The real young master thought he was hated by everyone

They left home a bit earlier than expected, and by the time they arrived at the mall, the numbers on the phone screen had just barely turned to ten.

Other than Xie Shenzhi, who had already left, everyone would be back for dinner that evening. Before getting out of the car, Mrs. Xie instructed the driver to come back before 4 p.m. 

Traffic in the city center during the evening rush hour is heavy, and if they were picked up late, they’d likely get stuck in traffic.

The day’s schedule suddenly became quite packed.

Luckily, the mall wasn’t crowded on a weekday morning. Checking out didn’t require much waiting, and since they were shopping in luxury stores, there were even fewer customers. At a glance, the stores were mostly staffed with salespeople in professional attire and other employees.

Li Heng held Mrs. Xie’s arm, chatting with her casually.

When asked about his favorite color, what came to mind were the jewelry facts he had crammed that morning.

In his mind, accompanying his mom to look at jewelry was more important than ordering the cake, which in turn was more important than buying clothes. This was the priority he had secretly assigned for the day’s activities.

Of course, Mrs. Xie wouldn’t see it that way.

From her perspective, everything was important, not just an excuse to go out, and each thing was worth taking seriously, even giving her full attention.

So, after visiting just the third store, Li Heng was already starting to feel a bit overwhelmed.

No matter what he tried on, the salespeople would use an exaggerated tone to praise how handsome he looked, how the clothes suited him, how they complemented his fair skin and good temperament.

Then, Mrs. Xie would nod and agree, offering her own compliments from a different angle, essentially repeating the praise.

At first, he would get embarrassed, his ears burning, and he’d sneak a glance at himself in the mirror. He was still the same person, not any more handsome than before.

But after hearing the compliments so many times, he started to feel like maybe he really did look more elegant, as if standing next to Mrs. Xie made him look more like her son.

Aside from the rush of the schedule, the main reason they had only visited three stores in less than an hour was that every time he tried on clothes, Mrs. Xie would immediately have them packed up without batting an eye.

By the time they were checking out, the bags were piled up like a mountain. If it weren’t for the delivery service offering to send the purchases to their home, they might not have been able to leave today.

Unless they called for another car specifically to carry the clothes.

The mall, after all, specialized in high-end luxury brands, catering almost exclusively to the upper-middle class. While there were brands Li Heng recognized, there were many more that he had never heard of, yet whose prices were several times higher than the well-known brands.

Even though he knew that the amounts on the receipts, with their strings of zeros, were nothing in comparison to the Xie family’s wealth, he still felt secretly happy.

This kind of treatment was something he had never even dreamed of.

At the same time, he felt a bit embarrassed, worried that his spending might be too much, and when it came time for Mrs. Xie to buy her jewelry, there might not be enough left on the card for her to get the best.

He knew nothing about jewelry before, and the knowledge he crammed in last minute only saved him from being completely speechless.

But there was one thing that left a deep impression on him.

 The cost of fine jewelry has almost no upper limit.

Seeing that Mrs. Xie showed no signs of stopping, he hesitated and finally spoke up, somewhat reluctantly, “…Mom, we’ve already bought a lot of clothes.”

We should be going to look at jewelry next.

He unconsciously emphasized the word “a lot.”

“We’ll try this one last piece, then we’ll go,” said Mrs. Xie, who was still basking in a sense of achievement.

She had the salesperson fetch a shirt that was slightly different in style, with different cufflinks, while she started picking out brooches and other accessories. Soon, she spotted a somewhat sensual jacket.

At this point, a princess dress hanging at the front of the women’s section caught her eye.

There was something familiar about its design and cut.

Sighing at how fashion really does go in cycles, she suddenly felt a little nostalgic.

She didn’t go for the jacket. Instead, she gestured for Li Heng to look in the direction of the dress. “Heng, don’t you think that dress is adorable?”

Li Heng stared at it, not quite sure what she meant, but he nodded anyway.

The salesperson was already packing things up at a distance and couldn’t hear their conversation.

But Mrs. Xie still lowered her voice, adding a touch of mystery as she motioned for him to come closer.

“You had a dress just like this when you were little.”

Saying this, she casually pinned a lily-shaped brooch onto his chest, studying him up and down.

She had no idea what a storm her seemingly offhand comment had stirred in the Li Heng’s heart.

On the way here, and even while trying on clothes, Mrs. Xie had brought up stories from his childhood several times, mostly about before he was abducted.

He enjoyed this kind of interaction with her, listening to her talk about him as a child while mentally sketching an image of a younger mother, one with whom he had no barriers.

But suddenly mentioning that he had worn a dress as a child left him a little shaken.

Especially since it was a princess dress covered in rhinestones, with lace-laden sleeves and puffy shoulders.

His thoughts jumped back and forth between why he would have had a dress and who had bought it, unable to picture himself in it.

He was both intrigued and baffled.

“Before you were born, we all thought you’d be a girl,” Mrs. Xie said as she led him to the seating area inside the store.

The store staff quickly brought over a small tray of snacks and two pieces of cake, setting them down before quietly stepping away.

“You were so tiny when you were born.”

Mrs. Xie held out her hand, gesturing vaguely, “Just a little thing.”