Ji Yunzhi had just stuffed an entire soup dumpling into his mouth. With his cheeks puffed out, he shook his head, quickly chewed a couple of times, and asked with round, bewildered eyes:

“Why are you taking me to the hospital?”

Mo Xuchen sighed softly. He had no idea what the situation was like in Ji Yunzhi’s family. How could his older brother sell him off to a place like a bar? Were his parents not doing anything about it?

“For a health check-up. I’ll take you after I finish work this afternoon.”

“Oh… okay…”

The word “hospital” made Ji Yunzhi a little scared, but since Mo Xuchen said he would take him, it didn’t seem quite as frightening anymore.

Before heading out, Mo Xuchen looked at the now faint slap mark on Ji Yunzhi’s face and applied some more ointment for him. He instructed:

“Play at home by yourself. I’ll come back to pick you up after I finish work this afternoon.”

Ji Yunzhi smiled and nodded in agreement: “Mhm! Okay, hubby.”

Mo Xuchen: “…….”

“Don’t call me hubby.”

Mo Xuchen felt that if he repeated it enough times, Ji Yunzhi would eventually remember and stop casually calling him “hubby.”

Ji Yunzhi’s round eyes darted around, completely disregarding Mo Xuchen’s words. He would listen to anything else Mo Xuchen asked him to do, but not this.

Seeing Mo Xuchen off at the front door, Ji Yunzhi threw himself into Mo Xuchen’s arms for a hug, then leaned in to give him a kiss.

Mo Xuchen quickly covered Ji Yunzhi’s mouth with his hand, his expression unreadable as he asked:

“What are you doing?”

With his mouth still covered, Ji Yunzhi didn’t think to remove Mo Xuchen’s hand before answering. He mumbled indistinctly:

“Seeing hubby off…”

Mo Xuchen withdrew his hand. Ji Yunzhi grinned and continued:

“Seeing hubby off to work.”

“I was asking why you were puckering your lips just now. Were you trying to kiss me?”

“Yeah!”

“On TV, when seeing hubby off to work, you have to give a hug and then a kiss!”

Mo Xuchen: “……”

What kind of shows was he watching? Mo Xuchen thought it necessary to tell Aunt Liu that Ji Yunzhi should only be allowed to watch the news when he’s watching TV!

Or maybe cartoons would be fine too.

“I’m not your hubby. You don’t need to copy what you see on TV.”

“You can’t do that to me from now on.”

Then, somewhat uneasy, he added: “And you can’t do that to anyone else either!”

“You can’t just kiss people randomly. Understand?”

Ji Yunzhi blinked his big eyes in confusion and nodded: “Understood…”

Hantu Group.

Mo Xuchen sat behind his desk, flipping through the information Chen Qi had previously gathered about Ji Yunzhi.

After reading it, he tossed the documents aside, rhythmically tapped his fingers on the desk, and let out an ambiguous, low chuckle.

The Ji family was truly something. After finally getting their biological son back, instead of cherishing him, they doted excessively on the adopted son.

“President Mo.”

Chen Qi walked in with the newly gathered documents, opened them, and reported:

“Ji Tian’en, Ji Yunzhi’s older brother, was playing around outside and ended up owing a million yuan. That’s why he sold Ji Yunzhi to the bar.”

“On the first day Ji Yunzhi returned home, he was taken to stay at a hotel. It seems Mr. and Mrs. Ji still don’t know that Ji Yunzhi came back.”

“Over the past few days, to make Ji Yunzhi obey him, Ji Tian’en has been taking him out to eat and have fun.”

Mo Xuchen’s eyes narrowed dangerously. So what if Ji Yunzhi had returned home? Even if they knew, they wouldn’t care much about him.

“What exactly did Ji Tian’en take him to do?”

Ji Tian’en liked to frequent all sorts of disreputable places. Surely he hadn’t taken the little guy along?

Chen Qi thought about what the investigation had uncovered, and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.

“They went to the snack street outside Haida University. They walked from one end to the other, and after finishing the whole street, they turned around and walked back…”

“These past few days, he’s just been buying Ji Yunzhi cheap street food. Once he was full, he took him to the arcade next door to play claw machines—using the daily free trial chance. After that, he just took him back to the hotel to rest.”

Mo Xuchen: “……”

Not surprising.

It had to be said, Ji Tian’en had accurately pinpointed Ji Yunzhi’s weakness. Knowing he loved to eat, he took him out to eat his fill.

But from this, it was also clear that Ji Tian’en was genuinely stingy!

He was planning to sell the kid, yet he couldn’t even be bothered to take Ji Yunzhi for some proper food—just stuck to those few-yuan items outside the school gate.

Even for the claw machine, he was too cheap to buy a few coins for him to play properly…

Mo Xuchen pinched the bridge of his nose. It seemed he would have to keep a much closer eye on him in the future.

Otherwise, someone could easily lure him away with just a bit of good food or fun…

Mo Xuchen kept a close eye on the time, swiftly finished the day’s work, grabbed his coat from the rack, and prepared to leave the office.

Bai Shuze arrived at the office door just as Mo Xuchen was stepping out. Seeing he was about to leave for the day, Bai Shuze checked the time.

“You’re off work this early?”

Mo Xuchen nodded. “Did you need something?”

Bai Shuze was utterly astonished by Mo Xuchen’s early departure. He waved a hand dismissively.

“No, nothing important. I was in the area finalizing a deal and thought I’d drop by.”

“But you… are you rushing home to be with your wife?!”

Mo Xuchen: “……”

“He’s not my wife.”

Bai Shuze looked at Mo Xuchen with an expression reserved for scumbags, his tone dripping with sarcasm as he reminded him:

“But he calls you hubby.”

Mo Xuchen let out a frustrated laugh.

“Just because he calls me hubby, that automatically makes him my wife?”

Bai Shuze was even more convinced Mo Xuchen was a scumbag.

“Of course it does!”

“Why doesn’t he call anyone else hubby, only you?”

“Or wait… do other people call you hubby too?”

“In your world, is ‘hubby’ some kind of generic term?”

Mo Xuchen: “……”

It wasn’t generic in his world, but in Ji Yunzhi’s, it absolutely was!!!

Ji Yunzhi spent all day calling him “hubby,” completely oblivious to what the term actually meant.

He had no idea where the kid had even picked up that form of address…

Not wanting to waste any more breath on this, Mo Xuchen shot Bai Shuze a cool glance and headed straight for the elevators.

Bai Shuze hurried after him, bumping his shoulder against Mo Xuchen’s. He raised an eyebrow suggestively.

“Really going home to your wife?”

“Can I come over for dinner tonight? I want to see this wife of yours.”

“Didn’t get a proper introduction last night. Let me meet him.”

Mo Xuchen closed his eyes briefly, reining in his temper. “I’m taking him to the hospital!”

“Oh~”

Bai Shuze understood instantly. Su Yuyan had given him the gist of the situation last night—something about Ji Yunzhi getting hit by a car and his brains getting addled.

“I’ll come with you.”

Mo Xuchen: “……”

“Are you free?”