WMSR — QT Chapter 63

Chapter 63

In truth, when the young boy they were financially supporting first came knocking on their door, the staff at the law firm had listened to his plea and figured it was nothing out of the ordinary, so they actually made the call. However, the person on the other end of the line wasn't the young client who had retained them, but a middle-aged man's voice. Upon hearing them out, the middle-aged man explicitly stated that they did not wish to be contacted by the sponsored individual, making it clear that they detested being disturbed. Not stopping there, the middle-aged man went so far as to wire a generous sum of money straight to their firm, instructing them never to disclose any personal information regarding the client to anyone, and demanding that they never reach out again.

Such an offer of free, unsolicited money was the stuff of dreams; how could the firm possibly say no? Consequently, lips that were already tight-lipped became as sealed as a clam shell. There was no way a kid with zero worldly experience could pry open those secrets with just a few desperate pleas.

Fang Ruoming lingered outside the entrance of the law firm for hours, waiting until every single employee had clocked out for the day without a single soul sparing him a second glance. Watching the heavy glass doors lock tightly shut, he pressed his lips into a thin line and turned away.

Having left the bustling commercial district, Fang Ruoming transferred across several transit lines before finally arriving back at the orphanage nestled in the suburbs. The moment he stepped through the gates, he sought out his usual circle of close friends. "Didn't you guys say we were heading out together to distribute flyers? Let's go."

His companions knew him well and fell in step beside him without a second thought. However, a newly joined boy eyed Fang Ruoming with a strange, peculiar expression before finally blurting out, "Hey, Fang Ruoming, why are you out here working with us? Don't you have a private sponsor?"

The fact that Fang Ruoming had a financial benefactor was an open secret around the orphanage. Rumor had it that the person backing him provided a massive sum every single year—more than enough for him to live in absolute comfort even without ever being formally adopted. Because of this, the boy couldn't comprehend why Fang Ruoming, sitting on a mountain of sponsorship funds, still insisted on sweating it out passing out promotional flyers.

Hearing the question, Fang Ruoming paused mid-step, his lips pressing together as he answered, "Because I want to make money. There's someone I desperately want to find, and I need to earn enough money to track him down."

"Oh,” the boy replied, though he clearly didn't fully understand what Fang Ruoming meant.

"I'm going to find him. I'll definitely see him again," Fang Ruoming muttered to himself, visualizing the big brother who had pulled him from the wreckage of that crushed car, his gaze burning with an inexplicable, unyielding resolve.

Time slipped away, and another year vanished into the past. Over the course of that year, Bai Yichen remained trapped daily within his miniature square cage, denied a single step outside. Meanwhile, Xu Jiangzhe successfully brought his high school career to a close and secured admission into university.

To everyone's utter astonishment, Xu Jiangzhe—despite pulling down a stellar, top-tier score on his entrance exams—chose to bypass the nation's most prestigious, elite institutions entirely, opting instead for a local university right within their home city. While the campus was respectable in its own right, the chasm separating it from top-flight academies was glaringly obvious. Naturally, Xu Weihai and his wife were incandescent with rage over his choice, exploding into a massive fury that ultimately failed to dent Xu Jiangzhe's resolute will. Confronted with their son's stubborn intransigence, the Xu couple could only resort to convincing themselves otherwise: Right, for a family of their social standing, attending those hyper-famous universities was mostly about empty prestige anyway, carrying little practical utility. Having Jiangzhe stay local meant he could dive right into managing corporate affairs, just as he claimed.

Though they tried desperately to soothe themselves with that logic, the Xu couple remained sick with lingering disgust. Against the backdrop of this major family crisis that had left them unable to stomach a proper meal for days, Xu Jiangzhe's unilateral decision—executed during the summer break before college—to dismiss the professional caregiver assigned to Bai Yichen barely registered as a significant blip.

Naturally, the termination of Bai Yichen's caregiver was a matter of total indifference to the Xu couple, but to Bai Yichen, it was a cataclysmic disruption that struck at the core of his daily existence.

Yet, facing Bai Yichen's icy, stony glare, Xu Jiangzhe—wearing his signature gold-rimmed glasses, radiating a cool, sharp aura of sophistication—flashed a gentle, unbroken smile. "I've already mastered everything the caregiver used to do. From now on, let me take care of these things."

Bai Yichen's brows knit into a tight, severe knot. "Don't you still have classes to attend?"

"University schedules are remarkably relaxed, nothing like high school. I'll have plenty of time to look after you from now on."

Taking a deep, sharp breath, Bai Yichen fought desperately to suppress a sudden surge of volatile irritation—an emotion he hadn't experienced in years. Yet, knowing Xu Jiangzhe's relentless stubbornness all too well, he was acutely aware that once fired, the caregiver would never be brought back. He had no choice but to force his racing emotions back down through sheer self-control.

As Xu Jiangzhe gazed down at the refined, elegant figure resting against the mattress, the smile blooming across his face deepened with an intoxicating heat. Reaching out, he gently pressed his weight downward to ease the boy flat. "Let me wipe you down."

Xu Jiangzhe's tone was drenched in tender, pampering indulgence, but his actions brook zero argument. Bound to the bed with absolute lower-body paralysis and possessing a frail, fragile frame devoid of physical strength, Bai Yichen was utterly powerless to resist Xu Jiangzhe's applied force, getting effortlessly pinned flat against the mattress.

Pressed face-down into the cushions, Bai Yichen's fingers curled into the plush velvet sheets, burying his nails deep into the fabric.

Author's Note: Ahhhh, why is the shou in this world still so young?! Eating a slice of melon out of sheer frustration.

Chapter 31: The Caged White Moonlight (08)

Once the summer break drew to a close, Xu Jiangzhe officially started university.

The institution he enrolled in was a moderately well-regarded local university—a far cry from the elite private secondary academy he had previously attended. The most immediate contrast was that despite being a local campus, Xu Jiangzhe rarely ran into any familiar faces from his high school cohort. His former classmates had either been funneled straight into the country's crown-jewel universities or jetted overseas for prestigious credentials; virtually none of them had settled for a mid-tier local campus like this one.

Given that Xu Jiangzhe's college entrance examination scores were exceptionally high—more than enough to clear the threshold for top-tier academic institutions—his arrival at a regular university made him an instant anomaly. Unsurprisingly, he captured the title of freshman valedictorian for his incoming cohort, earning him the honor of taking the podium as the freshman student representative during the opening matriculation ceremony.

His striking, handsome features paired with scholarly, refined styling, combined with the dazzling halo of a top-scoring valedictorian, catapulted Xu Jiangzhe to instant viral fame across campus the moment the ceremony concluded, crowning him undisputed Campus Crush No. 1 of his year. This status was further amplified by the fact that he chose not to live in the dormitories, opting instead to ride home in a dedicated town car that arrived like clockwork every afternoon to ferry him back for dinner.