Shocking! The Broke Campus Heartthrob Is My Child’s Father - Chapter 27
“Boss Lu, something’s up with you.”
Lu Yicheng realized he might have a side of himself that even he hadn’t known existed.
For instance, right at this moment, he wasn’t flustered at all. Instead, he calmly explained, “No.”
So far, he and Jiang Ruoqiao had not crossed any lines. They only took the child to register for kindergarten together. Otherwise, their private interactions were minimal, mostly just him dropping off the child with her.
Because of this, he had a clear conscience when it came to Jiang Yan.
Even this child had traveled from the future. What exactly happened in that future and how he ended up with Jiang Ruoqiao was unknown. But he believed his future self would never steal his friend’s girlfriend.
Just as Jiang Yan was about to tease further, Lu Siyan suddenly exclaimed, “Those are my mom’s things!” He reached out to take the spray. “Mom accidentally left it here.”
Jiang Yan froze, realizing his blunder. He quickly handed the spray back to Lu Siyan. “Sorry, my bad.”
If Lu Yicheng was really seeing someone, wouldn’t their group of friends have known?
Plus, after being classmates for two years, Jiang Yan could tell Lu Yicheng was the studious type with no interest in romance. In Lu Yicheng’s dictionary, dating was currently a waste of time and money.
And yet, here he was, teasing him over a bottle of spray—only to find out it belonged to a child’s mother.
So, the child’s mother must be an elder to Lu Yicheng?
Awkward.
Lu Siyan carefully put the spray back in his backpack and zipped it up. He magnanimously waved his hand, “It’s okay, my mom won’t mind.”
The clever five-year-old knew not to call Lu Yicheng “dad” in front of Jiang Yan. He quietly followed behind Lu Yicheng downstairs.
Jiang Yan led the way in front, while Lu Yicheng carried the luggage and deliberately lagged behind a few steps. He lowered his voice to instruct Lu Siyan, “She’s coming too.”
“Who?” Lu Siyan didn’t immediately catch on.
“Her.”
After a few seconds of confusion, Lu Siyan nearly jumped up when he realized, “Mom is coming too?”
Lu Yicheng cleared his throat lightly. “Keep it down.”
He hadn’t planned to say anything, but now he had to.
“That guy just now—he’s my friend and also her current boyfriend.”
Lu Siyan was at a rare loss for words. “I don’t know what to say,” he muttered. “Aren’t you jealous?”
Lu Yicheng candidly replied, “First, they’re in a relationship. If you hadn’t come, I would have always given them my blessings. Second, my relationship with her isn’t one where anyone gets jealous. If I had a girlfriend now, she couldn’t be jealous either.”
“Wow, you dare say that!” Lu Siyan gasped.
Was he tired of living? Did he have a death wish?
Mom was way too gentle these days.
In the past, if Dad said something like that, Lu Siyan might’ve gotten implicated too.
Lu Yicheng: “…”
There was no need to emphasize how much of a pushover his future self might be.
Lu Yicheng said, “Never mind, just be careful not to call her that in front of others.”
Lu Siyan pouted, “So what if I do? Who would believe it anyway!”
Lu Yicheng: … Fair point.
Even if Lu Siyan called Jiang Ruoqiao “mom”, who would believe it? If he hadn’t experienced it himself and seen the paternity test, he wouldn’t believe it either.
Jiang Yan had driven over in a car.
Lu Yicheng held Lu Siyan’s hand and walked briskly toward it. But when he opened the car door, he froze.
A young girl was sitting in the front passenger seat.
She seemed shy, clutching her seatbelt as she softly greeted him, “Hello.”
The trip to the countryside was an outing for the four guys from their dorm and the four girls from Jiang Ruoqiao’s dorm. Though he wasn’t close with Jiang Ruoqiao’s three roommates, he knew what they looked like. This girl was clearly not one of them.
Realizing it was impolite to stare, Lu Yicheng averted his gaze after a glance. He helped Lu Siyan into the car. Jiang Yan also got in, casually introducing as he started the car, “Boss Lu, this is my sister Kexing. She’s coming to play with us this time.”
Sister…
Lu Siyan remembered now.
Oh, him.
The guy who liked “adopting” younger sisters.
Lu Siyan scoffed but didn’t say anything.
Lu Yicheng greeted Lin Kexing with a neutral tone. “Hello.”
Jiang Yan continued, “Kexing, this is my buddy, Lu Yicheng. A genius—he was the top science student in our year. We were in the same class and dorm.”
Lin Kexing smiled faintly, “Hello Big Brother Lu.”
Lu Siyan rubbed his arm uncomfortably.
Lu Yicheng looked at him, “Cold?”
“No,” Lu Siyan extended his chubby arm, “I’ve got goosebumps.”
Lu Yicheng shot him a warning look.
The car slowly merged onto the main road.
Jiang Yan entered Jiang Ruoqiao’s address into the GPS. After driving for a few minutes, his phone rang. The call came through the car’s Bluetooth system.
Seeing it was the youngest in their group, he picked up. The entire car could hear the conversation.
The youngest shouted, “Boss Jiang, haven’t picked up Boss Lu yet? When will you get here? I’m afraid we’ll miss lunch. How about this, I’ll go get Jiang Ruoqiao, it’s on the way anyway!”
Jiang Yan laughed and scolded while focusing on the road ahead, “Get lost. My girlfriend needs you to pick her up?”
“Tsk, fine, you go. Hurry up, I haven’t even had breakfast yet.”
Hearing this, Lin Kexing softly told Jiang Yan, “Auntie prepared some food, we can all eat it on the way later.”
Before Jiang Yan could respond, the youngest exploded, “Damn, Boss Jiang, I already picked up Jiang Ruoqiao’s three roommates. How come I hear a girl’s voice? That’s definitely not Jiang Ruoqiao!”
Jiang Yan said helplessly, “My sister. You even played games with her before. Forgot?”
Originally, Jiang Yan hadn’t planned on bringing Lin Kexing. They weren’t in the same circle, had an age gap, and their backgrounds were different—there wouldn’t be much to talk about. But his mom insisted he bring Kexing, saying Kexing had been in low spirits ever since her best friend went abroad. She wanted him to take her to lift her mood.
Unable to refuse and seeing Kexing indeed hadn’t been very happy lately, he agreed.
The boisterous youngest fell silent, as if the signal froze. Lin Kexing took the initiative to greet him, “Hello, I’m the ‘It’s a Star not a Moon’ from the game. Sorry for intruding this time.”
The usually loud youngest member suddenly turned polite. “Not at all. Boss Jiang, I won’t keep you. Let’s chat later.”
After the call ended, the car fell silent again.
Lin Kexing asked hesitantly, “Big Brother Jiang Yan, is it really okay for me to go like this? Will I be disturbing you all?”
Jiang Yan laughed, “Not at all, the more the merrier.”
Lu Yicheng: “…”
He tuned out their conversation and texted Jiang Ruoqiao.
「Jiang Yan came to pick me up. Lu Siyuan and I are in the car.」
The two short sentences laid out the whole story.
Jiang Ruoqiao, in the middle of doing her makeup, received the text.
“…”
She should’ve seen this coming.
She calmly replied: 「Got it.」
It wasn’t a big deal.
Worst case scenario, even if these few people found out… well, there was nothing she could do.
Of course, she wasn’t blindly optimistic. She just felt, even if she and Lu Yicheng told the truth, would a single one of their friends believe them?
Jiang Ruoqiao waited until Jiang Yan was downstairs before leisurely coming down.
She and Jiang Yan were indeed in a passionate period before the summer break. After that, they only video called and hadn’t met in person.
Jiang Yan parked and eagerly got out to wait for Jiang Ruoqiao.
Seeing her come out of the apartment building, he strode over, arms outstretched to hug her.
He missed her so much.
Even with daily chats and video calls, it felt different.
But Jiang Ruoqiao instinctively dodged.
This evasion wasn’t because of Lu Siyan’s presence, but because the original story’s plot made her uncomfortable.
Jiang Yan paused, stunned.
Jiang Ruoqiao pushed her suitcase towards him, “It’s so hot I could die.”
She gestured with her chin, “There are still people in the car.”
Jiang Yan thought Jiang Ruoqiao was just being shy. He didn’t expose her. Taking her suitcase, he held her hand and walked towards the parked car.
Jiang Ruoqiao couldn’t break free.
Reaching the car, Jiang Yan only let go to open the trunk and put in the suitcase.
Just then, the car door pushed open from inside. Lin Kexing sat in the passenger seat, looking apprehensive and hesitant, “Big Brother Jiang Yan, should I sit in the back?”
She had just remembered some people care a lot about the passenger seat position.
Getting in earlier, she hadn’t thought much of it since no one else was there. Only after seeing Jiang Ruoqiao did she realize she probably shouldn’t be in this spot.
Jiang Yan also froze.
The instant Jiang Ruoqiao saw Lin Kexing, even without Jiang Yan’s introduction, she determined this girl was the female lead – Jiang Yan’s future girlfriend, fiancée, and wife.
In that dream she had, Jiang Yan had been holding this girl’s hand at the cocktail party.
Actually meeting Lin Kexing, Jiang Ruoqiao’s feelings were complicated.
Because in the original story, her tragic ending was inextricably linked to Lin Kexing.
Jiang Ruoqiao had already opened the rear door and got in. She said calmly, “No need to change seats, you sit in the passenger seat.”
Lin Kexing could sense Jiang Ruoqiao’s coldness.
She just didn’t know if it was Jiang Ruoqiao’s personality or if she was…
Jealous?
But sitting in the passenger seat had truly been unintentional.
Lin Kexing apologized on reflex, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
Jiang Ruoqiao thought, why apologize? As if she was being overbearing.
Just as she was about to say something, a childish voice interjected, “Shouldn’t you say thank you?”
Lu Siyan looked at Lu Yicheng, “If you don’t need to change seats, shouldn’t you say thank you? Why say sorry?”
Lu Yicheng thought nothing of it.
Jiang Ruoqiao pressed her lips together, eyes glinting with laughter.
Ah, so this is the feeling of being protected by your own child?
Lin Kexing was even more at a loss.
With Lu Siyan’s interruption, she didn’t know what to say.
Jiang Yan turned to look at Jiang Ruoqiao. Facing her, his gaze and expression were completely different than with others, “It’s not my car. If it was, only you could sit in the passenger seat.”
Jiang Ruoqiao said nothing.
Lu Yicheng pretended to be busy looking out the window. It had nothing to do with him.
Lin Kexing lowered her head, hiding the dismay on her face.