DYH | Chapter 7

On the way to the garage duty room, Bai Wei carefully examined the two pieces of cake in his hands. Butler Fu’s cake-cutting skills were truly impressive—he had managed to cut the slices exactly the same size. No matter how hard Bai Wei tried, he couldn’t tell which one was bigger. However, the cake in his right hand obviously had more strawberries. Staring at it, Bai Wei fell into deep thought.

As he approached the duty room where An Tianming was on shift, Bai Wei deliberately lightened his footsteps.

He was a grown man—of course, he wouldn’t stoop to childish pranks. But still, wouldn’t it be fun to give the guy a little scare?

Noticing that An Tianming was focused on his phone inside the room, Bai Wei sneaked in. He crept up behind him, debating whether to suddenly shout or blow a breath of air onto his neck. Then, his gaze landed on An Tianming’s phone screen—he seemed to be looking at some kind of report.

At that moment, An Tianming suddenly noticed Bai Wei. His first instinct was to lock his phone screen immediately, then he swiftly turned around to face him.

Bai Wei was startled. “Why are you trying to scare me?” He had completely forgotten that he had been the one planning to do the scaring.

An Tianming gave an awkward little smile. “Young Master Bai, you didn’t see anything, did you?”

That suspiciously guilty question made Bai Wei burst out laughing. “If I say I did, are you going to kill me to silence me?”

“If murder didn’t come with consequences, I just might,” An Tianming replied with a completely straight face.

Bai Wei was even more intrigued. “So, what were you looking at? What’s so secret?”

After a brief inner struggle, An Tianming finally spoke. “Young Master Bai, if I tell you and you end up laughing at me, can you at least promise to keep it a secret?”

Bai Wei was immediately curious. “What’s so funny?”

An Tianming had the look of a man walking to his execution. “I’m taking a correspondence course for a diploma.”

Bai Wei was stunned. “But you don’t even have a computer?”

“I go to internet cafés when I’m not working. I take pictures of my assignments with my phone and study them later.”

“That sounds so inconvenient. Why not just buy a laptop?”

“There’s no point if I can’t get online. Might as well just go to the internet café.”

Bai Wei was convinced this guy had studied himself into stupidity. “My room has internet access…” Wait, hold on. He was the one being stupid here—why was he thinking about making An Tianming spend money on a laptop? “Actually, you can just use my computer. Internet cafés are awful—full of gamers. One distraction and you’ll get sucked into playing instead of studying.”

An Tianming hesitated. “Wouldn’t that be inconvenient?”

“Nope! I never study anyway.” Bai Wei answered without thinking.

An Tianming gave him a knowing look. “But you play games, don’t you?”

Caught red-handed, Bai Wei quickly changed the subject. “Oh right, it’s Uncle Fu’s birthday today. This is his birthday cake—I brought you a slice too.” As he spoke, he reluctantly handed over the piece with more strawberries.

“Thanks.” An Tianming took the cake and shifted slightly to make space on the long bench.

Bai Wei sat down beside him. Remembering the financial-looking report he had glimpsed earlier, he casually asked, “Are you studying finance?”

“Economics, technically. I wasn’t sure what to study, but this seemed like a profitable field.”

Bai Wei knew nothing about economics, but if An Tianming was going for a diploma, he must have to take English as well. Feeling smug about his English skills, he seized the opportunity. “If you ever need help with English, I can tutor you. For free.”

“Well then, thanks in advance, Young Master Bai.”

Bai Wei frowned at the title. “Come on, we’re friends now. Calling me ‘Young Master Bai’ makes it sound like we’re strangers.”

“It’s not about distance—it’s about respect.”

“But didn’t you say I was impolite?” Bai Wei suddenly recalled something. “You said it was rude when I called you ‘new guy’ at first. Friends should be equal and fair, right? Since I was so rude back then, you shouldn’t be too polite when addressing me either. From now on, just call me ‘hey’!”

“Hey” might not sound great, but it was close to “Wei” in pronunciation. Bai Wei genuinely wanted to hear An Tianming call him that. He hoped his little manipulation would work.

Unfortunately, An Tianming refused without hesitation.

“I can’t just call you ‘hey,’” he said. Then, after a pause, his voice softened slightly with a hint of amusement. “How about I call you Xiao Wei when no one’s around?”

Bai Wei liked the sound of “Xiao Wei.” He took a big bite of cake, savoring the sweetness.

Looking back later, Bai Wei thought—if he had paid just a little more attention back then, An Tianming probably would’ve gone to prison first for stealing corporate secrets.

But at the time, all he could think about was how sweet the cake tasted.

At twenty years old, Bai Wei lived a carefree life. If he had to name a single worry, it would be the fact that An Tianming seemed to have someone he liked. Bai Wei spent a long time thinking about it like a detective, observing closely. After much deliberation, he finally narrowed down the prime suspect—Xiao Han, the maid in their household.

After comparing himself with Xiao Han, Bai Wei felt unusually depressed. Other than playing the piano, he seemed to be inferior to her in every way. Most importantly, Xiao Han was a woman. Even if Bai Wei mastered the art of brewing coffee, even if he trained himself to have the best temper, he could never change his gender. The overwhelming gap between them forced Bai Wei to resort to some… unconventional methods.

His father couldn’t be bothered with such trivial matters, and while Butler Fu was a little curious, he didn’t ask too many questions. As a result, everything proceeded according to Bai Wei’s plan. Before long, the Young Master of the Bai family had miraculously introduced an employee benefit program—one that sent their household maids abroad for further studies.

Of course, Bai Wei liked to think he still had a conscience. If Xiao Han also liked An Tianming—and logically, there was no reason she wouldn’t, though Bai Wei didn’t dwell too much on the probability—then if she was unwilling to leave, he wouldn’t actually force her to go. But in the end, Xiao Han, after overcoming her initial disbelief, happily accepted the opportunity with excitement.

On the day she left, An Tianming didn’t go to the airport to see her off. Maybe it was because he was too heartbroken to say goodbye—Bai Wei had no way of confirming whether or not he had truly identified the “culprit.” So he waited at home all day for An Tianming to return after driving his father, then found him while he was washing the car.

An Tianming’s expression showed no particular emotion. However, Bai Wei could tell that something was different today—normally, whenever An Tianming saw him, there would always be some clear reaction showing he was happy to see him. But today, it was as if Bai Wei didn’t even exist.

“Want me to help?” Bai Wei casually asked while subtly observing him.

An Tianming finally looked up at him. “No need. Last time you said you’d help, the car didn’t get washed, but I ended up getting a bath.”

Bai Wei felt a little relieved. If An Tianming was still in the mood to joke, then at least he wasn’t too upset. “I was just messing with you. I actually know how to use a hose.” This time, he was genuinely offering to help. He didn’t even realize he had misspoken.

An Tianming suddenly stopped what he was doing, walked over to the faucet, and turned off the running water. Then, without any visible change in expression, he repeated, “Oh, so you were just messing with me.” After a pause, he added abruptly, “Just like with Xiao Han?”

Bai Wei’s heart skipped a beat, completely out of his control, as if he were actually panicking. He had considered the possibility that An Tianming might blame him for sending Xiao Han away, but he never expected to be this afraid of making him angry.

“So you think it’s perfectly justified to manipulate other people’s lives, don’t you?” An Tianming’s voice was calm, but every word cut through Bai Wei like a sharp blade. “You must look down on Xiao Han, thinking that as long as you throw her a bone, she’ll obediently take it. In your eyes, everyone is just a chess piece for you to move around. No one deserves their own will—only you have the right to decide everything.”

This was something Bai Wei had accounted for in his plan. He had already prepared to apologize and ask for forgiveness. But in his plan, he hadn’t accounted for how painful it would be.

He knew he was wrong. But ever since he was a child, no one had ever scolded him for the things he did wrong. That was why he had no idea that even when you know you’re in the wrong, getting scolded can still make you feel sad, hurt—so much that it’s unbearable.

…Especially when the one scolding him was An Tianming.

“I don’t think it’s justified to manipulate people’s lives,” Bai Wei said. In his head, he kept reminding himself that he should be apologizing right now, but he had never been good at following orders—not even his own. He tried to hold back, but in the end, he couldn’t stop himself from arguing back. “I’m human too. You might not believe me, but I do feel guilty. But like I said, I’m human. I can’t help but act on impulse when it comes to fighting for you. I didn’t do this because I think I have the right to control everything—I did it because I like you.

“What I did was wrong, but it wasn’t because I thought I was entitled to do it. You can hate me for being a delusional idiot, but don’t hate me for being some arrogant control freak…”

An Tianming opened his mouth slightly, as if he was about to say something.

But Bai Wei didn’t want to hear it.

He knew he deserved to be punished. But the pain he was feeling right now—it felt like the punishment had already far exceeded his crime.

Murderers only have to pay with their lives. So why was it that, just for being selfish once, he had to suffer a punishment harsher than a killer’s?

“I can make it up to you,” Bai Wei blurted out, pressing forward before An Tianming could respond. “You’re studying for your diploma, so you must be willing to continue your education. If you don’t want my money, I can treat it as a loan and send you abroad to study with Xiao Han. Of course, I’m only doing this out of guilt—to make myself feel better. Don’t get the wrong idea. This has nothing to do with you.

“I’ll never like you again.”

…If only he could actually make that happen.

Bai Wei forced himself to say the words, using the last strategy he had prepared to clean up the mess he had made. He straightened his back, trying to mask his complete internal collapse. As he turned around to leave, the only thought in his head was that he never wanted to see An Tianming again.

But that thought alone was enough to break his heart.