The cool beauty forcibly bids for top A: Chapter 33

Walking all this way, the filth, chaos, and squalor of the Kowloon Walled City had already prepared Shen Yanzhou mentally. He had even drawn a picture in his mind of the place Sanqianwan lived, a scene filled with rats, ants, and overflowing sewage.

But when Sanqianwan came to a halt, what appeared before his eyes was a considerably large house. Standing outside, the internal layout was not visible, but it looked to be about four or five stories high. Even the front door was wiped perfectly clean, making it feel completely out of place against this city of sin.

“This is where you live?” Shen Yanzhou was somewhat surprised. He shifted his hold on the little tot’s bottom in his arms, bouncing him upward a bit to let the already drowsy little fellow rest more comfortably against him.

Along the way, this little guy had acted exactly like a koala, flatly refusing to touch the ground and insisting on a hug. Shen Yanzhou had actually carried him the whole way just like that, his eyes entirely filled with a helpless, indulging fondness.

Sanqianwan inserted the key into the lock cylinder and nodded, “Yeah… yes, a wealthy big shot left this place behind, and later my buddy rented it. It is considered the best location in this Walled City, clean and spacious.”

He looked toward Shen Yanzhou, then shifted his gaze to the chubby little tot in his arms who was smacking his lips and sleeping with a face full of contentment.

“We are here.” Sanqianwan reached out and gave a moderate slap to the little tot’s plump bottom, “Little Watermelon, wake up. Get down and walk by yourself.”

Little Watermelon was slapped awake and opened his eyes groggily. Seeing that they were at the front door, and then looking at Sanqianwan’s dark face before him, instead of letting go, he hugged Shen Yanzhou even tighter.

He buried his face into Shen Yanzhou’s fragrant neck crook, taking a deep sniff and even pushing his luck by rubbing his dust-stained little cheek against his smooth skin.

“Mph… so fragrant, I want a hug! The ground is dirty, I have a cleanliness fixation!”

Sanqianwan laughed out of sheer annoyance, “You have a cleanliness fixation? Those feet of yours are as black as if you just came back from digging coal, what kind of cleanliness fixation could you possibly have? Get down quickly, do not tire him out.”

As he spoke, he reached out to pluck him by his back collar.

Little Watermelon was quick with his eyes and hands, darting upward like a slippery loach. His hands hooked tightly around Shen Yanzhou’s neck as he pulled a highly punchable face at Sanqianwan.

“Blehh!”

Right after that, the little fellow puckered his lips and, right in front of the man, planted a heavy kiss on Shen Yanzhou’s flawless cheek, then smacked his lips as if he had not had enough, “Sweet! It is milk candy flavor!”

Shen Yanzhou blinked his beautiful silver eyes somewhat blankly, his long eyelashes trembling, not yet registering that he had just been taken advantage of by a five year old child.

“Little Watermelon.” Sanqianwan’s gaze looked as though he wanted to pick the little brat up and throw him out, “Are you itching for a beating?”

Little Watermelon instantly shrank his head back into Shen Yanzhou’s embrace, revealing his large, grape-like eyes as he sent out a tearful distress signal.

A bit cute.

Truth be told, Shen Yanzhou… well, he had very little resistance against cute little animals and human toddlers.

He raised his hand to gently pat the trembling little tot in his arms and glared at Sanqianwan, “Why are you yelling? He is not even heavy.”

Seeing his protective manner over the child, Sanqianwan was just about to say “this kid is heavy as hell” when he heard a clattering commotion of footsteps rushing out from inside the house like a house-wrecking puppy pack.

“Boss! Boss is back!”

“Do I get any candy?”

Before the words could fully land, three little tots pulled an emergency brake at the door, almost forming a human pyramid by crashing into each other due to momentum.

Six perfectly clear eyes stared dead straight at Shen Yanzhou at the door, who was currently being monopolized by Little Watermelon.

“Wow…” A little girl with pigtails ran over pit-a-pat, completely unafraid of strangers, and directly hugged Shen Yanzhou’s thigh, saying in a childish voice, “So pretty… are you a celebrity brother?”

Shen Yanzhou was instantaneously surrounded by a nest of little tots.

Little Watermelon refused to come down from his neck, his left leg was hugged by the pigtail girl, and his right leg was hugged by a little fat kid. Ordinary times, if anyone dared to offend the eldest young master of the Shen family like this, they would have been cleared out of the venue long ago.

Yet Shen Yanzhou did not push away a single child.

“Do not crowd.” With some difficulty, he freed up one hand to gently steady the little fat kid who was almost knocked over, his slender fingers supporting the child’s filthy back for a moment.

“Careful not to fall.”

“Brother, your pants…” The little girl with pigtails pointed at the rip on Shen Yanzhou’s knee, her mouth twisting as tears were about to fall.

“So miserable, such a big hole, it must be so cold.”

“I have needle and thread! I will help brother patch it up!”

“I have stickers too! Ultraman ones! It will not be cold if we stick it on!”

“No… it is not broken…” He tried to explain, but his voice was completely drowned out by the little tots’ concerned chatter.

He pressed his legs together, somewhat awkwardly using his hand to cover the rip, his silver eyelashes fluttering uneasily while his cheeks flushed a thin layer of pink out of sheer embarrassment.

Watching Shen Yanzhou’s current state of being teased into utter helplessness, only able to let them watch him with a red face, Sanqianwan’s heart thudded rapidly without stopping.

“What is all the racket! Dinner is ready, go wash your hands and eat quickly!” The door was violently pulled open, and Jiang Xu rushed out covered in sweat, holding a spatula in his hand and wearing a highly mismatched pink Hello Kitty apron around his waist.

Catching sight of Sanqianwan and Shen Yanzhou surrounded completely by the little tots, Jiang Xu’s scolding caught in his throat, and the spatula in his hand dropped to the ground with a loud clang.

But he was an information broker who had seen major storms after all, and in this line of work, the most important thing was to be thick skinned.

He bent down to pick up the spatula, pretending nothing had happened as he wiped it on his apron, his gaze sweeping across Sanqianwan’s face before finally landing on Shen Yanzhou, pulling up a fake smile:

“Since you are an… old customer, do not just stand there, come in to wash your hands and eat.”

That pack of little tots had already rushed into the house like starving wolves pouncing on food, running right to the dining table.

Even though it was inside this chaotic Walled City, this meal was prepared with extreme care. Authentic Hong Kong style claypot rice with cured meats; lifting the lid revealed billowing hot steam and a rich, crisp aroma of scorched rice. There was also a plate of poached choy sum, a large bowl of incredibly fresh shredded fish soup, and several glossy, enticing roasted goose legs.

Shen Yanzhou was pulled by Little Watermelon to sit in the head seat.

Although the chair was a bit old, the little girl with pigtails had laid a soft cushion over it.

“Eat.” Sanqianwan naturally picked up the largest roasted goose leg, his fingers skillfully removing the bone to tear it into bite-sized pieces before placing them into Shen Yanzhou’s bowl.

“Master, please try…”

Before the word “try” could leave his mouth, it was forced back by Shen Yanzhou’s cold glare, who then looked over at Jiang Xu.

“Jiang Xu, I am very curious, how exactly did you two get to know each other?”

Jiang Xu was currently shoveling rice into his mouth, lifting his head to glance at Sanqianwan.

While ladling soup for Shen Yanzhou, Sanqianwan said casually, “I want to ask that too. Big Boss Jiang, how did you manage to send this old friend of yours into the black market, do you still remember?”

“Back then, I was enjoying my plate rice perfectly fine, when out of nowhere I was blindsided with a club to the head.”

Jiang Xu cursed the word “bastard” in his mind, but on the surface, he laid down his chopsticks and nodded with mock seriousness, “Yeah, yeah, I was the one who delivered that blow.”

“But, Young Master Shen, I never intended to deceive you. This guy owed me a massive sum of money back then, which is why I resorted to this trick. Besides, he is handsome, has a good personality, cough… is an S-class alpha, and knows how to take care of people.”

“It should not be considered much of a loss, right?”

After listening, Shen Yanzhou’s silver eyes measured Jiang Xu up and down, “Heh, I did not expect that besides working as an information broker, you also manage a pimping business on the side.”

Jiang Xu: “…”

Sanqianwan kept his head low, placing some green vegetables into Shen Yanzhou’s bowl.

Shen Yanzhou paid no more attention to Jiang Xu, his gaze drifting over to the pack of little tots who were currently eating with mouths slick with grease.

“Why do you call him boss?”

The four little tots who were gnawing on bones halted their movements simultaneously, eight eyes snapping in unison to look at Sanqianwan, then over at Jiang Xu.

They stared at each other with wide eyes.

Sanqianwan lightly kicked Jiang Xu under the table, and Jiang Xu in turn lightly kicked Little Watermelon, who was sitting closest to him, under the table.

Little Watermelon still had half a meatball stuffed in his mouth. Swallowing the meatball, he spoke up loudly and indistinctly, “Because he is the biggest!”

“And he looks the easiest to bully! We tell him to buy candy and he buys candy, we tell him to act as a horse to ride on and he acts as a horse to ride on!”

The little girl with pigtails also quickly added a blow, “Right! We call him boss just to humor him, that way we can trick him out of his money!”

Sanqianwan: “…”

“Is that so?” Shen Yanzhou looked toward Sanqianwan, asking in return.

Sanqianwan sighed in resignation, putting all the fish meat from which he had completely removed the bones into Shen Yanzhou’s bowl, “Yeah, yeah.”

The atmosphere at the dining table softened. The pigtail girl carefully extended a little hand stained with oil droplets, tugging at Shen Yanzhou’s sleeve hanging by the edge of the table.

“Brother…” She blinked her large eyes, asking curiously, “I heard Brother Jiang say you live in a mid level villa?”

“I heard the floor tiles over there are all made of gold, is that true? Do you eat chocolate every single day?”

The surrounding children also stopped their chopsticks, looking at him with faces full of anticipation.

“There are no floor tiles made of gold, and we do not eat chocolate every day.” Shen Yanzhou shook his head; that place was actually rather boring.

The little fat boy widened his round eyes, asking with a thirst for knowledge, “I heard the grandma next door say that when you rich people take a… use the toilet, the toilets you use can sing! Is that true?”

“Pfft…” Jiang Xu, who was currently drinking soup, sprayed a mouthful right out, and by a stroke of terrible luck, sprayed it directly onto Sanqianwan opposite him.

Sanqianwan wiped the soup from his face expressionlessly, his gaze sharp enough to kill.

Shen Yanzhou set down his soup spoon and explained patiently, “Toilets do not sing.”

“Ah? They do not sing…” The little fat boy lowered his head in disappointment, “Then what fun is there in that.”

The pigtail girl continued to blink her large eyes, looking curiously at Shen Yanzhou’s pair of slender, fair hands, “Then brother, do you not even have to walk at home? I heard grandma say that when a young master goes out, his feet cannot touch the ground, someone has to carry him, and someone is specifically assigned to feed him his meals.”

As she spoke, she glanced at Sanqianwan, who was silently picking out fish bones for Shen Yanzhou beside him, arriving at a sudden realization, “Oh! Just like what boss is doing right now! He even has to serve you your food!”

Shen Yanzhou: “…”

He thought about it; ever since he bought Sanqianwan back, it seemed that inside the villa, the times he spent being carried by him were far more frequent than the times he spent walking, and the times he was fed by him were far more frequent than when he ate by himself.

“I… have hands and feet, I can walk by myself, and I can eat by myself.” Shen Yanzhou picked up a piece of fish meat, intending to bring it to his own mouth, only to find that the eyes of every child at the table moved along with his chopsticks.

Those gazes looked exactly like a pack of puppies waiting to be fed.

Shen Yanzhou’s chopsticks paused. The trace of softness in his nature completely defeated his cleanliness fixation and aloofness. He extended the fish meat to the mouth of the little girl closest to him.
“Open up.”

“Ah…” The little girl was not polite at all, snapping it up in one bite, chewing with a mouth slick with grease as she called out indistinctly, “So good! What pretty brother feeds is the best!”

“I want some too! I want some too!”

“Brother, feed me!”

The dining table instantly turned into a feeding frenzy.

Shen Yanzhou did not get annoyed either. He set down his own barely touched bowl and chopsticks, rolled up his cuffs, picked up the serving chopsticks, and patiently placed a piece of fish meat for one, while wiping the sauce from the corner of another’s mouth.

“Eat slowly, do not choke.”

“Take a sip of soup.”

Under the warm yellow lighting, Shen Yanzhou lowered his eyelashes with a gentle expression, his silver hair cascading softly over his shoulders, showing not the slightest hint of mismatch inside this narrow room filled with the smoke and fire of everyday life.

Jiang Xu watched dumbfounded, nudging Sanqianwan beside him and lowering his voice, “Boss, how is this the decisive, ruthless head of the Shen family? If anyone were to marry…”

Before Jiang Xu could finish his words, he heard a clear sound of swallowing beside him.

Sanqianwan was staring dead straight at Shen Yanzhou’s wrist, which was as fair as white jade.

An intense possessiveness to hide this person away and not let anyone else see him came crashing wildly against his chest.

“Shut up.” Sanqianwan squeezed two words through his teeth, glancing at Jiang Xu before saying to the pack of little tots who were still clamoring to be fed in a heavy tone:

“Stop making a fuss, let him eat his meal properly.”

“Once we are done eating, I still have to go back to the inn with him.”

Shen Yanzhou set down his bowl, elegantly pressing a napkin to the corner of his mouth, “I am not leaving, I will stay right here.”

“The conditions here are much better than those filthy inns outside.”

Sanqianwan’s heart gave a sudden thud.

Stay here? If he happens to discover…

“This… might not be very convenient.” The man tried to struggle, a face full of difficulty, “There are many people in this house, it is noisy, and there are no extra guest rooms.”

“It is fine.” Shen Yanzhou said flatly.

Seeing that Shen Yanzhou’s mind was made up, the man could only settle for the next best thing, “Then I will tidy up a room in a bit.”

“No need to go to such trouble.”

Shen Yanzhou stood up, his silver eyes staring straight at Sanqianwan, “I will just stay in the room you used to live in.”

“That… is probably not a good idea.” Sanqianwan gave a forced laugh, “That room of mine… it is a total pigsty! Extremely messy! You definitely would not tolerate it!”

Shen Yanzhou raised an eyebrow slightly, “Is that so? When entering the door just now, I saw this place was quite clean.”

“It is bad, truly bad…”

“Even if it is bad, I must look at it first.” Shen Yanzhou simply did not buy his act, “Whether it is livable or not, I will know with a single glance.”

After saying that, he pushed back his chair, intending to walk toward the rooms inside.

“Alright then!” Sanqianwan said with difficulty.

Seeing that Shen Yanzhou was about to leave, a pair of small hands hugged Shen Yanzhou’s arm.

The little girl with pigtails blinked her large, watery eyes, acting spoiled in a soft voice:

“Brother, we are full!”

She shook Shen Yanzhou’s arm, pointing at the shabby sofa nearby, “Are you going to look at the room? Don’t go yet, tell us a story first, okay?”

Little Watermelon nearby also huddled over, hugging Shen Yanzhou’s leg, echoing in a childish voice:

“Yeah, yeah! I want to hear The Little Prince!”

Shen Yanzhou lowered his head, looking at the pack of tots glued to his body, and came to a dead stop.

Surrounded by a crowd of soft little tots, he sat down on the sofa that looked somewhat aged but was covered with a soft blanket, a battered book stuffed into his hands.

Looking at each pair of eyes filled with anticipation, he opened the book and began to speak in a low, cool, and clear voice:

“Once upon a time, there was a little prince who lived on planet B612…”

“What is a planet?” Little Watermelon rested on his knee, grabbing one of Shen Yanzhou’s fingers to play with, “Is it as round as a fishball?”

“Yes, but much larger than a fishball. He was the only person there, along with a rose that he cherished very deeply.”

“Then what about his mom and dad?” The little girl with pigtails tilted her head and asked, “Does he not live together with his mom and dad?”

This was a perfect entry point.

Shen Yanzhou asked softly, “The little prince grew up by himself. What about you all? How could your moms and dads feel safe leaving you here?”

The children who were still playing a moment ago had the smiles on their faces freeze for a split second, though without displaying too much sadness.

“I do not have a mom or dad, I was picked up by boss from beside a trash can, I was almost starving to death back then.” Little Watermelon said.

“I have a mom.” The little girl snuffled, “But mom said she was going to buy cigarettes, and she has been gone for a long time without coming back.”

The little fat boy said in a muffled tone, “My dad was an alcoholic, he died.”

The children spoke all at once, making Shen Yanzhou feel a bit sour and sad.

“So… you were brought back by Jiang Xu and your boss?”

“Yeah!” Little Watermelon nodded his head vigorously, “Even though boss is fierce sometimes, he buys us candy to eat.”

Shen Yanzhou lifted his head, his gaze shifting toward Jiang Xu, only to see Jiang Xu standing guard by the stairs, while Sanqianwan had disappeared to who knows where.

“Then where does your boss usually sleep?” Shen Yanzhou’s fingers gently curled around the little girl’s pigtail.

The children looked at each other, then extended their fingers, pointing toward the direction of the second floor.

“Second floor! The very inside!” Little Watermelon said slowly, “The largest one is boss’s room!”

“Then have you ever been into his room?” Shen Yanzhou’s fingers pausing over the closed pages of the book, asking in a seemingly casual manner.

The moment this question came out, the little tots who were previously scrambling to answer suddenly jammed up.

Little Watermelon’s big head was the first to nod, “Been…”

“We have never been!” The little girl nearby was quick with her eyes and hands, instantly covering Little Watermelon’s mouth to forcefully stuff the rest of his answer back down, shaking her head like a spinning top.

The several children looked at each other, using their elbows to poke each other’s shoulders, throwing looks and winking as they transmitted some sort of unspeakable secret signal.

Amid the chaos, someone’s foot failed to plant securely.

“Ouch!” The little girl cried out in pain, giving Little Watermelon a push, “You fat kid! You stepped on my foot!”

“I am not fat! I am sturdy!”

Watching this group of little fellows instantly turn into a chaotic mess, a helpless smile drifted across the depths of Shen Yanzhou’s eyes.

“Alright.” He gently closed the battered copy of The Little Prince in his hand, “I am going to the restroom, you all go back to your rooms to sleep first.”

“Ah? So soon?”

“Yes, I am too sleepy today.” Shen Yanzhou let out a yawn, “I will tell you more tomorrow, okay?”

The lethality of a beauty is immense, especially a gentle and soft beauty.

Though the several tots still wanted more, they still nodded their heads obediently, speaking in unison, “Okay, goodnight, brother.”

Watching the children run back to their little rooms while playing and bickering, the trace of warm, gentle smiling expression on Shen Yanzhou’s face cooled down rapidly the moment he turned around to face the staircase opening.

He straightened his clothing hem and stepped forward toward the second floor.

As he passed by Jiang Xu who was guarding the stairs, his footsteps came to a halt.

“Jiang Xu, you must have made a hefty profit from the middleman markup, haven’t you?”

Hearing this out of nowhere, Jiang Xu stammered, “Wh… what?”

“To even package a debtor like this before passing him off…” Shen Yanzhou reached out to pat Jiang Xu’s shoulder, “You must have taken quite a big kickback, right? I will settle this account with you later.”

After finishing his words, without looking at Jiang Xu’s face, he went straight up to the second floor and pushed open the innermost room door.

This guy, the door was unlocked, and the lights were not turned on either.

“Sanqianwan.” He called out softly.

“Thud!” Responding to him was not the man’s answer, but the heavy, muffled sound of an object hitting the floor.

It sounded a bit like… a photo frame?

In the darkness, the man’s breathing lost its rhythm, his mind panicking:

‘Oh no!’