Chapter 29

Hearing this, Mi Zhao frowned deeply.

After a brief silence, he zeroed in on the key detail. “A friend? Which friend?”

Father Mi instantly fell silent, sneaking a glance at Mother Mi out of the corner of his eye.

Mother Mi, looking irritated, shot a fierce glare at him, who shrank his neck and kept quiet. Then, pushing him aside, she leaned into the camera.

The moment she saw Mi Zhao on the video call, her face lit up with a big smile. “Son, you don’t know this person—”

“Mom!” Mi Zhao cut her off. He rarely interrupted like this, making it clear that he was truly angry.

Mother Mi immediately shrank back. Her earlier assertiveness vanished, and she now looked as listless as Father Mi. She carefully observed Mi Zhao’s expression. “It’s… it’s Uncle Fu…”

“You’re still in contact with him?” Mi Zhao’s tone rose in disbelief, and his face turned even colder. “Haven’t you been scammed by him enough?”

She quickly defended, “Oh, come on, he didn’t scam us…”

Even as she said it, her voice grew weaker and weaker.

On the screen, the two elders looked like withered eggplants, heads nearly buried in their collars. Mi Zhao felt both heartbroken and furious.

It was as if a fire was burning inside his lungs.

“He didn’t scam you? Hasn’t he tricked you enough times?” Mi Zhao took a deep breath, trying to remain calm as he laid out the facts. “Wasn’t he the one who introduced those people selling failed construction projects to you last time?”

“But those projects didn’t fail…” his mother said in a small voice. “If anything, thanks to those projects, we were able to come to A City. The profits we made in just a few years exceeded all our hard work combined.”

The vein in Mi Zhao’s temple throbbed. “The reason you made money wasn’t because of him or those people—it was because of policy changes and sheer luck.”

Then he asked, “Did you decide to come to A City because those people started making things difficult for you?”

At that, Mother Mi fell silent.

They had never told Mi Zhao about this. In their effort to blend into that social circle, they ran around like fools, even buying up other people’s failed projects. Who could have guessed they’d strike gold—those failed projects turned into money-making machines overnight, making others incredibly jealous?

If it were just a few complaints, it wouldn’t be a problem. But those people weren’t the type to let things slide. They actually tried to go back on their deals, offering a slightly higher price to take back the projects that had already started generating returns.

Naturally, they refused. As a result, they were gradually ostracized and even secretly sabotaged.

Their decision to move to A City wasn’t made lightly. Old Li had warned them that the social circles in A City were complex, but because of that, smaller players like them wouldn’t stand out as much.

Moreover, A City was filled with the truly wealthy. Unlike their previous circle, people here wouldn’t pounce on them like starving dogs just because they made a little money.

And, most importantly—

Their son was in A City.

Their son would eventually build his future here.

Thinking of this, Mother Mi finally felt justified in her decision. She had no regrets and simply told Mi Zhao, “Just book the hotel for us. Don’t worry about anything else. Just focus on taking care of yourself at school. If you need money, ask us. Your dad and I have everything under control.”

After hanging up, Mi Zhao crossed his arms and sat in his chair, sulking for quite a while.

From the bed, Yan Qingting snapped his fingers at him. “Got any plans for National Day?”

“I told you, my parents are coming,” Mi Zhao said, glancing at the date on his phone. “I’ll pick them up the day after tomorrow, get them settled, have a meal together, and then we’ll go our separate ways.”

“Damn.” Yan Qingting clicked his tongue in amazement. “No wonder you’re such a workaholic—it’s in your genes.”

Mi Zhao shot back, “What about you?”

Yan Qingting shrugged. “Most likely, my dad will drag me back home to visit my grandparents. You know how it is—when they’re old, you never know how much time they have left.”

Mi Zhao nodded in understanding.

“Oh, by the way.” Yan Qingting suddenly grew serious. “Did you meet him that night?”

It was obvious—

By “him,” he meant Li Sipei.

“Yeah.” Mi Zhao turned on his tablet, ready to get to work. “Why?”

“People are saying you’re dating someone,” Yan Qingting said. “And that the person you’re with… doesn’t have great circumstances.”

Mi Zhao picked up his stylus and tapped his chin with the tip, looking entirely unsurprised.

If the only witness had been the vice president, he trusted that she would keep it a secret. But there were four or five girls behind her, and when there’s a crowd, rumors inevitably spread.

At least the details about Li Sipei—his gender and the fact that he used a wheelchair—hadn’t leaked. It seemed those girls had exercised some restraint when gossiping.

“Well, you can’t keep rumors from spreading,” Mi Zhao said indifferently. “Let them talk. I don’t live for other people’s opinions anyway.”

Yan Qingting grinned. “Glad to hear you’re that levelheaded.”

—

The next day, Mi Zhao successfully picked up his parents from the airport.

It had only been two months since they last saw each other, yet his father had already gained another layer of weight. Sporting a beer belly, he looked refreshed as he walked with empty hands, swinging his arms leisurely. Mother Mi, on the other hand, hadn’t changed at all. She resembled Mi Zhao by about sixty or seventy percent—her dark, round eyes were lively, and when she smiled, her brows arched, her teeth gleamed, and the dimples at the corners of her mouth deepened.

Mi Zhao gave each of his parents a big bear hug.

While hugging his dad, he accidentally got poked by something hanging around his dad’s neck.

Lowering his head, he saw—

A gold chain. Thicker and more eye-catching than the one he had seen in their last video call.

Mi Zhao: “……”

Father Mi grinned sheepishly, clearly very fond of it. “Son, if you want, I can buy you one too. Lots of people stare at it when I walk by.”

Mi Zhao held his forehead and spoke in distress, “Because it’s too over the top. Normal people don’t wear such thick gold chains around their necks.”

“You said it yourself—normal people. Is your dad a normal person?” He retorted gruffly.

Hearing this, Mi Zhao immediately gave up on the topic.

His father had suffered too much in his youth, always being overshadowed and forced to flatter others. Now that he had money, his only hobbies outside of eating, drinking, and having fun were buying gold and jade.

Mi Zhao couldn’t stand his dad’s showy nature, but he couldn’t argue against the fact that it made him happy.

Forget it.

Let him be.

Mi Zhao pulled out his phone and booked a rideshare to the hotel.

Mi Dad and Mi Mom had shipped their luggage to the hotel earlier that morning. They had the hotel staff help carry the heavy suitcases to their room.

After a bit of unpacking, it was already five in the afternoon.

Having been busy almost the entire day, Mi Zhao collapsed onto the sofa in exhaustion. He had over a dozen unread WeChat messages on his phone, but only one was from Li Sipei.

[Xiao Li: Have you picked up your parents?]

The message had been sent four and a half hours ago.

Lifting his phone with both hands, Mi Zhao’s thumbs tapped away on the screen.

[mrz: Picked them up a while ago.]

[mrz: We’re at the hotel. I just finished helping them unpack. We’ll head downstairs for dinner soon, then I’ll go back to school. What about you?]

At home, his parents had always relied on their housekeeper and weren’t used to doing heavy work. Now that they had been forced to handle things themselves, both were lying on the bed, panting from exhaustion.

Father Mi, however, was observant. Lifting his head slightly, he noticed that Mi Zhao was staring intently at his phone screen, the corners of his mouth curving into a suspicious smile.

Quickly, he nudged Mother Mi with his elbow. “Look at our son.”

She turned to look, and it was as if she had discovered a new continent. Grabbing her husband’s arm, she sat up quietly. “Who do you think he’s chatting with? He looks so happy. I don’t think he even smiled like that when he saw us at noon.”

Her tone was sour.

For the first time, she felt like her son was slipping away.

Father Mi, on the other hand, was unfazed. They had argued, fought, and even given each other the cold shoulder over this before. Now, he had come to terms with the fact that his son had a boyfriend. “Who else would he be talking to? Obviously, his partner.”

“Got a partner and forgot about his parents,” Mother Mi huffed, getting up and walking over.

Hearing footsteps, Mi Zhao quickly turned off his phone.

His Mom’s gaze lingered on his tightly gripped phone for a few seconds before she slowly looked away. Then, feigning nonchalance, she said, “Invite him to dinner later.”

Mi Zhao was momentarily stunned, not immediately grasping her meaning. “Who?”

Mother Mi glared at him. “Who do you think?”

“Oh—” Realization dawned on Mi Zhao. He awkwardly sat up from the sofa. “He’s busy. Probably doesn’t have time.”

Mother Mi didn’t believe it. “No time? No time to come see us, but plenty of time to chat with you on WeChat?”

“…” Mi Zhao suddenly realized that his mom had misunderstood something. He considered explaining but hesitated. There was no point—he had no ties with Li Yan anymore. The words got stuck in his throat.

Just then, Father Mi stepped in to mediate, pulling her aside. “We just arrived in A City. We don’t know the place well yet. Let’s wait a few days. He’s here anyway—whether we meet him sooner or later doesn’t matter.”

Mother Mi muttered, “I just don’t want him avoiding us.”

“He won’t.” Father Mi shot Mi Zhao a look, waggling his eyebrows. “Right?”

“…” Torn between confessing and keeping the truth hidden, Mi Zhao struggled for a long moment before reluctantly muttering, “Mm.”

—

Over the next few days, Mi Zhao kept thinking that he needed to clear up the situation about his boyfriend. If his parents kept pressing the issue, any lies he told would only snowball.

But given his parents’ personalities, coming clean might not be the best idea either.

Luckily, they were busy preparing for a charity auction. They were so occupied that they barely even had time to message him.

Before he knew it, it was the day before the National Day holiday. Mi Zhao packed a few clothes and returned to his rental apartment.

With the year coming to an end, it had become even harder to sublet his place. So, he simply deleted the online listing for it.

His holiday plans were straightforward: if he had time, he would visit his parents or Li Sipei. If not, he would stay home and work on commissions.

Unfortunately, his parents were caught up in whatever they were doing and didn’t even have time for a meal together. So, on the first day of the National Day holiday, Mi Zhao squeezed onto the subway and headed to Li Sipei’s home.

Ruan Xin was no longer surprised by his visits. In fact, she even took the initiative to give them some private space.

Before leaving with her team, Ruan Xin quietly told Mi Zhao, “Two rehab sessions a week are too few. If possible, try to persuade Mr. Li to do more. The doctor said he’s available anytime.”

After that, she handed Mi Zhao the doctor’s phone number and WeChat contact.

That very afternoon, the two doctors he had met before arrived at Li Sipei’s home, leading a group of assistants in a grand procession.