Chapter 148 - Du Mansion Party (14)

...

DX and Han Ye continued their discussion with the directors, with Xiao Lei taking mental notes of the important parts. A while later, a butler approached them and whispered in DX's ears. DX nodded and dismissed the butler before turning to the other directors and said, "I'm sorry, but I have to end the discussion here. My wife is calling for me."

The other directors smiled, and they agreed to set another date to meet up at a proper forum to discuss further on this matter.

After everyone went their own way, DX, Han Ye, and Xiao Lei walked toward Kai Xin and the rest. Along the way, DX asked Xiao Lei, "Ms. Xiao, I heard that you will be my brother's surrogate mother. Is that right?" 

"Ah, yes, President Du."

"How's the preparation going? Did my brother provide you with enough things?"

"More than enough, President Du. We should be able to start the process soon. I didn't expect Director Shenlong and Mr. Luo to be so generous. Not only did they help me out financially, but they also promised to keep my son and me safe."

Hearing that his brother and Luo Guangying did more than what was expected, DX nodded in approval. "You're going to carry my nephew, so they better be generous." 

Xiao Lei merely smiled and nodded.

A second later, DX added, "Oh, I'll forgive your misuse of my name earlier."

Earlier, when he was at the surveillance room, his men told him about the scene where Xiao Lei was seen pulling Jun Ling away from the other women. He then found out from a member of his security team who was disguised as a guest that Xiao Lei had used his name to pull Jun Ling out of trouble. 

Xiao Lei choked on her saliva and quickly nodded. "I'm sorry, sir." 

"It's fine. Just don't make it into a habit. I'm not your direct boss, nor am I your man." 

DX had to do this so that Xiao Lei would know not to rely on his name. There were people who used his name to do bad things or to threaten others. The moment he found out, DX would often nip it in the bud himself or send someone else to do it.

The only ones who could use his name were his family members and Han Ye, and the latter only because he had to handle a lot of things for DX; things that might not be appropriate to put on paper. 

Just when Xiao Lei was feeling perplexed by his words, DX increased his pace and went straight to Kai Xin. 

Since her ankle was still hurting, Han Ye walked slowly beside her as they made their way over. When Han Ye looked at Xiao Lei and saw that she was frowning slightly, he whispered, "Don't worry. President Du was joking earlier."

"Huh?" Xiao Lei blinked and murmured, "I'm not worried about that... At least not now." 

"Then why are you frowning?" 

She shrugged. "I'm just wondering if Zhihao has eaten. I didn't see him near the buffet tables." 

Han Ye chuckled softly as he said, "Don't worry. There are snacks in the gaming room. He's probably enjoying himself right now." 

"You think it's funny. Wait till you have a kid of your own." 

"Missing a meal or two won't hurt him. He's making new friends now, isn't that more important? You said that he's being bullied at school, right? Some of the children here today are studying at Imperial Secondary as well, so it would be good for him to socialize with them," Han Ye said to reassure her.

Glancing down at her left ankle, he asked, "How's your foot now? Still hurt?" 

"Not that bad actually."

When they arrived at Kai Xin's seating area, Han Ye introduced them to each other. 

"You! I heard that you're the surrogate! Great! I get to meet Han Ye's girlfriend as well as the mother of my future niece or nephew's in one day!" Kai Xin said with a smile. She then looked at the maid who had been serving her since the party began and asked her to bring a few more chairs over. 

The maid quickly went to get two more chairs for them before standing aside again.

Once the two were seated, Kai Xin then asked, "So, Ms. Xiao, is it? I know you're older than me, but do you mind if I call you Xiao Lei?"

Xiao Lei shook her head. "Please go ahead, Madam President Du."

"Ah, just call me Kai Xin."

Xiao Lei smiled and nodded. 

...

At the movie theatre room, 

"What? You want me to be a singer?" Xiao Zhihao gasped as he looked at Lyle who was sitting next to him.

Lyle spent the last 15 minutes explaining part of his plan to Xiao Zhihao.

"Yeah, you know those online videos of people singing with or without a band? I overheard you singing the other day, and I'm interested in starting a channel with you."

"No, no, no. I can't sing!" Xiao Zhihao shook his head nervously. 

"Well, I think you can."

"No..." Xiao Zhihao frowned. He thought for a second before adding, "My mum doesn't like it."

Xiao Zhihao knew that his mother did not mind him singing in private, but she disliked it when he did it in public. Once, a few years back, he was waiting for his parents to finish work. While waiting, he loitered inside the mall near both his parents' workplace. When he saw a karaoke testing area and since one of his favorite songs was in a background, he decided to sing to it. 

He only did it for fun, but someone took a video of him and posted it online without his permission. The video went viral online, and somehow, his mother got to know about it. The video was quite low in resolution, but she recognized him just the same. 

She even scolded him and despite him saying that it was only for fun, she still cried as she warned him against the dangers of the entertainment world. When he asked his father about his mother's reaction, his father merely told him to listen to his mother and avoid the entertainment world. 

Up until today, he never understood why his mother was so agitated by it. 

"Your mum?" Lyle smirked and said in a hushed tone, "Well, she doesn't have to know about this."

When Xiao Zhihao looked at Lyle, the latter chuckled and added, "It's not like we are doing anything bad. I won't be telling my parents about it either. If it... If we succeed, then I want people to know that it is because of our own efforts instead of our parents' names." 

"Parents' names?" Xiao Zhihao laughed softly. "My parents are normal people. I think you just want to prove to people that you can do it on your own, and for whatever reasons, I'm just your stepping stone." 

"Perhaps, but I don't mind having you as a friend as well, so don't think that you're just a stepping stone. Put it this way, we would both be using each other as a way to grow," Lyle said with a mysterious smile. 

"I want to grow in my own way." 

"By studying hard? That's it?" 

"Yeah, I'm sure I can make something out of myself." 

Lyle laughed dryly and said, "You might, but based on your current social relationship at school, I doubt you'd be able to do it without dirtying your hand."

"What do you mean?" 

"You got yourself an Elite scholarship, so I know you're smart, but you're not upper-class society smart. If you are, you'd have found yourself a good powerful friend to hang out with. Like the other scholarship students who came from a similar background as you. But at this moment, your name at school is... NIL. You've barely appeared in people's conversation. How long do you think you can last if the bullying continues?"

"I just don't care about all those," Xiao Zhihao scoffed. 

Seeing Xiao Zhihao's indignant expression, Lyle added without any mercy, "This is Imperial City. If you want to build a career here in the future, you need to have a good circle of connections. Your studies might bring you somewhere, but if you want more, you need to know how to socialize and read people. Otherwise, you'll not reach the full potential that you can be.

"Why do you think people send their kids to Imperial Schools? It's not just because of the great education. It's for people to make connections, to socialize. In Imperial Schools, both rich and poor people want their kids to hang out with the children of richer and more powerful men and women, and the younger you are, the easier it is to form a strong bond."

"And you think you can help me?" Xiao Zhihao raised a brow as he stared at Lyle with a skeptical expression.   

Lyle smiled and nodded. "I can teach you all those if you want. Tian Le asked me to watch over you, so that was my initial plan. Just to watch over you and make sure that you don't get killed without me having to do much work. I wasn't going to go out of my way to look and make sure you're fine. But now, I decided to change my plan. I'll make sure that no one bothers you, not even verbally, and I'll teach you things that you can't learn in school."

Xiao Zhihao thought about Lyle's words for a moment. He did not understand the sudden change of the 3 idiots' behaviors before, but now he realized that Tian Le was the one behind it... which meant that his mother was probably worried over him. 

Clenching his fists, Xiao Zhihao had an angry expression on his face. He did not the fact that his mother had to worry about him constantly.

"What do you get out of this?" Xiao Zhihao asked gruffly. "If I know anything, it's that there's no such thing as a free lunch in Imperial City."