Chapter 43: Fake Boyfriend

Luo Bei led Fang Jingzhou to the next room. She didn’t say anything along the way; she didn’t answer even when Grandma Luo asked her.

She was just furious.

Luo Bei did not forget one of the memories that others thought had been long forgotten, one memory she always remembered. When she was a child, her grandfather transferred her to the best primary school in the area. The families of the students had great backgrounds, but the good times didn’t last long. Before her fourth grade, her family went bankrupt, leaving only a building in the slum. At the time, house prices didn’t soar and the real estate market was cold.

One afternoon, in the PE class: she was resting in the classroom because she did not feel well. She fell asleep soundly, the fine weather was to blame, perhaps.

Before school was over, a beautiful female classmate declared she lost her Walkman…

Following through searching, the Walkman was found in Lou Bei’s desk.

She tried to defend herself; she clearly didn’t steal it, so why did everyone look at her like a thief?

Luo Bei was depressed for a long time. She began to hate going to school.

Later, when her Grandma found out about this, she went to the school to look for her teacher and the classmate. She probably didn’t expect the incident to be huge. The female classmate confessed soon, she was jealous of Luo Bei and came up with the idea to humiliate her.

Later, everyone came to know about it. She was innocent since the beginning, but Luo Bei couldn’t forget the way her classmates and teacher looked at her.

She couldn’t help but clench her fists as she recalled the past.

After that, Grandma realized that something was wrong with her. Before the new semester started, she helped her transfer to another school. She returned to her original school, and no one brought up the matter. Perhaps Grandma had forgotten that she had been labeled as a thief when she was young.

So, it wasn’t hard for Lou Bei to imagine what it was like to be framed as a thief by one’s own mother.

Fang Jingzhou stood under the shower, crying while water poured over him.

Luo Bei knew that although he said that he didn’t like his mother, he couldn’t help but feel attached to her. Now, his mother actually told outsiders that he was a thief. Even if he was a five-year-old child, he felt wronged.

After the shower, Luo Bei wrapped him up and carried him back to the bed. She said to Fang Jingzhou seriously while closing the door.

“Jingzhou, Beibei believes that you haven’t done that kind of thing before, so can you promise Beibei not to listen to your mother’s words and forget about it when you wake up tomorrow?”

Fang Jingzhou nodded and hugged Luo Bei. She rubbed his neck with great care.

“Beibei, I was scared. The room was dark and no one talked to me.”

“I got scared.”

“She ignored me. I couldn’t even scream anymore, it hurt the moment I tried.”

While saying so, he pointed towards his throat.

When he went to bed at night, Fang Jingzhou woke up many times. He asked to turn on the light, but the lights were already on.

Luo Bei sighed in her heart, it seemed that it still affected him. She hoped that he could forget it as soon as possible so it does not bother him anymore.

*

Jiang Sihan also heard Luo Bei talk about this. He was still on set, not happy either. After all, he wasn’t from a professional class, getting uncomfortable with the camera at first and not being able to talk about acting skills either. Fortunately, now he has slowly learned to adapt, he realized he might have talent in this field.

They all belonged to the same building. Jiang Sihan took Fang Jingzhou to play with him. He couldn’t help but feel distressed and angry thinking how much Fang Jingzhou had to suffer at a young age.

He didn’t have any money or connections. He was to debut in a web series, but it was one thing for the web series to start successfully; however, the response after its release is another matter altogether; therefore, Jiang Sihan wasn’t confident about this path either. How could someone like him be realistic about this matter?

It wasn’t his fault for being passive. Even though he had become a young actor today, he was not able to do anything for Fang Jingzhou; after all, Fang Jingzhou was Chen Lan’s biological son, while he was completely unrelated.

Lou Bei’s deterrence still worked. Sometimes, it was much better to use the evil side to suppress evil than being reasonable.

In the past, Chen Lan was not interested in the background of the people in the slums. She thought that even if there was a building in this area with middle-class people or not, she couldn’t afford to care as she urgently needed that room. The only thing she knew about the vacancy was that there was a room available in Luo Bei’s building. She didn’t deliberately inquire about it; after all, what does the landlord’s background have to do with her?

Now a casual inquiry was enough to scare her.

Luo Bei was right. She had been dealing with tenants from all over since she was fifteen years old. She wasn’t as kind and simple as she appeared to be; otherwise, how could someone like her manage a rental building in a slum?

Of course, in addition to her own abilities, she had some ties with Grandma Luo’s strong social circle. Most of them were from Grandma Luo’s hometown. Although they would usually quarrel, if something happened, these people would seriously help the Luo family.

“Beibei is really a strong girl. She definitely has talent. The year before last, someone came to her to rent an apartment, later I heard that the person had just been released from prison. We didn’t know what the exact crime was, so advised Beibei not to rent to that man, but Beibei said that he was actually a very good man and didn’t listen to us, she was right. Beibei is really good at judging people.”

“That man lived here for two years and hasn’t caused trouble. Soon, we came to know that the man was someone capable when he was young. Now that he has been released, he is building his connections back, his foundation was still intact…”

Aunty Liu said as she cracked melon seeds, “When he left, he was very grateful to Beibei. He said that she should find him no matter how difficult or troublesome things are in the future. Fortunately, we haven’t had such an opportunity.”

Chen Lan was stunned.

When she heard that this big shot, Uncle Cheng, was protecting the Luo family, she was dumbfounded.

Chen Lan could not reconcile a long time.

Although she is the biggest factor in Fang Jingzhou’s matter, she is the child’s mother. She is educating her own children; others have no right to criticize and interfere. 

Perhaps she always thought Lou Bei was a kind-hearted girl next door, but did not expect her to show such a side yesterday; she got goosebumps thinking what she could do.

Today, after hearing about the Luo family’s extensive network background, Chen Lan gave up the idea of going to their door to argue. She accepted the fact that she was scared. That child was obviously her son, but she didn’t have the confidence to face Luo Bei; she was still scared of her. She didn’t know why, but she just thought that if she continued to treat Fang Jingzhou like she had, perhaps Luo Bei would really take some action. She had no foundation in this city and no background, if Luo Bei really targeted her, what would she do?

Chen Lan did not go to the Luo family to pick up Fang Jingzhou, and Luo Bei didn’t let Fang Jingzhou go back, so Fang Jingzhou stayed with the Luo family again.

Zhou Jianguo returned from the construction site and took a shower, as Luo Bei told him about the follow-up.

The room was filled with the fragrance of soothing soap.

Zhou Jianguo wiped his hair with a towel while saying, “You can’t let the child stay in your home forever, you just avoided her temporarily; I guess Chen Lan will move out in a few months. All her dissatisfaction with life may be vented on the child, so what you are doing now is treating the symptoms rather than the root cause.”

Luo Bei also knew.

If Chen Lan moves out of town, would she follow her out of town?

“I suggest you check Chen Lan’s family background and some of her experiences. If you can contact the biological father of the child, with Chen Lan’s current economic situation and her inability to make money, it is very likely that the biological father would also want to reunite with the child; you can also check Chen Lan’s original family. Anyway, I suggest you not let the child get back to Chen Lan. I think Chen Lan is a very dangerous woman.”

“You must know that the Chen Lan right now is only the beginning, people change bit by bit. Maybe what she has done to the child is not big right now, but after a long time, she will become even more fierce. Just like domestic violence, at the beginning, men apologize to women after beating them and restrain themselves; similarly, once started, it can’t be stopped.”

Looking at the furnishings in the room as Zhou Jianguo’s spoke and gave suggestions, Luo Bei couldn’t help but express her doubts, “I think you shouldn’t be a very poor person by your mannerism. How…”

Zhou Jianguo understood what she was trying to say and said with a smile,” Do you think I am just a bricklayer?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to look down on your career, just ……”

“I can’t help it. My family is poor, and I haven’t finished my primary school.”

Lou Bei looked at him doubtfully. “Really?”

Zhou Jianguo just smiled at her.

She did not know what he had done…

“By the way, here’s my card.” Zhou Jianguo took a business card from the cabinet and handed it to Lou Bei. 

Luo Bei was curious and took a look, “…”

“This is the case. Your incident has inspired me, I think I’m quite good at dealing with interpersonal disputes.” 

It wasn’t like there hadn’t been any conflicts on the construction site before. Most of them had been settled by Zhou Jianguo; however, Luo Bei saw his talent.

“So, you can look for me whenever you encounter any difficult-to-treat problems in the future. I’ll set the price based on the difficulty of the matter; of course, the first consultation is complimentary for you.”

“Have you received any gigs?” Luo Bei asked.

Zhou Jianguo nodded. “Today, I successfully received a request from a tenant in the 15th building. She was forced to go on a blind date by her parents, so she lied to them about

having a boyfriend. Her parents will come over in two days, and I will act as her boyfriend for two days.”

Luo Bei:”……Aren’t you tired? I see that you’re working a lot. You’re going to work at a construction site during the day as well, right. Can you handle it?”

Zhou Jianguo grinned and revealed his white teeth, “I won’t hide it from you. I don’t feel tired.”

To put it bluntly, he liked money and more money.

Even he didn’t know why he was so interested in earning money.

***