Don’t Be a Kept Man

to spend a little.
He walked to the school store, hoping to buy some water.
The owner was just wiping the counters, and cheerfully called out to Lu Qi,

“Want to buy something? There is pop that has been frozen, and there are watermelons.”

Lu Qi answered without thinking,

“A bottle of orangeade, a bottle of water……”

 

Before he even finished, he realized what he had said and stopped for a moment.
He wanted to give the orangeade back, but heard the owner say,

“Five kaui and five mao*, but since it looks like you are new, just give me five kuai.”

Lu Qi hesitated before finally grabbing both bottles,

“……Then thank you.”

The training center next door was for those in finance, and from afar, Fang Qi could see Lu Qi.
He grabbed Huo Ming Chen’s arm,

“Ah ah ah, isn’t that Lu Qi?”

Having a good appearance and a great body is very important.
Lu Qi already had a long torso and a lean body, and with the training uniform that fitted to them very well, especially at the waist, he stood above the average crowd.

School hasn’t started for very long, and there were already girls trying to get his information.

Huo Ming Chen was just playing with his phone, and hearing Fang Qi, glanced over for a second.
Then he quickly said without moving his head,

“What, did you want me to grab his signature?”

Cheng Tian Yao did not hear what they had said before, and thought it was for the SNS of a hot lady, so he gestured desperately to Fang Qi,

“Quick quick quick, have him go get it!”

In their group, they are children of the rich or people with high status.
A few have even been on the cover of gossip magazines.
You take one look around, and they can all be daddy long legs.
Hook one of them, and you are set for the rest of your life.

Fang Qi went along with their antics,

“Yeah, yeah, I want his signature, go!”

He originally was just joking, but once he said that, Huo Ming Chen dropped his phone into his pocket and dusted off his clothes.
He went straight towards Lu Qi.
Fang Qi’s eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

“Fuck, you really did go.”

Lu Qi did not think that he would meet Huo Ming Chen here.
But once he turned around, that person was already standing nearby.
His eyes were full of life, carrying a youthful vitality.

“Hey……”

Huo Ming Chen placed both his hands in his pockets, and lazily called out, making it hard to understand what he wanted to do here.

A habit is a dangerous thing.
It can steep into your bones and you don’t even have a clue.
Like the orangeade in his hands, like the sudden footsteps.
Lu Qi did not move, watching Huo Ming Chen come closer and closer, one footstep at a time.
He heard Huo Ming Chen say,

“You left your jacket at my place from last time.”

Lu Qi snapped back to reality, and responded back,

“When you are free, I will go take it back.”

Huo Ming Chen shrugged his shoulders,

“I don’t know.
When I am, I’ll send you a message.”

He looked at Lu Qi, and turned silent for a second.
After a moment, he said,

“Thanks for picking me up that day.
If you have time, let’s get a meal.”

Issuing an invitation was never his style.
In his previous life, Lu Qi spent a couple years to pave through Huo Ming Chen’s hardened heart.
Perhaps from the moment he came back, it was determined that everything could be changed.

He distantly heard the whistle from the training officer, and he couldn’t dwell on his thoughts any longer.
He nodded slightly,

“Yeah, let’s meet up when we have time.”

After saying this he passed the orangeade to Huo Ming Chen.

“I have to gather with the troops now, so I’ll head out first.”

The orangeade bottle was still frosty to the touch.
Huo Ming Shen instinctively reached out, not knowing that this action meant a future of many years of heart racing romance.

He ducked his head, and with a weird expression on his face, felt bewildered at how Lu Qi knew he liked orangeades.

After a day of training ended, everyone felt exhausted.
Lu Qi went back to his dorm to shower and change from his uniform.
Looking like he was heading out, his dormmates asked jokingly,

“You couldn’t be dating a girl, could you? This late at night and you’re still running outside for a date.
Too bad for all those girls that were trying to get your information.
You have already been snatched by someone so quickly.”

Lu Qi did not say he wanted to go find part time jobs, and he did not plan to.
He tied his shoelaces, and didn’t even turn his head,

“No, I don’t have a girlfriend.
I have to do something for a bit.
If I come back late and they are checking on the dorm, cover for me.”

He grabbed a baseball hat before hastily heading out the door.
Lu Qi did not head down the stairs for very long before he received a text message from Huo Ming Chen.

>> I’m by your dorm.
Come get your jacket.

The relationship between the two was still considered a secret, under wraps from the public eye.
When they see each other on the streets, they pretend they do not know each other.
For Huo Ming Chen to be coming over to meet up and just to drop off a jacket, that is very strange.

He doesn’t even have to look very hard before he spots an expensive car that has stopped by the roadside.
It was very evident in its arrogance.
Lu Qi squinted his eyes, and automatically calculated how much yuan its parts were worth, and he sighed for what he could have.

Right now to Lu Qi, Huo Ming Chen is a mountain of gold that he can only see and cannot touch.
If it wasn’t for that system pulling his legs, If only that system did not hinder him……

He has always been greedy, for Huo Ming Chen……’s money.

Lu Qi pulled his hat down and knocked on the car window with his knuckle.
Huo Ming Chen could see from his point of view his sexy jaw line, and his eyes like the dark abyss, like the sky after a fire that has been burning for a long time, and in its silence bringing a gleam to its ashes.
Huo Ming Chen lowered the window, and from the passenger seat gives Lu Qi his jacket back.
His fingers tapping on the wheel in no particular rhythm.

“If you have time, let’s go eat.”

Fang Qi and the gang did not support Huo Ming Chen’s relationship with Lu Qi.
They believe that Lu Qi wants to leech money off Huo Ming Chen.
They think that Lu Qi has a twisted heart, but Huo Ming Chen did not think much of it.
It’s a transaction.
It’s best when you pay, and you get what you want, but when you tie emotions into this, you then have a problem on your hands.

He was not afraid of Lu Qi wanting money, he was afraid that Lu Qi wouldn’t want it.

The author has something to say:
Author: Lu Qi, you are despicable, you are eyeing his money…… and his body!
Lu Qi: ……. 

Notes:
*1 cents: I don’t really know a good translation for the structure of money, so I just substituted cents >.<” The original translation was “五塊五” which directly translates as 5 pieces (of money) 5 which was a bit weird if I left it like that (maybe “mao” would be better…?)
>changed the translation from five yuan and five cents to five kuai and five mao as per feedback

Also!! Thank you for all your support on Chapter 1! As stated in my reply for a comment, I’m going to try update this once per weekday (no updates on the weekend for a bit of a buffer for me, which means chapter 3 will be posted on Monday).
I’ve also revised the volume 1 protagonist’s name from Lu Liu Qi to Lu Qi as per feedback.
Please continue to let me know if there are other translation changes I should make or about mistakes I should fix (as I am but a fledgling in this forest m(” – -)m ).
Once again, thank you for reading my translation and I really hope you will continue to like this story by the amazing author!)