Chapter 8 Vile Capitalist

Chapter 8: The Evil Capitalist

Xie Fengshi busied himself in the kitchen for about ten minutes before emerging with a steaming bowl.

Kaelen looked up and saw a bowl of wontons, with a clear broth, floating with seaweed and dried shrimp, a perfectly round poached egg sitting in the middle, and two golden-fried dough sticks on the side.

Xie Fengshi set the bowl down: "Go ahead, eat. This is all we’ve got for breakfast."

Kaelen said softly: "Thank you."

Xie Fengshi stood by the table and watched Kaelen pick up his chopsticks. He instinctively wanted to remind him to be careful of the heat, but before he could say a word, he saw the slender hand steadily and smoothly pick up a wonton with the chopsticks.

Xie Fengshi: ?

Kaelen noticed Xie Fengshi's look and glanced up: "It's delicious."

Xie Fengshi looked at the chopsticks in his hand: "You're really good with chopsticks."

Kaelen didn't hold back: "I'm decent. We have a Chinese chef at home."

"..." Xie Fengshi silently made a mental note against Isaac.

That little rascal had been pretending to be all clumsy at his place, dropping meatballs a thousand times, and he actually fell for it and thought the kid couldn't use chopsticks.

Kaelen ate with the elegance of someone seated in a five-star hotel private dining room: "Is there a problem?"

Xie Fengshi gave a dry laugh: "No, just thinking of a friend who's terrible with chopsticks."

Kaelen's blue eyes looked over, thoughtful: "Isaac?"

Xie Fengshi almost choked on his own spit. How did this guy know in one look!

Seeing his reaction, Kaelen's lips curved into a smile: "So it is him."

Xie Fengshi quickly waved his hands: "I didn't say anything. You guessed it yourself."

"Mm, I guessed it myself." Kaelen went along with Xie Fengshi's words, his tone carrying a hint of indulgence he wasn't even aware of.

Xie Fengshi: ...

He felt like he'd been tricked.

Kaelen ate a few more bites, then slowed down: "How is Isaac doing?"

Xie Fengshi was taken aback. He knew Kaelen was asking him, and every time Kaelen spoke, he looked straight at him—focused but not aggressive, listening carefully to every word. Xie Fengshi also noticed that Kaelen spoke a bit slower than last night. Was it because he'd noticed Xie Fengshi sometimes struggled with English?

"Isaac's doing fine. He just had a rough patch with food—living on convenience store stuff every day."

Kaelen frowned. Seeing that, Xie Fengshi couldn't help sticking up for Isaac: "But he's been eating better lately. I cook for him whenever I have time."

Kaelen's gaze landed on Xie Fengshi: "Thank you."

Xie Fengshi felt a little awkward at the sincere thanks: "No need. He's my neighbor. It's no trouble."

"It's not just convenience," Kaelen said. "He's alone out there, and someone occasionally looks after him—I'm very grateful."

Hearing this, Xie Fengshi thought about how strangely Kaelen talked—even his thanks came out like statements of fact, without any forced politeness—just a simple, straightforward expression of gratitude.

Xie Fengshi sat down across from Kaelen: "You don't need to thank me. I really haven't done much. And Isaac's a likable kid."

Kaelen's expression turned a little complicated at the word "kid": "He's eighteen."

"Yeah, eighteen. That's still a kid, right?" Xie Fengshi said. "I'm twenty—older than him."

Kaelen's lips curved slightly: "But you look younger than he does."

Xie Fengshi: ?

He pointed at himself: "Wait, how am I the younger one?"

Kaelen's gaze swept over his face and finally settled on his slightly reddened fingertips: "Everything about you."

Kaelen's blue eyes were genuinely serious. Xie Fengshi decided not to argue with him. Kaelen added: "Has he mentioned me?"

Xie Fengshi remembered how Isaac had been stubborn last night and held back a laugh, saying: "Not really."

Kaelen hummed, lowered his head, and continued eating.

Xie Fengshi felt a twinge of pity: "But he did ask me about you."

Kaelen looked up.

Xie Fengshi said: "He asked if you looked okay, if you were tired, stuff like that."

"How did he ask?"

Xie Fengshi thought for a moment and decided to polish it a bit: "Just asked. Didn't say much."

But Kaelen seemed to guess something, his lips curving: "Let me guess. Did he say something like I'm getting old?"

Xie Fengshi: ...

Was this guy a mind reader?

Seeing Xie Fengshi's expression, Kaelen knew the answer and let out a quiet laugh: "He's always been like that."

The undisguised indulgence in his tone sparked Xie Fengshi's curiosity: "What exactly happened between you two?"

As soon as he asked, he regretted it. This was their family business, after all, and this was only his second meeting with Kaelen. But he was genuinely curious about Isaac.

"I'm just asking. You don't have to answer."

Kaelen didn't mind. He put down his chopsticks and thought for a moment: "On his birthday, I was in a meeting. I missed his call. By the time I finished, it was past midnight. I called back, but he didn't answer. I messaged him, but he didn't reply. I sent someone to find him, only to learn he'd left."

Xie Fengshi silently put himself in Isaac's shoes—if he'd waited all day for a call until he fell asleep and then woke up to a missed call, he probably wouldn't have answered either.

"So you came to find him the next day?" Xie Fengshi asked.

"On the third day," Kaelen said. "On the second day, I had an acquisition I couldn't skip."

An acquisition he couldn't get out of—that really couldn't be pushed aside.

"And then? You didn't find him?"

"I found him. He ran."

Xie Fengshi was taken aback: "Ran?"

Kaelen nodded, a rare trace of helplessness on his refined face: "I had someone look up the hotel he was staying at. When I got there, he'd already checked out. The front desk said he left in the morning and never came back."

Xie Fengshi was curious. "And then?"

"He moved several times. Every time he stayed for a while and then left, making it hard on purpose for me to find him. I had people track him, but he must have known someone was tracking him because he always managed to slip away just in time."

Xie Fengshi was genuinely surprised now. "He has that ability?"

Kaelen nodded. "He's been like this since he was a child. When he doesn't want to be found, no one can find him."

Xie Fengshi thought of Isaac's perpetually expressionless face and found it hard to connect him with the term "expert at evading being tracked."

But on second thought, it wasn't strange. Isaac's powers of observation were indeed sharp—he could tell from the footsteps in the hallway whether the person passing by was someone he knew. If he wanted to hide, it was likely no one could find him.

"Then how did you find him this time?"

Kaelen went quiet, just looking at Xie Fengshi with those beautiful eyes.

Xie Fengshi was puzzled by the stare, then after a moment it hit him, "You don't mean..."

"He hasn't moved recently," Kaelen said.

Xie Fengshi understood. Isaac had been staying here so long not because he couldn't run away, but because he didn't want to run anymore.

Xie Fengshi couldn't help but laugh. "So Isaac has been playing hide-and-seek with you?"

Kaelen thought for a moment and nodded. "You could say that."

"How old are you two?"

"I'm twenty-four, he's eighteen."

Xie Fengshi said, "... That's not what I meant."

Kaelen's lips curved slightly. Xie Fengshi noticed that when this man smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkled, making him look much more approachable than usual.

"He's always been like this. When he's upset, he hides, and when I find him, he pretends he wasn't hiding from me."

Xie Fengshi was curious. "Where did he hide before?"

"Lots of places. The treehouse, the stables, a corner of the library, the wardrobe in his room. He even hid behind the garden bushes once. I searched for him for three hours, and finally the housekeeper found him asleep in the bushes."

"And after you found him?"

"I took him for ice cream."

Xie Fengshi automatically pictured Isaac eating ice cream with a straight face. Case solved—the kid just liked sweets.

"So what are you planning to do this time? Take him for ice cream too?"

Kaelen gave Xie Fengshi a look that said, "Do you think that will work on him anymore?"

Xie Fengshi thought of Isaac now standing over 180 centimeters tall and silently scratched that idea from his list.

Xie Fengshi glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost eleven, and customers were gradually arriving. Aunt Lin was also calling for him. He stood up. "I need to get to work."

Kaelen nodded, stood up as well, and paid the bill. "Thanks for breakfast."

"Don't mention it," Xie Fengshi said, then after a moment added, "Don't push Isaac. Give him some more time."

A flicker of gentleness passed through Kaelen's eyes. "Okay."

Xie Fengshi turned and headed into the kitchen, tying on an apron and getting to work. It was Friday, and there were more customers at lunch than usual. While Uncle Li handled the front, Xie Fengshi helped by chopping vegetables. The two were getting more in sync.

When he got busy, Xie Fengshi didn't have time for anything else.

...

When Kaelen walked out of Good Fortune, the wind chime on the door jingled.

He stood at the door, adjusting his cuffs and about to call his assistant, when his peripheral vision spotted a figure across the street. His younger brother, with messy blonde hair, was staring straight at him.

Kaelen immediately put down his phone and met those eyes from across the street for a moment.

Isaac crossed the street and stopped in front of Kaelen, tilting his head up slightly. "You went to see Xie Fengshi."

It wasn't a question, just a statement.

Kaelen looked down at his kid brother. The eighteen-year-old stood before him, chin slightly raised, every inch of him on alert.

Kaelen raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

"You tracked down where I'm staying, but you didn't come straight to me. You must have gone to see someone else. Who else around here do you know besides him?"

After months apart, Isaac seemed to have grown a bit taller. His hair looked like he had just run his fingers through it and dashed out, and his clothes were thrown on casually, but his complexion looked much better than before.

"What are you looking at?" Isaac asked, uncomfortable under the scrutiny.

"At you," Kaelen said. "You've gained weight."

Isaac's expression instantly froze. "You're the one who gained weight!"

"I'm just stating the truth."

"Your truth is pretty nasty."

Kaelen's lips curved. "Let's find somewhere to sit?"

Isaac wanted to refuse, but choked back the words. He nodded reluctantly. "There's a café ahead—the coffee's terrible."

"Then terrible coffee it is."

The café was small and shabbily decorated. The place was empty, and the clerk behind the counter was dozing off, chin in hand.

Isaac ordered an Americano, and Kaelen asked for a black tea.

They sat by the window, a small round table between them. Sunlight streamed in, falling on their faces, and their blonde hair shimmered with a similar luster.

Kaelen sat upright, raising the cup of cheap bagged tea with the elegance of someone drinking top-grade tea. His face held the composure of someone refined over the years, while his deep blue eyes showed both scrutiny and indulgence.

Isaac was different. He sank into the chair, elbows on the table, holding his Americano as if it were a soda. His features were still boyish, with that teenage awkwardness. His gray-blue eyes stared straight at people, never wavering.

"How did you find me?"

"I tracked you down."

"So you're pretty good."

"It's not that I'm good—it's that you didn't hide this time." Kaelen took a sip of black tea. "Before, you moved around because you didn't want me to find you. This time, you stayed put—you're waiting for me."

Isaac's eyes went wide. "Who's waiting for you! I just don't feel like moving!"

His voice trailed off as he said, "And the food here is pretty good."

Kaelen: "So it's the food that's keeping you here."

"No!" Isaac immediately denied, but too quick a denial only made him look guilty.

Kaelen didn't push it: "He's a good cook?"

Isaac asked warily, "What do you want?"

Kaelen said, "Just asking."

"That 'just asking' act is way too fake."

"I'm just curious what kind of person could make you want to stay in a place like this."

"He's my friend," Isaac stressed. "Mine."

"I know."

"Don't get any ideas about him."

Hearing this, Kaelen put on a rare innocent look: "What ideas could I have about him?"

"How should I know? Just don't."

Isaac stared at his brother's overly handsome face, growing more suspicious the more he thought: "Why did you go to Haoyunlai just now?"

"For breakfast."

Isaac's face screamed "Who are you trying to fool?" "You always have your chef make breakfast at home, and you claim you went out for breakfast?"

Kaelen's expression didn't change: "Just a change of pace."

Isaac didn't buy it. He knew his brother too well—Kaelen always had an angle. He leaned forward: "What did you say to him?"

"Nothing much. He made me a bowl of wontons."

"That's it?"

"He also said I'm good with chopsticks."

Isaac's expression froze instantly. Kaelen added, "He also told me he has a friend who's terrible with chopsticks."

"That's not me!"

"I never said it was you."

Isaac was left speechless. After a long pause, he said, "Mind your own business!"

Kaelen picked up his teacup to hide a smile. Watching his brother's smug ease made Isaac even angrier: "You did it on purpose! You wanted him to know!"

This time Kaelen was truly innocent: "I didn't. He figured it out on his own. I just sat there and he noticed."

"Then why'd you suddenly show up on that street?" Isaac asked. "Last night, why were you there? You came here to find me, but instead of coming to me first, you bumped into him."

Kaelen said: "I found out where you live. I wanted to check out the area first, and then I saw him being surrounded by a few people. I stepped in and took him home."

"He's my friend, you didn't need to take him home."

Seeing Isaac get all protective like he's guarding his food, Kaelen couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Isaac, how old are you, anyway?"

"Eighteen!"

"You're eighteen and still so childish?"

"You're the childish one!"

Kaelen shook his head and put the teacup back on the table. The black tea was so awful it made his tongue go numb, but he kept a straight face: "I was just passing by. And he's been taking care of you, so I gotta thank him."

"I've been taking care of myself," Isaac said.

"Sure, 'taking care of yourself,' while eating convenience store food every day."

Isaac was left speechless again.

Kaelen's tone softened: "He's been good to you, I know. Meeting someone like that when you're alone out here—that's luck."

Isaac looked down at his Americano, the ice long melted, the bitterness faded: "I know."

Kaelen changed the subject: "So I'm really grateful to him."

"How do you plan to thank him?"

"Haven't figured it out yet."

"Don't even think about it!"

Kaelen raised an eyebrow: "Why?"

"Because he's my friend, not some business partner for you to exchange favors with! You're not gonna take him out to dinner or buy him a gift? Say thank you with all your formalities?"

Kaelen watched his brother, who rarely spoke so much, with amusement: "Then tell me, what does he need?"

Isaac thought for a moment: "He needs someone to talk to, someone to eat the food he cooks."

Kaelen: "And he needs that—can you give him that?"

"Yeah, haven't I been doing that all along?"

"Then that's enough. I won't take that away from you, and I won't use social obligations to thank him."

Isaac looked at his brother suspiciously: "Really?"

"Really."

"Then why did you come to see him at all?"

Kaelen was at a loss for words. "I came to see you."

It was said so casually that Isaac didn't process it at first. When he did, his ears turned red: "What are you looking at me for? I'm doing fine."

"I can tell. You've put on some weight."

"You're calling me fat again!"

"Because I'm telling the truth," Kaelen said. "When are you coming home?"

Isaac's expression shifted back: "Not going back." "Mom and Dad miss you a lot."

"Are they worried about me or their image?"

"Both, probably."

Isaac didn't expect his older brother to be so direct. "Then I'm even less likely to go back."

Kaelen had already expected that answer. "So how long are you planning to stay here?"

"I don't know."

"You'll stay forever?"

"Probably. It's nice here anyway, and the rent is cheap."

Kaelen zeroed in on the important part. "How much is the rent where you live?"

Isaac gave a number.

Kaelen fell silent. That amount wouldn't even cover a month's tips for the household staff back at home.

"You live in a place like that?"

"What's wrong with it? It's fine. Xie Fengshi lives there too."

Kaelen frowned, recalling the dim alleyway and dilapidated apartment building from last night. "It's not safe."

"What's not safe about it? I've been living here for so long and nothing's happened to me."

"Xie Fengshi got into trouble last night."

Isaac's expression changed. He wanted to argue but realized he couldn't.

Kaelen said, "If it were you who got cornered last night, what would you have done?"

Isaac kept quiet, and Kaelen didn't push him. "I'm not asking you to come home. Just move somewhere safer, alright?"

"What about Xie Fengshi?"

"What?"

"If I move, what happens to him?"

Kaelen hadn't expected his brother to bring it up. Isaac's eyes had a rare seriousness. "He needs someone around more than I do. If I leave, he'll be alone."

Isaac said quietly, "He's different. He's really good to me, just simply good to me."

Kaelen thought for a moment. "I understand. Stay for now, then. I'll have the patrols in this area increased."

Isaac was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Just that I'll have the local patrols keep a closer eye on things."

"You have connections like that around here?"

Kaelen gave him a look that said, "What do you think?"

Isaac said, "You wicked capitalist."

Kaelen: ...