BFILWY CH 29

Chapter 29: Girlfriend and the Leaves

Faced with Ye Qinghe’s questioning, Shao Ye was already feeling agitated and about to explain. He had just said, “I don’t have a girlfriend,” when the familiar sound of a dog barking came from his phone.

An Yue and Ye Qinghe both looked at each other in confusion, not understanding why a dog barking sound suddenly echoed through the building. There were only two units on this floor, and the other one was currently unoccupied.

Only He Zhifan had a knowing look. With a slight, almost mocking smile, he snorted: “Yeah, no girlfriend. She even added you to the family group chat. Shouldn’t she be considered your fiancée by now?” He turned to Ye Qinghe and explained: “That barking is from Shao Ye’s Afghan hound. His family uses that ringtone for their calls.” He then turned back to Shao Ye, a challenging look in his eyes. “Go ahead, answer it. Let’s see if it’s your fiancée calling.”

Shao Ye was furious, so much so that he couldn’t be bothered to check the caller’s ID. He slid to answer the call and even put it on speakerphone.

“Why did it take you so long to answer?” a coquettish yet slightly complaining female voice echoed down the hallway. “Are you done yet? We’ve been sitting at your place all morning. My mom even went into the kitchen to make your favorite steamed spareribs. We’re just waiting for you to come home and eat.”

“…” Shao Ye’s face darkened even further, and he heard He Zhifan snicker under his breath, that look of “I told you so” evident in his expression. Shao Ye stubbornly turned his face away, unwilling to look at him.

“I haven’t got it done, you come here!” Shao Ye replied coldly. “I’ve got the speaker on, Zhifan is right next to me. You can speak directly.” He placed the phone on a flower stand near the door, making sure everyone could clearly hear the voice coming from the speakerphone.

He Zhifan was stunned by Shao Ye’s actions. His fiancée’s whole family was waiting at his home, and his prospective mother-in-law even went so far as to cook his favorite dish. Yet Shao Ye had the gall to nonchalantly ask his fiancée to speak in front of others? What did he want?

Before He Zhifan could react, the voice from the phone came again, this time with a clear and cheerful laugh from Su Yingcheng: “Hahaha, you actually have today, hahahaha, Zhifan-ge, you did well, don’t let my brother always have the upper hand. Wow, you really are…,” Su Yingcheng finished laughing before she couldn’t help but compliment, “You’re really my brother’s nemesis. Ever since we were kids, it was always others chasing him. This is the first time he’s chasing someone, and he fell for you. You have no idea how bad his face looked that day after you ran away. I was almost scared to death by him.”

“No, no, no, Yingcheng, don’t misunderstand, he’s not trying to chase me, there’s nothing going on between us,” He Zhifan quickly reassured her.

“What do you mean nothing’s going on? You two… you two are already like that, doesn’t Zhifan-ge want to take responsibility?” Su Yingcheng anxiously raised her voice. “What’s wrong with my brother? I can get him to change. He’s rich, handsome, and totally likes you. Don’t reject him!”

“Who’s the fool?” Shao Ye shouted angrily from the side.

“Handsome! I meant he’s handsome and rich! You misheard!” Su Yingcheng quickly corrected herself, then scolded, “Bro, I’m trying to help you, don’t drag me down.”

He Zhifan was completely confused, feeling disoriented. Shao Ye’s girlfriend was saying she was helping him and called Shao Ye “bro,” what was going on here?

“Yingcheng, what exactly are you saying? Why are you calling him ‘bro’?” He Zhifan cautiously lifted his eyelids and stole a glance at Shao Ye, who had a dark expression on his face. He felt like trouble was brewing.

“Shao Ye is my brother, my cousin. Didn’t he tell you?” Su Yingcheng was also a little surprised. “My mom is his dad’s younger sister. I should be calling his dad ‘uncle,’ and he should call my mom ‘aunt.’”

“B-but out there, everyone’s been saying you two are dating. I knew about it even before joining the group,” He Zhifan tried to explain himself. He wasn’t trying to be the jealous idiot.

“Oh,” Su Yingcheng dragged out the word, “Oh, so you’ve been keeping an eye on my brother for a long time? Bro, did you hear that, are you happy now?”

“Get to the point!” Shao Ye, still with a foul face, glared at He Zhifan, waiting for the scumbag who had been lurking around to apologize.

“Oh, right, right, the point,” Su Yingcheng quickly explained. “At the time, I was a girl traveling with the band abroad, and my mom wasn’t at ease, so she asked my cousin to look after me. Who knew a rumor would spread. At first, we tried to clarify, but later we found that the rumors helped us avoid unnecessary harassment, and the elders at home were reassured, so we stopped clarifying.” Su Yingcheng let out a dry laugh. “I thought Zhifan-ge already knew. Bro, why are you so clueless, you never said anything!”

“I’ve been chasing him, and he never asked me, I thought he knew,” Shao Ye said, now fuming. After speaking, he realized something and turned to glare at He Zhifan. “Wait… you’ve been thinking that I was dating someone else and still chasing you?” His voice rose in disbelief. “You think I’m that kind of person in your eyes?”

Ye Qinghe slightly shifted, as if some thought had flashed across his mind. A trace of confused doubt appeared on his face.

“No… no,” He Zhifan hurriedly spoke up, feeling like Shao Ye’s anger was about to explode. He quickly tried to soothe things over, but after doing so, he couldn’t help but feel a bit wronged. “You never explained anything, now you’re acting like the victim.”

“Don’t I deserve a bit more explanation? That day, you were… so harsh,” He Zhifan’s voice softened, sounding pitiful as he quietly complained, “Someone barged in with the room card early in the morning, acting like I had something to hide, wrapping me up so I couldn’t be seen. What else could I think?”

“Zhifan-ge, I’m sorry,” Su Yingcheng sincerely said. “I borrowed the room card from my brother before. One of my music sheets got stained with my coffee, and my brother said he had a backup copy, so he told me to get it. I later forgot to return it. Then I saw you two sneak off, and I guessed you were together. I… I just wanted to tease him a little, but didn’t expect it to lead to a fight. I’m sorry. My brother scolded me for it too.”

“I only wrapped you up because I was worried Yingcheng might joke around without realizing how serious it was. If she really barged into the bedroom, you’d have been exposed,” Shao Ye added with irritation. His comment, however, did more harm than good. It exposed the ambiguous moment between them in front of everyone, making He Zhifan’s face turn crimson.

“Shut up!” He Zhifan gritted his teeth and muttered under his breath.

“Yingcheng, you two go ahead and eat. I have some things to settle with Zhifan-ge, I’ll be back later,” Shao Ye said tiredly.

“What about Zhifan-ge? Will he be coming with you? Uncle and Aunt are both really looking forward to meeting him…” Su Yingcheng’s voice sounded somewhat disappointed, as if she already knew the answer.

“We just…” Shao Ye felt frustrated and scolded Su Yingcheng again. “Why did you go back and spread rumors?” He snatched his phone back, turned off the speaker, and lowered his voice to talk to the person on the other end. “So soon, you want to take him home to meet my parents? Are you trying to scare him? Maybe he never even planned to… Never mind, I’m hanging up.” Annoyed, Shao Ye hung up and frowned as he saw He Zhifan still standing next to Ye Qinghe.

“Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and pack your things. We’re leaving,” Shao Ye said.

“I… I didn’t bring my key,” He Zhifan stuttered. “And I don’t… I don’t want to go to your place.”

Having watched the scene unfold, An Yue finally realized that He Zhifan hadn’t brought his key and could now open the door to let everyone inside.

“I know you don’t want to go to my house. Whatever. But you’re not staying here,” Shao Ye said viciously. “Mr. Ye’s eyes aren’t doing well, and you still have the nerve to disturb him?”

“I’m not disturbing him,” He Zhifan muttered as he followed his friend inside. “I cook three meals a day for them! If it weren’t for me, they’d starve.”

“You cook for him? I’ve never eaten anything you’ve cooked,” Shao Ye chased after He Zhifan. “Where do you sleep at night? This is the master bedroom, right? Are you sleeping with him?”

“None of your business,” He Zhifan muttered angrily. “I still haven’t forgiven you!”

The two of them began to argue in Ye Qinghe’s bedroom, making themselves at home and causing a ruckus. Meanwhile, Ye Qinghe sat in the living room with his head lowered, trying to maintain a solemn atmosphere. After all, his close friend was arguing with his boyfriend, and he needed to play his part as the responsible family member.

But the content of their argument really opened Ye Qinghe’s eyes. He couldn’t help but want to ask these two, You two combined have over ten years of age between you? Even the kindergarten kids in the community don’t argue like this anymore.

An Yu, sitting at the other end of the sofa, couldn’t help but speak up to Ye Qinghe, “Chairman Ye, do you want to go check on Mr. He? He looks like he’s about to cry from anger.”

At that moment, a loud shout suddenly came from the master bedroom: “You’re still lying to me! You said you had nothing to do with him, but that day… you… you were calling his name while on my bed!”

“You’re crazy! I didn’t!” He Zhifan angrily retorted.

“You called him Yezi!” Shao Ye’s final roar brought a deep silence to the room.

He Zhifan blinked in disbelief, staring at this big fool in front of him with wide, shocked eyes.

(To be continued…)