The real young master thought he was hated by everyone

“What?” Li Heng was puzzled, really unable to think of anything he had forgotten to do before leaving.

“Remember the graduation banquet two days ago? Didn’t your aunt invite you to go accompany her Bai Ruan for a show?” Mrs. Xie tried to keep her tone neutral. “She called me again yesterday.”

The attitude of elders can often influence the younger generation, and in the past, she only thought of this cousin as a bit domineering, someone who liked to stand out in everything. It didn’t leave too much of a bad impression back then. But now that things were directly involving her own family—and especially when the other person was acting under the guise of “doing it for your good”—she couldn’t help feeling disgusted and annoyed.

Even so, she still hoped that her attitude wouldn’t influence her younger son too much.

“Is it about the show’s timing?”

The night they got back from the arcade, he hadn’t had a chance to tell his parents about his decision. Then, the bad news about his grandfather’s sudden illness hit him, and all his thoughts went to worrying about the old man’s health. The next morning, while busy packing and listening to Mrs. Xie’s list of things to keep in mind, he didn’t get a chance to talk about it—and it wasn’t the right time for such trivial matters, anyway.

Once they arrived in Europe, seeing his grandfather energetic and full of life, he felt a bit of confusion. 

But after dinner, when they started talking about dating, he couldn’t help but become curious and wanted to ask Xie Duzhi. However, somehow the topic shifted to travel and coming back during winter break, and he shelved the issue again.

Thinking of this, the young man felt a little guilty for being so absent-minded.

He wasn’t usually like this, but perhaps because he was in a completely unfamiliar environment and the scenery was so beautiful, he had unwittingly let his guard down.

“More or less,” Mrs. Xie murmured.

She hadn’t really wanted to bring up this topic, but avoiding it wouldn’t solve anything. Instead of receiving a call with random arrangements during the trip, it was better to clarify everything now, allowing him time to prepare mentally and make arrangements.

“The exact time of the show hasn’t been set, but the general process is in place,” she continued, her expression softening slightly. “There’s a part in the show where they can make an outside call to a friend. Since you’ll be abroad with your grandparents, you probably won’t be able to come back. So I suggested to your aunt that you could join as a phone-in guest.”

“When the time comes, the production team will give you a rather long call so you can participate in some of the live questions.”

“That way, at least we’re not breaking our promise, right?”

This plan was still rough, and adding the “phone-in guest” segment meant the production team would have to rearrange a lot.

But that wasn’t the key point.

She had invested so much extra to ensure that, without disrupting the original theme of the show, the production team would accommodate this modification and make his non-attendance reasonable—after all, a phone-in guest was still a guest. It wasn’t like they were going back on their word; it just happened to work out this way.

The real issue was that there was no better solution in such a short time.

In Mrs. Xie’s view, she hoped her youngest son would simply refuse.

She had only agreed to the show to help both parties save face, but she couldn’t believe how Bai Wei had the nerve to bring it up again after the banquet, even bringing her son along to insist. She kept saying things like, “the two kids are about the same age and share similar personalities, so they’ll definitely become friends.” Her son should choose his friends on his own terms, not under conditions created by someone else.

But Mrs. Xie was still genuinely worried.

She knew her son’s kind-hearted nature, his tendency to repay unkindness with kindness, and that he wouldn’t go back on his word or regret his choices. Since he agreed to appear on the show, he would do so.

She didn’t have a specific opinion about Bai Ruan’s character since she hadn’t interacted with him, but she just didn’t want her son to get involved with his cousin again through this show. As a mother, she felt torn—trying to respect her son’s choices while also wanting to protect him from harm.

That’s why she came up with the idea of a “phone-in guest.”

If there were any complaints, he could blame her for coming up with an excuse to send him off to Europe to see his grandparents.

As long as he didn’t feel guilty about “breaking a promise,” she would be satisfied.

Why should her son’s kindness be exploited, causing him to feel uneasy?

“If you feel a bit guilty about it, we could invite Bai Ruan over during National Day,” she suggested, already having thought of a way to make up for it if her son did want to be friends with him.

Li Heng opened his mouth, wanting to tell her that he didn’t feel guilty toward Bai Ruan at all. That notion had no basis in reality—neither in his hidden dreams nor in real life.

If anything, it was Bai Ruan who should feel guilty toward him, given his past manipulative acts that preyed on his sympathy, or how he intentionally sought him out at the graduation banquet to exploit his sense of integrity and forced an opportunity for friendship.

But there was no need for Mrs. Xie to know all that; it would only make her worry and fret even more.

He didn’t want his mom to be overly concerned or overprotective—it made him feel strangely guilty, as if he was deceitfully drawing out her care.

Mrs. Xie treated him like a rare rose in a garden, taking delicate care with even watering and fertilizing, ensuring just the right amount of sunlight—not too much, not too little. In reality, he thought of himself more as a weed by the flowerbed, resilient enough to survive on its own.

Even though she tried to act naturally, as if this part of the show had always included a phone-in segment and that he had to join remotely due to being abroad, he didn’t believe his aunt could be so considerate.

Bai Ruan might mix truth with lies, but he still held enough disdain toward him for what he had done, being as cautious as possible and assuming the worst intentions.

And besides, even if he misjudged Bai Wei, surely he wasn’t wrong about Bai Ruan?

From what he knew of him, he’d never settle for just letting him be a remote guest, barely upholding the promise of attending by just answering a call.

There was no way he’d be that generous.

Thinking about it, he quickly deduced Mrs. Xie’s reasons for doing all this.

It was simply her concern about hurting his pride or making him feel guilty, and her fear that he might get hurt on the show.

Grandpa’s sudden illness and the call that brought him back were all part of a plan they’d likely arranged beforehand to get him away, avoiding the awkward situation of declining and ending up on the show as an ordinary guest.

“I don’t feel guilty about not going, or that I didn’t keep my promise to my aunt.”

He replied calmly, more amused than upset at their elaborate efforts to send him away. “Mom, I don’t like Aunt; I only agreed because I didn’t want to put the family in an awkward situation.”

“I know,” Mrs. Xie sighed. “I just…”

“You’re just worried about me,” he interjected, finishing her sentence. “I know.”

“Wait a sec, I’ll go say hello to Grandma and my second and third brothers!” He didn’t give her a chance to respond, quickly borrowing a phone from Xie Sizhi and promising he’d be back soon, then hurried to the front of the farmhouse.

There were some things he felt embarrassed to say in front of everyone else.

“Mom, what I wanted to tell you is that I wasn’t planning on attending anyway,” he said after thinking for a moment. “I even had a reason ready: I’d say I got seriously sick after a trip to the highlands with Mingyue and the others. Too unwell to go on the show.”

“You know I’m already a bit on the thin side,” he joked.

Mrs. Xie was stunned, taking a moment to regain her composure before laughing. “Don’t curse yourself like that! Mom’s going to ward that off right now. Don’t say that again.”

“…Didn’t you guys also have Grandpa pretend to be sick to fool me?” Li Heng thought wryly, feeling a bit like complaining about double standards.

“Then we’ll cancel the phone-in spot too. I’ll call your aunt later.” Mrs. Xie said with a lighter expression, “If you don’t want to go, then don’t. We won’t force you.”

Not going was even better, sparing her the worry of a single call ruining his mood.

“But, it feels like you’ve worried too much about me, especially with the phone-in guest idea,” he said, looking away toward the distant snowy mountains rather than at his mother.

With the flight time included, he had been gone from home for less than 48 hours in total.

His aunt probably wouldn’t have given much information about the show. Finding the production team—especially one that might not even be fully assembled yet—in such a short time seemed difficult.

No one in their family had connections in the entertainment industry, with the exception of Xie Sizhi, who only knew a few celebrities through his friends.

Finding the show’s crew and spending all that effort to preserve his dignity or the flow of the show probably took quite a bit of money—shows aren’t

charity events; they don’t just change plans on a whim.

He couldn’t just let that money go to waste.

Even if the expense didn’t serve much purpose, it would at least get him an extra phone call, which was better than nothing.

If he’d known, he would’ve made his stance clear before he left.

That way, they wouldn’t have needed to spend the money at all.