The Cold Side Character from a Male-Lead Novel is Pregnant - Chapter 13

Xiaoyao Residence was situated in a quiet corner on the edge of the city, backed by misty green mountains and facing a stream of living water. It was said to be a piece of prime Feng Shui land that Zhang Xingzhi had spent a fortune to acquire.

The storefront followed a low-key New Chinese style, with white walls, dark tiles, and gently upturned eaves. Most passersby would mistake it for a high-end cultural club or a private kitchen. Only the silent text scrolling on the electronic screen at the door, “Meridian Clearing,” “Five Elements Adjustment,” and “Energy Field Repair,” hinted at something extraordinary.

Chen Kan parked his car in the exclusive spot with practiced ease and walked through the meticulously manicured landscape courtyard.

In the night air, Xiaoyao Residence felt even deeper, filled with the sound of trickling water and the faint scent of sandalwood lingering from an unknown source. He bypassed a rockery screen hidden by bamboo shadows and headed straight for the innermost door marked “Quiet Room.” Skipping the knock, he pushed the door open and entered.

The room was filled with curling smoke; not from ordinary cigarettes, but from expensive agarwood.

A man wearing a silk, frog-buttoned Tang suit and cloth shoes was reclining with his feet up, chuckling at his phone screen. His fingers were flying, clearly in the middle of a heated game.

“Zhang Xingzhi,” Chen Kan called out.

“Holy crap!” The man’s hand jerked, nearly dropping the phone. Seeing it was Chen Kan, his face instantly donned a practiced, professional fake smile. “Aya, Captain Chen! What wind blew a god of slaughter like you? I mean, an honored guest? I was just calculating your recent fortune. I just sensed your Marriage Star is moving; good things are coming!”

“Cut the crap.” Chen Kan pulled out a Huanghuali wood chair opposite him and sat down, getting straight to the point. “Yan Yu’s Inner Demon. How do I clear it completely?”

Zhang Xingzhi put down his phone and let out a theatrical sigh of distress, his silk sleeves sliding down slightly. “We’ve known each other for years, and of course I want to help. But you aren’t even an 88VIP here. There are some things that are hard to handle. In our line of work, we fear karmic entanglement the most. Helping for free is like inviting fire to burn oneself.”

“How much? 88? Transferred.”

Zhang Xingzhi picked up his phone, glanced at it, and then set it back down with composure. He didn’t click to accept the payment. Instead, he leaned forward with an amiable smile. “Captain Chen, our rule is that once you join, you get a 20,000-dollar surprise blind box every day. Hehe, and we offer returns or exchanges if you aren’t satisfied.”

Chen Kan’s brow furrowed as he caught the key point. “So the membership fee is 880,000?”

“Bingo. Uniform pricing.” Zhang Xingzhi took a slow sip of tea. “I didn’t mention it last time because I was afraid you’d think your boyfriend wasn’t worth the price. See, I just can’t keep secrets.”

Chen Kan didn’t take the bait. He simply picked up his phone and began an operation. A few seconds later, Zhang Xingzhi’s phone on the table vibrated gently.

Zhang Xingzhi raised an eyebrow at the massive figure that had indeed arrived in his account, his smile gaining a touch of genuine amusement. “Alright, Chen Kan.” He put down his teacup, and his tone shifted subtly, less mystical and more serious. “It seems this Mr. Yan holds quite a bit of weight in your heart. Even though he currently has scrambled memories, a total personality shift, and acts like a different person?”

Chen Kan looked up, his gaze steady. “Whether it’s worth it is my business. You took the money, now do the work.”

“Fair enough.” Zhang Xingzhi clapped his hands and finally sat up straight, his playful demeanor mostly vanishing. “Inner Demons are complex yet simple. They are like a mirror, reflecting one’s deepest obsessions, fears, or secret desires. If you try to ‘remove’ it by force, it’s like smashing the mirror; the shards might only stab deeper.”

“Get to the point.”

“The point is, the one who tied the knot must be the one to untie it.” Zhang Xingzhi traced a circle on the table with his finger. “Yan Yu being entangled in that audiobook plot is no accident. There must be a point in that story that struck a ‘knot’ in his subconscious that he hasn’t even noticed himself. Find that knot, and follow its logic to understand it.”

“A knot?” Chen Kan caught the keyword.

“Tsk, a heart-knot,” Zhang Xingzhi’s eyes deepened. “First, you need to cooperate with him skillfully. Don’t just accept his script wholesale, but within the framework he’s set, guide the plot toward the direction you want. Meanwhile, observe closely to find the true ‘critical point,’ which is what he actually cares about.”

Chen Kan remained silent for a moment, digesting this. “He seems to care a lot about a third party in the relationship.”

“A third party?” Zhang Xingzhi paused, then asked, “Did his symptoms improve after you explained that you don’t have a mistress?”

Chen Kan thought of how Yan Yu seemed relatively normal and rational before meeting Long Zhanye. After meeting him, Yan Yu had even dragged his hand under the covers, and his physical reactions had even linked up to the protagonist’s constitution in the novel.

“No improvement,” Chen Kan’s expression grew grim. “In fact, it got worse.”

“Eh, that means the thing that touches him most isn’t the ‘third party,’ but something else.” Zhang Xingzhi gave Chen Kan a meaningful look. “But this requires patience, and more importantly, a deep enough understanding of him. To put it another way, do you perhaps not know him that well? Then again, when exactly did you two get together? I haven’t heard a peep about it.”

Chen Kan lowered his eyelashes and didn’t answer.

Zhang Xingzhi pinched his fingers to calculate, muttering to himself: “Aya, three or four years ago. Hmm, feels like the year of Yi-Si, month of Wu-Zi? No way, why do I feel like you two slept together first and then started dating? And then you broke up for a while, right?”

“That’s not how it happened.” Chen Kan frowned, thinking this damn fortune teller was just guessing blindly. “Can you treat him or not?”

Zhang Xingzhi wasn’t annoyed. He slowly picked up a brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and traced several winding talisman lines on yellow paper. He handed it to Chen Kan, who took it coldly. The paper felt slightly warm to the touch.

“Here, take this and put it in his phone case. Then, follow the ‘scumbag’ things the guy in the book did and test the points Yan Yu cares about one by one. When you trigger his sensitive points, his symptoms will likely become more severe.”

“More severe?”

“Aya, why is your EQ so low? When you make him believe with his whole heart and soul that you aren’t like the man in the book, when you provide him with enough security regarding that sensitive point, his Inner Demon should be resolved.”

After Zhang Xingzhi finished speaking, Chen Kan looked at him with skepticism.

Zhang Xingzhi added: “Oh right, one more thing. When you have a day off, I’ll go to your house to check the Feng Shui. Sometimes home Feng Shui can affect issues, and it likely affects his body, too.”

“Fine.”

“Also, I offer lifetime after-sales service,” Zhang Xingzhi added with a smile. “Contact me anytime if there’s a problem.”

“Understood.”

Chen Kan agreed to everything. On the way home, he began listening to that ridiculous novel, Wealth is Finally Free, but the Money All Ran Away, once again.

In his phone, the AI-read female voice spoke with a steady tone:

“Baby, look at this car. Isn’t it cool?” The scumbag held me close by the waist, pointing at the gleaming limited-edition supercar in the 4S shop, his tone gentle enough to drown someone.

A flash of anticipation appeared in my eyes. That was the car I had liked for years. I wanted to buy it before, but to help the scumbag pay off his mortgage, such ‘frivolous’ spending was repeatedly postponed. I thought that since I already had a low-key Audi for commuting, it was fine. But then the scumbag said: “I want to buy one for my dad. His car is old; no matter how much it’s repaired, it’s not safe.”

My heart stalled. His dad’s car had only been driven for five years; less time than my own car. But now that he was earning his own money and didn’t need mine, I seemingly had no ground to object to him buying something for his own father.

However, a few days later, I saw with my own eyes that he spent a fortune to buy that very car for his ‘fake brother,’ Teng Pian. When I questioned him, he just shrugged indifferently: “My dad’s car can still be used. Xiao Pian doesn’t have a car right now and it’s inconvenient, so I bought it for him first.”

Chen Kan paused the reading, his brow tightening.

He dragged the progress bar to several places where “money” was mentioned and re-evaluated them. Previously, he had focused on the love triangle. But after a few days of observation, Yan Yu’s focus on the love triangle seemed less than his focus on “money.”

Plus, the title of the book?

Was it possible that Yan Yu cared more about his money than the mistress?

As Chen Kan was deep in thought, his car approached his building. His train of thought was interrupted by a sudden flash of dazzling color; a glaringly bright yellow Ferrari was parked near his spot.

Then, he saw a figure leaning against the car.

The man was wearing a well-tailored light gray coat, about 1.75 meters tall, leaning casually against the door. The cigarette between his fingers flickered in the dusk. Hearing footsteps, he looked up, revealing a refined face with a standard, polite smile.

It was Xiang Wenyuan.

Chen Kan’s pace faltered for a fraction of a second before he approached expressionlessly, his gaze sweeping coldly over the cigarette butt in the other’s hand.

“Director Xiang,” Chen Kan spoke, looking down at Xiang Wenyuan, his voice in its usual cold tone. “What brings you here?”

Xiang Wenyuan calmly crushed out the cigarette. His tone was as natural as small talk. “Captain Chen, what a coincidence. I’m waiting for Xiao Yu. He contacted me this morning saying he was moving and asked me to lend a hand.”

Chen Kan’s eyes darkened. “Moving?”

An ominous feeling quietly surfaced. Yan Yu had always loathed entangling himself in messy situations and handled relationships decisively. Could it be that because he found no lead on the “Teng Pian” matter, he intended to cut ties and leave?

“Yes, moving. You two live in the same complex, yet you didn’t know?” Xiang Wenyuan pushed up his glasses, his tone carrying a hint of secret boastfulness. “He said he found a new place. I thought, since he ‘specifically notified’ me, I had to help no matter what. So I hurried over.”

The words “specifically notified” were emphasized clearly, the intimate implication left unspoken.

Chen Kan’s face remained expressionless, but the irritation in his heart began to churn. He knew Yan Yu was currently confused, but hearing Xiang Wenyuan speak in such a tone still made him feel sick.

“He’s sure he asked you to ‘help’?” Chen Kan’s voice dropped a few degrees as his gaze swept over the luxury car. Moving house with a car like that? It was a joke.

“Of course.” Xiang Wenyuan smiled and pulled out his phone, handing it over casually. “Want to see the chat records? Sigh, I know the trunk of this car can’t hold much; I just brought it for speed. As for moving things, I’ve called people. The moving company and a professional packing team will be here soon. I’m just here to keep an eye out so your things don’t get damaged by those clumsy workers.”

Xiang Wenyuan had only mentioned showing the chat records to mock the ex-boyfriend. To his surprise, Chen Kan wasn’t polite at all, taking the phone and scanning it quickly.

Today 5:39 AM [Yan Yu]: Where are you?

Today 7:07 AM [Xiang Wenyuan]: At home. What’s up? [Yan Yu]: Be on standby tonight to help me move. [Yan Yu]: (Address Pin) [Xiang Wenyuan]: Me? [Xiang Wenyuan]: I’m in the capital. [Yan Yu]: Come back. [Yan Yu]: Who told you to go there? [Xiang Wenyuan]: (Scratching head.jpg) [Xiang Wenyuan]: Okay. [Xiang Wenyuan]: Then I’ll come see you tonight. [Xiang Wenyuan]: But if I come [Xiang Wenyuan]: Will you say yes to me? [Yan Yu]: ? Yes to what? [Xiang Wenyuan]: The thing we talked about before. [Yan Yu]: Oh. [Yan Yu]: Look at your performance.

When he saw Yan Yu’s “Look at your performance,” Chen Kan’s knuckles tightened, turning white. He returned the phone and used his own to call Yan Yu again. Still, no answer.

Seeing this, Xiang Wenyuan’s smile deepened. He dialed Yan Yu’s number and specifically hit the speakerphone. After a few rings, it connected.

Xiang Wenyuan’s voice was like that of a victor, soft enough to drip honey, carrying the casual air of someone used to giving orders: “Xiao Yu, I’m at the entrance. Where are you? Don’t rush while driving; drive slowly. I’ll wait for you. I’ve called a full-service moving company, including care for antiques and the walk-in closet. Their manager promised me they’re professional. The fee is a bit high, but don’t worry, that little bit of money is nothing. The important thing is taking care of your things.”

Yan Yu’s voice came from the other end, raised: “What moving company?”

Before he could finish, Chen Kan snatched the phone and asked: “Yan Yu, why are you moving?”

The other end was silent for several seconds before Yan Yu’s cold and clearly impatient voice came through: “I’m tired of looking at you. I’m too lazy to investigate anymore and don’t want the entanglement. Give him back the phone; I wasn’t finished talking to him.”

Chen Kan: “…”

Yan Yu was always like this; if he was annoyed, he cut things off directly. Even in a “love-brain” state, he was too self-interested to play the role properly.

Catching a glimpse of Xiang Wenyuan’s smug expression, Chen Kan decided to drag him down with him.

“Oh,” Chen Kan said calmly. “Then why did you ask Xiang Wenyuan to help you move?”

“Duh.” Yan Yu replied as if it were obvious. “He’s the housekeeper. My dad pays him so much; if he doesn’t move it, who will?”

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