After delivering the remaining goods from the morning, Yu Zi pulled Xie Dongcheng back.

“We can continue taking orders in the afternoon. Why are we going back so early?”

“You’re injured,” Yu Zi shot him a glance.

“It’s just a nose injury, not a broken limb.”

“I don’t want to go. Alright?”

“Then I’ll go, and you can go home and rest.”

Ignoring him, Yu Zi continued, “I said let’s go.”

Upon arriving at Fangjiayuan, Yu Zi hopped out of the scooter. “Wait for me.”

Xie Dongcheng watched him enter a nearby pharmacy and emerged with a heavily loaded white plastic bag after about ten minutes.

“What did you buy?” Xie Dongcheng got out of the scooter and pushed it alongside Yu Zi into the house.

“Medicine.”

“No need, my wound has already scabbed over.”

Xie Dongcheng reached for the bag, but Yu Zi evaded his grasp and moved it out of reach.

Helpless, Xie Dongcheng followed him into the house.

Xie Dongcheng’s living room faced northwest and was usually somewhat gloomy. However, this afternoon, a rare ray of sunlight streamed in, reflected off the glass wall of the opposite building.

Placing the medicine on the small coffee table, Yu Zi raised Xie Dongcheng’s chin. “Come here.”

Obediently, Xie Dongcheng sat on the sofa.

Before going to the police station earlier that day, Xie Dongcheng had cleaned the wound with iodine.

Squatting down, Yu Zi opened a bag of cotton swabs, dabbed some iodine, and disinfected the wound again.

Then, he opened a tube of white gel and spread it evenly over the wound with a cotton swab.

The cotton swab was soft, and it tickled Xie Dongcheng a bit. Instinctively, he leaned away.

Yu Zi immediately grabbed his chin. “Stay still.”

With his warm fingertips pressing against Xie Dongcheng’s jaw, Xie Dongcheng had no choice but to meet Yu Zi’s gaze.

His long, dense eyelashes almost brushed against Xie Dongcheng’s skin. A strand of orange light from the living room window fell on Yu Zi’s cheek.

For a moment, Xie Dongcheng held his breath and looked at him.

“The medicine doesn’t require you to hold your breath,” Yu Zi glanced at him, breaking the silence.

Xie Dongcheng suddenly gasped.

“It’s done.” Yu Zi threw the cotton swab into the trash and clapped his hands. “The pharmacist said this should prevent scarring.”

“Scars are okay. I don’t mind…” Xie Dongcheng had endured many injuries of varying sizes throughout his life, and he didn’t care if they left scars.

“Shut up,” Yu Zi glanced at him. “This is your face. Can it be the same?”

Originally, they had planned to rest at home until evening and cook a casual meal.

However, in the evening, Yu Zi received a call from Sister Lin.

Sis Lin: “Do you still have the wine from last time? We need five more bottles. If you’re not busy, could you bring them over?”

Yu Zi had stocked up on some at home, so he quickly agreed. “Sure. I’ll deliver them to you in half an hour.”

Sister Lin was about to hang up the phone when she added, “It’s late, why don’t you come over for dinner later? You’ve been working hard these days.”

Yu Zi thought to himself that making money wasn’t hard at all, but he politely responded, “No, it’s okay. You guys enjoy your gathering, we won’t disturb you.”

Sister Lin clicked her tongue, “You, kid, when I introduce business to you, you don’t come. Tonight, our property manager is here too.”

Yu Zi hadn’t even refused yet, but upon hearing this, he quickly replied, “We’ll be there right away!”

Who would refuse business opportunities that come knocking on their door? If they could secure a contract with the property, they would gain more clients from the residential area, which was much more efficient than distributing flyers in parking lots.

Yu Zi grabbed Xie Dongcheng and headed out the door. When they reached the door, they turned back. He found a band-aid in the living room drawer and put it on Xie Dongcheng’s nose.

With wine in hand, they rode their scooter to the Garden Villa community.

When they arrived, it seemed that there were already many people inside, as they could hear cheerful conversations from outside. Yu Zi rang the doorbell, and someone quickly answered the door.

The one who opened the door wasn’t Sister Lin, it was her husband. Yu Zi had seen him twice before and nodded to greet the man. Then he handed the wine to him.

After receiving it, the man opened the door wider. “Come in, Yu Zi. We’re just about to have dinner.”

Yu Zi didn’t hesitate and thanked him with a smile before leading Xie Dongcheng into the house.

There were some people in the house that they didn’t recognize, both men and women.

Someone called out, “Joanna, who are these two handsome guys? Introduce them.”

Sister Lin came out of the kitchen holding a fruit plate. She looked very happy and turned to the new friends, saying, “The wine you drank last time was bought by him. My friend.”

Yu Zi felt something stir in his heart. He didn’t expect Sister Lin to use the word “friend.”

Yu Zi glanced at her, parted his lips, but then closed them again.

Sister Lin leaned back to look and noticed the band-aid on Xie Dongcheng’s nose. “Oh, Xiao Xie, what happened to your nose?”

Xie Dongcheng smiled embarrassedly. “I accidentally bumped it this morning.”

“Be careful when riding bikes. It’s getting colder now, falling can be dangerous.”

“No, no, I just hit a shelf.” Xie Dongcheng rarely told a small lie, after all, it was a bit embarrassing to explain to a group of unfamiliar people that he was actually hit by someone.

The two stood in a corner of the living room, watching everyone chatting with each other, feeling relaxed.

Xie Dongcheng volunteered to help in the kitchen, while Yu Zi stayed in the living room drinking wine.

The sparkling wine Sister Lin served today was low in alcohol content, so it didn’t sting the throat. Yu Zi unconsciously drank a glass.

But from the moment he entered the house, he faintly felt that someone’s gaze was fixed on him.

He raised his head to look around, searching, and finally found the source of the gaze.

It was a man in a black suit, somewhat familiar. But Yu Zi couldn’t remember where he had seen him before.

As he was thinking, the man walked towards him.

Yu Zi could only show a polite smile.

Fortunately, Sister Lin came out of the kitchen just in time. Seeing the two meet, she was quite happy. “Oh, Yu Zi, this is Mr. Sun, the manager in charge of our community’s property.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Sun.” Yu Zi quickly extended his right hand.

Mr. Sun was also polite and soon reached out to shake hands with Yu Zi.

However, his expression was still a bit strange, and soon, he asked, “Is your surname Yu?”

Yu Zi didn’t understand why he asked this, but he could only answer, “Yes. Yu as in swimming.”

He continued to stare at Yu Zi’s face, making him feel uncomfortable.

A few seconds later, he spoke. But this one sentence made Yu Zi’s back tingle.

“Is your father, Yu Qing?”

Yu Zi was stunned, not knowing how to respond. He didn’t expect to be recognized in such a situation.

Sister Lin, who was standing aside, was also surprised. “Do you know each other?”

Mr. Sun answered first, “I found Mr. Yu familiar and felt like he resembled an old acquaintance of mine.”

Yu Zi felt like he was tied up and couldn’t move. He didn’t know whether he should admit that he was Yu Qing’s son. More importantly, he didn’t know who this person was and what he knew about his family.

“So, are you from the Yu family?” he continued to ask.

Yu Zi’s throat tightened, and after two seconds, he nodded, “Yes.”

“Yu Qing is your father?”

“Yes.” He could only admit it.

“I thought so, you look so much like your father. When I saw you come in, I felt familiar.”

Yu Zi struggled to remain calm. “Haha, really? Are you a friend of my father’s?”

Mr. Sun quickly shook his head, “How could I be? I used to be the manager of a tennis club where Mr. Yu often went.”

“Oh, I see…” Yu Zi wasn’t surprised that he looked familiar. Yu Qing used to frequent an outdoor tennis club in the city, and Yu Zi had been there once, so he might have seen this person before.

“Mr. Yu used to bring you to play tennis together. Time flies, and you’ve grown up so much…” Mr. Sun suddenly remembered something halfway through his sentence, “Wait, that boy was very…”

Yu Zi understood his confusion. He wanted to say that the boy’s age shouldn’t have grown so much. He cleared his throat, “The person you saw wasn’t me.”

“Then who was it?”

“My younger brother.”

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry.” The man smiled apologetically.

“It’s okay.” After Yu Zi responded, he didn’t say anything else. Sister Lin was there, and he didn’t want to reveal more.

Since Yu Ziheng was born, You Qing had put most of his energy into him, as if he were afraid that he would disappear if he let go of him.

Yu Ziheng started learning tennis at a very young age, and Yu Qing often accompanied him to practice. The time Yu Zi went to the tennis club was also to drop off the car for Yu Qing and pick up Yu Ziheng after class.

Thinking back now, Yu Zi found it somewhat ironic.

It was evident that Mr. Sun, the manager, had no intention of stopping the conversation. He continued, “Mr. Yu contacted me last time, asking me to introduce him to an overseas tennis coach. He said his son needed lessons and insisted on finding a qualified coach. It took me a lot of effort to get in touch with one for him.”

Seeing Yu Zi not responding, he continued, “But why did they go abroad? Why didn’t they take you with them?”

Yu Zi held his sparkling wine, maintaining a social smile on his face, but his heart felt like a tightly wrung towel, continuously oozing out thin, fine blood.

“Wow, Yu Zi, your family is quite powerful, huh?” Sister Lin, halfway through listening, was somewhat surprised.

Mr. Sun intervened first, “Joanna, didn’t you know? Two of the top hotels in the city used to belong to the Yu family.”

Coincidentally, Xie Dongcheng walked out of the kitchen and overheard their conversation.

Yu Zi’s gaze flickered, restraining his emotions. “That was in the past. Things have changed now.”

Mr. Sun glanced at him, realizing that Yu Zi seemed somewhat displeased, so he quickly changed the subject, “But it’s not easy to run commercial clubs nowadays, haha. That’s why I switched to property management, leaving the dark and going to the light.”

Yu Zi subtly stepped back, not joining their conversation anymore.

He held the wine glass but didn’t take another sip.

He had attended many social gatherings like this before, even grander ones than this. At that time, he was often the center of social attention. Yu Qing rarely cared about him on normal days or intervened in his spending.

The aura of money around Yu Zi always attracted countless people to gather around him, flattering him.

He rarely felt unhappy in social situations. Except for Yu Qing, when others spoke in his presence, they would carefully roll over every word in their minds, making sure nothing would offend him before speaking.

But now, in this villa’s reception room, he felt like a thorn was stuck in his back and a fish bone was stuck in his throat.

Mr. Sun and Sister Lin stood two or three meters away, their conversation was quiet, but bits and pieces inevitably reached his ears.

He heard the man mention bankruptcy, divorce, and some more probing words.

Even though nobody looked at him, Yu Zi felt like there was always a pair of eyes nailed to him, as if trying to burn a hole through his skin.

“Are you okay?” Xie Dongcheng handed him a slice of orange from the side.

Yu Zi was startled by his voice and turned to look into his eyes.

The white band-aid on his face was very conspicuous, but Yu Zi couldn’t resist being drawn in by his eyes.

“If you feel uncomfortable, we can leave now,” Xie Dongcheng stood in the dim light, his gaze like a calm lake, sucking in all the surrounding light without any ripples or splashes.

Yu Zi’s Adam’s apple moved up and down slightly, gently closing his eyes and then opening them again. “I’m fine. It’s not shameful to earn money.”