Shocking! The Fake Young Master Has Been Won Over by the Real Young Master!

12: Heart-to-heart talkYan Zhuohua walked upstairs with desolate steps.

Yan Qinghe, who had also stood up, became the target of everyone’s attention.

Yan Zhuole feigned curiosity and asked, ”Little brother, are you staying or leaving? If you leave, who’s going to apply the medicine to Zhuohua in a bit?”

Yan Qinghe suddenly felt a surge of sinister malice. He really didn’t want to stay and drink that Nourishing Tonic Soup. But there was no way around it; with Yan Zhuohua stuck here, he couldn’t retreat alone.

”I’ll stay. I’ll be living at home for a while,” Yan Qinghe’s voice sounded a bit strained.

Yan Zhuole smiled with satisfaction. ’My dear brother, don’t think I don’t know you’re trying to dodge the ”Deadly Tonic.” You want to hide and let me bear this pain alone? Keep dreaming!’

That’s right, Yan Zhuole was also a victim of the tonic. Because she often either gained weight or cut fat to join a film crew, it made people worried just looking at her.

Just as Yan Qinghe was sinking into despair over the ”Nourishing Tonic Soup” he’d have to drink for the foreseeable future, Uncle’s grim voice rang out again: ”The conversation got sidetracked just now. We only mentioned punishing Zhuohua. You and he are ’accomplices,’ so your punishment hasn’t been mentioned yet.”

Yan Qinghe felt the malice become even more apparent: ”Then, what is my punishment?”

”You have to go to work every day, so it’s not convenient for me to put you under house arrest. How about this: I happen to be ’feeling unwell’ lately, so all company matters will be handed over to you. Any objections?”

”...No.”

Yan Qinghe also walked upstairs with desolate steps.

Uncle: Slacking off! Happiness!

In the room, Yan Zhuohua was having a voice chat with Sheng Xufeng.

Sheng Xufeng had recently been assigned the task of looking after a child by his family—a distant cousin from three thousand miles away. The boy was only ten but had been obsessed with the game Overwatch League for two years. So, Sheng Xufeng had called to ask Yan Zhuohua how to play a certain character in order to defeat the kid.

”Bickering with a ten-year-old... have you no shame?”

”Losing to him would be truly shameful!” Sheng Xufeng argued plausibly. ”Why don’t you come over and help me teach him a lesson? He’s a loyal fan of your team.”

”I’m not going, and I can’t go anyway. I just got home and was hit with the family rules, and now I’m under house arrest. If I’d known I was going to be locked up at home, why did I put so much effort into cleaning my apartment...”

”Pfft!”

”...”

”Sheng Xufeng, what do you mean? Are you laughing at me?” Yan Zhuohua’s anger flared up.

”Hahahahahahahahaha! What’s our relationship? How could I not laugh at you? Sigh, I wonder who it was that said they were a good kid and almost never got punished? Hahahahahahahahaha...”

Sheng Xufeng was beaming with joy at this huge piece of good news, forgetting all about defeating his little cousin. Yan Zhuohua had always been a role model for the children in their circle, often held up as an example when other kids were being punished. Classic lines about him were sung in every household: ’Look at the Yan family’s Third Young Master... then look at you!’

Listening to the lung-piercing laughter coming from the phone, Yan Zhuohua gave a cold ”Heh.”

Receiving the signal, Sheng Xufeng knew when to stop and suppressed his laughter. He was mainly afraid the man would come for revenge after being released. He decisively changed the subject: ”So, how long are you locked up for?”

Yan Zhuohua didn’t want to continue the previous topic either: ”Until my wedding is over.”

”?”

”Wedding? When? You’re really going to have a wedding with Yan the Fourth?” Sheng Xufeng was so shocked he forgot his previous joy.

After the Yan Family brought Yan Qinghe back, they learned that he was actually born a few minutes later than Yan Zhuohua. Furthermore, Yan Zhuohua’s name hadn’t been removed from the household register. Thus, people who were relatively close would sometimes call Yan Qinghe ’Yan the Fourth.’

”Yes, on the 23rd of next month. Remember to bring a gift. I want a big red envelope, got it?”

”Hey, I’m going to be the best man. Best men don’t have to give gift money.”

”My rules are different. Not only does the best man have to give, he has to give double.” Yan Zhuohua began to talk nonsense out of dissatisfaction.

”Have some shame. You’re probably so happy about getting married that you’ve gone crazy, right?” Sheng Xufeng clearly provoked him, seeking death.

”Beat it!”

Sheng Xufeng beat it and then came right back: ”Seriously though, why on earth does he want to marry you?”

Yan Zhuohua: ”Why don’t you ask for my reason?”

Sheng Xufeng: ”Do I even need to ask for your reason? It’s definitely because as soon as he mentioned it, you agreed. You were so quick and decisive you probably didn’t even ask why, right?”

Yan Zhuohua was a bit surprised that Sheng Xufeng knew how quick and decisive he’d been: ”You know me so well. I really didn’t press for details.”

Sheng Xufeng was speechless: ”I wasn’t complimenting you.”

Yan Zhuohua: ”I can pretend you were.”

”Get lost!”

Sheng Xufeng: ”If things ever go south for you, just tell me. Although my family is a bit behind the Yan Family, we can still get you out of there.”

”...Okay.”

While Yan Zhuohua was on the phone, Yan Qinghe had just gone upstairs when he was called into the study by his eldest brother, Yan Zhuoyang, for a heart-to-heart.

Yan Zhuoyang poured a glass of water for Yan Qinghe: ”Qinghe, I remember when you first came home, I had a chat with you once.”

Yan Zhuoyang took a sip of water and continued: ”I told you then that Zhuohua felt very guilty toward you. Whether it was the life of swapped identities in childhood or... our father’s death, they are all sources of his guilt. It’s safe to say that as long as you ask for something, he will give it to you; he won’t compete with you for anything. So, you don’t need to be hostile toward him. His behavior over the last few years has proven my words; he really won’t compete with you, whether for family property or affection.”

”I know, Big Brother.” Yan Qinghe sat up straight.

”Everyone is clear that although Zhuohua was the beneficiary of the child swap, it wasn’t his doing. He didn’t do anything wrong. Moreover, after the truth came out, he did everything in his power to make it up to you. He left the house cleanly and even paid back twenty million in child-rearing expenses. He did almost everything he could for you at the time, returning your status and family affection all at once. Regarding Father’s matter, he is also innocent. Those people were targeting the heir of the Yan Family, and Zhuohua just happened to have that identity. No matter who held that identity, they would have been targeted, and Father would have fought to the death to protect them. It was inevitable. Therefore, even though the kidnapping led to Father’s passing and prevented you from ever meeting your real father or feeling a father’s love, we don’t believe this was Zhuohua’s fault.”

Yan Zhuoyang took another sip of water: ”I’m not saying this to imply or warn you of anything. Zhuohua is also a child we raised bit by bit. Fifteen years of heartfelt affection cannot be fake. He is not at fault, so even with these events standing between us, we still love him dearly. Of course, this doesn’t mean we don’t love you. Emotions are hard to measure; both you and he are family members we care about very much. And as the one who is actually related to us by blood, you will receive everything the true heir of the Yan Family should have. We won’t give it to Zhuohua, although we will inevitably give him some property in the future out of the affection from raising him; the source of that property will only be everyone’s private assets, not the family estate. To be impartial in affection and to support you unconditionally in family property—these are things everyone has unanimously agreed upon.”

”I understood these things long ago, and I can completely comprehend them without misunderstanding.” The Yan Family’s attitude had never been hidden, so Yan Qinghe had known these things from the start.

Yan Zhuoyang nodded gently: ”We also know you very well, so we trust you implicitly. It’s just that regarding your marriage to Zhuohua, we don’t understand your reason for doing so. To be honest, we are indeed worried about your purpose in this matter. We know both of you well, so we can guess that this was most likely proposed by you and then agreed to by Zhuohua; he probably didn’t even ask for your reasons. However, you don’t need to worry. As soon as we got the news from Zhuoyue last night, everyone rushed home and discussed it until nearly dawn. You saw the situation today; no one raised any objections to your marriage. Regardless of the angle, it was determined from the start that none of us would stop you; that is your own decision. It’s just that Zhuohua is, after all, a child of our Yan Family. With years of affection, we are very worried about him and want to make his life as good as possible. So, on behalf of the others, I want to ask you only one question: Why do you want to marry him?”

Yan Qinghe understood the meaning behind this question very well.

He put down his water glass and answered seriously and solemnly: ”I am marrying him not for anything else, but simply because I want to be with him for a lifetime. There is no other reason. I will treat him very well.”

Yan Zhuoyang felt relieved and said with a smile: ”Good, that’s enough.”

Yan Qinghe also relaxed and started to joke: ”Then what if I treat him poorly?”

Yan Zhuoyang: ”Then we can only give him enough property and send him away, far from you. We support and believe in your decision, but if you truly fail, we will do our best to help you. After all, home is a support and a harbor.”

With the most serious topic concluded, Yan Zhuoyang brought up some lighter matters: ”When everyone was discussing last night, Zhuoyan even said you were planning that if you two got married, our Yan Family would have two capable generals far superior to those of other families, and it would probably irritate the people of other families to death. Thinking about it carefully, it makes quite a bit of sense.”

Yan Qinghe was also amused by this statement: ”What he said isn’t accurate. My plan should be to marry the once most excellent heir of the Yan Family, let him take care of my life every day and help me manage the family and business, while I just live the life of a salted fish every day, enjoying the fruits of his labor and having a beautiful wife. That would be perfect.”

Hearing Yan Qinghe’s words, Yan Zhuoyang laughed even more heartily. ”Your version is even more interesting, much better than Yan Zhuoyan’s idea.” One was a ’starting from scratch’ script where the family soars; the other was a ’winner in life’ script.

As he laughed, Yan Zhuoyang suddenly felt something was off.

”You aren’t really planning that, are you?”

He was suddenly very worried about his third brother’s married life.

The two chatted in the study for a few more minutes, and then Yan Qinghe mentioned it was getting late and he had to apply medicine to Yan Zhuohua, so he left.

Before he walked out the door, Yan Zhuoyang said to him solemnly: ”We are truly happy about this marriage. Our two most beloved children can both live happily at home.”