Watching Xu Hao shove Xu Qinger and Lin Wei aside and flee in panic, a flicker of coldness passed through Xu Ze’s eyes again, though a smile appeared on his face. “At least he knows to run… not completely brainless…”
Xu Ze strode out the door, his gaze fixed on Xu Hao, who had already dashed more than ten meters away. The floor plan of Robasa reappeared in his visual field, showing three passageways total. Xu Hao had taken the left one. Xu Ze let out a soft snort, then turned and strode toward the right…
Watching the two brothers chase each other off—one running, the other pursuing—Xu Qinger and Lin Wei behind them rushed out in a panic. They looked both ways, then finally chased after Xu Ze.
With those few gone, Xu Hao’s three classmates, left behind, helped each other up off the ground with pained groans.
“Damn it…” one guy with an earring grumbled, rubbing his bruised shoulder as he reeked of alcohol. His eyes were red with anger as he cursed, “Who the hell does he think he is? Just because he’s a soldier, he thinks he’s something special?”
“Yeah… who the hell is that guy? Why does he get to come here and cause trouble?” another student chimed in, his face twisted with resentment. Not only had their fun been ruined, but they’d also been hit—when had he ever been treated like this?
They had no idea, though, that with the blaring music, they hadn’t heard Xu Hao’s cry of “Brother” at all. So all they could do was curse and wonder who this soldier really was.
Meanwhile, the third student was already fumbling for his phone, cursing as he growled, “Just because he’s in the military? Screw that… my cousin’s a battalion commander in the army district. I’ll have him bring some guys over to teach this punk a lesson!”
“That’s right… my Uncle Luo has a stake in this place too. If someone starts trouble here and hits me, there’s no way he’ll just ignore it.” Reminded of that, another student suddenly got excited and whipped out his phone to make a call.
“What? Lan Qi, you got hit? And it’s bad? Where? By a soldier? He’s wearing a uniform and a cap? For real? Good… wait there, your brother’s coming with some guys to teach him a lesson… then we’ll hand him over to the military police and send him straight to the political department!” On the other end, a man hung up in a flurry after that heated exchange.
The other student was on the phone with his “Uncle Luo” as well.
“Uncle Luo, it’s me, Zhang Tianyi… yeah, Zhang Yi’s son…”
“Uh-huh… here’s what happened. Uncle Luo, I’m at Robasa singing right now, and all of a sudden a soldier bursts in causing trouble, and he hurt me and a few of my classmates.”
“What soldier? I don’t know… all I know is he’s young, probably no more than two or three years older than us.”
“Oh, you’ll send someone over? Great, okay, sure. Uncle Luo, you’ve got to get justice for us… otherwise, my classmates won’t dare come here to sing anymore.”
“Alright… hey, uh, the manager’s comping us? No way, no way… if my dad found out, he’d kill me.”
After hanging up, the two boys, reeking of alcohol and red-eyed with excitement, said, “Come on… let’s go keep an eye on that soldier. Don’t let him get away!”
The three of them rushed out and headed toward the main hall.
Xu Ze, of course, wasn’t going anywhere. He had already cut off Xu Hao’s escape at the hall and was now staring at him coldly. “You knew enough to run… so you clearly know you should be ashamed to face me, your brother.”
Xu Hao shrank his neck back, looking at his older brother’s icy expression. A flicker of fear crossed his eyes, and finally he muttered, “Brother… I know I was wrong.”
“You know you were wrong?” Hearing Xu Hao finally spit out those words after all this time, the coldness in Xu Ze’s eyes only deepened. He let out a faint laugh. “I was starting to think you didn’t.”
“You’ve always been bold, but I never imagined you’d sink this low. Do you have any idea how heartbroken Mom and Dad would be if they saw you like this?”
Seeing Xu Hao admit fault, Xu Ze’s anger finally began to pour out. He glared at Xu Hao, his voice fierce with reproach. “Look at yourself… drinking, smoking… and now you’re into drugs. Have you ever stopped to think about how hard Mom and Dad work to put the three of us through school?”
“Now that I’m giving you a bit more spending money, you think you can do anything. That money comes from Mom and Dad’s blood and sweat—every cent of it. And your living expenses? I earned that myself, working part-time while studying, just so you could focus on your books. But look at you now… when you run out of money, you lie to your sister and sell the computer I bought for you.”
Watching Xu Hao’s face darken under his scolding, his eyes burning with defiance, Xu Ze felt a wave of disappointment and grief wash over him. His voice turned harsh. “Look at yourself—smoking, drinking, doing drugs… you’re no different from some street thug. How can I ever trust you to take care of Mom and Dad?”
Xu Hao’s face went black with humiliation. His eyes, already red from the alcohol and drugs, grew even more bloodshot. Glancing at the crowd forming around them and the three classmates who had just caught up and were watching him get chewed out, his breathing quickened, his neck stiffened, and he glared back at Xu Ze.
“Don’t think that just because you’re my brother and you give me some money, that makes you something special or gives you the right to boss me around!” Xu Hao suddenly shouted back, his voice thick with indignation. His face flushed crimson as he pointed accusingly at the furious Xu Ze. “You’re not even my real brother—you were just adopted by my parents! What right do you have to control me?”
“Hand Mom and Dad over to me? I know you’ve got that rich godfather now, so you think you’re hot stuff, driving nice cars and living in a nice house. You’ve forgotten all about them—just off living the good life. All I did was have a few drinks and sing with my friends. So what if I have a little fun? Why do you have to butt in?”
Hearing this, Xu Qinger’s face went pale. She looked at Xu Ze, who had frozen in place after hearing Xu Hao’s words, and desperately tried to stop him. “Xiao Hao, shut up! Shut your mouth! Don’t talk nonsense! Brother did so much for us back then…”
But Xu Hao, his eyes bloodshot, kept yelling, “Sis, don’t interfere. I’m saying what needs to be said. Why does he get to eat and drink well every day, skip class whenever he wants? Because he sold himself off as someone’s adopted grandson. Now that he’s all high and mighty, he thinks he can come teach me a lesson?”
“I don’t need your money anymore! I’ll take care of Mom and Dad myself—without you, without relying on you!” Xu Hao grew more agitated, jabbing a finger at Xu Ze’s nose and shouting at the top of his lungs.
At Xu Hao’s words, Xu Ze’s face had turned deathly pale. He stood there frozen, staring at the screaming figure before him, his own eyes slowly reddening.
Listening to that barrage of accusations and curses, Xu Ze felt as though a thousand needles were piercing his heart, one after another.
He had never felt such pain—not even when he discovered Zhang Linyun had been secretly dating someone else, nor when he watched her stand by as Tao Zhixiong and his gang beat him. Nothing had hurt this much.
Now he finally understood that it was the unreasonable accusations and curses from those closest to you that cut the deepest and hurt the most.
On the side, Xu Qinger frantically lunged forward, trying to cover Xu Hao’s mouth and stop him from spewing those horrible, insane words.
But Xu Hao, driven by shame, alcohol, and the drug’s stimulation into a state of delirious excitement, shoved her aside roughly and continued yelling at Xu Ze, “My parents raised you for decades! What gives you the right to treat me like this? What gives you the right?”
“You…” Staring at Xu Hao, whose eyes were bloodshot and beyond reason from the alcohol and drugs, Xu Ze felt his anger, disappointment, and grief all churn together. Finally, unable to hold back, he stepped forward and slapped him across the face.
Xu Hao clutched his stinging cheek in disbelief. His brother—the one who had never raised a hand against him, never even spoken a harsh word—had actually slapped him. Once the shock wore off, his fury only grew.
“You hit me… you actually hit me! You’re not my brother—no, you never were. You’re a bastard!” With that single slap, all of Xu Hao’s reason flew out the window. He had completely forgotten just who his brother really was. Screaming, he lunged forward to throw himself at Xu Ze.
Slap. Knowing Xu Hao had lost all reason, Xu Ze didn’t hold back this time. One solid strike sent Xu Hao tumbling to the ground.
Seeing Xu Hao howling and struggling to get back up for round two, Xu Ze calmly unbuckled his belt, pulled it out slowly, and cracked it down hard.
Crack. The belt landed with a sharp sound, and Xu Hao screamed, collapsing back to the floor.
Xu Ze’s face was now utterly blank—no anger, no grief, just a pale, hollow emptiness.
He tightened his grip on the belt and said flatly, “Xu Hao, you’ve disappointed me. Truly, deeply disappointed. I thought that at nineteen, you’d know what you should be doing and how to act. But you don’t. Worse, not only do you not know what you should do—you’ve gone and touched the very things you shouldn’t even go near.”
“So today, I’m going to discipline you on behalf of Mom and Dad. I’m going to teach you what you can do, what you can’t do, what you shouldn’t say, and what you must never forget.”
Xu Ze raised the belt again, held back his strength, and brought it down hard. Crack. The sound made everyone watching flinch.
Beside them, Xu Qinger winced at the sight of Xu Hao trembling under the belt and crying out again. She felt a pang of pity but said nothing. She knew her brother knew his limits—and that this brat needed a harsh wake-up call.
Lin Wei, pale-faced, clenched her jaw and stayed silent too, turning her head away so she wouldn’t have to watch Xu Hao writhing on the ground in pain.
