou Li himself didn’t know the probabilities of getting a rose and wasn’t able to form a final answer. He concluded, “Maybe my bad luck stopped me from getting more.”

But this wasn’t the main take away.

The main take away was that after Zhou Er send out his flowers, the game threw itself into a pot of frying oil because the person standing in the centre of everyone’s gossip-filled conversations finally showed up.

Zheng San: Yo, Zhou Er-shao’s appeared ah.

Zheng San: Ze, I misspoke, can’t call out ‘Second Young Master Zhou’ anymore. After all, the genuine goods have already returned. What are you trying to pull? Are you going to uninstall the game and stop playing after sending out your flowers?

Zhou Er: No, just sending them out because I wanted to.

Jing Shao: Why send them to him?

Quan Jie: +1*

[T/N: agreeing with the person above, people after you who also agree will usually type out increasing consecutive numbers]

Liu Xiao Wei: 2

Tang Xin Tian: 3

Compared to Zheng San who simply wished to pick a fight with a certain someone, they were more concerned about this issue.

Because after thinking about it for a while, a certain sentence suddenly barged into their minds out of nowhere——I am Qian Liye, hello everyone.

This can’t actually be true ba?

But then, how else can this ‘genuine good’ be connected to everything?

Zhou Luwen glanced at Zhou Li with an invitation in his eyes.

Zhou Li smiled with crescent eyes and assured, “Leave it to me.”

Thus, in the next second, everyone watched as this unwanted good start to bubble in the chat.

Li: I am Qian Liye; I already told you this earlier on but you guys didn’t believe me. Do you believe me now?

The second generations did not answer and instead waited in their seats.

A minute passed by but the refusal from Zhou Er never arrived. With no other option but to accept the truth, they proceeded to react accordingly and holler Zheng San’s name together.

Zheng San: …Shit.

Li: San-shao, I’ll see you when school opens. I’m waiting for you to eat your phone.

Tang Xin Tian: Want to see.

March: 1

Liu Xiao Wei: 2

Da Ya Lan: 3

The crowd instantly lined up in numerical order. Zheng San anger exploded and he didn’t bother pretending to be dead.

Zheng San: Ca, isn’t it just a phone? Watch me eat it!

Li: Good boy*.

[T/N: ‘obedient’, how you usually call a well-behaving pet so used an English equivalent]

Zheng San: ‘Good boy’ your sister!

Zheng San: How can someone like you be the school tyrant?

Li: Because I am handsome. Good-looking people can do whatever they want.

“……” Third Young Master Zheng felt that if he interacted with the genuine goods for any longer, sooner or later he will suffer a heart attack.

Everyone else fell over in laughter and the public chatroom was bombarded with messages that flew up the screen.

Neither Liang Jingxiu nor Yan Yunhui participated in this excitement. Even without discussing beforehand, the two of them opened WeChat joined a small three-member group chat.

Liang Jingxiu: This situation, start talking bei.

Ji Shaoyan: En?

Liang Jingxiu: Don’t ‘en’ me again.

Yan Yunhui: You two have known each other before all of this?

A-Yan is not the type who falls in love at first sight with a stranger. If he has known the other person since long ago, this situation would make more sense.

But a big contradiction lied in this theory. They thought A-Yan sent flowers so he could pretend to be a philanthropist by sending another person a single rose when he saw the other comment on how jealous they were, but unexpectedly this was not the case. However, A-Yan had only just woken up from his coma, so how could he know this person was Qian Liye?

One possibility could be that A-Yan told him about Old Man Wei’s little game before the car accident and arranged for someone to help him get the invitation code while knowing what ID he would use, and for some reason they agreed to pretend not to know each other in-game; another possibility…will have to be an unbelievably outrageous guess, not to mention how big this ‘possibility’ was by visual assessment alone.

Ji Shaoyan threw them a lone word: Secret.

He ignored Liang Jingxiu’s fancy questioning in the group chat and switched to Zhou Li’s profile, mulling over what Zhou Li’s intentions were with telling him to come online. In the end, he felt that as a default teammate*, asking a few questions about Zhou Er would be reasonable enough.

[T/N: he’s given ZL a flower in-game so they can be considered acquaintances, therefore he wouldn’t be overstepping his boundaries if he asks]

Ji Shaoyan: You let him give them away?

Zhou Li responded very quickly: That’s not it, he gave them away before I could react.

Ji Shaoyan reserved his own judgements concerning this answer and instead asked: Have you opened another flower?

Zhou Li: Not yet.

Ji Shaoyan went silent.

The current situation was like this: Zhou Li and Zhou-er have sent each other flowers whereas he had one-sidedly sent a single flower to Silly Fool. If the friendship value between the two is too high, they will be forced to bond as teammates. When that time comes, he and Zhou Li will no longer have anything to do with each other.

Young Master Ji was unhappy.

He was very dissatisfied with the lack of an in-game purchase system.

Zhou Li was naturally unaware of his worsening mood. After a few seconds of hesitation, he finally couldn’t help but ask: I heard that you were in another accident. Are you okay ba?

Ji Shaoyan understood as soon as this question entered his eyes.

News regarding the injuries he received only yesterday hasn’t made its round in these outsider conversations for the time being and these teenagers in the game didn’t know about his condition. Zhou Li had only just returned to his true (rich) family so there was naturally nowhere to inquire about his state. There was only one possibility.

Ji Shaoyan: Did you hear it from those people who beat you?

Zhou Li: En.

Ji Shaoyan: Even after they beat you, they want you to be the mediator*?

[T/N: ‘说客’: good at persuading others to accept their own opinion (used in a degoratory manner nowadays)]

Zhou Li: I refused.

Ji Shaoyan mind was soothed and he began to answer the previous question.

He had just finished typing the three words ‘not too serious’ when he thought more carefully about this reply, ultimately deleting the word ‘not’ from the short answer: A little serious, and I won’t be able to attend school when the term starts. I need to be kept in the hospital and there is no one here that can speak with me.

Zhou Li: Your friends don’t visit you?

The corners of Ji Shaoyan’s lips hooked upwards. It was hard to refuse this temptation.

Since waking up, all he wanted was to see Silly Fool and to find out if the wave of emotions he experienced at the highway exit at that time was simply an illusion——truthfully, even he thought this was highly unlikely because the mere thought of Silly Fool’s eyes falling on someone else other than him sent him into an agitated state. He wanted to firmly grasp what originally belonged to him and drag him back.

He proceeded to record a voice message, selling misery* and sighing with a voice that had the ability to bewitch a group of brain-dead fans: “The injury this time was borne from my recklessness and my grandpa is furious. No one is allowed to come see me. Only when I am pushed out in the morning and night for fresh air am I allowed to occasionally chat with strangers for a short time, but then again, I am not too lucky every time.”

[T/N: exaggerating your personal problems to gain sympathy/attention]

Zhou Li: You can just call your friends ah.

Ji Shaoyan: “……”

Where did your benevolence go?

He subconsciously wanted to throw out an explanatory “the time I’m able to use my phone is monitored daily”, but after mulling over this sentence he felt it was too deliberate, so he tried a tactical withdrawal and offered one word: En.

It’s not that Zhou Li couldn’t hear the meaning behind his words. At this moment, looking at this concise “en“, he felt a twinge of pity in his heart as the image of his family’s introverted Eggy somehow flashed across his mind. Thinking about how this young master broke a leg to help him, he finally replied: How about I go visit you during these two days? Besides, your personal nurse won’t recognize me.

Ji Shaoyan won what he wished for and was content with the outcome: Sounds good, come here when you’re free. We can also discuss how to break through this third level.

Zhou Li heard Madam Zhou calling for them to have lunch outside so he replied “Okay” and went downstairs with Zhou Luwen.

As soon as he finished eating, he received a call from Qian Duoshu. Zhou Li eyebrows faintly raised and he answered, “Wei?”

Qian Duoshu’s voice was a little weak. “Wei. Have you eaten?”

Zhou Li: “Just finished.”

He heard the other person ask “are you used to living there yet” but interrupted with, “Just get to the point.”

Qian Duoshu went still for a moment before hesitantly saying, “My business, you…”

Zhou Li said, “Oh, I spilled everything.”

There was no sound from Qian Duoshu side for a long time. Zhou Li, the patient person that he was, waited until he heard a dumb-sounding continuation, “Then he…what did your mum and dad say?”

Zhou Li stood up and left the restaurant, dawdling at his own pace until he stopped outside. He answered, “They said they wanted to sue you but I stopped them. Told them they should wait for Qian Liye to come out and let him call the shots. As for what your son thinks of this, I didn’t ask. You can discuss these things with him yourself.”

Qian Duoshu went silent once more.

Zhou Li said, “Your son is much more honest than you. Anyway, you can’t hide this for a lifetime. You have to face things sooner or later, unless you want to never see him again.”

Qian Duoshu didn’t stay quiet for that long this time and Zhou Li was unable to guess what his expression was like on the other end. He only heard the man tentatively utter, “Then, you two…do you want to come back for dinner tonight?”

Zhou Li said, “Sure, we’ll go back.”

He cut off the call went back inside to tell the Zhou family about the new meal arrangement.

Father Zhou immediately bellowed, “Absolutely not!”

Eating together was just that and nothing more, but living was absolutely impossible. All he needed was to think about these two children living under the same roof with this domestically violent bastard and his body will lose the skill to stand or sit still.

Zhou Li explained, “He’s on medication. If he thinks he’s stable, he is stable, otherwise he wouldn’t invite me to go back.”

Father Zhou naturally trusted his judgment but the colour of his face was still not good.

Reflecting on it for roughly two seconds, he added, “I’ll go back with you two and stay overnight as well.”

Zhou Li conjured up an image of him sleeping in the same bedroom with Qian Duoshu and felt it had a rather ‘Shura Field’ vibe, so he declined, “No need. The house is small, just a bodyguard will be fine.”

Father Zhou thought that this substitution would still work and reluctantly agreed.

However, he was still unable to loosen the grip around his heart. When Zhou Li and the others were about to set off, he stuffed a palm-sized electric self-defence baton* into their hands. It was unknown where he went to buy such a product.

[T/N: 防身电棒, like a taser?]

Zhou Li didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but did not refuse his kindness, putting the weapon away in his luggage.

The two boys got in the car and drove towards Xiangman Town. There were only the two of them sitting in the back passenger seats and Zhou Luwen started looking for a conversation starter again, asking, “How did you know of the game?”

Zhou Li repeated the excuse he gave to Song Yingshi.

When Zhou Luwen heard him mention the pet competition, he recalled that the cause of the accident he was involved in this time was a little husky. “If you like dogs so much, do you want to raise another one?”

No matter how many I raise, they will never be cute as my Eggy ah.

Zhou Li felt a twinge of pain in his heart and replied, “There’s already a little golden retriever, I’ll bring it back with us this time.”

He glanced at him and said, “Let me ask something bei, how did you find out you weren’t the biological son?”

There was no explanation in the novel regarding this incident and he always felt that it was rather strange.

Judging from Zhou Luwen’s personality, he felt that the other boy wouldn’t mind if he asked.

As expected, Zhou Luwen didn’t mind and reluctantly told him what led up to this discovery.

One of their aunties married a university professor who valued ​​the education of her child very much. The child in her family was very difficult to manage and drove his parents insane. Last year, she found a solution to her problems, which was to throw the child to her eldest brother to stare down at during the winter and summer holidays until she returned, and only then will she pick him up. Because the eldest brother’s face sank with this arrangement, the child immediately became honest. However, since the eldest brother still had a job of taking over his company’s business, most of the time he was just responsible for staring down at the child who was forced to work on his homework.

Zhou Li raised his eyebrows. “And then?”

Zhou Luwen: “And then he overheard some adults’ conversation, saying that I don’t look like my parents. Maybe he thought that as long as I wasn’t the true son, he wouldn’t be glared at during the holidays anymore. Before this break, he secretly took a bit of dad’s and my hair and found someone to do a DNA test.”

Zhou Li: “…What grade is he in?”

Zhou Luwen: “Fifth grade.”

Zhou Li: “……”

[T/N: 10 years old]

Simply put, this was a murder case committed by a bear kid because of his summer homework.

When it came to the children of wealthy people, sure enough, these bears have the ability to change fates*.

[T/N: literally, bears can break through the heavens]

In an ordinary family, what child is capable of finding someone to test people’s DNA?

There was no need to ask about what happened next. In accordance to the bear child’s behaviour, he must’ve been in a state of euphoria at the sight of these test results and was itching to let people all over the world know about his good deed, unaware of the pit he dug for himself.

He asked, “This auntie, she probably didn’t come again this summer ba?”

Zhou Luwen nodded helplessly.

Her child being at the centre of this catastrophe, the auntie probably wouldn’t dare to step a single foot into their house in the future.

Zhou Li smiled, finding this a little funny, asking, “Then what’s the deal between you and Zheng San?”

Zhou Luwen was even more helpless: “I don’t know either.”

Zhou Li: “No clue?”

“I’ve only heard rumours,” Zhou Luwen offered, “We were in same class in elementary school and was his deskmate. I heard that every time he made trouble, his mother would mention me while beating him. Maybe he’s found me unpleasant to the eye ever since.” 

Zhou Li burst into laughter. This rich circle was quite similar to what he was used to.

These young masters and madams may look bright and beautiful, but he can have some fun just by sweeping away their successes to uncover their previous black history.

The two of them chatted and before they knew it, they arrived at Xiangman Town.

It was Zhou Luwen’s first time here. He looked at the large farmland and neatly planted woods outside the window before they drove down a narrow concrete road into a lively residential area.

The Qian family members had already received the news and were all waiting in Qian Duoshu’s house.

Excluding Aunt Qian and Uncle Qian, Auntie Qian* who was not in good health also visited this time around. Along with all their children who they also bought along, the living room was almost squeezed full to the brim. 

[T/N: Aunt Qian is the elder sister, Auntie Qian is the younger]

Zhou Luwen was almost scared by this outcome.

But he has always been a steady minded person and quickly adjusted his reaction, greeting them politely before being taken to the couch to sit down.

Qian Duoshu took half a day off work to thoroughly clean the house inside and out. It was practically sparkling.

Although he did a good job of building up his mental construction, he still didn’t dare to look into his dear son’s eyes, instead lowering his head and carrying the fruits the two brought into the kitchen.

Aunt Qian laughed and said, “Let’s go eat in the restaurant downstairs later. There’s a seafood shop and two that sells home-cooked dishes. They all have a good reputations here, we can choose which one to eat depending on what you want.”

Zhou Luwen answered, “I’m fine with anything, I don’t have anything I avoid eating. I’ll listen to you.”

Aunt Qian instantly lit up with a bright smile, thinking that this eldest nephew of hers was quite sensible and obedient. She looked at the other one: “What about Liye?”

Zhou Li picked up a piece of watermelon. “I’m also fine with anything.”

Aunt Qian replied “en” and while talking to Zhou Luwen, she deliberately let the other children get close to the two, especially her own kids. She pointed to a boy and said, “Your cousin here has poor grades. I heard that you’re doing very well in your studies, you can teach him when you have the time.”

Zhou Luwen kept a smile on his face and responded to each statement one at a time without any signs of impatience.

After a while he saw Zhou Li, who was beside him, put down the bitten-clean watermelon rind before slowly picking up his third piece. He suddenly noticed something was off——these people didn’t seem to be close to Zhou Li, nor did the children bother with him very much.

His heart sank slightly and he turned to Zhou Li. “Didn’t you say you wanted to take me around? Let’s go ba.”

Zhou Li glanced at him and put the watermelon back.

Aunt Qian hurriedly called out “ai” and interrupted them. “Let your cousins follow along, have a nice walk around the area.”

Zhou Luwen smiled and refused, “No need, we just need to have a quick talk anyway. All of us are going out to eat later so we’ll be back before dinner.” 

After that, Aunt Qian couldn’t hold them back anymore and watched them leave with their bodyguard.

When their small group arrived downstairs, Zhou Li checked the time and walked towards the exit gate of the apartment complex, saying, “Even if you didn’t call on me, I would’ve come out anyway. Nice timing though, I’ll introduce you to my friends.”

Zhou Luwen: “Who?”

Zhou Li: “My little brothers.”

His head was cracked open and it was impossible for the younger brothers not to visit him, so before he left yesterday he told them he was going home with his relatives.

But the power of gossip proved to be formidable. Only one day has passed and the story of taking home the wrong child has already spread to this small town. Er-ge was the first to break out of the group and Zhou Li could only tell this story again, leading to an understandable meltdown thanks to the shocking surprise. Since he was coming back to visit today, he invited them out along the way. 

Their group agreed to meet in the fitness park next to the bus stop.

There was a small pavilion built in the park and the younger brothers had already reserved the spot. Seeing Ying-ge stroll over, they turned their eyes in unison to the teenager beside him.

Zhou Li said, “This is your genuine, real-deal Dage.”

The little brothers habitually followed his orders and they had never encountered such a rare situation. Upon hearing his unscrupulous introduction, they subconsciously greeted, “Oh, hello, Dage.”

Zhou Luwen smiled. “…Hello, everyone.”

The little brothers returned to reality.

That’s not right ah, even if they took home the wrong son, this person may not necessarily be their Dage anyway.

But they were too lazy to care, ushering Ying-ge into the small pavilion, wanting to hear him talk about what it was like to be part of a wealthy family. Is it like what they show on TV? Are there swimming pools and helicopters? Was there stuff like “Tian Liang Wang Po*” or something?

[T/N: 天凉王破: reference to a danmei titled “我的烈火保镖”, something about big companies going bankrupt or something (not too sure about this idiom)] 

Zhou Luwen was confused, “What Tian Liang Wang Po?”

Er-ge clarified, “Basically someone provoked your woman, and that someone is the son of the Wang Group, so you feel the air has grown colder and decide to let the Wang Group go bankrupt.”

Zhou Luwen: “……”

Zhou Li laughed and said, “Don’t pay attention to these guys.”

He took out six hundred in cash and threw it on the table. “Here, I don’t need this anymore, you can take it back.”

Er-ge and the others rushed to grab the money, angrily hissed, “Fuck, is this what normal people do? You just won at life, why can’t you give some more?”

The stingy little brother Xiao Qi immediately echoed, “That’s right!”

San-ge said, “I heard the car that picked you up is worth millions, just one wheel will leave us enough for to eat and drink for a lifetime.”

Xiao Qi was speechless. “Millions! Are you for real?”

Zhou Li confirmed, “Probably.”

Xiao Qi sucked in a healthy amount of fresh air before covering his nose. Blood started streaming down.

Everyone: “……”

“The hell is wrong with…” San-ge grabbed at his collar, feeling a bit pained in his heart. “It’s over for you ah,what will you do when your wife marries into the family in the future? On the wedding night, counting gifts with your wife, do you want her to call for an ambulance because of blood loss!”

Er-ge whipped out a tissue and threw it over, correcting the other’s worry, “You’re wrong, like hell he’ll get a wife with this reaction!”

Zhou Li thought back to the Xiao Qi who had kindly sponsored an eight-yuan red envelope on the day of his arrival and couldn’t stop the wide grin on his face. He stretched out a finger and tapped on the tabletop, “Okay, that’s enough. Let’s talk about business.”

The boys looked at him all together, wondering if their Ying-ge was going to take them flying.

Zhou Li: “I’m rich now so it doesn’t matter if I continue by education in the future, but have you ever thought about what you guys will do?”

The little brothers exclaimed without thinking, “We’ll be your bodyguards!”

Zhou Li smiled and nodded, beckoning to the bodyguard behind him then saying to the group of teenagers, “Take a look at my bodyguard. Have a go at him together. If you guys can beat him, I will accept the offer.”

The little brothers spirits were instantly lit on fire and they rolled up their sleeves, rushing out towards the man.

Two minutes later, they were beaten into the ground and laid in a pile.

Zhou Li motioned to the bodyguard-dage, having him tell the boys about his training and workload schedule. Meeting their horrified expressions, he smiled, “Still want to be one?”

Er-ge and the others became mute.

Xiao Wu was silent for a while before looking up and express, “I do.”

He looked directly into Zhou Li’s eyes. “Ying-ge, I want to be your bodyguard. I will do my best to meet the requirements.”

The others sent him a surprised look.

Zhou Li raised his eyebrows slightly, understanding that this kid most likely thought of him as his saviour, so he wanted to follow him.

He didn’t call out on this ambitious declaration and called for them to huddle around. “Let me clear out another road for you guys.”

The little brothers’ eyes sparkled at these words, knowing that their Ying-ge would not abandon them.

Zhou Li: “You are now entering the second year of high school. Right now, it is still not too late. I will take money from my own pockets to hire the best teachers. One-on-one tutoring on Saturdays and Sundays, how about that?”

Everyone: “……”

After a dead silence, the group of boys with faces similar to those experiencing the downfall of the heavens cried out as one: “——Huh?”

---

The author has something to say:

Zhou Li: Five Years of University Entrance Examination, Three Years’ Worth of Simulation*, you are deserving of both.

[T/N: 五年高考 and 三年模拟 are two teaching aid books that organise and summarise questions given in university entrance exams, basically a past exam pack]

---

<< Previous Chapter     TOC     Next Chapter >>

I’ll be posting the next chapter in an hour or two ^^