Translator: Kate from dummytranslations
Editor: death and Chubby Dragon ❤

1.11   Distant cousin
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After purposely exposing his sexual orientation, Hao Ritian no longer stayed in the Yan House continuously. The person who had come to seek him out that day had been his class monitor, Chang Le. So, he conveniently took this chance to return to school. Despite his occasional bouts of gloominess, it was plain to see that he was close to coming out of the shadow of his mother’s death.

After going to school, Hao Ritian found that many of his classmates were very friendly towards him. The crux of the matter was that Chen Chen, who loved to target him, to his surprise, didn't provoke him anymore. This saved him a lot of trouble. After all, he had little patience to play games back and forth with these high schoolers.

That day, he came home for the holidays to suddenly find a strange young man in the living room. Yuan Wenyu was just in the middle of talking to that man when she saw them returning and her face lit up instantly, “Qiqi, Yangyang, come, let me introduce you all.”

Since Yan Qi and Yan Yang were from the same high school, the two of them came home together—Of course, though they may have returned together, they mutually ignored each other.
　
After more than a month of interaction, there was finally no need for Yuan Wenyu to incessantly avoid Hao Ritian, which improved her mood considerably and made her itch to show consideration for Hao Ritian in whichever way possible.

At Yuan Wenyu’s words, both Hao Ritian and Yan Yang glanced at the unfamiliar young man while the man also passingly looked their way. He subconsciously paused for a few seconds when his gaze landed on Hao Ritian and he flashed him a gentle smile.

“This is Cheng Nian, your distant cousin who graduated from the renowned H university. He is erudite, talented, and treats others very cordially and pleasantly too. You two can learn more from your cousin.” She turned back to Cheng Nian after saying that, “This is Qiqi and Yangyang who I told you about. They’re young, so please look after them.”

“Aunt Yuan, you’re too polite. If these two younger cousins doesn't object to me, then I’m all set.” He did not put on airs and was mild-mannered, easily giving one the feeling of being bathed in the spring breeze.

Even Yan Yang who had become a lot gloomier during this period of time, had no objection to him.
　
Hao Ritian suddenly smiled meaningfully. Although, when Chen Nian looked over, his ears seemed to redden from shyness and his eyes shifted around a little. His expression was cold and detached but this little pretense was trifling in the eyes of Cheng Nian and Yuan Wenyu.

They glanced at each other unobtrusively, both finding the satisfaction in the other’s eyes, and quickly looked away.

Yuan Wenyu amiably let the two sit and began to create opportunities for Cheng Nian and Hao Ritian to chat. Seeing Hao Ritian’s apparent discomfort at Cheng Nian’s proximity, she was even more satisfied.

It looked like this was the correct move.

The system comforted Hao Ritian inside his mind, “Keep steady, host. You mustn’t slip up this time or else you’ll be spoiling the ship for a ha'penny worth of tar.”

It felt like a level 12 storm was already stirring up in its host’s mind and it had no choice but to take early precautions.
　
Hao Ritian, “Do I look like such an impulsive person?”

System, “…”

Though he wasn’t very impulsive, he was willful —which is more terrible than impulsive, alright?!

Frankly speaking, for a guy like Hao Ritian, who danced to the beat of his own drum, having to pretend to like someone he clearly disliked was insufferable to the max. Therefore, he decided to speed up the process of making Cheng Nian kneel down and call him dad!

The difference between written description and actual perception was as wide as heaven and earth. He only knew from the plot that Cheng Nian was a slimeball who cheated Yan Qi’s feelings, but after seeing the man in person, he knew why Yan Qi was so easily deceived.

While nothing good could be said about Cheng Nian’s character, his appearance was remarkably deceptive. He had a pair of peach blossom eyes which always gave off an illusion of affection, and a benign temperament. Effortlessly, he was a very charming person.
　
With Yan Qi’s mother dead, his shitty father having a mistress and bastards, and him being totally unfavoured by that shitty dad, Yan Qi was pushed aside at every turn at home. His mind was in a state of extreme tension from the outset, and suddenly, at that moment, there appeared a warm and thoughtful man who took care of him and could understand him in every respect. It was no wonder he was so besotted.

When he divulged his sexual preference to Yuan Wenyu, Hao Ritian knew he would see Cheng Nian eventually, but he did not think it would be so soon.

Making the firm resolution to do away with Cheng Nian sooner, Hao Ritian snapped back to reality only to find Cheng Nian’s hand had started reaching up to rub his head in a natural manner as he talked; his ability to cotton up was so skillful it was scary. He was inwardly as disgusted as if he had stepped in dog poop. He seamlessly dodged the hand that almost touched his head and stood up, “I’ll head upstairs first.”

His tone was somewhat hurried and the figure climbing up the stairs was clearly flustered.
　
Cheng Nian smiled knowingly. He must be shy. To him, a little greenhorn schoolboy like this was the easiest to handle. He had no doubt that he could capture him in a flash.

Back to Hao Ritian who had just shut the door, “Fuck, I almost couldn’t hold back from beating him up. I really wish I could pummel him till he loses the ability to take care of himself.”

“Calm down, calm down. Imagine the scene of when he’ll call you dad, do you feel better?” The system hastily comforted.

It found out very early-on that its role had been utterly reduced to pacifying its host when his emotions became violent. Because the host was simply too methodical and well planned when it came to the plot, it did not have a smidgen of use. It didn’t know whether to be happy or sad!

Fortunately, Hao Ritian did not actually mean to do it. Beating people up was the last resort, and he didn't need to use it. He wiped his face, “I’m going to shower. I sat by that douchebag for so long and nearly had my head touched by his paws.”

He grabbed a change of clothes and soon the sound of water running emerged from the bathroom.

When nighttime arrived and the family was sitting at the dinner table, Cheng Nian very naturally sat beside Hao Ritian and displayed great care for him, using the serving chopsticks when he discovered which dishes he liked to eat to help pass them to him. Even Yan Yue who was watching was somewhat envious.

She was very fond of this gentle, distantly-related cousin, especially since he was so good-looking too, which made Yan Yue all the more infatuated.

Yan Yue’s expression was incidentally captured by Hao Ritian. His mouth curled and suddenly he felt things had become interesting.

Then came the sound of Yan Yongan’s inquiry, “Qiqi, has second master Wei contacted you during this period?”

Hao Ritian looked up and scanned the table. He found that Yang Yongan and Yuan Wenyu’s expressions carried a trace of tension, so subtle that if he had not been carefully observing, he wouldn't have noticed at all. While for Cheng Nian, a dash of surprise flashed past his eyes. There was no need to be concerned about the other two, he figured.

He did not answer immediately, whetting their appetites before slowly replying, “No.”
　
It was true that he really hadn’t contacted him. Needless to say, it was not necessary for a man of Wei Zhichen’s status to treat him favorably at all. Rather, it was Wei Lin often phoning him or video-calling with him from time to time. He did not care about this either. To him, Wei Zhichen was just a superlative man. What the other person wanted to do was his own freedom. It was enough as long as the other party didn’t refuse if he wanted to hook up with him later on.

Yan Yongan’s heart thoroughly settled down when he heard Hao Ritian’s response and his face was much softer. He even personally picked a dish over for Hao Ritian.

Actually, after the exchange they had on the day Hao Ritian returned, Yan Yongan had someone investigate whether he was telling the truth. The investigation results showed that Hao Ritian, precisely, had the plain dumb luck of meeting second master Wei’s nephew and through that, was able to speak to second master Wei. Before that, Hao Ritian didn't know second master Wei at all.

He was asking now just to get a final confirmation, and the result was to his satisfaction. Without second master Wei’s pressure from above, snatching back the equity from his son would pose no difficulty.

The meal could be said to be harmonious and happy, and just like that, Cheng Nian was also temporarily staying at the Yan House.

The next day happened to be the weekend. In the afternoon, Cheng Nian came up to him and smiled warmly, “Qiqi, how about I take you somewhere to play tonight?”

This was heard by Yan Yue and she instantly asked, “Cousin, can I come with you?”
The way she spoke ‘cousin’ was natural and intimate; the only thing missing was her grabbing Cheng Nian’s arm and acting coquettish.

Cheng Nian refused with some embarrassment, “That place isn’t suitable for girls. Next time, cousin will take you out alone, okay?”
　
Yan Yue flushed and nodded. The prospect of being able to go out with cousin alone made her heart almost fly from happiness.

When Cheng Nian asked him again, Hao Ritian agreed.

That night, Cheng Nian drove out with Hao Ritian and they finally stopped at the entrance of a bar. The location of the bar was relatively hidden but the decor was sublime and the atmosphere inside was very good as well. The only surprise was that the inside consisted of only men; there was not a single woman there.

Hao Ritian’s heart was clear. This was a gay bar. However, his face was a mask of a bit of blankness and a bit of curiosity. Cheng Nian watched his expression of taking in a whole new scene at once and was extremely satisfied. It made him put more heart into this task. Since there was money for the taking and even an inexperienced and handsome little young master for him to play with, why not go for it?

The moment the two entered, a portion of people in the bar naturally glanced over. Upon seeing the two were together, most of them took their eyes back. It was very likely they were a couple, nothing interesting.
　
Cheng Nian turned a blind eye to those gazes and led Hao Ritian to a few seats not far from the bar counter. After ordering two drinks, he looked at him. “You must be curious as to why I brought you here, aren't you?”

Hao Ritian shifted uneasily, his voice soft and low, “Mn.”

Cheng Nian’s hands folded over each other and supported his chin. Looking a bit helpless, he began softly, “I shouldn’t have brought you to this sort of place but I really wanted to talk to somebody. Although we just met yesterday, I feel good about you and truly regard you as a younger brother. I really couldn't find anyone, so I can only talk to you. I hope you don't mind.”

His soft voice was easy to relax to. Hao Ritian lifted his eyes to hold his gaze, then, as if he had been stung, quickly averted them, but the look on his face had eased significantly. If it were the original host, Yan Qi, this feeling of being needed and trusted would have definitely made his heart settle.
　
Noticing the change in his facial expression, Cheng Nian all of a sudden looked a bit anguished, “This is a gay bar and I am homosexual. Would you hate me because of this?”

As he spoke, he changed his actions and tapped his temple with his right hand.

Hao Ritian subconsciously raised his head up, wearing a stupefied look which carried surprise, and in that surprise was a hint of joy that he himself hadn't found.

But Cheng Nian found it and became quite proud of his actions.

For a boy who had just discovered his sexuality and was still in a state of confusion and fear - if he were to suddenly find a grownup man of the same sexuality as him by his side, he would surely be more psychologically close to this man.

In this way, he had achieved his preliminary aim.