Chapter 7: A Preference for Younger Partners?

Xu Huai himself was completely unaware of the mental gymnastics of the cheerful, talkative, polite, gentlemanly, and emotionally stable man in front of him.

Xu Huai was still stunned.

This was the first time Xu Huai had ever heard someone say he was interesting.

It was a genuine compliment, delivered with a smile, and not even slightly sarcastic.

Xu Huai could tell.

When Xu Huai was a child, his attendance rate at school was pitifully low due to illness. He had barely maintained perfect attendance for a month. He was frequently absent, often taking medicine and feeling sick, unable to participate in group activities like running, and became estranged from his peers. Furthermore, his only guardian, Zhang Daoquan, was a “con man” who told fortunes under the overpass while wearing sunglasses every day. For all these reasons, the other children in kindergarten weren’t very familiar with Xu Huai.

And their parents intentionally guided their children away from the kid of that swindling, crazy old man, which meant no one wanted to be friends with Xu Huai.

From a young age, Xu Huai quietly read books alone, never running around or making noise. He was so well-behaved that he smoothly made it to elementary school under the loving gaze of his kindergarten teachers.

Once he reached elementary school, the rambunctiousness of human children intensified. He couldn’t remember when, but his classmates discovered that his notebook was filled with strange lines.

They secretly took Xu Huai’s notebook and circulated it without his permission. Soon, someone discovered that those lines were drafts of talismans, and that the talismans Xu Huai drew were meant to harm people.

Xu Huai was branded with the title of “terrifying,” and from then on, his presence would always cause a flurry of whispers.

Soon, these whispers grew louder, turning into rumors that Xu Huai was responsible for classmates getting sick and family members passing away. Even the principal’s reassignment and replacement were attributed to Xu Huai.

The rumors grew larger and larger, spreading to the teachers.

After learning the details, the teacher obtained Xu Huai’s notebook through his classmates and summoned Zhang Daoquan, whom she referred to as “riffraff.”

She questioned Zhang Daoquan, as a parent, for not teaching Xu Huai to study and instead letting him learn about these supernatural and superstitious things every day.

Zhang Daoquan glanced at Xu Huai’s notebook and earnestly explained that Xu Huai was drawing peace talismans to pray for safety. He mentioned that Xu Huai was a sensible and well-behaved child who wouldn’t engage in bad behavior. He also stated that it wasn’t supernatural at all, but instead had a scientific basis… that it was simply a common cultural practice, like how yin and yang represent the two sides of everything, and so on.

Zhang Daoquan and the teacher were on entirely different wavelengths.

Zhang Daoquan was interrupted by the teacher before he could finish, and both he and Xu Huai, who was standing in the corner as punishment, were asked to leave.

In the days that followed, the teacher’s attitude changed. After noticing the contempt in her gaze, Xu Huai realized that people were indeed different.

Their environments were different.

Like a well-behaved house cat and a wild stray cat outside, the house cat wouldn’t understand why the stray had to crouch in a corner and wait for prey when there was a machine that dispensed food at regular intervals. Similarly, the stray cat probably couldn’t grasp why the house cat stayed in its bed, even with the cage door open, showing no desire for the freedom of the outside world.

Others had received a completely different education from childhood; they didn’t need to understand something so different.

From being forced to distance himself from others to doing it voluntarily, Xu Huai rarely had friends—or rather, had none at all—until college.

Xu Huai rarely interacted with others and spent most of his time with books, particularly the Taoist texts and runes that Zhang Daoquan had hidden away, which he secretly read. This directly contributed to Xu Huai’s somewhat aloof appearance now.

“…”

Xu Huai snapped back to reality.

Despite having handled many commissions in recent years, his social skills had improved to some extent. He even developed the ability to argue sarcastically with customers. However, in some situations, Xu Huai’s reactions remained direct and frank, leaving a notable gap between him and those seasoned social butterflies.

Like the earlier question about whether Xie Jing had entered his room, and now…

Xu Huai: “Thank you for the compliment. You’re interesting too.”

Xie Jing’s hand trembled, and the soup dumpling he had just picked up fell back into the steamer with a plop.

Until Xu Huai finished the rest of his porridge, went back to his room to get his things for the outing, and returned to the living room, Xie Jing was still sitting in the same spot, without moving an inch, or even changing his posture much.

“Xie Jing?” Xu Huai asked, puzzled. “Do you need to get ready? We should leave soon. We’re going to your place to take a look.”

There was still serious business to attend to.

“…” After two seconds, Xie Jing slowly looked up and squeezed out two words, his tone strained, “Okay.”

Xu Huai looked at his employer with some concern. “Your face is so red. Are you having an allergic reaction?”

“No.” Xie Jing lowered his head and quickly began clearing the table. When he looked up again, the heat on his face had gradually subsided. “Maybe I got too much sun. It’s okay. I’ll be ready soon.”

Xu Huai: “?”

Was he okay? His employer’s face was quite red.

…

By the time the two of them had packed up and left, it was almost ten o’clock. Looking at the location of the villa on his phone, which was already on the edge of the city, Xu Huai wondered how to get there.

Fortunately, Xie Jing stepped up.

Xie Jing, the rich guy who could easily take out 100,000 as a deposit and lived in a villa district, had somehow gotten a black van parked downstairs at Xu Huai’s place.

Xu Huai learned after asking that Xie Jing had arranged for someone to drive it over last night.

Xu Huai sat in the passenger seat, turning his head to look at Xie Jing, who was gripping the steering wheel.

The car came to a stop at a red light. Xie Jing noticed the gaze from the side and looked over. “What’s wrong?”

Xu Huai: “Is it okay if I ask how old you are? You look younger than me.”

Most of the time, Xie Jing was like a little sun, always smiling, and his whole demeanor was gentle and harmless. He looked like a naive college student.

Utterly different from Xu Huai, who exuded decadence and exhaustion, sitting motionless at his desk and looking like he was asleep at first glance. However, upon closer inspection, you’d realize he had been dead for a while.

“Me?” Xie Jing turned his head back, looking at the road ahead, his sharp jawline tense. “How old does the boss think I look?”

Just starting college… Xu Huai guessed, “Around 21.”

The light turned green, and the car began to move. Xie Jing’s fingertips tapped lightly on the steering wheel twice. “According to the date on my ID card, I’m 25 this year.”

Xie Jing had said last night under the overpass that he didn’t have a birth date and that his parents had died early, so the numbers on his ID card weren’t accurate.

“But I think my actual age might be a little older than what’s on my ID card, around 26.”

Xu Huai raised an eyebrow. “You don’t look like it at all.”

Xie Jing chuckled softly and didn’t say anything else. The car fell silent again.

The car drove smoothly through the city streets. It wasn’t rush hour, so there was no traffic.

There was still a long way to go to their destination. Xu Huai leaned back in his seat, feeling drowsy. Just as he was about to fall asleep, his mind feeling hazy, he suddenly heard Xie Jing ask:

“Does the boss prefer partners who are younger than you?”

Xu Huai lazily lifted his eyelids. “Why are you suddenly asking that?”

Xie Jing: “Just curious.”

Xu Huai had pitifully few friends, let alone romantic relationships.

He had never considered this question.

So Xu Huai gave a vague answer: “Probably not.”

In fact, older ones wouldn’t either. This whole idea was a false proposition. Age didn’t determine anything; it depended on how well you got along and how compatible your lifestyles and values were. Just age… that was too narrow-minded.

Xie Jing’s question sent Xu Huai’s mind racing, and his drowsiness diminished significantly. When he closed his eyes again, sleep eluded him.

Xu Huai took out his phone to write yesterday’s report. Twenty minutes later, after completing the report and sending it to Song Lianzhou, Xu Huai glanced at the person in the driver’s seat and noticed that Xie Jing’s lips were actually upturned.

Xu Huai: ?

Xie Jing was driving, and he was so happy…

…

The address Xie Jing provided was a villa district called Yunli Shanhai Bay, which had been newly built in recent years. A quick search online revealed the entire floor plan. The overall layout was nestled against the mountains and near the water, and the environment within the community was elegant. If you didn’t consider the commute to and from the city, it was an excellent place to live.

Scrolling down to find more entries, Xu Huai saw a group photo from the project’s completion ceremony. His eyes caught sight of someone who looked familiar, so he clicked on the picture and zoomed in.

After a couple of seconds, he took a screenshot of an old man with white hair and forwarded it to his superior, Song Lianzhou.

[Xu Huai: I remember this guy. He was the one from headquarters who came to inspect us last time. He noticed that our Branch Three’s KPIs were all red and inexplicably required you to write a 20,000-word self-criticism. You almost got into a fight with him.]

[Song Lianzhou: ?]

[Song Lianzhou: If you really have nothing to do, you can go bite a lighter.]

[Song Lianzhou: Wait, aren’t you on a commission?]

[Xu Huai: I am. The client is taking me to that location now. I’m checking out the feng shui layout and past events of the place in advance. This guy appeared in the completion ceremony photo. I’m asking you what his background is.]

[Song Lianzhou: A pretentious little county Taoist association president. He relied on his age to become a fixture at headquarters, got some useless titles, his abilities are questionable, but he’s very good at talking.]

[Song Lianzhou: Oh, he’s barely competent in feng shui layout.]

Anyone who could get into headquarters wasn’t simple. Song Lianzhou’s statement carried a hint of personal grudge. It seemed this guy was an expert in feng shui. Considering the overall layout he had just observed, he could conclude that the entire villa complex wouldn’t have any major issues.

[Song Lianzhou: Don’t send me his picture. I get angry every time I see it.]

[Song Lianzhou: I really want to pull out his beard.]

Xu Huai moved his eyes away from the phone screen and turned to look at Xie Jing beside him.

Earlier, when they had stopped the car, Xu Huai had suggested taking another look at the purplish-blue marks on Xie Jing’s arm, and Xie Jing had rolled up his sleeve.

Probably because he was too lazy, he hadn’t put his sleeve back down.

Although the marks on Xie Jing’s body were somewhat fainter than yesterday and didn’t appear as frightening, they still appeared on his body for no reason. If a normal person were to find such marks on themselves, they would likely be terrified.

But Xie Jing was unusually calm and emotionally stable.

[Xu Huai: Can you be a little more emotionally stable? It’s just a picture. A ghost is choking my client, his body is covered in bruises, and he’s calmly driving and chatting with me, and you’re throwing a fit every day.]

[Song Lianzhou: ?]

The other side’s reply slowed down, and “The other party is typing…” flashed several times before finally sending a message.

[Song Lianzhou: No, are you sure your client isn’t the one with the problem?]

Xu Huai turned to look at Xie Jing again.

This time, Xie Jing noticed and turned to smile at Xu Huai. “What’s wrong? We’re almost there. Do you need to pull over and rest for a bit?”

The client had been the driver the whole time and was worried that he might be tired from the car ride. He had paid a deposit of 100,000 right away, obediently showed him the injuries on his body, and even bought him breakfast this morning.

He really…

Xu Huai’s eyes were firm as he typed.

[Xu Huai: My client can’t have a problem.]

His client was super well-behaved. [Xu Huai: I might have a problem, but my client can’t have a problem.]