The real young master thought he was hated by everyone

Li Heng’s first reaction was that Xie Duzhi might have accidentally sent the wrong message. Then, instinctively, he realized that such a thing wouldn’t happen with him.  

Moreover, a long time passed, and no third message appeared in the chat.  

Clearly, the message was specifically meant for him.  

He sat there in confusion for a while, unable to think of any contract that he might need to discuss with him.  

…It couldn’t be something like a share transfer agreement or a voluntary waiver of inheritance, could it?  

Xie Duzhi wasn’t that deceitful and sinister person from his dreams, after all.  

Still, he felt too awkward to ask directly, worried it would leave the impression that he was unclear about his own affairs.  

In the end, he sent back a cute but not overly familiar or abrupt sticker in response.  

Li Heng: Cat nodding.jpg  

Then, he put down his phone and focused on helping Mrs. Xie choose jewelry.  

Xie Duzhi saw the reply at 2 PM.  

Not returning to the residence had been a last-minute decision after completing a meeting where he gained a good understanding of the platform’s operations and development direction.  

In front of him lay two contracts regarding Li Heng’s partnership with the company—one from before the streaming platform acquisition, and an upgraded version after the acquisition.  

To be honest, it was a bit of a headache.  

Li Heng’s situation was quite unique, and Xie Duzhi hadn’t figured out how to handle it just yet.  

But he wasn’t the type to procrastinate on difficult matters. The more complex the issue, the sooner it needed resolving to avoid wasting time.  

With this in mind, he found the contact information for the principal of the prestigious school he once attended and dialed the number. His mind was slightly preoccupied.  

If only raising a younger brother were as simple as making money.  

The school principal hung up on him, rejecting the donation of three school buildings and a multimedia room.  

He had no choice but to approach the issue from another angle.  

The afternoon meeting and contract-related matters caused him to finish work later than usual.  

By the time he returned home, the rest of the Xie family was already seated at the dinner table—despite the fact that he had texted earlier, telling them to start without him.  

“There’s no beef brisket left for you.”  

He ignored Xie Sizhi’s harmless teasing and sat directly next to Li Heng.  

Almost as soon as he sat down, Xie Sizhi raised an eyebrow and scooped up the soft, tender beef brisket and tendon from the soup bowl.  

He left a few pieces for himself but put the majority into Li Heng’s bowl, just as he was about to reach for food.  

Li Heng silently pulled back his chopsticks and decided to finish off the mountain of food in his bowl first.  

The dishes at the Xie family table were plentiful, but portions were small. By the time Xie Sizhi finished serving, only a few pitiful pieces of potato and carrot remained in the soup.  

Xie Duzhi had a habit of not talking while eating, but the rest of the Xie family didn’t. Mealtimes at their house were lively, filled with the warm, bustling atmosphere of daily life.  

Even Xie Duzhi, normally reserved, would occasionally chime in with a few words.  

As the serving plate spun toward him, he took a piece of sea cucumber and placed it in Li Heng’s bowl. After thinking for a moment, he added a piece of carrot.  

“Don’t just eat meat,” he advised.  

Li Heng knew that a balanced diet of meat and vegetables was necessary.  

The problem was that, ever since Xie Duzhi had sat down, his bowl had been continuously filled from all directions, courtesy of his parents and brothers.  

Arms too skinny? Have a wing.  

Legs too thin? Here, take a thigh.  

He barely had a chance to serve himself.  

In just two days, he felt like he had eaten more legs—chicken legs, drumsticks—than in the entire past year combined.  

He tried to explain with his eyes.  

Xie Duzhi met his gaze for a few seconds, then calmly looked away and added a few more pieces of carrot to his bowl.  

Got it, likes carrots.  

Li Heng: …  

He had the distinct feeling that Xie Duzhi had misunderstood him but decided to give up on explaining.  

Oh well, having carrots is better than nothing.  

After dinner, he sat on the couch with Mrs. Xie and watched TV for a bit before saying goodnight and heading upstairs.  

If he started streaming at 9 PM, he could stream for about two hours.  

Though, even two hours wouldn’t be enough to make up for the time he missed yesterday.  

The new contract had a higher base salary, and the insurance contribution rate had increased, but there were also more requirements. For instance, his monthly stream revenue had to meet a certain target, and his total streaming hours couldn’t be less than 150 hours per month.  

In other words, he would have to stream five hours a day to meet the platform’s minimum requirements.  

As for revenue, since he was a mid-tier, lower-end streamer, the contract wasn’t too harsh on that front.  

Before starting his stream, he decided to visit the cat room.  

The Siamese cat, which had just been rescued from a stray life, had quickly adapted to its new environment. When he opened the door, the cat was happily chasing an electric mouse toy.  

As soon as it saw its owner enter, it batted the toy aside and darted over, flopping onto its back at Li Heng’s feet, exposing its soft belly.  

Li Heng plopped down on the floor.  

He pulled a brush out of the nearby cabinet and helped the cat shed some loose fur, then grabbed a cat teaser and played with it for a while.  

“Have you been good today?” he asked, lifting the cat’s paw for inspection.  

The nails had already been trimmed.  

When he got home earlier, Uncle Fu, who had been watering the lawn, was in an unusually good mood and even offered to buy treats for the cat out of his own pocket. So, the cat must not have been hissing or baring its teeth at anyone today.  

The cat let out a soft “meow,” as if responding.  

Satisfied, Li Heng bumped his fist against the its paw. “Well done, Comrade Xiao Zhi. Let’s keep up the good work.”  

He felt that he had also performed better today than he had expected.  

By the time he returned to his room, it was nearly 8:30 PM.  

He logged into his account and posted a notification announcing the stream, then shared the link in his streaming group chat.  

【Playing a newly released game today】  

Everyone was online at this time, and soon, the comments started rolling in under his post. Some people said they had set up their chairs, ready to watch, while others joked about clinging to him or asked him to sing because he had missed yesterday’s stream.  

But the top-liked comment, pinned at the top of the section, was from another game streamer.  

【Orange: My protector, my dear protector, how can I survive without your guide? Please speedrun! Go all out TUT】

The replies under it were filled with laughter.  

Li Heng’s streaming ID was “Pythagorean Theorem.” He mainly streamed single-player games that required a certain level of skill. After finishing a game, he would often edit the footage and create walkthroughs for online guides.  

The audience for single-player game streams wasn’t as large as for popular competitive games, making his niche relatively small.  

Orange was a competitive game streamer with a dedicated audience, making her somewhat well-known.  

The two of them shared the same platform manager and occasionally chatted. Though they were familiar with each other, their circles didn’t overlap much.  

Li Heng couldn’t understand why she suddenly commented on his post.  

He could only like the comment in response and put the matter aside for now. He opened his streaming software and began testing his microphone.  

After ensuring the microphone was working well, he logged into the game platform to check if there were any updates.  

During the wait, he opened his phone to search for reviews of the game.  

Unexpectedly, the newly released game had gone viral, trending for an entire day on social media.  

He began to understand why Orange had suddenly commented.  

With such a large amount of attention, even though the top streamers were attracting most of the viewers, there would still be enough left over for the smaller streamers to benefit from the hype.  

But he wasn’t streaming just to ride the wave.  

Streaming was not only his current means of survival but also the comfort zone he had carved out for himself.  

Only through this could he maintain a balance—neither chasing after streaming revenue too obsessively nor losing himself in the fleeting happiness that the virtual world offered.  

Once the stream ended, everything online ceased to concern him.  

At 9:00 sharp, he adjusted his stream title and started the broadcast on time.  

At the same moment, Xie Duzhi, who was working in his study, also received a stream notification.