Fu Ling was in his office wrapping up a few things when the assistant knocked and came in.
"Boss, there's someone downstairs who claims to be your brother"
Fu Ling smiled helplessly
"Let him in"
He knew Fu Ci wouldn't give up just like that. Fu Ling had scolded him terribly at the banquet and then left after saying hello to the host. Father Fu must've been fuming with anger.
Minutes later, the door was knocked on again.
"Come in"
The assistant motioned for someone to enter and then backed away and closed the door.
Fu Ci looked around the office in approval
"Nice place"
Fu Ling pointed at a chair
"Sit down"
Fu Ci sat down and looked at the expressionless person in front of him in a daze. He seemed to remember the times when this person would follow behind him with chubby little legs calling out brother.
Fu Ling saw that the person sat and started giggling to himself and was speechless. He wanted to move on to the next world okay he didn't have time to waste with fools.
"What are you here for?"
Fu Ci got ahold of himself and presented a magazine
"Mom —and Dad asked me to bring it to you"
Fu Ling took the magazine and saw it was filled with pictures of young ladies, along with their names, occupation and family background.
Fu Ling flung it at the wall and Fu Ci frowned.
"Fu Ling what are you doing? I don't mind that you always have that Ying and yang attitude towards me since I came back pbut this is our parents sincerity. All these girls come from a very good background and are extremely smart. There's no harm in marrying any one of them. They're only doing this for your good"
Fu Ling wanted to laugh. Fu Ci was like this. So innocent. Like a flower protected in a greenhouse. He wondered how that pair of snake and scorpion gave birth to such naive children.
"My good? Fu Ci they have never done anything for my good. But you wouldn't know that since you're always on the benefiting end of things"
His face fell
"What do you mean by saying that? Fu Ling don't forget I'm your elder brother"
"You said it yourself. You're the elder brother. So why don't you get married?"
"I'm not ready for marriage yet."
"Then who says I am? Who says I want to get married? Who says I want to have anything to do with anyone in this world? You have been raised so innocent by them that it's bordering stupidity. We might have been born of the same parents but believe me when I say we did not have the same life. If you're here as an intercessor for them, you can find your way out"
Fu Ci was stunned for the longest time. He was careless, not stupid. He felt there was something wrong somewhere before but thinking that his parents were around, he ignored it. But now he realizes there is a huge difference between who Fu Ling is now and who he used to be. So what exactly happened to make him change so much?
Fu Ci stumbled out in a state of confusion and Fu Ling watched his back with satisfaction. This was his last gift to the Fu family. Just because he didn't take action against them for so long might have made them think he forgot everything they did. But what better way to torture them than to let their most prized heir turn against them.. Fu Ling was looking forward to that.
After Fu Ci left Fu Ling's office, he went straight home. After lying in bed for a while he sat up and called someone.
"I need you to do me a favor"
This wasn't a particular thing so about an hour later, Fu Ci got the investigation reports.
When he saw the pictures of Fu Ling clubbing and his smokey eyed makeup, he compared it to the person he saw today and felt like he wouldn't be able to link those two if he didn't already know they were the same person.
Attached were also the grade reports that were a far cry from what they used to be. For years, Fu Ci had always known that his younger brother was extremely smart so looking at this poor numbers made him do a double take. The teachers note stated that he complained his head hurt whenever he picked up a book.
He realized that was just after he left the country. Did Fu Ling miss him so much he turned rebellious? Then why didn't his parents say anything?
He kept reading and finally noticed that he finally started going back in senior high school. He looked at the pictures of him smiling happily and felt a bit sad. His younger brother hadn't smiled at him since he got back.
He read down to when he fainted after the entrance exams, getting second place, being slandered online, clearing his name and finally getting into school.
After looking at all the things, Fu Ci realized that Fu Ling's earlier words were not just angry words or even an exaggeration. His parents didn't seem to care about Fu Ling.
The other big thing happened years ago. Fu Ling's friend was killed and he tore down the threshold of both families who were involved. Since then, he has not had a particularly good relationship with anyone except the son of the Wei family who was also friends with him in high school.
Fu Ci looked at the report and a frightening guess emerged in his mind. He didn't want to think of his own parents that way but thinking of everything he saw in this report and the sporadic mentions of headaches he had to confirm something. If it were someone else, he might overlook it as not wanting to study but all Fu Ling has ever wanted to do was study. Unless it was unbearable, he wouldn't ignore his books.
With trembling hands, he dialed a familiar number.
"I have something to ask you do you have time?"