Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Ye Weian stood at the door, his gaze meeting Zhou Huaichen’s.

The man’s face was devastatingly handsome, his deep, gentle eyes even more alluring than a Purple Crystal Core.

Suddenly, Ye Weian felt a pang of reluctance.

—"Forget it. What if it harms his health? I’d regret it too late."

—"My piglet needs to stay healthy."

Zhou Huaichen looked at him deeply.

Once Ye Weian was in the car, Zhou Huaichen lowered the divider, gripped his waist, and pulled him onto his lap.

Before Ye Weian could react, he was caught in a heated, passionate kiss.

It was a kiss both fervent and tender, brimming with deep affection, mesmerizing and overwhelming.

Ye Weian was left breathless, resting his head on Zhou Huaichen’s shoulder as he whispered, "A Chen."

—"What’s wrong with him? Why is he so emotional?"

Zhou Huaichen didn’t answer, only kissed his forehead repeatedly, pressing his lips close as he whispered, "Baby."

*I only wish for you to stay healthy too.*

The two returned to the Ye family estate in a loving haze. Only when they got out of the car did Zhou Huaichen finally release the person in his arms.

Ye Weian slid off his lap, feeling that A Chen had been unusually quiet yet exceptionally passionate the whole way, always holding his waist tightly, pressing their bodies close, kissing and nuzzling him constantly.

He tilted his head and looked at Zhou Huaichen.

—"What’s going on?"

Zhou Huaichen didn’t tell him that it was Ye Weian’s words about staying healthy that had made him lose control.

He took Ye Weian’s hand and said softly, "Let’s go pick up our sons."

Seeing that his mood had returned to normal, Ye Weian didn’t ask more questions.

As they entered the living room, Grandpa Lin had already packed up the Husky and Golden Retriever’s things. Smiling, he said to Zhou Huaichen, "These two are quite lively. If they misbehave, feel free to discipline them."

The backyard of the Zhou family villa was plenty big enough for the two dogs to run around freely. Grandpa Lin wasn’t worried about them feeling cooped up—he was more concerned they might wreck the Zhou house with their boundless energy.

"We won’t punish them," Zhou Huaichen chuckled, scratching the Husky’s head and patting the Golden Retriever. "If I hit our sons, their father would get mad."

Ye Weian glanced at him. "I wouldn’t get angry."

—"Sons aren’t as important as the one I love."

—"What is A Chen joking about!"

—"Hmph, if he thinks the daughters are more important than me, he'll see what's coming to him."

Zhou Huaichen laughed quietly. "Mm, if you discipline the daughters, I won’t interfere either."

Ye Weian was satisfied.

From then on, the two reached a consensus on how to parent their sons and daughters.

Grandpa Lin watched them whispering close together, looking sweet and content, and smiled warmly.

The servants loaded up the dogs and their toys into the car. Just as Ye Weian and Zhou Huaichen were about to leave, Ye Jia returned.

Ye Jia had been stuck at the office learning from Sister Long and was nearly an hour late getting off work.

Seeing Ye Yi and Ye Er being loaded into the car, he was horrified. "Brother, are you selling the dogs?!"

Ye Weian: "..."

Zhou Huaichen: "..."

Ye Jia rushed over and hugged Ye Yi and Ye Er. "No, I won’t let you sell them... Poor dogs, are you being sent to a restaurant to be turned into dog meat?"

Ye Weian: "..."

Zhou Huaichen: "..."

Ye Weian ordered the servants to pull Ye Jia away and said expressionlessly, "Tonight, you’ll write up the bid proposal for the Shanghe Garden project. If you don’t finish it, you’re not allowed to sleep."

Shanghe Garden was a fairly small city project that the Ye Corporation was bidding on. The proposal was pretty straightforward, and the company had lots of templates. Although Ye Jia was new at this, it wouldn’t be too difficult to finish in one night if he referred to past materials.

However, given Ye Jia’s lazy nature, he’d probably put it off until the last minute.

That little troublemaker wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.

Ye Jia: "???"

*Brother, you're being so cruel?*

*I’m still growing up!*

"What, do you have an opinion?" Ye Weian glared at him.

Ye Jia backed down immediately. "No, no..."

*I don’t dare, boo hoo.*

Zhou Huaichen stood nearby, smiling as he watched Ye Weian discipline his brother.

In a way, this younger brother really was quite a handful.

He completely supported Wei An’s approach.

After getting into the car, Ye Weian threw out one more comment at Ye Jia. "There’s a birthday party at the Chi family tomorrow afternoon. You’re coming with me."

"A Chen and I will pick you up at 10 a.m. No sleeping in."

With that, he told the driver to start the car, ignoring his foolish brother’s protests.

Ye Jia watched the car drive off, panicking.

*So he had to pull an all-nighter, couldn’t sleep late the next day, and was being dragged to some birthday party by his brother and brother's husband?*

*Brother, you’re so mean and heartless!*

Ye Jia immediately ran to Grandpa Lin to tattle.

Grandpa Lin affectionately patted his head and said, "The young master told me that if you start researching and writing the proposal from 8 PM, you can finish before midnight."

"By the way, the young master has already asked Long Xin to send the materials to your email. You can check them directly."

Long Xin is Long Jie.

Ye Jia: "..."

He realized his cousin had everything planned out for him.

T_T

...

Ye Weian felt quite pleased after lecturing his silly younger brother.

Zhou Huaichen held his hand and said softly with a smile, "In the future, our pets will be entrusted to you."

Ye Weian glanced at him: "You're their father too."

Zhou Huaichen replied gently, "Then we'll teach them together."

Ye Weian nodded: "Mm."

Zhou Huaichen found his serious expression adorable and leaned in to kiss his lips.

When they returned to the villa, the first thing they did was let Ye Yi and Ye Er out of the car to meet Zhou San and Zhou Si.

Zhou San and Zhou Si’s fur stood on end as they hissed at Ye Yi and Ye Er.

Ye Yi and Ye Er were so frightened they backed away, and the husky Ye Yi even turned and made a run for it outside.

Ye Weian: "..."

Zhou Huaichen: "..."

Fortunately, after spending a few hours together that evening, Zhou San and Zhou Si gradually let their guard down and even began parading confidently back and forth in front of Ye Yi and Ye Er.

But Ye Yi was still very scared and would try to run away whenever it heard Zhou San and Zhou Si meow.

Ye Weian: "..."

*So draining.*

Zhou Huaichen gently touched his face and said with a low laugh, "We'll take it step by step."

Ye Weian: "..."

In comparison, even the troublesome younger brother seemed well-behaved.

Ye Weian and Zhou Huaichen spent the evening building rapport with their pets. As for the next day’s banquet, neither of them were concerned about it.

Just before Ye Weian went to sleep, the system couldn’t help but speak up: "Host, aren’t you worried?"

Ye Weian fiddled with the blue diamond in his hand and asked casually, "Worried about what?"

He occasionally stayed overnight at the Zhou residence, and Zhou Huaichen knew he had a habit of sleeping while holding gemstones, so he'd placed the blue diamond in his room.

Although this blue diamond wasn't technically his yet, whenever he visited the Zhou family, he could still hold and admire it.

System: "Chi Li and Yan Qing’s plot!"

Ye Weian: "Not worried."

Ye Weian: "A Chen has made some arrangements. I trust him."

If everything went smoothly tomorrow, he might be able to complete two tasks at once.

The system said, "Oh, since Big Boss Zhou has made arrangements, I trust him too."

Ye Weian: "..."

Although A Chen was indeed reliable, he wasn't exactly useless either.

What was with the system’s tone of complete trust in A Chen?

The system said quietly, "Host, you’re affected by this world’s energy. Only Big Boss Zhou can withstand it, so of course I trust him more."

Ye Weian thought about it and agreed.

After all, A Chen was the Big Boss in the book, so he was bound to be exceptional.

*

The next day, Ye Weian and Zhou Huaichen picked up Ye Jia and headed to the Chi family’s home.

Chi Li had invited nearly half of the elite social and business circles of the capital, along with many A-list celebrities to perform.

He did this simply to create a grand spectacle, so that when Ye Weian and Lin Chang’s matter was exposed, it would attract even more public attention.

When the system saw that there was also media present, it couldn’t help but complain: "He’s so annoying. He’s trying to completely ruin your and Lin Chang’s reputations, to make you both be disgraced!"

System: "Fortunately, host, you were prepared. Otherwise, you and Lin Chang would be finished."

Ye Weian said calmly, "Isn’t that ideal? It’ll serve as a witness for his and Yan Qing’s journey to prison."

System: "Yes! Jail time! That'll show them!!"

When Ye Weian and Zhou Huaichen entered the Chi family’s banquet hall, everyone turned to look at them.

The banquet hall was filled with guests, and even Zhu Hongke and a few other childhood friends had already arrived.

Everyone was discreetly observing Ye Weian and Zhou Huaichen.

This was the first public appearance since Zhou Huaichen and Ye Weian had posted about their relationship on social media, so the guests were naturally curious about their relationship. Some of the young women couldn’t contain their excitement and were whispering among themselves with their heads lowered.

Zhou Huaichen took Ye Weian’s hand and said, "Let’s go say hello."

Ye Weian: "Mm."

One was calm and collected, the other deadpan—neither paid any attention to the surrounding stares.

Their impressive presence was so commanding that it left everyone in awe, and they couldn’t help but inwardly marvel that, upon closer inspection, these two were well-matched in family background, status, and appearance—truly an ideal match.

Only Ye Jia, who was following behind them, was trembling.

He had previously been a couch potato at home and rarely attended banquets, let alone one of such high caliber as the Chi family’s. Now, with all the guests staring at him, he felt as if needles were pricking his back, and his legs went weak.

...He felt like he was about to let his cousin down.

Ye Weian suddenly turned around and called out to him: "Jiajia."

Ye Jia froze.

Usually, his cousin called him by his full name—it was the first time he’d used his childhood nickname.

"Come here," Ye Weian waved him over.

Ye Jia hurried to his cousin's side.

Ye Weian glanced around; the only person he recognized nearby was Zhu Hongke.

After a moment's thought, he called out, "Lawyer Zhu."

Zhu Hongke, holding a wine glass, came over smiling. "A Chen, Sis— uh, President Ye."

Ye Weian gave him a suspicious look.

*Sister-in-law? Was he about to say "sister-in-law"?*

Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time to question it. He pushed Ye Jia toward Zhu Hongke and lowered his voice, "My brother is young and doesn’t get out much. A Chen and I have some business to take care of later, so I’d appreciate it if you could watch him throughout the event."

Zhu Hongke’s gaze swept over Ye Jia’s face, noticing the nervousness in his wide, dark eyes. He smiled and said, "No problem, I’ll look after him."

He slipped an arm around Ye Jia’s shoulders, acting pretty familiar.

As Zhou Huaichen’s childhood friend and who’d previously represented the Ye family in a lawsuit against Boqing, Zhu Hongke sensed that this banquet wasn’t just any party. A Chen and President Ye were probably up to something.

President Ye’s younger brother seemed timid, like a scared little pup. Of course, he had to keep an eye on him to ensure no one at the banquet took a bite out of him.

All the nearby guests were staring at the four of them.

Ye Weian and Zhou Huaichen were naturally the center of attention. Zhu Hongke, as the eldest son of the Zhu family and founder of Hongda Law Firm, also got a lot of attention too.

Seeing Zhu Hongke with a fair and pretty young man—who had been brought in by Ye Weian and Zhou Huaichen—the guests were burning with curiosity and interest in Ye Jia’s identity.

After entrusting his brother to Zhu Hongke, Ye Weian walked with Zhou Huaichen over to Chi Li and his mother.

Chi Li had been waiting for them since they entered.

Today, his face was no longer gloomy but almost cheerful. He was the first to speak, "It’s an honor for the Chi family to have you both grace us with your presence as promised."

Ye Weian glanced at him and handed the gift to Mrs. Chi. "I heard your birthday’s in two weeks. I’d like to wish you an early happy birthday."

Mrs. Chi: "..."

Chi Li gritted his teeth but maintained a smile as he accepted the gift on his mother’s behalf. "Thank you."

As Chi Li went to hand the gift to a server, Ye Weian said, "Not gonna open it?"

Chi Li frowned at him.

The surrounding guests were also surprised.

Generally, birthday gifts weren’t opened on the spot, especially at such a formal banquet—it was considered improper.

Ye Weian kindly reminded, "It’s a fast-acting heart relief pill. Mrs. Chi might need it later."

Chi Li narrowed his eyes.

The guests exchanged puzzled looks.

*What was President Ye playing at?*

Only Zhou Huaichen praised softly, "It’s a practical gift. Well done, Wei An."

Everyone: "???"

Author’s Note: Hello, dear readers! Here’s today’s update—3.5K+ words, completing today’s 6K goal.

See you tomorrow at 9 a.m.!

Thank you all so much for your support. I’ll keep working hard!