Chapter 63

Originally, Lan Yuanzhong was a little displeased, but after hearing what Ru Anzhi said, that bit of unhappiness quickly dissipated, and a trace of lightness appeared in his expression.

He said, “Alright then. When I plan to get married someday, I’ll tell you who I like.”

“I’ll be your best man when that time comes!”

I’d rather be your groom. But Lan Yuanzhong didn’t say that out loud. Instead, he started talking about his impression of the Xu family.

He said he had never imagined that he would one day become brothers with a rich second-generation heir.

“What are you thinking? Your biological parents are so rich—don’t you want to come back and inherit the family business? Those first two aren’t even your mom’s biological kids,” Lan Yuanzhong said. “Don’t you also have a younger brother and sister? Why didn’t I see them today?”

Ru Anzhi replied, “One of them is studying, and the other is abroad on an exchange. You’ll meet them eventually. Even though my eldest and second brothers aren’t my mom’s biological children, they treat her very well. It’s not like the messy things you’re imagining.”

“Really? If there’s nothing shady going on, then what about that guy who took your place? If you ask me, you’re just too kind and too rule-abiding. Back then, it wasn’t that guy’s fault, sure—but don’t forget, it was his biological mother who did it. He’s the one who benefited from it. And beneficiaries should bear joint responsibility…”

Lan Yuanzhong felt indignant on Ru Anzhi’s behalf. In his opinion, not only was that “cuckoo” going too far, but his biological mother was also out of line.

She clearly knew the truth, yet she didn’t kick him out of the house. She even had Ru Anzhi eat at the same table as him—wasn’t that basically treating Ru Anzhi as insignificant?

During the meal just now, he had already noticed it. Those people appeared polite, but each and every one of them treated Ru Anzhi like an outsider.

Ru Anzhi: Is it possible they were being “polite” because you were there?

But he couldn’t say that. Left with no choice, he could only make excuses for them.

Unfortunately, no matter what reason he came up with, Lan Yuanzhong could always refute it.

By the end, even Ru Anzhi felt that his own “reasons” didn’t hold up. The more he spoke, the more flaws he revealed, only making Lan Yuanzhong’s impression of the Xu family worse.

Meanwhile, Ruan Yaoyao—who often talked about “cutting off the mother-son relationship” but never actually succeeded—grew restless after Ru Anzhi left. The more she thought about it, the more she felt this matter couldn’t just be left alone.

No matter what, he was still her biological son. She couldn’t just let such a big “time bomb” stay by his side without giving him a warning.

Guessing that Ru Anzhi had already arrived home, she called him.

“Are you home yet?”

Ru Anzhi, who had just entered the house, gestured to his parents and stepped onto the balcony to take the call. “Yeah, I’m home. What’s up, Mom?”

“Are you at home right now? Is that person still with you?”

Ru Anzhi knew who she meant. “No. Yuanzhong dropped me off downstairs and left.”

“He… walked you to your building?” A grown man escorting another man home—definitely suspicious! Ruan Yaoyao hinted, “He escorted you? You’re a grown man, what’s there to escort? Could your good brother be gay?”

Ru Anzhi, of course, knew that Lan Yuanzhong was gay. But to avoid arousing suspicion, he feigned confusion. “Mom, what are you talking about? If he were gay, would he have a girlfriend? You saw her, didn’t you?”

“That’s not necessarily true. Some gay men hire women to pretend, just to avoid suspicion. Otherwise, why are there so many ‘tongqi’ cases online? Do you know what that is? It’s when a gay man deceives a woman into marriage—he clearly likes men but still marries her, then gives her the cold shoulder, all just to have a child to appease his parents. It’s disgusting…”

Ruan Yaoyao went on and on.

She even said that just because she was older didn’t mean she wasn’t active online.

She knew these things even better than Ru Anzhi.

And as someone experienced, she believed she was better at judging people than he was.

In short, she was hinting: Look, I think there’s something wrong with your good brother. Be careful!

Since Ru Anzhi could hear her inner thoughts, he didn’t argue with her. After she finished venting, he naturally expressed understanding and said he would be more careful in the future so she wouldn’t worry.

He also told her to stop casually talking about cutting off their mother-son relationship all the time. People who understood would know she was joking, but outsiders might think she truly disliked her own son, and that wouldn’t look good.

“Who told you I was joking? I’m serious!” Ruan Yaoyao immediately retorted. “Let’s cut it off right now—”

Before she could finish, the call was hung up.

Ruan Yaoyao stared at her phone, furious, muttering curses so loudly that even people upstairs and downstairs could hear her.

Yu Xiangqiao had just finished feeding the baby and was patting her burp. Hearing the noise, she whispered to Xu Lianghan, “What’s wrong with Mom? Is she scolding Third Brother again?”

“When has there been a day she didn’t scold him?”

“True. There are just too many issues surrounding him—any one of them is scary. Especially this one, since it hasn’t happened yet. It’s hard to guard against.”

“Yeah. The previous two were terrifying, but at least crimes had already been committed—once we find evidence, we can send them to prison. But this one is tricky. The first victim is still alive…” Xu Lianghan paused. “Is it a bit immoral for us to hope a victim appears?”

“A little. But better someone else than our own family.”

“It shouldn’t come to that. Since we can all hear Mom’s inner thoughts, we can just bring her along whenever we meet him. If anything happens, we’ll have time to react.”

“But if no one dies, then it’s only attempted crime. How many years would that even get?”

Xu Lianghan: “…”

Alright, that was indeed a problem. Better call Ru Anzhi and ask how cases like this are handled.

Otherwise… they might have no choice but to heartlessly “support” Mom in cutting ties with him.

Ru Anzhi twitched at the corner of his mouth and reassured Xu Lianghan that he would definitely stay on guard against Lan Yuanzhong and wouldn’t let such a thing happen.

“But if nothing ever happens, does that mean he’ll just stay free forever?”

“…Our country is governed by law. Arrests require evidence.”

“How long does attempted crime get?”

Ru Anzhi had no answer. After all, such matters depend heavily on the available evidence.

Just then, he turned his head and saw Minister Qin Shibo staring at him.

“Min… Minister?”

“You’ve got something special going on,” Qin Shibo said approvingly. “I think I understand why your mom and the others say you’re like a villain BOSS NPC in a game. No wonder so many people want to ‘farm’ you!”

People practically delivered themselves to him without him doing anything—he was basically a walking source of achievements.

That’s right.

While those people saw Ru Anzhi as a villain BOSS to grind, in the eyes of Qin Shibo and his comrades, he was practically a steady stream of first-class, second-class, and third-class merits…

As long as they followed him, they’d never run out of achievements to earn.

Ru Anzhi’s lips twitched. “Minister! Didn’t you not believe it before? You tested it—aside from the few of us who talk about it, no one else can hear my mom’s inner thoughts. You even suspected there was something wrong with it.”