Translator: Vivi from dummytranslations
Editor: Drago
Proofreader: SleepyMango123
Scheming white lotus (4.06) - I don’t like men

Today, Shen Ze didn’t play truant but lay sprawled on his desk for the entire day.

Xiang Han didn’t understand what Shen Ze did every night, it couldn’t be that he was practising his knife-play everyday, right? Thinking of that knife once again, he hurriedly flipped through the information of this world once more.

Shen Ze’s case was merely a passing murder case and by the time the protagonist shou traced it back to him, he was already in his third year. As for what happened in between, the novel did not contain much information. It was only after he was arrested that a sentence, briefly summarising his relationship with Xue Ling was written as well as the short period of time he had spent together with the protagonist gong.

But details such as when he got to know the protagonist gong and went under his wing was not mentioned at all. Xiang Han could only infer the timing according to the protagonist gong’s timeline. When the protagonist shou cracked the case behind Shen Ze, the protagonist gong had already left prison for a full year and adding on to the six years he had spent behind bars, meaning he must have been imprisoned seven years ago.

At that time, Shen Ze was in his third year but had fallen into a pit dug by the original host and a scum man, causing him to miss the national exams and as a result, had to repeat a year.

Therefore, taking these seven years into account, the protagonist gong should have entered prison when Shen Ze was still in his first year. Having calculated to this point, the only time where Shen Ze and the protagonist gong could have come into contact would be when he was still in his first year, which should be around...now.

Xiang Han wrote everything down on a piece of paper and soon understood where Shen Ze must have been going every day when he didn’t turn up for class. The protagonist gong was currently operating some underground business and Shen Ze was most likely his underling, running errands for him. No wonder his proficiency in handling knives was so high, it was highly probable that he learnt his skills by fighting with others.

Xiang Han looked at the snoozing person, hating iron for not becoming steel. Not knowing how to study at such a young age but messing around and helping the villain? Your boss is about to be arrested.

Moreover, of all the people he could hang around with, he just had to hang around the protagonist gong. Before he met the protagonist shou, he was extremely pretentious and domineering but after meeting, his personality underwent a great change. After learning that Shen Ze was in trouble, his first reaction was, “I’m done for, my wife needs to work overtime again.” Followed by this was, “Turns out, the one in trouble is an old underling, I just need to find him a lawyer.”

Ah, this sort of uncultured big brother, what good will come out from following him? Xiang Han only felt that he had to quickly pull Shen Ze out of this mess. Although the plot did not mention anything, when the protagonist gong went to prison, how could his underlings remain unaffected?

Most likely it was due to Shen Ze’s young age and his contacts that he was the least affected and was even able to continue his schooling.

Shen Ze slept for the entire day, waking right when only five minutes were left to the end of school. He suddenly sat up and asked, “Which lesson is this?”

Xiang Han was startled and replied in a small voice, “The last class.”

Shen Ze only gave an, “En” before closing his eyes again. When the bell rang, he immediately left, angering the teacher who had wanted to drag the lesson on for a couple more minutes.

Xiang Han had a strong feeling that Shen Ze was going to meet with the protagonist gong. Thus, he hurriedly packed up his belongings and waited for the teacher to announce the end of class before he quickly followed after him.

However, contrary to his expectations, Shen Ze did not recklessly mess around. Instead, he sat obediently in the car and upon seeing Xiang Han, he frowned somewhat unhappily, “So slow?”

Xiang Han, “...” Not skipping school, going home on time. This sort of Shen Ze, he really couldn’t get used to it.

Shen Ze seemed to have instructed the driver beforehand because they didn’t go home directly but stopped by the supermarket instead. There, Shen Ze quickly alighted and soon returned with a plastic bag.

Xiang Han secretly thought, he definitely went to buy more underwear. However, Shen Ze kept a tight hold on it and despite trying to steal glances a couple of times, Xiang Han was unable to catch a glimpse of its contents and even received a cold glare from Shen Ze.

When they returned home, Shen Zheng Duo wasn’t around. Zhu Jing Yi had called for take out from a hotel and when she saw them come in, she called, “Come and eat first. Old Shen will come home later, so we won't have to wait up for him.”

Xiang Han washed his hands but Shen Ze hadn’t come down yet, so he quickly went up to Zhu Jing Yi to ask, “Mom? Why is Uncle Shen late today? Is it because of the matter with nanny Ling?”

“Who else could it be apart from her?” Zhu Jing Yi was somewhat angry, “After that woman woke up, she turned around and accused us, insisting we were the ones who pushed her... forget it. There’s no point in talking about it.”

Zhu Jing Yi suddenly cut off and urged him, “Hurry up and eat before going back to your room to study. You don’t have to worry about adult matters.”

“Blame us? She dares!” Xiang Han feigned shock before indignantly saying, “Mom, don’t worry. I have recorded the stuff that happened yesterday.”

As he said that, he took out his phone to show her the footage the system had just compiled.

Recorded? Zhu Jing Yi was rather surprised. In that sort of situation, Xiao Han actually remembered to take a video? But then yesterday had been too chaotic and she hadn’t really noticed.

In the video, Xue Ling was seen muttering non-step before pouncing towards the camera. Followed by it, the frame underwent a few turns before it landed, facing Xue Ling. Shen Zheng Duo and the rest of them were standing a distance away, it was impossible for them to have pushed her.

Although the video was somewhat unclear and even shaky, it was clear to see who was who.

Zhu Jing Yi watched in glee. She hurriedly grabbed his phone and praised him, “Good son, you’re too great. Mom is going out for a bit, you eat with Shen Ze first.”

Wait a minute, his phone still had those xx BL manhuas! Xiang Han broke out in a cold sweat, wanting to snatch his phone back, “Mom, I’ll send the video to you.”

“Why bother? I’ll be back in a while.”

Zhu Jing Yi raised an arm and evaded him, causing Xiang Han to become even more frantic. He tried to jump but ended up accidentally hitting the phone, sending it flying.

Coincidentally, Shen Ze came downstairs and sensed an unknown object heading towards himself. He instinctively caught it with a frown.

Xiang Han froze for a few seconds before hurriedly going up to him, “Give it to me.”

Shen Ze looked at him for a while before silently tossing it towards him. He turned to head towards the dining table.

Xiang Han sighed in relief and gratefully said, “Thanks, elder brother.”

Zhu Jing Yi was taken aback. Since when had the relationship between her son and Shen Ze become so good? However, she was in a rush to head out so she didn’t pursue this matter and hurriedly left after receiving the video.

With the video as evidence, Xue Ling’s accusations fell through. Although Xue Ling had tried to pounce on him, Xiang Han hadn’t suffered any grievances and thus, the police only detained her for a period of time before releasing her.

Zhu Jing Yi was extremely dissatisfied with the result. She believed that if Xiang Han hadn’t escaped quickly, the one lying in the hospital right now would have been her son. Therefore, she got Shen Zheng Duo to pull some strings and requested a heavier sentence before making a complaint to an intermediary organisation, the reason being Xue Ling was mentally unstable and had a violent tendency.

Xiang Han was unaware of all these matters. He only knew that Xue Ling had been detained for a period of time, and no longer took any notice of this matter.

These past few days, Shen Ze was being extremely obedient, going to school and coming back on time with Xiang Han. Their relationship had also grown closer during this time. Shen Zheng Duo felt extremely comforted, if he had known that firing Xue Ling would have led to such a result, he would have sacked her a long time ago.

However, he hadn’t had the chance to feel glad for long before Shen Ze reverted to his old ways and began to skip classes once again.

Shen Zheng Duo had a headache. He wanted to find Shen Ze for a talk but every time, he only said two words, Shen Ze would turn around to leave expressionlessly.

After the incident with Xue Ling, Shen Zheng Duo still had lingering guilt towards him. Moreover, with Shen Ze’s recent change for the better, he dared not push too far. Knowing Xiang Han’s relationship with him was growing better, he privately requested, “Xiao Han, help Uncle Shen ask him what is he thinking? It will be the national exam in half a year but he isn’t even worried at all.”

Xiang Han had just been asked by his form teacher regarding this matter and when he came back, he was met with the same request from Shen Zheng Duo, causing his expression to become somewhat stiff.

Therefore, the next day, seeing how Shen Ze hadn’t skipped class, Xiang Han decided to bring his food back to the classroom and conveniently helped him buy a pack too.

Shen Ze looked at him suspiciously and hesitated for a moment, “I don’t like men and don’t have any intentions of dating.”

Having a person who constantly went against you at every turn, abruptly change his ways to become extremely attentive to you, what other reasons could there be? The emphasis was on: this person likes men.

Shen Ze didn’t believe this sort of result would be due to his threat and knife.

“What?” Xiang Han froze before understanding the implication in his words. His face instantly turned dark. Shen Ze was too narcissistic!

“Elder brother, I came because I have something to ask you,” Xiang Han emphasised.

Shen Ze watched him before confirming he wasn’t lying. Only then, he relaxed and accepted the lunch box.

Xiang Han stalled for a while until Shen Ze had already finished half of his food. He couldn’t bear the gaze on him any longer and finally coughed,“Elder brother, did you run into any trouble the last two days when you didn’t come to school?”

Shen Ze’s movements halted. He expressionlessly replied, “None of your business, don’t ask anymore.”

Xiang Han hummed an “Oh” but secretly thought, he’d definitely gone to help the protagonist gong.

He coughed again, “That...Elder brother, there’s only half a year left before the national exams, what do you plan to do?”

Shen Ze turn back to look at him, “The old man sent you to ask me this?”

“No, I’m only curious.” Xiang Han hurriedly waved his hands, which only made his denial seem like a cover up, “I intend to go to First High School.”

Shen Ze glanced at him lightly and snorted, “I don’t have your ambition.”

The moment he finished speaking, he suddenly stood up and went to throw away the empty food container.

Xiang Han gritted his teeth and thought, in the end, didn’t you go to First High School and even fell for a scum man later on?

However, for Shen Ze to be able to go to a school like that was mainly because Shen Zheng Duo had donated a building.

In reality, even if Shen Ze’s results were lacking, he only needed to afford the tuition. There was no need to donate a whole building to attend that school. This meant there was probably another reason behind it. For all he knew, it may have had something to do with how the protagonist gong went to prison.

Xiang Han thought for a long time and felt that if Shen Ze did not go to that school, he wouldn’t meet the scum man and wouldn’t further blacken. Just like this, they could avoid such a tragedy.

In the city, another school similar to First High School was the Twenty-third High. The reason Shen Zheng Duo chose to send Shen Ze to First High School was most likely because he saw the strict and isolated living environment.

Therefore, he had to drag Shen Ze back from the protagonist gong’s side. As long as he wasn’t implicated by the protagonist gong, Shen Zheng Duo would be less likely to stuff Shen Ze into First High School.

Later on, when Shen Ze skipped class once again, Xiang Han requested for leave of absence and secretly followed him. However, he did not obtain any results and was even caught by Shen Ze who pushed him against the wall and gave him a stern threat.

Xiang Han didn’t take the warning to heart at all. Don’t mention just squinting at him, even if Shen Ze were to pull out a knife, he wouldn’t be scared.

After being caught, Xiang Han intended to find another opportunity but never expected it to come so quickly.

One day, something happened on the driver’s side and thus, he was late. Xiang Han stood outside the school gates, feeling extremely bored while waiting when he saw a group of youths with brightly coloured hairs wearing clothes filled with holes approach him. They surrounded him and said, “Little brother, big brother is tight on money recently, why don’t you lend me some, hmm?”

Xiang Han’s expression turned dark. Just as he wanted to call for his system, he suddenly saw Shen Ze come out from the school gates and excitedly shouted, “Elder brother!”