Does He Protect You Like That?

Xie Qizhi asked, "Did you and Li Yi know each other beforehand? Did he go to Yizhou around July or August?"

"We just chatted online. As for whether he went or not, I don't know. He's not my boyfriend, why would he report his itinerary to me?" Zhan Xinjia looked at Xie Qizhi's slightly furrowed brows, finding his reaction very strange, and asked teasingly, "What's the matter? Don't tell me you two have some past grudge?"

"Possibly," Xie Qizhi said, lowering his eyes. No matter how generous Li Yi was, it was hard for him not to have some lingering resentment toward him.

What child, after being lost by their parents, could bear living a miserable life while the affection, care, and money that should have belonged to them were entirely transferred by their biological parents to another child?

He asked Zhan Xinjia, "If I wanted him to go to the police station with me again, do you think he would pay attention to me?"

Just having a similar appearance wasn't enough. To truly determine if Li Yi was his second older brother, they still had to do a DNA comparison. His parents and brother had searched for him for over a decade, meeting many people with similar looks, but the results... Without absolute certainty, Xie Qizhi didn't want to risk telling his brother and giving him false hope.

"What on earth is going on?" Zhan Xinjia found it stranger and stranger. "Is the grudge so big that you have to go to the police station?"

Xie Qizhi didn't explain to her. He stood up and said, "Send me the video, and tell Li Yi to accept my friend request quickly. I have to go now."

"Leaving right now? Where are you going?"

Zhan Xinjia turned her head, watching him pinch the bridge of his mask, slightly lowering his head as he bypassed a few people and walked along the exit path. Hearing Zhan Xinjia's voice, he turned around to say something.

You Ran returned, just about to put on a smug look when he saw only Zhan Xinjia left on the row of seats. She looked at him with a weary expression, her face practically writing the words: "Don't play tricks, this sister of yours has no time to scold you."

The other party sat down dejectedly and asked, "Where is Xie Qizhi?"

Zhan Xinjia yawned, replying lazily, "He went to reunite with his beloved older brother."

"Which brother?" You Ran said in disappointment. "Did he miss my spectacular performance because of him?"

"He didn't miss it." Zhan Xinjia shook her phone, deliberately saying, "He even saved a precious clip of the green-haired monkey's debut performance, planning to pull an all-nighter to enjoy it."

You Ran was highly skeptical. "Is that true or fake?"

Zhan Xinjia tossed the phone for him to see, then asked, "Where is Li Yi?"

"Rode off on his bike." You Ran lowered his head, seeing that Xie Qizhi had indeed received his video, and said touched, "I knew it, he has me in his heart."

Zhan Xinjia propped her chin up and replied, "I thought he would go back with you. Xie Qizhi told Li Yi to quickly accept his friend request. I thought it was no big deal, couldn't he just take his phone and do it himself?"

"Li Yi didn't accept? Why?" You Ran said with amusement. "I thought that with that cute face of his, he could run rampant across the world, completely unstoppable."

Zhan Xinjia recalled Xie Qizhi's reaction before leaving, saying with a bit of worry, "Who knows."

Before being led to the private room by the waiter, Xie Qizhi had thought this was a private dinner among four people: Sister Lin, her husband, his brother, and Ying Huai. It wasn't until the large door opened that nearly a dozen people turned their heads to look at him.

He froze for a moment, neither knowing who they were nor whether he should greet them. But looking at the number of opened wine bottles on the table and the state of the men dressed in neat suits, even if this dinner wasn't overly formal, it was absolutely not a private gathering.

"Qiqi is here." A gentle female voice sounded from the opposite side.

Xie Qizhi looked over. It was Lin Jianshan. She was still as beautiful and gentle as she had been in high school, her long black hair reaching her waist, her classical eyes slightly curved, giving off a warm feeling like a spring breeze.

Xie Qizhi called her, "Sister Lin."

She waved to Xie Qizhi. "Come sit here."

Xie Qizhi gave a "yes," found Ying Huai, pulled out a chair to sit next to him, and lowered his voice to ask, "Why didn't you tell me there would be so many people!"

Ying Huai chuckled softly, lowering his head slightly as he said, "You didn't ask. Your mind was probably entirely filled with thoughts of eating."

Xie Qizhi looked at his annoying smiling face, thinking to himself: *Who cares about eating? I was clearly worried you'd feel awkward here by yourself.*

Ying Huai previously didn't like socializing with others. Whether in class, hanging out privately, or dining out, his brother was always the center of attention. Ying Huai would either not show up or just sit to one side, lazily playing on his phone.

Xie Qizhi hadn't noticed this before, but now he faintly realized that while there were many rumors about Ying Huai in Yizhong, very few people sincerely made friends with him. Those who wanted to be his friends either had an ulterior motive or were his brother's friends first, only later becoming Ying Huai's friends.

This order of priority was often not an insignificant matter.

Xie Qizhi sat down not long after, and the waiter served the dishes—precisely the ones Ying Huai had ordered for him.

Just as Xie Qizhi picked up his chopsticks, he faintly heard someone asking about him. Sister Lin told them, "Qiqi? He's Zhilan's younger brother."

Hearing his brother's name, the expressions of several people changed from indifference to eagerness, asking him how old he was, which university he attended, and what his major was.

Xie Qizhi put down his chopsticks and answered obediently. Someone introduced themselves and then wanted to raise a glass to toast him.

This was the first time Xie Qizhi had participated in this kind of drinking banquet. He held his glass and stood up. The other party had white liquor, while his glass was filled with white milk—the milk Ying Huai had just poured for him.

He vaguely felt something was amiss when suddenly a hand firmly held down the rim of his glass.

Ying Huai pressed down on Xie Qizhi's milk glass, pushing him back into his seat. He raised his own glass to the other party, his tone indifferent: "He's just a kid who came for dinner, don't mind him."

Who's a kid? Xie Qizhi stared at him in protest, thoroughly disliking the other's dismissive tone.

However, after clinking glasses, many more people came to offer toasts. Xie Qizhi was a kid, but Ying Huai wasn't, and his glass did not contain milk.

Xie Qizhi watched him somewhat blankly as he familiarly clinked glasses back and forth with others, the corners of his eyes carrying a polite social smile as he responded to their questions.

Lin Jianshan lightly pointed at Ying Huai, blinking as she asked Xie Qizhi, "Does he protect you like that?"

Could this be considered protecting him? Xie Qizhi said nothing.

Lin Jianshan smiled and explained in a low voice, "When he first arrived, he said he would leave right after eating and didn't know how to drink. Aside from us, no one here knows who he is."

But now everyone knew—his surname was Ying.

More than half of the people present were either from Yizhou or had business relations with Yizhou. When the surname Ying was mentioned, everyone knew it was the family that had gone bankrupt many years ago. A nearly century-old foundation had been ruined in his father's hands. Knowing there was no way to salvage it, and not wanting to salvage it either, his father had long since sent his son abroad. However, on the night he planned to flee with the illegal funds, he met with a traffic accident and was crushed to death by a large truck.

Ying Huai had returned to the country to handle his father's estate and debts. He sold the real estate that needed to be sold, filed for bankruptcy for the company, and even borrowed a lot of money to pay off all the debts.

His home was gone, and his mother had divorced long ago, settling abroad.

Xie Qizhi had always thought that since he had nothing left in Yizhou, he had left so decisively. But from his brother's phone call and their conversation just now, he learned that Ying Huai actually still had a shipyard.

When did that happen?

The man beside Sister Lin, who must be her husband, spoke up to say something, and only then did they stop crowding around Ying Huai, turning to discuss other matters instead.

Xie Qizhi looked at Ying Huai. His face didn't turn red from drinking, his skin remaining as pale and cold as ever, like the light reflecting from the wine glass that had just brushed past Xie Qizhi's fingers, or like the faint moonlight outside the window tonight.

Someone sent a message to Ying Huai. He looked down at it but didn't reply. He glanced to the side, seeing the kid staring at him blankly, not knowing what he was dazing about. He used the serving chopsticks to place a piece of food in Xie Qizhi's bowl, then reached out to rub the back of his neck, urging, "What are you looking at? Eat your food, are you waiting for someone to spoon-feed you?"

"Who needs you to feed me." Xie Qizhi picked up his chopsticks.

"Did I say it was me?" Ying Huai smiled again, then added, "Your brother is arriving soon."

Xie Qizhi nodded with an "oh," lowering his head to eat, when his phone suddenly rang.

His brother had finally sent the location, so the person who had just messaged Ying Huai was definitely him.

It wasn't that he had forgotten to tell Xie Qizhi the address, nor was he late; he had planned all along to tell him to come only after he himself arrived.

Xie Qizhi belatedly realized that when he had first entered the restaurant, the waiter was carrying an ashtray out of a certain private room.

Now, if he sniffed carefully, he could still smell a bit of lingering cigarette smoke in the room. Although the air conditioning was on, the window on one side was opened wide, faintly revealing the river view on the other side. The cool night breeze blew in, carrying away the heavy smell of alcohol in the room.

On these occasions, most people who knew how to drink also knew how to smoke. Since his brother wasn't here, others had no reason to accommodate him. The only person who could have arranged this was Ying Huai.

He hadn't said anything, but he was truly good to him, just like his brother.