The Sickly Double Doesn't Want to Be Spoiled - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Meng Yuan finally realized what “keeping a little cat” meant.

A wave of revulsion washed over him. He felt that Du Xiangli was being quite presumptuous. Why should he, an outsider, have to listen to this? Why was he forced to become a link in someone’s “play”?

Meng Yuan scratched his cheek, pretending to be busy. “I feel like I’m not the type of person who just hits people. If I really did hit him, there must have been some misunderstanding in the middle.”

Du Xiangli: “So you mean you’re trying to deny it?”

“No,” Meng Yuan explained. “I need to know more details.”

“I think you just want to wiggle out of it!”

Meng Yuan: “…”

This person’s brain seemed to have only one program running.

He tested the waters: “Then, can I wiggle out of it?”

He was then startled by the man, who went mad with rage and lunged forward to strike him. Meng Yuan instinctively ducked, barely avoiding the blow.

“Meng Yuan, I think you really are sick. Has your brain rotted along with your body?!” Du Xiangli roared.

Meng Yuan didn’t understand why this person suddenly got so angry. He tried to persuade him to be calm: “Let’s talk nicely. Can we not resort to personal attacks?”

“Personal attacks? What about you? Why don’t you mention your physical attack on my ‘little cat’? He was stuck in bed for a week!”

Meng Yuan got goosebumps again.

“Please, can you just stop”

He suddenly paused, seeing Du Xiangli approaching him step by step. That look on his face wasn’t a joke. He looked like he really wanted to start a physical fight!

Alarm bells rang in Meng Yuan’s head.

He took a quick measure of his own build against Du Xiangli’s and knew he definitely couldn’t win. Moreover, he was a patient now; if he bled, it would be very serious for him.

“Stop, stop a second…” Meng Yuan stammered.

He admitted he was a timid person. He didn’t dare have conflicts with others and had zero experience in fighting. If he went to jail for fighting and was locked up for a couple of days, he wouldn’t be able to go home and take care of his father. If a criminal record was left, it would be even harder for him to find a job in the future.

Growing up, Meng Yuan hadn’t dared to commit even the slightest offense. He had always lived a kind, upright, and honest life. So right now, he was terrified.

This cowardly, trouble-avoiding personality forced out by life was hard to change immediately, even after transmigrating. He could only try to use words to stabilize the person in front of him.

“Are you sure you want to fight?” His voice trembled slightly, though he tried to suppress it. “Once you start, things will definitely blow up.”

Du Xiangli didn’t care. “Do I look like someone who’s afraid of trouble?”

Indeed not, Meng Yuan thought. You look like an impulsive person who, once triggered, loses all reason and just wants to satisfy your own rage. “This is Professor Zou’s birthday banquet!” Meng Yuan said quickly. “And Lu Cong is the host. Are you sure you want to cause trouble here? Why don’t we slow down and settle this privately?”

Du Xiangli wouldn’t listen. “What if I want to do it right now?”

He was truly impulsive; he raised a fist and swung it toward Meng Yuan.

Meng Yuan hugged his head and dodged. The wind from the punch brushed his cheek, making the hair on his body stand on end. He wanted to escape, but Du Xiangli blocked his path. The man grabbed his collar, shoved him against the table, and raised another fist. Meng Yuan’s heart leaped into his throat.

Instinctively, he grabbed a red wine bottle and smashed it toward Du Xiangli’s head.

Crash! Du Xiangli let out a muffled groan. The wine bottle shattered into pieces, and glass shards covered the floor. Meng Yuan saw the person in front of him turn blood-red. He couldn’t tell if it was wine or blood; the red liquid flowed down from the forehead, and soon the man’s features were obscured.

Meng Yuan was so scared his heart skipped a beat.

Taking advantage of the gap while Du Xiangli was dazed from the blow, Meng Yuan steeled himself, pushed him aside, and ran outside.

Thud! He slammed heavily into another person.

The person was as tall as a wall. Meng Yuan’s nose hit the man’s shoulder, instantly bringing tears of pain to his eyes. He bounced back half a step, only to have his wrist seized and be pulled into a chest.

Meng Yuan covered his nose and looked up. The moment he saw Lu Cong, his eyes flickered. “Lu…”

He was deathly guilty. He had hit someone. He had hit a rich young master and smashed a bottle over his head, causing who-knows-how-much blood to flow. Meng Yuan had never handled such a situation; his heart was pounding wildly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

Lu Cong held Meng Yuan’s shoulder and could clearly feel him trembling. The boy was pale-faced, mumbling something in a voice lower than a mosquito’s buzz. Lu Cong didn’t hear a word of it anyway.

He shot a look at Song Zhen. Song Zhen understood and walked toward Du Xiangli, who was still clutching his head in a daze.

The current environment was terrifying. Red wine bottle fragments were scattered everywhere; at first glance, it looked like the floor was covered in blood.

“What do I do? I hit someone…” Meng Yuan was despondent.

He was anxiously calculating how to explain this situation when he suddenly heard a dull thud behind him, followed by Du Xiangli’s terrified scream.

He instinctively turned his head and watched with wide eyes as Song Zhen kicked Du Xiangli over the railing. Du Xiangli’s eyes widened in horror, his tall body stumbled a few times, and he flipped straight off the balcony!

“!”

Meng Yuan was so scared he hugged his head and buried himself in Lu Cong’s embrace.

This was too terrifying! What kind of plot direction was this? Even though this was only the second floor, the ceiling height was very high. Landing on one’s head could still kill a person! If not dead, he’d be crippled!

Meng Yuan’s head was ringing; it felt as if the blood in his entire body had frozen.

However, after waiting for a long time, he didn’t hear the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground.

Someone lightly patted the back of his head. Meng Yuan tremulously looked up.

Lu Cong saw him gasping with his mouth open, his eyelashes shaking violently. His large eyes dodged around, not daring to look toward the balcony. His hands were clenched tightly in front of his chest, his knuckles turning white.

This kid was clearly frightened out of his wits, shrinking into his arms and not daring to move.

Lu Cong calculated and decided it wasn’t worth actually scaring him into a medical emergency. He tried to console him:

“He won’t die.”

As the words fell, the person in his arms shuddered again.

Lu Cong felt it was inexplicable. “I said he won’t die. He didn’t even fall down.”

Meng Yuan was both shocked and suspicious. He relaxed slightly and carefully peeked back.

By the railing of the balcony, at the very bottom of a pillar, there was indeed a pair of hands gripping it for dear life.

“You motherf”

Du Xiangli’s teeth-gritting curses came from below. “You motherf—er, hurry up and pull me up!”

“Are you all crazy?!”

“I said pull me up!”

“Do you know who I am?!”

However, Song Zhen just stood to the side, watching quietly, unmoved.

Du Xiangli yelled like a madman for a while, but gradually his physical strength began to fail. He couldn’t keep holding onto the railing forever, yet he couldn’t climb back up on his own strength. Fear gradually overcame his rage.

He finally realized that if Lu Cong wanted to, he really could kill him.

“I… I was wrong…”

He shouted.

“I was wrong!”

The veins on the back of his hands bulged, his fingers straining with all their might to hook the railing, yet they couldn’t stop the downward slide.

Meng Yuan’s heart also rose into his throat. “Lu… Mr. Lu…”

He was afraid that if this continued, Lu Cong would really go to jail!

The cries for help were mixed with sobs. Du Xiangli had completely run out of strength, his mental defenses collapsed entirely, and he began to wail loudly.

“Aaaah! Ple—Please…”

The moment his hands slipped from the railing, Meng Yuan closed his eyes in terror.

Du Xiangli’s blood froze at that moment. In the instant he was being dragged into the abyss, someone grabbed his hand.

Song Zhen finally showed some mercy and snatched him, pulling him back in from outside the balcony. Due to inertia, the man tumbled heavily onto the floor.

Du Xiangli was almost driven insane by fear.

Overwhelming terror mixed with the ecstasy of a new lease on life; he lay on the floor dry-heaving while weeping bitterly.

Meng Yuan’s hanging heart finally dropped back into place. His legs felt a bit weak. He took two steps back and his back was supported by someone.

“This is called hitting someone.”

A light voice came from behind him.

Meng Yuan’s hair stood on end. Lu Cong circled his arm around his shoulder and whispered in his ear: “Some people won’t learn their lesson for a lifetime unless they get their bones and muscles broken once.”

He made Meng Yuan look at Du Xiangli on the floor—look at how he couldn’t even speak clearly yet didn’t forget to beg for mercy and apologize.

“You knocking his head was, at most, a scratch for him. Once he regains his senses, he will hate you even more and want to kill you. So, you might as well strike harder. It’s more satisfying to solve it once and for all, isn’t it?”

Meng Yuan didn’t speak.

Lu Cong saw Meng Yuan shrugging his shoulders, his eyes filled with shock and terror, with residual fear lingering. The Meng family—that den of tigers and wolves—couldn’t have raised such a timid character. Lu Cong found him fresh and interesting.

A scared small animal wasn’t cute, but a scared Meng Yuan was very cute.

“I understand…”

Meng Yuan nodded very lightly.

The elder Mr. Du, who had heard the news, arrived late, his steps halted by the mess on the floor. Seeing his eldest son lying on the ground in tears and snot, looking completely frightened out of his wits, he knew things were bad.

Fortunately, Mr. Du was a man who had seen great storms. He didn’t show it on his face at all and took a few steps toward Lu Cong.

“President Lu?”

He seemed to be asking for an explanation.

Lu Cong smiled politely. “Mr. Du, I think our cooperation can end here.”

At this, Mr. Du’s expression finally changed.

“Is there a need for that?” He frowned. “I don’t think we need to let private matters between children affect our commercial cooperation, right?”

Lu Cong shook his head.

“It’s not entirely a private matter,” he said. “Actually, I admire you, Mr. Du. You are different from us playboys who inherit family businesses generation after generation. Guangfa Real Estate was built by you from scratch. I truly respect the scale you’ve achieved.”

Mr. Du remained silent, not letting down his guard despite the flattery. Sure enough, Lu Cong’s tone shifted.

“But if I may be blunt, your eldest son hasn’t inherited even one-tenth of your spirit,” Lu Cong smiled. “His character is perverse, he’s impulsive yet lacks courage. If Guangfa is handed to someone like this in the future, then I am not optimistic about our long-term cooperation. Better to cut our losses now?”

Mr. Du’s expression shifted slightly. He had always known his eldest son was unfit for great responsibility, but he was still somewhat unwilling. “But today’s matter clearly involves responsibility on both sides”

“Then he should have fought back.”

That one sentence made Mr. Du shut his mouth completely.

Lu Cong’s palm rested on Meng Yuan’s shoulder, patting it lightly. “Even the kid in my family knows to grab a wine bottle and smash someone when he’s bullied. What about him?”

Meng Yuan: “?”

Suddenly being called out, Meng Yuan instinctively straightened his spine. Although he didn’t know why he was putting on a front, he felt he should show some presence at this moment.

Ignoring Mr. Du’s distasteful expression, Lu Cong continued, “If your son could have climbed up just now and swung a fist at my face regardless of the cost, I would have praised him for having some backbone.”

Lu Cong spread his hands, feeling sorry for Mr. Du. “But you saw the facts.”

“Oh, right,” he added abruptly. “He even lacks exercise.”

He hung on the railing for so long and couldn’t even flip himself back in.

Mr. Du: “?”

Meng Yuan: “…”

Du Xiangli on the floor: “…?”

“Then let’s leave it at that,” Lu Cong said. “The wound on the young master’s head will heal in a few days. I’ll send people to clean up the scene, so you don’t have to worry.”

He took his leave politely, guiding the dazed Meng Yuan away without looking back.

Mr. Du stood in place and didn’t chase after them. He didn’t rush to explain or request cooperation again; instead, he fell into a sort of deep thought.

“Dad…”

Du Xiangli lightly tugged at his father’s trouser leg. He knew he had caused trouble and was afraid of being beaten or scolded; his tone was extremely submissive. “I was wrong, Dad…”

But his father didn’t scold him, nor did he brush his hand away.

Only then did Du Xiangli gather some courage and carefully look up. However, there was no anger on his father’s face, no disappointment at his failure to live up to expectations, not even much disappointment at all.

He only saw a calm, rational calculation and weighing of options in his father’s eyes.

…

In the car, Meng Yuan slumped into the seat, drained of energy.

In just a short moment, Lu Cong had already handled everything, even soothing Professor Zou’s emotions, and was now starting to deal with other work. Meng Yuan, however, still couldn’t quite recover.

“Frightened?” Lu Cong asked without looking up.

Meng Yuan was silent for a few seconds and spoke the truth: “A little.”

“It’s fine, you’ll get used to it.”

Meng Yuan: “…”

He let out a sigh, somewhat dejected. “I’ve never been in a fight.”

Only then did Lu Cong bother to look up, sparing a glance from his work for Meng Yuan. “Even a childhood conflict or a fight with a classmate counts.”

He didn’t believe anyone in the world could truly go through life without ever laying a hand on someone else.

Meng Yuan shook his head, his eyes appearing exceptionally clean. “It might not look like it, but my popularity in that regard was actually okay…”

Anyway, from childhood to adulthood, no one would proactively start a fight with him.

Lu Cong paused for a moment and then laughed. “What a coincidence. My popularity has been very bad since I was a child.”

Meng Yuan: “…”

He felt like he had killed the conversation. Fortunately, Lu Cong didn’t care. This man seemed as if he had never cared about anything.

“You did quite well today,” Lu Cong said. “I thought the person crying on the ground after being beaten would be you, which is why I hurried over.”

Meng Yuan grinned awkwardly. “It was also out of desperation…”

“Next time, you can have more of those ‘moments of desperation’.”

Meng Yuan: “?”

Please, no. His little heart couldn’t take it a second time. Hitting people was physical labor, too; his hands were still shaking from the impact.

Lu Cong glanced at him, seemingly dissatisfied with his aggrieved, spineless look.

“Pull it back.”

“What?”

“Pull back that look in your eyes.”

Lu Cong closed his laptop and faced Meng Yuan with composed interest. “I don’t care how you conducted yourself in the past or if you hid whenever things happened, but now that we’ve established a marriage, many things cannot be avoided.”

He said, “My popularity is truly very bad, and your current popularity is not far behind.”

Meng Yuan: “??”

His heart jolted. What did that mean? Was Lu Cong giving him a warning? Exactly how many people had they offended? Would things like this happen again in the future?

Meng Yuan felt a little bit of his soul die. Thinking about Lu Cong’s character setting in the novel, he couldn’t help himself: “Aren’t you a powerful CEO who can command the winds and rains?”

Then he saw the expression on Lu Cong’s face shift.

“I don’t know how you reached that conclusion,” Lu Cong gritted his teeth slightly. “But those who can command the winds and rains are the God of Thunder and the Goddess of Lightning.”

Meng Yuan: “?”

His mouth was still pouting, his eyes full of grievances, but he was frozen in place by Lu Cong’s remark about the thunder gods.

Lu Cong rubbed his temples, helpless against this kid who looked like he would cry if spooked.

“I’m telling you this not to make you charge onto the battlefield,” he told Meng Yuan. “It’s to make you understand that if you really encounter trouble, have some confidence. The sky won’t fall.”

Meng Yuan seemed a bit surprised. Seeing the momentary flicker of emotion in the boy’s eyes, Lu Cong paused slightly.

“Don’t overthink it,” he said. “Our reputations are tied together now. You being bullied is equivalent to slapping my face. And the reason my popularity is so bad is because I’ve never had the good temper to let people step all over me.”

“So you just need to remember, you’re not without a backup,” he raised an eyebrow and looked straight into Meng Yuan’s eyes. “Okay?”