Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Eight: It’s Not a Confession (1/2)
In the large room, there was not a soul in sight. However, there was a strange bulge at the foot of the bed. Upon closer inspection, one could see it was a rolled-up blanket looking like a snow-covered hillside.
This was what Yan Jin saw.
He sat on the bedside and the bed sagged a considerable amount from the suddenly added weight.
The blanket roll contracted imperceptibly.
“Are you crying?” Yan Jin asked.
“No.”
“What? You’re really crying?”
“I already said I’m not! Are you deaf?”
Xiao Yu stuck his head out from the blankets. Like a predator waiting outside a rabbit burrow, Yan Jin immediately snatched Xiao Yu and swept him into an embrace.
The “rabbit” struggled for a few moments before finding it was completely imprisoned. Xiao Yu surrendered and stuck his head into the embrace as if he were dead.
Yan Jin didn’t pressure him. He calmly held Xiao Yu without saying a word.
Before long, a muffled voice came out. “Was I embarrassing?”
“No, “ Yan Jin replied almost instantly.
“…Hmph. Liar.” Xiao Yu wriggled from Yan Jin’s collar to snuggle a little closer to Yan Jin.
Yan Jin held Xiao Yu’s wriggling head steady and clearly said next to Xiao Yu’s ear, “No matter your eccentricities, people will always be understanding for a master designer of your caliber.”
This exaggerated praise comforted Xiao Yu a lot more than honest consolation.
“There’s no way I’m that amazing; otherwise, I wouldn’t need to work for super-evil businessmen like you.”
The “super-evil” businessman laughed and quietly promised, “It only turned out this way because SI didn’t utilize you properly. Believe me, it won’t ever happen again.”
Xiao Yu raised his head and said in a dissatisfied tone, “What do you mean ‘utilize’? You’re speaking as if I’m a tool.”
“Sorry, my mistake,” Yan Jin magnanimously conceded.
“Also, it probably doesn’t count as an eccentricity.” After being cheered up by Yan Jin from the wallowing depths, he decided not to hide any of his thoughts. “Ever since I was a child, I have never had many friends. I didn’t have many strong interpersonal relationships at SI either. It’s a problem I have no matter how you look at it.”
“That shouldn’t be considered strange. No matter which domain, as you rise up there are less people of the same level. It’s lonely at the top.” Indulgently pampering Xiao Yu, Yan Jin massaged Xiao Yu’s head. “The people at SI avoided you because they were jealous of your natural talents, so it’s not your fault.”
Xiao Yu happily said, “Your rose-colored glasses are too tinted. How about earlier with Nan Wei when I conducted myself so poorly? Even disregarding the awkward atmosphere, I wasn’t able to talk about the things I wanted to say.”
“Rather than ‘rose-colored glasses’, I prefer ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder.’” Yan Jin teased Xiao Yu a little before quickly saying, “But I’m actually quite impartial. Nan Wei isn’t a fitting conversation partner. Speaking of that, he doesn’t consider the other’s feelings at all. Although, possibly to make up for his lack of business sense, even as a child he was very quick-witted. His intuition is really sharp and he gets by a lot better than his brother.”
On this note, Yan Jin sighed in regret. Back in those days, no one viewed Nan Wei optimistically. But now, he lived the most relaxed and carefree life. He didn’t need to do anything; he was always attended to by a convoy of people that would take care of any tricky situations for him. Compared to him, the rest of the “prodigies” were each busier than the next and needed to work very hard for any progress at all.
“Right, I still haven’t gotten you back for what you’ve done!” Xiao Yu was reminded by Yan Jin and immediately exploded, “How much did you hide from me? What’s with Nannan or Nan Wei? And Chu Ge? What’s with him? Why didn’t you tell me any of this? When did you find out that Nan Wei is Nannan? Why…”
“Alright alright, calm down a little. I’ll address each of the issues one at a time.” Yan Jin ran a hand down Xiao Yu’s back to placate him. Once he felt Xiao Yu’s anger subsided somewhat, he slowly continued, “About Nannan, who is also Nan Wei. Let’s start from the beginning. He’s my little cousin, the youngest of the Nan Family. He had a falling-out with his family and thereafter made a living from his internet store. When business was poor, I personally went to go help him with sales. I didn’t keep in touch with him after business picked up again. Only a year ago did I hear about him again from you.”
Xiao Yu added, “I thought he was a normal taobao store owner. When I became a hamster, I found out through your QQ that Lin Zhou stole my designs. In order to prevent his evil plans from succeeding, I could only become Mr. Mystery. Because I couldn’t draw as a hamster, I went to find Nannan whom I previously had some friendly conversations with and had him plagiarize my own work.”
“You already met him before that time?” Yan Jin was a little surprised.
“The counterfeit jewelry in his store most probably plagiarized from my designs. I also found him by accident. At first I thought he was some fanatic fan of mine.”
Yan Jin understood now. “But it turned out that he copied your designs because cheap materials could be substituted in and it would still closely approximate the original, right?”
“Shh, that’s a secret.” Xiao Yu pouted unhappily and wagged his pinky. “There’s very few people that know that I like to use cheap materials in my designs.”
Yan Jin played along and extended his own pinky to complete the pinky promise.
“And then? Then what happened?” Xiao Yu was very interested.
“Then Nan Wei traced your login and discovered it was from my house. Then he confirmed the ID was Chu Ge’s.”
Xiao Yu was shocked. He didn’t think he had been exposed so early. Then why…
“It’s just as you’re thinking. Nan Wei didn’t immediately confront me.” Even Yan Jin himself found the situation puzzling. “He thought you were my secret lover that I hid at home and didn’t say anything to avoid embarrassing me.”