“Brother, are you really moving out?”
Qiao Nan watched his assistant busy moving luggage back and forth, then squeezed next to Pei Xu and sat down, hugging his arm and shaking it, “Your company isn’t far from home, why do you have to move out? If you move out, I’ll be all alone at home.”
“Don’t move, okay?”
He skillfully hugged Pei Xu, leaning his forehead on his shoulder and rubbing it playfully.
Pei Xu was four years older than him and had always doted on him.
Usually, as long as Qiao Nan acted cute and whined a bit, Pei Xu would agree to whatever he asked.
Qiao Nan naturally assumed it would be the same this time.
“It’s more convenient to live at the company. I’ll come back often.”
But this time, Pei Xu was unexpectedly firm.
He gently pulled Qiao Nan off him, his hand instinctively wanting to rub his head, but just as it was about to touch, he remembered something and stopped, restraining himself.
Instead, he patted Qiao Nan’s shoulder, “Be good, don’t throw a childish tantrum.”
But if Qiao Nan were that obedient, he wouldn’t be Qiao Nan.
Seeing that whining wasn’t working, he simply resorted to being difficult and throwing a fit.
He suddenly pounced on Pei Xu, clinging to him like an octopus, and whined, “I don’t care, you’re not allowed to move out!”
Although Pei Xu wasn’t his biological brother, they had grown up together since childhood and had hardly ever been separated.
Even his own parents weren’t as close as Pei Xu.
Just thinking about separating from Pei Xu and living alone already made Qiao Nan feel miserable, and he hugged him even tighter, “Are you not going to care about me anymore?”
Taking advantage of Pei Xu not being able to see, he deliberately sniffled loudly.
So aggrieved.
“How could I not care about you?”
Pei Xu sighed helplessly.
“Then why do you have to move out?”
The conversation circled back to the beginning.
Why did he have to move out?
Pei Xu’s expression was complicated.
Qiao Nan, who was hugging him tightly, didn’t realize how intimate their posture was at that moment, nor did he know how much self-control Pei Xu needed to lock up the beast in his heart, forcing himself to let go and not embrace him.
Qiao Nan wanted a brother who doted on him.
But Pei Xu no longer wanted to be his brother.
Pei Xu closed his eyes, pushing back the swirling thoughts, and restrainedly pressed the back of Qiao Nan’s head, his fingers running through the soft, fluffy hair with a strong sense of comfort, “Nannan has grown up and can’t be as clingy as he was when he was little. We will always have a time when we separate.”
He would fall in love, marry, and have children.
Walk a path of happiness and stability.
And not be dragged into a dark, narrow alley because of his own selfish desires.
But Qiao Nan didn’t know any of this.
He instinctively didn’t want to be separated from Pei Xu and quickly retorted, “Who says we have to separate?”
His mouth was pouting so much it could hang an oil bottle, “The house is so big, even if we both get married later, there’s still enough room.”
Pei Xu couldn’t bear such a thought, and his face changed, but in the end, he said nothing, just pulled Qiao Nan off him again, unequivocally rejecting his proposal, “Nannan, be good.”
This meant there was no room for discussion.
He had tried crying and making a scene, but Pei Xu remained unyielding.
Qiao Nan was used to Pei Xu always giving in to his requests, and he had never seen him so cold and refusing several times over.
Seeing Pei Xu’s grim face and silence, Qiao Nan also got angry and sulked “If you move out, I’ll go live at school!”
After throwing down this threat, he stood up angrily and ran out.
Assistant Zhao Bo had just returned after putting away the luggage when he bumped into Qiao Nan stomping out with a face full of anger.
He turned his head to look at Qiao Nan’s fuming back and looked at Pei Xu on the sofa in surprise, stammering, “Boss, should I go chase the young master back?”
He knew their boss was practically a doting-brother fanatic, with no bottom line when it came to spoiling his younger brother.
This was the first time he had seen Young Master Qiao angry and the boss remain indifferent.
Speaking of which, let alone Young Master Qiao, even he found it strange that the boss suddenly wanted to move.
Others didn’t know, but he did, even though there was a lot of work at the company, it was far from the point where the company’s CEO needed to live and work at the company.
Pei Xu looked in the direction Qiao Nan had left, took off his glasses, and wearily pinched the bridge of his nose.
***
Qiao Nan came out of the house and wandered aimlessly along Binjiang Avenue, flipping through his phone contacts to call his troublesome friends, “Chuan, call a few people out for drinks, will you?”
On the other end of the phone was his childhood friend, Qian Chuan, who sounded surprised, “Didn’t you say your brother is home for the Dragon Boat Festival, and you’re still coming out for drinks?”
Qiao Nan’s parents were a power couple, each managing their own company.
They were both workaholics, flying around all year with little time at home.
Qiao Nan was raised by a nanny until he was six, and after that, he was looked after by his adoptive brother, Pei Xu.
All their friends in the circle knew that Young Master Qiao feared nothing and no one, but he only listened to his brother.
For example, his brother didn’t like him drinking and messing around outside.
Whenever his brother was home, no matter who organized a gathering, he couldn’t be persuaded to come out.
Today, suddenly taking the initiative to organize a gathering, something unusual was definitely going on.
Sure enough, after listening, Qiao Nan “hmphed” and sneered, “I’m an adult now, I don’t need Pei Xu’s permission to drink.”
He found the nearest club on his phone and sent the location to Qian Chuan’s WeChat, “Here, call more people, we’re not going home until we’re drunk tonight.”
Whoa!
He was even calling him by his full name!
Were these brothers really having a conflict?
Seeing there was drama, Qian Chuan immediately got excited, “Wait for me, I’ll go call people now, I’ll be there in half an hour.”
Half an hour later, Qian Chuan, with his friends, arrived at the private room and saw Qiao Nan curled up in the booth.
There were already five or six bottles of alcohol opened on the table in front of him, with two bottles already empty.
Qiao Nan heard the commotion, narrowed his eyes and looked over against the light—Qian Chuan had brought a dozen people, some he knew, some were new faces.
But drinking parties were meant to be lively anyway, so knowing everyone wasn’t the main point.
“I’m paying tonight,” he lazily sat upright, casually picked up a wine glass and drained it, then inverted the empty glass on the table and smiled, “Everyone, let’s drink until we drop.”
He was already handsome, with flawless porcelain-white skin under the lights.
Now, having drunk, his eyes were hazy, and a light blush spread from the corners of his eyes to his long neck, adding an indescribable, alluring charm.
The man walking side-by-side with Qian Chuan’s gaze fell on Qiao Nan’s face, his eyebrows raised slightly, and he asked in a low voice, “Is he Qiao Shi’an’s son?”
Qian Chuan nodded, and seeing the man’s expression full of interest, he reminded him, “Qiao Nan doesn’t mess around outside, don’t get any ideas.”
Seeing that the other party still seemed unwilling to back down, he then whispered, “Qiao Nan really is a troublemaker, I should have known not to bring you.”
Saying that, he rushed past the other man and squeezed next to Qiao Nan, putting his arm around Qiao Nan’s shoulder in a brotherly fashion, “Come on, tell your big brother, what’s wrong? Did you argue with your brother?”
He then answered his own question, “This shouldn’t be, right? With how Pei Xu spoils you, how could he argue with you?”
The more he talked, the more impossible it seemed, Qian Chuan said, “What kind of tantrum are you throwing now?”
Qiao Nan immediately exploded, slamming his wine glass heavily on the table, “It’s clearly Pei Xu throwing a tantrum.”
He was angry, uncomfortable, and aggrieved, and under the fumes of alcohol, his emotions were amplified, even his eyes turned red, “He’s moving out of the house.”
***
Qian Chuan was startled by his intense reaction.
He originally wanted to say that since Pei Xu had his own company, it was normal for him to move out of the Qiao family home.
It wasn’t like they wouldn’t be brothers anymore just because he moved out, so what was the big deal?
But seeing Qiao Nan’s eyes turn red as he spoke, he immediately didn’t dare to add fuel to the fire. He could only try to appease him, “Ah, yes, yes, yes, how could your brother do that? That’s just too much!”
Who knew Qiao Nan would get upset again, glaring at him and saying, “What about my brother?”
He shouldn’t have been so talkative.
It would have been better to just stay quiet.
Qiao Nan took another sip of wine.
As the alcohol entered his troubled heart, his emotions surged even more.
He lowered his head, sniffled, and asked in a hoarse voice, “Do you think my brother is tired of me?”
“No way, right?”
Not just Qiao Nan, even Qian Chuan didn’t believe it.
In earlier years, some of them had secretly wondered if Pei Xu was trying to take advantage of the Qiao family by spoiling Qiao Nan so much, perhaps intentionally trying to ruin him.
But now, many years had passed, and Pei Xu’s attitude remained consistent.
Sometimes, even these childhood friends felt that only Pei Xu could endure Young Master Qiao’s antics.
Moreover, among this circle of childhood friends who knew each other well, they were all equally uneducated originally.
Then, in the second year of high school, Young Master Qiao suddenly decided he wanted to paint and aimed to get into Nanchang Academy of Fine Arts, which was a top-ranked art school.
He boasted that he wanted his brother to tutor him in academics.
Everyone initially thought he was just talking big, but who knew that after the college entrance exam results came out, he actually got in.
At that time, Young Master Qiao showed off with great fanfare and pride, claiming that those hundreds of points were all thanks to his brother tutoring him night after night.
Pei Xu was several years older than Qiao Nan and had skipped grades.
When Qiao Nan was in his second year of high school, Pei Xu was already in his third year of graduate school, about to graduate, which was his busiest time.
Yet, he still managed to make time to tutor him every night.
Even biological brothers might not be able to do that.
So from that time on, everyone only felt envy towards Qiao Nan.
After all, their own parents only brought illegitimate children home, but no family was like the Qiao family parents, who brought an adopted son home and doted on Young Master Qiao like an ancestor.
Qian Chuan logically analyzed, “I think he might just be too busy, and staying at the company would be more convenient. I heard from my sister that your brother’s company has really amazing technology and is expanding incredibly fast. If our family wasn’t involved in drone-related industries, we’d want to get involved and build good relations too.”
“Of course my brother is amazing,” Qiao Nan hiccuped from the alcohol.
“But the house isn’t far from the company, why does he have to move out? We don’t even have much time together already.”
Qian Chuan was speechless with this “brother-obsessed” person and could only perfunctorily say, “Doesn’t he come home when he’s not busy?”
“That’s different.”
Qiao Nan took a sullen sip of wine and muttered repeatedly, “That’s different.”
***
“Did Nannan come home?”
At 11:40 PM, Pei Xu looked at the unreplied WeChat interface and still couldn’t resist calling Butler Wang.
“Not yet,” Butler Wang wasn’t home during the day and didn’t know what had happened between the brothers.
He just thought Qiao Nan was out having fun, “Young Master Qian called just now and said that the young master drank too much and won’t be coming home tonight; he’ll rest directly at the club.”
Pei Xu frowned.
After confirming which club it was, he grabbed his car keys and went downstairs.
The club wasn’t far from the Qiao family home, right on Binjiang Avenue.
By the time Pei Xu drove there, it was already past midnight.
Qian Chuan was a regular at bars and clubs.
Pei Xu gave Qian Chuan’s name and was smoothly led to the private room by a waiter.
As soon as the door was pushed open, colorful spotlights flashed, and inside, there was raucous singing and wild dancing.
Pei Xu stepped inside, his expression growing even darker.
He had been working before leaving, and hadn’t changed out of his daytime suit.
His overly formal business attire was completely out of place in the decadent club.
The people inside, engrossed in their wild fun, noticed his arrival and stopped their revelry, looking at him curiously.
Some drunkards even whistled boldly, inviting, “Handsome guy, want to join us?”
Pei Xu ignored them, his gaze quickly sweeping around until he found a drunken Qiao Nan curled up in the booth.
He must have drunk a lot of alcohol; he didn’t even react to Pei Xu’s arrival.
He was completely muddled and curled up in the booth, a patch of his chest clothing soaked with alcohol, and two buttons of his collar were undone, revealing a lightly flushed chest and a glimpse of his collarbone.
Pei Xu’s gaze lingered on the prominent collarbone for two seconds before he stepped forward to pick him up.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from the side, blocking his movement, “Who are you?”
Pei Xu paused, turning his face to meet the other person’s gaze—
An unfamiliar face, not from Qiao Nan’s circle.
He slowly straightened up, his eyebrows behind his glasses tinged with a hostile edge.
Even with the glasses obscuring it, a clear unfriendliness was evident.
But he didn’t directly communicate with the other person. Instead, he said to Qian Chuan, who had come over, “I’m taking Nannan home first.”
With that, he picked Qiao Nan up in his arms again.
The man still wanted to say something, but Qian Chuan pushed him, “That’s Qiao Nan’s brother, Qin Feng. Be a good person and don’t have any crooked ideas.”
Qin Feng finally had to stop, savoring the other person’s words and actions from just now, then pouted, “He’s not even his biological brother.”
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