Chapter 271: Zhou Du and Xia Xi might be fake

Xu Yanfeng was working from home, his phone rang on the desk.

His gaze shifted from the computer screen to the phone screen; he glanced at it casually—it was Tang Yizhou again.

Xu Yanfeng leaned back in his chair and lazily answered.

Tang Yizhou's tone was mysterious: "Guess who I saw online?"

Xu Yanfeng wasn't interested.

Tang Yizhou had to ask and answer himself: "That…" He trailed off, suddenly stuck, not knowing how to continue.

He was out shopping and having afternoon tea with his female companion when she suddenly remarked something about a live stream, then pulled out her phone to watch it; worried she'd disturb others, she put on a wireless earbud.

Tang Yizhou wondered which streamer had such charm that his companion ignored him; he tilted his head to glance at her phone screen, and his gaze froze.

The streamer was none other than the man who had been involved with Xia Xi back then.

"Want to watch too?" his companion shoved the other earbud into his ear.

Tang Yizhou was forced to listen to a segment; what did the man say on the stream? He claimed he'd been a lifelong solo, never dated, which seemed impossible.

Thinking back seven years ago, Xia Xi had dumped Xu Yanfeng for this man.

Tang Yizhou ripped off the earbud, tossed it onto the glass table, and in a fit of anger called Xu Yanfeng; now, with his mind calmed, he realized he'd acted impulsively.

Should I tell Xu Yanfeng that I saw online the man who once gave him a green hat, who shamelessly claims he's never been in a relationship—what was he to Xia Xi, then?

Is this man really not faking his persona to scam people?

Xu Yanfeng's voice sounded impatient: "What exactly do you want to say?"

"Never mind, it's nothing."

To protect his brother's self-esteem, Tang Yizhou decided to pretend he knew nothing.

Tang Yizhou is blunt and can't keep secrets; his evasive manner really raises suspicion. Xu Yanfeng, who had been uninterested in what he had to say, now grew serious: "If you have something to say, say it clearly—don't half-say it and half-hide it."

Tang Yizhou agonized for a long time, then gritted his teeth and steeled himself: "Stay calm, don't snap—I'm not insisting on telling you about that person; I just happened to see him online, suddenly remembered you, called you, with no other intention—believe me."

After all that preamble, still not getting to the point, Xu Yanfeng's patience was nearly exhausted: "Why are you being so fussy?"

Tang Yizhou: "I really can't say it out loud; I'll just send you a WeChat. My girlfriend says it's already trending—I'll forward the video to you, you can watch it yourself."

Having said that, he hung up on his own.

A few seconds later, Tang Yizhou sent a video; Xu Yanfeng opened it to see Zhou Du's face, wearing a gray sweatshirt with a dachshund pattern on the chest, as a little child pitter-pattered over, face unseen, voice soft and childlike, asking Zhou Du to help twist the yogurt bottle cap.

Hearing that voice, Xu Yanfeng knew it was Youyou; the brother she referred to was naturally Zi Heng.

Xia Xi had taken the two kids on a business trip to Beicheng, but the children were at Zhou Du's place…

Xu Yanfeng closed his eyes, chest rising and falling, wanting to retreat, when suddenly the comment stream flooded with questions about the kids, asking if Zhou Du was married; his fingertip paused, and the video continued.

Zhou Du's expression was hard to read; he propped a hand on his forehead and explained a few things.

Xu Yanfeng looked up the meaning of "lifelong solo": it means one has been single from birth, never dated.

Unlike Tang Yizhou, whose first reaction to that claim was that Zhou Du was lying to craft a persona, Xu Yanfeng wondered whether Zhou Du and Xia Xi might be fake.

Back then, if he hadn't seen it himself, given his trust in Xia Xi, he would not have believed she could betray him, no matter what she said.

Xu Yanfeng set down his phone, interlaced his fingers, pressed them to his forehead, closed his eyes, and recalled the past.

That was a memory he most avoided revisiting, buried deep in his heart, covered over by time with a thick layer of dust, too painful to touch lightly.

It seemed that as long as he didn't think about it, he could keep himself numb, as if the incident had never happened.

After a long while, Xu Yanfeng lifted his head, expressionless, and called Tang Yizhou.

Tang Yizhou thought Xu Yanfeng wanted to settle scores with him, fidgeted for a long time before daring to answer, and opened with an apology: "Sorry, Xu Er, I really didn't mean to—my girlfriend was watching the stream, I glanced at it, and then…"

"I have a question." Xu Yanfeng's voice was unusually calm, cutting off the chatter on the other end: "Seven years ago, in the hotel, how did you discover Xia Xi and that man?"

"Huh?" Tang Yizhou blinked, confused.

"Tell the truth."

"I just went out to take a call, and in the hallway I saw them walking arm-in-arm toward a private room." Tang Yizhou didn't know why Xu Yanfeng was asking, but he answered honestly.

"Who called you? Do you still remember?"

"That'll take some serious recalling—after all, so much time has passed, and Tang Yizhou, busy as he is, couldn't possibly remember exactly who called him on some random day seven years ago."

Xu Yanfeng said he wasn't in a hurry, tapping his knuckles lightly on the tabletop.

"Dun, dun, dun," like a countdown reminder.

Tang Yizhou thought for several minutes, finally managed to dredge up a useful bit: "Hey, I remember now—that call was actually kind of weird! It was a local unknown number from Nancheng, a guy on the line who right away said he had business with me, told me to go out for a bit, for no apparent reason. When I left the private room, I didn't see whoever was supposed to be meeting me; I just happened to see Xia Xi with a man, urgently told you, and the rest… you know. The situation was so chaotic that I forgot about that call; you bringing it up just now made me recall it, and to this day I still don't know who called me."

Xu Yanfeng's mind went blank for a moment.

"Hey, Xu Er, are you still listening?"

"Do you think the voice of the man who called you sounds like the man in the stream?"

Xu Yanfeng suspected it was Zhou Du.

Tang Yizhou instinctively objected: "How could that be?"

His female companion sat beside Tang Yizhou, still watching the stream; Tang Yizhou picked up the earbud he'd just tossed onto the table, slipped it into his ear, listened for a few dozen seconds, and Zhou Du happened to be joking with fans, uttering a sentence of plasticky Mandarin laced with his hometown dialect.

Tang Yizhou stared, stunned: "Holy crap, don't say that—it actually does sound a bit like. I originally had no impression of that voice, but now I think it carries a hint of the Qianlin accent?"

"I get it." Xu Yanfeng hung up.

Tang Yizhou: "???"

"No, what do you know?"

Xu Yanfeng boldly guessed that if the man who called Tang Yizhou that day was Zhou Du, then he had deliberately lured Tang Yizhou out of the private room so he'd run into him and Xia Xi together.

Why would Zhou Du do that?

It could only be at Xia Xi's behest.

But why would Xia Xi do that?

Xu Yanfeng parsed the threads, recalling the last time he'd shared a table with Zhou Du for a meal—Zhou Du had seemed guilty in his presence. Later, they ran into each other outside the restroom, and Zhou Du had said, "What happened back then isn't what you think."

He kept pressing, but Zhou Du refused to speak, as if he had something he couldn't say.

Not long ago, they met at Xia Xi's grandmother's funeral, and Zhou Du was also avoiding him, afraid he would ask something.

Xu Yanfeng called his assistant, asking him to book a ticket to Beicheng; some matters are most effective when discussed in person.

Guan He was puzzled; there had been no recent travel arrangements to Beicheng, but in an instant he understood—it must be a private matter.

"Okay, General Manager Xu." Since the boss settled into family life, he often does these spontaneous things; Guan He is already used to it, and calmly asked, "Which time slot would you like to book?"

Xu Yanfeng: "The sooner, the better."