Mr. Dior : Chapter 13

Jiao Qi finally put on that school uniform, though it got pulled off the moment he wore it, barely hanging off his elbows. Who knows where Zhang Diao got such weird taste from, getting so worked up over such an ugly school uniform.

“Call me senior.”

“…” Are we really going all out with this roleplay?

Jiao Qi found it a bit hard to say out loud, but that mischievous guy refused to let him off the hook. In the end, he was forced to call out the word, only to get an even more worked up husband in return.

This waist of his was done for.

The next day, the new smart device exterior arrived.

Louis XIII was still under repair, and they couldn’t let the CEO live like a caveman forever, so they bought a common model to use in the meantime. But the internal settings were still a mess and couldn’t be adapted yet, so the new smart device could only use the exterior, which meant kid mode.

Kid mode had a lot of restrictions. For example, games could only be played for two hours a day, unhealthy websites couldn’t be browsed, and tipping livestreamers wasn’t allowed. But the basic functions were all there. Answering calls, sending emails, and mobile payments were unrestricted.

After Louis XIII’s data was imported, Jiao Qi immediately checked the download history. The records showed that the high-end custom smart device Louis XIII had indeed downloaded more than one novel. Back then, when Zhang Chenfei asked it to download that novel *The Overbearing CEO’s Priceless Wife*, the super service-minded Louis XIII had also downloaded the related recommended books and thoughtfully made a folder for them.

Because these books all had more or less some adult content, the new smart device in kid mode flagged them, and now they couldn’t be opened. Jiao Qi tapped on the gray folder icon, sighed, and took out the black and gold watch strap to attach the new smart device.

Smart devices usually only had one fixed number. Louis XIII was a custom “dual SIM” smart device, containing one work number and one private number. These past few days, all calls to the work number had been forwarded to the secretary, while the private number was call-forwarded to Jiao Qi.

The new smart device, Louis XIV, was a common version bought at the mall. It only had one number, which was Zhang Chenfei’s private number. Shortly after it was turned on, it received a message.

[Bro Fei, Qiangzi’s out, let’s get together.]

There was no contact name and no previous message history. It was a completely out of the blue sentence, yet for some reason, it made Jiao Qi think of that bail receipt in the basement.

That evening, Jiao Qi followed Zhang Chenfei to a small gathering.

“They’re all brothers who roll with me, people from the streets. Don’t let them scare you.” The CEO wrapped his arm around his little wife’s waist and grinned wickedly. As a man who could turn the clouds with one hand and the rain with the other, by day he was a CEO controlling the world’s economic lifelines, and by night he should be the emperor ruling the underworld.

Jiao Qi almost believed him, if they hadn’t walked into a skewer grill restaurant…

The main hall was packed with people. Crude folding tables were covered with several layers of disposable plastic tablecloths. Customers who had eaten their fill left behind messy tables, and waiters nimbly picked up the bowls and plates, then bundled the tablecloths together and tossed them with a clatter into fly-swarmed trash bins.

“Boss, two more skewers of lamb kidneys!”

“Where’s my draft beer?”

It was noisy and smoky, and Jiao Qi had never been to a place like this before. He was very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, this place did have private rooms, though they were only relatively quieter, and the facilities weren’t much better. Three people sat in the room, all of them odd-looking. A burly man with a buzz cut and a fierce face, a skinny bald guy with wandering eyes, and a… police officer.

Was this really not a law enforcement scene where the people’s police were arresting social delinquents?

“Bro Fei… who is this?” The three of them stood up together, and the moment they saw Jiao Qi, they were all very surprised. It was like a fixed little clique that suddenly had a stranger appear, carrying a faint sense of exclusion, but more than that, curiosity that was practically overflowing.

“Qiangzi, don’t you think…” the burly man whispered to the skinny guy.

The police officer smacked the burly man, signaling him not to speak.

Jiao Qi shook hands with them. “I’m Chenfei’s husband.”

“Oh, oh, so it was CEO Jiao. I’ve heard so much about you.” The police officer extended his hand in return.

“We’re Bro Fei’s high school classmates. My name is Maomao,” said the fierce-looking burly man, who actually had a simple and honest smile when he laughed. He patted the skinny guy beside him. “This is Qiangzi, and that police officer is called Xiaoyuan.”

They knew about Jiao Qi. A rich young master, a young entrepreneur, not the same kind of people as them. Zhang Chenfei never let them meet him either.

Unlike Zhang Chenfei, who loved the limelight and had his photos everywhere, to the point of almost putting his face on a game protagonist plastered on Times Square in New York. All these years, this “sister-in-law” had only existed in legend. Because he kept a low profile, he had never even shown his face in financial magazines, so his appearance was unknown.

Now, looking at this familiar face, the three of them exchanged glances.

The burly man called Maomao couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Isn’t this the school heartthrob Bro Fei liked? Wait, no, wasn’t the school heartthrob called Jiao Yan?”

“Looks like him, right?” Zhang Chenfei proudly hugged his little wife. “I had such a hard time finding someone who looked so similar.”

The moment those words came out, the warm atmosphere that had just built up suddenly froze. Even the timid Qiangzi couldn’t help but look up in shock, glancing back and forth between Jiao Qi and Zhang Chenfei.

Jiao Qi twitched the corner of his mouth.

Low-quality lamb covered in cumin and chili peppers, grilled leeks tangled together like hair, ten-yuan-a-bottle iced beer, not a single thing was something Jiao Qi could eat. He could only silently roll up the sleeves of his expensive dress shirt, peel a few edamame beans, and listen to them shoot the breeze.

The four of them had been tight buddies back in high school. Only Zhang Chenfei had gotten into a good university. Maomao didn’t get in, had been out in society for years, and now worked as a security guard at a nightclub, having to go to work right after eating the skewers. Qiangzi was that “out” brother, just released after serving his full prison sentence. Xiaoyuan was a beat cop, so busy his heels were hitting the back of his head. He rushed over after work, didn’t have time to change, and just threw a t-shirt over his police uniform.

The delicate young master couldn’t eat, but the CEO seemed to really like this food. After downing two bottles of beer, he left his little wife with this group of “brothers from the streets” and turned to go to the bathroom.

The originally lively atmosphere suddenly turned cold the moment Zhang Chenfei left.

The three of them found it somewhat hard to face Jiao Qi. Back then, only the three of them, his closest friends, knew about Zhang Chenfei’s crush on the school heartthrob. When they first came in, they thought he had won the beauty’s heart and were even going to tease him for keeping it so well hidden, not mentioning a word about it for seven years. They never expected he was actually treating this young master as a substitute.

Jiao Qi calmly peeled another peanut, smiled faintly, and used his business negotiation tactics to start drawing information out of them.

The beat cop was still relatively cautious and didn’t talk much. Qiangzi had just gotten out of prison and was still in a frozen state, not having connected to the outside world wifi yet. Maomao talked the most and was the easiest to get information from. In just a few sentences, he had sold himself and the other three out completely.

“Bro Fei used to hang out and mess around with us. Then somehow, one day he suddenly said he was going to study hard and get into Q University. I nearly laughed myself to death at the time. But then, who would have thought, this jerk actually got in. That was Q University, the kind only top scorers can get into.” Even now, Maomao still had an expression of disbelief when he brought it up.

“I’m at that MY club, you upper-class folks should know it, right? Haha, I work as a security guard there. Bro Fei goes there a lot too… Ow, why’d you hit me?” Maomao turned and glared fiercely at the beat cop.

Jiao Qi raised an eyebrow slightly. MY was that nightclub Zhang Diao had taken him to last time. He naturally knew it. “You just said he had a crush on the school heartthrob in high school. Was his name Jiao Yan?”

At the mention of that name, the burp that had just risen to Maomao’s throat got scared right back down.

“Uh, no, it’s not…” The nearly six-foot-four burly man scratched his head like a clumsy bear, desperately shooting glances at Qiangzi.

Qiangzi: Connecting to WiFi…

Jiao Qi slowly took a sip of hot tea. “I am Jiao Yan.”

“Huh?”

“I changed my name.”

“What?”

Everyone was stunned. Such a melodramatic plot was actually playing out in real life.

Qiangzi finally got his signal back and stammered, “Bro, Bro Fei doesn’t know you’re Jiao Yan. Doesn’t that mean the male god suffered a lot of grievances?”

“Not really.” Jiao Qi pressed his fist to his lips, hiding the smile at the corner of his mouth, thinking to himself, your Bro Fei knows perfectly well. Zhang Diao, this scheming bastard, had kept everyone completely in the dark for a whole seven years, not a single leak.