ACMS 30

Chapter 30: Identity Confirmation

After dropping Qiao Le off, Shen Hechuan had planned to take Qiao Man to KFC. But the little guy’s sharp eyes spotted an arcade next to the hotel, and on a whim, he wanted to go catch some claw machine toys.

So Shen Hechuan simply parked nearby, got out with Qiao Man, and that’s when he saw Zhao Lei talking to Qiao Le.

As he walked closer, he overheard Zhao Lei asking Qiao Le for his WeChat—saying it was to invite him out for drinks next time.

“Drinks?” Shen Hechuan repeated. “You two are that close?”

“Once you know someone, you’re close, right—” Zhao Lei cut off mid-sentence, turned to Qiao Le, and said, “Right, buddy, what’s your name again? I forgot to ask just now.”

From their conversation, Qiao Le figured out that Zhao Lei and Shen Hechuan knew each other—and seemed to be pretty friendly.

He was just about to answer when Shen Hechuan beat him to it. “Let me introduce him.”

Zhao Lei: “Hm?”

“His name is Qiao Le.” Shen Hechuan reached out and pulled Qiao Le toward him, and said to Zhao Lei, “My legal husband.”

Zhao Lei: “!!”

Qiao Le: “!!”

Shen Hechuan’s tone was calm, but the words themselves carried an unmistakable air of possessiveness.

Qiao Le hadn’t expected Shen Hechuan to use the words “legal husband” to define their relationship—it sounded so formal, as if the two of them were really that intimately connected.

It was kind of embarrassing.

Yet, he didn’t pull his hand away from Shen Hechuan’s at the time.

Zhao Lei was completely stunned—slack-jawed wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

He looked at Shen Hechuan, then at Qiao Le, and said in a dazed tone, “Bro, what did you just say? I think I’m hallucinating.”

“You’re not,” Qiao Le said with a smile as he shook Shen Hechuan’s hand. “It means exactly what you heard.”

Zhao Lei: “!!”

Holy crap!

What did he just do?!!

He had asked his bro’s husband for his WeChat—and even wanted to invite him for drinks!!

Is he trying to die?!

Realizing how terribly out of line he’d been, Zhao Lei quickly tried to explain, “No, bro, how could you get married without saying anything?!”

“Just got married,” Shen Hechuan replied. “Didn’t get a chance to tell everyone. Didn’t expect to run into you here, either.”

The implication being: he didn’t expect Zhao Lei to hit on his husband.

Zhao Lei broke into a cold sweat. “So, um, I just wanted to be friends with your… with your husband—wait no, that’s not what I meant! I—”

“Qiao Le,” Shen Hechuan cut him off. “No need to call him ‘sister-in-law.’”

“Oh.” Zhao Lei obediently corrected himself, “I wasn’t trying to be friends with Qiao Le for myself, it’s for Brother Jing—he asked me to get his WeChat.”

“Pei Wenjing?” Shen Hechuan asked.

“Who’s Pei Wenjing?” Qiao Le looked confused.

“A friend,” Shen Hechuan said. “You met him at Might Bar last time.”

Qiao Le vaguely recalled—he’d made quite a bit in tips and commission from that guy.

Zhao Lei kept explaining, “Last time we went to that bar where Qiao Le works, Brother Jingkept taking videos and pictures of him. Just now, I thought I’d help him get WeChat. I didn’t know he was your…”

His voice trailed off as he realized he had just thrown Pei Wenjing under the bus. He was instantly annoyed at himself.

Zhao Lei, you idiot.

He silently cursed.

But what could he do? Among their group, Shen Hechuan had always been the alpha. Zhao Lei couldn’t hide anything from him.

Lost in self-blame, Zhao Lei didn’t notice that Shen Hechuan’s expression had turned knowing.

Because all those photos and videos Pei Wenjing had taken—were sent to him.

So the whole thing was just a giant misunderstanding.

Zhao Lei wanted to help Pei Wenjing get Qiao Le’s WeChat. But Pei Wenjing was helping him get Qiao Le’s WeChat. After going in a full circle, it turned out… it was all for him.

But Zhao Lei didn’t know the full story. He was still trying to think of how to fix things when he looked down and met a pair of big, curious eyes—Qiao Man was staring at him.

Their gazes met, and Qiao Man pointed at Zhao Lei’s hair and said, “Big brother, your hair is shiny.”

Zhao Lei was only twenty-four, dressed casually and stylishly, with a striking head of silver-dyed hair.

Kids loved sparkly things, and Qiao Man was no exception. He stared at Zhao Lei’s hair with fascination.

Qiao Le and Qiao Man shared some resemblance. Seeing Shen Hechuan holding Qiao Man’s hand, Zhao Lei’s mind jumped to a wild conclusion. He took a sudden step back. “Bro—this isn’t your kid, is it?! He’s already this big?!”

Shen Hechuan: “…”

Qiao Le: “…”

Only after blurting it out did Zhao Lei realize how absurd it sounded. Never mind that the ages didn’t match—Qiao Le was a man. How could he give birth?

Scratching his head awkwardly, Zhao Lei forced a couple of dry laughs. “Sorry, I think I said something dumb.”

Just when he was dying to dig a hole and crawl into it, Song Tongyu came down from upstairs and saved him. “Lele!”

Song Tongyu jogged over to Qiao Le and said, “You’ve been waiting a while, huh? The elevator wouldn’t come down—I was going crazy.”

Zhao Lei saw how familiar he seemed with Qiao Le and asked, “And you are?”

Song Tongyu had been focused on Qiao Le and only now noticed the others. He gave Zhao Lei a confused look. “I’m Song Tongyu. Who are you guys? Lele, are they your friends?”

“Ah.” Qiao Le was still holding Shen Hechuan’s hand. He gave a light cough and said, “Family.”

Song Tongyu: “Huh?”

Shen Hechuan gave Qiao Le’s hand a gentle squeeze, clearly in a good mood.

He let go of Qiao Man with his other hand and extended it toward Song Tongyu. “Hello, I’m Shen Hechuan.”

Song Tongyu was still reeling from Qiao Le calling someone “family.” Dazed, he shook hands with him. “Hi, I’m Song Tongyu, Qiao Le’s high school classmate.”

“I know,” Shen Hechuan said. “He’s mentioned you.”

“Really?” Song Tongyu lit up. If Qiao Le had talked about him to family, that meant he held some weight in his heart. “I was Lele’s best friend in high school—and I still am now.”

He then turned to Zhao Lei, who had been silent, and cheerfully asked, “And you?”

Zhao Lei: “…I’m the clown.”

You’re family, he’s the best friend—what the hell does that make me?

Song Tongyu looked at him like he was nuts. “Huh?”

Qiao Le couldn’t help laughing. He realized Zhao Lei was actually kind of funny.

Song Tongyu gave Zhao Lei a weird look but didn’t dwell on it. Then he noticed Qiao Man standing beside Shen Hechuan. “Hey, isn’t that Xiao Man? Still remember big brother Song?”

Since Song Tongyu was Qiao Le’s best friend in high school, Qiao Man knew him too—he’d even visited them over the summer.

Qiao Man called out, “Big brother Song.”

“Hey!” Song Tongyu asked, “Did you come to the reunion with your brother?”

Qiao Man shook his head. “I came with Uncle Shen to drop him off. We’re going to catch claw machine toys.”

Hearing that, Shen Hechuan reminded them, “Weren’t you all going to a dinner gathering? Head up first—I’ll take Xiao Man.”

“Right, right, everyone’s almost here. Teacher Li arrived too,” Song Tongyu said. “Let’s head up and chat more later.”

Qiao Le told Shen Hechuan, “I’ll go up first. Text me if anything comes up.”

Shen Hechuan: “Okay.”

After Qiao Le and Song Tongyu left, Shen Hechuan looked at Zhao Lei, who clearly wanted to sneak off but didn’t dare to.

In a mild tone, he asked, “Wanna come catch claw machine toys?”

“…” Zhao Lei shook his head violently. “No no no, I’m good. You go ahead.”

Shen Hechuan nodded and took Qiao Man through the side door into the arcade next door.

As soon as Qiao Le and Song Tongyu stepped into the elevator, Song Tongyu couldn’t help asking when he had gotten a boyfriend—without a single rumor leaking out.

Qiao Le didn’t correct him—he just said they’d only recently gotten together.

“He is pretty handsome, but he looks a bit older than us.” Song Tongyu said thoughtfully. “Didn’t expect you to go for that type. He looks like some successful businessman.”

A bit older?

That was an understatement.

Qiao Le thought of how Shen Hechuan was thirteen years older than him. That really was quite a gap.

Still, thankfully, there wasn’t a generational divide between them.

When they arrived at the private room, Qiao Le saw that almost everyone was already there.

Since graduating high school, this was only their second class reunion. The last one had been during the New Year, but Qiao Le had been busy working and didn’t attend.

It had only been a year since high school, but everyone seemed to have changed quite a bit.

As soon as Qiao Le arrived, everyone enthusiastically called out his name, urging him to come over and sit.

He’d served as class president for all three years of high school. Outgoing and always willing to help, he had great relationships with both teachers and classmates.

Qiao Le first went over to greet Ms. Li. When she saw him, her expression softened into a gentle smile. “You’ve gotten thinner.”

“No, I haven’t.” Qiao Le pinched his shoulder. “I’ve bulked up.”

Ms. Li laughed and beckoned him to lean down. He did, and she patted his shoulder lightly. “Mm, you have filled out. You’ve grown taller too, haven’t you?”

Her words warmed him. He had indeed gotten taller—three centimeters since high school.

“Ms. Li, you’ve always favored the class president. You even remember how tall he was.” A buzz-cut boy across the table joked, “I’ve gained twenty pounds and you never said a word about me getting fat.”

Everyone laughed, recalling their high school days—especially how Ms. Li had always treated Qiao Le with special care.

Ms. Li didn’t mind the teasing. She smiled and said, “I don’t remember any of that.”

She pointed at the buzz-cut boy. “But I do remember how you dated Liang Ziyi from the class next door and your grades tanked. And you—sneaking out over the school wall to go to an internet café and getting caught by security. You begged me through tears not to call your parents. And you…”

She went down the line airing their embarrassing stories, and the whole room broke into laughter and playful protest: “Okay, okay, Ms. Li, that’s enough! Let’s change the topic!”

Ms. Li shook her head. “Trying to outmatch me? You’re all still too green.”

Listening to their laughter, Qiao Le felt like he was back in high school again.

“I thought you wouldn’t be able to make it again today,” Ms. Li said beside him. “Is work keeping you busy?”

Snapping back to the present, Qiao Le shook his head. “Ms. Li, I don’t work anymore.”

“Oh?”

“I applied for re-enrollment,” Qiao Le said. “I’ll be back in school after the National Day holiday.”

Ms. Li’s hand, halfway to picking up a dish, paused. For a moment she looked stunned. Then, regaining her focus, she asked, as if to confirm, “You’re going back to school?”

“Yeah.” Qiao Le nodded.

“Going back… that’s good. That’s good.”

Those simple words carried a weight that only Qiao Le truly understood.

Ms. Li had been his homeroom teacher from his first year of high school through his last.

When his mother suddenly left, it hit him hard. He drifted through life in a daze and even stopped going to school. Ms. Li had been the one who kept showing up at his door, refusing to give up on him.

Then his father died by suicide—jumped off a building. Debt collectors showed up that very day, wrecking what little was left of their home.

He’d shielded his little brother, Qiao Man, trying to reason with the collectors but unable to find the words. Ms. Li arrived in time and paid 50,000 yuan to calm things down.

But 50,000 yuan was just a drop in the bucket. He couldn’t keep relying on her.

When he withdrew from school, Ms. Li had called, devastated by his decision.

He’d just left the school gates, leave form in hand, standing by the road, clutching his phone. “I’m sorry, Ms. Li. I’ve made up my mind.”

In the blink of an eye, a year had passed since then.

Ms. Li was about to retire.

And now, he was going back to school.

And for that, he had Shen Hechuan to thank. If not for him, Qiao Le wouldn’t have had the chance to return so soon.

Thinking of Shen Hechuan, Qiao Le pulled out his phone and sent him a message, asking whether he and Qiao Man had gone to KFC.

Shen Hechuan hadn’t taken Qiao Man to KFC.

They had caught a few claw machine toys together, then gone to a nearby themed restaurant instead—because Qiao Man had been charmed by the kids’ meal advertised at the entrance.

When he got Qiao Le’s message, he snapped a photo of Qiao Man eating and sent it back. Then he pulled a tissue and gently wiped her mouth.

Just then, a surprised voice came from the side. “President Shen?”

Shen Hechuan looked up. A woman in a white dress stood there—someone he didn’t recognize.

“And you are?”

“My name’s Lin Jing,” she said with a smile. “Lin Guodong is my father. My aunt is close friends with Aunt Lan.”

Ah—he knew who she was. The daughter of the Lin family that Wu Huilan wanted to introduce him to after Cheng Jiarong.

“Hello.” He gave a nod, acknowledging her.

“I didn’t expect to run into you here. What a coincidence.” Lin Jing smiled. “Aunt Lan said you’d been too busy with work for a dinner, and I’d really thought it was a pity.”

Shen Hechuan: “Mm.”

Sensing his cold demeanor but unwilling to let the chance encounter slip away, she said, “Since we’ve met like this, would you mind if I joined your table?”

He politely declined. “Sorry, it’s not convenient.”

“…” Lin Jing was quiet for a beat, then shifted her attention to the child quietly eating beside him. “This little one is adorable. Is he your relative’s child?”

Shen Hechuan said, “No.”

She had just seen him wipe the child’s mouth, and a possibility floated up in her mind. She blurted out, “Is he your son?”

Shen Hechuan: “…”

Qiao Man paused mid-bite and looked up at him, then hesitantly called out, “Daddy?”

Shen Hechuan: “…”

Sweetheart, you really know how to play along.