Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 100

Anding Hospital.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Zhao Kaile supported Zhao Kaiming, who was still walking rather unsteadily, and asked with concern: “Your head doesn’t hurt anymore and your legs don’t hurt anymore?”

“I’m fine.” Zhao Kaiming flexed his arm and said: “Aren’t I perfectly fine? No need for you to support me. I can walk by myself.”

Zhao Kaile let go of his hand as told. Zhao Kaiming immediately grabbed the wall, forced a calm smile, and gave him a thumbs up to show he was very okay.

Zhao Kaile: “……..”

May. The weather was fine and clear. Peach, pear, and azalea blossoms competed to bloom. The temperature gradually rose. Pedestrians came and went on the streets, and the city was full of spring atmosphere.

Zhao Kaile led his useless older brother to the small rental apartment that had been arranged in advance. The two brothers put their things in place, sat down, and began to settle accounts.

Zhao Kaiming had already told his original boss he was quitting, but they had exchanged contact information and agreed to treat him to a meal once he made his fortune. The money he had saved from working these few months was not much, only about two thousand yuan. After the disability assessment came out, the medical expenses would be fully borne by the other party. And Zhan Hang, who had participated in the brawl, had become an invisible person in this incident due to mobilizing certain unspeakable connections. Zhao Kaiming became the undisputed sole victim, so this expense could be ignored. Besides this, lost wages, nutrition fees, nursing fees, hospital meal subsidies, and so on could all be fought for.

Zhao Kaile tapped away on the calculator page on his phone with one hand, scribbling on paper with the other, muttering under his breath: “Gift money for Brother Yaozi and the others, gift money for your boss, three months of rent and utilities paid in advance, money for the hired nurse……”

Zhao Kaiming sat there peeling an apple for him, then cut it into small pieces and put them in a bowl, pushing it in front of him and saying: “Bro, eat.”

“Your monthly salary…… you don’t worry about rent every month, how much does one meal cost?” Zhao Kaile asked puzzledly: “Why is there only this much left? Where did the rest go?”

Zhao Kaiming used a toothpick to spear a piece of apple and fed it to his mouth.

Zhao Kaile opened his mouth and took it away, still frowning at him relentlessly.

“It’s just treating that someone to a few meals.” Zhao Kaiming said embarrassedly.

Zhao Kaile: “Who? It couldn’t be Jin Mengjie, could it??”

Zhao Kaiming honestly nodded.

“……..” Zhao Kaile said in disbelief: “Then why didn’t she come see you when you were lying in the hospital bed?”

Zhao Kaiming said: “I told her. She kind of wanted to break up. I felt dragging it on was pointless, so I agreed. Not dragging her down.”

Zhao Kaile was practically going to die of anger from him: “Zhao Kaiming! You’re a total sucker!”

Zhao Kaiming hurriedly stuffed the apple into his mouth, coaxing: “Calm down, calm down. I promise this kind of thing will never happen again, okay? I’ve already thought it through. Open a shop, do business properly.”

Zhao Kaile chewed the apple with a blank expression, not saying a word as he looked at him, his eyes full of contempt.

“I’m not coaxing you, I’m serious. Let’s find a storefront and open a small supermarket. What do you think?” Zhao Kaiming said: “I’ve looked at the land prices around here. It’s quite far from the city center, not expensive. With so many residential complexes nearby, business definitely won’t be bad.”

Zhao Kaile was full of doubt about his plan and said: “Last time you said you’d open an online store.”

“Profit margins are too thin for online stores now.” Zhao Kaiming said: “Let’s keep our feet on the ground. First get the physical store up and running, then see how to develop from there.”

Zhao Kaile said: “I guess that’s fine…… as long as you’ve thought it through.”

Zhao Kaiming saw that he finally wasn’t frowning anymore, laughed with a hehe, and reached out to wipe the corner of his mouth.

The entire day, the two brothers sat at the table calculating costs. Zhao Kaile transferred two hundred thousand yuan from his own card to him as startup capital, then called Li Wenyao to ask if his father had any nearby land.

“Your brother’s discharged?” Li Wenyao chattered noisily: “Why didn’t you tell me, I could have gone with you to pick him up.”

Zhao Kaile said: “I didn’t want to trouble you with this small matter.”

“Okay, I’ll go home and ask the old man in a bit.” Li Wenyao said: “Did your brother and those hoodlums reach a mediation successfully? Don’t let them come sniffing around the shop later.”

“We mediated.” Zhao Kaile said: “They signed an agreement. They shouldn’t come again.”

Li Wenyao: “Hope so. They probably just wanted to beat your brother up to vent their anger. Tell him, if he runs into this kind of thing next time, run first no matter what. Money and face aren’t important.”

Zhao Kaile deliberately put him on speaker for Zhao Kaiming to hear, his face full of “did you hear that did you hear that.” The latter said helplessly: “Got it.”

He really did feel somewhat unable to hold up his face. Being lectured by his own younger brother was one thing, but his brother’s classmate also had to stick his nose in. It was truly a loss of face.

Around five o’clock, Zhao Kaiming had originally wanted Zhao Kaile to stay for dinner, but Zhao Kaile really couldn’t compliment his cooking skills. He only managed to get away by making excuses that work was very busy and he had to go back. In reality, Zhan Hang hadn’t sent any messages rushing him.

Strange.

Zhao Kaile sat on the subway heading back, head down flipping through the red notification dots on his phone, flipping through them once, none from Zhan Hang. Instead, Lu Jiayin sent a message saying she was accompanying Zhan Hang to attend a cocktail party.

Zhao Kaile replied with an okay sticker, but felt a strange sense of loss in his heart. He aimlessly swiped his finger across the screen, thinking why didn’t he bring me this time…… if he didn’t bring me, who would take care of him? Oh, Sister Jiayin is there…… she knows Hang-ge so well, she definitely takes care of him more properly than me…… but they haven’t worked together for so long, can she take good care of Hang-ge? What if she forgets to bring eye drops or something……

He was thinking this and that all by himself. Meanwhile, on the other end, Zhan Hang was exchanging polite conversation with several familiar and unfamiliar faces, passing cups and raising glasses. Regardless of whether he knew them or not, he showed three parts of a smile upon seeing anyone, after all media lenses were everywhere.

Lu Jiayin wore a dark red cocktail dress, following behind him helping with introductions and smiling obligingly. This was a certain director young and promising with extraordinary qualifications, this was a certain company boss a dragon among men quite unusual, this was a certain screenwriter top in the industry worth a thousand gold per word, and so on.

Zhan Hang’s face grew stiff from smiling so much. He used the excuse of going to the bathroom to prepare to go out for a smoke and catch his breath. The moment he entered the stairwell, a man crouching in the corner with completely disheveled image immediately sprang up. After seeing clearly who it was, he breathed a sigh of relief.

The two looked at each other in speechlessness.

Zhou Jiyang’s fingers moved slightly, flicking off cigarette ash, and asked: “What are you out here for?”

Zhan Hang said: “You know full well.”

“Damn, don’t get photographed in a bit.” Zhou Jiyang retreated a bit farther and said seriously: “Nowadays male with male is also very dangerous, especially two handsome guys.”

“Two handsome guys?” Zhan Hang looked behind him, then looked at him: “Where’s the other one?”

“……..” Zhou Jiyang said: “Scram, you.”

Zhan Hang ignored him and lit a cigarette on his own.

Zhou Jiyang asked: “Where’s your little follower?”

“Asked for leave.” Zhan Hang’s expression was clearly somewhat weary: “He’s busier than me.”

Zhou Jiyang laughed teasingly: “Got cold-shouldered, in a bad mood. I get it.”

Zhan Hang made an mm sound, neither confirming nor denying.

Zhou Jiyang finally grew puzzled: “What’s wrong with you? Was this drama that damaging? Why do you look completely hollowed out.”

“Nothing.” Zhan Hang said: “I took this drama while sulking with Bai Li, and from the current situation, everything she said was completely right.”

Zhou Jiyang said: “So what? At the end of the day you’re all on the same side. Losing face is losing face. It’s not like she’d make things difficult for you over this.”

Zhan Hang: “She’s been very busy lately. All my contact has been with Lu Jiayin.”

“What do you mean?” Zhou Jiyang raised his eyebrows slightly: “She’s washing her hands of you? That can’t be.”

“Not to that extent.” Zhan Hang said: “It’s just, I said some harsh words at the time.”

“So you still can’t swallow your pride?” Zhou Jiyang gave a crude and simple evaluation: “You’re just too self-centered. Only Zhao Kaile can put up with you. Bai Li has endured you all these years, that’s hard enough.”

Zhan Hang said with a blank expression: “The fact that I can appear here right now is me bowing my head to her. What do you know.”

“Oh oh oh, then you’re quite something.” Zhou Jiyang joked: “For the sake of supporting your family, you even know how to humble yourself.”

Zhan Hang gave him a sidelong glance and asked: “What are you here for?”

Zhou Jiyang was choked by the question, then said somewhat melancholically: “My sister-in-law just got pregnant with her second child. The moment I came back, my dad started pressuring me. But you say at this kind of occasion…… how could there possibly be my type? Look at these people one by one, faces painted whiter than walls. What can you do here? Climb connections, that’s all. I really can’t get excited.”

Zhan Hang: “Then what type do you like?”

“I like……” Zhou Jiyang thought for a moment and said: “Zhang Wenqian that type.”

“……..” Zhan Hang said contemptuously: “No wonder you can chat with Zhao Kaile.”

Zhou Jiyang: “Unfortunately her schedule is packed full. I can’t even get an appointment.”

Zhan Hang said: “Rest assured, even if you got an appointment, she wouldn’t look at you.”

“Why? On what basis?” Zhou Jiyang said dissatisfiedly: “Does Second Young Master Zhou look that unpresentable??”

Zhan Hang hooked the corner of his mouth, cigarette pinched between his fingertips, and said with a wicked smile: “She doesn’t like motormouths.”

Zhou Jiyang: “……..”

Over ten minutes later, the two returned to the cocktail venue one after another.

Several young men and women chatting nearby in low voices clearly lowered their volume when they saw Zhan Hang pass by, switching to talking about other matters.

Zhou Jiyang raised an eyebrow at Zhan Hang. Zhan Hang said in a low voice: “Don’t mind them.”

Elsewhere, a middle-aged man had his back to them, speaking without restraint: “Didn’t ‘Sharp Sword’ claim to have two hundred million in investment? How come now there’s not even a splash.”

“Probably half of that was poured in just to promote that someone.” A female voice said: “Having a sugar daddy or sugar mommy, that’s what gives you confidence to speak. Too bad even after throwing in so much, they still couldn’t compete with Yu Wenrong. Really rich and stupid.”

“Who threw it in?”

“His godfather or godmother, who else could it be?”

Everyone hearing this all laughed with mutual understanding.

Zhou Jiyang was listening on the side and was practically going to laugh from anger. Zhan Hang however reached out and pressed his shoulder, his eyes indifferent, clearly also enduring.