Chapter 142: Chapter 142: He’s My Boyfriend
Qin Shi didn’t reply after receiving Chi Wan’s message, but seeing the "read" receipt, Chi Wan put her phone away and headed to the cafeteria to find Wen Jing and the others.
When Chi Wan arrived at the cafeteria, Qi Youyou had already gotten her a meal.
Seeing Chi Wan approach, they all leaned in curiously. "Wanwan, was that really your uncle? He doesn’t look anything like you."
Yu Chuxue asked cautiously, "His hand..."
Chi Wan was digging into her food when she looked up. The other three were staring at her so intently they nearly shoved their rice into their own noses. She couldn’t help but laugh. "It’s okay, you can ask whatever you want. Just let me have a few bites first, I’m starving."
Hearing her say that, they instantly realized her relationship with this uncle wasn’t what they had imagined.
Wen Jing, ever the impatient one, shoveled down her food in a few big bites and nearly choked. "Hurry up and eat, then," she urged. "I’ll go get us some drinks so you don’t choke."
When she returned, she even thoughtfully unscrewed the cap for Chi Wan and set the drink by her hand. From the looks of it, she was itching to feed Chi Wan herself.
The main thing was, this "uncle" of Chi Wan’s cut a strange figure. But what was even stranger was Chi Wan’s complete lack of pity for him. In fact, thinking back, the look on her face when she saw him could only be described as cold.
In their minds, Chi Wan would never be so unsympathetic. That meant the "uncle" must be the one with the problem.
If Chi Wan had known what they were thinking, she would have given them a thumbs-up. Their logic was sound.
After finishing her meal and taking a sip of her drink, Chi Wan leaned in conspiratorially. "He is my uncle, but my grandparents on my mom’s side... well, they favored their son over their daughter. They were always pressuring my parents to support him financially."
"Then he got addicted to gambling and racked up a mountain of debt. My family had already gone bankrupt by then, you know? We were just getting by on the income from our orchard. But he and his creditors plotted to use a Ghost Orchid to stage a scam, trying to trick me into selling our family’s mountain."
"My parents were furious, of course, so they cut ties with him. After that, he was tricked and sent to Myanmar North. When he came back, he was... like you saw."
Qi Youyou was incredulous. "And he’s your *real* uncle? Don’t your grandparents do anything about him?!"
Chi Wan shrugged. "To my grandparents, their son is all that matters. A daughter, well, once she’s married off, she’s not considered family anymore."
Wen Jing and Yu Chuxue, both only children, couldn’t comprehend that kind of logic. Even Qi Youyou, whose family wasn’t well-off, had never seen such blatant favoritism.
Seeing their expressions, Chi Wan smiled and pinched their cheeks. "Don’t worry, I wasn’t tainted by any of their toxic ideas. My parents are wonderful to me, otherwise I wouldn’t have turned out the way I have."
Seeing Chi Wan’s proud expression, Yu Chuxue laughed. "That’s for sure. Our Wanwan fears nothing. You can tell at a glance she’s a little demon king who was raised completely surrounded by love."
Chi Wan feigned anger. "Who are you calling a little demon king? You’re getting bold!"
With that, she started poking Yu Chuxue in the ribs, making her burst into laughter.
But then Wen Jing thought of something, her expression turning serious. "Wanwan, he came to find you this time for money, didn’t he? You can’t give him the time of day!"
Yu Chuxue and Qi Youyou nodded in agreement. "That’s right, Wanwan. Gamblers have no sense and no shame! Don’t believe a word he says."
Seeing her roommates had their heads on straight, Chi Wan relaxed. "I know, I know. I only told you all this because I was worried he might come to you, using the fact that he’s my uncle. Since you’re all so sensible, I can rest easy now~"
Seeing Chi Wan’s smug, all-knowing expression, the three exchanged a look and started tickling her. "You little Wanwan, how dare you patronize us!"
The four of them roughhoused for a bit, with Chi Wan repeatedly surrendering, until she finally got a chance to get back to the serious topic. "This time, my uncle didn’t ask for anything. He just said he knows he was wrong, but I’m worried he’s secretly plotting something."
"Since I don’t live in the dorms, if he comes looking for you and says anything—especially about me—don’t believe a single word of it!!"
Chi Wan wasn’t worried about much else, only that Song Yangming was deranged enough to drag her roommates into one of his schemes.
Having made everything clear, Chi Wan headed back.
She planned to go to the base today. For one, she needed to update Li Xingye on her progress, and for another, she needed to "restock."
Her communication with Professor Zhang had gone surprisingly well, which gave Chi Wan more confidence. She figured if her upcoming discussions with the Chinese Academy of Sciences went just as smoothly, she could switch directly into "sales" mode.
After all, Li Xingye’s base was now running smoothly, factories and all. She had heard Duan Qianyu mention more than once that they wanted to expand their network of signal devices to better communicate with survivors in other areas.
But that was obviously something Chi Wan couldn’t accomplish alone. Fortunately, it wouldn’t be long before she had more leverage to negotiate a partnership.
As she reached the bottom floor of her building, however, she ran into Zhou Huaijin.
He looked like he’d been standing there for a while. The hallway lights only flickered on as Chi Wan approached, startling her. "Huaijin? What are you doing standing here in the dark?"
Zhou Huaijin snapped out of his thoughts. "Wanwan? Oh, I left my keys and my elevator card in the lab. I’m just waiting for Jiayou to finish his experiment and bring them down. Have you eaten yet?"
Chi Wan nodded, amused. "Huaijin, it’s rare to see you so scatterbrained. What’s up? Still basking in the good news? Oh, and have you eaten?"
Zhou Huaijin subconsciously shook his head, then nodded again. "I’ve eaten."
Chi Wan couldn’t figure out why Zhou Huaijin seemed so out of it today. She grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the elevator. "Who knows when Brother Qi will be done with his experiment. You can’t just stand here waiting. Come on, you can wait at my place. I think I have some steak in the fridge. It’ll be enough to tide you over."
’Guess my trip to the base will have to wait. A certain someone is going to get jealous again.’
Chi Wan pulled Zhou Huaijin into the elevator. Staring at her flawless face in the bright light, he finally couldn’t hold back the question that had been plaguing him all day. "Wanwan... that Brother Xingye you mentioned... are you two very close? And Friday... is that his birthday?"
Before Chi Wan could even look at him, he quickly added, "Sorry, Wanwan, I’m not trying to interrogate you. It’s just... when you mentioned today that the Parallel Space is an apocalypse... I-I’m worried about your safety."
But Chi Wan just waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, that? It’s fine. Brother Xingye wouldn’t let me get into any danger."
She paused, then, meeting Zhou Huaijin’s somber gaze, she said with a touch of shyness, "Actually, Huaijin... Brother Xingye... he’s my boyfriend."
